At first, it was just the presence or absence of things.
By focusing on spatial perception, one could get results like "no presence in this area."
At some point, though, it became possible to sense a rough direction.
While tracking this direction, I came across a madman pulling out a sword from his body.
I decided to approach him, knock him out, and use a tracking device to find his and Hong Yeon-jun’s hideout.
Spada’s escape didn’t happen as quickly as expected.
It was because of his injuries. The recovery potions he sprayed over his wounds didn’t seem to be doing much, and Spada's face contorted in frustration.
I watched from quite a distance and couldn't help but smirk.
It wasn’t just a simple injury; he was being pounded relentlessly by blood aura and debuffs.
Even with a fairly strong physique, it would take some time for him to heal.
Because of that, his escape slowed down, but he was desperate, hobbling on his injured leg.
Three days had passed since the pursuit began.
‘...?’
He wasn’t heading to his hideout, but getting closer to the entrance to the other world.
‘Wait, are they two different locations?’
The worry that had started in my mind made my face stiffen beneath my mask.
When my worry became reality, I couldn’t smile.
Spada had arrived at a rough, uneven plain.
The snowstorm had stopped by now. Although the snow didn’t accumulate, the ground was frozen solid.
The scattered branches were bare, and there were no leaves to be found. A bleak winter landscape.
I moved my fingers slightly with a stern expression.
It was an odd sensation that even a superhuman without spatial awareness would be able to feel.
I closed my observation and opened up the space.
The world’s information closed off, and the black background was filled with chaotic green outlines and waves.
The green outlines wrinkled, compressed, and twisted. The erratic waves made my head throb.
Blood gathered in my nose. I didn’t bother wiping it off but focused even more on the spatial detection.
It felt like the green outlines and waves were being pulled in by some force, twisting together in a complex manner.
In the middle of the wide plain, there was a large ‘hole.’
It was the entrance to the other world.
[Goddamn.]
The moment I sensed it, I cursed instinctively.
The area around the entrance was covered in chaotic cracks. The inside seemed to be bubbling, as though it might burst open at any moment.
In other words, the rampage was imminent.
‘Am I screwed?’
There were many possibilities.
The possibility that I wouldn’t find the entrance to the other world.
The possibility that I could only pinpoint a general location.
The possibility that I’d find the entrance but there’d still be some time before it reached the rampage.
And the possibility, as it was now, that I’d found the entrance and witnessed it nearly reaching the rampage.
It was the worst-case scenario.
No, it was even worse.
Spada, stumbling toward the entrance, muttered to himself.
He had no spatial awareness, so he couldn’t sense the entrance. Yet, he was sneaking around near it as if he knew what was there.
The entrance opened.
It wasn’t pulled open from the outside. Something from within forcibly opened it.
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For a brief moment, a powerful gravitational pull dragged Spada into the entrance.
There was no time to block it.
The entrance, swallowing Spada, closed. The only sign left was the ominous bubbling of the impending rampage.
[...Fuck.]
It was worse than the worst-case scenario.
The group Spada was part of seemed to have their base inside the other world.
As I observed him freely moving in and out of the entrance, it seemed like there might be some preparation inside.
That alone was a problem, but there was something worse.
‘What is it? A monster that can manipulate space?’
Something inside the entrance could open and close the door, and it was assisting them in some way.
There had been no chapters about entering the other world in the original.
Attempts had been made, but for various reasons, they had failed. Ultimately, most of the focus was on suppressing the rampage afterward.
Because of that, I didn’t have any information about the inside of the other world.
‘Tch...’
The danger level had risen dramatically. The lack of information made it even more dangerous.
It wasn’t for nothing that the top executives had shoved information from the original game into my head.
‘What should I do?’
Entering the other world was dangerous at the best of times, but now it had become even riskier.
‘But I can’t just let it explode like that.’
I couldn’t just leave after finding the entrance. And wasn’t the rampage almost here?
I had to go in, find the core, and destroy it from the inside before the damage got worse.
I contacted the association first.
[Contact: Maxwell] ▶ Me: I found the entrance. ▶ Me: Hurry up and erase it─
[Call: Maxwell] [Accept│Reject]
As soon as I sent the message, I received a call.
A hologram appeared in the air, flickering and cracking.
It seemed the communication was unstable due to being near the entrance.
[Thank you.]
I nodded to his quick report and began moving myself.
First, I pulled back from the entrance. Interfering with space near there and building up defenses would take too much energy.
Once I was far enough away from the area, I opened a spatial portal and took out the Purification.
I murmured to myself as I activated the purification tool, which was reluctant to be used after all this time, and drew a spell in the air like brushing with a paintbrush.
Along with the power of knowledge, I activated the spell. The barrier expanded from the center of the entrance, sending up massive walls around it.
These barriers were an upgraded version after the Tower of Growth, which would still function from the outside even if I was inside.
It was preparation for suppressing the rampage inside the other world.
‘If I manage to artificially trigger the rampage, I’ll have to stop it here.’
The association’s forces should be arriving soon.
The councilors would declare a disaster and start gathering troops from surrounding forces to come.
‘The Three Great Families... What a disaster with everything happening at once.’
The Three Great Families were incredibly powerful factions, regardless of my personal wishes.
However, the Changhae Family had their hands full with the dungeon chain rampage. Helping them would take priority.
[We’re wrapping up here. I’ll prepare the base and head in immediately.]
Maxwell’s concern was clear, knowing that Spada’s group and whatever is inside were tightly linked, and the entrance wasn’t an easy situation.
[Now that we’ve detected the entrance, it’s clear that waiting around is not an option. If we delay, things will get worse.]
Having just completed my own considerations, I shook my head.
I could feel the barriers and magic setups nearing completion.
I pressed my aching temples, leaving a final message before entering.
[Contact: Mentor (and 5 others)] ▶ Me: (saluting dog emoji) ▶ Me: Everything is fine! - Transmission failed. ▶ Me: Everything is fine! ▶ Me: I’ll be entering the dungeon soon, so communications might cut off! ▶ Me: I’ll find something inside and might take some time, so don’t worry! (04:31 PM) ▶ Mentor: Dungeon? (04:31 PM)
Mentor’s reply made me shudder. Soon after, I got messages from others.
I sent reassuring texts a few times, and then the incessant buzzing of my phone stopped.
[Then, I’m off.]
Click—As I got closer to the entrance, the communication was completely cut off.
The entrance to the other world... might only be about 5 meters in diameter?
The moment it opens naturally, a disaster will occur.
‘Let’s go.’
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t hesitant or scared, but this was something that had to be done.
I reached for the entrance.
My hand cut through the air, but it was futile.
‘Manifestation, power over space.’
Whooosh! I interfered with the space. My head pounded, and the entrance clicked open.
Inside, the dark hole stood out among the other backgrounds.
I pushed my body into it.
A sense of vertigo wrapped around me as I descended.
Monsters can sometimes be edible, depending on the species.
It’s a rather surprising statement. After all, this logic isn’t exclusive to monsters.
Humans cook poisonous fish or plants all the time, even though they can cause food poisoning if improperly prepared.
Despite their grotesque nature, monsters couldn’t suppress human curiosity, and various methods of cooking them had been slowly discovered.
Of course, it wasn’t purely curiosity driving this; practical reasons played a part.
Most superhumans hunt monsters and enter dungeons.
They enter isolated dungeons, tackling unknown traps and monsters.
To put it bluntly, it’s a deadly job to make money.
For this reason, getting stranded in a dungeon is surprisingly common.
So, stranded individuals need the ability to procure their own food in dungeons.
The detailed exploration of monster cooking methods stemmed from this need.
‘Ugh, this is tough...’
The monster cooking methods she learned were practical for survival.
It wasn’t about enjoying flavor or satisfaction; it was about extending life.
How to get nutrients and calories.
In other words, it tasted horrible.
It was impossible to tell if the chewed substance was meat or rubber. What’s worse, this land-based monster was even fishier and more unpleasant than actual fish.
This was food that no one would pay for in normal society. But for survival, she forced herself to chew and swallow.
Her powerful jaw strength easily broke down what felt like rubber.
“Ugh...”
After a moment of struggle, she managed to swallow it.
‘Gaaah... This taste... Even if I roast it, what am I supposed to do if it still tastes like this... Maybe adding some spices would help?’
But she didn’t have spices to spare.
In fact, she could barely remember what spices tasted like anymore.
She grimaced and turned her head.
The sky above was dark.
But it wasn’t like a normal night sky. There were no stars, no moon. It would occasionally turn a dull gray as if transitioning to dawn.
That wasn’t all.
Sometimes, she could see the eerie, unpleasant layers of the air, as if something was crawling through it, and occasionally hear a creepy, cracking noise.
‘What the hell is this place?’
She stared at the sky and thought, as she did every day, about the place she found herself in.
She suspected she had been stranded here for years, constantly moving around.
‘This dungeon... it’s way too vast.’
There were many suspicious things about it for it to be a dungeon.
First of all, it was enormous. No matter how much she moved, she couldn’t find any walls of the dungeon.
She’d learned that large dungeons could be nearly the size of a country, but even taking that into account, it was still enormous.
The entire environment felt off.
She lowered her gaze from the sky.
Above her, tall buildings. Streets laid out in straight lines with shops on either side. Traffic lights, pedestrian bridges... many different facilities.
‘Damn, it blew up again. Crazy monsters.’
It wasn’t in good shape. To be precise, no facility could be considered intact.
Everything was broken, worn out, and ruined... It was more like a ruined city.
There were buildings that looked like they had been poorly designed from the start, twisted and bent.
At least in the knowledge she had, this kind of dungeon was unheard of.
A nasty wind blew. Her dark blue hair fluttered in her face. It was getting annoying, as if it was time to cut it.
For reference, she was currently at the top of one of these tall buildings. The highest point to get a good view of everything.
It wasn’t the roof. If she were on the roof, she’d be a target for flying monsters in the sky.
At her current strength, she was confident she could handle most of them, but dealing with them would just be a hassle.
If she encountered a monster she couldn’t handle at her current level, she might really die.
‘Damn. My life’s a mess.’
Why does life have to be full of trials like this? Why do I have to go through all of this...
Suddenly, with a burst of frustration, she dropped to the ground.
The monster leather she wore as armor and thermal wear shielded her from the cold ground.
She pulled the remaining part of the leather over her like a blanket and stared at the sky beyond the open ceiling.
‘Ugh, it never gets easier.’
The miserable sky, the awful food, the maddening space, the disgusting monsters...
A modern person born under a clear blue sky, and now stuck in this hellish survival battle.
I really wish I could just die already.
“Hmm.”
The happy memories that suddenly came to mind helped suppress the suicidal urges.
‘Without my master’s teachings, I would have died a long time ago. Before being eaten by a monster, I would have probably picked something weird and died right there...’
She chuckled as she recalled the past.
Just like someone who can’t forget their past glory and dreams of it.
Remembering the happiness of the past, unable to let go of the miserable reality that seems hopeless.
She hadn’t found a single glimmer of escape.
Signs of people? She could see bones scattered about, almost ground to dust.
She touched the trembling corners of her mouth and shifted her body.
Her right arm, which was usually empty, ached today.
[Seibior Enhancement System: Exploration Level] [Quest "Otherworld (裏面)" initiated]