The Porter of the Hero's Party — Oh...
Oh...
I wanted to see a monster, but I didn't mean I wanted to be killed by one. I never imagined a Gate Mutation would actually happen. I knew it was an incredibly rare phenomenon, but I never expected to be the unlucky bastard at the center of it.
This isn't a dream, is it?
Out of habit, I pulled back my middle finger to perform a reality check, but it refused to touch the back of my hand. Just in case, I tried pushing my finger through my palm and ran through a few other dream-checking methods I knew, but reality remained stubbornly, brutally clear.
I was, without a doubt, completely screwed.
That was the conclusion I reached after deep, careful deliberation.
Will they hold out for a few minutes?
The harvesting site I was assigned to was located deep inside a cave where dangerous monsters were relatively scarce. Monsters were probably running rampant outside by now, but the escort hunter guarding the cave entrance would surely hold them off for at least a few minutes.
Besides, I had heard that Han Haneul, an S-Class hunter, was escorting the staff.
She must have realized what was happening by now. Once she evacuated the staff, she would probably come to rescue us. I wanted to believe she wouldn't just abandon human lives.
This is a bad omen...
I sighed, slashing at a rat-like monster that lunged from a dark corner.
At least I'm glad I learned hunter swordsmanship. I had originally learned it to use in my dreams, but I never expected to wield it against a real monster like this. It really was different from a dream. The sensation of slicing through flesh, the metallic stench of blood—everything was so vivid it made my skin crawl.
Still, the solid weight of the self-defense sword in my hand helped me maintain some semblance of composure.
"Ex-excuse me, aren't you a porter like us?"
"Yes, I am. A porter."
"B-but you're so calm..."
The porter who had been harvesting alongside me stared at me, his eyes wide with shock.
He was holding a self-defense sword too, but he was in no state to swing it. His legs were shaking like leaves, and sweat was pouring down his entire body.
Well, to be fair, this was the normal reaction.
These cave rats were barely worthy of being called monsters—they were closer to wild beasts you could scare off with a swift kick—but they were still monsters. It was only natural to panic in front of a beast that could rip your throat out.
Despite that, there was only one reason I could remain so calm.
Because I've experienced this countless times in my dreams.
If anyone else heard this, they would probably laugh. They would say dreams and reality are different, and that experiencing death and slaughter in a dream doesn't make you 'used to it' in real life.
But I had spent years striving to master perfect lucid dreaming.
To me, lucid dreams were practically another reality. I had squeezed every drop of my imagination to replicate even the sensations I had never felt in real life. To achieve this, I had even joined an extreme sports club to gather as many diverse physical experiences as possible.
My swordsmanship might not be as precise as a real hunter's, but...
At the very least, the muscle memory of crossing the line between life and death countless times while swinging a blade was deeply etched into my mind. So, even if this was reality and not a dream, I just had to do what I always did in my dreams.
Okay. This is a dream. This is just a dream...
"First, let's head toward the entrance."
"W-what? But it sounds so chaotic over there... Won't it be d-dangerous?"
"Even so, it's better to regroup with the hunters. There's no guarantee stronger monsters won't spawn deeper inside the cave."
"T-that's true... Okay, okay. I understand..."
I had to regroup with the hunters as quickly as possible.
With that thought in mind, I headed toward the cave entrance with the other porters.
"...Wh-what? That person—"
"Ah. Damn it."
We witnessed the hunter guarding the cave entrance activate a skill and vanish right into the horde of monsters. ...An assassin class, probably. Assassin classes usually had excellent detection abilities, making them suitable for escort duty.
However, using that ability to flee was the absolute worst-case scenario. It meant he had abandoned his duty to protect us and run away. Quickly assessing the situation, I turned to the dazed porters and spoke in a sharp, commanding tone.
"We're in trouble. Run back inside!"
"What? Y-yes, sir...!"
Ah, I should have just run deeper inside from the start...
Those damn rogues... No, those crazy assassin bastards.
"...Aren't you the hunter who was supposed to be escorting the porters?"
"H-heck! H-Hunter Han Haneul!"
"Why are you here?"
"Well, th-that is—"
Seeing the hunter avoid her gaze with trembling eyes, she immediately understood the situation. He ran away alone. Abandoning the people he was supposed to protect.
Rage flared within her.
In her past life, she might not have been this angry. But the vivid memories of being the Hero forced her to feel absolute fury toward those who abandoned the weak and neglected their duty.
The surrounding mana began to fluctuate violently.
As her freezing mana went wild, everything around them slowly began to frost over. The escort hunter gasped in terror and bowed his head.
"I-I'm sorry! There were just too many monsters, so I..."
"...Ha."
She wanted to hold this man accountable right then and there, but saving lives was more urgent. Every second counted. If she wasted time venting her anger and failed to save those she could have saved, she would never be able to face herself. Not the people she failed to save, and certainly not the porter who had saved her...
Suppressing her boiling rage, she asked as calmly as possible.
"So, where are the porters?"
"In... in that cave over there..."
"Understood."
Before the escort hunter could even finish his sentence, she dashed forward.
Countless monsters had just spawned. Due to the raging mana of the mutating Gate, they were exceptionally frenzied and strengthened, but they were still not enough to stop the movements of an S-Class hunter. However, there were simply too many of them.
Even when she cleared a path with wide-range skills, new monsters immediately flooded in to fill the gap.
She needed to conserve her mana.
After a brief hesitation, she sheathed her staff and drew the pure white sword hanging from her other hip. In terms of efficiency, this was the better choice. As long as she didn't get bogged down, she only needed to kill the ones directly blocking her path as she advanced.
...It feels so familiar.
This was different from when she had carelessly unleashed Sword Qi just to test her blade. She was precisely cutting down only the monsters blocking her way. To protect those who needed saving, she moved along the shortest path in the most efficient manner possible.
It was familiar. This exact situation of swinging a sword to save someone was so familiar it made her heart ache and her bones run cold.
Because she was the Hero. Because she had been the Hero.
Because she remembered it so clearly. Because you had made me a Hero.
"Ah..."
When she finally reached the cave entrance, she saw clear signs that countless monsters had already breached it.
The massive monsters couldn't fit inside, but... a monster's danger didn't lessen just because it was small. Most of the porters were likely already dead. If only that escort hunter had held out just a little longer, he could have bought enough time for her to arrive.
A dark, sticky feeling of resentment squirmed in a corner of her heart.
But she hadn't given up yet.
They might still be miraculously alive. They could be hiding from the monsters, running away, or at least one person might have survived.
She stepped into the cave.
The stench of blood, damp moss, stagnant water, and wild beasts mingled together, making it feel as if she were exploring the belly of some giant beast. She pressed forward. Deeper. Faster. Without hesitation. Without doubt. Believing she could save them.
...Ah!
Sounds echoed from deep within. Screams, sobs—noises of distress, but they were proof of life nonetheless. She could save them. Thank goodness. They had held out. Feeling a slight wave of relief, she dashed deeper inside without slowing her pace.
She spotted monster corpses littered on the ground.
Did the porters kill them? There must be someone who knew swordsmanship among them. That was how they had managed to survive.
Wait.
But the shape of the wounds was strangely familiar.
Why? A faint, nostalgic feeling, like recalling a long-forgotten memory, tickled her heart. She had definitely seen wounds like this before. It shouldn't be possible, yet it felt so familiar.
She pushed her mana to the limit, accelerating even further.
A method of mana control that only swordsman classes would use—a technique commonly known as footwork—manifested naturally through her body, carrying her through the cave.
Faster, faster...
It had probably only been a few minutes, but her anxiety mounted as the sounds grew closer. The few minutes spent traversing the cave felt like agonizing hours. And finally, she saw someone holding a sword.
At the very end of the cave, standing before the trembling, weeping porters.
She saw a single 'porter' standing alone against the monsters.
No way. It can't be...
Time seemed to grind to a halt.
Everything around her slowed down, leaving only the vivid image of the 'porter' protecting his comrades deep inside the cave. She saw those eyes that used to grow so deep and warm in front of the campfire, the hands gripping the sword with absolute resolve, and that upright, wall-like posture shielding the people behind him.
She saw his torn, blood-soaked clothes, the wounds peeking through the fabric, and a wolf-like monster lunging straight at him.
The wolf leaped through the air.
It wouldn't have been hard for him to dodge by stepping aside, but the porter didn't move. Because there were people behind him he had to protect. If he didn't block those sharp claws and fangs right there, the people behind him would take the blow instead.
Ah. Ahh. Ahhhhhhh.
"You son of a bitch—"
Her mana went completely wild. Unable to withstand the absolute freezing mana, her pure white sword shuddered violently before shattering like ice. Yet, a sword of brilliant blue and white mana still remained in her hand.
It was like a shimmering starlight.
She knew instantly. She knew this blade of energy would move exactly as she willed it. It would never harm the person she loved; it would only tear that bastard to shreds—
"HOW DARE YOU OPEN YOUR FILTHY MAW AT HIM—!!!!"
And so, she swung.
This time, I will never let you die.
The wolf was sliced clean in half mid-air. With a sharp crack, it froze instantly, shattering into countless pieces before a single drop of blood could spill. The shards of ice, glittering with mana, looked breathtakingly beautiful despite being the remnants of slaughter.
What just happened?
Turning my head, I saw a beautiful woman walking toward us from the cave entrance. Ah. A hunter had arrived. I really thought I was a dead man...
...I survived, somehow.
"Porter...!"
Along with the relief of survival, a crushing exhaustion washed over my entire body. Perhaps because the tension had finally snapped, the pain I had been ignoring rushed in all at once.
"Thank... you..."
"Porter! Porter! Wake up—"
And with that final, barely squeezed-out expression of gratitude, I lost consciousness.