Chapter 693: London, 24 Hours (1)
[Tally complete!]
We left the destroyed world and returned to the empty space. Seong Hyunjae was beside me as well.
[Calculating results~.]
If the world where Seong Hyunjae stayed wasn’t swallowed by the Source, Crescent Moon would hatch the Transcendent’s seed and have it devour that world. It wasn’t like Crescent Moon could just hatch the seed whenever they wanted. If they could, they would’ve destroyed the world instead of killing Song Taewon.
‘Maybe it was set for when enough time had passed for Seong Hyunjae to have a new experience, or for the moment the world blocked the Source. The seed might need time to prepare for hatching, too.’
So normally they would’ve just watched and waited, but this time there was Song Taewon and the anomaly called Eclipse. Someone who could kill Seong Hyunjae.
[Calculating…]
‘So they rushed in and tried to take care of Chief Song, but the Plunder ended up getting handed over to Seong Hyunjae. Then I regressed.’
Right now Crescent Moon’s top priority would be eliminating Song Taewon or retrieving Seong Hyunjae. As long as Eclipse disappeared, they could leave Seong Hyunjae alone. This world was going to be destroyed anyway.
‘But I can’t let Chief Song get hurt, and I can’t hand over Seong Hyunjae either.’
Though there’d be plenty of people who’d vote for the latter.
Anyway, even if Crescent Moon backed off right now, the seed of destruction would still be here.
[Error detected! Please wait a moment!]
‘The seed. I can at least rule out people who faced Crescent Moon directly.’
If it was a seed Crescent Moon had planted, then when it came face to face with its master, it would’ve shown some kind of reaction. Or Crescent Moon would’ve tried to make use of it somehow. Even I, when Crescent Moon briefly lodged in me, had been able to break in like at the wedding. Crescent Moon’s contact points were the Chinese dungeon and Seong Hyunjae’s wedding hall. The ones who’d been quiet at the wedding, at least, should be safe.
‘First off, it’s not Yuhyun. If they could lay a hand on him, they’d use him as a hostage to threaten me.’
By the same logic, it probably wasn’t Yerim either. At Seong Hyunjae’s wedding, Crescent Moon had only said they’d grant me whatever I wanted. If Yuhyun or Yerim had already been in Crescent Moon’s clutches, they would’ve put them up as the price. Recovering Seong Hyunjae was the most important, urgent task.
‘Marisa Moore. Born S-class and working with Crescent Moon, so right now she’s the most likely candidate for the seed. The way she avoided showing up at the wedding directly is suspicious, too. But Marisa also tried to protect the world.’
Other than that, there was one born S-class who could plausibly go, As long as my little brother’s fine, the world can burn, it’ll just be a bit of a hassle~. But come on, would it really be Liette?
[Clearing error…]
‘Or maybe it’s the last born S-class. Rookie said they didn’t have any info on the remaining one.’
Maybe they’d deliberately been made to awaken slowly. It’d be annoying if another Transcendent noticed them. Or it wasn’t a born S-class at all, but an awakened Hunter. Like, out of nowhere, Do Hamin or something. If that guy devoured a world, would he become a hamster Transcendent?
I still had no idea how to even tell them apart, but if I did track down the seed, then what?
‘Should I tell Rookie and ask for help?’
That would definitely be breaking the system’s rules, going against the Unfilial Children’s goals. But I couldn’t trust the other Unfilial Children. They’d already allowed their own worlds to be devoured and new Transcendents to be born. They’d decided it was more profitable to gain one more Transcendent than preserve a single world.
Crescent Moon planted a seed and made a new Transcendent? Nice job, that’s efficient. That might be the kind of answer I’d hear.
The board itself was the problem. As long as I stayed on their board, there was no answer. Not that getting off it would magically produce a solution, but still.
‘…It’s not like I haven’t taken down a Transcendent or two. If they’re in an immature state before they swallow a world, maybe I could somehow–’
[Results!]
The message flashed big and bright. Ah, uh.
[Seong Hyunjae wins!]
“What? No, why!”
Hold on, don’t tell me you really counted all of Seong Hyunjae’s past achievements too! How is that fair, that’s cheating!
“Seong Hyunjae ended up on a wanted list! At best he was a restaurant owner!”
“Achievements from that world get tallied automatically, Yujin.”
Myungwoo appeared. His expression a little troubled, he lowered his voice.
“We thoroughly blocked Transcendents from interfering, so what happened last time wouldn’t repeat. Because of that, you can’t check the detailed game info directly. It can only be calculated from system records.”
…I appreciated them blocking Transcendent interference, but I hadn’t thought of this side effect.
“So just your word, Yujin, isn’t enough evidence. There definitely were errors, and we cut out a large chunk. Rookie and I removed and sorted out as much as we could, but even so, the result was clear.”
Well, yeah, of course. Seong Hyunjae had unified worlds and become an emperor and all. It was like comparing 1 to 1,000 – even if you shaved off 900, it was still a hundredfold difference. Seong Hyunjae, who’d been just listening, walked over to us.
“In that situation, even if I spoke up for you, it would be pointless. It would just add to the suspicion.”
He was right. They’d insist everything be tallied purely by results. If it were me, I’d have pushed back, asking if they’d lost their minds.
“Damn it.”
“Yujin!”
Myungwoo grabbed my arm.
“Open your hand!”
“And relax your jaw.”
Seong Hyunjae chimed in. Right, calm down. I’d done my best. It wasn’t my fault. But I still felt like crap. When this bet started, I’d steeled myself to lose at least once. Maybe more than that. My opponent was freaking Seong Hyunjae, and even the Unfilial Mermaid Queen wasn’t on my side. Even with my heart steeled like that, when it actually hit, it felt like a huge rock had been dropped onto my chest. It was past just choking my breath, like something was squeezing my throat–
“Here, eat.”
Myungwoo brought a piece of hard candy up to my mouth. His eyes said he’d force it in if I refused, so I obediently opened my mouth.
“Ugh!”
“W–what the hell! It’s so sweet!”
A cloying sweetness that felt like it could melt my tongue filled my mouth in an instant. The sugary scent rising up after it went in left my head spinning. It was like I’d crammed my mouth full of rich chocolate and then fallen in headfirst, flailing all the way to the tips of my hair.
“Th–this is really…”
The moment I tried to move my tongue to talk, the candy rolled around, scattering its insane sweetness. The coating I thought was hard melted away with a sizzle, and a soft strawberry flavor overflowed.
“The taste keeps changing. What the hell did you make, Myungwoo!”
The thought that I needed to spit it out right now and the thought of but it’s tasty though kept clashing. And everything that wasn’t the candy was wiped clean from my head.
“Nnnn…”
“You okay?”
So even Poison Resistance and Grace had a weakness like this. They couldn’t block something that tortured my taste buds without any toxicity. Seong Hyunjae grabbed me as I staggered.
“Isn’t this basically a mild toxin?”
“…Myungwoo.”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s give one to Seong Hyunjae too.”
I was curious about his reaction. Myungwoo handed me a few wrapped candies and said,
“I boosted the sweetness with mana, so it doesn’t hit high–rank Hunters as hard. So the sugar content isn’t that high for the taste, but the stimulus is strong, so don’t eat them too often.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have given me one in the first place.”
“It’s good for stress relief.”
It felt more like it scrubbed my entire brain blank along with the stress, though. Still, it did let me catch my breath.
“…Man, my life.”
There was a time I thought being left alone with just my little brother was the biggest hardship of my life. Turns out the easiest time was actually after I dropped out of school and just worked. Life, seriously. I glanced over at Seong Hyunjae standing next to me.
“Once everything’s over, I’ll buy you a drink.”
If the day comes when I can safely get properly drunk. By then, maybe they’ll have made even stronger alcohol for high–rank Hunters. No answer came back. He just smiled silently.
“Myungwoo, I’m counting on you.”
“I’ll pass it on right away, so don’t worry.”
Myungwoo’s figure vanished. Not long after, the Mermaid Queen and the King of Predation appeared. The Mermaid Queen looked at us with a gaze that was calm to the point of cold.
“The winner of this game is Chain. Accordingly, we will choose one country from Honey’s world.”
I could feel my temper quietly starting to rise again. I rolled the sweetness on my tongue and opened my mouth.
“How exactly is it taken away? And the people living there?”
“In a manner similar to the Source. Monsters will appear and turn the land into dungeons.”
I thought of the wastelands I’d heard about in the Tower’s world.
“So how much time do they get to evacuate–”
“It begins the moment the location is decided.”
The snake said.
“What kind of bullshit is that.”
I stepped forward. The King of Predation’s eyes met mine. My Fear Resistance skill flashed.
“What was staked in the bet was land, not people.”
“It was a piece of your world. A part of the world that includes all of that.”
…Obviously a world isn’t made up of just land. The snake’s eyes narrowed as if swallowing me.
“They will be able to flee. They will also be able to stand and fight.”
“…They can fight it?”
“Dungeonization begins in the most heavily populated area. If all the monsters are stopped, the dungeonization will spread no further. You can end it having lost only part of the country.”
I looked up at the King of Predation. That sounded way too generous.
“Can I trust that? You’re saying you’ll give us another chance even though I lost? With no price attached?”
“S-class. And SSS-class.”
From S-class up to SSS-class. No matter how I crunched it, those were ranks our world’s Hunters couldn’t handle. Just an SS-class showing up put us on the brink, and now SSS-class?
“…How many SSS-class are we talking.”
“One. One is sufficient, and it’s not yet possible to interfere beyond that.”
The King of Predation let out a low laugh. The tip of a long, ornately decorated claw pointed at me.
“Will you go?”
“If I can. But I still can’t trust you.”
With a dry rasp of scales, he spoke.
“Because I will hold back.”
“Ah, yes.”
The snake’s fangs showed. The tip of its long tail jingled like a bell, sounding amused.
“You have three more to go. Spending a small price to wear you down is a fine plan.”
He was right. He could burn through skills with cooldowns, inflict injuries, even cause irreparable losses to my team. Sacrificing one for the sake of the three remaining chances was definitely a solid strategy.
“That is the surface–level reason. And what I desire is this.”
Bang!
The jewel–bright red tail slammed hard into the ground. Black and gold pupils narrowed sharply.
“Fight. Fight to survive.”
The King of Predation bent down toward me.
“Scatter blood for life. Show all of it to me. The dance of the strongest is exquisitely beautiful. But the thrashing of the weakest is equally beautiful.”
A smile full of delight spread across his face. The long serpentine body slithered, curling around me.
“In my name, I will grant you one day of time. Little one, you and your team may return for twenty–four hours by your world’s time. Whether you leave to fight or remain here is entirely your choice.”
“The look in your eyes says you’ll eat me if I say I’m staying.”
The snake let out a low, hissing chuckle. The tip of a claw brushed the nape of my neck.
“Deaths in Honey’s world will not be protected.”
The Mermaid Queen’s voice washed over me like cold water. The King of Predation bared his fangs, mood soured.
“I agreed to the King of Predation’s proposal. However, considering the remaining games, you should stay and rest.”
“You’re being so very considerate. How touching.”
“The King of Predation will be watching, but information on the skills Honey’s team uses will be blocked.”
“Thaaanks.”
“We will now choose the fragment of the world.”
Shortly after the Mermaid Queen spoke, a message window popped up.
[United Kingdom]
London. The sky right after the rain was murky. Shallow puddles had gathered under winter weather that wasn’t all that cold. Beyond the Thames, Big Ben’s huge hands were crawling toward the end of the morning. That enormous clock had stopped ringing long ago. When London’s first dungeon break happened, monsters that heard the chimes had broken through the cordon and swarmed toward the sound. But with dungeon management having stabilized a lot in recent years, more and more people had been suggesting they start the chimes again.
“Huh?”
For a moment, the sky above the clock – above Elizabeth Tower – rippled. A small handful of pedestrians noticed and stopped in their tracks. Right after that–
Beeeep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
People’s phones started ringing all at once. Dungeon alert. The last time one of London’s thoroughly managed dungeons had broken was six months ago. People were startled, but not panicking yet as they checked their phones. If it wasn’t a high–rank dungeon, the Hunters would take care of it quickly. So as long as they avoided the danger zones and waited a bit–
“…London?!”
[Evacuation area
All of London]
“All of London?!”
“Wh–where the hell did the dungeon even break?”
“This is insane, where are we supposed to go!”
A broadcast came on right after. Every speaker that could make sound was suddenly filled with the emergency announcement.
[Dungeon break alert. Evacuate London immediately. Dungeon break alert. Evacuate London immediately.]
Telling people to leave immediately didn’t change that London was a massive city, easily over a thousand square kilometers in area. It was more than twice the size of Seoul. People began to flail, not knowing what to do. Telling them to get out of London, sure, but which direction were they supposed to run? Shouts rang out as people made calls left and right, trying to find their families.
“What about the hospitals! What happens to the hospitals!”
“I’m coming right now, don’t pack, just get outside!”
As confusion spread fast, a long shaft of light traced itself across the sky. A straight beam of light, more than ten meters long, stabbed downward. It slowly split open, forming a passage. All eyes turned to the massive passage. With one last flash, blinding light spread out–
“The Goblin King has arrived!”
With a flutter of white robes, Yun Yun stepped out of the long–distance gate, the Goblin Gate. She wasn’t alone.
“Hello! British Mister Kims!”
“Idiot, it’s bonjour!”
“That’s French! Hello! Hi! Naice to meet chu!”
Goblins poured out one after another. They danced and shouted in high spirits.
“Look at me, hey look at me, look at meee~.”
“In the deep and wide waters of the Han River~.”
“Thames! Thames River!”
A huge flag flapped. It was the kind of banner you’d see in a traditional Korean percussion parade, with “Goblin King” written on it in big letters. Colorful flags and cloth streamed everywhere, and the sounds of small gongs and large gongs rang out. At the tail end of nearly a hundred goblins, a boy with pink wings appeared.
“Spread out! Evenly!”
“Got it, tiny Mister Kim from Boss Mister Kim’s crew!”
Yun Yun did a big flip in the air. Then she swung her drumstick with gusto.
“My underlings, go! Make the roads!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Hey, you’re supposed to go that way!”
“Spread out, spread out! Nice and wide!”
“Hospitals! Hospitals first!”
“Don’t forget the nursing homes and orphanages!”
The goblins shot across London’s sky. They landed across the city and used their own teleportation skills. Normally, those skills could barely take a single human along. But here, there was–
[Goblin Gate (SS)]
Their king’s skill was spread wide open. The goblins’ teleportations linked to their king’s gate, each one creating a small passage that two or three people could pass through at once. Countless pillars of light shot up around the largest beam.
[If you cannot move quickly, please evacuate through the nearest portal!]
The broadcast message changed. Nearly a hundred escape routes opened. People who’d been thrown into chaos calmed down a little, but still hurried as they started searching for the gates.
–TL Notes–
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