# Chapter 472: Side Story 145
Guryong Sky aerial road.
Woooooo…
A personal airship landed on the rooftop of Wanghong Bank.
-Clank!
The airship’s entrance opened.
Thud. Thud.
People walked down from it.
The man leading them at the front.
He was a giant, standing over 2 meters tall just by himself.
Wang Hong, the founding chairman of Wanghong Group.
No one knew how old he was.
Wanghong Group had existed for over 300 years, after all.
His martial prowess was also considerable.
His internal energy level was nearly 6 sexagenary cycles.
The circles in his heart numbered 8.
A hybrid magic swordsman.
At the very least, there was no one in Guryong Sky who could defeat him one-on-one.
Wealth, power, and even martial might—the ruler of Guryong Sky who stood at the top in all three.
Such a man, Wang Hong, had appeared at Wanghong Bank, one of his subsidiary companies.
When he entered the vault where the gold bars had been stored.
“Ch-Chairman-nim.”
Jason Wang was waiting for him with his head pressed against the floor.
Wang Hong looked down at him with cold eyes.
“Get rid of that.”
“Yes.”
“Cripple his martial arts and throw him in the waste recycling facility.”
Bank Manager Jason Wang was forcibly dragged away.
“I-I’m sorry. P-please give me one more chance. Chairman-nim, Chairman-nim!”
He desperately pleaded, but Wang Hong didn’t even spare Jason a glance.
Even though he was his own great-great-grandson.
Well, it’s not like he only had one or two great-great-grandchildren.
‘Hoo.’
The underground vault was completely empty.
Not a single scrap of gold remained.
He already knew how it had been robbed.
He could watch it from his own residence, after all.
The reason he came here was to check for any traces that might remain.
After checking the vault, he came outside the bank.
Wang Hong drew a deep breath into the depths of his lungs.
There were very faint traces of a specific type of energy lingering around.
It was familiar.
There was no way he wouldn’t recognize it.
‘Dimensional energy, then.’
Actually, there was no need to come and verify it in person.
A flying android that could split into tens of thousands of units.
The authority of creation, which was no different from divine power.
That traveler was clearly not an Outer God.
If not dimensional energy, then what else could it be?
‘If it’s a human who can even use dimensional energy…’
Wang Hong didn’t know how to use dimensional energy either.
Though he knew the means to mine it.
Only ‘that person’ could freely control dimensional energy.
‘It’s fine.’
That person would tell him how to deal with that man.
All he had to do was give his best effort to what he could do.
“Issue an emergency alert across the entire city. The level is Special Class. The emergency alert will remain in effect until all dimensional travelers are apprehended.”
The war had begun.
“And send press releases to the media! They need to be reminded of just how dangerous those dimensional traveler bastards are.”
Let’s see how this goes.
Let’s see how long they can hold out against the entire world.
* * *
-Spot!
Ju-hyeok came out to Guryong Sky on Sapung Earth again, together with Nerian.
By opening a dimensional gate?
He didn’t need to open one.
He could go outside whenever he wanted.
Because Ju-hyeok’s White Tower was already connected to Sapung Earth.
He could just exit directly from the White Tower.
Nerian had also received a residence pass, so her entry and exit status windows were activated.
The department store would be hit later.
He had given advance notice, but he hadn’t decided when exactly he’d rob it.
The Shipgant enhancement work wasn’t finished yet either.
He had consumed over 1,000 top-grade enhancement stones that Ralf had provided, but it was still stuck at Chilgant.
At this rate, when would he ever make a Shipgant?
No, could he even make one at all?
Anyway, the purpose of just the two of them coming out here?
To go to the Guryong Sky slums.
Nerian said her acquaintances were there.
In other words, the former employees of World Tree Trading Company.
She wanted to check whether they had survived safely.
Downtown Guryong Sky.
Drones flying in every direction, along with combat androids.
Additionally, wanted hologram posters were being displayed throughout the city.
They showed the faces of Ju-hyeok, Nerian, and several summoned beings.
Rajiks’s face was there too.
“W-won’t we be caught? Walking around so openly like this…”
“It’s fine. They won’t recognize us.”
They had attached Gyeon Dal-rae’s Perception Interference Talisman.
On top of that, they had changed their faces with polymorph items.
Ju-hyeok and Nerian descended to the entrance of the slums through an entrance that looked just like a subway station.
“The slums are underground.”
“Because usable land is limited.”
He had many conversations with Nerian on the way.
Stories about the situation on Sapung Earth.
Climate change caused by unexplained environmental pollution over a long period of time.
Thus, the Earth had become barren.
They couldn’t even breathe, and the rivers and seas had become polluted.
It wasn’t ordinary pollution.
Sapung Earth was an Earth where mana existed.
In other words, the mana had been polluted too.
And that wasn’t all.
Extinct flora and fauna.
Even the spirits, who had been friends of the elves, had vanished.
“It was the same with mana stones. The polluted mana stones were completely unusable as an energy source.”
Tsk tsk.
It was surprising that humanity had even survived.
“Of course, people found a way.”
“You mean the large-scale mana purification device?”
“Yes, it’s a device that purifies polluted air, water, and mana.”
But here was where a problem arose.
The purification device consumed an enormous amount of power.
Where would all that energy be sourced from?
Natural mana stones were polluted.
Oil had been depleted.
Alternative energy alone was insufficient.
So what humanity invented was.
“It’s the artificial mana stone. I have one too. Here…”
Nerian pulled out a small, transparent, square-shaped stone.
This was an artificial mana stone.
“If you infuse it with internal energy or mana, energy gets stored.”
It served as a kind of battery.
“The purification devices run on these artificial mana stone cubes. Every citizen living in a city has one.”
And where did the mana for them come from?
“Internal energy techniques or mana techniques can be learned freely. They’re taught at schools from childhood.”
In other words, humans were being raised as power plants.
“But this is where the class system emerged.”
How so?
“As you know, Sapung Earth is a multi-racial world.”
That’s right.
“There are differences in mana between races.”
Differences?
“Elven mana is very stable, but the output is weak. It’s not efficient for generating electricity. So the artificial mana stones we elves make are mainly used for smart farms or household purposes.”
Also.
“Green Skin and demon race mana has high output. However, it’s unstable, so it’s also inefficient for electricity generation. Instead, it’s used a lot for weapon manufacturing.”
And.
“On the other hand, human mana has both appropriate output and stability at the same time. It has excellent versatility. It’s optimal for electricity generation.”
Aha.
“You can assume the purification devices run on artificial mana stones made by humans.”
That meant.
“Humans would have the highest status, then.”
“Yes. As you’ll see, there are almost no humans in the slums.”
It seemed that way.
Having come underground, the only races he could see were Green Skins, kobolds, demons, elves, and so on.
“Of course, there are exceptions. Humans can live in the slums too, and Green Skins or elves can climb the class ladder to rise high, but.”
Ju-hyeok nodded.
Just look at Nerian—before it was exposed that she was a dimensional traveler, she had been a respectable business owner.
“If spirits still existed, the situation for us elves would be different. If we could at least summon water spirits with purification powers…”
But that was impossible.
The spirits had disappeared due to environmental pollution and destruction of nature.
By the way, magical environmental pollution, huh.
Could the Rain of Purification Authority Scroll from our Dimensional Management Bureau Team Leader Eina solve this?
‘No.’
Ju-hyeok shook his head firmly.
First of all, the polluted area was too vast.
Aside from the major cities, everywhere was a polluted zone.
Also, a very long time had passed.
It had become entrenched, and the self-purification ability had disappeared.
If he tried to purify it with scrolls, he would need an enormous quantity.
A few thousand wouldn’t even come close.
Tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands, millions of them might still not be enough.
Would Team Leader Eina even have the capacity to make that many?
Moreover, this was a place that treated dimensional travelers as criminals.
‘I shouldn’t even bring it up.’
Meanwhile.
“This is it. The elf district of the slums.”
“Ah! Yes yes.”
The slums where elves lived together.
A large streetlamp stood in the center of the district, and beneath it, a small tree had taken root.
That’s right.
It was a very small tree.
“That tree, could it be?”
“Yes, it’s a World Tree.”
“…”
No, something that small?
And on top of that, it was growing underground, relying on streetlamp light.
When Nerian approached and embraced its trunk, the petite World Tree trembled its branches and leaves.
“There are World Trees in other megacities besides Guryong Sky too. There are elves living in those places as well.”
Nerian’s expression was sorrowful.
“And high elves have much greater sensitivity to the World Tree than regular elves.”
Mari was the same way.
Wooooooo…
The World Tree communicated with Nerian.
After conversing like that for quite a while.
“Everyone’s safe, they say. They’re hiding well.”
“That’s a relief.”
But they couldn’t let their guard down.
They were being treated as criminals simply for the reason of having been Nerian’s colleagues.
“Let’s head back. If we stay here too long, we might draw suspicion.”
But Nerian hesitated for a moment, then.
“Would it be alright if I stayed here?”
“Why?”
“I want to go find my acquaintances who are in hiding. I’m worried about them.”
Hm.
“It won’t be dangerous. As long as I don’t open a dimensional gate, there’s no risk of getting caught.”
Ju-hyeok nodded and said.
“Yes, go ahead. Just be careful.”
Nerian had been completely healed of her mana overflow and qi deviation.
She was also a capable dimensional traveler in her own right.
He had even given her the prosthetic arm that Dr. El had crafted with magical engineering, so she should be fine.
And he had given her a White Tower residence pass, hadn’t he?
If it got dangerous, she could just enter immediately.
“Then, I’ll be going alone.”
He had things to do.
Sabonggaeng.
He wasn’t going to give himself a headache running around investigating.
That wasn’t the purpose of coming here in the first place.
Destroy!
And then it would come out.
Whatever it was.
-Spot!
Back to the White Tower.
Clang clang clang clang! Clang clang clang clang! Clang! Clang clang clang clang!
Gyeon Dal-rae’s prayer ritual was still ongoing.
What was the current situation?
“Elder Gwangma has succeeded with his Shipgant. He’s currently test-driving it over there.”
On the wide plain, Gwangma’s Blood Jade Shipgant was executing martial techniques while manifesting Blood Jade Force.
‘Wow!’
Perhaps because the binding effect had eliminated the delay between consciousness and movement, the martial forms were smooth and flowing.
Now the only one left was Kozak.
How many enhancements did he have left?
“It is a Gugant.”
“Ooh! Only 1 enhancement left.”
“However, that last one is an insurmountable wall.”
Why?
“He has currently attempted 300 times but keeps failing. There’s hardly any enhancement stones left either.”
Ah!
Perhaps because of that, Kozak was in despair.
-Worthless fool, can’t even make one measly Shipgant.
“…”
Kozak couldn’t even make excuses.
-This is precisely the difference between your standards and this old man’s. Do you understand now? Heh heh heh heh.
“…”
Elder Gwangma, that’s really fanning the flames here.
Look at him.
How pitiful does he look?
Having lost even the will to enhance further, Kozak was standing next to the Gugant, just fiddling with an enhancement stone.
Feeling sorry for him, Ju-hyeok approached and comforted Kozak.
“Cheer up. You’ve come all the way to Gugant, so even if you fail 300 times, you just have to succeed on the 301st try.”
“…Actually, this is the 321st.”
What?
“I’ve failed 321 times.”
“…Oh.”
“I probably won’t make it.”
He had really never seen Kozak like this before.
“It’s probably because of all the sins I’ve committed. I shouldn’t have robbed that bank.”
Huh?
“My reckless personality, always being snarky, never earning the trust of my colleagues, getting flicked on the forehead, getting caught and strung up…”
Oh dear.
“The Boss must be very disappointed in me too. I’m not his right-hand man anymore. I’m just useless trash.”
Hoo.
“In terms of novel clichés, I’ll probably become a third-rate extra who was appearing frequently but then the author forgot about and stopped including.”
“The readers will probably forget about me soon too. And whenever I occasionally show up, they’ll just comment, ‘Sorry, I forgot about you.'”
Even Kozak’s self-deprecation was cliché-based.
“You don’t need to summon me anymore. Just summon Elder Gwangma or Elder Mae more often instead.”
What should he do about this?
Had it been a mistake to suggest making Shipgants?
The side effects were worse than expected.
Forget succeeding—Kozak’s motivation was plummeting.
“Don’t be like that. Just try one more time. It might work this time.”
“No chance. Even if I try, it’ll just be failure number 322.”
“Come on, you never know. Just close your eyes and try. Yeah?”
“Fine. I’ll show you just how miserably this Kozak fails.”
With a listless motion.
Kozak carelessly stuck an enhancement stone on the Shipgant’s leg.
-Tak!
“See. It’s a fail…”
It was at that moment.
Fwaaaaaaash!
Kozak’s Gugant shone brilliantly.
“Oh.”
“Oh.”
“Oh?”
“Oh?”
The fact that it shone like this meant.
“E-enhancement success?”
“Is it a Shipgant?”
“I think so.”
“…”
Kozak trembled in his hands and feet.
“Sh-Shipgant, Shipgant, my Shipgant…”
He muttered to himself, and then.
“Yeehaw!”
-Spaspaspat!
He walked high into the sky using Shadow Step.
“White Tower rank 2, major supporting character in genre fiction, a summoned being of determination, criminal record holder with 322 offenses, therefore Shipgant success also on the 322nd try, what matters is the unbroken spirit of enhancement, unbroken enhancement, Kozak here.”
There it was!
His random nonsense spree!
Our Kozak was back, wasn’t he?
“All you worthless bug-like summoned beings, kneel before me. Honestly, can someone without even one Shipgant call themselves a summoned being? You’re not qualified. Everyone go end yourselves.”
That was going too far though.
He was going to get strung up again.
Anyway, the Shipgant Trio was complete.
Time to use them in actual combat.
“Please wait just a moment.”
Yes?
“The Shipgant looks too plain. I’m going to do some tuning.”
Was he really that happy?
He should let him do what he wanted.
A short while later.
Ziiiing!
Ju-hyeok opened a dimensional gate to Guryong Sky with his hammer.
The location was that same place.
Where Nerian had opened her dimensional gate.
Alright, come at me.
He was going to show them something.
* * *
Guryong Sky, Geumhwa Security.
Deputy Director Arnold was staring at the holographic map with hollow eyes.
Not long ago, Chairman Wang Hong had stormed into Geumhwa and taken all the related materials.
And the company?
Fortunately, they had received a stay of bankruptcy notice.
They had actually received even more support.
Chairman Wang Hong must have acknowledged it too.
The power that the unidentified dimensional traveler possessed.
How could he not?
How could anyone stop a guy who had even robbed a bank using tens of thousands of combat androids?
But CEO Steve Chaeng had been taken away.
He had no idea if Steve was alive or dead.
If Wang Hong had even purged Bank Manager Jason Wang, his own great-great-grandson, would Steve be safe?
That was why he had to succeed this time.
He had to survive no matter what.
It was at that moment.
Flash flash, red lights flickering wildly.
Beeeeeep!
An ear-piercing warning alarm.
“A dimensional gate has opened again.”
“What are the readings?”
“Uh, MS 684,250.”
680,000.
“Damn! It just exceeded 1 million.”
It was him.
The mysterious dimensional traveler presumed to have been brought by Nerian.
They had thought it was an error before, but it wasn’t.
The suspected strongest dimensional traveler to have ever appeared.
“It’s that place, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Connect the cameras.”
-Spit!
The screen appeared.
It was definitely them.
The number was 3.
He couldn’t let his guard down.
They had summoned tens of thousands of androids at once before.
They had already appeared at this location once.
That’s why field drones and reconnaissance drones were already deployed.
Androids had been dispatched too.
“You bastards, I’ll definitely kill you this time.”
These were cutting-edge androids provided by Wanghong Group.
They were much bigger and faster than what Geumhwa Security had possessed.
The number alone was over 10,000.
Aerial forces would arrive soon too.
Hundreds of unmanned aircraft.
“I’m going to turn that place into a sea of fire… Gasp!”
Deputy Director Arnold’s jaw dropped.
So much that it nearly dislocated.
What the?
Why is something like that appearing here?
‘Robots?’
And they were super-sized at that.
‘Can those things even mo…’
Boom boom boom boom!
‘They do move.’
Good.
Setting aside that they moved.
‘They’ll be slow. Compared to our androids…’
-Spit! Spipipit!
‘Th-they’re fast.’
This was maddening.
‘The destructive power…’
Kaboom! Crack! -Spot!
‘…They even use martial arts.’
It was over.
Completely.
“You bastards!!!!”
Time to pack his bags.
He had to run.
If he didn’t want to share the same fate as Steve Chaeng.
