"It was bad enough that it's a red gate, but does it have to be in this heated desert?" she said, following Min-Jae through the seemingly endless expanse of sand.
"Well, can't do anything about it. Strangely enough, the beasts are taking a long time to attack. Maybe they realized they don't stand a chance," Min-Jae replied.
She sighed slightly. "By the way, we've left the gate behind—the entrance. If we defeat the dungeon boss, wouldn't it be a problem to find it again?"
"Don't worry. You just have to focus on getting your practice done," he said, then stopped walking abruptly. "And your next opponents are already here, it seems. After scorpions, now lizards."
---
From beneath the sand, massive lizard-like creatures erupted. Their scales were a mottled brown and gray, perfectly camouflaged against the desert. Their eyes glowed faintly yellow, and their mouths opened to reveal rows of needle-sharp teeth. A total of twelve of them.
One of them dove back underground immediately, burrowing with unsettling speed. Another opened its mouth and spat a glob of green, viscous liquid toward Han Semi.
She raised her hand instinctively. "Wind Barrier!"
The barrier formed, but the poison spit splattered against it, sizzling and eating through the wind magic faster than she expected. She stumbled back, her eyes widening.
"They can burrow underground and attack from below," Min-Jae warned. "And their poison is corrosive. Be careful."
"Right," she muttered, trying to steady her breathing.
She swept her arm forward. "Cyclone Strike!"
The vortex of wind caught one of the lizards mid-lunge, slamming it into the sand. But before she could follow up, another lizard burst from the ground directly beneath her.
Its jaws snapped toward her leg—
—and stopped inches away.
Min-Jae had raised his hand, Infinity halting the creature mid-strike. It thrashed against the invisible barrier, unable to advance.
"Well," Min-Jae said, lowering his hand as the lizard fell back to the ground, "I don't think the training will continue now. They're higher B-Rank, closing in on A-Rank in combat." He glanced at her. "I guess we can postpone your training."
Han Semi opened her mouth to protest, but before she could, Min-Jae raised his left hand.
"Blue."
A sphere of compressed gravitational force formed in front of him, glowing with that intense blue light. The pull activated instantly.
All twelve lizards were violently dragged toward the focal point, their bodies scraping across the sand as they struggled against the overwhelming force. They collided with each other, compressed into a writhing mass at the center of the gravitational field.
Min-Jae clenched his fist.
The gravitational pressure intensified. The lizards screeched as their bodies were crushed inward, bones snapping, scales cracking. Within seconds, the mass of creatures collapsed into lifeless heaps.
Silence returned to the desert.
Han Semi stood there, still catching her breath, staring at the scene. "You could've just done that from the start."
"Yeah. But you needed the experience."
She gave him a look. "Experience almost got me bitten."
"But it didn't." He smiled slightly.
They started walking again, the sand crunching beneath their feet.
"By the way," Han Semi said after a moment, "what did you mean by 'training later'?"
Min-Jae glanced at her. "After we leave this place, you'll train with me. Properly. Not just a few days with Gina and Lee."
"You're serious about this."
"Completely. You have potential. No point wasting it."
She didn't respond immediately, but there was a small smile on her face.
---
They continued through the desert for another twenty minutes. The heat was relentless, but Min-Jae seemed unbothered, and Han Semi was doing her best to keep up.
Then, more movement ahead.
"More scorpions," Min-Jae said, his tone flat.
These were different from the first group. Larger, with darker exoskeletons that seemed to absorb the sunlight rather than reflect it. Their stingers dripped with venom that sizzled when it hit the sand.
"They're stronger than the first ones," Han Semi observed.
"Yeah. High B-Rank, at least."
Min-Jae didn't bother giving her a chance to try. He raised his hand, and with a flick of his wrist, the scorpions were seized by telekinesis and crushed from the inside. They dropped to the sand in heavy thuds.
"Let's keep moving," he said.
---
After another ten minutes, they reached a large clearing surrounded by towering dunes.
And in the center, standing motionless, were the golems.
Five of them. Massive humanoid figures made of compacted sand and stone, their eyes glowing with an eerie yellow light. The largest one stood in the center, easily twice the size of the others—its body reinforced with jagged rock formations that jutted out like armor.
"That's the boss," Min-Jae said, his eyes narrowing.
Han Semi took a step back instinctively. "They're all A-Rank, aren't they?"
"Yeah."
The golems began to move. The ground trembled with each step they took, sand cascading off their bodies. The boss raised one massive arm, and a boulder-sized chunk of rock formed in its hand. It hurled it toward them with devastating force.
Min-Jae didn't flinch. He raised his hand, and the boulder stopped mid-air, held by Infinity. With a flick of his wrist, he sent it flying back, smashing into one of the smaller golems and shattering part of its shoulder.
The golem barely staggered.
"They're durable," Min-Jae muttered.
The other golems charged. The ground shook violently, and cracks spread through the sand beneath them. One of the golems slammed its fist into the ground, and a shockwave of sand and stone erupted outward in all directions.
Han Semi put on her barrier, which held back for moment, as much as it needed to , as Min-Jae was already on the move.
"Stay back!" Min-Jae called.
He took off his sunglasses and placed them gently on Han Semi's head. "I'll take care of them for now. Next time we get inside a gate, I'll make you strong enough to fight on your own."
Before she could respond, he teleported.
---
Min-Jae reappeared directly in front of the boss golem. Its massive fist came down toward him—
—and stopped against Infinity.
The golem pushed harder, its entire body straining, but it couldn't move an inch closer.
Min-Jae raised his right hand. "Red."
A sphere of repulsive force detonated point-blank against the golem's chest. The creature was blasted backward, crashing into one of the smaller golems and sending both tumbling across the sand.
The remaining golems converged on him from all sides. One swung a massive stone arm. Another unleashed a barrage of sand spikes. The third slammed both fists into the ground, creating another shockwave.
Min-Jae didn't move.
All the attacks stopped against Infinity, suspended in mid-air around him.
He raised both hands.
With telekinesis, he seized all five golems simultaneously. Their massive bodies lifted off the ground, struggling against the invisible force.
Then he clenched both fists.
The golems were compressed inward, their stone bodies cracking and shattering under the pressure. The boss golem resisted longer than the others, its rock armor holding for a few extra seconds—
—but it wasn't enough.
With a final burst of telekinetic force, all five golems shattered completely, their remains scattering across the sand in a cloud of dust and debris.
Silence.
Min-Jae lowered his hands and walked back toward Han Semi, who was still standing there, wide-eyed.
"That was..." she started.
"A-Rank Boss," Min-Jae finished. "That's why I didn't let you get close."
She nodded slowly, still processing what she'd just seen.
Min-Jae walked ahead as Han Semi followed soon after him. "Come on. Let's go towards the exit."
"Your sunglass." She handed it towards him, as he took it, and put in on her.
"You look cute in it." He said
---
Soon, they reached the gate, which was now blue like normal once again, like it was before they entered inside. As they walked out, but surprisingly enough, they were met with a few familiar faces, as the gate behind them closed.