Chapter 187: Towers Multiply

When I was trying to create a weapon using the ‘Fragment of the Machine Castle.’

I went through quite a bit of contemplation.

‘What should I make?’

There were three candidates.

The weapons for the Sword Saint, Cheon Seung-heon, and the Shadow King.

To be honest, it was technically Cheon Seung-heon’s turn since he hadn’t received anything yet, but if I made a weapon for the Shadow King, she would have two EX-grade weapons, and the synergy would explode.

If I made a weapon for the Sword Saint, it would create incredible synergy with her Legendary Grade armor set.

So I thought about it.

‘As expected, a sword is the most standard choice.’

I decided to complete the Sword Saint’s Equipment first.

Next, I worried about what kind of sword to make.

This part was relatively easy.

There were a wide variety of swords in legends and myths, but among them, there weren’t many that fit the Sword Saint’s style of being paired with a ‘scabbard.’

Since legends say Merlin even asked King Arthur, “Which do you like better, the sword or the scabbard?” 

Excalibur is closely tied to its scabbard.

And so, I began to create Excalibur.

The Fragment of the Machine Castle was an excellent mineral-type material no matter where it was used, so by adding other good materials and checking it about twice with the White Feather Fan, I was able to produce it.

When the Monster Wave unfolded, I left the operation of the Cannons to the soldiers and devoted myself entirely to Production, barely managing to finish it just as the Bulgasari was running wild.

“Wow, that’s no joke.”

The Sword Saint using Excalibur looked incredibly powerful.

The attack power and abilities of the finished Excalibur were strong enough to surprise even me, but I didn’t expect it to create that much synergy with the Sword Saint.

As expected, making Excalibur was the right choice.

That was what I thought.

Of course…

‘I’ll have to make Cheon Seung-heon’s Equipment next, no matter what.’

Cheon Seung-heon, who suddenly became the only one who hadn’t received any equipment, looked a bit sorrowful.

Aside from him, the Berserker and the Spirit Emperor also seemed a bit envious while looking at my new product, but it couldn’t be helped.

Right now, I have to focus more on the Tower Raid Team than the personnel blocking the Monster Wave.

Honestly, rather than spending time making a new weapon for Park Kang-chul, it’s a more correct judgment to upgrade even one piece of armor for the Tower Raid Team to Legendary Grade.

Because the most important thing right now is climbing the Tower.

“Let’s see, the materials I got this time are…”

After the Monster Wave ended.

I began to organize the materials obtained through this Monster Wave.

The Hunters here, as well as the Hunter Association, knew the importance of my Production, so all the materials deemed important were delivered to me.

The first things I saw were.

[Shed Skin of the Corrupted Thousand-Year Serpent]

[Bead of the Aged Nine-Tailed Fox]

“Wow, there’s a lot.”

They were SS-Class Materials.

Honestly, S-grade materials don’t even catch my eye anymore.

When S-grade materials come in, I hand them all over to the Production Team, and I only handle materials that are SS-grade or higher.

Because my current situation was so busy that just doing that took up all my time.

I was worried if the amount of materials would be insufficient since the Monster Wave had weakened.

This seems sufficient enough in its own way.

However, the most important thing wasn’t these, but this.

[Immortal Stone]

Type: Material

Rank: SSS

Description: An immortal Ore containing the power of the Bulgasari, created by the Bulgasari swallowing numerous steel reinforcements and condensing them within its body.

It was this.

“Hehehe!”

An SSS-grade material.

With this, I can create an item on par with Excalibur.

Since it has the characteristics of a mineral, it seemed capable of being applied in various forms, just like the ‘Fragment of the Machine Castle.’

If I make a proper EX-grade equipment with this, I’ll be able to soothe Cheon Seung-heon’s disappointment.

In fact, one might wonder if I really need to soothe his disappointment, but there was his morale management to consider, and above all, I was looking forward to the increase in combat power that would occur when I placed EX-grade equipment in Cheon Seung-heon’s hands.

“Then, shall I try making it right away?”

Others are taking care of clearing the site anyway.

I only needed to focus on Item Production as a Blacksmith, which is what I can do best right now and what is most helpful.

There are plenty of materials to use for production right in front of me anyway.

More importantly.

“Gurgle—.”

“…They say even at Mount Kumgang, a full stomach comes first, so let’s eat.”

I finished off a meal—having not eaten a single one since yesterday due to focusing on Item Production—and enjoyed the cool breeze on the rooftop and the scenery of the vast sky.

***

Around this time, Korea was blocking the second Monster Wave.

“Aaaargh! Save me!”

“W-We can’t stop it. We can’t stop this at all!”

“What do you mean, fully prepared! This is hell!”

The second Monster Waves were also beginning at Towers overseas.

Monsters began to pour out in accordance with the Tower’s progress.

Naturally, since no country had climbed higher than Korea, all those Monster Waves were more powerful than the one that occurred in Korea.

Monsters surged out like a tsunami.

Dozens of Rank 9 Monsters covered the sky, and two Rank 10 Monsters emerged and let out roars; it was truly a scene from hell.

It was a sight that made one feel as if the end of the world was approaching.

“Our capital is…”

“Why are you standing there dazed! Run!”

“B-But. If we step back here, the citizens…”

“Do you think we can protect people just because we’re here? Staying here will just mean dying in vain!”

The Towers appeared in the capitals of each country.

Naturally, when the Monster Wave occurred, the first place to suffer damage was the capital.

The capital, the place where the most people live in each nation.

Nations that had already suffered great damage from the first Monster Wave were busy fleeing before they could even properly deal with such a Monster Wave.

The same was true for the countries called Hunter powerhouses.

At first, they tried to block the Monster Wave somehow to protect their capitals.

“Aaaaaargh!”

“T-This is impossible. It’s impossible!”

“Groooooooo—!!”

“Cough!”

It was impossible.

The Monster Wave was too powerful.

There was no way to block the monsters by any means.

Don’t modern firearms like guns and cannons not even work well against monsters?

Even mobilizing the entire army, it was difficult to block the Monster Wave.

And among them, there was a nation that dared to take a drastic measure.

“B-But, Mr. President! Moscow is our capital!”

“Who doesn’t know that?”

“There are still many citizens in Moscow who haven’t been evacuated! Besides, of all weapons, a nuke! Moscow will become a wasteland!”

Humanity’s greatest, best, and worst weapon.

The nuke.

It was the final choice to drop such a weapon on their own capital.

“It is the sacrifice of the few for the sake of the many! If we can just collapse that Tower with a nuke, we can escape from the Monster Wave! Plus, if it’s now, we’ll be able to block that entire Monster Wave too.”

“At least give the citizens time to evacuate!”

“If we do that, all those monsters will escape to all over Russia! We have to fire now!”

“Mr. President!”

Despite the dissuasion of those around him, the President of Russia pressed the nuclear weapon launch switch.

The nuclear weapon was launched.

The target was not a foreign country Russia was wary of, but its own capital.

Moscow.

“BOOOOM!!”

The nuke exploded in the center of Moscow.

A mushroom cloud rose, devastating everything in the vicinity.

They had experimented in the sea or on islands, but it was extremely rare to detonate it in the center of a continent like this.

Therefore, the vibration and flash that occurred with the nuclear explosion gave them the conviction that the nuke had annihilated everything.

Monsters?

The Tower?

Nothing can withstand this nuclear explosion.

While they were feeling certain that using nuclear weapons was the right judgment.

“Sssssss—”

Amidst the scattering fallout.

“Thump.”

Two massive shadows revealed themselves.

“Kroooooooo!”

“Wooooooo—.”

Two Rank 10 Monsters that came out of the Tower.

Behind them, dozens of Rank 9 Monsters also revealed themselves.

While other monsters were annihilated by the overwhelming offensive power of the nuclear explosion despite the monster trait of firearms not working well.

It was not the case for monsters of Rank 9 or higher.

The Rank 9 Monsters suffered great damage, but it wasn’t enough to kill them.

The Rank 10 Monsters didn’t seem to have suffered much damage even though they were hit by the nuke.

Above all.

“The Tower is… intact?”

The shape of the Tower is visible through the fallout.

That shape did not show a single bit of disarray.

Far from the Tower collapsing, it didn’t even suffer a little damage.

It was the moment it was confirmed that the Tower could not be brought down even with a nuclear explosion.

Around the time Russia was in shock.

There was a country that was at least withstanding the Monster Wave, excluding Korea.

It was the United States, a country once called a Hunter superpower.

“Douglas!”

“I know! I know! I know, but we can’t stop that thing!”

However, the United States was merely ‘withstanding’ it.

It was hard to say they were properly blocking the Monster Wave.

Using the strength of the Hunters as well as the strong military power of the United States, they used firearms to take down monsters of rank 5 or lower.

Although the efficiency of firearms was low, it wasn’t that they didn’t work at all, so this was to reduce the burden on the Hunters.

After that, the American Hunters poured all their strength into fighting the monsters.

However, they simply could not face the Rank 9 Monsters and Rank 10 Monsters.

How on earth were they supposed to face those?

Even though the American Rankers were strong, those things were impossible to deal with.

If Douglas hadn’t been drawing the attention of the monsters and implementing a strong hit-and-run strategy, even this would have been impossible.

In the meantime.

“…They say Russia blew up its capital with a nuke.”

“Did they say it was effective?”

“They couldn’t take down the monsters of Rank 9 or higher. And the most important Tower didn’t even have a bit of damage.”

“Damn it.”

The United States, having heard the news from Russia, was frustrated.

It was a method the United States was also considering as a last resort.

They realized that even that didn’t work.

Since hope had disappeared, there was no point in withstanding here anymore.

It was an instruction that was very difficult to give, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Retreat!”

“Are you serious? Let’s abandon Washington?”

“You know well that it can’t be helped!”

The American Hunters began to flee.

To avoid the Monster Wave, they abandoned Washington and ran away.

To abandon the capital.

It was an act that did not maintain the dignity of the United States, which had reigned as the world’s strongest power even before becoming a Hunter superpower.

While they were fleeing like that.

[Korea has blocked the second Monster Wave.]

[The Monster Wave will be stopped.]

[A large amount of experience will be provided to the Awakened Ones who blocked the wave.]

Along with the suddenly appearing message, the monsters that were destroying Washington began to disappear.

The Hunters watched this blankly and muttered.

“They blocked the Monster Wave…?!”

“Korea did?”

It makes no sense.

To block a Monster Wave of this magnitude.

Korea, which once couldn’t even be included in the level of Hunter powerhouses, blocked the Monster Wave.

However, the System does not lie.

At this moment.

Following the first Monster Wave, Korea has saved the world twice.

When everyone was cheering.

The President of the United States and the top-tier Hunters like Douglas, the Hunter Association President, etc.

All relevant people gathered and held a meeting.

As a result, the judgment to abandon Washington was made.

“I will abandon Washington.”
“Sigh…”

“It can’t be helped. We will focus on building barriers and stalling for time to minimize the damage as much as possible.”

“Then are you saying you will leave the future of the United States to Korea?”

“Mr. President, this is very dangerous. The moment the Tower disappears, this action will greatly lower the position of the United States.”

Of course, there were protests from many people, but.

“Is that the problem? Not just the United States, but the world is nearing destruction. This is not the time to be looking out for private interests.”

The President of the United States was firm.

“I understand.”

“Then the next capital will naturally be decided as New York, right?”

“Ahem, looking at the population, California is naturally…”

“How can California become the capital? In terms of accessibility, a place like Florida…”

However, it didn’t end with giving up Washington.

Even if they gave up Washington, where would the next capital be?

Where should the people who fled from Washington go?

The moment they were about to talk about this.

“Clack!” The door opened.

“Mr. President!”

“What’s the matter?”

An urgent report came in.

“Towers have appeared in California and Texas!”

“…What!” 

“This can’t be…”

It is truly desperate news.

They thought everything would be okay if they just abandoned Washington.

The number of towers is increasing.

It feels like the Towers are explicitly wishing for the destruction of the world.

The hostility of the Towers is clearly felt.

At this, everyone sitting in this place had no choice but to admit it.

That if time passes like this, the world will eventually be destroyed without a place to run to.

“We must evacuate the citizens where the Towers appeared. And from now on…” The President of the United States decided.

No, it wasn’t just the United States.

All the countries capable of making a judgment had made a decision.

“We will provide full support to Korea.”

They would help Korea.

They realized that the only way to prevent destruction now was to help Korea.