The completion condition for the Great Journey on the 91st floor of the Black Tower of Earth No. 675.
Subjugate the Great Demon Baal.
The subjugation succeeded.
The reward was received.
[A Tower Mission Save Ticket has been issued to the Tower-exclusive inventory.]
But the judgment was not over yet.
The Great Demon Baal, screaming in agony with his chest split open.
"Gyaaaaaah!!!"
Yama was a god—but also a judge.
When punishing a sinner, he weighed the gravity of their sins.
"Heart extraction is not the end. Based on your additional crimes, I shall impose aggravated punishment."
What sins had been committed.
Whether they were vile enough to deserve punishment.
There was a power that revealed such things directly.
Its trigger phrase was—
"Reveal your sins yourself!!!"
As Yama's roar fell, Baal's crimes began unfolding behind him like a movie.
"Confess truthfully!"
Kosak, sticking close to Yama like a scheming courtier, chimed in.
"Confess every last bit! His Majesty is angry!"
Everyone present could see it.
The Great Demon's sins.
They flashed by rapidly like a revolving lantern, but were easy to understand.
The Demon Realm was also a world.
Different in many ways from the human world, but still a society.
Politics, society, economy, culture… villages, territories, kingdoms.
The only difference was that humans lived in the human world, and demons lived here.
Then what was the role of a Great Demon in the Demon Realm?
Like dragons in the human world, they maintained harmony, balance, and order.
Who granted them that role?
Naturally, a demon god.
Yes.
There had once been gods in the Demon Realm.
Though that was a tale from the distant past.
But for some reason, the demon gods vanished without a trace.
No one knew when.
No one knew why.
Only after a long time did they realize—
The Demon Realm had become a godless world.
If the demon gods still existed, would an Outer God like Yama have been able to invade the Demon Realm?
No matter how powerful an otherworldly Great Demon God, that would have been impossible.
And something took advantage of that absence.
The Black Tower.
The contract it offered to the Great Demons.
We will grant you power.
We will free you from the law of causality and allow you to freely harvest human souls and life force.
At first, the Great Demons were wary.
But in the end, they accepted the Black Tower's offer.
Thus, per the contract, the Demon Realm provided the Black Tower with—
The design of the undead zone in the 60s floors, and the linkage of several lords to the Tower.
Additionally, the Great Demons agreed to take responsibility for the upper floors—91 through 95—floors players would never reach.
And in return?
They reaped the souls and lives of humans who survived worlds ruined by the collapse of the Black Tower.
Earth No. 675 was particularly entertaining.
Because many humans survived after exiting the Tower relatively early.
They absorbed souls and lives indiscriminately.
Even if they were just picking up scraps—so what?
There was no burden of causality.
The laws that might restrain them had already collapsed.
Moreover, all Great Demons were successors of the demon gods—beings qualified to become demon gods themselves.
Gain power, and anyone could become the next demon god.
That was their plan.
But then otherworldly beings invaded the Demon Realm.
A Great Demon God of immense power, the Sword God, the Monkey God.
And unexpectedly, a player from Earth No. 1,001 who reached the 91st floor.
Sensing ominous signs, the Great Demons tried to sever their connection with the Black Tower—
But failed.
And finally, they confronted the player.
At the same time, the Great Demon God as well.
That was the full account of Great Demon Baal's crimes.
The vision ended.
Juhyeok and the summoned beings now understood the entire relationship between the Demon Realm and the Black Tower.
'Look at this bastard.'
One of the Black Tower's collaborators was right here.
The one who helped design the undead zone on the 60th floor.
"Seriously evil. He deserves to die."
And that wasn't all.
The prime culprit behind the destruction of Earth No. 675.
The demon who crushed the last hope of the survivors after the Tower collapsed.
The summoned beings were furious.
"He's a great evil bastard."
"One heart extraction isn't enough."
"A demon among demons. Do not let him die easily."
"Let me shove a large shell up his anus."
"Let's pop his eyeballs first."
"Hoorat!"
Yama also smiled coldly.
"There is no way my judgment could be unjust. Accept the aggravated punishment gladly! I shall take your soul."
At that moment—
Crack!
Baal's heart separated from his chest.
A heart.
The heart floated in midair.
Chwararak!
Mari's homunculus letters appeared.
— Dimensional farmhand! Now!
Taeng! Whirl—
Rajiks leapt instantly.
"Hoaaah!"
Sssst!
He reached out and stored the heart into subspace.
And Baal, now heartless?
"Kiiiiiih…"
Suuuuuck!
Leaving behind only a dying scream, Baal's soul faded into a faint form and was sucked into Yama's hand.
That was when—
Kugugugugu—
The Demon Domain began to shake.
Crack!
Space itself collapsed.
Wooooong!
Demonic energy churned like a vortex.
"This is bad."
Yama looked troubled.
"I've interfered too deeply."
He had taken the soul of a Great Demon—the regulator of the Demon Realm.
And done so as an Outer God.
There was no way this could resolve normally.
"Hero Bong."
"I must now leave the Demon Realm."
"Ah."
"I'd like to wipe out the entire Demon Realm, but that would violate the regulations—and I wouldn't escape unscathed."
Juhyeok felt it too.
The atmosphere was clearly abnormal.
If you've caused trouble—
Run while you can.
"Opening gates will be difficult for a while. It will take a long time."
Until the distorted laws stabilized.
"I don't know when we'll meet again."
Yama pulled out several red wooden plaques with tassels attached and looked at Rajiks.
"Heavenly One Rajiks, put these away quickly."
"Huh!"
Palm-sized red wooden tokens.
They looked just like identification plaques adult men carried during the Joseon era.
There were quite a few.
About thirty at a glance.
Sssst.
They vanished into subspace.
Kosak tilted his head and asked Yama.
"What are those?"
"Identification tokens imbued with the aura of the Underworld."
"Ooh, like a royal warrant? Inspector General on duty?"
"Something like that. Underworld reapers carry them."
"Then are we Grim Reapers too?"
Yama chuckled.
"As if. Not a chance. But if you carry those, at least you won't be disrespected in this Demon Realm. There are training benefits as well."
Training benefits?
"You can absorb the aura of the Underworld. A sacred energy comparable to immortal qi—use it well."
"Yes, sir!"
Training and benefits. Nice.
'I should keep one too.'
Imagine flashing that and shouting Grim Reaper on duty!
Sounds fun.
Then—
"Hero Bong, this one is for you."
Gasp!
'Mine is separate?'
As expected of King Yama.
"Oh my, you shouldn't have."
The item Juhyeok received—
"…It's a wooden hammer?"
"Yes. It's called the Judge's Hammer. One I used personally."
Something Yama himself used.
A divine artifact.
"Likewise imbued with the aura of the Underworld. It will help in punishing other Great Demons."
Of course it would.
This isn't just any hammer.
"Well then, I wish you success."
Ziiing!
Yama opened a gate and vanished in a hurry.
Sssss—
The Demon Realm instantly quieted.
'Is it over?'
[Returning to the 91st floor of the Black Tower of Earth No. 675.]
It was over.
Spot!
They were back in the Black Tower.
Ding!
[World Announcement: You have achieved an EX clear on Floor 91 of the Black Tower (Germany).]
A world announcement with no one to hear it.
[EX Clear Reward: 2 + 30 Platinum Badges, total 32 awarded.]
Badges received.
Ding!
[Achievement: First player to subjugate a Great Demon of the Demon Realm.]
"Oh!"
An achievement.
[Achievement reward granted.]
[New life sprouts on Earth No. 675. The environment changes into optimal conditions for life to grow.]
…Huh?
Previously, achievement rewards had sealed rifts and removed monsters roaming outside.
This time—
Life was growing.
Should we go check?
[Exiting the Black Tower of Germany.]
Spot!
Outside the Black Tower.
"Wow!"
The air itself felt different.
A clear blue sky.
A cool breeze.
Green grass shyly pushing up from the earth.
"Hahaha, this is great."
"So fast?"
"The response is immediate."
"Beautiful indeed."
"Hoaaah."
It was deeply moving.
New life sprouting in a ruined dimension.
"I feel proud."
"This is all thanks to you, young master."
"Oh come on. I didn't really do anything."
"No, sir. You shouldn't say that. Everything began with Summoner Bong."
In any case, verification of the Black Tower Floor 91 on Earth No. 675 was complete.
And one question remained.
"The missions are completely different, even though it's the same floor."
On Earth No. 1,001—our Earth—the mission was destroying dimensional energy storages, something closely tied to the Black Tower.
On the other hand, the Black Tower mission on Earth No. 675 was subjugating a Great Demon of the Demon Realm.
"Do they differ by world?"
"In this old man's view, Floor 91 of the Black Tower on Earth No. 675 seems to be the original mission."
"Probably."
"This young lady thinks so as well."
The original course of the Great Journey was likely a trip to the Demon Realm.
The mission on Earth No. 1,001 was very likely an unexpected, abnormal assignment.
Just looking at the dimensional energy storage facilities made that clear.
They were obviously extremely important structures.
There was no reason to deliberately send players there.
In the end, even on the same floor, the mission had split into two paths.
You had to go to the Demon Realm—and also handle Black Tower–related missions.
"At least it won't be boring."
If one got tiring, just switch to the other.
However—
"Let's rest at the White Tower for a while."
"Yes, sir!"
First, they needed to figure out what dimensional energy actually was.
If they investigated the rods Rajiks retrieved from the storage facilities, they might find answers.
The vast universe, whose size could not even be measured.
Astronomers theorized that there were over two trillion galaxies in the universe.
Not planets.
Not stars.
Not solar systems.
But galaxies—two trillion of them.
Because of that, not even gods might know how many planets hosted life.
Somewhere far, far away in the universe,
there existed a world.
People there were conversing.
[The Demon Realm begged to withdraw from the contract.]
[Seriously? After sucking everything dry, now they want out?]
[Their unilateral contract breach caused an error in the Black Tower of Earth No. 1,001.]
[Right. Normally, the player should've gone to the Demon Realm, but instead ended up at a dimensional energy storage base.]
[Did the White Tower intervene?]
[Definitely. No way the White Virus would miss a Black Tower error.]
[Anyway, what do we do about that player?]
[Sigh. At first, I thought he was just a simple variable…]
[Now he's beyond a variable. He's a powerful adversary.]
[This is troublesome. There's no easy solution.]
[God will decide. We've uploaded all information regarding him.]
[Based on precedent, there are usually two response manuals in cases like this. One is abandoning dimensional energy extraction on Earth No. 1,001. The other is…]
[Deploy a Great Archangel.]
[Sending a Great Archangel to Earth No. 1,001… how long would that take?]
[At least one year. If we pour in massive amounts of dimensional energy, it could be faster.]
[Then abandoning it would be better. We can't waste that precious dimensional energy just to deploy a Great Archangel.]
[Well… they might still decide to deploy one.]
[Why do you think that?]
[That player obtained dimensional traveler status through the White Tower. He actually traveled.]
[So?]
[We must consider the possibility that he might strike at our main base.]
[Our main base? You mean here?]
[Yes.]
[No way. Do you know where this is? That's impossible.]
[Why not? What do you think the White Tower elevator does? It's dimensional travel.]
[But the probability… there are countless worlds in the universe.]
[He's someone you can't explain with probability. Think about it—what happens if that player barges into our main base?]
[Hmm.]
[If the elevator keeps running, he might eventually find this place.]
That was when—
Wiiing, wiiing, wiiing!
An emergency alarm echoed throughout the building.
— Attention all personnel. God has decided to deploy a Great Archangel.
[See? I told you.]
— The scheduled deployment location is the Black Tower of Earth No. 1,001.
— All headquarters staff are to suspend ongoing projects and focus on the Great Archangel deployment.
[So they've decided.]
[God has finished calculating. They have no intention of abandoning Earth No. 1,001.]
[Well, I admit God's calculations are always accurate.]
[How much dimensional energy will this consume?]
[Hmm. About 5% of all accumulated resources? If they want rapid deployment, far more than that…]
[That's enormous.]
[Yeah. Failure is not an option.]
—
White Tower, Floor 17.
Despite traveling through the Black Towers of Earth No. 1,001 and Earth No. 675, and even to the Demon Realm, almost no time had passed.
Now it was time to let time flow a bit.
First order of business: identifying the cylindrical rods collected from the dimensional energy storage.
The three Magitech specialists were already investigating them.
Elle, the magitech engineer, spoke to Juhyeok.
"These rods seem to be a medium that stores energy, but they aren't magitech artifacts."
Not magitech.
"Then magic?"
Mackenzie shook his head.
"Not magical enchantments either."
Alchemy?
Ding!
— It's far from alchemy as well. From my guess, it's closer to a product of Earth's scientific civilization—something like a fuel cell, or more precisely, a solid-state battery.
Hmm?
Closer to Earth technology?
Then they needed an Earth scientist.
"…Looks like I'll need some help from the former commissioner."
There were plenty of rods.
146 of them.
Handing over a few for research wouldn't be an issue.
"Now, time to check perks."
Cumulative: 314 badges.
Physical: 141.
Perks: 13 times.
Starting from the 250 cumulative perk.
[Perk granted for cumulative 250 Platinum Badges.]
[Perk: One Multinational Tower Access Ticket has been issued to your inventory.]
A familiar guest.
Then more items followed.
[Perk granted for cumulative 270 Platinum Badges.]
[Perk: Player Awakening Rune has been issued to the Tower-exclusive inventory.]
An Awakening Rune.
Who to awaken?
There was no one suitable right now.
Better store it for later.
[Perk granted for cumulative 290 Platinum Badges.]
[Perk: Item Additional Acquisition Ticket has been issued to the Tower-exclusive inventory.]
An additional item acquisition ticket.
He already had some.
Come to think of it, he hadn't found the right timing to use them.
There would be a decisive moment eventually.
Ding!
Passing 295, nearing 300.
[Perk granted for cumulative 300 Platinum Badges.]
Something good might appear.
It was 300, after all.
[Perk: Dimension Traveler–Exclusive Auction Storage Tickets (10) have been issued to the Tower-exclusive inventory.]
"…Huh?"
What is this?
Perks like this exist too?
And again at 310.
[Perk: Dimension Traveler–Exclusive Auction Storage Tickets (10) have been issued to the Tower-exclusive inventory.]
Another batch.
20 tickets total.
Checking the item info—
Effect: Allows large items to be stored in the ticket and sold at the auction house. Tear the ticket to materialize the item.
Limit: Only items with width, height, and depth each under 10 meters can be stored. One ticket can hold one item.
"Oh!"
Anything under 10 meters would fit most things.
Furniture like sofas, large electronics, even cars.
Would veteran dimension travelers really want these?
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