Chapter 151: Cleanup
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 151: Cleanup
"You..."
The moment Gwang-gun stepped forward to speak, Seo-un cut him off.
"How many locations are left?"
"If we clear this one, there's only one remaining."
"There's no time. I'll leave this place to you."
Without another word, Seo-un and his party dashed toward the final Khartz casting site.
As Gi-chan hurried to follow, Gwang-gun tossed a stone at him.
Swoosh!
Gi-chan caught the flying object and looked back at Gwang-gun with a questioning gaze. Juriel, running alongside him, explained.
"It’s a communication stone. If you channel mana into it, you can speak with whoever holds the matching pair."
At her words, Gi-chan tucked the stone into his subspace and accelerated, keeping his eyes fixed on Seo-un’s back.
Gwang-gun watched the group disappear with a cryptic expression. As Skus approached his side, Gwang-gun spoke.
"Jin Seo-un definitely has a transformation ability. Keep that in mind."
It was crucial to identify the primary abilities of players who might one day become enemies—especially those of a similar rank whom one was highly likely to encounter again.
*
As they ran, Seo-un asked Juriel.
— If we take care of this last location, we can stop the Meteor, right?
— Yes!
Excluding the one Senrurk had already handled, neutralizing just one more site would prevent the massacre the Meteor spell would cause.
They ran for a long time. By the time their final destination appeared in the distance, the sun was beginning to rise.
As the world brightened around them, the group didn't slow down. They tore through the Illusion magic and charged inside.
However, not a single enemy was waiting for them.
"Go straight to the top!"
The three of them scaled the exterior wall of the building while Juriel used Fly magic to soar toward the rooftop.
When the dozens of mages who should have been stationed there were nowhere to be found, Seo-un asked, his voice tight with confusion.
"Can Khartz change the casting location midway?"
"N-no. For a wide-area spell with fixed coordinates, changing the location during the casting process is impossible... Wait, look at that!"
The moment Juriel spotted a blue gem in the center of the rooftop, her face contorted in shock.
"What is it?" Gi-chan asked, his expression anxious.
"It's a Philosopher's Stone."
Sensing the dread in her low voice, Seo-un quickly followed up.
"Does this mean we can't stop the Meteor?"
Juriel slowly nodded. She approached the heavily cracked Philosopher's Stone and sighed.
"It hasn't completely shattered despite the burden of the gathered mana. I don't know when they swapped it in... but it's impossible to destroy a Philosopher's Stone until the Meteor spell is finished."
At her words, Seo-un drew his Aura.
Clang!
Clang! Clang!
He struck the blue, cracked stone repeatedly, but the Philosopher's Stone didn't even budge.
"Where on earth did they get an item like this..." Gi-chan trailed off. It was obvious they had pulled it from a vending machine.
After attacking the stone for a while, Seo-un withdrew his Aura. Gi-chan looked at his back.
"Hyung..." He didn't know what to say.
"Let's move immediately. We're going to Beverly Hills."
Unlike the other players, Seo-un’s party was not restricted by the magnetic field. Naturally, there were no constraints on them entering Beverly Hills, which had been excluded from the map.
— The Smoke Vision might have been slightly off. There's still a day left, but at this rate, the Meteor will fall as early as today.
— I know. That must be why Roy Miller showed himself and fought so fiercely with Gwang-gun. Even if he drew attention, it wouldn't matter because we wouldn't be able to stop Khartz anyway.
At Juriel’s words, Seo-un took out an earpiece and put it in.
As he relayed the situation, the other side—who had been preparing in their own way—quickly suggested an alternative.
— Then wouldn't it be better to spend the remaining time evacuating everyone taking refuge in Beverly Hills? If we deploy agents to assist with broadcasts and evacuation...
— We can't guarantee exactly when the Meteor will fall. We can't be sure there's enough time to evacuate, and we don't know how many of the 200,000 civilians would survive if they were suddenly forced outside the magnetic field. The game isn't over yet.
— Then the only way left is...
— We have to stop the Meteor, no matter what.
— NASA is continuing its observations, but honestly, no asteroid or anything of the sort has been confirmed to be approaching Earth.
"Juriel. Does the Meteor spell pull an asteroid from space?"
At Seo-un’s question, she shook her head.
"No. Meteor is a spell that opens a gate across space to summon a meteorite. It's a wide-area spell that imbues the summoned meteorite with powerful mana to bring it down."
Her explanation was transmitted clearly through the earpiece.
— If that's the case... we have no choice but to rely on interceptor missiles.
"Even if the interception is successful, the damage from the debris won't be small."
— That... we'll just have to minimize it somehow.
"Is it possible to get as many Mana Explosion Scrolls as possible?"
There was a brief silence after Seo-un’s question before the voice responded.
— We can provide about 400 scrolls immediately.
At the mention of 400 scrolls, Seo-un organized his thoughts for a moment and replied.
"Please airlift them to Beverly Hills as quickly as possible."
Having finished the call, Seo-un began to move again with his party.
— What are you planning to do?
Seo-un looked back at Juriel, who asked with an anxious expression, and replied with a smile.
— It's uncertain how much damage interceptor missiles can do to a Meteor reinforced by mana. I plan to destroy the Meteor before that happens.
— That's danger—
— With my clones, of course.
When he cut her off with that answer, Juriel finally nodded, looking relieved. She had been worried because of Seo-un’s tendency to charge in without regard for his own safety when things looked grim.
No enemies appeared before Seo-un as they entered Beverly Hills.
"Whoa... this is incredible."
Beverly Hills indeed had houses grand enough to make one's eyes pop just by looking at them.
As Gi-chan entered a large park nestled next to massive hotels and resorts, he looked around and saw people who caught the group's attention.
People were walking their dogs through the park or leisurely sunbathing on park benches.
"W-what's with those people?"
"Who knows."
The sight of citizens enjoying their daily lives peacefully, knowing they were safe within the boundaries of the magnetic field, felt surreal no matter how one looked at it.
As they moved toward the center, the group saw various facets of humanity.
Refugees looking disheveled, holding cans and standing in front of restaurants, or lying on unfolded cardboard boxes in the street.
And the people passing them by with uncomfortable glares.
The entire scene was so different from the deserted streets of downtown LA that it felt alien.
While the outskirts of Beverly Hills near the magnetic field were nearly empty, once they moved further in, this kind of scene was repeated everywhere.
"The situation for the refugees doesn't look good. It seems they need relief supplies."
As Seo-un spoke into his earpiece, an immediate response came back.
— We are continuing to drop supplies via drones, but it seems they aren't being distributed properly.
Since people couldn't enter directly, the only way to deliver aid was to fly drones and drop supplies across LA. It seemed that because Beverly Hills was excluded from the map, even the relief supplies weren't allocated in large quantities.
Frowning at the sight, Seo-un’s group moved to a location that was exactly in the center of Beverly Hills on the map.
In a quiet residential area with houses featuring manicured front lawns and wide, open roads, Seo-un abruptly sat down and began to replenish his Immortal Demonic Energy.
The rest of the party was also busy making final preparations.
After some time had passed, a man in a pitch-black suit dropped violently from the sky onto the asphalt road.
Screeeech!
The man tumbled across the ground, tearing up the neatly laid asphalt, before springing to his feet. He looked around and ran toward Seo-un’s group.
"I am Connor Lee of White Force, G-Squad."
Looking at the Asian man speaking awkward Korean, Seo-un spoke.
"Did you bring the Mana Explosion Scrolls?"
"Yes! Here they are."
Seo-un furrowed his brow as he watched the nervous man unbuckle a bag from his back and set it down. No matter how he looked at it, the bag wasn't large enough to hold hundreds of scrolls.
Reading Seo-un’s expression, the man quickly spoke as he opened the bag.
"This is a bag developed by our government. It's enchanted with subspace magic, so it can hold far more than its actual size suggests."
"Ah."
Thinking about it, it was an item similar to the cube tents that utilized subspace; calling it a new development was a bit of a stretch.
After confirming the bag was filled with Mana Explosion Scrolls, Seo-un took it.
"Whew."
Seo-un, with the bag over his shoulder, hesitated for a moment before pulling two Soul Stones from his subspace.
In an instant, his Immortal Demonic Energy drained away, and two versions of the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, appeared.
"Hm? Where is this?"
"Why have you summoned us?"
Giman and Oman reacted quite differently as they looked at Seo-un.
"I need you to help me with something..."
As Seo-un explained, Giman and Oman naturally showed dissatisfied expressions first. However, they didn't refuse.
"Such a toy-like spell... if my power were whole, I would have handled it with ease. I wonder if it's even possible with your meager energy."
At Oman’s words, Seo-un showed them the Mana Explosion Scrolls in his bag.
"Let's make it work with these."
After briefly explaining the plan, he sent the two back into the Soul Stones and replenished his Immortal Demonic Energy once more.
Now, all that was left was to wait for the Meteor to fall.
As the sun began to set, Seo-un opened his eyes.
A powerful surge of mana could be felt from the sky.
Juriel, Gi-chan, and even Li Lingwei looked up at the sky with tense faces.
"It's starting!"
Fortunately, only two Meteors were summoned.
"It seems one failed," Juriel noted.
As Seo-un nodded, a voice came through the earpiece.
— Missiles launched!
At those words, Seo-un could see dozens of missiles soaring into the sky with his naked eye. The missiles flew toward the Meteors and exploded.
— Interception... failed...
The voice sounded drained as they confirmed in real-time that the missiles had only managed to barely crack the surface of the Meteors. Seo-un used his fully charged Immortal Demonic Energy to summon the two monkeys.
"How many missiles are left?"
— There are many, but... at this rate...
"Please take care of things after the Meteors are broken. If the Mana Explosion Scrolls work properly, they won't be intact, no matter how much mana is reinforcing them."
Having said that, Seo-un plucked a hair and created a clone. He handed the clone the bag containing the remaining Mana Explosion Scrolls after distributing some to the two monkeys.
"Whew."
The moment the clone let out a sigh and looked up at the sky, Seo-un’s Immortal Demonic Energy rapidly depleted. Oman and Giman mounted clouds and carried Seo-un’s clone high into the sky.
The two monkeys ascended rapidly, piercing through the clouds. They dropped the clone and charged toward their respective Meteors.
BOOM! BOOM!
With a slight delay, the sound of the explosions echoed, and the shockwave that started in the sky blew all the way down to the ground.
The hair of Seo-un’s party and Connor Lee whipped violently as they looked up.
At the same time, they saw the Meteors shatter into eight pieces and begin to fall.
"Fire, quickly!"
— Already fired!
Far more missiles than before soared into the sky, smashing the eight falling fragments of the Meteors.
There wasn't a shockwave as massive as the first, but the moment hundreds of small, glowing red Meteor fragments began to fall, another intense explosion occurred in mid-air.
KABOOM!
The tiny speck that was Seo-un’s clone, which had been gliding down under a parachute, exploded, and the falling Meteor fragments were caught in the blast.
Ting! Ting-ting-ting! Thud-thud-thud.
Then, small grains began to rain down near the group.
— WAAAAAAAAGH!
After a brief pause, a deafening cheer erupted. Seo-un quickly pulled the earpiece out.
Juriel and Gi-chan, who had been summoning and firing hundreds of Flame Arrows and Wind Arrows into the sky, also rushed toward Seo-un.
"Hyung!!"
"Seo-un!"
As the three of them embraced, Li Lingwei didn't miss out and threw herself into the hug as well.
Connor Lee, the White Force G-Squad member who was sitting on the ground with his legs gone weak, reported through his radio.
"Operation... successful."
The White Force commander, who hadn't yet received the report from headquarters, spoke through the radio with a cheer.
— From now on, the name Jin Seo-un will spread across the world.
"Yes... he is America's hero."
Once the group finished sharing their joy, Seo-un looked at Gi-chan.
"What about Gwang-gun?"
"I'll connect with him now."
Gi-chan took out the small stone from his subspace and concentrated his mana.
— Speak!
At the busy-sounding voice, Seo-un replied.
"Are you in the middle of a battle?"
— It's nothing much. The Meteor... it seems you handled it well.
"More or less. Did you get the magnetic field item?"
There was a brief silence at Seo-un’s question.
— ...So you knew?
"If you hesitate out of greed for items, you'll only be slower to return. Do you really think you can hunt down every single hidden player in this vast magnetic field? There's no rule saying the game won't end right in the middle of the capital of Cresen."
At Seo-un’s words, Gwang-gun replied with a hollow laugh.
— I already scraped together every coin I had and bought it. I've already used it, too. You might not know, but the magnetic field has already started moving. Are you... going to participate in the final battle?
"Unfortunately, no. Where is the final battlefield?"
— Leimert Park.
At his words, Seo-un spoke into his earpiece.
"Did you hear that?"
— We will concentrate all our forces there immediately to evacuate the civilians!
Seo-un turned his gaze back to the stone Gi-chan was holding.
"It's in three days, right?"
— That's right. We're moving there starting now.
"...Let's meet in a normal game next time. I'll take your head then."
— Don't get too comfortable. It won't be as easy as last time. Next time, I'll make sure you understand why I'm called the Madman of the Battlefield.
With those words, the connection was cut.
Afterward, Seo-un and his party began to tour the shelters near Koreatown where refugees had gathered, as identified by the US side.
Near the first shelter, White Force agents and a significant number of American players were already gathered to defend the area, and firefighters were conducting rescue operations in various places.
"It seems the players have been mostly cleared out," Gi-chan remarked.
Seo-un replied, "The magnetic field must have been set."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the Helper following Seo-un spoke up.
"I must move soon as well."
Seo-un looked at him. "How many do we have?"
"180 Blue Coins."
Thinking they had accumulated a decent amount, Seo-un looked at the items he could buy for 180 coins from the vending machine.
He looked back at his teammates, and they were all smiling at him.
"Pick whatever item you want, Hyung. We didn't come here just to get items anyway."
"You're the one who will lead the games from now on, Seo-un."
"Choose comfortably. Don't worry about us."
Seo-un smiled back at his teammates and chose one item. The Helper nodded and pulled the item, handing it to Seo-un.
[Contract of the Prime God: A contract that forces any being to fulfill what was promised. Once conditions are set and a signature is left, any being must fulfill the promise. *The promise is enforced even if the other party signs without knowing the contents of the contract.]
Seo-un tucked the paper, which emitted a faint blue glow, into his subspace and smiled, thinking of Oman and Giman.