Chapter 5. Belief and Reality (6)

Even so, we didn’t send the goblins back.

Although there were reports that goblins seemed to use language to some extent, the problem was that goblin vocalizations were quite different from humans.

It’s a method that humans can imitate if they try, but it would take ages to isolate words and translate them into our language.

Therefore, we decided to simply deploy more reconnaissance assets.

We launched drones and had mages use observation magic. This way, they could confirm the situation at the forefront as we advanced.

Furthermore, just walking would cause significant problems in many ways.

Although this place was maintained because there was much to gain from beyond the gate, the reason it hadn’t been developed further was the dense forest nearby.

While there were gaps between the trees wide enough for people to move through, building something and stationing people there would require too much manpower and cost.

Therefore, this gate was primarily kept open for the purpose of mining special ores from a nearby mine.

However, the terrain was too rough to ride anything with wheels. Even a motorcycle could get into serious trouble if it got caught in vines.

……But, how many times have we encountered a dense forest beyond a gate?

Earthlings, in their own way, know how to apply magic and combine it with technology.

What was created that way is the hover bike.

In some places, it’s called a witch’s broom, but fundamentally, it looks like a mountain motorcycle without wheels.

“Haha, it’s been a while since I rode this.”

“You… you have ridden it before, right? You have a license, right?”

“Don’t worry. There’s no way you’ll die.”

How could I not worry?

The vehicles I’ve seen so far were basically things with wheels. Even airplanes.

“If you can’t trust my reflexes, then I guess there’s nothing I can do… Surely you’re not going to walk? No way, our Saint candidate can’t even ride on the back of a motorcycle because she’s scared?”

“…….”

At those words, I glared at Ria and put on my helmet.

And I fastened the chin strap.

Ria grinned at me and got on the motorcycle.

Well, although it looks like a motorcycle, it’s fundamentally a device that moves by magic. It’s quite expensive, and it’s difficult to operate unless it’s an association of this scale.

It seemed to have been made with the assumption of traveling long distances, as there was a luggage rack in the back.

Ria’s sword was attached to a scabbard in the front so she could draw it immediately when needed, and I had my shield strapped to the back, but my pistol was in a holster under my armpit.

This was in case I had to fight while riding the motorcycle.

“Get on the back.”

Ria said.

“…….”

I reluctantly got on the back seat. Fortunately, it wasn’t cramped, even though it was a motorcycle.

I reached out and carefully held onto Ria’s waist.

“Hey, that’s not where you grab-“

“Yes?”

“…….”

Ria was silent for a moment, then,

“No, just hold on tight. This seems better.”

“Huh? What is it? Is there a separate handle or something?”

But Ria didn’t answer and looked at the hunter in the lead.

She double-checked that everyone in the party had boarded their motorcycles. Most of the mages were in the back. Like me.

After all, they had to use observation magic.

No one was scared. Not even Lee Si-yoon and Han Yu-ri.

Gloria was riding behind another female hunter with a slightly displeased expression- that alone was a bit amusing-

“Kyaa-yah!?”

While I was lost in thought for a moment, I felt my body lurch forward.

I heard that electric cars have incredibly short 0-to-60 times, but this zero-gravity motorcycle was even faster.

Unconsciously, I tightened my grip on my arms. Embarrassingly, Ria’s body felt strangely soft and warm in this situation.

She didn’t seem to mind my chest pressing against her back.

……It felt strangely annoying that I seemed to be the only one bothered by it.

*

After traveling about 5 kilometers, a goblin horde reappeared in front of us.

As we approached at high speed, all the goblins crouched down, holding their heads, and trembled.

It seems the goblins we captured were indeed the vanguard.

Even among the vanguard, there were some already injured by magic. It must have been a dire situation, to the point where they had to send those injured first to scout ahead.

Most of the remaining goblins were much more severely affected.

There was an elderly-looking individual covered in rags, lying down. And then there were individuals with long hair, whose faces seemed a bit softer than those fierce goblins I saw… well.

It’s a bit awkward to say this in this situation, but those goblins seemed to be female. Their atmosphere, well, they were goblins, alright. Green skin, black hair.

But, they were a bit… how should I put it.

Rape… no, to put it nicely, they looked like the female customization options you could choose when the goblin race appeared in Korean MMORPGs. Yes. Let’s just explain it that way.

The female dwarf characters in some online RPG I saw before had a similar feel- no, I should stop thinking about this now. I felt like it would get weird in many ways if I went too deep.

There were about 50 of them. Our numbers were around thirty, so they didn’t have an overwhelming advantage. They were almost all the presumed females, and the rest were those who were so severely injured they couldn’t even stand. Some bared their teeth as if to protect their group from us, but most seemed young.

The hunters exchanged glances, looking somewhat bewildered.

“…….”

Gloria had a somewhat subtle expression.

I didn’t intend to ask her intentions here. It would only complicate my feelings while working.

“First, let’s go up to that point.”

“We don’t see anything that clearly yet…”

Han Yu-ri said that, but we all knew we still had to confirm.

I have no intention of leaving hunters here. If they were to lose contact, or if our numbers were too reduced and it became dangerous.

However, we contacted headquarters in advance to inform them of our location, and we all proceeded further forward, paying attention to our rear.

And.

“Wait, just a moment.”

As I pulled myself closer to Ria’s stomach, Ria shivered slightly and stopped.

The hunters who were riding around us also stopped.

“Why, did you find something strange?”

The mages who were using observation magic tilted their heads.

From my perspective, and from the perspective of those people, there was nothing particularly large visible in the space unfolding ahead-

“……Ah.”

However, there were a few more people who reacted like me.

It wasn’t easily visible when riding, but when standing, it seemed like something had changed.

……I heard that new types of monsters are detected by their magic.

I got off the motorcycle.

The slightly damp ground was soft, so it didn’t hurt.

Even when I reached out and scooped up the dirt, there seemed to be no problem, but.

I infused a tiny bit of holy power into the dirt.

With a rustle, something ‘wetting’ the dirt disappeared as if evaporating. The dirt itself dried up and scattered into sand.

The area ahead. It was entirely contaminated with a large amount of magic.

“……My goodness.”

Han Yu-ri muttered.

“……I think I understand why they were running away.”

I said that and shook my hand. What remained like fine sand scattered and sprinkled white on the damp ground.

And that sand was quickly infused with magic again, becoming indistinguishable.

Gloria touched a growing tree. Although it hadn’t completely died and crumbled yet, a part of the tree fell off like a wet tissue that had been soaked and then dried.

The area ahead is all dead land.

Magic that gradually encroached upon the land, so subtly that we wouldn’t easily notice it. By the time the Hunter Association noticed it reaching their territory, it might have been too late.

Magic itself is a phenomenon. Although gates may appear to divide two worlds, they are actually just a passage through which air and liquids can pass freely.

That’s why sometimes, even if no monsters cross from beyond the gate, a catastrophe can occur just by the gate opening.

……Magic encroaches even upon the land beyond the gate.

It must have instantly drained the life of Earth’s creatures, who had no resistance to magic.

Someone was already contacting headquarters. People’s gazes turned to me.

I dug up the ground again.

And I calmly looked at the dirt overflowing with magic.

Ria also came to my side and calmly observed the dirt.

Ria didn’t say anything to me, but I had something to say.

“This isn’t the end.”

“Huh?”

Ria’s eyes widened as she looked at me.

The gazes of the hunters nearby turned to me. Gloria’s gaze too.

“This is just a phenomenon. A precursor to something.”

Yes. I had read it in the novel.

There are those who consider the gates themselves to be the power of God. And there were those who thought that God had bestowed that power upon ‘themselves’.

I don’t know the exact purpose.

But.

That’s why there were those who wanted the existence of a Saint.

“…….”

I looked up at the sky.

From above, something seemed to be looking this way.

“My goodness.”

Although it’s not certain yet, I felt like the randomly thrown puzzle pieces were fitting together, albeit loosely.

After all, if opening those gates… was someone’s power.

If the very emergence of those gates was for some purpose.

If closing the gates was, in fact, just a temporary measure that humanity could take-

“Ah.”

My head throbbed.

Ria approached me with a slightly surprised expression.

And as she slightly supported my arm,

“Wait, just a moment!”

One of the mages, who was still vigilant, shouted.

“Over there, something is appearing! It’s bubbling up…”

And soon, that expression turned into a dumbfounded one.

“…A mass of magic?”

No, it’s not just that.

It’s not just clumped together-

“Ria.”

I called out to Ria.

“We have to stop it.”

Yes. We have to stop it.

‘That’ must be stopped.

A novel needs a crisis. And usually, that crisis can’t just be a single event.

A grand event that encompasses the entire story of a novel. A force that must be stopped and fought against.

Something like that is necessary.

Therefore, we had to stop it.

If we don’t stop it, it will inevitably invade our world someday. Even the power to block gates or anything else, it will ignore and break through.

Is it fortunate or unfortunate that we encountered this when our plan wasn’t yet complete?

……If there’s a reason why the being above dropped me into this world.

I thought that perhaps it was for this very moment.