Office of the President of the Korea Awakener Association.
Lately, everything seemed to be going smoothly, so Association President Jung Tae-hoon rarely had a reason to frown.
“A short while ago, we received word that the Holy Emperor and Healer Kim Seong-jun’s party have entered the dungeon along with the main forces of Changcheon and Genesis,” the Director of the Dungeon Management Bureau reported.
The Association President wore a satisfied expression at the director’s words.
“Is that so? That is good news. I didn’t expect a headache like that to be resolved this way. In any case, if this raid concludes successfully, public opinion toward the Association will improve even further.”
The dungeon in question had formed right in the middle of Gangnam-daero, causing a massive impact on vehicle traffic.
However, because it was an A-rank dungeon, the Association had been in an awkward position, hesitant to attempt a raid.
It was a pleasant surprise when it appeared on the list of dungeons the Holy Emperor intended to clear.
While other dungeons were also urgent, this particular one had been generating a flood of complaints due to the extreme traffic congestion it caused.
“We have already begun preparations. As soon as the raid is finished, various media outlets will report on the achievement.”
“Good. By the way, it was quite unexpected for Karl Buckman to announce that the Holy Emperor’s Team 1 would operate in Korea, even if only temporarily. I suppose this is the Kim Seong-jun effect?”
The Holy Emperor guild had visited Korea primarily for Karl Buckman’s treatment.
Upon hearing that a full recovery was possible, Karl had postponed all official schedules and flown to Korea immediately.
He was that vital to the Holy Emperor, a man of immense influence.
And yet, during his treatment period, Karl had declared he would lead his team and operate within Korea.
After some deliberation, Guild Master William respected Karl Buckman’s judgment and held various discussions with the Korean Association.
Since a foreign guild operating domestically was a sensitive matter, thorough coordination with the local association was mandatory.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Awakener Management Bureau chimed in.
“That seems to be the case. Therefore, the Awakener Management Bureau has decided to apply the same management system to Healer Kim Seong-jun as we do for S-rank Awakeners to better facilitate his needs.”
The Association implemented differential management based on an Awakener’s rank.
The higher the rank, the higher the management level.
Once an Awakener reached S-rank, they were put under intensive management.
This was done to prevent high-ranking Hunters from moving overseas, and the Association provided various conveniences for those at S-rank.
“Kim Seong-jun certainly deserves that level of treatment. Honestly, he’s A-rank in name only; for all intents and purposes, he can be considered an S-rank, can’t he? Oh, by the way, how is the Irregular screening coming along?”
When the President asked about the Irregular screening, the Director of the Awakener Management Bureau looked troubled.
“Well, that is… for some reason, it keeps being delayed. Normally, enough time has passed that a determination of ‘suitable’ or ‘unsuitable’ should have been made, but they keep saying it’s still under review.”
In the case of an Irregular screening, it usually took three or four days, or a week at most.
Yet, for some unknown reason, more than a week had passed with no answer.
When the Bureau had inquired about the status, they were simply told to wait.
“Is that so? Hmm, I see. I’ll look into that matter personally. Regardless, make sure to pay extra attention to Kim Seong-jun.”
Thanks to Seong-jun, the Association’s image had improved significantly.
In many ways, the relationship between Seong-jun and the Association was bound to be positive, and the President wanted to maintain this relationship for as long as possible.
But at that moment…
*Bang!*
An employee burst into the President’s office, panting heavily.
“P-President! It’s a disaster!”
The President’s face instantly twisted.
‘A disaster?’
Usually, when someone burst in without knocking to announce a disaster, it truly was one.
“It’s a Dungeon Break! And it’s not just one place; they’ve occurred in four locations simultaneously!”
Much like Closed Dungeons, the frequency of Dungeon Breaks was not particularly high—perhaps once a quarter.
Thus, they had felt at ease after successfully stopping the B-rank Dungeon Break that occurred not too long ago.
They had assumed there wouldn’t be another one for a while.
Yet, not only had a Dungeon Break occurred out of nowhere, but four had happened at the same time.
*Thump!*
The President sprang to his feet.
“What? Four Dungeon Breaks at once? Where? And what are the ranks!”
At the President’s urgent questions, the employee answered immediately.
“They occurred simultaneously in Seoul, Incheon, Busan, and Jeju! Seoul and Jeju have been identified as B-rank, Incheon as C-rank, and Busan as D-rank!”
The situation was more serious than expected.
There were two B-rank Dungeon Breaks.
“What is the maximum entry capacity for each?”
“The B-rank dungeon in Seoul allows thirty-two people, and the B-rank in Jeju allows sixty-five! Incheon’s C-rank allows 152, and Busan’s D-rank allows 315!”
The President’s expression darkened at the report.
“Hmm, that means Incheon and Busan can be handled internally. The problem is Seoul and Jeju…”
Since the entry limits for Incheon’s C-rank and Busan’s D-rank were generous, they could be managed.
In Incheon alone, there were well over 100 B-rank Hunters.
Since the Busan entry limit was flexible, a mix of B-rank and C-rank Hunters could stop it before the break fully escalated.
The real issues were Seoul and Jeju.
They were B-rank, yet the entry limits were extremely low.
As the President pondered what to do, the employee spoke with a grim face.
“But there is a separate, more pressing problem! Incheon and Busan have about two hours until the break, giving us some time to respond. However, Jeju has only one hour left, and Seoul… only forty minutes.”
Forty minutes.
“What! Forty minutes! This is insane! Request support from every guild immediately and issue an evacuation order for the area surrounding the Dungeon Break! Now!”
With only forty minutes remaining, there was no time to sit around and discuss strategy.
He ordered the evacuation first and then directed them to request backup from the guilds.
Watching the President, the Director of the Awakener Management Bureau spoke cautiously.
“Shouldn’t we send someone to the Red-Maned Centaur dungeon to recall Changcheon, Genesis, and Healer Kim Seong-jun? This is a B-rank Dungeon Break. It’s questionable how strong a defensive line we can build with the main forces of the top two guilds missing. Above all, the damage will be far greater without the help of Healer Kim Seong-jun, who performed so brilliantly during the last break.”
Facing a B-rank Dungeon Break, both Changcheon and Genesis—the top two guilds in the country—were absent.
Seong-jun’s party was missing as well.
How sturdy a defensive wall could they realistically build under these conditions?
“Y-Yes, you’re right. Send someone to the dungeon immediately! Tell them to stop the hunt and come out at once! Stopping the Dungeon Break comes first!”
Because of the sudden catastrophe, the Association was thrown into a state of emergency.
—
Meanwhile, at that time.
The hunt was progressing rapidly.
*Boom! Bang! Crash!*
The Holy Emperor’s performance was nothing short of exceptional.
Given that the entire team consisted of A-rank Hunters and the team leaders were S-ranks, it was perhaps only natural.
However, the ones performing even more spectacularly were the 200 B-rank Hunters brought along by Changcheon and Genesis.
Thanks to Seong-jun’s buffs, they were able to exert power exceeding that of an A-rank Hunter.
They slaughtered the A-rank monsters like fish in water.
Since the A-rank monsters usually traveled in small groups of four or five, they couldn’t withstand the dozens of Hunters charging at them and collapsed helplessly.
“It’s going as expected. At this rate, we could probably split the teams like last time.”
Perhaps because the Changcheon B-rank Hunters had experienced this once before, their teamwork in dealing with A-rank monsters was seamless.
Because of this, Choi Gang-hyeok suggested it might be time to split the teams.
Genesis’s Ju So-jeong agreed with his opinion.
“Certainly, in this state, it might be inefficient for us to all crowd together.”
Even if their relationship was like that of cats and dogs, she wasn’t so stubborn as to deny the truth.
William of the Holy Emperor also agreed.
“I agree. How should we divide the teams? Should we just move in guild units?”
At William’s question, Choi Gang-hyeok smiled.
“Our Changcheon plans to divide into three teams like last time. We brought enough people specifically to facilitate that.”
Having already cleared an A-rank dungeon with Seong-jun before, Changcheon had participated with a similar scale this time as well.
Seeing that things weren’t much different, they intended to operate as three teams.
Ju So-jeong spoke up, as if refusing to be outdone.
“We will also operate as two teams. Now that we’ve confirmed the B-ranks can deal effective damage to A-rank monsters, there’s no need to move in such a large group.”
While not as many as Changcheon, Genesis had mobilized nearly 100 B-rank Hunters, which was sufficient to split into two teams.
“Ha! This puts our Holy Emperor in the most awkward position.”
Unlike Changcheon and Genesis, who had mobilized a large number of B-rank Hunters, the Holy Emperor only had three teams, all comprised of A-ranks.
Normally, these three teams of A-ranks would be far more effective than hundreds of B-ranks.
However, because of Seong-jun’s buffs, the B-ranks were performing on par with A-ranks, meaning the Holy Emperor was now clearly overwhelmed in terms of numbers.
This made it difficult for them to split teams in the same way.
Then, Seong-jun stepped forward.
“Let’s do this. If our party and Karl’s team form one team, and the rest of the Holy Emperor members form another, I think that would work.”
In other words, Guild Master William, along with Team 2 and Team 3 led by Reina and Sarah, would form one team, while Karl’s Team 1 and Seong-jun’s party would form another.
“Hmm? Wouldn’t that leave your side with too little power?”
Even though Reina and Sarah were healers, they were still S-ranks, and Guild Master William was also an S-rank.
Furthermore, both Team 2 and Team 3 were composed of A-rank Hunters.
Conversely, everyone in Seong-jun’s party except for Seong-jun himself was B-rank.
Since only Karl’s Team 1 was entirely A-rank, it seemed their overall combat power would be significantly lower.
However, that was only true when looking at ranks alone.
In reality, every member of Seong-jun’s party possessed abilities exceeding A-rank thanks to the Enchant Buff.
In fact, excluding the S-ranks, they might show more power than anyone else here.
“You don’t need to worry about that. We plan to proceed slowly without overdoing it.”
William seemed to contemplate Seong-jun’s words for a moment.
“Hmm…”
Seeing William’s hesitation, Karl Buckman spoke.
“Let’s do as Seong-jun says. It’s not very efficient for all three teams to move together anyway, is it? We need to clear out the trash mobs as quickly as possible and finish the raid.”
When Karl Buckman sided with Seong-jun, William finally made the decision.
“Sigh, fine. We’ll do it that way. Just don’t push yourselves.”
If it were the old Karl Buckman, William wouldn’t have worried.
As a dual-swordsman, Karl had been a Hunter more powerful than almost anyone.
But currently, he could only use one hand and was unable to exercise his full S-rank potential.
Therefore, William urged him to be as careful as possible.
—
In the end, the dungeon raid proceeded with a total of seven teams: two Holy Emperor teams (one including Seong-jun’s party), three Changcheon teams, and two Genesis teams.
Currently, the team Seong-jun belonged to was continuing the hunt at a rapid pace.
“Whew, we can still manage up to four monsters somehow.”
They hadn’t encountered a pack of five or more yet, but they often ran into groups of three or four.
In the case of three, Gwang-taek took one, Team 1’s tanker took another, and Karl—an S-rank—handled the last one.
In the case of four, Gwang-taek took one, Karl took one, and the Team 1 tanker held two.
Naturally, Seong-jun’s party was faster at killing.
Since Seong-jun only applied Dark Attribute Infusion to the monsters his party was fighting, they dealt massive damage thanks to the Enchant Buff.
“Phew, I heard they were all B-ranks, but how can they kill faster than us?”
Team 1’s tanker, James Farmer, exhaled deeply.
It didn’t make sense to him.
Even if Karl Buckman was effectively removed from their main force because he was busy tanking one himself, they were still seven A-rank Hunters.
On the other hand, everyone in Seong-jun’s party except for Seong-jun was B-rank.
Although Yuseon was a Hidden Class and practically A-rank in ability, she was still B-rank on paper.
Most importantly, there were only four of them, including Seong-jun.
Yet, their hunting speed was faster, which was bound to be baffling.
“They have another buff that only applies to party members,” Seong-jun explained.
Karl Buckman nodded in agreement.
“You mean that broken buff? It really is incredible in its own right.”
Karl had personally experienced the power of the Enchant Buff while clearing a C-rank dungeon with Seong-jun’s party.
Furthermore, since Seong-jun possessed a skill that converted targets to the Dark Attribute, it was understandable why his party could hunt so quickly.
James looked at Karl, puzzled.
“The buffs we have now are amazing enough to be called broken, but you’re saying there’s something even more unfair? There’s a buff like that?”
“There is. A buff that inflates both attack and defense to an absurd degree. It seems it only applies to the party, so unless you’re a member, you don’t get it.”
Since Karl also understood the Enchant Buff to be a party-only skill, he answered without any suspicion.
But just then…
“Huh? What’s this?”
Chang-su picked something up from beside the corpse of a centaur they had just killed.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
As Gwang-taek asked curiously, Chang-su held up a key.
“A key. I saw something sparkling, and it turned out to be a key.”
‘A key, out of nowhere?’
“A key? Hmm, could there be something hidden inside this dungeon? For example, a ruin? Or maybe a box that can only be opened with that key?”
Seong-jun wondered.
The appearance of a key meant there was something to use it on, whether it was a door or a chest.
That alone was enough to pique their curiosity.
“Oh! A ruin or a treasure chest? My motivation just skyrocketed!”
At Seong-jun’s suggestion that it might be a key for a treasure chest, Gwang-taek’s eyes sparkled as he pumped his fist.
A ruin or a treasure chest found in an A-rank dungeon was bound to contain something extraordinary.
Meanwhile, Seong-jun looked at Karl Buckman.
“Karl, I’d like to keep hunting while searching the surrounding area. What do you think? As we discussed, if we discover something, the rights belong solely to us. You understand, right?”
Before splitting the teams, they had discussed how to handle the discovery of ruins.
Even if they belonged to the same guild, once the teams were split, the team that discovered the find would take everything.
In other words, if Seong-jun’s party and Karl’s team discovered a ruin, the shares wouldn’t go to the guild as a whole; they would belong entirely to Seong-jun’s party and Team 1.
“You found the key, so do as you like. If we find something, it’s good for us anyway.”
This was an A-rank dungeon.
Whether it was a ruin or something else, anything they found would be a jackpot.
Furthermore, they wouldn’t have to share it with the other guild members, so their individual shares would be substantial.
Perhaps because of that, a glint appeared in the eyes of Team 1’s Hunters.
They, too, were beginning to think they might strike it rich.
“All right, let’s search the area more thoroughly, even if it slows down the hunt. You all heard, right? If we find something here, it’s all ours! Considering this is an A-rank dungeon, it’ll be a massive score. Keep your eyes peeled and search everything!”
At James’s words, the Team 1 Hunters replied immediately.
“My vision is 2.0. I won’t miss a single thing, so don’t worry.”
“Heh, so it’s not for the guild; we take it all? That changes things.”
“Don’t pass over a single tree or even a patch of grass. Search every inch!”
Fired up by the possibility of a jackpot, their motivation was burning.
Seong-jun’s party and Karl’s Team 1 continued their hunt while searching the surroundings far more meticulously than before.
—
At that time, back at the Association.
“P-President! The Dungeon Break occurred before the defensive line could be fully established! The line has collapsed, and monsters have begun to scatter in all directions!”
Since they only had forty minutes, the Dungeon Break had triggered before they could finish their preparations.
As a result, the incomplete defensive line crumbled helplessly, and the monsters quickly spread.
“Damn it! What about the other guilds besides Changcheon and Genesis?”
“The guilds that have already arrived were informed that the first defensive line collapsed and are now preparing to establish a second line. Other guilds that haven’t arrived yet are on their way, so they should be able to join quickly.”
The best-case scenario would have been to stop them at the first line, but since that had already collapsed, they had to retreat a significant distance to build the second line.
“Did you send people to the Red-Maned Centaur dungeon?”
“Yes, we dispatched them immediately, so they should have entered the dungeon by now.”
“No matter what, we must minimize casualties! Put all our effort into rescuing civilians!”
While property damage might be unavoidable, they had to minimize the loss of life.
Thus, the Association President ordered them to focus all their strength on civilian rescue.