The Incheon Harbor district didn't look like a battlefield; it looked like a graveyard.
A heavy, sulfurous fog rolled off the Yellow Sea, clinging to the rusted shipping containers like a shroud. Normally, this place would be buzzing with the sounds of cranes and diesel engines, but today, the only sound was the rhythmic thump-thump of the Association's mana-stabilizers.
I stood at the edge of the designated "Safe Zone," my hands shoved deep into the pockets of my black hoodie. Around me, the elite vanguard of the Yoo-Hwa Guild was preparing for the raid. These were A-rank veterans, men and women clad in enchanted titanium and carrying weapons that cost more than my mother's apartment.
To them, I was a ghost. A "Porter." A piece of furniture that carried extra mana stones and water.
[Notice: 'Dragon's Eye' is scanning the perimeter.]
[Detection: 42 High-Rank Mana Signatures (Friendly).]
[Detection: 1 Void-Anomaly (Target).]
The Red Gate was a jagged, bleeding wound in the air, hovering twenty feet above a stack of derelict containers. It wasn't the bruised purple of the B-rank Gate; it was a violent, pulsing crimson. Sparks of unstable reality showered the ground beneath it, melting the asphalt into glass.
"Eyes on me, everyone!"
Yoo Sae-rin walked to the center of the group. She was in full combat gear—crystalline armor that shimmered with an internal frost. She looked every bit the 'Ice Queen' the media adored, but through my [Dragon's Eye], I could see the slight tremor in her mana. She was terrified.
"The Association has classified this as a Type-Red anomaly," Sae-rin announced, her voice projected by a wind-spell. "Internal spatial mapping is impossible. Once we cross the threshold, the Gate will close behind us. We stay in a tight diamond formation. Porters in the center. If you fall behind, we cannot come back for you."
She didn't look at me, but I felt the weight of her gaze for a split second.
"Move out!"
As we approached the crimson rift, the air grew thick with the smell of scorched ozone. The closer we got, the more my [Eternal Solar Core] began to vibrate. It wasn't just hunger anymore; it was recognition.
[Warning: Resonance with Red Gate is reaching critical levels.]
[Synchronization: 4.8% -> 4.9%.]
[The System is attempting to 'Interface' with the Gate-Spirit.]
Not yet, I thought, gritting my teeth against the sudden spike in temperature in my chest. If I flare now, the Association sensors will fry.
I stepped through the rift.
The transition was like being shoved through a meat grinder made of ice. My vision fractured, my equilibrium shattered, and for a heartbeat, I felt the terrifying sensation of being pulled apart into a billion atoms.
Then, I hit the ground. Hard.
"Form up! Diamond formation, now!" Sae-rin's scream cut through the ringing in my ears.
I scrambled to my feet, shaking the salt-heavy fog from my hair. We weren't in the harbor anymore. We were on a massive, jagged pier made of black obsidian that stretched out into an endless sea of silver mercury. Above us, there was no sky—only a churning vortex of red clouds and lightning.
"Where are the scouts?" one of the A-rank tanks yelled, his shield glowing with a golden light. "I can't see anything in this fog!"
"Scouts are dark!" Sae-rin replied, her hands already glowing with frost. "Shields up! Something is coming from the water!"
I didn't need a scout. My [Dragon's Eye] saw the heat signatures rising from the silver sea. They were massive, elongated shapes, moving with a fluid, predatory grace.
[Identity: 'Abyssal Serpent-Hounds' (Rank: A).]
[Trait: Spatial Phasing. They do not occupy physical space until they strike.]
"To the left!" I shouted, the words slipping out before I could stop them.
The A-rank tank hesitated for a second—why would he listen to a porter?—but Sae-rin didn't. She threw a spear of pure ice toward the empty air on the left flank.
CRACK.
The ice spear didn't hit the fog; it hit a physical body that materialized an inch before impact. A Serpent-Hound, ten feet of corded muscle and oily black scales, shrieked as the ice pierced its throat.
The silence of the Red Gate was broken. From the silver water, hundreds of the creatures erupted, their eyes glowing with a sickly red light that matched the clouds above.
"Defensive positions!" Sae-rin commanded.
The battle was a chaotic symphony of steel and mana. The Yoo-Hwa veterans were good—they fought with a precision that comes from years of high-rank raiding. Flames turned the fog to steam; lightning arced through the ranks of the hounds. But for every one they killed, three more seemed to slide out of the mercury sea.
"They aren't stopping!" the healer cried out, her mana-reserve dropping. "Sae-rin, we're being overwhelmed!"
I stood in the center of the formation, my hand gripping the strap of my equipment bag. I watched an A-ranker take a claw to the shoulder, his armor shredding like paper. I watched the fear begin to settle in their eyes.
This was the "Harvest" Sae-rin had talked about. This Gate wasn't a dungeon to be cleared; it was an arena designed to exhaust the strong before the Vanguard arrived.
[Notice: 'Sovereign's Command' (Rank: S) is available for use.]
[Cost: 200 Aether Units.]
[Target: Low-Rank Spirits and Monsters.]
It's too early, I argued with the System. If I use it, the Guild will see.
[Warning: Yoo Sae-rin's Mana Heart is at 12% capacity.]
[Probability of Ally Death: 84%.]
I looked at Sae-rin. She was pale, her frost-walls cracking under the relentless assault of a 'Greater Serpent-Hound'—a Rank-A+ beast that stood twenty feet tall. It raised a massive, webbed claw, its spatial-phasing making it immune to her desperate ice-bolts.
I sighed. My "F-Rank Mask" was about to become a lot harder to wear.
I dropped my bag. I didn't use [Aether Step]—I simply walked through the panicked ranks of the A-rankers. They were too busy dying to notice the "Porter" moving toward the front line.
I stepped out of the diamond formation, standing directly between Sae-rin and the Greater Hound.
"Jin-woo! Get back!" Sae-rin screamed, her voice breaking. "You'll be killed!"
I didn't turn around. I looked the monster in its three glowing eyes. I felt the [Eternal Solar Core] flare, not with fire, but with the cold, absolute authority of a King.
"Kneel," I whispered.
The word wasn't loud, but it carried a frequency that vibrated the very foundations of the obsidian pier.
[Skill: 'Sovereign's Command' - Activated.]
The effect was instantaneous and terrifying. The Greater Serpent-Hound, a beast that had been tearing through A-rank armor seconds ago, suddenly froze. Its red eyes flickered, turning a dull, submissive gold.
With a sound like grinding stones, the massive creature collapsed to its belly, its head pressing into the obsidian at my feet.
Behind me, the entire Yoo-Hwa Guild went silent. The sounds of clashing steel and elemental magic died away as every single Serpent-Hound on the pier—hundreds of them—followed their leader. They didn't just stop attacking; they bowed.
The silver sea went still. The red lightning stopped.
"What... what did you do?" Sae-rin whispered, her ice-aura flickering out.
I looked down at the Greater Hound. I could feel its mind—a primitive, terrified thing that recognized the "Dragon" inside me. To this creature, I wasn't a human; I was the source of its very existence.
"I gave an order," I said, my voice sounding deeper, layered with a draconic echo.
I turned back to the Guild. They were looking at me with an expression that was worse than pity or contempt. It was pure, unadulterated horror. They saw an F-rank boy who had just silenced a Red Gate with a single word.
[Notice: Synchronization increasing.]
[4.9%... 5.0%... 5.2%!]
[Milestone Reached: The 'Sovereign's Presence' is now permanent.]
"Jin-woo..." Sae-rin stepped toward me, her hand reaching out, but then she stopped. She could feel the pressure now—the gravity-warping aura of the 5% Sovereign.
"The Vanguard is here," I said, looking up at the red vortex.
The clouds parted. A single ship, made of polished obsidian and glowing with white Aether, began to descend from the sky. It didn't have sails or engines; it rode on the fabric of space itself.
On the prow of the ship stood three figures. They wore the same armor as the man from the B-rank Gate, but their banners were different. These were red.
"The Harvest Team," I muttered.
I looked at the Yoo-Hwa Guild—the "Elite" hunters who were now shivering in the wake of my presence.
"Sae-rin," I said, not looking back. "If you want to live, tell your people to stay behind me. And tell them to never speak of what they are about to see."
"Jin-woo, you can't fight them alone!"
"I'm not alone," I said, a dark smile playing on my lips.
I looked at the hundreds of Serpent-Hounds kneeling on the pier.
"Rise," I commanded.
The monsters stood. But they didn't look at the Guild. They turned toward the descending ship, their jaws unhinging to reveal rows of spatial-tearing teeth.
"Protect your Sovereign," I ordered.
The hounds let out a roar that shook the silver sea, and for the first time in history, a Gate's own monsters began to fight for the Hunter.
Incheon Harbor: External Command Center
Director Song stared at the monitor. The feed from the Red Gate had been cut five minutes ago, but the mana-sensors were going haywire.
"Director! The Aether levels inside the Gate just jumped by 1,000%!" the technician shouted. "It's not mana. It's... it's the 'Void' signature from the tablets!"
Song gripped the edge of the desk. "Is it the Vanguard?"
"We don't know, sir! But something just killed the spatial stabilizers from the inside. The Gate is... it's expanding! It's going to swallow the entire harbor!"
Song looked at the last frame of video before the feed died. It was a grainy image of a boy in a black hoodie, standing alone in front of a tide of monsters.
"Get the National Security Council on the line," Song said, his voice cold. "Tell them the 'Dragon' has woken up. And tell them to pray it's on our side."