Chapter 115: The Trap (1)
Chapter 115: The Trap (1)
Clearing dungeons in Korea or Japan risked running afoul of the large clans and the Association again, so Han Shin had no choice but to continue his hunting in Nepal.
One thing that made it easier was that after passing level 30, the distance from which he could enter dungeons had increased. Thanks to this, he could enter dungeons further away without having to leave his villa in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Han Shin focused on leveling up by diligently clearing dungeons. He had grown stronger, but since he was mostly clearing low-rank dungeons rather than those with A-Rank monsters, he couldn't help but feel bored. Having experienced intense stimulation before, clearing dungeons of much lower difficulty naturally felt underwhelming.
Therefore, Han Shin decided to use this opportunity to focus on learning Body Arts from Laysia. He was stronger now, and he figured it would be better to add another skill to his repertoire rather than just hunting mechanically.
Laysia and Grace also actively supported the idea. Beyond just exerting superhuman strength by tapping into the Power of the Dragon, being able to emit that power from his entire body for offense and defense complemented the use of Body Arts well.
Han Shin had been quite impressed when Laysia intentionally wounded the Orcs to incapacitate them during their previous hunt, preventing more enemies from fighting. He thought it was an effective combat style against humanoid enemies—especially those with a sense of camaraderie or kinship, as creating wounded soldiers could further deplete the enemy's fighting force.
He also believed that being able to use Body Arts would definitely be helpful in narrow terrain where swinging a weapon would be difficult.
Thwack!
"Yelp!"
The dog-like whimper, so unfitting for a giant wolf, caused Han Shin's focused expression to falter slightly. Following Grace's teaching that letting one's guard down in battle was strictly forbidden, he practiced mind control to ensure he didn't treat it as a joke.
However, Han Shin was only human; since he had grown so much stronger, maintaining constant focus while clearing D-Rank dungeons was quite difficult. He entered the next dungeon immediately after mechanically clearing the previous one. Even though he tried to focus on the battle to practice his Body Arts, the monsters were pathetically weak compared to his current self, causing his tension to keep slipping.
'Ugh... focus.'
He didn't know how many times he'd done this, but he consciously repeated the action. Compared to the Dire Wolves he had faced when hunting with only Grace in the very beginning, they looked completely different now. A monstrous wolf with threatening, sharp fangs lunged at him, but he felt no fear or strain. They served as good practice targets for the Body Arts Laysia had taught him.
Boom!
He dodged the pounce of the last remaining Dire Wolf Alpha by twisting his body to the left, then killed it with a palm strike to its flank. Having easily cleared this dungeon as well, Han Shin immediately harvested the mana from the Dungeon Core.
Laysia approached him and briefly pointed out some shortcomings in the recent fight; Han Shin listened intently, thinking he should correct them immediately.
After dealing with the Reinforcement Portals in Korea and Japan, Han Shin's group was enjoying a relatively peaceful period. Kang Yujin, who still couldn't go into dungeons with Han Shin, managed their new home while receiving information from the Association to check if Reinforcement Portals were being handled properly, including those in Korea.
However, she received information that since they had stopped the sudden surge of Reinforcement Portals last time, their appearance had almost vanished. She was told that the frequency of their appearance was dropping; they had almost stopped appearing in Korea, and the same was true for Japan. It was the same in the UK.
While it was certainly a joyful thing that the situation was being resolved, Kang Yujin felt a bit disappointed.
'I wish one more would show up...'
Ironically, she found herself secretly wishing for a Reinforcement Portal to appear. This was because of her strong desire to be with Han Shin as soon as possible, but she quickly shook her head and corrected her thoughts.
'No, you idiot. Even if it takes some time, it's better to stay safe like this.'
Realizing that her greed could lead to a situation where Han Shin might be in danger, Kang Yujin cursed her own foolishness and reflected on her stray thoughts.
★ ★ ★
At the Japan Branch of the Awakener Association, there was a lingering sense of regret over the artifacts from the Reinforcement Portals that they hadn't managed to secure. For Japan, which had fewer top-tier Awakeners compared to other countries, the obsession with artifacts was considerable. It was funny how human nature worked; once the crisis had passed, they only thought about what they had missed out on.
Because Wolyeong and Knight had cleared the Reinforcement Portals so easily and without any sense of urgency, people even began to wonder if it had really been such a crisis. Consequently, many large clans dwelled on the regret of not obtaining a single artifact.
After Wolyeong and Knight left, the Japanese clans moved quickly to try and obtain artifacts on their own. However, excavating dungeons with A-Rank monsters required significant cost and manpower. Although they found a few artifacts after spending time and money, they were nothing special, which only made them more desperate. Since their investments weren't yielding matching returns, an obsessive mindset took hold.
Most of Japan's large clans were like this. When the Reinforcement Portals began to grow scarce, the feeling of regret intensified. There were attempts to just move on, but because of their underlying obsession with artifacts, it didn't work out.
In the midst of this, Reinforcement Portals began to gradually increase in Japan again.
This phenomenon was occurring only in Japan. After Han Shin's group had wiped out the Reinforcement Portals there once, the demons were paying close attention to the portals they sent to the Japanese region. Since it was the region where Han Shin's group was most likely to enter and fight in dungeons, the demons monitored everything. In the process, they noticed something about how the Japanese Awakeners cleared dungeons.
An intense desire for artifacts.
While other regions also tried to obtain artifacts, they considered A-Rank monsters a threat and tried to keep their artifact-hunting time as short as possible. In Japan's case, however, the logs showed an obsession with obtaining artifacts at any cost, even pushing right up to the dungeon's expiration limit.
The demons decided to exploit this.
They reduced the transmission of Reinforcement Portals to other regions while subtly sending them to Japan, bit by bit. Like poison seeping in, they initially sent so few Reinforcement Portals that they were more than manageable. As they gradually increased the numbers, the Japan Branch of the Awakener Association welcomed this with great joy.
It was a well-known fact that Reinforcement Portals were decreasing worldwide, and Japan had been no exception—until Reinforcement Portals suddenly started appearing again. Unable to imagine that the demons following the Evil Gods were behind the portal transmissions, they viewed it as an opportunity to obtain artifacts and reacted positively.
A meeting was convened in secret.
"Since it's still manageable, let's cooperate to excavate as many artifacts as possible and strengthen Japan's power."
"For the greater good, it would be best for everyone to join forces this time."
"I agree."
Normally, these people would have wasted time bickering over their own interests and the ownership of artifacts, but this time, they resolved to cooperate voluntarily to deal with the Reinforcement Portals where A-Rank monsters appeared.
They collectively judged that one of the reasons they hadn't responded properly during the last crisis was that they hadn't gathered their full strength due to mutual wariness. This was true to some extent. Everyone preferred the Kanto Region, where the infrastructure was convenient and portals were densely generated, and they tended to avoid regions that were far away. This was one of the reasons their initial response had been so strange.
In fact, it was true that high-ranking Awakeners were too densely concentrated in the Kanto Region, so they decided to disperse them and secure artifacts together. They came to believe that Wolyeong's cold refusal to accommodate them or give them a proper chance to excavate artifacts had resulted in a loss for everyone.
Unintentionally, Kang Yujin had provided the catalyst for Japan's large clans to cooperate with one another. In a way, this could be seen as a positive phenomenon.
However, they thought nothing of the fact that the number of Reinforcement Portals was increasing very slightly. For those already consumed by greed for artifacts, the fact that Reinforcement Portals were appearing only in Japan seemed like a stroke of luck—an opportunity for Japan to grow even stronger.
They had no idea they had fallen into a trap set by the demons.