The U.S. expedition was decided to be carried out by Yonghoon alone. Some team members wanted to accompany him, but this was Yonghoon’s first time attempting spatial movement across an ocean. Problems could arise.
Moreover, increasing the number of people would inevitably shorten the distance. Yonghoon refused the team members’ request to join.
The team members understood after Yonghoon explained.
Sunhee also backed off quietly without insisting. It seemed Sunhee had changed a bit after the Jeju Island incident.
The next dawn, Yonghoon stood on the beach at Sokcho, fully equipped.
The broken spears were replaced with three new ones crafted from the shell of the latest Dimensional Beast.
However, the contaminated Dimensional Cores embedded in the spears had to be C-rank. He couldn’t embed the rare A-rank or the few B-rank Dimensional Cores into spears that he would likely break again soon.
But even C-rank Dimensional Cores were not common. Director Kim of Shilla Heavy Industries had begged Yonghoon not to break the spears when handing them over.
Yonghoon also found it regrettable. Converted to actual purchase price, they were worth tens of billions.
Every time a spear broke, it was like firing off more than ten Tomahawk missiles.
Yonghoon’s armor had also changed. It was armor previously used by the Awakened with gray eyes. The Dimensional Core inside was B-rank, making it easy for Sunhee to contaminate.
Yonghoon had intended to give the armor to the team’s defense-type Awakened, but due to the team’s strong opposition, Yonghoon ended up using it himself.
Among the team, Yonghoon had the most injuries. Tired of Yonghoon’s reckless fighting style, the team members forced the armor onto him.
Wearing armor that looked like black leather, carrying three spears on his back, and a sword at his side, Yonghoon looked like a medieval mercenary straight out of a novel.
Yonghoon gazed out at the distant eastern sea. He briefly checked his mobile phone navigation device and opened a dimensional tunnel.
“Let’s go.”
Yonghoon vanished from Sokcho.
Marcus watched through binoculars as a massive procession moved eastward along Arizona’s Interstate 10.
In the center, a giant armored Larva was moving along the road, surrounded by countless people walking slowly.
They included people of all ages, from children to the elderly, walking without distinction. From afar, it looked like a religious procession with its quiet and orderly movement.
But when Marcus looked through the binoculars at each individual, that impression disappeared. The people with gray eyes wore filthy clothes they had been in for weeks, walking slowly with dead eyes.
However, Marcus knew that those dead eyes would instantly change if Awakened appeared nearby.
Around the armored Larva in the center, giant monsters were guarding the creature.
Marcus turned his binoculars west after observing the massive procession crossing the wasteland.
There, the buildings of Phoenix City came into view.
In Phoenix City, where the seventh Safe Zone in the U.S. had been established, a Dimensional Beast from Los Angeles was approaching.
“I wonder if the Korean Awakened will make it in time?”
Marcus grumbled as he lowered his binoculars. He was a rough-looking man with a close-cropped haircut and stubble on his chin and temples.
He was standing on a low hill with about a dozen others armed with spears and shields, watching the march of the Dimensional Beast and corrupted humans.
Marcus was one of the last two remaining Linkers in the U.S. and the last B-rank Awakened after Dennis disappeared.
He was leading America’s high-level Awakened in reconnaissance of the Dimensional Beast.
Originally, the Dimensional Beast had destroyed the Safe Zone in Los Angeles and remained there.
Over 300,000 people were contaminated, and countless others died from monsters that emerged from the Singularity, but the U.S. government, relieved it was confined to the western region, gave up on hunting the Dimensional Beast.
Moreover, the next day, Link Corp collapsed due to a terrorist attack, plunging the U.S. government into chaos, and then news came that the Dimensional Beast had started moving.
The U.S. government was thrown into turmoil, but then a report came from Korea that they had captured a Dimensional Beast and the Awakened with gray eyes.
Apparently, the Dimensional Beast or Awakened in Jeju Island had died, causing the movement.
Regardless of the cause, the Dimensional Beast’s movement became a critical threat to the U.S.
The Dimensional Beast was moving westward-toward Phoenix City, the sixth-largest city in the U.S. It seemed to be heading for the Safe Zone there.
Following the Dimensional Beast, 300,000 corrupted humans also began moving.
Fortunately, the monsters from the Singularity did not follow, but the Dimensional Beast, the surrounding high-level monsters, and the 300,000 troops were too much for the U.S. to handle.
Already, half the population of Phoenix City had evacuated to the surrounding wasteland. But they had only taken enough supplies to survive a few days.
It was difficult for them to flee farther. During the short movement around the city, countless people had been killed by monsters.
It was impossible to move hundreds or thousands of kilometers to another Safe Zone, and even if they arrived, it would be hard for another Safe Zone to accept them.
“What about the military?”
“Yes. Deployment is complete.”
When Marcus asked, an Awakened who was communicating with the military answered him.
The U.S. government had deployed the Air Force to nearby airfields to support the Awakened and stationed artillery units inside the Phoenix Safe Zone. They planned to sweep away the corrupted humans so the Awakened could focus on fighting the Dimensional Beast.
At a time when other Safe Zones were in danger, they could not afford to protect the corrupted humans.
Shortly after, the cellphone of the team’s communicator rang. Looking puzzled, he answered the call.
“Yes? The location relative to the Dimensional Beast?”
Looking even more confused after the call, he replied.
“It’s 12 kilometers south of the Dimensional Beast.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yonghoon appeared in front of Marcus.
Yonghoon put his phone into his pocket and extended his hand to Marcus.
“I’m Kang Yonghoon, an Awakened from Korea.”
Yonghoon’s English pronunciation had improved even more. Marcus looked at him with a surprised expression.
“I’m Marcus.”
Unable to leave Yonghoon’s hand hanging, Marcus introduced himself too.
The face before him was one he had seen months ago during the U.K. operation and the subsequent U.S. operation. But to Marcus, Yonghoon looked extremely exhausted.
Yonghoon sighed when the American Awakened commented that he looked unwell.
He had just crossed 10,000 kilometers from Korea to Arizona, U.S., through hundreds of spatial movements.
It took a total of four hours-one-third the time of a passenger flight.
Yonghoon had never crossed from Korea to the U.S. via spatial movement before. As a result, he had no intermediate coordinates.
He had no choice but to teleport toward the furthest visible sky.
Yonghoon teleported into the sky and escaped the Dimensional Power instability zone through free fall.
Then he teleported again toward the eastern sky.
He briefly rested on an island in the Bering Sea due to ability overload but continued moving until he reached the U.S.
Thanks to that, Yonghoon was now extremely fatigued from ability overload.
Yonghoon asked Marcus to explain the situation. At his request, Marcus described the Dimensional Beast’s movement, the U.S. military’s preparations, and the danger to Phoenix City.
While listening to Marcus’s explanation, Yonghoon’s face gradually returned to normal.
“Where are the other team members?”
After finishing the explanation, Marcus asked Yonghoon.
“I came alone.”
At Yonghoon’s words, Marcus and the other Awakened’s eyes widened.
Yonghoon continued.
“I couldn’t bring the team because I used my ability to come from Korea to the U.S.”
“Still, how could you think of facing a Dimensional Beast alone? You should have taken a plane–“
Marcus, who had been angrily lecturing Yonghoon, trailed off.
“You crossed from Korea to the U.S. by spatial movement?”
“Yes, although I did rest once, I managed to arrive.”
At Yonghoon’s answer, Marcus asked again.
“Um, may I ask what your ability rank is?”
“A-rank.”
At Yonghoon’s words, Marcus fell silent.
The opponent was an A-rank Linker.
Marcus had been happy to reach B-rank, thinking he had caught up, but Yonghoon was a step ahead. Considering the massive experience needed to go from B-rank to A-rank, it was no small feat.
Although Marcus found the idea of an ocean-crossing even for an A-rank spatial ability user hard to believe, he decided to focus on the operation first.
“Then, with military support, we will begin the operation. We plan to sweep away as many corrupted humans as possible with concentrated firepower and then advance.”
Without Yonghoon’s team, they would have to fill the gap themselves. But Yonghoon shook his head at Marcus’s words.
“First, I’ll go on a reconnaissance mission. There are things I need to confirm. I also came here to prevent you all from moving rashly after seeing my condition.”
Marcus understood Yonghoon’s words. The opponent was an A-rank Linker with spatial abilities. He could approach the Dimensional Beast and retreat safely.
As Marcus nodded, Yonghoon checked his own condition. During the conversation with the American Awakened, his fatigue had significantly recovered. Though his senses were still a bit off from floating in the air for so long, he was quickly returning to normal.
Yonghoon asked the others to wait at their current location and opened a dimensional tunnel toward the Dimensional Beast.
Yonghoon appeared 300 meters ahead of the slowly advancing Dimensional Beast.
“Alright, let’s get started.”
Yonghoon pulled out one of the spears from his back. Now, his innate ability could no longer manifest properly through ordinary spears or swords. When Yonghoon focused Dimensional Power into a regular iron spear or a low-grade monster’s spear, the weapon exploded before the power could fully gather.
The materials simply couldn’t withstand Yonghoon’s Dimensional Power.
Thanks to that, Yonghoon was once again ready to blow away tens of billions.
The corrupted humans around where Yonghoon appeared moved toward him, and in the distance, the mantis monsters began to run.
“First, one shot.”
Yonghoon thrust his spear toward the Dimensional Beast.
The spear crossed space and exploded right in front of the Dimensional Beast.
Boom!
The explosion was bigger than before. The spear made from the Dimensional Beast’s shell absorbed more of Yonghoon’s Dimensional Power, and the Dimensional Core Yonghoon possessed injected even more Dimensional Power into the spear.
After a flash of light, flames engulfed the surrounding 100 meters, including the Dimensional Beast. The shockwave swept through the area.
The corrupted humans charging at Yonghoon, along with those near the beast, were flung far away by the shockwave.
Yonghoon had already pulled out a new spear and planted it into the ground to brace himself.
When the flames cleared after a moment, the C-rank mantis monsters that had been rushing at Yonghoon had lost more than half their bodies, leaving only twitching legs and lower halves, and the B-rank monster resembling a buffalo that had been next to the Dimensional Beast lay collapsed on the ground with its side completely torn open.
Compared to the other monsters and humans, the Dimensional Beast fared relatively well. The Larva’s shell remained mostly intact. Only the front shell, which had taken the direct hit from the spear, had fine cracks.
Thanks to the change in Yonghoon’s spear and Dimensional Core, he was finally able to inflict damage on the Dimensional Beast’s shell.
The space between Yonghoon and the Dimensional Beast was now empty.
A moment later, the enraged roar of the Dimensional Beast echoed across the wasteland, and multiple lights began to gather around it.
“Is it starting?”
Yonghoon slung his spear over his back and extended both hands forward. He hadn’t opened a dimensional passage yet.
As time passed, the lights transformed into glowing orbs, and eventually, the orbs of Dimensional Power were fired in all directions.
Boom boom boom!
The orbs of Dimensional Power crashed down around Yonghoon, causing explosions. The corrupted humans nearby were struck by the orbs and blasted into the sky along with the explosions.
The corrupted humans nearby began to run in the opposite direction of the Dimensional Beast to escape.
After rampaging around for a while, one of the orbs of Dimensional Power finally flew toward Yonghoon.
Yonghoon’s nerves sharpened like blades. He focused all his attention on the orb flying toward him.
‘Now! Turn!’
Yonghoon created a dimensional tunnel.
The dimensional tunnel appeared, tilted halfway.
“Got it!”
Yonghoon shouted in joy and immediately dropped flat to the ground. The orb of Dimensional Power passed over him and exploded behind him.
The dimensional tunnel hadn’t completely flipped over. But the important thing was that it had started to rotate.
“Once more!”
As the orb of Dimensional Power passed, Yonghoon got up and extended both hands forward.
Once again, a glowing orb from the Dimensional Beast flew toward Yonghoon.
“Didn’t he say he was going to do reconnaissance?”
At Marcus’s words, the Awakened nodded.
“How is that reconnaissance?”
From where the Dimensional Beast was far away, continuous flashes and explosions kept erupting after a massive boom.