Chapter 181 : The Hole
Chapter 181: The Hole
‘The fact that the hole is drilled there…’
Meant that filling it before defeating the Lord of Storms was unimaginable.
Because dimensional erosion was the Otherworld’s desire, and an Otherworld Lord would never stand idly by while the hole serving as its passage was blocked.
Moreover, since this was the plan of Deus, who introduced himself as the Otherworld’s god, ‘Abrasax’, this was even more the case.
The raid on the Lord of Storms would be established precisely upon such a basis of confrontation.
“······.”
Around the time Baek Woohyun’s thoughts reached that point, the Doppelganger standing on the Lord of Storms’ palm turned to look back.
It seemed he had sensed Baek Woohyun and Kim Hana piercing through the curtain, and a strange change occurred in his expression upon seeing the two with his own eyes.
While his typical colorless expression of a Dimensional Invader remained the same, his purple pupils moved bizarrely over the blue sclera.
It was the same appearance seen when they first encountered a Doppelganger in another Reverse Otherworld.
Presumably, it was a phenomenon signaling that Abrasax-Deus had intervened and forced his way into the body, the Doppelganger, created through the cooperation of the Otherworld and the research facility.
Considering that he called himself Abrasax, i.e., the god of the Otherworld, it wouldn’t be far wrong to say he was ‘descending’.
“······.”
Soon, the purple pupils, now marked with wing-like patterns, stared directly at Baek Woohyun. As if trying to see through even his creator, Isaac, who might be behind him.
Indeed, during their first encounter, Abrasax-Deus had realized the existence of Isaac watching him through Baek Woohyun’s broadcast.
But this time, perhaps failing to find Isaac, he maintained his colorless expression and opened his mouth.
“You are a step late. The connection with the Otherworld is already complete.”
“Really? If we kill that thing and block it, that’s that, isn’t it?”
Baek Woohyun answered coldly on behalf of Kim Hana, who was surprised both by the fact that a Dimensional Invader spoke and that his face resembled someone beside her.
This wasn’t his first time seeing a dimensional hole. Actually, in ‘that place’, they had been drilled a few times through similar processes.
Each time, there was considerable damage, but they managed to block it somehow. If not, ‘that place’ would have been eroded and perished before he returned.
That meant that here too, the dimensional hole could be filled.
Because the hole was drilled right in the center of the Lord of Storms’ chest, they couldn’t block it before killing him? Then they just needed to kill him and block it.
For a ‘Superhuman’ who had once fought and killed a fully-prepared Otherworld Lord head-on, that was hardly a significant choice.
“Perhaps the transmission was not delivered properly.”
Abrasax-Deus tilted his head slightly.
It was a simple gesture that a human might occasionally make.
But perhaps because his expression was what it was, and his voice lacked inflection, even that action felt merely bizarre.
“You cannot block the connection with the Otherworld. Even if you kill the Lord of Storms, it is the same.”
“What?”
“This is purely the destiny ordained by the Creator.”
As Baek Woohyun knew, the Creator referred to by Abrasax-Deus was Isaac.
So he was saying that the very act of connecting the Otherworld and the Earth of ‘Reverse Planet’ occurred because Isaac willed it.
Thinking ‘Is that possible?’ for a moment, Baek Woohyun soon recalled the Isaac he met and realized, ‘That could be possible.’
The ‘that place’ which was an undeniable reality and the virtual reality game ‘Reverse Planet’ were similar yet different.
Just looking at the value of life, putting everything else aside.
Compared to ‘that place’ where real, breathing people died, ‘Reverse Planet’, where anyone could be said to be mere data─
“······.”
─Baek Woohyun, with a cold expressionless face, decisively cut off the growing thought.
Perhaps someday in the distant future, but not now. He didn’t want to forcibly pry into the inevitable gap between ‘that place’ and ‘Reverse Planet’.
All the more so if it wouldn’t help uncover the secrets entangled here at all.
‘It’s not important now anyway.’
In any case, there was no way the madman Isaac, who wanted to create a perfect world, wouldn’t implement the Otherworld.
Because Earth and the Otherworld, connected by the link of dimensional erosion, were like two axes propping each other up in the ‘Reverse Planet’ worldview.
Even if Abrasax-Deus exploited that in reverse, Isaac would undoubtedly implement the Otherworld. Believing he rightfully should.
“Of course, I do not know if the Creator desired the Otherworld to open now. Nor do I particularly wish to know about that.”
“······.”
“But whenever it was, the Creator would have opened the Otherworld. That much is certain. I merely advanced the timing a little.”
“Creator this, destiny that…”
It was then that Kim Hana, who had been quietly listening, abruptly interjected and spoke.
She continued with a smirk.
“Or the reason that Dimensional Invader resembles you, junior! There’s a lot to talk about, but let’s skip all that for now!”
“”······.””
“The only important thing right now is just one! Closing the dimensional hole! Everything else is mere footnotes!”
Kim Hana’s voice, shouting as she raised her wind-wrapped sword to point at Abrasax-Deus, carried powerful persuasiveness.
Because she herself, more than anyone, firmly believed that the Otherworld Management Bureau agent’s mission was solely the exclusion of the Otherworld, and everything else was mere footnotes.
The cry of someone with conviction naturally had to have that much impact.
“…A puppet toyed with by destiny? The sight of dancing without knowing anything is the same as mine.”
“Don’t you dare treat me the same as a bastard like you?”
Kim Hana retorted to Abrasax-Deus, who muttered while looking at her, as he shook his head and walked into the hole drilled in the Lord of Storms’ chest.
If the Otherworld hadn’t been implemented in ‘Reverse Planet’ until now, and Isaac had only just created it, then the Otherworld’s god was finally setting foot in his own domain for the first time.
Baek Woohyun couldn’t even begin to guess what impact this would have going forward.
“If you desire more conversation, come here─to the ‘A Whole New World’. Apostle of the Creator.”
With that cryptic message, Abrasax-Deus’ figure completely vanished.
But Baek Woohyun and Kim Hana couldn’t pursue him.
Because the Lord of Storms, who had been still as if frozen, immediately moved.
【───!】
Whoooosh-!
The Lord of Storms released his power with a roar so massive it could shake the entire Reverse Otherworld.
The curtain spread to conceal his form, visible even from afar, shattered like glass, and an immense wave of power swept the surroundings.
Then, an intensely strong wind, making it hard to even stand, swept through, and torrential rain poured down, drenching everything.
A natural disaster, a storm, so overwhelming it was hard to even think of resisting, had descended here.
“Get behind me, junior!”
Whoooom-!
As the enormous storm spread in all directions, Kim Hana, who had quickly stepped before Baek Woohyun, spread [Eye of the Storm] with all her might.
The barrier made of wind managed to block the storm quite well, perhaps due to being of the same attribute to some extent─after all, its name was ‘Eye of the Storm’ from the start─.
Only the aftermath of the power was clear; while they blocked the wind and rain, both of them were pushed back together.
【───!】
Whoooosh-!
The Lord of Storms did not aim at Baek Woohyun and Kim Hana moving away from him. He merely endlessly spewed forth power.
That could be seen just from the cracks forming around. The Reverse Otherworld was collapsing, unable to withstand the power spewing from the Lord of Storms.
Thinking it was the same development as when the situation concluded last time, Baek Woohyun realized the overflowing flow of power felt subtly different somewhere.
‘Something’s different!’
While being pushed back with Kim Hana, Baek Woohyun, who had been sharply observing the Lord of Storms, discovered chains bound to its arms.
Chains as thick as its massive frame were firmly fixed to the ground, as if trying to bind the Lord of Storms to this earth.
The moment a ‘Could it be?’ question formed on his face upon confirming this.
【─────!】
Kwaaaah-!
The Lord of Storms let out a roar several times fiercer than before. The power spewing from it naturally intensified proportionally.
The Reverse Otherworld, already cracked and barely holding on, crumbled down because of it. It had already reached its limit some time ago, so it was an expected result.
The problem was that the space revealed afterwards was not the normalized reality.
Whoooosh-!
“This place is…!”
The Otherworld Lord’s power devoured the Otherworldified space of the Reverse Otherworld as it was, thereby creating a new domain on this earth.
It was a world solely for the Otherworld Lord, the Lord of Storms, the master of this power. A world where a single fortress remained intact within the storm engulfing everything.
With a final appearance suitable to be called the ‘Fortress of Storms’, Baek Woohyun and Kim Hana, who did not belong to the Otherworld, were expelled outside the space.
Whoosh!
“Are you okay, junior?!”
“I’m fine!”
Baek Woohyun and Kim Hana, thrown outside, hurriedly regained their balance and looked around.
Surprisingly, the area near the house where the Reverse Otherworld entrance existed had completely vanished. Not only the corpses of the enemies they had eliminated, but even the surrounding houses.
Since the Lord of Storms emitted such power, destroying the Reverse Otherworld and establishing its own domain, its influence must have reached the outside world.
It was no exaggeration to say a huge, irreparable disaster had occurred.
“Suspicious individuals!”
“Stop with your hands up! Don’t move!”
“…Tch.”
Perhaps the Otherworld Management Bureau was already deployed, as combat unit members belonging to the Bureau, some distance away, surrounded Baek Woohyun and Kim Hana with their guns aimed.
How long did they stand still with their hands up following the instructions? Awakener agents in combat uniforms rushed towards the two.
The person at the lead was, of course, Team 1 Leader, Kim Cheol.
“Explain what happened.”
“Yes! I’ll report immediately!”
As soon as Kim Hana finished giving a rapid, summarized report of the incident, a heavy silence fell around.
Despite it being a report from which much information related to Baek Woohyun was omitted, perhaps out of her consideration, the expressions of the awakeners were stiff.
A mountain-sized monster made entirely of storm and a hole drilled in the dimensional barrier were that serious of a matter.
Moreover, it had even destroyed the Reverse Otherworld and established a new domain fitting for itself, the Fortress of Storms, and settled in.
“─Agent Kim Hana and Agent Baek Woohyun, write a more detailed report! Based on its contents, I will proceed with a briefing on the current situation!”
“”Understood!””
“Team members, including Agent Lee Yujin, completely seal off the surrounding area immediately! Block it thoroughly so not even a single ant can enter inside the blockade line!”
“Understood!”
In the end, the one who organized the situation was Kim Cheol.
He issued various directives to the agents behind him with swift decisiveness.
Undoubtedly, the briefing based on Baek Woohyun and Kim Hana’s report would also be conducted by him.
“We will assemble the most powerful force, breach the Fortress of Storms, and hunt the Lord of Storms!”