It wasn't as big as he thought it'd be.
The Dimensional Crack was roughly ten feet tall and only around three feet wide. It didn't have much depth, almost like a two-dimensional structure in three-dimensional space.
It was dark black with red arcs of electricity running across its surface, giving it a pretty dangerous look, but all in all, it was quite easy to write off as something trivial.
There wasn't anything else in the area but snow.
The entire Bloomberg Principality was covered in snow and ice. Even the small villages and big cities that existed here were built into it.
Luckily, the crack opened in a relatively unpopulated area.
It was only spotted by travelers moving between cities, and wouldn't cause havoc in the case that it truly ruptured.
When Damien and the rest arrived in a group of ten, they became one of many groups present in the vicinity.
However, the black and purple robes they wore to indicate their affiliation made everyone part ways for them.
The forces from Void Palace. Even if their names and faces were unknown, the fact that the palace sent them meant their strength was guaranteed.
Damien looked around, the others following close behind him.
'Hmm…are all these people participating in the rupture?'
There were over five hundred present. The number seemed a bit blown out of proportion to Damien, but considering how strange the crack had been acting, it was warranted.
'I guess they don't underestimate as much as I assumed they did. It's still too pitiful on a large scale, but the fact that people showed up like this is good too.'
The group walked from place to place, accepting greetings from the many subsidiary clans who came to see them.
Eventually, though, Damien found a person with some actual value.
"Hello, sir. My name is Inca Smith. It is my job to monitor the crack and judge the time until it ruptures."
The woman who came up to him introduced herself, and after gaining his permission, led his group to a nearby set that looked like it had only recently been set up.
Inside, several pieces of equipment were set up that gave off readings that the average practitioner could never understand.
There were four people present, five counting Inca. According to her, they came from a nearby clan called the Peralius Clan, and they'd been focused on mapping and monitoring Dimensional Cracks for several hundred years.
Damien left the majority of his group outside to their own devices and followed Inca into the tent with Dominic, Darius, and Tiamat.
Meanwhile, Inca continued explaining how they managed to do their research despite the little interest the majority of the world had in the field.
"Our instruments measure a myriad of factors to ultimately come to a conclusion, but the main ones are mana intensity, atmospheric fluctuation, and corrosion."
"Take this gate as an example."
Inca walked them over to a nearby machine being operated by one of her colleagues and continued her explanation.
"Here, we can see that the atmospheric fluctuation caused by the crack is far above normal levels. There have been signs of reality warping, which, on our scale of danger, can be counted as something above the highest degree."
She started strong, letting them know just how bad the situation was.
"However, as we continued testing, we found something even more confusing."
She pointed out another variable and continued. t
"The mana intensity is basically nil. There's hardly any leakage from the crack, which is exceedingly rare. For the most part, we'll be able to tell what's inside the crack by judging the intensity of the mana it emanates due to their presence, but it's completely impossible this time."
"And, the corrosion value is almost just hard to accept."
Corrosion used several factors that Damien didn't quite understand to determine how fast the land would be converted when the rupture started.
It was the most important variable, because of the corrosion rate was unimaginable, then far stronger forces needed to be used to fight against the crack.
If it wasn't closed within just a few minutes, massive swatches of the world would be turned into Foreign Territories, which had more than a few negative effects on the atmosphere.
"Interesting…"
It was a branch of science Damien had never seen before. Despite the wealth of knowledge he possessed, he couldn't understand even an ounce of the actual processes behind their conclusions.
'I'll have to meet with them again after all this is over.'
But for now, they couldn't focus on the details of the science.
"How long until the rupture occurs?" Damien asked.
That was apparently the final goal of their research, but clearly that was a lie used to interest people in their work.
Predicting ruptures was at most a byproduct of their efforts.
Still, it was their hook for a reason. It was the reason Damien came, and he needed to hear that before everything else.
Inca and her colleagues were obviously a bit disappointed by his words, but they understood as well.
Plus, Damien showed a clear interest in what they were doing, unlike most who visited them, so they didn't immediately lose hope.
They wanted Void Palace's backing. With support from such a large influence, they'd be able to do so much more with what they had.
And to succeed in gaining that backing, they needed to properly impress the group that came to investigate this crack.
"Thirty minutes."
Inca spoke without hesitation, giving not a timeframe, but a specific point when it would open.
"I like your confidence, but are you sure?" Damien responded.
"I'm sure. Just watch, and you'll see soon enough."
Damien smiled slightly.
'I like her confidence.'
Inca had the eyes of someone who'd make it big.
After taking note of her existence, Damien left the tent with his people and began preparing for the rupture.
"You believe her?" Tiamat asked.
"Why wouldn't I?" Damien returned.
"...I don't know. It just felt a little fast."
Tiamat had been in the Sanctuary for the majority of the time Damien was in the Heavenly World.
She wasn't familiar with this place's environment, but she knew not to be so trusting of people she'd just met.
However, Damien just shrugged in response.
"Scientists don't like to lie. There's no harm in trusting her abilities. Even if she's wrong, it just means her confidence was a lie. It doesn't affect me much."
More than that, Damien could read souls now. He didn't really need to worry about people with hostile intentions, since he'd always know beforehand.
Nevertheless, it was just a question out of nowhere. Tiamat also got ready to attack the crack. Her complaints were no more than words.
The group was given strange looks from all around for their actions.
Some just laughed, some questioned Void Palace and called them cowards, while others took note of them and followed their actions, preparing for the crack.
And as thirty minutes ticked by with Inca on the edge of her seat watching its movements, the crack began to fluctuate.
VOOM!
A huge aura was revealed from the previously sleeping beast.
Hundreds of people were thrown away, with only those who sufficiently readied themselves beforehand able to keep their footing.
As Inca predicted, exactly thirty minutes after Damien and the rest arrived at the Dimensional Crack, it opened its jaws.
And a flood of otherworldly beings poured out.
