Chapter 249

Chapter 249
## Chapter 249

Ganghwange (1)

At the threshold where all realities meet—positioned between the firmament and the netherworld.

“…This presents a major issue.”

The Revolutionary spoke under his breath, keeping his eyes on the fractures splitting around him.

How had his circumstances degenerated to this point?

Merely a handful of years prior, every piece of his puzzle was sliding perfectly into place.

The meticulous arrangements he had nurtured for decades were approaching fruition, and he was simply awaiting the opening notes of a grand design a millennium in the making.

Yet everything began fracturing at the very first phase: reviving the Immortal King.

He had played upon the avarice of Marcos to claim the “Immortal King’s Fragment,” subsequently steering the man into a self-sacrificing act to bring it to life.

The Brokoslack Clan, safeguarding a separate remnant of that power, had likewise been integrated into his calculations.

It was immaterial whether Marcos or the Brokoslack Clan held the upper hand, provided the two separate pieces bound together.

Once awoken, the resulting Immortal King would function as an erratic engine of destruction, laying waste to the lands.

‘The intention was to utilize the Talia Kingdom as the fuse to throw the western territories into chaos and spark a domino effect.’

Yet the Immortal King began acting on independent impulses, completely disrupting his structured orchestration.

The Brokoslack Clan, whom he expected to lose their stronghold and fall under the control of the Obaifo Clan following their clash with the Ufersh Clan, remained entirely intact.

Oldman, tasked with toppling the Tulk Kingdom while the surrounding realms rallied against the Immortal King, faltered in his timing and was wiped out by the Immortal Army.

Furthermore, Nurabe, who was designated to sweep down from the Northern Mountains with a massive vanguard of beasts, was abruptly eliminated by the Church after inadvertently targeting a sacrificial Elf.

‘The entire situation has been unraveling since that moment.’

On a positive note, the expansive continental blood rite and the unsealing of the abyssal gateway, both of which he had managed directly, moved forward without a hitch…

Had those endeavors collapsed, his ambitions would have shattered before truly getting underway.

‘And now… ’

The Revolutionary shut his eyes, tuning his senses to the ambient noises around him.

The murmurs of the world, intermingled with a grating, gritty resonance.

And those distinct sounds conveyed to him…

‘…The situation is dire.’

…the impending collapse of his life’s work.

An immense weight of mortality, radiating from an untraceable point, was gradually closing in on him.

‘This is exceptionally perilous.’

Remaining passive meant everything would conclude with his demise.

Death itself did not frighten him, but failing to execute his ultimate purpose was an entirely different matter.

That purpose alone justified his entire life.

“There is no other path.”

A definitive choice had to be made before his options vanished completely.

The Revolutionary turned his face to the side.

Fixing his eyes on the Seed of Madness, which throbbed with twisted vitality.

—

While Hans remained engrossed in his academic pursuits, his alternate personas were making their own strides across different regions.

“It is a privilege to cross paths with you once more. Permit me to introduce myself properly. I am Yoon Ji-yoon, directing operations for the Southern Seoul branch of the Korean Returnee Association.”

“You may call me Heinz. I currently command the Blood Alliance.”

“…Before we proceed, I must inquire about something. Word has spread regarding a masked vigilante targeting wrongdoers under the cover of night. Could that perhaps be…”

“I have absolutely no knowledge of such matters.”

“…Understood.”

Heinz the Second stayed fully occupied steering his factions across both Earth and Auterica, forging treaties and solidifying his dominion.

“Wow, traveling all this way must be incredibly exhausting for you.”

“Hehe, I possess quite a few resources, you know? I can act as your pathfinder and even grant you an audience with the clan leaders. After all, I am the daughter of the High Chieftain.”

“Haha! That is excellent to hear! However, our journey will require covering vast terrain at high speed. Are you confident you can match the pace? Even an accomplished High Shaman might find it taxing.”

“Ah! Regarding that… If you wouldn’t mind carrying me, Harley… Hehehe.”

Harley, backed by Misty’s assistance, was actively bringing together the various clans inhabiting the southern reaches.

Hubert’s Trading Company, propelled by patronage from multiple powerful figures, was fast transforming into the preeminent commercial syndicate in the western region, far outgrowing its roots in the Tulk Kingdom.

Harris spent his days successfully avoiding hard labor, maintaining a vigil over the World Tree while the purge of the Lycanthropes continued.

‘Hesperon and Horus are entirely consumed by their personal training.’

Meanwhile, Hans, unable to let his massive legion of the dead sit uselessly, deployed a portion of his forces to harvest resources deep within the Northern Mountains.

Massive mining projects, essentially functioning as forced labor operations, spread through the mountain range as tireless skeletal thralls dug out precious ores without pause.

The harvested materials were delivered straight to Howard, with any excess diverted to Hubert’s Trading Company to expand their economic leverage.

‘This inadvertently turns Hubert into an asset for the Immortal King… but so long as the leadership remains content, the arrangement works.’

Naturally, compliance was mandatory regardless of their personal feelings, but a cooperative workforce yielded far better results.

‘Furthermore, I have been offering up some of the more problematic commanders as stepping stones to elevate Heinrich’s public standing.’

By weeding out the more unmanageable elements of the Immortal Army, he further disrupted the continental balance and forced humankind to stand together against the common threat of the Immortal King.

At this stage, the only remaining task was to track down the Revolutionary—the hidden architect of the Oath of Heaven’s Defiance—and systematically dismantle his network.

Following that, the stage would finally be set for the concluding phase of his Home Theater production, the ‘Final Showdown’.

‘A multitude of objectives remain in Auterica, but they can be put on hold. At present, my focus is drawn elsewhere.’

I systematically sorted through my concepts, feeling a spark of anticipation take root.

‘The underlying principles are flawless. The only requirement now is to wait out the remaining time on the “Interdimensional Transfer Formation Summon”.’

Gaining entry to an entirely separate reality from the one he was originally assigned to was an unprecedented breakthrough.

Every single individual from Earth awakened to a singular, specific realm.

No one had ever broken that rule.

‘This explains why those who come back place such immense value on their primary dimension.’

Aside from their initial intrinsic power, any subsequent traits or techniques they mastered were tied directly to the nature of the realm they occupied.

To put it plainly, one could not acquire arcane sorcery within a martial arts realm, and the reverse held equally true.

‘Ganghwange shares no similarities with Auterica. I am highly curious to see what distinct powers await me there.’

I spent the remaining waiting period conducting research on the destination.

When preparing for his initial jump, he had to pore over files regarding countless alternate worlds without knowing where fortune would drop him… but with a definitive location locked in, the preparation became far more streamlined.

“Wait, this looks… highly unusual.”

However, in the middle of reviewing the data,

He noticed a highly irregular detail and knit his brows.

The records contained documentation on hundreds of distinct realms.

Typically, the profiles of these worlds were kept current through accounts provided by individuals who made it back.

Granted, a portion of the population kept their experiences private, and others skipped the registration process entirely, but the aggregate global archive was still substantial.

‘What explains this drastically low rate of return? And looking at the most recent entry… ’

Yet when it came to Ganghwange, the most recent documented return dated back to a solitary individual a full year ago.

Over the subsequent decade in that world’s timeline, not a single person had made it back.

‘Even allowing for unregistered individuals who kept a low profile like Salma… these figures are entirely skewed.’

The historical data regarding those who visited Ganghwange only deepened his doubts.

The world had been found quite early in the discovery cycle, and the influx of visitors had shown steady growth for a time…

‘Before taking an abrupt nosedive, and now arriving at this…’

A few different explanations came to mind.

The most straightforward conclusion was that the environment had grown far too hostile to sustain human life, resulting in the total wipeout of the visiting Earthlings.

-Realm Name: Ganghwange

-Catalog Index: C-309BK

-Realm Classification: Murim

-Threat Level: Extreme, Absolute Focus on Survival Required

-…

The stored files regarding Ganghwange within the Returnee Association’s central archive lined up with that conclusion.

By comparison, the danger rating for Auterica—a world actively torn apart by a Dark Lord and hordes of beasts—was listed as ‘Elevated, High Degree of Caution Required’.

It was difficult to fathom the sheer brutality of the landscape waiting within Ganghwange.

He scrolled down further, reading through the specific causes behind the extreme threat assessment.

‘…Salma’s extracted memories didn’t contain this level of context.’

He had been entirely occupied with treating Salma’s fractured psychological state, his battered physical form, and his ties to the Heaven’s Turn Society.

Moreover, Salma’s recollections were overwhelmingly dominated by imagery of ruin and bloodshed.

He also uncovered that Salma, known as the Heavenly Demon Emperor, had personally been a major factor behind the spike in the world’s danger rating.

‘His self-proclaimed reputation as the ‘Scourge of Ganghwange’ wasn’t an exaggeration… yet that isn’t the primary concern.’

Even a self-proclaimed scourge remained a solitary combatant.

In contrast to the Immortal King, who held sway over a massive, continent-wide military force, even a supreme martial artist faced constraints on the scope of their impact.

The extreme classification assigned to Ganghwange stemmed from an accumulation of disaster factors colliding at once, creating a perfect storm.

‘Even so, that doesn’t fully account for the complete lack of departures.’

Undoubtedly, the sheer peril played a major role.

Yet there had to be an underlying mechanism causing the absolute cessation of returnees.

‘Could it be that… new arrivals from Earth are no longer being sent there at all?’

If the supply of fresh drop-ins had dried up, the current metrics made perfect sense.

‘Salma completed his full twenty-year tenure before returning… and the last documented returnee from Ganghwange reappeared roughly ten years ago by that world’s calendar.’

Factoring in the standard ten-year survival and return timeline, they must have arrived during the exact same period.

‘Which signifies that period was likely the concluding group of arrivals assigned to Ganghwange.’

A handful of other realms exhibited a similar pattern.

Worlds that bore an ‘Extreme’ threat classification and showed a rapid decline in successful departures, eventually transforming into ‘sealed realms’ where all external visibility was lost.

‘And this next target destination happens to be one of those exact worlds?’

In all likelihood, not a single person from Earth remained alive within Ganghwange.

And in line with the fate of other sealed realms, it would gradually slip away from active records, surviving only as a fading memory for a handful of veterans.

A brief shadow of doubt crossed his mind, but he shook it off just as quickly.

It had no bearing on his situation.

‘A sealed realm… fascinating.’

He felt a sudden spark of intrigue accompanied by a distinct gut feeling.

As if a vital piece of the puzzle lay waiting in those shadows.

The remaining hours slipped away as he compiled his intelligence.

At long last, the moment the cooldown timer for the “Interdimensional Transfer Formation Summon” hit zero—.

“Very well, let us make the jump.”

He dispatched an advance scout into that perilous, uncharted reality.

“Man… I genuinely hope the atmosphere is more breathable over there. This environment feels incredibly claustrophobic, even with the defensive field active…”

Harris, the immensely powerful High Elf who had been idly passing the time beside the World Tree…

《Milestone reached! You have crossed into an uncharted realm, bypassing standard dimensional limits.》

《As a benefit for charting an unmapped reality, the unique ability “Interdimensional Transfer Formation Summon” has received an upgrade. The required recovery period has been cut by 50%.》

《You have accomplished an action that profoundly alters the fabric of reality. Karma points have scaled up massively.》

…was on the verge of stepping into a completely fresh environment.

Or, to look at it from a different perspective,

A highly capable competitor was entering a entirely depleted sector.