Chapter 9: Inside the Gate

Sixth-level Awakened. This was a person who could easily clear C-rank Gates alone. Even the B-rank gate that Samuel's parents died in would be simple to clear if several sixth-level Awakened cooperated. If Rick had the same last name as the president of the Quan Group, he was surely related by blood. This was why he was able to afford a third-level bodyguard. Samuel had to think carefully whether he wanted to mess with the behemoth.

He glanced over at Rick. He activated the Eyes of Truth.

[Analysis]

[Name: Rick Quan]

[Title: None]

[Aspect: Copperhead]

[Race: Human]

[Mana Cultivation: Level 1]

[Stats:]

[Strength: 13]

[Vitality: 12]

[Agility: 15]

[Intelligence: 14]

[Willpower: 10]

'Rick is only first-level Awakened? He is surprisingly weak.' Samuel theorized that Rick was a branch family member or maybe even a bastard child. Or he was just lazy. Either way it was good for Samuel that Rick was weak.

"Thank you for the warning, Chief."

Of course, Samuel wasn't going to let the Quan Group's reputation deter him. He just needed to get stronger. Strong enough to protect himself. Strong enough that scum like Rick couldn't mess with him. Strong enough to find out who Mammon was. He needed to get strong enough to figure out the mystery of his Awakening and the Reincarnation Game. A flame of resolve lit in Samuel's heart. For the first time since his parents died, he had a goal in life. Now he was firmly cementing it in his heart, ready to pursue it.

After their short conversation, they rejoined the main group.

"Samuel will come in with us. He will stay near me." Anastasia announced to them. She then pointed at a random soldier nearby. "You. Give Samuel your backup pistol."

Of course, the soldier didn't dare to defy her order so he unholstered his pistol and handed it to Samuel. This was the standard issue QG-11 pistol manufactured by the Quan Group. It was equipped with kinetic-force technology to increase the bullet velocity. Although ineffective against most monsters, if the bullet struck a soft point like the eyes it could still cause considerable damage.

"Samuel will definitely be a hindrance to us!" Rick protested against the decision to bring Samuel in but unfortunately, Anastasia had already made up her mind.

"Rick, are you defying our chief's orders?" Akaash reprimanded Rick for his words.

"No. My bad, Chief." Rick let go of the matter but not before quipping at Samuel. "Maybe you'll sacrifice your other arm. Heh."

Samuel ignored his remarks. He inspected the pistol he just received. Although he would try to hide his Awakened abilities as long as he could, he would use them immediately if needed. There wasn't any point to hiding strength if he died because of it.

"Alright. Stoneburg Defenders, follow me. Now that the Gate has stabilized, we'll warp to the same location. Remember, stay in formation. Angela and Samuel, stay behind me. Lao, you're covering the rear. Everyone else, keep a tight spread between me and Lao.

"Yes, Chief!" They all said simultaneously.

The group of Awakened went into the Gate together, keeping in formation. When Samuel stepped into the Gate, he felt his vision distort and a nauseating feeling in his stomach. It felt like his whole body was bending and squishing for a few seconds before the sensation disappeared.

Immediately, he was greeted by a cold wind and the sight of a vast grasslands dotted with trees. In the distance was a barren forest, skeletal trees without any green. The horizon was a hazy, purple sky covered partially by clouds that were stained with color. The grassland was intersected by what looked like a gravel path. This was where the group was located. Behind them was the Gate.

"Holy shit. This is like a whole 'nother dimension!" Angela exclaimed.

"It really is. Seems like these Gates really do take you to other dimensions."

"Gates are basically pocket dimensions. Even though it looks like it stretches on forever, there's actually a boundary. Usually, it's clear to see like an ocean with no end in sight or stretches of forest as far as the eye can see. Anyone who tries to cross will disappear." Anastasia explained to the group.

Most of the guild members had never been in a Gate. Only Anastasia, who was the most experienced Awakened, had.

"Don't let your guard down. Anything can happen. Our objective is to locate the civilians who were sucked into the Gate."

When a Gate is first formed, any living beings nearby its point of formation is forcefully sucked into the Gate. For some reason, they are spit out randomly in the dimension. Scientists theorize that the unstability of the mana as they travel through what is essentially a wormhole causes random displacement.

As the Stoneburg Defenders continued forth, they spotted the first sign of life other than them.

About fifty meters away, standing next to the path on the grass, was a herd of deer. There were around ten of them, seemingly grazing. Of course, they were not regular deer. The most noticeable difference was that the deers' hair had streaks of dark green amongst the brown. On the head of most of the deer were antlers, light-grey in color but clearly sharp. The shafts of the antlers had small, but obviously sharp protrusions. It would certainly be painful if a person was gored by them. There was one other deer, presumably female, that didn't have antlers but instead had a patch of light blue on its head.

"Gale Deer. These are mutant deer. Just like their name, these deer can generate strong winds. The male ones can only use the wind to create a burst of acceleration, but the female ones can create projectiles made of wind that can puncture a hole through steel. Thankfully, there seems to only be one female.

"We have to be very careful. Akaash, kill the female one before we engage." Anastasia took charge.

While Anastasia was explaining, Samuel took the chance to use his Eyes of Truth on the deer. So far, he hadn't tried using it on any monsters.

[Gale Deer (Male)]

[Description: True to their name, the Gale Deer can create and utilize strong winds. The male gender augments their charge speed, surging forward to gore their target.]

[Stats:]

[Strength: 12-14]

[Vitality: 11-13]

[Agility: 16-19]

[Intelligence: 4-7]

[Willpower: 2-4]

[Abilities: Gale Charge]

[Gale Deer (Female)]

[Description: True to their name, the Gale Deer can create and utilize strong winds. The female gender creates sharp projectiles made of wind to pierce their target. They are more intelligent and controlling, opting to stay in the protection of their male counterparts.]

[Stats:]

[Strength: 10-12]

[Vitality: 10-12]

[Agility: 15-18]

[Intelligence: 10-13]

[Willpower: 3-5]

[Abilities: Gale Missile, ???]

Samuel noticed that the second ability of the female deer was unknown. It became clear to him that the Eyes of Truth were not all-powerful. He speculated that there was some sort of internal database that the Eyes of Truth utilized. Maybe if the female deer used that ability, it would update.

Akaash drew his bow and aimed an arrow. At this distance, he didn't even need to use his Eagle Eyes to accurately strike the head of the deer. He let loose the arrow and it shot towards the female Gale Deer in the middle of the herd.

But the cry of death was unheard. The female deer somehow detected the arrow coming and she leaped forward into the air, propelled forward by wind. She didn't dodge the arrow, but instead of striking the head it lodged into her side.

Letting out a snort, the female deer signaled danger to the others. The male deer all turned towards the group of Awakened, antlers bared and hooves raking dirt.

"Weapons free!" The two groups began their battle. The male deer charged while the gunners began to fire. Akaash nocked arrow after arrow, focus-firing on the female deer. But now that it was alert, it kept using its wind propulsion to dodge the arrows. Luckily, Akaash's barrage kept it from easily using its Gale Missiles, as it needed to focus on dodging.

Bullets flew everywhere, many of them hitting the male deer. Two of the charging deer collapsed before reaching the group, but the rest continued closing the distance. Grandpa Hu morphed into his muscle form and charged forward as well, meeting two of the deer in a melee confrontation. Ariana threw two discs made of green energy at a deer, one slicing through an antler and another halfway into its neck. That deer staggered a bit but continued its charge until someone shot it in the head, stopping it completely.

At this point, the rest of the four deer had nearly made it into the ranks of the group's formation. Samuel watched as Angela blazed on her hands and slipped past a deer, weaving attacks in while circling it.

Anastasia squatted down and put her hands out with her fingers outstretched. The muscles in her hands and feet went taut, and she nearly instantaneously dashed under the deer in front of her. Somehow, she contorted her tall body to slide under the deer and she grabbed its neck with both hands, squeezing tightly.

She wrestled with the deer as it struggled, keeping her hands wrapped around its neck throughout. Eventually, the deer stopped struggling and when she let go, it fell limply on the ground. There were clear impressions of her hand on the neck, a brutal sight to see.

Immediately after, she dashed towards another deer and took it down in the exact same manner.

Samuel shuddered, thinking about what would happen if she used that strength against a human being.

'She could probably wring the neck of a gorilla.' Throughout this battle, Samuel was just watching. Then, he saw a deer get close to Rick. He seemed to panic slightly before the man he called Uncle Bo took action.

Mr. Bo glared at the deer, causing it to stop in its tracks, before he took the staff from his back and swung it down at the deer, smashing it into the dirt. From there, he hooked the staff onto the antlers and launched it several meters away. He then straightened his back and slammed the staff into the ground, reclaiming his position behind Rick.

There were two things that Samuel gathered from that. First, the fact that this Mr. Bo could use the same or similar ability as Rick. Second, this Mr. Bo was very strong as he could utilize a wooden staff to launch a heavy deer.

Grandpa Hu was finishing up his brutal slaughter of the two deer he was fighting with. One had its neck broken while the other was in the process of having its head smashed in.

Angela finished her fight with a badly burnt deer, dead on the gravel path.

Finally, the female deer had a couple more arrows stuck in its body. Akaash got better at predicting the path that the deer would dodge in, adjusting his aim to hit more accurately. He shot one last arrow that penetrated through the head of the female deer and it collapsed.

The whole battle took all of three minutes and only Grandpa Hu had some gashes on his leg.

Before they had a chance to rest, Anastasia called out.

"Catch your breath while we walk, there are civilians waiting for rescue. We will come back later for the Gale Deer."

The group returned to formation and continued to march along the gravel path. After ten minutes of walking, they saw something in the distance.

A lone tree stood in the center of the grasslands. Hiding at the tree was a human. His back was against the tree and he was occasionally looking past it at something. On his face was a terrified expression and the group would soon see why.

Past the tree, in the middle of the grass was a herd of over a hundred Gale Deer.