“My goals align with your goals.”
“Do you mean the defense of earth?”
Toppler nodded his head as he smiled.
“I'm a proponent of everyone being able to protect their own planet.”
Jo-ro-ro.
A milky-white tea was infused when the hot water was poured on top of the tea bag. Woojin took the cup in front of him, and he took a sip.
“How long have you been on Earth?”
“If you are asking for my age, I'm 45 years old.”
“Are you fucking with me?”
“I am serious..”
Woojin glared at him before he asked another question.
“Why didn't you tell everyone about the impending Dungeon Shock? Why didn't you inform everyone?”
“They would have thought I was a raving lunatic.”
“Hmm. That is true.”
Woojin nodded his head.
“Then what about the conjectures you released on the tv program?”
He was known as the top researcher regards to anything related to the Dungeons.
Toppler had formed several hypotheses, and he had talked about the reasons behind the Dungeon formation, and its reciprocal relationship with the monsters. Moreover, he denounced the Dungeon businesses for accelerating the Dungeon Reset.
“Those are all facts.”
It wasn't hypotheses. He had been telling the truth.
How did Toppler find out about all this?
Was it through personal experience? Did he witness it?
“Why didn't you incrementally release more information?”
“Nobody would have believed me if I revealed everything I knew.”
“How about now?”
Dr. Toppler's research wasn't only known in England. His research regarding the Dungeons was known worldwide. His words would hold a much different weight than 5 years ago.
“I didn't have a solution to the problem. If I spoke about it, it would have just caused mass confusion.”
Toppler was once again correct in his words.
Wooin's forehead furrowed.
“Then tell me what you held back.”
“Don't you already know about it?”
His words implied that Woojin had already witnessed everything on Alphen where the Dungeons had appeared.
Holy Maiden Melody's complexion darkened.
Woojin drank his tea as he leaned back into his chair.
“Well, all right. By looking at your attitude, you already knew I would be coming back to earth?”
“I was waiting for someone.”
“So it didn't have to be me?”
Toppler affirmed with his silence. Woojin asked another question.
“What's the name of your planet?”
“I'll tell you later.”
Woojin shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, all right. It doesn't really matter to me as to which planet you are from.”
He had allied himself with the Holy Maiden, who was from Alphen. There was no reason why he should decline working with beings from other Dimensions. Of course, there were other reasons why he was leery about working with Toppler.
“Let us share what each of us needs.”
Woojin had searched for the past 20 years, but he had never found the answers to his questions. He asked one of those questions to Toppler.
“I don't want the other Dimensional lords to be able to link to earth in the future. No, I actually want to get rid of all the Dungeons that are linked to earth. Do you know of a method?”
Woojin's voice was filled with killing intent. If Toppler didn't have the answer, there was no reason for Woojin to hold hands with some unknown human from a different dimension.
“Of course.”
Woojin's eyes shone. He was purposefully maintained his calm in an attempt to hide the sound of his racing heart.
“How would I go about doing it?”
“Do you know the true identity of Trahnet?”
“Vaguely.”
“I guess it doesn't matter how it was formed. Trahnet caused a supernatural network to form between the planets.”
“Dimensional travel.”
“That's right. The initial unstable links allowed for living beings to travel to other dimensions.”
This had been the case for Woojin. He had Dimensional travelled to Alphen.
It was as if Toppler knew his past in detail, and it bothered Woojin.
“Have you been observing me for a long time?”
“No way. I only heard about you from the news.”
Stories related to Woojin had been translated and spread by various news outlets around the world. It was a reasonable explanation.
“It isn't as if I was waiting for Kahng-woojin-nim. I was just waiting for someone, who would be able to fix my home planet.”
“Well, all right. I'm not sure who you are waiting for, but it is true that I went and came back from Alphen.”
“That's what I thought. There are a lot of beings that travelled to a different Dimension like you, but it is hard to find those, who survived the experience.”
There might be others, but Woojin was the only one, who had returned to earth.
“If Trahnet is a supernatural network, then the Dimensional Domains are a connecting node between planets.”
“Didn't I ask you for the solution?”
Toppler cleared his throat at Woojin's words.
It wasn't wise to talk about the fundamental theories behind a subject with a short-tempered person.
“If you want to stop the link, you have to build a firewall.”
“How do I do that?”
Toppler glanced at the Holy Maiden. Woojin's eyes followed Toppler's gaze, and his gaze also landed on her.
Woojin's brows furrowed.
“Gods….”
“If the firewall is weak, a hole can be made. If it is strong, it'll repel any attempts.”
There was no god on earth.
No, was a god about to wake up here?
However, the existence of a god didn't matter right now since the link had already been formed. They couldn't use the preventative measure any more.
“The link itself isn't a bad thing. It lets one ignore the physical distance, and it allows one to travel to different planets.”
“So how do I sever it?”
“Earth cannot be cut-off any more.”
“…….”
Woojin stood up from his seat.
“This conversation is at an end.”
Cha-chang.
Woojin took out his spear, but Toppler didn't show any signs of nervousness.
“You said I didn't have a soul.”
“Yes.”
“I found my hope in you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You have the eyes that can gain insight into the truth. You are closest in description with the person I have been searching for.”
“So what? It seems you aren't going to be of much help to me.”
He didn't care if Toppler had been waiting for a person with a specific set of abilities. The important part was that Toppler's words were of no help to him.
He didn't feel the need to continue a fruitless relationship.
Toppler spoke before Woojin could move his spear.
“The real problem isn't the link. It is the beings that abuse the links. I'm talking about the Dimensional lords.”
These were beings that maintained the connection nodes, but all of them coveted the planets.
The root of all the tragedies were their greed.
“I keep killing them, yet it is an endless process. How can I stop them?”
“If they are insidious like a virus, you have to become the vaccine.”
“…….”
Woojin's expression stiffened.
“You probably already know of a way.”
“…….”
Alphen's greatest scholar.
Jaenis had made himself into a Lich, and he had fought the advance of Trahnet. Woojin remembered a word spoken by his teacher.
‘Thrash's Executioner.’
The problem was that he didn't know if the item actually existed, and he had no way of finding more information about it.
It seemed Toppler wasn't going to give any answers to his problems.
Paht!
Toppler abruptly stood up from his seat, and he ran towards his bedroom.
“It seems I'll be killed if I stay here any longer. Let's end our first meeting here.”
“Huh!”
Woojin took in a short intake of breath. Woojin had his guard down when he saw Toppler run away. When Toppler passed through the door, his figure disappeared. Woojin had witnessed this anomaly many times before.
“It's a Dungeon.”
The barrier formed within 30 seconds after one entered. One would be cut off entirely from the outside by the barrier. Woojin quickly threw his body towards the door.
“Wait here."
He left behind the Holy Maiden as he entered the Dungeon. Woojin looked around the bedroom.
Shoo-shoohk.
He frowned when the barrier formed over the doorway.
“That son of a bitch.”
Woojin couldn't see his soul, so he couldn't detect Toppler.
Fortunately, this was the smallest Dungeon Woojin had come across.
Kwah-dah-dahng.
Woojin kicked the bed, and it was roughly pushed away.
Kwah-jeek!
He stabbed his spear into the wardrobe, but one could only see several clothes when the door was opened.
The small bedroom had a bed, wardrobe and a desk. That was it.
“Huh…. What is he?”
It was as if the process of making a Dungeon was inconsequential to Toppler. He had artificially made a small Dungeon.
Woojin was aware about the possibility of artificially creating a Dungeon in locations other than the subway stations, so he wasn't particularly surprised by this move. However, Woojin had entered the Dungeon with him, yet Toppler had disappeared from the Dungeon. This pretty much put the known theories about the Dungeons on its head.
He wanted to make sure Toppler wasn't using some kind of Cloaking ability, so he filled the room with poison gas. He also attacked the surrounding with his Spirit Spears.
“What the hell am I doing….”
The person, who had entered with him, had disappeared. This was the first time he had experienced such a phenomenon.
Woojin's gaze landed on a Return Stone placed on top of the desk.
There were no monsters here. There wasn't even a portal heading towards a Dimensional Domain present. It was just a bedroom.
He wouldn't be able to find Toppler's location by searching more thoroughly, so he exited the Dungeon with the Return Stone.
“Are you ok?”
“I'm fine. Do you have any theories on what just happened?”
The Holy Maiden's elegant eyebrows arched. From her perspective, Toppler had been a strange, but she couldn't pinpoint the reason behind her feeling.
“I didn't feel anything special.”
“Hooo. Jaenis.”
Shwahhhhhk.
The black smoke dissipated as the Lich appeared.
When Jaenis was summoned, he frowned when he looked at the Holy Maiden. He took a step to the side away from her. Woojin asked him a question.
“Do you remember that time?”
[When are you referring to?]
“The day when you chose to become my familiar.”
[…….]
Woojin had a serious expression on his face.
“Why did you do it?”
[You had a special quality, lord.]
“I didn't have It at that time.”
This was something he hadn't told Toppler.
[The god's blessing isn't the special quality I'm talking about.]
The ability to see the color of souls was something he gained after he came face to face with the gods. However, Jaenis had a different reason for insisting on becoming Woojin's familiar.
[There are only a handful of people with the potential to reach the pinnacle as a Necromancer. In the end, you reached the pinnacle. I made the right choice in choosing you, lord.]
“Necromancer….”
The property of being a Necromancer.
He had reached the pinnacle, and he had seen everything related to death.
He had even been ready to carry on Thrash's progress...
“In the end, I have to find the Executioner.”
[I guess it is better to piece together the puzzle instead of trying to solve a riddle.]
Thrash's Set Items.
There was the helm, armor, belt, gloves and boots.
He had to gather the five set items first. The existence of Thrash's Executioner was still up in the air, so he'll worry about it after getting the set.
“Let's return.”
Woojin opened a portal that connected to the Dimensional Domain of Alandal.
***
The car was heading towards the city state of Alandal. Jung-minchan and Woo-soonghoon was sitting in the back-seats, and they were wordlessly laughing.
They had been successful in finalizing the treaty with the government. It was quite apparent as to which side held the knife, so everything progressed with lightning speed.
“Aigo. Should I call you Minister now? When did you learn so many foreign language? Great job.”
The corners of Woo-soonghoon's mouth twitched.
“Uh-whew. Prime minister Jung did the hard work.”
“Huht-huh-huh! Prime minister Jung!”
He repeated those words, and it still made him laugh.
He had never expect to be promoted this high. He had become a Prime minister...
Moreover, he was a Prime minister of a newly made country that had massive influence over the world.
He was trying hard to stay calm, but he was having a hard time suppressing his ambitions from rising up.
“Huh? It seems president has finished his business in England.”
“What? He hasn't contacted me yet.”
Woojin had taken the KH guild's private plane. Woo-soonghoon should be the one attending Woojin, but he had work to do. This was why he had sent his underling with them, but the employee hadn't contacted him yet.
“Look over here.”
Soonghoon pushed forward his handphone. There was a selfie of Woojin, the Holy Maiden and a British reporter named Jonie uploaded on the SNS.
“Didn't you know I have a lot of international acquaintances now that I'm the head of the diplomatic department? I met this reporter when I went to the Middle East with the president. She requested to be friends with me. She's one of my SNS friends.”
“Huh huh. He should be back here soon if he took care of the colonies in England.”
“I think so. We'll have to quickly report to president on what happened today.”
“Hu hu. We finally did something big.”
Jung-minchan and Woo-soonghoon had expressions full of pride on their faces.
They had resolved an important business. It felt as if they were main characters that had accomplished something big. Their actions would be recorded in world history. Jung-minchan ignored his car-sickness as he once again went over the report regarding the treaty.
The vehicle carrying the two of them arrived at Alandal's front gate. However, there was unrest at the gate.
“Ah. I said you can't come in here.”
“Oh-ooh. Isn't this place Alandal? I know the president.”
“Ah. The president doesn't know anyone like you.”
“I promised him I'll be here.”
“Ah, jeez. You name isn't on the appointment list.”
“Don't you know who I am? I'm famous in India.”
“How would I know about someone from India?”
The security guard manning the front gate was arguing with a foreigner. Fortunately, Woo-soonghoon had met him before. Woo-soonghoon rolled down the window, and he yelled out in greeting.
“Blanka!”
“Oh, Soonghoon!”
As promised, Blanka had left the Vishnu guild, and he had come to Korea.
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