Jeong-min gazed at Leia's face as she slept, her head resting on his lap.
Traces of tears remained on Leia's eyes as she slept soundly.
'Leia has a drinking habit...'
Leia had seemed to get drunk quickly after exchanging drinks more than three times.
After a few more rounds, Leia suddenly clung to Jeong-min and began to sob.
Leia cried like a child, repeatedly calling out the names of her master and colleagues.
And with tears streaming down her face, she endlessly stroked Jeong-min's face, repeating the same words.
-Jeong-min! You can't die, okay? You absolutely can't die! If even Jeong-min dies, I'll really be all alone...-
-I, I won't die, Leia, just a moment, my clothes are torn...-
-Uwaaaah!-
Leia, who had been sobbing and repeating the same words for a while, eventually fell asleep exhausted, and Jeong-min sat blankly in front of the bonfire, having lent his lap to Leia.
"Geez..."
Jeong-min glanced at his torn and tattered top, poured himself another drink, and gulped it down.
"Kheu..."
It was a fine liquor with a fragrant aroma and a thrilling sensation as it went down his throat.
Looking up at the sky, it was filled with stars.
"There are so many stars... unlike on Earth..."
Jeong-min gently stroked Leia's hair, gazing endlessly at the sky.
*******
"....Huh?"
When Leia opened her eyes, it was dawn.
Leia looked at Jeong-min, who was sitting and dozing off, having lent her his lap, and she groggily got up.
Jeong-min, awakened by the movement, looked at Leia and said.
"Ah... Leia, you're awake?"
"Ah... Jeong-min... I... I must have fallen asleep here. It must have been hard on you."
"No. I'm fine. How are you feeling, Leia?"
"I'm perfectly fine. I must have been very tired yesterday. I fell asleep right away after drinking just a few glasses..."
"....."
"....Why?"
Jeong-min stared blankly at Leia and said. "So... you just fell asleep after drinking...?"
Leia nodded at Jeong-min's question.
"Yes, I'm not usually like that... but yesterday's battle was a bit intense, so I must have been tired. I'm sorry. I fell asleep first... you should have just gone back. Jeong-min must have been tired too."
"Ah... no... it's nothing... Well... I should go back now. I'm planning to go back and rest a bit, then head towards the gate. I'll check out Daesung's battle and if I have time, I'll try to attack the gate myself."
"Yes, then you should go and get some rest. Go back quickly. But... why are your clothes so torn? You didn't even train today... you should change quickly, Jeong-min."
"Ah, yes... I should, I should change."
"...?"
"..."
Jeong-min summoned a gate for the base.
"Then I'll be going now. Get some rest, Leia."
Leia, watching Jeong-min trying to enter the gate after saying goodbye, said.
"Were you disappointed that we couldn't drink much together? Next time, let's really have a proper drink. Okay?"
Jeong-min smiled at Leia and said.
"Yes, let's have a proper drink next time. Ha... ha."
Jeong-min entered the inventory, took off his torn clothes, and lay down on the mattress.
"She doesn't remember her drinking habits... she was crying and making such a fuss... that's why Leia's master and colleagues didn't let her drink much..."
As he lay on the mattress, sleep came easily.
Jeong-min recalled Leia clinging to him and crying, and fell asleep with a smile on his face.
*******
"Attention!"
Numerous combat unit members gathered in the large training ground of Shelter [Daesung] moved in perfect unison.
A middle-aged man with piercing eyes stood on the reviewing stand in front of the training ground.
Kang Ho-young, the Awakened combat unit commander of Daesung.
He stood on the reviewing stand and scanned the unit members standing in perfect rows.
"Today, we are launching our first gate attack. Having trained every day without fail, I expect that the monsters of the gate will be no match for us. However, we must never be careless. Remember that each and every one of us is a shield protecting the families of the shelter, and that when we are injured or killed, that shield is cracked, so always be careful..."
"Team Leader, Team Leader."
Yoo Jeong-hyun, the unit leader and adjutant standing next to him, approached and called Ho-young in a small voice.
"Huh?"
"It's too long. Please keep it short... short."
"Short? I need to boost the morale of the unit members, how can I keep it short?!"
"Their morale is actually dropping right now."
"What?"
Ho-young was taken aback and scanned the unit members.
Everyone had a bored expression on their faces, looking at Ho-young with expressions that seemed to say, "When will this end?"
"Tsk..."
Ho-young clicked his tongue, looking around at the disgruntled unit members, and then his eyes sparkled.
Among the dazed unit members, there was only one person looking at him with sparkling eyes, focused and attentive.
It was 6th Team Leader.
'Our Daesung Shelter combat unit's ace, 6th Team Leader! I was so disappointed when I heard he was seriously injured... but he stood tall again and is looking at me with such spirited eyes...'
"Team Leader!"
"Ah, I know!"
Ho-young, startled by Jeong-hyun's urging voice, quickly wrapped things up.
"Anyway, the point is, let's all try not to get hurt. Remember that if we're not careless, we're facing opponents that won't hurt us! Got it?!"
"Yes!"
"Ah, I almost forgot. One more thing. You've all read the official notice about the gatekeeper, right? It says he's significantly stronger than other monsters, so if that guy appears, the regular members should retreat and deal with the regular monsters, and only the Team Leaders should face him together. Got it? I'll say it again, prioritize destroying the gate without any casualties!"
"Yes!"
After finishing his speech, Ho-young looked at 6th Team Leader.
'If it weren't for the information that guy brought, we would have been in big trouble. But how did he find out that information... he said he absolutely couldn't say, so I can't ask him anymore...'
Ho-young, looking at 6th Team Leader with pride, ordered them to check their equipment and prepare to depart.
******
"Uh... what time is it?"
Jeong-min jumped up from the mattress.
He opened the inventory gate and saw the bright scenery outside.
"I should have brought a watch..."
Jeong-min rummaged through the inventory, which was piled with various items, and soon found a small digital watch.
"Huu... it's not lunchtime yet. I thought I had overslept a lot..."
Jeong-min let out a sigh of relief and prepared to go outside.
He roughly washed his face with bottled water, brushed his teeth, and finished preparing, then went outside the inventory gate.
As he slowly walked and exited the alleyway, he saw the main gate of Daesung Shelter.
Unlike usual, many people were gathered at the shelter's main gate.
Jeong-min peeked his head out of the alleyway and muttered, looking at the gathered people.
"It looks like they're about to depart. Are those all combat troops? There are more than I thought?"
The people gathered in front of the shelter, standing in neat rows, slowly began to walk towards the gate.
Jeong-min looked around and searched for a suitable building.
"I need to find a spot too, where would be good..."
Jeong-min looked at a three-story building near the gate.
"I think I could see pretty well from up there... should I go there?"
It seemed like he would have a good view of the battlefield from the top of the building.
Jeong-min started walking towards the building.
After walking for a while, the building came into full view.
"Ugh... it's pretty badly burned... I hope it doesn't collapse?"
Jeong-min muttered, looking at the top of the building, and used Spatial Movement.
Appearing in mid-air about 3m above the roof of the building, Jeong-min balanced himself and landed on the roof.
He looked around after landing, but other than the scorched surroundings, there didn't seem to be any particular problems.
Jeong-min leaned against the rooftop railing and looked towards the gate. 'I can see well after all.'
Swarms of goblins and goblin champions. A black gate standing among them.
Having discovered the approaching human group in front of them, they seemed to be shouting and preparing for defense.
Jeong-min looked at the humans and monsters standing facing each other and thought.
'Now... is it starting?'
Starting with a loud shout, Daesung's combat unit began to fire ranged skills indiscriminately.
Various skills flew and fell among the goblins, and numerous monsters were swept away by the skills.
At the same time, someone shouted loudly next to Daesung's combat unit, and the combat unit members, holding various weapons, charged towards the gate, shouting.
'I see quite a few familiar faces... 1st Team Leader ajusshi has a shield? Is he the tanker? 3rd Team Leader and 4th Team Leader are there too... where is that guy... ah, there he is.'
Jun-ki, leading a group of people and charging, came into Jeong-min's view.
Jun-ki, holding the sword Jeong-min had given him, ran and created a Fireball, throwing it towards the enemy lines.
The Fireball flew into the enemy lines, swallowing several goblins and exploding, and the goblins, startled by the flames spreading in all directions, were bewildered.
Jun-ki and his team members jumped into the gap and began to cut down the goblins.
A goblin champion charged at Jun-ki, but after a few exchanges, the goblin champion became a cold corpse and lay on the ground.
'He's doing well... he's the most noticeable? I don't need to worry about him.'
Jeong-min turned his gaze away from Jun-ki and looked at the entire battlefield.
Daesung's combat unit was almost massacring the goblins.
There seemed to be occasional injuries, but there didn't seem to be any serious situations.
'They must have trained really hard. They should be able to destroy a D-rank gate easily.'
After some time, it was clear that the number of goblins was decreasing noticeably.
Daesung's combat unit members gradually advanced and set foot right in front of the gate.
While massacring the goblins who were constantly being pushed back, a light flashed from the gate and something walked out.
A huge monster, easily over 2m tall, with bulging green muscles covering its entire body.
The giant monster, holding huge swords in both hands, snorted and screamed.
"Keeeeeeeeeeek-"
'It's out... the gatekeeper... that's the Goblin Lord...!'
Even from a distance, the sheer size of it seemed to give off a sense of intimidation.
The Goblin Lord immediately lunged at the combat unit member closest to it.
The Goblin Lord swung its sword at the combat unit member, who seemed to be frozen in place by the intimidation.
The combat unit member raised the sword he was holding to block the Goblin Lord's sword, but with a scream, he was sent flying backwards and crashed into a wall.
'That's quite a bit of power... I wonder if that person is okay?'
While Jeong-min was watching with concern, Daesung's combat unit moved quickly.
The regular members surrounded the area to create space, while the remaining members began to deal with the goblins and goblin champions, and ten people entered the center space and began to face the Goblin Lord. 'The Team Leaders are facing the Goblin Lord. That's a good idea.'
1st Team Leader Seong-dong and a man he had never seen before held their shields forward and charged towards the Goblin Lord, and the Goblin Lord continuously swung its sword to strike the shields.
Each time the shield was hit by the sword, they were pushed back two or three steps, but they stubbornly held on, not giving the Goblin Lord a chance to attack the other Team Leaders.
Jun-ki and the others with melee weapons surrounded the Goblin Lord and stabbed their weapons into any openings.
The two women waiting in the back ran up and healed the injured whenever there were casualties, then repeatedly retreated to the rear.
Jeong-min watched the combat unit's Team Leaders fighting and thought.
'They definitely work well together because they've trained a lot together... good. There won't be any particular difficulties.'
The Goblin Lord's body was soon covered in blood.
Perhaps it was quite exhausted, as it kept snorting and swinging the swords in its hands.
The moment the Goblin Lord's swords were blocked by the shields, pushing back the two people in the tanker role.
Jun-ki, who had been waiting for an opportunity, jumped from behind the Goblin Lord and swung his sword towards its neck.
Shwaak
Jun-ki's sword cleanly cut through the neck.The Goblin Lord, seemingly unaware of what had happened to him, turned towards Jun-ki.
But in an instant, the Goblin Lord's head rolled across the ground, and its body, now without a master, flailed its arms a few times before collapsing backward.
Confirming the Goblin Lord's fall, Jun-ki immediately rushed towards the gate and swung his sword down.
A sound like something shattering echoed, and the gate began to shake violently.
Then, with a distortion of space, twisting and crumpling in every direction, as if being sucked into its center, the gate vanished.
Daesung's combat team erupted in cheers of victory.
The remaining goblins, seeing the gate they were supposed to protect disappear, shrieked and began to scatter in all directions.
'It's over.'
Jeong-min pushed himself off the rooftop railing he had been leaning against and stepped back.
There seemed to be no need to watch any longer.
'Not many injured either... they fight well. I don't really need to worry about a D-rank gate.'
Jeong-min looked up at the sky.
The sun was still high, and it seemed there was quite a bit of time left before evening.
Jeong-min came to the opposite railing and looked out at the street.
Another D-rank gate visible in the distance.
"The shelter side is finished... now it's my turn, I guess."
Jeong-min was planning to destroy a D-rank gate alone for the rest of the day.
Leia had said it was definitely possible, but he felt nervous as it was his first time attempting to destroy a gate.
After taking a deep breath, Jeong-min used Spatial Movement towards the gate.