123. Dispatch #1
Labyrinth Day 65. Melody Fox had returned from her dispatch to Earth.
"Melody-yang! I missed you so muchyang! Kyu-yang-kyu-yang!"
[Kyuu!]
The first to greet Melody was Merino Ulla. The moment Melody returned, Merino came rushing over and hugged her tightly.
"Why'd you get so chubby-yang! Did you eat lots of tasty stuffyang?"
[Kyuaa!]
As Merino rubbed her cheeks against Melody's face, the rest of us—including me—approached to celebrate her safe return.
According to what the Jo-ryeokja had passed along, Melody hadn't slept a wink and had spent the whole day gorging on delivery food. In other words, it was basically a gourmet vacation.
Still, she'd completed the dispatch, so I tossed out a courtesy word of encouragement.
"Melody, good work."
[Kyukyu!]
The barrage of chat messages filled my vision. Even though only two more people had joined, it felt twice as lively as before.
This is annoying. Gotta move the chat window a bit to the side.
I lowered the chat opacity just a tad and shifted it to the edge of my vision. When it cluttered the whole screen, it restricted my movements—no helping it.
Of course, a quick roll of my eyes lets me check it anytime. Reacting instantly like usual would be tough, though.
"Alright, now that Melody's back too..."
"Let's all gather and have a meal."
[Kyuaaah!]
"Yang-yang! I'll prep foodyang! Wait just a secyang!"
To celebrate Melody Fox's return, we all moved to the desert where construction was underway, gathered every monster, and enjoyed a meal together. It also gave me a chance to introduce the monsters to Hwang Mi-reu and Sage.
"Solorb. Want some food? You can send it to the world you're holding, right?"
[No need.]
"Bastet. Get some food from Merino and deliver it to Solorb."
[Got it-ong! I'll deliver it swiftly and accurately-ong!]
[......]
I had Bastet deliver food to Solorb too. I wanted to treat the residents of the world Solorb carried, but it was impossible to prepare enough for all of them.
A little time passed like that. Shortly after Bastet returned, a faint, barely audible voice drifted down softly from the sky.
[Delicious... Thanks, I ate well.]
"Hm?"
[I said nothing.]
"...Yeah."
It clearly said thanks... I heard it but pretended not to.
Solorb seemed the shy type deep down.
Labyrinth Day 66. Today was the day for our first general dispatch.
I'd originally planned for yesterday, but we got caught up in the group feast and lost track of time. It got too late, so we pushed it back a day.
Now I need to select monsters for the dispatch...
Early morning. I gathered all the monsters and pondered.
Unlike designated dispatches, general ones could be risky. No one knew which world they'd end up in.
I figured there wouldn't be anywhere as dangerous as the Ancient Labyrinth, but there could be worlds riskier than Elemen시아—overflowing with S-grade or higher creatures.
So I had to choose carefully.
Iris is a must. And one SS-grade monster. S-grades are strong enough, but like I said, risky worlds are possible. Like the heavenly realm or something.
As long as it's not some absurd world, SS-grade should be safe from danger.
I wasn't worried enough to send multiple SS-grades. We still lacked solid intel on dispatches.
Even using dispatch tickets simultaneously might send them to different worlds.
I eyed each monster carefully and soon decided.
"Blmasl, you're going."
[Sreung!]
Black Magma Slime-003. Immune to most physical attacks, top-tier lethality and combat prowess among SS-grades. This guy eased my worries. Excellent survivability too.
Oh, and FYI, Blmasl poured everything into combat power, so despite SS-grade, its intelligence was lower than most. I gave proxy Dimensional Altar Installation Ticket rights to Iris.
Iris had solid smarts. If I couldn't view the otherworld through Iris, I'd leave altar judgment entirely to it.
"Alright, using the dispatch ticket now. You two ready?"
[Sreung!]
[Prep complete.]
"Be careful out there, kids."
[Sreung!]
[Caution. Confirmed.]
Black Magma Slime. Iris.
I used the dispatch tickets on them both.
Long story short: Black Magma Slime and Iris were dispatched to the same world.
No way it was coincidence. Odds of landing in the same dimension out of infinite possibilities were minuscule.
In other words, using general dispatch tickets simultaneously without time gaps let me send multiple monsters to the same world. Proven.
And, "Good thing. Iris's ability works in other worlds too."
The Iris link hadn't broken. The Iris before me was streaming exactly what the dispatched Iris saw.
"Kids. Can you hear me?"
─[Reception good.]
─[Sreuuung!]
No size change. Their Ancient Labyrinth sizes were natural, apparently.
Well, magma slime made sense. It could resize freely anyway—no fixed size.
"Got it. First, Iris, fly up high and show me the world's overview?"
─[Confirmed.]
Iris gazed skyward and ascended.
The sky wasn't blue—filled with violet mist. Already not a normal world.
─[Ascent complete.]
Land visible. Plants weren't green—eerie silver and purple harmony. Asphalt roads covered in translucent jelly-like substance.
Iris switched views. Bizarre architecture rose up.
Zooming in: buildings writhed like living organisms, constantly reshaping.
─[Analysis complete. Understood. Buildings infested by organisms.]
Iris analyzing and explaining what it saw. Note: not all Irises had analysis—not universal, just this one's trait.
Iris panned over a city of bizarre buildings. Center: massive crystal tower, surface flowing with ever-shifting complex patterns.
─[Presumed central nervous system processing city's info.]
─[Detecting hazards by Gauntlet's standards.]
─[Hazard: C-grade estimated.]
─[Hazard of organisms infesting buildings: D-grade estimated.]
─[Many organisms inside buildings: E-grade estimated.]
─[Some organisms inside buildings: D-grade estimated.]
─[Analyzing world.]
─[Identified as planet invaded and destroyed ~35 years ago.]
─[Analyzing invading species.]
─[......]
Iris's voice cut off briefly. Short silence, then:
─[95% chance it's our species' root.]
─[99% chance some of that species flowed into Ancient Labyrinth, died, absorbed by labyrinth, birthing our species.]