The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving novel Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Force Guiding (2)

The moment Aisha spoke those words to him, something inside her head split open.

The pain came so suddenly. It felt worse than she imagined. As though thread by thread, her entire existence was being pulled and unraveled.

The hospital garden, the trees, and the man—all of it dissolved into black.

One second, she was kneeling in the hospital garden, blood soaking through her knees from where she crouched between his legs. Then, next, she woke up standing—no—floating before a door.

It was massive. It towered enough to disappear into the red sky that had no sun, no moon, nothing but a fleshy wall of red. The door didn’t look ordinary either. Countless bone-white stones were carved into it. Particularly, the skulls looked extremely ominous as to where they had come from.

Aisha gasped and leaned back in shock.

"Are these all... human bones?"

She looked around her, but aside from the flesh-like red sky and the door, everything was swallowed by dark shadows. Sounds of something snapping and chewing could even be heard from beyond. Aisha didn’t want to test where she’d end up if she dived into it.

Where is this?

For a moment, she was lost in confusion. But she remembered something about this in Aisha Novalis’s memories—how a guide’s consciousness could enter a sentinel’s mental landscape when the connection was strong enough. But knowing it and standing in the middle of it were two very different things.

"This door should be his mental barrier?"

Aisha stared at the towering door, trying to make sense of everything.

"Gururu..."

A tiny chirp came from her shoulder.

Aisha looked down. On the front of her collar, her tiny spiritual beast, clinging to her neck with its antennae touching her skin.

"You’re here, too?" Aisha asked it gently.

"Guru."

It nuzzled against her neck. Despite its small form, it pushed itself forward, floating in midair and pointing its antennas straight at the door as if urging her onward.

Aisha looked surprised. This little thing, which looked like it could be flattened once stepped on, wanted to march into whatever waited beyond that door.

"Guess I don’t have a choice, do I?"

She took a step forward, testing gravity. It’d be such a shame if she ended up falling straight into nothingness. Thankfully, she floated forward.

The closer she got to the door, the clearer the bones became. They were real skulls, hollowed eyes stared into her own, mouths frozen in mid-scream.

Aisha’s stomach turned. Even in her previous world, she’d never come across such a gruesome scene. But unlike many people, she could at least adapt quickly and accept it without fussing.

Suddenly, the skeletons opened their eyes.

Then, one by one, as if they were disturbed from their rest, piercing shrieks came out of their opened mouths. Who knows who started it, but one by one, their pearly white bone arms stretched out, reaching for her, as though they wanted to drag her in and become one with them in the door.

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