Chapter 34
Chapter 34
That night.
Sang-hyeok used up his remaining Iron Rookie entry passes.
The third match didn't take long, either.
The opposing team sent three people at Sang-hyeok from the start, but it was the three of them who went down first.
[Iron Rookie Individual Record: 3W 0L]
[MVP: 3 Consecutive Matches]
[Korea Season Score from Sang-hyeok's Matches: +9]
The match formats were all different, but the results were the same every time.
Back in the settlement space, Sang-hyeok took an old scroll from his inventory.
[Authority Enhancement Ticket]
It was a reward he had completed by clearing the hidden objective on the 20th floor.
Sang-hyeok had been putting off using it.
He had wanted to see the limits of his newly acquired Authority firsthand before deciding where to use it.
[<Erasure>]
[<Demonic Dragon’s Eye>]
[<Demonic Dragon’s Bloodflow>]
[<Demonic Dragon’s Dominance>]
None of the choices would have been a waste.
Enhancing <Erasure> would sharpen his strongest offensive tool even further.
If <Demonic Dragon’s Eye> grew, he would be able to analyze more complex structures faster than before.
<Demonic Dragon’s Bloodflow> could give him more leeway to use his Authorities for longer.
All of them were powers Sang-hyeok needed.
But what he lacked most right now was a way to suppress multiple enemies at once.
<Erasure> was powerful.
For now, though, he still had to erode each enemy one by one.
The more opponents he had to deal with, the more time and mana he inevitably consumed.
To earn SSS on every floor from here on, he needed to be able to handle clear time and hit count, of course, but also respond to whatever hidden objective appeared.
In that sense, <Demonic Dragon’s Dominance> could fill the gap in Sang-hyeok's arsenal: wide-area suppression.
He could force weaker enemies to submit all at once and focus only on the strong ones in the meantime.
'If I'm aiming for SSS on every floor, this comes first.'
Sang-hyeok made his choice.
"<Demonic Dragon’s Dominance>."
The letters on the scroll blazed dark red.
Fwoosh!
The light gathered into Sang-hyeok's chest and seeped into the Heart of the Apocalypse Demonic Dragon.
Thump!
His heart gave a powerful beat.
「<Demonic Dragon’s Dominance> is being enhanced.」
[Authority Stage]
[Stage 1 → Stage 2]
[You can focus your dominance on a single target.]
[Mana consumption decreases when spreading it across multiple beasts.]
[Beasts of a higher level than the user will have a harder time shaking off the dominance than before.]
[<Authority Enhancement Ticket> Held: 0]
Sang-hyeok narrowed the range of his dominance to around his right hand.
Unlike before, he could now designate the range.
When he expanded it again, the dominance spread across the entire room.
Even so, the mana consumed was less than before.
'It's definitely changed.'
He would need to test this change directly against a strong beast.
That chance would come soon.
* * *
The next morning.
A short message came from Kim Seo-yun.
[Kim Seo-yun: Finished thirty mass-produced units. They all passed the same conditions, and not a single rare tower material went into them.]
[Kim Seo-yun: If you can get field data from Impossible One, send it over right away.]
Kim Do-hyeon had arranged things so that Sang-hyeok delivered Ilseong's equipment to Impossible One.
Kim Seo-yun, unaware that Impossible One was her own younger brother, had entrusted Sang-hyeok with a piece of field-ready equipment.
Sang-hyeok checked the performance of the equipment his sister had handed him once more.
Ilseong's mass-produced model could be made using only ordinary mana stones and existing production facilities.
It was equipment that deployed a backup shield once more when the first shield broke.
The Association had said it would consider a pilot supply of eighty units if the equipment passed the field-data review and official verification, and seven guilds were also waiting for samples.
But there were no formal contracts yet.
First, it had to prove its function in the tower.
Sang-hyeok equipped the gear and entered the 22nd-floor solo trial.
Rumble!
Lightning fell without pause over a plain under low-hanging dark clouds.
[Floor 22 Solo Trial: <Lightning-Struck Plain>]
[Basic Objective]
[Destroy the discharge core at the end of the plain.]
[Hidden Objective]
[Do not use a single lightning rod stone.]
Seven lightning rod stones stood across the plain, reducing the force of the lightning strikes.
Sang-hyeok intended to take the strongest bolt head-on with Ilseong's equipment instead of using the lightning rod stones.
Sang-hyeok walked past the nearest lightning rod stone.
At the same time, his pupils deepened to a dark red.
'<Demonic Dragon’s Eye>.'
The flow of mana moving between the dark clouds and the ground came into view.
Three streams among them were converging on a single point.
That was where the strongest bolt would fall in a moment.
Even <Demonic Dragon’s Eye> couldn't tell him whether the equipment would hold up.
Still, he had already checked an escape route in case the shield failed.
Sang-hyeok didn't hesitate and ran toward that spot.
Whoosh!
He threw himself into the place where the three bolts were merging.
Boom!
The first shield shattered to pieces.
But before the lightning could reach Sang-hyeok, the equipment at his waist flashed again.
Fwoosh!
[Backup shield automatically deploying.]
The second shield blocked the remaining current.
'Good.'
He had confirmed the performance he needed.
But the lightning on the Lightning-Struck Plain didn't end with one strike.
Rumble!
The next bolt gathered inside the dark clouds.
Sang-hyeok no longer relied on the equipment's shield.
He read where the lightning would fall before the mana streams converged.
When the right side was blocked, he slipped left; when something cut off his front, he changed direction immediately.
Boom! Boom!
Lightning struck late wherever Sang-hyeok had already passed.
The bolts kept hammering the plain, but not a single one touched his body.
At the end of the plain floated a discharge core the size of a human head.
[Discharge Core Lv.22]
Lightning struck in front of the discharge core.
The moment the bolt vanished, Sang-hyeok crossed that spot and seized the sphere.
'<Erasure>.'
Tssssss!
From the point where his hand touched, the sphere turned to black sand.
When the discharge core completely disappeared, the dark clouds scattered quickly as well.
「Floor 22 Solo Trial complete.」
[Lightning Rod Stones Used: 0/7]
[Direct Hits on Player: 0]
[Clear Time: 01:38]
[Conquest Rating: SSS]
[Ilseong Mass-Produced Defense Equipment]
[Maximum Field Defense Output: 144]
[Mana Recharge Rate: 12.1%]
[Backup Shield Deployment: Normal]
[Equipment Function Stops: 0]
「Your level has increased.」
[Lv.22 → Lv.23]
「<Flawless Climb> consecutive record updated.」
[Solo Climb SSS Rating: 22 Consecutive]
[Cumulative Hidden Objectives Achieved: 7]
[<Footsteps into the Uncharted>: 2/10]
「Hidden objective assembly reward granted.」
[You have obtained 1 <Authority Enhancement Ticket Fragment>.]
[Current Assembly Progress: 1/3]
He had just used up all his enhancement tickets strengthening <Demonic Dragon’s Dominance>, and now the first fragment for the next ticket had come in right away.
Sang-hyeok put the fragment into his inventory in good spirits.
Then, after returning to reality, Sang-hyeok separated out only the equipment's field-performance figures and sent them to Ilseong.
This would become the foundation for Ilseong's equipment to seize market share from Taeseong's monopoly.
* * *
At the same time.
Korea Players Association headquarters, underground situation room.
A map of South Korea hung on the main screen.
It was a map that, every quarter, used to be covered in red rift markers.
But now, no predicted rifts were displayed anywhere in the country.
[South Korea’s Projected Deficit Points for This Quarter: 0]
[Excess Contribution Beyond Stability Requirement: +4,000]
[Currently Estimated Rift Portals: 0]
Seo Jin-ho, head of the National Strategy Headquarters, asked.
"What are the chances the score falls short again before settlement?"
An analyst answered immediately.
"There's no scenario where the current score decreases. However, if a rift remaining within the country runs wild, the stability requirement could rise."
"The likelihood?"
"All existing rifts are within control range. Barring external variables, it's under one percent."
For a long moment, Seo Jin-ho couldn't say anything.
Until last quarter, he had been forced to decide which region to abandon first.
Every time, he had weighed priorities with a bleeding heart.
But this time, there were no rifts to prioritize at all.
A man sitting at one side of the meeting table slowly unclenched his fist.
Yu Hyeon-seok.
He was South Korea's overall rank 1 player at Lv.68.
"If a large rift had opened again this time, I was prepared to throw myself at it to close it."
Yu Hyeon-seok looked at the screen without a single rift marker and laughed quietly.
"There's no need for that anymore."
He spoke with a smile, but his voice was hoarse.
"We owe Impossible One a great debt."
"Indeed. This is a debt owed by all of South Korea."
No Korean ranker had ever produced these numbers alone.
Yet a single rookie player who hadn't even revealed their name was erasing the sacrifices all of South Korea had been forced to bear.
There was no one in this room who didn't know that fact.
Seo Jin-ho gave orders immediately.
"Stop designating additional evacuation targets. Response teams will remain on standby for deployment until settlement day."
"Yes."
The screen switched to overseas developments.
[China Players Association: Attempting to Secure Data on Korean New and Conditional Awakeners]
[Russia Players Committee: Recruitment Team Activity in Korea Confirmed]
[Russia Special Recovery Unit: Signs of Deployment Standby]
China and Russia were also looking for Impossible One.
If recruitment failed, there was a possibility they would attempt abduction or elimination.
Seo Jin-ho spoke.
"Raise all Impossible One-related data to national core protection grade. Block all external access to the new awakener roster and conditional awakening records as well."
"What about data that has already leaked?"
"Plant access records on false accounts. Make China and Russia chase different regions."
Seo Jin-ho added immediately.
"However, you must not use actual civilians as bait."
"Understood."
Yu Hyeon-seok rose from his seat.
"If Impossible One wants protection, I will step forward personally."
"Please do."
Seo Jin-ho looked back at the map where the rift markers had vanished.
"But even if you find them first, you must not try to bring them to our side. Convey only our intent to protect, and leave every choice to them."
No one had the right to give orders to the person who had saved South Korea.
If they wanted that person to keep choosing Korea, Korea first had to prove it was a country that would not betray them.
"Before foreign powers can lay a hand on them, we must become their shield."
* * *
The next day.
Just as Sang-hyeok was preparing to climb the 23rd floor.
The number he had been waiting for ticked down for the last time.
[<Threshold of the Demonic Dragon Treasury’s Outer Vault>]
[Entry Path Restoration: 00:00:03 Remaining]
[00:00:02]
[00:00:01]
「Entry path restoration complete.」
Sang-hyeok took the <Seal Key of the Demonic Dragon Treasury> from his inventory.
When he held the key to the empty air, an enormous door revealed itself.
The door, several times Sang-hyeok's height, bore a dark sheen like blood dried long ago.
As Sang-hyeok brought the key forward, a hole opened in the center of the door.
Clack.
The key slid into place on its own.
[Seal key confirmed.]
[Opening <Threshold of the Demonic Dragon Treasury’s Outer Vault>.]
Rumble!
The door opened to both sides.
The smell of long-settled dust drifted out from within.
As Sang-hyeok stepped through, the entrance closed behind him.
Rumble.
Darkness swallowed everything on all sides.
The seal key in Sang-hyeok's hand glowed, lighting the ground at his feet.
「You have entered the unregistered Irregular Battlefield <Threshold of the Demonic Dragon Treasury’s Outer Vault>.」
[<Seal Key of the Demonic Dragon Treasury> confirmed.]
[<Heart of the Apocalypse Demonic Dragon> confirmed.]
[Unable to verify Outer Vault management authority.]
[The seal on Storage Zone 1 remains in effect.]
[Unlock Condition]
- Acknowledgment of the last guardian beast
To enter the <Demonic Dragon Treasury>, the <Key> and the <Heart of the Apocalypse Demonic Dragon> alone were not enough.
The being that had guarded this place to the end had to accept Sang-hyeok directly.
Sang-hyeok walked along the stone path lit by the key.
Shattered statues lay strewn on both sides of the passage.
A beast with its legs severed, a wyvern with its wings torn off, and a headless giant kneeling had all been destroyed while facing the entrance to the Outer Vault.
The damage stretched along the stone path all the way inside the gate.
They looked like traces left by someone who had forced their way in from outside.
As he continued on, a gate chamber appeared at the end of the stone path, its ceiling too high to see.
Massive storage compartments were set into every wall, but not one of them opened.
The door on the opposite side of the gate chamber was wrapped in several layers of chain.
[Outer Vault Storage Zone 1]
[Current Status: Sealed]
Then, from the right, came the sound of small claws scraping against the stone floor.
A moment later, the same sound came again.
"Grrrrr..."
The growl was so weak it seemed it might cut off at any moment.
Sang-hyeok raised the key, and the light reached beneath a collapsed pillar.
On the floor, footprints smaller than a palm and dried bloodstains stretched onward.
At the end of the trail, something lifted its head.
It was a beast small enough to hold in one arm.
Its round face and large front paws, out of proportion to its body, made it resemble a young cat.
Its long ears and tail, split into two at the tip, stood out.
The fur covering its whole body took on a faint violet sheen whenever the seal key's light touched it.
But its condition was wretched.
Its body was so emaciated that its ribs showed.
Its fur was matted with dust and dried blood, and a deep wound ran along its right flank.
A crude metal connector had been attached behind the black collar fitted snugly around its neck.
A thick chain extended from that link and was driven into the wall of the gate chamber.
Behind the collapsed pillar, a narrow passage led toward Storage Zone 1.
The guardian beast was blocking that entrance with its small body.
Even with a body that could barely breathe, it had not left the final door.
[Young Guardian Beast of the Outer Vault]
'The last guardian.'
The guardian beast's gaze dropped from Sang-hyeok's face to his chest.
Thump.
The Heart of the Apocalypse Demonic Dragon beat once.
The guardian beast's pupils narrowed to slits.
Grrrrk!
The guardian beast kicked off the stone floor.
Whoosh!
The small body shot up to Sang-hyeok's face in an instant.
The chain buried under the rubble was dragged out roughly as well.
Sang-hyeok didn't dodge. He caught its front paw with his right hand.
Thud!
The impact pushed his wrist back.
Instead of pulling its caught paw free, the guardian beast swung the claws of its other paw.
Sang-hyeok tilted his head back, and the claws grazed past his nose.
Crunch!
The missed claws tore into the stone pillar beside him.
A chunk of stone the size of a human head rained down at Sang-hyeok's feet.
The guardian beast twisted its body to yank its caught paw free, baring its teeth again.
Even with a body on the verge of death, the creature showed no intention of yielding the door to Sang-hyeok.