Thududududu───
Kwarurururur───
Wheeeeeeee─
The Minato Mirai district of Yokohama City was filled to the brim with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force-centered armored unit—that is, the mechanized infantry battalion and self-propelled artillery battalion of the 7th Armored Division, the 12th Division, and the Air Self-Defense Force providing support with Apache and Cobra helicopters.
With hundreds of artillery pieces deployed and hundreds of tanks taking position, their thunderous roars made the entire city seem to tremble.
The rows of tanks, self-propelled artillery, armored vehicles, and attack helicopters were an overwhelming force to behold, but they were by no means the main strength of this response team.
The fundamental principle of Tower Break response was that military forces focused their firepower on monsters that the Admittees failed to catch or missed, preventing them from flowing into civilian areas.
It was an inevitable measure, as modern weaponry found it difficult to pierce the Ether barriers surrounding the monsters.
And there were swarms of Admittees gathered from all over Japan.
Those called in by the nation's emergency summons were not actually suited to stopping such a high-grade Tower Break.
Mixed among them were many D-grade and C-grade Admittees, and quite a few B-grades as well, but there were very few A-grade or higher who would become important combat strength. S-grade was at a rare level.
But desperate Japan, in no position to be choosy, had indiscriminately gathered every Admittee.
With faint hope that having even one more might somehow play some role.
They hadn't expected much, but as expected, the participation of S-grade Admittees from each country was low.
Indeed, when even their own country's S-grades weren't stepping forward proactively, who would stake their lives on a matter overseas that was like watching a fire across the river.
High-grade Admittees had not received their abilities in order of their sense of duty for humanity's peace, stability, coexistence, and prosperity. Not at all.
They were simply ordinary people who had suddenly awakened to transcendental abilities one day.
As such, there were actually not many who possessed the responsibility demanded by such immense power.
"Damn S-grades."
Sato Ryuichi, the chief guarding the scene with key personnel from the Special Task Force Headquarters, clenched his teeth upon seeing the number of gathered S-grades.
A mere handful of S-grade Admittees.
Out of Japan's total of 26 Admittees, excluding the 3 who had recently died during the 80th floor raid and the 8 who had been forced to withdraw due to raid failure, there were as many as 15 domestic Admittees; yet only four of them had participated in the Tower Break suppression.
They didn't even know how many high-grade monsters there would be, and only twelve domestic Admittees... It wasn't even half the number.
Moreover, the overseas support S-grade Admittees obtained after appealing so desperately to various countries were only three. And two of them were healers.
"After this is over, I'll have to request that the state reconsider the treatment of S-grades. Those selfish bastards who only know how to take..."
With a look that said, 'Do we even have a way to compel them?' Deputy Chief Suzuki Kazuo stared blankly at Sato Ryuichi, but he didn't bother voicing it.
Could they really stop it?
It was an unprecedented high-grade tower, and thus an unprecedented level Tower Break.
Sato Ryuichi squeezed his eyes shut.
He intended to watch with his own two eyes on the scene, observe the battle until the very end, and if he judged that the Break response team no longer had any possibility of stopping the monsters' outburst, request a nuclear strike.
How much effective damage a nuclear attack would deal to the monsters was unknown, but it was certain that the remaining response team would evaporate along with it.
Because they too were merely humans of flesh and blood.
Sato Ryuichi had no intention of running away from that responsibility. If he requested a nuclear strike, he planned to throw away his life together with the monsters and the response team. And since he was on the scene, that decision would never be a light one.
"When will they arrive?"
"Sir?"
Staring blankly at the S-grades numbering only fifteen in total combining domestic and overseas, Sato Ryuichi asked the intelligence chief.
"Korea's... Ultimate Line, when are they estimated to arrive?"
"When I contacted them an hour ago, they said they would depart soon."
"Contact them again. Again."
"Understood."
Sato Ryuichi's insides were burning with anxiety.
Like a time bomb, the Tower Break had already entered a countdown where no one knew when it would explode.
The scene was stretched taut with a tension that felt like his sanity might snap.
'It shouldn't be the Self-Defense Forces, nor ragtag Admittees. The S-grades should have already formed ranks and taken positions at the very front lines...'
Blood seeped from his lip, which he was biting without realizing it.
In any case, all he could believe in now was Korea's Ultimate Line.
If they helped, Yokohama City—no, Japan—might gain a hope of survival, and without them, even that would be gone.
The request Suho had made through the deputy chief—permission to build an artificial island?
When he had heard that story, it had been so modest that he let out an empty laugh.
They weren't asking for Kyushu, nor Tsushima. They simply asked for permission to build an artificial island they would create themselves.
When the Japanese archipelago was on the verge of total ruin, he could grant such permission a hundred, a thousand times over.
Ryuichi even harbored radical thoughts: if there were any immature politicians who opposed it, he would eliminate them all regardless of left or right wing.
It was then.
Thududududu───
At the sound of massive propellers roaring from the sky, those guarding the response team headquarters ran outside.
"They're here!!"
"Chief! They're here!"
"Ultimate Line from Korea is here!!"
"Waaaah!"
Faces bloomed open.
At least in this moment, even Sato Ryuichi, who had been deeply frowning until now, broke into a bright smile.
Shwoooooo───
Three octocopters landed, and sparkling eyes were directed toward the Ultimate Line clan members disembarking from them.
Like fans seeing superstars, everyone gathered at the scene welcomed Suho and his party.
Sato Ryuichi ran out and grabbed Suho's hand firmly.
"Welcome. Thank you for coming!"
"Haha, we're a bit late, aren't we? We said we'd hurry, and yet it's this late. Sorry for the delay."
"Not at all! Don't mention it! We still have plenty of time. Then, clan members, if you'll all follow me this way..."
The division chiefs and team leaders of the Special Task Force Headquarters followed Sato Ryuichi, who guided Ultimate Line to the response team headquarters where a situation room and rest area had been prepared.
After briefly receiving a briefing on the current deployment and strategy of Japan's Break response team at the headquarters where they provided service with extreme courtesy, they were introduced to the fifteen S-grade Admittees who would stand at the front lines together with Ultimate Line.
The fifteen S-grade Admittees who had arrived first looked at Ultimate Line's members with eyes shining brightly, like semi-pro league players meeting Manchester City players.
"It's an honor to meet you!"
"I am ashamed to say, but I once applied to the clan recruitment there! It didn't work out, but... haha."
"It's an honor to fight together!"
"We're so reassured that you've come!"
The forty Ultimate Line clan members shook hands and greeted each of the fifteen on-site S-grades one by one.
Afterward, they received various combat supplies prepared by the Japanese government, but to Suho, none of them seemed useful.
Looking at the expressions of the other clan members, they seemed to share similar sentiments.
Their faces bore expressions that said, 'I won't have any use for them, but I'll just take them since it's their gesture of goodwill.'
Suho smirked at their unfiltered faces and spoke to the personnel of Japan's response team headquarters.
"We don't need the supplies. What we've brought is sufficient. Rather... we have something to share with the rest of the S-grades."
"Wha...?"
"Us?"
Suho pressed a box into each of their hands.
The fifteen S-grade Admittees, wondering what kind of gift boxes these could be right before battle, opened them and gasped.
Inside, five high-grade healing potions and five high-grade regeneration potions were neatly arranged and packaged.
To Suho, he had so many they could rot—almost as many as a large lake—but that benefit was limited strictly to Suho and those around him.
No matter how high an S-grade one was, they almost never laid eyes on high-grade potions. That was how expensive and rare they were.
The hands of those who received the boxes trembled.
"H... how do we even drink these...? They're too precious..."
Suho spoke as if asking what nonsense they were spouting.
"No matter how precious they are, are they worth your lives? If you feel endangered during battle, don't hesitate—open them up and pour them down anytime."
And then the formation deployment began.
All Ultimate Line clan members fully armed arranged themselves in a formation surrounding the expected outburst point, roughly in the order of tanker-melee dealer-healer-ranged dealer-buffer, but something seemed off about the deployment.
The standard positions for the tankers who should be standing at the very front line were quite far back.
After pondering the formation for a long while, Chief Sato Ryuichi finally approached Suho and asked.
"It's something the clan leader would handle, but if you don't mind my rudeness, may I ask one thing?"
"Huh? Of course. Please speak."
"Th... the tankers and damage dealers of Ultimate Line seem to be deployed too far to the rear... Is there a reason for maintaining such a wide distance from the outburst point?"
"Ah, that. Yes, there's a reason. The main tankers will take those spots."
"Main tankers?"
Sato Ryuichi's eyes went wide.
Wait, Steel Grizzly Han Tae-ung, Indomitable Iron Wall Gang Ho-jin, and the other eight who could be called tankers all seemed to have already taken their positions... What tankers could there possibly be more?
Are additional people coming?
Seeing the chief tilting his head, Suho grinned.
"I was just about to call the main tankers, so watch."
And Suho, approaching the front line, summoned thirty super enhanced androids from his subspace warehouse.
Shushushushuk—
As large, black-glowing robot-like things materialized in mid-air and deployed at regular intervals, everyone at the scene cried out in exclamation.
"R... robots? Bu... but..."
What strength could robots wield against monsters? Sato Ryuichi's face colored with absurdity.
But Suho spoke calmly,
"They're not just robots. Outside the tower, a single one of these has combat power equivalent to ten members of Ultimate Line's raid team."
The chief could only blink his eyes at the incomprehensible situation—how in the world could such a thing even be possible?
There was no time to explain and convince each person one by one. They would find out naturally once battle broke out anyway.
Suho said no more and turned his body toward the androids.
Currently, Suho had taken full control of the enhanced androids.
Suho, equipped with Extreme Powered Armor and Tempest Vein Wings, issued orders through his visor's AI.
"Power 100% activated. Attack and defense mode output 100%, switch to combat readiness mode."
Kreeeee—
When the enhanced androids unfurled their crouched bodies, their tremendous majesty was fully revealed.
Black armor of unknown material, a height of 3.5 meters, four massive arms and two legs, and a long, flexible, sharp tail of segmented structure with joints connected like articulations.
No matter how one looked at them, they didn't seem like allies; they looked like monsters themselves. As the androids rose to their feet, everyone gathered in the response team swallowed nervously at the tension.
At the Tower Break response scene that was now no different from having gathered 355 S-grade Admittees in terms of pure combat power,
Suho finally issued a simple command.
"All units register and share all humans and armored forces currently at this location. And from this point onward, all existences other than those registered are to be unconditionally attacked and annihilated."
An overwhelming response was fully prepared.