The private jet the Taiwan Association had arranged was boarded by Gwang-taek’s group, who needed to go to Kaohsiung.
Having received the Guardian’s Authority from Seong-jun, Gwang-taek’s group had already departed from Taoyuan Airport ahead of him.
Shortly after, the Association President secured a passenger plane from one of Taiwan’s airlines, so Seong-jun boarded it and headed to Taichung.
And now.
“Welcome! We heard you were coming and have been waiting!”
When they moved to an area where the boss group was visible in the distance, they saw the Taiwan Hunters who had been waiting.
The number of gathered Taiwan Hunters was approximately 700.
Even then, most were C-Rank, with about 40 B-Ranks and only 2 A-Ranks.
“Oh ho, the scale is quite large. How big is the boss group?”
When Seong-jun asked about the size of the boss group, an A-Rank Hunter immediately replied.
“We estimate roughly 2,000. We did hunt the scattered monsters in small groups before the boss appeared, but… as you can see, our forces were so lacking that we only managed to kill a little over 200. Even that came with considerable casualties. Probably several hundred monsters not part of the group are still scattered throughout Taichung.”
This wasn’t a dungeon, and even if they were small groups, they didn’t move in threes or fours like in dungeons.
They moved in units of at least ten, sometimes dozens, so no matter how many C-Ranks there were, guerrilla warfare wouldn’t have been easy.
To properly deal with B-rank monsters, A-Rank Hunters should take the lead, but there were only 2 A-Ranks and 40 B-Ranks.
The rest were all C-Ranks—how could they hunt effectively?
Still, with hundreds of C-Ranks, they managed to kill over 200 monsters, though with considerable damage.
‘Thankfully, the monsters are clustered around the boss, so they all seem to be within the area of effect of my wide-area skill. I don’t think I need their support.’
Most of the monsters were gathered around the boss, and at a glance, they all seemed to fall within the range of his wide-area skill.
Even if they weren’t all within range, it wouldn’t have been a problem.
So he had no need for the Taiwan Hunters’ help in dealing with the boss group.
“Is there a way to quickly locate the monsters scattered in all directions?”
“Are you talking about the scattered monsters? We formed a drone reconnaissance unit for guerrilla warfare. But why…”
With the boss group right in front of them, why was he looking for scattered monsters?
“I can handle the boss group alone, so you all quickly eliminate the monsters scattered in all directions.”
When Seong-jun said he would handle the boss group alone, the Taiwan Hunter looked bewildered.
“H-Handle it alone? No matter how strong you are, that massive group…”
“Because it’s possible. Above all, I need to deal with this boss group and then head straight to Hualien, so I don’t have time to stay here and clean up the remaining monsters. Let me buff you first.”
Since Seong-jun also had to deal with the boss group in Hualien, he couldn’t afford to stay here and handle the leftover monsters.
He had to quickly eliminate the boss group and move on immediately.
But there were still hundreds of monsters scattered throughout Taichung.
There were likely civilians who hadn’t evacuated yet, so leaving them would definitely cause significant casualties.
So Seong-jun planned to use the Hunters to quickly deal with the remaining monsters.
Hwaaak! Hwak! Hwaaaaaaak!
As Seong-jun activated his buff skills and continuous healing skills, all 700 Hunters gathered here received the buffs.
“Gah! W-What is this!”
“M-My stats… Whoa!”
“Is this possible with a buff? This is way higher than most S-Ranks!”
As expected, the Taiwan Hunters who received Seong-jun’s buffs were utterly astonished.
Even those who had received Seong-jun’s buffs during the recent Dungeon Break in Taoyuan were equally shocked.
Because the level of the buffs was vastly different from back then.
“The buff duration is 2 hours. Moreover, with buffs of this level, even a small group can handle dozens of monsters. So split into parties of eight and spread out. With the drone reconnaissance unit’s help, you should be able to clean up within 2 hours.”
There were 700 Hunters gathered here.
If they split into parties of eight, they could form about 90 parties.
If 90 parties scattered throughout Taichung, and with the drone reconnaissance unit quickly locating the monsters?
He judged they could finish within the 2-hour duration.
“A-Ah, understood. But are you sure you’ll be okay alone?”
When the Hunter asked again with concern, Seong-jun smirked and said.
“Don’t worry. I almost single-handedly resolved an A-rank Dungeon Break, so a B-rank is nothing. Anyway, I’ll head off now. Good luck to you all.”
In the case of the Tongyeong A-rank Dungeon Break, Seong-jun alone killed over 2,000 monsters including the boss and elites, practically soloing it.
Of course, the Hunters supported from behind, preventing the monsters from scattering, but looking only at the numbers, Seong-jun’s contribution was over 90%.
Would Seong-jun, of all people, worry about mere B-rank monsters?
Seong-jun waved his hand lightly and then quickly moved toward the boss group.
*
Shortly after, Seong-jun approached the monster horde at incredible speed and activated a skill while maintaining his velocity.
‘Absolute Shield!’
The skill Seong-jun used was the absolute defense skill, Absolute Shield.
No matter how low-ranked B-rank monsters were, there were over 2,000 including the boss and elites gathered.
He couldn’t just charge into that bare-bodied, could he?
So he cast Absolute Shield beforehand to protect himself.
“Kuoooooooh!”
“Kwaaaaaaang!”
Seong-jun plunged into the troll horde at tremendous speed.
‘Surge of Holy Arrows!’
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Seong-jun cast Surge of Holy Arrows while maintaining his speed.
Since they were B-rank monsters, they all fell in one hit, and thus Seong-jun used Surge of Holy Arrows to clear a path toward the boss.
‘Just a bit more!’
The reason Seong-jun plunged into the monster horde was to hit the boss directly with God’s Wrath.
To do that, he had to get within range, so he boldly charged into the horde.
Bang! Thud! Thump!
He kept casting Surge of Holy Arrows to open the path, but even so, the monsters’ attacks struck Seong-jun.
No, strictly speaking, they were striking the Absolute Shield.
While pushing through the monsters like that.
‘Got it! I’m in range! God’s Wrath!’
Finally, the boss entered the direct-hit range of God’s Wrath, and he immediately cast it.
Kwaaaaaaooom!
A pillar of intense light descended from the sky and directly struck the boss.
Kwaaaaaang!
Then a wave of light spread in all directions.
Kukwakwakwakwakwa!
The light wave swept the area, and the monsters caught in its aftermath met a swift death.
Shwaaaaaa.
In the wake of God’s Wrath, only over 2,000 monster corpses and mana stones remained.
‘Simple enough.’
Seong-jun swept away over 2,000 monsters including the boss and elites with a single wide-area attack.
Was this really an ability a human could display?
‘Anyway, the Taiwan Association will take care of the corpses and mana stones. Should I just pick up what’s mine and head to the airport?’
Since the situation here was probably being filmed by drones, it would be hard to put the monsters into subspace, but he still needed to collect the loot and the boss raid rewards.
The loot from the boss and elites, and the boss raid reward box.
Although it was a B-rank, so an A-rank Artifact would come out, sometimes useful consumable Artifacts appeared, so Seong-jun opened the reward box.
Click!
What came out was an A-rank glove Artifact.
‘Tch, a dud.’
To Seong-jun, who was clad in all SS-rank equipment, an A-rank piece was utterly useless.
He had finished off the boss group, and the Taiwan Hunters would handle the remaining monsters, so he needed to hurry to the airport anyway.
Seong-jun confirmed once more that there were no surviving monsters, then stomped the ground.
Kwajik!
The ground caved in, and at the same time, Seong-jun’s figure vanished in an instant.
He had moved toward the airport at an incredible speed.
*
Switzerland Revolution Headquarters.
In the conference room, two Grand Overlords and ten Monarchs had gathered.
Normally, the Monarchs should be active in various regions, but since they had gathered in Switzerland to head to Korea to deal with Seong-jun, they took this opportunity to attend the meeting.
And surprisingly, the supreme leader of Revolution also attended this meeting.
“The Master is entering.”
The conference room door opened, and the Master of Revolution, the Dark Elf Peredrof, appeared.
“Welcome!”
“Welcome!”
The Grand Overlords and Monarchs quickly stood up and bowed to Peredrof.
“Everyone, sit.”
He said that and took his seat at the head of the table.
Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!
Then everyone sat back down.
“I heard the Dungeon Activation Device test was a success, but is the Dungeon Break Activation Device still untested?”
When Peredrof asked, Grand Overlord Alfred quickly answered.
“Yes, after two tests in Korea, the Dungeon Activation Device operated successfully without any issues. However, a problem arose before we could test the Dungeon Break Activation Device, so it remains untested. Of course, the Dungeon Activation Device has only been tested twice, so we still lack sufficient data.”
The Dungeon Activation Device, which closes dungeons and gathers monsters in one place, and the Dungeon Break Activation Device, which forcibly triggers Dungeon Breaks.
These two were the core of Revolution’s plan.
Though ultimately, they intended to combine the two devices into one.
“Until now, we had to hide Revolution’s existence and proceed covertly, but there’s no need for that now. Tell all branches around the world to test immediately. That should gather enough data in a short time.”
It was a project that had been prepared for a long time, and originally should have been carried out slowly over two to three years.
So they tried to proceed as covertly as possible.
But having shortened the plan to six months, they needed to secure a lot of data in a short period.
Since they had already decided to accept the risk of Revolution being exposed, there was no need to proceed cautiously, so he ordered all Revolution branches worldwide to test simultaneously.
They planned to collect the data, fill in the gaps, trim what could be reduced, and combine the two functions into a single device.
“Understood. Should we only have them test the devices already distributed, or send additional devices for more tests?”
To Grand Overlord Alfred’s question, Peredrof replied with a blank face.
“I believe each branch was given two or three of each device. If all branches test them, isn’t that enough? Orichalcum and Adamantium are not common minerals. Since we’ve decided to accelerate the plan, we must conserve as much as possible. Tell them to test only with what they have.”
If there had been enough time, they could have supplied them generously over 2-3 years, but with the period reduced to six months, the supply of Orichalcum and Adamantium had become problematic.
In the end, they might have to recycle the ore used in the existing test devices, so Peredrof ordered testing only with what was already distributed.
In fact, that alone would secure enough data.
“Yes, I will convey that to each branch. Ah! And Dr. Jessica Voltron reportedly succeeded in dramatically reducing the size of the Mana Stone amplifier. Also, Lady Selpiana apparently succeeded in simplifying the magic circle. However, it’s still insufficient to fit both magic circles into one device, so it will take a bit more time.”
They said they are continuing research to make them smaller and simpler.
Dr. Jessica Voltron was once in charge of the Mana Stone Amplification Project in the United States, and now she was participating in research as a member of Revolution.
And the person named Selpiana was a Dark Elf who had crossed over from another world with Peredrof.
However, unlike Peredrof, who excelled in combat, Selpiana was a scholar with almost no combat ability.
“Selpiana will likely succeed soon. We must secure as much data as possible by then. And what about that Kim Seong-jun in Korea?”
When Peredrof asked about Seong-jun, Alfred immediately replied.
“According to the report from Pascal, the Korean Branch Chief, he received a support request from Taiwan and is currently in Taiwan. Also, the situation in Japan is not good, so he might head to Japan right after Taiwan is settled. Moreover, support requests are pouring in from all over Asia, so it seems he will be busy for a while.”
Alfred’s answer made Peredrof smile contentedly.
“Then at least for a while, he won’t have time to pay attention to us. Still, he could be the biggest obstacle to our plan, so keep a close watch on him.”
He was aware of the devices, and he possessed enough power to kill Grand Monarch Alexander.
So naturally, Peredrof was interested in Seong-jun.
“Yes, I will issue orders to that effect to Pascal and all branches in Asia.”
Then Peredrof looked around the room and spoke.
“Although we unintentionally hastened the plan, once it succeeds, our world will open. So there must be no mistakes.”
The plan was to simultaneously trigger high-rank dungeons worldwide, turning the world into an apocalypse, then control the monsters rampaging across the globe and place them under Revolution’s control.
If that plan succeeded, Revolution could manipulate the entire world to its liking.
The people gathered here were also drawn by that plan and became members of Revolution.
When Peredrof finished speaking and stood up, everyone else stood up in unison.
Then, glancing at them, Peredrof slowly walked out of the meeting room.
*
Like Taichung, Hualien also suffered severe damage from the Dungeon Break.
The casualties were bad, but property damage was especially severe—it was hard to find an intact building.
“The boss group’s movement speed is faster than expected. At this rate, they’ll soon cross into Yilan County. What do we do? Estimated time is about two hours from now.”
The northward-moving boss group was much faster than anticipated.
At this rate, they would definitely leave Hualien City and enter Yilan County within hours, so they had to find a way before that.
An emergency evacuation order was issued upon news of the boss group’s northward movement, but it was impossible to perfectly evacuate a population of 450,000 in just two hours.
Moreover, if Yilan County was also ravaged on top of Hualien City, the economic impact would be enormous.
But even knowing that, there was no solution.
“There’s nothing we can do right now. All we can do is hope that Kim Seong-jun finishes Taichung as quickly as possible and comes here. But… even for Kim Seong-jun, it would take at least four hours to get here, and by then the boss group will have already entered Yilan County.”
“Haah, with that much time, the damage in Yilan County will be considerable. Actually, two hours is a maximum estimate. They might enter Yilan even sooner.”
“There’s nothing we can do. We can’t recklessly try to block the boss group. Even if we tried, delaying them by even an hour would be lucky. Of course, we would be wiped out in the process.”
Even if they accepted annihilation and tried to block the boss group, they couldn’t delay it even for an hour.
Either way, the boss group would enter Yilan County before Seong-jun arrived.
Since they couldn’t achieve a meaningful result, there was no need to risk their lives.
“Haah, so in the end, there’s no choice but to wait for Kim Seong-jun.”
But just then.
“Ms. Chen Pinyu! An urgent report!”
Someone came running breathlessly and said.
At that, Chen Pinyu, an A-rank Tanker and master of the Cheonhwa Guild, looked grim and asked.
“An urgent report? Did another Dungeon Break happen somewhere?”
“No, it’s that Healer Kim Seong-jun has just arrived at Hualien Airport and is heading this way!”
What kind of nonsense was this?
Seong-jun, who should be fighting monsters in Taichung right now, had arrived at Hualien Airport and was coming here?
“What? Then Taichung—!”
“Well… the boss group has already been eliminated. And it seems the remaining monsters will be cleaned up soon!”
Chen Pinyu couldn’t understand what was being said at all.
“What? The boss group was eliminated?”
“Yes, they say a horde of over 2,000 including the boss and elites were all swept away by Healer Kim Seong-jun’s single wide-area attack!”
Was this something to believe?
It was a group of over 2,000 B-rank monsters including the boss and elites.
And that massive boss group was wiped out by a single wide-area attack?
At the unbelievable news, Chen Pinyu was left speechless.