Chapter 91: The Isolated Snow Mountain

#91

For the five days leading up to today, Beom Yeonhu had done little more than receive Dokyeom’s skills, claim he needed to loosen up, and then spend his mornings at the gym, returning late into the night.

Beom Yeonhu still remained a C-rank, without any manifested abilities. His friends, who called him nightly to badger him into coming out for drinks, would often mock him, asking what kept a C-rank so busy.

“Still, I’m here to protect Dokyeom, you know.”

Despite their taunts, Beom Yeonhu never uttered a single word of complaint. He had blindly followed Dokyeom’s words, clinging to the belief that he could become a better hunter.

Even though it was a path that might ultimately lead nowhere.

[Entering now! All Hunters, please move out!]

In the distance, an Association official, clutching documents and holding a megaphone, called out to the scattered Hunters. They finally hardened their gazes and began to move towards the rising Dragon’s Ascent.

The three guild masters led the charge, paving the way for the others. The Dragon’s Ascent, raging with a cold snap, radiated a chill so intense it felt as if one’s outstretched hand would instantly freeze.

“Let’s go, Hyung.”

Dokyeom gathered Agon and Dali, then narrowed his steps alongside Beom Yeonhu towards the lengthy line of the Dragon’s Ascent. The massive vortex greedily swallowed the Hunters whole.

No sooner had they stepped into the Dragon’s Ascent than the ubiquitous helicopter noise died, replaced by the roar of a tumultuous ocean storm. After walking for what felt like an eternity, the howling wind in their ears had vanished.

In its place, an icy cold descended, so bitter that even their breath seemed to freeze. It made their shoulders shiver uncontrollably.

“Ha…”

The first sight that greeted them was a vast, sprawling world. In the far distance, three snow-capped mountains rose like colossal pillars, their brilliance almost blinding.

It was a pristine, untouched snowscape, where no human foot had ever trod. In a clearing within the snow-white forest, over a hundred people stood, enduring the falling snow as they gazed at the majestic mountains.

From this point forward, the critical question would be how they would divide themselves.

Dokyeom blew into his frigid hands, watching the three guild masters conversing before the crowd.

This ‘Three Sisters of the Snow Mountain’ event had a long history, dating back to when powerless demons began searching for the three sisters to cultivate their strength.

Because of these three sisters, the lower-ranked demons of that era suffered immense sacrifices, becoming prey that killed and were killed in turn.

Whether to gain knowledge, find a way to enhance their power, or even to revert to human or beast form, demons yearned to find the sisters and receive their answers.

Each time demons sought them out, the three sisters demanded the heart, eyes, or carcass of another demon.

When the demons presented the requested remains, the sisters would either embed them into a monster or resurrect the creature, turning it into their minion and releasing it into the mountains.

These creatures were the sisters’ ‘Guardians’.

The three sisters used these Guardians to deter intruders. When their numbers swelled to several hundred, they began hunting demons directly, challenging the demonic thrones of the underworld.

For a full century, the Three Sisters of the Snow Mountain unleashed a bloody storm upon that land.

Their unchecked glory might have endured even longer, had they not trespassed upon the territory of Agares, the second-ranked demon of the Lemegeton.

Enraged by the witches’ intrusion, Agares unleashed an avalanche upon the forest where the three sisters resided, bestowing upon the land an unceasing curse of bitter cold and blizzards.

The punishment meted out to the witches was a harsh isolation, forcing them to survive in the relentless cold.

Indeed, this place was not originally the blizzard-swept snow mountain it was now. Instead, it had been a lush, verdant forest in a high-altitude region.

This ‘Grand Historical Re-enactment’ was an episode that could only be completed by finding and slaying these ‘Three Sisters.’ Countless individuals had sought this place to claim the witches’ heads for honor and glory, but none had ever returned alive.

The cause was the extreme cold, nearing minus 80 degrees Celsius. No one could endure such frigid conditions, and even those fortunate enough to survive were brutally killed by the Guardians nesting in the snow mountains.

This was the Gate they had to conquer. It was the stage for their game, born from the demons’ desires and the story’s design.

“Dokyeom, it’s really cold. I’ll give you my jacket, wear it.”

Seeing Beom Yeonhu about to remove even the windbreaker he wore, Dokyeom quickly pulled up its zipper, stopping him.

“Hyung, if you keep doing that, I’ll take mine off too. Huh? I’ll walk around completely stripped, seriously.”

“…You shouldn’t do that.”

Beom Yeonhu, whispering his reply, immediately reverted to his docile, puppy-like self. Dokyeom suppressed a tickle of a sneeze brought on by the cold and looked at the Association official in the distance, who was checking the Gate’s anomaly readings.

Over a hundred Hunters gathered here.

Though they had convened from all corners of the nation, more than half of the Hunters present were actually affiliated with guilds stationed in Seoul. Most of them were A-rank Hunters, with B-rank Hunters rarely joining as support staff.

This meant that E-rank Dokyeom and C-rank Beom Yeonhu were peculiar exceptions.

As he scanned the crowd for suitable Hunters to be affected by , his gaze abruptly snagged on a bright brown head of hair fluttering amidst the snowflakes. The shivering shoulders and pale blue lips were starkly different from those of the other A-ranks.

It was Ju Uiryeong, that bastard.

He was stamping his feet and trembling with cold, yet trying to shake it off. He was certainly the more ‘civilized’ one here.

Ju Uiryeong had likely read every single one of Dokyeom’s novels before coming to this world. His tendency to appear in most of the story’s pivotal locations certainly suggested as much.

Ju Uiryeong had gone on hiatus approximately eight months after starting his novel’s serialization. In contrast, Dokyeom had continued to serialize steadily even after Ju Uiryeong’s hiatus.

That period lasted for about six months.

If it was highly probable that Ju Uiryeong had arrived in this world first, then the six months’ worth of story serialized after his disappearance would be a blank for him.

This implied that—

With the event of the Three Sisters of the Snow Mountain, Ju Uiryeong’s knowledge would come to an end.

Of course, even if that weren’t the case, this time, the ‘information’ Ju Uiryeong possessed would exceptionally differ from the ‘information’ Dokyeom knew. It had to be so.

“Everyone, gather here to form teams!”

The shout of an Association official echoed from afar. People shuffled forward like a swarm of ants. Dokyeom also made a show of moving with the crowd, taking a few steps.

And then.

*Halt—*

Amidst the scattering crowd, a lone figure stood tall, catching Dokyeom’s eye. He was a man of imposing height and sturdy build. The man was looking up at the sky with a startled expression.

His face was unsettlingly familiar, evoking a strong sense of déjà vu. Dokyeom watched him intently, then let out a gasp.

Just then, the man’s eyes widened, and his quivering lips parted to utter a cry towards the people.

“…Wait a moment, everyone.”

His gaze was fixed on the sky. His fingertips fumbled in the air.

He was Kang Taesan, an A-rank Hunter registered in Dokyeom’s . Of course, that wasn’t what was important now.

In the distance, Ju Uiryeong’s pale lips parted, his gaze fixed on Kang Taesan. The other Hunters, who had been moving, turned back to look at Kang Taesan. All wore expressions of confusion, but Ju Uiryeong’s bewilderment far surpassed the others.

It was only natural.

“My inventory…”

This was a ‘revised’ setting Dokyeom had implemented while organizing his manuscript after Ju Uiryeong’s disappearance.

“…It seems my inventory isn’t working.”

Only the fierce snowflakes reflected in Kang Taesan’s white eyes trembled precariously. No one dared to speak. As the silence stretched, someone hesitantly took a step.

However, when the snow crushed under their combat boots crunched amidst the blizzard, everyone faced an anticipated despair from behind.

*Crrrack-crack-crack—*

All eyes were fixed on a single spot: the ‘path’ that had led them through the Dragon’s Ascent to this place.

That path was vanishing, as if erasing a trail etched in the snow. Ice shattered into tiny fragments, and a sharp, clanking sound echoed crisply through the bitter cold.

When the world-rending noise ceased, the crimson gate, which had shimmered like a heat haze, was gone without a trace. It was pure nothingness.

Dark shadows fell across the faces of those staring at the brutal cold. People stood motionless, mouths agape, filled with blankness, despair, or utter futility.

What greeted them was isolation.

Just like the calamity that befell the ‘Three Sisters of the Snow Mountain,’ or perhaps the wrath of a demon.

Without food, water, or any relief supplies, they were stranded in this extreme cold, with only their bodies.

Over a hundred Hunters.

****

At first, everyone sat disheartened, lost in grief, no one daring to speak. But as ten, then twenty minutes passed, and eventually an hour, they gradually began to accept this harsh reality and gathered together.

“Since things have come to this, let’s first discuss what we’re going to do before we start bawling.”

The one who spoke on behalf of the people was Hadongwon, the guild master of ‘Media,’ one of the three major guilds. As massive as a bear, he leaned on his axe, which he had pulled out as a makeshift staff, and spoke with a slight bend in his back.

“First, I think we need to get the Gate readings. Association guy, can you manage that?”

“Huh? Oh, yes!”

The Association official, the only one with a low rank here besides Dokyeom, replied, his face drained of color. Originally, his mission should have ended with just taking the Gate readings and leaving. Instead, he had encountered this disaster and found himself trapped alongside the Hunters. For him, it was a deeply unfair and infuriating predicament.