Infrared Revelation
I suddenly craved gold with an intensity that startled me. There was no rational reason for it. But had I truly needed gold enough to throw myself into that pitch-black pit? No. Something else had been at work. ‘Did it interfere with my mind?’
It wasn’t just that I’d been seduced by greed. There were other clues. The surrounding rocks were all purple, and they displayed seven distinct colors along the rainbow. That was the decisive proof that this space was interfering with my mind. The idea that a rainbow consists of seven colors is a perception held by Koreans. Depending on one’s country of origin, some people perceive rainbows as three colors, others as ten. In other words, this place had been constructed from information inside my own head.
“Baengnae, cut off one of your fingers.”
A clone split off. I left the mini-Baengnae standing in the purple zone and resumed running with the real Baengnae. When we returned to purple after passing red again, the mini-Baengnae was waiting for us. As expected, it was a looping structure. ‘The identical paths aren’t being duplicated and multiplying.’
Let me think this through slowly. The original exit no longer functioned. In that case, there were two possibilities: find a new exit or create one. But would pounding on the walls break them? That crude method wouldn’t work. I wasn’t the first user trapped here. Starving, desperate people would have dug through every surface. Yet no escape records existed. Wait—there were no dedicated escape posts, but occasional mentions of people crawling out of the pit. They’d said they’d wandered and barely made it back alive. How?
‘Ah.’
It clicked. A rainbow is the spectrum of visible light. To escape the rainbow, one had to leave the visible spectrum. That meant two possible exits: ultraviolet and infrared. We had entered through the purple zone, which corresponded to ultraviolet. Therefore, the return exit lay in purple as well.
“Baengnae, let’s go.”
“Awight.”
We moved. From purple to indigo. From indigo to green. If ultraviolet was the path back to Stage 4, then where would infrared lead? A space with a higher energy level than this phenomenon. A world where something deeper than the supernatural existed beyond the supernatural. To break free from a world with no exit, we had to shatter the existing framework and emerge. Yes. We would break this world and step outside. To Hatch.
‘So this is where it was hiding? The final event.’
A space filled with red rocks. A crimson world welcomed us. We stood at a fork. Right or left. Yet whichever way we went, we would only return to the visible spectrum. I took Baengnae’s hand and closed my eyes. Feel it. Just because something lies beyond what the eyes can see does not mean humans cannot perceive it. Wavelength is ultimately energy. Energy is heat. In the direction where the most intense, burning force could be felt—one single step. I advanced into infrared.
Thud—
The Underground Gate Opens.
A roar close to cheering drenched the ground before flipping over and sinking back down. When I opened my eyes, I stood before the gate. A massive door covered in countless statues shaped like evil spirits, stretching so high it vanished into the ominous darkness of the depths beyond. ‘A gate…? So I’ve at least succeeded in escaping the cave?’
I had expected to arrive somewhere other than Stage 4, but this was completely unexpected. This was likely the Event location. Since it had triggered Hatching like an exit, something connected to it had come along as well. ‘Hmm… Now what?’
Honestly, the gate before me was far too large. Opening it by force was impossible. While I was thinking that, the evil spirits attached to the gate slowly began to move.
Slither— Slither—
They turned their heads and looked down at me. A thick malice radiated from them. ‘Aha?’ I smiled inwardly. If monsters had appeared, it meant I had found the right answer. “I don’t know what this is, but… it suits me better than wandering in circles through an empty space.”
“Hehe, madda.”
Grind—
I pulled nearby rocks together and formed gauntlets. At the same time, a message appeared.
High-grade mineral extracted. The grade of the Golem Ring has increased. The item skill White Stone Plating has been unlocked.
‘An item skill?’
The gauntlets now carried a faint glow. The minerals here appeared to be the high-grade mineral known as White Stone. An unexpected profit. “Nice. The rocks around here are high-grade materials. Let’s gather some.”
Baengnae also cut off a finger to create clones. The mini-Baengnaes picked up nearby stones. A piercing shriek tore through the world, and the evil spirits began crawling down from the gate. They had grayish skin, moved on four long limbs, and were extremely fast. Each one stood about two meters tall—two stages more evolved than the ghosts from Pinwheel Village. ‘Ugh, they’re hideous.’
If even a Zombie Summoner like me called them ugly, they were truly grotesque. An ordinary person would vomit on sight. Crunch— I slammed my fist into the face of the lead creature. It staggered for a moment, then immediately roared and charged again. Remarkable vitality. But the spot I had struck suddenly burst into flame and sent it tumbling backward. ‘What?’
Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t flame. It was closer to a heat haze of light. I kicked another one. It was merely pushed back briefly before charging again. When I struck it with the gauntlet, however, the impact site burned white and the creature died. ‘Is this the effect of the high-grade mineral…?’
I had thought I might struggle without my zombies, but premium weapons were scattered all around. The situation had changed. “Smash them with the rocks!”
White Stone was the evil spirits’ weakness. Every blow burned the struck area white and inflicted massive damage. The problem was that the White Stone was also being consumed. As the evil spirits’ bodies burned, the stones vanished with them. A rough estimate showed the numbers matched perfectly. This was clearly the intended strategy. But if we continued this way, we wouldn’t be able to keep any of the precious White Stone.
Thud— Whoosh— Thud— Whoosh—
Once we began using the White Stone in earnest, the evil spirits sensed the threat and their offensive weakened. I used the opening to conduct an experiment. I severed the limbs of a subdued evil spirit and threw it toward Baengnae. “Baengnae! Try eating this!”
Baengnae bit into its head. Crunch. “How is it?”
Slurp— Slurp— “Mashida!”
‘Good.’ I had worried they might be inedible, but the creatures turned out to be nutritious snacks for the small zombies. With the tide turned, I changed tactics. I arranged the formation in a circle and divided roles. I and seven clones would defend the inside, preventing enemies from reaching our allies. Baengnae and the remaining three would be protected while they tore into the weakened evil spirits. For every evil spirit they stuffed into their mouths, I could secure that many White Stone to take with us.
“Let’s make some profit to match all this effort!”
This battle mattered, but after the confusion in the rainbow cave, I needed something to show for it. Without information, we would have been in real trouble. Thud— Whoosh— With practice, I grew more skilled. Shaping the Golem Ring into clubs rather than gauntlets made severing their limbs easier. Occasionally, evil spirits that hadn’t been weakened enough slipped to the rear, only to be silenced by the mini-Baengnaes swinging rocks. They resembled baby sea otters that had learned how to eat clams.
Crunch— Crunch—
By the time the sound of zombies devouring evil spirits drowned out the monsters’ screams, the creatures’ morale had completely collapsed. Watching their kin being eaten alive in real time was apparently terrifying even for these beings. ‘I’m not sure if they count as living creatures, though…’
The end was near. Once the evil spirits stopped charging, the mini-Baengnaes each picked up a stone and began hunting. The baby sea otters were still hungry even after all that. “Whew, let’s wrap this up.”
Creak… Crunch crunch— Smack smack smack—
When the final creature let out a scream that wasn’t quite a scream and vanished, the massive gate slowly began to open. I quickly sent the clones to the rear. A boss-level evil spirit might emerge. Rumble— Because the gate was so enormous, even the slight opening produced a tremendous roar. A powerful wind blasted through the gap. A fierce gale swept through the cave. Whoosh— It felt like a typhoon. I gathered the lightweight mini-Baengnaes and absorbed them back into Baengnae. The wind was growing stronger—something was wrong. Whoosh— The gate opened wider, and the wind grew violently rougher. I pushed Baengnae down and crouched over her. At this rate, I would be blown away too. “Wh-what… what’s happening…?!”
A brief dizziness struck, and my vision turned black. It didn’t feel like an attack. It was closer to the aftereffects of spatial transfer I had experienced when jumping into the pit. Hiss— When the wind that had been battering my body finally ceased, I lifted my head to find myself in an open space. The sky was visible. A message arrived.
Event Hatching has concluded.
I first checked that Baengnae was in my arms, then looked around. Deep night had fallen. We were right in front of where the rainbow pit had been. ‘Huh…? Was all of that an illusion?’
The moment I thought that, White Stone poured out of Baengnae’s arms as if to prove me wrong. Baengnae grinned. The reason she had been running around when the wind started was apparently to gather the stones. “Hehe, Baengnae did it.”
I patted her head. Even in the chaos, she had prioritized securing these. Baengnae was an excellent zombie. “Whew, every time we run into an event, it gets more troublesome.”
Then I noticed something nearby and turned sharply. It wasn’t a living creature. A large black object shaped like a giant jar. ‘Huh… a pot?’
One and a half meters tall, two meters in diameter. The wide black jar was filled to the brim with gleaming gold coins. “Whoa! Look at this, Baengnae!”
Baengnae tried to see the coins, but the jar was taller than she was. I lifted her up to show her the inside. “We’re rich!”
“Richa!”
I set Baengnae inside the jar. She rolled around, tossing gold coins into the air. Clink— Clink— Hatching had made us wealthy.