"mOm."

The kid may look like the monster over there, but he wasn’t just that. He had some human skin too and an eye which he was using to see the photo.

However, when I looked at the picture I could only see a woman, a man, and a small child in it and nothing else.

The woman must be his mother and that man.... WAIT!!

I turned my head and looked where the leader and the creature were trying to outclass each other in gravity powers.

DON’T TELL ME!

He is the one from the picture. That means he is this kid’s father who doesn’t look older than six?

This is just too much, let me piece it together. I entered a dunge— I mean a Gate. But instead of it being survival or hunting based, I got this?

A crying kid and a broken father figure. Really? It looks like I have made a big mistake by choosing this Gate. I just wanted some mana. If it was as simple as killing monsters, then everything would have been easier.

Now, I have to help find these hybrid-type human monsters their peace? It is gonna be difficult. I hate using my mind. And besides me, I don’t think those three also use their mind unlike their fists.

Whatever.

I walked a bit closer to the kid, but he was so engrossed in his crying that he didn’t notice me until I was right in front of him.

"wHAt?" The kid raised his head and looked at me with his wide eye. Half of his face was still intact, and still regained its human form. That way I was able to tell the shift in his expression.

It was like he was scared to see me in front of him. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"dAd... EvIl..." He tried to stand up from the ground but was unable to do so as he just fell on the concrete again.

He didn’t seem like a strong kid. He couldn’t even stand up properly.

"Hey, don’t worry I won’t hurt you."

I said and held my right hand out. The kid first looked at my paper mask for a few seconds and then suddenly slammed his head on the ground.

"PLeaSe, DoN’T huRt mY dAD."

It seems he has seen just too much of the world that he sees everyone as evil and dangerous.

Now I know why his dad used the gravity powers as soon as we came here. He was afraid that we were bad guys who came to kill him and his son.

I think I should just help them. Usually, in these Gates there are clues too, that tells us what we have to do.

Just need to look for one, but first I need to stop the fight between the ’Dad’ and my ’companions’.

The three mercenaries were trying to fight the Dad with everything they had got. But they were still kind of losing the battle.

First one to fall was Fox, who went in to slash the dad with her dagger but was blown away by his gravity powers and hit the wall with a loud thud.

After her was Tan, who got suspended in the air before he got to do anything.

"You strong." The leader was also losing his ground little by little. If it goes on any longer, I don’t think they will even be able to stand.

As fast as I could, I grabbed the kid and slowly walked toward the battlefield. "Hey!" I shouted and everyone’s attention was now drawn toward me.

"Look who I have got. Let them go or..."

After closing half the distance I stopped.

The dad’s head was turned toward me as if he was looking at his child. "nO..." He whispered and swung his arm.

The leader who was pinned on the ground and Tan who was floating above it were freed.

"Hey Brian. Good one." Tan said as he gave me a thumbs up and hit the ground.

"dOn’T do... PlEAsE." The monster began to beg in a low sound. "dOn’T huRt..."

He kept begging but Black wasn’t going to let him continue. He stood up from the ground and glanced at me.

"Brian, if you ever want to join our team just say the word. You have got my approval."

Saying that, he increased the gravity around the monster and made him fall to his knees.

"uRg..."

Thwack!

Then Black gave a bone-shattering punch to his face which sent him flying across several walls.

He must have used his gravity on the punch to make this happen. But I can’t let this continue. The monster isn’t evil. He is just a victim.

"Black. You too. Stop." I said and began to walk again.

"I appreciate your offer and all, but I can’t let you hurt the monster either."

I don’t know where this confidence came from but this is exactly the right time for it. I need it as much as I can have.

"You said what?"

Black’s voice suddenly changed and I was beginning to feel my weight getting heavier. I know the next answer I give will decide what will happen to me.

"Look, here is a child." I stood in front of him and looked him in the eyes.

"So?" He said.

"You still don’t understand its meaning?" I asked, skeptical by his simple reaction.

"Understand that this kid is a monster too?" Black continued and his hands clenched into fists tightly. He was starting to lose his patience. "Just get to the point."

I get it now. They don’t know about the Helping Gates. They are mercenaries so they must have only been to Hunting or Surviving type and not this type.

This makes it even more complicated. I have to explain everything to them now. It is already a big headache for me that I am inside one.

"You know there are different kinds of Gates, right? The low rank are usually all about surviving and hunting, but there are still some rare cases where you have to protect or help someone for the dungeon to be cleared."

Black slowly opened his fist and tilted his head, "And this is one of them?"

"Yup," I agreed.

"I have heard about them but I didn’t think I would find myself in one of those." Black said and turned toward the walls where he had sent the monster flying. "And here we were, needlessly hitting him and trying to kill him."

"Yeah, dAD noT BaD," the kid on my hands also spoke up. "He jUsT prOteCting."

"Then what is your plan? Looking at how you used his own son to make him stop, you must have something in your mind." Tan chimed in, he had also stood up from the ground and was listening to our conversation the whole time.

"You know what is this Gate’s clearing goal?" He added.

"No, I don’t." I said and my answer made both the leader and tanker shocked as they said, "What?" in unison.

"I don’t know for now. But we will when his dad comes back." As I spoke that sentence, the monster slowly began to show himself from behind the destroyed walls.