Sinkhole

"Receiving a national buff is certainly something to celebrate. At the same time, though, an event has been triggered—because the hidden monster was dealt with."

"That's right. Clear a hidden monster, and an event locks in along with it. The heart of this one is Stealth."

Host and panelist went back and forth. The topic was the event that had just taken effect.

"How do you see this event?"

"Mm. Not well. If Stealth has been applied to every monster, then fundamentally you can't find them until you've already been ambushed."

The panelist was not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠impressed.

"On the other hand, depending on how this national buff actually performs, I think Korea may be looking at a chance to rebound."

"...A chance to rebound?"

"Yes. Every other nation's buff has already been confirmed. Korea's has only just gone into effect—and the contents of that buff are anything but ordinary. If the effect really is that exceptional..."

The panelist let the sentence trail off.

"While everyone else is suffering through the event, Korea turns it into an opportunity and climbs back up. Once an event is active, the amount of materials you obtain increases exponentially."

"Exactly. That part matters too. And when an event starts, certain things show up, don't they?"

"Ah, right. Event-type monsters. But no matter how outstanding a national buff is, catching those is a stretch, isn't it? Haha."

Even the panelist, who had been talking with such confidence, backed off a step.

Event-type monsters. A special breed that appears on floors under an event. They hadn't earned the name for nothing.

"If we could only catch them, it'd be incredible. They drop hidden-item materials too, don't they?"

"Correct. That's why some people charge in with their eyes blazing the moment an event hits—but I don't think it'll be possible this time. The floors it covers are the stretch from Floor 5 to Floor 10, to begin with. For hunters at the level of those clearing that range, it's genuinely too difficult."

The broadcast rolled on of its own accord.

I spent a skill point, and a new skill came up.

"Whoa. What is this? Sinkhole?"

My second skill, Sinkhole—the very thing everyone already knew by name. A hole, opening in the earth.

Area designation? Then unlike Fire Rain, I can drop it wherever I want. Good, in one sense. Less so in another. If the place I marked happened to be the ground under my own feet, there'd be hard limits on when I could actually use it. And the mana cost—look at it. Twice what Fire Rain took. One cast, and I'd be dry again.

A massive sinkhole. The damage ought to be a sure thing. The cost was steep, sure. But drop someone in a hole and they die, don't they? The power certainly looked real.

So... could I take whatever gear they had on, too?

One way to seize an opponent's equipment was to crush them—perfectly, overwhelmingly. It wasn't easy, of course. Hunters sharing a floor were more or less of a kind. It wasn't unheard of, though. Hunters from weaker nations who ran into those from the great powers, the ones carrying a skill like Sinkhole that could kill cleanly in a single blow, had on occasion lost their gear.

Fire Rain was closer to a damage-over-time type. Strong as it was, it didn't end someone in one stroke; it burned them down under the flame damage of a rain of fire. Which meant Sinkhole had a real chance. Taking their equipment along with them—just picturing it sent a thrill up my spine.

Anyway.

I opened my bag. I hadn't swept the place completely clean, but the materials were plentiful enough, and I checked the crafting table.

"Hmm."

I looked over the list. Advanced gear I could currently craft—still nothing worth using.

Have my standards climbed too high because of the hidden item? It was just that tempting. So I checked it again.

Something had changed. Alejandro's Blood, marked owned—a gift, courtesy of China.

Then I just need the rest. Who the King was. Where the World Tree stood. Who Taigar might be. And the last of them, the Flame Rubies. I had a hunch where those came from. They could be crafted, too.

"Let's see. Ruby crafting..."

I looked through the crafting table's unlocked list, and among them, the alchemy table.

I leveled it at once.

"Knew it."

New entries had appeared. Low-grade health and mana potions, of course, and gems of every kind. Flame Ruby was among them.

I checked the materials right away. I already had the Red Amber; it dropped on Floor 2. The problem was Lava Essence.

Where Lava Essence comes from... Somewhere in a fire-attribute zone, obviously. So Floor 7. Through Floor 6 the concept was a city of stone, and from Floor 7 on the backdrop turned volcanic. I'd cleared through Floor 5. Which left only Floor 6?

Korea had been turned upside down, and the national buff was why.

"Whoa. What is this?"

The Tower of Trials, Floor 1. A goblin lay dead—until, with a clatter of plate, it rose. Red eyes burned in the skull. The skin was rotting off the bone, and armor hung on what remained. A death goblin knight shambled after the hunter who had killed it, and that was only the beginning. A blur of steel, and the revived thing proved nothing like a goblin: it was strong enough to clear the floor alone.

"Whoa, you've got to be kidding. It came back again?"

Keep killing them, and their number climbed to three—the maximum. And then—

"Wh-what is that thing!"

"Kill it! Kill that bastard!"

The knights shrieked—graaaah, graaaah, graaaack—as a foreign hunter stumbled into them. The order to charge went out at once. The goblin that lunged—

Slaughter, immediate and complete. The goblin had gotten the kill.

And what kind of situation was this, exactly? An event triggered by clearing the hidden monster. Stealth, applied to every monster there was.

By all rights, Korea's climb should have grown even harsher. Thanks to the national buff, the difficulty had instead become absurdly easy.

Just then, President Park Cheolho appeared on the television. Sejin watched from the screen in the hospital lobby.

"What? Did something happen? Why are they suddenly airing that?"

"No idea. The channel just switched—something about the president having an announcement?"

What was going on? Sejin leaned in.

"Oh my god!"

"Hunter JUNE was the one who brought the national buff?"

"..."

The staff were stunned. So was Sejin.

My husband did that?

Last night, before the wine, he had said he was going into the Tower. She had waited up for him, of course—but the children woke in the meantime, and she fell asleep looking after them.

He didn't say a word this morning, either. His expression had looked grave, so she hadn't asked. Privately, she had assumed this latest attempt simply hadn't gone well. He already seemed shaken, and she hadn't wanted to pile anything more onto him, so she had let it be.

And yet.

Measured footsteps carried him out from beside the podium. Then the representative of a nation bent at the waist—a full ninety degrees. Watching it, she couldn't make the sight feel real.

My God. A statement thanking my husband wasn't enough—the president is bowing his head?

She couldn't believe it, even seeing it. What in the world was happening? Her husband...

...I should pick up some beef on the way home from work.

She ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was going to cook him something good.

That night, in the parking lot before I left work.

I'll stop by Floor 6 before I head home.

I could have put the kids to bed and gone in afterward, the way I usually did. But I was curious about the national buff—and about the Sinkhole I'd just learned.

"All right, then."

Floor 6. The backdrop was a medieval city. As for where I was standing...

The outskirts? I'm a good ways out from the city.

Some nameless hilltop, the city spread out below. Well out on the fringe, in other words.

All the better for seeing what Sinkhole can actually do. It had worked out. From up high, I'd see everything. I cast at once—dead center of the city.

The ground heaved, a long grinding roar. Even I, up on the hill, felt it.

BOOOOOOM—!!

"Whoa, what the—"

It happened in an instant.

The city was gone.

A flood of kill messages unlike anything I had ever seen. They kept rising, one after another, without a pause. How many people was that?

The K/D log surfaced. How many? 3,820?

I killed most of them in one shot?

Whoa. This ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was no joke. And the messages weren't finished.

An event-type monster. A special boss that existed on each floor where an event was active. The thing had died with the rest.

What. This Sinkhole is actually insane?

Anything standing there just dies?