## Chapter 48 – 48. Gate (13)
#48. Gate (13)
My parents were good people.
They even sacrificed themselves to save me during that war. However, despite such a sacrifice, I had very few memories of them.
Since they passed away when I was five, it was only natural that I remembered less than I didn’t.
Even so, the fact that I couldn’t even remember my parents’ faces, who had sacrificed themselves for me, tormented me from time to time.
Of course, I wasn’t the only pitiful one.
Losing parents overnight and becoming an orphan was as common as dirt in those days.
There was even talk of the entire East Asia collapsing, so there was probably no room to take care of an orphaned kid in a small peninsula country.
-Oh my, are you alright?
If I hadn’t met Sister Superior then, I would have died on the cold streets like the other children.
In those days when the country couldn’t provide any support to orphanages, our orphanage was overflowing with children who had lost their parents in the war.
The nuns farmed until their hands were blistered and burst to feed us, and they had to beg here and there in the name of donations outside.
I have never forgotten their warm smiles towards us, even though it must have been difficult for them.
I had always vowed to repay that kindness as soon as I succeeded.
‘Right, I have to visit her first thing when I get out of the gate.’
Unlike my parents’ faces, which I couldn’t remember no matter how hard I racked my brain, Sister Superior, who came to mind relatively clearly, was showing me a bright smile someday.
Sometimes strict, sometimes kind, she gave birth to us with her heart and loved us with her heart.
What kind of reaction would she show if she heard that I had died in the gate?
Thinking that, the face of Sister Superior disappeared with a sensation as if I had been hit in the head with a hammer.
“…Heok?!”
And I was able to return to reality.
Here, where everything was covered in white snow.
Fortunately, Choi Hyena was unconscious and held in my arms.
“Haa…”
Thanks to the barrier I had hastily created just before being swept away by the avalanche, I was able to avoid being buried in the snow and dying.
It took a lot of mana to do so, but now it was right to be happy to have survived.
Honestly, the momentum of the avalanche was so unusual that there was no guarantee that I would succeed. Moreover, if the Ice Golem had directly attacked us to kill us, we would have died, making the barrier meaningless.
I don’t know what kind of whim it was, but it was a stroke of luck.
‘Is Choi Hyena okay?’
Fortunately, judging from the fact that she was breathing evenly, it seemed that she had simply lost consciousness.
‘What do I do now…’
I took out my cell phone and checked the time. It was made to be used even inside the gate, so it was possible to simply check the time.
There were about 2 hours left until the gate opened. Fortunately, the time I had been unconscious was not as long as I had thought.
“Hoo…”
Surviving that disaster-like avalanche and the Ice Golem leaving us alone were nothing short of miracles, but the unresolved problems were still numerous.
The Ice Golem was on a different level from the monsters I had fought so far.
The tremendous size, the oppressive feeling of being crushed by its body, and the sense of helplessness that I could never win.
I couldn’t think of any way to deal with it, from head to toe.
Even if I got out of here and ran to where the gate was opening, countless hordes of monsters would already be heading there.
Even if I avoided all those guys and arrived, could I really withstand the Ice Golem’s attack?
Basically, the boss entity only leaves the gate after all the monsters have left, but it didn’t seem like it would treat us as monsters and let us out willingly.
“Hey, Choi Hyena!”
My head was complicated, but I decided to wake up Choi Hyena first and then think. There wasn’t much time.
“…Ugh, ugh.”
Fortunately, Choi Hyena soon let out a faint groan and groggily opened her eyes.
“Wh, where is…”
“Did you sleep well?”
“…Ah.”
Choi Hyena, who was looking around, glanced at me one last time, and then seemed to understand what situation we were in.
“…Thank you.”
Choi Hyena conveyed her gratitude to me for hugging and protecting her in that chaos.
“Are you starting to have respect for your future husband?”
“Screw off.”
“A feisty wife is good too.”
With a few unfiltered words, we looked at each other and laughed like idiots.
It felt like the tension had eased a little.
“What are you going to do now?”
“What do you mean, what am I going to do? I have to get out of here.”
I was starting to feel burdened by maintaining the barrier.
Moreover, there wasn’t much time left until the gate opened.
Even if I ran in a straight line from here, it would take well over an hour, and if I thought about avoiding the monsters, 2 hours would be tight.
In the process, there would be monsters attacking us, and it was questionable whether the Ice Golem would stay still.
“…Hey.”
Then, Choi Hyena carefully called me in a somewhat uneasy voice.
“What?”
“Can we get out of here alive…?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at Choi Hyena’s uncharacteristic weakness.
‘Come to think of it, it hasn’t even been a week since I first met her.’
Our first meeting was the worst, to say the least.
A rich man’s daughter and me, who was excited about the idea of a matchmaking meeting, and Choi Hyena, who treated me like a beggar.
Honestly, if we had parted ways without anything happening that day, we would have remained strangers forever. Or we would have become mortal enemies.
We, who had been like that, got caught up in an isolated gate and ended up doing everything together.
No matter how unpredictable people’s futures are, is it okay for it to be this eventful?
I hugged Choi Hyena, who was trembling slightly.
“No matter what happens, I’ll make sure you get out, so don’t worry about useless things.”
“…”
If necessary, I can just spin the matchmaking.
It will take a lot of time, but I can develop the strength to escape from here on my own and survive the firepower pouring in from the outside.
I don’t know how many matchmaking sessions I’ll have to do in the process, but I was in a better situation than Choi Hyena, who doesn’t have a spare life.
***
Bang!
We, who had escaped from under the snowfield, hurriedly looked around.
Fortunately, there was no sign of monsters around.
As we had planned in advance, we ran towards the gate through the roughest path possible.
Going in a straight line would be the fastest route, but I couldn’t do that when I thought of the horde of monsters I had seen on the hill yesterday.
Moreover, even the Ice Golem, which boasted its enormous size, was nowhere to be seen.
It couldn’t hurt to be careful.
It was hard to run on the snowfield, but thanks to the know-how I had gained while living here for the past few days, I was able to run to some extent.
Of course, Choi Hyena, who wasn’t a physical type, had a hard time in the middle, but now there was no time to rest.
Resting was a luxury if we wanted to get out alive.
We ran like that for a long time, and miraculously, we didn’t encounter a single monster.
At this point, instead of thinking it was fortunate, only an unsettling sense of unease lingered in my heart.
Normally, we would have encountered about 3 or 4 monsters.
‘Is it because it’s the day the gate break is happening?’
That was highly likely, but there was nothing I could say for sure.
For now, all I could do and had to do was to try to erase this anxiety and move forward.
Even with that determination, the anxiety that had taken root in one corner of my heart did not disappear easily. I had to try not to be conscious of it, fiddling with the sword hilt hanging from my waist.
“Kang Hyunwoo! 11 o’clock to the left!”
“?!”
In the short time I had been distracted, I felt the presence of a monster not far away.
The monster, too, must have noticed our presence, as it was running straight towards us, and its speed was unusual.
Kwaang!
The identity of the monster that had run while destroying all the trees in the forest right next to us was a C-class monster, Snow Caribou, a giant deer-type monster.
“Choi Hyena! Save your mana!”
I shouted at Choi Hyena, who was quickly preparing magic.
Unlike me, Choi Hyena takes quite a long time to recover her mana.
In order to prepare for the future situation, I had to deal with him alone now.
A blue light flickered from the sword blade that was quickly drawn from the scabbard.
The sword, which had received the price of mana, had a much stronger cutting power, and the body, strengthened with mana, allowed me to move to the Snow Caribou’s vicinity in an instant.
The guy, who was flustered by the unexpected speed, immediately swung his huge horns at me, but it wasn’t fatal enough to reach me, who had accumulated practical experience while living here.
Seogeok, with one sword strike, I cut off the guy’s horns, and then unfolded the magic I had prepared.
[Flame Circle]
The Snow Caribou, which was caught in the exploding flames at close range, had half of its head blown off and collapsed as it was, never to rise again.
Even though I had defeated a C-class monster this quickly, I wasn’t satisfied.
The rank of the guys I had dealt with in the underground dungeon was D+, and considering that they were elite individuals, they would have been about C-.
The Snow Caribou I had just defeated was a monster that was half a rank higher in terms of rank than the monsters in the underground dungeon.
Of course, the rank was not absolute in the strength of the monster, so I couldn’t unconditionally say that the Snow Caribou was stronger, but if I had learned swordsmanship even a little from that beastwoman who drew out sword energy.
‘…I wouldn’t even have had to use magic.’
Even as I defeated the Snow Caribou and hurried back on my way, I kept thinking about the fact that I hadn’t been able to deal with it with the first sword strike I had swung.
What if I had taken my foot a little further forward?
What if I had stretched my arm a little longer?
No matter how much I thought about it, I was disappointed.
I vowed that after I got out of here and met Sister Superior, I would definitely go to a swordsmanship dojo first.
I was convinced that if I only learned swordsmanship, I would be able to easily defeat the guy who was blocking the way to the 2nd floor of the underground dungeon.
While I was distracted for a moment, we were able to reach the hill around the starting point where we had arrived when we were first caught up in the gate.
There were about 20 minutes left until the gate opened, and thanks to the fact that there was only one monster we encountered on the way, we were able to arrive with some time to spare.
However.
“…Hey, Kang Hyunwoo.”
“…Bullshit.”
The area around where I expected the gate to open was already surrounded by a tremendous number of monsters.
Even if I just glanced at it, it seemed to be well over 100, and if it was bad, it could be 200.
Finally, the Ice Golem was sitting on the mountain range a little further away from there.
Even though it was sitting, it was as huge as a small mountain.
Its size, comparable to a decent skyscraper, made my hands tremble once again.
But this was also an opportunity.
It was quite far away from the gate.
It was a rare piece of good news in the worst situation. Since it was so big, it would be slow to move, and that meant that there was little room for it to interfere when we escaped.
Even if there was, we only had to be careful of throwing attacks from afar, which was clearly good news.
Choi Hyena also seemed to have grasped that fact, as a faint hope could be seen in her face, which had been soaked in anxiety.
“Choi Hyena.”
From now on was the most important moment.
“There’s a place the monsters are looking at, right? We’re going to run towards that place from now on.”
There was a place the monsters were looking at, like an audience 1 minute before a movie starts.
“Don’t worry about the time. Either way, we’ll only be able to make it on time if we run at full speed from now on.”
Choi Hyena swallowed hard.
She could. I was just as nervous.
“Didn’t I tell you earlier? I’ll make sure you get out, no matter what.”
It wasn’t something I should say when we had only met for less than a week.
It was a common flattery, but Choi Hyena was so grateful for that one word.
Her heart, which had been pounding like it was about to burst, had calmed down at some point.
We, who had plastered ourselves with various auxiliary magic, went down the hill at the same time without anyone saying anything.
Some of the monsters that had gathered rose at that small movement, but the two people didn’t care.
What was important now was to go beyond the gate that would open soon.
That was all.
However, breaking through the horde of monsters and moving forward was not as easy as it sounded.
Not only White Yeti, Ice Bear, and White Wolf, which we used to hunt, but also monsters of a type I had never seen before began to rush towards us.
-Kuaaaa!!!
Bang!
A huge forepaw was swung towards us.
We, who didn’t have time to hunt leisurely as usual, had no choice but to roll around here and there with skills close to body gag.
The only fortunate thing was that there were so many monsters that when they attacked us, they ended up attacking each other.
There were also several monsters that started fighting.
It was a somewhat hopeful situation, but Choi Hyena was falling behind more and more.
Without a choice, after avoiding the monster’s attack, I ran to Choi Hyena and hugged her as she was.
“…Sorry.”
“If you have time to apologize, help with magic.”
Thanks to the auxiliary magic that consumed quite a lot of mana, I was faster and stronger than usual.
There was no big problem carrying Choi Hyena while running.
“7 o’clock to the left!”
Choi Hyena checked the monsters with magic or covered my blind spots.
Thanks to that, I could only look ahead and run.
The escape plan was much easier than expected.
Even though we had entered a horde of monsters that easily exceeded 100, the number of monsters that attacked us was smaller than I had expected.
That’s what I thought.
“Be, behind you!!”
I looked back at Choi Hyena’s urgent voice.
“?!!”
An incredibly huge rock was flying towards us.
Without a choice, I immediately ran in the opposite direction of the gate.
Kwaaaaang!!!
The rock, which had flown at an incredible speed, was slammed into the ground.
As a result, quite a few monsters died, and we were also caught in the shock and blown backwards.
Fortunately, despite the extraordinary attack, the damage we suffered was minimal. However, I ended up returning to the starting line.
I didn’t have enough stamina, mana, or time to run again like this.
Moreover, as if adding insult to injury, the gate was opening far away.
It was much faster than expected.
‘…It’s too far.’
Even if there were no monsters interfering, it would take 5 minutes on a straight course.
It was obvious that the monsters would jump out of the gate before that.
In the end, I had no choice but to use the last resort.
I ran towards the rock that the Ice Golem had thrown.
There was only one chance.
After strengthening my lower body with mana, I stepped on the rock and jumped up. As I jumped to a height that other monsters could not reach in an instant, I could see the direct course to the gate.
“Shield!”
At the short word, Choi Hyena immediately cast a shield on me and herself.
After confirming that, I immediately threw Choi Hyena upwards.
“Kya, kyaak?!”
Even while flying, her flustered expression did not disappear.
I gathered all the remaining mana in my right hand and blew away the shield that was covering Choi Hyena as if pushing it forward.
Bang!!
“Ga, Kang Hyunwoo?!”
Even while flying, her flustered expression did not disappear.
“Go first.”
Choi Hyena flew over the heads of the monsters at a fast speed.
In the middle, some monsters jumped up and tried to attack Choi Hyena, but they lacked speed and height.
“I’ll follow you soon.”
“…?!! …!!”
That’s how Choi Hyena was able to get out beyond the gate before other monsters escaped.
It sounded like she was shouting something at the end, but it was too far away to hear well.
After sending Choi Hyena, I landed on the ground, and because I had consumed most of my mana, I couldn’t rest even though I was overwhelmed with tremendous exhaustion.
-Krrr…
Because the murderous eyes of the monsters who had missed their prey in front of them were all directed at me.
The oppressive feeling that made my breath catch in my throat just by looking at them made my legs give way and I almost sat down as it was.
Now, when I couldn’t predict when they would attack, there was only one way left for me.
[Do you want to re-match with Iris Lemeria Baiart Peledia?]
[Y/N]
Just as the tiger-like monster in front of me was about to swing its ferocious claws at me, I was about to press the matching button.
But that attempt was in vain.
Because I died?
No.
“To be left alone to save the woman you love.”
Because of the gray-haired woman who appeared from beyond the gate, the neck of the tiger-like monster that had surrounded the gate and was trying to kill me was instantly blown away.
It was a face I had seen on the news.
The youngest mage tower lord of the brilliant and great 12 mage towers, and the youngest 7-circle mage.
“You’re a romantic?”
It was Han Lael.
