Babel.
It hasn’t been officially disclosed to humanity yet, but there is one condition required to enter Babel.
You must have cleared at least 10 S-Rank Towers.
How many people in the entire world have met that condition?
Even in Korea, where the S-Rank Towers were unusually concentrated compared to other countries, we failed to properly conquer them.
So if there exists a high-level dungeon that only Hunters who have conquered 10 S-Rank Towers can access, who among humanity could enter it?
Only me.
Right now, I entered Babel directly using Justice’s aerial mobility.
“Whew.”
A vast grassland.
Like the kind you see before entering a tutorial town in a virtual reality game. The moment I passed through the gate into Babel, I didn’t even have time to take in the scenery before I was already inside Justice.
Inside the blue orb embedded in Justice’s chest — the cockpit.
[Partner. Is the cockpit interior all right?]
“Yeah. Didn’t think I’d be able to enter like this.”
Justice, standing 60 meters tall.
Though Babel itself is massive, I deliberately enlarged Justice using information from my previous entry.
Why?
Because this place — Babel — is very special.
If you ask how it’s special—
“Whoa. What’s that?”
“Looks like a newbie…”
“A newbie has that kind of power?”
As soon as I arrived, I scanned the people talking about Justice — about me — through the camera lens.
A party beyond the meadow, seemingly hunting monsters, was exchanging shocked words while glancing our way.
Well, of course.
They’re all human-sized, and suddenly a 60-meter robot-like giant shows up as a new Hunter in Babel? Of course they’d be stunned.
Normally, beings like me don’t exist.
“What the? Is that thing scanning us?”
“Just a giant clunker daring to scan us? And it’s just a newbie?”
A group of East Asians were staring at me.
They were decked out in flashy gear that basically screamed “I’m an S-Rank Hunter,” but their eyes were filled with wariness and tension.
“Is he… Japanese?”
“Probably. That robot style is typical of Japanese builds.”
“So Japan took over Earth in this Babel world or something?”
Right, they’re on edge.
A newbie enters Babel to start a conquest, and if that newbie looks like something they can’t even properly assess, it’d be natural to feel nervous.
They don’t know who I am.
And I don’t know who they are either.
But from my brief 10-minute entry into Babel back in the U.S., I learned one thing:
Everyone who comes here is incredibly unique.
First: Everyone who enters this place has conquered at least 10 S-Rank Towers — they are the real deal.
Second: They don’t exist in the global Hunter database that Drei hacked.
Despite being S-Rank.
“Hey, newbie. Got any Tower Coins on you?”
“You must’ve had some fun hunting giant boss monsters, huh? We’re actually pretty good at taking down giant humanoid bosses ourselves.”
Third: They are not newbie-friendly.
“Hey, so—”
“Hey!!”
Someone came running and yelled at the Hunters.
“What do you think you’re doing picking on a fresh newbie!”
“Tch…! The Red Witch…!”
A small girl, probably around 140cm tall, with red hair.
Wearing a frilly skirt and wielding a hammer-like staff, she got between me and the aggressive Hunters and shouted them down.
“At the very least, you should explain what kind of place Babel is! We hardly get any newbies these days — we should be welcoming them!”
“Shut it! You’re just after his Tower Coins too!”
“T-That’s not true!”
“Pretending to be kind so you can charge a ‘guide fee’ and rob the newbie of his Coins!”
“Hmm.”
From within Justice’s cockpit — which resembled that of a fighter jet — I opened the external speaker.
“I do have a lot of questions, but let me correct one misunderstanding first.”
“A young man…?”
“Wait a minute, that accent—Korean? Not Japanese?”
“Oh, then I’m out. Good luck!”
One of the Hunters who had been hostile saluted and quickly retreated.
The other two exchanged nervous glances, then drew their weapons and started channeling mana while aiming at me.
“Fine! We’ll just take that robot for ourselves!”
“Iron-Crushing Divine Blade!!”
The Hunters of Babel leapt forward with some incomprehensible shout.
Their speed and power were far greater than Ironblood’s, but—
Click.
“Justice. Engage in melee.”
[Roger!]
BANG!
Like swatting a fly, Justice’s fist slammed into one of the Hunters mid-attack, launching him toward the distant horizon.
“W-What?!”
BOOM!
Justice followed up by kicking the second Hunter like a soccer ball.
A crisp, satisfying kick.
The first guy had drawn a horizontal line across the sky, while the second soared like a goalkeeper’s long-range shot — a star in the sky now.
They made one fatal mistake.
‘I might be a newbie here… but these guys? They’re not just your average S-Ranks.’
Clearing 10 S-Rank Towers?
Veteran S-Ranks could probably pull that off with enough coordination.
Sure, on our Earth, I’m the only one who’s done it — but theoretically, a squad of 100 S-Rank Hunters could clear 10 Towers if they focus.
And then, they too could enter Babel.
There probably aren’t many people like me — who, though I relied on the power of summons, conquered 10 S-Rank Towers purely on my own.
“Uh, uh…”
The red-haired girl looked up at me in fear.
“P-Please wait!”
Flustered, she raised both hands and shouted:
“I-I like soy sauce crab!”
“…”
“Uh, I mean…”
“Question.”
I extended Justice’s hand forward, picked up the red-haired girl with one hand, and brought her face-to-face with the cockpit.
“Who owns Dokdo?”
“Uh, that’s…!”
Her face went pale.
Clearly panicked, unsure how to respond, she hesitated — then pointed at herself with a face full of resolve.
“W-Well, in your world, of course it belongs to Korea, but in our world, it’s a bit more complicated…”
“What, did Japan conquer Korea and take Dokdo?”
“…They took the whole peninsula. B-But I’m not trying to get into politics or anything…!”
“That’s enough.”
That confirmed it.
“Since we’re all gathered here from different worlds, let’s not get caught up in messy debates like that.”
This place — Babel —
“Your Earth has its own story, and our Earth has ours. Right?”
This is a place that transcends dimensions.
* * *
[At that time, in the White House]
“Patrick.”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“What I’m about to tell you must never leak out. Humanity is not yet ready for the shocking truth.”
“Even more shocking than now, sir?”
“Yes. Because what we’re dealing with here is straight out of a fantasy novel.”
President Luigi gestured to Patrick, then handed him a handwritten document.
“Take a look at this.”
“Is this… a conversation between you and the Master…? Huh?”
Patrick, reading the paper — which appeared to be a handwritten copy of a messenger exchange — grew increasingly bewildered as he scanned the conversation.
“What is this supposed to be…?”
“That Luigi is me, but not me. It’s something I learned about while playing some games recently — have you heard of ‘parallel worlds’?”
“Are you talking about the multiverse?”
“Something like that. Might as well be the same thing. The Eisen A. Luigi on this Earth is just a regular president. But over in the neighboring Earth, Eisen Armstrong Luigi is an S-Rank Hunter who unified America by force and went off to conquer Babel.”
“…Huh?”
“When the Master first entered Babel, the very first person he met… happened to be a version of me from another world. What a relief that was.”
President Luigi quietly raised his hands and gave a bitter smile.
“If I hadn’t talked to the Master about my past on occasion, he might’ve just assumed I was a weakling who relied on others, and tried to take him down.”
“…That’s not you, Mr. President.”
“Right. It’s not me. But imagine if I became a Hunter, rose to S-Rank, and gained power that translated directly into authority.”
“……”
“Imagine — I even started using the middle name Armstrong again, which I’d dropped since my days in the Senate, just to build an image of strength. What if I turned into someone who believes only the strong deserve to survive?”
“If that were true… America would at least be a dominant power.”
“Exactly. Babel is a gathering place for countless beings from alternate Earths. Maybe, in some other world, America is suffering such a massive depression that even Coca-C*la stock has hit rock bottom.”
“Haha, come now. That would only happen if America pulled out of every global economic pact and went completely off the rails.”
“Exactly.”
President Luigi shook his head.
“That’s why we must send as many people into Babel as possible. So they can… learn how other worlds collapse.”
“……”
“Even if those others failed, we don’t have to. And who knows — maybe some of the S-Rank Hunters in Babel would rather live in our world.”
“If those Hunters became Americans…”
“That would be ideal. So, Patrick—”
President Luigi gripped Patrick’s shoulder tightly.
“I’m counting on you to step up.”
* * *
A short while later—
“Uh, hello. I’m Yui Otohara… In my world, I’m an S-Rank Hunter known as the Red Witch…. I’m, uh, 21 years old…”
After moving to a more appropriate location, I began extracting information from the Red Witch, Otohara Yui.
“Welcome to the <East Asia> Babel. Among all the Babels, this one has made the most progress… but it’s still the most difficult, and no one has reached the end.”
Though this place gathers those who have conquered 10 S-Rank Towers, no one from the entire world has completed Babel yet.
Not even one.
