I Became a 6★ Gacha Character-Chapter 430: The Hero’s Bomb Pocket 5

Sometimes people would soar into the air after stepping on mines, but thanks to their sturdy bodies and Irene's barriers, exploration of the 56th floor continued without injuries.

However, our smooth progress hit a wall right at the gate leading from floor 56 to 57. The problem wasn't with our party members or the 21 Ice Cross Knights—

"Don't tell me they've blocked the gate?"

"Huh, after sending troops below and seeing them fall too easily, are they trying to buy time?"

It was something we never imagined could happen.

The gate should have hummed with magical resonance and transported us upward. But what stood before us now was just a stone doorframe. At least the lantern still recognized it as a gate for mapping purposes.

Without any magical response, it looked like nothing more than a pile of stones. The only unusual thing was that it remained firmly standing even when kicked.

Well, we could probably solve the gate issue by using Han Se-ah as bait and pulling a "Help us, Magic Tower." The real problem was the Ice Cross Knights. Story-wise, these 21 knights had no reason to accompany us to the 60th floor. But the Goddess wanted me to climb with them.

'If they were mercenaries, we could at least make a contract.'

They weren't even Kingdom nobles but Imperial nobles. Forget glory from conquering the tower - if monster waves hit their domains, they'd have to return home to protect them.

To put it bluntly, if your house was on fire and your parents were in danger, you couldn't stay helping some old man who fell at the subway station. Protecting your homeland, family, and property comes first. Even if the Goddess gave us this mission, pioneering the Empire was also her decree.

Plus, Han Se-ah was the party leader. If she decided to end our arrangement with the Ice Cross Knights for whatever reason and continue with just us, the quest would naturally fail.

'Should we leave this to the mages and head north? Maybe rush some kind of magical contract to keep them with us until floor 60...'

So naturally, thoughts of minor tricks to complete the quest came to mind.

To guide Han Se-ah, linking this to the northern Empire through Katie's character quest would be best. While I couldn't plan and guide every detail, Han Se-ah was fairly straightforward, so I could probably create some kind of narrative flow.

Gate blocked - Travel together to northern Empire - Complete Katie's character quest - Use that to bind the Ice Cross Knights with a contract

Or maybe just present a contract saying it's the Goddess's decree, no arguments...

[Do■]

[Don't]

[You can't say]

Guess not.

Between talking about using power for my sake and this, our Goddess seemed bound by certain restrictions. Maybe even goddesses had to follow game rules in this virtual world. Though I suppose it would be harder on humans if the Demon King started guerrilla warfare instead of staying in his castle.

This wasn't surprising since I'd seen it often in web novels and games - goddesses needing faith to use their powers, or celestial beings who could only watch, bound by rules.

"Roland, is something bothering you?"

"Hm? Ah, well..."

"Are you thinking about what to do while the Magic Tower handles this?"

I really needed to cut back on browsing the internet. As they grew bolder in showing affection, Grace and Katie would ghostlike approach whenever I stared blankly into space.

I gave a slight smile, unable to comment on the Goddess's real-time message with its typos, wondering if she'd used up all her divine power.

Not realizing this would backfire—

"I was thinking we could go north. Not the Kingdom's north, but to the Empire's north with the Ice Cross Knights."

"What... um, that's possible."

"What's on your mind?"

Their expressions twisted strangely when I brought up Olek's story about rainbow treasure in the snowy mountains.

I wondered why they reacted that way until I saw Irene hurrying over after discussing food with Han Se-ah. She came right up and patted my head like praising a child, rising on tiptoes.

As her small palm gently stroked my head, Grace knocked on my armored forearm, and Katie pressed close, eyes sparkling, saying this made me more knightly.

'...Do they think I've accepted my past?'

Apparently these three thought their comfort had helped me accept my painful past and face reality. So my blank staring must have looked like I was gathering resolve and sorting out my feelings.

...I really needed to wear a helmet when browsing the internet around them.

※

"Really, what are they trying to accomplish by blocking the gate?"

"Maybe because they couldn't kidnap humans anymore?"

"True, blocking the gate did stop people from disappearing."

From floor 56 back through 55 to 50. Under the ever-warm sunlight on the prairie, knights and party members alike were chattering away. Everyone seemed itching to discuss this unprecedented gate situation.

Just conquering the tower and destroying monster camps with the hero's party was already a life achievement worth bragging about to grandchildren.

But now an evil orc dark wizard (Olek's imagination) had become so terrified of the Goddess's army's (Olek's claim about the Ice Cross Knights and our party) overwhelming advance that he chose to seal the gate and go into hiding.

Though it was pure speculation without any evidence and oversold mere high-rank monsters, there was no reason to object. These friends had followed perfectly so far and even handled all the menial tasks.

"Did we really advance too quickly?"

"They blocked it right away, barely months after the kidnappings started. If they were planning some grand ritual in the tower, they couldn't have taken even a thousand people."

"A thousand... that seems both large and small."

Indeed, it was an odd number.

Without CCTV or ID cards, the chatty knights just roughly estimated a thousand. But considering Han Se-ah's quest progress speed, it was definitely a small number.

Compared to BB Games' average victim count, our progress was beyond fast - more like rushing through. Unless BB Games developed this game with energy drink-soaked udon noodles for brains, they must have set reasonable numbers.

So maybe the blocked gate was a speed bump to prevent unprepared mid-bosses and bosses from dying pathetically. BB Games, knowing about my existence as a 6★ character, could predict we'd break through at incredible speed.

I mean, someone could eventually pull both 6★ 'Paladin' Roland and 6★ 'White Feather Shield' Bradamante at once, right? They had to consider the possibility of what players called "twin pulls" if they didn't block progress.

BB Games wasn't some old-school game company - being suspiciously mysterious and connected to the Goddess, they wouldn't get caught off guard with a "No way this could happen... ARGH we can't access admin rights!"

"So how do we get to the north then?"

"We can use the Magic Tower's gate."

"...We can use that already?"

-You really don't care about anything except bombs lol

-You literally used it when Season 2 started, you goldfish lol

-But forget the hero party, can some second son noble knights just freely cross borders with that? Seems unlikely

-Wait, didn't they say they came here using it?

-If you pay enough it's probably possible, when were Magic Tower mages ever sane

As I kept bringing up the north while descending the tower, the northern journey was decided surprisingly easily. Thanks to the full cooperation of Han Se-ah, who couldn't abandon the character quest, and viewers who wanted to try anything unknown.

Now I just had to figure out how to help Han Se-ah's quest while naturally roping in the Ice Cross Knights.

Shit.