Boom!
“What the hell kind of bullshit situation is this!”
Sato Ryuichi, who served as the director of Japan’s Tower Suppression Countermeasures Headquarters and the Admiti Special Affairs Headquarters, hurled his tablet onto the desk hard enough to shatter it and shouted, his face flushed crimson.
The bureau chiefs and department heads who had belatedly joined the emergency countermeasures meeting watched the mood and took their seats.
In place of Sato Ryuichi, who looked as if he might lose his mind from rage and confusion, Deputy Director Suzuki Kazuo looked around at those in attendance and gave the intelligence bureau chief a signal.
Standing at the presentation spot, the intelligence bureau chief began briefing them again on the report he had already submitted to Sato Ryuichi.
“On day 212 of the 92-floor tower raid, during the completion of the 80th floor, three Admiti lost their lives. These were the first fatalities among the eighteen members of the S-rank raid team.”
Everyone groaned at the news that their finest elites had died on the upper floors.
“That appears to have been the beginning. The discontent and resentment that had built up within the team over more than six months erupted, and four overseas raid-support Admiti, apparently skeptical about continuing the increasingly difficult tower raid, abandoned the team without authorization and exited the tower.”
“Hah... My God...”
“Insane... So then...”
“All those who deserted the raid team without authorization were overseas participants: Lucas Mendes of Portugal, Carlos Oliveira of Brazil, Reza Farhadi of Iran, and Li Wei of China. Those four. Afterward, the remaining original team members, now numbering only eleven, judged that they could not clear the remaining floors by themselves. In the end, they withdrew their camp from the 80th floor and all exited. The main force came out exactly one day after the four deserters had exited.”
“No, when the deserters were leaving, what was the main force doing...”
“Those four were apparently on night watch. It is known that they took advantage of the sleeping hours, subdued the main force, and exited. That is why the main force was so delayed in pursuing them.”
“When they exited, what were the operations headquarters and base camp outside the tower doing!?”
“The people guarding the camp were merely a support team made up of ordinary civilians. They were literally just a support team, and had no power to force anything against S-rank Admiti exiting the tower. In fact, everyone who had been guarding the tower entrance at the camp at the time was killed. It is presumed they did so to prevent word of their unauthorized desertion from spreading quickly. Since only their bodies were found at the scene, we were still trying to identify the perpetrators and determine the circumstances of the incident, but when the main force exited the following day, the entire situation was finally confirmed.”
“Then those four—have they left the country?”
“That has not yet been confirmed. The current opinion of the tracking team is that since they violated their raid participation contracts and deserted the battlefield without authorization, they likely would not have brazenly left the country by ordinary routes.”
Three deaths, and the irresponsible desertion of four people.
With that, the raid team was already as good as finished.
The conference room stirred at the bleak situation.
In truth, the real problem lay elsewhere.
Recovering the bodies and quickly arresting the four who had committed murder and deserted was not the highest priority.
The tower raid had been halted. And a tower of no less than 92 floors was about to face a Tower Break with its top twelve floors still uncleared. That was the real threat, the true disaster.
Pressing hard at the space between his brows as if a headache were surging in, Director Sato Ryuichi finally entered the meeting properly, took the microphone, and asked,
“When do we predict the Tower Break will occur?”
“Since the raid has been halted... it is expected to occur within four to seven days.”
“Then that means all the monsters from the 81st floor to the 92nd floor will come out...”
“Yes. We expect all of them to be at least A-rank or higher, and in the worst case, there may be multiple S-rank monsters.”
“The scale of damage...?”
“We have no information whatsoever on what type of monsters will emerge, so we cannot estimate it. If they are large monsters, the individual survival rate of the response team may rise, but the destruction of the city will become severe. If they are small monsters, the damage to the city may be less, but it is expected that the Admiti on the response team will die in far greater numbers.”
The conference room buzzed again, sinking into gloom amid the sighs of those letting out long breaths.
But in this kind of situation, what the command center had to do was ultimately already decided.
“Greatly expand the blockade network around sealed-off Minato Mirai, evacuate all citizens of Yokohama, and lock down the entire city. Then gather every Admiti in the country that we can and form a response team. Contact the Self-Defense Forces as well, centered around armored units.”
“Sir, about overseas...”
“...Damn it... Fine. Request support from other countries as well regarding the Tower Break response...”
This entire mess had been caused by Admiti who had come from overseas to support the raid, and yet their own country’s strength alone would not be enough to contain the problem, so they had no choice but to receive support from overseas Admiti.
In utter misery, Sato Ryuichi bit down on his lip.
But this was not the time to put pride first, nor was he in any position to be picky.
S-rank monsters that would have formed between the 81st and 92nd floors.
If this were a normal tower raid, S-rank Admiti would have used 100% of their strength and cleared the monsters floor by floor in order.
But in a Tower Break situation, not only would all Admiti be able to exert only 10 to 15% of their power, the monsters from every floor would pour out almost all at once. It was a disaster itself.
Sato Ryuichi squeezed his eyes shut at the horrifying outcome that made him shudder just thinking about it, and murmured,
“Strategic nukes... We need to keep nuclear strikes in mind too...”
“N-nukes!?”
“Director, that’s far too reckless!”
“There’s a high chance the city will be the only thing destroyed, without dealing effective damage to the monsters!”
“If we drop a nuke, the Tower Break response team struggling to maintain the line will be annihilated too!”
Every bureau chief and team leader present objected to the nuclear strike.
But Sato Ryuichi’s gaze was cold, as if he had already made up his mind.
“Reckless...? If we can save the entire country at the cost of hundreds, thousands of members of the Tower Break response team and a single city, that’s cheap...”
Because Sato Ryuichi believed that if they failed to effectively stop the monsters from spilling out at the first defensive line of the Tower Break, they might even have to consider the fall of all Japan.
* * *
“So what do you all think?”
Suho asked after gathering every clan member of Ultimate Line.
The matter was their reply to the Japanese government’s request.
Haruto Takeda, the S-rank buffer who had now naturalized as a Korean citizen but was originally Japanese, kept his head bowed deeply, watching everyone’s reactions.
Danbi, who always burned with a sense of justice, was the first to speak.
“Let’s go. I think we should go.”
“But unni, did they help us when we were in trouble?”
Park Seoyeon rebutted Danbi’s words, but Danbi spoke calmly.
“That’s true. In fact... Korea never received proper support when it was in crisis either. But when facing the threat of death, it’s normal that proper external support doesn’t come. I think being reluctant to risk your life to help others is honestly a natural reaction. So there’s no need to resent them for that. It’s just that now, we have power. I thought we might be able to lend them our strength, as long as it isn’t too unreasonable.”
“I agree.”
“I’m in favor too.”
“Well, honestly, after forming what is by name and reality the strongest clan in the world, it’d be a little embarrassing to just sit around.”
“Right. Even clans with two or three S-ranks are rare worldwide.”
“Forty. A whole forty.”
“Wouldn’t this be the best practical training there is?”
“We can confirm the results of our training so far too. Two birds with one stone.”
As opinions in favor of participating poured out one after another, the overall mood shifted sharply.
Haruto Takeda, who had not said a word but had been worrying more than anyone, had tears welling in his eyes at this atmosphere.
Suho smiled gently and said to everyone,
“Thank you for actively coming together on this. Then I’ll reply to Japan immediately. That Ultimate Line will participate.”
“Good. We’ll finally live up to our clan name for the first time.”
Live up to the name. It was true.
After all, from the moment they had decided on the clan name Ultimate Line, they had had “humanity’s final defensive line” in mind.
Suho added with a promise.
“Japan will probably provide various rewards to the participating Admiti, but I’ll also make sure to obtain what’s needed.”
At those words, several clan members waved their hands.
“Oh, Clan Master, we don’t need anything more. What else would you even give us?”
“We’re already doing nothing and eating up astronomical salaries.”
“That’s right. We’re really fine.”
Perhaps it was the leisure of those who had plenty.
These were people who had more than enough to begin with, and on top of that, they were enjoying Suho’s abundantly generous support, so there was no area in which they felt lacking.
A meeting that could easily have led to sharp conflict ended warmly without any sensitive disputes.
What remained now was Suho’s effort.
Suho had no intention whatsoever of letting the clan members he had worked so hard to gather get injured in a tower battle in another country.
That was also why he had specially prepared the super-enhanced androids.
But if it was a Tower Break rather than a tower raid, the twenty units he had made so far were far too few.
With a faint sense of responsibility, he steeled himself and shut himself inside his subspace warehouse for dozens of days.
During that short yet long span of time, barely any of which flowed outside, he was able to make additional parts equivalent to about ten more units.
“Ooh, when did you make this many parts again! You should have brought them to me sooner.”
When he handed over the parts, Dr. Choi welcomed them enthusiastically.
Even though they had a production line capable of producing as many enhanced androids as they wanted, they had been unable to complete them due to the lack of parts made from Suho’s transcendent materials, so he was all the more delighted.
“It’s enough for about ten units. How long will it take to complete ten additional units?”
“Since only the assembly process is effectively left, one or two days should be enough.”
“Ah, then please do that.”
After entrusting Dr. Choi with the production of ten super-enhanced androids, the place Suho contacted next was Japan’s Admiti Special Affairs Headquarters.
The video call screen perfectly translated their conversation for each side.
The one who received Suho’s call with considerable tension was Suzuki Kazuo, deputy director of the Countermeasures Headquarters and Special Affairs Headquarters.
He had already heard from multiple countries and clans that they would have difficulty participating, and his shoulders had sunk heavily.
“Good day, Admiti Jung Suho. First, thank you for contacting us.”
The sight of him lowering his head was pitifully deferential.
“About the request you sent... I discussed it a bit with the members of our clan, Ultimate Line...”
“Ah...”
When Suho paused for a moment, Kazuo took it as a negative sign on his own and hurriedly began speaking.
“If Ultimate Line participates in Japan’s Tower Break response, it will be as though we have gained an army of a thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses. Ultimate Line joining us holds more meaning than ten or twenty other clans participating, and we expect that we will be able to stop the Tower Break with minimal damage. To every participating S-rank Admiti, we will supply everything necessary to the best of our ability, provide every convenience, and accommodate any requests.”
At Kazuo’s rapid-fire words, Suho gave a small laugh.
What could Japan even give him? Even if they emptied Japan’s national treasury to do something for him, it would all be trivial to Suho.
It was not as though they could give him S-rank aetherium or top-grade potions. In the end, all Japan could give was cash, and he already had more than enough money.
Since there was nothing he expected much from and nothing he particularly needed, Suho was about to say, “Thank you for taking care of us. But please don’t overdo it,” when something flashed through his mind.
Because of that, Suho instead asked back with a trembling heart and a tense voice,
“You can accommodate any request?”
“Of course. Yes, if it is something the Japanese government can do, anything...!”
“If that’s the case, please give me one international authorization. It shouldn’t cost much money, and you don’t really have to do anything in particular, so I think it should be easy...”
At the completely unexpected proposal, Suzuki Kazuo, who had been so eager that it seemed he would even hand over the national budget, grew quieter.
“Wh-what is it that you want?”
“An island. An artificial island. I once made a request through our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but I’m thinking of building an artificial island in the East Sea. It would be nice if Japan agreed to it... I don’t really want anything else. Please look into that first.”
“Ah, ah, understood! If it’s something like that, it will absolutely be possible! No, I will make sure it becomes possible. I will take immediate action so that you can hear a positive answer as soon as possible!”
After ending the video call, the corners of Suho’s mouth rose high.
It seemed that this time, things would go smoothly.