Chapter 476. With All Due Respect (6) |
With someone like Hunter Kim Gryeo, he must be swimming in money. At this point, he's basically showing up to work purely out of a sense of duty to save someone like me.
The alien itself often acted without a second thought, though.
Meanwhile, the people hiding behind anonymity criticize him for all sorts of things just because he tried to retire.
In any case, from the citizen's perspective, he felt like a nobleman that the other party could not abandon.
When this person gets criticized online, I suddenly feel pathetic for having stayed silent...
It was just when the student's mind was starting to fill with a lofty image of him. The one who had been subduing the [Sadists] with clumsy swings finally stopped moving.
That's it.
When she came to her senses, all that remained beside them were countless white feathers. It had all been the bodies of [Sadists], fallen and dead.
At this rate, even if we head out through the passage, not much will come after us.
The unspoken rule that Hunters had to follow had effectively been lifted.
Yeah. Let's go home.
So, realizing this, the two Koreans immediately ran toward the nearest passage.
Run!
A few monsters noticed their escape at the last second and charged, but the S-rank alien, with its sturdy body, handled it them effortlessly.
H, huh?
What?
That... is Hunter Kim Gryeo?
No wonder the number of monsters dropped so noticeably...!
Don't use your skills! Someone's coming out of there! A person!
This was the moment they had finally returned to a familiar Korean landscape.
***
Jeong Haeseong! First, take care of the people here. There were hostages inside the dungeon!
Yes, Hunter Kim!
Tak, tak, tak.
I got the student out of the dungeon while keeping her safe. Then, after tossing the human dressed in something like s westpants to the Hunter waiting outside, I freely dealt with the swarming monsters.
Now's the moment—[Blinding], activate!
I commanded the golem I had hidden in the item box to bind the enemies in my place.
Yes!
Anyway, this Legendary Core's tone may be a bit flippant, but hey, thanks to it, I saved mana, so I'll let it slide.
Whoa---
Press.
I quickly hid the golem that had peeked its head out before anyone could see it. Then, brazenly wearing the item box a my waist, I greeted the acquaintances I had just met.
Hunter Kim! First of all, thank you so much for rescuing the kidnapped citizens! But... did you really come all the way here through that gate?
Yeah, Haeseong-ah.
W, we just received word from the U.S. and found out about you, Hunter!
Rank 1. Rank 2... and the awakened one with the teal-ish hair were absent. What they faced outside the gate was, truly, a familiar scene they saw every day.
Even if we launch a jet... we'd still have to use mana to deal with the monsters approaching from the sky, so this was the only way to get home.
After all, these were familiar faces I saw every day. I cut to the chase and explained the main point.
When I was working overseas, I ended up using almost all my mana. So for now, let's fall back a bit.
Should we pull back the safety line?
No, keep the personnel maintaining the barrier... Still, monster generation will remain slow for about the next 40 hours.
During that time, I boasted about having plenty of last resort options, but still, I figured it was better to safely wait for a chance to regenerate mana whenever possible.
There's no resource more precious to a mage than time.
Once the scene was cleared, I planned to go straight to bed. Though I said 'bed,' the truth was that I intended to recover my mana by any means necessary, using skills worthy of an Archmage.
I do have a truly last-resort move, but isn't it better not to use such an extreme measure in reality? Anyway, once I've properly recovered my mana, I can sweep away white doves like those without any problem.
Crack.
But in this rare moment of rescuing the citizens, what on earth was that sound effect all of a sudden?
Huh?
Hmm?
The Awakened gathered at the scene all turned their heads.
Crack, crack.
Then, the situation was captured through human eyes. The gate before them suddenly darkened completely, just like the inside of the dungeon, and ominous, jagged teeth spread in all directions, as if ready to tear everything apart at any moment.
What's it doing now?
But as an Archmage, I had somewhat anticipated this. That's why I had been fretting all this time, unable to even come close to the boss.
Could it be... someone's clearing the dungeon right now?
What?
No, but... we didn't run into any other Hunters inside...
A guess soon came to mind.
Now that I think about it, I'm not sure where it leads, but there was definitely a passage fairly close to the dungeon boss's group.
If a certain nation had fired a massive bombardment into the passage, it would theoretically be possible.
They couldn't handle the monsters spilling out and actually just threw a bomb straight into the dungeon!
How could they possibly do something like that? As soon as I realized the reality, I shouted at the Earthlings around me.
Anyway, stop the raid immediately.
N-No, it's not us—
I know you're not the ones responsible. Korea couldn't just fire into the dungeon recklessly when there were kidnapped citizens inside.
Yes, yes.
I'm talking about foreign Hunters! Hurry up and get the message to them—text them, anything. That gate must not be cleared without proper preparation!
But even with these measures, it was already too late.
Did the boss's guard, the one showing its back, get taken out?
It looked like the dungeon had already lost about two of the pillar-like entities and was rapidly collapsing.
This won't do.
So, I grasped the seriousness of the situation and spoke to those around me.
Hunter Jeong Haeseong. There's no need to maintain the barrier or anything anymore. It's gone wrong, so tell everyone to get as far away from the breached gate as possible.
Understood.
The fortunate thing was that, having built strong enough ties with Korea's top Hunters, none of them refused to follow the instructions...
No, in a way, this isn't something to be happy about at all.
A few minutes later.
All the industry folks I'm close enough with to back off at a single word are all here. At this rate, all my few remaining contacts are going to get hurt.
Once we got out of the scene, we witnessed an astonishing sight.
A swarm of [Sadists] spiraling upward, tangled together like a hurricane with substance. Beneath them, a black gate continuously expanding.
Let me correct that. In fact, it could no longer really be called a gate.
I suppose in Earth's language, I should roughly call it Shell-Crack...
What we're seeing is simply a disaster of space breaking apart. Or maybe it's overturning. Or perhaps duplication—but anyway, whatever it is.
The boss hasn't been defeated, and it looks like the expansion might stop midway, but whether my previous second born can survive this process is anyone's guess. Honestly, at this point, it's already at the stage of a major disaster.
Let's think. If a bizarre dungeon like this happens, what should I do? First, in fact, the feeding boxes of the Gismic he all operated on basically the same principles. So right now, I could use the exact same approach as in that dungeon the [Beasts] had taken over. The best strategy is to run like hell before the breached gate starts having any effect.
Gryeo-ssi!
It was just at that moment that the thought came to me. The S-rank awakened I had assigned the task to came running this way. Her hair was a striking color. That mammal was Esther, who had joined the scene a bit late.
First of all, I relayed what you said, Gryeo, over the radio right away!
What about the residents of the apartment complex over there?
We've contacted the management office and quickly sent awakened rescue personnel... but if what you explained is true, Gryeo, a full evacuation might not be possible.
What she explained next was bad enough to make you frown.
Right. Of course, this disaster is similar to the Beast Gate takeover, but also completely different.
An alien gate is exploding, materializing a hellscape on this planet called Earth.
These Gismic... today, they really look determined to wipe out humanity.
Already, the dark-born tendrils that had been inside the dungeon were emerging all around the [Sadists]. Earth's space and the destabilized dungeon space were overlapping. And to make matters worse, this kind of otherworldly manifestation was reportedly happening at every opening across the globe—truly an unprecedented situation.
Anyway, the barn's already starting to collapse, and now you're telling me to somehow take care of all the cows?
I muttered words no one else could hear. Then I slumped down onto a pile of rocks near the greenbelt. But as I paused to catch my breath like this, the nearby Hunters began to approach one by one.
Hunter Kim, by the way... what exactly caused this situation?
More importantly, isn't what we do next the crucial question?
Ah, Hunter Esther...
Gryeo-ssi. How are we supposed to deal with something like this? Should we start by hunting those monsters first?
There are just too many monsters, though...
Jeong Haeseong and Esther exchanged words back and forth. What shone in their eyes was roughly expectation... trust... or perhaps respect. If so, the humans before them were probably thinking something like this to themselves right now.
Hunter Kim Gryeo will do something about it this time too!
They are, after all, creatures of adaptation. I didn't immediately answer the questions of the planet's natives and remained silent for now.
We've really been screwed this time.
Of course, I couldn't just blurt out curse words to pure aliens, so I stayed quietly lost in thought for a while.
When I was an Archmage, disasters like this were nothing. But in this mammal body, the available mana is absolutely insufficient.
Even when my internal mana was full, casting space-attribute magic was still difficult. Logically, magic that interferes with space couldn't possibly be low level, could it?
So, but now that I think about it, that part's just ridiculous too. Why do the Gismiche always recklessly siphon mana that isn't even theirs? That's why I always treat them like parasites. These resource-stealing bastards.
As an Archmage, I had never faced a situation this overwhelmingly disadvantageous. I had only glanced away for a moment, and in an instant, the scene had turned into a sea of chaos. From the black rift poured all kinds of monsters—something fleeing in a hurry to avoid being crushed by the collapse—recklessly attacking the nearby high-ranking Hunters. Humanity, unable to handle the sheer volume of their assault, was rapidly losing ground.
Hunter Kim...
How should we handle this...? Gryeo-ssi, are you exhausted because your mana is depleted?
Ah! Wait!
Someone help! The barrier's broken here!
There are already dozens of Gate Monsters in the city...
By this point, a new line of reasoning began forming in my mind.
Could it be that the Gismiche's main objective has changed at this time?
Watching that mass of magic gape open its black maw and try to erode the city from the ground up, there was no way I wouldn't start to feel suspicious.
Had they truly come to sincerely desire the extinction of the planet's native inhabitants?
I sensed a strange desperation emanating from the Gismiche's feeding boxes. It was clearly far removed from anything a simple one-dimensional hunger.
AHHH!
But that didn't really matter. Those unaware that an alien sentient lifeform had visited their world would see nothing but chaos, after all.
No answer. The apartment across the way has already cracked...
I steeled myself once more before this could spiral into a full-blown catastrophe. Watching over every single Earthling to keep them alive would be sheer madness—but at the very least, I didn't want to see a species I'd grown fond of being crushed right in front of my eyes.
Tak, tak.
Thud.
From here on out, I'd stop holding back and use the methods I've been saving.
First, when my mana's running low, I should start with that method, the most reliable one in that situation...
I rose from the massive boulder I had been sitting on and placed my hand against the ground. At least in this moment, I couldn't help but feel grateful for my innate scholarly obsession. After all, while clinging to nothing more than the hope of reviving a primitive soul, I had spent an absurd amount of time devising every possible workaround with this body.
High-level magic basically consumes massive amounts of mana. The sheer scale of energy involved is far beyond what I could ever handle in this mammal shell.
In fact, there was one invaluable piece of magitech knowledge that 100% of Earth's humanity didn't know. The mana of the world, you see... was something you could borrow—in truly enormous quantities. Of course, there was no guarantee that whatever entity lent out mana would actually approve the loan. So if this failed, I'd have to abandon even the safety of my own breathing and immediately pivot to a third option instead.
Please react.
With that thought in mind, I kept my hand pressed against the ground.
Please—just this once, shut your eyes and help me.
Smk.
What I felt at my fingertips was a product unique to this world called Earth. In other words, traces of weeds and other planet-specific insects.
After all, I'm not doing this for my own sake right now.
Esther was startled to see me kneeling on the ground. But I couldn't afford to relax my stance.
Just for a moment—lend me a hand. Then I'll use this to protect your offspring!