Museum Manager Max (5)
The curtain rose on a battle to protect the museum—no, to protect the continent itself.
When I motioned to Max, who was still struggling on his side of the field, he hurriedly scrambled out of the way.
It was ridiculous to see a man who had transformed into a loyal subject in less than a few hours, but I supposed that, from his perspective, he had no choice.
He’s desperate.
There were plenty of things I could do in this situation that he couldn’t. Fixing the holes in the mana was one of them.
The first reason was simple: I could directly confirm which parts were weakening.
Even before the System issued its warning, I could see where the damage was spreading.
The same went for the filthy fragments of the ancient god.
I couldn’t view its information, but I could still sense how it would move.
In a situation where every second mattered, being able to identify the weak points in advance was a huge advantage.
Taking my seat, I opened my mouth, and one of the people on the hologram immediately answered.
“You’re sure the shortest route is correct, Maksamwon?”
-Yes. I think they’ll enter in a moment!
“Good.”
-Is there anything else you’d like me to do…?
“First, go make more coffee.”
-Yes, sir!
I turned to the mana hologram, and before long I saw the expedition members storming into the area where the ancient god’s fragment was housed.
“Did you connect the voice line?”
-Yes. It’s already connected. When you want to speak to the heroes who came with you, just pour mana into the magic circle at the very end and speak. Then…
“Just call me Representative Lee.”
-Got it! Representative Lee.
There really was something about him now, some air of competence that came from experience. He was quick on the uptake.
So my impression that he’d been stupid was probably just my mistake.
I had only thought that because he was flustered and moving too frantically, which meant I had missed a lot of things.
-A-ah. A-ah. Voice test. Mr. Hyunsung, if you can hear me, please raise your right hand.
As if to confirm he understood, the regressor in the video lifted one hand.
He looked strangely dependable holding that Mythic-grade sword.
The others were already deep into battle preparations.
I figured they’d handle the smaller details on their own without me having to explain every last thing.
-Let me explain once more: it’s important not to touch the mana of the backup program. Everyone except Hayan should channel mana into the backup program. Hayan, prepare a large spell, and Dialugia should probably manifest as well.
Of course, the amount of mana needed to suppress that thing was nowhere near enough, but the expedition members’ mana would still help.
Every one of them was a fairly accomplished mage, and their mana stats were all over 80.
-The melee fighters should do the same. Just keep feeding mana in slowly until I tell you to stop.
I spoke casually, as if everything were going smoothly, but the situation was anything but calm.
The stronger our side became, the fiercer the other side’s resistance grew.
The entire process—hammering the magic circles, pushing mana into the weak points—was honestly complicated.
I was drawing mana from everywhere I could, but the truth was that I still didn’t have enough to seal it completely.
After I swallowed a sip of the coffee Max had brought, I continued speaking.
This time, I was addressing Max.
“Check whether there’s any mana left in the other sectors that can be pulled over.”
-Representative Lee, the situation is…
“Doesn’t seem all that great, huh…? Good thing I had the expedition members brought here in advance.”
-Ah…
“I’ll try to hold it, but there’s a high chance one side will break through. We still don’t have enough mana.”
-If we channel the dragon’s mana…
“We need to prepare for the possibility that it breaks through. Dialugia is insurance. And the more insurance you have, the better.”
-I see.
“And since we may run into an unforeseen situation, secure a retreat route too.”
-What?
“What’s with that look, you punk? Even if things go wrong, we still have to survive first if we want to come back and clean up the mess afterward. You probably don’t realize it because you’ve never been outside the museum, but the people over there are among the strongest in the current age of humanity. If it isn’t them, then there’s no one left to handle the aftermath.”
-Ah! So that’s it!
“Otherwise, do you think we’d have been able to capture a Legendary-grade monster so easily and break the seal the Crack Guardians laid down? Don’t worry too much, Maksamwon. Honestly, I treasure this museum too. It’d be a shame if we couldn’t use what’s inside anymore. And stop trying to argue with me. I can’t concentrate.”
-Y-yes, sir!
I didn’t even bother looking at him as he snapped his mouth shut in shock.
He probably knew better than anyone that this wasn’t going to be easy.
The sound of mana being fed into the magic circle kept going, and the voice at my side never stopped either.
-Hayan, maintain the spell you’re casting now and add just a little more mana to the side where the tentacle is restraining Deokgu. That side looks like it’s going to break.
What irritated me a little was that the thing had become smarter.
It had begun concentrating its power obsessively on one side.
Which meant I had no choice but to pull mana from the side that had become relatively weaker.
Damn it.
I’d rather preserve as much of the mana from people like Jung Hayan and Dialugia as possible, especially for the sake of our escape afterward.
But there was no other way.
It was better to secure even a few points carefully than have the whole thing burst open at once.
That wasn’t the only issue, either.
My own mana is the problem.
This was an opponent I had to treat as a long fight.
Continuously dumping mana into the magic circle and manipulating the control device was work in itself.
Of course, it didn’t consume anything close to what a full spell would, but if I thought this would drag on for a while, I had to keep some mana in reserve.
That was exactly why I had to rely on Maksamwon, who had been standing there blankly watching the situation from behind.
And to his credit, he was doing an excellent job.
He’d become a little too puffed up with pride, which was slightly unsettling, but still.
I had worried he might do something stupid, but…
-Representative Lee! I’ve successfully sealed sectors 21 and 7!
“Don’t get excited. If one side gets loose, the other side might think it can collapse everything in a chain reaction. The signs are already showing… and they’re….”
-Sector 9 is sealed as well.
“Don’t move too fast. From now on, only put mana where I tell you to.”
-Sector 10 sealed too!
“Recover the remaining mana.”
-At 69!!
“You little bastard! Who told you to put it there!”
-Huh? 6… 9… on sector 69…
“Hurry up and bring sector 69 up on one side of the screen….”
With a crackling roar, a massive tentacle burst through the seal and lunged out.
Staring at that thing, I was so dumbfounded I almost laughed.
While Max was pouring mana into the 69th sector, the thing that had been waiting there sprang upward as if it were expanding.
I grabbed the magic circle again and sent mana chains flying toward it, but it wasn’t easy to hold it down.
Everything else could break too.
No—if I let this thing run wild, it would definitely destroy everything.
It had already slipped out of my hands.
“Battle ready! Battle ready!”
The expedition members were already preparing on the other side, even if I didn’t say a word, and I could see it in the video.
I couldn’t hear what was happening over there, but Kim Hyunsung was shouting, and Jung Hayan was activating her spells.
They understood that they had to shove the excited thing back inside.
As luck would have it, at least the target was clear.
-Aim only at the tentacles… only the tentacles.
Dozens, no, hundreds of tiny streams of mana kept hammering the creature’s tentacles. It was a spectacular sight.
It was probably Jung Hayan’s magic.
Since she’d decided that a breath attack with too much firepower would be risky, Dialugia had begun throwing herself into the fray as well, and in response I had no choice but to pour even more mana into the chains binding the creature.
“Keep only the minimum power running in the control room and send everything else over there.”
-S-sorry…
“Mistakes can be corrected, Maksamwon.”
-R-Representative Lee.
The image of the huge dragon opening her mouth wide to tear into the thing was a sight to behold.
Even watching it on a screen was enough to make me clench, so no further explanation was needed.
But whether that had actually inflicted any damage on the creature remained uncertain.
I had worried that if that woman pushed herself too hard, she might get herself killed, but fortunately that didn’t happen.
Still, it couldn’t simply shake off the force resisting it, and as the creature twisted its tentacles, Dialugia was thrown back and slammed into the wall.
The moment Sun Heeyoung and An Gimo’s divine power was transferred to the huge dragon who had risen as if nothing had happened…
Park Yeonju and the Black Swan members also leaped forward with their swords.
What…
It felt like watching valkyries hurl themselves at a god.
Anyone would have found the sight of those fearless female swordswomen beautiful.
Damn it.
But apparently the ancient god didn’t think so.
Smaller tentacles shot out from the massive main tentacle bound in blue chains and lashed toward them.
So that thing could do that too, huh.
Most of the others were blocking the tentacles with their swords, but some of them looked frantic enough to be in real danger.
Park Deokgu charged through the middle and blocked several of the attacks with his shield, while Cho Hyejin, spear in hand, climbed onto his shoulder and swung her spear down.
Rustle, rustle.
A few strands fell away, but the attacks kept pouring out, and Cho Hyejin shut her eyes.
What she was looking at as she checked her body, which had somehow come through without a scratch, was surely Dialugia, who had taken that attack on her tail instead.
And the huge concentration of mana gathering at the dragon’s mouth must have been visible as well.
-No breath attack!! Ah! A piercing one! Make it a piercing attack!
The piercing breath she fired from her mouth drove straight through one of the massive surfaces that had been wounded by her teeth.
It was the moment one of the mana chains of the backup program, which had been holding the writhing creature down, snapped.
Kim Hyunsung appeared in the video, having cut down countless tentacles with his sword and reached the pierced point.
Please… Shit! Hyunsung!
The way he slowly swung his sword felt as if time itself had stopped.
The sword, neither fast nor slow, touched the tentacle, and the tentacle was neatly severed into two perfect halves.
“Yeeeeeessss!”
-Grrrrrrr…!
“Start the seal! Hurry, hurry, hurry! Seal the other side too, all at once! Seal it!”
-Gghhh…
“Don’t cry! No, come on, hurry up!”
Of course I kept feeding mana into the magic circle.
As I moved my hands rapidly and hammered the circle, Max’s voice kept coming from behind me.
-T-the upper sectors are all sealed. Sectors 32 through 41 are sealed too! Sector 69 is complete as well. Grrrr…
I could see the creature being wrapped up layer by layer in chains.
The blue mana chains, extending from all directions, were binding it just like they had when it was first sealed.
At last, the great door that would sink it into a long sleep began to open.
It thrashed as if it desperately didn’t want to go in, but the tide had already turned.
“Disappear! You filthy demon! Puhuhahahat!”
By then I was so high on the moment that I felt like dancing a little shoulder shimmy.
For some reason, the creature’s huge eye seemed to be glaring toward the control room, but I couldn’t care less.
“You’re not taking my museum! You rotten little thing! Puhaha! Cough, cough!”
I was laughing so hard that I actually started coughing.
In the end, the creature was shoved back inside, and the giant door made of blue mana slowly began to close.
The mana on the door warped and twisted, and in the middle of it, I could make out a crystal of mana taking the shape of a human being.
What the hell is that now?
It wasn’t a threat to us.
Judging by the way Max was staring blankly at the image, that woman must have been the Crack Guardian.
Rather than a person herself, she looked more like what remained of her will.
I had no idea what sort of story lay behind her, but Max was staring at the incantation her lingering spirit was chanting with tears the size of chicken droppings rolling down his face.
The spell was completed in an instant, and unknown runes flew toward the massive door.
Once again blue light washed over the chamber, and when the image came back, the expedition members were sitting on the ground, hugging one another.
“Niiiiiice!”
You have completed a Legendary-grade quest.
Legendary Quest — Salvation of the Continent (1/1)
A title has been created.
Title — Guardian of the Continent
All stats increase by 1.
Museum Manager grade increases by 1. The Crack Museum 5th-Grade Manager title changes to Crack Museum 4th-Grade Manager. Owing to the earnest request of the Crack Guardian Metel, a new title has been forcibly created.
Max’s Guardian
“Huh?”
My delight lasted only a moment before I turned to Max, only to find his face looking strangely flustered on the screen.
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