Phase 3 (2)

His vision drowned in black.

A moment later, the darkness before his eyes flared bright. What entered Phantom's sight was a wasteland of nothing but parched sand.

"This place..."

He was taking in the bleak expanse—barren enough to call a desert to mind—when something caught his eye. The remains of an old building, half-buried in the sand.

Hanseong moved Phantom's body toward it. Studying the wreckage up close, he narrowed his eyes without quite meaning to.

A material I've never seen.

It was not the concrete of the modern world, nor wood, nor brick. The building was of a peculiar structure, raised from a material he had never encountered in his life.

He turned Phantom and swept his gaze over the surroundings once more. Then his eyes locked on the sky and went wide.

"...!"

A sky washed in green light.

Three moons looked down on Phantom. The instant he saw them, Hanseong understood. This was a space entirely apart from Earth.

He stared blankly, then came back to himself and looked around again. In doing so, he noticed one thing more.

The vortex is gone.

The passage linking the outside world to this place had vanished without a trace. If he himself had stepped through, he would certainly have panicked.

Sending Phantom was the right move.

If it came to the worst, he had only to stow the construct in Inventory and send it back out. His mind had just begun to lighten when a notification appeared.

Information on the space Phantom currently occupied. The notice listed the number of people who had entered, along with a time limit. Most likely, it existed to make the timer known.

Then, before I start searching...

He ought to share the situation with Haeun.

Hanseong took up his smartphone. Not long after he touched the call button, Haeun's voice came through.

He told her that a vortex had appeared in Seoul and another in Busan, and that he was currently inside the one in Seoul.

Once she had the whole of it, she asked again in a startled voice, then cried out in a rush.

"The quota is already nearly full."

"Yes. More than that, nothing says a new vortex won't appear, so for the time being I'd like you to stand by at the Air Corps Base."

Haeun agreed without protest. Once their talk was done, Hanseong meant to end the call at once.

But just then, he caught her murmur.

"Sorry? What do you mean..."

Unexpected news, from Haeun. The moment the call ended, Hanseong went straight to the Information Strategy Board. Contrary to his worry, he connected without any trouble at all.

Then why would they say that?

Puzzled, he looked through the comments on the post Crow had uploaded. Before long, he understood what Haeun had meant.

The most recent comments. They matched what he had heard from Haeun.

And Hanseong realized why he alone had to be the exception. The one who had entered the vortex was Phantom, and Phantom only.

The real me is still out here.

His body and mind both remained in the real world. Unlike the others, he could reach the board freely.

With that new fact in mind, his lips parted.

"Open Map."

In the same instant, he saw his mistake. What unfurled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was not a map of the vortex's interior, but of the real world. The Remote Support Blessing applied to him, not to Phantom.

There was no need to worry. He had a way to extend the blessing to Phantom as well. He had only to activate the unique skill through Soul Link.

A temporary base formed with Phantom at its center. Having made a foothold inside the vortex, Hanseong triggered Open Map through the construct. What appeared next, however, was a notification unlike the usual ones.

Because this was not Earth, but some other space? Just as World Map had done in the Dream World, Open Map began ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gathering data on the terrain and structure within the vortex.

He was waiting in silence for the map to finish when something came tearing in on the wind and struck the back of Phantom's head.

There was no real damage. Phantom's body was under the protection of Mana Shield.

What mattered more was that someone had attacked. Hanseong picked out the attacker's position at once.

One o'clock.

An armored figure. Several spears rode its back, and another was already in its hand. A little over two meters tall, it hurled a second spear at Phantom.

This time, of course, the spear did not land.

Phantom snatched the incoming spear out of the air, leveled the point at its opponent, and hurled the weapon back, spinning at high speed.

The blow punched clean through the head. Headless in an instant, the attacker staggered and collapsed. Black blood soaked into the sand.

A familiar notification. What grated was that it showed neither what this space was, nor who his opponent had been.

How long would it be before that information came clear?

He sighed and moved Phantom toward the attacker's corpse, thinking a look at the body would tell him what kind of monster it was. The identity that revealed itself was not the one he expected.

"A zombie?"

The one that had ambushed Phantom was a zombie. The shape of the face and the skeleton differed a little from a modern human's, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but there was no mistaking it.

The one peculiarity was a pair of wings near the shoulder blades, stripped of every feather. Aside from that, it looked like any other zombie.

It was then that the survey of the terrain finished. A map of the current space unfolded before Phantom's eyes.

The area was only a little larger than Gangnam. Unlike outside, the numbers of allies and enemies were displayed together. Thinking it a rather useful function, Hanseong studied the map in detail.

The survivors are scattered all over.

Not so scattered as to be chaotic. Seen broadly, they had split into two groups, one to the east and one to the west.

Phantom, by contrast, sat alone in the north. Next he looked at the countless red dots massed at the center of the map, and his brow twitched. A sight rarely seen outside was spread out there.

...They're holding formation.

Zombies in armor. As if under someone's command, they moved as one and had drawn up in battle order.

That was not all. Some hid themselves near the buildings buried in the sand. They were far too different from the zombies outside.

Is there something like a necromancer in there?

The only thing he could imagine commanding mere zombies to this degree was a necromancer. He was watching that strange sight closely when a question occurred to him.

Why can't I see a commander?

A, the administrator of the tower, had said it. Only by defeating the owner of this space could the great calamity be stopped. To command this many underlings, that owner had to be elite grade at the very least.

And yet...

The map held only blue dots and red dots. There was not a square marker to be seen.

Was it concealing its presence, the way the Soul Predator had? With that suspicion, Hanseong fixed on the coordinates at the center of the formation, then used wide-area Detection.

Information on every target within range unfolded before Phantom. As he looked it over, one presence with a notably high level caught his eye.

"Huh?"

Hanseong tilted his head. He had to. The information was quite different from that of every monster of elite grade and above that Detection had identified until now.

The skills aren't showing.

Instead, absurdly, an alignment was. And the grade was not Elite or Champion, but a number, marked the way other survivors were marked.

The wrongness of it was strong enough that he locked onto the creature's position and used Precise Observation.

A moment later, his eyes went wide.

"...!"

The being at the center of the vast zombie host wore full armor, and its face—anyone could see it—was human.

The only difference was a pair of ash-gray wings on its back, like those of the zombie that had attacked Phantom. Hanseong's eyes narrowed.

...What is this thing, exactly?

A face like a human's, and information to match. Had a human crossed over from another dimensional realm? Or, since the start of Phase 3 was said to bring forth the Fallen God's creations, was this something like a fallen angel, just as that warning had claimed?

I don't know.

There were not enough clues yet. What was certain was that this enemy was of a clearly different kind from any he had fought so far. And whatever it was, he had to bring it down, if he meant to stop the great calamity A had spoken of.

If I'm going to fight, now is the moment.

Blue dots and red dots on the map. The gap between the survivors and the zombie host was a little over three kilometers. They had not yet met.

Then he would intercept the enemy from a distance, before the other survivors were dragged in. The decision made, Hanseong entered the fight at once.

A zombie was one thing. This creature called a vanguard was no corpse. It was alive.

In that case, Sleep ought to take. He cast it on that judgment, but the result lay outside his expectations. The thing only staggered where it stood. It did not drop into sleep.

Why? Don't tell me...

Because the skill had been realized through Soul Link? With power and effect capped at twenty percent, the sleep must have weakened to match.

Before the creature, now aware of the attack, could abandon its place, he triggered more skills in quick succession.

A vortex that swallowed everything, and flames surging up with it. Fire that would not die reduced the zombies to ash in an instant.

All that remained was Vanguard Varus. Feet bound by the vortex, it beat its wings and twisted its face into a grimace.

"■■■ ■! □□□□□□ ■■■!"

He had no idea what it was saying. Even so, this much was now certain. The thing was an intelligent being from another dimensional realm. Its command of language was the proof.

To grant the thrashing creature its rest, he used the skill most effective against a single target whose movements were sealed.

A skill realized through Soul Link received only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠twenty percent of its original power and effect. That was why he had played the strongest card he held.

If it takes even this and doesn't die...

Then he could simply unload Magic Sphere, Call Lightning, and the rest.

High overhead, a condensed mass of ether formed and dropped toward the ground at speed. An instant before Dimension Vortex vanished, Ether Strike—falling at tremendous velocity—pierced the crown of Vanguard Varus's head.

A roar shook the earth, and the ground heaved. The shockwave born at the heart of the blast flung the surrounding zombies outward.

Moments later, the bodies hurled to the outskirts crumbled into ash and scattered on the wind. Before Phantom's eyes, a notification of familiar shape appeared.

A notice of subjugation complete. After it, a larger sum of coins than he had expected came into his hands. Judging by the amount, the underlings' coins had been added in as well.

That ended more tamely than I thought.

He had been ready to use Magic Sphere if it came to it. He had never imagined a single Ether Strike would let him seize the victory so easily.

He was thinking it a relief that things had ended without trouble when an unidentified notification arrived out of nowhere, and with it a savage headache.

"Ugh!"

Hanseong's face twisted at once. What was this? Mana Depletion?

No. This is a little different.

It went beyond simple pain. It felt as if his brain were burning hot, overheating.

A short while later, when the pain vanished, every kind of information and knowledge rose in his mind. His eyes opened round before he knew it.

"Th-this is—!"

The skills of Vanguard Varus, the enemy he had just fought. And, beyond that, the true nature of the space where Phantom now stood. He knew all of it.

Turning over the knowledge System Eden had given him, he spoke the name of this place.

A space invested with the Fallen God's authority, possessing by its mere existence the power to interfere with other dimensional realms. A space used, above all, as a passage linking one realm to another. System Eden defined such a space under the name rift.

And...

The master of each rift was called a creation of the Fallen God, and was charged with crossing the spacetime of the multiverse to gather ether, for the perpetuation of the god they worshipped.

That was as far as the information to be gained from the hidden knowledge System Eden had provided.

"..."

His expression had hardened around this new understanding when, suddenly, a notification appeared before Hanseong's own eyes. Not Phantom's.

"...!?"

Hanseong's eyes flew wide. Of course they did. To his knowledge, there was only one item that carried the name Untitled.

An arrangement devised by System Eden. At the appearance of one of the nine Hidden Pieces, his pupils trembled like a candle flame in the wind.