The Duty to Protect Everyone

The zone adjoining the mountain resort complex.

A Tree Dungeon district themed around a jungle dungeon of dense forest, dressed out with a vast botanical garden, a maze, and other relatively gentle attractions.

The ogres that had appeared there reached for the trees that stood as the zone’s symbols.

Crack!

Trees seized in ogre hands were ripped free or snapped, becoming not trees but enormous clubs.

But there was no one left to swing those clubs at. Guided by the vassals, every guest in the zone had already fled through the resort complex.

“Whoa! Ogres with clubs? Talk about a stereotype!”

Jeon Mun-Jae’s laughter-tinged voice, the vassal in charge of Apollon, rang through his helmet.

At the sound, the ogres swung their clubs toward him.

“Krooa?”

Thud! Crrack!

But the clubs they swung burst or splintered all at once, spraying shards of wood in every direction.

Clatter-clatter.

Burning wood chips filled the air. The ogres who had swung the clubs shook their heads, unable to grasp what had just happened.

Rumble!

In that instant, thunder rolled across the sky, and lightning fell.

BOOM!

A bolt struck one ogre, splitting it from the head down and tearing it cleanly in half.

“Krooo…”

Only then did the ogres understand. Something cloaked in lightning had been moving at blinding speed, shattering their clubs—and now it had dropped from the sky like a thunderbolt and slain one of their own.

“Haha! You’re slow on the uptake!”

Jeon Mun-Jae, an SS-class Awakened who commanded electricity, wrapped his entire body in lightning and streaked through the air, driving a kick into another ogre.

Whump!

He kicked it in the gut, and with a sound like a drum bursting, the ogre’s back exploded outward.

“Kuooh!!!”

The remaining ogres burned with fighting spirit as Jeon Mun-Jae slaughtered their kin in an instant. But Jeon Mun-Jae only smiled wider.

Jeon Mun-Jae of the 12 Vassals, commander of Apollon, the family’s armed force. Though he was SS-class, his combat ability lagged not at all behind the SSS-class Butler Ju.

A zone dense with facilities for enjoying the great outdoors of safari and grassland.

The ogres that had appeared in the Field Dungeon district, themed around a vast prairie, struggled even to lift their feet.

They could not run toward the distant, half-glimpsed line of evacuating civilians—because of the two figures in suits and helmets standing before them.

“Kruuu…”

They tried to resist the crushing gravity pressing them down, but gravity was not the ogres’ only enemy.

Thuck!

A hole punched through the throat of an ogre straining against the gravity. Blood that could not fountain under the crushing weight simply leaked weakly through the opening.

“Baek Butler, you seem even faster than before.”

“I am always growing.”

Park Jin-Yang of the 12 Vassals, who handled the family’s public relations, and Baek Si-Hwan of the 12 Vassals, who led the assassination unit Flamma—their pairing.

As S-class Awakened, the two of them were a poor match in theory. Park Jin-Yang manipulated gravity; Baek Si-Hwan used acceleration. The gravity that crushed everything in a set range dulled Si-Hwan’s acceleration. Jin-Yang could lighten the gravity to make Si-Hwan faster, but then the enemy would be faster too.

A truly abysmal compatibility—nothing like the well-matched SS-class pairing of Ko Yu-Yeon and Woo Do-Il.

But where Ko Yu-Yeon and Woo Do-Il differed, Jin-Yang and Si-Hwan got along. So they took two abilities that should never have meshed and combined them with exquisite precision, producing a synergy instead. That was why two ordinary S-class Awakened, unlike Lee Yeong who was already knocking on the SS-class wall, could still field SS-class combat power when they linked up.

Even so, the growth of his junior, Baek Si-Hwan, left Park Jin-Yang with a prickle of crisis.

“But if you cross the wall too, right after the Head Maid… I’m just a plain old S-class. I’ll end up looking bad next to Han Butler, the family’s greatest mage. That’s a problem.”

At the thought that he would soon be the only ordinary S-class left among the 12 Vassals, Jin-Yang let out a pained groan.

“Park Butler, when it comes to serving the Gaju, there are factors more important than combat strength, are there not?”

“True enough. Still, looks like I need to start knocking on that wall myself.”

When Si-Hwan spoke as if to console his senior, Jin-Yang gave a short laugh and peeled away another layer of restraint on his ability.

“Kueeek!!!”

The ogres that had been barely staying on their feet were smashed into the ground.

“You were holding back your ability?”

“No—I just grew it a bit right now. Still not SS-class, though. Call it the top gear of my power.”

Jin-Yang said it while adjusting his necktie, and Si-Hwan shook his head. That pose and that line were the ones Jin-Yang always used on his internet streams—“This is the top gear of my broadcast!”

The zone you saw the moment you entered Diana, linked to the basin’s exit leading outside.

The City Dungeon district, symbolizing how a modern city turns into a dungeon when monsters overflow. Rows of souvenir shops sat in booths shaped like miniaturized buildings.

Jeong-Hoon, in a suit and helmet, had been guiding the flood of refugees there alongside the vassals when his face twisted in a scowl.

He had come out to direct the evacuation rather than take shelter himself. Having ordered his vassals into danger, he had no intention of fleeing somewhere safe. He wanted to do what he could right now.

So he was managing the evacuation—when a black shadow suddenly unfurled near him and an ogre appeared. His expression could only contort.

This Raid was unlike any previously known. First the magic circle had appeared; then there was the fact that ogres only spawned within the range of that circle—the basin where Diana stood. And the way the ogres kept materializing in sequence, spreading outward like a circle from Diana’s center where the Ogre Lord had first appeared, was strange as well.

Thanks to that, simply leaving the basin meant primary safety from the ogres. The City Dungeon district sat near the exit, at the basin’s edge, so ogre appearances were few. Even so, ogres still flickered into the City Dungeon zone little by little—as if they had been standing there all along.

“Kuooh!!!”

The suddenly manifested ogre bellowed with the sheer joy of freedom, and the air around it shuddered.

“Kyaaaaah!!!”

People startled by the roar screamed.

“Kuheheh!!!”

Goaded by the screams, the ogre burst into laughter and strode toward the refugees behind Jeong-Hoon. The ground shook with every step. An overwhelming five-meter bulk. A monster that took only the barest scratch even from A-class attacks. That was an ogre.

Han Su-Ho came running to face the creature and cast the same magic Lee Yeong had used to keep the hotel from collapsing.

As if under Jin-Yang’s gravity control, the ogre was bound in place, and Su-Ho immediately triggered the next spell.

He charged the ogre with speed like Si-Hwan’s acceleration, then canceled Haste as he drove his fist forward and cast again.

He could not detonate the ogre the way Jeon Mun-Jae could, but a powerful bolt of lightning erupted and blasted the monster away.

An S-class ogre, just as Ko Yu-Yeon had said, had formidable resistance. So Su-Ho hammered it with continuous shocks to punch through that resistance. All of it was nothing but a setup for the illusion magic, Illusion Confuse.

The illusion spell, slipped into the opening, sank into the ogre’s head. The ogre forgot the beating it had taken, turned blankly, and went lumbering off toward another zone.

“Gaju, are you unhurt?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

Having reproduced the other 12 Vassals’ superpowers as magic, Su-Ho confirmed Jeong-Hoon was safe and blew an awkward whistle—whee.

The city zone was the exit, so it demanded the firmest defense. Stationing Han Su-Ho, an S-class Awakened, there was because he was the family’s greatest mage. Simply by casting the right magic at the right moment, Han Su-Ho could deliver SS-class or greater performance. That was why he had been assigned to the City Dungeon district.

“Director Han, how is the evacuation progressing?”

“Forty percent complete at present. There are intermittent disturbances, but we are on schedule.”

On schedule was good news, but the word “disturbances” made Jeong-Hoon’s face tighten. The disturbances Su-Ho meant were the types who ignored control and caused chaos—people shoving to cut the line and flee first, people ignoring guidance and bolting on their own. With lives on the line, the number of problem guests was endless. Those troublemakers the guiding vassals were suppressing by force.

The real headache was the Hunters who wanted weapons issued so they could fight too. They meant no harm, so they could not simply be crushed. Manpower was genuinely short, and accepting the help was tempting—but without certainty they would follow the operation, putting them into the fight was more dangerous than not.

“Then what about the ogre numbers right now?”

“They keep appearing one after another. The only silver lining is that the other 12 Vassals are working hard at extermination, so the count isn’t rising.”

Ogres were being driven off on every front, yet the numbers barely differed from the start. Even as every zone was fouled with ogre corpses and soaked in blood, the numbers barely differed from the start. A Raid kept spawning monsters until it ended.

“Haah. One mountain after another.”

“Still, we’re lucky they’re just regular ogres, aren’t we? At least no more Ogre Lords are showing u—”

“KUOOH!!!”

Before Han Su-Ho could finish, a colossal roar that made the body prickle swept through the City Dungeon district.

At the place where the City Dungeon and Air Dungeon districts barely overlapped, a massive form suddenly revealed itself—as if something that had always been there had only now been noticed.

A fifteen-meter ogre. Jeong-Hoon knew what it was and shook his head.

“Damn it.”

“My apologies, Gaju.”

“No. This isn’t your fault, Director Han.”

At the appearance of a second Ogre Lord, Han Su-Ho looked at the ground in needless guilt.

“This is no time to stare at the dirt!”

Jeong-Hoon shouted in urgency, but there was no clever solution. No matter how brilliant Han Su-Ho was, that only applied when the enemy was a regular ogre.

Ju Min-Ha, granddaughter of Butler Ju, was a trainee vassal, so she was supposed to evacuate. But with too few people guiding the flight, she had volunteered for evacuation duty and even received a suit and helmet.

Her body had trembled at her first encounter with a Raid, but she had managed. The moment she saw the Ogre Lord before her eyes, however, despair hit her.

Retreating would only trap them in the Under Dungeon sector. And against an Ogre Lord—an SSS-class apex predator—there was nothing she could do.

“Kyaaaaah!!!!”

The evacuation line that had spotted the Ogre Lord screamed. The sound snapped Min-Ha back to herself.

There was still time before the Ogre Lord moved. She could not fall into despair now. They had to run. Somehow they had to shake the Ogre Lord and get clear. In truth, every vassal except her, the trainee, had already poured their superpowers to full strength the instant they saw the Ogre Lord, trying to keep it from moving.

Among them were the married couple of vassals who had stamped Jeong-Hoon’s seal at the start, and the vassal who had ridden the same attraction over and over. There was the vassal whose odd behavior had only made sense today, and the one who had simply worn a mascot costume and done the job—all of them giving everything they had. Helmets hid their faces, but she remembered them by the signatures of their powers.

Looking at that scene, Min-Ha thought, Of course, and tried to add her own strength. But the moment she tried to draw up her superpower, she felt something strange.

They had to shake the Ogre Lord and flee. Once it started moving, it was over. Of course, the moment an Ogre Lord moved, it would catch them in an instant. Casualties in the evacuation line along the way would be unavoidable. That was how she thought.

Yet the vassals were hauling up their power as if it did not matter even if forcing their superpowers shattered their soul vessels—even if they contracted Hunter’s Disease and became living on borrowed time. They ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠burned with the resolve to protect everyone, no matter what.

“Why are you staking your lives?”

Gaju Jeong-Hoon had only ordered them to focus on evacuating people. He had not told them to risk their lives. Min-Ha could not understand why they would go that far to protect anyone.

“This isn’t even a fight to protect the Gaju…!”

As a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trainee vassal, Min-Ha was full of questions. Protecting the Gaju led to guarding the seal and thus protecting the world. Then the family only needed to protect the Gaju—or rather, she had once thought, Wouldn’t it be enough to imprison the Gaju and keep him barely alive as a vegetable?

In fact, her idiot twin brother, who only knew the Gaju as “the Chairman,” had once asked, “The Chairman is one household, and we’re many households—can’t we pressure the Chairman and have the executives and staff take the assets?” He had been failed on the spot. And that question was one every trainee secretly asked once and moved past.

So she had never understood why she was supposed to be loyal. That was why, when Jeong-Hoon told her to call him something casual, she had picked “Oppa” as a joke. She had thought it was enough to carry out whatever order was given at the time. She had thought there was no reason to stake her life.

“Saving people’s lives is the right thing. But still…”

Watching the vassals risk their lives to hold the Ogre Lord threw her values into chaos. A vassal could exist to protect the Gaju—but not, she had believed, to stake their life on the Gaju’s orders. Staking your life on a master’s command was no different from slavery.

Why? filled her head. The thought came that she, at least, should take the evacuation line and run. This was a dog’s death. Not protecting the Gaju, the essence of the family, but throwing their lives away to obey the Gaju’s command.

“Kuooh!!!”

While her doubts dragged on, the Ogre Lord, irritated by the superpowers, brushed them off like bothersome dust and strode toward the line. The fifteen-meter giant’s steps shook the earth. The vassals desperately deployed their powers, but nothing registered as more than a tickle to the Ogre Lord.

“D-Defend!!!”

Seeing the Ogre Lord open its palm to swipe, Min-Ha shouted, and every vassal at once poured their superpowers around themselves. Any superpower could be turned to attack or defense depending on use. So they did.

But a mere swipe of the palm dropped the vassals to their knees.

“Kuheheh!!!”

Laughing at the fallen vassals, the Ogre Lord raised its arm. A clenched fist. Just from closing its hand, an overwhelming terror closed in.

This could not be stopped. This was the fist of an Ogre Lord that had nullified the combined effort of A-class vassals with a single gesture. They had spent everything blocking the swipe; there was no dodging left.

“……Grandfather!”

So Min-Ha squeezed her eyes shut and, unbidden, thought of her grandfather, Butler Ju. She did not know whether he would be proud or grieve if she died, but her grandfather and the father who had walked in his footsteps came to mind.

“Don’t you dare touch my people!!!”

BOOM!

But Min-Ha—more precisely, the vassals—never took the Ogre Lord’s fist. Jeong-Hoon’s shout, ringing through the surroundings, and a massive impact canceled it out.

“Haah… haah… Divert the line onto a detour route now! Change of plan!”

The Ogre Lord’s successive shocks had whipped a fierce maelstrom of mana through the area. The radios had gone dead because of it, so Jeong-Hoon had come running in person, gasping for breath. Sparks kept leaping from the suit he wore.

On the way, seeing the Ogre Lord about to crush the line, he had released the limiter and kicked. It was a blow that surpassed power matching an A-class Awakened—a strike with everything poured into it. That single blow had knocked the Ogre Lord’s fist aside.

But the recoil had completely wrecked the suit. Jeong-Hoon’s body was not whole either. A Non-Awakened had deflected a single strike from an SSS-class monster.

“Krwor?”

The Ogre Lord looked down at Jeong-Hoon, who had knocked its fist aside, with disbelief. This was a human even baser than the insect-like humans who had been resisting it—no different from the ones behind him, staring up in terror with shaking eyes. That such a being had struck its fist made the Ogre Lord raise its fist again. It meant to swing once more.

At that sight, Min-Ha looked at Jeong-Hoon. This was an Ogre Lord that even she, an A-class Awakened, could do nothing against. And against that Ogre Lord, Jeong-Hoon did not step back—he glared.

When Jeong-Hoon spoke, loaded with fury, an invisible wave burst from him and swept through Diana.

This Raid had been artificially triggered when someone stimulated the seal with magic. The crack born of that artificial phenomenon answered the boiling rage. If his body ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had not already been battered by forcibly overdriving the suit, this would never have happened. But something suppressed inside Jeong-Hoon was released—for the briefest instant, a span that could be called a single blink.

“Uwaaa…”

Struck by that formless wave, the Ogre Lord shuddered. It was not merely trembling—it was stepping backward, trying to flee. The formless something that had been released from within Jeong-Hoon filled the Ogre Lord with terror.

“……I understand, Grandfather, Father. Why you would stake your lives to keep the Gaju’s command.”

Looking not at the retreating Ogre Lord but at Jeong-Hoon, who still stood his ground, Min-Ha nodded, free of her doubts. Respect entered the word she used for Jeong-Hoon—Gaju.

Jeong-Hoon was a Non-Awakened. And still he had run here, staking his own life to protect everyone. The one who was meant to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be protected was staking his life to protect them. So of course they would stake their lives on everything the Gaju was. Unlike her, the trainee, everyone else had already known that.

The moment she realized it, something began to rise inside Min-Ha. A power different from superpowers. The all-purpose force that composed the world. The power that the First Gaju’s seal had stripped from humanity for more than four thousand years.

Mana.

As that mana rose, Min-Ha felt herself changing. Unlike Jeong-Hoon’s formless wave, a radiant light poured from her. At that light, Jeong-Hoon turned his head—not toward the Ogre Lord, but toward Min-Ha.

He had never witnessed it, but he had heard of it so often he recognized it at a glance.

“S-class Awaken—”

Before the words finished, the radiant light burst, and Min-Ha crossed the wall into S-class.