Elise was rubbing her hands as she looked at the things in front of her. She was curious but tense, thinking that she had never been as nervous as she was now.
In front of her, there was an armor set made out of twin-headed ogre muscles. The twin-headed muscles were weaved within it. On the side, there was a bottle that contained liquid bloodstone.
She had liquified bloodstones and injected the liquid into a glove, which had enhanced the function of the muscles weaved in it. After reading the magitek book, she came to the conclusion that her inventions were crap.
By taking advantage of the information, she could now utilize 80 percent of the muscle’s strength. Before, she’d only been able to take advantage of 20 percent.
Junhyuk had told her that when he had sold her things, he’d only gotten a small sum for them. That had wounded her pride, but she had not shown it at the time.
After learning magitek, she felt it even more now. She did not know everything, but the book had destroyed everything she knew before it.
However, the technology wasn’t complete. By combining it with modern human science, she would improve it.
The first step was very important. She had to master using magitek. Elise dripped the liquified bloodstone on the armor set. The liquid seeped into the runes carved on the armor. Those were the basics of the magitek language, runes.
The smeared, blood-colored liquid lit up. The crafting had to be completed before one could witness the results.
“Even if I make items according to the recipes, the success rate depends on proficiency! I should make as many as possible!”
Elise knew how much money she had, but she worried about having sufficient funds to fund her ingredients. She had to be careful with the parts of the twin-headed ogre she selected. To make a suit of armor, she could only use half of an ogre’s muscles.
What about the quality of the bloodstone? To make one suit of armor, she had already spent $5 million. However, her success rate wasn’t at a hundred yet.
Woo, woo, woo, woo!
Every rune shone, and bright lights blasted out from the piece of armor. The light pounded against her closed eyes before it disappeared. Elise stared at the set of black armor and smiled.
“Was it a success?”
She lifted it up. Previously, she had to make the pieces with the measurements of those who would wear them. However, things were different now.
Elise put the entire suit on herself, and as soon as she did, the armor shrunk to her size. Her hands moved, and Elise lifted the desk next to her. She could do it easily, and her eyes beamed.
“I must run a few tests first.”
She had enhanced the efficacy of the twin-headed ogre’s muscles, so she wanted to know just how strong they were.
“I have a lot of work to do.”
Elise wanted to use all fifteen recipes to make at least one product each, and by using that experience, she would improve on magitek further.
“I will let them do the research.”
Junhyuk had introduced her to them. She would give them the items, and they would run tests on their powers. Meanwhile, she would concentrate on magitek.
In any event, Junhyuk had given her the best present possible.
Elise looked at a machine standing in the corner of her lab. It was made from a mixture of robo-engineering and monster bodies. She would add magitek to it as well.
—
The monster area was growing again. For training purposes, Junhyuk took the newly acquired experts into it to take care of the monsters. The experts did not need a resting period, so they went into the monster area daily.
The monster area got bigger, yes, but the number of monsters was not the driving factor for that to happen.
Junhyuk wanted to watch it happening. The area would increase by one kilometer, and the monsters gathered at the border would advance to eat the humans around it once it happened.
In the beginning, the people protecting the borders were killed in droves, but after that first experience, they did not hesitate to retreat quickly. The interval at which the monster area got larger was fixed, so it was easier to prepare.
Junhyuk went to the border just as the area started growing. He killed all the monsters gathered at the border by himself. Then, he sensed the speed at which the area grew. It wasn’t fast. As he walked toward it, he sensed the expansion.
Junhyuk could already sense space and use the Spatial Collapse, but he shouldn’t halt the advancement of his spatial powers. He was alone that day.
He realized that that border felt much like the one surrounding the Dimensional Battlefield. As he followed it, he experienced new things. Because of that, he thought it was a good thing that the border was growing. He was astonished by the event as he walked along the border.
“Spatial encroachment?”
The dimensional tear was spewing energy, and that energy was encroaching on the space around it. He realized the energy was coming from the core and he looked back at the dimensional tear. The next time he destroyed the core tower, he thought about taking the core with him.
Junhyuk shrugged as he walked with the border. He sensed the monster area expanding and encroaching on the space around it. It was a funny experience.
He walked for one kilometer and saw the people waiting for him outside of the border, both the experts and the novices.
Once he walked out of the monster area, he turned and used the Spatial Collapse on the border. He was curious about what would happen to it if he did.
Crack!
The Spatial Collapse made space disappear, and when he walked along the monster border, he noticed that the space on one sided folded over the space on the other. That’s what had made him curious.
The Spatial Collapse caused the folded space to tear apart, and something unexpected happened.
It was like a balloon full of air popping. The energy from within the monster area was gushing out of the tear made by the Spatial Collapse.
Feeling the rush of wind from within the area, he murmured honestly, “I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
While he had walked, he had asked himself: What would it mean to collapse the space within the border?
When he did that, some changes took place. The space at the border was destroyed, and the energy from within the monster area gushed out.
The energy was pushing out fast, and he knew that the monster area limits were gone. There was nothing he could do about it.
A hole had opened up, and he sensed the monsters heading toward it.
So far, he had followed one direction in his advance and while hunting the monsters inside. He had hunted in a straight line from the starting point to the dimensional tear.
Now, all of the monsters within the area were coming toward the punctured hole.
Junhyuk frowned and shouted, “Everyone get ready to battle! The monsters are coming!”
Jeffrey ran toward him and asked, “What happened? What’s up with this wind?”
He turned to the experts’ team and said, “I didn’t mean it, but I changed something. The border is gone, and the monsters are coming out. The hole is growing very slowly however.”
The hole had expanded quickly at first, but now it was growing slowly. However, it was still getting bigger. If things continued that way, the entire border would disappear. The powered people had to deal with the monsters.
Junhyuk, who was gripping his swords, said, “This wasn’t the plan, but I have to destroy that dimensional tear.”
Everyone looked at each other, and Peyton asked, “What are you going to do?”
Junhyuk continued calmly, “Concentrate your powers here. You must form a line to stop the monsters.”
He turned to Lucy, who was standing in front of the novices, and signaled for her.
“Protect this place. Use every novice under your command.”
“Yes, sir,” she answered, sensing the gravity of the situation.
He continued calmly, “The experts and I will follow the road and move toward the dimensional tear. I’ll enter the tear alone, and Jeffrey will lead the team outside.”
Everyone swallowed hard. The situation was entirely different from what they had experienced so far.
Peyton asked, “Why don’t we stay here?”
“We can’t do anything here. There’s a hole in the border, so we have to destroy the tear.” Looking at them, he asked, “Are you all ready?”
A large number of monsters was heading their way. They were mostly C-ranked, but there were B-ranked ones as well.
Ling Ling pulled out her Wolf Warlord claw swords and said, “Ready.”
Junhyuk summoned all of his items. He would got at it at full strength this time.
He turned toward the tear and ran, shouting as he went, “Lucy! You must protect this place!”
The monsters were coming at them like waves, and Lucy answered, “I will protect it!”
When he heard her, he accelerated. The monsters were coming toward the hole, and he was very close to them.
He had to destroy the dimensional tear, but he also thought he had to stop the monster wave first. The novices wouldn’t be able to stop them.
As he closed in against the monsters, he saw a twin-headed ogre coming at him. The ogre was wielding a large branch, and Junhyuk slashed its leg. The red shockwave swept the surroundings, and he lopped off the ogre’s heads.
He was at full strength, opening a path through the monster wave.
Peyton was speechless.
“Is that possible?”
Ling Ling, who was already attacking the monsters with wind blades, said, “Take the right side!”
Peyton raised a wall and stopped the monsters on the right. The experts were using their powers and helping out Ling Ling.
