Chapter 34: C-Rank Gate

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: C-Rank Gate

"My name is Titus," the man in bronze said, once the assembled hunters had settled into something resembling order.

"I’m a C-Rank hunter under the Association’s main division. I’ll be leading the main strike force today."

His voice carried easily across the staging ground without him needing to raise it much.

Jason could faintly sense that he was pumping essence into his voice to make it travel further than it should’ve

The four behind him stood loosely at ease, unbothered by the attention of thirty strangers.

"Scouts confirmed this Gate’s crawling with E and F-Rank monsters in numbers well beyond what my team could clear alone.

A scattering of D-Ranks mixed in for good measure. That’s why thirty of you were called in."

He glanced over the gathered hunters, assessing each face in turn like he was cataloguing which ones might actually be useful. "Minimum payout’s twelve thousand per person regardless of what you personally clear. Notable individual contributions get rewarded on top of that."

A low murmur of approval passed through the crowd.

"Any questions, ask now. Once we’re through, there’s no easy way back until the Gate’s cleared or collapses on its own."

Nobody spoke up.

"Good. Move out."

Cassius leaned toward Jason as the group began shuffling forward. "Twelve thousand minimum. Not bad for a day’s work."

"Not bad at all."

"You seem calm about it."

"I’ve had a decent month," Jason said, which was, if anything, an understatement.

"Lucky you." Cassius grinned, unbothered, falling into step beside him. "I’ve had a mediocre year, so this is basically Christmas."

---

The Gate itself towered over the staging ground, a shimmering vertical seam of light easily three times the height of any Jason had stepped through before, wide enough that the entire assembled group could have walked through shoulder to shoulder without crowding.

Even from a distance, the air around it seemed to hum faintly, a low, resonant pressure that Jason could feel against his skin well before he reached the threshold.

Stepping through felt different this time too, the usual brief static tingle stretching out longer, heavier, like passing through something with actual mass to it rather than a simple curtain of light.

The space on the other side stole the breath out of half the gathered hunters at once.

A vast cavern opened out before them, ceiling lost somewhere in a haze of pale luminescent fog, ambient mana so dense it felt almost visible, drifting through the air in faint, shifting currents that caught the light strangely, curling and dispersing like smoke that had forgotten how to fully dissolve.

"Gods," someone muttered nearby.

"Never seen anything like this," Skyler said quietly, close enough for only Jason to hear. "And I’ve been doing this for years."

Jason understood the reaction immediately. He’d never felt mana density like this outside of the private training rooms in the Veryon clan.

And even those had been a controlled fraction of whatever saturated this place naturally.

’This is what a proper C-Rank Gate actually feels like.’

Most of the thirty auxiliary hunters clearly had no real frame of reference for a Gate this size either, expressions ranging from wide-eyed wonder to poorly hidden nerves, a few of the younger looking recruits actually stopping mid-step to stare upward at the fog-shrouded ceiling until a companion tugged them forward.

Only Titus’s own team moved through it with any real composure, clearly no strangers to something on this scale, already scanning the cavern with the practiced disinterest of people who’d long since stopped being impressed by mana density alone.

Wen exhaled slowly beside him. "I can feel my cultivation practically drinking this in just standing here."

"Wish we could just sit and cultivate instead of fighting," Cassius said. "Feels like a waste to just walk through it."

"Feel free to suggest that to Titus," Reeve said dryly. "Let me know how it goes."

The instant Jason crossed the boundary fully, something shifted in his chest.

Subtle. Barely there. A faint quickening in his blood that had nothing to do with the mana density or the nerves settling over the crowd around him, something that felt like it was reacting to the place itself rather than anything currently visible.

He paused, just for a heartbeat, trying to place it.

’What was that?’

It faded before he could examine it properly, and with thirty hunters and a war party’s worth of monsters ahead of him, he filed the sensation away for later.

’Later. Deal with the Gate first.’

---

Titus gathered the group near a wide branching chamber a short distance in, seven distinct paths splitting off from the central hub, each marked by a faint, shifting glow along its entrance, the light pulsing gently in a rhythm that felt almost like breathing.

"Six of these lead through E and F-Rank territory, with a few D-Rank stragglers mixed through," Titus explained, pointing them out in turn, his voice carrying the flat, practiced cadence of someone who’d given this kind of briefing more than once.

"Your job is simple. Clear what you can, take the cores, keep the ordinary loot you find along the way. Materials, equipment, anything that isn’t a monster core, that’s yours to keep. Cores belong to the expedition."

He gestured toward the seventh path, its entrance glowing a noticeably deeper, more saturated color than the rest, almost pulsing with a heavier, more insistent light.

"This one’s C-Rank territory. That’s mine and my team’s problem, not yours. Anyone who wanders down that path without an invitation is on their own, and I promise you won’t enjoy finding out why."

"Comforting," Skyler muttered, echoing almost exactly what she’d said before their first raid together.

"It’s meant to be a warning, not comfort," Titus said, apparently overhearing despite the distance. "Split into your groups. We move in ten minutes."

The auxiliary hunters broke apart around them, smaller squads forming up near their assigned paths, a low buzz of nervous chatter filling the chamber as people checked gear one last time.

"Which path are we taking?" Cassius asked, glancing between the six glowing entrances.

"Whichever Reeve says," Skyler said. "He’s the one who actually reads the scouting notes."

Reeve was already studying a small paper map, comparing it against the numbered markings above each path.

"Third one. Scout notes say fewer D-Rank stragglers than the others, better odds for us given the group size.

Although the guide did say that some of the paths might intersect at some points."

"You’re efficient," Cassius said, approvingly. "I like a man who plans."

Jason glanced toward the seventh path a moment longer than the others, the faint quickening in his chest stirring again, quieter this time but unmistakably present, a low, persistent pull he couldn’t quite name.

’That’s not just curiosity. That’s something.’

He shook the thought off and turned back toward his own group, spear settling comfortably against his shoulder.

’Later.’