Several coffins were lined up in front of the altar of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
These coffins belonged to the personal guard units who had died in the recent Nuremberg disaster.
Most of the coffins contained the remains of the personal guard units.
However, a few coffins were left empty because the remains could not be recovered.
The ornate coffin in the center was also empty for the same reason.
In front of that coffin, a middle-aged white man with graying hair stood gazing at it intently.
Behind him stood members of the personal guard units and soldiers dressed in ceremonial uniforms, as well as people in black suits.
After staring at the coffin for a long time, the middle-aged man turned and began to leave the cathedral. The people in black suits and the soldiers followed him, but the personal guard units remained in place.
Once outside the cathedral, the man looked up at the sky. The sky was beginning to brighten. In a little while, the dim sun would rise.
He took a cigarette out of his pocket and put it in his mouth. After someone beside him lit it, he took a long drag and removed it from his lips.
“What’s the situation in Nuremberg now?”
In response to his question, the chief of staff beside him answered without hesitation.
“The city has been completely destroyed, and all the residents have evacuated to nearby cities. Currently, three dimensional larvae are slowly moving north while destroying the city, and other beasts have scattered around. Because of the scattered beasts, it’s estimated that over 50% of the civilians and soldiers evacuating the city have died.”
“What about the personal guard units?”
“Seven members are dead or missing. Four were killed by Dimensional Beasts and beasts, and three died or went missing while chasing Awakened from another dimension.”
It was all information he already knew.
But unless he went over it again like this, it didn’t feel real.
These past few months had been the worst in his ten-plus years as President.
After the annihilation of the advance party sent to the C dimension, the series of incidents that followed had turned more than half of his hair white.
Moreover, although he had realized the problem in the C dimension a few days ago and prepared to capture the enemy’s strongest hand, their own hand had been captured instead.
There had been many casualties in the process, but the death of the S-rank Awakened Eunseo was the greatest blow.
He stroked his white hair. It seemed like even more white hairs had appeared in just a few days.
“Have they still not found the Awakened from another dimension?”
They were searching through all the fortress cities of the Empire. However, they had not yet found the Awakened from another dimension.
“Not yet. The intelligence department speculates that they may have returned to their own dimension.”
The President nodded at the chief of staff’s words. It was a reasonable assumption.
Two dimensional larvae had used Dimensional Movement before they attacked Nuremberg. If they had known that, it was obvious they would have returned to stop the larvae.
“But a spatial ability user capable of Dimensional Movement… I never expected that. Why can’t our spatial ability users perform Dimensional Movement alone? We can’t move dimensions without the help of machines, right?”
At the President’s words, the chief of staff cautiously replied.
“According to the intelligence department and researchers, it’s believed that when the ability manifested, his subconscious wish was different from that of other spatial ability users.”
“So you’re saying that spatial ability user wished to travel between dimensions? What is he, a kid who loves fantasy novels?”
Shaking his graying head at the chief of staff’s words, the President roughly threw his cigarette to the ground and stomped it out.
“If that ability user can freely use Dimensional Movement, do we have any way to stop him?”
At the President’s words, the chief of staff fell silent like a mute who had eaten honey.
The President looked around at the other government officials and military leaders standing nearby. Everyone avoided his gaze.
The President let out a deep sigh.
It was the result of the arrogance born from their previous victories. It couldn’t be helped. They had never truly believed their dimension could be invaded.
The technology for the warp array was unique to their dimension, and the warp arrays were all installed on the surface, making leaks impossible.
Moreover, they had been extremely cautious to avoid exposing their dimension. That was one of the reasons they sent monsters first and only dispatched Awakened after the dimension was somewhat stabilized.
Yet, a spatial ability user capable of solo Dimensional Movement, something they thought absolutely impossible, had appeared.
The Empire, which had not anticipated an invasion of the Zero Dimension, had no choice but to be helpless in these two battles.
And the bigger problem was yet to come.
Until the Awakened who had gone on expeditions to other dimensions returned, all regions except the capital were at high risk.
Although the development of the warp array had enabled the creation of blocking devices and detection devices against spatial ability users, there were still no devices capable of detecting other types of Awakened like assassin-types.
“When is the Expeditionary Force scheduled to return?”
“The Expeditionary Force from the A Dimension is returning now. As for the B Dimension, although a few islands remain, the return order has been given. If we activate the return Warp Zone, they should be back within a week or two at the latest.”
The same answer came to the same question. The President still felt uneasy.
“Deploy all Hunters and personal guard units to gather the remaining dimensional larvae and beasts and pour them into the C dimension.”
“But that would be a meaningless war of attrition…”
One official tried to object in surprise but stopped under the President’s glare.
“We have to dump everything we have in there so they don’t even think about crossing over. Now that we know the enemy nation has a spatial ability user, shove all the beasts and Dimensional Beasts into that dimension. We must buy time until the Expeditionary Force returns.”
At his words, the chief of staff and the generals immediately bowed their heads. The officials reluctantly followed suit.
He got into the car parked in front of the cathedral. The chief of staff got in beside him. Receiving salutes from everyone, he left the cathedral.
Leaning back against the seat, he fell into thought. If only the Expeditionary Force from the B Dimension and the S-rank Awakened returned, they could manage the defense.
And if his younger brother, another S-rank Awakened, returned, they could wipe out the spatial ability user and the C dimension immediately.
But he was not here now.
The President opened his eyes and asked the chief of staff.
“Still no word from Judas?”
“No, there’s still no contact.”
It seemed they would have to wait a little longer. It was a task that naturally took time. But since he had always produced good results, it was worth hoping for this time as well.
For now, the President set Judas aside and focused on preparing for defense with the other personnel.
The car carrying the President deep in thought headed toward Buckingham Palace.
Yonghoon, Sunhee, and Dohyeon appeared in a wooded hill a little distance from New Prague.
Having already experienced Dimensional Movement, Yonghoon and Sunhee calmly held their breath and waited for the Dimensional Power from the Dimensional Core to spread throughout their bodies.
But Dohyeon was different. He clutched his throat and gasped.
However, after a moment, the Dimensional Power blooming from his chest spread throughout his body. Once he could breathe again, Dohyeon remembered what Yonghoon had said before departure.
Yonghoon had warned that it might become hard to breathe and to endure even if he felt suffocated.
Dohyeon glanced at Yonghoon and Sunhee. They were calmly taking deep breaths.
Seeing their composed demeanor, Dohyeon could only sigh.
After a short while, once stabilized, Dohyeon looked at the abandoned old city of Prague and the fortified cityscape before him.
The aurora in the sky was fading, and the hazy sky was brightening. When they had departed from Korea, it had been afternoon, but upon arrival here, it was dawn.
“So this is a city from another world.”
Dohyeon spoke in a slightly emotional voice.
He was still a young, no, a child Awakened who harbored a longing for unfamiliar worlds. There was no need to scold him for becoming sentimental for a moment.
Beside Dohyeon stood another Awakened staring blankly at the city. It was Sunhee.
She was gazing at the city with an expressionless face.
Although Sunhee’s expression did not change, Yonghoon could feel the pain hidden behind her face.
“Let’s go. We don’t have time. We have to move before they think of something else.”
Thanks to Yonghoon tapping their shoulders, they snapped out of it.
Yonghoon narrowed his eyes and looked at the city. At a glance, there didn’t seem to be any major problems.
Yonghoon checked his own condition.
Indeed, reaching S-rank had greatly helped with Dimensional Movement. Even during the last movement, he had lost about a level, but now he barely felt any loss.
He was in good enough condition to fight immediately.
And hearing that his two companions had also barely suffered any Dimensional Power loss, he decided to infiltrate the city through the Rebels’ secret passage.
He placed his hands on Sunhee and Dohyeon’s shoulders and jumped into the dimensional tunnel.
They appeared on the first floor of a building connected to an underground passage. Judging by the situation, it was still safe here.
After that, they infiltrated the city through the underground passage. Since it was still dawn, there weren’t many people around.
Yonghoon moved even more cautiously to avoid exposing their identities as they headed toward the Rebels’ living quarters.
Unlike the outside, the atmosphere inside was much tenser. Security checks seemed to have been strengthened, and the expressions of the people passing by were more rigid.
They carefully blended in among the Hunters coming and going at dawn and headed toward the living quarters.
Fortunately, they arrived safely and discovered that all the Rebels had disappeared.
Only a few civilians unrelated to the Rebels and Elena were guarding the place.
“Since two days ago, security checks have become extremely strict, and soldiers have been searching everywhere. Branch Leader Karel and the Rebels who got advance information went hunting to take shelter for a while. They’ll be out in the wasteland hunting for at least a week, maybe up to a month.”
Elena, who greeted Yonghoon’s group warmly, said this after entering the room.
It seemed the existing Rebels had all left the city under the pretext of hunting.
Only Elena had been left behind as a contact. She had been left because she was the last to join the Rebels and was less likely to be suspected, and because she was close to Yonghoon.
“And I have a message from Branch Leader Karel.”
Elena continued speaking.
“Due to the government’s oppression and your activities, internal unrest within the Resistance is severe. For safety, it would be better not to make contact with the Resistance for the time being.”
After finishing her words, Elena let out a sigh.
In the end, this Resistance organization was not much different from other organizations. As she delivered the message, she felt her long-held hopes crumbling.
However, for Yonghoon, who had witnessed the long war, it was something he had fully anticipated.
It was common for groups united under one banner with various thoughts to find it difficult to stay together once their goal was achieved or a crisis struck.
Depending on how this situation was handled, it would decide whether the Rebels of this world could survive.
Yonghoon was able to obtain a few more pieces of information from Elena.
However, now that most of the Rebels had gone hunting and even contact with HQ had been cut off, her stories were no more than passing rumors.
Thanks to that, Yonghoon could not obtain proper information from the Rebels, but he was not too worried.
Yonghoon, Sunhee, and Dohyeon climbed atop a building in the old city center of Paris and looked ahead.
They had come straight here after meeting Elena.
In their eyes, they could see the fortress city of Paris and the building housing the dimensional Warp Zone attached beside it.
The building housing the Warp Zone was being guarded tightly by many soldiers. It was clear that Awakened were likely standing by inside to defend the Warp Zone.
Entering the building without any information would be an act of suicide.
Yonghoon turned his head to look at Sunhee.
As Yonghoon looked at Sunhee, her figure gradually disappeared.
Although Yonghoon could not obtain information from the Rebels, he had a far better informant.
A very beautiful and capable informant.
Sunhee, now invisible, left behind only a faint ripple and, even under the afternoon sunlight, was able to enter the building housing the dimensional Warp Zone without revealing herself.