Gatekeepers ch.4 (Patreon)

Chapter 4:

Minato and Shiraori stepped through the Gate, and were immediately met with suffocating humidity. The inside of the Gate was more life-like than the D-rank one Minato had gone through a few days ago. There was greenery aplenty, with many trees and plants, however, there were fungi and murky water in far more quantity. Their shoes squelched as they walked, the grass barely masking the muddy ground below.

They had just fought quadrupedal mosquito-like monsters, of course the Gate they came from would be swamp-themed.

“Urgh. It’s going to be a mess on my hair.” The Oni groaned, messing with her long, white mane.

Minato raised an eyebrow at her.

“Is it really the most important thing, right now?” He questioned.

“It’s the little things, you know.” Shiraori shrugged her shoulders with a wan smile.

Minato didn’t know, no. He just turned back towards the swamp, and got ready to continue forward.

“You’re the serious type, aren’t you?” Shiraori mused out loud.

Minato didn’t reply.

“Oh, well. I’ll crack that shell in no time!” She chirped, following him.

Before they could go far, something came from the Gate’s portal.

“Wait for- Woah!” Kurogane Ren stumbled as he came running through the Gate. He quickly regained his balance and turned toward the two other Gatekeepers. “I’m a Gatekeeper too, you know! I can help.”

The red and white duo looked at him like he was an idiot.

“New D-ranks Gatekeepers are only allowed to dive into confirmed D-rank Gates after a trial period of two months where they have to team up with at least one B-rank.” Minato recited “You just got your licence.”

“Yeah, and so what? I’m strong!” Ren puffed out his chest.

“You froze, weakling.” Shiraori reminded him.

“Stop calling me that! My name is Kurogane Ren!” He snapped back.

“Ah.” Minato made a sound of realization. The idiot came because of his wounded pride. “Just go back before-” WOOSH.

The Gate turned blue, locking it on both sides.

“God fucking damn it.”

“You’re stuck with me, now.” Ren smiled.

Minato resisted the part of him that wanted to punch the other boy.

Bam!

Shiraori did not.

Ren landed on his ass, holding his nose while tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.

“Just stay behind and don’t get killed.” She growled, her previous good mood gone.

A patch of moss twitched behind Ren.

A fireball flew from Minato’s hand. A shape jumped out of the swamp water, climbed a tree and squatted on a branch.

It looked like a goblin: short, green and ugly as sin. However, it was also different from the regular D-rank monster often seen in Gates as fooder. Its skin was marked by roots-like marking that gave birth to moss and mushrooms covering its form.

The plant and mycose-infested goblin cackled, wielding a bone knife in one hand, and raising a blowing horn in the other.

Before the Gatekeepers could react, it blew, letting out a deep resonating sound that could be heard through the whole swamp.

The dead and silent environment suddenly exploded into noise, monsters having heard the signal and rushing to its source.

“Run!” Minato yelled.

The goblin wouldn’t let them. It sprung down from the tree, aiming to stab Ren. The D-ranker raised his hands to attempt a disarm.

The goblin kicked his arms apart, landed on his shoulders and raised his knife for a killing blow.

Minato pointed two fingers behind the goblin and then raised them. Wood emerged from the ground, splitting into branches that restrained the goblin.

Wood Art: Binding Embrace.

Shiraori was a step behind, leg reared back and she punted the goblin before it could try to free itself. The conjured wood snapped like twigs and the monster was sent flying.

Ren had no time to thank them before Shiraori grabbed him by the collar and  threw him over her shoulder.

The next instant, Minato and her were running, jumping over the water, and aiming for the unsubmerged roots of mangroves.

They leaped and ran, avoiding water as much as possible. Already from seeing two monsters of that Gates, they could already guess that whatever was in the murky depth would be even worse.

They were seemingly right as they saw the mushroom goblins and the mosquito-dogs chasing them, some of the goblins even riding the quasi-canine monsters as mounts. They avoided the water just as much.

Mid-jump, Minato somersaulted. Once he was upside-down, he let out as many fireballs he could at the same time, spreading them like buckshot. He finished his flip and returned to his escape run without looking back.

Between the large area of his attack, the larger amount of targets, and the limited space they could use to dodge, many of the fireballs found their mark, making monsters drop in the water.

In response, the water bubbled before tentacles lashed out , ripping apart everything in reach.

This distracted the remaining monsters long enough for Minato and the others to disappear in the swamp.

[hr]

“Ok, water bad.” Shiraori summarized as they hid in the hollow of a tree that would have been large enough to host their whole class.

“Why did we run?” Ren asked.

“Did you see how many there were?” Minato replied with another question, really wishing they did more than test out physical and Mana capabilities to grant a Gatekeeper licence. “They weren’t that strong, but we would have been overwhelmed. Without a big enough team, we’ll have to whittle them bit by bit.”

“Ideally, yeah.” Shiraori interjected. “But they were oddly organized. The smart monsters who group up like that are the worst.”

“We’ll need to plan, then.” Minato said. he looked at Ren. “Kurogane, what can you do?”

Seeing how serious the situation was, the popular boy told him.

“I can use metal-natured Mana to make swords, and I’m pretty good at Kendo.”

He demonstrated by creating a katana. 

Shiraori stepped up.

“Wind and lightning. I also pack a mean punch.” She patted her biceps. That was the classic package for Onis, seeing as they were often linked to Raijin and Fuujin, the twin ogre-like gods of wind and lightning.

“Aiki and spells centered around the five phases.” Minato gave a short summary of his own skillset.

A swordsman, a miniature storm and a generalist. 

Minato smiled thinly. More than enough to close this Gate.