Forcing the Breakthrough
Zwaang.
"Hey, problem solved. The one that killed the dragons was an Imugi, and I took care of it, so don't worry."
"You worked hard. Nothing unusual happened, right?"
"Not really. Ah!"
"I get the most nervous whenever you go 'Ah'... What is it?"
"An immortal came down from Seon-gye."
"...You didn't hit them, did you?"
"What the hell do you take me for..."
"Sorry."
When Do-ha put on a wounded expression, Namgung Je-u apologized.
Fair enough.
Do-ha wasn't a child anymore—was he really going to go around causing nothing but trouble?
Maybe when he was younger, but not now.
"They tried to snatch my Yeouiju, so I gave them a little warning."
"...?"
For a moment Namgung Je-u thought he had misheard and dug a finger into his ear.
Was he just tired lately?
He kept hearing things that couldn't be real.
"Those bastards thought they could freeload off me."
"You actually took the Yeouiju...? You?"
"Yeah."
"What do you mean 'yeah'? That's a Seon-gye artifact. You have to give it back!"
Watching Do-ha nod with a sunny expression, Namgung Je-u's blood pressure spiked.
No—this bastard was supposed to solve a problem, so why was he coming back having created one?!
If the Kunlun Sect found out about this, what then?
"It was a Seon-gye item from the start, and the owners asked for it back."
"That's not how it works! Once it's in my hands, it's mine!"
"You crazy bastard!"
Namgung Je-u nearly leapt out of his seat.
Since when had the Yeouiju become Baek Do-ha's property?
"What do you think the Kunlun Sect is going to say? You know them. Those Seon-gye fanboys..."
"I know. Kunlun's a bunch of Seon-gye stans."
"I told you not to use that word..."
"I already talked it over nicely with the immortals. Told them not to mention to the Kunlun kids that I'm back."
Flutter.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
"Where did you get that?"
As Do-ha fanned himself, Namgung Je-u narrowed his eyes.
The craftsmanship and appearance weren't anything sold in the Moorim.
It didn't look like an Earth item either.
More than anything, Do-ha was not the type to walk around carrying a fan.
"The immortals said it was good to see me after so long and left it as a gift. They were showing sincerity—I couldn't exactly refuse."
Tszzz.
The crystal orb projecting the call rotated sideways and fixed on Canteas.
"Hey, Canteas. Be honest... is that true? Did the immortals really give it to him?"
"...Ah... the weather's nice."
Canteas turned his head and stared up at the sky.
"It's raining so hard you can't see in front of your face. What weather?"
"I can't hear you..."
Grab.
Whirl.
"Hey, I wrapped everything up cleanly on my own, so stop worrying."
Do-ha seized the crystal orb, spun it back around, and spoke.
Honestly.
He had handled it all himself—why all the fretting?
"The dragon problem's solved, so you just get my commission ready. Twenty kilograms of ten-thousand-year cold iron. Don't forget."
"Twenty kilos?? Why did it suddenly jump by ten?!"
"I thought about it and the numbers didn't add up. Fighting that Imugi left me with internal injuries... Cough... cough... I need a higher fee."
"Don't mess with me. You expect me to believe—"
Thud.
Crack!
While Namgung Je-u was still ranting, Do-ha smashed the crystal orb to pieces.
"I've said it before, but why did that kid turn into such a hothead? He used to be soft-hearted and quiet when he was little."
"I think I know the reason..."
Canteas fixed Do-ha with a long, steady look.
The reason Je-u had changed was not far away at all.
Clatter.
"Are you really going to do this?"
Looking at the two Dragon Hearts and two Yeouiju laid out on the floor, Canteas and Selenia watched Do-ha with worried faces.
Right now Do-ha intended to use these four items to smash through his current realm.
His energy had long since been overflowing, yet he had kept failing to break past the wall.
"You said that once you've gained enlightenment, the old methods stop working, right?"
"Yeah. So I'm going to force it."
With only the Dragon Hearts it would have been impossible, but with the Yeouiju as well he could forcibly enter the abyss.
Of course, even after consuming all of them he might still fail to break through—but at least he could create an opportunity.
"I'm going to set up the Dream Kalpa Extreme Light Formation and go inside."
"Do you really have to go that far?"
Canteas's expression turned startled.
The Dream Kalpa Extreme Light Formation was a variant of the Baegyo cult's Dream Soul Thousand-Li Journey array, originally designed to imprison sinners.
It was powerful enough to withstand even if the subject inside went berserk, and destroying it required at least the Transcendent Realm—Hwayeong—or higher.
Do-ha knew that, which was exactly why he intended to enter it on purpose.
"If you fail to step into Hwayeong, you won't be able to get out of the formation. You're putting pressure on yourself."
"Exactly."
"Do you really need to go that far? You look too impatient."
Selenia gazed at Do-ha with open concern.
Why did he seem so rushed?
He had returned to the world he originally lived in and reunited with all his friends.
Baek Chul was growing stronger by the day, and the construction of Paju was accelerating even further now that the dwarves had joined.
So couldn't he raise his realm a little more slowly?
"If it's because of the Demon God Cult, New Age is dealing with them for now..."
"That's exactly why I have to break through even more."
By reviving Alteir, the leader of New Age, he had created an unexpected variable for the Cult.
As a result, a great many of their followers had died and the Cult had suffered enormous damage.
They're not completely cornered yet, but it's about time they try something to reverse the atmosphere.
If they summoned even a count-class demon or higher in this state, everyone would be wiped out.
Even if he somehow managed to face it, people would still die in the end.
"Just look at that Imugi alone."
He had only won because his combat experience was greater and the Imugi had failed to properly utilize the Yeouiju.
But luck like that would not keep happening.
"The immortals are the same."
They had withdrawn for now because they still remembered his past glory, but if it had come to a real fight he would not have been able to defeat even a single one.
"If those guys had actually come at me to take the Yeouiju, I wouldn't have won."
"Immortals are at the Life-or-Death Realm, so..."
"Not every immortal is at the Life-or-Death Realm."
At Selenia's words, Canteas shook his head.
The Life-or-Death Realm was indeed the realm of immortals.
However, not every immortal had reached it.
What did that mean?
It was the difference between ascending through martial arts versus becoming an immortal through cultivation of the Dao.
Those who became immortals through pure cultivation rather than martial arts were pitiful in actual combat.
The immortals Do-ha had encountered were exactly that type—ones who had risen to Seon-gye through cultivation.
"That's why I have to break through as soon as possible."
At the very least he needed to reach Hwayeong before he could fully unleash his martial arts.
Until now they had been half-powered, unable to display their true might.
"Who's going to stop that stubbornness of his."
In the end Canteas shook his head.
There was nothing urgent that needed doing right now, so it was fine for Do-ha to enter the Dream Kalpa Extreme Light Formation.
"If anything happens, I'll stop it."
"...I'll just be grateful if you don't cause an accident."
"Go ahead and sink into the abyss forever for all I care."
Do-ha smiled faintly at Canteas's words and picked up the Dragon Hearts and Yeouiju.
"Did you put up the shields?"
Selenia, standing in front of the building, looked at Canteas as he walked out of the house.
The moment Do-ha had entered the Dream Kalpa Extreme Light Formation, he had said he would cast protective magic around the area.
"I separated the space, put up shields, and even installed a coordinate scrambler. Every protection I can manage is in place."
"Good work."
And so one month passed.
Canteas used his skeletons to help with the construction work in Paju, while Selenia supervised Baek Chul's spirit arts.
Han Jeong-soo spent the time tracking news related to New Age and dispatching Hunters into the world of Belhart.
The Association President had, before anyone noticed, become a 3-Circle mage, and his swordsmanship had advanced another level until he could finally be called a magic swordsman.
Meanwhile Kang Ji-hwan and Han Se-ah trained every day with the Death Knight Cheon Seol-gyeong, refining the new abilities they had learned into something far cleaner and more precise.
Then another month. Two months.
A total of three months had passed.
Clatter.
"Is Do-ha still inside the Dream Kalpa Extreme Light Formation?"
Emilton sipped her coffee and looked at Selenia.
Ever since exchanges with Earth had begun, she often crossed over like this to spend time.
"Yeah."
"Don't worry too much. You know the most useless worry in the world is worrying about Do-ha."
Emilton smiled at Selenia.
She tried her best not to show it, but to a friend's eyes Selenia's concern was plain.
"How's Dimerof these days?"
"He's working himself to death."
With hundreds of millions of humans suddenly visiting, incidents and accidents had skyrocketed.
Of course, thanks to that the economies of small territories that had been declining were reviving, which was a positive side, but the headaches had multiplied just as much.
Because of it, both Dimerof and Namgung Je-u were spending their days in a nonstop blur of busyness.
"I'm the only one still slacking off like this, though."
"The Magic Tower's fine?"
At Emilton's words Selenia burst out laughing.
In truth, among their friends Emilton was the busiest of all.
She was studying Earth's goods and science, so she barely ever left her laboratory.
"Where did Canteas go?"
"He was helping build the port city that's going up in Paju for a while, but right now he's made a short trip to the southern continent."
"Belhart's southern continent?"
"Yeah."
"Why there?"
It had originally been the continent where dragons lived, but now that they had vanished there was nothing much to see and nothing special about it.
"He said this is the chance."
"What chance?"
"The chance to loot the empty dragon lairs."
"Pfft!"
Emilton sprayed her coffee.
She had wondered why he would go to a southern continent with no dragons left—turns out he had gone to steal...
"You should have stopped him!"
"As if Canteas is the type who can be stopped just because I tell him to."
Selenia drank her coffee as if it were nothing important.
Do-ha had threatened him with money so often that Canteas had decided he would become rich himself and gone.
Of course Selenia had tried to stop him at first, then left him alone thinking they might at least obtain some dragon bones.
"If you gather more than eighty percent of a dragon's bones, you can make a Bone Dragon."
"That's true."
"It would help our forces too, so I let him go."
"You've changed a lot. You used to hate Bone Dragons even if they were strong, just because they were undead."
"I have to change. The times are changing."
Selenia shrugged her shoulders.
If she clung only to her own stubbornness she would be left behind.
Especially now that even Depnius had betrayed them—she needed to change her thinking even more and make use of everything available.
"Nnngh~ I should get going soon."
Emilton stretched and drained the rest of her coffee.
She had come out to see a friend and taken a short break, so now it was time to return to the lab and suffer through more work.
"You hurry over next to Do-ha and just stroke his cheek. 'Do-ha-ssi...' like that."
"What on earth are you saying right now!"
Selenia recoiled in horror.
Anyone who overheard would get the wrong idea!
"I saw you stroking him back when Do-ha was badly hurt and sleeping for days."
"That was just wiping his face with a wet towel!"
Just then.
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
"Haa... haa... Se... Selenia-nim, you're here! Emilton-nim too."
"Manager Han? What's wrong?"
Looking at Han Jeong-soo gasping for breath, both women's expressions hardened.
What could have made him look so urgent?
"A wave... Monster waves are breaking out all over the world right now!"
Simultaneous monster waves were erupting in every country across the globe.