Chapter 292: Fighting Odds – 2
#1
The Rest of the group was rather idle, but the busiest of them was Baeklin.
Baeklin was having a conversation with a woman but of course, this conversation was happening in his head.
‘So that’s what happened.’
‘Yes, it is.’
Baeklin was explaining everything that had happened thus far to the voice of the woman in his head. It might seem random why he’s explaining all that happened, but she definitely deserves it.
‘Miss Babel?’
‘That’s not my real name, but it would be hard for you to p.r.o.nounce it anyway. Ah, actually, that’s not too bad either… Miss Babel…’
‘Yes, I have a harder time p.r.o.nouncing the language of the ancients. But Miss Babel, you are quite good with Korean.’
‘It’s easy for me and even back then, there were similar languages. Or rather, maybe Korean is closer to the original? So…’
‘Hmm, anyhow, how long do you think this will take?’
She seemed to enjoy having long talks. Baeklin could understand that it might be because she had been alone for such a long time, but he still cut her off.
‘Ah. Yes. It would probably take 3 hours. To activate the dimension device, I must have at least 50% of my energy but as you know, I am in a wrecked condition now. But since you guys have cleaned up the parasitic stuff that was roaming in my body, I would be able to do it in about 3 hours.’
‘I see. That’s good.’
‘Don’t mention it. More than that, it’s been a while since I met a conversational, intellectual being, and it’s a shame that we only have 3 hours together.’
At her words, Baeklin scratched his head, not knowing what to do. She did not have a physical body. It was also ambiguous to call it an existence. Her ident.i.ty was the ancient dungeon itself, or the system for managing what she called the Babel Tower.
The building, built to separate dimensions, was a gun with all the skills of ancient people, according to her. It was a kind of shelf where everything was in place for up to 100,000 ancient people to live in case the separation of dimensions failed.
Of course, after a long time, she was aging and lost her function due to the broken mutations of the routers, but she was able to wake up because Jaehw.a.n.g and his party came to see her and operated the dimensioning device. It worked well for the party that she woke up to speed up the resumption of the device.
‘Hmm, I’m sorry to hear that. I’d like to show Miss Babel the Earth,’ Baeklin said this to flatter her since he had no reason to offend her.
‘It’s not impossible.’
‘Huh? How…’
‘I’m a high-dimensional, synthetic soul with all the skills in the arts. In the heart of this tower is a bowl that contains my composite soul. I was set up to take care of the people who are going to live here anyway, so even without me, this tower will go back to its basic functions.’
‘Miss Babel’s words mean…’ Baeklin said with a slight trepidation.
Her words were quite specific, and Baeklin got an ominous feeling because of it. Unsurprisingly, her words continued to prove Baeklin’s worrisome feeling.
‘Yeah, as you are expecting, please take me with you when you go.’
‘Um…’ Baeklin became divided at her words.
This was not a matter at Baeklin’s disposal. If he refused, she could throw a fit and tamper the whole operation, but he still had to consider the possibilities if he took her back to Earth. He could not lie to her either.
She cannot read other people’s mind but she was still quick to read the unspoken. After taking some time to contemplate, Baeklin said to Jaehw.a.n.g, “Jaehw.a.n.g… about that… Miss Babel.”
Baeklin has already told everyone about the existence of Miss Babel.
“??”
“She’s asking if she can come with us when we leave this place.”
“What… are you saying?” Jaehw.a.n.g frowned.
“It’s… how do I explain this?” Baeklin scratched his head.
If Baeklin was to explain to Jaehw.a.n.g, he was nervous that this inflexible man would say ‘no’ right away. Baeklin didn’t want to risk anything either, but right now, he could not go against Babel. While Baeklin was contemplating on selecting his words carefully…
Kukuku…
Suddenly, an earthquake occurred.
“Hmm?”
Of course, the first one to notice the difference was Jaehw.a.n.g.
“They’re strong.” Jaehw.a.n.g swallowed his spit nervously at the existence of powerful beings he could sense. They were fiercely antagonistic beings that were felt with an indescribable presence, their numbers were a problem too. “Incredible.”
Jaehw.a.n.g clenched his teeth, cold sweat ran across his forehead. Even he couldn’t handle all the beings that were now appearing.
Hundreds of them were coming. L, Al, and Baeklin, who belatedly figured it out, also turned pale. No matter how divine they were in Elus and how transcendent they were, their capabilities were limited here. What’s more, they couldn’t even measure the mana they have now.
They were powerful beings, so much so that it was strange that they were not G.o.ds already.
“He got me this time.” Jaehw.a.n.g reproached himself.
It was a clear failure. He never thought that Ruler would attack the dimension device. Aside from that, he did not expect Ruler to have this much capacity. Of course, Ruler did not intend to attack the device itself, but Jaehw.a.n.g didn’t know that. Ruler himself did not know that the Tower of Babel was the dimension device itself, which was why he was able to give this order.
“Jaehw.a.n.g!” L and Al yelled as they looked at Jaehw.a.n.g because even the most impossible tasks, Jaehw.a.n.g seemed to always overcome them.
But even his reaction was something that they did not expect. Looking at his deeply hardened face, everyone else’s face hardened.
“…”
“d.a.m.n it… I should have brought Goongi with me…”
If Goongi was with him right now, at least they could find a way but she was not here.
It was time for a group of complex faces to think about the countermeasures against the emergence of powerful beings. The voice of the ever hard Babel rang through the square.
“Check the approach of 124 large monarchical mutants. 10 seconds to the collision… Urgent transition to credit transfer defense. All residents in the s.h.i.+eld are advised to take care of the impact…”
Weeeeeeeee! CLANK!
With the notification, the plaza with the dimensioning device began to change.
The upper part of the eggs surrounding the device was opened, while the white light from the inside of the egg was fired at the pillar in unison. The light inside the column is beginning to get stronger.
“Miss Babel! What is this!” Baeklin cried.
“We’ve activated Fort Modes to deal with mutants. Most of the striking mechanisms were old and cannot be used, so they have no choice but to use a dimensioned weapon using dimensional energy. Be prepared for the impact.”
“If you say dimensional energy, does that mean it will impact the interdimensional stability operations?!”
“Unfortunately, there is no other way. We are opening the port for defense!”
The Tower of Babel was not just a simple shelter. It was a final hideout and the best fortress that the ancients have created. It was a place made in case there was a failure with the dimensional separation. In some cases, it was capable of making the Earth itself a place where life could never live and now, it was about to show some of that.
“No! If so!”
Baeklin was about to ask her something, but Miss Babel didn’t wait for him.
“Dimensional Distortion Barrier Activation!”
WHOOOOO! ZIIIIIING!!
Kukukukku!!!
“Ugh!”
The loud vibrations and noises that rang through the entire square made Baeklin unconsciously clog his ears.
Kukukku…Quaquaqua! Boom boom!!!
The sound alone could shake the entire s.p.a.ce and tear it apart
“Shooting the Dimensional Separation Wavelength!”
The beam from the pillar shone brighter than ever before.
If you looked at it with your bare eyes, you would become blind. At the same time, the screams that had power like they were beating their souls covered them all.
“KWAAAAAAAA!!!”
It sounded like it was coming from a deep abyss of inferno, hundreds of them roared in pain.
The s.p.a.ce vibrated wildly.
Kuku…Dududu
The tremor lasted for a while. And when all was finally gone, Jaehw.a.n.g’s eyes grew bigger. He couldn’t feel them. The owners of all those flesh and blood that he felt just a little while ago… The huge presence had vanished as if it were a dream.
If it was someone’s hallucinations or pranks, they were terrible.
At that brief moment, Jaehw.a.n.g really thought of his last resort…
…but it ended in just 10 seconds.
When everyone was so confused, Babel’s cheerful voice sounded a little relieved.
“Checking the extinction of 124 large monarch-grade mutants… We’re taking off the disaster transfer defense system.”
“Ha…have you taken care of everything?” Baeklin asked as his voice trembled.
Babel could be the only one who handled those mighty things in view of what she said and things that just happened now, but it didn’t make sense. Should the ancient people have made an extreme choice to separate the Earth into three dimensions even though they had this kind of power?
“It took about 7% of my energy. I’m sorry to bother you, but I think we’ll be delayed for about 20 minutes on stabilizing the operation.”
“No, it’s not that… Miss Babel, why did the ancient people take extreme measures to separate the dimensions with this kind of power?” To Baeklin, this was incomprehensible. It was also amazing to be able to deal with dimensional energy, but it could even be used as a weapon.
He knew that they have the technology to separate the dimensions, but using it as a weapon was a completely different story.
“It’s nothing. They dared to charge me with ignorance, and they are the ones who are stupid. These mutants had the ability to pollute common animals, plants and the air. At that time, it was too late to purify all of them, so we decided to separate the dimensions. The Babel Tower is the essence of the ancient Mado technology, but it cannot cover the entire planet.”
“I see.” Since Babel herself said it was nothing, Baeklin had nothing else to do but agree.
“What about taking me to Earth?”
“Oh, that…It’s…
There was somewhat of a pressure in Babel’s voice.
While Baeklin was nervously thinking about what to say, Jaehw.a.n.g had just finished taking in what had happened.
“You are allowed to go, as soon as the dimensional stability operation is finished, Baeklin will guide you there.”
“Okay, great. Then I will get ready to separate my bowl as well.”
Baeklin was about to say something to him, but Jaehw.a.n.g closed his mouth and asked Miss Babel, “But I have a favor to ask.”
“Yes? What kind of…”