The monster, which had seemed like a small mountain from afar, exuded a violent energy as it approached.
Each step it took made the ground tremble faintly.
“Is this even a monster? Even if it’s a large monster, this size is…?”
“It looks more like a demon than a monster, doesn’t it?”
Its size was far too enormous to be called a monster.
It was about three times bigger than the python we had seen before.
Boom!
A fire-created arrow flew and struck its body, but there was no reaction whatsoever.
“It seems magic doesn’t work on it at all.”
The spell Jere cast had no effect on it.
We climbed down from the trees and looked up at the creature from below.
“It’s just like a mountain.”
“That’s true.”
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t believe it would move along with the mass migration of monsters.
Because it was beyond gigantic; it could easily be called a mountain in and of itself.
Even if thousands of monsters were to jump around on it, it wouldn’t budge.
We decided to take a turn around this mountain-like behemoth.
It moved slightly, but its speed was remarkably slow.
As we continued to move for quite a while, Isaac began to climb up the mountain.
“Is this really a monster?”
Isaac exclaimed while looking down at his feet in amazement.
Interestingly, as he climbed the mountain, he didn’t feel like the creature was moving at all.
As he ascended, a large cave entrance came into view around midway up the mountain.
“Let’s explore the demon’s body.”
Before long, what was once referred to as a monster was now being called a demon.
The inside of the cave was surprisingly not very dark.
Countless faintly glowing things illuminated the walls.
“I’ve never been inside a demon’s body before.”
“Me neither.”
As we continued along the path, a considerably wide space appeared.
Clink—clink—
From the other side, a sound I had heard once before echoed.
“Isn’t that the one we saw in the forest before?”
The demon fully wrapped in armor.
On either side, two demons wielding huge lances stood guard.
“Who are you?”
“A, a demon can talk?”
“You should reveal yourself before asking others.”
Isabel spoke out loudly while looking at them.
“I am Ksaham, the king of the Seli Kingdom.”
“First time hearing that.”
Isaac tilted his head, as if he had never heard the name of the country before.
“That’s understandable. We’ve come from within.”
“Within? Not beyond?”
Tenji was quite surprised to hear that they came from inside the gate.
It had been 300 years since the gate opened.
In the meantime, we had investigated the interior but had yet to discover any nations or civilizations.
We barely realized there was another world on the opposite side of the gate.
Yet, it was hard for Tenji to believe that there was a kingdom inside the gate, given Ksaham’s confident assertion.
Tenji had crossed through the gate directly.
He must have seen the inside. That’s why he reacted as he did.
“There is only one temporary village made by both sides inside the gate.”
“You are outside the boundary. We cannot cross that boundary.”
“But you’re here now, aren’t you?”
“That was possible with the help of this creature.”
Ksaham answered lightly, tapping the ground with his foot.
The demon moving sluggishly outside.
“We call it Tunnek.”
“You rode it here?”
“One could say that.”
Its appearance was quite similar to the demons we had fought in the forest last time, yet these ones were able to converse.
I felt the same sensation as when I saw a talking orc.
“We have fought against armored beings like you.”
Isaac did not hide it and relayed what had just happened to Ksaham.
“The inside of the armor was empty?”
Ksaham’s hand reached for his helmet and slowly began to remove it.
Out came a remarkably handsome middle-aged man.
His snow-white hair and eyebrows, combined with his pitch-black pupils, created an oddly strange atmosphere.
Although he looked a bit special, he was definitely similar to humans.
“That must have been one of our team members who was eaten by a demon.”
“Eaten?”
“The demon clings to the armor, which is conducive to maintaining a form without a physical body. It slowly kills the person inside and takes their place.”
Ksaham instead thanked us for liberating his comrade who was eaten by the demon.
“But why do you hide in a place like this?”
“Rather than hiding, we are protecting.”
“Protecting?”
“We are guarding Tunnek’s heart from being attacked. It has been under mysterious attacks recently.”
I can’t even imagine how big the heart of this gigantic creature must be.
“What if we might also be here to attack? Is it okay to remain like this?”
“You are not. None of the attackers resembled you at all.”
The entire raid team was taken aback by Ksaham’s words.
The raid team consisted of humans, demons, and beastmen. You could say it gathered almost every race on this continent.
“Are you saying they are neither humans nor demons?”
“That is correct. Also, they were not beastmen or elves either.”
Putting his helmet back on, Ksaham then made a proposal to us.
“Do you accept requests?”
“We are temporarily gathered here for a different purpose, so we don’t take requests.”
Isaac, representing us, expressed our refusal to Ksaham.
“Personally, I could accept it.”
Jere raised his hand, expressing willingness to hear Ksaham’s request.
“Is that okay? I’m not originally a member of the raid team.”
“Do as you like.”
“You will follow.”
Following Ksaham, Jere went deeper into the cave.
“If you want to hear the story, you can follow.”
Most of the raid team didn’t seem particularly interested.
Isabel and I were curious, so we wanted to follow just to hear the story.
As we hurriedly followed, the door was about to close.
We barely managed to stop the door from closing and got inside.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
As we entered, the noise was overwhelming, making my whole body tremble.
“Oh, it’s a bit noisy. Quickly come this way.”
As we approached the spot where Ksaham and Jere stood, the bizarre sound magically diminished.
“This place is close to Tunnek’s heart, hence the noise. This room has a soundproofing effect, so we will talk inside.”
Pressing a part of the wall, Ksaham revealed a room.
The room contained a desk and several chairs, resembling a small office.
After entering the room, Ksaham took off his helmet and placed it on his desk as he sat down.
“Please, have a seat.”
Once seated, Ksaham clasped his hands together below his chin.
“What is it you wish to assign us?”
“I would like to ask you to handle the demons.”
“I’ve heard that there are people designated to take care of demons.”
“No, what I’m asking is for you to go to the place you call the gate.”
At those words, Jere’s expression stiffened slightly.
Exploration of the gate was currently a race among the empires.
Despite that, no other civilizations or beings had been discovered.
“It sounds quite dangerous.”
“Indeed. They are far stronger than monsters.”
From my experience facing demons, they were indeed worthy of being called monsters.
“You don’t seem like you would be unable to handle demons.”
“Of course, we can face demons. However, we have never won.”
Ksaham briefly explained about the world they lived in.
What we referred to as the interior of the gate was actually another world.
One day, a strong demon appeared, feeding on humans, gaining power, expanding its territory, and eventually destroying the continent.
The survivors still managed to scrape by, but they were barely sustaining their existence.
In essence, Ksaham was asking us to help that world.
“Rescuing an entire world is something we cannot accomplish with our strength.”
“Is it really impossible…?”
“But what is the name of that monster?”
“Olrog.”
Hearing the name from Ksaham’s mouth, I barely concealed my surprise.
It was a monster that had wiped out dragons, and defeating it was the mission bestowed upon me.
I still had three more items to find.
“I won’t rush you. Our world has already been destroyed once.”
“Even so, you want us to save it?”
“Indeed. Is that something you can do?”
It was a request not to be taken lightly.
Perhaps it was something that couldn’t be solved with our current abilities.
“It seems like a request that won’t be resolved in just a few years.”
When Jere asked, Ksaham slowly opened his mouth.
“It doesn’t matter how long it takes. Whether it be ten years or a hundred years.”
Just having someone willing to help seemed to satisfy Ksaham.
“I will give you this as a deposit.”
Ksaham took three red jewels from his desk drawer and placed them on the table.
“Are these magic stones?”
“They are elixirs made in our kingdom.”
When Jere saw the elixirs, his eyes slightly widened.
“What if we only take the elixirs and don’t keep our promise?”
“Even if you dislike it, a day will come when you have to enter the gate. It’s inevitable.”
We accepted the elixirs and ingested them immediately.
The hot sensation flowed slowly down my throat to my stomach.
As my belly warmed up, the mana quickly swept through my entire body.
“You absorbed the elixir already?”
As I got up from my seat, Ksaham looked at me with a remarkably surprised expression.
Jere and Isabel beside me remained still after taking the elixir.
“This isn’t how it usually goes?”
“Typically, it would take at least half a day before anyone could move.”
Jere seemed to be digesting it relatively well, but Isabel appeared to be quite troubled.
“Hot!”
Isabel got up as if she was about to take off the clothes she was wearing.
“Sit down.”
“I’m going to die of heat! No, it’s burning!”
Having never learned any breathing techniques from anyone, I quickly taught her my way.
“Focus, breathe in through your nose to the sound of your heart, and slowly exhale through your mouth.”
Isabel began to breathe as I instructed her.
“Slowly. Don’t rush.”
“I understand.”
After a moment, perhaps calming down a bit, Isabel’s expression became more relaxed.
Seeing this, Ksaham stood up and approached me.
