The Portal Opens

Let’s think about the weights for a moment. Why on earth do the dwarfs live in this city? The average height of the laborer dwarfs is one meter. This city, built to human scale, was never meant for them. High stairs, high desks, high chairs. Everything had been obsessively sized for humans, yet the dwarfs lived here as if it were natural. And in this place I met people who claimed to be from South Korea. If I hadn’t experienced the [Event], I might have started believing this world was somehow connected to reality. But could I really prove these people weren’t fakes conjured from my memories? The contamination left by the Event kept gnawing at me even after it was supposedly over.

I turned my head ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and quietly looked at the people following me. My eyes met those of the first college student I had saved.

“What’s wrong, hyung-nim?”

Lee Kang-chan, third-year physics major at Buk-Seoul University. He was supposed to return to school this semester but had tanked his grades by stupidly taking both quantum mechanics and nuclear physics at once. Was this man truly a real person?

I’m going to drive myself insane at this rate…

I pulled myself together and decided to stop entertaining unnecessary assumptions. In the end, they were either real or fake. Since I couldn’t be sure, I would treat them as real and do my best to keep them alive until I could send them back to Earth. That was what I needed to focus on right now.

“It’s nothing. Just don’t die.”

Lee Kang-chan gave a low chuckle. “Hyung-nim, I didn’t get the chance to say it properly earlier because everything was so chaotic, but thank you. Thirty minutes ago I really thought I was going to be eaten alive.” He pointed at the new zombie. “I don’t know what kind of trick you used, but… it’s like those ability users from games or comics, right? I won’t ask for common sense at this point. You’re a necromancer who brings the dead back to fight, aren’t you?”

“And if I am?”

“If I die… bring me back like that. I want to take at least one more of them with me. I refuse to go out unfairly.”

This guy was surprisingly friendly. At some point he had started calling me hyung-nim and asked me to drop the formal speech. Could someone who said things like that really be a clone? Honestly, I hoped not.

“Stop talking nonsense and don’t die.”

We reached the stairs leading to the second floor. The corridor we had passed through had stairs, so finding them wasn’t difficult. Just then, the dwarf guard who had been delivering the letter to the market came down the stairs.

“Kek…? Humans?”

I immediately bounded up four steps at a time and swung my fist. Thud— The dwarf’s face caved in. It was a brutal sight, but while some of the civilians grimaced, none of them looked away.

“Let’s go up.”

Once we climbed the stairs, the second floor came into view. The landing was nothing but walls, and a massive rectangular pane of glass was set into one of them.

“Everyone, hold position.”

I crouched low and approached the glass. Beyond it lay the interior of the second floor. It looked like a meat storage facility. Vacuum-packed cuts of every kind of meat—including human flesh—lined the shelves. Roughly thirty laborers were busy packaging and trimming beside the displays. It felt like a slaughterhouse and distribution center combined.

Baengnae, who had somehow crawled up beside me, voiced her strong suspicion about the place. She thought it was very suspicious. Yet the way she said it while drooling heavily robbed the statement of all credibility.

“Baengnae will investigate here.”

“Be quiet.”

The glass was at a convenient height; if we stayed low we could slip past without being seen. We headed for the stairs to the third floor. The packaging plant probably wasn’t hiding anything that led back to Earth anyway.

The third floor was an armory. All sorts of weapons were displayed behind iron bars like toys in a complicated toy store. What stood out was that various foods were stored there as well. At the sight, Baengnae whispered quietly.

“Baengnae will investigate here.”

“No.”

Since there were no dwarfs on the third floor, we easily found the stairs to the fourth. If this was an armory, it was probably where the dwarf nobles prepared for the “hunting season” they had mentioned. That meant there was a high chance the device leading to the hunting grounds—and possibly to Earth—was on the floor above.

“Let’s go up quietly. Don’t touch anything unnecessary.”

The fourth floor was the simplest layout we had seen so far: a long corridor with four doors. But the papers posted on the bulletin board gave me certainty that we were on the right track. They listed invasion schedules, results, troop numbers, and other details about “hunting.” This was essentially a command-and-control room. If the fifth floor was the market’s personal space, then this floor was where something connected to Earth would be.

“Let’s search the floor.”

I was about to open a random door when I spotted a ventilation duct on the wall. Baengnae, reading my gaze, walked over and spread her arms.

“Baengnae will go.”

“Yeah, that’s probably best.”

I picked her up and placed her inside the duct. Swish— swish— Baengnae disappeared into the vent. I told the civilians to keep watch on the stairs and posted people in front of the doors to prepare for any dwarf encounters.

Five minutes passed. Baengnae still hadn’t returned, and the civilians began arguing among themselves. One man started grilling the informant.

“Mister, this is real, right? We’ve never left this building before, have we? Or… what do we do? Huh? Because of you we’ve come all the way to the fourth floor. What if—”

Thud—

I smacked the back of the loudmouth’s head. Why did these insect-like people always crawl out the moment tension eased even a little? I wondered if they even knew how to think. Lowering my voice, I said,

“Hey, what the hell are you doing? You trying to get us all killed? Yelling like that so the dwarfs can hear?”

“N-no, I just… I mean…”

“Shut your mouth. From now on, until we return to Earth, you’re under a forced vow of silence. If you understand, nod. No talking.”

The man gave a tiny nod.

Haa… Even when I try to be civil, these people keep turning me into a savage.

Whether from stress or something else, I felt more on edge than usual. Just then, the sound of a keypad being pressed echoed down the corridor.

Beep beep beep— beep beep beep—

I immediately moved toward the door the sound was coming from. Had that idiot finally caused trouble? I clenched my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gauntlets and waited for the door to open.

Click—

The face that appeared on the other side was familiar. It was Baengnae.

“Baengnae did it.”

“Did what…?”

Behind her lay five dead dwarf nobles, their brains neatly scooped out.

“Baengnae, what we’re looking for is the device that leads back to Earth. I’m not sure if it even exists, but—”

“Madda.”

Baengnae pointed at a device. A 2.5-meter-tall oval structure sat at the end of her finger. It looked exactly like the portals from movies.

I approached the facility and examined it from every angle.

“But how do we activate this…”

At that moment, a text description appeared. The object was being treated as an item.

The unpleasant feeling that had been tormenting me so fiercely melted away the moment I saw those words. A short curse slipped out before I could stop it.

“Haa… This is bullshit, seriously.”

Thirty percent. That was the ratio of people I had suspected were clones. If they’re clones, so what? What’s the problem? one might think. But there was a problem. Every boss round had some kind of device that helped with clearing it. Like the dwarf prisoners in the prison. Like the wild dogs in the bandit camp. So what was the concept of Stage 3? Buffs through food. And human flesh was the ingredient that provided the greatest buffs.

Until I saw the people through the glass, I hadn’t thought much of it. But when I noticed the clean kitchen right next to the space where they were trapped, my stomach began to churn. My imagination was making me nauseous. Why was there a kitchen there? There was a cauldron, a slicer, knives. All the [tools] I had been using to create buffs were there. What was that kitchen even for? My imagination tormented me like madness. That was why I hadn’t been able to step into the kitchen. It felt like the system was giving me a disgusting, dark answer: cook humans for buffs and kill the boss. Those people looked like livestock meant for consumption. The unresolved, uncomfortable question had been tearing through me the entire way here.

“Haa…”

And fortunately, it seemed it had only been anxiety born of delusion. They were real people from Earth.

This felt more draining than actual combat… seriously…

I pressed [Activate]. It was time to send my kin back home. And soon I realized I had acted a little too hastily.

Vwoooom— vwoooom—

The sound of the dimensional transfer device was far too loud. It repeated like an alarm, loud enough for every dwarf in the building to notice.

Damn it.

I immediately shouted at the civilians. “Everyone, get inside! Hurry!”

The people rushed into the room. Right behind them, countless dwarfs began pouring out of other rooms.

“Block the door first!”

At that moment, a massive fireball flew in and set the doorway ablaze.

Whoosh— Fwoooosh!

It was the high-grade buff Flame Touch. One of the few high-tier buffs listed in the postings.

No, these are just straight-up mages!

The door was blown wide open and dwarfs began flooding in. A chaotic melee was forced upon us. I stepped forward and shouted,

“Everyone, just hold on a little longer! The moment the portal opens, jump straight in! If you endure, you can go home!”

The dwarfs’ physical abilities weren’t much different from the ones we had fought earlier. The problem was that they all carried mid-grade buffs—and every single one of them was unusual. Buffs varied wildly depending on their type. For example, the one I had eaten was a sustained type: long duration but weak effect. The most common and ordinary kind. But the buffs the laborer dwarfs were using were depletion types—explosive stat boosts gained by rapidly consuming their own life or stamina. That made the difficulty much higher.

First, let’s take out the ones throwing fire.

I spent all the energy in the Golem Ring and wrapped the surrounding minerals around my upper body. Then I charged toward the dwarfs flinging flames. Like a tank, I plowed through the dwarf army and slammed into one of the rulers with all my strength.

Crash—

The dwarf flew into the wall and rolled across the floor like a ragdoll. Instant death. I brought both arms down and crushed the heads of the dwarfs on either side as well.

This… works!

More dwarfs kept coming up from the lower floors, but the calculation showed we could hold. There had been a reason the cat had given me the Golem Ring. Its effect was better than I had expected. But an easy victory was nothing more than wishful thinking. The rulers descended from the fifth floor. There were five of them. And every one of them was wearing a buff I had never seen before.

What kind of buff is that…?

One of them extended a finger, and suddenly my body floated up and slammed into the wall.

Thud—

Thanks to the armor the impact was absorbed, but I hadn’t been able to react at all. At least on the surface it seemed like a depletion-type buff. There was no way it was sustained.

One telekinesis, then.

Even with armor, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I couldn’t keep taking hits, so I retreated into the room. Fighting them in the corridor was impossible. Fortunately, the room was mostly under control. A few civilians were injured, but there were still no deaths. I quickly gathered everyone toward the portal and shouted,

“The market is coming! What percentage are we at?”

“Sixty-three percent! What’s the market?”

“The boss of this place! Everyone, stay away from the portal. When the door opens, don’t ask questions—just jump in!”

I summoned my zombies and had them wait near the doorway. Even with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠strong buffs, they were still dwarfs. The moment they turned the corner to enter, I planned to ambush and finish them. But they weren’t as stupid as I had hoped. What greeted us, still pressed against the wall, were pink spheres. The instant I saw them, I instinctively threw myself backward.

Pop! Pop-pop!

The spots where the spheres landed were scorched black, as if fireworks had gone off. A direct hit would have been painfully hot.

Insane. Who the hell calls this a buff?

Beyond the blackened corridor, the ruler-class dwarfs poked their heads out. And in the center of them was one with very dark purple skin, unlike his attendants.

Altos…

The guest dwarfs had all testified that Altos had purple skin. That one was definitely the market of the dwarfs.

“Kikikikiki!”

The market laughed mischievously at us. At the same time, the two rulers on either side began to writhe as their arms swelled to enormous size. Whatever their buffs were, they were close-range types. With that, I had identified every buff the dwarfs except Market Altos possessed.

One telekinesis, one firework, two muscleheads.

Laborer dwarfs poured in again from below and the second round began. The moment the dwarfs rushed into the room, one of my zombie dogs was lifted and slammed into the wall.

Thud—

I immediately kicked off the ground and clung to the musclehead dwarf. We locked hands and began a contest of strength. There was no need to check—my strength was superior. I twisted his arm, moved behind him, and violently snapped his neck.

Crack—

At the same moment, a black beam shot from Altos’s fingertip. I twisted my body in a hurry and dodged. The beam passed me and struck the zombie dog right behind.

Whine—

The zombie dog let out a pained sound and collapsed to the floor. Its body began to slowly melt. The horrifying dissolution only stopped after the dog’s breath had completely ceased.

It melts the body?

This felt very bad. I had at least believed that even if the fireworks or telekinesis hit me, the armor would somehow hold. But that beam gave me a chilling feeling. The moment Altos displayed his ability, another piece of bad news caught my eye. Even more laborers were appearing from below. Judging by their supervisor uniforms, the army I had left waiting on the first floor had been wiped out.

Damn it, I worked so hard raising those guys…!

“What percentage?!”

“Eighty-five percent!”

I rolled across the floor and slammed into walls, repeatedly thinning the dwarfs’ numbers. But the supervisors kept coming without end. Because they had been resupplied with weapons and buffs from the second and third floors, they were far from easy. All the caution I had shown while protecting the civilians had come back to bite me. Mistakes I would never have made if I were alone. Because of these damn deadweights, the difficulty had risen even further.

Vwoooooom—

And finally, the portal opened. The deadweights threw themselves into it without needing any instruction. The last one left, Lee Kang-chan, shouted,

“Hyung-nim! You too, hurry!”

“I can’t go!”

Lee Kang-chan froze. Then he gritted his teeth and yelled, “I’m sorry I couldn’t be of help! If we meet again, I’ll definitely… I’ll definitely be useful!”

Hah, at least it wasn’t a complete waste.

“Shut up and go already! You’re going to get us all killed!”

“I’m sorry!”

Once Lee Kang-chan crossed over, the portal closed—as if there had never been a place for me to begin with.

Phew… That was seriously one hell of a pain.

Still, the fact that I had saved those people eased some of the stress I had been carrying here. My body didn’t feel lighter, but my mind did. Now that all the annoying people were gone, it was time to go on the offensive in earnest. Perfect timing, too—because the dwarfs who had died in the first clash were slowly rising as zombies. I shouted at Altos and his attendants,

“You’re fighting a Zombie Summoner right now, you dwarf bastards! Go ahead and keep calling more! I’ll kill every last one of them and turn them into my zombies!”

“Madda!”

And so the third round began—with thirty additional zombies on my side.