Dungeon and Gate were a phenomenon that were ranked based on the energy output they emitted. However, the phenomena known as ‘Rift’ was different. They didn’t have any ranking system and were simply called based on the size of the Rift such as Rift, Large Rift, Great Rift, and Supermassive Rift.

The reason behind it was because it was impossible to assign a proper rank to a rift. While there’s a possibility that an SS-rank monster would appear in a Great Rift, there’s also a possibility that nothing would happen in a Supermassive Rift.

In fact, the Great Rift that occurred 5 years ago was predicted to destroy a country because of its tremendous energy wave. However, when hunters entered the Great Rift, they didn’t meet any monsters and only found a core. The hunters safely escaped the Great Rift without any casualties after destroying the core.

The lowest-grade rift phenomenon was virtually impossible to enter so it was treated no different from normal gate and dungeon phenomenon. However, the Great Rift, that caused enormous casualties every two to three years, and the Supermassive Rift, that occurred only once in the history of mankind, which had left a big scar on the United States, were both closely monitored by the association.

The appearances of the Great Rift this time around had already been announced half a year ago, and countermeasure had been prepared.

First of all, the New Murim League expressed their intention to participate in the raid. As a result, the opinion that ‘Murim people must be controlled’ had completely disappeared from the world.

However, the important part here was that currently, Murim people on Earth were divided into two factions, namely the New Murim League and China’s ‘Murim Hohyanghoe’. On top of it, both factions were currently entangled in a dispute regarding the ownership of mugong.

And because of the solution that was proposed by New Murim League, the ownership of mugong would be given to the side who accumulated greater merit than the other in the Great Rift.

So, when six months passed and the Great Rift was opened,

-What an amazing sight! All Murim members of China’s Murim Hohyanghoe have expressed their intention to participate in the raid! Do you see their numbers? There were around 500 people on their side!! It’s great, it’s really great!

Everyone from Murim Hohyanghoe lined up in front of the Great Rift, as if they were going to bet everything on this Great Rift.

And……

-Bang Ho-win has finally shown himself!! As a terrorist who disappeared after causing a terror incident four years ago, quite a lot of people expressed their concern regarding his participation in the raid. However, there were even more voices that said Murim Expert Bang Ho-win is a talented person befitting the rank of at least SS-rank, and would be a great addition to the raid.

A lot of stories come and go. Some said that Bang Ho-win would wash away his image as a terrorist using this Great Rift, some said that he came to show the power of Murim, and others said he came to absorb the New Murim League.

Not all of them were right.

Smiling Shadow, a man who works in the shadow of Murim Hohyanghoe, quietly looked at Bang Ho-win.

He was standing still alone.

As expected from a country who proclaimed themselves as a country that ‘does not negotiate with terrorists’, the President of the United States didn’t share a single word with Bang Ho-win. However, the international Supernatural Phenomenon Association and the International Hunter Association were constantly coming to see him.

“Go away.”

However, Bang Ho-win chased every single one of them away. He didn’t find any need to entertain them because once he succeeded in absorbing the power of Seol Jungyeon, he would never see them again anyway.

“I think it’s better not to be too harsh.”

A hunter dispatched from the Chinese side advised Bang Ho-win. In the first place, China’s goal was to completely absorb the people of Murim from both sides, including Bang Ho-win.

“If you don’t like it, you should go away too.”

“…….”

Of course, there’s no way his words would be heard by Bang Ho-win.

Smiling Shadow shifted his gaze towards the 500 Murim people from their side. They were all social misfits who cannot forget the old way and accept the present. Even after five years had passed, these people still clung into the barbaric laws of the strongest.

In some ways, their memory about Murim was being beautified. Just because they were living on Earth where the ratio of normal people was higher, they were mistaking themselves as a great being. However, once they returned to Murim, Smiling Shadow was sure that the majority of Murim people who stood here wouldn’t be able to compete for the title of the strongest.

In case they really were able to return to Murim, Bang Ho-win would also be there. That means,

‘….Murim will be filled with chaos.’

Experts who already achieved the realm of Hyunkyung were rare even in Murim. Then, what about a Hyunkyung expert who can also use sorcery? By Murim common sense, it was an impossible feat.

Bang Ho-win was able to achieve it only because he was extorting the purest energy from countless female experts around Murim. In other words, all female experts who were damaged by him were the cleanest and the purest women in the whole world.

Only after the victim count increased by a lot, Dharma had come to enforce justice on Bang Ho-win. He destroyed Bang Ho-win’s naegong before throwing him into a place where all trash like him were locked up.

‘You’ll be running around with trash like you for the rest of your life, and then die a lonely death.’

That’s how Supreme Dharma dealt with every worst criminal in history.

He didn’t simply kill them, he destroyed their naegong and let them rot for eternity before dying in the midst of trash-like humans just like themselves.

However, Supreme Dharma didn’t know. Bang Ho-win was able to survive and climb up from the bottom of that hellish place. And as soon as he saw the sunlight once again, he unleashed his resentment onto the world. That incident was what the world refers as the worst terrorism in history of Europe.

And four years since that terrorizing act, which was the present time, he had become way too strong. He had reached the realm of Hyunkyung by absorbing numerous old expert’s naegong. If Supreme Dharma was still alive, he could have defeated him once again… However, he’s already dead.

-On the other hand, the New Murim League only brought 100 people! However, the spirit of Seol Jungyeon, the lord of New Murim League seems to overwhelm all other Murim people!

Numerous tanks, helicopters and armed vehicles were patrolling in the vicinity of the Great Rift. However, amidst the tense situation, Seol Jungyeon was still as peaceful as ever as if she wasn’t affected by her surroundings at all.

Her figure, which was calmly looking at the rift entrance with a sword stabbed to the ground in front of her, was more reassuring than any sturdy shield.

However, the one Smiling Shadow looked forward to was not Supreme Cheonma but Yoo Seodam.

He was the man who defeated Supreme Dharma and saved Supreme Cheonma.

Smiling Shadow could see that man stood behind Seol Jungyeon and stared at the Great Rift with pure white eyes that were impossible to discern.

* * *

It was matter of course that the U.S didn’t only get help from Murim people in case of life or death like the Great Rift. They also employed a whopping number of 800 hunters on this expedition. Amongst them, there were a significant number of S-rank and five SS-rank.

In total with soldiers, there were around two thousand people involved in this expedition.

Since it was impossible for electronic devices to work inside the rift, the tanks and armored vehicles would only be guarding around the vicinity of the Great Rift. The only things that the military bought into the Rift were communication devices made with ether technology that cost around millions of dollars per device.

-C-3, we will enter.

The sight of numerous people slowly entering the Great Rift was captured in a camera worth tens of millions of dollars.

As soon as they walked through the portal, they found themselves in a green, dense forest that seems to extend till the other side of the world.

And, they also saw numerous skeletons that rattled on the ground.

-It’s a skeleton!

A frightening voice resounded from the communication device.

Skeleton was a monster under the category ‘undead’ monsters. Even though it was weak and slow, it was almost impossible to kill it with a firearm. Even when its limbs were cut off, every part of it would continue to move separately. It was a very troublesome monster to deal with.

On top of it…

-Cr….crazy! Why are they so fast!

-Unbelievable!

There were some skeletons captured in the video which had a speed similar to an A-rank body strengthening-type superhuman, and some other skeletons were even equipped with armors and exhibited abilities of S-rank or even higher.

-Death… Knight…

Death Knight. It was a monster that hardly appeared on Earth. Even so, most people know about them very well. They were widely known as honorable knights who returned from death.

Every time a death knight swung its sword, flame would shoot out from its sword. It was a technique called ‘aura diffusion’ commonly seen in the fantasy genre. But unfortunately, it was such an advanced technology that it was unknown to Earth’s superhuman.

At that time, the Murim experts began to step out.

-The skeleton died in one blow!

-Wh…whaat? How did he do that..?

Murim experts were people who specialized in killing humans and although they had never met a skeleton before, they knew that they had to use their shapeless energy to aim at the space between their joints to kill them. It was a skill that could only be acquired once they became an ultra-peak expert. Thankfully most of the Murim experts who came to this place were experts who had achieved the ultra-peak level.

Just like the experts, Yoo Seodam also found it easy to deal with the skeletons. Even though he didn’t have any naegong and techniques like the experts, his [Holy Conversion (F)] skill worked very well against the skeletons.

“Huh? It works better than I expected?”

Currently, Yoo Seodam was wearing his old first grade ether suit and ether sword. He deliberately left the items he got from the other world in his inventory. Even so, when he merged the holy power with his ether blade, the skeletons were cut off easily.

Of course, he didn’t have enough magic power to use the Holy Conversion continuously. But it was okay since very soon he would only be pretending to fight.

While Yoo Seodam was cutting several skeletons.

Swoossh!!

Rattle, Rattle!

Everything within the range of 30m in front of Seol Jungyeon was cut into two right after she swung her sword once. It was only a normal swing, but that swing was powerful enough to disintegrate all the skeletons.

As the unbelievable scene was broadcasted through the video, the morale of the expedition members soared.

It was only natural. The Great Rift was a phenomenon that rarely occurred in the long history of earth. However, each and every one of them was always followed by numerous casualties from the expedition team. So, when the members of the expedition witnessed the power of the mighty SSS-rank Seol Jungyeon, they couldn’t help but to feel reassured.

Suddenly, the ground trembled followed by a loud rumbling sound.

In the distance, they could see Bang Ho-win soaring up into the air as he left a crater on the ground.

“M…My God….”

“That strength… isn’t something that can be exhibited by a normal SS-rank.”

Every time Bang Ho-win leaped up to the air, he left a crater on the ground. It was only then that the expedition members realized.

‘He must be at least at SSS-rank level!’

-I can’t believe it!

-Is there a new SSS-rank amongst the Murim people?

-It’s.. an exclusive report!!

It was not surprising that the people who were watching through the video from the outside were in a frenzy. After all, it was the emergence of a new SSS-rank.

Having made dozens of craters by himself, Bang Ho-win leaped into the sky once again and plucked the giant skeleton’s head with his bare hands, and kicked it towards the skeleton wyvern in the distance.

Then, as soon as he landed on the ground, he shot a fierce glare and smiled towards Seol Jungyeon. However, Seol Jungyeon didn’t even look at him. Her gaze was focused only on Yoo Seodam.

Seol Jungyeon could see that Yoo Seodam was observing Bang Ho-win’s every move just like a predator looking at its prey.

‘Huh? Does he really intend to fight against a Hyunkyung Expert….’

For the past half year, Yoo Seodam has been undergoing training directly under her. And throughout the training, he always said that he would beat Bang Ho-win down. However, Seol Jungyeon couldn’t completely believe him since he was only able to hold out for 3 minutes against her.

But looking at Yoo Seodam’s eyes, Seol Jungyeon realized for sure that he was the same man who defeated the Supreme Dharma, a Shinhwakyung Expert and saved her from her loneliness.

She also convinced that Yoo Seodam was really trying to kill Bang Ho-win in this place today.

‘How is it? Did you find anything?’

<Yes. There’s a minute trace of ‘dimensions’ on one of the equipment possessed by that man… And it seems like there’s one major problem in order to use it again.>

The relic of Dharma’s Black Sword. It was a sword that allowed you to cross over to another world. But from the information that Yoo Seodam received, it was said that Dharma had already gone through two dimensional movements and the sword was now essentially useless.

‘Is that so….’

Yoo Seodam raised his head and looked at the sky. Not only him, everyone had no choice but to turn their heads. It was because something slowly appeared at the horizon, dyeing the whole sky with a dark energy.

That ‘something’ had only bones left with no flesh and skin. Its body stretched over 50m long with three pairs of wings on its back. A diamond-like claws could be found on its every limbs. Moreover, on top of its head, five broken horns were menacingly pointed to the sky.

The creature’s blue noble eyes fluttered as if it was scanning the entire world before letting out a silent roar.·

…….!!

It may feel like it was a soundless roar. However, it was a roar in the frequency that human hearing could not detect. To put it in the language of the Murim people, it was a ‘Lion Roar’ technique that had reached the extreme.

-···Chiiik, this is command centre. We announce the appearance of ‘Bone Dragon’. Estimated grade SSS+rank. Godspeed.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep