There Is No World For ■■

[You are not the guest we were expecting.]

The approaching footsteps, the dragon’s voice growing louder.

Why was he here—of all people?

There wasn’t enough time to find an answer.

Yeomyeong’s lips moved as he looked between the two sisters and the door.

Move. Back.

If he were at full strength, it might have been a different story. But he had already fought through multiple battles. He couldn’t be sure he could protect them while fighting at the same time.

Especially against that damn skeletal dragon.

Perhaps his expression was too grave—Seti didn’t stubbornly insist on staying.

The sisters exchanged a brief glance, then launched themselves toward the armory entrance.

By the time they slipped out of the laboratory without leaving even the sound of a footstep behind,

Screech—

The opposite iron door crumpled as if caught in a giant’s grip.

Locks and mechanisms meant nothing—the door, crushed like an empty soda can, collapsed to the ground.

Thud.

But the one who stepped inside first wasn’t Kahal Magdu.

It was an elderly man in opulent robes.

In his hand, he held a long golden staff, the large ruby at its tip shimmering with residual magic.

Evidence that he was the one who had crushed the door.

Yeomyeong frowned and concealed his face with an illusion of Bloody Tears.

By then, the skeleton, its form flickering with ghostly blue flames, clattered into the room.

Kahal Magdu... he’s using a skeleton body again?

But this one... feels different.

Before Yeomyeong could think further, the old man’s voice cut through his thoughts.

"Brat, where is the Western Court Lord and those monsters? And why is someone like you in their place?"

"..."

"A scout? Or have those creatures already stabbed that whelp in the back?"

Yeomyeong’s eyes narrowed. "The real question is—how did you get in here?"

"You think an armory this size would only have an entrance beneath the Western Court Lord’s domain?" The old man scoffed. "Brat, don’t try to twist the subject—answer my question."

That arrogant tone—aristocracy beyond the Dimensional Gate.

Just from his voice alone, Yeomyeong could guess the man’s identity.

...Count Nam. One of the few actual nobles in this city.

Yeomyeong confirmed that Seti and Neti had gotten far enough away, then crossed his arms.

"Before I answer, why don’t you start by giving me your name?"

"...What?"

"Basic manners, isn't it? Or were you never taught etiquette?"

The old man’s mouth hung open, utterly dumbfounded.

Then, as Kahal Magdu’s skull let out an amused pffft, Yeomyeong added:

"Or is your name too embarrassing to say out loud?"

A vein bulged on the old man's forehead. He slammed his staff against the ground.

"...How dare you!"

Sensing the fight about to begin, Yeomyeong wove his spell.

And as he did, the noble roared.

"Listen well, you lowborn wretch! I am Audrian Ba Theriel! The head of the Theriel family that has ruled here for eleven generations—acknowledged by the Emperor himself as the rightful Court Lord of this city!"

"..."

"Do you understand who you have just insulted? Kneel before me at once!"

As soon as he finished, a crushing wave of mana burst from the noble’s staff. The same invisible force magic that had crushed the door.

Yeomyeong pretended to recoil in fear as he subtly guided his prepared spell forward.

Invisible telekinesis—target: Count Nam’s neck.

Their magic reached each other almost simultaneously.

Yeomyeong’s shoulder was suddenly weighed down by an immense force, and at the same time, his telekinetic grip nearly snapped the noble’s throat.

Crackle—!

Kahal Magdu waved his hand, scattering both spells.

For the first time, the Court Lord realized just how close death had come to him.

The skeleton clicked its tongue.

—What an uncivilized display. If you were to simply talk, you could both get what you want.

"..."

—Don’t you agree, Yeomyeong?

So, he saw through the illusion.

Yeomyeong scowled. "We’re not exactly on good terms for a friendly chat."

—Oh? Then you intend to fight? Against both of us?

"What, don’t think I can?"

It was disappointing that his ambush had failed, but that didn’t mean he was going to play nice.

Murderous intent surged.

Yeomyeong silently raised his sword.

Kahal Magdu’s skull clattered in amusement.

—Ah, the courage of the weak. A wonderful sight, even stirs my dead heart.

"..."

—But this isn’t the time for bravado, is it? The Western Court Lord and the Korean government’s lackeys... there’s no way they’re still alive. Must have been quite the struggle to kill them, wasn’t it?"

A knowing glint flickered in the dragon’s hollow eye sockets.

But Yeomyeong didn’t care what he said.

His mind was busy considering every possible strategy.

Bloodflow Acceleration. Shadow Wing. Destructive Spiral. Pyang-Gyeol.

Use everything at once—go for a one-hit kill?

Or draw out the fight and collapse the armory?

Every nerve in his body was on edge, his senses razor-sharp.

That’s when Kahal Magdu made his proposal.

—I’ll make you a generous offer. Hand over the launch codes, and I’ll let you live. You... and those two girls who ran away just now.

"...Launch codes?"

—Oh? Playing dumb? Unfortunate, but let’s not waste time pretending. Even if the Western Court Lord was ignorant, the Koreans wouldn’t have broken into this armory without knowing what’s inside.

At the mention of launch codes, greed flickered in the Court Lord’s eyes.

Yeomyeong saw that and knew for certain.

So that’s it.

Their goal was exactly what he thought.

The weapon slumbering at the end of this armory—sealed beneath layers of barriers too thick for even a superhuman to breach.

That weapon was—

****

[A Nuclear Missile.]

[Beneath this city—sleeps a nuclear missile.]

In Yeomyeong’s memory, Ben of the Key of Tears had spoken those words.

[Why, you ask? Hmm... where should I begin...? Ah, let’s start with this term: Mutually Assured Destruction.]

Mutually Assured Destruction, commonly abbreviated as MAD—the strategic doctrine that if two nations with nuclear weapons waged war, both sides would be annihilated.

[As you know, the United States and the Soviet Union built enough nuclear weapons to obliterate the entire planet. And the more nukes they stockpiled, the more desperate they became to find ways to survive their own destruction.]

...Like bunkers?

[Exactly. They dug deeper bomb shelters, researched teleportation... and eventually, they developed Dimensional Gate technology.]

A Dimensional Gate?

[The elites of the United States sought a method to escape through emergency Dimensional Gates the moment nuclear war broke out. It was costly, but the most realistic solution they had.]

...

[And what do you think Stalin’s response was when he learned of this plan? Simple. He said, ‘Then we’ll fire nukes through the Dimensional Gates, too.’]

...He was insane.

[Indeed. A mad leader for a mad era. And before its collapse, the Soviet Union was a country that could turn that madness into reality.]

In Yeomyeong’s memory, Ben’s expression looked pained.

[This city is proof of that insanity. They seized the Emperor’s palace by force, poured concrete over it, and turned it into a secret nuclear missile base.]

...

[Can you imagine it? With a single launch code, every major city and Dimensional Gate beyond could be reduced to rubble.]

He couldn’t imagine it. After Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the World Tree Incident, nuclear weapons had never been used in actual warfare.

[Shocking, isn’t it? That’s why we, the Blue Rats, hoped to secure this place first... but as always, fate was not on our side.]

Ben’s words trailed off, his gaze sharpening.

[Yeomyeong, I know this is sudden, but I have a request.]

...Speak.

[I’ll give you the launch code. Go to the armory command center and take control of the nuclear weapon. At the very least, make sure no idiot gets their hands on it.]

Before Yeomyeong could respond in his memory, Ben had already spoken the code.

[19530305.]

[That’s the launch code that grants control over every nuclear weapon in this city.]

...It looks like a date. Some kind of anniversary?

[We don’t know. No one in this world does. Stalin created this code himself, yet on that day... nothing happened.]

...

[In any case, what’s important isn’t the mystery behind this code, but what it allows you to do.]

What he could do.

Yeomyeong had started sinking into deep contemplation when Ben added one last thing.

[I don’t know what decision you’ll make... but make sure it’s one you won’t regret.]

****

Back to the Present.

Yeomyeong didn’t bother asking how Count Nam and Kahal Magdu knew about the nuclear facility.

If they were walking in and out of the armory like this, it meant they had their own sources of information.

Summoning his mana, Yeomyeong spoke.

"I have no idea what launch code you’re talking about... and I’ve never heard of anything like that. The Western Court Lord and those Korean government dogs? I killed them all before they could start talking."

Hearing that, Count Nam didn’t bother to hide his disappointment.

"What? You mean to tell me you killed them without extracting such valuable information?! This is why lowborn scum are hopeless!"

"..."

"Undying Dragon! Kill him at once and find the Western Court Lord’s corpse! We must resurrect him as a zombie! If the body is damaged, our entire plan will be ruined!"

While Count Nam ranted in hysteria, Kahal Magdu remained indifferent.

—Yeomyeong, Earthling chosen by the stars.

The skeleton rattled.

—I truly intended to let you live.

The empty sockets of the skull flared with eerie flames, locking onto Yeomyeong.

—It’s unfortunate that things turned out this way. I would have much preferred to kill you in front of the Saintess.

In the next instant—

Yeomyeong detonated every technique he had trained and swung his sword.

Shriek!

The transparent mana that had been reaching for him was struck away with a sickening noise.

The force of the impact sent Yeomyeong staggering. As he tried to regain his footing, a wave of blue fire roared toward him.

FWOOSH!

The dragon’s flame, flickering in ghostly blue hues, devoured the space where he had stood just a moment ago.

A skeleton breathing fire.

A damn dragon, through and through.

Yeomyeong rolled out of the lab, tumbling into the hallway, then sprang to his feet using the momentum.

And in that exact moment—

A bolt of lightning crashed down upon him.

CRACK!

He barely managed to cut through it with his sword, but the impact still sent him skidding backward.

—Your skills have improved again? Impressive!

Kahal Magdu’s amused remark. And then—more lightning magic.

The bursts of light stung his eyes, the charged air ringing in his ears.

Yeomyeong cut down another bolt on instinct, then unleashed his telekinesis.

BOOM!

As expected, the Court Lord’s invisible force magic clashed against it.

The same magic that had crumpled an iron door effortlessly—his telekinesis shattered instantly.

But that tiny moment of resistance gave Yeomyeong just enough time to roll away from the attack.

Missing the perfect chance to finish him off, Count Nam screamed.

"Undying Dragon! What are you doing?! Finish him already!"

—Don’t rush me. One should never defeat a worthy opponent too easily.

"Worthy? That Earthling mutt—!"

Just then—

A burst of comet-like light flooded the armory’s hallway.

—The Comet Sword? Your activation speed has improved noticeably.

Count Nam, panicked, immediately raised a protective barrier.

Kahal Magdu, seeing this, layered another barrier over it.

And as if that weren’t enough, he wrapped the shield in dragon flames.

!!!

The moment the Comet Sword struck—

Count Nam’s barrier shattered like brittle candy.

Kahal Magdu’s shield cracked as well, but the weakened Comet Sword could go no further—it exploded.

The shockwave made Count Nam’s robes billow.

His raised arm covered his face, his movements flustered and frantic.

Yeomyeong used that moment to unleash ice spikes and telekinesis at him simultaneously.

Ice to the liver. Telekinesis to the throat.

A kill shot either way.

But Kahal Magdu, entertained, intercepted both spells instead.

—To think even your magic is this refined. A dragon might as well have raised you.

"Shut up."

Yeomyeong clenched his teeth.

Fighting two mages alone was not easy.

Would it have been better to fight alongside Seti? No—unlike him, they hadn’t had time to recover.

As Yeomyeong parried another lightning strike, a familiar voice rang out from deeper in the armory.

"[Brother-in-law! Fall back to the first storage room!]"

Neti’s loud and absurdly cheerful voice.

They hadn’t left the armory yet?! Why?!

—They didn’t run? Tsk, women. Always ruining the noble moment of a male’s sacrifice.

Kahal Magdu sneered, but Yeomyeong used step techniques to retreat.

Of course, his enemies didn’t allow him to withdraw so easily.

With acceleration magic enhancing their speed, they rained attacks upon him.

Fireballs, lightning, invisible force, ice spears, dragon flames—

Yeomyeong dodged them all by a hair’s breadth, running toward Neti’s voice.

Past the gun storage. Down the corridor.

And just as he reached the first storage room, where the tanks were stationed—

"[Brother-in-law! GET DOWN!]"

"What?!"

Get down? Why?!

Despite the confusion, Yeomyeong trusted Seti—so he threw himself to the floor.

And his trust was not misplaced.

The storage room doors burst open—

And a T-82 tank rolled forward.

—A tank?!

Neti, who had always wanted to drive one, aimed the barrel down the hall—

And fired.