"Yeah, we will."

As the words left my mouth, I reached up and patted the top of her head.

Vera leaned into the touch for a second before standing quietly next to me like someone who hadn’t just killed a huge monster a few seconds ago.

But around us, the atmosphere remained utterly frozen.

Every single gaze was locked onto her.

The young girl who had been trembling had stopped shaking.

The archer looked like he wanted to crawl backward into the mist and disappear forever, which was completely obvious from the look on his pale face, which wore a mask of regret.

Even the couple were just staring at the space where the Behemoth’s head used to be, then back to the tiny girl holding my sleeve.

Hints of their thoughts were practically written on their faces. They weren’t just looking at a hidden expert anymore; they were looking at a monster disguised as a human.

But beneath my mask, my mind was already moving past their shock.

’Of course she handled it easily,’ I thought to myself as I stared at the massive bleeding monster. ’It makes sense. After all... this wasn’t even the boss monster.’

To these guys here, a monster that big appearing in a C-Rank Gate was an anomaly that shouldn’t exist.

But I knew the truth of this place. This thing was just a random monster that had appeared in front of us out of nowhere.

The real threat, the true boss of this Gate, was far deeper, in a place none of these people were prepared to look.

After a bit, Seok moved and bent down to retrieve the glasses that had fallen earlier. Though they were smeared with murky water, he still wore them and let out a long, ragged breath.

"Let’s move on," he said as his voice slowly returned to its authoritative state. He looked at the dead monster, then glanced at the thick fog ahead.

"The Gate exit hasn’t appeared yet. That means we can’t afford to waste time standing around."

The Hunters began to murmur. Their voices were hushed and frantic as they walked through the water.

"So that... that wasn’t the boss?"

"Are you kidding me? A thing that big wasn’t the boss?!"

"Keep your voice down... if by any chance she says it is regular, maybe the boss is even worse..."

They kept moving at a much slower pace now. They thought they were just searching for a place, perhaps a patch of land where the true boss would reveal itself.

But I knew exactly who, and what, was waiting for us.

It wasn’t just a single boss monster. Nor was it a larger version of the Behemoth or a small group of mermaids.

Deep within the center of this swamp was a trench, and inside that trench was an entire underwater kingdom of mermaids and mermen.

This wasn’t a standard survival Gate where you just killed everything in sight until the exit appeared. This was one of the rarest and most unique variations found in the lower-ranked Gates: a Helping-Type Gate.

The creatures we had encountered on the surface were just a portion of the real population that had been corrupted or cast out. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

To actually clear this Gate, you had to dive into the water and, while navigating the pressure, interact with the ruler of the kingdom.

And looking at the group ahead of us, with their heavy steel armor, their wooden bows, and their absolute lack of preparation, I realized they were walking straight into their graves.

If they stumbled into the trench without knowing what was ahead, they would drown before they could even touch a single sea monster.

I couldn’t let that happen, mostly because a total party wipe would make getting out of here incredibly difficult.

So, immediately, I stopped walking.

"Stop," I said.

My voice wasn’t loud, but I intentionally used a heavy tone to get everyone’s attention.

Instantly, the entire group came to a halt. The suddenness of it made a few Hunters splash awkwardly, and their weapons rose defensively as they whipped their heads around to look at me.

Then whispers broke out immediately among them.

"Why did he tell us to stop?"

"Did he sense something?"

"Is there another monster?!"

Seok also turned around slowly and looked at me.

"Why? What happened? Did you sense something under the water?"

Even the archer, who had been trying his best to look invisible, scratched his cheek nervously and chimed in. His arrogant demeanor from before was completely gone.

"Yeah... did we stumble into a trap or something? Is something wrong?"

I let the silence stretch for a moment, making the tension build until the only sound was the rustling of the paper over my face.

"We can’t keep going like this anymore," I began. I looked past Seok and directly at the thickest part of the fog where the real thing would begin. "If anyone here cannot swim, or if you cannot fight while completely underwater, I advise you to stay right here. Otherwise... you won’t survive the next five minutes."

Hearing me, a wave of confused and uneasy whispers rippled through the group.

"What is he talking about?"

"Underwater? We are already chest-deep. How much deeper can a swamp get?"

Seok also frowned and stepped a few inches closer through the murky water.

"Why are you saying that? What do you mean by underwater? Whatever the reason for your warning, I can assure you that every Hunter here is C-Rank, if not higher, and knows how to swim. It’s a standard requirement for environmental hazards."

"Swimming on the surface of a swamp is not the same as diving into it," I began. "Just ahead of us, the ground will completely drop off. There will be no more mud to stand on."

"There is an entire kingdom underwater. A civilization of mermaids and mermen living deep below the surface."

The Hunters went completely still, and the mage girl in front of us blinked as her mouth hung open.

"An... underwater kingdom?" Seok repeated subconsciously as his analytical mind clearly struggled to process the information. "In a C-Rank Gate? How could you possibly know that?"

"No comments on that," I said and ignored his question entirely. "However, to clear this place, we don’t just walk forward. We have to swim down into their domain. And you cannot do that simply by holding your breath."

I reached into the small leather pouch at my waist and pulled out a small glass vial filled with a shimmering blue liquid, which I had bought before coming here.

"This is a specialized breathing potion," I said while holding up the blue fluid. "It allows one to extract oxygen directly from the water for a limited time. Without it, the pressure and the lack of air will crush your lungs before you even see the kingdom gates."

Seok stared at the vial, then looked down at the water around his chest.

The reality of the situation was finally sinking in. The calm and unbothered way I spoke about a hidden kingdom only solidified what he already believed: I wasn’t a rookie. I was someone who possessed information and power far beyond standard C-Ranks.

"An underwater kingdom..." the shield-bearer muttered as he looked down at his shield.

In the water, that massive piece of steel would only drag him straight to the bottom like a stone. He looked at his partner, and his expression shifted to one of intense worry.

"If what he’s saying is true," the woman whispered back while her face turned pale as she looked at me, "then our entire formation is useless. We can’t chant spells or cast barriers while drowning."

The archer looked at his bow, then down at the water, and a sudden wave of helplessness washed over him.

"A bow doesn’t work that well underwater... the tension, the resistance... I will be completely useless down there."

"Which is why I gave the warning," I said and tucked the vial back into my pouch. "Those who cannot fight in the depths should remain on the surrounding trees where it’s relatively safe. But for those who are coming..."

I glanced down at Vera, who was still holding onto my sleeve, her head tilted upward toward me as she listened.

"Prepare yourselves," I finished, and my voice echoed through the fog. "Because once we dive in, we are playing by their rules."