Time seemed to slow down in Kalle's eyes when he saw the goblin's wooden club coming down on him.
Every fraction of a second, Kalle could see the goblin's club inching closer and closer towards him and the scene of his death played in his mind.
'I can't leave Vella alone…'
But what seemed to be the last moments of his life where time slowed down and his life flashed before his eyes, weren't just happening in Kalle's head.
The goblin's wooden club seemed to move slower and slower until it completely stopped moving.
Kalle was ready to get his head smashed into pieces, but he was surprised to find that the goblin's club seemed to have stopped swinging down as it got stuck in the air.
Looking all around him, Kalle saw that the goblin's club wasn't the only thing that had stopped moving.
The screams, people running away, and the chaos that descended around him had all stopped in motion as Kalle found himself awake in a time stop.
However, before he could get up or move away from the goblin's attack, his world was suddenly filled with a bright flash of light that blinded him.
When Kalle opened his eyes again, he found himself floating in a dark empty space.
'Did I die?' The thought crossed his mind as he saw the unknown scenery around him.
"No, you are not dead. Not yet at least."
Not expecting an answer, Kalle turned his head towards the source of the voice.
And the second his eyes laid on the man that answered his question, Kalle's whole body was frozen stiff as he felt the air leaving out of his lungs.
Just like someone who had sleep paralysis, Kalle couldn't move even the tip of his fingers as a suffocating feeling draped all over him.
It was like his whole body was pressed against something and he had no way of fighting back.
He didn't know what had happened, but he realized that whoever the man was, he could feel the same unknown matter that he felt before the portal appeared from the man.
And comparing the overwhelming feeling from the portal to the man in front of him, the former was like getting splashed by a small water bucket while the latter felt like he was being thrown into the middle of the deep sea.
The two were simply incomparable.
If he felt something dangerous coming up when the portal appeared, right now, Kalle got a feeling that whatever he did, there was no way he could escape his certain death.
As if realizing something, the man that made Kalle froze laughed.
"Ahahaha! You have an extremely high mana sense! I know my instincts won't betray me! Other mortals in your world will never be able to sense anything at this stage of the world."
Kalle didn't know what the man did, but the pressure that he felt all over his body magically disappeared as if what had just happened a second ago was all in his head.
Now that Kalle could breathe without feeling constricted, he could finally look at the man in front of him properly.
He couldn't notice anything before because of the shock that he felt, but now that his mind was working perfectly, he realized that the man in front of him was handsome as hell.
'I'm not gay, but…'
"AHAHAHA! That's a very nice compliment that I also haven't heard in a long time! Thanks!"
With unruly short glowing blonde hair, muscles shaped by a sculptor, and clothes that were draped in gold, the man looked exactly like the perfect man that was told in mythological stories.
The man floated down and came to Kalle's head level.
With a slight smile on his face and an overspilling aura of confidence surrounding him, he reached out his hand towards Kalle.
"Nice to meet you, Kalle, my name is Gilgamesh."
Still caught in a stupor, Kalle didn't shake Gilgamesh's hand until a whole second went by and he could somehow ignore the man's charisma.
"Gilgamesh? The man who fought the gods and lost? The one in those mythological stories?"
Gilgamesh raised his eyebrows, his eyes twitching as he stared at Kalle.
"Me? Defeated by those scums? Now that is a new bullshit that I have never heard before."
He seemed to want to say more things over Kalle's innocent question, but as if remembering something, Gilgamesh shook his head.
"You don't have much time, Kalle, remember? We could save the conversation about me for later."
Kalle then recalled the last few moments before he met Gilgamesh.
He was still lying down on the floor, a goblin's wooden club on its way toward turning his head into a pulp.
Time seemed to have slowed down the last few moments before it actually happened, but Kalle didn't know whether it would stay that way forever to let him run away and save his life first.
"You're correct. It's only temporary. The second I return you back to your place, then time will turn back to normal and you will soon be dead."
The calmness that he felt a few moments before his death disappeared as Kalle now remembered the reason why he couldn't die yet.
Vella would be all alone in the world.
She was already struggling before, but now that a strange portal had suddenly appeared near his apartment, he believed that the world was about to change, and it was for the worse.
He didn't want to leave his sister in a world that had an apocalypse descended on it.
"Don't worry, you won't be dying anytime soon."
After he said that, Gilgamesh summoned a staff out of thin air.
Just like the color of his hair and the clothes that he wore, the staff was completely golden in color.
The shape was fairly simple as it looked exactly like a shepherd's staff, but the spotless golden color and the aura that it gave off was anything but ordinary.
Just like when he saw Gilgamesh for the first time, Kalle could feel an incredibly thick concentration of the unknown matter radiating from the staff.
He could feel the hair on his body standing in the presence of the staff, but he wasn't paralyzed yet.
He then recalled Gilgamesh mentioning the name of the unknown sensation, "Is it mana?"
"You are correct, that unknown matter you felt from the morning is mana. Your mana sense is very high while your body doesn't know it yet, that's why you should get headaches as your body adapts to the sudden appearance of a new energy source."
"And this staff over here, it's been my companion since forever.
Although it got weaker now considering my circumstances."
Gilgamesh then handed the staff over to Kalle.
"I'm giving this to you. You will be able to save yourself, protect your family, and do so much more."
Kalle's hand unconsciously reached out towards the staff and grabbed it.
Though it looked like it was made with pure gold, the staff practically weighed nothing in Kalle's hand as he swung it around.
Looking at the staff that was filled with power, with mana, Kalle looked at it with disbelief. 'Is this mine…?'
"Not yet."
As soon as Gilgamesh finished speaking, his body glowed as bright as the sun. The golden light blinded Kalle and he couldn't help but close his eyes shut.
Gilgamesh then stared Kalle in the eyes and opened his mouth.
"Hereby I, Gilgamesh, choose Maverick Calle as my successor and crown him as the next Dungeon Sovereign."
The glow prevented Kalle from seeing the golden glow that surrounded Gilgamesh slowly but surely dissipate as they moved over to him, surrounding his body with it.
Now, instead of Gilgamesh, the one who glowed bright was Kalle.
However, different from him who emitted a golden glow, Kalle's body emitted a silvery blue glow. The golden staff in his hand started changing colors as it became the same color as the light that Kalle's body emitted.
When the staff had fully turned its color, it began absorbing the silvery blue light from Kalle's body.
The staff swallowed all the light and Kalle could now open his eyes again.
"Congratulations, Kalle, you are now the new Dungeon Sovereign."
As Gilgamesh said that, his body began shaking as it very slowly started turning transparent.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't do this ritual properly and teach you all the ropes because of certain circumstances, but I can still give you a few tips."
Kalle, who could now feel a connection with the staff in his hand, stared at Gilgamesh with his full attention.
He didn't know what the staff could do, but he could feel the overwhelming power of the staff and how much it mattered to him to have the strength to save his own life and take care of the people that mattered to him.
"I might not be able to teach you all about being a dungeon sovereign, but I had given all my knowledge to that staff and it would guide you slowly to become the best dungeon sovereign, maybe even better than I was."
Every second that ticked by, Gilgamesh's body became more and more transparent.
His glowing golden hair had long lost its light and the imposing aura that he exuded had reduced so much that Kalle now felt as if he was looking at an ordinary person.
"You are still weak now. so keep your head low for now before you can stand against those so-called gods with your own strength."
Gilgamesh's hands had become completely transparent now and his body almost looked like a blur.
"A little tip for your current predicament, if you want to stop the goblins from spawning near your house, then go inside the portal and follow the staff's instructions. You will solve that problem in no time."
"Oh! I almost forgot about it. I have put a little gift to my little successor inside the staff, I hope you'll like it and find it as a good company."
And lastly, before Gilgamesh's body completely disappeared, he spoke for one last time.
"This is your power now so it is up to you about what you wanted to do with it.
But I have one last request as your predecessor."
"Whatever you do, don't you ever bend your knees in front of those gods. Kick their asses and make them kneel to you instead."
Gigamesh then smiled. It was different from the confident smile that he had been showing so far.
The smile that Gilgamesh gave Kalle now was a smile that showed his hope towards the man standing in front of him, his successor.
"See you at the top, Kalle."
And those were the last words that came out of Gilgamesh's mouth as every part of his body scattered, blended, and disappeared into the dark and empty void around him.