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“Dammit, it’s a gate. The gate has opened again.”

“No way, that can’t be it, Hop. How could the gate open again…?”

“First, let’s get out of here quickly. We need to retreat south and regroup somehow…”

“AAAHHH!!”

As Zion screamed, looking somewhere, I turned around to see a monster wielding a sword charging at us.

Have monsters invaded the village now?

“Severance.”

I managed to block the monster with spatial magic, but we had to escape from here no matter what.

With Zion unable to move, we had to use teleportation.

“Creating Simplified Space Movement Array.”

The moment I opened the passage to the spatial realm, the severed space reconnected, and the monster closed the distance in an instant.

“Zion. Hold that thing off for a moment! I need you to move your body using your abilities, quickly!”

“Hop, I can’t… I can’t fight anymore!”

Zion was trembling in fear.

Ultimately, the monster’s attack landed directly.

“Ugh!!”

A knife was lodged in his back, but this wasn’t enough to kill him.

If I could just move somehow…

“Activation.”

I barely activated the space movement array and teleported to the church in the Imperial capital.

It was the safest spot among those nearby.

The clerics at the church, shocked by our sudden appearance, rushed over to check our condition.

“Who are you? How did you…?”

“Ugh! We are the Hero Party. Please, we need treatment fast…!”

“Hero, you say?”

“I, I am the hero!”

Upon seeing Zion’s face, the clerics exchanged glances, nodded, and began casting healing spells on my wounds.

And soon after, as if they’d been alerted, Naou burst into the church.

“Zion! Hop!”

“Naou…”

As soon as she entered, Naou knelt beside Zion, facing him and greeting him.

Already grasping the situation, she looked at him with a serious expression and asked, “Zion. That thing outside… is it really a gate? Did we get attacked by monsters?”

“……”

Zion couldn’t easily answer.

Seeing him silent, Naou turned to me, who was also receiving healing.

“Hop! Did we get attacked by monsters?”

“Yes. We were assaulted by monsters. That’s definitely a real gate. The northern front has already seen combat. Soon, monsters from all over the continent will begin to go on a rampage again.”

“If that’s the case…”

A single word flashed through both our minds.

The world was about to plunge into war once more.

There had been a 300-year gap between the first and second great wars, yet here we were, just 5 years after the end of the second, and the gate had opened.

The fate bestowed upon the people of this world was indeed harsh.

“Again, war…?”

And here, amidst it all, stood someone born into the harshest fate, trembling as they held their broken body.

There was still no new hero in this world.

The only way to close the gate was by striking it with the Holy Sword.

And the one who could wield that Holy Sword was,

“The Holy Sword… Summon.”

Only one person existed in the world who could respond to the call.

As Zion extended his hand, the Holy Sword immediately appeared in response.

Although the sword had lost its light shortly after the end of the war and Zion’s body was broken, now, it shone with a gentle, holy light as if responding to the gate.

“What is this? The Holy Sword is back in Zion’s hand? This can’t be true. Why… why!!”

Naou looked in shock at Zion, who quietly grasped the sword.

It was no wonder she reacted this way.

Given that the Holy Sword was here…

“Why are they telling Zion to fight again? He’s already so broken. He saved the world once! So why does he have to bear this again? This is… this is truly too much!”

Who exactly was Naou complaining to?

Who was she shouting at, teary-eyed as she expressed her frustrations?

Fate? The Creator? Or something even greater?

But in response to Naou’s cries, neither a god nor anything else answered, but…

“Zion?”

It was Zion. And his answer came not in words, but in another form.

With one hand firmly gripping the Holy Sword, he was somehow standing up.

“Zion, you’re able to stand?”

Of course, there was no way he should be able to.

I had confirmed multiple times that he couldn’t stand.

“No, Naou. I’m just…”

But Zion had fought even while his body was broken during the last war.

What he was doing now was just an extension of that.

Utilizing a technique to erase the resistance inside and outside himself, and moving with the minuscule amount of muscle he retained.

It was, in fact, the last flicker of Hero Zion Laurel.

“I simply can’t just sit here.”

And in the end, he was merely willing to burn even that final flicker entirely, offering it for his mission.

***

A full-scale war with the Demons had erupted again due to the re-opened gate.

But this time, the situation was a bit different from the previous war that had crept up on us so suddenly.

“Welcome back, Hanamana.”

“Zion. Naou. And Hop…”

First of all, the Hero Party had already gained the experience of closing the gate once.

Though there was an empty spot for Iris, it seemed that it wouldn’t be a problem since the special agent Serin, guaranteed by Naou, would fill it.

With Hanamana’s return, the Hero Party was assembled once more.

“You’ve seen the mission outline, right?”

“Yes. I went through it roughly on the way here.”

“Good. Let’s check it one last time and get prepped properly.”

Naou gathered the entire Hero Party together and unfolded the map.

It was a wartime map of the Siloyan continent, showing the territories of each nation and the northern uncharted lands where the gate was located.

With a calm demeanor, Naou began to explain the details of the war and the mission.

“The world is already devastated from the last war. Humanity is so damaged that it’s uncertain we can even survive the upcoming year. So we have no choice; we must strike swiftly and decisively. We must close the gate in the shortest time possible, no matter the cost. Everyone understands that, right?”

And secondly, the near-collapse of humanity due to the last war.

Since only five years had passed since the end of the war, the scars of that conflict ran deep, leaving humanity without the capacity to endure another one.

Therefore, the operations we could execute were…

“So what we are trying to do now is a sort of ambush operation. It’s a rear infiltration possible because of Hop.”

And this was the last and most crucial difference.

That was the fact that our destination was land we had ‘already set foot on’.

While there was no requirement to have been to a place before using teleportation, the stability and accuracy of teleportation were vastly different between previously visited locations and unfamiliar ones.

Especially when it came to traversing long distances like now, if we hadn’t been to the destination, the teleportation’s reliability would fall to levels making it unlikely to establish the operation.

“The operation is simple. Once we’re ready, all nations will mobilize their forces to advance north at once.”

“W-We’re going to launch an assault?”

Hanamana gasped in shock at the ridiculous plan.

Against the countless Demons pouring in… to attack without geographic advantage?

“Yes. We will utilize the military power of all nations allied with the unified federation adjacent to the northern land. The global consensus is that no one can last long amidst the endless deluge of Demons.”

“Even if it’s a feint, do we really have to go that far?”

“Hanamana, do you remember your first incursion into the Demon King’s territory?”

“……”

Hanamana was at a loss for words. How could she not remember?

When we first faced the Demon King, our five-member Hero Party bravely charged at him, only to suffer a bitter defeat against the onslaught of Demonic forces, retreating only thanks to teleportation.

“We cannot have an army at the destination when we arrive. We will muster our greatest strength. There will only be one chance. We cannot even be sure that we’ll have that one chance.”

A moment of silence lingered.

Then Naou, with a heavy tone, revealed the greatest variable of this mission.

“Zion’s condition. The truth is, if Zion cannot move, then humanity is incapable of facing the Demon King and the gate, no matter the state of the entire mankind. So while Zion can still move, we have no choice but to utilize everything we can.”

The atmosphere grew heavy again.

Yet Naou resolutely continued explaining the mission.

“And what we have to do is simple. When we hear reports of the Demon King’s army engaging our allied forces, we will use Hop’s teleportation to reach the north side of the gate, and then Zion will slice the gate with the Holy Sword. That’s the mission. Any questions?”

Naou finished her explanation about the operation and looked around at us all.

It seemed so absurdly simple.

Though it was labeled a plan, in reality, it was all the same: death, whether it was us infiltrating or the army assaulting.

But if we were to lose, the only fate awaiting humanity would be extinction.

In a situation where even the entire world uniting in strength and intent resulted in no better options, the current state of humanity was nothing short of despairing.

Hanamana raised her hand quietly as if she had a question.

“What’s the date of execution?”

“The day after tomorrow. It’s set two days after Hanamana arrives here. Is that okay?”

“…Yes. Hanamana is fine with that.”

With a confirmation of the start date, the meeting concluded, and we dispersed to rest.

“Hop, can you carry me?”

Since Zion needed to conserve her strength before the operation, she reached her arms out like a child. I turned my back to her, grabbed her arms to lift her up, and quickened my steps back to the inn.

“Zion.”

“Yeah?”

“If it gets tough, you can tell me anytime. Remember, you don’t have to fight.”

Though I felt sorry for the desperate resolve of the people in this world, from my perspective, it felt meaningless.

The operation may sound plausible, but with the Demon King likely behind the gate, the likelihood of success was barely around 2%.

If my life was in danger, I would unhesitatingly activate spacetime magic and make my escape.

“Hehe, Hop.”

Zion suddenly laughed mischievously.

What was she even trying to say?

Or had she really completely lost her mind?

The answer she provided was,

“Let’s play poker again later. I might just be unlucky then.”

“……”

Honestly… it was a response so absurd, it left me speechless.

 

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