The first thing that Iron did when he regained consciousness was to join the Ghosts that were in the middle of a fierce fight.

Although he was exhausted and injured, he felt much better than when he was unconscious and facing the witch. This was mainly thanks to the green power that surrounded Iron’s body.

The healing power was simultaneously healing both his internal and external injuries. In addition, the mana from the Black Forest came in and refilled his exhausted mana. 

‘Is this because the witch’s strength has weakened?’

The mana of the Black Forest and Two Moons’ power that had been restricted by the witch’s power had been gradually released. Because of this, his synchronization with Two Moons was getting better than before. His sensitivity to the mana of the Black Forest was also increasing like crazy. Even now, he could feel that his divine power was continuously rising. 

‘If it’s like this then…’ 

He was filled with mana. And he even gained something from his fight with the Ghost King. These two things gave Iron the confidence to fight strongly.

Bang!

Lintel’s eyes widened when he saw Iron joining the fray while facing an explosion. After all, Iron remained fine despite going against a specter’s explosion that was trying to target the exhausted Lintel’s back. 

“You… did something change?” 

“Is that so?” 

Lintel murmured blankly to himself as he stared at the mana that was wrapped all over Iron’s body. 

The mana of the Black Forest was shining strangely as if it was synchronizing and working together with Iron’s divine power. That was in addition to Baepsae’s shining green light of healing that was already shining on Iron’s body. And that wasn’t all. Although it was just a little bit, Lintel saw something had changed in Iron’s mana when he saw him blocking the specter’s explosion. 

‘Did I get closer to Steel?’

Iron mumbled as he listened to Lintel’s words.

Although it was only a bit, the color of his mana had certainly changed. In addition, his sensitivity towards the divine beast had increased rapidly after his deal with the witch was over. 

Lintel also began to cut the incoming specters when he saw Iron smiling pleasantly as he cut the specters. Perhaps it was because Iron had joined the fight that the Ghosts were now able to relax for a bit. 

Iron’s force right now was infinitely closer to the 5th Stage. He was also able to nullify the witch’s debuff through the mana from the Black Forest. And thanks to Baepsae’s powers, the Ghosts, who were exhausted, were being healed and revitalized. When all of these three factors added up together, the exhausted Ghosts began to get enlivened once again. 

‘I’m really a Ghost now, right?’

Even if his current force was still a bit lower than the rest, he was still able to supplement it with his divine power. 

Iron smiled happily  as he fought more sharply and more energetically with the other Ghosts. 

When the Ghosts were finally able to defeat all of the specters around them, the Ghost King also stopped pushing them back. It seemed like fighting and pushing them back was consuming a lot of power so it retreated back to the dimensional gate to make the battle line more refined. 

Because of this, the Ghosts were given enough time to catch their breaths. 

“Hoo…”

Iron let out a breath while wiping his sweat. He then turned to look at Carl Gustav who was busy fighting against specters and dolls in the air. 

With a flourish of Carl Gustav’s sword, a shockwave entwined with mana swept away the remaining dolls and specters which ended the battle. Then, he approached Iron. 

“Are you alright now?”

“Yes.”

Iron answered quietly as he stared at the gate. He could now see the mana flow clearly after regaining consciousness. And he could see that the mana in the surrounding was still flowing to the gate. 

‘Are the void insects blocking the mana from going outside?’

At first glance, one would think that the dimensional gate was made entirely of the void insects. But if one looked closely, they would be able to see that the void insects could not move since they were forcefully holding the mana inside. The problem was that the witch was still continuing to condense the mana together despite it already being condensed to its limits.

‘But the dimensional gate is already completed, so why…’ 

In fact, the gate had already reached completion. All that remained was to territorialize the area with contaminated mana. But the witch still collected mana. In fact, it would be easier for her to deal with Crimson and Two Moons if she stopped collecting mana. After all, most of the witch’s mana was being consumed to forcibly attract the surrounding mana to the gate.

“Why in the world…?” 

The Ghosts gathered around Iron when they heard him muttering seriously to himself.

“What is it? What’s making you look all serious…?” 

Billie Brandt immediately grabbed Lintel’s hand when he tried to ask Iron. Billie quickly put a finger to his lips to make him shut up as he shook his head at him. Iron was left in his thoughts when Lintel shut his mouth at the signal. 

What the witch said to me…

‘We can’t stop the dimensional cracks.’ 

That meant that they had no intention of maintaining the state of the dimensional gate.

So the mana that is being concentrated to the limit…

‘Mana explosion?’ 

If mana was compressed to its limit, it would be forced to explode. It was a theory that not only the wizards but even the swordsmen knew. Swordsmen who used explosives also used this theory. Even the wizards who specialized in explosive magic also created their magic based on this theory. 

What would happen if these were combined?

“Is she trying to make the dimensional gate explode?” 

The Ghosts’ expressions hardened when they heard the conclusion that Iron came up with.

“Gate explosion? Like the one in the Winter Mountains? But why would the witch want that?” 

Lintel looked like he could not understand why. 

Although there would be a lot of void insects that would come out, in the long run, it would still be advantageous for their side. After all, the dimensional crack would be sealed no matter what. 

However, the witch clearly told Iron that the dimensional crack in the Winter Mountains would also explode. That meant that the cracks located in the Frost Mountain Range and the Historical Great Rift were also most likely going to have a surge too. 

That means…

‘Is she trying to explode this gate to affect the entire Northeast in the aftermath?’ 

Iron’s face turned pale the moment he made that conclusion. 

He knew that it was just a simple matter for the witch to explode this dimensional crack. If she did that, she would be able to increase its size as well as increase the amount of contaminated mana and the shockwave that it would produce. 

So what would happen if the dimensional cracks all over the Northeast exploded despite it being incompletely opened?

There would be a lot of creatures from the void. Even contaminated monsters would increase. The environment would be completely affected to the point that it could breed mutants from the increase in contaminated mana. 

If this happened, the monsters would leave the Northeast and run to the North. There would be huge movements among the monsters as they tried to survive. And even the mutated creatures that have been continuously produced after the explosion would also move. 

“Monster wave…” 

Her actions would be enough to create a disaster that was infinitely closer to a medium-scaled monster wave. Although it was not as large as the one in his previous life, and it was only on a medium-scale, the entirety of the current Northeast would still need to bet everything that they have right now just so they could endure such a disaster.

“What?” 

“What are you talking about?!” 

“Explain it in detail!” 

Iron just turned to look at Carl Gustav despite the shouts of the Ghosts for more details. He looked like he did not have enough time to explain it to them.

“Can you blow away the void insects that are stacked all over the dimensional gate?” 

Carl Gustav nodded at Iron’s question. 

“It’s possible, as long as I can approach it. However…” 

He smiled bitterly as he watched the numerous specters, ghost trees and dolls that the Ghost King had summoned to protect the dimensional gate. Even the Ghost King, a creature that was formidable by itself, was using its own scythe to protect the gate. Although he knew that it had consumed a lot of power in the fight against Iron before, its only restriction was not being able to summon a huge ghost army. Carl knew that its power was still more than enough to deal with them.

“You have to do it even if it’s hard.” 

The Ghosts remained silent when they heard Iron’s firm and heavy tone. 

“You have to go beyond breaking the dimensional gate. We need to blow away the mana that makes up the dimensional gate itself! Otherwise… a monster wave will occur!” 

“Hoo… Let’s say we’ll do it. How can we even blow away the mana in the dimensional gate?” 

Carl Gustav was the one who answered Lintel’s question.

“I have to smash the dimensional gate first and ask the Wizard Tower to do it for us.” 

“…Yes. We first need to urgently stop the dimensional crack from getting stronger.”

Iron told the Ghosts what they needed to do before trying to move quickly. But before he could move, he made eye contact with the witch who was fighting against Crimson. He could see that a smile was visible on her eyes. It was as if she knew what he was going to do. 

“Goddamnit!” 

Iron hurriedly cut down the specters as he advanced forward while the Ghosts gathered around Carl Gustav. They had immediately gone into a defensive formation that protected Carl Gustav, the key figure in smashing away the dimensional gate. 

But the Ghost King was not someone who just played around. The Ghost King immediately blocked them. The Ghosts moved forward and tried to stab through its huge scythe.

“Please move on ahead.”

Iron, who had always been protected, was the one who blocked the Ghost King and the specters this time as he paved the way for them. 

Lintel and Billie Brandt smiled when they saw this. This was because they felt that their youngest, who was still green and immature, had finally grown up. They felt both happy and proud. 

The other Ghosts also moved to block the Ghost King just so they could get the three most powerful Ghosts, Carl Gustav, Lintel and Billie Brandt, to the dimensional gate. Although numerous specters tried to stop them, the Ghosts did their best to deal with them. This time, Iron was also with the other Ghosts.

“Please get rid of the specters first.”

“Can you hold out?”

Iron nodded at Milton, who was busy using his explosive swordsmanship. 

“Maybe a few minutes?”

“Hang in there.”

Milton patted Iron’s shoulders before moving to deal with the swarm of specters. The other Ghosts also left the Ghost King to Iron before running out to deal with the specters.

―We meet again.

The Ghost King smiled with its hollow mouth carved in its pumpkin head. 

“Aren’t you in a hurry? Come at me.”

―But aren’t you the one in a hurry?

The Ghost King left these words as if it could see through Iron’s heart. 

―And I don’t have to be in a hurry. After all, I already got what I wanted…

The Ghost King looked at the dimensional gate as he said so.

Iron’s expression hardened as he turned to look in the same direction. This was because the surroundings had started to tremble and shake while the contaminated mana began to rise. 

“Is it already too late?”

Iron mumbled to himself.

Even the specters that blocked the Ghosts had also started to disappear one by one. Just like the dark elves from earlier, the specters sacrificed themselves and used their force. It was as if they were finally done with their other jobs and the only thing left for them to do was to accelerate the collapse of the dimensional gate.

“This was a fight that could never be stopped.”

It seemed like the witch had only met with him after finishing all of the preparations. Iron glared at the witch. The witch parried Crimson and Two Moons as she faced him. 

―I had fun after a long time.

―Don’t forget that the witch’s contract is valid even after my death.

The Ghost King and the witch spoke their final words to Iron as their bodies gradually turned to dust.

Even the witch’s numerous puppets and the Ghost King’s servants started to turn into blue powder. The blue powder flew in and got absorbed by the collapsing dimensional gate.

“Is there nothing else that I can do?”

Iron stared blankly at the disappearing witch and Ghost King. 

Suddenly, an unexpected sound woke him up from his daze.

―Ppiii!

“Huh?” 

The sound from earlier was also followed by Baepsae’s familiar chirps.

―Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet!

Iron hurriedly gathered his senses as he listened to Baepsae’s chirps. He finally realized that the sound from earlier came from phoenix. So he nodded his head as he listened to phoenix’s tweets once again.

―Ppiii!

“Phoenix?”

―Ppiii, ppiii!

“You know how to reduce that?” 

―Ppiii!

Phoenix’s words began to bring life back into Iron’s dulled eyes. 

“Alright. Whatever it is, let’s do it.” 

Iron quickly raised his mana. 

There wasn’t anything that was blocking his way anymore. Now that the witch and the Ghost King had disappeared, the only ones left were the people on their side, who were all staring at the dimensional gate blankly. They all looked at the sky as if everything that they did was futile. 

But there was still someone with hope. The youngest soldier among them moved towards the dimensional gate with eyes that were filled with hope. 

And not long after, a miracle happened.