Free Web NovelGyeonggi Province outskirts, a large logistics warehouse.
CEO Jeong Dong-hun and Secretary Oh Jinsuk were inside the warehouse.
It was real estate they had purchased in a hurry.
The ink on the purchase documents had not even dried yet.
Commissioner Jeon Gwangil had urgently dispatched police and special forces, so the place was now under airtight security.
That was because this large warehouse housed a logistics transport warp gate installed by Player Bong.
Workers drove forklifts inside and loaded cargo into the gate.
SWISH, SWISH, SWISH.
The items went in without the slightest resistance.
Food supplies of all kinds, daily necessities, furniture and appliances, books, and more.
All hired workers had signed confidentiality agreements.
The conditions were good, and the pay was high.
That was the only way to keep secrets from leaking.
Well, even so, there was no such thing as an eternal secret.
“CEO, the first batch has all been sent.”
Secretary Oh Jinsuk reported to Jeong Dong-hun.
“Is that so? Then I’ll contact the General Manager.”
TAP, TAP—
He sent a text to Gyeon Dallae on his smartphone, and—
Ding!
An immediate reply arrived.
“They say they’re sending items from their side too. Get ready.”
“Yes.”
The workers installed a mobile conveyor belt in front of the gate.
A moment later.
SWISH, SWISH, SWISH.
Ore came out in a line.
It was transferred onto the conveyor belt and automatically loaded onto trucks.
There was quite a lot.
He had heard they were busy climbing the upper floors that had not been cleared yet, but it seemed they had still found time to do plenty of work.
After the ore transport ended?
SWISH, SWISH, SWISH.
Different items came out.
Oh Jinsuk’s face lit up.
“CEO! It’s leather.”
“Hahaha, it’s been a long time.”
Tower leathers revealed themselves.
Basilisk, even wyvern.
Rajix Trading had started as a company producing leather goods.
So seeing such a large amount of incoming leather put him in a very good mood.
In truth, the leather supply had been woefully insufficient until now.
Rajix Trading had to make its own products, and also supply a certain amount to HG Fashion.
Because normal production had been impossible, they had been forced to drastically reduce volume.
They could not even say they were short on leather.
How pathetic would it look to go to someone who was working day and night to save the world and say, “We’re short on leather, please supply us more”?
“This will really let us breathe.”
“Haah, thank goodness.”
But then?
SWISH, SWISH, SWISH.
The amount coming out was no joke.
It kept pouring out.
Endlessly.
An amount they had never seen before.
“...Uh.”
“M-my goodness!”
This much?
It was enormous.
How long had it been since they had seen such a massive shipment?
Just looking at it felt good.
“Oh, Secretary Oh.”
“Yes, CEO.”
“Contact the leather processing factory. Tell them the materials have arrived and to prepare to run the plant.”
“Understood.”
Jeong Dong-hun hardened his resolve.
He had to make a lot of money.
The suddenly increased population of the White Tower.
To keep them fed, his role was extremely important.
Wasn’t he the one in charge of finance, in name at least?
In a way, both he and Secretary Oh had one foot in saving the world.
*****
Earth No. 1,001’s Black Tower, 92nd Floor.
The key to success was always thorough preparation.
The most important part was forming the vanguard.
The selected force was a fifteen-person squad, excluding Blood Wolf and Duu.
But there were vacancies.
Seven of them, no less.
News spread that Juhyeok would be climbing the Tower.
At once, the new summoned entities rushed in.
All with faces full of anticipation.
“Unfortunately, this 92nd Floor will focus on LSSR-rank summoned entities for now. We’ll give the rest of you opportunities in time.”
The newcomers looked disappointed.
They wanted to go into the Tower with the Summoner.
It had always been a dream in the soul world.
But there was no helping it.
Rank was king.
Their only option was to raise their rank as soon as possible.
Juhyeok first turned on his tablet and displayed the resident list. freēwebnovel.com
Sorted by LSSR-rank summoned entities only.
Then filtered only combat classes.
“Mr. Kazan?”
“Yes?”
“Join the vanguard.”
“Uahahahaha! Thank you! I’ll live up to your expectations!”
Kazan, the Iron-Blooded Emperor who had unified the continent as a Sword Master.
“Saintess Dorothy?”
“Oh my? Me too?”
“Yes, please.”
“Hohoho! Thank you.”
Dorothy, the Saintess of Healing.
She overlapped with Bardin, but still—a saintess.
“Mr. Anturas as well.”
“Yes!”
Next was the mercenary king, Dragonian Anturas.
“Mr. Minok.”
“Thank you for choosing me.”
Minok, a master archer and former hunter.
“Mr. Whitman, Sword Demon elder, and Ms. Runga as well.”
Whitman, the lightning-type archmage.
The Sword Demon, who supposedly crushed the Namgung clan with a single sword.
And Runga, the shaman of the Dark Forest.
Seven joined the selected force.
All were once renowned LSSR-rank summoned entities.
But—
“They’re all trash.”
“Pathetic.”
“Hoo, just thinking about how long it’ll take to raise them makes me sigh.”
“A lightning-type archmage? I wonder if he can even charge a smartphone properly.”
“A Dragonian, huh. There should be at least a little dragon blood mixed in, but tsk.”
Ruthless discriminatory remarks came from the veteran summoned entities.
But the newcomers could not open their mouths.
Because it was true.
Weren’t those seniors practically transcendent-level?
“Hey now! You’re being way too harsh. Was everyone amazing from the start? You people couldn’t even open your mouths when you met a dragon.”
Juhyeok’s criticism hit the mark.
“You’re frogs who’ve forgotten your tadpole days.”
Gyeon Dallae quickly chimed in.
“Ahem!”
“...My memory is a bit fuzzy.”
“A warrior was never like that.”
“I-I did open my mouth.”
“My condition wasn’t great back then.”
Wow, look at them dodging it.
No conscience.
Absolutely none!
If you want to raise newbies, you have to cheer them on, give them some encouragement, slip them a little something now and then.
That was how they grew strong.
Honestly, the summoned entities here had been insignificant at first too.
They could not even handle the 88th-floor Sand Dragon.
“Newcomers, don’t get too intimidated. You can learn slowly.”
“Th-thank you.”
“I’ll work hard to earn the Summoner’s favor.”
“Me too.”
Ah!
How reassuring.
Those pure looks.
“All right, we begin the climb.”
SPOT!
[Entering Republic of Korea Black Tower (NO.1) Floor 92.]
Which tower number it was did not matter.
Just reach the 100th Floor.
Then obtain management authority and delete the collapse deadline.
Done.
[92nd-Floor Mission: The Great Journey Toward Completion – Second.]
Now it began.
[Do you accept the second stage of the mission “The Great Journey Toward Completion”?]
‘Accept.’
Then he moved from the waiting room to the mission area.
SPOT!
*****
Dimensional Energy Storage Base Control Room.
[Controller.]
[What?]
[Someone has entered a restricted area.]
[...Haa.]
Who else could it be?
That damn Summoner from Earth No. 1,001.
[Damn it!]
They had come to destroy things again.
Facilities that absolutely must not be destroyed.
Within the restricted area managed by the control room, there were three dimensional energy storage facilities.
The first facility that bastard destroyed was Earth No. 1,001’s Black Tower dimensional energy storage.
Well, that had been acceptable.
It was early in extraction, so there had not been much dimensional energy stored.
The damage was minimal.
Second.
Earth No. 675’s Black Tower dimensional energy storage, which had also been newly created.
In fact, extraction from Earth No. 675 had ended long ago.
They were in the final wrap-up phase.
A world where humanity had been completely eliminated and monsters had taken over.
According to the law of causality, if left alone, it would proceed on its own into the final stage.
The straws and Black Tower had all been pulled out.
The administrators were about to withdraw to the main base.
After withdrawing and letting thousands of years pass, the lost dimensional energy would recover.
Then they could insert straws again and resume extraction.
But everything went wrong.
A Tower that should never have appeared was created.
Administrators and contractors were bound to the Tower.
A world that had been completely ruined reset back to the beginning.
Well, even if that was destroyed, they could endure it.
After all, there was only one storage facility for Earth No. 675.
There was barely any dimensional energy left.
But the problem was the third one.
Earth No. 843’s Black Tower dimensional energy storage.
This place absolutely must not be destroyed.
A considerable amount of dimensional energy was stored here.
No. 675 was almost finished.
No. 1,001 had only just begun.
And the intermediate No. 843 was where extraction was proceeding very actively.
It was energy that had to be sent to the main base.
If this place were destroyed, the damage would be enormous.
[Damn it! When is the Archangel arriving?]
They had said soon.
The destruction of Earth No. 843’s Black Tower dimensional energy storage had to be stopped at all costs.
Places where dimensional energy could be mined were rare.
Even among parallel-universe Earths, only a very small fraction.
Not every numbered Earth could be mined.
There were mineable worlds and unmineable ones.
First, the god searched—through divine authority—for worlds where life could exist, meaning worlds where dimensional energy was present.
Then, in the order they were successfully discovered, numbers were assigned.
No. 2, No. 3, No. 4...
No. 15, No. 16, No. 18...
The 20s, the 30s, the 100s, the 300s, the 600s, the 1000s.
Then, could Black Towers be planted in all of these parallel-universe dimensions?
No.
That was impossible.
Worlds where mana already existed were excluded.
Worlds ruled by a powerful chief god were also excluded.
Such Earths were bound to fail.
Why?
Because once a Black Tower was erected, Players inevitably awakened.
What happened if beings who were already powerful to begin with—not ordinary people—awakened as Players?
For example: a grand master awakening as a Player, a 9th-circle archmage awakening as a Player, a Murim master who had reached the Profound Realm awakening as a Player...
Or, in extremely rare cases, if a transcendent awakened?
Their original power would be combined with the power of Awakening.
Thanks to them, the Black Tower would be conquered in an instant.
That was why the Black Tower had to be planted in ordinary worlds where gods were absent and no supernatural powers existed.
Even after finding thousands of parallel-universe Earths, only a few dozen had Black Towers planted in them.
Earth No. 675 was one.
So were No. 843 and No. 1,001.
That was how rare such places were.
If they were common, this much effort would not be spent.
[What shall we do?]
[Stop them at all costs! Don’t let them do anything.]
They would oppose them with full force.
They would not be stupidly taken advantage of again like before.
This place, too, was under the reach of divine authority.
Those people were nothing more than mere humans.
Therefore, that bastard’s luck would end here.
The Controller was confident.
*****
Earth No. 1,001’s Black Tower, the second-stage mission area of the Great Journey.
That was where Juhyeok and the summoned group had moved.
“Isn’t this the place we came to before?”
“It looks very similar.”
“This girl thinks so as well.”
The sky resembled outer space.
The straight blue road cut through the red earth.
Then what was the mission here?
Ding!
[Main Mission: Destroy the Dimensional Energy Storage Facility.]
[Time Limit: None.]
[Completion Condition: Dimensional Energy Storage Facility destroyed 0/1.]
What?
Destroy the dimensional energy storage again?
They had already destroyed one.
And now they wanted him to do it again?
There was one difference.
There was no branching-choice mission this time.
Also, while the 91st-Floor mission required destroying 146 storage facilities, this one required just one.
Could it be?
“I believe it may be Earth No. 675’s dimensional energy storage.”
That seemed likely.
There had been only one Black Tower there.
And now that transmission had been cut off, energy probably was not flowing there anymore.
“This is a total jackpot.”
“A free win.”
“Let’s use this chance to train the newbies.”
“Ho!”
Training, my foot.
Let’s destroy it quickly.
First, they had to move.
Should they use off-road vehicles like last time?
It would be nice if the green aircraft could operate.
“It’s not another no-fly zone, right?”
Sure enough.
Ding!
[The entire mission area has been designated as a no-fly zone.]
Knew it.
[Aerial levitation and movement-speed increase skills are also restricted.]
“Ah, damn it!”
Those cheap bastards.
Why did they keep restricting everything?
What was wrong with flying?
It was a vast region where the horizon was visible.
Last time, it had taken nearly ten days just to move by car.
Even if time and space were separated, it had been unbearably tedious.
Still, at least the road was visible.
If they followed it, they would eventually reach the destination.
“Anyway, let’s get going. Take out the off-road vehicles—”
At that moment—
DDDDDDDDDDDD!
The ground shook.
And then—
SHOOK! SHOOK! SHOOK!
Creatures rose up everywhere.
They had experienced this during the first stage of the Great Journey mission.
Monsters guarding the dimensional energy storage facility.
Each one had power comparable to a Sand Dragon.
“There are a lot. It’s an ant swarm.”
“Indeed.”
“They’re swarming everywhere. We can’t even drive.”
“Seems so.”
Juhyeok could easily deal with one using a single hammer strike, but—
‘The more I think about it, the more pissed off I get.’
Were they blocking the road from the very start?
“This is too much.”
“They’re absolute bastards.”
“If we can’t even drive, what are we supposed to do?”
Even brushing against a monster would total the vehicle.
Insurance would not even cover this.
Fuck.
At this point, they were basically telling him to go all out.
“Let’s take out a suicide Gigant. We’ll blast a path with a nuke.”
But—
Ding!
[Notice: The use of thermal weapons in mission areas from the 92nd Floor onward is strictly restricted. Explosive reactions based on Earth science, such as gunpowder, nuclear fission, or nuclear fusion, will not occur.]
Look at these bastards.
They were tying his hands and feet completely.
“This is driving me insane.”
An endlessly wide plain.
Even with a road, monsters were packed everywhere.
Flying was forbidden.
Driving was forbidden.
Even detonating a nuclear warhead was forbidden.
They were supposed to walk while fighting off monsters the whole way?
How long would that take?
Then—
Ding!
[According to causality, the flight restriction in the mission area has been lifted.]
...What?
He had not misheard that, right?
“Oooooh!”
“Whitey—no, Professor Baek!”
“Hahahaha!”
“This girl has been waiting.”
“About time you showed up.”
He had arrived.
Professor Baek.
[Reason: The innate abilities of summoned entities cannot be restricted.]
Well done!!!
That was absolutely right.
A dragon had to fly to be a dragon.
If it could not fly, was it even a dragon?
That was just a ground lizard.
And that was not all.
Ding!
[The use of thermal weapons in the mission area is now permitted.]
“Eh?”
[Reason: This dimensional rift does not belong to the Black Tower area. Therefore, the rules of the Black Tower should not be applied here.]
Exactly.
This was not the Tower itself.
“Long live Professor Baek!!!”
“Our Professor Baek’s tongue must be coated in sesame oil—it’s so smooth!”
“Ahem! Professor? He is a god! A god!”
“A god?”
“Fine, let’s go with god. God Baek!”
“Long live God Baek!”
“Long live Juhyeok!”
This was not the time for that.
“Green aircraft, prepare for takeoff!”
PAPAPAT!
“Boarding preparations complete.”
The summoned entities boarded one by one.
Including Juhyeok, there were twenty-three onboard.
SHWAAAAK!
The green aircraft took flight.
Below them was an overwhelming number of monsters.
It would be a shame to leave without a parting gift.
An opportunity granted by God Baek.
In return, they would drop a nuclear warhead.
“Mr. Rajix?”
“Hoeng!”
Rajix moved to the tail section of the green aircraft and took position.
He casually reached downward.
“Drop!”
SHUUUUT!
At the same time, Crackers’ infinite turbo blink flight.
Skipping through space—
SHWAAAAK!
FLASH!
JIIING!
Mackenzie’s barrier.
SWOOOONG!
A magitech shield.
CHARRARRARRK!
Alchemist Mari’s defensive homunculus.
They wrapped the green aircraft in airtight defenses.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAAAAANG!
RRRRRUMBLE.
A mushroom cloud rose in the distance.
Ahh.
That was refreshing.
Meanwhile, the rookie summoned entities were in shock.
What?
This was how Tower climbing was done?
And in the dimensional energy storage base control room—
[You insane lunatic bastards!!!]
A psychic wave filled with rage spread outward.
[Is this what you call a Tower raid?!]
If Juhyeok had heard it, he would have said this:
“So what?”
