Another World
Wooooong!
In an instant the Monster Hole began to thrum and shudder, and the commander of the 15th Combat Unit, along with the National Safety Group Awakeners who had drawn close, vanished one after another into the dark crimson maw.
"Th-they went in!"
"They really went in!"
"Nothing's going to go wrong, right?"
The guild-affiliated Awakeners watching from behind murmured among themselves. And it wasn't only them. The National Safety Group Awakeners still holding formation were just as tense.
"Enter in order! Maintain discipline!"
"Yes, sir!"
At Jeon Dok-jin's command, the 15th Combat Unit answered with a roar and filed into the Monster Hole one by one. All eighty members of the unit stepped through.
After them, the Awakeners of each guild followed in turn under the control of their guild masters and officers.
"Then I shall go in as well."
Im Seong-woo, who had been watching to the end, gave a nod.
"Safe travels, sir."
"Cooperate with them without causing any trouble."
"Yes, Executive Director."
Leaving Vice Guild Master Park Chang-jun and the rest behind, Im Seong-woo entered with Seo Gang-jae and Lee Seok-pil.
Last of all, Jeon Dok-jin gave a final set of instructions to the commander of the 14th Combat Unit, then stepped into the rippling Monster Hole.
Flash!
A blaze of pure white light swallowed his vision. When he opened his eyes again—
Where is this?
It was another world. He was standing in a densely overgrown forest.
"Form up, all of you!"
"Tighten the perimeter!"
Barked orders rang out from every direction as Awakeners scrambled into formation and raised their guard. Even so, the clamor was not so easily silenced.
"Wh-where the hell are we?"
"Looks like a forest…?"
"What kind of trees are these, though?"
"They're not any pine variety I know…"
A restless buzz of voices. The National Safety Group personnel were unsettled enough, but the guild Awakeners were by far the loudest and most agitated. Passing through the Monster Hole had dropped them into what was, quite literally, another world.
"L-look at the sky!"
"What?!"
"Wh-what color is that…?!"
Those who looked up were equally startled and disoriented. The sky was not the ordinary blue they knew — it glowed a washed-out red, as if crimson paint had been stirred into water and left to bloom across the heavens.
"W-we really came to another world?!"
"Where the hell is this place?!"
Staring at that sky only deepened the chaos.
"What are you all shouting about!"
"Monsters could come pouring out of anywhere! Hold the perimeter and keep formation!"
At their officers' scolding, the 15th Combat Unit fell back into ranks and settled into position. Seeing that, the officers of the other guilds likewise drove their members into readiness for whatever might come.
Seo Gang-jae and Lee Seok-pil issued their own orders to prepare as well.
Meanwhile, Im Seong-woo surveyed the surroundings with a look of genuine interest.
"The oxygen concentration here seems higher than I expected."
"The oxygen concentration, sir?"
Im Seong-woo nodded and looked around again.
"Those trees, the plants — they all feel alien… but the environment is more than adequate for humans to survive."
"It does seem that way…"
"Just what kind of world is this place…?"
Seo Gang-jae and Lee Seok-pil were putting on a calm front, but they were tense as well.
"Director, what are your orders?"
"Select a team. We'll search the area at a set distance."
"Just our people?"
"In a situation where we know nothing about this place, sending anyone we can't fully control is too dangerous."
"Understood."
The commander of the 15th Combat Unit was about to pick his search team when—
"Kieeeeek!"
Flutter-flutter-flutter!!!
A chorus of ear-splitting cries erupted from every direction, and birds — or something like them — burst up through the canopy in a thrashing flurry of wings.
"Monsters!"
"Combat readiness, all of you!"
"Form up!"
That cry was the signal that monsters were nearby. The Awakeners snapped into formation, scanning the perimeter, every muscle taut.
Im Seong-woo stood at the rear, watching the whole scene with the detached interest of a man who might as well have been somewhere else entirely.
And then—
Fsssssssh-!!!
"P-poison darts!"
"Wrap yourselves in energy — protect your bodies!!!"
A storm of poison darts came flying from the undergrowth.
Ting-ting-ting! Ting! Ting-ting-ting-ting!
Most of them were already deflected. Nearly everyone had raised a protective barrier of Psychic Energy around their bodies, and the darts bounced harmlessly away. The strength of that energy varied from person to person, but anyone who could wield Psychic Energy at all could sheath themselves in a basic defensive film. The only difference was how thick and how strong that film became, depending on their ability.
"Ugh!"
"Ghk!"
Even so, a few of them cried out — hit by darts that had found a gap.
"Anyone hit by a dart, fall back!"
It seemed the ones struck were among the guild Awakeners — those who had let their guard down, or whose skill simply wasn't up to the mark.
"They're coming!"
Shadows exploded from the underbrush and charged the Awakeners' formation all at once.
"Kiiieeek!"
"Kigigik!!!"
Letting out those bizarre cries, they came swinging short axes and daggers, flinging themselves at the Awakeners like flying squirrels.
"You little—!"
"You bastards!"
"Die, you monsters~!!!"
Pwahhhhk~!!!
Shhk! Skreeeeek-!!!!!!
The dull crash of bodies colliding and the sharp ring of steel cutting flesh roared through the trees.
Guild Awakeners who didn't own real swords swung whatever they had — iron pipes, bats studded with nails, blades bolted on as crude modifications.
Craaack-!
A fist driven with full force smashed into a skull and burst it open.
Whoosh!
A kick to the side of a goblin diving in from behind sent it flying, tumbling across the ground.
Craaack! Crack! Shhkaaak!!!!!
The Awakeners poured out their energy freely, meeting the onrushing goblins and crushing them. The most outstanding among them, by far, were the National Safety Group Awakeners. They didn't waste power — they released just enough, cutting down and carving apart every goblin that came at them. They looked exactly like what they were: well-trained soldiers.
"They've been properly trained."
"People say the National Safety Group is the best organization of its kind… and they're clearly no ordinary fighters."
"There's a real gap between them and the others."
The ordinary guild Awakeners were fighting well enough and holding their own, but they couldn't match the National Safety Group fighters, who had drilled systematically and mastered swordsmanship.
Standing at the rear with his arms folded, Im Seong-woo watched and found his thoughts turning over.
Ordinary martial arts and hand-to-hand techniques certainly help make a person stronger. But the moment firearms or weapons enter the picture, even a martial artist is just as vulnerable.
Even a professional fighter finds a criminal waving a blade a serious problem. There's a reason people say never to rush someone who's holding a knife. No matter how much self-defense or martial arts you've trained, a criminal charging in ready to kill with a weapon is that dangerous. People really do die or get maimed by those blades.
But add one more element, and the entire equation changes.
Psychic Energy.
Knowing how to handle Psychic Energy elevates bare-handed fighting into a genuine killing art.
The difference between an ordinary person's punch and a punch charged with Psychic Energy was night and day. And that difference was playing out right in front of him.
"Kieeeeek!"
An Awakener sidestepped a goblin's rusty dagger, then drove a counterpunch straight into its head. The impact cracked like a gunshot; the creature flew backward, smashed into a tree, and crumpled in a broken heap. From the look of it, it was dead on the spot.
"I'm just an amateur, but I've competed in tournaments."
Judging by the boast, the man had fought in boxing matches. Even without formal boxing training, the moment an Awakener manifested Psychic Energy, every physical function and capability surged — sharper, faster, more refined.
Shhk-!!!
A sword blade carved a fierce arc, shearing a goblin from shoulder to waist on a diagonal. The creature spilled its guts and died.
There were more Awakeners answering the attack than goblins charging it.
"Pile on them!"
Thud-thud-thud! Crack! Craaaack!
With superior numbers, the situation was brought under control in moments and cleaned up just as fast. In less than ten minutes, the ground was littered with goblin corpses.
"Account for the wounded and the dead! Check your numbers!"
From the look of things, there would be injuries, but no fatalities. Not a single member of the 15th Combat Unit had gone down, and across the three guilds, only about ten Awakeners had been hit by poison darts or wounded by weapons. By any measure, it was a crushing victory.
Once the headcounts were reported—
"Recover the Crystal Energy Ore!"
They spread open the sacks they'd brought and began digging the glittering, gem-like stones from the dead goblins' bodies.
"How many is that altogether?"
"Whoa… I heard even one of these sells for over ten million won…!"
No official market price had been set yet, but word was that even the lowest-purity Crystal Ore would fetch more than ten million won apiece.
"That has to be dozens of them, Executive Director."
"Even a rough count puts it in the hundreds of millions. Incredible…!"
Seo Gang-jae and Lee Seok-pil clicked their tongues in amazement. Through it all, Im Seong-woo kept his silence, watching with an unreadable expression.
Once every Crystal Ore had been stripped from the goblin corpses, a thirty-man search party was formed and sent forward to scout. The remaining force held position as a precaution.
The lieutenant of the 15th Combat Unit who led the search returned with critical intelligence: up ahead, they had found what looked like a small settlement — a nesting ground for the monsters.
The three guild masters, Im Seong-woo, and the two team leaders all convened for a brief council. The decision was unanimous: they would advance on the goblin settlement.
They re-formed, held their ranks, and—
"Advance!"
With the commander of the 15th Combat Unit and his fighters at the point, the force pushed forward. Im Seong-woo trailed at the rear in the capacity of an observer.
"Kieeeeek!!!"
From a crude wooden palisade and the watchtower-like structures rising behind it, goblin sentries spotted the sudden appearance of humans and began shrieking in a frenzy.
"They've seen us!"
"Hit them now — full assault!"
Holding formation, the National Safety Group Awakeners — real swords drawn, the 15th Combat Unit commander at their center — surged ahead.
Shwaaaak!!!
Blades swept toward the wooden fence in a single coordinated stroke. Psychic Energy rode the arcs of those swords, and the barrier shattered and blew apart.
"Suppress them and destroy the settlement!"
"Die!"
"Haaaah!"
The 15th Combat Unit commander's outstanding skill took a charging goblin's head clean off, and that was the signal. The combat troops pouring in behind him displayed dazzling swordsmanship, carving the goblins to pieces.
Pwahhk!
Craaack!
Iron pipes smashed skulls and sent goblins flying — the handiwork of the guild Awakeners storming in on their heels. With more than two hundred Awakeners charging at once, the goblins couldn't mount any real defense. They simply died.
"There are goblin young over there!"
"It really is a colony!"
"Don't leave a single one alive!"
Fully worked up, the Awakeners slaughtered every goblin they could reach and tore the settlement apart.
"Kieeek!"
"Kieek!"
It looked for all the world like a village being sacked by raiders.
Shhk-!
Goblin bodies were cut apart and dropped; in moments the place was a slaughterhouse, and the settlement was smashed to ruin.