The tower is collapsing.
I covered my smartphone with a chair and leaned back into the limousine seat.
Whoaaaaaa!!
A roar erupted across the entire aircraft carrier.
It wasn’t just the sound coming through the CCTV; the entire vessel, including the bridge, was resounding with cheers.
The destruction of an S-rank tower.
Each one was a catastrophic disaster that threatened the survival of humanity. The fact that yet another S-rank tower had vanished meant that humanity was one step closer to peace.
Knock, knock, knock, knock!!
The knocking was rough.
Instead of opening the door, Patrick was waiting for the window to be lowered. I slowly opened the door instead, and Patrick raised both of his thumbs at me through the gap.
“As expected!!”
“…I didn’t do anything, though.”
I tried to feign innocence.
Maybe—just maybe—I could still control the flow of information.
“Haha, saying you didn’t do anything… You were the one who conquered the tower— ahem.”
Patrick, clearly excited, had been about to say something but cleared his throat and glanced around instead.
“Please rest comfortably. What about Masters?”
“She’ll be returning physically, so open the door for her when she arrives.”
I moved to the seat beside me and patted the spot near the door where I had been sitting.
“Understood. Also, if you press the remote control in front of you, you can adjust the seat. It can even turn into a bed, so please use it freely.”
“…”
“What I mean is, you can sleep comfortably.”
Patrick gave a subtle, amused smile before bowing slightly.
I closed the window again, shifted my position, and extended the seat into a recliner as he suggested.
“…So, they saw everything, huh?”
“You plan to make it obvious, huh? Hm?”
“If I subtly assert my presence, others will think twice before making any moves.”
Kiharu, who had been lying still in cat form, spoke in a human voice from my lap.
“Even if Elaine is inside the dungeon, people should always know that someone is watching over her. Don’t you think so?”
“That’s… a fair point.”
By now, they must have figured out some of my abilities—whether through the limousine’s CCTV or some other means.
The summoning of beings from a game into reality.
They would have already noticed that I had more summons than just Elaine through the driver, so it wasn’t a bad time to drop a few hints.
‘And I’ve already copied the server.’
I had conquered three S-rank towers.
And in just a few months at that.
Some people might say.
— No way, I awakened during the Million Awakening too! So why does that guy have such a crazy ability?!
— I’m a full-limit-break owner, so why can’t I summon my characters?!
Yeah, people would definitely say things like that.
‘Well, too bad for them.’
It wasn’t like I had a choice in what kind of power I awakened.
But I still had to be careful.
If I openly flaunted my abilities, the ones targeting me wouldn’t just be hardcore gamers—it could be the gamers themselves, or even the game company.
‘If Japan starts a boycott because I conquered a dungeon using Elaine, that would hurt sales, wouldn’t it?’
Think I’m worrying too much?
There are way too many people in this world for that to be an irrational concern.
Especially among those who failed to awaken—
Their inferiority complex, their resentment toward awakeners… it was twisted and overwhelming beyond words.
Knock, Knock.
A different kind of knock this time.
“May I come in?”
“Come in. You did well.”
The door opened, and Elaine stepped in naturally.
She flinched slightly upon seeing the empty seat, but when I gestured to it, she hesitantly sat down beside me.
“Master, just a moment.”
Elaine took my hand.
A faint wave of mana rippled from her before she smiled in relief.
“It’s done. Now we can talk freely.”
“What did you do?”
“I set up a mana barrier so that only you and I can hear this conversation in this small space. Any listening devices will be useless, and even reading our lips will be difficult.”
“I’m here too, you know.”
Kiharu playfully swiped a paw at Elaine, throwing a “cat punch”.
Elaine easily caught Kiharu’s attack with her hand.
“We’ve conquered three S-rank towers now. How does it feel?”
“Like the other towers, this one too would have been impossible to clear without you, Master.”
Elaine mimicked swinging a sword forward.
“If we weren’t purely depleting the opponent’s HP, we might have had to slice through an entire landmass as vast as the sea around Dokdo.”
“That’s true. But it wasn’t just me or just us that made this possible, right?”
I tapped my smartphone lightly.
“Your ultimate technique—while it’s something you awakened through trials, the fact that I can use it through the game is thanks to the developers.”
“Yes. In that sense… they definitely played a role as well.”
The gamification of battle.
Even if I had the ability, I wasn’t a game developer. How else could I have set up the perfect stage for Elaine to shine?
“Before we leave Korea, let’s clean up the remaining loose ends so they can focus entirely on game development.”
“Jeju Island… is it still left?”
“…Elaine.”
I checked my watch.
“We cleared it too early.”
* * *
S-Rank Tower Raid.
Was it desperation and determination that made it possible?
Or was it the tension that filled my entire body, knowing that a single mistake would cost my life?
“Uoooohhh!!”
Blue Lightning let out a battle cry while dodging attacks.
He narrowly avoided a dozen blades flying toward him.
Sometimes by jumping.
Sometimes by stepping on the blades.
Sometimes by turning his body into lightning to let the attacks pass through.
And sometimes, the blades brushed past him so closely that it was a miracle he wasn’t hit.
But in the end, he successfully dodged every single attack.
Nearly 90% of all attacks had targeted him.
Calling it “tanking” wouldn’t be entirely accurate in the traditional sense.
But in the end, results were all that mattered.
If we were to define this raid in one phrase—
“Everyone’s out, right?! Then I’m heading down!!”
It was a partial success.
If Blue Lightning had pioneered a new path for tanking by gambling with his life hundreds of times, then the raid itself—excluding that achievement—could not be considered a full success.
Kaaaahhhh!!!
The massive stone statue let out a monstrous shriek.
The arm holding its sword was nearly half-destroyed, its torso was riddled with holes, and one of its eyes—no, its entire head—had a gaping hole where it used to be.
And yet, even in that state, it continued to wield its sword, trying to cut down the ones who had nearly destroyed it.
The raid had failed.
One S-rank Hunter had found a new role, but an unforeseen problem had emerged.
“Haa… haa…”
Blue Lightning was the last to escape from the boss room.
He had retreated through a teleportation circle, meaning the boss couldn’t leave the dungeon—
Unless a dungeon break occurred.
“Is everyone safe?”
“We’re safe, but…”
At Blue Lightning’s question, the other Hunters responded with grim expressions.
And that was only because the speaker was an A-rank Hunter who had contributed significantly.
The others…
They just remained silent, their heads bowed.
“…”
Even the two S-rank Hunters who had retreated earlier refused to look at each other, turning their backs instead.
“…Well, I didn’t expect us to succeed on the first try.”
Blue Lightning clapped his hands, drawing everyone’s attention.
“The important thing is, I learned that I have a talent for evasion tanking. Now, we just have to figure out how to pour enough firepower into the boss to kill it. Especially those of you in the magic-user class.”
“H-hiiiik….”
“Don’t get scared. If the enemy is practically immune to physical damage, then the best way to clear it is through magic damage. Isn’t that right?”
“T-that’s true, but….”
An A-rank Hunter hesitantly glanced at Blue Lightning and the other S-rank Hunters.
“But Darum is the best magic DPS here….”
“…That sounds weird, but I guess there’s no choice.”
Blue Lightning forced a laugh, but his voice, simmering with frustration, cracked like a fractured mask as he looked at someone.
“I mean, a purely physical-based S-rank Hunter has no way to contribute to this fight except drawing aggro, right?”
“…”
If this were before the raid, that statement might have sparked an argument.
But the battle footage recorded by everyone’s body cams was undeniable evidence—so Iron Blood remained silent.
“Alright, let’s head down. We’ve been in here for… ah, damn, my watch is broken. Anyone know how long it’s been since we entered?”
“About six hours.”
“Six hours? Well… that’s pretty long for a first run. Let’s go grab some food. Good work, everyone.”
“Um, Darum.”
An A-rank Hunter hesitantly spoke up.
“If we go back down and….”
“We celebrate.”
“Huh?”
“You were about to ask, ‘What if we succeeded in clearing Dokdo,’ weren’t you?”
The A-rank Hunters turned pale, and Ironblood’s face twisted in response.
The other S-rank Hunter was no exception.
“Of all places, it’s Dokdo. Wouldn’t it be better that we conquered it ourselves rather than having some Japanese guys come in, clear it, and then declare ‘This is Takeshima’?”
“…”
“I’m exhausted. Let’s go down, wash up, and get some rest. No matter what happens once we leave the tower… I’ll step forward and handle it.”
With those words, Blue Lightning walked toward the teleportation circle leading to the tower’s entrance.
The Hunters who had failed the raid followed him down and stepped outside the tower.
Click, Click.
Far fewer reporters than expected.
Their gazes, fixated on the Hunters, clearly conveyed one thing— ‘It’s already too late.’
And the Hunters knew exactly why.
The tower in Jeju Island was still standing strong.
“What happened to Dokdo?”
A reporter tried to extend a microphone to ask, but Blue Lightning spoke first.
“D-Dokdo is….”
“Was it cleared?”
“Y-Yes.”
“…I see.”
Blue Lightning shut his eyes tightly for a moment, then sighed before politely taking the microphone from the reporter.
“To the S-rank Hunter who cleared Dokdo—I’ll give you my raid data. So, on the agreed date, please—”
“What do you think you’re—”
Crackle!
Iron Blood reached out to grab Blue Lightning’s shoulder, but Blue Lightning dodged effortlessly, releasing a jolt of electricity to evade his grasp.
“If you plan on leaving, then at the very least, please clear the tower here before you go.”
* * *
Two S-Rank Tower Raids.
Dokdo.
Clear Time: 18 minutes 32 seconds.
Status: Cleared.
Jeju Island.
Clear Time: 5 hours 53 minutes.
Status: Failed.
As a result—
“Cosplay Master! Please, stay in this country!!”
“Deploy the aircraft carrier to Jeju Island!!”
“SSS-rank—no, EX-rank Hunter!! Please, at least clear Jeju Island before you leave!!”
“Instead of giving our taxes to Ironblood, can’t we just give them to Cosplay Master?!”
A massive protest erupted, centered around Jeju Island.
