Investing in My Crippled Wife: Every Return Makes Me Stronger

Soren wanted to warn Ryan but noticed something and held back.

The illusion had one flaw, and Ryan had seen it: his parents would never cry for help like that; they would have told him to run away and save himself.

”Damn you!”

Ryan’s roar of anger shattered the trance as he charged straight at the fog, his sword cleaving into the real Stalker hiding inside. It died before it could even make a sound. Soren also joined the battle, and they quickly took care of them.

From then on, it became easy as they figured out the trick. The Stalkers always attacked from a different angle than where the voice came from, so they learned to watch the fog itself rather than the illusions. Ryan especially became fired up, cutting them down with a ferocity that left no room for tricks.

As for the Gloomwisps, they were the easiest to deal with.

Soren and Ryan knew how troublesome these ’cute’ monsters were if you got close, so they simply avoided them whenever they spotted those pale lights drifting through the haze.

But it was the Frostbound Husks that they struggled with the most.

It wasn’t that they were powerful; in fact, they could have been the weakest monsters in the Gate. A single solid strike was usually enough to put them down. But the problem was what they were. They shambled out of the fog in ones and twos, their bodies preserved by the endless cold, and every single one of them had once been a... living person.

They were hunters who had entered the gate and never made it back.

...That was one of the reasons why most hunters avoided this Gate. Because it felt like killing another human being, even though their appearance had already changed and their souls were long gone.

However, this was the exact reason why Soren had chosen this gate. Deep down, he knew they would eventually face other humans and races in the future, and there would come a time when killing was the only option. It would be either kill or get killed, and their enemies would certainly not hesitate. Neither could they. Especially Soren, as he already had enemies he wanted to cut down.

So, this gate was the perfect chance to get ready for that reality while the stakes were still manageable. However...

”...You don’t seem affected at all,” Soren muttered as they finished a group of them.

”Ah, it’s probably because I am already used to it.” Ryan smiled awkwardly. ”I fought with countless people in the trial back then, so this is nothing compared to that.”

”I guess this isn’t gonna help you then,” Soren muttered. He still felt uncomfortable every time he struck one down, that brief hesitation before the blade connected, the nagging sense that something was wrong even though he knew it wasn’t.

”Those weren’t real people.” Ryan shook his head. ”Well... I hope not. And I still have a lot to learn. My heart was racing the whole time, so I need this just as much as you do.”

Soren studied him for a moment, then nodded. ”Alright. Let’s finish clearing the rest and find the boss.”

”Roger.”

The two of them continued through the marsh, cutting down the remaining Husks with mechanical efficiency. The hesitation never fully went away, but it got easier to push through.

”By the way, just what happened in those trials?” Soren asked after a while. ”You mentioned fighting countless people.”

Ryan’s steps slowed. For a moment, something flickered in his eyes, there and gone before Soren could name it.

”...I’d rather not talk about it.” His voice was calm, but the usual cheerfulness had drained out of it entirely.

Soren held his gaze for a beat, then nodded. ”Understood.”

They trudged on in silence, the fog swallowing the space where the question had hung between them. Ryan would tell him what he’d been through when he was ready. And if he never was, that was okay too.

Another half hour saw the last of the Husks cleared out, with the final ones collapsing into the slush as the marsh fell silent around them.

Soren stretched, rolling his shoulder and looking out over the fog. His mana reserves were steady thanks to his abilities and the dividends from every kill. Ryan looked a little tired but alert, sword still in his grip.

”Think that’s the last of them?” Ryan asked.

”Probably.” Soren squinted into the haze. ”Which means the boss should be close.”

They went further into the marsh, the ground beneath them changing from slush to hard ice, the dead trees becoming less common, until there was only open fog. The temperature fell further, enough that even Ryan’s breath began to mist in uneven bursts.

And then the fog parted.

”Is that the boss?” Ryan asked.

A massive figure stood in the center of a frozen clearing, motionless as a statue. Layers of rusted plate armor covered its body from head to toe, fused together by veins of black ice that pulsed faintly like frozen arteries. A single blue flame burned inside its helmet where a face should have been, casting pale light across the ice at its feet. In one hand, it gripped a greatsword made of frozen bone, the blade taller than Soren and twice as wide.

”Yeah,” Soren replied, ”it’s the boss, the Hollow Warden. And I think it noticed us.”

As if on cue, it turned its head toward them, the rusted metal groaning with every inch of movement, and the flame inside its helmet flared a deeper blue. It dragged its greatsword through the ice as it began to move, the frozen ground splitting in a jagged line behind it, and the temperature around them plummeted so sharply that even Soren felt the first sting of true cold against his skin.

”Ryan!” Soren felt a grin spread across his face. ”Wanna go all out?”

”Yes!”

Ryan shouted back, taking a combat stance.

”Good, then let’s do it!”

Soren felt his heart hammer against his ribs, not from fear, but from the thrill of finally facing something worthy of his full strength.

”Attack!”