35 – Dual Dimensional Gate (2)
Wooooooo─
The ground shook as if there was an earthquake.
The quality of the pleasant air changed in a bad direction. The scorpion demon presumed to be the ‘boss’ was replaced with white sand.
Suddenly, the empty space just above them started to ripple wildly, and a dimensional portal appeared out of nowhere.
Under the realm of an open-type dimensional gate, another open-type gate opened.
The two gates emitted magical energy and dimensional vibrations, resonating with each other.
Not only the ground, but the space they were standing in itself shook.
In an instant, the concentration of magical energy around the dimensional gate surged dramatically.
It was to the point where even Yang Ji-woo, a Rank 1 Returner, found it difficult to breathe.
Without warning, the environment changed.
The solid ground turned into a sinking pile of sand.
From somewhere, a strong wind blew, bringing a sandstorm.
Ji-woo, realizing that something was seriously wrong, was about to tell Yeoul, who stood beside her, that it would be best to escape.
The space that was being perceived through her eyes started to ripple wildly, like a highway on a hot summer day.
Soon, it twisted, rendering even a step ahead completely invisible.
Ji-woo had no choice but to stand still.
It was a situation she had never experienced or heard of before.
She couldn’t predict what would happen if she moved unnecessarily.
A short time passed.
The shaking space finally stabilized.
As soon as her vision returned to normal, Ji-woo turned around to find Yeoul, looking for her.
But even after looking around repeatedly, she couldn’t see a single strand of hair, not even the tip of her hair.
Just a moment ago, Yeoul, who was clearly standing beside her, had inexplicably disappeared in the blink of an eye.
However, she had no chance to even try to find him.
After the space stabilized, a newly formed dimensional gate floated high in the sky.
It was because the monsters poured out of that place like a waterfall.
* * *
In the blink of an eye, Ji-woo was left alone in this chaotic place.
“What on earth is happening…!”
She was truly bewildered, which hadn’t happened in a long time.
The situation she found herself in was so unbelievable that it couldn’t even be imagined.
A new dimensional gate appearing beneath the realm of an open-type gate.
It was truly an unheard-of event.
Even the environment that she was simply walking through had changed, the space had distorted, and the person who had been right next to her was now separated from her.
It was unprecedented.
At most, it was a 5th class dimensional portal.
I can’t speak for others, but she was not someone who was easily shaken.
Even with a little joke, she could clean up and sleep peacefully.
That’s why.
Just to also take care of the accumulated “duty” and have a light-hearted walk while talking to Yeoul, she had come out.
But what on earth is going on?
Even for her, who had received countless pieces of information from various places, this was a situation she had never anticipated.
She looks up at the sky.
The newly formed dimensional portal.
Monsters were still pouring out of there at every moment.
Even the dimensional portal that was pouring out a number of demons similar to mine in real time was unprecedented, but I couldn’t just be flustered.
If I just spaced out, I could end up in an even worse situation.
Still, maybe I should consider myself lucky.
Even though she was in a situation she had never anticipated, she was a level 1 returnee.
Dozens, maybe even three-digit returnees.
The title of level 1 returnee meant that she was evaluated as one of the strongest returnees among those powerful returnees.
Even the strongest demons could not stand in front of her.
Five years since returning to Earth.
During that time, she had honed her skills and familiarized herself with the sensations she had become used to, trying to gather mana and use magic.
She calms her shaky mentality.
She absorbs mana from the air.
She processes it within her body into a form suitable for use.
And then, using it as fuel, she gives the command to “pierce through” to the world.
A series of actions that takes only a moment.
And finally, the magic is cast.
As always.
The world will respond to her command, and her magic will pierce through the vital points of those demons with perfect accuracy, without any error.
Certainly.
She should have…
Looking at the demons she had targeted, she became flustered once again.
For some reason, her magic did not activate at the desired coordinates.
The magic that should have pierced through the vital areas of the demons in unison only left a few holes in a few individuals.
Something was strange.
She cast the magic again.
Following the same process as before, this time she commanded, “Ignite!”
But.
This time, not even a spark flew.
It was then that she had a sense that something was wrong.
It was a magic she had used as naturally as breathing, not a metaphorical meaning.
When she commanded it once, the world naturally complied.
But now…
It felt as if she had forgotten how to use magic, as if she were someone who had forgotten how to breathe.
Magic, which had always been kind to her since she first dealt with the mystery of using it.
But why was it suddenly awkward and elusive? A memory brushed against her troubled mind.
She had experienced something similar before.
It was when she returned from this world to Earth.
She remembered the significant effort it took to adapt to the much lower concentration of magic in Earth compared to the world she had been in.
It was quite similar to now.
The only difference was that back then, for some unknown reason, the concentration of magic in the air was abnormally high.
Even she, who could usually use magic smoothly in most situations, couldn’t use it to the extent of being unable to use it.
Like a physicist who had fallen into a world with different laws of physics, she couldn’t grasp how to use magic at all. It was not unrelated to the fact that the magic she predominantly used was known for its high difficulty.
The glances of numerous demons fell on her.
They spotted her and slowly approached.
The protective barrier that had always protected her had been lifted.
For her, it was truly terrifying, perhaps the first time, that she felt like she might die.
The demons approached her at a swift pace.
With desperate effort, she restructured the formula of her magic from scratch to match the increased concentration.
After going through various corrections and revisions, she focused so intensely that her brain felt like it was burning.
Just barely.
She was able to give the command “Hide” to the world.
As soon as the magic was cast, the world finally obeyed her command after a long time.
She disappeared abruptly, as if she had never been there in the first place.
But she was still there.
She had only deceived the world.
The spot where she disappeared.
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At her feet, large and grotesque monsters searched for her traces.
They sniffed and listened for sounds.
It was okay for her to move or make noise since she was hidden from the world, but she only tightly covered her mouth with both hands due to a sense of helplessness she had never felt before.
After spending some time, the monsters eventually couldn’t find her traces and moved on to somewhere else.
Once the monsters were far away and out of sight.
At that moment, the magic she had cast was lifted.
Jiwon’s legs lost their strength, but she remained alive, sitting in place, grateful for that much.
However, her misfortune was not over.
In the short time she confronted the monsters.
Not only where she stood, but everywhere within her sight.
Was covered in dry, white sand.
The space that had previously eroded into the form of a “meadow” was once again eroded into the form of a “desert”.
Even the temporal background seemed to have turned into night, the surroundings becoming dark.
Under the night sky where not even the moonlight or a single starlight shone.
Among the cold, still, and white sand of the chilling desert, she stood.
Even though she hadn’t noticed, the cold air that had quietly settled wrapped around her body.
For someone like her who always maintained a constant body temperature, it had been a long time since she had felt this.
It was the sensation of cold.
Her body involuntarily shrank, and her muscles began to tremble uncontrollably.
It would have been fine if she had worn thicker clothing.
She was someone unaffected by the weather, so she had just one thin layer of clothing on, but oddly enough, it had a negative effect at this moment.
She had even tried using magic to maintain her body temperature.
Strangely, she couldn’t bring herself to use a much simpler spell than commanding, “Hide,” and it was far easier than dealing with a magical creature or the current situation.
After the confrontation with the magical beast, and now, in just that brief moment, the concentration of magical power had once again increased significantly.
She had reached a point where she could hardly handle that concentration anymore.
If she used magic recklessly…
Certainly, she wouldn’t end up in a favorable situation.
She felt disheartened, but she didn’t give up.
If she stayed still in despair, would she do anything other than die?
She tried to think as positively as possible, believing that it would help her survive.
Behind her, as she was calming her mind, a magical creature stood.
From a distance, it had noticed her and, very slowly, almost imperceptibly, approached without being noticed.
If she had been in full condition.
No. Even if it had been just a quarter, a quarter, a quarter, or even half.
At least she would have noticed the magical creature approaching…
But it was a magical creature in the form of a simply large snake, so inferior that it didn’t even know how to use magic.
Opening its mouth to devour her, she felt a chill and turned around.
In front of her, there was only the mucous membrane of a crimson mouth.
It was getting closer and closer to her.
In a feeling that time had slowed down, she could only sense the gradually approaching shadow of death.
Dying, being devoured by a magical creature so inferior that it wouldn’t even allow her to breathe the same air, was an utterly helpless fate.
* * *