Karma Chain (3)
Galli Ant Isle.
When the Ultima System extraction team arrived at Toa Mountain, Kergos chieftain Mahatu came out to meet them.
"Welcome, Shirone."
"Yes. Have you been well? It feels strange to say this right as we arrive, but we'll be relying on you for a while."
"Relying on us? It is Kergos's honor."
Mahatu led them down into a mysterious underground temple.
The scene was familiar to Miro and Gaold.
"Kergos tribe, huh. It's a fortress… but is it really safe?"
Saein's concern was met by Mahatu.
"There's a separate shelter below. My direct subordinates will rotate and guard it twenty‑four hours a day."
Because they had to go through Drimo, the team would have no choice but to sleep unguarded.
That was why Shirone had established a base on the island.
"When you sleep you can't act. I want to avoid overlapping simultaneous incidents."
Mahatu reiterated his pledge.
"Leave them to me. I stake Kergos's honor—and my life—on protecting you."
Crawling along the floor, Arius spoke up.
"A dreamer can infiltrate dreams. Through Drimo we'll enter Imir's REM domain directly—deep Level Six. But getting out is another matter. You can't install doors there."
Divers implant keywords into a subject and use those to set doors.
"This is still magic. You can't inject keywords into Imir out beyond the galaxy. Even if you tried, you'd die in an instant."
Miro asked, "Then how do we get out?"
"If you actually want to come back alive, I'd tell you to stop right now."
"Answer the question."
Miro kicked him; Arius toppled forward and knocked his chin on the floor.
"We have to ascend from the depths—re‑exit Drimo from within Imir's dream. But it's difficult because once you reach the deep layers, the upper layers become utter chaos. That's because the core of the self is being attacked."
Kangnan propped his chin on his hand.
"So there's no avoiding combat. In other words, we'll have to push through those Egoists?"
"Puhahaha!"
Arius burst into laughter, then quickly cleared his throat. "Sorry. It's just absurd. Anyway, think it through. Imir is the strongest even in reality. And now we're going into a world where Imir is the master." The mood grew heavy. "I don't mean to spread despair. Our team also has Geukseon, Universal Love, and Ga‑eul D.C. What I want to say is this: choosing to fight and win is a decision you only make when you're about to die. Once we enter Imir's mind, we'll gain a lot of information. I'll do my best to find a way out."
When Arius finished, the party stepped into a bunker deep inside Toa Mountain.
Beds had been prepared and a few days' worth of food and water were stacked in a corner.
Mahatu said, "Once the door is closed, no one will open it until you send a signal—no one. Forever. Even in a hundred years, the descendants of Kergos will guard this door."
It was a grand promise, but no one could say what would actually happen.
"Thank you. We'll be back."
After Shirone finished his farewell and Mahatu closed the door, absolute darkness fell.
Shirone cast a light spell and pointed to a bed. "Let's begin. We should draw up specifics after we enter Imir's mind."
The six of them each took a bed and lay down. Arius cast a sleep spell.
Shirone slowly opened his eyes.
He was inside what looked like a long‑abandoned cabin, moonlight leaking through the gaps in the walls.
Focusing with a lucid dream, he felt himself sitting in a chair placed at the center of the cabin.
A cold wind, the smell of old dust.
A thin girl in white rags wandered the cabin, her hair hiding her face.
"A nightmare," Shirone thought.
He would likely be trapped with this nameless girl and the cabin until this segment ended.
Most people would be frozen by sleep paralysis, but Shirone spoke calmly.
"Monga."
Monga—the satellite of Luber and a dream architect.
"No time for games," she said.
The cabin door creaked open and a pale‑faced boy with wide eyes stepped in.
"Sorry, but this isn't a joke. Using a nightmare is the fastest way."
Shirone and Monga followed the girl with their eyes as she walked by.
"What do you mean?"
"It doesn't mean anything. That's the nature of nightmares. In short, it only needs to be horrific."
Monga took the girl's wrist and tossed aside the black hair that covered her face.
A face, warped as if melted by heat, was revealed.
"Nightmares process negative energy. Events unfold toward the side you absolutely do not want to experience. In reality, everyone would want the girl's face to be pretty, and it probably is—
"But underlying that is a psyche afraid of the worst possible outcome."
"That's why?"
"That's right. The point is, Monga plans to inject a nightmare into Imir. Even if Imir is the dream's owner, if it becomes engulfed by negative energy everything will turn on Imir. That will let our team preserve our mobility."
Shirone blinked and fell into thought.
"I understand that it's effective… but is there any situation where Imir would feel fear?"
"You can't know for sure. But since it exploits inner energy, the possibility isn't zero. What worries me more is what happens when the nightmare actually unfolds."
It would be on a different scale from ordinary human nightmares.
"For now, get out. The others should be arriving by following the nightmare."
Rising from the chair, Shirone looked back at the girl before heading for the door.
She stood barefoot. Shirone slowly lifted her hair as he stared at her.
A pretty face was revealed.
When the girl grinned, showing white teeth, Shirone smiled back and patted her head.
"It'll be all right."
At the edge of the wasteland that drank the moonlight, Miro's party waited.
The island nation called the Ten Kingdoms.
Commander Gamagin's tremor had spawned a tsunami and submerged most of the island.
Shirone stood on the deck of a ship carrying refugees and watched the sea.
"The Kingdom of Dionas."
It had suffered the least damage, but to cross the windless zone would take several months at best.
"Messiah."
The venom dragon Poine approached Shirone.
"Kaios reports the tectonic plates are still shifting. If another tsunami hits, the people on the ships won't be safe."
"It's not a one‑time event. That's serious." The demonic realm had been embedded in reality as another system, so it couldn't be stopped. "If the purging of Hell doesn't stop…"
Shirone was deep in thought when the sailors began moving blankets and food out onto the deck.
"Now, take them in order! Supplies are limited, so we'll distribute rations only. If you disobey, we don't know what we'll do to you!"
The threat came from knowing how brutal survival is at sea when isolated.
"…Food."
Those with hollow eyes suddenly lit up and moved toward the supplies.
"Back off!"
A burly knight drew his sword. "Who are you commoners to touch it? Minister Deshika will be served first, according to the kingdom's law."
All eyes turned to one place.
Deshika, the interior minister of the Rosarion Kingdom, sat with a cold expression.
"Move! I said move!"
The knight drove the people back, piled thick blankets and rations into his arms, and handed them to the minister.
The sailors' faces grew sour, but they couldn't take on the minister's guards.
"This is going to cause trouble. That dried man took one‑fifth of the bread."
Because loading time was short, each person's share was barely enough for one meager meal.
"At least he wants to fill his own belly. Well, he is alive, so that's natural, I suppose."
There was an implacable venom in Poine's smile.
"What will you do? If you give the order, this old woman will give him a stern lesson…"
"Let's go."
Poine cocked her head.
"Hm?"
"We should take our share too. Bread and water."
Shirone, who had been waiting at the end of the line, was able to gather supplies when his turn came.
As expected, the bread was scarce; he received half a canteen of water and a shabby blanket.
Those who got nothing fumed, but a knight's sword was still more terrifying than starvation.
Poine sat beside Shirone.
"Messiah, you must have many worries. In my view, 'extraction' is acceptable too."
Removing factors that obstruct integration could be one method.
Shirone said, "Deshika is unjust. But to perform an extraction you need a more fundamental standard. If everyone here became Deshika, would things change? People can't be unified by principles or rules alone."
"What matters is the heart…"
Poine fell silent, but the thin light in her eyes grew colder.
"Drink slowly."
Shirone turned and saw a little girl gulping down her day's ration of water.
"Oh no. She must have drunk seawater. It's a pain no child can bear."
Still not quenched, the child licked the last drop and then wailed.
"Mom, I'm thirsty! I'm going to die of thirst!"
The mother, who hadn't touched the water, felt her heart tear at her child's suffering.
"Water, water…!"
All eyes turned to the minister. Deshika subtly averted his gaze.
'Water is off limits. They can fetch food, but water is life at sea.'
Then Shirone gestured and called, "Come here, little one."
The child ran over as if bewitched. Shirone opened his canteen and handed it to her.
"Drink this."
She tilted her head and emptied it in an instant.
"Feeling better now?"
"Y—yes."
The child bowed her head in shame. Poine handed her own canteen to the mother. "Bring this to your mother. But from now on you must ration it. Understood?"
The child hesitated, but couldn't look away from her family's suffering and accepted the canteen.
"Thank you."
A heavy silence settled across the deck.
From the other side, a man suddenly rose as if resolved and stepped toward Shirone, holding out his water.
"Here. Have a sip."
Caught by Shirone's look, the man scratched his nose sheepishly.
"I can't give you all of it, but we must help each other. Drink. Don't feel burdened."
As if a wall had been torn down, people began to notice who else was around them.
"Hey… let's share this."
A small loaf was split in two and handed into the hands of those who'd received nothing.
"Madam."
A young man handed Poine a canteen. "Please take this. You're older; you won't make it through the day without a single sip."
The gaze of the Venom Dragon—known among the Twelve Apostles as the cruelest—pierced the canteen.
A single drop meant little to her. Yet her smile carried a warmth unlike before.
"Thank you, young man."
Poine swallowed a lukewarm sip and turned her eyes to Deshika.
'The criterion for extraction.'
At last, the Messiah's words made sense.