WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ My Girlfriend Returned as a Dragon ◈
Chapter 115: Agartha
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“Ahhhhh!”
“W-what’s happening right now?”
“Are we all going to end up buried alive in here?”
As the entire cave began to shake, panicked cries rang out from all around.
But the panic was short-lived.
The tremors in the ground gradually subsided, and then a massive door rose from beneath the earth.
A towering door, four or five times the height of an adult man, carved with patterns no one had ever seen before.
As it emerged, the murmuring that had briefly died down grew louder once more.
“That’s... a door, right?”
“I think so... But why is there just a door standing there?”
Doors were meant for traveling between spaces.
But if a door had appeared by itself, then perhaps...
“Could this door be connected to another dimension, like a Gate?”
Otherwise, there was no reason for a door to suddenly appear on its own.
“That makes sense.”
“Th-then, could dragons be living on the other side?”
“Maybe this really was a place where dragons once lived.”
“Or perhaps it’s a new type of Gate that has never been discovered before.”
As all sorts of speculation flew around.
Could Rokan know what that door was?
I sent Telepathy to Rokan, who likely knew more about this situation than anyone.
‘Lord Rokan, do you have any idea what that door is?’
[It appears to be... a portal.]
‘A portal?’
A portal.
As its name suggested, it was a type of spatial doorway connecting one place to another, allowing someone to Teleport from their current location to a different space.
Unlike a Gate, though, it did not connect this world to another dimension. The key difference was that it connected to another location within the same dimension.
For example, it could be a doorway that allowed travel between South Korea and the United States.
In other words, it was connected not to another dimension, but somewhere else on Earth.
Then where did this door lead, and who had made it? Why?
‘Do you know where that portal leads, Lord Rokan?’
[There is a way to find out, but it would probably be faster to enter it directly.]
While I was speaking with Rokan.
“Could this perhaps be a portal?”
Other Hunters began making guesses similar to Rokan’s.
“It could be... But how do we open it? We need to open it to find out.”
Whether it was Rokan or the other Hunters, they suspected the door was a portal, but no one was completely certain.
To find out whether it was a portal, we would ultimately have no choice but to open it and go inside.
But regardless of whether it was a portal or a Gate, no one knew what might be on the other side. It would be too dangerous for ordinary people to enter.
In the end, the Hunters would have to go in first and investigate.
Then, one Hunter tapped my shoulder and asked.
“Hunter. Didn’t you infuse mana into that mural earlier?”
“Yes.”
“When I and the others infused mana into it, nothing happened. But it was different for you, wasn’t it? I don’t know why, but I think you may have some connection to this.”
In other words, they wanted me to open the door too.
“Okay... I’ll try opening it.”
Though I had no idea how.
I walked alone toward the massive door.
Standing before it, I could not help feeling overwhelmed.
I had said I would open it, but how exactly was I supposed to do that?
Should I try the same thing I had done with the mural and infuse it with mana?
Just as before, I placed my hand on one of the unfamiliar patterns carved into the door and infused it with a small amount of mana.
Then, shortly afterward.
Rumble...
“It’s, it’s opening!”
With a thunderous roar, the door slowly began to open.
Just as I thought we could split into groups and enter together.
Thud. Thud.
Heavy footsteps began to sound from beyond the portal.
“What? This isn’t a portal?”
“I think it is.”
“Then what is that sound coming from inside...?”
If the door really was a portal, as someone had suggested...
Then an unknown being was walking toward us through it.
And judging from the loud footsteps everyone could hear, the being on the other side was clearly not human.
“It’s coming!”
The Hunters raised their weapons again in preparation for any eventuality.
Soon, the unknown being revealed itself.
The owner of those massive footsteps was...
“A golem...?”
A Stone Golem.
But its appearance was clearly different from the ordinary Stone Golems found in other Gates.
The faint glow we had seen in the mural radiated gently from its body, and it was larger than other Stone Golems.
Its other physical features were also subtly different from the Stone Golems everyone knew.
“Could that golem be the guardian protecting the space beyond the portal?”
“Then from its perspective, we’re intruders.”
Shing!
The Hunters openly leveled their weapons at the Stone Golem.
Its appearance differed from other Stone Golems, but Stone Golems were relatively weak monsters that an A-rank Hunter could defeat with ease. Everyone seemed ready to subdue it if necessary.
“What should we do, Chief?”
After considering the question for a moment, Kwak Yongcheol, the person in charge at the site, spoke.
“Let’s capture it and investigate.”
To uncover the truth behind this enormous archaeological site and portal, they wanted to capture the golem first.
The other Hunters seemed to think the same, and they immediately began preparing to catch it.
But then.
[Cannot admit. None but the authorized.]
A deep, heavy voice echoed throughout the cave.
I understood it clearly.
“W-what was that sound?”
“Is it saying something to us?”
Judging by their reactions, no one but me seemed able to understand the voice.
‘Lord Rokan, you understood what the golem said, right?’
[Yes. But you understood it as well?]
‘Yes.’
Meanwhile.
Unable to understand the golem’s words, the other Hunters began discussing how to capture it.
“First, the magic-type Hunters should cast binding magic on it. Then we can pull it outside.”
“The space is narrow. Will we be able to bring that golem out?”
“I have a single-use Teleport artifact. If we use this...”
There were more than a dozen skilled Hunters, all at least A-rank, against one unusual Stone Golem.
Normally, that would have been more than enough people to capture a single Stone Golem.
But for some reason.
I had no basis for it, yet I had a strange feeling that things would not go as we wanted.
Soon, that feeling became reality.
[Insolent.]
With those words, a dense aura began pouring from the golem’s body.
“Ghk!”
“W-what...!”
“Urk!”
Most of the Hunters who had been pointing their weapons at the golem suddenly clutched their chests and gasped for air. Some even collapsed unconscious.
The few who remained standing furrowed their brows, their discomfort plainly visible.
But that aura was familiar to me.
‘Dragon Fear!’
[Why would it have Dragon Fear...?]
It was Dragon Fear.
But Hunters around my level, and even Hunters stronger than me, were helpless before this powerful Dragon Fear.
Why was I the only one who was fine?
Even the SS-rank Hunter from Canada I had seen in front of the Gate earlier was frowning as they resisted the Dragon Fear.
But I did not feel a thing.
I only thought that another being was emitting Dragon Fear.
Meanwhile.
The Stone Golem slowly approached me as I stood there blankly, its heavy footsteps echoing with every step.
[Seal released. Recognition complete. Welcome.]
“...What?”
[Will guide. Please excuse inconvenience.]
Speaking in an oddly stiff manner, the golem scooped me up and began walking into the portal.
“W-wait!”
It happened so suddenly that I could not react properly. I raised a hand and called to Rokan for help.
As expected, perhaps Rokan had intervened. The golem staggered and lost its hold on me.
I barely managed to escape its grasp.
But I was mistaken in thinking I had escaped.
[Door already activated. Cannot resist.]
The moment the golem finished speaking, I felt the portal pull me in.
It was similar to the feeling of being sucked into the Yongduam Gate, but slightly different.
Back then, I had been forcibly pulled in without any chance to resist. This time, it felt as though I were comfortably entrusting my entire body to it and naturally slipping inside.
Still, I was being pulled in either way.
“Ahhhhh!”
With a scream, I was dragged into the portal and lost consciousness.
* * *
After Minjun was sucked into the portal.
Everyone fell into confusion once more.
Whether it was a Gate or a portal, it was rare for someone to be forcibly pulled inside against their will like this.
Moreover, as soon as Minjun entered, the ground shook again, and the massive door that had risen moments earlier sank back into the ground.
“Was he... kidnapped?”
“What in the world is going on...?”
Everyone stood there in shock, staring blankly at the spot where the portal had been.
The same was true for Rokan, who had yet to reveal himself.
This was not even a Gate. How could something so absurd happen at an archaeological site on Earth?
However.
Unlike the humans, Rokan could easily think of a way to save Minjun.
As far as Rokan could tell, it was certainly a type of portal, even if it was not a normal one.
That meant that no matter how far Minjun had gone, he had ultimately been transported somewhere on Earth.
In other words, wherever it was, Rokan could fly there immediately and rescue him.
Whether it was an uninhabited remote island, a desert, a dense jungle, or anywhere else.
Rokan immediately used location-tracking magic to rescue Minjun.
But Minjun’s location was far beyond anything Rokan had expected.
“...?”
He was underground.
Not in some ordinary underground bunker, but in an underground space so deep that its depth could not even be measured.
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