Outside the Train
A masked man moved swiftly, his sword coated in a layer of essence as it deflected and parried incoming strikes.
He was the leader of the Void system members—and the same person who had been speaking with Lucas earlier... his old friend.
After both of them joined the Mind Faction, they spent years together before eventually going their separate ways.
Lucas became a professor in the Axis, while he chose to live his own life.
But recently, Lucas contacted him and told him about his plan—what he intended to do.
Dozens of Relics had been stolen.
And he asked for his cooperation. Of course, not for free... Lucas told him they would split the benefits. The offer was extremely tempting, and the plan had been airtight.
All of that convinced him to cooperate.
He thought their success was guaranteed.
But now... just look at how things had turned out.
After the Axis students somehow awakened from the Dream Demon’s effects, he found himself locked in a fierce battle against them.
He was now surrounded by six people, led by a boy with golden hair and yellow eyes.
They moved around him and attacked simultaneously, with excellent coordination.
Unlike Lucas, he was a seasoned fighter, occupying the Advanced Rank 3, and he was able to face these students evenly—if not with an advantage.
Arcs of light flew toward him. At the same time, sharp metal shards attacked from his other side, while another arrow flew toward him in complete silence.
He didn’t panic.
A layer of essence coated his sword—far stronger and more refined than Caius’. At the same time, he activated his ability, stone walls rising on both sides of him and blocking the arrow and metal shards before they could hit him.
He advanced and struck the arc of light with his sword, causing it to shatter and fade away.
At that moment, a girl with blue hair and blue eyes was already in front of him, attempting to cut him down with her sword. He dodged and counterattacked at insane speed.
But she seemed to see it coming, tilting her body so his strike passed by without touching her.
Then he felt something hot slam into his side, followed by a wave of heat that nearly made him lose his balance.
It was a compressed fireball from Izel, but it failed to pierce the layers of essence surrounding his body.
In fact, there had been eight of them just a few minutes ago. He had already seriously injured two and rendered them unable to fight.
Two of his subordinates were battling five others, while the remaining two were transporting the Relics they had extracted to the ship.
They didn’t want to leave empty-handed.
Perhaps that greed was dangerous—but who could blame them after all the effort they had poured into this operation?
Still, there was a problem.
Lucas hadn’t appeared yet.
He was supposed to give them a signal once the Axis contacted reinforcements, so they could escape with whatever they managed to take.
But he vanished and never showed up.
From the corner of his eye, the leader saw someone firing plasma spheres at one of his subordinates, who barely managed to avoid the powerful explosion.
Weren’t they fourteen? Someone’s missing, he thought, noticing a gigantic youth fighting with nothing but his fists, blows crashing against his body without even scratching him.
At first, he assumed the missing one was simply a coward who fled the fight. But with Lucas gone and all contact lost, another idea crossed his mind.
Maybe he was discovered by the missing student.
But the question was—did he realize the situation and eliminate that student, or did he fail and something happened to him?
The leader clenched his teeth, thinking about what to do.
At that moment, the golden-haired youth appeared before him, swinging his glowing sword.
The leader raised his sword and struck back with force.
The blades collided, the ground beneath their feet shattering into a small crater. Elliot was sent flying backward, only for the leader to find Leona right beside him.
Her sword cut beneath his ribs, carving a wound—but thanks to the essence layer covering his body, it wasn’t severe.
He twisted his body and countered, sending Leona flying backward.
The battle continued for several minutes before he finally made his decision.
He spoke as the communication device in his mask activated,
"All units, retreat to the ship. We’ll dive immediately and depart at maximum speed... there’s a chance Lucas has been exposed."
They began retreating without giving the students a chance to stab them in the back.
But moments later...
A deep sense of fear flooded the leader.
Fear that tore through his soul and body.
The students stopped attacking and froze in place.
Not just here—every battle stopped.
In an instant, silence filled the area, and everyone raised their heads.
They looked toward the newcomer who had just arrived.
Above them, a woman appeared.
The world around her warped and distorted to accommodate her existence.
Her silky white hair flowed down her back, while her loose white garments fluttered softly.
Her crimson eyes gazed at them with calm indifference.
She released no pressure and did nothing at all... merely looking at them quietly.
That single gaze was enough to freeze the leader and every member of the Void system in place.
They lost all control over their bodies and essence.
The woman turned her head away from them, as if she had lost interest—or found something far more interesting.
She looked toward one of the carriages at the rear of the train, then vanished. Who knew where she went?
But nothing changed for the Void system members.
They couldn’t move, unable to control their bodies... frozen like statues.
Just like that, the battle ended with the arrival of reinforcements.
Reinforcements embodied by Alicia astra nova herself—
An existence at the level of a King.
...
Caius’ Point of View
The black card floated a few feet in front of me.
Its dark metal absorbed the surrounding light, while strange engravings decorated its surface.
My eyes burned just looking at it, my mind tearing apart. I raised my hand and grabbed my head, but it didn’t help at all.
The reason was the essence contained within the card—dense and absurdly powerful, to the point that my mind began to crack just from sensing it.
Without hesitation, I canceled my ability and finally felt relief return.
I took a few breaths and looked at the card, stepping closer as I recalled where I had heard of it.
"All he brought back was a card made of strange black metal."
Words I had heard in both the game—and this life.
But if this thing had been here throughout the journey, why hadn’t I sensed it before? Had it been dormant, or something like that?
Moreover, I had never heard of such an item in the game... yet for some reason, it was—
Familiar.
As if I had seen it somewhere before.
I stepped forward and stood directly in front of the card.
I hesitated briefly, then extended my hand toward it.
My fingers touched the cold metal, feeling its smooth surface—only to sense something strange in the next moment.
A peculiar force flowed into my hand.
It didn’t hurt, nor was it strong or overwhelming, but I felt a sharp sting beneath my wrist.
Without hesitation, I pulled my hand back—but it was already too late.
I turned my wrist and saw it there.
A black tattoo.
The card slipped from my grasp and hit the ground with a soft sound.
It wasn’t a complex rune... but a set of small interlocking squares, forming a beautiful pattern.
I felt a bond forming between me and the card.
An invisible, absolute bond.
I reached out again, bending down to pick up the card, and brought it closer to me.
And I felt another connection.
This card was linked to a place.
A very distant place... far to the north.
At that moment, when the bond finished forming, a name surfaced in my mind.
And I spoke it unconsciously.
"Key of Dimensions"
>>>
Hello everyone,Thank you all for the support and everything. I have a note: I’ve changed the name of the fourth monster rank from Greater to Bigger, and this will be the official name from now on.You can also expect between ten to fourteen Chapters per week.And please don’t forget to support the novel by voting with Power Stones and Golden Tickets—your support is what makes everything possible 🙏To those who have already read this Chapter, I’m sorry—I made a mistake and published the Chapters in the wrong order. I even had to rewrite and edit the Chapter, and even then the issue wasn’t completely fixed. That’s why I’m writing this long message here, so I can publish the Chapter correctly now.
I’m really not going to make this mistake again ,I’m almost going crazy from this