A giant beast began to reveal itself through the light.
A massive larva, over 100 meters long, emerged, its body wrapped in thick gray armor, filling the central hall of the Warp Zone.
The beast’s eyes were closed, and its shell twitched slightly, indicating that the beast was alive.
On the beast’s back, figures of people could be seen.
They looked like insects clinging to the massive beast, but the Dimensional Power radiating from them was formidable.
One of them knelt on one knee with a hand placed on the beast’s back, while the others stood encircling him.
Thud!
The bomb bag Dohyeon had thrown struck the face of the revealed dimensional larvae and fell downward.
“Damn it!”
Dohyeon, who had covered his eyes from the sudden burst of light, cursed when he lowered his hand and saw the scene before him.
He was just a little, just a little too late. It was a matter of mere seconds.
As Dohyeon cursed himself for being late, he saw the bomb bag falling down.
He had to try anyway. Dohyeon pressed the switch on the detonator he was holding.
Boom!
The bomb exploded with a tremendous burst of flames.
The bomb, with more than twice the power of TNT, exploded right in front of the dimensional larvae. Flames swept over its face, and the heat surged all the way to where Dohyeon was.
However, when the flames cleared, the dimensional larvae’s face showed no signs of burns. It seemed completely ineffective.
“Enemy! We have an enemy inside!”
The Empire’s Awakened realized that Dohyeon and his group had infiltrated due to the explosion.
The Awakened on the beast’s body quickly became alert, and some of those guarding the entrance rushed toward Dohyeon and his group.
Awakened soaring into the sky, soldiers opening fire, and Awakened charging at tremendous speed. Except for the soldiers, all of them were Awakened on par with or stronger than Dohyeon.
“Can we even escape?”
Dohyeon made a grim face as he blocked the bullets raining down with steel plates.
“If we can’t escape, we have to fight.”
Hyangseol spun her spear once and took a stance. Strong determination was visible in her eyes.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Scratching his head at Hyangseol’s words, Dohyeon began to draw out his Dimensional Power. If they had to fight, they had to give it their all.
“I don’t know if it’ll help, but……”
Samantha smiled as she summoned light atop her hand.
It was then.
A low sound resonated throughout the hall.
Buuuuung~
A vibration, like a deep horn, shook the inside of the hall.
Everyone froze. Their eyes turned toward the source of the sound.
The eyes of the dimensional beast were slowly opening.
“Damn it, the queen is waking up!”
Judas shouted, his face twisted in frustration.
Even though he was still pouring Dimensional Power into the queen’s Dimensional Core, there was no way to stop her from awakening.
They had only been able to subdue her initially because they had weakened her over the course of a month. Now, with the queen having recovered her stamina and Dimensional Power while asleep, putting her back to sleep was impossible.
Judas clenched his teeth.
If their Dimensional Power was pushed back now, the queen of the larvae would rampage through the capital.
It would be like having their own throats cut by the sword they had prepared to kill their enemy.
He couldn’t let that happen.
“Activate the Warp Zone as fast as possible! I’ll somehow hold off its movements until then!”
Judas’s voice echoed throughout the hall, and he focused all his Dimensional Power, which had been enveloping the Dimensional Core, on restraining the larvae’s movements.
If they couldn’t stop it from waking up, they had to at least stop it from moving.
As Judas’s Dimensional Power shifted, the dimensional larvae’s eyes finally opened wide.
Judas’s message from the Warp Zone’s control room turned the already chaotic control center into complete pandemonium.
“Warp Zone activation has begun! It’s the first operation after the modifications, so it needs a warm-up period!”
“Cut it down as much as possible! We’re only going to use it once anyway!”
“The dimensional energy in the Warp Zone is unstable due to the dimensional larvae’s spatial movement shockwave. It’ll take time to stabilize!”
“Tell the Awakened to pour out their Dimensional Power! Scrape it all out to the last drop! If anyone’s still standing after the operation, I’ll kill them myself!”
Reports from the operators poured in, and the general commanding the control room barked out unreasonable orders.
Everyone knew it was a race against time.
They had allowed the enemy to breach the Warp Zone building’s interior, and the Warp Zone itself had almost been destroyed. On top of that, no one knew when the dimensional larvae would break free from Judas’s control.
They desperately worked to activate the Warp Zone.
The President clenched his fists and watched over the control room.
It was something Judas had barely managed to achieve. They couldn’t afford to fail now.
Judas, his younger brother and the comrade who had helped him rise to power. He had been an ordinary bureaucrat, but thanks to Judas, he had reached his current position.
Judas, once a mere assassin-type Awakened, had become an A-rank Awakened over a decade ago and awakened the ability to subdue dimensional larvae. From that moment, Judas became the Empire’s most important Awakened, and he himself was able to advance to the core of the regime.
Afterward, he rose to the position of President, and his brother became an S-rank Awakened.
Upon reaching S-rank, Judas captured dimensional larvae one by one and sent them to research centers, eventually learning of the existence of the larvae queen. Since then, he had traveled the world in search of that queen.
Trusting Judas, the President gave him full support.
Years of time, manpower, and constant whispers behind their backs.
All of it had now turned into an opportunity for a reversal.
They could not miss it. The President slammed the armrest of his chair with his clenched fist.
Boom!
A tremendous explosion echoed from the Warp Zone building.
Awakened fighting on the road a little away from the building turned their startled eyes toward it.
One side of the building’s wall was collapsing. It seemed to be the result of the explosion just moments ago.
And once again, an explosion resounded.
A pillar supporting one side of the building crumbled. As the pillar fell, the surrounding dome near the burst wall also collapsed.
The inside of the building was now exposed.
Inside the half-collapsed building lay a giant dimensional larvae, its body covered in gray light.
The dimensional beast was writhing, but for some reason, it was not moving from its spot. Instead, energy orbs formed from Dimensional Power were being created around its body and shot out in all directions.
Now, there was no wall to block the energy orbs. The fired Dimensional Power orbs struck the heart of the capital’s downtown. Multiple buildings were caught in the blasts and shattered into pieces.
Debris rained down on the Awakened fighting below, and they scattered to avoid the falling rubble.
Yonghoon checked the Awakened gathered around him.
A few Awakened were missing.
Awakened who had come from Europe for support and government-affiliated Awakened. They had lost their lives in that brief moment.
Fortunately, thanks to the Crazy Team members sticking together, there were no severely injured among them.
‘Are we too late?’
That was Yonghoon’s first thought upon seeing the beast.
Judging by the explosion from inside before the wall collapsed, it seemed Dohyeon had at least managed to throw the bomb.
But seeing the beast now, it seemed they had been too late after all.
A giant dimensional beast visible through the collapsed wall. It appeared to be the queen they had heard about.
However, the Warp Zone had not yet been fully activated.
For some reason, the dimensional beast was awake.
Before the Warp Zone could be activated, they had to either drive the dimensional beast out of the Warp Zone or destroy the Warp Zone itself.
That was when it happened.
Yonghoon heard Dohyeon’s half-crying voice through his earpiece.
[This is Dohyeon! I was too late. If I had been just a little faster!]
Dohyeon seemed to be in the middle of a battle. Amidst his voice, collision sounds and explosions could be heard.
[The dimensional beast woke up from the shock of the bomb. But it can’t move. Judging by the people on its back, it seems they’re doing something, but we can’t approach because of the Awakened. Damn it!]
Dohyeon’s tearful voice quickly returned to normal, and he spoke rapidly, ending with a curse and a loud explosion.
When Yonghoon looked around, it seemed everyone had heard Dohyeon’s report. The Awakened gritted their teeth and raised their weapons.
Now that the enemies were scattered and the beast was rampaging, this was their chance.
Yonghoon shouted loudly.
“Charge again in wedge formation, break through no matter what!”
With Yonghoon’s command, the fewer than ten remaining members started running forward.
The scattered enemies, startled by the sudden movement of the Awakened, rushed at them like a swarm of bees.
They, too, were desperate. They had no intention of letting them into the building.
Although more of their comrades had died in battle than the group’s members, the number of Awakened blocking their way had increased thanks to reinforcements.
However, there was a variable.
One of the Dimensional Power orbs fired by the dimensional beast fell in front of the group.
While the group running toward the building could spot the incoming orb, the Empire’s Awakened could not notice the mass of light flying toward them from behind.
Most of the Awakened blocking the group were caught in the explosion and vanished.
The flames engulfed the Awakened and surged toward the group, but Yonghoon’s dimensional tunnel deflected most of the flames elsewhere, and the remaining heat was blocked by Eunseo’s shield.
The group was able to remain unscathed.
They pushed through the flames and sprinted forward. They would soon reach the building.
But those hopes were dashed by dozens of beams flying in from the side.
Yonghoon hastily opened a dimensional tunnel to teleport some of them, but many beams passed by the tunnel and struck Eunseo’s shield.
Eunseo’s shield, which had withstood several beams, finally shattered.
“Kugh!”
Eunseo coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground. It was a dimensional power backlash from the impact.
“If the cannons don’t work, use rifles. If rifles don’t work, use shotguns.”
Jack, the white-haired S-rank Awakened, extended one hand with a mocking grin. He, too, seemed to have been caught in the beast’s attack.
Beside him lay the bloodied body of a fallen female Awakened.
Jack was covered in burns as well, but as expected of an S-rank Awakened, his wounds were healing rapidly.
Yonghoon’s dimensional tunnel could not block all of the recent attack. If they took another hit like that, more than half of the Awakened besides himself would be killed.
They had to prevent the enemy from using their abilities.
“Run forward! I’ll handle him!”
Yonghoon broke formation and charged at Jack.
“Ho, one-on-one? I like that!”
As Yonghoon charged, Jack greeted him with a delighted expression.
Victory or the death of his adjutant seemed of little importance to Jack. For him, his own amusement came first.
Yonghoon’s sword tore through the air, and Jack’s beam cut across the void.
An explosion erupted.
Leaving the explosion behind, Grace stepped forward to replace the fallen Eunseo.
They could not waste this opportunity.
Ignoring the fallen Eunseo, she raised her shield and sprinted forward, with the other Awakened following behind her.
They stepped over the debris of the destroyed wall and entered the building.
But they had to stop again. Another group of Awakened appeared before them.
They were the ones who had originally blocked the entrance. Some had chased after Dohyeon’s group or been caught in the beast’s attack, but many were still guarding this place.
And the Awakened who had survived the beast’s assault approached from behind.
Before they knew it, the group was standing back-to-back, facing the enemy in a circle, surrounded.
Grace and the other Defense-type Awakened were desperately blocking the enemy’s attacks, but unlike Eunseo, they could not break through the encirclement.
Inside the circle, Sunhee looked around.
She saw her companions desperately holding off the enemy, and behind them, Eunseo lying abandoned on the ground.
And Yonghoon, fighting the enemy while leaping over the ruins of the destroyed building. It looked like a scene from a movie featuring heroes and villains.
Sunhee turned her gaze forward again. She saw the giant beast.
An S-rank dimensional beast. A gray beast several times larger than an A-rank monster. A beast that looked so mighty it seemed nothing could even make it budge.
But here, she was the only one with even a sliver of a chance.
“Will you be alright?”
Major Sunhee’s worried voice reached her, but saving her family and the world was at stake. She could endure this level of risk.
“I have to do my best.”
Sunhee answered with a determined expression, and soon after, her face turned expressionless as she melted into the air.
Due to the intense battle, the Awakened could not detect Sunhee’s invisible movements. Having broken through the encirclement, Sunhee sprinted toward the dimensional beast at full speed.