Fwoosh-!
Giant wings. A dragon, which didn't exist on Earth, was flying through the skies.
It was Echidna, who immediately came flying after receiving KangWoo's call.
"When did you prepare something like this…?" Chae YeonJoo asked.
She was sitting on top of a chair at Echidna's back.
"I didn't want to suffer like last time," KangWoo answered.
He remembered back then when they'd gone to Pohang while riding Echidna.
He’d held into a scale so he wouldn't be blown away… he didn't want to experience that again.
"Are you maintaining the protective shield?" Chae YeonJoo said while touching the black wall that surrounded the chair.
KangWoo nodded.
"I got better compared back then."
To be more precise, he had more demonic energy.
After his demonic energy stat surpassed three digits, he could use the Authority of Projection to cover Echidna's body and block the wind.
'The demonic energy stone plays a bit part, too.'
After he’d made the demonic energy stone, he’d become able to use it more effectively.
He could more comfortably use Authorities that had required more concentration before.
Thanks to that, although Echidna was going at full speed, KangWoo's group was able to fly to Japan comfortably.
—Although they couldn't do anything about the shaking.
"Ugh! Uugh!!"
Goo HyunMoo was about to vomit, and you could see a tear dripping from his eyes.
"P-please. A bit slower…"
"Based on our current situation, please try to resist."
"Uugghh."
He agonized at Jang HyunJae's sharp answer. It was the worst possible condition for someone who suffered from nausea.
[KangWoo, are you going to fight again?] Echidna said in a worried voice tone.
[You cannot do that again.]
"Okay."
KangWoo nodded while smiling bitterly.
Unlocking the Ten Thousand Demon Core…
He didn't want to do something as reckless as that again.
'Although I'll do it if I need to do it.'
He also had a new strength in the form of the demonic energy stone.
He thought there was a chance he'd be able to solve the incident without using the Ten Thousand Demon Core.
"Uhmm… Mr. KangWoo."
He heard a careful voice. KangWoo turned his head around. Han Seol-ah was sitting among ranker-level players.
"Is… Is it okay for me to be here?"
She felt like a cat among a group of lions and was speaking in a worried tone.
"It's okay. You just have to maintain the buffs from behind."
"W-wouldn't it be better if either Mr. ShiHoon or Mr. TaeSoo came instead of me? I'm not sure I can be of help to Mr. KangWoo yet…"
"Today, at least, your help will be better."
KangWoo had chosen Han Seol-ah as the last member.
Just like she'd said, Kim ShiHoon would've been of bigger help if what they needed was more power.
But despite that, he'd chosen her; the reason was simple…
'The buff I received before…'
Her buff 'Graceful Light' had increased his unique stat.
Because her level had gone up quite a lot, the effect would probably be bigger.
It wasn't a buff that she could only apply it to him, so he was expecting it to increase other people's strength too.
'Now that I think about it, buff abilities are quite OP.'
A buff skill that increased your stat by an absolute number?
Considering how hard it was to increase your stat the higher your level became, it was a great effect.
The reason why players tried so hard to get legendary-rank items was mostly because of the stat increase.
[KangWoo, we arrived.]
KangWoo raised his head.
He could see a giant island, no, land.
Hokkaido was so big that it was weird to call it an island.
"…"
KangWoo remained silent after looking down at the island up from the skies.
“Tragic” was the first word that came to his mind.
Sapporo, which was where the SS-rank gate had appeared, was almost completely destroyed.
It was like looking at a scene that would likely appear in a post-apocalyptic movie.
'Is this how a city that couldn't contain the monster invasion looks?'
He heard there were also some cities like that in Korea…
But there wasn't anywhere as big as Hokkaido.
GRRR-!!
A monster came flying toward them from between the ruined building.
It was a dragon that was over 10 meters long.
Its skin was hard as stone, and its claws were so sharp that it could tear apart steel.
A drake…
It was the SS-rank normal monster that was the main culprit behind Hokkaido's destruction.
[KangWoo…]
"Let's dodge it for now. We don't have time to face that monster right now."
[Okay, understood.]
Echidna turned around.
"Over there."
Jang HyunJae pointed somewhere.
* * *
He could see a bunker that resembled one that appeared in a certain famous game near the sea.
It was the base they'd created to recover Sapporo, which had become a paradise of monsters.
Although they'd built a base, they hadn't seen results.
Echidna quickly returned to her human form after descending.
As KangWoo released the Authority of Projection, they appeared as if they'd suddenly descended from the skies.
"Who are you?!"
"F-from where…?"
The Japanese players that were protecting the base took their weapons out.
Jang HyunJae approached them.
He was talking to the players in fluent Japanese.
"Echidna, remember the translation magic you used before? Please use it on me."
"Okay."
After the magic was applied to him, he understood the conversation between Jang HyunJae and the Japanese players.
"I want to hear about the current situation."
"Prime Minister Yamada and Fujimoto Ryoma are in the middle of a reunion. I'll contact them immediately, so wait a moment, please."
Jang HyunJae nodded.
As the bunker's door opened, one older man and a good-looking young man walked out.
"Oh, to think that support would come so fast… Thank you, Captain Jang HyunJae."
"It's nothing. Our neighboring country is in a crisis, so this much is nothing. We must overcome it together."
"The people behind you…"
Prime Minister Yamada looked at the people behind HyunJae.
There were three familiar faces.
He knew the Red Rose Guild's leader, Chae YeonJoo, Hwarang Squad's Baek HwaYeon, and Goo HyunMo…
But he knew nothing about the other three.
"They are people that offered themselves to help us on this incident. I can guarantee their skills," Jang HyunJae said.
To be honest, he didn't know how strong KangWoo, Echidna, and Han Seol-ah were, but he couldn't say anything that would make him lose confidence.
"Hmm. Understood. I'll believe in captain Jang HyunJae's words."
It wasn't the time to be picky.
As Prime Minister Yamada finished talking, Fujimoto Ryoma took a step forward.
He bowed toward KangWoo and the rest of the group.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Fujimoto Ryoma."
He was tall and had a clean-looking face.
Although he wasn't as unreasonably handsome as Kim ShiHoon, he was still quite a good-looking young man.
Especially his eyes…
His left eye was blue, unlike his black right eye, which gave him a mysterious atmosphere.
He had heterochromia.
"First, thank you for offering yourselves to help in this situation. Since it's something that happened in another country, you could've perfectly ignored it, but seeing how you care as if it was something that happened in your own country—"
"Let's dispense with the formalities," KangWoo cut his words off.
Fujimoto Ryoma frowned for a short while.
"Rather than that, I'd like to hear about the current progression rate of the ceremony and its location."
"Hmm…"
Fujimoto Ryoma nodded while smiling again.
"Then I'll tell you about the current situation."
He guided KangWoo and the rest toward the bunker.
There was a map showing Sapporo's situation within the bunker.
"We think that the summoning ceremony is taking place here."
He pointed to the map with a long baton.
"Sapporo Station, the place where the SS-rank gate first opened. We believe they're making the preparations on the third floor of the station. There are many variant monsters that we think the Demon Cult has set free around here. There are also a few Demon Cult members guarding this area."
The explanation kept going on.
"We cannot go through this place with our current power, which is why we've asked for help."
"What's the plan?" Jang HyunJae asked.
Fujimoto Ryoma pointed to two places on the map.
"We're planning to use a feint strategy. First, we will try to grab the Demon Cult's attention with a fake attack; then, we're going to ambush them from behind. I'd like to ask you to ambush the players from behind. I'm sure these people don't have information about you, so the ambush will probably be successful."
"Hmm."
Jang HyuJae remained silent.
A feint strategy to grab attention from one side and ambush from behind…
It was a good strategy.
It was a plan that had been successful numerous times throughout history.
'That's the problem.'
That's right.
The problem was that the plan was too great. There was a huge chance that the Demon Cult had already thought about it and were prepared for something like that to happen.
It wasn't like the Demon Cult was guarding a big area like a castle.
They only had to guard where the summoning ceremony was taking place and Kurosaki Yurie.
"I think I know what you're thinking."
Fujimoto Ryoma smiled.
He pointed toward another part of the map.
"To be frank, there's another part of the plan. Taking advantage of the confusion, someone will infiltrate this place and save the Maiden of the Skies."
The third card…
It wasn't a bad plan if it worked. No, the feint plan by itself was already good.
The Demon Cult didn't know that Korean players were taking part in the plan, so it could perfectly catch them by surprise.
"I'll take this role since it requires an individual to move. I think I'm the most suited person for it."
A spirit worthy of a world ranker.
'No, it's hard to call it spirit.'
KangWoo narrowed his eyes. He could smell ambition coming out from Fujimoto Ryoma.
'Does he want to become a hero?'
He could already see the picture. It was something that seemed like something out of a TV drama.
Fujimoto Ryoma probably knew better than anyone.
'Well, it doesn't really matter.'
KangWoo didn't care if he wanted to become a hero or not.
The only thing that mattered was that the plan he proposed wasn't bad, and if it was successful, he'd be able to block Lilith's summoning.
"Then let's begin immediately."
KangWoo stood up.
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