[Outside the Panama Canal.]
“The, the Tower…!”
“It’s collapsing!!”
The people gathered near the Tower clenched their fists as they watched the shaking structure.
[I told you! Master would succeed!]
[How is an S-Rank Tower being cleared so easily, as if it’s some kind of amusement park?]
[Ah, I wish I could summon SSS-rank beings like Master!]
Though the number of people physically gathered near the canal wasn’t large, countless others were watching the situation unfold in real time through live broadcasts.
The collapsing Tower.
A structure that didn’t belong to reality, one that seemed poised to invade this world, only to disappear completely—no longer existing on Earth.
The Tower was falling, the Panama Canal would soon reopen, and all that remained was for the heroes who had conquered it to emerge.
And yet—
BOOM!
Just like when Illinois had burst out of the Tower at the Golden Gate Bridge, it now smashed its way out from the top of the Tower.
As if breaking through a glass barrier, Illinois shattered the structure entirely and emerged proudly into the open—
“Huh?”
Everyone who saw it froze.
Though the world had already grown accustomed to the surreal, what was happening now defied all logic.
“Illinois… is upside down?”
“Uwaaaaah?!?”
The battleship was flipped upside down.
Hunters clung desperately to the deck, and Illinois, having emerged from the Tower, began to descend toward the canal—still inverted.
There was no time to correct its position.
It had perfectly flipped 180 degrees, as if it had been sailing across the sky like an ocean before suddenly breaking out of a dungeon.
People near the canal began screaming.
“R-run!!”
A warship was falling.
Back at the Golden Gate Bridge, at least there had been water to cushion its landing—but here, that was not the case.
Even worse, a small crowd had gathered in its descent path. If it crashed as it was, a large-scale disaster was inevitable.
If only—
Like in movies or anime, some hero in a blue suit with red underwear could appear and lift the battleship, preventing its crash—
“Uwooooah!”
Hunters hanging from Illinois began releasing their mana below them one by one.
Realizing the situation, they poured out their mana in various ways to try and slow the battleship’s fall.
But gravity pulled the flipped Illinois down even faster, and in the end, people could only squeeze their eyes shut.
In the face of overwhelming impact and fear—
A flash.
Just as catastrophe seemed inevitable, a brilliant blue light enveloped Illinois.
And then—
Splash, splash!
Instead of the expected earth-shattering impact, only the faint sounds of Hunters either plunging into the Panama Canal or barely landing on solid ground could be heard.
There were no deafening explosions, no buildings crumbling like in a disaster movie.
Even Illinois—
“H-huh…?”
“Illinois… disappeared?”
It had vanished.
Or rather, it had been erased.
Illinois, at the center of global attention in the Panama Canal, had suddenly disappeared.
“Wh-what just…”
“Hey, hey!!”
Before the confused crowd could react, some journalists and streamers started shouting.
“The S-Rank Tower at Crater Lake National Park just collapsed too!”
“What?! Who did it?! No, wait—who in the world could…?”
“A-and…”
It was unbelievable.
“They’re saying… Illinois appeared there?”
“…What?”
The impossible had become reality.
“The battleship that burst out of the Panama Canal suddenly reappeared in Crater Lake?”
* * *
I did it.
Right in the middle of the collapsing Tower at Crater Lake National Park, I summoned Illinois.
Or rather, I reverse-summoned and then re-summoned it.
Just before Illinois hit the ground after exiting the Panama Canal, I reverse-summoned it, then immediately re-summoned it to our location.
“The Hunters—did they all land safely?”
“They endured even in that bizarre dungeon, Master. And since you were considerate enough to reverse-summon Illinois after it had descended to a relatively lower altitude, they shouldn’t have suffered serious injuries.”
As Elaine said, I had reversed-summoned Illinois at a point where it was close enough to the ground.
So instead of dropping from 200 meters up, the Hunters only had to endure a fall of about 50 meters.
If any of them were seriously injured from that—
“Kiharu, if any of them end up in the hospital, let’s make sure they get treated.”
“If they get seriously hurt from that height, doesn’t that mean they have a problem as Hunters, nyah?”
“Even so, they participated in an S-Rank Tower raid, so it’s only fair. But… ugh. This is really bad.”
I grimaced at the overwhelming stench clinging to my body.
“That monster… left me with this disgusting parting gift.”
“Well, everyone got a bit of it, didn’t they? Just hang in there until those people with high-resolution cameras get their shots.”
Drei subtly pointed to the onlookers.
She struck a confident pose, looking every bit like a Hunter who had just conquered an S-Rank Tower. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.
“Do we really have to do this?”
“If we don’t, people will get the wrong idea. They’ll think clearing an S-Rank Tower was no big deal.”
Elaine casually brushed off the thick plant fluids stuck to my shoulder.
Rafflesia—known as the ‘corpse flower’—the kind of putrid stench only that type of plant could produce. Yet Elaine didn’t even flinch as she wiped it off.
“If you feel uncomfortable, why not wash up in the lake?”
“I can’t. Entering a national park’s waters without permission could damage the natural environment and severely disrupt the ecosystem.”
I moved carefully, making sure the sticky fluids covering me wouldn’t contaminate Crater Lake National Park’s pristine waters.
Considering this was the bodily fluid of an S-Rank boss, even a small amount of it falling into the lake could stress the fish living there to the point of flipping belly-up and dying.
The smell, more than anything else, reminded me of durian.
“But it’s not like I can go below deck on Illinois and wash up. The stench will probably stick to me anyway.”
“That is not an issue. Illinois will not be particularly displeased by such matters.”
“More importantly, shouldn’t we check the items inside? The ship flipped over—things must be in chaos~.”
“…Leave it be.”
I scraped off as much of the gunk as I could into a single pile and picked up my smartphone, which, thankfully, had minimal slime on it.
“If anything’s broken, we’ll just order new replacements from Am*zon. We’ll be staying here for at least a week to observe what happens next.”
“A week?”
“That’s unexpected. I thought you’d say three or four days at most, Master.”
“The other Hunters need their chances too.”
This battle had made it painfully clear—
“We can win decisively wherever we are, but in places where we aren’t—where our power doesn’t reach—what happens then? The Tower here at Crater Lake was one thing, but the Tower at the Panama Canal? They wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
If not for my unique ability—this gamification of battle mechanics—I wouldn’t have been able to scale down the walls and secure the Panama Canal properly.
Even if there had been some special gimmick I unknowingly bypassed in my own way, American Hunters, despite having multiple S-Rank Awakened, wouldn’t have even found the gate leading to the boss room below the field.
“So let’s leave some of the S-Rank Towers on the East Coast to the American Hunters. We’re not going to be clearing Towers for them forever. They need to learn how to handle S-Rank bosses themselves.”
Without experience, they’d stagnate—just like those other places.
“Commander, good news. The items inside seem to be in better condition than expected.”
“Oh, really?”
A welcome bit of relief.
I waved at the approaching boat in the distance.
“Let’s go in. We’ve posed for enough photos.”
“Commander, people are already freaking out online. How are you going to respond?”
“To what?”
“The fact that Illinois suddenly teleported from Panama to here.”
“Do I even need to explain?”
At my words, Drei grinned.
“You’re an EX-Rank Awakened. You just cleared two S-Rank Towers simultaneously. At this point, people should just accept it. Don’t you think?”
* * *
[Meanwhile, on a highway near Los Angeles International Airport.]
“This is insane. Absolutely insane.”
Inside a vehicle heading toward the airport, President Luigi repeatedly clicked his tongue as he stared at his smartphone.
“Clearing two Towers simultaneously. Damn. The Golden Gate’s S-Rank Tower was cleared just a few days ago, and now three S-Rank Towers have been cleared in rapid succession. This is madness.”
Luigi leaned back in his seat.
“Patrick.”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“Any discussions in Congress regarding Panama?”
“Senator ‘D’ made comments during an interview with his supporter channel. He said that since the United States cleared the Panama Tower, Panama should pay the U.S. a massive gratitude fee.”
“Bullsh*t. Tell him to go eat dirt.”
At his aide’s report, Luigi immediately dropped an F-bomb.
“If anyone should be receiving a reward, it’s the Summoner, not the United States.”
“Mr. President.”
“Everyone’s acting like they’re safe now that the Towers have been cleared, but that’s not how this works. Who knows when another S-Rank Tower will pop up on the West Coast? We’re already seeing massive Towers, like Babel, forming in the sky.”
“…I will do my best to ensure we maintain a good relationship with the Master.”
“Good. At the very least…”
President Luigi tapped his hand against his chest, just over his heart.
“As long as I’m here, we’ll remain a true ally. Hm. …Huh?”
As he made his resolution, his phone suddenly rang.
The ringtone wasn’t the special one set for the Master, but just a normal pop song.
Luigi hesitated briefly before picking up.
“What is it?”
[I saw what happened.]
“And?”
[I want to give a gift.]
“A gift? To whom, and what? Be specific, or I’m hanging up.”
[Alright, alright. Ahem. I want to give the Master a personal aircraft. The best, most advanced model available.]
“…And what do you want in return?”
[Nothing, really. But if possible, I’d like the Master to consider clearing the Tower in my hometown, Pennsylvania.]
“…You’re actually lobbying like this?”
Luigi pinched the bridge of his nose.
“If the Master decides it’s necessary, it’ll be done.”
[Wait a minute. You’re saying you need his permission?]
“Of course. You must be mistaken about something.”
Luigi tapped his fingers against his smartphone.
“He has already surpassed existing S-Rank Hunters. That means he deserves to be treated accordingly—starting with me.”
[You’re the President of the United States, Armstrong.]
“And as such, I believe it is only appropriate to show him proper respect. If I set this precedent, those who follow me will do the same, won’t they?”
There was conviction in Luigi’s words.
“He’s not just clearing two S-Rank Towers at the same time—he teleported a battleship over a straight-line distance of 7,500 kilometers.”
[…What? Kilometers?]
“I’m joking. Half-joking.”
[That’s…]
“We have to adjust to him. Because he is the world’s only EX-Rank Awakened.”
The President lifted his head and gazed at the sky.
“The hero who will reclaim the true skies for us all.”
