After entering the materials warehouse, I filled the box with stones and iron rods.
Since I hadn’t taken everything out of the base, I could only fill about half the box.
While I packed the materials into the box, Hannah and Tom searched the warehouse once more.
Unfortunately, there were no relics like the whip to be seen.
While the two of them looked for relics, Sergeant Woo looked around the warehouse with astonished eyes.
“Every time, something surprising happens. My colleagues on Earth won’t be able to believe me.”
Ever since he became part of the expedition team, Sergeant Woo had spoken to me formally.
He was a man of few words, but he clearly knew how to conduct himself.
After packing the materials into the box and returning with the group, the spatial-transference relic that looked like an altar had been restored to its intact form.
The altar, situated on one side of the circular clearing, looked almost like the control panel of a factory facility.
The relic had returned to one piece, but the two people who had repaired it did not look pleased.
“As expected, it won’t move. Just putting the relic back together wasn’t enough. We’ll probably have to bring technicians or researchers from the base or Earth to investigate it.”
At Smith’s tongue-clicking words, everyone on the team looked disappointed.
But I wasn’t worried.
Because I had heard something from Sof.
[What do we do now?]
[To activate it, it needs a magician’s authentication. Bring the staff up to it.]
As Sof said, I brought the spear to the altar.
I felt energy flowing into the altar.
Wooooong.
A faint light rose from the altar, and a small hologram appeared in front of it.
The hologram, filled with characters I had never seen before, looked like a monitor unfolded in midair.
[There. For now, I have connected it to the facility leading to another star—the base ruins.]
The words “for now” meant it could be connected to other places as well...
[We will have to check the other locations first. If we are unlucky, we could end up buried inside a collapsed cave.]
True. We couldn’t use spatial transference without knowing the situation on the other side.
But then, how had the Americans found this place?
[I have thought this for some time, but Earthlings are far too reckless. Many must have died before they crossed over to this star.]
He was right.
The same went for us, but the current United States was blindly grinding people down.
That superpower was moving as if it had no way back.
When the spatial-transference relic came back to life, everyone looked at me in surprise.
Perhaps because they had seen something similar before, Hannah and Tom were not as shocked as they had been last time.
But the others were different.
Smith, in particular, rushed up to me and shouted loudly.
“How did you do that!”
I needed an explanation again.
Since I couldn’t tell them about the magician, I answered with a mixture of truth and lies.
“It’s thanks to this spear—no, staff—that I found in the previous ruins. The reason we were able to escape those ruins back then was also because this staff opened the stopped traps and doors.”
In fact, there wasn’t a single lie in what I said.
I had simply left something out.
“Of course, I don’t know how that’s possible either.”
I ended my explanation while showing Smith the spear.
“May I take a look at it?”
Smith asked, his eyes sparkling.
It was a request I had expected.
[It should be all right, yes?]
[Even a magician would find it difficult to recognize. To an ordinary person, it will simply look like a rod.]
Trusting Sof’s words, I handed him the spear.
Instead, as I gave it to him, I warned him.
“I don’t mind, but it’s bound to me, so looking at it probably won’t do you any good.”
“It’s bound... That’s a shame.”
Smith clicked his tongue, but still accepted the spear and examined it.
As Sof had said, Smith did not notice the spear’s secret.
“It’s just a metal rod. A metal I’ve never seen before. Was this tip carved out of stone? It resembles blackstone, but there’s no way blackstone could have been processed like this.”
However, perhaps because he was a blacksmith, he recognized the blackstone right away.
That seemed like it could become a problem in its own way.
Before he could discover anything more, I took the spear back.
“A multi-ability user, and you even have a spear that can awaken relics... Looks like I’ll have to stay on your good side too.”
Smith smacked his lips as he returned the spear.
Still, once something left his hands, he didn’t seem to dwell on it.
He lost interest in the spear and pointed at the hologram and the altar.
“Then you know how to use it too, I suppose?”
“Yes. I’ve learned the basic usage.”
In truth, I knew nothing.
The translation relic only translated speech, so I had no idea what was written on the hologram.
[It is the usage history, the remaining amount of energy, precautions, and the like. I will handle it, so just stack the materials in front.]
I took the materials out of the box and piled them in the clearing before the altar.
As I took out the stone, I asked Sof.
[As expected, spatial transference with objects inside the box is impossible?]
It was something I had heard when coming to this star as well.
Because of spatial collision, spatial-related relics could not be used during spatial transference.
Sof’s answer was not greatly different.
[If you want to preserve the objects inside, it is possible by spatially isolating the box. However, only a magician who has mastered electromagnetic force and entered the gravity system can use spatial isolation.]
Of course, like a magician, he did tell me a possible method.
[My memories regarding electromagnetic force have not fully returned yet. It seems it would be faster for you to learn magic.]
In the end, it meant it couldn’t be done right now.
I stacked all the stone we had brought.
A far greater amount of stone than what I had taken out at the base was piled in the plaza before the altar.
I also took the other things inside the box out somewhere people couldn’t see.
[You and the others should stand beside the stone. Once I cast the spell, you will immediately move to the base ruins.]
After hearing Sof’s words, I asked the group.
“We’re leaving right away. Is there anyone who still has business here?”
At my words, everyone shook their heads.
Seeing how they all glanced at the fossils, it seemed no one wanted to remain near them.
However, someone did ask whether the spatial transference was safe.
“This is the first time it’s being activated, so it’s safe, right?”
The one who spoke was the heat ability user, Ha Yeomseok.
I understood what he meant.
I had worried about the same thing when coming to this star.
I offered him an alternative.
“Yeomseok, stay here. I’ll put the materials down and come back.”
In any case, we would have to come back at least one more time to move the remaining materials.
It would take a little time because of the report, but if he wanted safety, I could accommodate him enough.
But after hearing my words, he shook his head.
“No. I’ll go with you.”
Unfortunately, my consideration did not work.
It seemed the fossils were more frightening than I had thought.
With that, there were no further objections.
Everyone gathered in front of the stone.
After confirming that everyone had gathered, I spoke to Sof.
[Let’s go.]
[We will move.]
Together with Sof’s words, the altar began to shine.
Fwaaaah.
A large pattern appeared on the ground around the stone and us.
It was similar to the holographic pattern I had seen when I came to this star.
The pattern shone, and I felt as if the floor had disappeared.
Flash.
My vision turned bright.
A moment later, when the light vanished, we had arrived somewhere else.
Until we crossed through space, I had been worrying about how to explain things to everyone.
This time too, I had handled things well, but the new spatial-transference device had required Sof’s authentication.
In the end, it meant spatial transference to the ruins was impossible without me.
I had been agonizing over how to say that until the very last moment.
But when we returned to the base ruins, that worry turned out to be pointless.
After crossing through space, what I heard was Carlo’s shout.
“There’s no way to get to Earth? The base is being wrecked right now because monsters are attacking! We have to send at least the noncombatants to Earth!”
After Carlo’s shout came the ruins technician’s rebuttal.
“We can’t! As you know, these ruins recharge energy automatically. Magreta used it a few days ago, so it needs time before it can be used again! Besides—ugh! What is this!”
He was startled in the middle of answering.
What had surprised him was the large amount of stone that had suddenly appeared.
“Smith! Please explain things to them.”
I left the explanation on our side to Smith and ran to Carlo.
“What do you mean, monsters are attacking?”
He widened his eyes when he saw me.
“Captain Hyeon? Didn’t you go to the ruins to get more materials? Then why are you here?”
“It’s a long story. Please tell me what happened first.”
I cut him off and asked again.
“Ah, right. Monsters are still pouring into the base. We’re continuing to hold them off, but the damage is heavy. I ran here first to evacuate the noncombatants to Earth. But now they’re saying we can’t go to Earth...”
It was exactly as the team members had worried. I had expected it too.
Only, it was too soon.
“Let’s go back. We need to confirm the situation first.”
“Yes. If we can’t go to Earth, then we have to go back.”
Carlo sighed and nodded.
He seemed disappointed that he himself couldn’t go to Earth.
But I shook my head and erased that thought.
Having fought alongside him, I knew he wasn’t that kind of person.
I turned my head and checked the people who had come with me.
There were three people who could fight immediately.
I quickly divided them.
“Hannah, Sergeant Woo, we’re going up first!”
“Yes!”
“Understood.”
At my words, both of them nodded.
“Tom, Smith, Yeomseok, please wait here for now.”
“Very well.”
The two of them also had dark energy, but it was too much to send them straight into the battlefield.
We also needed someone to protect the ruins, so I left Tom, the emergency responder, here.
“I’ll go first. Follow quickly.”
Once he confirmed that things had gone wrong, Carlo headed for the surface first.
Seeing how pale he was, it seemed he had used up all his energy coming down here.
But he did not stop.
Carlo’s figure quickly grew smaller.
We followed after him.
The place we were running through was the long tunnel that led to the surface.
The tunnel we had walked through for hours when we first came.
All three of us could use dark energy, so we were much faster than before, but even so, we couldn’t reach the surface immediately.
Then, Sof spoke.
[I will help.]
When I pushed energy into the spear, Sof cast magic.
[Physical Ability Enhancement.]
The moment it was cast, our running speed increased dramatically.
[It is magic that borrows stamina in advance, so it is not used often, but there is no helping it now.]
I had been about to ask why he was only using such magic now, but it was a good thing I hadn’t.
As expected, there was a reason for everything good.
I wasn’t the only one who felt the speed increase.
Sergeant Woo looked down at his suddenly faster legs with an absurd expression.
“It feels like my legs suddenly got faster.”
“It’s probably because the gravity has changed.”
I answered his question sincerely.
“My stamina seems to have improved too...”
“That’s your imagination.”
Even after my answer, Sergeant Woo continued tilting his head.
There was no need to explain to Hannah. She merely looked at me while running.
We caught up to Carlo before reaching the exit.
Carlo, realizing we had caught up behind him, looked back at us in surprise.
I approached his side and asked in a low voice.
“There must be someone you want to send to Earth.”
At my words, he gave a bitter smile.
“...You noticed. I thought it was a chance to send them back, but as expected, it was impossible.”
As I thought, there had been a reason he had pushed himself to come down.
I didn’t know who it was, but it seemed there was someone among the noncombatants he wanted to send back.
He was not someone trying to run away alone.
Trying to send someone else to Earth was wrong as well, but that much was understandable enough.
[I do not know who it is, but we must not let them die either.]
Sof seemed to like his words as well.
In the distance, bright light began to appear.
We had reached the cave entrance.
The blackstone attached to the front of the staff slowly began to shine.
It seemed Sof intended to use the energy gathered in the blackstone to cast magic.
People had already entered the cave entrance.
They were all noncombatants from the base.
We passed by the terrified people and burst out of the cave.
Outside the cave, a battle was in full swing.
Monsters were being stabbed by spears, and blood was spurting from people’s bodies.
People were desperately thrusting their spears with the ditch as their boundary.
That ditch was the one dug to build the defensive wall.
Fortunately, the formation was being maintained.
But there were many injured people, and there seemed to be dead as well.
Moreover, the side with the low-built wall was holding out, but in the places where there was still only a ditch, monsters were crossing over.
In front of them were people covered in blood, fighting for their lives against the monsters.
As I left the cave, I swung the spear with all my strength.
Straight toward the ditch.
I drew the spear in a long line.
Sof cast magic.
[Rise up! Dust Wall!]
All the energy inside the blackstone vanished.
Pwaaaak!
Earth surged up over the long ditch.
It was a long, thick wall of dirt.
Kraaaak!
The monsters crossing the ditch toppled backward, and the monsters climbing over the low stone wall were slammed into the ground.
In an instant, a long earthen wall rose over the ditch.
It was not a stone wall, but a high earthen wall surrounded the cave.
The battle stopped.
The monsters screamed from beyond the earthen wall, and the people stared at us.