I arrived at the assigned gate zone twenty minutes early—Zone F-12.
The gate itself looked like a shimmering vertical crack in space, pulsing faintly.
I wasn't the first to arrive. A guy in cargo pants with forearms textured like rough granite was already there, stretching his shoulders awkwardly.
From the mission info I skimmed on the way here, that had to be Bryce. Short brown hair, laid-back posture. His power? Turning parts of his body into stone.
Bryce spotted me first as I approached the gate zone. "Yo!" he called out, standing up from his squat. "You John?"
"Yeah," I said with a nod.
He walked over, offering a hand. His grip was solid, like he was already sizing me up.
"Bryce," he said. "I can turn parts of my body into stone. Arms, chest, whatever I need." He grinned. "Not the flashiest thing, but it works. Great for blocking hits and smashing skulls."
"Mostly blocking," Emma added as she strolled over from behind him.
She had bright red hair tied up into a loose ponytail, with a casual confidence in the way she moved. Her wrist device sparked with a small flame as she flicked it open—twirling the fire effortlessly between her fingers.
"Emma," she said, nodding at me. "I can control fire—but I can't make it myself, so I carry this little guy around." She held up her striker. "Comes in handy when you're dealing with monsters that don't like heat."
Emma turned back to me. "You?"
"Super strength," I said, keeping my tone casual. I wasn't lying, just… leaving a few things out.
Bryce perked up. "Strength, huh? Like, how strong?"
I shrugged. "Strong enough."
He cracked his knuckles. "Wanna arm wrestle?"
Emma groaned. "Seriously?"
"What? Gotta know what kind of muscle we've got backing us up!"
I smiled. "Sure. Why not."
We dropped to the ground. I clasped his hand, and for a moment, I felt almost nothing. Then his arm hardened—dense, rough, and unyielding like a boulder.
I pretended to struggle a little. Just enough to make it look fair.
Then I slammed his arm down in one clean swing.
"Damn…" Bryce exhaled a soft laugh. "So that's what real super strength feels like."
"Don't worry, Bryce," Emma said with a teasing smile, patting his back. "I bet you're more durable than him."
By the way she said it, the way they moved around each other—yeah. Definitely a couple.
The last to arrive was Kane.
He looked… sharp. Black suit. Perfectly pressed. Carried himself like someone important. The faint smell of cologne trailed behind him, too clean for this kind of job.
"Sorry. Am I late?" he asked, adjusting his glasses.
"Barely," Bryce said. Emma nodded politely.
Kane had a black staff strapped to his back—slim, lacquered, elegant. Definitely not just for show. Had to be a magic type.
Magic types were rare.
Unlike superpowers, magic was more flexible, customizable. It lacked raw power, sure, but came with greater control and utility.
Since this was a confirmed and pre-approved gate, a League operator walked over to us. She scanned our IDs with a wrist tablet and nodded.
"You four are clear for Gate Entry. Spinehounds confirmed inside. Stay within the one-hour safety window. If you're not back by then, reinforcements will be dispatched."
The League didn't leave everything to heroes.
They had their own elite task forces—government-assigned super agents, often deployed only when necessary.
We called them the Super Task Force. The League's final hammer.
If a team failed to clear a gate, the STF came in to wipe it off the map.
With the checks done, we gathered and stepped into the gate.
The world twisted instantly.
A cold rush passed through my body, like my skin and bones were briefly pulled through a vacuum.
Then, darkness.
The sky above flickered with sickly hues—purples and greens bleeding together like bruised twilight. The trees were dead, twisted, their limbs stretched like broken fingers.
Kane tapped his staff on the ground, whispering something I couldn't hear. I figured it was a detection spell, or something to measure mana presence.
"Stay together," Emma said quietly. "Spinehounds don't hit hard, but they coordinate. They'll circle and bleed you dry with those bone-blades of theirs. Don't let them surround you."
She sounded like she knew her stuff.
In truth, many monsters had been recorded already—patterns, behaviors, weaknesses. A lot of gates recycled the same types. Only in higher-ranked gates did you run into truly unknown threats.
But even low-tier gates could kill you if you let your guard down.
I glanced at Kane, who had been standing still for a few minutes now, his staff lightly touching the ground.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Using my wind magic to scan the air," he replied without looking up. "Think of it like sonar… but with air instead of sound waves."
"Isn't that still sonar?" I asked. "I mean, it's called echolocation if you use air. Like bats."
He turned to me, eyes slightly wider with surprise.
"…That is the better term," he said, nodding thoughtfully. "Echolocation. Yes. I like that."
Thank you, hours of animal documentaries.
While Kane worked his spell, the others stayed quiet.
It gave me time to think—and maybe explain a few things for anyone new to this hero business.
Gates generally fell into two mission types: Quest or Extermination.
Quest-type gates usually had a target. A boss, a cursed object, sometimes a relic that needed to be destroyed or removed. The gate didn't close until that specific task was completed.
Extermination-type gates? Pretty straightforward. Kill everything inside. No survivors, no escapees.
Once a mission was complete, the system would issue a countdown. No fanfare, no loud music—just a cold system message and a ticking timer. When it reached zero, everyone inside got automatically teleported out, right before the rift collapsed.
But here's the kicker: the system never tells you how to succeed.
Sometimes monsters stay hidden—waiting out the instability period—then slip into the real world.
That's the kind of thing heroes hate. And right now, that's what I was worried about.
I hadn't seen a single trace of Spinehound since we got here.
Even Kane's scanning magic hadn't picked up anything until now.
I thought about using my super speed to scout the area—but I held back.
I've want to be cautious. Maybe too cautious.
The news about that Rank C hero girl—Electric Bee—was still fresh in my head.
And she wasn't the only one.
Lately, D and E-rank heroes had been going missing—daily.
Anyone could be the culprit. The real villain.
It could be Emma.It could be Bryce.It could be—
"I've found something."
Just then, Kane straightened and raised his staff.
He lifted his staff, and a controlled gust of wind circled around us, the air shimmering like heatwaves on pavement.
"This will mask sound and scent," he said calmly. "Follow me. Slowly. I'll show you where they are."
We moved slowly, Kane leading. His staff occasionally pulsed as he guided us between gnarled roots and dried shrubs.
Eventually, we reached a clearing.
And there they were.
Twelve of them.
Spinehounds.
Their bone-armored bodies hunched low as they gnawed at two corpses—likely previous heros. Their snapping jaws clicked with a sharp, metallic sound. Thick, ivory plates covered their backs and shoulders. Their eyes glowed faint yellow in the dark.
So that's why they hadn't met us at the gate.
They were busy feasting.
"So… how are we doing this?" Bryce asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"My fire can draw their attention," Emma said, lighting her palm. "Kane's wind will keep us hidden for now, but once the spell breaks, he'll need to concentrate. And John…"
She glanced at me. "You've got the strength, but you don't have armor. If they bleed you, it'll be fast."
She smiled mischievously.
"So, you know what that means?"
Bryce grinned as realization clicked.
He cracked his neck, rolled his shoulders, and his skin began to shift.
"Yeah!" he muttered. "It's crumbling time."
His entire upper body hardened into thick slabs of jagged stone.
Then—he charged!!