Domain Expansion (3)

The special effect of the Genesis Sword.

Domain Expansion… no, manifestation of the Inner World.

The moment I saw its effect, I realized.

This was a free win.

'Dragon Knight first!'

I could summon a dragon starting from Floor 50, you see.

I'd only made it to Floor 40 so far, so naturally, I'd never summoned one.

In fact, even by Egen Tower standards, my climbing speed was decent considering I was solo. Anyway.

So I'd been planning to check the Dragon Knight trait first thing after clearing the fifth tier…

'The conditions are gone now?'

Inside the Inner World, all trait activation conditions disappeared.

Even a dragon, which could normally only be summoned from Floor 50 of the Tower, could be summoned here.

I'd already been itching to try it, so there was no reason to pass up summoning a dragon.

'I'll land the finishing blow with the dragon, then use Ruler to scoop up plenty of enhancement materials for Dohwa.'

"Come, Dragon!!!"

I immediately reached a hand into empty air.

Even if Renya ran here at full speed, it would take at least five minutes.

In the meantime, I planned to check the dragon's performance and take down the giant.

"Kiiing…."

"Dohwa, get excited. Something insanely cool is coming."

All right, how will it appear?

Will it pop into existence from thin air like Dohwa did when I summoned her?

Or will it make a stylish entrance saying, 'Are you my master?'

I waited happily, entertaining these pointless thoughts.

…But,

-Ding!

[Trait 'Dragon Knight+' activates!]

'???' is checking your dimension.

'???' responds to your summons.

(Estimated summoning time: 1 second)

"……Huh?"

At that moment, a notification appeared before my eyes.

And then,

-Chill.

"……!!!?"

A shiver ran over my entire body.

My gaze shot upward.

The sky. No—higher than the sky.

Something was coming.

"Dohwa, unsummon yourself!!"

"Kyaeung…."

I unsummoned Dohwa for the moment.

It wasn't because Dohwa seemed to be in danger… for some reason, I just felt like I had to hide her.

'My clothes don't look weird, do they!?'

At the same time, I checked my appearance.

Clothes. Normal.

Equipment. All properly equipped.

'Why am I so uneasy about the ring…?'

The ring on my right index finger.

For some reason, it was bothering me immensely.

'I feel like I should be wearing it somewhere else….'

But before I could realize the reason for the discomfort.

It.

Arrived.

-KABOOOOOM!!!!!

"……!!!!?"

A tremendous roar rang out from the sky.

The decibel level was enough to make me worry that even an Awakened's durability wouldn't keep their eardrums from bursting.

But I had no time to cover my ears.

I was too busy staring up at the sky.

Something was tearing through the sky…

No, it was tearing through the Gate.

"Eek, eeeek!!?"

'What is that!!!'

The sky warped.

No, it crumpled.

Space itself was crushed, as though someone had crumpled an aluminum can by hand.

Kwang, KWAANG—!!!

KABOOOOOOM—!!!!

Every time a sound loud enough to burst my eardrums rang out.

My Inner World crumpled with a crunch, as if it were screaming.

"This is insane…."

Could I beat that?

The thought didn't even occur to me.

I could barely cleave through a single dimensional wall; there was no way I could defeat something trying to tear apart an entire small dimension called a Gate.

'But why?'

I wasn't afraid.

No, I might even have been a little happy.

An unbelievably powerful being was going this far to answer my summons.

It really drove home how insanely awesome a Mythic-grade trait was.

'But if Renya sees that… that could be a problem.'

There was only one thing worrying me: Renya.

I didn't want to show him that.

I didn't want to give him any clues that would let him guess my traits.

Above all, I simply didn't want to.

He was probably running here at full speed by now, so, hmm.

Maybe I really should unsummon it.

'See you at Floor 50!'

"Unsummon!!"

I immediately canceled the summon.

It felt exactly like sending Dohwa back.

Rather than use this janky shortcut, I'd summon it again properly after clearing the fifth tier.

That was my decision, but—

-Ding.

['???' rejects your request.]

"Whaaat!!?"

Wait, it could reject a request too?

I'd never known because Dohwa was my only summon.

-KABOOOOOOM!!!!!

"Stop, stop!!"

I tried shouting anyway.

Of course, no matter how hard I screamed, I couldn't overpower that roar.

At the same time, CRACK—!!

Something split with a sharp sound.

It was the sound of my Inner World cracking.

'There's a dragon beyond that….'

As fragments of something came pattering down.

I caught a glimpse of what lay beyond.

I locked eyes with something.

-Ding.

[Trait 'Dragon Eyes+' activates.]

[The target's level is excessively high. Furthermore, the trait's grade is equal to the target's.]

[Activation failed….]

At the same time, notifications filled my vision.

Just as I'd once lied to Yuna about my level, it seemed the dragon could do something similar.

-Ding.

[The target has granted permission to view information.]

But unlike then.

The dragon didn't hide its information.

More precisely, it had no need to hide it.

[Hortensia]

Level: Undefined

'…Undefined?'

Look at that—its level doesn't even show.

I didn't know whether it was an existence beyond what the Tower's system could measure, or whether it meant its combat power couldn't be measured.

But one thing was certain.

That thing could probably chew through even Floor 100 of the Hard Tower.

'This is insane….'

"H-Hey!!"

I hurriedly shouted.

I also pulled a sheet of paper from my inventory.

It might not be able to hear me, so I planned to write it down and show it too.

-Scratch scratch.

[Now isn't a good time, so I'll summon you again within a month.]

"It won't take long to climb to Floor 50!! I'll summon you again then!!!"

I've seen enough of your power, so stop now.

If Renya sees this, I'll never be able to clean things up.

Of course, the crack in the sky was only fingernail-sized from here, so unless someone had Dragon Eyes like me, they couldn't see what it was anyway.

"Kraaaa……."

"Oh, shoot, the Gate's going to close!!"

The boss, meanwhile, was on the verge of death.

I'd already sliced it up everywhere but the neck, so it seemed about to die from blood loss.

At this rate, the Gate would close.

I needed to wrap things up and get the hell out.

"Lord Hortensia!! See you again next time!!!"

I shouted while waving my arms.

The blue shape visible beyond the gap—presumably the dragon Hortensia's pupil—finally receded.

[…….]

['???' accepts your request.]

And then, whoosh—!!

Something shot through the crack.

It was a blue beam of magic power.

-Bzzzt.

"Uh, uhh…?"

Eventually, the beam struck the ground at my feet.

It danced brilliantly, carving letters into the ground.

Amazingly, they were Korean.

[Sorry]

"Uh…."

Those two short letters conveyed so much that.

I couldn't take my eyes off them for several seconds.

I kept staring until the dragon's presence faded away and the boss finally breathed its last.

-Ding.

[Traits 'Ruler+' and 'Seed of Transcendence+' activate.]

You have acquired 'Colossal Titan' as a summon.

Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Mana points increase by 2.

[Ruler+ (Mythic)]

(New!) The summon’s loyalty increases slightly.

[Seed of Transcendence+ (Mythic)]

(New!) When dispositions match, a transcendent's favor increases.

'…So what was that thing, anyway?'

* * *

First, I deactivated the Inner World.

The Gate would close soon.

I didn't want to openly expose my Inner World.

"Close."

-Ding.

['Genesis Sword' has overloaded.]

Manifestation of the Inner World is temporarily unavailable.

(Time until reuse: 7 days)

Still, wow. This was the first time I'd seen a Mythic-grade item get knocked out.

No, maybe it had only managed to hold out because it was Mythic-grade.

If I'd put a Legendary through that, it would've shattered with a crash—!!

-Mutter.

"That's my dragon, Hortensia."

Honestly, I was still dazed, but…

Since it had apologized, it probably wasn't hostile toward me, at least.

I also had a feeling it was safe somehow.

So, let's clear the fifth tier soon.

I'll summon it again and ask it all sorts of questions.

I made up my mind as I pulled the invisibility hat down over my head.

-Swish.

'Still, first things first.'

Of course, my immediate priority was getting out of here without being discovered.

I infused the artifact necklace with mana.

Since I was invisible and had erased my presence, no one noticed me even after the Gate closed.

-Fwoosh!!

"This is… L-Lord Iron Gangmin-sama!! Where are you!!"

"……."

Hmm. I ended up in a pretty bad spot.

Gates differ, but this one immediately spat everyone inside back out upon closing.

So I warped right beside Renya.

I nearly stepped on a grave that had teleported over with the soil still attached.

'Disrespecting the dead would be a bit much.'

After giving Renya, who was scanning the area in a beggar's getup, a sidelong glance.

I immediately used my footwork.

It took less than three seconds to push through the crowd surging toward us and stand beside Hyunseo.

-Rustle.

'Time to go.'

I stepped on the plastic bag at Hyunseo's feet.

It was the prearranged evacuation signal.

Hyunseo had been looking only at the ground since emerging from the Gate, so Hyunseo quickly realized I'd returned.

"Phew… Ms. Yuna, let's withdraw."

"C-Could it be that Lord Iron Gangmin…!?"

"It was a wasted trip. It seems he entered the Gate before we even arrived."

After that, Hyunseo took care of the cleanup.

To the people who looked our way and asked whether we'd brought Iron Gangmin, she bluffed shamelessly, saying that we wanted to meet him too.

With Yuna beside her, completely unaware of anything, it sounded fairly convincing.

'I should help out on this side too.'

At the same time, I raised my phone.

As we'd arranged beforehand, I intended to write a post.

[Awakened Minor Gallery]

Poster: Iron Gangmin's Awakener Analysis 2

Title: Legendary Gear Getto daze ww

But I crossed the East Sea to get this

And now that I think about running like hell all the way back again, hmm

If you're going to commission something like this again,

Don't book me a regular flight,

and don't pull this 'a private jet just for me' crap, either

"…Hmm."

'This should be enough, right?'

My cover story was that I'd crossed the sea.

I was a stranger to Cheonghwa, who'd come by private jet.

Of course, given the suspiciously perfect timing, people would definitely suspect something going on between Cheonghwa and me.

But Hyunseo had said she'd handle that.

I should just quietly hitch a ride on the plane.

"Iron Gangmin-sama!! Iron Gangmin-sama!!!"

"……."

'I'll gladly take the gear, moron.'

Renya did search for me, though.

I didn't bother looking back.

Now that I'd received the Legendary-grade equipment, I had no more business with him.

'I need to prepare to clear the fifth tier.'

There was only one thing filling my mind now.

Reuniting with Hortensia.

After that, I fiddled with my phone.

Continuously, until I boarded the private jet again.

[Title: Clearing Floor 5 of the Fucking Gay Tower]

'Hmm.'

Of course, I kept searching even after boarding.

Since Serin was with me as well, I wanted to clear each floor in half a day or less if possible.

And after I'd spent quite some time browsing the internet…

[Sugiyama Renya Saw Iron Gangmin in Person?]

[Identity Revealed by a Slip of the Tongue… Iron Gangmin Was a Woman!!]

"……."

'I didn't expect it to blow up this spectacularly, but that moron really is something.'

My community username was all over the news.