Chapter 118: The Trap (4)
Chapter 118: The Trap (4)
The demons immediately seized control of the surrounding area and began establishing a base.
In the heart of Aokigahara, a black spire jutted out from the Sea of Trees.
The tower, a triangular structure with perfectly smooth surfaces, rose high above the surrounding trees, creating an uncanny, alien silhouette. Standing roughly as tall as a twenty-story apartment building, it was visible from a great distance. As fate would have it, a news helicopter—which had been broadcasting live while reporting on a case of missing civilians in the forest—captured the sight.
Because the footage was being streamed live, it was impossible to impose a media blackout. The scene was laid bare before the world, leaving the authorities with no way to manage the fallout.
Then, the worst-case scenario unfolded.
The helicopter filming the spire was attacked by a demon, and the entire sequence was broadcasted in real-time, sending shockwaves through the public. The screams of the female news anchor served as a chilling confirmation that this was no staged event, but a grim reality.
Han Shin received the news from Kang Yujin while he was in the middle of a dungeon hunt in Nepal.
Immediately halting the hunt, Han Shin returned home with Grace and Laysia. He frowned as he watched the footage of the black tower and the demons on the television.
"How did this happen...?"
Kang Yujin had already informed the Association that the Moon Shadow Party was ready to step in whenever Japan or Korea needed support. The Association had been thrilled by the offer.
Yujin had relayed the Association's positive response to Han Shin, and they had been checking in regularly to see if help was needed. Yet, there had been no word.
Yujin was just as bewildered as he was.
"I asked the Association immediately, and they said they hadn't heard a single word from the Japanese side..."
Hearing the dejection in Yujin’s voice, Han Shin said, "It’s not your fault, Noona. I wonder if we missed something..."
In recent times, it was almost unheard of for a dungeon in a developed nation to remain uncleared.
"I thought it was strange too, so I looked into whether there were any recent uncleared dungeons in Japan, but there was nothing in the records."
Because the Japan Branch of the Awakener Association had intentionally suppressed the records, there had been no way for them to know.
"Ugh... what is going on...?"
Grace and Laysia were also at a loss for an answer to this unexpected situation.
As Yujin said, they had personally cleared all the dungeons in that region of Japan not too long ago. It had only been a month, and there had been no issues since then. It made no sense for something like this to happen so suddenly.
As Grace and Laysia pondered the situation, they recalled the various types of human folly they had witnessed while protecting their own worlds.
"Perhaps... the Japanese Awakeners got greedy?"
At Grace’s cautious suggestion, something clicked for Han Shin.
"Greed?"
Kang Yujin’s intuition sharpened as she listened to their conversation.
"Don't tell me... they wanted the artifacts for themselves..."
Han Shin’s thoughts finally fell into place at Yujin’s words.
He remembered their last day in Japan a month ago, after they had finished clearing the dungeons. The Japanese Association had asked for help with artifact excavation. Later, Yujin had told him that Japan was particularly obsessed with artifacts—largely because they had fewer top-tier Awakeners compared to other nations.
"They got greedy for artifacts and tried to clear it themselves, and then this disaster happened..."
Han Shin sighed, feeling a wave of exhaustion. A string of curses rose to his throat, but he suppressed them, telling himself to stay calm.
What’s done is done. First, we have to deal with those demons.
Han Shin looked at the black spire on the TV and asked, "Do you know what that tower is?"
"It’s likely... a structure designed to make crossing over to Earth easier," Laysia guessed.
Just as Laysia suspected, the black spire was a type of amplifier. By amplifying the demons' dark mana and eroding the surrounding environment, it served as an outpost for their forces.
"In any case... we need to destroy that thing and kill the demons as quickly as possible."
"Yes."
Regardless of what it was, the demons had to be eliminated and the structure demolished. Leaving it alone was out of the question.
Han Shin’s party immediately began preparing to leave for Japan. Since the Association had already contacted Yujin, they were able to depart for Japan right away.
Having just returned from a hunt, they decided to wash up first and then make thorough preparations. Their opponents weren't typical monsters, but demons who followed the Evil God. They were the party's primary enemies, and it was certain that they would be far stronger and more dangerous than any monster they had faced so far.
They double-checked their equipment and looked over their supplies one last time.
★ ★ ★
The Japan Branch of the Awakener Association was, naturally, in a state of emergency.
Monsters the likes of which they had never seen before.
With the appearance of the demons, they belatedly realized that their recent actions had been nothing short of insane. However, even though everyone knew it, no one dared to bring it up during the meeting.
Everyone in the room was an accomplice.
Their only thought now was how to resolve the situation and sweep it under the rug. They didn't know that the force behind the portals was the Evil God or that these were his demonic servants, but even if they had known, they likely would have tried to minimize their fault and refuse to admit their mistake.
"Let's show them our strength by exterminating those demons ourselves."
"Indeed. Our combat power has increased tremendously over the past month."
"We can't keep relying on those Koreans!"
The Japanese Awakeners intended to use this crisis as an opportunity to showcase their own power. They didn't know how strong the demons were, but that didn't matter to them. They were incredibly overconfident in their own abilities.
Immediately, the eight large clans of Japan decided to mobilize almost all of their Awakeners, leaving only a small number to handle other portals. Since most of them were based in the Kanto region, they were able to assemble quickly.
Every Awakener in Japan was taking this situation seriously. It was no longer a secret known only to them; the public knew, and the whole world was watching. The consensus that they needed to resolve this quickly meant that no one complained as they gathered and prepared for battle.
They intended to end it with a single strike.
Their plan was to maintain their silence to minimize their blunder, resolve the crisis before it escalated further, and use it as a stepping stone to raise the prestige of Japanese Awakeners.
Dreaming of a rosy future, they gathered at Aokigahara, centered around the Yamato Clan.
After discovering the purple portal, the large clans had been so obsessed with excavating artifacts that they had essentially fortified the surrounding area. They had built high barriers and filled the area with CCTV cameras and residential facilities. The demons had taken that foundation and strengthened the defenses even further.
The barriers had become harder, coated in a substance that glittered like obsidian, and were now covered in threatening, sharp thorns. The sight of black-skinned demons with leathery wings perched atop the walls like gargoyles struck terror into the hearts of those watching.
Even to an uninformed observer, it looked like nothing less than a demonic fortress.
The Japanese Awakeners suppressed their anxiety and fear as they launched their assault. They advanced, led by mages casting wide-area lethal spells.
The magic was aimed primarily at the demons lined up along the walls. Lightning fell, gales howled, and fireballs streaked through the air. The roar of explosions and the ear-splitting crack of thunder filled the sky.
"With this much firepower, even the strongest monsters should be finished, right?"
"Of course!"
Wakatsuki Toshiki, the head of the Japan Branch of the Awakener Association who was in command, spoke confidently while stroking his Kaiser mustache.
However, his relaxed expression and posture vanished in an instant.
A moment later, when the smoke cleared, it appeared that only one or two of the demons had taken any damage. The rest of the demons flapped their wings, completely unharmed, and took to the sky toward the Japanese Awakeners.
The demons dived from the heavens, pouncing on the Japanese Awakeners to tear and bite them apart. The forest was soon filled with screams and the cacophony of a violent battle.
Wakatsuki Toshiki might have been greedy, but he possessed enough tactical awareness to read the battlefield. He knew immediately from the first clash that defeat was imminent.
He hadn't known how many enemies there were, but since the number of demons visible was high, he had brought a significant number of E-Rank Awakeners. His plan was to use them for numbers while the core C-Rank and B-Rank Awakeners wiped out the demons, but they were being slaughtered unilaterally.
While he occasionally saw demons being suppressed through coordinated attacks, the Japanese side was suffering far greater casualties. The problem was that it wasn't just the lowest-ranked Awakeners dying; even the B-Rank and A-Rank Awakeners, who had grown stronger with artifacts, were falling.
In just five minutes, the Japanese Awakeners felt the shadow of defeat.
This was an organized army with a level of strength entirely different from monsters. The demons were killing machines who had been fighting and committing such atrocities for far longer than any Awakener.
"R-Retreat!"
Wakatsuki Toshiki, realizing they would be annihilated at this rate, ordered a retreat.
The Awakeners fled as if they had been waiting for the command.
If the demons had pursued them, they could have wiped them out entirely, but they chose not to. Their top priority was protecting the spire and creating the conditions for more demons to cross over from Nippur.
Deciding that the humans could be dealt with later, the demons focused their efforts on defending the fortress.