Earth No. 675

A dimension where all work had already been completed.

According to the law of causality, it should have quietly flowed toward its final stage on its own.

And yet—

the one responsible for the 89th Floor, the freely contracted soul Demon Dragon Karatos, had suddenly been erased.

Out of nowhere.

What happened?

The cause was a meteor.

He had been struck by a falling meteor and died.

But that made ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) no sense.

If a meteor was falling, couldn’t he have just teleported away?

Why would he stand there and take it?

The administrators of Earth No. 675 turned their attention to Berlin—

a city that had now been erased by the meteor.

What lingered there was a violent residue of magical flow.

This was no ordinary meteor.

[...A meteor?]

[Looks like it.]

[Did Karatos summon it? Suicide, maybe?]

[Why would that greedy bastard kill himself?]

[Right. No way.]

To make matters worse, a system error had occurred.

No matter how powerful a meteor was, it should never have affected the system itself.

And yet the system had shut down for repairs.

After some time passed—

SPOT!

Someone appeared in the massive crater where the meteor had struck.

[Who is that?]

It was not just one person.

They had appeared as a group.

[Looks like a summoner...]

[Then why is there a summoner here?]

[How should I know?]

This dimension had no summoners.

And even if it once had, they should have died long ago.

[That guy is probably the cause of the system error.]

[Check the system logs. We need to know who he is.]

[The system’s still recovering from the shutdown—ah! It’s back.]

[What do the logs say?]

[...Huh?]

[What is it?]

[F-first, an achievement popped up.]

[What achievement?]

[Dragon Slayer.]

[...What?]

That meant he had killed Karatos.

A human had killed a dragon?

A dragon dying was not, by itself, that important.

They were consumables anyway.

The real problem was that an achievement had appeared.

Achievements were granted only to players—

and only to players affiliated with this world.

[Why would an achievement trigger?]

He was not even affiliated with this Black Tower.

[...Th-that’s because.]

[Stop stalling. Say it.]

[He just acquired nationality.]

[...]

What?

They could hardly believe their ears.

[N-nationality acquisition? That’s impossible... Are you joking?]

[But it really happened.]

This was bad.

Very bad.

[Could he be a survivor of Earth No. 675? A remaining player? An unregistered one?]

[No. He came from the White Tower.]

[The White Tower?]

There was only one possible route.

[The elevator.]

[Yes. He came from Earth No. 1001 via the elevator.]

[...]

This was enough to drive anyone insane.

[So a player from another dimension entered our world and acquired nationality?]

[That’s right.]

[...Hahaha.]

All they could do was laugh hollowly.

[Those idiot administrators of Earth No. 1001—what the hell were they doing while letting that guy run wild?]

[Should we open communications?]

[Open it. I want to curse them out.]

[No. Don’t curse them. Keep it to a formal protest. At this point, we need their cooperation.]

This was a nightmare.

A world where all players were gone,

versus a world where even a single player still existed.

The difference was enormous.

Causality itself would intervene.

The rules that governed and sustained a world.

And the result appeared almost immediately.

KUGUGUGUGUGU—!

A Black Tower began rising out of Berlin.

Originally, Earth No. 675 had no Black Towers left.

They had all vanished.

Why?

Because every affiliated player had either died or lost their awakening.

Without players, there was no reason for Black Towers to exist.

Monsters had already overrun the entire world.

That was why their status had shifted from

“Black Tower Administrators of Earth No. 675”

to simply

“Administrators of Earth No. 675.”

But now—

a single Black Tower had been created on Earth No. 675.

For the sake of one lone player.

[...We’re screwed.]

If that tower were ever fully cleared...

the consequences would be unimaginable.

*****

White Tower, 17th Floor

The reclusive shut-in alchemist Aliamari was inside her residence,

refining top-grade Magic Stones as usual.

Now that the elevator existed,

a large quantity of top-grade Magic Stones would be needed for round trips.

Naturally sourced ones would not be enough.

There was no telling when the Black Tower veins might run dry.

Thanks to an achievement reward, the summoner had ridden the elevator for free this time—

but who knew how often it would be used in the future?

At least 10 kg of top-grade Magic Stones had to be kept on hand at all times.

Refining top-grade Magic Stones was incredibly tedious.

It was basically endless repetitive labor.

Heat refined Magic Stones in the alchemist’s cauldron,

purify them, condense them, leave only the pure crystal behind,

then repeat the whole process again.

A 1000:1 ratio.

One ton of refined Magic Stones to produce just 1 kg of top-grade Magic Stones.

At best, she could make around 300 g per day.

She wanted to finish today’s quota quickly and log into her game.

The Rift team fight was waiting for her.

Still... when was the summoner coming back?

Nothing bad had happened, right?

Well, the summoned entities had gone with him, so it should be fine.

Just then—

THUD THUD THUD!

The 17th Floor suddenly grew noisy.

Voices murmured outside.

He’s back.

A smile bloomed across Mari’s face.

Then—

Knock knock.

“Mari?”

She hurried to the door and replied on her tablet.

Ding!

<Mari>: Yes♡♥

Then—

CLACK!

The door opened, and a huge octahedral gemstone came sliding inside.

Ding!

<TopMan>: I picked this up on the way. Mage Mackenzie says it’s a dragon heart. Please appraise it.

Mari snorted.

Picked up a dragon heart?

As if something like that would just be lying on the ground.

Even if it was the summoner, that joke was pushing it.

She was about to dismiss it—

“...Huh?”

What was this?

The giant gem resting at her feet.

That ominous color, and the explosive mana surging from within.

Shiver.

Mari’s eyes trembled.

She placed both hands on the gemstone.

T-this is... real?

It was.

A dragon heart.

When a dragon died, its vast mana condensed into a gemstone—

a core of power.

He picked this up?

From where?

Ding!

<Mari>: I-it’s real. It’s a dragon heart.

At that moment—

“It really is a dragon heart. An RSS-rank alchemist confirmed it.”

“I told you it was a heart.”

“So what do we make with it?”

“Obviously nectar for the summoner. He has to live a thousand years.”

“An enhancement elixir would be better. If his body becomes indestructible—”

“No, nectar.”

“Enhancement elixir.”

“Nectar.”

An argument broke out.

Then—

Ding!

<Mari>: But we can’t use this.

“Huh?!”

“What?”

“Why not?”

“We can’t use it?”

“It’s a dragon heart!”

“You’re not secretly trying to steal it, are you?!”

Ding!

<Mari>: The energy is tainted. It isn’t pure mana—it’s full of demonic energy. It can’t be used as an ingredient.

Demonic energy.

Ding!

<Mari>: This is definitely the heart of a corrupted demon dragon. Are you trying to contaminate the summoner’s body and soul with demonic energy? Do you want to die?

“Oh...”

The summoned entities instantly deflated.

They had been so excited—

and it turned out to be useless contaminated junk.

“Damn it, what a letdown.”

“I knew it. Nothing that mage does ever goes right.”

“Why are you blaming me? Rajix dug it up.”

Rajix gave an indignant cry.

Juhyeok, however, merely shrugged.

“It’s fine. It’s not like we urgently need medicine.”

Still, the others looked disappointed.

“So there’s no other use for it?”

“What about purification?”

“Yeah, dirty clothes can be washed.”

“Throw it in a washing machine? With purification potion as detergent?”

Ding!

<Mari>: There is another use.

“What?”

“Spit it out.”

“You’re killing us here.”

Ding!

<Mari>: It can be used as material for a weapon. In my world, we called that a demonic sword.

“A demonic sword?”

“There was something like that in the martial world too. Made with human sacrifice.”

“In my world too—made by refining the Demon King’s bones and heart.”

“In mine too. Seal an evil spirit into a blade, and it becomes a demonic sword.”

Different methods, same concept.

Ding!

<Mari>: In this case, it’s surprisingly simple.

“Just a demon dragon’s heart, then.”

“But the weapon would be huge.”

“So what? We’ve got Meatshield.”

Would it be useful?

Ding!

<TopMan>: Is it worth using?

Ding!

<Mari>: In terms of raw destructive power, nothing beats it. It can kill even dragons in a single strike.

...

Oh.

That sounded good.

A Dragon Killer.

It was almost certain that dragons would appear on the uncleared upper floors.

If they had a weapon specifically designed to deal with them, that would be a huge help.

But then—

Ding!

<Mari>: Even if you make it, you can’t use it. No—you must never use it.

Ding!

<TopMan>: Why?

Ding!

<Mari>: Because it gnaws away at the human soul. It stains the soul with demonic energy, and eventually drives the wielder mad.

Ding!

<TopMan>: Ah!

Nothing ever went the easy way.

Wait.

Stained by demonic energy and driven insane?

Juhyeok and the summoned entities all turned to look at one person.

There was someone.

A perfect fit.

“Why are you all staring at this one?”

Because you were the Mad Demon.

Your name literally had mad and demon in it.

“Hmph! If I can’t control something like demonic energy, then I ought to change my name.”

But—

Ding!

<Mari>: Not a chance. This isn’t the kind of demonic energy a human can overcome. You might be fine at first, but once it seeps into your marrow—

“So I go insane.”

Ding!

<Mari>: Exactly. That’s why you must never wield it. You’re already half-crazy as it is—if you completely lose your mind, the summoner could be put in danger.

“That’s right. You’d be breaking Summoned Entity Rule No. 3. You might wind up senile, smearing crap on the walls—”

“Enough! You dare look down on me this much? If I truly lost my mind to demonic energy, I would choose death.”

“Didn’t you hear her say your soul gets wrecked? Even if you die, you’d stay like that. You’d be a crazy old ghost wandering around the 17th Floor.”

“...You little bastard.”

The Mad Demon was out.

Ding!

<Mari>: If anything, it would have to be someone of the opposite nature—someone pure and holy of soul. For example, a saint or a holy knight.

A holy knight?

Everyone’s gaze shifted to Bardin.

“Hmm.”

“Ahem.”

“...Uh.”

“Yeah, right.”

Pure and holy?

That perverted fanatic of a holy knight?

Even Rajix would laugh if he heard that.

Rajix let out a snorting sound.

So what now?

Just throw it away?

Then—

the magitech engineer El spoke up.

“If a human can’t wield it, doesn’t that solve the problem?”

That was true.

If not human, then fine.

And right here they had someone non-human—a golem.

“Then you, El?”

“No. Not me. I can’t wield it.”

“Why?”

“I still have a soul.”

Ah, right.

Just because her body was a golem did not mean she lacked a soul.

“Then who?”

“A gigant.”

A gigant?

“If we give it to an automatic ego gigant instead of a piloted one, there won’t be any problem.”

“Ohhh!”

That was it.

Automatic ego gigants had no souls, so they could not be corrupted by demonic energy.

They simply acted according to their preprogrammed magitech ego intelligence.

But where were they going to get an ego gigant?

Manufacture one...?

...

“At minimum, a year. Maybe longer.”

So that was not an immediate option.

Then—

“Our dimensional farmhand bringing one back whole from the 85th Floor would be the fastest.”

Originally, the gigant on the 85th Floor had been a piloted model operated directly by El.

After she regained her status as a summoned entity and left the Tower, it had been replaced by an automatic version.

But was that even possible?

That thing was the size of a building.

“The automatic Magnus gigant is roughly 100 meters tall, in Earth units.”

Huge.

Would it even fit?

Back when Rajix was still RSS-rank, he had been able to store something the size of a large dump truck without trouble.

He had said even larger objects were possible.

Now that Rajix had advanced to LSS-rank, the capacity of his subspace bag should be vastly larger.

“If we lay it down and carefully put it in headfirst, it might work.”

“The shoulder width is between 25 and 30 meters... Hard to say. We won’t know unless we try.”

Rajix let out a dubious chirp.

It was tempting to find out.

“Let’s try it. See if we can bring it back.”

Rajix gave an eager cry.

“I’ll prepare a mana EMP.”

Why were they going this far for a demonic sword?

Because of dragons.

It had already been confirmed that dragons existed in Max Kruger’s world.

But could they really defeat one again?

They had killed one with a meteor, but that had been coincidence piled on top of coincidence.

If they encountered a dragon inside the Tower?

There was no way it would patiently wait for a meteor spell to finish casting.

They needed another method.

A concrete strategy for slaying dragons.

The demonic sword was the answer.

It’s possible.

They even had the achievement reward.

Dragon Slayer.

Attack and defense increased against all dragons—this effect also applied to summoned entities.

A gigant.

When you thought about it, it was basically a giant robot.

There were movies like that.

Monsters versus robots.

A giant robot wielding a demonic sword and clashing against a dragon...

Suddenly, climbing the Tower sounded extremely exciting.

*****

A world that had not collapsed.

No—

a world that showed no sign of collapsing at all.

This damned summoner’s Earth.

The Black Tower administrators of Earth No. 1001 had long since lost all confidence.

These days, all they did was shove Liberation Rune Necklaces into the Chinese Black Tower.

Honestly, it was meaningless work.

If the necklaces spread worldwide from China and threw every country into chaos, it might at least have felt worthwhile.

But every country except China had already finished its response.

Mana suppression scrolls.

Only China was being affected.

And even that showed no sign of spreading.

All because of him—

the summoner who interfered at every turn.

The collapse of the Chinese tower?

Should they just let it collapse?

He could just go in and out with a Multinational Tower Access Ticket anyway.

They wanted to put an end to all this nonsense.

Why not just let him climb into the 90s?

But then—

[D-designer... emergency communication from Earth No. 675.]

The engineer’s voice trembled.

[Hm?]

Earth No. 675—

the dimension where a project was already in progress.

...

Why there?

[What do they want?]

[They’re asking about our summoner player. Why he appeared in Earth No. 675...]

[...What?]

Had they heard that correctly?

[The summoner appeared in Earth No. 675?]

[That’s what they said.]

Ah.

Now it made sense.

[You installed and activated the elevator.]

It had been inevitable.

He had been mining refined Magic Stones nonstop on the 84th Floor.

Honestly, this was surprising.

The summoner was not particularly bold.

They had assumed he would delay installing it—let alone activating it.

[So what do they want us to do? The elevator was an achievement reward.]

[That’s the thing...]

The engineer explained the complaint from the administrators of Earth No. 675.

Awakening registration.

Dragon Slayer.

And—

[...He acquired nationality.]

[Yes.]

Nationality acquisition.

That meant crossing dimensions and becoming an official resident of that world.

[KAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!]

Laughter burst out uncontrollably.

[He planted a flag.]

As long as the summoner maintained player status in Earth No. 675,

their project there could no longer proceed—

because of the law of causality.

[What should we do?]

[What do you think? Tell them we don’t know either and ignore them!]

Let them have a taste of it too.

Just how maddening the Earth summoner really was.