When Vulcan exploded the dummy, the number from my top view decreased. Since I had already defeated ten dummies earlier, there were only ninety nine target practice left for me to battle. But in this case, I had to protect them. However, everything changed when Vulcan told me about his new challenge and destroyed the target mannequin behind me. As soon as that happened, the ninety dummies became eight-nine really quick. It just meant that Vulcan was ahead of me, showcasing his power. But the real struggle didn’t lie within this battle. It was because of the battle’s descriptions. Vulcan and I needed to treat the dummies like they were people I had to save, and the old man was an enemy. He told me that this was my training, apart from taking down those dummies earlier, which already became different. I was moving in an uncharted area, but the setting felt the same. It was because this happened when I was inside the portal.Whenever I entered a portal, the instructions to defeat the d
Vulcan’s Point of View ___________________ This happened last twelve years ago. The memories of the past haunted me and became fresh wounds that re-opened on my vulnerable mind. I didn’t want to recall it. I never wanted to. But alas, my brain took control of my thoughts and flashed every little thing that had happened. It was the day where I lost everything. (Note: This Bonus Chapter will cover two chapters) ……. “Come on, son. You can do it. Lift your arms up, don’t stiffen your shoulders, and allow your hands to be free like the wind. Watch your old man do it. Like this.” I raised my hand and punched the three right in front of my kid. There was a sea of trees resting in plain sight, waiting to be cut down. My son disliked the idea, but I convinced him to tag along with me to train in the forest. It was a site near our home in Russia, where there was a place abundant with mountains and lands to choose from. Even the scent of leaves and grass had already infiltrated my nostrils
Vulcan’s Point of View___________________Our house was a normal-looking bungalow residing near the forest. We still lived near the village, but the location was just vibrant and near the crop field. I was the chief of this small village - a province in Russia. It wasn’t well-known, not until the portals came in.People elected me as their governor, considering the popularity I had among my neighbours. We were not rich or poor. My family just had enough to support ourselves while constantly checking on others about it. Everyone in this town was willing to help each other out, especially after talking to them and motivating them to do so. But when I knew that these portals existed as a chief, I also learned that I wasn’t the only one who was gifted with power. However, for the time being, not everyone received a gift. Someone told me that I could smith, which I immediately used the ability and ran a business. It was a shop down the street, which bloomed because of the materials I use
Vulcan’s Point of View ___________________ When I raced towards our home, Maxim, my son, was with me. He never wandered or lost track of me, especially when I told him to follow me no matter what. But now, I never saw him inside the house or outside this place. And I didn’t know if Maxim’s absence was a saving grace or another problem I had to face, besides the ogre sniffing for me. However, something happened. Before assuming anything, a soft wailing sound echoed outside. It was a familiar voice, belonging to my son. And when the sound reverberated inside the house, the ogre switched targets and had its eyes at the door. The monster didn’t even bother checking its surroundings and went straight outside the house. But despite the sudden outcome, the situation wasn’t a good thing. It was a bad thing. That voice that came outside our home belonged to Maxim, my son. And he sounded like he was in trouble, just like Inessa called for me when she needed my help. So instead of idling aro
Vulcan’s Point of View___________________“Run… RUN!” I shouted, and pushed Maxim, my son, to the side.Maxim rolled on the flank and evaded the monster’s attack. My son understood the occurrence as he dashed away from the site and returned to our home. The monsters had already left our house, so that place should be safer than hiding inside this forest. I was the one left behind. Since it was already too late for me to dodge the ogre’s strike, I used my weapon as a shield, raised my hand, and safeguarded myself from the attack. The ogre swung its fist against me and pounded both my weapon and my arm.I negated some damage from the bash, but the recoil was too much for me to handle. As soon as my hand gave in, I straightforwardly took the attack and tumbled all the way back to kiss the soil. The strime might have left a mark. But after a few minutes, I regained my footing and rose from the ground.“I… I shouldn’t give up just yet. Maxim and Inessa still need me,” I told myself, and
Vulcan’s Point of View …. Back to the present time line with Aoi …. ___________________ “GAH!!” I shouted, and abruptly opened my eyes. I had a nightmare - a memory that continued haunting me in my sleeps. It was a dream where I last saw my family in front of me. It had been a decade when I lost my family from the hands of those ogres and the portal. I wanted to die, but fate refused to kill me. It almost felt like the world still needed me for a reason I did not know. I was still inside the same room where I smith and do my work. At the right side, my eyes caught a glance of my desk. And on my left, I placed my tools in that area. Everything was neatly organised, not until Aoi showed up.That kid ruined the fashion sense I had inside the smith as he relocated every equipment elsewhere until it became clustered and mixed up. In the end, I didn’t care about the disorganised tools and let it be until I worked again. Speaking of the little kid, he was snoozing on the other side of
Vulcan’s point of view ____________ There were only two weeks left for him to prepare against the portals. Those hellish dimensions had a thousand surprises left not just for him but to every adventurer who wished to defeat them. Despite the task needed to conquer those portals, more unique and deadly monsters would appear as time passess by. And Aoi had to deal with them using his sniper and his wits. Instead of the usual training dummies as his targets, I made something different. Even though Aoi had learned to aim his sniper at any target he wished to hit while those dummies dodged his bullets, nobody tried to harm him. It was just a one sided battle of him murdering the training dummies. It would be fun and more interesting if I could kick it up a notch. When Aoi went to bed, I worked through the evening and crafted some adjustments for the training dummies. Instead of those target practices just moving around, I added a little retouch to their patterns. The one hundred manneq
Aoi’s Point of View________________It had been two weeks since the day I kept training inside this room. I knew that I had improved my general skills: aiming, handling my weapon, moving, and adapting to any challenges thrown at me. And as the days passed by, those challenges facilitated by Vulcan were even more terrifying than the last time. Each day, he would fight me while protecting the dummies. And every time I tried saving all of those puppets - since they acted as a proxy for humans inside the portal - Vulcan wouldn’t hesitate to abandon our battle and attack my weakness. That was a cheap move, but the monsters would do the same.When I first accepted Vulcan’s challenge, I barely took out even one dummy. I desperately tried saving every mannequin that needed my help. But no matter how hard I tried catching up with Vulcan, he was slippery and focused more on killing the puppets, regardless if I attacked him with my decoy bullets or not. And even if I used items, Vulcan still ha
Aoi Two’s Perspective (not the original Aoi, but the other one who lived in a different yet similar life.) __________________________________ I forgot the last time I tasted good food. How many days had it been since the time I had been luring and fighting these beasts? Two months? No. Two months were short in my calendar. If I had to guess it right, I was up here for eight months fighting and evading these monsters. I fed myself with arcane from my surroundings and made it my nutrition. Although magic particles were different from real nourishments, it was enough to keep me functional. And my body was still in top shape. I also forced myself to sleep only for an hour and wake up dodging those projectiles for the umpteenth time. There was nothing inside my mind but evading these ambushes, hoping I could, at least, strike back with my rifle. But the time never arrived. The lizards weren’t the only creatures present in my vicinity. There were more of them. If I had to name a few, t
Aoi Two’s Perspective (not the original Aoi, but the other one who lived in a different yet similar life.)__________________________________I temporarily lent my power to the Crimson Guild in exchange for my monthly salary enough to pay for the hospital fees and our daily living. There was nothing wrong about it. So I told Hina about our current situation and encouraged her to attend the school we were once going to. But I refused the scholarship and dropped out of university. College life should be something that everyone desires to have, especially us students. But for me, I wanted to see Hina’s parents live for another day. Hence, the approval of being an adventurer in a guild.But I didn’t apply for being a regular adventurer. Regular adventurers were tasked to defeat a certain number of portals in return they will be given cheques and salaries from it. The more portals defeated, the larger amount of cash will be rewarded. As long as the adventurer was talented enough to survive
Volume 3 - Epilogue Aoi Two’s Perspective (not the original Aoi, but the other one who lived in a different yet similar life.) __________________________________ As far as I remembered, my parents died when I was little. When I was six years old. I didn’t need money, a lavish life, or things that I could call mine. There was only one thing I wanted, and that was my parents. I wanted them to live. But with one sudden moment, my wish turned around and burned me alive. My parents were killed by monsters, not humans. The fiend was around a hundred feet tall, and the village we were living in took the invasion. They were reptiles. These monsters had the shape of a dragon, which was technically a lizard with wings. According to the internet, unidentified beasts kept appearing from nowhere, and there were others who fought against them. Those individuals were not the police officers. I believed they were called guilds. And as I glanced around me, the news and other people claimed that t
Aoi’s PerspectiveAoi one or the ORIGINAL MAIN CHARACTER OF THE STORY (not the different one)Author’s note: This Aoi is also calling himself as Aoi one, and the other Aoi will be Aoi two (It is to avoid confusion. Thank you.)_____________________“That’s why I need to become stronger. And you’re not strong enough! Even though we’re the only ones who have this system, you didn’t try to break your own wall and learn more about it! There could’ve been portals that you could eliminate to gain more levels, and yet you chose to idle around and did nothing about it!” What did he mean when this motherfucker told me I wasn’t strong enough?! I trained with Vulcan, which Akai killed. Did he not think of that?!”“Your face is telling me that you met with Vulcan… That you trained with him. But did you learn anything from those sessions besides aiming your gun properly? Because it’s the only thing you have if you plan on comparing yourself to me!” Aoi two, or should I say, this doppelganger adde
Hina’s Perspective_____________________“It’s okay… Don’t cry. There, there…. It’s going to be okay… It’s going to be alright….”And then, I said the words. “I forgive you… I forgive you, Aoi… You don’t have to cry anymore… It’s going to be okay…”I said the words Aoi wanted to hear. Even though he was Obsidian, the face of my brother carved itself on the man beside me. It was as if Aoi two was a dog barking and biting people left and right only to realise he needed someone’s help… He needed my help. And now he had faced his fear and listened to the words Aoi two wanted to hear, his ears calmed down. His ears discerned what was important.‘But what now? What are we going to do now?’ I thought, and looked at the downcasted face of Aoi two. As if knowing the question inside my head, Aoi two returned my gaze and uttered, “I know… you are confused. But we don’t have much time now. As soon as I fought Aoi in this world, the entities behind these portals were already high on alert. And I
Hina’s Perspective _____________________ “Come with me.” With one phrase, the masked man offered his hand to me. He used his other hand to lift Aoi’s body and cast a spell that changed our surroundings. “I’ll show you something.” Obsidian showed no signs of hostility. And the voice behind the masked man soothed my ears as if it was some sort of music with perfect beat and lyrics. I gazed at the man’s hand, wondering if I should take it. I had seen something like this before. But something was off. And at the same time, there was a peculiar feeling of calm and genuineness. He almost reminded me of my brother. In spite of these feelings twirling inside my mind, I shook my head and answered, “I don’t… want to... I won’t leave…. My brother! You… Want… to kill him… I’ll…. Stay by…. His side…. Until you… can kill me…” There was a chance that the masked man wanted to pull me apart from Aoi. And I never wanted that to happen. The moment the masked man heard my words for the umpteenth ti
Hina’s Perspective_____________________All my life, Aoi did nothing but help me with my problems, regardless if it involved him or me. As long as he noticed, which he always did, my brother would rush towards me and help. Aoi really forced himself so hard until he could see me smile. And even though I pushed him countless times, he continued crawling his way back in my arms. I could still remember those days when we were together, especially when these portals hadn’t shown up. Life was simple back then. If only Aoi’s parents didn’t die, maybe he could’ve lived the life he deserved. But his life was taken away by a murderer and the portal. And now, we were given the chance to confront the man who stole his life away. But even so, we couldn’t defeat him. I… couldn’t do a thing. Aoi did everything he could to stop the madman from hurting everyone, despite knowing none of the strangers, but he failed. And the only thing I could do was to watch him suffer.Maybe if I trained hard enoug
As I glanced on my side, Hina still wanted to fight. She stood up and used the rock beside him, but her legs kept shaking as if an earthquake struck us. But the ground remained still. There was no earthquake. And when I appraised her status, my system described her with a fatigue ailment in addition to her drained mana right beside his health bar.[Iron Maiden has been deactivated. Obsidian is too powerful to be compressed!]Those were the words that marked our doom. The moment Obsidian broke free from the [Iron Maiden] all hope was lost. I had no idea how to win now, especially when my sister was on the ground. She couldn’t me right now. But Hina had already assisted me until her body fell on the ground. Although she desperately forced herself to move and stand with the help of a rock, Hina couldn’t cast any more magic and would remain sluggish until she could recover her mana. Obsidian stood on the other side of the map, unscathed and unbothered from the spell. The [Iron Maiden] wa
Time wasn’t on our side. Obsidian tried hitting us with his sniper, but Hina continued lifting me up and creating walls in front of me. It was as if she was reading my movements. When the masked man pulled the trigger and launched a set of bullets in my direction, I went to the side despite having no platform for me to step on. But I trusted my sister. By the time I jumped above ground, I trusted my instincts and rolled on the side. Like I had said, there was no ground to catch me when I fell. But as soon as I gyrated my body, a floor made of soil immediately materialised and cushioned my feet. The next thing I knew, I tumbled to the side and evaded almost every bullet coming in my way. The shells that I couldn’t dodge still didn’t hit me. The moment those leads from the masked man could take me out, Hina summoned a wall in front of me and protected my face.I didn’t have the time to thank my sister and carried onwards with the fight. Time was also our enemy. So when I found an open