Chapter 89

Screening Quest (3)

Rumble!

The earth was being dominated by chaos.

In accordance with my commands, the giant earthworms, which scoured the lands, raided the surrounding area, making destructive waves out of mixed soil and rock.

In the middle of it, I encountered the scene I was expecting.

Unlike the guards who patrolled the outskirts, the main building’s center was filled with much higher-quality Awakened Botarchs.

‘Now that I’m here, I can see a lot of S-Ranks and SS-Ranks. There’s a reason why the Chinese Awakened Force, which infiltrated their base to rescue the hostages, was wiped out several times.’

But then, they still hesitated so much even if such powerful Awakened had already gathered.

Closely observing them, even the SS-Rank Awakened only charged in quickly to avoid the rowdy earthworms, but there was no counterattack at all.

“Seo Jin-Wook, It’s as you said.”

“Yes. according to my sources, those giant creatures are considered holy animals that only the ruling class can handle.”

Even if they’re powerful creatures that dug deep holes, could make the bedrocks collapse, and could even destroy buildings, an SS-Ranked Awakened could easily kill it in one blow.

However, due to religious reasons, the Botarchs couldn’t touch them carelessly.

“#[email protected]%!”

“@[email protected]!”

The Botarchs shouted at each other.

Rumble!

While they were baffled, the earthworms devastated almost all of the farmland and the garrison.

I murmured as I watched them.

“Now then, I should slowly…’

A sharp tone resembling a whistle resonated through the rainy atmosphere.

‘This is a signal!’

It was the long-awaited response.

As soon as I heard that, a sudden change began below.

“Huh? I think they’ve finally given up!”

The Botarch unit showed visibly different movements.

They stopped dodging the earthworms and started retreating in unison.

They headed to the blue door that opened in the middle of their garrison. It was the gate.

The moment I confirmed it, something came up.

Weing!

The system message rang out as Mana moved rapidly on the back of my hand.

It was a voice that could only be recognized by those who had received a screening quest.

– Quest Complete!

– Quest Name: Dimension Defense.

– Description: Stop the invasion of other dimensions that is in the tutorial.

– Rewards: 680,000 Experience Points have been awarded to the user!

The message certified that I successfully completed the screening quest.

‘It worked!’

I sang of joy inwardly.

From the beginning, the quest goal wasn’t to eradicate the aliens but to ‘stop the invasion.’

Just as the Botarchs signaled each other and retreated toward the gate, the system judged their primary invasive behavior had disappeared.

‘The quest started with 500,000 points, but since I received 680,000, I have received around 40% more with rough calculations.’

I thought I gained extra points because I was the only one who performed in the quest.

Adam, who had already finished the tutorial, wasn’t taken into count.

‘But I didn’t come all the way to China to be satisfied with only this much.’

I updated the quest list immediately after confirming that the experience points had been awarded.

There, I verified that some of the previous quests disappeared and were replaced with new ones.

The difficulty and rewards were adjusted according to the last quest I completed.

‘Let’s see… Yeah. This is it!’

Among them, the quest I was aiming for stood out.

– Quest Name: Dimension Defense(2) – ‘Botarch’

– Description: The name of the species that are retreating is Botarch. They had given up on the expedition site after their month-long local occupation. They are currently leaving, but it’s unknown when they will resume their invasion again. Consider and implement measures to curb subsequent dimensional invasion and take preemptive defensive effects.

– Reward: Starting at 1,000,000 experience points.

‘The description has become much more detailed than the prior quest.’

The first quest I received only had a simple sentence which stated I needed to protect our world from different dimensions.

It’s a quest that could be activated whomever the target was as long as it’s a dimension in a tutorial stage.

‘But the quest that just appeared had limited targets. The name of the quest mentioned the Botarch race itself.’

Depending on my behavior, the content was linked in a way.

‘Preemptive defensive effect.’

There were three ways that humanity dealt with the situation in my previous life.

They cleared the extended dungeon and received the key. Instead of another extension, they closed the gate and withheld the intrusion for good. They prepared for additional intrusion by building a thorough defense wall around the gate. They counterattacked by invading the opponent’s dimension.

‘First of all, it’s impossible to do a Clear under the current circumstances.’

I couldn’t work on the dungeon alone. Several S-Rank hunters must be gathered, just like during the Siheung 8 dungeon.

‘For No. 2, we will need the cooperation of the Chinese government.’

However, I wanted to try another method.

If I had to say it, it’s closer to the third.

‘I will make them never want to invade Earth again.’

I spoke to Adam.

“Then, as I said before, please take care of the hostages.”

He saw the building where the hostages were held.

While retreating to the gate, the Botarchs sent several S-Ranked Awakened aside towards its direction.

They seemed to have noticed that even while the giant worms were rampaging, they never touched the human-filled building.

‘Unless one’s a fool, they’ll think that this is the work of a human. From their perspective, this is the worst situation possible. A pagan human has defiled a holy animal, and they can’t guarantee the safety of the Priest, the only one who should control the animal.’

They were trying to execute at least the most minimal retaliation while retreating to suit their evil nature by taking the lives of non-Awakened citizens who originally lived in the city.

‘Adam said that the Union doesn’t intervene in the killing and slaughtering of beings at the tutorial dimension. Well, I’ve never felt that way in my previous life as well. I didn’t even know they existed in my previous life.’

The treaty seemed to be strictly applicable only to those who had already completed the tutorial.

Like Adam.

He nodded his head.

“… Yeah, since I’m not killing non-Awakened. Rather, I’m saving them. There’s nothing about it that’s against the treaty.”

He asked me a question while looking at me.

“Are you really going to go through with that plan?”

“Yes.”

Adam clicked his tongue.

“You have no fear. I’d love to come with you, but that’s impossible.”

“I know. No matter how you enter it, the system will charge the admission fee… and you said you have no more points to pay that again.”

“Yeah. Don’t die.”

Adam spoke so bluntly and flew toward the hostage building.

As soon as his body shot forward, I stared at the [Door of Hope] on my finger.

[Door of Hope (Rank: SSS)]

– Item Description: The last emperor of the Sebrarian Empire secretly instructed his aides in preparation for the final war. It was to find a way to evacuate all the citizens in case of emergency.

Thus, the miraculous legacy was born after the most intelligent minds and most powerful men of the Empire gathered together. Unfortunately, the emperor’s evacuation plan was never put into practice. By the time R&D was over, and mass production was available, there were no dimensions left for them to evacuate.

※ Notes:

If the correct coordinates aren’t entered, there’s a risk of being swept away by the dimensional storm. Movement within the same dimension is impossible due to the operating principles that leverage the population resources between dimensions. The farther the destination is from the origin dimension, and the more the population there is to be transported, the more Mana cores will be consumed. If the user to whom the item is attached is transferred, the item will also be sent to the destination dimension.

I injected Mana into it.

Weing!

The ring slipped out of my finger, floated in the air, and smoothly grew into a hoop.

Blue light then filled up the void within the hoop in an instant.

It didn’t look much different from the gate.

– Please enter the coordinates.

Telepathy flowed from the Artifact.

‘When I first experimented with it, I didn’t actually get to operate it after having typed random coordinates.’

But the current situation was different.

Without hesitation, I entered a string of numbers in the group of lights in front of me.

It was the coordinates corresponding to the Botarch’s dimension.

The Artifact replied.

– Coordinate verification complete. A Mana core containing 8,000 Mana is required to transfer one human species to the user’s destination,

‘Now, that’s reasonable.’

At least it was compared to the first time when it required 890,000 when I inputted random coordinates.

‘The Botarch dimension is a nearby dimension that could be accessed by going through a connected dungeon. It costs this much to get to the nearest world, huh.’

I glanced at my condition.

– Active Mana: 152,300 (+67,100) / 85,200

– Potential Mana: 163,000

‘8000 is the minimum Mana to become a B-Rank Hunter. If it’s a round trip, it’s 16,000… Although Mana is too precious to use.’

It’s an amount that I could get my hands on if I hunted more diligently, considering the Mana core supply rate had increased since I had grown stronger.

I put the pre-prepared core in the place where the Artifact told me to.

Shhhh.

The moment the [Door of Hope] absorbed it, it produced calm waves.

– It’s now ready to be used.

I immediately threw myself into the blue luminescence.

*

– Please specify the transport location within the dimension.

As soon as I entered the light, I noticed that the [Door of Hope] had returned to my finger.

As explained by the item, even if the user had entered the door, the item would be sent through along with its owner.

‘Well, if it didn’t, there would be no way to go back.’

Where I was at the moment was a place where the blue glow had absorbed everything.

The telepathy from the item was showing a wide map in my brain.

‘I mean, how could it only show me the map of the whole universe at this dimension?’

It was meaningless to look at it on such a scale.

“Show me a map of the ‘Palace of the High Priest’ on a planet occupied by the Botarchs.”

Without delay, it reacted to my command and followed it swiftly.

I was amazed by it.

“…. Indeed, SSS-Class items are so overpowered!”

In front of me, there was a three-dimensional view of the interior and exterior of the palace where the Botarch religious leader, the High Priest, resided.

Not only did it show the structure of the building, but also the movement of all objects and living things inside it.

No clairvoyance skill I knew had that effect.

‘SSS-Class is already this good. How good can the EX-Class be?’

I made a deal with the spirit with that excuse, but I couldn’t help but think that the fish that got away looked bigger than I initially thought.

The item’s telepathic messages continued.

– Please provide a more specified location. If there is no desired location, you will be sent to an arbitrary location.

“No, no. No way will it send me to a random location.”

It was well deep in the night over there.

They should be asleep by now.

“Where is the High Priest’s bedroom there?”

The system instantly pointed to 12 rooms inside the palace using arrows.

‘… What? 12 bedrooms? I’ve never known this in my previous life.’

I looked at them carefully and found the place where I had to go.

“This one.”

I pointed to the bedroom where the High Priest was staying at this time and spoke.

“Send me here.”

I gave the order, and it performed without fail.

Swish.

The surrounding scenery changed in a flash.

I was at the moment standing in a strange room.

‘… Eek.’

A foul scent pierced my nose.

It was enough to make me frown.

It was a provoking odor that smelled like a mixture of fermented hay and spoiled milk.

I covered my nose and looked around.

‘There he is.’

On top of the bed-like furniture, bodies of giant aliens were tangled together as they slept.

The scene was created due to a number of them falling asleep after having an orgy just a few hours ago to celebrate a great achievement.

‘He has it good.’

I concentrated on the Mana.

‘Sleep deeper, so you won’t wake up in the middle of it.’

The Botarchs were enchanted into a deeper slumber.

After blocking any external interferences with simple barriers, I approached the bed.

The Botarch High Priest, who was entangled with naked females, remained asleep.

He had a familiar face.

‘In his previous life, he continued to serve as the High Priest.’

The devastating war between China and Botarch in my previous life ended with China’s victory and drove out the aliens beyond the gate. Still, China eventually collapsed due to a series of incidents that seemed to have been caused by winning the war.

… Though they Cleared the dungeon, they have failed to close the gate!

And in a land where the powerful central government had disappeared, through the open gate, Botarchs eventually returned.

‘I fought with foreign hunters during the re-invasion.’

Thanks to that, I had quite a bit of detailed information about their species in my head.

‘Is it a C-Ranked Awakened compared to Earth?’

The power of the High Priest itself was insignificant compared to those that guarded outside.

It was just like how the politicians on Earth weren’t the strongest Hunter.

Their social structure was a dictatorship system made by the cult that worshipped the Mother Goddess of the land.

‘There are many rivals who seek the High Priesthood because it’s not a one-man dictatorship, but a cult dictatorship, but… In my previous life, the current leader suppressed all of them.’

However, what if things played out differently from my previous life?

I opened the mouth of the sleeping one and thrust my invisible hand into his throat, which was shaped with psychokinesis.

“Blrgh···Blrgh!”

The Botarch, who’s still in sleep, began to gag.

‘The assassination or kidnapping of the High Priest will not stop the plans of the entire race to invade Earth.’

Under the High Priest, eight bishops wanted to usurp its throne. The others would take over when the current High Priest died.

Even if they kidnapped him, looking at their behavior, they wouldn’t even bother the captive and rather would just consider him dead.

I used [Penetration] to examine its body’s internal structure while thrusting the intangible hand made of psychokinesis deep into the High Priest’s throat.

‘There are five organs in total that serve as a stomach of a Botarch’s anatomy. It is said to be hidden in the fourth stomach among them…. Right here!’

I eventually found the Sacred Object resting in the fourth stomach of the High Priest.

Swoop!

I grabbed it and pulled it out of its body.

Coated with a viscous body fluid, it was an idol that shaped the Mother Goddess of the land they served.

It’s the first time I had seen it in person.

But…

‘It’s so unpleasantly delicate and sophisticated.’

The Mother Goddess of Land, worshipped by the Botarchs, had the form of a large cow showing off its eight giant breasts.

Her shading, body hair, and skin texture were more graphic than necessary.

‘This is processed from a meteorite that fell on this planet in the distant past. There is no similar metal left, and even if it’s newly discovered, the processing technology was lost in the past.’

Even if it disappeared, the High Priest wouldn’t be able to forge a new one.

With their technology, it would be impossible.

‘The loss of this idol under the High Priest’s watch in Botarch society is a far more deadly sin than losing a series of wars.’

It would reach a point where he wouldn’t be able to maintain his position.

After getting ready, I woke him up by slapping the face of the cow’s head on the floor.

“Hey, wake up!”

“…. Growl!”

Instead of answering, the snoring only echoed louder.

Without knowing the fate that laid before him, he relaxed.