Bale lost the ability to speak.

"So the kid will be fine because she is a great mage?"

Because she is the strongest among the strong, and perhaps, like Valentis Luminel, she will overcome the darkening and escape?

A heavy sigh escaped from deep inside.

"Of course."

Even if Astie is a great mage with monstrous power, what of it.

"She is four years old."

In his mind appeared a clear image of Astie inside the subspace, encountering the darkening and sitting there crying.

Bale clenched his teeth and stared at Nordix.

"We need to find a way. Old man."

Nordix turned toward him with a grim face.

"They say there is no way, so how can we—"

"And what, we are just going to watch? Watch our squad leader get eaten by Krazar?!"

Everyone fell silent.

But at that moment—

"Um, maybe... we could try this?"

Enzo, who had been silent the whole time, raised his hand with a serious expression.

At his next words, Bale’s eyes widened.

Kiiiiik—

With a loud screech, the rusty iron gate swung open.

Tie carefully grabbed the doorframe and climbed over the high cement threshold.

"Gold... apartments..."

Her anxious eyes quickly scanned the surroundings.

Since arriving in this strange Korea, Tie had been wandering through the streets for a week. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Fortunately, not long ago she had finally found a familiar alley.

[Jongno gu XX dong, Hyonnimro 6.]

Tie looked at the blue address plate on the wall and swallowed.

"Right."

Tie had known her home address since infancy.

Gold Apartments stood in such a winding alley that the aunt from apartment 203 once spent an entire day teaching her the address.

So this place should definitely be correct.

"It has to be..."

She cautiously peeked through the iron gate again.

The broken pavement stones and the thick grass growing between them looked just like the alley near her home.

Even the puddles of rainwater gathered along the road because of the low terrain.

"But why is there no yellow picture...?"

There should have been a yellow wall painting with a butterfly.

If you passed that butterfly and turned right, Gold Apartments would appear.

But no matter how much she looked around, the butterfly drawing was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe it is not here..."

Tie pressed her lips together and cautiously stepped out from the iron gate.

Then she turned her head and tried again to determine the road she had come from.

"...Sniff."

The tears she had been holding back slipped out again.

No matter how she looked.

No matter how she searched, Gold Apartments would not appear.

It would have been easier if this were a completely unfamiliar place, but everything around her looked both familiar and strange at the same time, and that made it unbearably painful.

"It is fine. I will find it."

Tie stepped onto the empty night street and pulled her clothes tighter around herself.

It did not help. Her rain soaked clothes gave no warmth at all.

How long she walked, she did not know.

Soon another similar alley and iron gate appeared.

"Maybe this time it is right!"

Tie ran to the gate and pushed the rough metal surface with all her strength.

Desperately hoping she had finally found the correct place.

But the sight beyond the opened gate was—

"...The same."

Exactly the same strange alley she had already checked long ago and left.

Even though she had walked for a long time and turned away from there.

A chill ran through her body.

"Typhoon. Darkness. A crackling radio. And these labyrinth streets."

All of it had been terrifying.

But she endured and endured.

Because here Tie was alone.

Because here she could not call her bone friends or her subordinates.

So she thought that crying would not change anything.

But now it was the limit.

"...Hnn."

Tie plopped down beside the gate like a raccoon whose cotton candy had gotten soaked.

"I wanna go home..."

It was too scary here.

Since the moment she encountered the crackling radio, she had already felt as if her heart would stop about ten times.

Tie sniffled and curled into a ball.

At that moment—

Shhhhh—

Right behind her, an unpleasant fog suddenly began to swirl.

Moving silently, it quickly surrounded Tie.

"Uncle Basto... uuu..."

The fog spread wide, as if it were about to devour the curled up Tie.

It paused for a moment, as though savoring the scent before a meal.

And just as the fog was about to descend upon Tie—

"Found you! Finally! I finally found you!"

A man suddenly burst out from the alley on the other side of the gate.

Tie abruptly raised her head.

And when she saw his face, her mouth fell open.

Hair completely soaked with rain.

A face that clearly showed exhaustion after a long search.

And Tie’s small backpack in his hand.

The man, pale and rushing forward to lift Tie to her feet—

"King of the Dead! What in the world did you do with Krazar’s core?!"

It was none other ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ than the master of the forges of the weapons district, Berugon.

"...Subspace?"

In front of a convenience store.

Under a torn awning, Tie repeated the word Berugon had just spoken.

With a serious face, Berugon answered.

"Yes, subspace. Right here!"

Tie closed her mouth again.

Berugon’s explanation was so complicated that her head began to spin.

But if she understood correctly—

"Then this is not the real Jongno?"

Berugon looked at Tie suspiciously and nodded.

"Correct. To be more precise, this is an illusory space. Nothing here is real."

"...Oh."

Covering her mouth with her tiny hand, Tie lowered her gaze.

Then in a trembling voice, as if she finally understood everything, she said,

"I thought so."

Now that she had heard Berugon’s explanation, all the mysteries fit together.

The endless labyrinth alleys she had wandered through.

The strangely empty streets.

And the rain that never stopped.

"I thought it was weird there are so many things here that scare Tie!"

Her gaze slid toward a sewer grate on the empty street where a dark red haze drifted.

"But that means he made all of this to eat Tie!"

For some time now the haze had been circling in one place, watching Tie and Berugon.

The haze had no eyes, so how could it be watching?

But somehow Tie clearly felt its gaze.

Swallowing, Tie tightly grabbed Berugon’s sleeve.

"Chief, then how do we get out?"

That was the question Tie had wanted to ask the entire time while listening to his explanation.

"How do we get out before we get eaten?"

Berugon had been troubled by that same question.

How do we get out...

In theory, the method for escaping Krazar’s subspace was known.

One had to find the spatial veil inside the subspace and tear it apart.

In other words, find the boundary where the subspace ended.

Berugon looked around and let out a heavy sigh.

"But in a place like this..."

His gaze fell once more on the small King of the Dead sitting beside him.

"What kind of inner fear do you have?"

The King of the Dead’s eyes widened.

"Huh?"

"Where exactly are we right now?"