Manggok district was in complete chaos, as if a war had broken out.
Boom!
As the giant over 2 meters tall swung his arm, which had become massive like a large anaconda, a streetlight broke like a reed and crashed into a traffic light.
"Aaaaaahhh!"
"Run away! It's a Ma-in!"
"Don't push, get out of the way!"
People in panic rushed to flee from the Ma-in.
The four arms that had sprouted from the Ma-in's side were proliferating and twisting at will, becoming so grotesque they could hardly be called arms anymore.
Crash!
Including his original arms, there were six in total.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each time the arms, resembling giant snakes or tentacles, struck randomly in all directions, cars were crushed and windows shattered.
Hiss!
Wherever his arms touched, sidewalk blocks and cars began to smoke and melt.
"Inspector! That bastard seems to be secreting acid too!"
"This is fucking insane, seriously!"
As police officers armed with rifles took positions and surrounded the Ma-in, the order to fire was immediately given.
"Fire!"
Ratatatatat!
"Graaaaarr!"
Despite the shower of bullets raining down on him, the Ma-in seemed barely affected and instead attacked the police more violently, swinging all six arms.
"Rifles aren't stopping him!"
"His durability is alarming! The skin itself seems reinforced!"
At the reports pouring in from everywhere, Inspector Lim Sang-wook, who was leading the armed police, spat out curses.
"Damn it. How severe is this mutation?"
He turned around irritably to look behind him and shouted.
"Have you identified the profile yet?"
In response, a young-faced police officer who was busily operating a device reported urgently.
"Just found it, sir!"
"What the fuck are you waiting for? Spit it out!"
"Yes, yes! Hunter's name is Shin Jong-gil. He was a D-rank hunter with two years of experience, and his characteristic is body modification!"
"What's his current estimated rank?"
"Considering the nature of his ability, the degree of mutation, measured mana volume, and actual threat level..."
"Shut up and get to the conclusion!"
"At least D+ rank, sir!"
Boom!
Meanwhile, the Ma-in's fist continued to destroy the asphalt road and crush cars like coffee cans.
"Hey, don't cluster together! Spread out and suppress him!"
Inspector Lim Sang-wook spat on the ground and muttered.
"He was only D- originally? Then why is he so strong?"
"It seems the accumulated magical energy was quite powerful."
"This is the first time I've seen such a severe mutation recently."
"A mere body modification ability user with proliferation, reinforcement, and acid secretion? Crazy bastard."
Another police officer who was listening burst out in anger.
"Just look at how he's already become a Ma-in in only his second year! I bet he was diving into unauthorized dungeons recklessly!"
"That son of a bitch."
"He must have lived life like a fool!"
Whatever the circumstances or reasons, they had only one job to do.
Having confirmed that rifle-level firepower wasn't enough to stop him, Lim Sang-wook had to make a decision to protect the citizens.
"Just shoot the magic wand!"
"Sir, can we really fire it?"
"If I get disciplined, I'll damn well quit! Just fire it!"
"Yes sir! Firing now!"
Boom!
The anti-tank rocket launcher roared as it flew and hit one of the Ma-in's arms, exploding on impact.
But.
"Inspector! His arm is still intact!"
"Goddammit!"
Though the skin had been blown off the arm that took the direct hit from the explosion, the bones and muscles remained attached.
"Graaaaaaah!"
Instead, the enraged Ma-in roared, and his previously human-sized body began to expand to more than twice its size.
"Holy shit. What now?"
Crack!
The even more enormous Ma-in's arm destroyed a large bus that three police officers were using for cover.
"Oh my god."
"Hey rookie! You call that D+? Are you crazy?"
"Do your job properly!"
Shrinking his shoulders under the scolding from his seniors and team leader, the rookie police officer cried out urgently.
"I, I correct myself! The estimated rank of the Ma-in is C-! We should abandon suppression and buy time until the Execution Force arrives! The required time is approximately 6 minutes!"
"Kid, you should be the team leader!"
To Lim Sang-wook, who was getting a headache from the increasingly tangled situation, a subordinate said.
"Inspector, you can forget about preparing to quit."
"What do you mean?"
"Looks like we'll all be wearing funeral clothes."
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"Run away!"
"Aaaaargh!"
I moved forward, crossing the street where terrified citizens were flowing out like the ebb tide.
'Finally, the first hurdle.'
The Ma-in Shin Jong-gil's rampage incident.
This is the very first scenario that signals the beginning of Edge of Gate.
'In the early days, many users couldn't beat this even after 50 tries.'
It was such a difficult challenge that it was counted as one of the many reasons for refunds in EoG, as numerous as grains of sand.
But that's irrelevant to me.
'I've played this game for 10 years. I can beat this with my eyes closed.'
Seriously, not joking, when I was bored, I tried playing with just sound and my eyes closed, and I still cleared it.
Of course.
"Graaaah!"
Seeing the monster howling with a voice that no longer seemed human up close was an entirely different dimension from watching it through a screen.
The magical energy that made my skin tingle, the overwhelming pressure of the demonic beast randomly destroying its surroundings, the murderous glint in its eyes, the scene of the street littered with blood and screams.
All this was no longer a game but reality.
Yet why?
The emotion that arose when looking at the demonic beast before me was certainly not fear or intimidation.
Rather, my blood boiled with hatred and exhilaration, as if I was glad to meet the enemy who had thrown my fate into an abyss.
A clear killing intent seemed to flow through my veins instead of blood.
'Is this also a system adjustment?'
It was strange.
If I were my original self, I'd be too scared to even think of running away.
'Indeed, a different breed from the start.'
Born with the destiny to become the protagonist of this world, he was different in every way.
Admiring myself, I casually loosened my ankles.
If I fail, I die right here.
But strangely enough.
I wasn't particularly afraid.
"Are you really insane? Don't you see even the armed police are getting trashed?"
Park Min-cheol, who was terrified but had followed me here to stop me, roughly pulled my sleeve.
"You fucking idiot! Just because you awakened some ability, you think you can fight and win against a bastard like that? Let's run away quickly!"
"Hyung, hide in that building. You'll be safe there."
"Hey, you crazy bastard! The Execution Force will be here soon if we just wait a little. Who are you to step up?"
I walk forward without answering.
"Hey! Jeong Su-hyeon! Su-hyeon!"
"Stop that person!"
"Student! Come back!"
"What's with that guy! Is he crazy to die?"
Ignoring the restraints of the people, I narrowed the distance to the Ma-in.
"Inspector! A civilian is approaching the Ma-in!"
"Now what?"
"Oh my god! Citizen, please come this way quickly!"
[A quest has been generated!]
[Main Quest: Proof of Qualification]
[Delay Ma-in Shin Jong-gil until the Execution Force arrives.]
[The time limit is 5 minutes.]
Now that I'd seen the quest window, there was nothing more to wait for.
"Hup!"
I grabbed a car door lying on the road and threw it.
The strength that had already transcended the level of an ordinary person created considerable speed.
Clang!
The Ma-in, who knocked away the door with his arm, turned his gaze toward me.
"Come on."
"Raaaaaaa!"
The Ma-in charged like a wild boar, raising all six arms upward.
'Activate Eye Power.'
Ping!
Along with a sensation as if all the neural circuits in my brain were overheating at once, my vision darkened to black and white.
'This is the authority of Eye Power.'
The name of the skill I purchased with my starter reward was Eye Power.
As the name suggests, it was a skill specialized in seeing.
Though the name seems modest at first glance, this is unquestionably a Tier 1 solid skill that all veteran players unanimously agree on.
'Having good eyes is a greater merit than you'd think.'
Even in light of 10 years of big data, taking Eye Power as your first skill guaranteed the highest survival rate.
'The biggest advantage is that it's a growth-type skill.'
It's no exaggeration to say it's an overpowered spec-breaking skill, as it can be strengthened into Clairvoyance, Insight, Foresight, etc., depending on proficiency.
'Even without developing it, it's sufficiently overpowered.'
The effect of Eye Power at this point is superhuman dynamic vision enhancement.
Not only does it allow you to capture each of the opponent's movements without missing anything, but with practice, you can also read the opponent's attacks through muscle movements and center of gravity.
'Just like this.'
"Graaaaarr!"
The Ma-in who had already rushed up to me swung his fist.
'I can see it!'
Each of the monster's muscle movements, his gaze, his posture—they all seemed to tell me in advance what attack would follow.
The first attack was a downward strike from above.
And that answer matched the Ma-in's pattern that I remembered.
Bang!
I jumped to the right and easily avoided the attack.
'Light.'
It was a light movement, almost as if gravity wasn't felt.
The reaction speed was also amazing, as if executing the signals from the brain without any buffering.
Swoosh! Whoosh!
I retreat while dodging the randomly swinging arms.
But each one was a pattern so familiar to me that it was boring.
Here he swings wide, and when the distance increases, he shoots straight...
'Exactly the same.'
That wasn't all.
To me now, the monster's posture, gaze, muscle movements, and center of gravity shifts were all so clearly visible.
All that visual information was hammered into my brain with perfect resolution.
And it became a certainty about what attack would come from where.
Knowing the pattern and having enhanced dynamic vision to back it up, I couldn't get hit even if I tried.
Whoosh!
After ducking to avoid a horizontally swung attack, I move two steps to the left to dodge another downward smash.
Crack!
The asphalt road smashed by his fist caved in greatly as if hit by a meteorite.
Truly brute force destruction.
If I got hit by that, my bones would surely be crushed.
'But I won't get hit.'
"Grrrrah!"
Though he had lost his reason, he seemed to get more agitated, as his attacks became increasingly powerful.
This was good news for me.
The larger his movements, the easier they were to see.
"Graaaaarr!"
The Ma-in's six tentacle-like arms relentlessly pounded toward me in excitement.
A moment's hesitation or error would surely turn me into minced meat.
But I felt not a trace of fear.
'Below!'
I jumped up to avoid the massive attack sweeping at my feet, then landed on his arm.
Hiss.
Before my shoes could melt from the thin layer of acid on his skin, I jumped again and kicked him in the glabella.
"Kieeeeeeee!"
The Ma-in, who had been laughing off bullets, backed away in pain from just one kick.
'So this is still the weak spot.'
More precisely, the glabella and eyeballs were the only vulnerable parts of his otherwise steel-like skin.
Bang! Boom!
While he was going berserk in pain, I backed away to catch my breath.
"Why is that person fighting so well?"
"Is he a professional hunter?"
I heard the astonished voices of armed police behind me.
"It's a face I've never seen before! He doesn't seem to be a hunter!"
"Can't you tell by looking at his face? He clearly looks like a high school student!"
They were at a loss, unable to shoot freely but also unable to approach.
"Graaaaarr!"
The Ma-in who had been raging in pain rushed at me.
But I could see everything.
As I ducked and stepped in, closing the distance, the Ma-in's cheeks puffed up like a frog.
"Blehhhh!"
Acidic liquid spewed out like vomit, engulfing me.
I rolled across the ground as if sweeping it and avoided the attack.
Hiss!
The asphalt melted, revealing the soil underneath.
"Now! Fire!"
Bang!
With the heavy firing sound of a sniper rifle, the Ma-in's head wobbled slightly.
But the shot that missed the glabella failed to deal any damage to him.
"Graaaaarr!"
Instead, the Ma-in, now more agitated, swung his arms in all directions, forcing me to back off.
Moreover.
Crack!
Fragments flew from the breaking asphalt road and pelted my body.
'That's quite painful.'
"Hey, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
I looked toward the police and added one more thing.
"You don't need to cover me, just focus on evacuating the citizens."
"O-okay."
I quickly check the status window in the corner of my vision.
[Time Remaining: 1 minute 42 seconds.]
At this rate, I could fill the time without any problem.
But.
'I could be a bit more ambitious.'
Aiming for a higher achievement score is a veteran's instinct.
"Kieeeeee!"
Bone fragments protruded like spikes from the arms of the Ma-in, who had entered phase 2.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
I retreated toward a dead-end building wall while avoiding consecutive attacks with short backdashes, weaving, and ducking.
"Dangerous!"
"Don't go that way! Dodge to the side!"
I raised the corner of my mouth listening to the shouts of onlookers.
'Got him.'
"Graaaah!"
Convinced he had cornered me in a dead end, the Ma-in jumped high and swung his arms in all directions—up, down, left, and right.
I lowered my body and did a forward roll between his legs, passing to his back.
Boom!
The Ma-in tried to turn around hurriedly to chase me, but his arms, embedded in the building wall, were firmly stuck due to the bone spikes he himself had created.
'As planned!'
With superhuman jumping power, I leaped up to his shoulder height and thrust my right hand into his large eye.
"Kieeeeeeeeee—!"
Splash!
After jumping back down from the raging monster's shoulder, my right hand held his bloody, crushed eyeball.
'Done.'
I landed while covering my nose and mouth with my sleeve to prevent any blood from entering.
"There! Stand back!"
The voice from behind me had already crossed in front of me.
Woosh!
Arrows that tore through the air pierced the Ma-in's arms, which had easily crushed concrete and cars.
"You fought well, thank you!"
The owner of the voice placed his palm on the Ma-in's head with ghost-like movement and fired a shockwave.
Boom!
With his brain concussed, the Ma-in fainted without even screaming.
"Restrain him."
The man commanded calmly.
"Yes sir!"
Immediately, the Execution Force members behind him bound the Ma-in with special restraints.
[Situation ended! Situation ended! The Ma-in has been successfully suppressed as of now!]
The quest was cleared.
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[Report on the extent of damage and casualties.]
"We estimate at least 30 partially damaged vehicles, about 20 destroyed streetlights and traffic lights, and casualties including 3 severely injured and 10 with minor injuries. There are no reported deaths so far."
[Huh.]
From beyond the radio, a sound of surprise and relief was heard in response to Inspector Lim Sang-wook's report.
[Better than expected. Did you say someone was holding him back until the Execution Force arrived?]
"That's correct."
[Who was it? A professional hunter? Or was it you?]
"Um, well..."
Even the seasoned Inspector Lim Sang-wook could only trail off awkwardly at this point.
"A boy I've never seen before."