Strongest Necromancer System Chapter 5: Red Gate

The left boy swiftly reached back and drew forth a knife he'd prepared for any possible mishaps. He waved it menacingly in Jason's direction and bellowed loudly, ordering him to remain at a distance.

"I'll stab ya! Stay back!"

Jason glanced at the blade briefly, noting the boy's grip on it. He assessed the fellow's posture along with the trembling in his hands from sheer fright, realizing there was no real threat from him. Having a tool meant nothing if you lacked the damn skill to wield it properly!

Yet it remained a hazard, so Jason resolved to handle this kid first!

With hands up, Jason lunged ahead, and the boy instantly shouted while retreating and flailing the knife wildly side to side! He seemed more like he was fending off a beast than facing off against a person!

Jason deftly dodged the trio of knife swings, then closed in on the boy's personal area! He seized the boy's arm beneath his own and yanked him near, simultaneously thrusting his knee into the kid's gut!

Bam!

The boy let out a sharp cry of agony, yet Jason pressed on. He twisted the boy's arm over his shoulder and hurled him around effortlessly before crashing his back onto the ground with force!

Bang!

The knife tumbled away as the boy clutched his back in torment, and Jason snatched it up, handling it with expert flair before pivoting toward the remaining boy. The kid stared at his two companions as if witnessing the unbelievable! Aware that he was inferior to them both, he understood there was zero chance he'd overcome Jason in any lifetime!

Jason advanced toward the boy, who lifted his hands while screaming in pure terror.

"Wait! Wait, please! I'm sorry, alright! I'm sorry! It was just a joke! I swear, we weren't really going to burn the— Oof!"

The boy yelped as a palm struck his cheek in a fierce smack, sending him sprawling onto his rear while cradling his face in suffering. Jason glowered at him from above, then crouched to meet his gaze! He yanked off the boy's mask and squeezed his cheeks in one hand, snarling furiously at him.

"A joke? This is what you view as a damn joke? That's a person's existence you aimed to destroy? A mother's livelihood! Someone's sole chance! You believe driving folks into despair is just a hilarious prank?!"

Slap!

Jason delivered another sharp slap, knocking the boy flat as he groaned in distress. Rage boiled within Jason right then, intensified by the boy's dismissal of torching his mother's eatery as mere fun! He was appalled at how low society's standards had sunk!

As long as it spared them personally, they showed no concern! They'd scorch another's world to ashes and chuckle like it was nothing more than lighthearted banter!

Jason exhaled deeply while scanning the three boys to confirm they were subdued. Satisfied they wouldn't rise, he fished out his phone to summon the authorities for their arrest, but prior to dialing, a shift rippled through the atmosphere!

The narrow passage they occupied abruptly throbbed, as if a mighty force had swept across it, and directly before Jason's view, a crimson ring ripped through the void.

'Red Gate.'

This thought alone raced through Jason's head in that instant, and without pausing to deliberate, he spun and bolted like a fiend! Jason wasn't spineless, for he'd charge into peril on the bleakest day to safeguard his dear ones! However, he recognized this wasn't the time for heroism!

A Red Gate demanded a C-rank guild boasting at least five C-rank hunters plus several D-ranks to conquer. The notion of enduring inside was beyond impossible for him! He'd perish outright if ensnared within!

Yet before Jason could escape far, the gate's inexorable tug yanked him backward! Its vortex ensnared everything nearby, ensuring any hapless soul nearby got swiftly devoured, and Jason was effortlessly hoisted off his feet, slamming face-first down!

Jason swore as he scraped desperately to escape the Gate's grasp, but its force proved unyielding! It felt akin to a cord bound to his ankle, hauling him by a speeding vehicle!

Jason caught the screams of the other lads in the alley as they too were drawn into the Gate, and he bellowed profanities while soaring airborne and vanishing into the portal!

…

Inside the Gate, Jason tumbled across the terrain and sprang upright at once! He adopted a low stance, scanning his surroundings with utmost caution.

The other three lads remained sprawled and whimpering from the abrupt yank, but Jason ignored them entirely.

He strained to remember all he'd gleaned about Gates from broadcasts and his always-online peers, with one persistent memory being a classmate's shriek that none sucked into a Gate upon its emergence ever emerged breathing.

[They're all doomed! The monsters will shred them before Superhumans can reach them!]

Those were her precise words, and Jason rejected the grim notion, banishing it swiftly! No way in hell would he perish in this place!

They'd landed in a dense woodland of towering trees and thick underbrush. Darkness prevailed, pierced only by moonbeams sifting through the branches, and as Jason advanced, his foot squelched in a shallow pool on the damp earth.

'I'm in a marsh? No, recent rain. The foliage is soaked. Fine, it's a woodland. Beasts could lurk anywhere, so stay alert and seek shelter till Superhumans show up.'

Jason hastily devised a survival strategy. He understood exiting via the Gate was hopeless. The influx that dragged him prevented departure until the Gate Boss fell.

Thus, he needed the Superhumans to arrive, vanquish the threat, and only then could he depart! Jason drew a steadying breath to compose himself. Panic wouldn't help here. Composure and logical planning were his sole paths to endurance!

Jason searched nearby for his phone, but it was nowhere in sight, and he deduced it had dropped amid the frenzy. Unsure if devices even functioned within the Gate, his sole recourse was concealment!

"Get up and follow me."

Jason addressed the nearby boys softly as he crept sideways. They lingered groaning on the ground, one clutching his midsection as discomfort peaked. Jason shot him an irritated glare.

"Quit whining and rise! I didn't strike you that fiercely, you damn weakling!"

Growl~!

A feral rumble pierced Jason's ears moments later, freezing him like prey in a beam! Footfalls drew nearer through the woods, and Jason instantly grasped that Magic beasts approached!

Jason hissed to the boys!

"Hey, get up! Get up and move!"

…

A/N: I'm not going to put this up a lot since I think it's really up to you guys, but I really love it when you guys give me powerstones and golden tickets. It feels great and it makes me want to write even better Chapters every time. So please, vote in any small way you can. It'll mean the world to me.