Chapter 170: The Final Guardians Emerge

“Crrrrrrrk~!”

From the shell I fired, a thick tree trunk—no, a massive root—began to grow at a rapid pace.

The root tangled and twisted, taking on the shape of a dragon.

It resembled the parasite I saw during the trial on the 45th floor.

Though smaller and clumsier in appearance, the parasite was keenly aware of its purpose.

“Kwakwa-kwak!”

The parasite started burrowing into the shell of Guiseusan.

The shell of Guiseusan was practically a mountain in itself.

It was incredibly hard, yet the parasite carved away at the shell relentlessly, as if born solely for this moment, and eventually bored a hole through it.

“Wooooong……. “

A deep, low sound from Guiseusan spread out.

Regardless, the parasite continued to absorb nutrients inside Guiseusan’s body, growing ever larger.

Of course, that parasite wasn’t real.

It was simply the ability of the shell I had created.

Because of that, its function wasn’t to grow and survive, but rather to grow as much as possible to defeat its enemy.

Fed by nutrients from Guiseusan’s shell, the parasite grew larger and larger.

The more it grew, the more Guiseusan’s nervous system was damaged, blood vessels burst, and holes formed in its organs.

Just as it seemed the parasite would keep growing, its movement abruptly stopped.

It had reached its limit.

If it had been the real parasite I encountered before, it might have grown endlessly, but the shell made from just a part of the material clearly had its limits.

The parasite, having grown so much, suddenly decayed and melted away due to the side effects of overgrowth.

The decaying, melting fluids of the parasite poisoned Guiseusan’s wounded body.

“Wooooooooong……..” A sorrowful wail spread from Guiseusan.

Noticing first that something was wrong with Guiseusan’s body, the members of the Vulcanus Guild rushed over and began attacking Guiseusan.

Normally, they wouldn’t have been able to bring down a Rank 9 Monster like Guiseusan, but Guiseusan couldn’t use any of its true power.

The thick stream of water, the Water Breath that usually shot from its mouth, wouldn’t come.

The Vine that normally sprouted from its shell like tentacles to attack enemies, or the stone shards fired like cannons—none of them appeared.

All Guiseusan could do was thrash its massive body.

Thanks to that—

“Wooooooong…….”

“Thud.”

Guiseusan collapsed not long after.

– “Vulcanus-nim.”

– “The “Bamboo Trunk of Guiseusan” obtained after defeating Guiseusan has been sent.”

At the same time as I received the SS-grade material Guiseusan left behind,

[Your level has increased.]

Having contributed greatly to defeating a Rank 9 Monster, I was able to gain that much experience.

After that, I kept loading shells and firing the cannon.

When the number of Monsters increased, I fired wide-area shells to clear them out.

“Boooom!”

“Guwaaaaa-.”

“Kyaaaagh!”

If the number of Rank 9 Monsters increased to a point even Rankers couldn’t handle, I would fire powerful shells to hold them back before they could break through the Hunter defensive line.

Thanks to that, unlike the future I’d seen, we were able to hold off the Monster Wave from the Tower without major issues.

Of course, that didn’t mean there weren’t any problems at all.

As the Monster Wave dragged on, the Hunters’ stamina dropped.

If it was just about fatigue, it wouldn’t matter, but every Hunter needed magical power to use their skills or magic.

With the battle going on so long, many began to run out of magical power, causing their combat ability to plummet.

And I was no different.

“Guild master 1! Load anything with a fire attribute!”

“I don’t see any fire attributes.”

“Then something explosive!”

“Out of those too.”

“What? No way…….”

As the battle dragged on, our supply of shells had dwindled considerably.

After Gate Burning, I thought I had prepared enough shells during the week to prepare for the Tower’s descent.

But the shells were being used up much faster than expected.

S-grade shells could be used sparingly, but the ones made with SS-grade materials for attacking Rank 9 Monsters were different.

If I didn’t exploit the SS-grade Monster’s weakness, the shell’s value dropped significantly.

If I attacked recklessly, I might not even deal proper damage.

That’s why—

“Should I make one on the spot?”

Rather than wasting more shells, I decided to make a new one right here and now.

Anyway, Guild master 1 was in charge of loading, and Combat 2 was responsible for aiming and firing.

Up until now, as the creator of the shells, my job had been to understand their abilities perfectly and direct their use for maximum efficiency.

Combat 2 had intelligence, so by now, it understood my intent.

Now, even without my instructions, it could use the cannon better than average.

[Activating Crafting Skill.]

[Select the form of the item you wish to craft.]

[Set the detailed form of the shell.]

[Select the material for the shell.]

A just-emerged SS-grade Monster from the Tower.

I didn’t know its name since it was my first time seeing it, but it looked like a Monster made of tangled Vines.

But no matter how I looked, those Vines didn’t seem plant-like at all.

A Monster made of something hard.

So, I doubted a fire attribute would be its weakness.

To tear through those numerous stems, I figured I’d have to cut them with a sharp attack.

[Golden Blood Fish Scale]

I decided to use the material Nam Bora had just sent me.

The Golden Blood Fish is known as the natural enemy of whales.

Rather than a single entity, it’s a swarm species, thousands moving together, but that gigantic swarm is recognized as a single boss Monster—a rare type.

Its most notable trait is its golden blood and golden scales.

The scales and fins of the Golden Blood Fish are said to be sharper than any spear or sword.

“What a waste.”

Properly processed, I could make an excellent L-grade item with these.

So I scraped together only the least necessary bits.

Thinking I’d make gear with the good parts later, I cut away the ambiguous sections for use as materials now.

“Clang!”

I swung my hammer at once.

There was nothing difficult about it.

Since I was making shells, the form only needed to be round.

The important thing was to fuse the Golden Blood Fish Scale in a way that matched the properties of a shell.

“Blaze”

“Fwoosh!”

With Blaze’s Rune Script, I enhanced the shell’s properties.

When making fire-attribute shells, I used the Rune of Fire.

For electric-attribute shells, I engraved the Rune of Electricity to enhance them.

This time was the same.

For the shell made of Golden Blood Fish Scales, I engraved the Rune Script for slashing or sharpness.

Since I’d been making shells like this all week, the work finished quickly.

[Crafting complete.]

[You have acquired ‘Golden Blood Fish Scale Shell.’]

Even though I made it quickly, I didn’t rush and cut corners.

As soon as the cannon finished firing a shell, I pushed the Golden Blood Fish Scale Shell into it.

“At that thing tangled with Vines!”

“Aim.”

“Understood.”

“Fire.”

“Booom!!”

Just before the golden scale sphere hit the Rank 9 Monster’s body,

The sphere began to scatter.

Like the boss Monster called the Golden Blood Fish, the golden scales surrounding the shell spread out like living fish, forming a massive swarm.

And then—

“Pabababak!”

“Slash—.”

“Pubbuk!”

The body of the Rank 9 Monster was shredded mercilessly.

As expected, the Monster’s weakness was slashing attacks.

The one whose body was torn apart by the shell I crafted on the spot was then finished off by Park Sang-hyun, leader of Team 1 of the Vulcanus Guild, who charged in for the final blow.

He swung his sharp claws, slashing through the Vines in a swirling motion, a most impressive sight.

“Grrrrrrrrr-!”

And so, the Monster was defeated.

With the Rank 9 Monster down, I naturally obtained more SS-grade materials.

Though a shell was spent for every attack, with each Monster I took down, I gained more materials and kept my attack cycle going.

“Boom!”

How long did the Monster Wave continue like that?

“The Monsters are decreasing!”

“Just a bit more, hold on!”

“A little more, just a little more!”

“The number of Monsters coming from the Tower is clearly dropping!”

Just as the Hunters shouted, the number of Monsters kept dwindling.

The Monster Wave, which seemed to herald the world’s destruction, was losing strength.

The number of Monsters, once pouring out madly, was falling fast.

Even the appearance rate of high-grade Monsters was dropping.

At this pace, we could definitely stop them.

We could do it.

Just as that confidence filled us—

“Thud.”

‘That presence’ began to emerge from the Tower.

***

Other countries had Towers appear as well.

One Tower appeared in every nation, and as soon as they did, many countries were falling to ruin.

“Run away!”

“Kyaaaaa!”

“S-save me! Please!”

Most countries had already suffered great damage from the Third Gate Burning and now, with the Towers’ arrival spewing out Monsters, it was impossible for them to hold on.

Countries not known as Hunter strongholds mostly gave up on defending and chose to flee.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to fight.

They just didn’t have the strength to stop the Monsters.

For them, escape was the only way to survive.

On the other hand—

“We have to hold them off!”

“Form defensive lines!”

“Fire everything—missiles, anything!”

“B-but modern weapons don’t work against Monsters!”

“We can at least do some damage! At least lower-grade Monsters should fall! If nothing else, we might stun them for a moment!”

“Understood!”

“Summon every Hunter registered in the Hunter Association!”

“Yes, sir!”

Countries known as Hunter strongholds were just barely holding on.

Powerful Hunters formed formations around their Towers and held the line but that was the best they could manage.

No matter how hard they fought, the number of Monsters didn’t decrease.

On the contrary, the number of Monsters that couldn’t be defeated kept increasing.

As things went on, the sense of crisis only grew with time.

What if the Monster Wave never ended?

Of all the countries, the one holding up best was—

“Douglas!”

“I’ll take care of the skies, don’t worry!”

“Good! Reinforcements are on the way, so hang in there! Use all the potions you need!”

It was the United States, known as the strongest Hunter nation.

The Tower always appeared in the capital city of each country.

So, in the United States, the Tower’s location was none other than Washington.

With the Tower in the center of Washington and the Monster Wave radiating from it, Hunters from all over the country rushed to Washington in shock.

They fired every modern weapon—even though it barely worked—and the Hunters, desperate, held back the Monsters.

It wasn’t quite as successful as Korea, but the United States was holding off the Monster Wave much better than expected.

As time passed—

“The Monster Wave is weakening!”

“Great!”

The Monster Wave in the United States began to weaken too.

Though the Monsters hadn’t been completely cleared out, with time, they’d be able to stop them.

Unlike Korea, which struggled with the sheer numbers due to its smaller Hunter population, the United States believed that time was on their side.

There were that many Hunters, and they were that strong.

And even if modern weapons didn’t work well on Monsters, their constant bombardment still took out lower-grade Monsters and slowed the advance of the others.

That was the power of the United States.

With just a little more effort, they would be able to stop the Monster Wave entirely.

That’s what they thought—until, “S-Sir! We have a problem!”

“What is it this time? Even if ten Rank 9 Monsters showed up at once, I’d just deal with it as usual.”

“A-a tremor! An enormous tremor is being felt!”

“Tremor? Is another Rank 9 Monster appearing?”

“It’s incomparable to Rank 9 Monsters! This—this is a Rank 10 Monster! I’m certain!”

“What? That’s ridiculous! Isn’t the system just malfunctioning because there are so many Rank 9 Monsters?”

“I’m certain! There’s only one! Its presence is unlike any Rank 9 Monster! This is definitely a Rank 10 Monster!”

A frantic report came in from the United States Hunter Association.

A Rank 10 Monster?

Was that even possible?

As the Monsters grew stronger, their ranks reached Rank 9, but so far, no Monster had ever been called Rank 10.

So everyone thought Rank 9 was the highest.

But now, a Rank 10 Monster?

‘If such a thing appeared… could we be able to  defeat it? No, could we even hold it back?’

Just then, the man found his head tilting upward, almost unconsciously, as the sunlight was suddenly blotted out by a massive shadow.

And there—

“Such a faint trace of magical power… So this is the last chance, and yet, there is no hope left, it seems…….”

A being whose size and pressure dwarfed all the dragons that had ever appeared in the United States.

A Rank 10 Monster.

A presence that surpassed even the ancient dragons known as Sacred Dragons.

An Elder Dragon unfurled its wings.

And in that moment—

From the Towers rising across not just the United States, but the entire world, Rank 10 Monsters began to reveal themselves.