Chapter 97
Chapter 97
13. The Donghae Gate Incident -8
[Northeast Branch C-rank Artificial Gate (Dispatcher: ■■■)] (Detailed Analysis)
Noble 『Blue Above (靑上)』, borrowing the lofty authority contained in that name—we dare to beseech you, O "『King of Plants』," to grant us a path. Concerned by the anomalous reactions on Earth, we beg you to make use of us and grant us authority.
We shall lead your forces across the wall / make right what is wrong / press down what is excessive / and lay the foundation for your ■■ to cross over.
[Time remaining until charge complete: 50 : 28 : 07]
[Invasion begins after charge complete]
Q1. Ask the Glass Sword Lord / (49 : 56 : 55)
[Glass Sword Lord: You ask how much power a C-rank possesses?]
[Glass Sword Lord: The explanation will run a little long⋯⋯]
It's fine. I'll secure the credits needed for the connection however I can. I'm already doing it.
[Glass Sword Lord: You, Noah Won? Aren't you a debtor?]
[Glass Sword Lord: Aha. I wondered how you managed to contact me first—you used the Rite of Order, didn't you?]
[Glass Sword Lord: You're burning physical assets to maintain the connection. No wonder the reception fee seemed lower than expected. In that case, I'll lay it out as quickly as possible, but I'll be thorough so nothing gets missed!]
[Glass Sword Lord: Just as the gap between upper and lower D-ranks is wide, so it is with C-rank. That gap is even more pronounced than at D-rank—so vast it's dizzying. In fact, you could say the C-rank bracket contains roughly two D-rank tiers within it.]
[Glass Sword Lord: That's why the System doesn't just use vague lower and middle tiers—it distinguishes detailed stages with clear names and structure. But⋯⋯ it doesn't seem like you want to hear that kind of fine-grained detail?]
I want to know about the destructive power they can bring to bear.
[Glass Sword Lord: How much power does a C-rank fundamentally possess, then. Let me start from the minimum. I'm talking about those who have just become C-rank hunters.]
[Glass Sword Lord: Those who broke through after being filtered and filtered again from among talented D-rank hunters—those who have at least dimly grasped the sensation of becoming one with their skills. The power they can exert from the very beginning is—]
[Glass Sword Lord: Enough to shatter a mountain, and their aura covers the sky. Not as a metaphor—physically. That's how I'd put it!]
I understand the low end. Then what about the high end?
[Glass Sword Lord: On the other hand, if you ask how high the peak of what can be achieved at C-rank is⋯⋯]
[Glass Sword Lord: Those who have achieved everything achievable at C-rank and challenge the stage of demigods—the power they hold is, simply put—a nation.]
[Glass Sword Lord: Not through methods like assassinating leadership, but by fighting a country's military head-on and winning outright. At that level, barring a few exceptional cases, they reign as rulers of their planets.]
⋯⋯⋯⋯
[Glass Sword Lord: Hahaha! But don't worry too much, Noah Won. The C-rank hunter world has its own order! Even if you advance, no one will be gunning for your life right away, and I have a certain amount of influence myself.]
[Glass Sword Lord: Most importantly, there's no reason you'd have to fight right now, is there!]
[Glass Sword Lord: ⋯⋯Is there?]
Communication ended.
⋯⋯⋯⋯
We had to get the civilians of Donghae evacuated to Seoul by any means necessary. Even in the best-case scenario—even if the anomaly gate only displayed combat power at the entry level of C-rank—the collapse of the Donghae city-state was practically a given.
And the defensive line needed to be established on a broad front. With the population so low, no matter how we squeezed our manpower, holding a city-scale defensive line would be impossible—but we still had to try our hardest.
I asked Hyejin and Elijah to go to Seoul.
They would leave behind only the minimum hunters needed to maintain public order in Seoul and transport all the workers and troops to Donghae. By any means necessary. As fast as possible, even by a single second.
Q2. Ask the Serpent-Subduing Young Lord / (49 : 36 : 42)
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: Junior.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: Information on elves is scarce.]
I'll pay the price.
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: No. Setting aside whether you have the ability to pay, junior, I mean that what's actually known about elves is genuinely rare. This isn't push-and-pull to drive up the price⋯⋯ I'm purely stating facts.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: It's like those infamous "『Roots』." Everyone knows they exist, but no one knows what they actually are. Because most of the people who encounter them end up dead.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: So don't take my words as 100% certain. If you come back later saying the information was wrong, I'll say I clearly gave you prior notice of the risks.]
Doesn't matter.
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: Seeing how urgent you are, it looks like you're about to hit rough waters? Fine. I'll collect payment later—for now, I'll tell you. But your debt keeps growing, you know. You should remember that.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: Ah. Or is it the opposite—are you running a bluff because of that?]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: "If you want to collect on my debt, you'll have to keep me alive first⋯⋯ so hand over whatever information or anything else you've got." Like that. Haha. They say when the debt gets big enough, the debtor becomes the one in charge. You're quite bold, junior.]
I've never failed to repay a debt. This time will be no different.
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: Then prove it with results once you climb to C-rank.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: Now let me explain about elves. One of the few pieces of information that drifts around here and there is⋯⋯ that the plants under elf command are more animalistic—more vicious.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: As you know, monsters are brainless and simple. They don't wage psychological warfare, and even when they have intelligence, it's about the level of a seven-year-old. Even that doesn't manifest as cunning.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: You've probably seen commander or leader-type specimens. Their command is limited to passive "adaptation"—like "store groundwater to prepare for fire attacks" or "prepare anti-air batteries because we've suffered air raids."]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: Plants just push in slowly, as if they have no need to use their heads. Like waves.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: But elves are different. Since they were once proper hunters, they can obviously employ strategy. They modify monsters and⋯⋯ create "units" where each member compensates for the others' weaknesses.]
Units?
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: Yes. Just as humans deploy shield-bearers and spearmen together, elves lead their plant forces with their own combinations. For hunting hunters.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: So don't think of this as the same anti-plant front you've faced so far. The plants led by elves aren't natural—they're artificially cultivated gardens. You should think of it as every monster you've ever seen appearing all at once.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: I don't know the details of your situation, but it seems a fight has broken out. Standing against someone stronger than you isn't good judgment. Why not just run?]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: You're a promising one. Given enough time, you could take revenge someday. Just bow your head flat and grovel. The humiliation lasts only a moment. You're smart, junior—you already know how useful that can be, don't you?]
My planet is on the line.
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: What a strange thing to say. What reason is there that you can't abandon a planet?]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: Plenty of hunters live as drifters who lost their home planets. And⋯⋯ it's not as bad as you'd think. People survive somehow. That's the kind of animal we are.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: Hm.]
[Serpent-Subduing Young Lord: ⋯⋯Haha, it seems you have no intention of taking my advice.]
Communication ended.
⋯⋯⋯⋯
I finished organizing the units. I set up a temporary response headquarters and grouped the hunters into teams, using them as labor. Since they'd been treated fairly well in Donghae, they showed some resistance to simple labor like hauling bricks or digging trenches.
But that resistance would be less than their resistance to death. I established military discipline even if it meant using harsh methods. In the long term it was foolish personnel management, but war was breaking out in two days. I had to do it even at the cost of side effects.
I was fortunate to have Yeon Arang. She'd been briefly shaken by the coup, but there was no one better suited to exerting control.
Also, she said she would send a support request message to the south of the Republic of Korea—to Duke Park Sihu. Since we'd been able to purchase several projectiles from the 『System』 Shop, the transmission itself would be possible.
But I didn't know whether that hard-to-read bastard would dispatch meaningful troops within two days. He'd probably be late. Better to plan while excluding him.
Q3. Ask Sergios / (49 : 03 : 11)
[Silver-Traced Spear: 『Elf』⋯⋯ I've never encountered them, nor do I know anything about them.]
[Silver-Traced Spear: Stories about the long-eared ones do occasionally reach my home planet of Minoas, but most of them end with passing heroes tearing them in half. And heroes dislike records that aren't rhetorical.]
[Silver-Traced Spear: Read them and all you get is a long list of which hero displayed what astonishing power to hunt the long-eared villains. So what I'm saying is, it's not that my studies are lacking, Noah Won.]
[Silver-Traced Spear: So.]
[Silver-Traced Spear: What's going on?]
Nothing's going on. I was just asking.
[Silver-Traced Spear: Spend your time training instead of talking nonsense. Are you not planning to follow?]
[Silver-Traced Spear: Well. I suppose I can understand if you're a half-wit hero. But if even a shred of ambition remains in you, devote yourself to your training.]
Communication ended.
⋯⋯⋯⋯
Originally I'd intended to ask Sergios for a support request. But he hadn't finished his 『Embodiment』 yet. If he moved before completing his complete transformation, his C-rank advancement could be thwarted—or in the worst case, he could end up like Muyeon of the Hunter Alliance.
And even if I'd asked, he wouldn't have come to help me anyway. I was sure of it.
So I didn't bother bringing it up.
Tzzzt—
Around then, the mountain of gold, silver, and jewels finally ran dry. I'd requisitioned every valuable in Donghae to use for 『Rite of Order』 communications⋯⋯ and now the fuel was all spent.
(Since Sergios was mid-advancement, he was treated as half C-rank, so regular chat wouldn't reach him—I had no choice but to use the Rite of Order.)
But well.
There was no one left worth contacting anyway. I couldn't exactly act crazy and message "『Sky Roamer』." Whether he'd even respond was doubtful, and taking on excessive debt twice was something I'd rather decline.
Q4. Yeon Arang reports / (48 : 15 : 31)
Countess Yeon Arang, her complexion haggard, flipped rapidly through documents as she briefed me.
"Noah Won, we've slowly started the evacuation guidance⋯⋯ and we've cleared out everything around the anomaly gate for now. We scraped together all the explosives we could find, but it's still not enough. To hit the target, we'll need to strip about two bunkers."
"Do you know the locations?"
"I know where they are, but they're in the middle of the forest, so we couldn't even attempt it. You'll have to go if we want them stripped."
"Just attach two people as guides and carriers. I'll go now."
I set down the megaphone and grabbed my shield. Yeon Arang naturally picked up the megaphone and began directing the construction site in front of the anomaly gate in my place.
Think, but don't hesitate. Move first and assess later. Time was running short.
"Whoa, Duke Noah Won⋯⋯ L-loyalty!"
"We— urghk!"
The formal introductions and courtesies were the same story. I hoisted the two hunters Yeon Arang had assigned me onto my shoulders and ran. It was faster than running alongside them.
When there aren't enough people, the ones left have no choice but to be ground down like this. Yeon Arang and I rushed all over Donghae, pushing the project forward. Until the people arrived from Seoul.
Strip the bunkers, gather supplies, and sweep up everything that could project firepower—grenades, firearms, and the like—and transport it to Donghae. In the process, wipe out every visible monster, down to the last seed.
Looking at the text from the detailed analysis of the anomaly gate—there was a significant possibility that elves were included in this invasion.
According to the information from the Serpent-Subduing Young Lord, monsters under elf command are strengthened. It's like a commander being appointed over disorderly soldiers. In that case, I should reduce their numbers as much as possible while they're still leaderless.
Run. Weed. Acquire resources. Return. I repeated that cycle as fast and efficiently as possible.
By the time my body was practically pickled in that distinctive plant smell—
"Noah Won. I found a satellite communicator in the bunker⋯⋯"
"There's nowhere to use it right now. I'm already exchanging real-time chat with Elijah for contact with Seoul. Store it safely and we'll use it after this is over."
"No, that's not what I mean. We received a call from the city-state of New York."
"What?"
⋯⋯Coincidentally, at this exact timing, contact came from across that distant ocean.
Q5. Max Owen asks / (47 : 12 : 31)
I felt a slight sense of déjà vu.
The fact that I was on the line with Max Owen right before the Republic of Korea was about to get fucked. It had been the same when that goddamn EX-grade monster—(B-rank under the System's classification)—appeared in Seoul.
Click.
After a brief wait, the connection went through. A voice I'd heard a few times came over the communicator. It belonged to Max Owen, the only S-rank hunter on Earth.
-Hunter Noah Won?
"You guessed well. This communicator shouldn't have any feature showing who's calling."
-When something happens on that little peninsula, you'll be nearby. You're not the kind of person who can turn away from your countrymen's crisis. Simple deduction.
But this time was different.
The situation might be similar, but what filled it was completely different.
-Magic power readings have been spiking sharply in Donghae. Given the upward trend⋯⋯ New York has judged this reaction to be a precursor to the emergence of an EX-grade monster.
"So what? Are you saying you'll send support?"
-Hardly. The Republic of Korea's secret weapon that repelled the EX-grade monster last time—there might not be a second shot, after all. So I've come to make an offer.
Back then, this man had been my only hope.
-Hunter Noah Won. Bring your hunter team and come to New York. I'll promise you treatment worthy of that.
"Heh."
And so.
When I'd refused this offer in the past, I'd secretly hesitated. If resistance was meaningless anyway—if we were all going to die in the end—wouldn't it be right to at least save myself and my hunter team? I'd had those thoughts.
But now it was different. Completely different.
"Heh—hahahahaha!"
-⋯⋯You're laughing more than I expected.
"How could I not laugh, Max Owen!"
I wasn't panicking right now. I wasn't flailing around in desperation, trying anything and everything, and I wasn't swimming in an atmosphere of drowning.
A C-rank gate? Elves?
Bring it on. I could see hope clearly. I could see the future. I could see us chewing through everything and overcoming every obstacle in the end.
I was preparing to win right now!
And then, once I'd overcome even this—in the near future, on the third call, who would be the one graciously making "offers"?
Would it be New York, slowly withering away under the guise of being "the safest city in the world," or Seoul, growing larger by the day with transfusions from the 『System』!
I gripped the communicator and grinned, baring my teeth.
"Keep your nose out of our business and focus on managing New York. All those people are potential Seoul citizens, after all."
-Heh.
"Hanging up!"
Click.
I hung up without hesitation. Who the fuck does this son of a bitch think he is.
"Hoo⋯⋯"
Looking back, this damn life of mine never had a turn signal.
I worked myself half to death and got right up to the brink of debuting as an idol, only for the company president's son to shove his way in and push me to the sidelines. I ended up as a third-tier idol nobody'd heard of.
Bitter about all the effort I'd put in, I clung desperately to idol life, and then a drama I'd appeared in without much thought became a hit, and I thought I might finally see some sunlight. Right after that, the Gate Incident erupted and turned the world upside down.
I'd gritted my teeth and sucked up to hunters to survive in the 21st-century restored monarchy of the Republic of Korea, and when I finally awakened as a hunter myself, I thought I'd get to enjoy life a little. Then the coup broke out.
Or.
[Elijah: We've arrived! (*˘▿˘✽)]
I'd gotten connected to this unknown thing called a 『Status Window』 and obtained an opportunity to advance to dizzying heights.
"Hey, Noah Won! What the hell is this bullshit, what happened?!"
"Hunter Noah Won. I've brought all the workers and hunters. I've also completed the construction method you left behind last time to the practical application stage—just say the word and we can deploy immediately!"
"Noah! What should we start with?! Should we start by burning down the forest?"
Through that opportunity, I'd protected Seoul, escaped hunger and despair, and begun dreaming together with the people who believed in me.
And so.
Even in the most dangerous situations, the thought of "let's just save the world, what the hell" never wavered.
"Good. We're going to build a defensive front in Donghae, and the moment that anomaly gate bursts open, we'll pour firepower into it and hold it back. There's a lot of work for you all, so listen while we move. If you have ideas along the way, speak up without holding back!"
"⋯⋯You're putting us to work the moment we arrive?"
"Of course, you little shit. You think I'm not gonna use the bastard who owes me money when he's right in front of me? You, the rental car—"
"Argh!"
Let's do this.
Before I climb to C-rank, let's have a proper blowout, you sons of bitches. Bring it.