"You've found a way to search for Lord Vulcanus?"
Leon's face lit up at Beatrice's words since he hadn't expected her to find a way so soon.
"Yes. It's about finding the coordinates of the 'specific person' you were talking about earlier, but I've come to my own conclusions after some experimentation with the 'plucked information'."
"Really?"
"It's taken two things to open the gate so far."
"An object for the 'coordinates' and magic stones for the 'material'."
The first was the gate with Jerea in it.
More specifically, Leon's holy sword was used as a coordinate to point to the gate with the holy object.
The second was the estate of Demon Archduke Akasha and to get there, Leon used Akasha's severed arm.
Finally, Gunnar's Seedling.
This is the time period of Gunnar's activities and they persevered through the dying days of the Lionheart Kingdom.
So why doesn't Vulcanus' Ritual Dagger open the gate?
"Is 'dagger' insufficient as a coordinate?"
The dagger Leon received at the gate where he met Vulcanus, even though he had been using it since his days as an acolyte, was not comparable to a holy object or the flesh of a Demon Archduke.
Leon wondered if it was because of its lack of prestige, but Beatrice shook her head.
"To use Lord Yappy's analogy, an object is just a code that specifies approximate coordinates, and given its randomness, any object can be the coordinates to open a gate."
Beatrice deftly maneuvered her smartphone and showed Leon a video, a recording of her own experiment.
It showed her opening the gate over and over again.
"Surprisingly, it doesn't take a lot of spirit stones. Instead, only the lowest-ranked gates opened."
"I thought you said the gates themselves weren't demonic, just a phenomenon. I guess they don't care about the quality of the material."
Leon asked, looking curiously at Beatrice, who had mastered a smartphone that he had yet to master.
"But if that's the case, then why doesn't it open the coordinates where Lord Vulcanus is? It doesn't seem like it's simply a matter of lacking the magic stones."
"Your Majesty, do you remember how Lord Vulcanus 'went missing'?"
Beatrice had heard the rumors at the last Lionheart Kingdom gate, for she and her knights had entered the gate shortly after Vulcanus' disappearance.
And Leon vaguely remembered it, too, from two hundred years ago.
"It was on the plains of Randolce that Sir Vulcanus battled the Demon Archduke of Sloth and Idleness…the demon and his legions known collectively as the Glacial Archduke."
At the time, Leon had scrambled to defeat the Demon Archduke of Wisdom and his 200,000 legions. And before him, Vulcanus' army had traveled to the Plains of Randolce against 170,000 demonic legions.
"Thirty thousand Kingdom troops and the Burning Sword Knights defeated them, but…Lord Vulcanus and the Burning Sword Knights went missing."
"That's odd, if they both fell in the fight, or if either of them fell, there would have been bodies left behind."
Beatrice noted that immediately.
"Your Majesty, you were slaughtering demons until you met Miss Ha-ri, weren't you?"
"Indeed. I missed a few, but in the end, I killed them all."
"The Glacier Archduke. You've never met him, have you?"
"No."
As if she had guessed, Beatrice moved on to the next question for confirmation.
"Are demons capable of self-destruction? I've never seen a demon in any kind of pain take their own life."
"Their demonic bodies do not disappear when they die, but self-destruction is another matter. They are magical beings, just as they are magical masters."
"You mean every single one of their actions counts as a magical act?"
Leon nodded. The very act of crossing dimensions is a product of magic in the first place.
Their very bodies are made of magic, and everything they do can only be associated with magic.
"Killing and destruction. Wisdom and exploration. Pleasure and corruption. The magical power they draw from is not just for their enemies, but for themselves."
Magical power, not holy power. Demons themselves are a mass of magic, and everything they do is subject to its interference.
This meant that even a simple act of self-destruction was considered a magical act of 'self-destruction'.
"Despicable cowards, I can't believe none of them are willing to die."
"But that's good, at least they're not running away from death, right?"
"Just like they didn't get away with it when this king destroyed the last Demon Gate."
Leon chuckled, then wondered why Beatrice had been asking these questions.
"You have a theory, don't you?"
"Yes, although I'll probably only know that once I'm face-to-face with it."
Beatrice shared her conclusion.
"Lord Vulcanus is, I believe, in the Realm of the Demons."
In the realm of the Demon Archduke of Sloth and Idleness.
* * * *
Demons have used gates to cross dimensions and invade worlds.
But the gates themselves are not created by demons. The demons merely discovered the gate before anyone else and utilized it, and the "systems" and "quests" inside the gate could only be interfered with to a certain extent, not completely controlled.
"Demons have been using gates for quite some time, as I realized with the Lionheart Kingdom Gate, when we were blocked by the Lord of Wisdom."
What this means is simple. It meant that the demons were far more advanced in the art of utilizing gates than Beatrice, who had only just begun to utilize them.
"That means they must have their own security system for the gate, something that prevents other beings from opening a gate into their dimension."
"But we succeeded last time in Akasha's estate."
"That's the blind spot, Your Majesty. Have you ever seen a gate opened by a demon?"
"Yes....."
Come to think of it, Leon had seen very few demons open the gates.
In the case of the Archdemons, they prepared for the ritual by using the Orb of Wisdom, as the Empire had done when it first summoned the Archdemon, or by spreading the Faith of Lust, as the Hanbit Palace had done.
Even Archdukes or Lord-level demons required a large-scale summoning ritual to invade another dimension.
"However, once you reached the level of an Archduke, you could open a dimension of your own and return to your own realm. The Archduke of Slaughter did so...."
"I believe that Archduke Glacier, who fought against Lord Vulcanus, also felt the threat and fled to his realm."
"...!"
The reason for the disappearance of the Archduke Glacier, Vulcanus, and his knights in the Randolce Plain became clear.
"The Glacier Archduke fled during the battle, and Sir Vulcanus chased after him?"
"That is correct."
And it is likely that the place Vulcanus reached through the gate was the estate of Archduke Glacier.
This leads to the conclusion that since it is the Demon Archduke's realm, Beatrice cannot open the gate using Vulcanus' dagger as a coordinate because of the Demon Archduke barrier.
"Is it possible that Lord Vulcanus was captured by them, as was Sir Georgic?"
"It's certainly possible that somehow Lord Vulcanus is immobilized, but to know that for sure, we need to find the Glacial Archduke's estate, and...."
"So you're saying we can enter the Demon Domain with the same arm we used last time, the Archduke of Slaughter's arm."
Beatrice twisted the corner of her mouth and Leon had the same expression.
* * * *
"I will be away for a while."
The TTG Temple members, who had been enjoying a generous rest ahead of the autumn harvest, had a questioning look on their face at Leon's sudden declaration.
"Your Majesty, where are you going?"
Ha-ri asked.
"I'm going to explore a gate with Beatrice."
"???"
The others looked even more dubious. It didn't make sense that they would be exploring the gate alone.
Leon is a super powerful man, but he's not one to underestimate the power of a group.
He was a commander before he was a superhuman. He raised a large army called the Man-At-Arms on Earth.
Given his ability to buff the soldiers, it made sense to bring an army…or at least the Knights.
"Shouldn't you at least bring the Knights?"
Chun So-yeon, the head of the Knights, raised her hand. There were already countless elite forces in the TTG Temple.
Park Yong-shin of the Hanbit Palace, who had just joined the organization, as well as the Heavenly Sword Guild's Light Swordsman Chun Jinsoo, the Firebird Guild's Lee Yong-wan, Ha Yuri, and the Golden Lion Guild's Golden Iron and Huang Yeon-ha, were all cooperative with Leon.
Leon has the manpower and resources to mobilize a "legion" in an emergency.
"This king will head to the Land of Demons."
"...!"
To their astonishment, Leon elaborates.
"But it won't be a conquest like the last time. There is something we must infiltrate their dimension to find. In the meantime, you will rest and watch over the Temple."
It was a covert mission with just Leon and Beatrice so they would be able to retreat from any threat.
Both of them have super strength, and Beatrice's ability to open and close gates makes her indispensable.
Leon and Beatrice left for the demonic dimension just like that.
* * * *
After the Cataclysm, Gates began popping up all over the world, but the world was barely stopping them.
The lower echelons of the Hunter Guilds work hard to clear the yellow and green gates, while the higher gates, like the red and orange, are handled by larger guilds with S-class hunters.
Then there's the black gate, called the Crisis of Humanity, which the neighboring nations work together to close, albeit with some friction.
Humanity's power is nowhere near what it was 30 years ago, and most gates can be closed with ease.
"Yes, 17 gates closed today. The number of gates under attack is 42."
"Hmm…There are more gates left than usual."
After hearing the report from Hunter Association Chief Kim Jin-soo, Oh Kang-hyuk was worried about the number of…uncleared gates.
"Hmm…On an annual average, it's not much different from last year."
"Ah~"
Only then did Oh Kang-hyuk realize his discomfort.
The reason why the gates in Korea had been clearing one after another recently was due to the presence of a large guild.
"Isn't the TTG Temple still resting due to the harvest season?"
"Yes, but they're taking a 33% rotation."
TTG Temple was invaluable to the Association because they didn't care about investment costs and cleared remote, low-grade, and low-value gates without discrimination.
Their influence had also spread to the other ten guilds, and now even the Hanbit Palace, Firebird, Golden Lion, and Heavenly Sword guilds had joined him.
"His presence is indeed large."
"Well, it's a bit of a burden to grow any bigger."
Kim Jin-soo had seen the potential of the TTG Temple and the man named Leon while he was on assignment at the TTG Temple.
"As you know, His Majesty Leon is not a man to be limited to one country."
"I know. The President seems to feel secure in keeping him out of politics."
Leon's lack of interest in the immediate politics of his country is more about his respect for Korea and its rightful leader.
Above all, he sees the world, not the country or the continent.
"Where do you think TTG Temple's growth rate will soar next year?"
"Chernozem in Ukraine, Beidahuang in the Heilongjiang People's Republic, the cornfields of California in the United States… As the world grain fields, once contaminated by miasma, are cleaned up, Goddess Demera followers grow."
And that's not all.
The doctrine and how to join the organization is very accessible via the internet.
While it's a new kid on the block compared to the big religions, its real-life gods and miracles are attracting not only atheists but also members of the established religious community.
"In fact, there are more than four hundred known users of the Holy Law in South Korea alone. It's a light-hearted way of honoring the gods they believe in."
As it spreads around the world, the TTG Temple popularity would explode month by month, not year by year.
"The UN Demon Incident was a big one, as people around the world distrusted their own governments and leadership, creating an atmosphere that pushes the belief in the TTG Temple. I don't know if I should call this a good thing...."
"There are transitional periods for everything."
Already receiving some information through Yappy, Oh Kang-hyuk was worried that demons were poisoning the world at a serious level.
He was even more convinced that only Leon and the TTG Temple could solve it.
"I hope you'll continue as you are and the world's security will gradually be resolved as the TTG Temple grows in size."
But Oh knew from experience. The enemy you fear will always try to nip you in the bud when you're most vulnerable.
────────!
At that moment, the cell phones of the Association's employees…Kim Jin-soo and Oh Kang-hyuk's cell phones, too, went off with a tearing alarm.
The gate alarm, which is mandatory for Association employees, went off one after another.
-Beep, beep, beep, beep!
"Mr. Chairman…! This!"
Kim Jin-soo's complexion turned white as the alarm that was still going off was very clear.
Association President Oh Kang-hyuk immediately gave an order.
"Issue an emergency order to the Ten Guild… and the Ten Thousand Gods Temple…connect Lord Yappy directly through Han Ha-ri!"
"Yes…!"
Oh Kang-hyuk stared at his cell phone screen as a cold sweat ran down his spine.
On his cell phone, over a hundred gates from all over the country were being added one after another.