Chapter 8 – Second Darkness
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The darkness didn’t last long. Within seconds of transportation, Kim Si-woo took the initiative to illuminate the cave using his powers and conjured a small light ball. 

 

[Kyaaa…]

 

As the light revealed our surroundings, I looked up to see that I was inside Kim Si-woo’s embrace due to the tightness of the space we were transported into. 

 

[So reliable~]

 

A vein popped on my head. If you wanted him so badly, why not take him yourself?!

 

[I would never cuckold my bestie!]

 

Who's your bestie?!

 

“Do you know what this is?” Being a head taller, Kim Si-woo looked down at me with narrowed, now heterochromatic, eyes.

 

“Likely a gate,” I replied as I observed the claustrophobic space. It was a cave barely large enough for me and Kim Si-woo to fit together, with only one opening. 

 

The circumstances behind a gate of hell occurring was a mystery, but it contained several patterns as I’ve learnt in these past few months. 

 

First and foremost, there would be a crack in space that connected a specific point between the two worlds, which was where monsters would invade from. 

 

Second, it would disappear exactly a week after first opening, which made it nearly impossible for humans to permanently settle or invade the other world.

 

Third, it connected to the same world. There were several cases of individuals from different nations meeting each other in the other world when gates opened. It has been theorised that the gates were a targeted system to invade Earth and take over it, hence the commonality of the term ‘invasion’ when referring to them. 

 

However, the circumstances of this gate were strange. There has never been a recorded gate where individuals were transported inside upon its conception. As I looked around, there were no cracks in space that connected back to Earth either, which eliminated the possibility that it spawned directly on us. 

 

“Why would a gate appear here…?” Kim Si-woo muttered as he moved out of the embrace and in front of me, headed towards the only open path. 

 

This wasn’t something that had occurred in the original story. However, I somewhat anticipated the appearance of unknown gates due to the volatility of its occurrence and the butterfly effect. 

 

Still, it concerned me that we were in such an irregular gate. Normally, every individual who enters a gate would know where the exit was. However, we weren’t transported next to an exit, which meant that there was a possibility of being trapped in the other world for months. 

 

“Allow me to take the lead,” I moved forward. Worried about the safety of the protagonist, I utilised my superior position as an experienced frontliner and a deputy of the student cabinet. 

 

“No, it’s fine.” Kim Si-woo waved his hand, blocking me from going ahead.

 

“It’s my duty,” I replied matter of factly. 

 

“You’re not in your top condition right now. Stay back and let me handle it.” Kim Si-woo’s blue pupil flashed. 

 

[Aww, how caring~ he noticed your diminishing power]

 

My face twitched slightly. Not in my top condition? It’s all yours and that voice’s fault! I refused to be looked down on like that. 

 

I clicked my tongue and lowered my stance. Within a flash, I disappeared past the damned protagonist and became the lead. 

 

“Wha-?!”

 

Caught off guard, Kim Si-woo stumbled back a little. He momentarily moved forward to complain with a slight frown but hesitated in his steps. He decided to not comment any further and allowed me to take the lead. It was a clear victory against the protagonist.

 

[Congratulations!!]

 

Thank you, thank you. 

 

I conjured an ice spear and began to move. The tightness of the cave made it difficult to fight, but luckily, it didn’t last long as it slowly expanded in size the more we moved.

 

“Opening up ahead,” I whispered to Kim Si-woo as I stopped in my tracks as we arrived in front of an entrance to a massive cavern. It appeared that we would be stuck inside for quite some time. 

 

Kim Si-woo extinguished the small light ball with a serious nod and moved next to me as we exited the narrow cave. There was a good chance that enemies could detect us in an open space. 

 

As we moved up, we were up on a cliff that overlooked the large cavern. This advantaged our ability to scout the area.

 

As I looked around the dark cavern, a prominent lava pool in the distance revealed our first encounter- a group of short green creatures, commonly called goblins. They were highly dangerous creatures with agility and intelligence, being able to utilise tools. However, they were also weak and easy to kill. 

 

“There’s one with a gun too…” Kim Si-woo glanced at where I was looking with a frown. 

 

Previous excursions into gates were primarily commandeered by conventional armies with the belief of overwhelming force being the right tactic to drive the invaders back. However, this resulted in many intelligent creatures from the other world gaining modern technology. 

 

Followed by inefficiencies in a large centralised task force and a lack of firepower from small arms for new, larger threats, those with supernatural abilities were drafted to create a new asymmetrical guerilla force. 

 

A quick response unit, utilising cold weapons and magical powers, to defend and secure gates. As a result, the appearance of intelligent monsters wielding modern weaponry diminished over the years, but on the rare occasion it did occur…

 

It would be a massive risk. 

 

Not everyone had the defensive ability to stop a bullet, which was more of a threat than an enemy who could utilise conjuration magic. 

 

Guns were optimised to kill humans. 

 

“It appears to be an assault rifle,” Kim Si-woo calmly added, which heightened the severity of the issue. 

 

It was surprising to see Kim Si-woo so informed and calm despite this being his first encounter with a gate. It was as if he had experienced gates before, but it's probably just in his kit as the protagonist. 

 

Either way, he was right. We needed to get close enough to quickly eliminate the gun goblin. There could be a chance that the gun only had a few rounds, or became unreliable due to a lack of maintenance, but it was risky to take a chance. 

 

The millisecond it detected something, even when panicked and acting on pure instinct, there would be at least a few stray bullets. A gun out of control is a massive risk without any defensive or healing-oriented individuals on the team. 

 

Kim Si-woo's blue pupil shone brilliantly in the pitch darkness. With a flame swelling inside of me, we descended the cliff. 

 

Enemies needed to be eliminated before they became troublesome later.

 

Hiya all! This is chapter 1/2 today, hope you enjoy!

Discord: https://discord.gg/sTscEap6h9

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