As Nir was thinking about all this, he suddenly felt weird, as if the air was getting thin. He glanced around. Blue was standing at the entrance, looking out. Nir also stepped outside.
As he did so, he saw that people were running around, but not on the roads. They were climbing from house to house to escape and save themselves.
There was a dark hole in the road, called Gate 88, as written on the top of the gate.
Nir didn't know much about Gate 88, which was now open, because he hadn't heard much about it. In fact, he didn't know much about any gate.
"Hey brat, what's this?" Blue asked as he was about to take a step further.
Just then, Nir grabbed his hand to stop him because he knew that the 88 gate was the most dangerous. "Don't go near the gate. There is something very dangerous there, and we don't even know what else is waiting for us in the first place, so let's wait for help," Nir said.
Blue rolled his eyes and suddenly grabbed Nir's hand, throwing him inside the gate while laughing.
"Now you can see what dangerous thing was inside, brat," Blue said in a loud voice while looking into the gate.
And then he himself jumped inside the gate casually.
Meanwhile, Nir was so scared when Blue threw him into the gate. Nir felt like he would die the moment he got there. Everything was dark in front of Nir's eyes. And when his vision became clear, he was already inside the gate.
He glanced around him and only found big, long, and dense trees. He was in the jungle, which was very dense. Even though there was sun in the sky, its light was not even reaching the ground properly because of the long and dense trees.
He spun around to look at all sides and only saw trees as far as he could see. This jungle seemed bigger. And since it was Nir's first time coming inside, he didn't know what he needed to do now.
Everything was so strange to him. He was confused. Just then, he heard a coughing sound. He flinched and quickly turned back toward the sound and saw a thin guy standing there; he seemed weak and fragile, just like Nir's old self.
The boy had black hair and was wearing rich clothes, but he was coughing so much while trembling and looking around.
Nir rushed to that boy right away. "Are you okay?" he asked.
That boy glanced up at Nir, since he was shorter than Nir. "Who are you? By any chance, are you also Slasher?"
Nir nodded, but that boy backed off from Nir after seeing that, which confused Nir even more. Why was that guy getting scared of him?
"What happened? Are you scared of me? But I am not a bad person. I swear I won't hurt you."
Nir said he wanted to make that guy comfortable so that he wouldn't be scared of him. Upon hearing him, that guy stared at Nir for a few seconds and then sighed. He had stopped coughing too.
"Well, I am a new Slasher, and some Urio-rank slashers have been bullying me for the last few days. So, I thought you were their partner, too."
"Ohhh, how could they do something like this? Well, people bully me, too. And I am a new Slasher. I just got awakened, and this gate got opened. I didn't want to come in, but Blue pushed me inside," Nir said, smiling while scratching his head.
The guy standing in front of Nir's eyes became teary, as if he would start to cry at any moment. He looked at Nir with pitiful eyes.
"My name is Orika, and I am an orphan. I haven't had anyone in this whole world. In my whole life, I was like a beggar; everyone bullied me," Orika said while stepping forward.
And now, it was vice versa; Nir was feeling bad for Orika. Since Nir was also an orphan, he felt like he and Orika were the same, so he comforted him and even introduced himself.
However, neither of them knew what to do, as they were both at the gate for the first time. It was normal to be clueless, but they couldn't just stand there and wait for something to happen.
Therefore, they moved forward. As they were moving, Nir felt the air rushing past his head, so he looked up and saw someone descending from above.
At first, Nir didn't understand what he was seeing, wondering if it was an illusion. But when Orika also looked up, Nir realized it was real. He quickly grabbed Orika's hand and pulled him back.
Orika falls to the ground, but Nir remains standing. Suddenly, a cloud of dust appears, and when it clears, they see Blue standing there, staring around.
"Blue! You're here? I thought you had only pushed me, but you came here as well. So, I'm not angry anymore."
At Nir's words, Blue's eyes sharpen. "Brat, look at yourself. You don't have any right to be angry at me. I saved your life. You should just be my obedient servant."
Orika stood up from the ground while brushing the dust off his back.
"Why is everyone doing this to me? I know I am weak, but you just can't scare me like this," Orika said, covering his eyes as if he was very scared.
Which made Nir feel bad for pulling Orika like that. He quickly turned toward Orika and asked, "Are you okay, Orika?"
Just as he asked, Blue moved forward and pushed Orika down again, then started to walk back. Nir was also shocked to see Blue behaving like this. Orika cried even harder, but they followed Blue because following him was the best choice now.
As they moved forward, something passed behind them, which made three of them turn around, only to see no one was there.
"I feel like someone was behind us, or was it just my imagination?" Nir mumbled.
"It was indeed just an illusion; let's move forward. I want to fight with someone very badly," Blue said.
Hearing Blue, Orika gave him a sidelong glance because of the way Blue said he wanted to fight badly, as if he were talking about eating something.