Inheritance (3)

Red Monkey had no idea how long or how far he had walked. It felt as though he had been walking for an entire century... It had been so interminably long.

Until another door appeared before him.

He ran toward it in wild delight, but... all he could see was that single door, with nothing else around it.

"..."

A bare door stood in the middle of nowhere. It felt utterly out of place, didn't it?

Fortunately, he was not "alone."

The door was large, though much smaller than the main gate, standing roughly three meters tall. At the very top of its lintel, a "ferocious beast" lay sprawled with its eyes closed, seemingly resting. It looked as if it were made of stone, yet... he could hear faint breathing from it... even snores.

Yet no matter how he looked at it, he did not think that thing was a living creature.

The green arrow that had guided him vanished. With only the door before him, Red Monkey understood that it was the entrance to the next trial. But there were no instructions. What was he supposed to do now? He looked up at the ferocious beast, and only after confirming that it had no intention of acknowledging him did he raise his hand and push, just as he had during the first trial.

Ten minutes later.

"Mm..."

"Ha... haha... huff, huff..."

"This is way too heavy, isn't it?"

"There's no way I can push it open. I... I'm almost out of strength."

Just as Red Monkey was about to fall flat on his back, the ferocious beast atop the door opened its eyes.

"Holy—"

Red Monkey nearly fainted at the sight.

It had not merely opened its eyes. It shook its body and stood up. To Red Monkey's astonishment,