Underground Exodus (3)
“Over there...”
“Yeah. That’s the exit.”
We pushed through the mountain of bones, drawing closer to the prison’s exit.
“That’s... the Gatekeeper...”
And there it stood, just as Zildre had described. A grotesque mass of countless skulls, resembling the bone piles scattered throughout the cavern. Yet its presence was undeniable—the two skulls perched atop its form glowed with a menacing crimson light.
“This is far enough.”
We halted at Zildre’s command as we edged toward the exit.
“One more step and we enter its territory.”
“...”
We stopped in place and readied ourselves.
“You remember the plan, right?”
“Yes...”
Zildre’s sword rested in my hands. She gathered blood-red energy into her empty palms, shaping it into a glowing sphere.
“Follow the plan. When the moment comes, get out immediately.”
“Zildre, I—”
“Just promise me.”
With those final words, Zildre moved. The crimson sphere in her hands flowed and solidified into a blood-red spear.
“Gatekeeperrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!”
She hurled the spear with a thunderous roar, doing everything she could to draw its attention.
Whoosh—
The Gatekeeper exhaled a chilling aura and turned its gaze toward us. Its skeletal arms—jagged limbs jutting from the mass of bones—shifted, swatting the incoming spear aside as if it were a mere toothpick.
Whoosh—
Then it opened its maw. The crimson glow that had only shone from its eyes now blazed from within its gaping mouth as well.
Clack— clack— clack—
Skeletons burst from the surrounding bone piles, all charging straight at Zildre.
“Blood-Wave!”
Zildre flung her arm sideways. A crimson wave of blood surged forward, sweeping through the skeletons.
Aaaah—
But the Gatekeeper spread its arms wide, releasing a thick violet killing intent that effortlessly blocked the wave. Zildre had clearly expected as much.
『Siwoo, over there! There it is!』
“Yeah, I see it.”
When the Gatekeeper spread its arms, the red core previously hidden behind them came into view.
『Destroy that core and it’ll fall.』
“But...”
『Yeah. That’s not our plan.』
Zildre’s plan wasn’t to slay the Gatekeeper. It was to slip past it.
“Slip past it?”
“Right. We don’t have the strength to kill it. So getting past is our best option.”
“But...”
“And it’ll be easier this way. The Gatekeeper doesn’t care about anything outside its territory.”
“Ah! Then if we attack it from outside its territory—”
“...Of course it’ll react to that. Don’t be naïve. It can think.”
Huh? I thought it was just a mass of grudges without reason.
“It’s obvious what it’s thinking... Haah. Lacking reason doesn’t mean lacking intelligence. Think of it as... an animal. That’ll be easier.”
“An animal...”
“Yeah. An incredibly dangerous animal. Bigger than us. One that can even use magic.”
“...We’re gonna die before we even get past it, aren’t we...?”
Zildre flashed a bright, confident grin at my words.
“It’s fine. The most important thing in battle is believing in yourself.”
‘...She’s so damn cool.’
In that moment, Zildre looked just like the heroes I’d seen on TV as a kid.
“Blood-Stream!”
At her shout, the blood energy gathered in her hands shot forward.
Aaaah—
The Gatekeeper gestured, and countless skeletons threw themselves in front of the crimson beam to block it.
“Meat shields...? Or bone shields, I guess...?”
The skeletons sacrificed their bodies to halt the beam.
“Haaaaah!!!!!”
Zildre dashed to the Gatekeeper’s left flank, drawing the attention of both the skeletons and the Gatekeeper itself.
“Blood-Hurricane!”
Moments later, the skeletons lured by her aggro surrounded her. Zildre unleashed a powerful storm of blood.
『Lee Siwoo! Now!』
“I know!”
That was the signal we’d agreed on.
Aaaah—
Most of the ordinary skeletons were sucked into the blood storm. Even the Gatekeeper spread its arms wide, radiating killing intent to resist being pulled in.
The moment the Gatekeeper focused on enduring the storm, I gripped Zildre’s sword tightly and sprinted.
“Uwaaaaaah!!!!!”
I tried not to draw the Gatekeeper’s attention, but the battle cry escaped my lips anyway. Without it, my legs might have refused to move at all.
I ran along the path Zildre had pointed out—the one outside the blood storm’s reach. Fortunately, the Gatekeeper was too busy resisting the storm to notice me.
“Here I gooooooo!!!!!”
Just a little farther and the exit would come into view. I circled around the Gatekeeper, heading for the opposite side from Zildre, running with everything I had.
Eventually, Zildre disappeared behind the Gatekeeper’s massive body. Only the faint glow of her blood storm remained visible when the Gatekeeper slowly began to turn its head.
Whoosh—
Crimson light leaked from its hollow eye sockets and pierced straight through me.
‘Shit...’
The moment that eerie, ominous red light fixed on me, my legs tangled and I tumbled to the ground.
“Aaaagh!”
『Siwoo! Get up!』
Momo’s voice screamed in my head, but terror had frozen my body completely.
“Blood-Lance!”
Zildre must have noticed the Gatekeeper turning toward me. A massive crimson lance shot out from within the blood storm.
Aaaah—
The Gatekeeper casually raised its left hand, wreathed in killing intent, and blocked the lance with ease. Then it slowly extended its right hand toward me.
『Siwoo! Siwoo, please!』
Killing intent gathered and condensed in the Gatekeeper’s right hand, forming a shape eerily similar to the crimson beam Zildre had fired earlier.
Aaaah—
『Siwoo! No! Please! Even a little—』
The condensed killing intent fired straight at me. Momo’s desperate voice echoed endlessly in my mind.
‘Ah... So this is where I die...’
Whirr—
At that moment, my body—frozen by fear—suddenly moved on its own.
“Aaaagh!”
My limbs, which had refused to obey, rolled forward to dodge the black beam the Gatekeeper had fired. I avoided it completely.
“Huff... huff... The Emergency Dodge Maneuver really works...”
『No time to relax! Run!』
The Gatekeeper seemed momentarily stunned that I had evaded its attack. I scrambled to my feet and dashed toward the exit. It quickly recovered, opening its mouth and turning its head to follow me.
Perhaps because my body had been forced to move once, the terror from the Gatekeeper’s crimson gaze no longer paralyzed me. I kept running.
On the left, Zildre continued binding the skeletons with blood to hinder the Gatekeeper. Any skeletons that had been heading my way were swept into the blood storm. The Gatekeeper itself kept raising its left hand to block incoming crimson attacks.
‘This is my chance...!’
The Gatekeeper, watching me sprint desperately, stopped condensing killing intent for powerful blasts. Instead, it spread its fingers and fired rapid, smaller beams.
“Are you kidding me?!”
Whirr—
Thanks to the Emergency Dodge Maneuver working overtime, none of the beams hit me directly. But my body kept jerking involuntarily, pulling me farther and farther from the exit.
‘Damn it...’
Whether intentional or not, the Gatekeeper’s attacks were herding me to the right. If this kept up, I’d be hit for sure.
‘The right side is blocked...’
Beyond the Gatekeeper’s right flank lay an empty clearing filled with bone piles—and more skeletons. The ones nearby had all been destroyed by Zildre at the start, but some still remained.
Running outside its territory and coming back in would just put me right back in the same situation.
‘I have to keep moving forward!’
I used the Emergency Dodge Maneuver to weave through the Gatekeeper’s attacks while sprinting toward the exit.
Whoosh—
The Gatekeeper seemed irritated that I kept dodging. It stopped firing beams and began making a different gesture.
‘What now...?’
No matter what it did, I had no choice but to keep running.
Suddenly, a wall of bones rose in front of me. I spun around—only to find another bone wall blocking my retreat. By the time I realized what was happening, I was completely surrounded.
‘...I’m screwed.’
The Gatekeeper raised its hand toward the only opening—the ceiling—and prepared to fire a black beam.
Trapped on all sides, even the Emergency Dodge Maneuver couldn’t save me. Dodging would only leave my body in an unrecognizable state.
Just as despair set in, Momo’s voice rang out.
『Break the wall!』
“What?”
『Swing the sword! You can destroy this much!』
I looked at Zildre’s sword, still clutched in my hands, and took my stance.
‘Please...’
There was no other way.
“Sword Arts, Form 1 — Thrusting Slash.”
My body moved like flowing water, shattering the bone wall in front of me into pieces.
Whoosh—
Whirr—
At the same time, the Gatekeeper fired its black beam. My body was pulled forward by the Emergency Dodge Maneuver.
“Kugh!”
I didn’t fall this time. I immediately started running again. A small crack had appeared on the sword’s blade.
『Two times is the limit. One more and it’ll break.』
“...Got it.”
After running desperately, I finally reached the area behind the Gatekeeper.
“That’s... the exit...!”
A tunnel similar to the one leading to Momo’s room or the cavern where I first met Zildre stretched ahead. To the Gatekeeper’s left, the blood storm was slowly shrinking. Without hesitation, I ran.
“Here I gooooo!!!!!”
Whoosh—
The moment I kicked off the ground, a sickening crunch echoed behind me. The Gatekeeper’s body twisted grotesquely. Its waist rotated and stretched unnaturally, sending its upper body lunging over my head. Its arms slammed into the ground in front of me.
What I faced next was the Gatekeeper’s inverted face—its gaping maw and glowing crimson eyes staring directly at me.
“U... uuuu...”
I froze, paralyzed by sheer terror. Even after growing accustomed to skeletons in this place, this sight was utterly horrifying.
“Siwoo!!!!!”
Two crimson chains shot out and bound the Gatekeeper’s arms. It could do nothing but stare at me.
“...Zildre!”
I looked toward the chains’ origin. Zildre stood there, gripping them tightly with both hands.
“Wait! Zildre!”
Skeletons swarmed her, biting and clawing with swords, spears, hands, feet, and teeth.
“Above! Aim for its core!”
I looked up. There it was—the source of the crimson light. The Gatekeeper’s heart. A round, red core.
As if entranced, I raised the sword with both hands, my eyes locked on the red point.
“Sword Arts, Form 5 — Great Slash.”
I drew the blade back as far as it would go, then swung it forward with a quiet murmur.
Whoosh—
The Gatekeeper split in two. The force of the slash was so great that even the underground cavern trembled slightly.
“Zildre! Quick—”
I turned desperately toward her, but Zildre was already buried beneath the skeletons. Only her right arm and head remained visible.
“Go! Go, Siwoo!”
“...Zildre.”
“Get out of here! And keep your promise!”
“Wait... I—”
『Siwoo! If you don’t go now, you’ll—』
Whirr—
The collapsing cavern and the Emergency Dodge Maneuver steadily guided me toward the exit. Zildre sank deeper among the skeletons.
“Zildreeeee!!!!!”
“I’m counting on you... Siwoo!”
I ran. And ran. And ran.
Finally, what appeared before me were two moons and a terrifyingly dark night sky.
『You can stop now... This should be far enough.』
Momo said something, but it didn’t register in my mind.
In my hand was nothing but a sword hilt. The blade had vanished without a trace.
『It’s a bit late to say this, but...』
The outside air was bitterly cold and sharp.
『Welcome to another world.』