The situation in Japan was barely brought under control by the second day after the Dungeon Break occurred.
The Tokyo incident, which had started in the morning, wasn’t completely finished until after 9 PM, when the remaining monsters were finally cleared out.
Immediately after, the major guilds deployed to Tokyo split up and headed for Osaka and Fukuoka.
However, Osaka and Fukuoka were already devastated, reduced to scorched earth.
The only fortunate thing was that guilds from other regions had joined in, somehow managing to prevent the monsters in Osaka and Fukuoka from spilling over into neighboring areas.
And as the major guilds from Tokyo joined them, they began quickly cleaning up the monsters that had dispersed in all directions.
Although the monsters were scattered everywhere, making it take considerable time to completely eradicate them, conversely, because they were dispersed, there wasn’t much difficulty in dealing with them.
As a result, the Dungeon Breaks in Osaka and Fukuoka were somehow cleaned up, but in the meantime, enormous human and property damage had occurred.
In Osaka’s case, a staggering number of casualties exceeding 300,000 occurred, and Fukuoka also suffered casualties well over 200,000.
Combined, the casualties from the two cities reached 600,000, truly an enormous loss of life.
Of course, the property damage was in a state where it couldn’t even be calculated.
Considering that the total casualties from the Ahyeon-dong and Jeju Island incidents were around 50,000, this was truly a devastating loss.
Perhaps because of this, comparisons between the situations in Korea and Japan became frequent in Korea, and as a result, the voices criticizing the Korean Association gradually died down.
“Hah! Over 600,000 casualties? If you include Tokyo, it’s over 600,000, right? Insane. They boasted about having much stronger hunter forces than our country, and this is the result?”
“We have Kim Seongjun, but Japan doesn’t have a Kim Seongjun.”
“Wow! Looking at this, the Korean Association actually did a good job. I feel sorry for criticizing the Association until now.”
“Come to think of it, that’s true. Just looking at the number of casualties, it’s over 12 times our country’s. When there was no comparison, I didn’t realize, but now that there is, it seems the Korean Association isn’t incompetent after all.”
“Eh, is that because the Association did a good job? It’s because we have Kim Seongjun. Long live the Saint!”
For the Association, this Dungeon Break incident in Japan had actually worked to their advantage.
Although the victims themselves were still shedding tears of blood, it was because the numerical damage was significantly less compared to Japan’s.
Meanwhile, Seong-jun was at the hideout, preparing to enter a dungeon with his party.
“Wow! Look at this. This is insane. The casualties across three cities are over 600,000.”
“It’s true the damage is too great compared to Korea’s, but if Seong-jun hadn’t been there, Korea would have suffered damage comparable to Japan’s.”
Yuseon and Gwang-taek were looking at internet articles on their phones, discussing the damage situation in Japan.
Seeing them, Seong-jun spoke.
“That’s not what’s important. Originally, Dungeon Breaks happen at most once or twice a year, maybe three or four times. But suddenly, their frequency has increased sharply. That means we don’t know when or where another Break Dungeon will form. If things go wrong, multiple ones could occur simultaneously, like this time.”
It was fortunate that the damage was significantly less compared to Japan’s, but that didn’t mean the damage suffered disappeared.
The victims were still having a hard time, and recovering from the damage would take considerable time.
The problem was that it was a situation where no one knew when or where such an incident might occur again.
“That’s true. It seems like the frequency of Break Dungeon generation has suddenly increased since the Taean Incident.”
“By the way, shouldn’t the Association also overhaul its response system in a situation like this? Looking at the recently generated B-grade Break Dungeons, the required personnel are fewer, and the time is mostly around 1 hour. Unless a new response system tailored to this is created, Dungeon Breaks will occur first every time before the 1st Defense Line can be established.”
Previously, there was a margin of at least 2–3 hours, up to 7–8 hours at most.
But looking at the recently generated Break Dungeons, D-grade and C-grade ones are the same as before, but notably, B-grade Break Dungeon times have drastically reduced to around 1 hour.
As a result, the damage caused by this around the world was beyond imagination.
Since the required personnel and remaining time for high-grade Break Dungeons have changed compared to before, the countermeasures must also change from the existing ones to respond properly.
“Well, that’s something for the Association to handle. Anyway, shall we enter soon? Let’s finish up to the boss as quickly as possible and get some rest. As you all know, tomorrow we have to go to Taiwan to raid an A-grade dungeon, so today, let’s finish the raid and turn in early to rest.”
The day to raid the Drake Dungeon, an A-grade dungeon in Taiwan, was now just one day away.
Therefore, Seong-jun intended to finish today’s dungeon raid within the day.
Unless a wave occurred inside the dungeon, they would have to find and hunt small groups of drakes one by one, which would naturally take time.
To receive the First Entry Benefit, they had to somehow finish within four days, even if it was a bit tight, and if so, they would likely not be able to come out of the dungeon for three or four days.
So, he planned to finish the hunt within the day and hand over the quantity for trading with the Mirae Research Institute to Gyu-taek in advance.
“It’s the Drake Dungeon, right? Can we finally secure the experimental materials for Ms. Seon-hwa?”
At Gwang-taek’s words, Seon-hwa smiled and spoke.
“If this works out, then once the equipment arrives, all preparations will be complete. Anyway, thank you for your hard work. I’d like it if you could secure about four or five corpses and mana stones.”
Once the most crucial materials, the drake corpses and mana stones, were secured, all that remained was waiting for the purchased equipment to arrive.
Of course, that wasn’t the end but the beginning, but being able to resume the stalled research itself was important.
“I’ll set aside about a dozen like last time. And I’m not sure if it’s possible, but I’ll try to secure the boss corpse and mana stone if I can.”
Since they had to move with Genesis, it might be difficult to secretly siphon them off using the subspace.
But for just about a dozen corpses and mana stones, it seemed they could secure them through normal routes without needing to use the subspace.
Additionally, he wanted to secure the boss corpse and mana stone if possible, but this was a matter that needed to be discussed with the Genesis side, so he couldn’t give a definite answer.
“I’d be grateful if you do. Ah! And this. The metal that makes up this main device here. It seems it’s not a metal from Earth. But I’m starting to see properties similar to various metals that come from dungeons. I need to look into it more, but it might be an alloy.”
The main device that made up the Dungeon Activation Device was made of a peculiar metal.
The problem was that the metal wasn’t from Earth, and it was also somewhat different from metals that came from dungeons.
Therefore, Seon-hwa suspected it might be an alloy mixed from several dungeon metals.
“Is that so? If it’s an alloy, would you be able to find out which metals are mixed?”
“I’ll have to try, but it seems difficult in the short term. I need to purchase additional equipment for this, and since I’m doing it alone, it’s not easy.”
Even with many people working on it, it wouldn’t be easy, and since Seon-hwa was handling it alone, it was bound to take time.
But it wasn’t something where they could call in someone else.
It was still a time to thoroughly hide Seon-hwa’s existence and the device’s existence.
“I’ll procure any equipment you need, so please proceed with the research without being bound by time.”
Since it wasn’t urgent anyway, Seong-jun told her to take her time and research slowly.
“Alright. After you come back from the dungeon, I’ll write down a separate equipment list for you.”
“Haha, yes. Then let’s enter now.”
With that, Seong-jun led the way, followed by Gwang-taek, Yuseon, Chang-su, and Seon-hwa, as they entered the dungeon.
*
Having completely cleared the dungeon, including defeating the boss, Seong-jun headed straight for the abandoned factory.
There, Gyu-taek, who had been contacted in advance, was already waiting.
“You’re here? You’re going to Taiwan tomorrow, right?”
At Gyu-taek’s question, Seong-jun smiled and spoke.
“Yes, I have a prior arrangement with Genesis. It’s also an A-grade dungeon, and once I enter, it’ll be hard to come out for at least three or four days. If something unexpected happens, it could take even longer. Given that, it seems difficult to match the trading day, so I wanted to hand over the quantity in advance.”
“Is that so? Then should we move the trading day forward a bit? Even if tomorrow is impossible, maybe the day after tomorrow at dawn? I’m really uneasy leaving such enormous things here for several days.”
It was the corpses and mana stones of B-grade monsters, amounting to well over two thousand.
No matter how much they had reinforced their manpower, since it was a trade involving an enormous amount of money, it seemed unsafe to just leave them in the abandoned factory.
“Please do that. And while we’re at it, please inform them in advance that if circumstances arise, we might need to adjust the trading schedule like this time. I’ll try to trade on the set day if possible, but depending on the situation, schedule coordination might be necessary.”
The set trading day was every Sunday at dawn.
He intended to match the set trading day as much as possible, but depending on the situation, there might be times when the trading day needed to be moved forward or delayed slightly.
Therefore, Seong-jun told Gyu-taek to announce that there could be changes to the trading day at any time.
Of course, even then, it would only be around 2–3 days before or after the trading day.
“Got it. I’ll handle informing them properly.”
“Haha, since you handle things so well on your own, I don’t have to worry about anything on this side. I’ll continue to trust only you, brother. Ah! By the way, what about Takahashi Mamoru? Is he behaving well and staying quiet?”
When Seong-jun asked about Takahashi Mamoru, Gyu-taek nodded and spoke.
“He’s fine. I have a few officetels I got for employees to use, and there were a few vacant ones among them, so I put him there. It’s only been a day, so he’s still quiet without any trouble.”
Perhaps Takahashi Mamoru also understood his situation well, as he didn’t cause any particular problems.
Although he was forced to stay here, he knew well that now that things had come to this, Seong-jun was the only one he could trust.
“I see. Actually, regarding that matter, there’s something I need you to look into secretly. As you know, a Dungeon Break occurred in Japan, right? Because of that, Ookami urgently went to Japan, but I heard he left a few people behind in Korea.”
“They must be planning to look for Takahashi Mamoru. But can hunters from another country roam around so freely? The Korean Association wouldn’t openly allow that, would they?”
Hunters from other countries who enter through formal routes operate under the control of that country’s association.
The moment they try to break free from that control, sanctions from that country’s association immediately follow.
Therefore, they couldn’t openly roam around.
“Of course not. Moreover, I heard they’ll also be heading to Japan in a few days. Since time is tight, they probably won’t search personally. It seems they’re planning to hire someone. Please find out who they hired.”
He judged that they weren’t stupid enough for Ookami not to know about such things, and it was highly likely they hired someone else to find Takahashi Mamoru on their behalf.
“Alright, I’ll look into it. If I can find out about the identities of the Ookami guild members left here, it might proceed a bit more smoothly. Do you know anything?”
At Gyu-taek’s question, Seong-jun pulled out a few documents from his pocket.
“Just in case, I secured their information through the Association. There are three people left here. Here is their personal information.”
The documents contained photos, names, Awakening grade, class, and other basic personal information.
“Oh! This is more than enough. I’ll find out as soon as possible, so don’t worry and go to Taiwan.”
“Haha, yes. By the way, I’m burdening you with all sorts of requests, brother.”
“Burden, what burden. I do it because it’s doable. If I thought it would be difficult from the start, I would have told you. So don’t worry unnecessarily.”
Although the requests weren’t exactly easy, they were things that could be sufficiently handled at Gyu-taek’s level.
That’s why he accepted without saying much; if it seemed like something difficult for Gyu-taek to handle, he would have said so earlier and looked for another method.
Rather than taking on something beyond his ability and making things difficult, it was more beneficial for both him and Seong-jun to find another way.
“Then I’ll leave it to you. Ah! And take this.”
Saying that, Seong-jun handed over several glass bottles containing something.
“Hmm? What’s this?”
“It’s holy water. It will be useful in an emergency.”
Holy water? Gyu-taek took the glass bottles with a puzzled expression.
[F-grade] Ability Holy Water
– Allows the use of a special ability for a certain period.
– Applied Ability [F-grade Assassin Class Stealth]
– Duration [30 minutes]
[F-grade] Ability Holy Water
– Allows the use of a special ability for a certain period.
– Applied Ability [F-grade Assassin Class Fatal Strike]
– Duration [30 minutes]
[F-grade] Ability Holy Water
– Allows the use of a special ability for a certain period.
– Applied Ability [F-grade Assassin Class Gap Detection]
– Duration [30 minutes]
The holy water Seong-jun handed over was Ability Holy Water, specifically ones that allowed the use of assassin class skills.
Since Ability Holy Water applied not only to Awakened but also to ordinary people, he judged it would be a great help if Gyu-taek ever found himself in danger.
“What’s this? Ability Holy Water? It temporarily allows the use of F-grade assassin class skills? Hah!”
“There are abilities from other classes too, but I thought assassin class abilities would be helpful for you, brother. Anyway, if a dangerous situation occurs, use it. Even though it’s an F-grade ability, it will be of considerable help against ordinary people.”
What did F-grade matter? It allowed Gyu-taek, who was merely an ordinary person, to temporarily use an Awakened’s ability.
“Thank you. I’ll keep it well and definitely use it when a dangerous moment comes.”
“Then I’ll be going now. See you after I return from Taiwan.”
After a light farewell, Seong-jun left the spot.
Confirming Seong-jun had left, Gyu-taek immediately contacted the Mirae Research Institute.
It was to move the trading day forward as much as possible.
*
Having finished all his tasks and returned home, Seong-jun took a shower first.
Then, he took a bottle of water and a can of beer from the refrigerator and sat on the sofa.
“Phew, a cold beer after work is truly the best.”
Glug! Glug!
After taking a refreshing swig of beer, Seong-jun looked at the Golden Holy Grail placed on the table.
“Anyway, I should do what needs to be done.”
Seong-jun poured the bottled water he took from the refrigerator into the Golden Holy Grail.
Splish splash
Once the grail was filled with water, Seong-jun raised his hand and cast a skill.
“Divine Imbuement. Ability Holy Water.”
Then.
Uuuuuuung!
A faint light emanated from Seong-jun’s hand and transferred into the water contained in the Golden Holy Grail.
[Imbuement complete. [Ability Holy Water: F-grade Ranger Class Multi-shot] has been created.]
When creating Ability Holy Water, one skill from each class could be generated randomly.
Since it was random, useless abilities could come out, but still, useful ones often popped up, so before ending the day, he created five Vitality Holy Waters and five Ability Holy Waters.
Just as he had finished creating one Ability Holy Water.
[Skill [Divine Imbuement] has leveled up from Level 1 to Level 2.]
[The grade of holy waters that can be created has increased.]
[A new holy water can now be created.]
A notification appeared that the Divine Imbuement skill had leveled up.
“Oh! Level up! I wonder what new holy water I can create now?”
Seong-jun immediately checked the Divine Imbuement skill.
[Active] Divine Imbuement [2/10]
Imbues holy power to create holy water.
– Imbues holiness into water contained in the Golden Holy Grail, converting it into holy water.
– Currently creatable holy waters [3/10]: [Vitality Holy Water] [Ability Holy Water] [Energy Holy Water]
– Can only be acquired by one possessing the power of the Goddess of Light, Hemeias.
Casting Time: [30]
Divine Power Consumption [100]
Cooldown: [1 minute]
Checking the Divine Imbuement skill, a new holy water called Energy Holy Water had been added.
He immediately examined the option for Energy Holy Water.
[E-grade] Energy Holy Water
– Upon consumption, recovers 10,000 energy appropriate for each class.
Energy Holy Water was, as the name suggested, holy water that recovered consumed energy.
‘This is… just like a mana potion? 10,000 isn’t a very meaningful recovery amount for me, hah! But it will be plenty helpful for others. There might be situations where I can’t use Energy Recharge on them, so I can give a few bottles each to Gwang-taek, Yuseon, and Chang-su.’
He maintained their energy at full using Energy Recharge, but a situation might arise where he couldn’t do that.
Therefore, Seong-jun planned to make a bit more Energy Holy Water and distribute it to his