[East Asia Babel, the Frontline.]
Kyaooooooo!!
A massive mountain moves.
The mountain, coiled in dark violet, stretches out its body as if awakening from slumber. From its form, magic power of the same dark violet hue pours out, overwhelming everything around it.
“Guh…!”
Lee Philip, one of the assault team members at the forefront of East Asia Babel, widely known as the <Twin Crossblades>, turned to the other hunters.
“We’ve finally made it! Don’t lose your nerve!”
“H-How are we supposed to stay calm?! We’ve never seen anything like that, even on the surface!”
Wang Pyeonggun, a hunter who had also come from Earth, trembled as he stepped back, his glaive shaking in his hand.
“T-That thing is…!”
“Hey! Didn’t you say you were doing a Guan Yu concept?! If you’re going with that theme, at least act like it! You should be able to take a shoulder-splitting blow with pride! What are you doing acting like some scared girl?!”
“Ugh, uuuugh…! That’s right! The God of War never—!”
As he gripped his green war tunic tightly and stepped forward, Wang Pyeonggun began to gather his magic power.
Phew.
The dark violet dragon extended its finger and pointed.
A massive hole exploded through Wang Pyeonggun’s chest.
“Huh…?”
“……!”
“Kyaaaaaa!!”
In the blink of an eye, one of the assault team’s frontliners was dead.
On Earth, he was known as the “Reincarnation of the God of War,” an S-rank hunter from China. But before he could even regain his composure to fight, he was dead.
“W-What is this…?”
“Was that an insta-kill?! Are you kidding me…! There’s no way something like that should exist…!”
“Snap out of it!”
Lee Philip, cloaking himself in magic power, shouted at the other hunters.
“It was just a surprise attack! Like a magical laser or something! You can block it! It’s not a guaranteed death effect—it just killed him in one hit!”
“Isn’t that basically the same thing?!”
“If it doesn’t kill you in one shot, you survive!”
The dark violet dragon’s finger turned toward Lee Philip.
Clang—!!
Lee Philip swung his sword, deflecting the laser.
“See! It’s doable— Guh…!”
Though he had deflected the beam, the blade of his sword was now melting, as if it had been exposed to high heat for too long.
“Damn it, we made it all the way here…!”
“Captain! Let’s retreat for now! We’ve found the boss anyway…!”
“……”
One of his fellow hunters from another Earth shouted, but Lee Philip couldn’t bring himself to say what he was thinking.
What if…
No, it couldn’t be…
It shouldn’t be…
…What if this wasn’t the boss?
“Captain!!”
A voice called from behind as Lee Philip’s thoughts spun in confusion.
“A newbie is heading for the frontline!”
“What? A newbie? What the hell is going on…?”
“They shook off the PKers and are making their way here!”
“……!!”
Coming all this way through enemies more vicious than the beasts themselves?
A newbie?
“…Damn it, we can’t back off with the boss right in front of us!”
Whether this really was Babel’s boss or not—it didn’t matter anymore. Retreat wasn’t an option.
“Hey!! Anyone here hiding their nationality, listen up!!”
Lee Philip roared with fury.
“If Korea doesn’t take first in the World Raid, we’re going to be humiliated!!”
* * *
Even though Babel was a gathering place for people from countless Earths, at its core, it was no different from the S-rank Towers on the surface.
Only a select few could challenge it.
Only by staking your life could you move forward.
Especially for those who had cleared more than ten S-rank Towers to reach this place, their lives were even more precious to them—they couldn’t help but tread carefully.
So then why…
Why hadn’t they conquered Babel earlier?
Even though it looked like countless attempts had already been made before I arrived, why had none of them succeeded?
‘They just want to enjoy the sense of superiority that comes with “Tower Coins”.’
Power.
Dopamine.
Status derived from humanity itself.
Take this, for example.
Though I hate to say it, imagine the only one from our Earth who made it into Babel was Ironblood.
—Only <Ironblood> can awaken non-ability users into awakened ones.
If Ironblood used Tower Coins to buy awakeners and returned to Earth, turning ordinary people into awakened beings, all non-ability users would begin to worship him.
—Ironblood! You are a god! Bestow upon us the blessing of power!
—Take my everything! Please make me a hunter!
—I’ll give you my entire fortune! Just let me be your disciple! I want to be a hunter too!
Countless people would offer everything they had to become hunters.
Even those who didn’t want to be hunters would revere Ironblood.
Why?
— Just taking an <Ironblood Pill> would cure any illness. Terminal cancer would vanish. A 200kg body would instantly become healthy. Severed arms would regrow. People in comas would recover fast enough to rejoin society.
Besides the drug that makes people into hunters, there would be elixirs. Just one of those is enough to make someone a god.
— My mother’s dementia is gone…! She recognizes me again!
— I thought I’d have to live without legs forever, but now I can walk again…? I… I’m questioning my beliefs about divinity.
— The dead cannot return. But as long as their hearts still beat, Ironblood’s grace will restore them. Until the day death truly comes!
A religion could easily form around him.
— Ironblood. We’ll funnel all the Tower Coins to you. We’ll create new laws to give you everything. Just use the items you bring back for our citizens only.
Ironblood might be the only one who could bring back those items, but the government could still acquire Tower Coins through its affiliated hunters.
– So, what’s life like in Babel?
– …
– Ironblood? W-Wait, I was wrong! Please don’t kill m—Kuaaagh!!
– …Ironblood didn’t kill a man—he simply disposed of trash! He is a hero! Anyone who insults Ironblood shall never awaken, and if they fall ill, they will suffer that illness for life! Glory to Ironblood!!
No doubt, that’s the kind of reverence she enjoys.
In Babel, she’s just another scrap-tier S-rank hunter—neither part of the assault team, nor a boss-slayer. Just one of the many “newbie hunters,” leeching resources from other worlds.
But on her own Earth, she’s probably hailed as a hero with extralegal authority.
She likely avoids using Tower Coins recklessly to maintain her power, choosing instead to awaken or heal people selectively at just the right times—letting his Earth see her as a god.
Ironblood was like that.
Not that she was truly divine, but among S-rank hunters, she ruled like a king by partnering with the government.
It’s no different on other Earths.
Ironblood isn’t just one person—it’s a symbol.
Those who, despite their power, hunt down newbies, steal resources from other worlds, and flaunt those gains on their homeworld to be worshiped by all.
Parasites—leeches sucking the blood of others.
So how do you get rid of them?
There’s one easy and fast solution.
‘Conquer Babel.’
After all, Babel is just another Tower.
If the only reason it hasn’t been conquered is because of Ironblood-like motives, then the answer is simple:
Take the path those Ironbloods won’t walk.
Just like now.
“So that’s Babel’s boss.”
Ahead lies a massive dragon, its entire body dyed in a dark violet hue.
Like an Eastern dragon corrupted by darkness, yet cloaked in traits of a Western dragon—an enormous beast, 500 meters in length.
And facing it?
Only seven S-rank hunters.
Is that a lot?
Not really.
We faced almost eighty newbie killers just to get here.
Someone once said that among every five people, one of them must be an Ironblood.
Then perhaps this Babel is filled with teams of five, where four righteous ones were killed and the lone Ironblood climbed higher.
But these seven—
Are they the ones who clawed their way to the frontline without falling to Ironbloods?
Or are they hunters who came to slay this boss and earn Tower Coins, rather than steal them?
Either way—
“From this moment, this raid is ours.”
If they can’t hurt that massive dark violet dragon, we’ll take the lead.
“Justice. Let’s do that thing.”
[That thing, you say!]
“Yeah. That one.”
And so, at this very moment—
“Strike first, win first.”
* * *
As Lee Philip continued deflecting the dragon’s deadly beams—until even his sword aura shattered—
BWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOM!!
He saw it.
A giant mech, flying in from the distance.
“Japan…?”
It gleamed like a giant of light, charging in with the courage of a mecha pilot fighting a kaiju.
Even if Japan was usually the one making these kinds of moves, it didn’t matter.
If that mech could bring down this monster and wipe Babel from the skies above East Asia—
If even 1/7 of the world could know peace instead of 0—
Then what difference did it make, whether it was a Japanese pilot or an American?
Kyaaaaaaagh!!
The draconic beast let out its first ever shriek.
It must have found the approaching light-giant threatening, because instead of firing another energy beam from its finger, it began spreading multiple wings from its back.
“!!”
No—they weren’t wings.
“W-Wait…! Are those arms?!”
“Six of them…! Each one holding a different weapon?!”
Six arms unfolded from its back, each wielding a different weapon.
If they struck together, it’d slice through even a fortress like a birthday cake.
But then—
“!!”
From the cockpit—what seemed to be the head of the giant—a young man appeared.
And as the mech reached forward—
“Is that… a smartphone?”
He swung it forward like it was a weapon against the monster.
Click.
The sound of a screen tap echoed unnaturally loud.
Bwooooooom—
From thin air.
FWOOOSH!!
A giant warship erupted from a wormhole and soared into view.
“W-What the…?!”
As it emerged, the mech caught the warship on its back and braced its legs against the ground—
BOOOOOM!!!
Then, like a rocket, the massive ship slammed into the dragon’s belly.
