Chapter 139: The Gate’s Requirements

Viora didn’t even blink as she reached down with one hand, picked up our two discarded masks from the dusty floor.

"Let’s go," she said calmly, taking her first step toward the swirling blue portal.

I shifted awkwardly in her arms, my face feeling like it was on fire. Being carried like a fragile guy by a girl—even if that girl was an insanely strong demon—was thoroughly embarrassing for my pride. But my left leg was throbbing, my chest hurt, and my shirt was basically ripped to shreds. I really didn’t have the energy to argue.

As we approached the glowing blue light, my mind suddenly clicked.

’Wait a minute...’ I thought, my eyes widening. ’What about the rest of the raid party?’

I opened my mouth to tell Viora to stop. "Wait, Viora, we should—"

Before the words could fully leave my mouth, Viora had already stepped straight into the blue portal.

BANG!

"OUCH!" I yelled, wincing hard as both of us slammed directly into the solid surface of the portal like we had just run full speed into a brick wall.

Viora stumbled back a step, her arms tightening around me as she stared at the glowing blue vortex in total, unreadable shock.

"What was that?" I groaned, rubbing my forehead. "Why didn’t we go through?!"

Right on cue, a system screen flashed into existence right in front of my nose.

Ding!

[Notice: Gate Exit Restricted!]

[Condition Unfulfilled: All surviving party members must be gathered within the exit zone, or confirmed dead, to initiate portal extraction.

Hidden Condition Unfulfilled: ???]

I stared at the floating blue letters, letting out a long, exhausted groan.

’Of course,’ I thought, slapping a hand over my face. ’Of course it’s a party-bound Gate. Why would anything ever be simple for me?’

"I think..." I muttered softly, looking up at Viora’s blank face. "I think we need the others too if we want to get out of this Gate."

Viora looked down at me, then looked back at the stubborn blue portal. She didn’t say anything, but I could tell she was annoyed that a glowing wall had dared to stop her from carrying me straight out to safety.

"Put me down for a second," I requested gently.

Viora didn’t argue this time. She slowly leaned down and placed me back on my feet, keeping one of her hands lightly touching my arm just in case I lost my balance.

I tested my weight on my left leg. The healing potion had done its job on my internal injuries, and while my leg still felt stiff and sore, I could at least stand upright without my knee buckling completely under me.

"Okay," I sighed, looking around the dark, empty chamber. "The core is destroyed, but the portal won’t let just the two of us leave. The rest of our party is still somewhere up in the higher tunnels. If they’re trapped or fighting leftover monsters, we’re stuck down here forever."

I turned my back to the portal and began walking slowly back toward the center of the room, my boots crunching on the gray ash left behind by the destroyed core.

How were we supposed to get back up? The drop into this underground pit had been massive. We had fallen down a steep, vertical shaft when the floor collapsed earlier. Climbing back up smooth, slick stone walls with an injured leg sounded like a complete nightmare.

I walked past the shattered remnants of the throne.

As I walked around the backside of the ruined seat, something caught my eye in the shadows.

"Hmm?"

There, lying half-buried in the dark dust behind the throne’s base, was a metallic object. It was small, completely covered in thick gray grime and orange rust.

I knelt down on one knee and reached out to it with my hand.

After grabbing it, I pulled it out from the dirt with a scuffing sound.

It was a dagger.

I held it up to the dim ambient light, brushing off the heavy layers of dust with my thumb. The blade was about eight inches long, heavily pitted with rust along the edges, and looked like it had been sitting in this damp cave for a hundred years. It didn’t radiate any magical aura. It didn’t glow. It looked like absolute junk that a novice hunter would throw in the trash.

’It’s super rusty and dusty,’ I thought, turning it over in my hand.

Yet, despite its terrible condition, I found myself staring at it. The balance of the weapon was strangely perfect in my grip. The curve of the handle fit against my palm as if it had been custom-made for my hand, and the sleek, aggressive shape of the guard was unlike any modern weapon I had seen before.

’I actually really like the shape of this,’ I smiled internally, running my finger carefully along the flat side of the worn metal. ’It looks like an ancient assassin blade. Maybe it’s a hidden artifact? Once we get out of here, I’ll take it to a good blacksmith in the city to see if it can be restored or cleaned up.’

Without thinking twice about it, I slid the rusty old dagger into my side belt loop right next to my main sheath.

"Did you find something useful?" Viora asked, stepping up quietly behind my shoulder.

"Just an old knife," I replied, standing back up and dusting off my pants. "Nothing special right now, but it might be worth something later."

I looked up toward the high, dark ceiling of the cavern, returning to our main problem.

The ceiling was pitch black, swallowed by thick shadows. Up there, somewhere in the gloom, was the hole we had fallen through.

"Now... how do we get back up to the main tunnels?" I muttered, tapping my chin thoughtfully. "I don’t think even you can jump thirty meters straight up into the air while holding me, right?"

Viora looked up at the ceiling, her purple eyes narrowing slightly as if she were actually calculating whether she could actually jump that high or not.

Before she could suggest something crazy like punching a hole through the stone walls, a sharp sound echoed from high above us.

Rattling... Slithering...

My body went instantly tense. My hand dropped straight to my main dagger hilt. "Viora! Above us!"

Something was coming down from the dark opening in the ceiling.

It didn’t sound like the wet, slithering noise of a shadow monster.

A second later, a thick, dark brown object fell through the darkness, dropping straight down into the center of the tunnel with a heavy thud.

THUMP!

The end of the object hit the stone floor, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

I blinked in surprise, leaning forward to get a better look.

It wasn’t a monster. It wasn’t an attack.

It was a thick, heavy climbing rope made of reinforced synthetic fiber—the exact kind of specialized gear Hunter raid parties carried for deep dungeon exploration. The top of the rope was securely anchored somewhere way up in the upper tunnels, while the rest of it hung straight down to the floor.

"A rope?" I gasped, my eyes widening in pure relief.

Right after the rope landed, a muffled, familiar voice echoed down from the dark hole near the ceiling.

"HEY! IS ANYONE ALIVE DOWN THERE?!"

The voice was rough, strained, and bouncing wildly off the stone walls.

’That’s... That’s Seok’s voice!’ I thought, my heart doing a happy flip in my chest.

"They sent it down for us to climb!" I said out loud, a huge grin spreading across my face as I turned to Viora.

Viora turned toward the thick brown rope, then toward my happy face. She didn’t seem particularly excited about meeting the rest, but seeing me smile made her dangerous posture melt away completely.

"I will carry you up," she said simply, stepping toward the rope.

"Wait, no!" I said quickly, waving my hands. "You don’t have to carry me while climbing! I can hold onto the rope, and you can just climb right behind me to make sure I don’t fall!"

Viora stared at me for two seconds, as if evaluating whether my legs were strong enough to handle it. Finally, she gave a short, reluctant nod.

"Fine. But if your hands slip, I will catch you."

"Deal," I said with a light laugh.

I stepped over to the heavy fiber rope and wrapped both of my hands tightly around the rough rope. The rope felt completely solid. I gave it two hard yugs to test the anchor up top. And it didn’t budge an inch.

"WE’RE HERE!" I yelled up into the dark shaft at the top of my lungs. "WE’RE ALIVE! WE’RE CLIMBING UP NOW!"

A faint cheer echoed down from the top of the hole.

"THANK GOD!" Seok’s voice called back down. "HOLD ON TIGHT! WE’LL START PULLING FROM THIS END TO HELP YOU OUT!"

Almost instantly, the heavy rope went taut as the hunters up top began heaving on the line from above.

I lifted my feet off the cold stone floor, using my arms to pull myself upward rhythmically.

Every time I reached higher, the tension from the team up top helped lift a huge portion of my body weight, making the climb ten times easier on my injured left leg.

Heave... Heave... Heave...

The dark pit floor below us grew smaller and smaller. The shattered throne, the gray ash, and the faint blue light of the exit portal shrank until they were nothing more than tiny shapes in the dark gloom.

’We’re actually going to make it,’ I thought, feeling a wave of genuine relief washing through my body. ’The anomaly core is destroyed. The party is alive. All we have to do is reach the top, and find out that hidden requirement, and we can finally leave this nightmare Gate behind.’