Chapter 136
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 136
Chapter Title: A Crisis Right Before Us
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"Ah, no way?! Why the hell are we still doing this raid? Isn't this a seriously dangerous situation where we need to bail right now? You think having revival stones means we've got extra lives or something?"
Giselle, who had returned to her room, spoke in an angry voice. In the middle of it, she vented her frustration toward Kendall, who was looking at her.
"Come on, sis, you're okay with this too?"
"...I'm fine. Anyway, it's not like Mom..."
"Cala a boca. Don't bring up that idiot. I'm already pissed off enough as it is."
Giselle glared with wide eyes, cursing under her breath.
Kendall quietly shut her mouth in response to Giselle's intense reaction. She knew better than anyone why Giselle was so furious. Their mother was undoubtedly a great person. But she hadn't been that way to Giselle.
A moment later, Giselle glanced at Kendall, who was just staring blankly with wide eyes, and opened her mouth in an awkward voice.
"Haa. Sorry for the cursing, sis. You know how I feel, right? I didn't mean it."
"It's okay. I get it."
"Good. So, what are we gonna do? Shouldn't we at least run away ourselves?"
Team GGW was undoubtedly a great raid team. The members were solid, and the genius male raid leader was even better. But to Giselle, nothing mattered more than their own safety.
The deaths of Vietnamese people? What did that have to do with her?
To Giselle, the most precious person in the world was her twin sister, Kendall. As long as the two of them could survive, she didn't care if others called her a coward.
'Noble self-sacrifice? Shove that crap where the sun doesn't shine.'
People forget about heroes who sacrificed themselves for others after a year—or even a month. They only mourn the tragic loss of a hero when they've benefited from it.
Of course, they wipe any memory of the hero's remaining family from their minds too. What kind of treatment they get, how they live—it's none of their business. In the end, only the dead one ends up looking like a fool.
"This won't do. I need to talk to the raid leader myself. If we don't leave now, I'll ask him to at least let us go."
Having made up her mind, Giselle stood up. She looked at her sister. Kendall was still sitting on the bed.
"What are you doing? Come on, sis, you have to come too. You want me to run away from Vietnam alone?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
At Giselle's urging, Kendall awkwardly got to her feet.
Han Minguk looked at the wild Brazilian pervert jaguar sisters who had come to see him. Giselle's face was a mix of anger and anxiety. And her identical twin sister had a blank expression, as if she had no idea why they were there.
'I kinda saw this coming...'
In this dangerous time with one of the Twelve Calamities right on the horizon, he had fully expected some team members to voice complaints about not retreating.
Giselle's attitude especially fell right within his predictions. He just hadn't figured out how to convince her yet.
"So you're saying GGW should withdraw immediately?"
"Yes. If not, at least let the two of us go back to Korea. Ah, of course, we'll handle the penalties ourselves."
"Handle the penalties?"
"Yeah. We'll pay the full breach fee, and if you want, we can transfer to another raid team in the clan. If you send us to a different clan, we'll deal with that too, to some extent."
Minguk let out a low groan at Giselle's words.
Her reaction was more stubborn than he'd anticipated. He glanced at Kendall standing next to her.
Kendall met Minguk's eyes and hesitated for a moment before nodding reluctantly, prodded by Giselle at her side.
'This is a bit tricky.'
If they were in any other role, it might be manageable, but these two were the team's main healers. Losing even one would be a massive hit. Plus, Giselle and Kendall were heroes with experience taking down Garuda's avatars.
Come to think of it, if he could eliminate the very culprit they feared most, he might convince them to stay and leave Vietnam. And Garuda, one of the Twelve Calamities, wouldn't appear if its avatars were wiped out.
'The problem is...'
There was no way to explain it. The fact that destroying Garuda's avatars would keep it trapped in the Tower of Birds was something Minguk had learned through Ppuu.
He couldn't reveal Ppuu, either.
No matter how much the world fangirled over male heroes, spilling that kind of story would get him labeled a lunatic. But letting the two Brazilian healers go would halt the raid schedule entirely. He couldn't find replacements on short notice.
As Minguk pondered reasons to keep Giselle, a piercing alarm rang from the Hero Pads. Everyone's eyes turned to their devices. Without a word, they all checked their own Hero Pads.
"Fuck. I-is it Garuda?"
Giselle stammered, but Kendall—true to her big sister role—remained calm, her expression unchanged.
'Chinese Hero Association?'
The emergency message came from an unexpected source. Reading it, Minguk stifled a laugh inwardly. The timing was perfectly ironic.
Connection between the mana surrounding the Tower of Birds and "Garuda's Avatars."
"What the...?"
"Looks like we don't need to go back to Korea after all. If this is true, it'd be safer to hunt down Garuda's avatars right away."
Giselle's heart sank at those words. She had planned to pack her bags and head straight to Korea once her talk with Minguk ended.
"Wait! There's no proof this is real. What if it's fake? It'd be safer to just leave Vietnam..."
"Why would the Chinese Hero Association lie about something this serious?"
"For their own country's safety...?"
"You know better than anyone how ridiculous that sounds."
No matter how much of a mess China was, that was ancient history.
The deranged politicians who controlled the media and hoarded troops for their own power in the early days of the war against the darkness monsters were long dead.
Lying about something like this?
China couldn't afford that unless they planned to fight the darkness monsters alone. Even as a raid powerhouse, if a single dungeon break happened domestically, they'd need the World Hero Association's help.
And that wasn't all. Just like Vietnam's Garuda, China had one of the Twelve Calamities slumbering within its borders.
"Here's the deal. One month. If there's any sign of the Tower of Birds moving within a month, GGW pulls out immediately."
Minguk said it in a serious tone.
With her thoughts shaken by the Chinese Hero Association's message, now was the time to convince Giselle. Kendall would follow if Giselle agreed.
Giselle pondered for a moment before speaking slowly.
"A month is too long. Two weeks. If the Tower shows no movement in two weeks, we'll stick with the raid schedule. But if it does move..."
"Then I'll find replacements."
At Minguk's words, Giselle quietly closed her mouth.
He said he'd get replacements instead of withdrawing the team, which felt a bit off, but she couldn't call him out on it. After all, she was the one who said they wanted to leave.
The next day, Minguk proceeded with the raid schedule right away.
To keep Garuda from moving in the Tower of Birds, they needed to wipe out its avatars as soon as possible. The other raid teams were bustling from morning too. He even spotted a few heroes diligently memorizing strategies for Garuda's avatars on their Hero Pads.
"Everyone should know the info from the Chinese Hero Association by now. From here on, we'll speedrun 【B-1】 difficulty dungeons while hunting for Garuda's avatars."
The heroes in the bus showed varied reactions to Minguk's words.
Oh Hyun-ah nodded as if it was the obvious choice, while Giselle looked disinterested, half-listening. But as heroes, she wouldn't slack off during the raid.
With everyone lost in their own thoughts, the dungeon assault began.
"Dark Town Hall."
Tanya spoke as soon as they entered the 【B-1】 dungeon.
The strategy was straightforward: defeat the final boss on the top floor. To ascend, they had to disarm traps and find staircases by beating each floor's boss monsters.
"The 5-man team is Oh Hyun-ah, Jung Ye-rin, Shiranui Mai, Shin Nayeon, and me."
With everyone at full health and top condition, Minguk formed parties with the strongest heroes. The final monster was grade 5, so the rest required 5-man parties.
Since they all entered together, they could swap members as needed.
"As you know, time is short. We'll blast through."
Minguk said firmly.
Dark Town Hall had a full strategy on the Hero Pad.
And grade 4 monsters were no match for Team GGW's specs, even in a 【B-1】 dungeon.
They wiped once after triggering a trap by mistake midway, but as Minguk had said, they cleared to the top floor quickly. Less than four hours in, the final boss was in sight.
"Should we call this lucky?"
Yuna tilted her head, muttering as she eyed the boss monster.
"Keeek? Kiiik?"
The grade 5 monster before Team GGW wasn't Dark Town Hall's final boss—it was a Garuda avatar. Confirming it, Minguk quickly called for Ppuu.
'So beating these guys weakens Garuda's power, right?'
《Yes.》
'Okay. Time to take it down.'
To avoid summoning the unstoppable Twelve Calamity, they had to end it here with these avatars. It was a monster they'd cleared before. No mistakes, and it'd fall easily.
Especially now that Oh Hyun-ah's tanking had improved dramatically against headbutts, paralysis from charges wouldn't cause accidental deaths.
Even if someone died, it was no issue. Two wing flaps would revive them.
"Alright, briefing time."
To prevent any mishaps, Minguk drilled the Garuda avatar strategy into the team's heads once more.
"Kiiiik! Kiik!"
With preparations complete, the tanks entered safe range first. The three monster birds rolled their eyes back and lunged with their beaks. Their beaks, talons, and the tanks' shields clashed sharply.
"Tanks, move to the center! Dealers and healers, secure your positions. Yuna! Don't miss a single feather!"
"Got it!"
The team moved with crisp precision at Minguk's command.
Having beaten it once before, confidence was high. Progress was smooth.
Oh Hyun-ah, now a Phoenix Knight, tanked the bald head's charges with ease, unlike before—freeing healers to focus elsewhere.
Tanya also steadily held aggro on her two.
"Sis! I'll take 2 o'clock!"
"I'll handle 9! Ah, watch the whirlwind!!!"
The feather cleanup team of Choi Yuna and Shin Nayeon handled their job flawlessly.
The only hiccup was the dealer line getting caught in a whirlwind near the end, forcing desperate heals—but Team GGW one-shot the Garuda avatar on the first try.
As his cheering comrades celebrated, Minguk eyed the loot chest emerging with the monster's reversing corpse.
- ...Uh. ...Gonna.