Sooho had placed the carts full of luggage each person brought around the buildings where they were staying, carts and all, so everyone transferred what they needed into carriers and took them to their quarters.
Park Seoyeon of the Danbi Team had gone back and forth with her carrier more than five times, wondering just how much luggage she had brought.
After carrying what seemed to be mostly clothes for a while, she scurried over to Sooho and asked.
“Clan Leader, if you put the module house back into your subspace later, what happens to everything?”
“What do you mean, what happens?”
“I mean, not the original components that were inside the module house, but like how we’re putting our luggage in right now. What happens to external items? Do they all fall outside? Or do they stay as they are?”
“Ahh…”
He understood what she was worrying about.
Since they were staying for more than one night, the team members would unpack their personal belongings throughout the module house. If those unpacked belongings didn’t disappear along with it when the module house was stored again to move to an upper floor, and instead only the house was reset and stored, it would be incredibly troublesome.
They’d have to carefully pack up their personal belongings and come out like checking out of a hotel every time.
But Sooho’s subspace storage ability wasn’t like that, so there was no need to worry.
“Everything will stay exactly as it is. There’s no automatic organization or reset function. Whatever you leave in each house stays exactly like that.”
“Ah! What a relief! Thank you!”
With a face full of relief, Park Seoyeon filled her carrier with luggage once more and scurried off into the module house.
Inside the four module houses, chaos reigned.
The female Admittees liked them especially.
“There’s a shower room here! And a bath here too!”
“Let’s wash up! Oh my god, to think we can shower instead of using cleansing wipes!”
“We can even take baths… wow. Sister, let’s use the bath together.”
“But I’m wondering if we really need to wash…”
“Huh? Why, what do you mean?”
“Usually after fighting demons all day, we’re covered in demon blood and flesh, so we want to wash. But today we just rode around in sand buggies and didn’t even break a sweat…”
“Well… we never even got out of the buggies, so I didn’t get a single grain of sand on my shoes.”
“Hmm… still! We got dust on us from the sandstorm! We have to wash off the dust! You dirty girls!”
“Ahahaha! Alright, I’ll wash. Stop tickling me! Stop!”
Perhaps because it was not the kind of uncomfortable rest where they had to huddle up without properly washing, men and women mixed together, everyone was in extremely high spirits.
In the house where the women had gathered, as if they were lively high school girls, clattering and raucous noises rang out incessantly.
After about twenty to thirty minutes, clan members who had thrown on tracksuits and the like from their luggage began coming out of the module houses one by one, gathering in groups of threes and fives.
Sooho entered his subspace warehouse and changed his clothes perfectly in 0.000001 seconds, coming out first. He had already lit fires with oak firewood and charcoal at several large grills.
There, he mixed in a small amount of Everglow Wood, adding a refreshing and sweet fragrance to the scent of the well-dried oak firewood.
Since the flames, once lit, lasted an incredibly long time, they served as a source of heat as well.
As expected, the first to come out were the male clan members.
“Wow… did you see inside the house? It’s no joke.”
“Yeah, there were several shower rooms and bathrooms too.”
“There were four bedrooms. It took us a while to decide who would sleep in the two main bedrooms with queen beds.”
“We also took a while deciding who would be in the snoring room, kek.”
“Wow, the Clan Leader came out first! Ooh… the campfire is nice…”
In the chilly highland wind, the light and warmth of the campfire enveloping their surroundings made their hearts feel languid.
“The fact that we can be dressed like this inside the Tower itself is a miracle, really.”
“Right, kekeke. It’s so strange. Heavy armor is one thing, but not even wearing inner armor here makes me feel like I’m naked. It’s bizarre. Keke.”
“If you think about this being the Tower, it is kind of creepy. Thrilling.”
While those who had come out first chatted among themselves, Sooho pulled out a large ice cooler where he had been aging meat and connected it to power.
“It’s meat!”
“Clan Leader! What can we help you with!”
Those who had come out first rolled up their sleeves.
On the faint campfire, above the installed grills, juicy cuts of meat were sizzling and cooking. Fresh vegetables and fragrant sausages were also grilling to a golden brown, steeped in charcoal aroma.
It was not a scene of Admittees loosening their equipment and setting it in a corner to eat. Rather, the sight of them gathered by the campfire in comfortable tracksuits or casual wear was one that nobody would think belonged inside the Tower.
Neatly arranged aged meats were piled on one side.
Beef, pork, chicken, and lamb—the variety of meats and cuts was diverse.
Each person took the cuts they wanted to eat and grilled them at one corner of the massive grill.
A barbecue party where “together, yet each to their own” mingled.
As Sooho had said, there were a few who had taken one Vitanova, washed up early, and lain down in bed, but most had come out to the barbecue area.
“Wow, you’re grilling well. What cut is that?”
“This? Beef ribs.”
“I’ll have to eat that next time.”
“It’s amazing. You have to try it.”
“I need to get more drinks.”
“Me too! I’ll have cola.”
“I’ll have cider!”
“Ugh…”
Amid the clamor of eating meat and chattering, one person asked Sooho loudly.
“Clan Leader! It feels awkward to eat meat without alcohol! Can we… have soju or beer?”
“What about wine?”
“Hey, alcohol? Get a grip. No matter how comfortable it is here, we’re inside the Tower. The heart of demon territory.”
“Yeah, man. Let’s at least draw a line. Aren’t you going to stand night watch?”
Hearing that, Sooho pondered for a moment, but it wasn’t a long deliberation.
“Hmm, well… Actually, we have to continue the raid tomorrow, so let’s only drink moderately enough that there won’t be a hangover. And I’ll only allow alcohol today, on the first day. I wasn’t planning on having anyone stand night watch anyway. The androids will handle the perimeter watch, so don’t worry about that.”
“Hurray!”
“Hey, forget my cola. Soju, please.”
Sooho additionally installed a refrigerator with beer and soju next the drinks fridge, and beside it, he set up a wine cellar as well.
“Wow…!”
“No way, when did the Clan Leader even prepare this… did you already know this would happen…!?”
“Leader, I love you so much!”
Several people who particularly liked alcohol hugged multiple bottles of soju, beer, and wine, running around and filling glasses with those seated.
Then, the one who had first brought up the subject of alcohol raised his glass high and shouted loudly.
“Alright, let’s make a toast to commemorate today!”
At those words, smiles spread across the other Admittees’ faces.
Everyone raised their hands, holding various drinks from soju and beer to wine.
“To the endless prosperity of the Ultimate Line and a safe raid!”
“Cheers!”
Amid the voices shouting at the top of their lungs, the glasses clinked together with a clear, crisp sound.
“Damn, that line is so cheesy…”
“Keke, but doesn’t this have the solemnity of survivors on a battlefield? Though all we did today was chase after androids’ tails.”
“Pfft. Hahaha, right, right.”
“If the other two teams find out later that this Tower raid was like this, they’ll be really jealous.”
“Haha, I’m already looking forward to it!”
At those words, they all nodded in unison and broke into smiles.
As the alcohol circulated, their tension eased, and the Admittees gathered from various countries regaled each other with tales of their exploits or shared the twists and turns of their lives, talking without pause.
Perhaps because of the unique nature of being inside the Tower, their bonds of friendship seemed to grow deeper, and their expressions were all bright, as if they had found small happiness in everyday life.
As the night deepened, one by one they began to collapse from fatigue and intoxication.
Already about half had returned to their quarters, and now there were fewer than ten people remaining.
“But really, is it okay to rest like this without night watch… is this really okay? I feel so uneasy.”
Since this was a floor where they had nearly wiped out the demons, there probably wouldn’t be many coming out, but you never know.
A hidden one might appear and swing a massive stone axe while they were comfortably eating meat.
Any high-ranking Admittee had experienced being attacked by remnants while moving base camps after clearing a floor and taking a short, uncomfortable rest.
So these were natural anxieties.
“You’re still worried about that? He said it’s fine to rest. Look over there.”
Where one person pointed, twenty super-enhanced androids covered in demon blood and flesh were standing guard in all directions at the outskirts of the module houses.
Powered by S-rank Aetherium, these enhanced androids could operate for an enormous amount of time without recharging.
They didn’t eat, rest, or sleep, and could carry out missions perfectly twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year.
Even now, the enhanced androids were using a fusion system that integrated radar and infrared camera technology to monitor surrounding objects and movements in real time. They had also activated LiDAR-like laser terrain monitoring systems and sound detection sensors to strengthen their cross-surveillance mode.
An ironclad all-directional vigilance that couldn’t be compared to humans standing night watch or acting as lookouts.
Moreover, about fifty surveillance drones were flying in the sky, watching a wider perimeter and sharing information with the androids in real time.
These machines’ vigilance was a domain even more reliable than combat itself.
“Yeah, the fact that they’re not human makes them more trustworthy…”
“Right, humans get sleepy when tired, get distracted and miss things, even stab you in the back while picking your pockets and all sorts of things, but those guys don’t have any of that. How dependable.”
“Wow, a night of raiding the Tower without night watch…”
“I think this is the best thing above all else. To think we can sleep without our rest being interrupted. Usually during raids, even when your body is dead tired, you can only take catnaps. Sigh…”
“Right. But the androids did all the hard work today, while we get to enjoy all the luxury. They don’t even eat.”
As she spoke, the woman dusted off her bottom and stood up, heading toward Sooho.
Sooho seemed neither tired nor drunk; still perfectly fine, he was drinking with the others.
“Clan Leader, um, those androids over there. They’re covered in so much demon blood and filth that I feel sorry for them. Could we clean them up a little?”
“Uhh… well, we’re going to fight again tomorrow anyway, so I don’t know if there’s a need… but you can do as you like.”
“Yes, then I’ll go clean them up a bit.”
She pulled out a large number of cleansing wipes and began wiping the blackened gauntlets of the enhanced android standing before her.
But they were so large that after wiping one leg, she had used up an entire pack of wipes.
“Ugh… they’re so big, their height is just…”
Moreover, with a height reaching 3.5 meters, she had no idea how to wipe the upper body and head.
“Haha, they’re huge, right?”
Sooho, who had approached her side at some point, manifested a large water tank. He connected a hose equipped with a high-pressure spray nozzle—the kind commonly used at self-service car washes, that is, a car wash gun—and pulled it over.
“Just spray some water on them. That alone will be enough.”
“Uh, is it okay to spray water? Even though they’re machines…”
“Oh my, they’re not laptops. These guys are completely waterproof. They’re models capable of deep-sea diving.”
“Ooh… then I’ll spray without worry.”
Shwaaaaaa—
On the highlands where the night was deepening,
The strengthened androids were sprayed with cool water.