Chapter 53: Strange Gate

The first creature had been strange enough, but the more Keane thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong with the entire gate.

It was possible that the creature was simply some unusual mutation, but for some reason, even that explanation didn’t feel completely right.

Keane left the body and continued deeper into the gate, only for the next creature he found to somehow look even worse than the first. This one had the body of some large insect, the head of something that looked like a bird, and a pair of human-like arms growing from its back.

Keane killed it with several rocks he hurled at it, not wanting to touch it.

After that came one with six eyes arranged around its head, then another that didn’t even have a head, with its face instead located directly in the middle of its chest. Every monster he came across looked wrong in one way or another, but strangely enough, none of them were particularly strong.

That was what made the whole place even stranger. The gate looked abnormal, and the monsters inside definitely weren’t normal either, yet the actual difficulty was surprisingly low.

Keane kept going deeper and also noticed that the gate itself was much smaller than most of the ones he had been clearing recently. There were only a few chambers, no traps or hidden attacks, and nothing about the environment itself seemed dangerous. Even the monsters weren’t strong enough to give him any trouble.

’So what exactly is wrong with this place?’ Keane thought to himself as he continued moving.

He soon reached what looked like the deepest chamber, where a crystal stood at the center.

Keane looked at it for a while before moving closer. It was different from the cores he normally found inside gates, almost completely transparent, while thin lines of dark red energy moved around inside it.

’That’s it?’ Keane thought to himself, looking around the chamber again and almost feeling disappointed.

There was no boss, no monster waiting to attack him and nothing else that looked particularly important, so Keane reached toward the crystal before stopping halfway, immediately becoming alert.

He had been standing there for a while and the entire place was mostly lit, and with his enhances senses, he certainly hadn’t seen, heard or sensed anything else around him, but at that moment, he noticed that there was someone standing on the other side of the chamber almost against the wall.

’When did they get there?’ Keane thought to himself, immediately shifting his attention toward the figure.

Everything kept getting closer to a horror scene than fantasy.

He couldn’t quite see well. He could only make out a silhouette. The face wasn’t visible, neither could he properly tell the person’s height or even what kind of clothes they were wearing—if they were wearing anything, but the figure simply stood there looking at him.

Keane narrowed his eyes.

He hadn’t sensed anyone entering the chamber, and thinking about it, he hadn’t sensed another person anywhere inside the gate at all. That was already enough reason for him to be cautious.

’How long have you been there?’ Keane thought to himself as one of his hands moved slightly, already preparing in case the figure tried something...

Nothing happened.

The silhouette didn’t move and only continued looking at him, so Keane stared back for a while before a strange feeling came over him.

He couldn’t explain it, but it almost felt like there was some sort of connection between himself and the figure... it felt like familiarity.

He didn’t recognise the person, but for some reason, something about the silhouette felt familiar enough that Keane couldn’t simply ignore it. It was almost like he had seen the figure somewhere before, he just couldn’t quite put a finger on it.

’Do I know you?’ Keane thought to himself, still staring at the silhouette.

His mind couldn’t find anything, but the feeling remained.

Keane eventually looked back toward the crystal. Whatever the figure was doing, it didn’t seem interested in attacking him for now, and standing there staring at it wasn’t going to give him any answers.

He reached for the crystal again, and the moment his fingers touched it, the entire chamber shook.

At this point he wasn’t interested in staying in there any longer. He checked with the strange figure, and it was still there, as though watching.

Without further hesitation, he destroyed the crystal immediately.

The crystal shattered apart, and he waited for the usual exit portal to appear, but nothing happened.

’What?’ Keane thought to himself, a sliver of panic piercing his heart as he looked around before turning back toward the silhouette.

Thankfully, it was still there, still watching him. If it had moved from there, he would have been even more panicked than he was at the moment. At least he could monitor it. Recounting the human parts on the strange monsters, he really didn’t want to give the ideas and possibilities in his mind any meat to bite onto.

Just then, all of a, a strange force suddenly grabbed him before he could properly react.

’What the hell—’ Keane thought to himself as he immediately tried to resist, but the force had already taken hold of him, pulling him, it felt like.

The space around him twisted, and his body was thrown backward hard enough that he barely had time to understand what was happening. For a moment, Keane saw the silhouette again before everything around him disappeared.

Keane was thrown out of the gate and landed hard on the ground outside, tumbling a few feet.

’What the hell was that?’ He thought to himself as he pushed himself back up and immediately looked behind him.

Not surprising, the gate was gone.

There was no exit portal, no gradual collapse and none of the usual signs that came with a gate being cleared. One moment he had been inside, and the next he had simply been thrown out, with the entrance disappearing along with him.

Keane continued staring at the empty space where the gate had been as empty adrenaline rushed through him.

’Who was that?’ He thought to himself, his expression turning more serious.