〈 Chapter 39 〉 Gate (2)
*
‘Seriously. A censor in a place like this? What on earth is happening in Sakh?’
With the censor’s signal, the coachman started driving again.
Fortunately, it seemed none of the passengers appeared suspicious.
‘Stopping right in the middle of the gate, huh.’
Even though chaos beasts rarely appeared in the gate, it didn’t mean there wasn’t a chilling feeling typical of chaos present.
He was just a coachman passing through the gate because he had to for the money, and once he saved enough, he planned to leave the gate at any time.
‘About halfway to Sakh now.’
There was still a long way to go.
While in the gate, the food and hay for the horse were limited, so it was best to hurry.
Then it happened.
Suddenly, his horse stopped.
“Hmm?”
He pulled on the reins, but the horse didn’t respond.
It seemed as if the horse had turned into a statue, not moving from its spot.
“What’s wrong with it?”
Just as he was about to get down to check the horse’s condition, he noticed the horse’s head was turned to the left.
His gaze naturally followed to the left.
And he froze.
“W-What’s that…!”
It was something he had never seen, even after years of being a coachman.
*
The wagon suddenly stopped again.
The older man, who was about to let the horse out, also halted, and the inside of the wagon fell into silence.
‘What’s happening now?’
At that moment, the hero looking out of the wagon muttered.
“Damn it.”
He immediately leaped out of the wagon.
I peeked in the direction he jumped.
And then, I saw it.
‘What the hell…!’
It was slowly approaching us.
A massive figure with an unrecognizable form—it was a chaos beast.
It was still quite far away, but at its speed, collision seemed inevitable.
‘With a size like that…”
It wasn’t something you’d see often.
Even so, it wouldn’t be easy unless a group of good heroes tackled it together.
And here, there was only one hero.
“Damn it.”
I had definitely mentioned before.
Crossing the gate between Basilium and Sakh is like crossing the Pacific Ocean.
And the wagon I chose was like a massive Titanic.
But…
‘After all, Titanic sank too.’
Even if a proper hero faced it alone, it would be too much.
Even Gwen would find it tough.
Unless I was a player from the past, my experience here was telling me otherwise.
‘What are you thinking?’
The hero who got out of the wagon quietly placed his hand on his sword, staring at the approaching chaos beast.
If this continues, the chaos beast would crash into the gate.
That would weaken the chaos beast a bit but expose everyone except me and the hero to chaos as the gate crumbled.
‘Is he actually aiming for that?’
I stared at the hero, who was doing nothing but standing still.
Maybe he was trying to catch the chaos beast at the cost of our lives.
‘What should I do?’
Trying to persuade him wouldn’t change anything.
No, it would likely lead to the worst outcome.
Everyone, including the hero, could die.
‘But still…’
I glanced at the other two people in the wagon.
We had just happened to share the ride, and until recently, we didn’t even know each other.
But I didn’t want these people to die.
‘Then…’
I had to convince the hero.
I would help a little, but he needed to fight outside the gate.
Just as I was about to get out of the wagon…
“Huh?”
In an instant, the hero vanished.
And then…
Swish!
The sound of wind cutting through the air could be heard.
Before I knew it, the man had reached the chaos beast.
‘How did he get there so fast?’
Following the sound was an explosion.
The explosion occurred outside the gate.
The man… was striking the chaos beast with nothing but his bare fists.
“Are you insane…”
I could hardly keep up with my eyes.
Dodging the chaos beast’s attacks almost as if possessed, the man calmly landed each punch on the chaos beast.
With each hit, an explosion-like sound erupted, causing the chaos beast’s form to wobble.
‘Help? Yeah, right.’
I felt ashamed of even thinking I’d help with that.
The fight between the man and the chaos beast was in a realm where someone like me couldn’t even interfere.
If I did, I’d end up like a shrimp caught in a whale’s fight.
Boom!
With a strike, the massive chaos beast was knocked dozens of meters away.
However, the man closed the distance in an instant and began to rain down attacks without pause.
Chunks of the chaos beast were flying off in every direction. It was as if he had some kind of protective barrier around him; not a single piece hit him.
‘I’ve been thinking wrong.’
My assumption that the man couldn’t defeat the chaos beast was based on my past experiences.
The chaos beast he faced looked abnormally strong.
The problem was I had never truly experienced how strong a hero could be.
The only hero I truly interacted with was Gwen.
She had probably never shown her full power in front of me.
Moreover, without acquiring the Rose Sword yet, she wasn’t particularly strong among heroes.
‘I shouldn’t apply my real-world experiences to a hero in the first place.’
Indeed, I realized I was getting complacent, clouding my judgment as a player, especially after adapting to this game world.
If I had been a player, I wouldn’t have worried like this earlier.
As if to prove that, the man’s fists tore through the air.
Kaboom!
It was the final blow.
The chaos beast shattered into pieces.
In the meantime, the man stood there like nothing had happened.
That was the demeanor a proper hero possessed.
‘Those monsters easily disregard reality.’
While I was merely dealing with bandits or thugs, true heroes would shatter steel and fight massive chaos beasts.
And high-level heroes could slice mountains and drain lakes.
At the saint level… individuals could influence the entire continent.
Getting used to recent successes, I had fallen into complacency.
Ultimately, the hero I aimed for had to be at that level.
Otherwise, I would remain just a perennial hero candidate.
Like Allen Pleuk at the hundredth playthrough.
‘That guy tried hard. But in the end, he couldn’t surpass reality.’
The wall of reality was tall and thick.
Thicker than the gate separating me and that hero.
No matter how much I stood on tiptoe now, it was out of reach.
“Let’s head out again.”
Having received his payment, the hero naturally got back into the wagon as if it was his duty after catching the chaos beast.
There wasn’t a single trace of the chaos beast’s filth on his clothing.
Even the older man, who had been chatty until now, looked pale.
“Didn’t I say to move out? That was quite an aggressive fight. I think the chaos beasts will start gathering.”
“Please wait a moment, hero. I want to set the horse’s nerves back to normal before we leave…”
The coachman calmed the horse, and the wagon began to move again.
Just as the hero said, chaos beasts were starting to gather behind the wagon.
But they didn’t seem nearly as strong as the one before, so it was nothing to worry about.
‘To become a hero…’
I watched the hero sitting diagonally across from me.
Suddenly, I recalled memories from the trials of the past.
The sight of him running ahead of me seemed to blur with the hero’s figure.
The distance that felt insurmountable.
I had to prove it.
If I don’t give up, if I keep running forward.
Can I become something?
Can I become a hero?
*
“Tch, failed.”
The 54th Demon King, Laus, licked his lips while watching the exploding chaos beast.
The hero he saw earlier appeared stronger than expected.
Sometimes, there are those without high stigmas who can push their limits to the extreme.
‘Regrettable, but let’s just let it go.’
Though he had said it once before, he couldn’t reveal his identity just to catch one hero.
He was only trying to draw in the surrounding chaos beasts and feast on them without raising much concern.
‘By the way, besides that hero…’
He thought of the boy sitting opposite him.
When their eyes met, there was an unusual discomfort.
‘What was that?’
The moment he turned his gaze back to the wagon direction.
(Raus!)
“Violet?”
(I’ve received orders from my sister. She says to wrap up that operation.)
Of course.
He clearly had forgotten about his position here.
“Then where should I go?”
(Leim Kingdom. Go there and assist the 72nd Demon King.)
“Got it.”
He turned his attention away from the wagon.
‘It must have been my imagination.’
*
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Finally arrived in Sakh, we got off the wagon.
The older man thanked the hero repeatedly, but the hero seemed annoyed.
‘I wish I could thank him too…’
The man had already disappeared, clearly bored.
Before the older man could catch me, I hurriedly left the wagon station.
‘Finally, Sakh.’
This place had a completely different air from Basilium.
Compared to the earthy smell of Basilium, it smelled of iron and cement.
That’s because Sakh was a city that had made rapid technological advancements while completely cut off from other barriers.
Commonly referred to as “steampunk,” it represented this city of Sakh.
As a result, various machines were visible on the streets.
From primitive cars to trains running through the city.
Things one could never see in Basilium.
Additionally, there was one more significant feature of Sakh.
‘A city where the sun never rises.’
If Basilium was called a city where the sunset didn’t occur due to the red barrier, Sakh was literally a city where the sun never rose at all.
Thanks to this, incandescent lights were glowing red all over the streets.
‘I can’t even tell if it’s day or night now.’
Sakh is also a city of freedom.
With no set day or night, people went about their lives as they chose.
As I was looking around Sakh, I turned my head.
‘Well, enough of the city sightseeing.’
I was momentarily intrigued by a place I had only seen in the game.
From now on, I had to focus on the reason I came to Sakh.
‘The Incarnation Device in Sakh can only be used with the Royal Emblem.’
I needed to find that.
If I found it, who knows?
I might just reach out and touch the edge of something that seemed unattainable.
Because it was that significant.
*
