See You in the Rift
Hong Ji-hwa freed the employees from the roots' bindings and immediately pulled out her phone. She called the association president without hesitation and reported in.
"They went in after all, huh? What do we do?"
—What do you mean, what do we do? Go in there and drag them out!
"You're joking, right? Me, by myself? Into an S-grade rift?"
—......Just testing the waters. Haah, I'm going insane here, Ji-hwa.
"It's been a while since you called me by name."
—You know how stressed I am to talk like this. Bear with me. So, what now?
"Why ask me? It's a rift that's gonna close soon anyway. Do whatever you want with it."
—Right, yeah......
Hong Ji-hwa thought it had been ages since she'd heard the president sound so vulnerable. He'd always been the unbreakable type, not a drop of blood no matter how hard you poked. But thanks to Cheon Ji-hoo, he seemed to be aging rapidly in body and spirit lately.
Before hanging up, the president said,
—Stay there and guard the rift. I'll discuss things and get back to you.
"Understood."
—Yeah...... Good work.
Hong Ji-hwa ended the call and let out a long breath. Cheon Ji-hoo had torn through A-grades like paper, but would an S-grade be the same? A flicker of curiosity stirred.
Why were S-grade rifts labeled S-grade? Bigger interiors than A-grades. Fiercer monsters. Sometimes special conditions you had to meet just to clear them.
"How long will it take, I wonder......"
She set a timer on her phone and plopped down in front of the S-grade rift.
* * *
Stepping into the S-grade rift, Cheon Ji-hoo drew a deep breath and took in the interior landscape at a glance. It was a lush forest packed with colossal trees so massive that ten men couldn't encircle a single trunk. Looking up, each tree seemed to scrape the clouds.
"Feels like I've seen this somewhere before......"
He murmured, then closed his eyes and cast <Detection>. To raid smoothly, he needed to know what this space was.
But his detection fizzled out after a short distance. Something was scattering his mana.
"Hm."
He opened his eyes and slowly scanned the surroundings. No monsters in sight, but a strange mana flow permeated the air. Squinting, he realized every tree before him formed the pillars of a barrier. The barrier enveloping the entire forest nullified detection magic.
Pretty powerful barrier.
Judging by the craftsmanship, someone had artificially created it and nurtured the trees over a long time. It blended so seamlessly with nature that he hadn't noticed on entry.
He exhaled slowly, pondering his next move. But the deliberation didn't last long.
"Burn 'em all, and something's bound to show."
Trees burn well. Common sense. He'd picked an empty S-grade rift on purpose—no one to hurt if he torched everything. Clean solution.
"Alright, then......"
Spreading his arms, crimson magic circles began etching into the air around them. Circles overlapped circles, inscribed with dense script. Mana swirled fiercely.
Mana gathered to incinerate the area completely. Then, he posed a question to reality itself. Twisting mana into a sharp threat to extract the answer he wanted, the response came swiftly.
Crimson flames licked from the magic circles, erupting skyward. The massive fire pillar split into five prongs, lancing flames in all directions. The blaze devoured nearby giant trees, swelling enormously. The mana infused in each tree was immense, fueling the inferno to greater heights. The flames leaped tree to tree like a plague, turning the verdant world into a sea of fire. The sunset-red sky was breathtaking.
Cheon Ji-hoo exhaled, admiring his handiwork. But the blaze didn't rage long. After torching a dozen trees, rain poured from the heavens.
A deluge intense enough to snuff mana-devouring flames. The rain itself was mana-made, extinguishing the fire effortlessly.
"Impressive design."
Deflecting the downpour with magic, Cheon Ji-hoo muttered low. If uncontrollable fire spread, rain activated. But it had doused his blaze instantly—not ordinary rain.
Curious what kind of place demanded such an advanced barrier. He levitated from the ground, soaring higher through the torrent. Reaching where clouds mingled with treetops, he hit an invisible wall—his body refused to advance.
"A rift, right...... Yeah, it's a rift......"
S-grade rifts mimicked worlds, but they were mere fragments of somewhere else. Hence, the bounded space.
Like hitting the map's edge in a game, where players couldn't go.
Still, this height should be enough to analyze the barrier......
The rain had stopped. Perching on a branch, he surveyed the forest. Every tree was a barrier pillar, but some stood out as core axes. Destroying others would barely weaken it or trigger rain, but cores were different.
"Seven core axes in sight."
Monsters prowled around them. Bear-like in plate armor.
In his otherworld days, orcs tamed giant bears, armored them like cavalry mounts charging plains. These looked just like that......
But that armor's fused to their hides. Natural-born.
Freakish creatures. First, eliminate the bears. The forest was vast; they hadn't noticed his fire yet. He'd kill them silently. Minimal mana, maximum efficiency.
Feet planted on the branch, he spread his arms again. A bluish magic circle formed in his right hand, <Coordinate Designation> marking every visible bear. Left hand, another bluish circle—but he erased and rewrote part of the formula.
Bears had helmeted heads; normal magic bullets wouldn't pierce. He upped mana density and added spin.
Improvising formulas on the fly? Beyond most mages. A sharper, spinning bluish bullet hovered in his palm, glowing vividly unlike before.
He snapped his fingers. With a faint ping, the bullets rocketed down, shattering the bears' heads. Perfect hits.
Confirming kills, he leaped down and headed for the first core tree. Thicker, denser mana—clearly cultivated with care. Destroying it would feel twice as satisfying.
Why make rifts on Earth anyway......
Stepping past the dead bears, he placed a hand on the protruding root. Fire would trigger rain again, so a quiet method this time. Trees could be felled by severing the trunk, too.
Infusing his mana into the tree, he traced its internal flow to the trunk. Then, a minor spell: <Localized Gravity Field>, a sub-magic of <Anti-Gravity> and <Gravity Amplification>.
His mana reached the trunk, querying reality via the circle. Can you warp gravity? Reality yielded to the forceful formula.
Crack. Snap.
The towering trunk splintered. The <Localized Gravity Field> warped space's gravity. Not as precise as full <Anti-Gravity>, but devastatingly efficient for destruction.
Space cracked at the trunk, widening into a rift. With a crunch, the top crashed down, smashing smaller trees and whipping up a storm like an explosion.
Cheon Ji-hoo swept away the dust and gale with magic, <Spatial Jump>ing to repeat on the others. Trees toppled—once divine sentinels, now crumbling under one mage's hand. The barrier weakened.
Munching a Soteria burger from his subspace, he smirked as the barrier faded. Crunch crunch. He finished it, tossed the wrapper, and spread his arms wide.
Layered magic circles stacked like burgers. Top and bottom: <Penetration> to boost <Detection>.
<Detection> used sound waves to scan. <Penetration> mana-coated them to pierce even barriers.
"<Penetrating Detection>."
The triple-layered spell activated. Intense sound waves radiated, feeding him detailed intel. The weakened barrier riddled with holes. Its creator never imagined this approach.
Amid the scan, an odd presence snagged.
"......The boss?"
A colossal fury barreled his way. His tree-felling? Five times bigger than the bears, rhino-shaped. Closing fast.
Thud thud thud—!!
Dodging trees, shaking the earth. It burst into view: crimson eyes blazing, red mushrooms sprouting on its hide, charging Cheon Ji-hoo.
He just frowned and flicked a finger.
The rhino stumbled, ankle twisting. It face-planted into a tree, halting its rage.
Gazing at the stunned beast, Cheon Ji-hoo tilted his head quizzically.
"Not the boss. An outsider to this forest. Different ecology, but plenty of food, so it settled?"
Then where was the real boss? Needed it for the core. Bonus if he found a Demon King fragment.
As he pondered, the ground quaked. Not footsteps shaking the earth—the ground itself was rising. By something enormous.