The Power Plant Wasn't Supposed to Be This Way
My heart started pounding like it was trying to punch its way out of my chest.
This was the first time since falling into this other world.
A monster. An elf. Even a tree had come and gone.
...
It was Korean.
I roughly ripped off the moss that had clung to the rusted steel plate, and the letters six in number appeared on its surface.
[Energy Power Plant]
I ran my fingertips over the plate.
Suddenly.
Crack.
A brief jolt of electricity grazed my fingertips.
“...?”
For just a moment, my vision blurred.
White work uniforms.
Blue helmets.
‘Overvoltage on Line 3!’
‘Shut down the core!’
Dozens of people running around...
Just a flash.
Once I snapped back, all that remained was a dusty ruin.
“... What was that just now?
“Ara-nim?”
Heibrin turned to me.
“... Why are you so serious?”
“...”
Instead of answering, I slid my finger over the plate once more.
Since entering this bizarre Gate, the sudden appearance of Korean had been utterly unexpected.
“We should take the lead. We don’t know what kind of danger lurks here.”
Leading the expedition was Heibrin, bowstring already drawn tight with a vigilant stance.
Following behind, I examined the letters etched on the wall. The surface had worn smooth from centuries of erosion. It had to have been at least a century old.
The thick steel door groaned open with a squeak.
CRUMBLE—
A cloud of ancient dust poured down all at once.
The inside was far larger than expected.
Thick cables snaked along the ceiling.
Rusted iron stairs.
Shattered control panels.
A massive crane dangling from the ceiling rail.
And in the center, filling the entire space—a colossal cylindrical structure.
“...”
It was a power plant.
Anyone could see it.
A power plant.
The elves trembled violently at the sight of this cold mechanical civilization, as if they had witnessed some forbidden ancient mage’s laboratory. But to my eyes, it was simply a giant high-voltage keyboard.
Heibrin’s gaze was locked on the subtle vibrations and eerie noises leaking from the metal walls.
“Here... the earth spirits are screaming. It must be some terrible ancient curse that seals and exploits the spirits.”
Scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes, Heibrin explained. Beside her, Ibrin cautiously touched the distribution panel on the wall with her fingertips and furrowed her brow.
“... No. It’s not weeping. Something is flowing.”
“... Flowing?”
“Different from the pulse of life. Cold. Orderly power.”
“Eh, um......”
It was just electrical wiring and the remains of a 220V transmission line.
I gave up trying to explain. Heibrin and Ibrin both looked way too serious for something so mundane. Better not drag it out.
“Just leave it alone. It won’t explode.”
“E-Explode?! You mean this enormous curse mass might actually explode?! Everyone, be on your guard!”
Heibrin jumped, nocking her arrow. Ibrin gripped the hem of my robe and asked with a deathly pale face.
“Ara-nim... You truly understand the structure of this place?”
“Well... It’s like a giant high-voltage keyboard, easy enough.”
“Ke... keyboard...? The true name of some ancient spirit?”
Our conversation wasn’t connecting at all.
Staring at the endless wires running along the walls, Heibrin added solemnly once more.
“Look, these strange patterns flowing along the walls...! There is definitely a trace of evil magic!”
I wanted to say it was just leftover construction wiring, but the words died in my throat. It would only sour the mood.
The farther we walked toward the central control room, the more discarded piles of scrap metal littered the floor. They had once been humanoid robots responsible for security, but now, with power cut off, they stood perfectly still as inert scrap.
And finally, in front of the main computer console.
By some miracle, a monitor with a trace of residual power left recognized my biological signal and popped up red log records with a beep.
[AD 2177. October 14. Last Record]
2177? Far beyond the 2047 I had lived in.
The text carved into the screen in log format carried a deep sense of despair.
“... This is humanity’s last hope. ... Leaving behind a dying Earth, we tore through dimensions and arrived here. We have begun a project to gather the power of the local lifeform and colossal energy being known as Erkion.”
“... The medium is complete. But his counterattack is expected to be... Please, just hold on a little longer. The moment this device activates, we will possess infinite power...”
The record ended abruptly with bloody smears.
Some data had been lost in the middle, the characters shattered, but the situation was clear.
Humans had tried to capture the ‘Erkion’ they called a god and turn him into a massive battery, but the sealing had failed and he had slaughtered them all.
This was exactly why Erkion hated and feared this ruin so much, calling it “impurity.” It had been the terrible trap meant to turn him into a battery.
CRACKLE, CRASH!
The monitor shattered roughly, accompanied by a strange thunderclap that hit my skull.
Unknown memories began fragmenting and pouring into my mind.
“I finally found it! Please, succeed...!”
Alongside a scientist’s blood-curdling scream, the complex operating principles of the power plant were forcibly forced into my brain cells.
“Ugh, ugh...!”
A headache that felt like my skull was splitting. The bizarre sensation of the ruin syncing with my very existence pressed against my temples as I muttered it out.
“Agh, seriously... If you’re going to tell me, just spit it out in text!”
Sweat pouring down, I finally managed to regain my senses. The puzzle pieces in my head started interlocking and turning.
To wake this massive power plant again, I needed a power source on par with divine might. And the ‘medium’ left behind by humanity was still intact in the core room.
If I could draw in Erkion, I could seal him through the medium and activate the power plant to seize overwhelming electricity.
Just once.
If he was watching us, the moment the ruin stirred, he would descend and unleash his lightning personally.
Then I would take his real lightning head-on with my body as a conductor and pour it straight into the medium.
If I succeeded, Erkion would no longer be a god, but a perfectly nutritious, massive battery I would be responsible for for the rest of my life. Of course, I would need a ‘vessel’ capable of enduring his lightning.
I immediately headed to the main core room.
Surrounding the transformer center, blue crystal-like structures that the lizards had abandoned as bombs were stacked in towers around the core.
[Rarity / Grade]
Form of crystallized powerful energy. Explosive risk upon impact.
These were the pure divine power humans had once harvested from Erkion.
Ibrin, who had been surveying the surroundings, stared intently at the blue crystals and tilted her head, murmuring softly.
“Strange...
“What?”
When I asked, Ibrin placed her hand on a crystal and continued.
“... It’s not alive.”
Heibrin, too, looked at the crystals with a solemn expression and nodded.
“Correct. Neither sacred nor cursed.”
I laughed.
“In short.
I lifted the crystal.
“It’s a battery.”
If the diary entry was true, then the very Erkion that creature wasn’t a god at all—it had simply mistaken a “colossal energy lifeform” for one. Of course. The reason it felt like “impurity” was probably tied to the lizards’ plan.
“All right, then... Let’s taste a bit of it.”
When I picked up the energy crystal stacked in the center of the core room, Ibrin backed away cautiously, terrified.
“... Why are you suddenly smiling so terrifyingly, Ara-nim?”
“Ara-nim, it’s dangerous! That crystal—its magical power is unstable and could explode...!”
CRACK!
Before Heibrin’s warning could even finish, I bit down on the energy crystal and swallowed it. The overwhelming heat that poured through my veins was on an entirely different level from the convenience-store batteries I had eaten before, crashing through my blood vessels like an explosion.
“... You eat that? The power that might blow up and kill you?”
An arrow fell from Heibrin’s hand. Ibrin’s eyes widened and she froze like a statue right there.
“A... Aaaaaah!”
Every single cell was destroyed and recombined, magic converted into electricity.
[Power Charging...]
[Charging at 60%... 85%.... 90%...]
[Capacity reached 100%. Body synchronization complete.]
[Charging capacity exceeded limit.]
CRACKLE! CRASH!
Blue lightning shot out in all directions, scorching the entire control room white.
In the eyes of the faded elves, my silhouette had been driven in as the silhouette of a great spirit king—or something far greater.
When I opened my mouth, the smell of charred flesh filled the air, but the corners of my lips curled upward.
“Kyahahah! The next taste of divine power will be even better, right?”
***
Outside the ruin.
The colossal being floating in the sky—Erkion—looked down below with an annoyed gaze.
“Disgusting ruin.”
It seemed the lizard bastards hadn’t handled things properly. They were supposed to destroy the ruin that was suppressing its power to recover its original divinity.
Just as I was thinking that...
CREAK, CREAK, CRASH!
Accompanied by a heavy rumble, the entire ruin began to shake slowly. The tower of the ruin opened, revealing a colossal sphere. And atop that sphere stood a human figure breathing arrogantly.
“Human, you were told to destroy the ruin. What are you doing?”
“To destroy the ruin, it looks like the sphere needs the god to lend some strength.”
“... I see. The crime of daring to deceive a god—die.”
CRUMBLE, FLASH! CRASH!
White lightning tore through the air and struck the human’s forehead exactly.
“Uwaaaah!”
The form collapsed limply along with a tearing scream.
Erkion smiled satisfiedly and turned his gaze away, thinking he had simply swatted away one foolish bug.
***
“Grrraaaah....!”
Amid the horrific pain that burned my entire body down to the molecular level, I pressed my hand against the ground.
[Erkion’s lightning recognized.]
[Powerful energy detected. Power conversion beginning!]
[Charging rate: 100% → 250% → 500%...!!]
I had to endure it. I had to push the overwhelming overcurrent contained in my body straight into the core through the sphere in the tower!
Reaching out as I took the god’s lightning into my own body, a torrent of lightning gushed into the colossal sphere.
[Current supplied to core. Some dormant functions beginning to wake!]
Caution: Do not let go of the hand!
UUUUUUMMMMM—
It connected!
The sphere that had swallowed the god’s lightning began to spin with a mad roar and exploded in blue light. The 2177 human project of hope—the final hope of mankind—finally opened its eyes to end this monster.
I raised my head with difficulty, spitting black smoke mixed with blood toward the sky.
“How dare you... steal my power!”
The first time, clear fear was mixed into Erkion’s voice that shook heaven and earth.
I hid the twisted corners of my mouth and laughed at the god in the sky.
“Thanks.
“You needed this much power, after all.”