There is a sense of distance in murder.
The closer it is, the heavier the guilt becomes, and the farther it is, the lighter it grows.
For example, when killing someone with a close-range weapon like a knife, the psychological burden the attacker must bear is immense.
Ordinary people can't even stab properly because the hand holding the knife trembles violently.
If the target counterattacks, the attacker is put in danger as well.
But what about a gun?
From a distant location, you just aim and—click!—pull the trigger.
In that case, the burden is drastically reduced compared to stabbing with a knife.
There is no physically transmitted shock either.
What about a drone combat pilot?
It's exactly like a game.
The drone operator sits in a control room, looks at a screen, identifies the enemy, and presses a button.
Then missiles or bombs fall, and mass slaughter occurs.
Who cares how many died?
They just pressed a button—click!
The greater the physical distance becomes, the stronger this tendency grows.
And if the scene of murder is a completely different world in a parallel universe, one whose location you don't even know, it's even more so.
The people of Earth No. 1 all knew.
They knew that parallel Earths in other worlds had been destroyed because of the Black Tower on their Earth.
Yet they never perceived themselves as perpetrators in that process.
Parallel universes—where even are those?
What does the destruction of some unheard-of world have to do with them?
Of course, they fully enjoyed the benefits.
A world where all diseases were conquered and aging disappeared thanks to dimensional energy—humanity's dream had become reality.
And that was enough.
Until now, they had lived well without any problems.
But now, at this very moment.
The Black Tower had appeared on their own Earth, and after exceeding the time limit, the tower collapsed.
A new tower rose up once again, and its collapse had already been scheduled.
Earth No. 1.
Especially the citizens of Terra City were horrified.
Three massive holes that had opened up in the gigantic city of Terra.
All the structures that had been above them were gone.
It was truly something no one had imagined.
Black Tower collapse.
Wasn't that supposed to happen on some other parallel-universe Earth?
Yet it had happened here, on this Earth.
The citizens also knew all too well the final outcome once a collapse began.
Ongoing tower collapse, consecutive sinkholes, the boundary between the tower and reality disappearing, and tower monsters bursting out.
If the upper floors continue to fail, the collapse cannot be stopped.
No one can even imagine how many holes will open up.
A hundred? Two hundred? Three hundred?
No—thousands or more could appear.
No matter how advanced Terra's science and technology may be, how are they supposed to handle monster waves erupting in thousands of locations?
The most important thing is—
There is no predetermined end.
Until the Earth is completely torn apart.
Until not a single living organism remains alive.
The collapse will continue.
The annihilation of Terra City.
And beyond that, the destruction of the world.
The anxiety of Terra's citizens only grew day by day.
Would the tower even be conquered?
And what was even more chilling—
There wasn't a single piece of news about the collapse on the media, TV, or SNS.
Despite such a massive incident having occurred.
Thorough information control.
No new information appeared, and whatever did appear was deleted immediately.
The only thing citizens could do was secretly gather in small groups and whisper among themselves.
"Just who the hell is the summoner from Earth No. 1001?"
"You saw the wanted hologram photo, right?"
"That bastard's a demon. Rumor says over 200 people were killed because of him."
"Whoa! That many? He's worse than a serial killer."
"Don't tell me… we're next…"
"Ah, the god(s) will have a countermeasure, won't they?"
"We just need to clear the 90th floor. Then the holes should close again, right?"
"You think that's easy? We couldn't even clear the 72nd floor, and look at this mess."
"Don't worry. I heard this batch of Black Tower players didn't have much talent."
"Really? How bad are we talking?"
"They say they're not even 1.5-tier. The real 1st-tier guys didn't even bother warming up."
"Well, even if you're rank 1, what do you have besides a good body? Your mentality matters."
"Hey, you said you awakened before, right?"
"Yeah. I'm making decent money."
"Then did you hear that news too?"
"What news?"
"The corporation's announcement recruiting a special Black Tower recapture team. They said any player, regardless of rank, gets a top-tier body."
"Oh! Really? Then I should apply too. When it comes to talent, that's me."
The city atmosphere, which should have been chaotic, was surprisingly quiet.
Because they were afraid—and because such a thing was unimaginable.
Everyone desperately denied it.
No way.
The world wouldn't end, right?
Juhyeok appeared in a back alley of Terra City on Earth No. 1.
Wrapped in a transcendent concealment veil that could evade even the eyes of god(s).
And then, the summoning work.
Calling Kosak.
"Charge! Black Tower's strongest monster—why did the heavens give birth to both Gobangmon and Kosakmon? All I need is one chance, the ribbon is ready. Kosak has arrived."
Kosak was also a tower administrator, but it would still be a long time before his turn came.
Players couldn't even get past Gobang yet, after all.
Next summon?
The ancient dragon Crackersus.
Dimensional farmhand.
Rajikmon, who had handed over the tower defense baton to Gobang.
By coincidence, the ten-day summoning prohibition penalty had already been lifted.
Only three were summoned.
Including Juhyeok, that made four.
Why take the risk and come to Earth No. 1?
Simple.
To receive a self-reward.
Rewards are a serious matter.
Isn't it unfair?
You get rewards for conquering a tower, so why is there no reward for defending one?
"This isn't right."
Plant the Black Tower, huh?
Defend the tower, huh?
Let them experience what tower collapse is like in spectacular fashion, huh?
Then shouldn't something pop up with a ding!?
But there was nothing.
"Master of draconic speech magic, a dragon with no spell unusable in this world. Ranked No. 1 as the most successful dragon by Forbes. Versatile, ever-changing—the Green Bomber, Crackersus."
Greenie wasn't summoned for transportation.
His presence had felt a bit lacking lately.
Lastly—
Spot!
"Hoeng!"
So they're telling me to help myself?
Fine.
I'll do just that.
At first, this wasn't the plan, but there was a trigger.
The mana bomb.
A weapon from Earth No. 1 that Rajiks had plundered.
Dr. El copied it as-is and created an ultimate mana bomb.
Entranced by its power, the dimensional explosion demon Rajiks threw a festival of insane explosions on the 71st floor and got unsummoned.
The conversation Juhyeok had with El back then.
Right when the full-scale production of ultimate mana bombs was underway, El quietly approached.
"It's a bit of a shame."
"What is?"
"That Earth No. 1 is going to be destroyed."
Suddenly?
Did our golem prosthetic magitech PhD develop sympathy for the main-base people?
"That's not it. If it's destroyed like this, Earth No. 1's technology might be lost… People may be bad, but technology itself isn't, right?"
I get what he means.
"Just look at the mana bomb. Our Earth and even Earth No. 843 had explosive weapons using magic stones."
Yes.
We did.
"But Earth No. 1's mana bomb is on a completely different level. Magitech, alchemy, enchantment, and even science—all fused into a cutting-edge invention."
That's true.
Earth No. 1 is the future of other Earths.
A world where science and technology have advanced dazzlingly.
So much so that they even created gods themselves.
"I'd like to experience more of their products. Studying Earth No. 1's items would greatly help the Comprehensive Workshop Center staff."
Ah, our El—thinking of research day and night.
If it's needed, of course we should oblige.
We'll loot everything we can bring back.
Thus began the self-reward plan.
Calling it a reward is generous—this is theft.
Sneak in quietly and swipe a few items.
Silently, without getting caught.
Isn't theft unethical?
Can't deny it.
It's definitely a bad deed.
However—
"Did I come here to do good deeds?"
Not a shred of guilt.
If that were a problem, I wouldn't have erected something like the Black Tower in the first place.
"Let's start with Rajiks's polymorph procedure."
"Yap!"
We can't just roam around like this.
This is a world where appearances are determined by rank.
Only Rajiks needs to be transformed.
The rest can change themselves as needed.
Crackersus casts polymorph magic on Rajiks.
He also attaches the perception-disruption talisman that Gyeondallae prepared.
Destination: the 2nd-rank commercial district.
All the shops are concentrated there.
It also wasn't included in the current collapse zone.
Juhyeok and his group emerged from the alley and entered the central street of Terra City's District 2.
"It's pretty noisy."
As expected of a commercial district, people of various ranks had gathered.
"There are three holes punched open, yet they don't seem to feel any sense of crisis."
"If there were about thirty, it'd be different."
"Hoe!"
I've been here once before.
Through astral projection.
So finding the way is easy.
The common language of the Terra Empire is English.
So as long as you have an enchanted in-ear translator, communication isn't a problem.
Shops lining the streets in long rows.
Restaurants, clothing stores, electronics shops, shopping centers like department stores, and so on.
Their civilization is only slightly more advanced than ours.
Places where people live are all pretty much the same.
So, anyway—how should we take the goods from Earth No. 1's main base?
What's so hard about it?
While pretending to browse inside the shops, Kosak and Greenie would draw attention, and Daedo Rajiks would slip—store things away into subspace.
Carefully, quietly, little by little.
But what about big items?
Like cars, for example.
If something like that suddenly disappeared, it would be noticeable.
For those, it would be safer to buy them with money.
'Should we steal money too?'
But then, suddenly, Kosak vanished.
'Where did that guy go? Bathroom break?'
Pop!
He reappeared.
"Master Summoner Bong."
"What is it?"
"I picked up a few coins over there."
"Ah!"
The coins Kosak brought back.
They were Stonics, the common currency of the main Earth.
They were refined magic stones, made into thin casino-chip–shaped disks.
The main Earth had used magic stones as currency even before the Black Tower.
Juhyeok was also familiar with this world's monetary system.
Depending on size and color, there were denominations of 10 Stonics, 100 Stonics, 10,000 Stonics… all the way up to 100 million Stonics.
The higher the value, the higher the grade of the magic stone.
He'd never seen one, but a 100-million-Stonic coin was probably made of a top-grade magic stone.
"That's a total of 5,200 Stonics. Doesn't look like you just picked these up."
"Eek! Master Summoner Bong, you're sharp. I actually slipped 'em."
"…Where from?"
"Over there, where it's crowded—snip-swipe!"
Pickpocketing.
Lrssal's stealing skill.
The victim probably didn't even feel a thing.
'Should we rob a bank while we're at it?'
That could be fun too.
After all, money in this world is just magic stones.
'Nah, forget it. If it gets noisy, it'll be a hassle—'
And then, right at that moment!
Wiiing! Bzzzzzz!
"Huh?"
A drone flew in from above and hovered in front of Juhyeok's group.
It emitted a flashing red light and blocked them menacingly.
"Huh! What's this? Why's it blocking us?"
Hmm.
These were the police known as Angel Drones.
A mechanical voice flowed out of the drone's speaker.
– An illegal situation has been detected.
Illegal?
– By the authority granted by god, we will inspect suspicious citizens.
Body, facial, and iris identification complete. A heretical body has been detected.
Unregistered body ID.
Oh!
Smart.
Right—
It's true that I don't have an Earth No. 1 body.
– Commencing arrest procedures.
Suddenly!
Wheeeeeeeeeeng!
An ear-splitting alarm blared.
Criminal apprehension in progress! Establishing perimeter! Establishing perimeter!
At the same time—
Wiiing! Wiiing! Wiiing! Wiiing! Wiiing!
Countless drones appeared from all directions and surrounded Juhyeok's group.
Earth No. 1 truly had outstanding technology.
Real-time surveillance of people.
"Was it because the assassin pickpocketed someone?"
"Huh? No way my artistic pickpocketing got caught."
"Indeed. It's likely a constant surveillance system was active."
"Huh?"
– Final warning. Place both hands on your head and lie face down. Any resistance will result in immediate execution.
What now?
Should we just run?
Go back to the White Tower's 9th floor and wait until night—
In that instant!
Slip!
"Hoe."
Rajiks, with an innocent expression,
Roll—clatterrrrr.
Several long metal rods rolled out onto the ground from subspace.
'Those are…'
Mana EMP—electromagnetic pulse devices.
Flash! Crackle! Papapap!
A wave of intense electromagnetic force surged.
Wiiing! Wiiing! Wiiing! Wiiing! Wiiing!
Thududududud!
The Angel Drones, their flight systems disabled, fell from the sky.
Would Rajiks just leave them be?
Slip, slisssssh, slisssssh—
Before they even hit the ground, all of them were stored into subspace.
But there were more drones.
Wheeeeeeeeeeng!
Another swarm of police drones rushed in like ants, alarms screaming.
"Hoo."
Criminals before we even started stealing.
Can't be helped.
Juhyeok designated a group summon.
Spapapapapap!
A group composed of veteran players and rookies who currently had nothing to do.
Filled to the limit—50 people.
"Since it's come to this, let's loot openly."
"Where do we start? Banks? Shopping centers?"
"Everything… just stuff it all in."
"Hooeek!"
"Yap!"
Spot! Pababam! Pababababam! Taang, ping-grrr!
In an instant, Juhyeok and the fifty-member band of thieves vanished.
Thus began the grand looting of Terra City District 2's commercial zone.
Black Union Corporation conference room.
Three dimensional travelers were in conversation with CEO Kohen Yamazaki.
"I apologize, but I have a favor to ask of the elders."
The dimensional travelers frowned and complained irritably.
"What kind of favor?"
"You're not going to tell me to act as a player, are you?"
"Is this the will of god? Answer that first."
Their unfriendly attitude made Kohen's anger boil up, but he held it in.
The dimensional travelers were people who had played a decisive role in the birth of god.
They acknowledged god's existence and followed instructions.
But they were unpredictable.
Why?
Because if they felt like it, they could leave at any time.
They were nomads.
Wanderers with no fixed home.
If the world were to be destroyed, so what?
They could just move on to another dimension.
"Of course, this is a directive from god."
"You want us to conquer the tower?"
"Haa…"
"And Awakening? Will god grant that to us?"
The dimensional travelers were uneasy as well.
They had thought the Black Tower would be cleared quickly.
Bored as they were, they had even considered awakening as players and trying the tower themselves.
But once they actually looked into it, it wasn't easy.
The summoner's summoned beings were appearing as floor administrators.
Creatures bordering on the transcendent.
Even they couldn't be confident.
That was why they had been agonizing over it.
"Don't worry. I'm not asking you to play as players."
"…Then?"
"Please acquire just one item from the dimensional auction house. We'll provide the budget."
The dimensional auction house.
"You're not asking for a World Tree sapling, are you?"
Kohen shook his head and continued.
"The Godslayer's Long Spear—a weapon capable of killing a god."
"Ah!"
"Hmmm."
…
The Godslayer's Long Spear.
A weapon as terrifyingly expensive as its performance.
Its price: 2,500,000,000 kg of top-grade magic stones.
Originally, 1 kg of top-grade magic stone equaled 100 million Stonics.
Converted, that made the spear worth 25 gyeong Stonics.
Not trillions—gyeong.
"Well, as long as we can prepare the top-grade magic stones…"
That was when—
Bang!
The conference room door burst open as a corporate executive rushed in.
"T-This is bad!"
"…What is it now?"
"The Terra commercial district is being looted."
What?
Looted?
"What do you mean?"
"There's a riot. Mass looting is underway."
"…What?"
A riot in Terra City?
That made no sense.
Anti-government forces?
Impossible.
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