A dim palace where not even a sliver of light penetrated.
In the long corridor leading to the audience chamber, a solitary being guarded the throne alone.
Flap.
With each step, the black cloak he was wearing dragged along the floor.
The armor clanked and rattled.
Over it, the red glow of skeletal eyes shone.
"Hah…"
He let out a brief sigh.
He had just received the grim news from his subordinate.
Of course, it wasn't true death.
For the knights of Camelot, the concept of life itself was non-existent.
Just the word "wraith" was enough to describe them.
That very wraith, the soul of the skeleton knight Gawain, had returned to him.
The soul conveyed a message:
– Be cautious of the wizard.
But the Knight King denied those words.
"That's impossible. A wizard? There's no way those arrogant bastards would be poking around in a backwater like this already."
It was a dimension where the 'pioneering' of Earth had just begun.
The Multidimensional Chamber of Commerce had only authorized entry for ranks ranging from the 9th order to, at most, the 8th order.
To meet those strict conditions, the Knight King, originally from the 5th order, had to endure the humiliation of a rank reduction.
But what about wizards?
They were beings filled with aristocratic pride, treating their rank and honor as more precious than their lives.
There was no way they would visit Earth through such a disgraceful means like the Knight King had.
Fshhhh—
Another soul circled around him.
It was Lancelot, the strongest soul among the wraiths following the Knight King.
"He must be a bold one, just like you, my lord."
"That's probably it… He must be trying to claim this place before the full-scale opening begins."
"How do you plan to respond?"
"Hmm…"
The Knight King pondered for a moment.
There was no way anyone would orchestrate such an unusual act as a rank downgrade on a dimensional scale.
It was undoubtedly the reckless solo action of a fake wizard with a severe case of greed.
He briefly considered gathering the knights to deal with him but soon shook his head.
"Leave him. It's something that happened outside the castle anyway. More importantly… this isn't the right time."
"…You're referring to the 'harvest,' I presume."
"Yes. It's unfortunate what happened to Gawain, but the Enhancement Stone can be obtained again. The 'ripening' is almost complete."
Camelot, the castle erected in the heart of Seoul.
It was a sort of life furnace.
Using the living beings inside as material, Enhancement Stones could be created.
In other words, for the Knight King, collecting Enhancement Stones through Camelot was far more urgent than dealing with a random fly that had wandered in.
"Just a little more… Just a little longer, and this time, I'll make a big haul."
The Knight King, wrapped in excitement that no one else knew.
Meanwhile, Lancelot, having sensed something, informed him.
"…Something has entered the castle. It appears to be humans."
"It's probably those toys again. They're certainly curious. They're all doomed to die anyway…"
"What should we do?"
"Let them be. The roof will close soon enough. They're just more food for Camelot."
After all, all the humans inside the castle were already like rats trapped in a jar.
Once the 'ripening' was complete, they would naturally become the sacrificial offerings.
And so, the Knight King forgot.
The visit of the strange guests.
***
Thudududu-!
The rotor blades of the Blackhawk helicopter roared loudly.
Screech!
A few wyverns appeared, circling around…
Fwoosh!
But when a few flaming bowling balls were hurled at them, they quickly fled.
Since the Knight Kings' castle stretched from Namsan to Myeongdong, it took less than ten minutes to arrive.
And so the castle loomed before our eyes.
However, the fortress walls were desolate.
If it had been the typical medieval castle wall design, there should have been forces guarding the top, but the Knight Kings' castle didn't seem to be designed that way from the start.
Thudududu-
We reached Euljiro 4-ga, where my little sister's studio apartment was located, and with Lee Yong-su's smooth driving skills at the forefront, we slowly descended through the large hole in the castle's ceiling, which resembled a stadium's open roof.
Soon, a shadow fell over our heads.
And immediately, the attack began.
Kagagagak!
It started with the propeller.
Screech!
Screech!
A swarm of pitch-black bats frantically rushed towards the propellers.
The fast-spinning propeller tore at their flesh, but the bats didn't care about death.
Thudududu-!
I shot them down with rifles, but there were far too many of them.
It was impossible to attack the ones clinging to the rotor.
One wrong move, and I could damage the rotor myself.
Crack!
Crackle!
The helicopter, unable to withstand their force, swayed uncontrollably.
Lee Yong-su used all his wits, and we gradually got closer to the old office building that housed sister's studio, but…
Ka-kak!
The wingtip got caught on the top of a credit card company building, towering at Jongno 4-ga intersection.
Whoosh!
The helicopter tilted, and…
In the end, our fate was to crash.
Whirr!
I quickly used
The targets were Lee Yong-su and me.
Fwoosh!
In the blink of an eye, both of us were in the subspace.
Meanwhile, the scenery outside the portal kept flipping around repeatedly.
And at the end…
Boom!
Like a scene out of an action movie, the Blackhawk we had received from the military met a fiery end with an explosion.
Of course, the explosion didn't spill over into this subspace.
One way or another, it was a landing.
Even if not a successful one.
[Standard Household Powder Fire Extinguisher 3.3kg, priced at 19,900 won.]
Holding fire extinguishers in hand, we slowly exited the helicopter, putting out the flames as we went.
Perhaps the bats thought we had died in the explosion because they were nowhere to be seen.
The corpses of bats scattered all around.
I used
The street was filled with lighting stores.
Turning the corner past one of them, the path leading to sister's officetel came into view.
The distance wasn't far, but…
Unfortunately, the way wasn't clear.
Not only were there skeletons as we had seen before, but zombie-like rabid dogs with rotting bodies the size of humans greeted us.
These creatures were even as big as humans, drooling green saliva, and they were definitely not something we wanted to get close to.
Of course, they weren't particularly threatening.
I could just throw a bowling ball and incinerate them.
"Alright, then…"
But just as I was about to launch an attack…
Thwack!
Spang!
A crisp sound echoed from the opposite end of the alley.
As if in sync with the rhythm, a skeleton's skull spun and shot into the air.
Squeal!
Clang!
Below, the zombie dogs were kicked aside, spraying green liquid all around the alley.
The creatures that had been blocking the alley turned their gaze all at once towards the source of the sound, but…
Clatter!
Screech!
Before long, they all turned into cold corpses, decorating the street.
And so, I finally saw the owner of the sound.
"…Kim Sol!"
She was none other than Kim Sisters No. 2.
My little sister.
.
.
.
During childhood…
If big sister simply wasn't good at studying, little nsister completely shattered any expectations in that regard with disastrous grades.
However, when it came to sports, she was unmatched. Capitalizing on her early-discovered talent, she started competing as a martial artist from a young age.
Her fame was so great that throughout my middle school years, my nickname was fixed as 'Kim Sol's little brother', and even when encountering any thuggish high school students on the street, just mentioning Kim Sol's name would part the way like the Red Sea.
With power comes responsibility, as they say.
Kim Sol never used her strength carelessly, and thanks to that, I never once heard about her being called in for hitting someone.
Of course, regardless of that, to me, she was…
"Kim Jeong-gyeom, if you don't want to die, get off the computer and come out."
She was the one who was more like a sibling than anyone else.
.
.
.
Two women faced each other.
The Kim Sisters had reunited.
"…It's been a while, No. 1."
"You've gotten even stronger while I was away, No. 2…"
The two exchanged a light hug and then bumped fists.
It was as if the two lost legs of a giant robot had finally been reunited.
Big sister was fighting against the tyranny of the internal medicine department head, while little sister, Kim Sol, was dealing with the sudden apocalypse by crushing skeletons and zombies like she was swatting rats.
Both of them were strong modern women, tough enough to survive in this apocalyptic era.
Kim Sol said she had run out of her house after seeing the helicopter crash out of nowhere.
"Well… I usually go for a walk at this time anyway. I just came out while I was at it."
"A walk…?"
A walk, during an apocalypse.
Kim Sol was living in an entirely different world.
Though, it didn't seem like everything was all fun and games for her.
"By any chance, have you heard from mom and dad? There's some weird wall here, so the phones aren't working… You remember the last time we talked, right?"
"It's the same outside too. Phones aren't working anywhere. That's why I'm slowly making my way north."
I introduced Lee Yong-su, who was with me, and explained my awakened subspace ability.
She responded with amazement.
"No way, you can actually do that…? What level are you?"
As if this were all some kind of game, her voice was filled with excitement.
But I was the one who was truly surprised.
"…You're level 5?"
"What's with that reaction? All you need is to collect 250 mana stones…"
She said that each level-up required 50 mana stones, and so far, even after leveling up, the required amount hadn't increased.
It seemed that the amount of mana stones required for awakening abilities varied depending on the person.
Judging by the fact that Lee Yong-su also needed 50, it seemed that my case of requiring 100 or even 1,000 stones was an unusual one.
But regardless of that, I couldn't help but acknowledge Kim Sol's monstrous strength, as she managed to gather 250 mana stones all by herself.
After all, I had just witnessed her clear out the alley full of monsters with my own eyes.
Nevertheless, there was no way I was going to pass up the mana stones scattered on the ground.
As I used
"…Did you activate some cheat or something? How the hell can you do that?"
"It's a long story."
"This is totally OP…"
She muttered, looking at me with an expression of disbelief as she kicked aside a bone lying on the ground.
Then, it happened.
Whiiiing!
A sharp object came flying toward me, but—
Bang!
Kim Sol punched out and blocked it.
Her speed was downright supernatural.
According to her, the ability she had awakened was called
It allowed her to freely generate defensive barriers on any part of her body, and Kim Sol was using it skillfully for both offense and defense.
Sure enough, her fist was glowing with a golden hue.
The sharp object was a hand.
To be precise, it was the hand of another armored skeleton knight, with both arms stretched out like whips.
Crackle—!
Blue sparks flickered on the skeleton's needle-like finger bones, as if electricity had been added to it.
Surprisingly, Kim Sol seemed familiar with this creature.
"This guy again. You know, he can even talk?"
I knew it, but the fact that she had survived all this time after hearing him talk was surprising.
I asked her.
"…Can you win?"
"Nope. No matter how much I hit him, he doesn't die. But…"
Kaang!
Kim Sol deflected the skeleton knight's sharp attack.
Then she answered.
"…I've never lost either."
Despite several blocked attacks, the skeleton knight relentlessly continued his assault.
A barrage of strikes rushed toward Kim Sol.
She effortlessly bent low and planted a powerful uppercut into the knight's abdomen, but…
Thunk!
It didn't seem to have any significant effect on him.
Kim Sol shouted at me as she glanced in my direction.
"I can keep trading blows with him, but… what should we do? Should we retreat into that subspace of yours or whatever?"
As expected, this skeleton knight, like Gawain, had a formidable resilience.
Of course, I could take my little sister and escape into the subspace, but it just so happened that I had recently acquired a new weapon.
"Can you tie him down for a bit?"
"Why?"
"I think I can take him down."
Bang! Bang!
Kim Sol unleashed a flurry of punches, each strike cutting through the air with a sharp, cracking sound.
But as expected, the attacks didn't seem to do much.
The knight had completely given up on defense and was now focused entirely on waiting for the right moment to strike, waiting for the perfect timing to land his deadly blow.
But I was looking for an opportunity too.
When I gave her the signal, Kim Sol swiftly jumped back from the knight…
Swoosh!
Four flaming bowling balls shot toward him.
The knight seemed startled.
Watching the flames fly toward him, he muttered in a daze.
"Fireball…?"
Boom!
An explosive roar followed.
"No, this is…"
By the time the knight's hollow voice dissipated into the smoke and dust…
He lay shattered, collapsed along with his broken armor.
I also muttered in a daze.
"…Did he really die just like that?"
Between the cracks of his broken armor, I spotted a glowing blue Enhancement Stone.
****
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