“Even the finest sword will rust.”

  Of the many things his grandfather said to him, this was his admonishment of choice. Whether Cyrus was taking a well-earned break from training or simply stopping a session to hydrate, his grandfather would materialize from the shadows to offer this rebuke.

  Then, being the dutiful grandson, Cyrus would bow his head low and return to his exercises. Eventually, it got to the point that Cyrus would hear the words whether his grandfather was there to speak them or not. In his quiet moments or sometimes before he fell asleep in bed, he would hear the old bastard’s words.

  He hated it.

  Even in the frozen north, he could almost hear the rasp of Grisham’s voice. Reminding him of the sacrifices made on his behalf and chastising him for not working harder.

  “Cyrus.”

  Seah’s words broke through the spell and shook him from his trance.

  She stood there in a sleek coat, far too thin for the cold weather while he had layers of padding under his heavy armor. He could see why the others regarded her with such fear and respect.

  She spoke again and he could hear it. A slight uptick in her tone. Annoyance, perhaps.

  “Did you turn off your clan chat?”

  He chuckled. There were only two people in the world who could chide him. The first was his grandfather. The second was his wife who, he was starting to realize, bore more similarities to the former than he realized.

  Updates? He asked.

  Sir, it’s Eunice. I’ve made contact with the Phoenix.

  Cyrus’ eyes widened. He’d half expected that Jinyoung and Hana would be lost to the north. Just another story of a clan that bit off more than they could chew.

  He breathed a sigh of relief. Good, pull back and get everyone out before-

  No good, sir. Things have progressed further than we thought here. The barony didn’t just research man-made gates, they’ve been operating one.

  The reality of the statement took a second to sink in. More than monsters or even player-killers, the gates were the most dangerous things on the planet. They were responsible for releasing death and destruction on the world. They were the reason that thousands of children were orphaned during the Break including Cyrus, Hana, and Jinyoung.

  They opened the gate, he said through gritted teeth.

  Yes, sir. I have three accounted for, but… we have one man down and one man behind.

  Cyrus whirled around and headed back to the command post.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Behind him, Seah tried to calm him down. “Your grandfather was adamant. We can’t move up north unless there is confirmation of imminent danger.”

  But Cyrus had no interest in discussing it further. In any normal situation, Eunice would’ve reported this in person. The only reason for her to contact them would be if something was wrong.

  It only took a few steps before he found the man he was looking for. The man saluted, but Cyrus didn’t bother. There wasn’t a second to waste.

  “Captain,” he called out. “Prepare to move out immediately. Leave behind a few men, but I want a full contingent ready to leave in 2 minutes.”

  The man bowed and barked orders that echoed through the camp. A resounding chorus of heavy boots rumbled in response. The camp had fewer than 30 players, but it sounded like an army.

  Cyrus turned to leave, but Seah’s hand caught him on his chest and stopped him. “Cyrus, even at my speed, I would still take an hour to get there. We won’t get there in time to offer any help. You know that. And your grandfather-”

  He leaned in close to his wife and looked her in the eye. “We’re not leaving them alone up there, Seah.”

  Instead of giving her a chance to respond, he barked an order at Eunice. I don’t care what it takes, shut down the gate.

  I’ll try, but there’s a complication, sir.

  In a rare show of emotion, he saw Seah’s expression tinged with concern. But it was only for a second before the mask was back in place.

  What is it?

  Eunice hesitated. That was unusual for her.

  The gate generator, the cradle, has a shield barrier to protect it from the effects of the gate. In order to shut that off, I had to overload the system which’ll lead to a catastrophic system collapse. But it’ll leave the cradle open long enough for-

  Cyrus cut her off. Give me the short version.

  Someone had to stay behind and destroy the cradle while the shield’s down.

  “‘Had to’?” Seah murmured.

  Cyrus could tell the two of them had the same thought, but he didn’t want to be the one to voice it.

  What are you saying, Eunice?

  None of us have movement abilities that would give us a shot of getting out when the entirety of the silo collapses except Jinyoung. He insisted he stay behind.

  Cyrus closed his eyes. This was the Black Shrine all over again. While he might have conflicted feelings about Jinyoung, this was far from the outcome he was hoping for.

  Get out, we’ll rendezvous with you on the edge of town. Cyrus, out.

  Slowly, he turned to Seah, hoping to offer some comfort or solace.

  She was gone.

  ***

  The gate bubbled and flashed, almost like it was churning.

  Even Jinyoung could see that Muyeon wasn’t sure if stepping through the gate was the right decision. But the cradle had to be destroyed from both sides in order to shut the gate down for good.

  After a moment, the armored figure stepped into the gate and was gone.

  Jinyoung gripped Hana’s short sword in one hand and his broken bastard sword in the other.

  The plan was simple. In fifteen minutes, Jinyoung would deactivate the shield and destroy the cradle. That would give Hana and the others enough time to clear the silo and get to safety before the entire structure imploded. Meanwhile, Jinyoung would use [dash] to (hopefully) get clear of the destruction.

  The others tried to fight him on it, but it was the obvious decision. None of them had a movement ability that would allow them to cover large distances quickly. And, besides, [dash] barely required any mana which would allow him to use it rapidly.

  Of course, Jinyoung left out the fact he was completely out of mana. Attempting to use [charge] earlier had nearly killed him and while he was certain he could use [dash] at least twice, he was also certain that spamming it would kill him.

  That gave him fifteen minutes to figure out a solution.