A shattered moon orbiting Trappist Planet 4.
Broken fragments floated above the moon, and the pieces that orbited it sometimes fell, breaking what remained of the moon even further.
But that happened only once every few dozen, perhaps every few hundred years.
Ten thousand years ago, after half of it had been destroyed, the moon had remained quiet for a very long time.
Yet recently, the moon had grown noisy once more.
Thud— thud—
There was no air, so no sound could be heard, but vibrations could be felt through the moon.
The thing causing those vibrations was a control object that had flown all the way here through spatial movement.
As the control object dug into the half-destroyed moon, it soon realized there was a place it could not approach.
A place where a huge magic circle had been drawn on the ground.
The magic circle, unmistakably made by humans, was covered by a translucent shield.
Inside the shield were scattered human bones and mummified monsters, but the control object had no interest in such remains.
What the control object wanted was to destroy this magic circle.
The control object did not know that this was the magic circle that had half-destroyed the moon.
However, its near-human intelligence told the monster that this magic circle was dangerous.
Thud— thud—
The monster swung its tentacles, pounding at the shield covering the magic circle.
Thoom— thoom—
But it was difficult to break a shield that had endured ten thousand years with mere tentacles.
Unfortunately, this monster had lost part of its black stone to humans and could no longer use magic.
After hammering at the shield for a long while, the monster eventually gave up and lowered its tentacles.
The monster raised its body. A gigantic black spider with dozens of legs lifted itself up.
The monster opened its mouth toward the sky.
Kuuuuuuuu—
If there had been air, a siren-like sound would have rung out, but this was a place where sound could not be heard.
Instead of sound, a low vibration spread far into the distance.
A short while later, other vibrations began to mix into the vibrations spread by the control object.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
A steady vibration approached from afar.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
As time passed, the number of vibrations continued to increase.
The monster lowered its head and turned its body.
On the opposite side of the shield, behind the control object, other monsters were approaching.
Hundreds, thousands of scouts and control objects.
They were the monsters the half-broken control object had gone around awakening.
It was no small number, but compared to the monsters on the moon, it was only a tiny fraction.
Many monsters still slept on this satellite, and the number of monsters awakened by the half-broken control object was far greater than this.
And yet only these had come because the other monsters were no longer on this star.
Kuuung!
Behind the approaching monsters, monsters could be seen being launched into the sky.
Monsters being fired away by magic.
Wrapped in shields by their own magic and the magic of other monsters, the monsters soared into space.
The place most of the monsters were flying toward was the enormous planet hanging in the sky.
Trappist’s fourth planet, Adomside.
With the flying monsters as a backdrop, countless monsters gathered around the shield.
The gathered monsters began attacking the shield surrounding the magic circle.
Tentacles struck the shield, and countless spells flew toward it.
Thud. Thud. Kuku-kung.
Endless vibrations shook the ground, and the shield trembled.
Unlike when the half-broken control object had swung its tentacles alone, this time it had an effect.
Cracks had begun forming in the shield.
Fine fissures spread outward like ripples.
Once the monsters realized this, their attacks grew fiercer and fiercer.
***
Flaaash.
The bright light disappeared, and the underground ruins came into view.
The Trappist underground ruins connected to Earth.
The ruins looked no different from before, but a strange sound could be heard.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
A sound like someone pounding on a wall.
And it was coming from far above.
This was not the sort of sound that should be heard from underground ruins beneath a lake.
Frowning, I brought Magreta and Catherine down from the altar.
Flaaash!
As soon as we descended from the altar, people appeared on top of it again.
“Urgh!”
People sprawled over the altar, retching.
Those crossing over from Earth for the first time could not avoid motion sickness from spatial movement.
“The next group has to come through, so pull yourselves together and come down quickly!”
As soon as the people appeared, the waiting technicians climbed onto the altar, brought the retching people down, and guided them below.
Once they came down, another group appeared on the altar.
All of these people were User candidates.
Koreans, Americans, and people from other countries.
After the rebellion was resolved, the Baekdusan Base had been sending User candidates from various nations to Trappist.
By now, most routes had been cut off, and many countries had fallen into anarchy.
However, in countries where the government still survived, they were still finding User candidates and sending them to Korea by plane.
Because if they wanted to save their people, if they wanted to send even one more person to Paradise, there was no other way.
The people who had crossed over first were gathered on one side of the underground ruins, looking upward with worried faces.
They, too, could hear the vibrations and the sound.
Every time the sound rang out, the people flinched.
These people had come without training, so they were no different from civilians.
After confirming that Magreta and Catherine had recovered, I went to where the people were gathered.
“Once everyone has crossed over, we’ll rest for a moment and then make another spatial movement. This time, it will be a short trip, so you won’t feel too dizzy. That place is the final destination, so please endure just a little longer.”
I approached David, who was shouting to the people, and patted him on the back.
“Who? Ah, you’re here?”
David looked utterly exhausted.
I felt sorry to see that he seemed to be working without rest, but now was not the time to comfort him.
I asked him about the sound that kept repeating.
“What is that sound?”
He answered with a grave expression.
“It’s the sound of monsters pounding on the wall.”
“Monsters?”
Were there still monsters remaining east of the mountain range?
“Yes. After you went to Earth, scouts appeared at the lake base.”
“Scouts? More than one?”
If it wasn’t just one, then it wasn’t simply a stray monster.
Then were they monsters from the moon?
But this was far too soon compared to what Soph had said.
“They were moving in groups, so there was no way to deal with them. We hurriedly evacuated and collapsed the passage as you instructed, and now they’re trying to break through the wall like that.”
When the new passage had been dug between the lake base and the underground ruins, explosives had been buried there.
They were explosives prepared in case monsters invaded as far as the lake base.
I had told David and the key personnel about them, and it seemed they had detonated them.
I looked up in the direction the sound was coming from.
Now that I knew they were monsters, I felt like I understood what that sound was.
It was the sound of scouts breaking down the wall blocking their path with their tentacles.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Fortunately, the distance was still considerable.
Since the explosives had been buried at intervals throughout the passage and most of it had been made to collapse, it seemed they would not break through immediately.
That did not mean it was completely safe.
“If it looks dangerous, get out of here immediately.”
At my words, David nodded.
“Don’t worry about us. We’ll stop the spatial movement device and evacuate right away.”
I could trust David’s words.
David, who had been the captain of the advance party, was the most reliable person outside of my own comrades.
David said to me,
“More importantly, I think you should go to the Ice Star. I heard monsters appeared there as well.”
If monsters had appeared on the Ice Star too, there was no denying it.
These monsters had come from the moon.
I spoke to Soph.
“We didn’t have much time after all.”
[I thought we had at least a little time left, but this is much faster than expected.]
Instead of sounding surprised, his voice carried regret.
As expected, Soph had been deliberately delaying the trip to the moon.
I had sensed it from the moment he emphasized that we had plenty of time left and made me stop by my hometown.
However, it seemed even Soph had not expected monsters to appear already.
“We can’t delay any longer.”
[No, we cannot. We’ll have to hurry. If they’re moving this fast, something may happen to the shield.]
Soph also knew it would be difficult to put it off any further.
To go to the moon, we had to prepare quickly.
We had to activate the magic circle and prepare to stop the monsters.
To do that, we first had to go to the Ice Star.
I asked Magreta and Catherine,
“We’re leaving right away. Are both of you all right?”
“Yes. No problem.”
“Me too.”
At my words, the two of them nodded.
After confirming that the last person had crossed over, we climbed onto the altar.
The portal connected to Earth was still open above the altar, but it didn’t matter.
I took the two women’s hands in both of mine and jumped into the portal.
Flaaash.
A bright light covered the world and then receded, revealing an ice plain beyond a transparent wall of ice.
We had changed course and arrived on the Ice Star, where the underground city was located.
The ice plain visible beyond the ice wall was the surface of the Ice Star I had seen every time I came here.
It was the same ice plain as before, but it was not as quiet as before.
A battle was taking place on the ice plain.
Bang! Bang! Kwa-gwaaaang!
People wearing thick leather clothes ran across the plain, fighting scout monsters.
They battled while avoiding the scouts’ tentacles.
The people fought well.
Sergeant Woo and several others fired energy guns from a distance, disrupting the monsters’ movements.
The others poured attacks toward the places Hanna pointed out.
I saw the flames Sterling shot out burn a monster’s tentacles.
Kaaaak!
However, in such an open space, it was difficult for the people to bring down the scouts as well.
The monsters also moved their tentacles and threw their bodies around, evading the people’s attacks.
“Wow!”
“That’s impressive.”
Seeing that, Catherine and Magreta exclaimed in admiration.
It was because the monsters, while dodging attacks, had gathered in one place.
It was all a trap set by the people.
A spirit was floating above the gathered monsters.
The spirit stretched her hand downward.
Cold air burst from her hand.
Kwa-gwa-gwang!
At the same time, the ground split open.
The monsters fell beneath the cracked ground.
The monsters pulled out their tentacles as they had before, but this time they could not cling on with them.
The tentacles all froze from the cold pouring down from above.
Crack!
The tentacles shattered, and the ground that had split open closed again.
“Waaah!”
When the monsters disappeared into the fissure, the people cheered.
“That’s incredible. Looks like they don’t need us.”
At my words, Soph gave a strange reply.
[Not us.]
I shook my head at Soph’s words and said to Magreta and Catherine,
“I’ll be back in a moment.”
I waved to the two women, who looked at me in puzzlement, and cast a spell.
“Leap beyond. Blink.”
With the incantation, my field of vision changed.
My view rose high into the air.
Beneath my feet, I could see the rejoicing people and the triumphant spirit.
I raised my head.
In the distance, I saw a large star and a satellite as small as a dot.
Trappist Planet 4 and its destroyed moon.
And from the direction of the moon, something was rapidly approaching.
Chwaaaak!
An object that looked like a huge black sphere.
[It’s Akzar.]
As Soph said, it was an Akzar monster.
An Akzar monster flying across space toward the Ice Star.
Judging by its size, that was a control object.
The monster glowed red-hot as it plummeted toward us.
Kugugugu!
The spirit seemed to have sensed the monster falling as well.
She hurriedly sent a message.
[A control object is falling! It’s an enemy we can’t handle. Everyone, retreat to the underground city!]
At those words, the people raised their heads.
They were startled to see the red-hot monster falling.
Everyone moved in haste, but one person did not move.
It was Hanna.
She was smiling as she looked toward the place where I hovered.
It seemed stealth magic did not work on Guardians.
[Hanna! Why aren’t you running? What’s up there……]
The spirit followed Hanna’s gaze and raised her head.
The spirit’s eyes widened when she saw me.
[Oh, Captain Hyun is here. Everyone, you don’t have to run!]
She shouted to the people.
At the sudden shout, the people who had been running looked up.
Some even tripped over their own feet and fell, but instead of acknowledging them, I stretched out my hand.
Toward the red-hot monster approaching the ground.
I bestowed magic upon the control object.
[Shield Removal]
I removed the barrier spread over the monster’s body.
[Acceleration]
Faster.
[Increased Gravity]
Heavier.
[Heating]
Hotter.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!
The monster turned into a fireball and fell at tremendous speed.
Kiiiiik!
The monster, now a fireball, screamed and spread its tentacles.
But it was already too late.
The fireball-like monster slammed into the ground at an absurd speed.
Kwaaaaang!
Ice shot into the sky, and steam spread in every direction.
The ice plain was overturned.
It was an enormous impact.
No living body could endure that shock.
The control object had turned into a bloody pulp.
After confirming that the monster was dead, I descended in front of Hanna.
“Welcome back.”
Hanna greeted me.
“Everyone, good work.”
After greeting everyone as well, I looked up at the sky.
Beside a glittering star, a faint satellite could be seen.
The half-destroyed moon was visible.
Preparation (2)