Gate Incident, Day 2, morning.
In front of Night Island, a legion of government officials had gathered.
Some of them were agents from the Supernatural Science Research Institute.
Research staff in lab coats, soldiers in gas masks, and several tanks all pointed their gun barrels toward the dungeon entrance.
It was supposed to be the bustling heart of Seoul, but near Night Island, not a single civilian was in sight.
Instead, only countless pieces of military heavy equipment were lined up.
Dr. Min, who was driving the car, frowned and spoke to me.
“What do you make of all this?”
“It’s… those are K9 Self-Propelled Howitzers. There are over ten of them, so it must be a whole Artillery Battalion.”
“They really sent a lot.”
“It’s a war, after all. It wouldn’t be strange if they moved an entire Military Division.”
I hadn’t thought we’d be able to carry out our plan in just one day, but this time, my expectations were wrong.
“Sometimes, the military moves surprisingly fast.”
Who would have thought that the plan we drew up at the Research Institute just last night would go into action in a single day.
I met Lieutenant Colonel Kim, whom I’d seen before, once again.
“You sure did a lot of prep, it seems?”
“Ah, yes. The Division Commander wanted to bring the whole division and surround the Gate, but we barely managed to talk him down.”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
“Anyway… the plan is simple. Dr. Lee, you’ll go inside the Gate and check whether the heavy equipment can be brought in.”
“Understood.”
“As soon as we confirm the K9 Self-Propelled Howitzers can enter, we’ll deploy all 18 of them and turn the area within a 401-meter radius into a heap of ashes.”
“Got it.”
The plan was just as the battalion commander explained earlier.
First, we’d clear out any remaining monsters, then explore the Relic, and finally, scatter the prepared organisms for Terraforming beyond the Gate.
“Dr. Min, are you ready?”
“Yes.”
The truck prepared in just a day by the Supernatural Science Research Institute.
Ant farms made like beehives, white ant nests, clover seeds, ivy seeds, several sacks of mushroom spores, all at the ready.
And, as I requested, several air blowers were aimed at the Gate, blasting wind inside.
“Let’s move.”
The Gate was trying to transform our world to suit the monsters.
If we want to survive, we have to send it right back.
I put on my gas mask and picked up my weapon.
In front of the Barrier surrounding the Gate, a handful of soldiers in hazmat suits were standing by.
Dr. Min followed with the observation equipment.
I turned on the radio.
“Ten of us will cross the Gate. Consider every living thing beyond the Gate hostile. If you find anything unusual, report it immediately.”
– This is Shapshalkae-1. Entering.
For this mission, our team was given the codename “Shapshalkae.”
Shapshalkae-1 through -8 were soldiers. I was assigned Shapshalkae-9, and Dr. Min was Shapshalkae-10.
Other than that, the soldiers said nothing.
We proceeded inside the Gate.
– Shapshalkae-10. Current air pressure inside the Gate is 94510. That’s lower than Seoul.
Meaning the air from Seoul was flowing into the Gate.
“That’s good.”
The air inside the Gate itself was full of contaminants, so this was much better than having that air flow out into Seoul.
“This is Shapshalkae-9. No hostile entities in the vicinity.”
– Shapshalkae-1 here. Sector search complete. Secured entry area for K9 Self-Propelled Howitzers. Currently requesting Artillery Battalion entry.
The Artillery Battalion’s soldiers crossed the Gate.
Red flags, meaning “already searched,” were staked all over the Relic site.
Our own howitzers started moving to designated positions, and Dr. Min and I stood at a safe distance from the artillery.
“What’s the next step?”
“Just as planned. We’ll drop Phosphorus Bombs and burn the forest. They’ll burn everything within a 364-meter radius centered on the Relic.”
“Will that work?”
I nodded.
It had to be done. The plant life inside the Goblin Gate was mostly toxic.
It was better to burn it all before it could spread to Seoul.
After everything was burned, we’d replace it with Earth’s plant life.
“With the high oxygen concentration, it’ll burn much more easily. Dr. Ryoo said so before. Do you know why atmospheric oxygen stayed at about 35% during the coal era…?”
“Yes.”
“There’s a theory that, regardless of oxygen production, wildfires kept atmospheric oxygen from exceeding 40%. When oxygen exceeds the threshold, everything on the surface ignites uncontrollably, which in turn limits the oxygen concentration.”
“Hmmm.”
“So to put it simply, compared to our world’s standards, fires here are likely to burn much, much more intensely.”
I picked up the radio in the shelter.
– This is Shapshalkae-1. Commencing bombardment.
We had to take cover before the barrage started.
Just being near the howitzers could get us hurt.
We hid behind a stone pillar at the Relic site.
“Looks like they’re about to fire…”
BOOM—
The sky cracked, and the earth trembled with the thunderous roar.
A few seconds later, the explosion where the shells landed reached our ears.
A literal rain of steel. Even just one barrage shook the earth, but soon, hundreds, thousands of shells would fall.
Until the entire forest burned to nothing.
***
The Ancient Ones left behind great structures in this world.
And a considerable number of Goblins were living inside the Relics the Ancient Ones had left behind.
The Relic where the Gate opened this time was one of them.
Even such advanced systems were not of Goblin origin.
The only reason Goblins managed to form communities beyond simple villages and tribes was because they studied and copied the culture and systems of the Ancient Ones, who have long since disappeared.
But not all the court culture of the Ancient Ones survived.
Because they were still Goblins, there were things they simply couldn’t imitate.
Anyway.
The group of Goblins didn’t understand the current situation.
The Goblin Lord’s Generals gathered before the Goblin Lord, buzzing with agitation.
The Goblin Lord, watching them, rolled his tongue between his jagged teeth, baring a threatening expression as foul saliva dripped from his mouth.
“What are you saying? The invasion force crossed into the enemy world just days ago. News will return soon enough.”
Among the Goblin horde, those corresponding to nobility were intelligent—intelligent enough to rival humans.
Goblin Shamans, Generals, and Knights. Thanks to them, Goblin society was able to maintain a system akin to a state.
“The humans of that world have already defeated our army in just one day and are preparing a counterattack.”
“How?”
“That’s not all. We haven’t gotten all the reports yet, but there’s a wildfire… near the gate the humans invaded…”
The monsters remaining in the fortress of the Ancient Ones stared out beyond the rotting stained glass at a far-off column of grayish-white smoke.
A catastrophe beyond their comprehension or ability to respond.
“Yes, that thing.”
“We must run for it.”
“To where?”
The Goblin Lord smashed the glass and peered outside.
This was no ordinary forest fire.
Dozens of smoke columns, like snakes, were advancing toward them.
As if some giant was hurling hundreds, thousands of stones.
What could cause such devastation?
It felt like witnessing a malicious earthquake or typhoon.
The beasts gazed upon the calamity with indescribable terror.
They couldn’t even grasp the situation.
“Run! Now!”
It was already too late.
Explosions erupted from the Goblin villages surrounding the Relic, and blinding white fire, bright as the sun, began to descend upon the monsters’ heads.
***
Everything progressed in a flash.
The plan devised by the Research Institute was to burn everything on the other side of the Gate. There were many reasons for this.
To create open ground, making it easier to use firearms; to prevent the Gate’s vegetation, spores, plant seeds, or microorganisms from crossing into Seoul; to destroy the monsters’ habitat.
That was the logic behind the plan.
Now the flames were spreading in all directions.
“Amazing… It’s spectacular.”
At least, from the human side, that is.
The forest surrounding the Gate had become a writhing mass of flames.
The horizon was shrouded in fire and smoke. The sky even looked pink from all the drifting ash.
I was determined to utterly destroy this world.
When I remembered how much trouble these things caused in my previous life, I still ground my teeth in anger.
“Kill or be killed—there’s no other choice.”
We would seed Earth’s vegetation here and change the nature of this world.
Just as the beings of this world tried to do in mine.
The sound of the howitzers firing still rang in my ears.
“Impressive. Are they just firing at random?”
“They use Drones to find targets and aim.”
The flames showed no sign of dying down.
Neither did the barrage from the howitzers.
It felt like several hours had passed, yet there was not a single pause—they kept firing shells non-stop.
“How many shells are they firing, anyway?”
“Probably several thousand.”
Still, it was better than having those shells fall in our world.
In my previous life, these creatures caused hundreds of casualties near Night Island on just the first day. As if that wasn’t enough, they hid in the sewers and kept attacking people.
Once, the structures blocking the Gate were destroyed, and the process repeated.
That time, it was truly a desperate situation.
But now, it was different.
We destroyed the Goblins’ forward base, and launched a preemptive attack on their home, burning the monster-infested forest to the ground.
The situation surrounding the Gate was already drastically different from my past life.
We had succeeded in the isolation and neutralization of the first Gate.
Such a small difference in early response had changed the whole situation.
Now, just as planned by the Supernatural Science Research Institute, agents in hazmat suits scattered earth from our world in all directions.
A whole truckload.
As mentioned before, it was to inoculate the environment with Earth’s fungi and create an atmosphere composition similar to our own.
The soldiers seemed to be planning to use the Relic as a stronghold.
They set up sandbags and barbed wire around the Relic site, and a Barrier was erected.
At this point, most of what we needed to do beyond the Gate was accomplished.
“According to Dr. Ryoo’s opinion, we should do some geological drilling in the nearby area. There might be coal around here.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
You don’t always need specialized equipment to dig a test hole.
If Dr. Ryoo was right, a simple shovel would do.
Of course, if he was right.
After a while.
I borrowed a shovel from the soldiers building fortifications near the Relic and started digging in a suitable spot.
“What are you doing?”
“Digging. You should dig too, Dr. Min.”
“Oh.”
Dr. Min sighed, found a shovel somewhere, and started digging beside me.
If Dr. Ryoo’s theory was correct, this very layer of earth could be made of low-grade coal.
Coal might not be a particularly expensive natural resource, but considering that raw materials prices could skyrocket many times over—
Anything is better than nothing.
We dug the damp earth for a good while.
“Oh, Dr. Ryoo was right after all.”
“Really?”
We uncovered a pitch-black layer of earth.
Oh, looks like we’ve found a black mine.