Chapter 99: Taiwan’s Triumph and Vulcanus’s Pride

The coast of Taiwan.

Among them, the northern coast was the area where the most monsters were emerging.

There, those holding back the monsters belonged to one of Taiwan’s four great maritime guilds, the strongest of them all, and a symbol of Taiwan itself.

The guild with the blue bird emblem: the Blue Magpie Guild.

Even so—

“More are coming up!”

“They just keep coming endlessly!”

It was difficult to hold back the monsters.

Not only the maritime guild but also Hunters protecting the land had been fully mobilized to repel the monsters, but this time, it was almost impossible to endure.

“Any reinforcements?”

“None.”

“Could it be because of those things?”

“Yes. China apparently reclaimed the west and took away all our support, receiving Hunter assistance themselves. They threatened that if they supported Taiwan instead of themselves in the current situation, it would have negative diplomatic consequences…”

“Damn it!”

China.

A true enemy.

In fact, the reason why so many monsters were flooding the northern coast was largely blamed on China.

Though they hadn’t caught clear evidence to confront them properly.

And now, even blocking reinforcements.

There was no choice but to be furious.

“There are rumors that support is coming from Korea.”

“Korea? You mean the Sword Saint is coming?”

“No, it’s equipment support.”

“Equipment… Hmph. Not sure how much that’ll help.”

The relationship between Korea and Taiwan was ambiguous.

Not hostile, but Taiwan often felt rivalry toward Korea, frequently comparing themselves.

Still, Korea was the country that had tackled the Gate Burning incident for the third time.

With that in mind, the Hunters didn’t lose hope.

‘Equipment…’

Tai Bao, Guild Master of Blue Magpie Guild.

He looked down at his equipment.

Though the country had taken care to provide, it was only a grade B weapon, unsuitable for his level.

He’d heard that rankers from other countries usually carried better-grade A or above weapons supplied by their governments.

If only the equipment had been better, maybe those monsters would have already been wiped out.

At that moment—

“Equipment support from Korea has arrived! Everyone, prepare to receive!”

“Ready!”

“Transmission starting!”

Korean equipment support had arrived.

Fast transmission using the system.

Thanks to it, everyone could grab the harpoons materializing right before their eyes.

And the moment the harpoons were in their hands, Taiwanese Hunters realized—

‘Amazing!’

How incredible these weapons were.

No wonder.

[Harpoon for Taiwan – Advanced]

Type: Harpoon

Grade: SS

Requirement: Level 200 or above

Description: Supply equipment made at Vulcanus’s Forge

Attack Power: 1,850

Abilities:

1. Penetration – Attack power and penetration increase.

2. Capture – Accuracy increases.

3. Waterside Combat – Attack power increases if near water.

4. Fisherman – Attack power increases when attacking maritime monsters.

“An SS-grade harpoon!”

An extraordinarily powerful weapon.

Level 200+ and SS-grade.

Even high-level Taiwanese Hunters had rarely seen such stats.

And what about the abilities below?

Though designed as supply equipment, the simple abilities perfectly matched the current situation.

“Did they make specialized equipment based on our situation?”

The third and fourth abilities clearly catered to the current battle conditions.

The attack power was already high, but if these two activated—

At least 1.5 times the usual performance.

Or even more.

Besides, this was the coast.

The enemies were monsters crawling out from the sea.

Perfectly fulfilling the conditions.

“Attaack!”

“Attack!!”

“Pwoosh!”

“Grrrrrrk—.”

Monsters that were difficult just moments ago were pierced through easily.

Even the tough scales on their bellies were hard to penetrate before, but now, every thrust of the harpoon pierced through the monster’s belly and came out their back.

As the number of equipped Hunters wearing Vulcanus Equipment increased, the battle situation became heavily in favor of the Hunters.

Meanwhile, Blue Magpie Guild Master Tai Bao also received equipment support.

“This is…!”

[Harpoon for Taiwan – Superior]

Type: Harpoon

Grade: SSS

Requirement: Level 250 or above

Description: Supply equipment made at Vulcanus’s Forge

Attack Power: 2,500

Abilities:

1. Penetration – Attack power and penetration increase.

2. Capture – Accuracy increases.

3. Waterside Combat – Attack power increases if near water.

4. Fisherman – Attack power increases when attacking maritime monsters.

5. Electrocution – Adds electric attribute damage to attacks, and causes chain damage when attacking maritime monsters or when the harpoon contacts water.

An SSS-grade weapon.

He never imagined he’d ever hold an SSS-grade weapon in his lifetime.

The best weapon he’d ever used until now was an S-grade.

This one surpassed that by two full grades.

The level requirement was slightly higher than his current level, but the fact that it was an SSS-grade weapon compensated for that.

What about the abilities?

Though still simple and basic for supply equipment, they were exactly the skills needed in this situation.

Moreover—

“Electrocution!”

Electric attribute damage.

The electric attribute weapon he had always requested from the government.

Nothing was more helpful in maritime battles.

Gripping the weapon, Tai Bao excitedly charged into the enemy lines.

“Brother Tai Bao!”

Guild members worried at the sight, but the moment they saw Tai Bao’s attack—

Instead of worry, they felt exhilaration.

“Zzzzzt!!”

The monsters hit by Tai Bao’s electric attacks started floating up like dead fish on the water’s surface.

All of them.

“Wow, he’s fighting well!”

***

After producing and sending all the equipment quantities Taiwan requested, I watched the battle in Taiwan live through a broadcast.

There were battles elsewhere worth watching, but the most thrilling was undoubtedly the fierce fight on Taiwan’s northern coast.

– Swoosh!

A giant shark resembling the Megalodon, the largest fish in Earth’s history.

– Shhhhhhh

A giant jellyfish spreading its tentacles across the sea surface.

“Swallowed by the deep sea…!”

Even a sea giant made entirely of water.

The area was packed with overwhelmingly powerful monsters.

At first, the battle was being pushed back and struggling, but the moment they received my equipment—

“Attaack!”

“Attack!!”

The monsters were being aggressively driven back.

As always, seeing my equipment used well like this filled me with pride.

Look at the Hunters piercing monsters with the harpoons I made.

Just moments ago, they seemed on the verge of collapse, but now, smiling broadly with my weapons in their hands.

I couldn’t help but feel proud.

Also—

“Zzzzzzzt!!”

“Blaze, do you see that?”

“Yeah!”

“They’re using it well, right? Now that I can make up to level 250 items, soon I’ll be able to create equipment for our rankers, too.”

The Blue Magpie Guild Master.

Tai… Tao?

What was the name again?

Anyway, watching the Guild Master swing the harpoon I specially forged with electric Rune Script to subdue monsters was spectacular.

Seeing them take down normal monsters and then, with the Hunters’ combined strength, defeat the boss monsters made my heart swell.

“They’re using it better than I expected.”

I made the weapons for this, but didn’t think they’d wield them this well in battle.

The maritime monsters threatening Taiwan were all swiftly handled within a day after Taiwanese Hunters received Vulcanus Equipment.

– Hunter News.

– Today’s report concerns the Gate Burning in Taiwan.

– Today, Taiwan has effectively brought the Second Gate Burning to a close.

– Taiwan had been struggling to end the Gate Burning due to the excessive number of maritime monsters.

– Footage confirms that Taiwanese Hunters fought wielding weapons made by Korean blacksmith Vulcanus.

– The President of Taiwan is expected to officially declare the conclusion of the Gate Burning soon.

“Oh, a declaration of conclusion?”

The declaration.

I heard Korea urgently announced their third such declaration.

But I was too busy to watch the announcement.

Since it was a country I had helped and I was interested, I waited a bit, and soon the President of Taiwan appeared at the official event.

– First of all, to our Taiwan…

I tuned out the flowery speech.

– I would like to express our deepest gratitude to Korea for helping Taiwan in its crisis.

– We will continue to build a friendly relationship with Korea…

– Doing our utmost for each other’s security and safety…

Expressions of thanks toward Korea could be heard.

Thinking that I had contributed to this made me feel proud, my shoulders rising slightly.

I was about to change the channel and get back to work when—

– Lastly, I sincerely thank Korean blacksmith ‘Vulcanus’ who produced equipment for Taiwan.

– As a token of appreciation, we have sent S-grade materials obtained from this Gate Burning, so please continue to…

“All right?”

The President of Taiwan openly mentioned my name.

I was taken aback, but shortly after, Nam Bora contacted me through the system call, and at the same time, high-grade materials sent from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appeared before my eyes so i had to cut the call.

[Tentacle of Giant Jellyfish]

[Fang of Tsunami Eater]

[Core of Sea Giant]

These were materials from the boss monsters I’d seen on NewTube earlier.

Naturally, because they were very high-level monsters, all were S-grade materials.

In fact, materials of this caliber were usually kept by the government to create rankers’ equipment, so I hadn’t expected to receive S-grade materials not stipulated in the contract so quickly.

More than that—

“This is pretty good.”

The giant jellyfish, the Megalodon-like shark, the sea giant made of water.

Along with other high-grade, though not S-grade, materials were also transmitted.

A good idea suddenly came to mind, so I contacted Nam Bora.

“Nam Bora, what level are our guild members now?”

– There’s a difference, but the average is around level 130.

– They gained a lot of levels during the Gate Burning.

– Some team leaders have even reached level 140.

“They’ve leveled up a lot. Then it’s about time to start upgrading their equipment?”

– The regular members are probably okay for now, but if the team leaders get upgrades, they could become even stronger.

“Good. Send me all the updated info on the team leaders’ levels and changes.”

– Okay, I’ll organize and send it right away.

Not long after, information on Vulcanus Guild’s team leaders was sent.

Already level 140?

The leveling speed was fast.

Well, during Gate Burning, they’d hunted monsters nonstop.

Though the Gate Burning put countries in danger, survivors greatly improved their capabilities.

Vulcanus Guild was one of them.

“Then…”

Because they’d leveled up a lot, a lot of info had changed.

New skills, strengthened abilities, and so on.

Most showed similar improvements, but some clearly needed equipment upgrades.

“Who should I start making equipment for first?”

Among them, I was considering whose equipment I should create with the S-grade materials I had just received.