Haram! Keep That Up and You'll Premature!

After clearing the tenth floor of the Tower, we exited and headed for the hideout we had prepared in advance.

What had once been an ordinary lake—Hwarang Lake—had been swallowed by the Void Pond and turned a deep purple. The Legion that had been lurking in the buildings now openly prowled the streets of Ansan.

"Haram, but why didn't the Doppelganger Lord's apostles steal me? Why go for the Knight Commander or the Saintess instead?"

"You're still hung up on that?"

"Even if it was a copy! There's no way I was that weak!"

Lucy, back in human form, stomped her foot. She pounded the floor with all her might, but her fragile body produced no sound at all.

"That's because your rank is high enough to be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on the level of a lesser god, Lucy. The apostles simply couldn't steal you."

"Really?!"

"If they could have, they would've stolen the Basilisk too and we'd all be dead."

The only reason the Doppelganger Lord had been able to steal the bodies of the Basilisk and Lucy was because it had taken empty shells stripped of every true ability that carried their rank. No matter how strong the Doppelganger Lord was, it could never steal an enemy of equal or higher rank.

"The Doppelganger Lord is a classic bully of the weak and coward before the strong."

"But it stole your form, Haram! You're a scrub!"

"...Lucy. You're banned from Huntgall for twelve hours."

"...You're lying, right?"

I left the wailing Lucy behind and headed for the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bed prepared in the hideout. Unlike before, when it had been filthy with dust, it was now clean—someone had clearly done the laundry.

"Ukki!"

"Shungshung, was that you? Good... job..."

"Haram! Turn on the system window! Nooooo!!"

"I'm just gonna sleep a little..."

Even during the expedition I had been cutting sleep short, and after it ended I had kept climbing the Tower without rest. On top of that, at the end of the tenth floor I had used Mana Conversion to massively boost my Strength and Sense for the fight. My pitiful 150 Stamina had long since hit its limit.

I still hadn't distributed my stats or spent my points, but that was better done after waking up with a clear head.

"Ah, Poppy..."

"Watch over me a bit..."

"No! Haram! Open the system window! I need Huntgall! There are people inside!!!"

"You... I told you not to post..."

Listening to Lucy's screams like a lullaby, I surrendered to the sleep that crashed over me.

"No matter how many times I come here, I never get used to it."

"Move it, move it!"

At the moment Haram fell asleep in the hideout, the allied forces of the world's top guilds entered Floor 92 of Hard Difficulty to clear it.

"Puppet King!"

"Preparations complete."

World Rank 8, the greatest summoner and puppet master on Earth—Pragnan's puppets raced out into the ruined city. Tiny dolls no bigger than small dogs. Thousands of them scanned the downtown in an instant.

"Woof!"

Void Hounds leapt to hunt the puppets, but the creations of a top high-ranker far outstripped the hounds' speed.

—Whoosh!

The moment the puppets entered the maze of alleys, Void Flowers that had been lying in wait snatched them up and ate their heads.

"Tsk. No matter how many times I see it, that sight is disgusting."

"Be grateful it's not human heads."

"Kh... My summon Coco got eaten by a Head Collector too..."

Void Flowers that consumed any living creature above a certain size. They weren't particularly threatening to high-rankers, but the sight of them snipping off heads and devouring them stirred a primal revulsion.

"We've mapped the locations of every Head Collector on the main routes."

The blonde woman beside Captain projected a three-dimensional hologram of the cityscape. Red dots marked the streets where Void Flowers had taken root.

"Guild Leader Ji Yeeun, ready?"

"Yes."

At Captain's words, Ji Yeeun drew her bowstring.

—Thwip!

—BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!

The arrow that left her bow split into thousands, streaking toward every Void Flower position. Upon impact, small explosions bloomed and black smoke rose across the city.

"Head Collectors cleared!"

"Team A moving out."

"Team B moving out."

"Team C moving..."

Floor 92 was a stage they had already attempted dozens of times. They already knew which monsters lurked where. Minor discrepancies like the exact positions of the Void Flowers existed, but the overall framework never changed. Teams pre-organized by combat role before entry swept the city clean at high speed.

"Sector A clear."

"Sector B clear."

"Sector C clear."

"Sector D clea..."

"The speed is incredible."

Far faster than when the Empress and Cheongung Guild had challenged it together in the past. Listening to the reports at command, the Empress marveled.

"The world's number-one guild ranking belongs firmly to our Guardian Guild."

"If I'd known it would be this easy, I would have joined forces sooner."

Captain couldn't truly enjoy the Empress's praise. Pride kept him silent, but the current clear speed was several times faster than when the Guardian Guild had tackled it alone.

For Floor 92, the absolute elites of every top guild on Earth had gathered. Personnel limits had kept the riffraff out entirely—this was Earth's true full strength assembled in one place.

"Sector H clear."

"All sectors clear."

"Well then, our turn. Let's go."

Less than an hour after the Floor 92 assault began, the vast city had been completely cleaned. The true powerhouses—including the Empress and Captain—had been waiting at command for this moment. Earth's masters now headed for City Hall to meet the Clown Knight.

The building where city administrators had once worked in the days when the city still stood. Standing before the massive City Hall, the Empress spoke.

"We're here."

"We will carry out the mission."

Figures in black masks and concealing coats blurred. Using stealth, they peeled away from the formation and slipped into the building.

"Now then, let's draw that clown bastard's attention in spectacular fashion."

"Or just kill him outright."

With the Empress and Captain at the front, the suicide squad entered City Hall. The objective of Floor 92 was to destroy the target in the basement. But every time, the Clown Knight appeared on the first floor and blocked them.

"We'll use the formation the little one left us."

"No different from Yujin's idea. This is the formation our Yujin insisted on."

"Think of it however you like."

The suicide squad's purpose was to pin down the Clown Knight while the stealth users destroyed the target. The awakeners took their positions and entered City Hall.

"Where will he come from this time..."

"Captain, are you truly confident?"

"Getting cold feet now of all times..."

"No. I mean that man you recommended."

Even before entering Floor 92, the Empress had been thinking of the man with the stealth skill. The strategy of having the rest hold the Clown Knight while stealth users destroyed the target had already been tried multiple times.

Each time, the Clown Knight had leisurely suppressed the Empress ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and the high-rankers, then dragged in the stealth users as well. The reason they were dusting off a repeatedly failed strategy now was the man Captain had recommended.

"That guy is on a different level. With him, it won't fail."

The man who had once infiltrated the Pentagon and been caught by Captain. The man with Absolute Stealth had activated it before even entering Floor 92 and had been hiding in the city the entire time. Whether ordinary stealth high-rankers succeeded or the Absolute Stealth man did, all that mattered was achieving the Floor 92 objective.

The suicide squad waiting quietly for the Clown Knight suddenly sensed something wrong.

"...Yeeun, how long does it usually take for the Clown Knight to appear after we enter City Hall?"

"At the latest, within one minute."

"Then right now..."

The Empress counted the time since they had entered. More than three minutes had already passed. Under normal circumstances they would have been suppressed by the Clown Knight long ago.

"Don't tell me he went after the strike team first..."

"Captain! Success!"

A voice rang from the communication item at Captain's waist.

"What are you talking about?!"

"Objective achieved! You held off the Clown Knight!"

"What do you mean..."

"Mei unnie."

"Yeah. I see it too."

The Clown Knight who had driven high-rankers into despair dozens of times over... had never appeared.

"Ugh... Morning already...?"

I rubbed my eyes against the light streaming through the window and sat up in bed.

"Haram!!! You're awake?!"

"Ugh, Lucy, quiet..."

"Turn on Huntgall and I'll shut up!"

I shoved away the lunging Lucy and looked around. When we finished the tenth floor it had been dawn, but now the sun was high in the sky.

"Huntgall! Hurry!"

"Lucy, you're a community addict. It's only been a few hours..."

"A few hours?! Haram, you slept more than a whole day!"

"What?!"

I opened the system window, entered the Hunter Community, and checked the date. More than thirty hours had passed since the last time I checked.

"Crazy. I slept that long?"

"Wow! Huntgall! New posts! Fresh dopamine!"

I turned my gaze to the status window.

"Stamina at 152 and I slept over thirty hours?"

Ever since becoming an awakener and raising my Stamina, the longest I had ever slept was six hours. No matter how much fatigue had piled up from the expedition and the tenth-floor clear, this was abnormal.

"Gonna have to raise Stamina..."

"Woof!"

A mere 150 Stamina. With that I had pushed Strength and Sense past a thousand on the tenth floor and fought. I had felt the fatigue building during combat, but it had still been bearable. Apparently Regeneration had been suppressing the exhaustion.

"Ugh... With 700 I could hit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mana 1,000 and push the others to 1,000 too..."

"Haram! Keep that up and you'll premature!"

"...Lucy. You're really dead."

"Waaah! No violence!"

Considering the Mana Conversion skill, dumping everything into Mana looked tempting. But over-investing in Mana alone made combat power plummet during skill cooldowns. Mana first, but balanced distribution was necessary.

After some thought, I allocated the bonus stats.

"Next fight, I need to hit Stamina 500."

Wasting more than a full day in a situation where every hour counted was a clear loss. From now on I would have to stop fighting while only looking at peak performance.

"Wait, anything happen while I was asleep?"

"Huh? Nothing?"

"Ah, no point asking you."

I immediately sent a telepathic message to the Void Pond administrator.

"Give me a situation report! Anyone show up in Ansan?"

'The number of soldiers from the Seoul direction has increased, but no one has entered the city.'

"Whew... That's a relief at least. Tell me if there's anything else unusual."

'That is... there is something the Queen must know.'

The Void Pond administrator's voice trembled slightly.

'While cleaning the city we found humans in hiding. The Legion is currently detaining them.'

"Humans? Ah, right—even in a monster-eaten city there are people living in the shadows."

It was still too early to step into the light. I snatched the system window Lucy was using and checked the Hunter Community.

"Lucy, what's the general opinion of our Legion on Huntgall?"

"Huh? People love them! Oh! There's talk about the Void Hounds found in Ansan too!"

"We were going to move the location anyway... Since it's come to this, maybe I should send Seo-ah a little gift?"

From the moment I decided to clean up the collapsed gate in Ansan, discovery of the location had been inevitable. If I was going to work with people eventually, I needed to do something to lower their guard even a little.

"Besides, 90% of the people living in a monster-eaten city are criminals. And the soldiers have increased—perfect timing."

I began writing my first post on the Hunter Community. After a short while I finished composing it, then spoke to the Void Pond administrator again.

"Those people there... handle them like this."

'Understood, my Queen.'

Even if our Legion was going to stand with humanity, if my personal identity got exposed, villains would come swarming. In fact, there was a high chance villains had already set out for Ansan. I still lacked the strength to step into the light...

"Next stop, the Taebaek Mountain Range?"

The Korean Peninsula still had plenty of regions swallowed by monsters.

"Lucy. I clearly wrote my first post on the Hunter Community, so why are there old posts of mine?"

"Po-Poppy! Let's go swimming!"

"Woof?"

"Lucy, get over here! I told you not to post on the Hunter Community!"

"Waaah! Save me! No violence!"

Lucy received a 24-hour ban from Huntgall.