3. Gateway to the central

My spine tingled with fear, my mind unable to think as my death flashed before my eyes when I saw the monster in front of me. A deep snarl came from its slimy body covered in thick black scale with an appearance as large as a bear.

It halted as soon as it heard a roar from behind. My fear grew as I noticed another two of them coming over. A foggy view of them carrying something in their mouth caught my eye while they kept getting nearer. 

My heart gave a lurch as I swallowed hard, seeing the corpses held by their teeth. These creatures were probably the hounds here. My body was paralyzed with terror as I couldn't move a muscle and stared at those sunken, black eyes and decayed faces, revealing a set of rotten fangs and black gums of the corpses they kept beside me. 

Seeing them unheeding, I slowly groped around my waist to grab a stone as I prepared my legs to run. 

"But how am I going to outrun them?" I thought in anxiety. They were as fast as a wolf and large as a bear with dreadful skin.

Suddenly, they pulled one of the corpses and in a split second, the head was severed from the body, splashing cold-wrenched blood on the air. I stared while shivering, eyes wide, sweat beading on my lips. 

"I'll be in that corpse's place after a few moments if I don't escape," I thought as I saw them shredding the body into pieces to devour it. 

I threw a rock further away, making them concerned about the sound as they raised their ears to hear clearly. I threw another rock that made a loud thud, and they rushed towards the sound, forgetting about my existence. 

"This is my chance!" Not delaying a second, I faced forward and pumped my legs, gaining speed with each push. I felt the wind whip my face as my mind was frantic with the thought- “How is it possible to move this fast?" 

The reassurance feeling weathered away when I heard them hustling after me. The paths were getting darker and darker, making me baffled about which way was right or wrong. 

"Oy!" A voice made me halt. I glanced around to see a midget dark figure standing behind me. My breathing was loud as I stepped back in panic. 

"Relax!" It was a voice of a child. My eyes fell on his sharp green eyes and alluring pale green face as he stepped forward.

"W-who are you?" I said as I couldn't believe my eyes. There was not a thing like this in the novel. 

"If you want to live then stop asking questions and follow me." His tone was arrogant for a child. 

"Oh and...They can't track your scent anymore so, you can follow me slowly." He glanced at me from his left shoulder. His green hair covered his brows with a small red horn peeking through it. His gaze with the green eyes looked familiar as if I faced them a lot. 

"The fuck, Stop! I'm not a paedophile!!" I thought as I smacked my face to get back to reality.

"Okay! Lead the way." 

A sense of comfort eased my heart as I followed him with steady steps while watching his small back. I glanced around, and the view of the forest seemed clearer than before.

"If you kept running that way, you would've probably met their master and turned into a lump of flesh already. Unless that was what you intended." After walking for half an hour, he opened his mouth.

"Their master? Are you perhaps talking about a regal member?"

Hearing my reply, he halted and once again glanced at me.

"...You seem to know a lot without hints." His gaze filled with suspension.

"Talk for yourself. You appear to be a lot stronger despite being a child." The smirk on my lips faded away when a spark from his glaring pupil caught my eye. Or was I wrong?

After hesitating for a moment, I asked him-"I'm going to leave this place...Will you join me?"

He stared at me, unmoving arms covered in wolf fur gloves and black clothing almost like a long coat covering his shoulder to calves. He would've looked like an adult with that tone and attitude of his if not for his size.

"After all, how do you know all the path here? You're obviously not human, nor an Ogre." 

My curiosity increased as much as I looked at him, along with my suspension.

He turned his face away and sighed to tilt his head, 

"We're almost here. Keep walking through the left side, and you'll see the border there." 

"W-what? How did you k-" Before I could ask anything more, a massive chunk of wind gathered around me as I covered my face to protect it. Feeling the surroundings getting calm, I removed my hands to see him gone. 

"How did he know I was looking for the border? I have a lot of questions. This wasn't mentioned in the novel." I muttered as I kept moving towards the left side as he advised.

_________ 

Everything around me got brighter by the orange sun, which started to peek through the clouds in the corner of the deep purple sky. Seemed like it was the crack of dawn. 

"At least the sun has a normal colour," I mumbled while pushing through the bush. My body froze with my eyes wide open as my jaw dropped when I saw the immense mountain-like wall with spikes in sight of me. 

The moment my palm brushed against the hard wall, I felt my body getting lighter as though gravity stopped working.

"I don't have anything to climb. Should I try jumping?"

I looked up at its phantom-white surface. 

My breathing quickened, trying to appease my need for oxygen as I leapt through the spikes climbing to the top. In the corners of my eyes, everything became a blur because of the speed.

My hands reached the highest peak as I pushed my legs and stood on top of the border.

My hopes soared as I felt a sudden flare of delight inside of my heart, seeing the Earth-like beauty beneath the border.

"This is it- 'The Baraddurn', where it all happened."

A strong gust of wind blew against my face with its howling sound as I stared beneath my feet. 

"I'm coming for you, Dae hyun joon!"