#16
The moment Hancheol's group emerged, the Gate vanished.
This meant they had perfectly cleared the Gate.
However, unable to believe his eyes even after witnessing it, Haron had no choice but to approach Hancheol and ask,
“Did you clear the Gate?”
“Huh? Yes.”
At those words, Hancheol nodded calmly.
Honestly, Haron had known that Hancheol would clear the Gate without much difficulty, but he had not expected him to clear it this quickly.
That was why admiration involuntarily spilled from his lips.
“Well, this is… hahaha!”
Haron suddenly began laughing without paying any heed to his surroundings.
It was a hearty laugh, as if he found the situation itself amusing.
“This is… forgive my rudeness. I apologize.”
Soon, after he finished laughing, Haron regained his composure.
After regaining his composure, he raised his head toward the air.
Looking at the air, he spoke politely.
“First, I shall report to the Constellations. In this Sacred Fire Battlefield, no preferential treatment occurred, nor were any rules broken. I swear upon my station.”
An oath of a Constellation is not merely made of words.
In truth, a Constellation's oath carries power, and should they break it, their station would decrease significantly.
It seemed the Constellations had been displeased that I cleared the Gate too quickly, and Haron was trying to resolve that.
Next, Haron looked at the survivors and spoke.
“Do not think the Gate is easy just because the group that cleared it moments ago did so quickly. I respect your choices, but I cannot guarantee your lives.”
Haron warned the survivors once again.
Because if they only saw what I had shown, the trial he had designed might look too easy.
“Now then, let us resume the third trial. Survivor Sina, please choose carefully.”
* * *
When all the survivors except Hancheol's group had selected and entered a Gate, Haron sent a telepathic message to Hancheol.
‘Truly… you delight me with every trial.’
‘You already knew I would pass the trials anyway, didn’t you?’
‘Huhu. Yes, of course. However, I did not expect you to clear it this quickly. Therefore, Survivor Kim Hancheol, I have a proposal. Would you hear it?’
At those words, I looked at Haron.
What kind of proposal was this?
For now, I nodded.
Soon, he continued in a polite tone.
‘If it is acceptable, how would you feel about clearing the remaining Gates as well? Of course, you have already passed the third trial, so it is fine if you refuse.’
At those words, I thought.
I had already passed the third trial, so there was no need to enter, but I had too much time on my hands to do nothing.
Yes, perhaps I should enter another Gate as Haron suggested?
Since it had come to this, I might as well raise my level too.
‘Understood.’
‘Yes, then enjoy yourself thoroughly. I have other matters to attend to, so I shall step away for a moment.’
With those words, Haron clasped his hands behind his back and vanished in an instant.
After Haron disappeared, I checked the Constellation request list before entering a Gate.
There were no items that looked immediately useful to me, but there were items not sold in the shop system or in the Sky Island’s shop either.
If I acquired these separately and sold them to survivors for points, wouldn’t that be profitable?
I asked Lee Sina for now.
“Ms. Sina, we have plenty of time anyway, so why don’t you enter a different Gate?”
“Huh? A Gate?”
“Yes. Since the opportunity has arisen, it’s best to raise your stats and level as much as possible. Considering your and Hayun’s skills, I believe you can clear it easily enough.”
“Uh… aren’t you coming with us, Mr. Hancheol?”
“Yes, I’m planning to enter a large Gate separately. If you’re worried, you can take the robot with you. Of course, you may refuse if you wish.”
At those words, Sina thought for a moment, then looked at Hayun.
Hayun simply nodded.
“Unnie, the robot said he’d go with us, so shouldn’t it be fine?”
“Hmm… then I’ll give it a try.”
With those words, Sina slowly rose from her seat.
She was emboldened by how easily we had cleared the largest Gate.
Still, just in case, I explained some tips to Sina.
“Use your skills at first to level up. That will raise your stats to some degree. After that, try fighting with your body instead of relying solely on skills. If you only trust your skills in battle, your body won’t move when you sense danger. Of course, the robot will cover you, so fighting physically should be fine. You have the weapons you received as rewards from the second trial, right?”
“Yes, we have them.”
“You mean these?”
With those words, the sisters each took weapons out of their inventories.
Sina’s weapon was the Longsword of Hormone, a rare-grade item that granted 10 mana, and Hayun’s weapon was a pair of Kassadin’s Poison Daggers of the same rare grade that inflicted paralysis on the enemy for 10 seconds upon cutting them.
With items of this caliber, probably nothing too serious would happen.
Above all, Alt was going with them.
“Then I’ll head in first.”
With those words, I stood before the largest of the remaining Gates.
I lightly loosened up my body and stepped inside.
“Let’s see…”
Looking around, the space wasn’t all that different from the first Gate I had entered.
A cave-type Gate.
If there was any difference, it was only the rank and number of the monsters.
—Kieek!
—Shaaah!
A giant centipede climbed the walls, revealing its massive pincer-like fangs at me.
On the ground, a swarm of Crab Ants rumbled across the floor as they began approaching me.
Monsters that an ordinary person couldn’t handle alone surged toward me like a tsunami.
Of course, even in a situation filled with such hostility, my footsteps remained light.
Thud!
I simply leaped lightly toward the center of those demonic beasts with a relaxed smile.
* * *
—Ki, kie…
With a short death rattle, the head of a giant winged ant fell heavily to the ground.
It was the boss monster of the Gate I had entered, a 7th-grade demonic beast, the Queen Crab Ant.
It ended a bit too easily.
Well, of course.
The boss monster of the first Gate I had entered had been a mutated 7th-grade, so a mere normal 7th-grade demonic beast was nothing difficult to subdue.
I opened my status window to check.
Name: Kim Hancheol
Level: 20
Unique Skill: EX-grade Sky Island
Strength: 126 (11↑) Agility: 127 (11↑) Stamina: 130 (12↑) Defense: 125 (10↑)
Mana: 125 (10↑) Mental Strength: 125 (10↑) Divine Power: 0
My Strength and Agility had risen slightly from moving my body, while the rest were stats raised by leveling up.
I would probably have to give up on the idea of overexerting my body to raise stats for the time being.
Since my stats were so high, I didn’t feel any strain on my body.
It was a situation where I could only raise stats through leveling up.
Of course, even this was something to be grateful for.
I immediately moved toward the Gate that appeared to be the exit to try entering another Gate.
That was when.
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ desperately requests your help.]
“Huh?”
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ tearfully and earnestly requests your help.]
A Constellation?
Why was a Constellation suddenly speaking to me?
More importantly, help?
“What is it?”
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ says her contractor is in danger.]
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ asks you to please help.]
Ah, I roughly understood the situation.
Her contractor had fallen into danger and she was asking for help.
But…
“Is it okay for me to help? This is a trial.”
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ says it is possible.]
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ says, ‘Therefore, please help,’ and holds back tears.]
At those words, I thought for a moment.
The Benevolent Zephyr Fairy was a Constellation I knew well.
I wasn’t talking about the time she had warned me before entering the Gate.
She was a Constellation I had seen in the game, belonging to a rather unusual group among the Constellations.
‘Wasn’t she strangely the Constellation who only accepted a single contractor?’
While other Constellations competed to contract with outstanding survivors, she was a peculiar Constellation who contracted with only one survivor she fancied.
Hadn’t she said she looked at the survivor’s personality?
For now, I spoke to the Zephyr Fairy.
“I cannot decide rashly. I could be in danger as well.”
Though I wasn’t particularly in danger, I said it hoping to get something out of it.
She probably knew too.
That I wanted compensation in return for helping.
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ worries for a moment with an anxious expression.]
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ says she will give a reward.]
Got her.
I suppressed the corners of my mouth from rising and asked the Zephyr Fairy with a calm expression.
“What reward?”
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ has sponsored 1,000 points.]
Sss—
Only 1,000 points?
She was trying to get me to help for far too cheap.
Perhaps seeing my expression, the Zephyr Fairy began to grow anxious.
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ fidgets and trembles.]
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ pleads with tears in her eyes, begging for your help.]
“Ha… then let’s do this. Grant me one request whenever I want. Of course, I have a conscience too, so I don’t intend to ask for anything too great.”
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ nods repeatedly in agreement.]
“Yes, then please swear an oath.”
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ looks at you with a blank expression.]
I was asking for something obvious, yet she wore a blank expression.
I spoke confidently.
“A promise made with words alone cannot be trusted. Shouldn’t you at least make an oath?”
[The Constellation ‘Benevolent Zephyr Fairy’ nods in understanding.]
The Zephyr Fairy accepted my words without much complaint.
She must truly be in a hurry.
For now, I exited the Gate.
After leaving the Gate, I asked the Zephyr Fairy.
“So, where are they?”
* * *
A group of five survivors was running through a cave with urgent expressions.
Among them, a woman screamed hysterically, complaining and shouting.
“Aaack!! Seriously!! That’s why I said we shouldn’t listen to that bastard!”
“Suhyeon! Just run! We need to survive first!”
“No, I knew it from the start when that bastard was going on about his Blade Tornado or whatever! Ugh! I’m so frustrated I could die!”
At the words of the man at the front, Gang Inhan, Lee Suhyeon beat her chest with a thud, thud and continued running.
Originally, it had been a group of six.
If only the leader of the group, the man who used the Blade Tornado skill, had not died.
“We should’ve just ignored him and entered a moderately small Gate! Really!”
“Suhyeon! I know you’re frustrated, but now is not the time!”
They simply continued running forward, evading the pouring monsters.
Then, Gang Inhan, who was at the front, suddenly stopped.
Everyone stopped following him, and the moment they saw what was ahead, their expressions turned pale in an instant.
“Oh, damn…”
“It’s a dead end…”
It was a hopeless situation.
Behind them, hordes of monsters were rushing in, and ahead was a dead end with nowhere to run.
“Wh-what do we do?”
“……”
There was no way out.
They had no choice but to confront the horde of monsters rushing from behind.
Gang Inhan took out the greatsword he had stored in his inventory and turned around.
However, merely seeing the sight before them made their morale inevitably plummet.
—Kieeek!!
—Clack! Clack! Clack!
Three giant centipedes were climbing the cave walls, approaching.
On the ground, monsters with huge pincer-like fangs were approaching with clack, clack sounds, shaking the earth. An overwhelming number of demonic beasts were flooding toward the group.
They were enormous and countless.
“Damn it…”
Clack.
The greatsword he was holding fell to the ground with a clack.
It was a number that made him not dare to even think of fighting back.
How could five people handle that flood of monsters?
His head gradually dropped down.
That was when.
—Kieeeek!!!
—Shaaaah!!
The pouring monsters all stopped at once and began looking back.
The moment the survivors were all bewildered by the monsters’ sudden behavior.
A roar began to be heard from behind where the monsters had gathered.
Boom!! Thud!!
As the roar grew closer, the monsters howled ferociously and began charging toward the direction of the sound.
At the monsters’ behavior, the group, who had still been making blank expressions, soon began to sigh in relief.
“Ha…”
“We’re saved…”
“But what happened?”
The roar was still coming from behind.
However, after a moment, the roar abruptly stopped.
After the roar stopped, only someone’s footsteps quietly echoed through the cave.
The moment they heard that sound, the group tensed up again, but soon they couldn’t help but relax when the owner of the footsteps revealed himself.
“Good. You’re still alive.”
“Uh… wh-who are you?”
“H-hold on! Behind you! Behind!”
At that moment, something began approaching from behind at high speed.
A giant centipede incomparable in size to the three they had seen before was climbing the cave wall at high speed.
—Kieeeek!!!
The creature’s shriek filled the entire cave, and the moment it tried to engulf the body of the man who had appeared so suddenly, the man simply turned and threw a front punch with his tightly clenched fist toward the creature’s head.
Kwung———!
The moment the man’s fist met the giant centipede’s head, a roar shook the cave, and a fountain of blood burst from the giant centipede’s entire body.
Its head was utterly crushed, and its dark outer shell scattered in all directions.
Thud—thud!
The giant centipede simply collapsed helplessly, as if it had died instantly from that single blow.
Boundless shock spread across the faces of the survivors watching that scene.
The man—no, Hancheol—turned back around and spoke to the group.
“I’ve come to help at the request of a Constellation.”
* * *
“Um, really, thank you so much.”
“We don’t know how to repay this kindness….”
After the situation ended, the group bowed their heads to Hancheol and expressed their gratitude.
Meanwhile, for some reason, Hancheol looked at the air, then turned his gaze back to the group and spoke.
“It’s fine. I’ve already made a deal with your Constellation. And divide the monster corpses and loot among yourselves. It will help you complete your request. Then, I’ll be taking my leave now.”
Leaving only those words behind, Hancheol quickly escaped toward the Gate leading to the exit.
While the group remaining in the Gate was puzzled by Hancheol’s behavior.
Hancheol looked at the message window floating in the air and grinned.
[The Constellation ‘Lion of the Silent Forest’ requests your help.]
[The Constellation ‘Little Fairy of Winter’ earnestly requests your help.]
[The Constellation ‘Ruler of the Proud Tower’ requests your help.]
[The Constellation ‘Man of the Flute’ requests your help.]
These were the message windows from the Constellations that had popped up while he was rescuing the group just now.
I spoke to the Constellations.
“I’ll help you, so first, all of you swear an oath. In exchange for one request from me whenever I wish.”