The Dream World continent was bustling with activity.
The Nameless Blood Cult had truly revived.
All the previously competing factions had to set aside their grudges and form an alliance to respond.
Naturally, it was chaotic, and noise was heard everywhere.
And Lee Tae-sung, who had made great achievements, spent a busy time showing his face everywhere as a key member of the investigation team, building his reputation and making acquaintances.
And the same was true in reality.
***ding!***
**[Mission Success Reward: 34,000 SC has been granted.]**
**[Special Reward: You have acquired a ‘Dimensional Barrier Fragment’.]**
**[Special Reward: A reward necessary for the performer will be granted randomly.]**
**[You have acquired an ‘Ascendant Maintenance Ticket (10 minutes)’.]**
Lee Tae-sung, having finished one Hunter mission and returned to reality.
Even while doing the Nameless Blood Cult investigation quest in the Dream World, he found time to perform missions once in a while.
Other rewards were important, but above all, it was to stock up on Ascendant Maintenance Tickets.
There would come a time when he needed to summon Ascendants for a long period, but since the tickets were only for 10 minutes, even saving hundreds of them wouldn’t be enough.
That’s why since he had a bit more time just now, he completed five in a row.
“Hoo. Should I stop here for today?”
Now that he had even obtained the Black Lotus Divine Skill, the difficulty of missions as Lee Tae-sung perceived them had become even easier.
For elimination missions, he honestly had confidence in clearing them in under a minute, while troublesome quests involving puzzles, reasoning, tracking, and searching took quite a bit of time.
*’Still, doing missions consecutively is a bit taxing.’*
It wasn’t physical stamina but mental energy that was strained.
Especially the Black Lotus Divine Skill, no matter how much he purified it with Magma Essence and burned away the demonic energy with Heavenly Fire Holy Law Art, its roots were still connected to demonic techniques.
Using it continuously would inevitably accumulate fatigue from demonic energy little by little.
*’Maybe this will improve when my skill level gets a bit higher.’*
To summon Ascendants and exert power more freely, it seemed he would always have to put effort into training.
Lee Tae-sung approached the Access Device.
*’Well then, back to the Dream World…’*
That was the moment.
***-ttiririri***
The sudden sound of a phone ringing.
The caller was Manager Song Sang-yeop.
He roughly guessed why he was calling.
He was currently building a megafactory in China to use Japan’s trick against them, so it must be to update him on how things were going.
Lee Tae-sung immediately picked up his phone.
***-bbik***
“Yes, Manager. What’s the matter? Is it about the factory being built in China…”
“- T-Taesung Guild Leader! This is serious! The Dimensional Barrier has been breached again!”
“What?”
Manager Song Sang-yeop’s urgent voice.
The first thought that came to Lee Tae-sung was, *’That can’t be right.’*
“How can it be breached? It should be stronger than ever now.”
Lately, it was the time when Hunters were doing missions most diligently.
As it became known that special rewards came out of missions and directly strengthened skills, everyone was obsessed and participated in missions.
Stably performing two missions a month?
Working while maintaining work-life balance?
There was none of that.
Especially Korean Hunters.
Not only had the 1st stage elixirs been supplied, but they were also gradually starting to supply 2nd stage elixirs.
The quantity for overseas export was impossible due to the factory not being expanded yet, but quite a few Hunters had benefited from the domestic supply.
They pushed themselves to perform missions, and thanks to that, the supply rate of Dimensional Barrier Fragments was better than ever.
Especially Lee Tae-sung, who obtained several fragments a day and strengthened the Dimensional Barrier.
But how could it break?
“-I-I don’t know the reason. Suddenly, holes were punctured in several places of the barrier, and before the Rankers could block and repair them, monsters surged in like a flood and crossed the Gates.”
“I see… Understood. Please let me know once the locations of the Gates are confirmed. I’ll go support immediately.”
“-Thank you. Oh, and strangely, there are many places overseas where Gate incidents have occurred as well. It’s suspiciously many to be a simple coincidence… For now, I urge you to cancel any plans to go abroad.”
Manager Song Sang-yeop then hung up immediately, as if he had many urgent matters to handle.
The house fell silent.
Lee Tae-sung pondered over what Song Sang-yeop had said.
*’Gate incidents occurred overseas too? In multiple places?’*
Because the nation can’t be allowed to collapse, maintaining the Dimensional Barrier was what national leaders cared about most.
This was the same from places that defended liberal democracy like the United States to countries ruled by the most evil dictators.
If Gates suddenly opened and monsters and creatures burst out, how could the system of power be maintained?
To avoid chaos, it was kept a secret from the public that Gates could even appear in reality.
But the dimensional barrier collapsed and Gates appeared simultaneously?
*’The vanguard of the Outer Gods. Those bastards have pulled something.’*
There was no other answer.
A secret known only to Lee Tae-sung, Alex, and perhaps the Revelation Society he created.
If so, it couldn’t be responded to easily.
Who knew what power beings from beyond the universe could exert?
Earth, where no gods existed, would likely be defenseless against whatever they did.
However, there was one possibility to overcome that.
Lee Tae-sung decided to play his greatest card.
“Ascendant Summon.”
Please help me, Master!
—
Flame Emperor, Goeseung, Mad Demon.
When Lee Tae-sung used the Ascendant Summon skill, the threads of fate connected to him descended toward them.
At the threads of fate descending from the sky, three pairs of eyes moved simultaneously.
Flame Emperor and Goeseung knew what this was.
They could ride these threads of fate and go to Earth!
However…
“Why is there only one?”
Flame Emperor muttered.
Flame Emperor, Lee Tae-sung’s teacher.
Goeseung, who had been summoned once and later received a tablet as a gift.
Since both could be summoned by Lee Tae-sung, there should have been two threads, but there was only one.
The two exchanged quick glances.
*’It seems Taesung-nim used that summon skill only once.’*
*’Let’s tell him to use it again regardless of who goes.’*
*’Agreed. This time, I’ll go out and fully charge the batteries, and even plan to buy a few new tablets.’*
And at that moment, there was someone who moved first.
“Haah!”
The Mad Demon fluttered her martial robe and used Lightfoot Technique as fast as a beam of light to approach the thread of fate.
No matter how much of an Ascendant she was, without a connection, she couldn’t escape Cheonoecheon.
It wasn’t for nothing that Flame Emperor had been idly watching the Lower Realm for hundreds of years.
But the Mad Demon had the tablet she had stolen.
Even this alone created a connection with Lee Tae-sung.
“No!”
“Where are you going, benefactor!”
When Flame Emperor and Goeseung tried to chase a half-beat late, the red aura the Mad Demon spread covered them both.
It was powerful enough to split the world in half, but for Flame Emperor and Goeseung, an attack of this level was something they could laugh off and withstand.
At the same time, the Mad Demon even threw the tablet she was holding.
“Th-This crazy…!!!”
The two, startled, neutralized the power the Mad Demon had scattered and lunged to protect the tablet.
In that gap, the Mad Demon managed to grab the thread of fate.
A powerful gravitational force pulled her to the other side of the world.
Feeling that pleasant pull, she waved her hand.
“Ufufufu. Let’s meet next time. I hope you’ll come find me one by one by then. Even I find it burdensome to face two people at once.”
***-paat!***
With those words, the Mad Demon disappeared.
The nameless mountain in Cheonoecheon fell into silence in an instant.
Flame Emperor and Goeseung wore worried expressions.
“Damn it. What do we do, monk? Will Earth be okay?”
“…I don’t know. I hope she doesn’t break everything because she finds it amusing…”
Perhaps this could be more worrisome than the invasion of the Outer Gods.
—
***-jjeojeojeok!***
As soon as he used the Ascendant Summon skill, the air cracked like a glass window breaking.
It wasn’t very surprising since he had seen this phenomenon several times before.
Lee Tae-sung didn’t know whether Flame Emperor or Goeseung would come, but he was waiting to welcome them.
***-teok***
“?”
And then a white hand emerged from outside, and a figure smiled brightly and waved.
“Helloooo.”
“……???”
Lee Tae-sung was flustered when a woman he had never seen before appeared.
Moreover, her condition didn’t seem normal.
She was covered in wounds, and her splendid martial robe was dirty and torn in many places.
She looked as if she had come from fierce battle.
He had summoned Goeseung before when trying to summon Flame Emperor, so he guessed she was a resident of Cheonoecheon, but something felt off.
“Uh… Are you perhaps a close friend of Master Flame Emperor?”
“Close enough. Is Flame Emperor your teacher?”
“Ah, yes. You probably haven’t heard about me when you met him.”
“We weren’t in a situation to chat idly.”
“Hmm. I see.”
Lee Tae-sung nodded.
His master must have been too busy watching dramas since he took the tablet.
So probably, he didn’t get to talk about details.
“I summoned you with a special skill I have. This is the planet I live on, called Earth. My name is Lee Tae-sung.”
“I’m called the Mad Demon.”
The Mad Demon smiled widely.
It was a smile that looked so innocent.
“In return for calling me here, I’d like to do something for you. Is there anything you need?”
“Yes. There’s been some trouble in my country…”
Lee Tae-sung briefly and concisely told her about the vanguard of the Outer Gods and the Gate incidents.
The Mad Demon listened intently, then nodded after hearing everything.
“Wait a moment. I’ll take care of it and be right back.”
She disappeared from that spot in an instant.
What was obtained from the changed special rewards of missions were not simple skills or items.
Some Hunters.
To be precise, Hunters harboring strong darkness and selfishness in their hearts obtained the opportunity to connect with the Outer Gods.
“Succeeding in secretly making a hole in the dimensional barrier by following the god’s revelation. With this, I can become even stronger. Hehe.”
Choi Young-hoon trembled from the powerful force rising from deep within his heart.
The corrupted Hunters who, through special rewards, gained the opportunity to serve and contract with the Outer Gods.
They received and carried out tasks from the vanguard, and when they succeeded, they were granted power.
The task Choi Young-hoon received this time was to secretly make a hole in part of the dimensional barrier.
He received a special item to make it possible, and after a long period of work, he succeeded in making a hole in the barrier.
That was why monsters suddenly broke through the barrier and poured into the Gates.
Korea could have been thrown into chaos, but Choi Young-hoon didn’t care at all.
Choi Young-hoon, originally a Ranker-level powerhouse, felt that with this power he had just received, he had become stronger than most Rankers.
Indeed, it was right to serve the Outer God.
To think he could become so strong this fast!
“Puhahahaha! Now, there will be almost no rival for me in Korea.”
That was the moment.
“Helloooo.”
“?”
A bright voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
Choi Young-hoon was startled, but soon guessed what was going on.
“A Ranker with a tracking skill? I don’t know how you found out about my trick, but you came quickly. I guess I underestimated Korean Rankers.”
Choi Young-hoon turned around.
There was a woman wearing a martial robe.
“You came alone? Foolish. If you knew how strong I am now, you would never think of coming alone… What.”
“Blah blah, noisy.”
***-peok!***
Choi Young-hoon’s eyes bulged.
The Mad Demon’s hand had pierced a hole through his chest and stabbed his heart, so fast he couldn’t tell when she moved.
“Mmmm~. This feeling. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”
Her eerie red eyes grinned slyly.