All Mine

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Washington, United States.

The mood in the room was sour.

"……How bad is the event's impact?"

"Not good. The monsters come with Stealth applied by default, so you don't find them until they've already ambushed you."

The problem was the event's difficulty. Of all things, the baseline was stealth. You always started by taking the first hit.

"The real issue is that it applies from Floor 5 through Floor 10. Hunters climbing those floors are still in the early stages of their growth, which is why the damage is hitting even harder."

If it were the upper floors, there would be options. Those hunters had already been through the wringer. Floors 5 through 10 were different. The hunters there still lacked far too much.

"Hm. This is a problem. How long until the event ends?"

"By default, the event runs for fifteen days."

"……Fifteen days. The losses will be considerable. Hunters climbing that stretch won't grow much at all over those fifteen days."

"Yes. Unfortunately, that's the situation."

Fifteen days with no growth. In the long run, that was a serious loss.

And then—

"……There's one more thing I need to report. The national buff Korea took this time."

"Ah. Yes. How are things in Korea?"

"……The buff's effect appears to be considerable."

The American president's face creased.

"Considerable, meaning…"

"From what we've been able to investigate, the effect of the Alejandro's Legacy buff seems to be a low chance of reviving monsters you've killed. Because of that, American hunters have been losing to Korean hunters more often."

"……"

"Even with an event like this in effect, Korean hunters are reportedly succeeding at their climbs more often. Slowly, but succeeding."

The president's expression darkened further.

Not enough that they were overwhelming American hunters—they were clearing climbs even under conditions this brutal?

"If the event ends…"

"They'll become even more of a threat than they are now."

"Hah."

The sigh escaped him on its own. All from a single national buff? How many did America have?

They say the quality of national buffs varies, but…

That one was simply too overwhelming.

Right then. A message popped up out of nowhere. And something about it was wrong.

"……You're telling me he pulled an all-kill in a situation like this? A-and what is that active time? Three minutes!?"

An all-kill in three minutes. An absurd figure.

And then—

"……!"

"……!"

The event message had appeared as well.

I was back in the parking lot.

At first it said I'd only handled about 3,800 of them, but the kill messages just kept coming.

Maybe some of them had fallen into the hole. The kill count kept climbing until, in the end, it was an all-kill. The ones who'd been running must have dropped in…

Anyway. Might as well check the rewards.

Three in total. The all-kill reward, the event reward, and the event-monster reward. I started with the all-kill reward.

A skill enhancement ticket. Unfortunately, Normal rather than Advanced. Still, better than nothing. I used it at once.

Before, it had always been Fire Rain without question. Now I had two skills.

This time, obviously—

Three options. Only one of them stood out.

Range and depth already look like more than enough.

A 20% cut to Sinkhole's mana cost. Another 20% on top of that from the necklace. And the Massacrer's Seal, steadily swelling my mana.

Stack the mana-cost reduction a few more times, and I might be able to cast it twice in a row.

This wasn't the beginning anymore. The options were piling up. All right—next reward.

"Huh?"

I checked the event reward. And it was giving me what? A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠set item?

An ability-exclusive set, at that?

Well, damn. This was genuinely good. Were they going to keep handing these out?

……This event was a straight-up blessing. I opened it at once.

A black cloak. Blood-red on the inside. And long—longer than I'd expected.

But that set effect is no joke.

I looked at the set bonuses first. A power increase. A random trigger. And on top of that, no mana cost?

……This is huge. If there's no mana cost, I can just fire them off however I want, can't I?

Of course, I'd have to gather all five pieces of the set. That wouldn't be easy. But if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it was possible—

Just how far could I climb?

One cast already did this much. And I could use it without spending mana? Just imagining it raised the hair on my arms.

That aside. What was that option? I checked the cloak's special ability.

"……What. This is even more ridiculous?"

So. The shadow casts my skills?

It wasn't perfect, of course. Not 100%—30% of the power. But still. This?

They did say it was an ability-exclusive set.

Maybe because it was EX-grade. The set effect on an ability-exclusive piece was no joke either.

Anyway. Two rewards checked. One left.

"Yes!!"

I yelled it alone in the car. I couldn't help being happy. Why? Because this was exactly what I'd wanted. Material for the hidden staff!

And it wasn't just one. Three King's Fangs! The event had bumped up the number of materials you got!

If I take down the event monster on Floor 7, will it hand me more?

This event was way too good.

Shanghai, China.

The Heavenly Dragon Gate conference room.

"……This is everything we've managed to piece together on JUNE so far."

The air in the room was heavy. Every face was grim.

"A skill with one devastating blow. But he can't use it in succession. There was a gap of at least ten minutes before the next spell. Is that it?"

"Yes, that's correct! The proof is that the clear time on the floor where he attempted an all-kill was quite long!"

When he killed a decent number, it was under ten minutes. When he went for the all-kill, it was over thirty.

In other words, he was strong, but there was a gap. Whether that was a mana problem or a cooldown, it was an opening either way.

"But the situation on Floor 6 was a little different, wasn't it?"

The guild master brought up Floor 6. The presenter changed the screen.

"These are testimonies from people who went to Floor 6. Unfortunately, we couldn't determine exactly what it was. By the time they came to, they were already outside. The ground might have shaken a little. That's all anyone could say."

Their accounts. And far too little information in them.

"Regardless, the situation hasn't changed. If we're going to deal with JUNE, we have to strike after he uses that first spell. If we time it then, I believe we can do it."

Heavenly Dragon Gate was furious. The reason was the hidden monster. Losing it hadn't been enough—

"……Fine. We stop him, no matter what it takes. If he walks off with another event reward, the blow to us will be severe."

The problem was the event reward itself. Losing the national buff already stung. The event on top of that? That, they would never accept.

"If we're going to climb any higher, we have to secure the event rewards at the very least. We didn't clear that hidden monster on Floor 5 for nothing!"

That was the truth of it. Heavenly Dragon Gate had aimed for this.

The guild's nature. An overwhelming number of members. Especially on the lower floors.

They had deliberately arranged for the event to break out down there—so they could take both the national buff and the event rewards.

And all of it was failing.

"The Floor 7 reward has to be ours, whatever it takes. So from this moment, throw in every hunter capable of entering Floor 7! Cluster up as much as you can, same as before, and the instant you find the phase where JUNE appears, move fast!"

The guild master gave the order. The so-called JUNE Assassination Operation.

"The first attempt is what matters. If this succeeds, JUNE will be Heavenly Dragon Gate's prey from here on out! So have everyone equip our very finest items!"

"……Our very finest, sir?"

At the question, the guild master's face set with resolve.

"I'm pouring everything we have into this assassination. The five highest-ranked hunters on Floor 7 will use Item Transfer Tickets."

"B-but, Guild Master. That item's value is enormous. If we use them now, there's no telling when we'll ever get more. So…"

Smack!

The guild master cut him off, palm spread flat.

"No. Right now matters more. If we don't prepare to that degree, we may not be able to catch him at all. So get them ready, thoroughly, and send them."

The guild master was resolute. If this succeeded…

JUNE. I'll make you the ghost bound to Floor 7.

He meant to make sure the man never left the floor at all.

The next morning.

"……What is all this, first thing in the morning?"

I'd come out to eat, and there was beef?

"You've been working yourself too hard lately, so I picked some up at the store yesterday. You like meat with your rice."

"Wooooaaah! Meatie, meat!"

"Ayuni gets the gim—the seaweed, the seaweed!"

Munch, munch, munch.

Doyoon liked it even more than I did. One piece, and he was chewing away. He really did eat like it was the best thing in the world. Maybe I should be raising a mukbang star…

"So that's what this is. Thanks. I'll head out with a proper breakfast in me. Haha."

"Mm. Eat up. But are you going to be all right?"

"With what?"

"Well. You said you poked China and that's how you brought the national buff back. Aren't the Chinese scary?"

My wife was worried about China. Honestly, so was I.

What kind of country was China? A country that would do anything if it served the goal. Unofficially, of course.

"Nothing about my identity has leaked, so I should be fine on that front. The problem is that they can come after me inside the Tower. But… it's not as if anything permanent actually happens. I can just try again."

"That's true, but… I still worry."

"Don't worry too much. I actually got something pretty good as a reward yesterday."

I dropped my voice, in case the kids were listening.

"……You got something good?"

"Yeah. It's unbelievable. So you really don't have to worry."

I meant it. The thing even cast skills for me.

"Whew, that hit the spot. I'm off."

Breakfast, solidly eaten. Then straight to the office.

What day is it? Not a single car on the road.

Had everyone gone on vacation? The streets were unusually empty.

Thanks to that, I reached the company parking lot early. Going up just to sit around felt a little awkward.

Might as well kill some time before I head in.

So I wandered Hunternet for a bit. And something felt off.

"……"

What? Floor 7, of all places? Don't tell me they're gunning for me.

Then a new post went up. The contents were tempting.

"Whoa. Floor 50 gear? And Heroic-grade?"

What was the highest floor anyone had reached right now? As far as I knew, somewhere in the seventies. And they had Floor 50 equipment at Heroic grade? That was the rank right below Legendary.

"Hm."

That had to be insanely expensive. And there were five of them?

If I kill them all, it comes to me, doesn't it?

One of the Tower's basics. Kill someone, and everything they have is yours. Once the corpse vanishes, it transfers automatically. It had always worked that way.

Time to go.

Floor 7 of the Tower of Trials. The air here was anything but ordinary.

Messages climbing without a pause. And plastered across every one of them, the names of Chinese hunters.

"The gear really is good, I'll give them that."

"Kill every last one of them. That's the only way he'll react."

"All of you, remember. The moment you see a warning sign, rally to me at once. With this, we'll be able to hold."

One of the Chinese hunters thrust a shield forward. The name of the piece was Heavenly Protection (Heroic).

"This isn't Heroic-grade for nothing. Trigger the option on it, and you can endure any attack in an invincible state for five seconds."

"Kehehe. Right. And that includes the allies around us, yeah?"

"Even if the invincibility ends, it's no problem. With this gear tuned to maximum fire-attribute resistance, we can withstand his attack."

A rain of fire? Screw that. They weren't dying.

Rrrumble—

That was when the sky grew loud.

"I-It's him!"

"He's here!"

"Group up, group up!"

The sky flushed red.

Shaaaaaa!

Shaaaaaa!

Whoosh—!

Rain poured from the sky. Sharp stones, blazing as they fell.

Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!

Ting! Ting! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ting! Ting!

"Hahaha! Performance checks out!"

"Nobody move! Stay by my side!"

"Go on, pour it all you want! See if we die!"

"Item diff really is something else."

Every one of them was satisfied. Blocked this easily? He was finished.

KRRRRRUMBLE—!

"……Huh? What is this."

"Why is the ground suddenly—"

"What's going on?"

That was when it happened. The earth shook out of nowhere. All of them faltered.

"C-calm down. This can't be his magic anyway. He's dumping a rain of fire like that right now."

"……Right. S-stay calm."

"Good. The invincibility ought to be ending soon. Three, two, one…"

KRA-KOOOOOOM!!

"Urk—ghhk! Gaaahk!"

"Kraaaaaagh!"

"Kyaaaaaaah!"

The invincibility ended. In the same instant, the floor caved in. Every one of them dropped into the hole.