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Ganghwan Realm (1)
A place where everything is mixed— the boundary between the surface and the abyss.
“…This is troublesome.”
The revolutionary, standing still and gazing at the cracks around him, muttered softly.
How did things end up like this?
Just a few years ago, everything was running smoothly.
Decades of planning were finally nearing completion, and he was merely waiting for the grand finale of a thousand-year scheme to begin.
But it all went awry starting with the resurrection of the Undead King, the first piece of the puzzle.
With greedy Marcos manipulating events to ensure the Fragment of the Undead King ended up with him, he was guided to offer everything he had as a sacrifice to complete it.
The Brokoslac Clan, which held another fragment, was in a similar situation.
In fact, it didn’t matter if either Marcos or the Brokoslac Clan led the successful fusion of the two fragments.
After all, the Undead King birthed from such a fusion would become an uncontrollable bomb.
“I intended to start a chain reaction, shaking the western lands beginning with the Talia Kingdom.”
However, that very Undead King began to act on his own, turning all the carefully laid plans into bubbles.
Having lost their base and in conflict with Yupeursi, the Brokoslac, that should have been absorbed by Obaifo, remained intact.
At the moment the church and kingdoms were about to join forces against the Undead King, Oldman, who planned to overthrow the Tulke Kingdom, merely waited for the right timing, only to be devoured by the infallible army.
Moreover, Nurabe, who had to descend from the Northern Mountain Range leading numerous monsters in response, was sliced down due to an ill-timed sacrificial elf encounter and the rapid intervention of the church.
“From then on, plans started going awry.”
It was a relief that the grand-scale sacrificial ritual and the opening of the abyssal gate, which he directly oversaw, went smoothly…
Had those failed, he wouldn’t have even been able to start anything afterward.
“On top of that…”
The revolutionary quietly closed his eyes, listening attentively to the sounds surrounding him amidst the noise that resembled grains of sand trickling down.
The sound of the world mixed in the noise.
That sound was informing him.
“…This is not good.”
The end of the great scheme that he had poured countless years into.
Even now, an overwhelming death—the identity of which he could not discern—was crawling towards him.
“Very bad.”
If he remained still like this, everything would come to an end along with his death.
He wasn’t afraid of death, but failing to accomplish his mission was a significant issue.
That he could never allow.
That was, after all, the reason he had lived until now and everything he cared about.
“I have no choice.”
It seemed he needed to make a decision before it was too late.
The revolutionary’s gaze turned to the side.
To the throbbing seed of madness, as if it would come to life at any moment.
*
Meanwhile, while Hans, who had devoted himself to research, finally presented his results.
Things were also progressing smoothly with the other avatars in their respective realms.
“It’s nice to meet you again. Let me formally introduce myself. I’m Yoon Ji-yoon, the head of the Southern Branch of the Korean Returnee Association in Seoul.”
“I’m Heinz II. Currently representing the blood alliance.”
“…Excuse me, but before we get into serious conversation, there’s something I’d like to ask. Recently, there’s been talk of a masked lunatic hunting down criminals every night. Do you happen to know anything about that…?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“…Is that so?”
Heinz II had been busy coordinating forces under him and establishing external collaborations between Earth and Auterica.
“Cough! There’s really no need for a lady to follow me around.”
“Ufufu—you might be surprised, but I actually have a fair bit of influence? I know my way around as well as have personal connections with the chiefs of various tribes. After all, I’m the daughter of the Great Chief!”
“Hahaha! That’s great! But we’ll be moving at quite a pace over a long distance. Are you sure you can keep up? Even for a Great Mage, it might be tough.”
“Ah! That’s… if it’s not too much trouble, could you carry me, Harley?… Hehe.”
Harley was working hard, with Misty’s cooperation, to unite the tribes as they toured the southern lands.
Additionally, the Hubert Association was in the process of transforming into the largest merchant group in the west, thanks to the overarching support from influential figures in various factions.
Meanwhile, Harris lounged around, keeping watch over the World Tree despite an extensive hunt for Lycanthropes continuing.
“Hesperon and Horus have been solely focused on training.”
One noteworthy point was that, feeling it was a waste to leave the overflowing manpower of the Undead army idle, some of them were redirected to resource development in the North.
Like a horrific, inhumane slave labor camp, dreadful mines sprung up throughout the Northern Mountain Range, with tireless Undead workers tirelessly mining rare ores.
And the minerals extracted were promptly provided to Howard the Dwarf, while the leftovers flowed into the Hubert Association, greatly aiding its growth.
“Due to that, Hubert inadvertently became a pawn for the Undead King planted among humanity. But well, as long as the executives accept it, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Of course, even if they didn’t accept it, it would have to be done, but it was likely that accepting it willingly would yield better results.
“Some aggressive executives even used Heinrich’s reputation as sacrificial material.”
They had ruthlessly eliminated power-hungry officials while operating the army of the Undead, intensifying humanity’s sense of crisis and uniting them more than ever.
Now, the only remaining task was to defeat the revolutionary of the Oath of Reversal, the root of all evil, and thoroughly crush the schemes he was concocting.
After that, it would be the endgame—the ‘final battle.’
“Of course, there’s still a lot to do in Auterica, but those can be done without concern for the endgame. Right now, I’m more intrigued by something else.”
Feeling excited, I stroked my chin and gathered my thoughts.
“The theory is perfect. All that’s left is to wait for the cooldown of ‘Dimensional Teleportation Circle’ and execute it.”
The ability to reach another world that was not the initial location of teleportation was undoubtedly an immense event.
There was only one world that Awakened Ones from all Earths could access.
Up until now, no one had ever mentioned any exceptions to that rule.
“Returnees don’t emphasize their originating dimension for nothing.”
Except for the first Unique Skill, the powers and additional skills they learned were all influenced by that world.
In simpler terms, one could not obtain magic-related skills in the Martial Arts World dimension, and vice versa.
“The Ganghwan Realm is completely different in nature from Auterica. I’m looking forward to what abilities I may gain.”
While waiting for the cooldown of the teleportation circle, I started researching the dimension I would soon enter.
When preparing for the first teleportation, I had gathered information without knowing where I would end up, but now that I knew the exact location, gathering information was incredibly convenient.
“Huh? This is… strange?”
However, during the investigation, I discovered something suspicious that made me frown unconsciously.
The number of dimensions revealed thus far was a staggering several hundred.
Typically, information on those dimensions is updated through returnees reporting to various associations upon their return to Earth.
Naturally, not everyone is honest in their reports, and many fail to report at all, but even so, the global tally is not something to be overlooked.
“Why is the recent return rate so low? No, the last update date is…”
But the most recent update for the Ganghwan Realm was a full year ago, from just one individual.
This meant nobody had returned for about ten years in terms of that world’s time.
“Even if there’s an unknown returnee like Salma… the Thousand Death Demon, this feels excessive.”
Looking at the statistics of returnees to the Ganghwan Realm confirmed my suspicions.
Being quite active since its discovery, it seemed to have consistently gained new returnees since the first appearance.
“Yet, at some point, their numbers began to plummet until it reached this stage.”
Several possibilities flickered through my mind.
Simply put, one could consider that for some reason survival had become challenging, resulting in total extinction.
-Dimension Name: Ganghwan Realm
-Registration Number: C-309BK
-Dimension Type: Martial Arts World
-Threat Level: Extremely high, survival priority
-······
At that moment, the database of the Returnee Association about Ganghwan Realm included such details.
Compared to Auterica, where the Demon King descended and the continent was engulfed in turmoil, which was rated ‘Quite high, caution advised,’ one could only speculate on what kind of nightmarish scenarios unfolded in the Ganghwan Realm.
I promptly lowered my gaze and examined the densely populated quality grounds for threat level assessments.
“…When I read Salma’s memories, I didn’t obtain this detailed level of information.”
Partially attributed to my focus on the disruptions with the Buncheon Society and the fusion of the abyss, his memories were likely riddled with destruction and massacre.
Additionally, while reading up on this association, I confirmed one of the reasons the Thousand Death Demon heightened the world’s danger.
“He wasn’t just boasting about the ‘fears of the Ganghwan Realm.’ But that’s not the only issue.”
Regardless of how self-proclaimed ‘fearsome’ he was, he was merely one individual.
Unless he could command an army like the Undead King to engulf the continent, the influence one could display alone is limited, even if they are in the Current Realm.
The assessment of the threat level in the Ganghwan Realm was a comprehensive crisis caused by various intertwined factors.
“However, that doesn’t resolve the mystery of the absence of returnees.”
Of course, danger could be one reason.
But no matter how I looked at it, the utter lack of returnees pointed to something more profound than mere danger.
Yes, for instance…
“At some point, Earthlings stopped being summoned there.”
If there hadn’t been any new entrants, it could adequately explain the current statistics.
Salma returned just within the 20 years the system warns about.
And the last official returnee from the Ganghwan Realm appeared about ten years ago in terms of that world’s time.
Considering that the average return timeline is around ten years, one could reasonably assume that their awakening and teleportation occurred roughly simultaneously.
“And that would be marking the end of the last teleportation in the Ganghwan Realm.”
Diving deeper into the information, I found that such dimensions weren’t entirely uncommon.
Higher risk levels like ‘extremely high’ and a rapid decrease in returnees often lead to a situation where no one knows anything afterwards, commonly referred to as a ‘closed dimension.’
“It just so happens that the newly developed dimension is one of those?”
By now, there would probably be no Earthling left in the Ganghwan Realm.
And just like prior dimensions, it would gradually be forgotten until merely a faint memory in the minds of a few returnees.
Not knowing the reason behind such occurrences left an uncomfortable feeling, which soon dissipated.
After all, such matters were of no real concern to me.
“How intriguing. A closed dimension…”
It heightened my pure curiosity and inexplicable intuition, urging me on.
There, surely, was an essential clue.
As I continued gathering information, time passed by.
Finally, when the cooldown for ‘Dimensional Teleportation Circle’ completely reset—
“Alright, let’s go!”
I sent forth a vanguard into that perilous world, the state of which I could not gauge.
“Ah… I wonder if the air will be better than here? Sigh, how did it turn out this way even with the barrier…”
Harris, the High Elf who had reached transcendence yet spent his days idly beside the World Tree.
《Achievement Unlocked! Entered a new world beyond the permitted realm.》
《As a reward for pioneering a new world across dimensions, the special right ‘Dimensional Teleportation Circle’ is enhanced. The cooldown that once lasted a day has now been reduced by half.》
《An immense impact was made on the world through this achievement. Karma has significantly increased.》
At long last, an experienced newcomer made their way to a new world…
No, to be more precise,
It was the moment a vast conglomerate, fully developed, extended into a collapsing alley market.
