Chapter 47

Chapter 47
## Chapter 47: Hitching a Ride on the Jet

“Track the coordinates of every high-ranking Player in real-time and provide constant updates.”

“Understood, Master.”

“We have to be the first to reach the manifestation point of the ‘King of the Dimensional Rift.’ Bringing down a single King carries more weight than clearing dozens of minor breach zones.”

“We will keep that as our top priority, Master.”

The gathered combatants departed with clockwork precision.

Left alone, the Master massaged his temples, unable to ease the tension etched into his face.

‘A high-level raid is currently underway, and I have no knowledge of its location.’

The network he had established across the globe wasn’t limited to his own soldiers.

He had formed alliances with countless influential organizations.

Even the United States administration was part of his web.

Data from every continent was being channeled to his command center without delay.

And yet, there were zero reports of high-threat entities emerging from any known dimensional rifts.

The only explanation was that an unknown variable was conducting a raid in a secluded, undetected area.

‘I must locate it.’

Missing this window was not an option.

He had spent years meticulously preparing for this exact moment to take center stage as the world’s savior.

—

High atop the observation deck of the Jamsil Lotte Tower, Gracia leaned against the railing, her brow furrowed in confusion.

“This is bizarre.”

A rift had visibly fractured the sky.

On the streets below, the South Korean military and local Players were braced for an all-out assault.

A clash seemed inevitable, yet the expected monsters had failed to materialize.

‘The completion rate is climbing at a frantic pace. That proves someone is already inside, fighting.’

But who?

The image of Phantom crossed her mind for a heartbeat, but she dismissed it instantly.

Regardless of how gifted Phantom might be, he had only awakened as a Player less than six months ago.

Even for a genius like him, there was a physical ceiling to how much power one could accumulate in such a short window.

‘I was certain the wielder of the Hydragon’s Soul would show himself once the breach began.’

That was the sole reason Gracia remained in Korea.

Her goal was to intercept the Player carrying the Hydragon’s Soul.

Since that individual had participated in the previous two incursions, she was convinced the opening of this rift would draw them out.

The rift had appeared exactly as forecasted, but the anomaly was the total lack of an invasion force.

*Vrummm!*

A circle of spectral blades materialized around Gracia.

“Perhaps a little nudge will provoke a response.”

Speaking softly to herself, she launched the swords at the dimensional tear in rapid succession.

*Boom! Crackle! Thrum!*

The blades failed to penetrate the rift’s surface.

Instead, they recoiled violently upon impact.

Even when she concentrated their power into a singular, heavy strike, the result remained unchanged.

‘An unbreakable transit point. It’s locked until the internal raid is finalized.’

Since it withstood an attack of her caliber, it clearly possessed an “indestructible” attribute.

Naturally, such seals could be shattered using a divine relic like the ‘Hammer of the God of Destruction,’ but wasting such a trump card on a mere warp gate was illogical.

《 The ‘King of the Dimensional Rift’ has been slain. 》

“…What?”

Gracia flinched, her eyes widening.

Even for a woman of her composure, this was jarring.

The King of the Dimensional Rift had been terminated with startling speed.

She didn’t even have time to process where the battle was taking place.

《 ‘Ahram, King of the Revenants’ is undergoing resurrection. 》

《 Transitioning to Phase 2. 》

《 Current Progress: 20.5% 》

“……”

…A multi-phase revival mechanic.

She let out a slow breath of relief. Had the raid actually concluded that quickly, it would have been terrifyingly impressive.

Meanwhile, the completion bar had already jumped past the 20% mark.

‘Ahram?’

That name…

It appeared to be a boss that only unveiled its true essence after its initial defeat.

The name Ahram struck a chord in her memory.

‘If I recall correctly, Ahram was the sentinel of the first circle of hell in the demonic realm.’

Though she hadn’t been a member of the Great Expedition, she was intimately familiar with the records.

The King of the Dimensional Rift was indeed Ahram.

Did they fail to properly execute the kill during the last war?

‘The Knight King Wilhelm threw away the lives of his troops to force a breakthrough. His obsession with slaying the Demon King without clearing the sub-bosses led to the ultimate disaster.’

Now, that demonic gatekeeper was alive and attempting to breach Earth’s reality.

It proved that Wilhelm’s “victory” over Ahram had been a facade.

Because the Great Expedition had collapsed, the demonic realm and its King were now fixated on Earth.

‘Hmph. Maybe I should have been the one to deal with the Demon King.’

The reason Gracia had abstained from the Great Expedition was straightforward.

‘…I was busy consuming the star.’

At that time, she was undergoing the grueling process of transcendence.

She had succeeded, reaching a tier of power far beyond her peers.

Now, she felt confident she could surpass Wilhelm.

She could finish the job against the Demon King that he had botched.

‘Once I track down the Hydragon’s Soul, I can finally complete my Unique-grade sword.’

With that soul integrated, her arsenal would be flawless.

She already wielded one Unique-grade blade; obtaining its twin would render her peerless.

No entity in Pangeniar or on Earth would be able to stand against her.

Not even if Wilhelm were to somehow crawl back from the void.

And yet.

One detail continued to baffle her.

《 Current Progress: 24.1% 》

“…Is the system lagging?”

—

Is this the sensation of being carried on a silver platter?

In the world of gaming, when elite teammates do all the heavy lifting to secure a win, it’s called ‘riding the bus.’

That was my current reality.

Actually, this wasn’t a bus—I was strapped into a supersonic jet.

*Guaaaaa!*

Ahram let out a harrowing shriek.

The Evil-Exterminating Giant had just finished a devastating charge across the field, pulverizing the boss in a matter of seconds.

It was a pathetic end, but it wasn’t the final one. Ahram began to reform.

‘Phase 2.’

The second stage of the revival loop.

The weapon I held had siphoned the star’s essence, and in response to its death, Ahram’s revived form grew significantly more potent.

—I am… the undying… deity…!

*Kuaaaang!*

As Ahram bellowed, a tide of dark energy surged outward, forcing the Evil-Exterminating Giant back several steps.

Wreathed in flickering, malevolent black cinders, the boss hoisted its massive greatsword, causing even the Star Guardians to shift into a defensive stance.

‘I can’t just stand here as a spectator.’

This was a Main Quest, after all.

‘The system mentioned rewards would be scaled based on contribution.’

I was the only Player present.

Even with a minimal contribution score, I’d technically be the #1 contributor by default since there was no competition.

Still, to maximize the payout, I needed to get my hands dirty.

Watching Ahram’s frenzied transformation, I raised a hand toward the battlefield.

*Kwaching!*

In an instant, the “mystery” powering those ominous black cinders was extinguished.

—…The strength… granted to me… by the void…!

Ahram froze in sheer confusion.

With the protective veil of black flames gone, the Evil-Exterminating Giant lunged back into the fray.

Each downward strike of its Evil-Exterminating club shattered the very foundation of the realm, grinding Ahram into the dirt.

《 ‘Ahram, King of the Revenants’ has been slain. 》

《 ‘Ahram, Hybrid Fusion’ is undergoing resurrection. 》

《 Transitioning to Phase 3. 》

Having died twice already, Ahram began a desperate mass-absorption of the hybrids.

Tons of thousands of those twisted creatures were pulled into Ahram’s body, stitching his wounds and generating a colossal, shimmering barrier.

*Kwang!*

The shield held firm, even against the full force of the Evil-Exterminating Giant’s club.

—Kuhaha! Every one of you… shall drown in the dark!

The Evil-Exterminating Giant began a rapid-fire assault on the barrier.

Simultaneously, the Star Guardians and the Four Cardinal Forces were systematically wiping out the surrounding swamp hybrids.

It was a breathtaking display of power, but the White King simply stood to the side, arms folded.

“Why are you just standing there, caw?”

“‘I’ gave my word that I would remain an observer.”

The man was a man of his word, I’ll give him that.

I hadn’t expected him to actually stick to his “no-interference” pact in the middle of this chaos.

Conversely, the Four Cardinal Forces were working overtime.

They were aggressively purging the hybrids emerging from the depths of Kramdel’s subterranean layers while keeping Ahram contained.

The White King glanced at me.

“And what about you? Why aren’t you ending this? It would be over in a blink if you stepped in.”

“I told you, I only dismantle mysteries, caw.”

“…So that’s why you’ve limited yourself to that.”

The White King let out a booming, genuine laugh.

Ever since I shattered the ‘First Wall,’ he had begun to treat my bluff as a fundamental truth.

A Unique-grade mystery.

By destroying such a thing, I had proven I could override the established laws of reality.

“It’s coming to a head now.”

The White King noted, his eyes fixed on the duel between the Evil-Exterminating Giant and Ahram.

While the boss had sacrificed thousands of hybrids for an “impenetrable” defense, against a foe like the Evil-Exterminating Giant, it was merely delaying the inevitable.

—You freakish abomination…!

True to the proverb that no tree stands against ten strikes, the constant, rhythmic pounding of the club began to spiderweb the shield.

It was almost sad to watch the struggle.

《 ‘Ahram, Hybrid Fusion’ has been slain. 》

《 ‘Ahram, Black Star’ is undergoing resurrection. 》

《 Transitioning to Phase 4. 》

We had already reached the fourth phase.

In that moment, the completion meter surged past 60%.

As Phase 4 initiated, the corruptive influence of the black star began to fully permeate Ahram’s being.

“Hmm…”

The White King made a low sound in his throat.

As Ahram fully merged with the black star he held, an astronomical amount of mana erupted from his frame.

“This is getting risky.”

The White King, along with everyone else present, felt the shift in the air.

The mana radiating from Ahram was no longer natural.

Without a second thought, the White King turned away. Extending his claws, he tore through the fabric of space, creating an exit from the ‘Revenants’ Swamp’ sub-dimension.

The White King’s talons were capable of slicing through reality itself with a simple flick.

Promptly, the members of the Four Cardinal Forces retreated to the White King’s side.

The only ones left near the boss were the Star Guardians and the Evil-Exterminating Giant.

“Move it. You’re coming with us.”

The White King spoke to me casually.

In his eyes, I was now part of the family, and family stays together.

I glanced back at the Star Guardians in the distance.

“Are you just going to abandon the other Star Guardians and the Evil-Exterminating Giant, caw?”

“I have no choice. A detonation is imminent. This entire pocket dimension is about to collapse.”

If we didn’t leave now, we’d be caught in the fallout.

It was a premonition of a cataclysmic blast that even an entity as powerful as the White King feared.

But the Star Guardians and the Evil-Exterminating Giant were too deep in the zone.

If the White King pulled back now, anything left behind would be erased from existence.

‘His instinct for survival is on another level.’

The White King’s ability to sense lethality was unmatched.

He moved with the certainty of someone who had already seen the outcome.

If he was running, then the total annihilation of the Star Guardians and the Evil-Exterminating Giant was a certainty.

‘Dramat, Andasar…’

The issue was that the heads of Dramat and Andasar were still out there.

Among the Star Guardians, Dramat was at least somewhat sympathetic toward humanity.

If he wasn’t, he never would have followed my directives so submissively, even after I claimed ownership of the star.

He obeyed because, on some level, he accepted the hierarchy.

As for Andasar’s head, I absolutely needed it if I wanted to help Andrew the priest.

“You’re planning to stay? That’s a death wish.”

“I’m going to stop that explosion.”

“…You’re going to stop a star from exploding?”

He looked at me with blatant skepticism, wondering how I intended to contain such a force.

Stopping a black star’s self-destruction wasn’t a matter of brute strength.

I ignored his doubt.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a single, shimmering strand of hair.

《 Activating ‘Hair of the Nameless Constellation.’ 》

After completing Main Quest 5, Acquire Mystery, the celestial beings had presented me with a choice of a hundred different rewards.

From that list, I had selected this ‘hair.’

‘The only constellation that offered a physical piece of its own form.’

It wasn’t a manufactured tool; it was a part of a god.

Even if it was just a single strand, I knew it contained a unique, divine essence.

And now, I was about to prove my choice was the right one.

‘This is intolerable.’

The Evil-Exterminating Giant could not allow a creature of ruin to defile the star with its darkness.

Nor could the other Star Guardians present.

Even if this wasn’t their specific star, the star itself was a holy emblem of the goddess.

They could not stand by while the personification of ‘evil’ attempted to weaponize and degrade a divine symbol.

‘Total eradication.’

Not a single atom of the enemy could be allowed to remain.

The Evil-Exterminating Giant lunged at Ahram with renewed fury.

It would not permit a lowly servant of decay to tarnish the goddess’s light.

But Ahram was persistent.

Finally, after his third rebirth, he had tapped into the raw, volatile power of the black star.

“How dare you…!”

The Evil-Exterminating Giant unleashed every ounce of its strength.

But Ahram, now fueled by the black star, intended to take everyone down with him.

—Perish… all of you…!

A suicidal explosion.

He would detonate the star, erasing this entire region of space.

Terrifying levels of mana swirled around Ahram.

He became a localized black hole, pulling everything toward his center, preparing for the final burst.

The Star Guardians and the Evil-Exterminating Giant hadn’t foreseen a self-destruction of this magnitude.

Combined with the black star’s energy, the entire dimension was slated for deletion.

Escape was impossible; the gravitational pull was too immense.

At this rate, nearly ten Star Guardians would be wiped out instantly, leaving the remaining celestial balance in ruins.

“I won’t allow it!”

The Evil-Exterminating Giant threw its massive arms around Ahram.

It attempted to use its natural magic resistance and defensive skills to dampen the coming blast.

“Evil-Exterminating Giant!”

“You’re throwing your life away?”

“Stop this madness!”

The Star Guardians screamed in desperation.

*Zuaaaa!*

Despite the giant’s efforts, the mana within Ahram and the black star continued to swell, reaching the breaking point.

It was too late.