Chapter 194

The gate through which Sung Ilhwan had appeared was slightly different from the ones that Suho had seen so far. Most gates were round. Their size could differ, of course, and their shapes could be distorted, but they were usually “holes” in the air. The one that his grandfather had come through, on the other hand, was a literal rift—it was as though a rough tear had been made in the wall of this dimension, shaking and undulating unsteadily.

It’s the same

as the sky I saw from the Glacier Dungeon,

Suho thought. The sky of the Glacier Dungeon had been torn apart by countless rifts. Though this was on a much smaller scale, Suho found that the sights were similar.

“Just so you know, this is not an ordinary dungeon,” Ilhwan muttered gravely, walking side by side with Suho toward the gate.

Greed, the former high priest of the Itarim, as well as Iron, who had been an ordinary priest, followed behind them. They began to offer up what they knew.

“Young Monarch, here in Yangpyeong, multiple field-type dungeons were left untouched on purpose,” Greed said.

“Those dungeons slowly broadened until they combined into one,” Iron added.

“When that happens, the rift distorts even more, worsening the tear in the dimensional wall. Like this.”

This phenomenon was referred to as “dimensional combination” or “dimensional acceleration.” Such difficult words were not necessary, however. Beru, Suho’s personal tutor of sorts, put it in very basic terms.

“It works very simply. Say a single gate is a dot. You connect two dots, and they become a line. And when you connect three or more dots... They became a plane, like a flat surface,” Beru explained, glaring at the gate right in front of them. “And when you add a spoonful of Itarim shenanigans, you get this, it seems—an artificial gate that heads into the void.”

“The void?” Suho repeated.

“Yes. He’s referring to the dimensional rift,” Greed added.

Dungeons were worlds in different dimensions, those apart from Earth. Gates were portals that connected such dimensions. The “void,” then, was the space in between the dimensions.

“Nothing exists in the void. Nothing

can

exist,” Beru said.

The world that Jinwoo had wandered aimlessly, searching for the Monarchs with his shadow army, was right beyond this gate.

“That is why the Church of the Outer Gods also refers to it that way: the ‘void.’”

To Beru’s words, Greed added, “The ultimate goal of the Church is to spread these ‘void gates’ all over Earth, and in the end, create a supermassive gate that connects directly to the outer universes.”

Adding two former priests of the Church to his soldiers meant Suho had ready access to internal information.

“The reason the Church built their chapel here in the first place was because the statue needed to be built near the gate,” Ilhwan muttered. “It was so the mind of the Itarim could be connected to it—”

“W-wait,” Esil said, grabbing the old man’s clothes from behind with a grave look on her face. “Does that mean there might be Itarim inside this gate? Are you sure about going in there without any preparations?”

Ilhwan smiled indulgently and patted her on the head. “That’s not the case. I’ve already been inside, remember?”

“Combining three or four gates is not enough to reach the Outer Universes.”

“If it had been, the Itarim would have attacked us already.”

As they discussed, Ilhwan suddenly coughed up more blood.

Suho finally realized what was happening to his grandfather’s body.

If a single Star Fragment is a gate, and a gate is a dot, and two are a line,

and there are dozens inside him...

A “void” was forming inside Ilhwan’s body.

Suho voiced his thinking. “A void gate is trying to form in your body...”

“Heh. Yes, you understood very quickly. I am a gate on legs, so to speak. At this rate, my body will be torn apart and turned into a dimensional rift,” Ilhwan said.

“Let’s hurry on inside,” Suho said gravely, stepping into the gate.

Though it would only be a temporary solution, there was only one thing they could do immediately. In order to prevent a dimensional rift from forming inside Ilhwan’s body, they would have to enter one themselves.

And so they passed into the void through the ominous, rippling gate. A bizarre and distorted world opened up before them. They saw a distant horizon and a landscape that was chaotic and wavering. This was the dimensional rift—the void.

“Beru,” Suho muttered, gazing outward.

“Yes?”

“Is this the place that my father wandered for dozens of years?”

“Yes, it is. In order to find the worlds of the Monarchs, such as the Grave of the Dragons, he was forced to wander about and seek a path.” Beru nodded heavily as he spoke. “In hindsight, the journey was long, seemingly without end. He once told me that he felt like he was traveling through an endless desert.”

“A desert...” The words filled Suho with emotion, rendering him speechless.

Ilhwan also bit his lip and muttered, “So this is where my Jinwoo...”

This was the empty world that his son, Jinwoo, had wandered for decades in order to protect the world. It was hard to describe how he felt as a father, having set eyes on this place long after the fact.

Despite how they felt, however, and much to their relief, the unstable rippling in Ilhwan’s body completely disappeared the moment they entered the void.

Greed, who had been in the exact same position, seemed very happy to see this. “This is the reason that it is safest for the high priests of the Church of the Outer Gods to stay here at all times, if they can. Brief visits outside are not a problem, but when one has used too much of the power of the Star Fragments, one must rush back inside. Otherwise, our bodies could be torn apart,” he explained.

Suho studied Ilhwan again. “Grandfather, how do you feel now?”

“I feel fine.” The old man, who had seemed ready to pass out at any moment, suddenly seemed perfectly healthy again. All the potions that he had drunk were finally taking effect.

“But that also means that you will have to continue to spend time here,” Beru said, tears in his eyes.

Suho turned to Greed and Iron. “Is there no way to tear the fragments out of his body?”

“That would be quite dangerous. It’s not just a couple of stones... He was set to be a high priest, so he has many fragments all throughout his body...” Greed muttered.

“What if I have him stay in my shadow?” Suho asked.

“The shadow world is also a dungeon. For his safety, it is best that he stays within the void,” Beru said.

“Hmm...” The conclusion did not seem to change, no matter how they approached the problem.

Ilhwan did his best to chuckle and lift the mood. He patted Suho on the back.

“Heh. Don’t take it too seriously. Jinwoo floated around the void for decades. I think of it as a vacation. I’m worried that your grandmother will be worried, but apparently short trips outside are possible as long as I don’t use mana. So no problems there. Speaking of which, I should go see her now.”

“Oh, Grandmother!” Suho cried. He had just recalled his grandmother and aunt, who were probably still at the association and waiting for them anxiously.

***

“H-honey!”

“Father!”

A crowd was waiting for Suho and Ilhwan when they returned to the association’s Yangpyeong branch. Suho’s grandmother and aunt jumped into Ilhwan’s arms with tears in their eyes.

Suho turned around and looked at the association’s hunters, who seemed to be readying themselves for some kind of war.

“Mr. Sung, welcome,” Jaehyuk said. He had gathered together all the available hunters of the association for an attack on the black market. Burning with resolve, he approached Suho. “We have already interrogated the leader of this branch and figured out the situation. Will you come with us?”

“You’re always a minute too late,” Suho commented.

“Thank you very— I mean, what?”

“It’s all over.”

“What? I’m not sure I follow...”

“I’ve killed those I needed to kill, and the rest are all in custody.”

Jaehyuk seemed confused, and Suho felt embarrassed by this reaction. He had already killed every demon in the black market for experience points.

The hunters who had been using the black market had all been arrested by the association’s hunters. Jaehyuk explained that because they were being charged with tax evasion, rather than for acting as villains, they would be fined heavily.

The most important step of this entire incident now remained.

“All the Stardust necklaces that have been sold are going to be confiscated by the association. The same goes for the Fragments that were found in the black market,” Jaehyuk said.

“What will be done with them? You must realize that the association is partly responsible for this situation,” Suho said.

“Well, Mr. Woo is still in North Korea at the moment, and we will need to figure out the specifics—”

“Mr. Woo, huh?”

Jaehyuk suddenly felt a chill.

“How trustworthy is the association?” Suho continued.

Suho’s dark eyes almost seemed to be sucking Jaehyuk into some kind of dark pit. But for some reason, the heaviness in the air was immediately lifted, and the young hunter smiled. “Why don’t we do things this way instead?” he asked.

“How?”

“The association has lost trust, and I have dealt with the black market. I will be taking the Star Fragments myself—as well as the necklaces that have been retrieved.”

“Wait, that’s not—”

“I am not asking.”

The quiet energy Suho gave off left Jaehyuk at a loss.

***

And so Suho ended up taking every Star Fragment as well as the necklaces that had been distributed all over the country.

“Where am I going to use these, you ask?” Suho said as he immediately opened the shop window. “I’m going to sell them all for gold.”

“My goodness! What an amazing solution!” Beru said, deeply moved by his wisdom.

But this was far from the end of Suho’s plans. Because there were so many of these Fragments and necklaces, his gold balance, which had been close to empty for a while now, increased rather quickly. He immediately used this gold to purchase a bunch of potions—namely, mana potions.

“Huh? Not healing potions?” Beru asked. He seemed confused since he had assumed that Suho would try to find a way to help his grandfather.

“Healing potions are not enough,” Suho responded.

In the process of killing the demons in the black market, he had experimented to see whether the Fragments could be torn out without harming the subject. Every single attempt had failed, as every demon had died with a broken skull. In other words, healing potions could not save Ilhwan.

“I’m going to make the Life-Giving Elixir,” Suho continued.

Beru’s eyes widened.

Suho recalled the ingredients of the Life-Giving Elixir: Echo Forest Spring Water, a Fragment of the World Tree, and the Purified Blood of the Demon King. He had previously asked the dead Monarchs about the Fragment of the World Tree, and their responses had all been the same.

[Rakan shrugs.]

[Querehsha thinks hard and tilts her head.]

[Sillad explains that there is probably only one individual who knows the location of the World Tree.]

That one individual was the Monarch of Transfiguration, King of Demonic Spectres, Yogumunt. He had the ability to travel between worlds by opening gates, and he had probably been the only one who knew where to find the World Tree. But there seemed to be no way to speak to the Monarch since he was already dead.

Suho was frustrated, seemingly at an impasse, when he’d had an idea.

The final battle.

In that battle, Jinwoo, the Monarch of Shadows, had fought the most powerful Monarch of all, the King of Dragons. And how had the King of Dragons lasted so long? The Monarch of Transfiguration had aided him, opening countless gates for Antares’ army.

In other words...

“The King of Dragons might know something.”

[You have entered the Shadow Dungeon.]

Suho picked up Kamish’s Egg, which had been stored in a corner of the pyramid. Piling up a huge amount of potions next to him, he put one to his mouth and muttered seriously, “I am going to make this egg hatch within a day.”

And so Kamish’s Egg began to experience an incredible influx of mana that continued seemingly without end.