# Chapter 51
Ko Eungyo thought for a moment. He tried to make the most rational judgment possible.
Lee Seungwoo was a crucial asset. He was the only way to clear the Gate. If Ko Eungyo had to be carried in his arms, Lee Seungwoo might become distracted and uncomfortable, preventing him from using his full abilities.
However, from another perspective, Ko Eungyo was also an essential asset. He was Lee Seungwoo’s only Guide.
If Ko Eungyo were to sustain an injury severe enough to prevent him from Guiding, Lee Seungwoo would also be unable to function properly.
Moreover, although Lee Seungwoo wasn’t showing it, he kept watching Ko Eungyo and refused to leave his side. Judging from this behavior, Lee Seungwoo seemed not just extremely anxious but potentially on the verge of a stress response.
From the beginning, Lee Seungwoo had always been overprotective of Ko Eungyo after recognizing him as his Guide. Now that they had fallen into the Gate with just the two of them, how much must he be seething inside?
In such an extreme situation, neglecting an Esper’s stress could lead them to recklessly charge forward with a death wish.
“Then… let’s do it.”
Finally, Ko Eungyo surrendered. No, he didn’t even try to resist. He simply turned toward Lee Seungwoo and opened his arms.
Consistent physical contact would help reduce their anxiety.
As soon as Ko Eungyo gave his consent, Lee Seungwoo immediately embraced him face-to-face and lifted him up. The position was similar to when they descended the cliff. It was such an awkward contact that Ko Eungyo wondered if he had ever been carried like this by someone else before, but being in Lee Seungwoo’s arms became increasingly familiar as time passed.
Once Ko Eungyo was properly settled, Lee Seungwoo shifted his gaze from Ko Eungyo to survey their surroundings and began moving forward. He seemed to be using his senses to gauge the Gate’s scale and the location of the boss room. Ko Eungyo couldn’t pretend to be an inexperienced Guide in this situation, so he asked Lee Seungwoo directly.
“Where do you think the boss room is?”
“Hmm… just a moment. The wind hasn’t returned yet.”
Lee Seungwoo whispered as he walked while carrying Ko Eungyo.
As was usually the case, the boss room was located at the very end of the Gate. Gates with maze-like structures weren’t uncommon, and this crystal cave also had multiple intertwined paths. However, since Lee Seungwoo was a wind Esper, he could apparently use his ability to find the correct path.
“Given this size, it must be at least an A-rank Gate.”
“Yes.”
“By the way, that’s quite a convenient ability. Being able to understand the Gate’s structure.”
When Ko Eungyo praised his ability, Lee Seungwoo silently shrugged his shoulders.
If Lee Seungwoo had been by his side when he was Jang Iju, they could have cleared more Gates. Suddenly, he thought that if he hadn’t died from overwork, they could have made a good pair. He decided not to think about whether Lee Seungwoo would have chosen him back then.
Soon, they came to a fork with three paths. Lee Seungwoo unhesitatingly chose the left one.
“What kind of monsters do you think are here?”
“Well…”
Whether due to lingering anxiety or because he was using his ability and his concentration was diminished, Lee Seungwoo’s responses were unusually slow and brief.
This Gate had formed inside a seaside cave. Despite it being winter, the humidity in the air was high, and their footsteps not only made dull sounds but occasionally splashing noises, suggesting that there were puddles scattered throughout.
Before long, the first room appeared.
It was strange that there was nothing there, as he had naturally expected monsters. The entrance and passage were so dark that objects were barely distinguishable.
“Let’s go in.”
“Okay.”
Lee Seungwoo briefly responded and stepped into the first room. Ko Eungyo could tell from the tension in his muscles that Lee Seungwoo was extremely alert.
Though there was neither moon nor sun, the first room was quite bright. This was because luminous stones, like phosphorescent rocks, were embedded throughout the cave ceiling, illuminating the room. It was just as he had imagined.
This Gate was structured like a crystal cave. Countless stalactites grew like icicles everywhere, and they were so glossy that they reflected the light from the luminous stones. There was a dripping sound from the tips of each stalactite. The puddles on the floor were formed by water droplets that had fallen from the stalactites. The stalactites that flowed down from the ceiling like water stretched all the way to the floor, joining with the rocks rising from below to form bizarre shapes.
Upon closer inspection, the stalactites themselves were also dimly glowing.
‘Amethyst?’
He had heard that valuable materials were buried here, but gems…
Though he had no interest in gems and couldn’t tell the value of the gems in this crystal cave, Gates with gems as their resources always sold for astronomical sums. He slowly scanned the fantastical scenery, as if he had fallen into another world.
“If there’s no problem… let’s proceed.”
By now, Lee Seungwoo wasn’t responding at all. He just nodded once. He appeared extremely cautious. Lee Seungwoo’s attitude was commendable. Some monsters were simply impossible to tackle using conventional methods.
They slowly crossed the first room.
Until then, there had been no sound in the room.
Just as they were about to pass through the first room, what they had thought were amethyst stalactites made creaking sounds and rose up.
“Ah.”
Lee Seungwoo, who had turned around nimbly, lightly waved his hand. Ko Eungyo could feel the wind gathering around them, and Lee Seungwoo, without showing the slightest surprise, calmly shattered the amethyst golems one by one.
But the more golems he shattered, the more they swarmed in. They seemed to sense living creatures through vibrations. There were not only gem golems but also stone golems. Moreover, the broken golems even combined with each other to stand again.
Ko Eungyo, who had been observing this in detail, whispered, “It looks like there’s a core inside the monsters… There’s a stone of a slightly different color in their chest or stomach.”
“I’ll have to reduce them to powder, then.”
A calm reply came back.
Lee Seungwoo, still holding Ko Eungyo, jumped up and lightly landed at the end of the first room. Then, he summoned a powerful hurricane in the middle of the room.
The golems were sucked into the center of the powerful wind without making a sound.
Inside, the golems, cores and all, were completely ground up like vegetables in a blender, and the golems, once ground up, never rose again.
“Seungwoo-gun is… strong.”
Ko Eungyo, who had watched the scene, muttered without realizing it. Yet he felt strangely uneasy. Something seemed vaguely familiar. It was as if he had seen this ability somewhere before… No, that couldn’t be. He certainly didn’t know Lee Seungwoo when he was Jang Iju.
‘Then… where have I seen this before?’
He felt like he had definitely experienced this feeling once before. Maybe… in a dream? Since Lee Seungwoo was his destined Esper, it wouldn’t be strange if he had seen him once in a dream.
And so, they passed through the first room.
*
The second room wasn’t much different from the first. Only the types and numbers of golems changed. Instead of stalactites, bat-shaped golems hanging upside down blocked their path.
It’s easy to think that smaller monsters are weaker, but that’s not actually the case. Small and powerful monsters are tricky. They’re fast and sensitive, and when they sense a threat, they often hide and then attack from behind the Guide.
Without a high-rank Esper, they would have had a hard time, but Lee Seungwoo, who had grown accustomed to golem-type monsters, ground them up instantly. Not a single one escaped his attack. The remains of what had been stone bats on the ceiling rained down.
Indeed, Lee Seungwoo was a powerful Esper. He perfectly protected Ko Eungyo while eliminating the monsters.
“Cough, cough.”
However, even Lee Seungwoo couldn’t do anything about the dust flying everywhere.
Indeed, there was an incredible amount of dust. Even when they stood still, debris from the cave ceiling floated around in the air. And now that all the stone and crystal golems were being ground up into dust, it was like walking through a rain made of sand.
Since they were inside a cave, there was no way to avoid the sand-like rain. After a while, sand became as familiar as air.
Before long, they were covered in dust from head to toe. Since they would end up in the same state every time they moved to another room, no matter how much they brushed themselves off, they decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and simply continued with dust all over them.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
