Chapter 32: Live Fearlessly

The porters worked through the aftermath of the Awakeners’ battle ahead of them.

Scattered across the stone floor were the corpses of goblins and various beasts. The porters carefully gathered each body and placed it into their specialized bags.

The moment a corpse entered one of the bags, a suction mechanism activated, decomposing the remains and extracting the Mana contained within them.

The work continued slowly as the porters moved deeper into the Gate, paying close attention to their surroundings. Although they had done this countless times before, the darkness surrounding them still made everyone uneasy.

After working for a while, one of the porters suddenly stopped.

"Wait... is there a monster left here?"

His voice echoed through the corridor, causing the others to stop what they were doing.

However, before anyone could answer, something emerged from the darkness.

A black figure flashed through the corridor, followed by a terrified scream.

"AAARGH!"

Blood splattered across the stone floor as one of the porters was torn apart before anyone could react.

Seeing this, the remaining porters scattered in panic, desperately trying to escape. Unfortunately, the creature was far too fast for them.

One after another, the porters were caught and killed, their screams echoing through the corridor as the smell of blood filled the air.

Nero stood frozen, unable to understand what was happening.

He had entered the Gate expecting nothing more than some routine work, yet within seconds, almost everyone around him had been slaughtered.

His legs refused to move, and his mind struggled to process the scene.

When Nero finally managed to focus on the creature, he saw two completely black eyes staring directly at him.

It had a dark humanoid body that vaguely resembled a giant bat, with twisted limbs and blood dripping from its mouth.

’A demon?’

However, after examining its appearance more carefully, Nero realized that it wasn’t a true demon.

It was a demonoid.

At that moment, the High-Human inscription on Nero’s chest suddenly began burning.

’What?!’

The inscription was reacting to the Demonic Energy radiating from the creature, and Nero could feel it trying to absorb the energy.

Unfortunately, the demonoid was still alive, and as long as it remained that way, the inscription couldn’t extract anything from it.

Meanwhile, the creature had already begun approaching him.

Nero wanted to run, but his body wouldn’t listen. His hands trembled, and the fear gripping his mind was so overwhelming that he couldn’t even take a step backward.

’Move! Damn it, move!’

No matter how desperately he tried, his legs remained rooted to the ground.

Just as the demonoid was about to reach him, someone suddenly slammed into Nero from the side.

"Ugh!"

Nero stumbled backward, and before he could understand what had happened, the creature’s jaws clamped down on someone’s arm.

"AAAARGH!"

Nero’s eyes widened when he recognized the person who had saved him.

It was Edmund!

The elderly porter had thrown himself between Nero and the demonoid, sacrificing his own arm to protect him.

Blood poured from the wound as Edmund struggled against the creature, but instead of worrying about his injury, he turned toward Nero.

"Run, kid!"

His voice trembled from the pain, but he continued shouting.

"Don’t worry about us! The main party should be somewhere ahead, so run to them!"

Nero stared at him in disbelief.

"Why...?"

He couldn’t understand why Edmund would do something like this for him.

"You said this was your final day. You said you wanted to go home to your wife and family."

Nero’s voice trembled as he continued.

"Your grandchild was just born. Why would you do this?!"

Edmund smiled weakly despite the pain.

"I don’t really know."

He coughed, causing blood to trickle from the corner of his mouth.

"But you’re still young, kid. You can’t afford to die here."

Edmund tightened his grip on Nero’s shoulder, using what little strength he had left to keep the creature occupied.

"Most of us working as porters... we’re people who don’t have much of a future left. But you’re different."

Nero couldn’t understand what he was trying to say.

"You’re half-awakened. You still have hope."

The demonoid tightened its jaws around Edmund’s arm, causing him to wince, but he continued speaking despite the pain.

"Death is common in this world. You’ll have to get used to it eventually."

A weak laugh escaped his lips.

"I spent my entire life living in fear. Always running, always hiding, and being too afraid to take risks."

Edmund looked directly into Nero’s eyes.

"But now that I’m actually facing death, I realize I’ve finally overcome that fear."

His expression gradually softened.

"And it feels liberating."

The demonoid suddenly began pulling Edmund backward, and realizing that he had little time left, the old man used the last of his strength to shout.

"Live!"

His voice echoed throughout the corridor.

"Run! Turn around and never look back!"

Tears formed in his eyes, but even now, he continued smiling.

"Live fearlessly, young man."

Those were his final words.

The light slowly faded from Edmund’s eyes, and his body went still.

Nero couldn’t move.

The old man who had been talking about his granddaughter only a short while ago was now dead.

He had willingly sacrificed himself to save someone he barely knew, and Nero couldn’t understand why anyone would do something like that for a stranger.

Meanwhile, the demonoid released Edmund’s body and turned toward Nero once again.

Seeing it approach, fear and anger surged through him, but above those emotions, Edmund’s final words continued echoing inside his mind.

’Live fearlessly.’

Edmund had sacrificed himself so that Nero could survive. They had only known each other for a short time, yet the old man had still given his life for him.

’If I die here, then his sacrifice will be meaningless.’

Nero clenched his fists before finally forcing his body to move.

He turned around and ran.

Behind him, he could hear the demonoid feeding on Edmund’s corpse, but Nero forced himself not to look back.

His legs burned, and his lungs struggled for air as he fled through the dark corridor. He didn’t know how long he had been running or whether the creature was following him.

Then his foot suddenly struck a rock.