Even if l let them know what I thought, they would certainly curse at me, which was the worst humiliation I could think of.

Anyway, I had to decide on the place where they could spend the night.

But the problem was what would happen to them after it got dark.

And I was also worried about them a bit.

But the roots sprouted up from the ground at regular intervals as if to dissipate my worries.

Then they began to enclose all the 10,000 people as if to embrace them.

As time went on, the size and thickness of the roots rising from the ground began to decrease, and the speed of them rising from the ground also gradually slowed down.

At that moment the white roots, which were bigger than the other roots, started to shrink little by little, but at the same time, the brown roots sprouting up from the ground restored their original size and thickness, and they started rising from the ground faster. In the end, the white roots became considerably small, but a strong root wall was successfully built, then encircled the 10,000 ordinary people.

All the 10,000 people shouted for joy at that terrific scene, for they already witnessed the power of the roots, and the wall created by these roots created something like a safety zone.

Naturally, they kept shouting my name in admiration late into the night.

Anyway, I also took a break after making sure the roots built a protective shield for them.

Like everyone else, I also ate food that I had purchased using golden rings at the entry point.

Of course, I used my golden rings to buy food to distribute to all of them.

Since I had so many golden rings, I didn't have to claim my credit for it on purpose.

While Juyoung Hong and the 10,000 people were taking a break, the Borneche Expedition reached the 2nd stage of the new continent.

They were made up of 500 people when they started.

Actually, they had no problem exploring the 2nd stage with 500 people.

However, the gatekeeper guarding the 2nd gate leading to the 3rd stage was just too strong.

But they now had 1000 people, twice as many as those in the previous expedition.

Led by Andrei, the leader of the expedition team, the Borneche Expedition team managed to pass the 2nd stage more easily. Maybe since the 2nd stage was so easy, Andrei thought of the 10,000 ordinary people that he left behind at the entry point.

"Obviously, I heard that the message would ring only to an unspecified number of people who reached their reality actualization rate, so how come ordinary people got here?"

To be honest, it was Andrei who was more bewildered than anyone else at the appearance of the ordinary people since he was the one who used the "Flute for Calling Reinforcements".

He briefly agonized over whether he would take some ordinary men with him.

But he soon thought twice.

'Let me forget them. If I travel with them, they will be a big burden to me anyway. Moreover, it is too inefficient for me to protect them in this situation.'

He shook his head from side to side and continued moving forward.

Besides, it was too late for him to go back and take them.

In front of the first gateway to the new continent.

I arrived at this place with them after exactly 15 days.

Although it took me a whopping 7.5 times longer to come here than the Borneche team who reached here in only two days, I could reach this first gate to the 2nd stage with 10,000 people without losing a single person.

At that moment, one ogre greeted us.

Of course, the ogre was far from ordinary.

But no matter how powerful the ogre was, the monster assigned as the gatekeeper protecting an important place such as the gateway was unusually low quality.

Anyway, the ogre in front of me was twice the size of the typical ogres that I had seen so far, or nearly three times as big.

His whole body was full of strong muscles, and there was a prominent hump on his head.

Then the ogre rushed straight towards us threateningly.

So I immediately moved right in front of him using Blink and tried attacking him to stop his charge.

"Ice Punishment!"

Bang!

[Kheeeeeeeek!]

The ogre collapsed and rolled over several meters in the same posture he was charging at us.

Of course, I couldn't kill him right away, nor did I expect to kill him with one single strike.

So I immediately approached the monster who fell on the ground using Blink and then I used some of my other skills.

"Ice Field! Multiple Thin Ice!"

Pasasasak!

Only then did the ogre try to raise his body, but I attacked him first.

"Blizzard! Ice Tornado!"

Puck! Puck! Puck!

Wheeeeeeeeeeng-

Anyway this would be my last fatal attack against him, so I generously attacked him hard.

[Khuuuuuuung!]

"Alright. These days it is too easy to hunt, so it's been a while since I encountered a tough monster. I like it."

Even the level 2700 monsters could not escape Ice Tornado's gust of wind that pulled everything around it. But this monster persevered through it. But that was all.

Obviously, he would suffer all the damage from Ice Field and Multiple Thin Ice, not to mention the damage caused by Blizzard and Ice Tornado.

With that in my mind, I launched other attacks.

"Ice Spear! Multiple Ice Arrows!"

Puck! Puck! Puck! Puck!

I launched single-target skill attacks from afar, using Ice Ball and Ice Bolt that had no cooldown during the skill cooldowns of Ice Spear and Multiple Ice Arrows.

Thud!

And that was it.

Of course, I could have killed the monster much earlier if I had fought more intensely because I still had lots of unused skills.

However, I used this method because I could hunt it easily even if I didn't fight hard like before.

When the ogre, the gatekeeper, collapsed, a message rang.

[You have killed the gatekeeper guarding the first gate.

- The first gate will be open for the next 5 hours.

-You need five days of cooldown to move back to the 1st stage after moving to the 2nd stage using the 1st gate. ]

I was already familiar with the message.

As soon as I confirmed it, I spoke to those ordinary people watching me with their eyes open wide.

[We're taking a three-hour break here! Then we start moving again!]

"Alright!"

"Understood!"

In fact, I could move right away, but the cooldown of Ice Punishment, Blizzard, and Ice Tornado had not come back yet.

Of course, I didn't think the monster appearing at the 2nd stage would be much stronger than the one I killed in the 1st stage, but I wanted to move after making sure I've got all I needed.

Besides, we came here very late, so I was not in a hurry to move, and I wanted to give them a break because they had been walking for a straight 4 hours to reach here.

While Juyoung Hong and a group of 10,000 ordinary people were taking a break in front of the first gateway where the gatekeeper was gone, something was going on in front of the 3rd gate at the end of the 3rd stage.