Chapter 3: The Age of Heroes Pt. 1  

It was as if my body had sunk endlessly into the cold, murky water. Dazed, I suddenly had a thought.

‘Would you change the world if given the chance?’

I thought he was just an average neighborhood hyung. An ordinary person living an ordinary life running a convenience store. But that was not the case.

‘To think he was Heimdall.’

It was already incredible that I had met Athena, let alone Heimdall. It was unbelievable.

When people spoke of heroes, they were thinking of the Twelve Heroes who made Eden. They thought only of those who became gods. It was only natural, as, through Eden’s efforts and oppression, countless other heroes had been erased from history. Still, among the erased names, there were a few that continued to shine brightly through the veil of oppression.

One of them was Heimdall.

‘The Guardian of the Brilliant Rainbow.’

As the wielder of the brilliantly shining sword of rainbows, he was one of the Heroes who had saved many people and closed many gates. But alas, few knew his name. Eden had worked long and hard to make sure of that.

‘Because he was a companion of the Demon King.’

I had come across those names within the secretive book my parents had left me. It contained tales that described the companions who had helped the Demon King and shared his will. Companions who deserved the title of Heroes infinitely more than the creators of Eden.

Heimdall was definitely among those names.

As my mind descended further into the fog, a few more questions arose.

‘Why did I have that book?’

I already knew it wasn’t just a memento that my parents had left me when they died at the hands of a Hunter. Boss, no, Heimdall, said he had been searching for the book, and while I had never confirmed it, it was clear that Athena was searching for it too. A book that lit a fire in the eyes of Hunters who blazed through an entire era. Why was a book like that in my possession?

‘But more importantly, what will happen to me?’

I mean why did Hyung, no, Heimdall, say that sort of thing?

If I would change it? What sort of question... and what sort of ridiculous request was “be nice to me if you meet me again?!”

I couldn’t think or understand anything any longer. My mind had fallen past the point of no return, and my body couldn’t sustain any more thoughts.

Shaaaa.

A light shone brightly over my body after a while.

***

“Gasp!”

I exhaled deeply as soon as I returned to my senses. It was difficult to breathe, as if my lungs were full of water.

“Huff… Huff…”

As I was trying to catch my breath, my vision slowly began to return. My eyes began to adjust to the darkness, only to find myself surrounded by gloom.

“A cave…?”

In my dim view, I could see a ceiling full of stalactites. Everything was similar to the caves I saw on the internet. At the same time, something about it felt strange.

“A gate…?”

Gates connected Earth to another dimension. The area the gates connected to were called dungeons. I remember seeing that some low-grade gates had dungeons in the form of caves. Looking more closely, this place resembled those pictures.

‘No way... Gates are under the strict management of Eden, and only hunters with authorization can enter them.’

It was impossible for people like me to step foot into a gate.

As my head cleared up, my memories slowly started to return. It was unbelievable. It was bad enough that I had met Athena, let alone… at the hands of Heimdall, someone who I had considered an ordinary Hyung.

‘I definitely had died.’

I remembered my chest being pierced, and I was sure that I had heard a voice in my head, but my memory was still hazy. Amid all these unbelievable things, I woke up to find myself in a cave.

“Nothing will surprise me now.”

By this point, I had gotten acclimated to these types of situations. More importantly, I was not even sure if this was actually a dungeon gate. There was also a chance that Heimdall had escaped with my very dead body. I mean, if it was Heimdall, he should have the power to revive me, right? The weight of the title Hero was enough to make one believe that such powers existed.

I looked around at the surroundings. ‘Fortunately, I think I’m alone.’

After collecting my thoughts, I scanned over my body. I was in much better shape than I expected, wearing a plain t-shirt and pants. Looking inside the shirt, there were no visible wounds from when I was pierced by the sword.

‘Something is different?’

I had a strange feeling of peculiarity. While I couldn’t see clearly in the dark, I knew there were a lot of things that were different, whether it was the shape of my hands or the span of my vision. As I was about to take a closer look at the condition of my body, I had no choice but to stop thinking at the sound of footsteps.

Scrape.

.

I quickly scanned around again.

Someone was coming.

If it were Boss, no, Heimdall, then that would be another story, but for some reason, I felt something ominous.

‘The sound of the footsteps…’

The reason was obvious. The footsteps sounded bizarre. I had never heard something like this before. Like the sound of something stepping in water without any shoes on. There wasn’t even a place I could hide.

"Keruk?"

I came face to face with the owner of the footsteps.

"…"

I was at a loss for words. No matter how I looked at it, the owner of the footsteps in front of me didn’t look human at all. There was saliva dripping from the corners of its mouth, and I could see its teeth, sharp and jagged, glowing in the soft light. It was about half as tall as an average person, but the most strikingly strange part was its green skin and reptilian eyes.

I knew what the thing was.

‘Goblin.’

I held my breath and crouched low.

Goblins were the most basic monsters, and they were often found in low-grade dungeon gates. Why the hell was it here?

‘I’m sure of it now. This is a dungeon gate…’

I didn’t know how I had gotten into such a heavily restricted place, but I was sure of it. I was in a dungeon gate and that was a goblin searching for food. He hadn’t found me yet. I looked around again, searching for a way out, but there was still nowhere to escape. While it would have been nice if he went back to where he came from…

"Keruk?"

He seemed to have found me. My heart wrenched with horror as I saw it walking closer, with a rusty dagger in its hand. My mind started running at full speed as it slowly approached me.

‘What should I do? If I stayed like this, I’ll die again, for real.’

I had no idea how I didn’t die before, but I was alive now. But if it came closer to me, I would surely be dead meat.

‘A goblin’s weakness… weakness…’

My thoughts raced even faster. Information on goblins was so low level that even I could find it easily. All the information on it could be found just by searching on the portal site.

I stopped thinking.

"Keruk!"

That punk had found me and began running towards me.

Without hesitation, I shouted loudly, "Aaaaah-!"

It looked startled by the sound of my shouting, as it stopped racing towards me, clawed at its ears, and fell to the floor.

"Aaaaah-!" I screamed again and kicked at its hand.

Clang!

The rusty dagger that had been held in its hand clattered to the floor. I kept screaming, over and over without pause. While goblins in other gates might be different, these were cave goblins. Goblins that appeared in these dungeon gates were known to be especially sensitive to sounds. Because they only lived in caves, they couldn’t handle loud noises, as it would cause their eardrums to tear.

‘The information was accurate!’

I moved even faster and picked up the fallen dagger.

Puheuk!

I pierced the dagger deep into the nape of its neck. Moist green blood flowed from where the weapon had entered its neck.

‘Whew…’ I swallowed my breath and pulled out the knife. Paralyzing a goblin by yelling was a well-known strategy. However, it had one fatal flaw.

"Keruk! Kerulleuk!"

"Keruk!"

"Kerreuk!"

The sound drew in goblins from the surrounding area. However, I had no other choice as I wasn’t a Hunter, just an ordinary person. There was no other way for me to survive.

I grabbed the dagger and stared at them.

‘There’s three of them.’

Fortunately, as time passed, no other goblins emerged. These were all the goblins in the area.

'This is all the goblins I have to deal with.'

I still had the energy left to keep yelling. I shouted loudly at the goblins running toward me, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah-!"

I threw myself at the goblins who had fallen to the ground, clawing at their ears just like the one previously. I stabbed one of the goblins rolling on the floor in the neck. I felt like my throat was going to tear apart from the constant shouting, but the pain was a hundred times better than dying.

"Aaaaah-!"

Continuing to scream, I sliced another neck. I got goosebumps from the uncanny feeling.

‘One more.’

There was still one left.

"Ah-!"

This was my limit. More so than my throat’s limit, my lung capacity was a problem. I couldn’t make any more sounds.

"Keruk!"

But luckily I was able to make it on time. I plunged the dagger into the last goblin’s neck and collapsed on the spot, leaving the blade in its neck. I couldn’t remember the last time I had moved this violently.

“I did it…”

But more importantly, I did it. Me, the ordinary human, hunting goblins. Even though I had known information on how to attack them, it wasn’t an easy task. Rather, it was a feat so great that if I had told anyone what had just happened, I would have been called a liar. Dizziness was starting to overcome me.

"Ker… reuk."

Alongside the cry of a goblin which I had thought was dead, came a pain piercing my skin.

Puheuk.

I looked in disbelief. My forearm had a dagger deeply embedded into it. One of the goblins from before, the one whose neck I sliced, was glaring at me while holding its throat together.

“Keuk.”

Enduring the intense pain, I pulled the dagger out of my arm. While it wasn’t completely dead, it was on its way there. I took the knife I had pulled out of my arm and shoved it into its head as it stumbled back and forth as if its vision was blurry.

Thump.

It collapsed into a heap. It was definitely dead, and I couldn’t feel any other goblins around.

‘Uugh…’

The pain in my forearm was overwhelming, I could feel the hot blood flowing down my wrist. Was poison smeared on the dagger? I could feel my consciousness slowly fading. I wanted to sit down and figure out some sort of plan, but there wasn’t much I could do as an ordinary person.

My consciousness was crumbling.

And.

Thump.

My body as well.

I collapsed next to the goblin I had just killed, its eyes staring right into mine.

“This… how…”

I saw it. I saw my reflection in its eyes. My heart started racing even faster, now that I was facing a situation I just couldn't understand. My consciousness started fading away, and my eyes slowly started to shut.

[You have leveled up.]

I suddenly heard a voice, but there was no way that I had heard it correctly. But there was something that had oddly changed. It felt as if my body, which was on the verge of death, had suddenly improved a little.

“There are signs of goblins!”

Someone called out. They were speaking the same language as me. I wanted to call out to them, but I couldn’t find the strength to make a sound. My consciousness started slipping away, and I was on the edge of unconsciousness.

“There is a survivor!”

It wasn’t clear, but it was definitely someone’s voice.

[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> is watching you.]

The dark voice from before rang in my head again.