ALL NOVEL Chapter 5
Chapter 5 – Sudden Visit (5)
I couldn’t help but be shocked. No, it was beyond shock—utter amazement was only natural. This was more shocking than being lifted by an unknown force and flying through the sky.
“Father, are you okay?”
“I… I’m fine. Is everyone alright? Kun, Russo, are you both okay?”
Riena checked on her father, Chieftain Balun, who then checked on the other two people who had fallen with them. Only after confirming that they were all safe could they properly see where they were now.
“Where is this place?”
Then, someone muttered in a daze, shaking their thoughts. They weren’t on the Grassland where they had just been. This was an entirely different space, another world.
Balun, unable to believe it, knelt and touched the dirt on the ground. This pathetic dirt couldn’t be produced in a natural state. Something constructed with sharp angles and dotted textures.
‘Oh my.’
But the soil that touched his hands and feet, as well as the parts of his body in contact with it, soon shifted, not as a collection of pixels, but into actual dirt—exactly where they were standing.
The distant land and trees still possessed bizarre angular and blocky forms.
“That power brought us here. How do we get back?”
“I don’t know. This is the first time I’ve heard of a place like this… Look over there!”
At Riena’s words, which trailed off in chaos, Balun suddenly noticed something. A figure standing a little distance away. Surely, it was a human form.
‘Is that really a person?’
In an instant, everyone fell silent, holding their breath and glancing at each other.
The entity, looking away from them, was wearing clothes and appeared to have arms and legs. However, they could not recognize it as a human being.
Its angular body design evoked not just strangeness but an instinctual fear far beyond that.
“It’s… moving!”
“It saw us!”
At that moment, the strange entity jerked, quickly turning to face them. The way it moved was so bizarre that they were stunned.
“Don’t come closer!”
Only Riena, who was armed, drew her sword and aimed it. The figure stood still, as if it couldn’t speak, seeming to understand the warning, but then took a step toward them.
‘What the heck is this!?’
Of course, she swung her sword. The opponent, unable to react to her fast and precise strike, was cut but did not bleed or have its body severed.
It merely turned red for a moment and was knocked back.
“Stop right there!”
Immediately afterward, the entity turned and began to flee rapidly. Startled, Riena instinctively chased after it, but it moved in a bizarre bouncing manner, making it impossible for her to catch up, even if she sprinted with all her might.
“Don’t chase it if it’s fleeing. We don’t know what dangers lurk here.”
Balun, who had eventually returned to her side, advised her not to be reckless.
In reality, their aim was just to explore the surroundings a bit, as they had remained abandoned in the place they were suddenly thrown into, unsure of what to do.
“Look over there. That thing is back again.”
“It doesn’t seem hostile. Could that monster have brought us here?”
And then they met that peculiar entity once more after some time had passed.
Riena and the residents, with swords drawn, cautiously watched as it approached them slowly.
Just as Kun had remarked anxiously, it seemed to approach them as if it were gauging their reactions.
‘What is this?’
Then, as they neared each other, something suddenly popped into the entity’s stick-like hand, which had previously been empty.
“Could it be…?”
The entity waved its hand and suddenly tossed what it was holding onto the ground. Endless piles of red chunks burst forth, resembling meat.
Then, it took a step back, as if wishing for them to collect it.
“I’ll go!”
Balun mustered his courage and stepped forward without waiting for others to stop him. He grabbed the items carelessly discarded on the ground.
What appeared to be small blocks were utterly bizarre.
“Oh, oh!”
But the moment he touched them, what looked like a fist-sized chunk of meat transformed into ‘real meat’ with blood flowing from it.
These were high-quality chunks of meat that had recently become hard to find. Now there were more than ten pieces lying in front of him.
If they could transport all of these to their base, all the tribe members would have enough to eat.
“Chieftain, is it okay to eat now?”
“Come to think of it, we came here without eating the food we gathered. We have no other choice. We must eat to survive.”
The eyes of the others turned toward the meat. Considering this as a sort of gift, Balun thought it was an urgent matter, deciding to grill it quickly.
“I’ll light a fire right away.”
Kun, eyeing the now appetizing chunks of meat that had transformed at their touch, started looking around for wood and fire starter.
However, noticing their activity, that entity cautiously approached them from a step back.
“We need fire. Fire.”
Understanding its intention, Riena attempted to communicate after she sheathed her sword.
Although they couldn’t speak the same language, their gestures and expressions conveyed meaning. Suddenly, the entity pulled something out of its hand, slamming it onto the ground. It was a sort of crafting table for combining items.
From that table, it created something, then thudded it in front of them. It was a pile of firewood, now burning brightly.
Gaining some courage, they began skewering the meat over the now real campfire.
*
“If I had come here alone, I would be doubting whether I was dreaming even at this moment.”
“I’m actually still doing that.”
“Could it be that we really can’t go back?”
They scarfed down their meals, but it was just that. The time in this game flowed much faster than reality, and night was already drawing near.
Gathered close together, they were watching something with a certain relaxed state.
“Who in the world is the author?”
Riena muttered absently. What they were observing was a being quickly flitting about with light movements, creating stone walls around them.
Each time that being jumped and waved its hand, large stone blocks were stacking up beneath it, forming a massive wall.
They didn’t consider it an enemy, but it was still true that they felt wary. Especially since that seemingly ridiculous ability was so incredible it almost felt frightening.
“For now… let’s wait until it finishes what it’s doing before we ask.”
They dared not interrupt its work. They needed the walls and roofs to protect them from the monsters that would appear at night, yet they couldn’t convey that through words.
Ultimately, after it completed building the wall and roof, they could slowly approach the being that was illuminating the interior of the hastily constructed Bomb Shelter by placing torches all around.
“What’s that noise?”
“It’s coming from outside.”
A chilling howl broke through just then. It sounded like a terrible mix of a wolf’s howl and a human scream.
The sound of a werewolf, one of the monsters in the game, was searching for them to kill.
“Look at this! A sword!”
The entity set up a crafting table against one wall of the Bomb Shelter. Once more, it created something and handed it to them.
In a hurry crafted weapon made from obsidian, one of the basic resources classified in the game.
As an item in the game, this was merely a low-tier object used before advancing to bronze or iron. The residents also had experience using obsidian arrowheads in reality.
“My entire body is made of obsidian embedded in wood. I can’t believe it can be made this way.”
“Does giving us weapons mean we’re supposed to go outside and fight?”
The steel sword Riena was carrying was a precious item acquired from the outside world, something they couldn’t craft. Shocked to see the sword transformed from pixelated graphics into a real object, they speculated on the reason behind this gift, nodding their heads with a serious expression.
“We didn’t come here for no reason. And there’s certainly a purpose behind this unknown being providing us with food and swords.”
“Indeed. We can’t stay here forever.”
Everyone agreed with Balun’s words. They had homes and families to return to, and they chose to seek a way rather than remain idle.
“Isn’t it…?”
However, just as they were about to leave through the Bomb Shelter’s only exit, the being panicked and blocked the door with its body.
It waved its blunt, angular arms to push them back. Although it wasn’t painful, the residents were startled and stirred.
“What’s that?”
Instead, it pointed behind them. On the opposite side of where they were trying to exit, a crack resembling a dark portal had appeared.
Showing its intent by jumping up and down, it moved closer, pointing at the portal.
“Let’s go. It might be the way back.”
“Is it really?”
“That’s all we can do right now.”
Balun decided to go that way. Though there were doubts, everyone agreed they had no options.
‘Is it asking us to take it?’
As they moved, it pointed to the meat and obsidian sword left on the ground. While Riena coordinated with the others to gather it, the being nodded vigorously, hopping up and down in excitement.
“Really! We’re back!”
“It’s the Village!”
Then, when they grabbed all their belongings and crossed over the crack, they instantly moved through space.
Just like that, they stepped only once and returned to the village they so desperately longed for, with heaps of quality food.
‘Can we really go back? If we can return, I might get more meat from it.’
As the villagers, who had been gloomy, rushed out to welcome them amidst the excitement of their loot, Balun vacantly touched the black crack still lingering in the village square.
This black crack seemed to reject re-entry, almost as if it were a one-way passage. Yet, having instantly recognized the possibilities of that mysterious world, Balun secretly wished to venture there again.