Variable Upon Variable (3)

In the end, master-class personnel from all over China were urgently dispatched as the force meant to deal with the Yellow Gate that had appeared in Chengdu.

Then they entered the empty interior, searched every location thoroughly, dug up the ground, and tried every method available, but as time passed, anxiety began to spread over the fact that there was nothing anywhere that seemed to be the core.

“It has already been fifteen days. Does it make sense that we have been unable to find even a trace anywhere for fifteen days?”

“It is not as if we were just sitting around doing nothing, is it?”

Everyone was in a desperate situation.

They had judged that it would not be easy to handle the devil-like monster that had appeared from the Yellow Gate.

On top of that, they were in an urgent situation because they could not even do anything about the Red Gates.

Most of the people in Chengdu had begun moving to other regions, and nearby regions were also in chaos because no one knew when something might happen and kill everyone.

The economy was shaken, anxiety swelled, and things were rushing toward uncontrollable chaos.

The government authorities were pouring all their strength into resolving this somehow, but in a situation with no answer, they were only fueling despair.

The reason was simple.

The Chinese authorities had called in most of the ability users from across the country and publicized it on a grand scale.

But the mere fact that they could not resolve it even after more than fifteen days was enough to cause chaos.

“If a mutation starts at this rate, it will become a disaster we cannot handle.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to at least conquer the Red Gates?”

They judged that with their current strength, they could sufficiently resolve the Red Gates. And since the two Red Gates were not that far away, the Awakener was saying that it would be better to end the anxiety somehow, but if it had been a problem that could be resolved that way, they would have fixed everything long ago.

But the meeting merely continued, with everyone’s minds filled only with the thought that they had to find a way out of this impossible situation.

“How long has it been since the Yellow Gate caused a Break?”

At the voice that happened to come from the meeting room, everyone’s gazes gathered, and someone who knew the information answered.

“About three months.”

“It would be right to think that we still have seventy-five days of leeway, so all we have to do is somehow find the core within that period, don’t we?”

“So how are you saying we should find it?”

“We will have no choice but to keep digging into the ground. With the forces here, digging down several hundred meters would not be difficult, and if the mages use sub-space to carry away the excavated soil and increase the speed, we may be able to find the core within the time limit without much difficulty.”

It was a situation where a Grade 5 Gate had caused a mutation.

“If all these people cannot resolve a Gate that is only the size of thirty-two soccer fields, would that not be even more incompetent?”

Everyone eventually swallowed groans at her utterly confident words, and when some people happened to agree with the woman who had spoken and said they would actively help, the woman who had made the proposal said,

“Our Gaia Church has taken this matter quite seriously and has come out to provide support. So I hope all of you will also do your best to protect your homeland.”

At those words, everyone regained their vigor once more.

The Red Gates steadily began to be conquered.

Of the twenty remaining Red Gates, eleven had been conquered, and for the rest as well, all neighboring countries had joined forces and committed their strength for the conquest.

So it was enough to say it was only a matter of time, and the conquest proceeded in order, but the problem occurred in Japan.

“Y-yes, it’s a Yellow Gate…!”

In the end, they had failed to resolve the Red Gate on their own.

To be precise, they had lost too much strength dealing with one of the two, and because of that, civil war broke out once again.

In the end, while the warlords began watching one another warily and continued a war of attrition, the Red Gate changed into a Yellow Gate.

Because of that, East Asia found itself with fire at its feet.

“China is also in a situation where it cannot do anything about its Yellow Gate, and Japan has ultimately had an incident as well. Is there any way to resolve this?”

Kim Dae-san was holding a meeting after calling in the heads of each faction.

Unlike the previous meeting, this meeting was held privately, and with the dispatch to the Red Gate from Russia having fallen through, it could be called the first full meeting held in a long time.

“I am Bak Han-seong, a cardinal of the Gaia Church. This is news from China. They say they have now been digging downward for nearly two months, but have not gained any particular results.”

“…How deep do they say they have dug?”

“It is known that they have dug down roughly more than five hundred meters, but there have been no results, and because they cannot sense anything beneath the ground, discussions are continuing over whether they should keep doing this.”

At that moment, Kim Jin-pyo, who had taken a seat as the representative of the Magic Tower, opened his mouth.

“…The core may not be beneath the ground.”

“I think the same, but since we are not in a situation where we can examine the actual Yellow Gate, I have nothing definite to say.”

Even the information Bak Han-seong had brought was not something that could be easily accessed.

Moreover, with more than two hundred master-class personnel mobilized by China, the fact that they had gained nothing was making China even more chaotic internally.

Then, just then, An Sang-ik spoke.

“The issue everyone must pay attention to here is not only the Yellow Gates.”

Gazes gathered, and Kim Dae-san, as if he had known the contents, also calmly shifted his gaze.

Because of that, the representatives became tense.

“These are satellite photos of Britain, France, and other regions.”

At that moment, one material photo was displayed, and everyone was astonished as they confirmed that countless red lights were sparkling in the photo.

“It has been reported that more than ten Red Gates have appeared in Britain and France alone.”

“That is absurd….”

“It is already widely known information that Cultists of Ruin can create Red Gates. On top of that, Cultists of Ruin also form relics by using humans as sacrifices. Based on these facts, the conjecture is that they may have used the people in Britain and France who failed to evacuate as sacrifices to create items that make Red Gates.”

“Judging by the circumstances, that seems to be correct. However, that place is too far from us, and we cannot even do anything about the instability nearby, so what would change even if we knew this?”

As Ham Dae-su, the representative of the Psychic Awakener Association, said, it would only add to the chaos.

However, An Sang-ik nodded at that statement and said,

“There is information recently delivered by the Black Magic Academy.”

As people showed curiosity and asked what it was, An Sang-ik displayed the materials.

“It is information about the black sphere. First, let us begin with the information that it is composed of three parts.”

Like that, An Sang-ik’s briefing continued.

It was information about the chimera slime made using divine language.

The first piece of information was that they had determined it had strong resistance to mana but was vulnerable to ‘light’-type divine power, and that if it was stimulated with an electric type, it caused division and lost power.

“The Black Magic Academy announced that with this method, resolving the black sphere of a Red Gate would no longer be a problem, and to add information about the inside of the black sphere revealed that way, they say this is an artifact.”

It was an egg-shaped artifact, and they said many powerful emotions were contained within it. The problem was that the number of emotions contained in it was estimated to easily exceed ten thousand, meaning it was an item made through the sacrifice of an enormous number of people.

Therefore, they had concluded that it was right to resolve the Red Gate incident as quickly as possible and respond to the Yellow Gates.

The problem was the Yellow Gates that would remain even after resolving the Red Gates, and An Sang-ik said that the method to resolve them might perhaps lie in the egg-shaped artifact.

“According to the information, we may be able to use the artifact to find something inside the Yellow Gate.”

“Is there a reason you are so certain?”

“They say it is because relics and artifacts of the same nature resonate.”

“Resonance…! I see. That was it!”

Just then, some of the mages attending the meeting shouted. Then they began whispering to one another, and Kim Dae-san, who was watching them, asked,

“Did you discover something?”

“During the First Korean Peninsula War, there was actually a case where relics resonated with each other and our allies identified the enemy’s location. It was a special case, so it was not widely known, but because it was a phenomenon that could not be ignored, we attempted to determine the cause through various experiments.”

The results had not been very pleasant, but the mage said that they had at least identified the approximate cause of similar resonance.

“Then that means we must head to the Yellow Gate with this, but is there no possibility that a problem will occur?”

“There is someone who was concerned about this part.”

“Who is it?”

“The Worst, Geum Seong-chan. He raised the possibility that the two objects causing resonance might come closer together and merge into one.”

Everyone swallowed groans. It was because the person who had said it was not an ordinary person.

“He argued that we must be careful because a more powerful monster might appear, or perhaps the time limit might be shortened, but he also argued that if we cannot even determine where the Yellow Gate’s core itself is, then using this method to obtain information would be beneficial in many ways.”

“Where is he now?”

“We asked for his cooperation, but he said he would not attend.”

Kim Dae-san clicked his tongue, saying he was still a troublesome person, but since there was talk that he was willing to provide the captured object, in the end, an in-depth discussion had to be held with the people present.

There were far too many things to discuss and decide in many respects, including the dispatch of personnel and the examination of possibilities.

As a result, the government was being swayed by a single piece of information, but Kim Dae-san thought that if the matter could be resolved well, this much being swayed was acceptable.

“Then, with the conclusions that have been reached as the basis, we will establish a cooperation team.”

After the long meeting, the discussion proceeded based on the conclusions that had been reached.

“Let us send a request for cooperation to Japan.”

It was a meeting that had reached a conclusion.

Afterward, the world cheered at the information spread by Korea.

That was because if they could properly defend against Red Gates in the early stages, they could avoid being exposed to the unknown threat called Yellow Gates.

On top of that, because the damage caused by the black sphere that had swallowed the core was immense, this information was like rain in a drought, and the various countries actually used it to quickly deal with all the remaining Red Gates.