As Long as I'm Here
Before the Gate leading to Belhart.
"Yaaawn."
"Man, I'm exhausted. Suddenly stuck on night shift and I just can't get used to it."
Two Association staff members stretched out long, heavy yawns. There hadn't been night duty for a while, but with the Gate's appearance, the watches had started up again.
"Do we even need to be guarding this place? It's supposed to be a dimension where humans live, right?"
"They've got monsters over there too, you know."
"I heard that dimension has mages. Even Murim martial artists who use internal energy."
"Don't complain to me — go tell the Association President."
"…Yeah, maybe not."
The staffer shook his head. The President was still terrifying. Softened as she might have become, the memory of her days as the Red Butcher still sent a chill down the spine just from looking at her. That old fear made her hard to approach even now.
"Coward."
"You're one to talk…"
In that instant—
Whoooooosh!
"Aagh!"
"What the hell — a dust storm all of a sudden?!"
A tremendous gale roared up, whipping a massive cloud of dust into the air. It was so fierce that small stones rode the wind and pelted their bodies.
"Wh… what was that?"
When the wind finally died down, the two staffers looked around. They searched for any sign that someone had arrived — but there was nothing. No mana signature. No magic circle forming either.
"Was it… just a freak gust? What kind of wind was that?"
"Maybe because we're in the mountains?"
"Damn it, I'm covered in dirt."
Thwap. Thwap.
The Association staffers grumbled as they brushed the soil from their clothes.
But there was one person they never saw.
Beyond the Gate, Do-ha had already entered — and was racing forward at blistering speed, light-foot technique carrying him like a streak of wind.
Shwaaaaak!
The writhing, warped space around him began to settle into a landscape of blue-green hills and open sky.
This is… the edge of the Western Continent.
Familiar landmarks filled his vision, and Do-ha immediately fixed his position. The Gate had opened at the Malakes territory, perched on the far rim of the Western Continent.
Same as Earth — they've posted a watch here too.
Unlike Earth, though, the detail here consisted of three knights and three mages. Six in total.
Looks like this Gate has already cost them plenty.
In the early days on Earth, they had posted multiple guards at every Gate entrance the same way.
Tap.
Ta-da-da-dat!
I'll have to slip past the soldiers' eyes.
Revealing himself would have been simpler — but that was the last thing he wanted. With the Demon God Cult dominating the Northern Continent, the moment the former Emperor showed his face, those bastards would almost certainly march an army straight at him.
Of course, the Demon God wants to kill me personally, so I wouldn't die right away…
But his grandfather and his friends almost certainly would. And with the Demon God Cult resurfacing, there were bound to be plenty of spies already embedded inside the Empire. Even Emperor Dimerof was on the brink of death, wasn't he? Under those circumstances, spies were a given.
This time — I swear it — I'll wipe every last one of you out of every dimension.
Do-ha ground his teeth and headed for the long river stretching ahead.
Tok.
To-do-do-do-dok!
Moments later he was skimming across the water's surface, executing the Water-Surface Flight technique as he raced onward.
Direct teleportation into the Empire's interior was impossible. Coordinate scramblers had been installed to block enemy incursions. So he made for a nearby city instead — every major city had a licensed teleport tower. From there, he would move into the Empire proper.
Huff… huff… Damn. How the hell am I supposed to get through this?
After several days of travel, Do-ha finally reached the Imperial Palace — and stood there drawing ragged breaths. The labored breathing had nothing to do with light-foot technique. He had already been at the palace for hours. The reason his lungs still burned was that he had circled the entire complex again and again, searching for any way into the room where Dimerof lay.
Damn it.
Had the palace always been this hard to infiltrate? Detection magic and turret enchantments ringed the walls; force your way through and you would be reduced to powder. Coordinate scramblers covered every approach, so teleportation was out as well.
I'd love to just walk up to the main gate and call for Emilton…
But if a spy caught even a glimpse of that, it would be a disaster.
Not a single rat hole to sneak through.
No — that wasn't quite true. There was one rat hole. The problem was that using it might kick up a serious racket.
It all depends on what kind of experimental specimen Canteas left behind…
If he'd known it would come to this, he would have asked before leaving. And with the hatchling certain to tag along, summoning Canteas wasn't an option either…
Haa…
Decision made, Do-ha headed for the rear of the palace — toward a colossal marble statue.
The ventilation shaft.
He studied the base of the statue and immediately reached out. The monument had never been installed merely for decoration. Beneath it lay a ventilation shaft — built to exhaust air rising from the underground levels, then concealed by the statue itself.
Thump.
"Urgh!"
Grnnnnnnk.
Do-ha shoved the statue with everything he had. He would have preferred to smash it outright, but that would have brought every soldier in the palace running.
"Ugh, this thing is heavy."
Even with holes carved throughout the statue to let air pass, it was still brutally massive.
"Knew it. There had to be a vent hole."
A shaft of unfathomable depth yawned open before him, and Do-ha smiled. Through this, he could slip into the palace interior.
Tap.
Shuuuuu!
Without another thought, he launched himself into the ventilation shaft.
Wonder what kind of thing is waiting down there…
As he had said, the shaft led underground — and that underground had once been Canteas's laboratory. The place Canteas had lived before Do-ha granted him free run of the palace.
Shuuu.
Thud.
"Oh, for fuck's sake…"
The moment Do-ha landed underground and saw what stood before the door, irritation flooded his face.
That insane skeleton bastard. Of all the things to plant at the underground entrance—
"Why the hell did you make a Dullahan?"
Couldn't he have just stuck some ordinary undead there? No — he had to build a Dullahan, one rank below a Death Knight. On Earth, that would be an S-Rank monster.
Crrrk.
Grnnnnnnk.
Sensing a presence, the Dullahan stirred, stirring up a cloud of pale dust as it slowly began to move. For decades no one had come this way; it had stood motionless all that time, and only now was it waking.
"When I get back, I'm selling your game console."
With a deep sigh, Do-ha drew his sword and charged.
"Mmm…"
…Must be nice living the easy life.
Having reached Emilton's chambers, Do-ha narrowed his eyes at the sleeping woman. Here he was, busting his ass just to get inside the palace — and she was out cold, sleeping like a baby. His side still throbbed where the Dullahan had caught him.
I had to fight like an assassin so I wouldn't make noise.
The problem was that Dullahans had absurd durability — the natural counter to an assassin's style. He had spent nearly thirty minutes moving like a madman just to put the thing down.
"Hey. Wake up."
Poke.
"?!!!"
She jolted upright, startled by the sudden presence. How had someone gotten this close without her sensing a thing?!
Zwaaang!
"Wh… what — Baek Do-ha?!"
The moment she confirmed who it was, she let out a breath of pure relief. No wonder. Even in her sleep she usually registered danger instantly — so why hadn't she reacted? Because the man who had approached was Do-ha, the one she had spent more than forty years beside. Her instincts simply hadn't flagged him as a threat.
"Yeah, it's me. So mind dismissing those magic circles?"
Do-ha pointed at the formations that had bloomed around her body. She had woken from a dead sleep and, in a single instant, cast four separate circles.
Silent Casting into Quadruple Casting in a heartbeat…
Impressive. Exactly what you'd expect from a mage on the cusp of the Eighth Circle. With even a modest stroke of fortune, she would become an Eighth-Circle Archmage overnight.
"You… how are you even here?"
"It's complicated to explain. I couldn't get anywhere near Dimerof's room, so I came to ask you for a favor."
Emilton's chambers sat in a corner of the palace, making them relatively approachable. Dimerof, however, was the Emperor. The security around him was so airtight that sneaking in had been impossible. On top of that, converting a Dragon Heart into pure mana required the help of a Seventh-Circle mage like her.
"You're really going to try driving the dragon's energy out of Dimerof?"
She understood at once why he had come. The only reason he would infiltrate the palace and seek her out was to save Dimerof.
"I told you last time. To purge Depnius's energy, you need either another dragon or Depnius himself. Failing that, an Eighth-Circle mage. Canteas failed to return to his original body… you already know that, right?"
A few days earlier, Canteas's attempt to reclaim his true form had failed.
"I know. That idiot… fretting over what would happen to Dimerof if he died, all because he couldn't get his body back."
"…Stupid skeleton."
"So I'm going to try a different method."
"A different method?"
Emilton tilted her head. What method could possibly put that kind of brightness on his face?
"You said dragon energy would do it, right? So I brought some."
Do-ha pulled a Dragon Heart from his subspace bag. The moment he had seen the Heart sitting in that vault, the thought had hit him like lightning — he could save Dimerof with this.
"Th… this — where did you get this?!"
Every dragon currently in the world of Belhart had vanished without a trace. That was precisely why they had been unable to request help.
"Beat up a bad guy and took it."
"Don't joke around."
"I'm serious."
Do-ha gave a dry chuckle at her reaction. As if he could have hunted a dragon for this. At his current level, he couldn't even leave a scratch on one.
"Convert this into mana for me. I'll absorb it and inject it straight into Dimerof's body."
"…"
"What?"
When she just stared at him, Do-ha tilted his head. Time was critical — why was she looking at him like that?
"If something goes wrong, you could die."
Do-ha's cultivation was still too low. The sheer volume of energy might reject him outright. And if that happened, the backlash would reverse through his body and inflict catastrophic injury. This was the ferocious energy of a dragon, after all. Injury would be the best-case scenario. One wrong move and Do-ha would die on the spot.
"Dimerof already has dragon energy in his body, so the impact on him won't be severe. But you don't. You…"
Terrified of losing another friend, she clenched her fists tight. She had already spent so long regretting that she hadn't gone with him when he set out to face the Demon God. And now he was trying to die right in front of her?
"Emilton."
"Even so…"
Thump.
"Don't worry. As long as I'm here, no one dies — myself included."
Do-ha set a hand on her shoulder and spoke.
"…"
She gripped her hands tighter. Looking at his face, Emilton suddenly remembered something from long ago.
Thirty years past.
Surrounded by tens of thousands of monsters, every comrade one breath from death—
Everyone tired? Don't worry. As long as I'm here, no one dies — myself included.
Covered in wounds, a single sword resting across his shoulder, Baek Do-ha had looked at her and the others and smiled — bright and unshaken.
Then he had cut down tens of thousands of monsters alone and saved Dimerof, Namgung Je-u, Tunrad, and her.
"If you die, I'm pickling you in formalin and stuffing you."
"Yikes. Terrifying. Guess I absolutely can't afford to fail, then."
Emilton pulled on her coat and slipped out of the room with Do-ha.