Immediately after the Gate of Demonâs Cave opened, a zombie monster bird grabbed Sungwooâs shoulder and jumped up to where the Messenger was on standby.
After getting on the deck, Sungwoo hurriedly entered the control room.
âWeâre ready to depart!â
Watching Sungwoo come into the control room, Kyungsoo shouted. He took over control of the control room in this operation. A total of 25 people were mobilized for this operation, including the crew in charge of steering, Hanho, Li Wei, Black Lion, and White Wolf.
âThe portal has grown large enough! We can pass through it!â
Seated at the captainâs seat, Sungwoo was watching at the front. Outside the window, the purple portal that opened in the air was growing bigger and bigger with lots of vibration. The hole sucked in all the air around the area and created a vortex.
âThe second floor of Demonâs Cave is definitely different.â
It was the first time he saw a two-story Demonâs Cave. He didnât know what the concept of âsecond floorâ meant, but it was clear that it was a more dangerous place than a normal Demonâs cave.
At that moment, something popped out of the portal. It was just a head with no eyes and no nose, only a terrible mouth. Dozens of them started coming out one after another.
âTheyâre coming out!â
âNow, get ready to fight!â
Finally, monster creatures began to appear in droves from the Gate of Demonâs Cave.
âBreak through them right now!â
Gugugugugu-
As soon as Sungwoo gave an order, the entire airship vibrated from exerting its maximum output of the engine that they had turned on in advance, they began to push the giant airship forward. Then, like a cart full of stuff, the airship moved slowly at first, then accelerated quickly.
Woowoowooo!
The flag hanging on the bow fluttered violently. The airship got close to the portal suddenly.
âWeâre crashing against the portal!â
Just before the demons popped out of the portal, the Messenger slammed into them heavily.
Thud! Thud!
No matter how strong and fierce the monsters were, they could not withstand a head-on collision with such a giant airship. After all, they bounced back into the portal.
âWeâre getting into the portal!â
The Messenger also tried to enter the portal.
Geeeeeeeeeeee-
The moment the airship pushed forward into that sticky portal, a bright light burst out as if it was trying to push it back. They felt a strong resistance. But the portal couldnât stop this massive airship run by magical power. After all, starting with the bow of the ship, its stern was quickly sucked into the portal.
â You have entered the Demonâs Cave of the alien world.
Finally, Sungwoo and his party arrived there.
***
Exploring the unknown always leads to unexpected things. If they did not overcome it, they arrive at the only predictable phenomenon: death.
âDamn it!â
About 20 minutes after entering the Demonâs Cave, the Messenger could not do anything.
âMan, we canât do anything here because we canât see...â
Visibility was nil. They could not see anything, literally. The Black Lion was trying to detect something, but it didnât seem he could do so yet.
Kugugugugugugu-
The violent sandstorm shook the Messenger. It was almost like they were diving into rough muddy water, so it was hard for them to come to their senses because they had no sense of direction.
âDo you see anything?â
âNope!â
âI donât see anything. The altimeter doesnât work, so I canât figure out where weâre flying.â
The crew didnât know what to do either. All they had to do was slow down the cruising speed as much as possible and wait until they could see something.
Kugugugugugugugu-
However, they could not see anything other than something hazy like a screen with noise. They had headaches and nausea while watching it. They might go crazy if they were forced to keep watching it.
âWell, as things stand now, we wonât be able to move forward even if we knew the direction...â
Even if the Black Lion could find out the direction, they couldnât move without being able to see clearly because they were not sure if anything formidable was blocking their ship.
The wizards flew âmagic dronesâ and Sungwoo also summoned âSpecterâ, but they didnât help much.
âGosh, I already told you so!â Li Wei groaned, covering her forehead with hands. âYou know what? They are swirling like this for half a day! This is a crazy place!â
Since she had an experience of escaping from the Devilâs Cave, she was aboard the Messenger, but it seemed she regretted coming with them.
At that moment, one crew member shouted.
âUh? Steer the ship!â
Everyone turned their heads to the right. Something popped out of the sandstorm.
âDamn it! Prepare for the clash!â
It was a building. They avoided a head-on collision with it because the helmsman quickly steered the ship away.
The right hull of the airship scraped past the building. Even the slightest friction caused the control room to shake violently. If they had turned the ship a little late, they would have fallen into the sea like a ship that hit a reef.
The players in the control room stared blankly at the huge building disappearing to the rear right. But no matter how much they thought about it, they couldnât understand what was going on.
âHey, a building in Demonâs Cave? Itâs true we saw a building a moment ago, right?â
âWhat the hell is this place?â
Stunned by what they just witnessed, they began to whisper here and there.
âYeah, it was definitely a building,â Sungwoo muttered to himself.
What he could confirm at the passing moment was a building in a ruined state with all the windows smashed. Based on that, he could imagine the scenes of a general office building where desks, chairs, computers, and file folders were all scattered everywhere.
At that moment, an unsolvable question came to his mind.
âWhere am I?â
At that moment, somebody shouted, âWeâre starting to see something!â
After they passed by the building, they could see something to some extent because something huge was blocking the sandstorm. And the identity of the veil was now clear. In other words, they were blocked by the shadow of the building.
The Messenger was now flying through a forest of buildings.
âHey, where are we now?â
âRaise the altitude!â
Buildings were as menacing as the reefs that appeared in the storm. The Messenger hurriedly increased its altitude to get out of the huge obstacles then succeeded in escaping from the place by navigating through the skyscrapers adroitly.
âWhew! Weâre out of there!â
Without slacking off, however, they watched the buildings disappearing away under their feet.
But they were shocked to find out where they were now.
âSungwoo, this is Seoul, isnât it?â
As Hanho said, it resembled the scenery of Seoul. And Kyungsoo found conclusive evidence.
âSungwoo, look over there. As far as I know, it is a financial center in Seoul. This place must be Kangnam or South of Han River!â
Like he said, it was downtown Kangnam. All the buildings ranging from those in Gangnam Station to those in Seolleung Station were seen vaguely in the sandstorm.
Sungwoo turned to Li Wei and said, âLi Wei, how was it when you entered the Demonâs Cave?â
As if she didnât expect to see such a scene, she looked embarrassed.
âWell, I stayed only on the ground, and I was so absent-minded that I couldnât see clearly, but I think I was in Shanghai.â
Sungwoo stood up. Then, he approached the window and checked out the outside once more.
âThen, is this place part of the Earth?â
Li Wei approached Sungwoo and said, âWell, I guess so, but this is not the Earth we used to know. The real Shanghai I know was not like this, but Seoul is still intact, right? Itâs definitely a different space.â