Ch.17358. Arel’s Gate (2)

I felt a momentary wave of nausea, like motion sickness.

The unique sensation of passing through a gate. That dizziness continued briefly until I finally emerged from the gate.

I felt my feet touch the ground. I quickly checked on my companions.

“Is everyone alright?”

My companions responded.

“I’m fine!”

“This lady is unharmed!”

I heard Yuri and Soso’s voices.

Judging by their formal speech patterns from Flame rather than their casual ones, it seemed everyone was maintaining their composure.

‘What about Arini…’

I was worried when I didn’t hear Arini’s voice, but soon I felt someone tugging at my sleeve.

“Are you okay, senior?”

Looking to my side, there was Arini, the pink-haired nun.

‘Everyone seems to have made it through safely.’

I anxiously stared at the gate, concerned that Soriano and Chae Min-a might follow us.

Fortunately, no one came through from the other side. Arini looked at the gate and said,

“It seems different from gates leading to dungeons. Though it’s being corrupted by massive demonic energy, it was created with divine power greater than anything I’ve ever felt. Those two who made pacts with demons won’t be able to cross over.”

Hearing this from Arini, a holy maiden, was reassuring.

“Then the identity of this gate is…”

Arini nodded.

“It must be the divine manifestation reported to the Vatican.”

Yuri quickly responded to that.

“Then we’ve been guided here by Ayel.”

Yuri sighed with relief. But her expression soon darkened.

“Still, at this rate, what’s happening beyond that gate…”

As she said, our group had barely escaped from Soriano and Chae Min-a.

‘Juan Soriano…’

Just thinking about that man made my momentarily calmed anger rise again.

The mastermind behind everything. The one who created the Red Lake organization to spread evil throughout the world. But our current group couldn’t do anything against him.

‘Even Soso’s sword couldn’t reach him.’

And my body instinctively warned me.

Although our current group was Flame’s—no, humanity’s—elite who had even defeated Seomun Yeomma, we had no chance of winning against that man.

Chae Min-a was also emitting demonic energy that could erase even Arini’s divine power.

‘Even the Pope of the Five Great Saints was so helplessly subjugated.’

Had we engaged in battle, our group would have been the ones to fall.

The evil god Setanus. The Red Dragon on the verge of resurrection seemed to be making those two even stronger.

Though my hands trembled with frustration, fortunately, it wasn’t over yet.

“Where… are we?”

Soso quickly looked around and asked. I answered,

“If that gate was a divine manifestation, we’re probably not in the wrong place. Let’s start moving.”

As the Pope said, our group consisted of Eastern sages, so we wouldn’t get lost. With that, everyone cautiously moved forward while keeping watch.

We had arrived in some forest.

“This doesn’t seem to be a dungeon.”

Arini said.

The inside of dungeons has a strong sense of dissonance from reality. And the distribution of demonic energy is consistent.

‘The pattern on the oscilloscope…’

Though nearby demonic energy was detected, its distribution was irregular. Soso soon added,

“This doesn’t seem to be an artificially created space. It feels too real.”

Everyone agreed with Soso’s assessment.

The surroundings were filled with what appeared to be abandoned building ruins. As our group made our way through the pathless area, we discovered something familiar.

“A car?”

As Soso said, we could see a damaged car nearby. Looking around more, we found other traces of civilization besides cars.

“If there are cars, this must be somewhere on Earth…”

But Arini tilted her head at Yuri’s words.

“Something feels strange. I can still use divine power, but Ayel’s blessing feels much weaker here than usual.”

I found this puzzling. I could still sense mana around us. And that wasn’t all.

‘If anything, the power of the divine beast feels stronger.’

Of course, the divine power Arini uses comes from Ayel, while the divine beast power I use originates from Ayel’s twin brother, Arel.

‘Could it be?’

And I remembered what the Pope had shouted when he saw the gate we crossed.

‘He definitely said it was Arel’s gate.’

I checked the GPS in my earpiece. But it wasn’t working. And all these facts led to one conclusion.

Still, it was just a hypothesis. I didn’t want to unnecessarily worry the others, so I kept my thoughts to myself as we continued walking.

After walking for several more hours, the sun began to set.

“Looks like we’ll have to camp out tonight.”

I said to the three of them.

***

Our group settled in an abandoned house nearby.

We still hadn’t encountered any people during our walk, but we had seen skeletal remains scattered about.

“This area seems like an abandoned city.”

I told the others.

We were inside a two-story house that looked relatively clean.

European-style architecture. It had an old feel but wasn’t much different from modern buildings.

“This must be somewhere on Earth after all. Judging by the building style, somewhere in Europe…”

Since our group had last been in Rome, Europe, Soso’s thinking wasn’t wrong.

But I was now certain. This wasn’t Earth.

‘None of the constellations that should be visible at this time can be seen.’

With the sun set and night fallen, the stars were out in full. The others didn’t seem to have noticed, but I had been observing the stars.

None of the constellations commonly seen in the Northern Hemisphere were visible. The same was true even assuming we were in the Southern Hemisphere.

And while Ayel’s divine power had relatively weakened, the surrounding mana concentration had increased significantly.

Above all, the reaper power within me was responding. There was only one conclusion.

‘This is Ailethan.’

Yes. The place our group had arrived at after crossing the gate was Ailethan—a completely different world from Earth.

I never thought we’d end up in Ailethan like this. But since we’d long passed the original storyline’s timeline, anything was possible from now on.

‘What kind of ending was Red Lake planning?’

While it was revealed that Juan Soriano was the mastermind behind everything, we still had no information about the original author.

But the fact that the Vatican’s gate had guided the sages to Ailethan meant that the story was continuing.

‘When I obtain the last divine beast power and Epitheus… will I be able to learn all the truth?’

No, I had to. I didn’t want to die without knowing all the truth. Stopping my thoughts, I leaned back on the sofa.

Yuri was washing up, and Soso had gone outside to keep watch.

So I had some time to talk with Arini alone. I had something I wanted to discuss with her anyway.

Above all, now was the time to comfort her.

The two of us sat side by side on the sofa that had been cleared of dust with Wind Cutter.

Arini seemed more anxious than usual. And her expression was shadowed. I carefully took her hand.

“Senior…”

Arini fell into my arms. I patted her back gently.

Arini silently shed tears. The Arini I knew was stronger-hearted than anyone.

Seeing her start to cry made my heart heavy as well.

‘Yes. Today’s events… for Arini too…’

Chae Min-a, who was like an older sister to her. She had fallen and become a perfect villain.

And she had also seen the severed head of Si-woo, who was like an older brother to her. The emotions she had been suppressing for my sake couldn’t help but be shaken.

‘Chae Min-a… even directly intervened in Ains’s tragedy.’

Yet Arini remained unchanged by my side. I stroked her long pink hair.

After a while, when she had calmed down, Arini said,

“I’m sorry, senior. The divine power of Ayel feels so weak here… I couldn’t properly calm my heart.”

“What are you sorry for? If anyone should be having the hardest time, it’s you.”

But Arini shook her head.

“That’s not true! If I… if I had understood Min-a’s feelings better, maybe I could have prevented Ains’s tragedy. But…”

Arini continued talking for a while. About Si-woo, Chae Min-a, and herself.

***

Arini’s story continued for some time.

The past of the three people she told me about was heavier than I had imagined.

Korea had suffered less damage from monsters compared to other countries thanks to the Light Guild, or Hunter Association. But the number of victims was still not small.

All three were war orphans born from that tragedy. And all three had moved from one orphanage to another.

Seong Chae-rin, Arini’s biological sister, was also an orphan, but due to her exceptional intelligence, she was taken in by a distant relative.

Of course, if they had been proper relatives, they wouldn’t have taken just one child. They were trying to profit from Chae-rin’s brilliant mind.

Anyway, the three had experienced hunger and abuse from an early age as they moved between substandard orphanages.

They managed not to break mentally by relying on each other, but all three couldn’t help but harbor resentment toward the world.

“But when the two entered Ains as scholarship students, there seemed to be hope. By then, Chae-rin was already receiving large sums from universities in the name of scholarships.”

Especially for Chae Min-a, Si-woo was her greatest light.

The two had liked each other for a long time. And Si-woo’s outstanding talent was about to bloom at Ains.

In the original story, the cadet who graduated from Ains as valedictorian was definitely Si-woo.

But in reality, Si-woo didn’t become valedictorian. Yuri was the overall top student for three years, and I was second.

Of course, even third place at Ains guaranteed a smooth path as a hunter, but being surpassed by Yuri and me must have been a great shock to Chae Min-a.

“Just as I love you, senior… Min-a loved Si-woo. I don’t want to take Min-a’s side, but I understand why she fell for the villain’s temptation. If I were in the opposite situation…”

The strongest emotion Chae Min-a probably felt was unfairness.

The two had always lived unfair lives. But for them, the most unfair existence was probably me.

Si-woo, whose talent was never inferior to Yuri’s. And Si-woo was an incredibly hard worker.

The fitness room and training ground at Ains. Si-woo was the cadet who used those facilities for the longest hours during the three years at Ains. I heard his usage record still remains unbroken.

Yet I ended up academically overwhelming such a Si-woo. Even though I had been at the bottom of the class at Ains until then.

‘So for Min-a, what happened between me and Si-woo…’

That unfairness was the means most skillfully used by the Doubt Demon.

That’s how Arini explained to me the circumstances of Chae Min-a becoming a villain.

Of course, Chae Min-a had hidden all the truth from Arini as well, so she was just guessing Min-a’s feelings to some extent.

‘I see… so Chae Min-a’s betrayal was ultimately because of me.’

At that moment, Arini, having finished speaking, looked into my eyes. Her pink eyes were trembling slightly.

She urgently said as she nestled into my arms,

“But you don’t need to feel sorry for those two! It’s all just Min-a’s one-sided thinking… Si-woo never hated you! Rather…”

“……”

“Si-woo was always grateful to you for saving my life. And… he always felt sorry toward me.”

Before entering Ains, Arini had nearly lost her life in a terrorist attack by villains.

There were Ains cadets at the scene at the time, but no matter how talented the cadets were, they couldn’t handle those hunters like professional hunters could.

So when Arini’s life was in danger after being taken hostage by villains,

It was understandable that Si-woo, who was just a cadet, couldn’t move due to momentary fear.

It’s just that when all the cadets were terrified, only I moved my body calmly.

‘That’s how I was able to save Arini…’

And as Arini said, Si-woo had always been grateful to me for that.

– Arini is like my own sister. If it weren’t for you, Arini would have…

At that moment, Arini pulled away from me. Footsteps could be heard. It seemed Yuri and Soso were coming to the living room where we were.

Arini, who had been crying until then, quickly wiped away her tears with her hands.

“Oh dear, I don’t want to argue with those two.”

And so the night continued with all four of us together.