Cough!
Yonghoon coughed up blood. It was the aftermath of pushing himself too hard.
Yonghoon dropped to one knee, but his eyes never left Sunhee.
The body of the beast that had been still straightened up. The beast was rising to its feet.
Sunhee, who had collapsed on the monster’s back, fell beneath its body as it stood.
A man approached the fallen Sunhee.
He held a spear and glared at her as if he were about to kill her.
“Who do you think you are! Ruining everything! My ten-year dream! All my hardships! My efforts! You turned them all to nothing!”
Judas’s face was twisted with rage. His hand gripping the spear trembled violently.
He was in a state of extreme Dimensional Power depletion. He could barely summon any power. But Sunhee, now just an ordinary human, could be finished off with a simple stab.
It was then.
Light began to rise from the ground.
And the final countdown echoed in his ears.
“9, 8.”
Judas let out a hollow laugh at the sound.
It was all over.
The contaminated larvae queen could no longer infect humans. Moreover, now that conventional weapons worked, they could simply nuke it if needed.
He should have fled quickly since he could still be transported, but he had already given up on everything. An assassin-type without a target was worthless.
Staring down at Sunhee, he raised his spear high.
A massive shadow loomed over his body.
Judas, bewildered, looked up.
Above his head, a dimensional larvae was gazing down at him-or rather, at Sunhee.
The dimensional larvae’s mouth began to open. Its sharp teeth gleamed under the light of the aurora.
Judas’s expression darkened. Maybe he should have run.
Determined to at least kill the Awakened who ruined his plans before dying, he thrust his spear downward.
At that moment, the space above Sunhee’s head rippled. From the trembling space, a hand shot out and yanked Sunhee away.
Sunhee vanished from Judas’s sight.
“Damn it!”
Judas cursed, stabbing his spear into the empty ground. Above him, the larvae’s head came crashing down.
Boom!
The massive larvae’s head slammed into the ground.
The tremendous impact shook the ground and sent vibrations rippling outward.
The pattern on the ground shattered, and the rising light disappeared. It seemed the Dimensional Movement device beneath the floor had been destroyed.
Silence fell over the building.
Then, thick threads began to spew from the body of the beast with its head buried in the ground.
But Yonghoon was no longer looking at the beast.
He gazed at Sunhee, who was cradled in his arms. Her pale face was relaxed, and she was breathing faintly.
Fortunately, her life didn’t seem to be in danger.
However, it was uncertain whether Sunhee’s now-normal body would be okay.
She had contaminated an S-rank Dimensional Beast while rampaging and had fallen from its body with an ordinary human frame.
She appeared fine on the surface, but he couldn’t help but worry.
Yonghoon felt the previously split Dimensional Power around him beginning to mend.
It was the Dimensional Power that had been severed along with space by Yonghoon’s spatial sword just moments ago. Thanks to that, he had been able to create a dimensional tunnel between the severed Dimensional Power and pull Sunhee out.
But now that the Dimensional Power had mended, spatial movement was no longer possible.
Moreover, the mysterious technique he had used earlier was now unusable in his current state.
His insides were a wreck from the Dimensional Power collision, and his reserves were severely depleted. Although the Dimensional Core in his hand was replenishing some power, his ability itself felt utterly drained.
As he stood there dazed, Yonghoon sensed Dimensional Power surging toward him.
Enemies.
Awakened who had survived the Dimensional Beast’s attacks were converging on him.
Yonghoon marveled at the sensations he was feeling.
His sensory range had expanded far beyond before. He could feel objects within it as if touching them with his hands.
He could sense his comrades, bloodied and fighting off enemies.
Grace, who had lost her shield, team leader Han, whose Dimensional Power was nearly exhausted, Jimin leaning against her broken spear, and a few Awakened from other nations he had briefly spoken with-six Awakened in total were standing back-to-back against the enemy.
Yonghoon’s senses continued to sweep outward.
He detected Eunseo collapsed on the street, and Dohyeon and Hyangseol lying on the hall floor.
Thankfully, they were all alive, but enemies were closing in on them.
However, Yonghoon couldn’t help them.
With one broken arm and a wrecked body, moving was no easy task.
‘Maybe I can use it one more time?’
Fortunately, he still had a little Dimensional Power left, but it didn’t seem very helpful in this situation.
Then it happened.
Boom!
An explosion erupted in the distance, sending smoke billowing into the sky.
It came from the direction of the last Warp Zone.
[Successfully destroyed the A Dimension Warp Zone!]
A joyful report came through to Yonghoon’s ears.
They had succeeded in their final objective. It seemed the Awakened and drones had succeeded while everyone’s attention was focused elsewhere.
Yonghoon raised a hand to his ear.
“The operation was a success. Good work, everyone. Begin your escape. Return to the island by your own means.”
It was irresponsible, but it was the best he could do.
He didn’t know how many would make it, but some would surely reach the island.
Yonghoon had already handed the Dimensional Core to Kangwoo.
If he didn’t make it back after this operation, Kangwoo and Robert would begin building a new Warp Zone using the Dimensional Core.
It would take considerable time, but eventually, the Awakened who reached the island would return safely to their original world.
Figures began to emerge from the wreckage around him.
They were Awakened with furious faces-all Awakened from this world, soldiers of the Empire.
Yonghoon chuckled at their expressions. If anything, they should be the ones angry.
But in the end, everyone cared most about their own pain. Glancing at the half-destroyed capital, Yonghoon felt strangely relaxed.
The aurora shone brightly overhead.
Yonghoon decided to stop fighting.
He gently stroked Sunhee’s face as she slept peacefully in his arms. Seeing her serene face brought a smile to his lips.
As he gazed at her for a while, Yonghoon felt something odd. The surrounding enemies weren’t moving.
When Yonghoon lifted his head, all the Empire’s Awakened were staring blankly in one direction.
Crackle!
From that direction, the sound of threads snapping began to echo.
Yonghoon turned his gaze toward where they were looking.
They were staring at the collapsed building that had housed the Warp Zone. The beast that had been inside was nowhere to be seen.
In its place, a massive cocoon had taken root, as if the larva had transformed into a cocoon.
Now, atop that cocoon, a white moth was breaking through and revealing itself.
It was slightly smaller than when it had been a larva, but still spanned dozens of meters.
The moth’s wings unfurled. Its wings, spanning over 100 meters, spread wide as it soared into the sky.
The moth climbed higher and higher, then let out a monstrous cry.
Kyaaaaaaah!
The moth’s scream, like a wailing cry, echoed across the sky.
The aurora in the sky grew even more intense.
The aurora, which had shone brighter than daylight, grew even stronger with the moth’s rising cry, and then, at some point, vanished from the sky.
Darkness fell over the heavens.
Yonghoon blinked in disbelief at the absurd sight. The stars hidden by the aurora now illuminated the city.
He stared blankly at the beautiful scene, then suddenly snapped to attention and looked around.
All the Awakened nearby were staring up at the moth floating in the sky.
And the eyes that had been covered by the gray barrier had returned to their original black and blue colors.
After staring blankly at the sky for a moment, they collapsed on the spot. No Dimensional Power could be felt from their bodies anymore.
They were no longer Awakened.
It wasn’t just them. The Dimensional Power that had been blocking spatial movement in the city had also disappeared. No Dimensional Power could be felt in the space anymore.
This phenomenon occurred throughout the entire city.
The eyes of those who had been gray returned to their original colors, and everyone’s powers vanished.
Not just London, but Paris, Berlin, every city in Europe and Asia-every human in this world reverted to being ordinary people.
And every monster in this world turned into nothing more than oversized beasts.
Through his expanded senses, Yonghoon seemed to understand what had happened. He looked up at the moth floating in the sky.
“So it was you who had been contaminating everything all this time?”
That moth was the progenitor of all Dimensional Beasts. Naturally, it too had been contaminating its surroundings.
Research Director Pasha’s theory had been wrong.
It wasn’t the separation of dimensions that had changed this world.
It had been that monster, caught up in the experiment, that was the cause.
As an S-rank beast with immense power, it had contaminated everything in this world, including the Awakened.
That was why auroras had continued to spread across this world.
And now, thanks to Sunhee, the contaminated world had returned to its original state.
“The reason we were fine was because of the Dimensional Cores.”
What had protected Yonghoon and the other Awakened in this contaminated world were the contaminated Dimensional Cores they possessed.
And the reason the Awakened who traveled to other dimensions remained safe was also because of their Dimensional Cores.
The giant moth floating in the sky stared straight at Yonghoon. No-at Sunhee.
It was a moth that had spent decades as a larva, mutated due to the dimensional experiment.
Thanks to Sunhee, its mutation had been undone, allowing it to rapidly transform into a moth, but the instincts of a beast attacked by an assassin-type could not be suppressed.
The giant moth began to fall toward Yonghoon and Sunhee.
Yonghoon stared at the moth plummeting toward him. Then he checked his Dimensional Power.
He had just enough to use his innate ability once. His opponent was now just a hulking beast, devoid of Dimensional Power.
However, he had no weapon to channel his innate ability into. The only thing he currently had was the Relic sword.
‘I have the sword.’
Yonghoon gently laid Sunhee down on the ground and gripped the sword in his hand. It was the sword that had been with him for a long time.
The sword that had led him all the way here.
“Thank you.”
Yonghoon poured his remaining Dimensional Power into the sword, which began to shine even brighter with a blue light.
Yonghoon lifted his head and looked at the moth.
His senses could clearly see inside the moth’s body. Without Dimensional Power, the moth could not interfere with Yonghoon’s spatial sword.
Yonghoon thrust his sword forward.
His sword disappeared into the shimmering air and reappeared inside the moth’s head as it plummeted toward Yonghoon.
And then-an explosion.
Boom!
The moth’s head exploded.
Moments later, the headless moth lost its sense of direction and began to stagger and fall.
In the end, the moth crashed onto Buckingham Palace. The entire palace collapsed under its massive weight.
‘Is it over?’
Yonghoon stared at the sword that was now just a handle, then collapsed to the ground. He pulled the unconscious Sunhee back into his arms.
A little later, atop the towering debris, team leader Han, Grace, and the surviving comrades began to appear.