Gatekeepers (Dungeon on Earth Story) (Patreon)

Gatekeepers (Dungeons on Earth story)

Chapter 1:

As always, the streets of Tokyo were busy. Crowds of people used to the traffic walking without bumping into anyone, cars honking in impatience while the metro was full to bursting underground.

businessmen power-walked, suitcases in hand. A bunch of schoolgirls giggled and gossiped about celebrities. A man in samurai armor patrolled alongside cops.

The usual hubbub of the city was interrupted as a glimmer of light appeared in the middle of the street. Cars quickly swerved aside as the light took a sickly green glow and started expanding until it formed a ten-meter tall, ten wide flat plane.

For a moment, there was silence as the square-shaped portal finished taking shape.

Then, the businessmen continued walking on their way to work and the schoolgirls started taking pictures. The cars just drove around the portal.

The portal bulged outward, a shape exiting the space-time anomaly. A giant lizard came roaring out, shaped like a monitor lizard but the size of a tiger.

The samurai was already there, his katana drawn, his eyes glowing with power. The lizard’s shrill roar was cut short as its head went flying.

The cops were swiftly cordoning the area around the portal, making sure no curious civilians came too close. They also quickly gave their coordinates by radio. By this point, this was routine.

The portals opened, and Gatekeepers came in to handle the monsters emerging from the otherworldly doors that had started appearing a decade ago.

Around the street, more Gatekeepers were arriving, having been informed of the Gate’s sudden appearance, people in armor and carrying enchanted weapons, each one of them with supernatural capabilities.

They dived in the portal, the Gate turning into a light shade of blue as it locked itself. No monster would be able to come out until either the Gatekeepers were dead or they got rid of the Gate’s core.

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Minato Kamikiri ran through a rocky tunnel, monsters snapping at his heels and his red hair whipping back behind him. His green eyes were narrowed with focus as he circulated his Mana in rhythm with his steps. The magical energy propelled him further than his muscles would have done alone.

The eighteen year old reached an intersection and took a diving slide.

A hammerhead swung around the corner and smashed into the maw of one of the giant wolves that were pursuing Minato.

The other Gatekeepers hidden for the ambush swiftly fell on the surprised monsters. Arrows pinned the canine monsters down, a sword cut flesh apart and a spear poked them full of holes.

Minato got back on his feet and joined the melee. He didn’t have a weapon, but he didn’t need one. His hands glowed for a moment before they took a grey tinge.

A rock-like fist slammed into a wolf’s jaw. Teeth and blood splattered on the floor.

With the ambush being successful, it didn’t take long for the Gatekeepers to finish the wolf pack.

“Those were the last ones?” The older man with a hammer asked.

“Yeah, the core should be easy to access now.” Minato replied while swiping some sweat off his forehead.

He didn’t know the other Gatekeepers. They had entered together because they were the first to arrive when the Gate opened.

Most of them weren’t anything special, but Minato’s eyes went to the man in samurai armor. He had killed more monsters than anyone else with his katana, and he had seen him with the police.

If he patrolled with the cops, that meant he was working with the government, which made him at least B-rank, as they didn’t employ anyone below that threshold. Even without that, Minato could feel the man’s Mana. It was flowing strongly.

Though, Minato thought they could have handled that dungeon without him. This Gate only had oversized animals, no real supernatural threats. A D-rank Gate.

He kept his thoughts to himself as the improvised party moved in further into the dungeon-like space.

Ten years ago, the world changed. The Gates opened, letting loose waves of monsters that overwhelmed most countries’s armies. From weak ones like the overgrown wolves to giant dragons which devastated towns, and many more types of creatures that humans didn’t have a name for beforehand.

Most thought all hope was lost. The nuclear option wasn’t even on the table as the Gates were spread all over the world.

Then, the supernatural communities of Earth revealed their existence.

Witches and wizards flung fire back at the monsters. Shamans cursed the mighty monsters into feebleness. Paladins, cultivators and warriors of all ilk came swinging their weapons and severing the unnaturally tough hides of the monsters like cutting so much grass.

Even the monsters of myth joined in. Werewolves joined the melee. Yokais, fairies and yaoghuais showed their magic. Dragons native to Earth protected their territories from the invading dragons of the Gates.

The different supernatural communities were a minority, so they had no choice but to spread their teachings. Nowadays, magic was available to anyone who had the talent and the will to learn.

With the Gate phenomenon creating a new type of threat, and the reveal of magic creating a solution, a new job came to be: the Gatekeepers.

With the Gates appearing spontaneously, having Gatekeepers available among the populace was the optimal option.

Gatekeepers were becoming more and more popular, being both protectors and celebrities. Even students were allowed to take the exam to earn a licence.

All of that to say that a Gatekeeper’s job was to brave the waves of monsters coming from a Gate, and destroy the portal itself.

Minato focused back when they neared the core. He had played bait to thin out the monsters protecting  it, but it didn’t mean the Gate’s heart was defenseless.

A crocodile the size of an elephant was resting in the middle of a large room.

This was the core, a monster stronger than anything else in the Gate.

The impromptu party readied their weapon, cycled their Mana and got ready for a fight.