My parents were good people.
They even sacrificed themselves to save me during that war. However, despite their sacrifice, I had very few memories of them.
Since they passed away when I was five, it was only natural that I remembered less than I didn't.
Even so, the fact that I couldn't even remember my parents' faces, who had sacrificed themselves for me, tormented me from time to time.
Of course, I wasn't the only unfortunate one.
Losing parents overnight and becoming an orphan was as common as dirt in those days.
There was even talk of the entire East Asia collapsing, so there was probably no room to take care of orphaned kids in a small peninsula country.
"Oh my, are you alright?"
If I hadn't met Sister Superior then, I would have died on the cold streets like the other children.
In those days when the country couldn't provide any support to the orphanage, our orphanage was overflowing with children who had lost their parents in the war.
The nuns farmed until blisters formed and burst on their hands to feed us, and they had to beg for donations from here and there under the guise of fundraising.
I never forgot the image of them always sending us warm smiles, even though it must have been difficult for them.
I had always vowed that I would repay their kindness once I became successful.
'Right, I should visit them first thing when I get out of this gate.'
Unlike my parents, whose faces I couldn't remember even if I tore my hair out, the face of Sister Superior, who once showed me a bright smile, came to my mind relatively clearly.
Sometimes strict, sometimes kind, she gave birth to us with her heart and loved us with her heart.
What kind of reaction would she have if she heard that I died in the gate?
Thinking about that, I suddenly felt like I was hit on the head with a hammer, and the face of Sister Superior disappeared.
"…Huh?!"
And I was able to return to reality.
In this place covered with pure white snow.
Fortunately, Choi Hyena was in my arms, unconscious.
"Haa…"
Thanks to the barrier I hastily created right before being swept away by the avalanche, I was able to avoid being buried in the snow and dying.
It took a lot of magic power, but it was right to be happy about surviving now.
Frankly, I wasn't sure if I could succeed because the avalanche's momentum was unusual. Moreover, if the Ice Golem had directly attacked us to kill us, we would have died, the barrier being useless.
I don't know what kind of whim it was, but it was a stroke of luck.
'Is Choi Hyena alright?'
Fortunately, judging from the fact that she was breathing evenly, she only seemed to have lost consciousness.
'What do I do now…'
I took out my cell phone and checked the time. It was made to be used even inside the gate, so it was possible to simply check the time.
There were about 2 hours left until the gate opened. Fortunately, the time I was unconscious wasn't as long as I thought.
"Huu…"
Surviving that disastrous avalanche and the Ice Golem leaving us alone could only be described as miracles, but the unresolved problems were still stacked up.
The Ice Golem was on a different level from the monsters I had fought so far.
Its enormous size, the pressure that seemed to crush my body, and the powerlessness that made me feel like I could never win.
I couldn't think of a way to deal with it from head to toe.
Even if I ran out of here and reached the place where the gate was opening, numerous monster groups would already be heading there.
Even if I avoided all those guys and arrived, could I really withstand the Ice Golem's attack?
Basically, the boss entity is said to leave the gate only after all the monsters have left, but it didn't seem like it would treat us as monsters and let us out willingly.
"Hey, Choi Hyena!"
My head was complicated, but I decided to wake up Choi Hyena first and then think about it. There wasn't much time.
"…Ugh, ugh."
Fortunately, Choi Hyena soon opened her eyes groggily, letting out a faint groan.
"Whe, where is…"
"Did you have a good sleep?"
"…Ah."
Choi Hyena looked around and then looked at me one last time, and only then did she seem to understand what kind of situation we were in.
"…Thank you."
Choi Hyena conveyed her gratitude to me for hugging and protecting her in that chaos.
"Is respect for your future husband starting to grow now?"
"Get lost."
"A feisty wife is good too."
With a few unfiltered words, we looked at each other and laughed like fools.
I felt the tension ease a little.
"What are we going to do now?"
"What do you mean what are we going to do? We have to get out of here."
I was starting to feel burdened by maintaining the barrier.
Moreover, there wasn't much time left until the gate opened.
Even if we ran in a straight line from here, it would take well over an hour, and if we thought about avoiding monsters, 2 hours wouldn't be enough.
There would be monsters attacking us in the process, and it was questionable whether the Ice Golem would stay still.
"…Hey."
Then, Choi Hyena cautiously called me in a somewhat uneasy voice.
"Why?"
"Can we get out of here alive…?"
Choi Hyena's uncharacteristic weakness made me laugh without realizing it.
'Come to think of it, it hasn't even been a week since I first met her.'
Our first meeting was the worst, no need for other words.
A rich man's daughter and me, excited about the idea of a blind date, and Choi Hyena, who treated me like a beggar.
Frankly, if we had parted ways that day without anything happening, we would have remained as strangers forever. Or we would have become mortal enemies.
We, who were like that, got caught up in an isolated gate and ended up being intimate.
No matter how unpredictable people's futures are, does it have to be this eventful?
I hugged Choi Hyena, who was trembling slightly.
"No matter what happens, I'll make sure you get out, so don't worry about unnecessary things."
"…"
If the worst comes to the worst, I can just use matching.
It will take a lot of time, but I can just gain enough power to escape from this place on my own and survive the firepower pouring in from the outside.
I don't know how many matches I'll have to do in the process, but I was in a better situation than Choi Hyena, who doesn't have a spare life.
***
Bang!
Having escaped from the snowfield, we hurriedly looked around.
Fortunately, there was no sign of monsters around.
As we had planned in advance, we ran towards the gate through the roughest path possible.
Going in a straight line would be the fastest route, but I couldn't possibly do that when I thought of the monster groups I saw on the hill yesterday.
Moreover, the Ice Golem, which boasted an enormous size, wasn't visible either.
There was no harm in being careful.
It was hard to run on the snowfield, but thanks to the know-how I had gained while living here for the past few days, it wasn't impossible to run at all.
Of course, Choi Hyena, who wasn't a physical type, struggled from time to time, but now was not the time to rest.
Resting was a luxury if we wanted to get out alive.
After running like that for a while, we miraculously didn't encounter a single monster.
At this point, instead of thinking it was fortunate, only an unsettling feeling of unease lingered in my heart.
Normally, we would have met about 3 or 4 monsters.
'Is it because it's the day a gate break is happening?'
That was highly likely, but there was nothing that could be concluded.
For now, all I could do and had to do was to force myself to erase this anxiety and move forward.
Even with that resolution, the anxiety that had taken root in one corner of my heart didn't disappear easily. I had to struggle not to be conscious of it, fiddling with the sword hilt hanging from my waist.
"Kang Hyunwoo! 11 o'clock to the left!"
"?!"
In the short time I looked away, I felt the presence of a monster not far away.
The monster must have noticed our presence as well, as it was running straight towards us, and its speed was unusual.
Kwaang!
The identity of the monster that came running while destroying all the trees in the forest right next to us was Snow Caribe, a C-grade monster, a giant deer-type monster.
"Choi Hyena! Save your magic power!"
I shouted at Choi Hyena, who was quickly preparing magic.
Unlike me, Choi Hyena takes a considerable amount of time to recover her magic power.
To prepare for the situation ahead, I had to deal with that guy alone for now.
A blue light flickered from the sword blade that was quickly pulled out of its sheath.
The sword, which received the price of magic power, brought much more powerful cutting power, and the body strengthened with magic power allowed me to move to Snow Caribe's vicinity in an instant.
Surprised by the unexpected speed, the guy immediately swung his giant horns at me, but it wasn't fatal enough to reach me, who had accumulated practical experience while living here.
With a single slash, I cut off the guy's horns and unfolded the magic I had prepared as it was.
[Flame Circle]
Snow Caribe, caught in the exploding flames at close range, had half of its head blown off and collapsed as it was, never to rise again.
Even though I defeated the C-grade monster so quickly, I wasn't satisfied.
The grades of the guys I dealt with in the underground dungeon were D+, considering they were elite individuals, they would have been about C-.
The Snow Caribe I just knocked down was a monster half a grade higher in terms of grade than the monsters in the underground dungeon.
Of course, grades weren't absolute in terms of the strength of monsters, so I couldn't say for sure that Snow Caribe was stronger, but if I had learned swordsmanship even a little from that beastwoman who was pulling out sword energy.
'…I wouldn't even have needed to use magic.'
Even as I knocked down Snow Caribe and hurried back on my way, I kept feeling uneasy that I couldn't deal with it with the first slash I swung.
What if I had taken one more step forward?
What if I had stretched out my arm a little longer?
No matter how much I thought about it, I was disappointed.
Once I got out of here, I decided to visit Sister Superior and then go to a swordsmanship dojo unconditionally.
I was convinced that if I only learned swordsmanship, I would be able to easily knock down the guy who was blocking the way to the 2nd floor of the underground dungeon.
While I was lost in thought, we were able to reach the hill around the starting point where we had first arrived when we were caught up in the gate.
There were about 20 minutes left until the gate opened, and thanks to the fact that there was only one monster we encountered on the way, we were able to arrive relatively comfortably.
However.
"…Hey, Kang Hyunwoo."
"…Bullshit."
The area around where I expected the gate to open was already surrounded by a tremendous number of monsters.
Even if I looked roughly, there were easily over 100, and if it was bad, it seemed like there could be 200.
Lastly, the Ice Golem was settled on the mountain range a little away from there.
Even though it was sitting down, it was as huge as a small mountain.
I trembled once again at the size that could be compared to a decent skyscraper.
But this was also an opportunity.
That guy was quite far away from the gate.
It was a rare good news in the worst situation. Since its size was so large, it would inevitably be clumsy to move, which meant that there was almost no room for it to interfere when we escaped.
Even if there was, we only had to be careful of throwing attacks from a distance, which was clearly good news.
Choi Hyena also seemed to have grasped that fact, and a faint hope could be seen in her face, which had been soaked in anxiety.
"Choi Hyena."
From now on was the most important moment.
"Do you see the place the monsters are looking at? We're going to run towards that place from now on."
There was a place where the monsters were looking, like an audience 1 minute before a movie was screened.
"Don't worry about the time. Either way, we'll only be able to make it in time by running at full speed from now on."
Choi Hyena swallowed hard.
That was understandable. I was just as nervous.
"Don't be nervous."
"…I'm not nervous."
Yeah right, why don't you wipe off that cold sweat before you talk?
"I told you earlier, didn't I? I'll make sure you get out no matter what."
It wasn't something to say after only knowing each other for less than a week.
It was a common, flattering remark, but Choi Hyena was so grateful for that one word.
The heart that had been pounding like it would burst had calmed down somewhere.
We, who had plastered ourselves with various auxiliary magic, went down the hill at the same time without anyone saying anything.
A few monsters gathered there got up at the small movement, but the two people didn't care.
What was important now was to go beyond the gate that would open soon.
That was the only thing.
However, breaking through the monster group and moving forward wasn't as easy as it sounded.
White Yeti, Ice Bear, and White Wolf, which we used to hunt, as well as monsters of a type I had never seen before, began to run towards us.
-Kuaaaaaa!!!
Bang!
A huge forepaw was swung at us.
We, who didn't have the leisure to hunt as usual, had no choice but to roll around here and there with skills close to body gag.
What was fortunate was that there were so many monsters that when they attacked us, they ended up attacking each other.
There were several monsters that started fighting.
It was a somewhat hopeful situation, but Choi Hyena was falling behind more and more.
Having no choice, after avoiding the monster's attack, I ran to Choi Hyena and hugged her as she was.
"…Sorry."
"If you have time to apologize, help me with magic."
Thanks to the auxiliary magic that ate up quite a lot of magic power, I was faster and more powerful than usual.
There was no big problem in running while holding Choi Hyena.
"7 o'clock to the left!"
Choi Hyena checked the monsters with magic or covered my blind spots.
Thanks to that, I was able to run while only looking ahead.
The escape plan was much smoother than expected.
Even though we came into a group of monsters that easily exceeded 100, the number of monsters attacking us was smaller than I thought.
That's what I thought.
"Be, behind you!!"
I looked back at Choi Hyena's urgent voice.
"?!!"
A huge rock was flying towards us.
Having no choice, I immediately ran in the opposite direction of the gate.
Kwaaaaaaang!!!
The rock, which flew at a tremendous speed, was thrown into the ground.
As a result, a considerable number of monsters died, and we were also caught in the shock and flew backwards.
Fortunately, despite the irregular attack, the damage we suffered was minimal. However, we ended up returning to the starting line after all.
We didn't have enough stamina, magic power, or time to run again in this state.
Moreover, as if adding insult to injury, the gate was opening far away.
It was much faster than expected.
'…It's too far.'
Even if there were no monsters interfering, it would take 5 minutes on a straight course.
It was obvious that the monsters would jump out of the gate first before that.
In the end, I had no choice but to use the last resort.
I ran towards the rock thrown by the Ice Golem.
I only had one chance.
After strengthening my lower body with magic power, I stepped on the rock and jumped up. As I jumped up to a height that other monsters couldn't reach in an instant, I could see the direct course to the gate.
"Shield!"
With a short word, Choi Hyena immediately put a shield on me and herself.
After confirming that, I threw Choi Hyena up as it was.
"Kya, kyaak?!"
Even while flying, her flustered expression didn't disappear.
"Go first."
I scraped together all the remaining magic power in my right hand and blew away the shield that was covering Choi Hyena as if pushing it forward.
Bang!!
"Ka, Kang Hyunwoo?!"
Choi Hyena flew over the heads of the monsters at a fast speed.
A few monsters jumped up and tried to attack Choi Hyena in the middle, but they lacked speed and height.
"I'll follow you soon."
"…?!! …!!"
Choi Hyena was able to get out of the gate before other monsters escaped.
It seemed like she was shouting something at the end, but it was too far away to hear well.
After sending Choi Hyena, I landed on the ground. I couldn't rest even though I was overwhelmed by a tremendous sense of exhaustion because I had consumed most of my magic power.
-Krrr…
The murderous eyes of the monsters who had missed their prey in front of their eyes were all directed at me.
The pressure that made me feel like I was suffocating just by looking at it made my legs give way and I almost sat down as it was.
Now, when I couldn't predict when they would attack, there was only one way left for me.
[Would you like to re-match with Iris Lemeria Bayart Pelldia?]
[Y/N]
Just as the tiger-like monster in front of me was about to swing its ferocious claws at me, I was about to press the matching button.
But that attempt was in vain.
Did I die?
No.
"To leave alone to save the woman you love."
Because the tiger-like monster that surrounded the gate and was about to kill me had its head blown off in an instant by a woman with ashen hair who appeared from beyond the gate.
It was a face I had seen on the news.
The youngest tower master of the Ashen Magic Tower, one of the brilliant and great 12 Magic Towers, and the youngest 7-circle magician.
"Are you a romantic?"
It was Hanlael.