With a savage sound, dazzling sparks flew.
Bzzzt—! Crackle!
At the same time, countless chunks of reinforced concrete slowly rose into the air.
The sight of those massive blocks—so heavy that no individual strength could so much as budge them—moving all at once in defiance of gravity was more than enough to make those watching from nearby feel a suffocating pressure.
Thud! Boom!
As the people at the scene stared blankly, the huge, heavy debris began to stack itself neatly in one corner.
The majestic spectacle came to an end when the final piece of reinforced concrete gently settled atop the pile of rubble, leaving everything cleanly arranged.
“Whew. Where’s next?”
The one who had displayed such overwhelming might, Yun Jiyun, branch manager of the Returnee Association, spoke indifferently while doing her best to ignore the awed gazes directed at her.
The current situation was an unprecedented national crisis of enormous scale.
She had no leisure to divert her attention elsewhere.
—That was the last location. Thank you for your hard work, Branch Manager.
“...Really? There’s nowhere else urgent?”
—No. Not everything has been cleared up yet, but there are no places so urgent that they require your immediate assistance, Branch Manager.
Only then did the tension that had kept her nerves taut begin to melt away at the voice of her secretary transmitted through her bone-conduction headphones.
The moment she’d received news of the terror attacks, she had literally raced across the city like lightning, darting in every direction without pause for hours.
At last, in the midst of such a large-scale disaster, she could catch her breath.
“Whew.”
As she loosened her body with some light stretching, a sigh slipped from her lips on its own.
There hadn’t been any clear warning signs. What on earth was this sudden chaos?
‘A terrorist attack on this scale... This isn’t something that could be prepared in just a year or two.’
And once she had a moment to spare, all sorts of thoughts she hadn’t had time to consider properly began passing through her mind one after another.
The identity and intentions of those who had done this, the aftermath of the incident and ways to handle it.
Every last one of them was clearly going to be a headache.
“Ah, I feel like my head’s starting to hurt already.”
Yun Jiyun forced her thoughts in another direction.
After all, she would have no choice but to wrestle with those issues for quite some time.
Worrying over them alone like this would only be inefficient.
‘The vampires of the Blood Alliance were a great help this time, too. If it weren’t for their assistance, the damage would have been even worse because of the villains who took advantage of the temporary gap in public security.’
Needless to say, their leader, Heinz, had also played an outstanding role.
Not only had he assisted with relief efforts, he had even controlled the various underground organizations.
As expected, choosing not to antagonize them and instead establishing a cooperative relationship had been absolutely the right decision.
‘Come to think of it, there were quite a few others who seemed fairly useful as well.’
What next came to her mind were several Awakened who had made their presence known by performing in various ways amid the chaos.
Some of them were people she already knew, but there were also quite a few she was seeing for the very first time.
‘Are those bastards at the Ability Management Bureau really investigating transmitters properly?’
To think there were so many talented people in the field whose very existence she hadn’t even known about!
She had been too busy moving frantically in the middle of the crisis to contact them separately, but they could not deceive her senses, which covered several kilometers in every direction through faint electric currents.
‘Just where were people like that hiding all this time? If they all joined the Association while we’re at it, work would become a lot easier. Especially...’
Among them, there were a few who bothered her in particular.
One was a spirit master, famously rare among Earthlings, and the other was an unidentified oddity who had flown through the sky wearing a strange metal suit.
‘And the spirit master was someone even I couldn’t easily see through. Seriously, how many times has this happened now?’
Another unidentified, unregistered Transcendent had popped up in Korea.
At this point, she couldn’t even tell whether she should be pleased or worried.
“...Then we’ll inform the press accordingly.”
“Let us move on to the next item. First, the approximate damage figures confirmed so far are...”
However, separate from her concerns, the government had already decided on its stance regarding them.
They needed to quickly lift the gloomy atmosphere that had blanketed the entire country after the sudden disaster and, if only for a moment, turn the public’s eyes away from the uncomfortable reality.
The heroes of Korea who rose up in the face of crisis—
That was the frame they chose to present.
After all, when it came to inspiring patriotism and making the public cheer in difficult times, there was no better method than creating heroes.
—Wow, is that really the same species as us?
—Thank you so much! ㅠㅠ Thanks to you, my father made it out safely!
—I want that suit..! I want one! Where do they sell that? It looks like a magic tool. Doesn’t Howard Industries sell it?
And that method proved far more effective than expected.
***
The sudden Seoul terror attacks left a deep wound on Korean society.
Astronomical property damage, massive casualties, and the trauma that followed.
Although the government, the Association, Pantheon, and various other organizations had acted swiftly, the number of victims had yet to even be tallied, and the relevant agencies’ work had nearly been paralyzed.
They could only be grateful that, thanks to everyone’s efforts, the situation had entered the recovery phase within a few hours and had not reached the point of martial law.
Naturally, all attention across the country, as well as eyes from overseas, turned toward Seoul, which had suffered through the ordeal.
To obtain more detailed information about the terrorist incident.
And according to the government’s intent, a particular tone began to slip little by little into the media’s coverage of it.
A martial artist who wrapped his entire body in qi and entered a burning building to rescue children.
A mage who extinguished fires inside a building with torrents of water pouring down like a waterfall.
A psychic who used telekinesis to swiftly move citizens to safety.
A priest who protected survivors with a barrier just before they were engulfed in a chain of explosions.
The reports focused more on the feats of the heroes who responded to the terror than on the damage caused by it.
Naturally, public attention gathered on those mentioned in the media, and among them, those who had performed especially conspicuous feats were bound to receive even greater interest.
—But that really is amazing. The fire that was blazing like that vanished in an instant, and even all the black smoke disappeared.
—I think it’s even crazier how the ground moved on its own and people trapped under the rubble just popped up one after another lol Look at them freezing in confusion when they’d been struggling to rescue them and the situation suddenly ended lol
—More than stuff like that, I found it more touching when people who didn’t even have amazing abilities kept struggling to save others while getting injured themselves. I teared up without even realizing it.
—No, but seriously, does anyone know what that power suit is? It shoots beam cannons from its hands! And with barely any delay, it can vaporize a wall in one shot! What the hell is that thing?
Many heroes were born amid the chaos.
Not only did photos and videos spread across the internet, quick-footed reporters also managed to secure interviews with survivors who had been at the scenes and broadcast them on the news.
—How did you feel at the time?
—I was terrified. Things kept collapsing below us, and because of the pitch-black smoke, I couldn’t see out the window properly. Of all things, the door to the roof was locked too, so I thought I was going to die like that...
—And that was when the person in the suit appeared and saved you.
—Yes, that’s right! He suddenly appeared after smashing through the wall with a bang, and when he swept his hand out toward us, something like black threads wrapped around me and the others trapped there—
In that sense, the mysterious hero armed in a full-body metal suit, as if he had stepped straight out of a movie, was an extremely good subject.
His appearance, which stirred people’s romantic imagination, naturally drew attention, and his accomplishments had also been outstanding enough to count among the very best. Was it any wonder the public reaction was so fervent?
—Someone posted an estimated spec sheet for the IrXn Man who appeared in Seoul.
—Supersonic flight, zero-to-hundred in less than two decimal places, an energy field covering his whole body, rapid-fire beam cannons with no delay, laser blades on the backs of his hands that cut steel like paper, and an energy wire from his right hand that stretches without limit lol
—He even supported a tilted building with one hand while flying. And if you look at how he moves, there isn’t a single wasted movement. It’s like he pre-entered where to go and what to do into a computer.
—But considering how it looks and when it appeared... Could it have been made by that place?
And that heat flowed directly toward the mysterious company established not long ago, Howard Industries.
A newly founded company boasting overwhelming technology in custom-made top-grade magic tools, and a superhero of a similar nature who appeared after they opened for business.
At a glance, wasn’t that a combination that seemed somehow connected?
—Then can we commission them to make that?
—They say they take payment in elixirs. Ordinary elixirs probably wouldn’t even come close, right?
—What if that’s actually a combination of top-grade magic tools, with the arms, legs, and head all separate? Damn, if that’s true, how much would it cost?
As a result, some among them came close to the truth.
Of course, with an ancient dragon’s Dragon Heart installed whole as the central power source of Titan’s core, and with the aid of the artificial intelligence-equipped 「Machine Eye: Callicas」 being essential for proper operation, it would be impossible to sell a product with identical specifications.
The full Titan set, effectively no different from a super-small human-shaped space battleship, was a piece of equipment that could be called a special-grade magic tool without exaggeration.
‘Well, in any case, thanks to this, we got worldwide publicity once again, so it’s a good thing.’
It might not be a bad idea to officially make Titan the mascot of Howard Industries while he was at it.
It would be no small help in easing the hesitation of those who had still looked at them suspiciously even after Mjölnir had been presented at the showcase.
‘Of course, since something like this happened, I should refrain from expanding the business for the time being. We have accumulated wealth, so I can take care of our image with a generous donation... and it would be good to offer a certain percentage of potions for disaster relief as well.’
In truth, money no longer held much meaning for him at this point.
The wealth he had gathered from two other worlds alone had already reached a level where its value was difficult to measure.
In particular, the gold, silver, and treasures held by Hans the Immortal King and Horus, who had inherited the 「Golden Treasury」, were literally like mountains.
‘It wouldn’t be bad to give separately in the name of the Blood Alliance, either. It’s a good opportunity to change their poor image.’
The fact that the vampires, who had been operating in the shadows until now, had contributed significantly to resolving this incident was gradually becoming known through word of mouth.
There would be no better opportunity than this to change perceptions of those branded as fiends.
Of course, even after doing so, most people would still keep their distance from them and avoid them, but the fact that they had taken one step closer than before was valuable enough in itself.
‘Good. Then that side can be handled that way... and what remains is just dealing with this?’
Beep-beep— Bip—
Beeeeep—
A space filled with loud mechanical sounds.
At the center of it stood Hesperon alone, equipped with the full Titan set.
The ends of bundles of wires launched from his shoulder section were connected to the terminals of the machines.
‘As expected, these don’t seem to be ordinary items. It’s taking longer than I thought.’
This was the Beoncheon Society’s hideout located beneath the Demilitarized Zone.
A place where many traces of those who had failed to withdraw remained.
He had used 「Hero’s Footsteps」 to enter directly, intending to dig out additional clues from the devices they had used.
Of course, the main body, which had used 「Individual Projection」 with Hans, had already swept through all their memories and returned home.
Based on that information, Heinz II and the Blood Alliance, who firmly held Korea’s back alleys in their grip, were more than enough to clean up the remaining remnants.
Beeeep—
How long had passed like that, with time slipping helplessly by?
At last, on his right eye, where complex symbols had been flashing past without pause, the phrase he had been waiting for appeared.
Normally, no matter how high-spec an artificial intelligence was installed, it would not have been possible to hack just any device like this.
Especially if they were items influenced by a different mechanical civilization, like these.
After all, the fundamental purpose behind the creation of 「Machine Eye: Callicas」 was not a complex task like hacking, but merely to serve as a “prosthetic eye” replacing an eye.
However, Howard’s modifications through 「Technological Revolution」 and enhancements through 「Artisan’s Soul」 had broken through those existing limits.
And Hesperon’s 「Chains of Covenant」 had allowed it to function not as a mere mechanical device, but clearly as part of his own body.
In other words, 「Machine Eye: Callicas」 was not an object separate from Hesperon—it was a part of his body that developed alongside him, and one of his skills.
One that also received both the avatar’s growth correction and the effects of 『Elixir of Growth』.
‘And with hardware on the level of a space battleship called Titan added on top of that, something like this becomes possible.’
These devices were probably items specially issued for a secret mission.
Of course, information recorded by mere underlings like these was unlikely to amount to much...
But since memory extraction was not one hundred percent perfect, there was no harm in using it as reference.
“...Oh? This is...”
Just like now, he might discover an unexpected gain.
Hesperon’s eyes gleamed as he examined the information displayed in his right eye.
What he had found in their database.
It was a clue regarding another core base of the Beoncheon Society—their Southeast Asia branch.