The Gate in the Blizzard
Scattered watchtowers dotted the landscape, built to monitor monster movements, while smaller monsters huddled together against the cold as they trudged somewhere. Those small monsters that posed no threat to humans often sought refuge within human territories to escape their fierce and dangerous natural predators. Among them, the most common was the rabbit-type monster, a herbivore that dwelled mainly in mountains and fields. Farmers sometimes captured and raised them. These intelligent rabbits were trained as livestock—sometimes slaughtered for meat, sometimes conditioned to eat only weeds for use in natural farming methods.
Besides rabbits, various other monsters appeared. Among them were the minimy goblins, far smaller than the already diminutive common goblins found in games. These creatures, barely half the size of ordinary goblins, lived in burrows and hunted small herbivorous monsters for food. With their high reproductive rate, they played a crucial role in controlling herbivore populations and were considered extremely low-threat monsters.
Watching the small goblins scurrying about in groups, squeaking as they hunted in preparation for the season, reminded me of the goblin chieftain and soured my mood for no reason. Tearing my gaze away from the minimy goblins, I watched the scenery blur past at high speed and muttered,
“Hoo, these thick clothes make running a bit uncomfortable.”
‘Indeed. The mare running posture requires lifting the legs high, so thick clothing would naturally hinder movement. Shall I adjust the settings so you feel pleasure while running, as before?’
“You can do that too?”
‘Everything about you is within my grasp, after all. I can simply configure it so that running in the mare posture generates pleasure.’
“Then I’m all for it.”
I had always felt a twinge of regret that running never brought any pleasure. Elisa had found a solution. If this had been possible earlier, I would have asked for it long ago. Once Elisa completed the adjustment, a sweet, tingling pleasure began to soak into my brain. Though it lacked the intense ecstasy of my time as a mare, this gentle warmth spreading through my body was pleasant enough.
“Haa, that feels good.”
‘This level is just right, isn’t it?’
“Yeah. This slow, spreading warmth lets me run comfortably.”
The pleasure was calibrated perfectly for enjoyment while running. I savored the long-forgotten sensation of a mare’s pleasure as I ran for quite some time before noticing how quiet Elisa had become.
“What are you doing?”
‘I’m researching technologies to install in the aircraft. Flying-type monsters remain the biggest obstacle.’
“You’re working hard.”
‘I enjoy it. I’d like to focus now, so please don’t speak to me unless there’s a problem.’
“Got it.”
Elisa retreated into the mental space after saying that. I continued driving my legs diligently toward the destination marked in my field of view.
Yesterday had brought snow. Today brought snow as well. After leaving Tarykin’s capital, filled with its classical architecture, and traveling smoothly through various villages, I eventually found myself stranded in the vast plains near the border with Ryuzan. The snow was so blindingly thick that even the superior performance of my full-body prosthetic couldn’t overcome it, nor could it withstand temperatures dropping below minus forty degrees. Dragging the camper through such conditions was simply impossible.
Though Elisa had designed the camper with considerable attention to insulation, it couldn’t fully block the murderous cold. I kept the heater running and wrapped myself in thick layers, constantly monitoring my body temperature. Aside from the artificial muscles, the prosthetic had weak heat-generation capabilities. If my core temperature dropped too low, the artificial blood circulating through my body could freeze—an issue that could mean life or death.
An even greater problem was that, despite stocking as much food as possible for the season, space constraints in the cargo area meant I hadn’t brought enough to last two months.
“Elisa, our food supplies are running low. Is there anything we can do?”
‘This is serious. I miscalculated the caloric consumption of the full-body prosthetic. I didn’t account for the need to constantly overdrive the artificial muscles to generate heat in this extreme cold.’
“That’s part of it, but Las’s increasing appetite seems to be contributing as well.”
Las was the nickname for the latex slime living in my uterus. As its core nucleus grew, it had expanded slightly over time. Now noticeably larger, it consumed more nutrients from the artificial blood, significantly increasing my daily food intake.
“Should we abandon the camper and move on before it’s too late?”
‘Even if we move, finding our way in this weather would be difficult. The navigation system is useless in this snowfield.’
I tried activating the navigation through the window just in case, but with nothing but white snow visible, it couldn’t even determine our current location, let alone display a route.
‘The phrase “the season when the world stops” fits perfectly. Honestly, I thought the full-body prosthetic would allow sufficient movement even in this season…’
“It’s no wonder even the monsters become docile during this time.”
I’d heard that this season played a major role in population control, with countless monsters freezing or starving to death. Monster hunter teams even specialized in researching and filming how monsters survived these harsh conditions—it was that significant a natural phenomenon.
Elisa, who always strived to be the perfect companion, seemed deeply disheartened by this mistake.
‘We still have over a month left, but food is running out. Movement is impossible. Using hibernation mode is too risky. Nngh.’
“At times like this, I almost wish we could open a dimensional gate and hide inside.”
‘A dimensional gate? I set your thinking to remain positive in crisis situations to reduce stress, but isn’t this a bit too positive? Still, now that you mention it, I’d rather do that too.’
Ever since signing the slave contract and becoming Elisa’s slave, the slave system had been controlling many aspects of my emotions and thought patterns. Whatever Elisa configured directly influenced me. No wonder I felt little sense of crisis and remained optimistic—she had set it that way. Still, wanting to open a dimensional gate… that really was too positive, wasn’t it?
“Should we try long-range communication even if it’s a strain?”
The heavy snowfall made it difficult for long-range communication signals to penetrate, but if we pushed the full load and transmitted a strong signal through the entire body, there might be a chance.
‘The signal probably won’t reach, but even if it did, what would you say about our location?’
“Oh. Right.”
I hadn’t considered the fundamental problem of not knowing our current position. Embarrassed by Elisa’s sigh, I turned my gaze out the window—and noticed something strange in the corner of my vision. The falling snow was bending around a certain point in space. Zooming in, I saw a small area less than a meter across rippling unnaturally.
Huh. Could that be a dimensional gate? It was far too small for one, and it hovered in midair, but the phenomenon was unmistakably that of a gate.
“Elisa, isn’t that a dimensional gate?”
‘Where? Hmm?’
Though my body moved under the slave system’s control, my eyes zoomed in further. The magnified view revealed a scene inside that small space completely different from the snowy field.
‘It really is. There’s actually a dimensional gate. But why hasn’t the response team arrived?’
“Maybe because of the snow season?”
‘Dimensional gate response protocols are supposed to be executed regardless of circumstances. They probably failed to detect it because it’s so small and the weather is like this. The detectors need performance improvements.’
“In this weather, even if a monster crossed over, it would probably freeze to death.”
‘That makes sense.’
We exchanged idle jokes while watching the gate, but nothing changed. It remained quiet. The gate’s opening meant a monster was responsible, yet there was no sign of anything crossing—perhaps because the space beyond was too cold, or for some other reason. We ate our remaining preserved food and continued watching for several days, but nothing happened. Since no monster emerged, we would eventually have to enter and either kill whatever was there or wait for natural dissipation. Usually, gates closed within a few days, but this one remained intact.
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to close at all.”
‘I’m not sure if smaller gates last longer or if this is a special variant.’
“We should keep watching for now?”
‘Yes. Dimensional gates lead to unknown spaces, after all.’
Several more days passed as I stared blankly at the gate through the window. The accumulated snow had risen to chest height, yet the area around the gate remained strangely empty. While clearing snow from the camper roof, I asked Elisa,
“What if we just go through that gate and find something to eat? We only have a few days’ worth of food left.”
Even as I spoke, the bone-chilling cold seeped through my clothes. The intensifying cold was dulling even the prosthetic’s movements.
‘Hoo, so it’s come to that. This is the first time I’ve felt this powerless since I was born.’
“No matter how advanced humanity becomes, we can’t overcome nature.”
‘Then let’s take all the remaining food and go inside.’
“Let’s do it.”
After clearing the snow from the roof, I brushed the snow from my head and entered the camper. With fuel for the heater nearly depleted, I had kept it on low, and the cold interior air was palpable. My hot breath, warmed by the heat generated from the artificial muscles’ caloric consumption, spread as white vapor. I turned off the heater, packed the remaining food into a backpack, and gathered anything else that seemed necessary. Carrying the load on my back, I left the camper.
The wind had grown fiercer, whipping snow into a blizzard. It was a truly bone-chilling cold, like icy blades slicing across my skin.
“Ugh, it’s so cold. Can’t we increase output a bit more?”
‘No. Increasing it further would put too much strain on the prosthetic.’
Elisa was safe inside and couldn’t feel this cold, but it was truly brutal. As I trudged through snow up to my chest toward the gate, my artificial blood cooled and slowed, showing signs of dulling brain activity. When my vision began to distort and distinguishing the gate from the background became difficult, my uterus pulsed strongly, accelerating blood flow. The swollen and tightly contracting uterus acted like a rubber pump, forcefully circulating blood.
“Ugh, that was close.”
‘I was trying to raise your body temperature and regulate your heartbeat, but I didn’t expect Las to act first. I thought it was just a freeloader, but it’s surprisingly useful.’
With my uterus serving as a second heart, blood flow eased and my vision returned to normal. Elisa, apparently also alarmed, increased heat generation from my body, warming me slightly.
‘Any further increase in heat-generation output would place too much strain on the prosthetic to sustain. Hurry.’
“I’m moving as fast as I can.”
The increased operational rate boosted my strength, making movement easier. I reached the gate at high speed. Beyond the rippling space lay a dark area that felt artificial rather than natural. Contrary to expectations of seeing a natural landscape, what appeared was something resembling architecture, leaving me bewildered.
‘What are you doing? You need to go in.’
“This looks like an artificial structure no matter how I look at it. It might be dangerous.”
‘Staying in this cold is far more dangerous. Hurry up.’
“Fine. Nngh.”
According to the analysis program, the gate’s radius was approximately 27.5 centimeters—a very small opening. I pushed my head through first. Warm air greeted me the moment my head passed through. My chest caught slightly, but I carefully maneuvered my upper body through, then my hips and legs. Once fully inside, the warm air combined with the heat from my heat-generation function made me rapidly overheat.
“Whew, it’s quite warm here. About 31 degrees.”
‘The temperature difference of over seventy degrees just by crossing one gate is truly astonishing.’
Elisa immediately deactivated the heat-generation function, but my body was already burning hot. I removed the monster-fur coat and all the layered clothes I had been wearing, leaving only my underwear. After neatly rolling the clothes and placing them atop the backpack, I stood up. My uterus, which had been pulsing vigorously, gradually calmed. Then I felt something emerging from my vagina through the birth canal.
Curious, I bent at the waist and spread my panties to look between my legs. A small black mini-slime peeked its head out from my vagina. Since it had been too cold, I hadn’t worn the metal chastity belt, allowing Las to exit through my vagina. After glancing around, Las pulled its body free and crawled up my stomach. Still connected to my uterus by a black cord like an umbilical cord, it reached my shoulder and bounced happily, apparently pleased with the warm temperature.
“Feeling good?”
When I poked it with my finger, Las trembled and rubbed against my finger coquettishly. Its round, elastic, and smooth texture felt like a polished rubber ball. I played with it for a while before telling it to go back inside, but it showed no intention of doing so.
‘Stop playing and start exploring.’
“It doesn’t want to go back in.”
‘Just leave it. It’s connected to your uterus anyway, so it can’t go anywhere.’
At Elisa’s scolding, I reluctantly placed Las on my shoulder and began exploring in nothing but my underwear. The area around the gate was dark with almost no light sources, but my eyes, switched to night-vision mode, allowed me to see well enough. First, I installed a miniature surveillance camera to monitor the gate’s condition and connected it wirelessly to my implant. A low-resolution, low-frame-rate feed from the camera appeared in the corner of my vision, confirming the connection. Though image quality and frame rate were reduced, long-range transmission was possible over considerable distances.
After installing the camera and looking around, I saw an interior that evoked the feeling of a temple, though different from both Eden’s temple architecture and the Sun God religion’s style. Tall ceilings and spacious halls lined with elaborate statues of people with elongated ears and striking beauty. Stone tablets inscribed with unfamiliar characters encircled the gate in a ring.
‘As expected, these characters appear in neither the eastern nor western continents. The clothing styles on the statues are unique as well.’
“There are unusually many statues holding staffs.”
The statues lined along the path descending from the altar-like platform where the gate had opened all held what appeared to be weapons, but staffs were particularly numerous. Passing through countless statues, I reached what seemed to be an exit and found myself in a long corridor. No wonder nothing had crossed through the gate. With everything so empty, there was nothing to come over.
“There really is nothing here. Was the gate’s opening not caused by a monster after all?”
‘Research indicates that all previously opened gates were influenced by monsters, but it hasn’t been conclusively proven. This might be a new type of gate.’
“I see.”
We continued walking and talking, but the same scenery repeated endlessly. The corridors were so identical that it was hard to tell them apart. Moreover, I had the distinct feeling we were going in circles.
“Eek, what? What’s wrong?”
‘It seems like it wants to go somewhere.’
Las, which had been sitting quietly on my shoulder, suddenly began pulling on the cord to point in a direction. The cord stretched taut, stimulating my clitoris. My body, already conditioned to arousal, trembled automatically. Finding my reaction amusing, Las deliberately pressed and rubbed my clitoris with the cord while bouncing its body. As its movements grew more vigorous, the stimulation reached inside my vagina, intensifying my tremors.
Oh no. After months without any stimulation following my training, my vagina was far too sensitive. Though my mind remained unaroused due to blocked sexual sensation, my body responded to the stimulation, heating up.
“This kid’s getting more and more unruly.”
‘What will you do if you let a symbiotic slime push you around? You need to clearly show the host isn’t someone to be trifled with.’
“Nngh. Las, that’s enough.”
Following Elisa’s advice, I grasped Las’s body and squeezed it while speaking firmly. Las paused as if gauging the situation, then liquefied its previously elastic body and began spreading across my hand, enveloping it.