The Empire’s Awakened began to gather.
Starting with Jack, the mentally unstable S-rank Awakened, even retired Awakened enjoying a comfortable life in remote cities and Linkers were summoned.
And the Awakened and personal guard units responsible for maintaining public order in each city were all summoned to New London.
London quickly became crowded with powerful Awakened. Although many Awakened had died at Yonghoon’s hands, with people gathering from all over the world, it seemed as if all the losses had been erased.
Three Awakened stood on the rooftop of the dome-shaped building where the Warp Zone was located, looking off into the distance.
“Three kilometers ahead, height one kilometer.”
At the young Awakened’s words as he pointed forward, Jack replied indifferently.
“Just share it. You can’t aim accurately like that.”
At Jack’s words, his adjutant Jose let out a sigh.
Information sharing was a technique where even some emotions were shared. Sharing information with the mentally unstable Jack was always exhausting for her.
But it was unavoidable. She grabbed Jack’s arm with one hand and placed her other hand on the young Awakened’s arm.
Dimensional Power surged from her body.
“Oh, I can see it. It really looks strange. It’s a completely different thing from the helicopters we saw in the B dimension.”
Seeing through the eyes of the Special Ability User whose vision was extremely enhanced through information sharing, Jack raised his hand with an amused expression.
Dimensional Power gathered in his hand, and soon light burst from it.
The beam that crossed New London’s sky shot over the wall and into the sky of the old city center.
Zzzzzt!
“Damn.”
The screen flashed brightly and then turned off. Contact with the drone was lost.
The last image shown was of a white-haired man raising his hand toward the screen.
“As expected, with so many Awakened gathering, all sorts of abilities are appearing.”
Stroking his chin as he looked at the black screen, Marcus muttered. It seemed he had already grown quite a bit of stubble.
After a brief distraction, he issued orders to the operators seated in front of the monitors.
“Pull all drones back at least ten kilometers from the city. The video resolution will drop, but we can’t afford to lose any drones here.”
“Understood.”
“Tch, it looks like they’ve reinforced a lot just in the past day. It feels like every Awakened in the world is gathering here. At this rate, attacking the Warp Zone would be pure madness.”
Marcus muttered from the island’s Control Room.
Yesterday, Samantha had managed to eavesdrop on the conversation between the President and the senior secretary. According to them, the Warp Zone would be activated tomorrow. Of course, it was a trap to capture the Awakened here, especially Yonghoon.
After hearing that, the Expeditionary Force held a serious meeting about how to respond.
Some argued that they should destroy the Warp Zone despite the casualties, while others suggested returning to the original world to defend, since it was said to be a one-time use warp array anyway.
The former opinion came from the Korean Awakened, and the latter from the other countries’ Awakened.
The Empire’s next dimensional movement was also highly likely to target Korea first. Thus, the Korean Awakened were worried about their homeland suffering damage, while the others argued that if they could block the invaders inside Korea, their chances of victory would greatly increase.
Of course, because of Yonghoon and the powerful Korean Awakened, they couldn’t push their argument too strongly, but considering the overall C dimension situation, their reasoning was not without merit.
In the end, no conclusion was reached at the meeting, and the decision was left to Yonghoon. As the Expeditionary Force’s overall commander, Yonghoon’s burden grew heavier.
“I wonder what decision the captain will make.”
Marcus muttered as he looked at another screen.
On that screen, three people could be seen entering a building.
It was Yonghoon and two women affiliated with the Rebels. The drone filming that scene was one assigned to monitor New Prague but was now on standby to support Yonghoon.
“What are you looking at?”
Elena asked Yonghoon, who was staring off into the distance.
At her words, Yonghoon shook his head and stepped inside. It was the Rebels’ hideout in the old city center of New Prague.
Yonghoon sensed the presence of people hiding nearby.
They were all Rebels guarding the place.
Ignoring them, Yonghoon entered the building.
Although no one was visible inside, he could feel the presences of those monitoring him scattered throughout. Without paying them any mind, Yonghoon led the two women down to the basement.
Entering the dusty, old wine cellar, Yonghoon knocked on the last wine barrel in the way Branch Leader Karel had taught him, and soon the lid opened from inside.
Branch Leader Karel appeared from within the barrel.
“Mister!”
Elena, delighted to see the Branch Leader, ran up to him.
Karel hugged Elena and greeted Margaret.
“I’m glad you’re alive.”
At his words, Margaret shook her head with a sorrowful expression.
“Being alive is the mistake.”
“That’s not true.”
Shaking his head at Margaret’s words, Branch Leader Karel led the group inside the wine barrel.
Soon, the group entered a room connected to the underground passage linking New Prague and the old city center.
As they passed through the underground passage, Yonghoon could sense that the once-empty rooms were now filled with quite a few people.
“Looks like everyone took refuge here.”
At Yonghoon’s words, Karel nodded with a tired face.
“There weren’t many places to run after the sudden ambush. All the infrastructure within the city was destroyed. Although many citizens, fueled by their grievances, helped us, we couldn’t risk harming them, so we fled here.”
Karel’s expression darkened.
“Well, it’s not a bad place to stay. The real problem is the organization members who were captured.”
It seemed Karel was more worried about the captured organization members than about their own uncertain future.
“I was shocked when the personal guard units suddenly stormed the branch. Thanks to Yonghoon, we understood the situation, but I really didn’t expect Elder Roger to betray us.”
At Karel’s words, Margaret’s expression darkened. Seeing her face, Karel continued.
“Fortunately, after escaping with Yonghoon’s help, we sent a message via public communication to the organization members in other cities to go into hiding. Luckily, since New Prague was the first to be attacked, most branches seem to have succeeded in going underground.”
The Rebels operated as a point organization. They couldn’t communicate between cities, and only HQ knew the locations of each branch.
However, they had established a protocol to send hidden codes within the communication network between cities in case of danger. While they couldn’t directly communicate, they could broadcast a danger signal to all branches.
“Fortunately, only the branch building was exposed; the other hideouts remain safe. It’s confirmed that this passage hasn’t been discovered either, so the organization members who weren’t captured are all staying here.”
“It seems Elder Roger only gave away the branch building’s location to negotiate with the government. Fortunately, after his death, the Raiders scattered, and it seems no other locations were compromised.”
At Margaret’s words, everyone turned their gaze to Yonghoon. It was Yonghoon who had killed Roger at HQ and ended the situation.
As he calmly accepted everyone’s gaze, Elena pouted.
“Such a boring guy.”
Margaret patted Elena’s hand and looked at Karel. Margaret had come here because she had something important to discuss.
“Did you know that all the high-level Awakened of the Empire are gathering in the capital?”
At Margaret’s words, Karel’s expression turned to one of surprise.
“Is that so? No wonder I haven’t seen any personal guard units around the city today.”
Already, contact with HQ and other branches had been severed, and even the organization members within the government had been captured. Branch Leader Karel now knew almost nothing about the outside world.
Yonghoon began explaining to the bewildered Karel about the events of the past few days.
Karel was greatly shocked by Yonghoon’s story.
Although he had known about the warp array cores, he hadn’t known where or how they were made, so he couldn’t help but be astonished by the story of their production and the doctor behind it.
Then, upon hearing about the President’s plan that Samantha had overheard, Karel turned to Margaret.
“You’re suggesting we take advantage of the Awakened leaving for the capital.”
Karel immediately understood what Margaret was thinking.
“Exactly. This is our only chance. I’m not saying we should conquer every city with our abilities. I’m thinking we could at least reveal the truth to everyone.”
At Margaret’s words, Karel nodded.
“If there are no Awakened, we can occupy the communication room and broadcast to the entire city. If we distribute leaflets too, even better. There will still be soldiers left, but our Awakened aren’t weak either, so we won’t be easily pushed back inside the city.”
Karel also responded positively to Margaret’s idea.
“But there’s no way to contact the other branches. Elder Roger was managing the organization, and now that he’s dead, there’s no way.”
At his words, Margaret shook her head.
“He wasn’t the only one who knew the communication network. There’s one more person here.”
Margaret pointed to herself.
At her words, Karel’s expression brightened.
“In that case, it’s definitely possible. If the information spreads to all the major cities, the government won’t be able to do anything.”
But his brightened expression soon darkened again.
“However, if we do that, the organization members captured and taken to New London won’t survive.”
At Branch Leader Karel’s words, Elena pointed to herself.
“I’ll rescue them.”
When he looked at Elena with a dumbfounded expression, she, who had stepped forward confidently, spoke in a slightly smaller voice.
“The Awakened who came from the C dimension are planning to attack the capital soon. I’m going to participate then. I plan to guide them to rescue the organization members.”
Yonghoon had no intention of stopping the Dimensional Movement scheduled for tomorrow. Instead, he planned to return to his original dimension right before they moved and confront them.
Awakened who were invincible to physical attacks and the Linkers would appear around the demilitarized zone. They would immediately invade Korea, but it was better than walking into a trap.
Of course, there would be countless casualties because of them, but Yonghoon had the ability to detect Dimensional Power and use spatial movement.
If he was prepared for the damage, he could definitely capture the enemy Awakened. Even if they sent S-rank Awakened, it was better to fight them in the original world than inside a trap.
After eliminating the Awakened who crossed dimensions, he planned to launch a full-scale attack on the capital.
The number of Awakened would have decreased, making it much easier to fight.
Yonghoon gave a bitter smile at his own thoughts. It seemed he had indeed been a little broken by the war. Unlike Team Crazy or the Awakened from the C dimension, he was taking sacrifices for granted.
It might be natural for a soldier, but even he thought he was being too cold-hearted.
But there was no other choice. As long as Sunhee was by his side, a safe battle was essential. He couldn’t walk into a trap.
The party decided to proceed with the operation in line with tomorrow’s Dimensional Movement.
Yonghoon planned to pretend to attack the capital tomorrow. That timing was the best for the operation.
Now, the Rebels were running out of time.
Branch Leader Karel hurriedly greeted Yonghoon and left the room, and Margaret and Elena also greeted Yonghoon and followed him.
Yonghoon waved them off as they headed toward the city and created a dimensional passage.
This was the underground passage outside the wall, and the dimensional passage had not been discovered.
Yonghoon was extremely busy with his own tasks. He used spatial movement to head to the island.
“It’s the President’s order to return immediately.”
The spatial ability user stood next to Lieutenant General Judas, speaking with a reluctant expression.
He knew that under the current circumstances, moving was absolutely impossible.
He had crossed the Atlantic overnight. Though he had barely found where Lieutenant General Judas was with his exhausted body, after seeing the scene before him, he couldn’t bring himself to suggest giving up and returning.
Instead, the spatial ability user had no choice but to quickly convey the situation in the capital.
“Kuaaaah!”
Again, a monstrous roar erupted, and light burst forth, causing a building over a hundred stories tall to collapse.
The building once called the Empire State Building crumbled helplessly downward when a beam of light pierced its midsection.
“Good!”
Judas clenched his fist tightly upon seeing it. The weakening of the larvae’s Dimensional Power was visible.
It had been a journey of over a month from Chicago to New York. A time spent continually fighting and luring.
Seventy percent of the participants in the hunt had sacrificed their lives to lure and weaken the larvae queen.
Three A-rank Awakened and over ten B-rank Awakened had died.
Now, only about five or six B-rank or higher Awakened were darting around the queen, irritating the larvae.
But even this would have been impossible without Judas.
Judas extended his hand toward the Larva.
The powerful interference ability of an S-rank Awakened endlessly disrupted the opponent’s Dimensional Core, making the larvae queen’s movements increasingly unnatural. Judas, an S-rank assassin-type Awakened, was nearly a natural enemy to the larvae queen.
The long month of battle had exhausted the larvae queen, and now it was clear that her concentration and Dimensional Power had dropped by more than half.
“You arrived just in time.”
Judas smiled at the spatial ability user, who broke into a cold sweat at Judas’s smile.
Shortly after, the spatial ability user and Judas vanished from the rooftop of a tall building and reappeared above the dimensional larvae.
The spatial ability user had transported Judas via spatial movement.
Judas placed his hand on the queen’s body and poured Dimensional Power into her. With her Dimensional Power reduced by more than half, his Dimensional Power would surely work.
“Kuaaaang!”
The queen of the dimensional larvae twisted her massive body and let out a scream.
Light rose around the larvae, and beams of light shot out in all directions.
A beam passed right next to Judas and the spatial ability user, but luckily, they managed to dodge it.
Buildings collapsed, and the clouds in the sky split apart. After rampaging for a while, the larvae closed its eyes and fell asleep, having nearly destroyed half of Manhattan.
Judas had succeeded in putting the queen to sleep with his Dimensional Power.
Judas was an assassin-type Awakened.
Unlike assassin-types from other dimensions, assassin-types from the Zero Dimension fought monsters that had the same Dimensional Core as themselves.
They constantly developed their ability to interfere with the opponent’s Dimensional Core, and some, like Judas, could use their innate abilities to put larvae to sleep.
Among these assassin-types, others had succeeded in developing innate abilities to control larvae and beasts, but they had all been killed by Yonghoon not long ago.
Even though the larvae had closed its eyes, Judas continued to pour Dimensional Power into its body. This larvae was different from the others. Its Dimensional Core kept trying to repel his Dimensional Power. The moment he let go, the larvae would surely awaken.
“Begin!”
Judas shouted loudly, and the Awakened who had appeared around the larvae began to move quickly.
Fortunately, despite the larvae’s rampage, the ground remained intact.
From the plaza floor where the larvae lay, mechanical sounds began to ring out, and light started to rise.
Various patterns of light floated up around the monster.
This was the spatial movement device located in Manhattan, New York. Developed early on, it had been installed not in a building but in the open plaza floor.
Judas and the hunting party had succeeded in luring the monster onto the spatial warp array, even at the cost of nearly annihilating the hunting party.
They only had to endure for half a day more. Since it was intercontinental spatial movement, charging Dimensional Power took an extremely long time.
But in any case, they had succeeded.
If they could just teleport this creature to New London, they could immediately launch it into the C dimension.
If that happened, they could achieve all their revenge at once. Whereas normal dimensional larvae contaminated about 10km, this one might contaminate 100km-or perhaps the entire Earth.
“Just a little longer.”
Even as blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth due to Dimensional Power depletion, Judas smiled.