.

We dug next to the house and buried Kwon Junyong’s body.

I was still not sure if he was evil or not.

The rifts Kwon Junyong installed around Yangju would certainly have inflicted irreparable harm on many people.

But what if it was something he had to do under the control of Ashimone, and it wasn’t his will?

“……”

Still, I was not sure.

One thing was certain: if I encountered people like Kwon Junyong in the future, I should kill them without hesitation.

Ashimone and her minions were enemies of living humans.

Regardless of the will of each minion, if they followed Ashimone’s orders, they must be killed.

I didn’t know the purpose of that goddess of hell, but I knew she wanted to turn all humans into zombies.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, Master.”

Serena and Ciel followed behind me.

I entered the house and stood in front of the rift.

“Ciel. You mentioned earlier that you felt an ominous aura from this rift.”

“Yes.”

“So, can you sense it from afar? Even where the rift is out of sight?”

“Hmm……”

Ciel closed her eyes briefly in thought, then responded.

“Before we came in, I wasn’t sure what this sensation was, but now I think I can recognize it even from a faint aura.”

“……Okay.”

According to Kwon Junyong, Ashimone’s minions were not just one or two.

They must be scattered across various regions, each installing rifts and moving around.

As time passed, most survivors would die or become zombies due to the mutated zombies pouring out from there.

Just as Ashimone planned.

To prevent this, the rifts must be sealed, and more fundamentally, the minions who were installing the rifts must be killed.

Finding and sealing the rifts around our D-Mart seemed like it wouldn’t be too difficult.

I had the rift radar, the angel Ciel, by my side.

If she felt even a little ominous aura, all I had to do was search that place.

But thinking nationally, it was impossible with my strength alone.

In other words, to prevent massive casualties, ability users all over the country must rise and eliminate the rifts.

‘I’m really lucky the internet hasn’t been cut off yet……’

Click-

I took out my smartphone and took a picture of the rift.

I was planning to expose all of Ashimone’s schemes by posting this to the community.

But then……

“……Would it be more persuasive if an angel is next to it?”

“…Huh?”

Ciel tilted her head at my muttering.

“Ciel. Stand next to me without covering the rift. Serena, too.”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

I set them both side by side, as taking a picture of only Ciel might make Serena feel left out.

“Smile. Make a ‘V’ with your hands.”

“Hehe, V~”

“…V.”

Click-

Got it.

A picture of Serena and Ciel standing side by side, making a ‘V’ sign and smiling, with a crimson rift that looks like a tear in the air in the background.

Ciel’s wings obscured the rift slightly, but this much should be okay.

“Can’t Master be in the picture too? I want a picture with Master!”

“……Me too.”

Serena pestered to be in the picture with me, but now was not the time to be leisurely doing that.

“We’ll take pictures together once we get to D-Mart.”

Stroking- Stroking-

I patted Serena and Ciel’s heads.

“Hehehehe……”

“…You promised, Master.”

I nodded to Ciel, who was quietly insisting on confirmation.

And then I looked at the rift.

It was good to post pictures on the community and to tell the ability users that the rifts must be sealed.

But if I was going to say that, wouldn’t it be better to have some strategies left by a vanguard who sealed the rift?

“……Okay.”

I decided to try sealing the rift.

Right now.

.

As I reached out to touch the rift, the system message appeared again.

Ding-!

[You have discovered a D-grade Ashimone's rift.]

[If the rift is not sealed within a certain period, Ashimone's minions within will escape.]

[Time remaining until rift activation: 27d 11h 41m]

[Do you wish to enter the rift?]

[Accept / Decline]

D-grade, huh.

Although I didn’t know how the grading system works, Serena and Ciel had both reached A-grade and B-grade, respectively, in their overall ability evaluation.

It didn’t seem like we would struggle with just D-grade.

In the first place, those inside escaping to the outside would be mutant zombies, so there should be no enemy too powerful to handle.

“Serena, Ciel. On the count of three, we will press accept simultaneously.”

“Yes!”

“Three, two…”

I looked into the eyes of Serena and Ciel standing beside me and nodded.

“One!”

I touched the accept button.

Whooooooooosh—

The dark red swirl inside the rift escaped and engulfed us.

“Ugh……!”

“Master!”

“Heaven’s Blessing!”

As Serena hugged me protectively, Ciel cast [Heaven’s Blessing] on us all again.

A storm-like red mist passed by for a moment.

After a few seconds passed and things calmed down, I opened my eyes and looked around.

“…….”

The surrounding scenery hadn’t changed geographically.

We were still standing in the living room of a shabby house.

However, the view was red.

It looked like a series of reddish hues like a red cellophane had been laid over our eyes.

I felt that if we stayed here for a long time, our minds would become unstable.

I looked at Serena and Ciel on either side of me.

In this world, where everything was in shades of red, the two were emitting a complete and bright light.

“Uh…”

Curiously, I looked at my hand, and I was the same.

This faint white light was undoubtedly the effect of [Heaven’s Blessing].

That was when Ciel, who was looking around, spoke.

“…It seems my abilities are opposed to the sinister energy in this rift, Master. You must not be apart from me for a long time. We don’t know what negative effects might come when Heaven’s Blessing ends.”

“Mmm…”

I thought about it for a moment before replying.

“Withdraw Heaven’s Blessing, Ciel.”

“…Pardon?”

Ciel’s golden eyes looked at me as if bewildered.

She must have thought I was crazy. But I had a reason.

I planned to strategize this rift and write a post in the community.

But since other ability users wouldn’t have an angel, giving them this kind of strategy would be meaningless.

In other words, I needed to know what would happen without [Heaven’s Blessing].

“…B-but…”

“It’s okay, Ciel! I’ll protect the Master with my life!”

“…Yes.”

Ciel, after some consideration, withdrew the blessing from me.

Serena would unquestioningly follow even an incomprehensible command. In contrast, Ciel would hesitate if she thought my command might be dangerous to me.

I wondered if this difference was what made Ciel’s [Obedience] characteristic an A, compared to Serena’s [Obedience], which was A+.

“Mmm…”

When [Heaven’s Blessing] disappeared, the white light emanating from my body vanished.

My body had now lost its complete color and blended with the reddish background around me.

However, no other immediate differences could be felt.

It didn’t seem like I had become particularly weaker…

“Let’s… go outside the room for now.”

“Yes.”

As we entered the house’s living room, I saw something unpleasant entwined all over the ceiling.

Red worm-like things were clinging haphazardly, twitching.

“…”

Upon closer inspection, they resembled blood vessels.

Just as heartbeats caused blood vessels to pulse, these countless worm-like things also contracted and expanded, undulating.

“Master. An incredibly sinister energy is emanating from them.”

“Really?”

I pulled out a light and poked one of the vessels.

The vessel was severed effortlessly and spurted blood like a water gun.

At the same time…

“——————!”

An unknown, massive scream swept through the area like an earthquake.

“Cough…!”

“Master!”

“It’s okay! Stay alert!”

The blood vessels on the living room ceiling began to beat at a faster pace.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-

And from all around, torn-like moans began to flow.

“Kyaahaaaa—”

“Kyaahaaaack—!”

“Kyaahaa—”

It was a sound I had heard before.

It was the howling of the mutant zombies that had attacked Jeongbalsan Station’s department store.

“It’s a fight! Serena!”

Without a word, Serena reached out her hand and took a pose as if grasping thin air.

Then, light emanated from her whole body, and a pure white glossy armor was draped over her. A massive Zweihänder appeared in her hand.

It was her White Knight mode.

“Kyaahaack—!”

Koong—!

The living room wall crumbled, and the mutant zombies broke in.

“Kill them all!”

With my command, Serena held the Zweihänder horizontally.

“I shall obey.”

She responded, charging and swinging it mightily.

Chwaak—!

“Kyaahack!”

“Kyauck!”

With the first strike, two mutant zombies were split in half.

“Master, behind me.”

On the other side, Ciel spread her wings to shield me and stepped forward.

However, without Ciel having to lift a finger, Serena immediately turned around and leaped once more while swinging her sword.

“Kyarlururur!”

“Kyaahaa…”

In front of the White Knight, the mutant zombies were sliced like chaff.

Wherever she cut and passed, the remains of the sliced mutant zombies tumbled, and the cross-sections were sizzling as if they were burned.

The battle ended in less than a minute.

The mutant zombies that attacked us were only ten in total.

After the battle ended, the White Knight armor and her Zweihänder emitted light and disappeared, and Serena reappeared in her white T-shirt and jeans attire.

“Well done, Serena, and Ciel.”

“Hehe. Thank you!”

Ciel silently bowed her head.

“Now then… let’s go outside the house.”

The blood vessels that filled the living room ceiling extended to the entrance.

Using them as landmarks, we went outside, and the forest scenery we had passed by appeared.

The problem was that the forest was still red, as if it had been overlaid with red cellophane.

The sky was red, and the sun was black.

It was a world that felt like it would make you go mad if you kept looking at it.

Looking around, I alternately looked at Serena, Ciel, and my hand.

The two were still shining, maintaining their original color due to the effect of [Celestial Blessing], but my hand was red as if it had blended into this world.

“……”

However, I still didn’t know what other effects there were.

Even though about 10 minutes had passed since we entered the crack, I couldn’t feel any difference.

‘My mind seems a little unstable, too…’

As we kept walking and came outside, the entire landscape of the house came into view.

And then, there was…

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump—

On the roof of the house, there was something like a giant heart stuck to it, beating roughly.

Large and small blood vessels spread out from the heart like a spider web throughout the house.

The blood vessels in the living room ceiling were the ones that extended to the entrance.

“Master… That’s the culprit.”

“Huh?”

At that moment, Ciel pointed at the heart with a serious expression.

“That is the heart of this crack. There’s no doubt about it. If we break it, this crack will be sealed.”

“…Really?”

I had expected that, but…

Considering how tense I was, it was not as impressive as I thought.

Was that all? Inside the crack, we had only met ten mutant zombies?

No, perhaps the assault in the living room could have been a tremendous threat.

We defeated them with the overwhelming power of White Knight Serena, but ordinary ability users would likely have struggled against the enemies attacking from all sides.

“Let’s go there.”

I climbed the fence of the house and jumped up onto the roof.

I thought of myself as an ordinary ability user, so I deliberately didn’t ask for Ciel’s help.

As I got closer, the heart started beating more violently.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump—!

Swoosh—

I took out a light sword and thrust it deep.

Poof!

“Kieeeeeeeeeeeek—!”

A chilling scream burst out from inside the heart.

I furrowed my brows and put strength into cutting the heart.

“Kieeek, Kiek…”

The heart was torn, spewing a thick, sticky, red liquid.

And then…

Hoooom—

“Master!”

Again, a dark red wind began to whirl.

Serena and Ciel approached and embraced me.

After a few seconds, we were back where we originally were.

In the shabby living room of the house.

“…”

The red world that tired the eyes was no more.

The crack of Ashimone that floated in mid-air had disappeared as well.

“…Was the sealing successful…?”

I muttered to myself and at that moment…

Ding-!

[You have sealed the D-class Ashimone's rift.]

[Measuring contributions...]

['Serena' and 'Ciel' are confirmed to be dependent on 'Kim Doha.' The contribution will be combined with 'Kim Doha.']

[Measurement result, 'Kim Doha,' 100%.]

“…What?”

Contributions? Was this some kind of game dungeon?

While looking at the system message, another alert rang out.

Ding-!

[South Korea's first rift sealer has been born.]

[As of the current time, rankings will be assigned according to the contribution in defeating Ashimone's minions.]

[Rankings will be reflected in real-time and can be checked anytime through the system.]

[Please set the name to be registered in the ranking.]

[Name:]

“…Name?”

I entered my name for now. Kim Doha.

“What’s this sudden ranking about…”

I muttered in disbelief as a system window appeared before my eyes.

Contribution Ranking

※ Defeating Ashimone's minions is the will of Goddess Hestia. The more you contribute, the more blessings you can receive from Hestia.

st place. Kim Doha

nd place. None

rd place. None

.

.

.

th place. None

[See more]

It was a ranking window.

While reading the phrase written there, my cell phone suddenly started to shake violently.

Jiiing—

Jiiing—

Jiiing—

“…Could it be?”

When I checked, I found messages from Baek Seona, Lee Jinah, Jin Serim, and many others asking what was going on.

“It was a global notification…!”

It seemed that my name had spread all over South Korea.