What on earth is going on?
The Earth I’d returned to had a very different atmosphere from the Earth I knew.
Every now and then, Gates would appear.
Raid parties would be formed to conquer those Gates.
And once the Gate raid ended successfully,
「Everyone, please rest assured! We’re safe!」
Peaceful daily life had been protected with words like that.
But the urgent voices coming from all over, and the chaotic atmosphere, told me that peaceful daily life had been shattered.
‘Did a Gate raid fail and monsters are pouring out?’
For now, I flew while crushing the monsters I could see with telekinesis.
If I followed my heart, I would have run around at full power, but that seemed like it would cause an earthquake, so I restrained myself.
As I was whooshing through the air, I found a Hunter-nim.
A huge Hunter-nim who seemed to be of the Guardian class was surrounded, so I helped him out first, then landed on the ground and greeted him.
I thought a Hunter-nim might know something about this situation, so I asked him what was going on.
“I-I greet Yuyeon-nim...!”
“?”
He suddenly dropped to one knee and bowed his head to me.
What was this? Could he be one of the viewers who watched my broadcast?
Maybe I had gotten famous for clearing Hell Difficulty up to the 10th floor.
“Am I, by any chance, kind of famous?”
“Yes. There probably isn’t anyone in this world who doesn’t know Yuyeon-nim.”
“???”
“It’s a world where even newborn babies know Yuyeon-nim’s name.”
“?????”
“You didn’t know...? We mentioned it in chat a few times.”
“Chat? Do you mean the broadcast chat?”
“Yes.”
I had no idea. Because I hadn’t been able to see the broadcast chat at all.
“I haven’t been able to see the broadcast chat this whole time.”
“? Haven’t you been answering our chat all along?”
“??? I have?”
“Yes.”
“When...?”
“You answered quite a lot, actually...?”
Don’t tell me all the times I’d been talking to myself had actually counted as communication?
I’d just been saying things into empty air in case there were viewers watching.
Maybe I had an innate talent as a broadcaster. I suddenly became afraid of my own talent.
“Mm. For now, I don’t think that’s what’s important.”
“Correct. I’ll summarize the situation. Gates have appeared simultaneously all across Earth, and not long after they appeared, monsters immediately began pouring out.”
“??? Usually when a Gate appears, aren’t you given time to raid it?”
“That’s correct. This case is an exceptional situation, so Hunters all around the world are currently hoping for support.”
“Gasp.”
I thought it would be over once I cleaned up this place, but Gates had appeared all over the world?
Human civilization must be protected at all costs.
My heart grew urgent, and my aura core and mana circle began operating rapidly.
“Could you show me a map? I want to know where we are and where the Gates are located.”
“I’ll give you my phone. You can check the map and Gate locations with this app.”
“Oh. Thank you. How should I return it to you later?”
“You don’t have to return it. But Yuyeon-nim. Just in case, and I truly mean just in case, I’ll say this.”
“?”
Hunter-nim hesitated for a moment, then spoke while watching my reaction.
“You have to... control your strength...”
“Ah.”
Right. I definitely had to control my strength properly on Earth.
I put my aura core to sleep and rotated only my mana circle.
“You don’t have to worry. I’m an authority on flexible control.”
“I... believe you.”
“VV.”
“Hnghk...!”
“?”
“I’m sorry. Seeing real-life maid elegance double peace in succession moved me too much...”
“Should I show you maid cosmic triple flame tornado peace too?”
“You have to control your strength...”
“Ah.”
I decided to seal away anything too powerful for now.
There wasn’t much time, so let’s move as quickly as possible.
“May I ask your name?”
“I-I’m Seo Taegeon.”
“Taegeon-nim. What rank are your spear and shield?”
“They’re both A-rank. Why are you suddenly asking about their rank... Hrk!”
Rustle, rustle.
For some reason, Taegeon-nim suddenly turned his gaze away as I took out an S-rank maid’s spear and shield for him.
“If you’re all right with it, please use these.”
“S... S-rank?! Something this precious, to me...!”
“What’s precious is your life, Taegeon-nim. And if I try to solve all of this by myself, I think the number of casualties will increase too much, so please help me.”
“Of course! Just leave it to me!”
I needed more hands.
I took Barkel-nim’s core and the gargoyle-nims’ cores out of my subspace pouch and infused mana into them.
“Barkel-nim. Gargoyle-nims. Let’s communicate.”
Papapap—! The gargoyle-nims took shape in the air and landed coolly.
Perhaps realizing the current situation was serious, Barkel-nim didn’t detach his head and immediately went on alert.
“Where is this?”
“It’s my hometown. I need help, so please help me.”
“I see. What kind of help do you need?”
After I quickly explained the situation, Barkel-nim and the gargoyle-nims spread their wings.
“Understood. I’ll protect this area, so go do what you have to do.”
“Then Taegeon-nim. Barkel-nim. I’ll leave it to you.”
“Yes!”
Pop. I also summoned a clone and gave it an order.
Fly around in the opposite direction from me and continue combat and the maid’s cheer.
The clone nodded, then flew off in the opposite direction.
I also grabbed the monsters I could see with telekinesis and crushed them, while continuously casting barriers on the buildings and people in sight.
“Uh...?”
“The monster suddenly got crushed...?!”
“Who put this barrier on us?”
Still, it wasn’t enough.
Since I was trying to resolve this without practically using my Strength stat, I could feel that my stats were lacking, so I invested all the ability points I had saved into Mana.
「Mana 30 -> 75」
Huh. When I raised my Mana, I could feel my telekinesis output grow stronger too.
So telekinesis output was proportional to Mana. I’d raised Mana to increase the output of my barriers and flight.
The barriers created by my mana circle, now rotating even more powerfully, no longer took even a scratch from most monsters.
Even the occasional A-rank monsters I saw could no longer easily break through them, and I could see casualties dropping noticeably.
‘But the people who are already injured...’
As I still couldn’t properly handle healing arts, I couldn’t heal the wounded.
「Would you like to summon Rabina?」
It hadn’t been long since we parted, but I decided to receive Rabina-nim’s help as well.
But could I summon her on Earth?
「Rabina has accepted the summon request.」
“Benefactor-nim! I’m he— Hwaaah?!?!”
So it worked.
Before Rabina-nim, who had been summoned in midair, could fall, I caught her with telekinesis.
“Rabina-nim. We don’t have much time, so I’ll explain as quickly as possible.”
“Yes...? Yes...!”
After an extremely compressed summary explanation.
With Rabina-nim’s help, I was able to defeat monsters, cast barriers, and use healing arts from the air.
When I arrived at the nearest Gate, I greeted everyone while receiving all their gazes.
“Hello. I’m Han Yuyeon.”
“Y-Yuyeon-nim!”
“You returned to Earth—”
“I’m sorry. Time is tight, so I’ll greet you again later. Is there anyone inside this Gate right now?”
“Uh, no!!”
“Then please keep some distance for a moment.”
There was no time to go inside Gates and raid them one by one.
Wondering if it would work, I took out my EX-rank broom and swung it at the Gate, and the Gate disappeared just like that.
“The Gate disappeared...?!”
So the broom could get rid of Gates too. Why on earth?
Even flexible me got scared. I don’t know where the broom’s limits are.
Anyway, let’s just say a good thing is a good thing.
After quickly estimating the Hunters’ classes by eye, I took out S-rank weapons for them and cast barriers as well.
“Everyone, be happy.”
“Yuyeon-nim is a god!!”
“I’m a maid.”
“Yuyeon-nim is the greatest maid!!!”
“VV.”
“VV!!!”
Flying again. Flying, flying...
I checked the Gate locations with the phone Taegeon-nim had given me and repeated the cleaning work.
In 30 minutes, I dealt with all 40 Gates that had appeared throughout Korea.
One truly fortunate point was that if I used the broom on a Gate people had already entered, the Gate would disappear and the people inside would be forcibly ejected.
I’d been told for sure that no one had entered one Gate, so I swung the broom, only for a person to come out and startle me.
I hurriedly smoothed it over with double peace, but I couldn’t stop my heart from pounding.
At this rate, I was handling things quickly, but if it continued like this, there would be too many casualties in other countries.
A good idea came to me, so I flew to the Korean branch of the Hunter Association.
“Hello. I’m Han Yuyeon.”
“Uhk...! Y-Yuyeon-nim?!”
“I’m not Yu Yuyeon, I’m Han Yuyeon. I came because I need help.”
A way to broadcast to the entire world using Taegeon-nim’s phone.
A way to make as many people as possible watch that broadcast.
「Would you like to add ‘Maid’s Shotgun’ to the maid’s cleaning tools?」
And I needed a way to quickly supply my weapons to the places that needed them.
***
As Gates poured out all over the world and the chaos intensified.
The Hunters who had been hastily drafted were crossing the threshold of death, steeped in regret.
Regret that if they had climbed the Tower more somehow, if they had become stronger, they wouldn’t have been pushed this far.
They had come to painfully realize that a peaceful daily life was not something that simply maintained itself.
“If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve eaten fried chicken yesterday...”
“? Why didn’t you?”
“Chicken’s too expensive these days...”
“You still should’ve eaten it while you could. It’s only going to get more expensive from here.”
Humanity would not go extinct.
Johan Konrad and all the S-rank Hunters had stepped forward, so even if the damage was great, extinction itself could be avoided.
But just like the first Gate incident, countless people would die.
The current situation was one where perhaps even more people could die than back then.
“And once this is over, there might not be any fried chicken shops left.”
“That really makes it sink in that we’re completely fucked.”
The longer the battle dragged on, the weaker the Hunters rapidly became.
Because their mana had run out, because their divinity had been exhausted, because they had drawn out their aura to the limit... because their spirits had broken.
It was only natural that the more resources usable in battle were consumed, the more powerless they became.
At that moment, emergency alerts rang out from the Hunters’ phones.
Just as they were about to assume it was an alert about another problem, an alert that would only ruin their mood in a situation already on the verge of catastrophe...
“Yuyeon-nim... returned to Earth?”
“What?”
When word spread that the contents of this alert were related to Han Yuyeon’s return, everyone quickly checked the details.
It was a broadcast link being relayed to the entire world through the Korean Hunter Association’s channel.
Those who entered through the link could see Han Yuyeon flying over the ocean.
「Hello. I’m Han Yuyeon.」
“She really returned to Earth...!”
How could she have come back at exactly this timing?
Everyone focused on the voice of the savior they had so desperately needed.
But Han Yuyeon simply repeated the same words.
「You can do it. You can do it. You can do it. You can do it.」
“???”
What was this? Had she turned on the broadcast to say this...?
Before the dumbfounded Hunters could even grasp Han Yuyeon’s intention, they felt their depleted energy recovering.
Though the speed wasn’t fast, the endlessly recovering energy raised up their spirits that had been about to break.
“My mana... recovered again...?”
“My divinity is filling up...?”
“My aura too...!”
In a miraculous situation like this, how could they fail to understand Yuyeon-nim’s intention?
The maid’s cheer. Yuyeon-nim was consuming her own energy to lend strength to places all over the world.
Yuyeon-nim’s face appeared on the small screen.
Even amid severe noise caused by high-speed flight, Yuyeon-nim’s voice alone came through clearly.
「Starting now, I’m going to travel around the entire world. I’ll end this situation as quickly as possible, so please hold on just a little longer.」
「I’ll bring back your peaceful daily lives.」
That voice, saying she would bring back their peaceful daily lives, lodged itself clearly in their ears.
The Hunters forced themselves back to their feet and faced the oncoming monsters.
Yuyeon-nim was coming. If they held on just a little longer, Yuyeon-nim would end everything.
They became able to endure with that belief.
“Guild Master-nim! Supplies! The Hunter Association brought Yuyeon-nim’s weapons!”
“Yuyeon-nim’s weapons?!”
“They’re all S-rank!!”
On top of that, in places where Han Yuyeon’s support would inevitably arrive late, the Hunter Association had supplied Han Yuyeon’s weapons in advance.
“The shotgun is mine!!”
“You lunatic, you’re a swordsman!!”
“Do you not know that, logically speaking, shotguns are a priest’s weapon?!”
The Hunters supplied with S-rank weapons began sweeping away the monsters wholesale.
“Kraaaagh, Priest-nim! My arm broke!!”
“The shotgun recoil is fucking insane, how do you even withstand this...!”
“Ehehe, then now I’ll shoot it!”
The mindset that they had to hold out until Yuyeon-nim arrived had, at some point, flipped 180 degrees.
“We have to use them as much as possible before Yuyeon-nim gets here!!”
“Gates! Where are more Gates?!”
“There was definitely a Gate around here...?!”
They reached the point of going around searching for Gates themselves.
[Title: We’ll Make You Regret Coming to Earth]
Author: Gun Nut
(Pic of shooters armed with S-rank maid shotguns)
(Pic of monsters fleeing inside a Gate)
Now you guys defend.
- Gekkiyaaaaaaak
- Offense and defense swap! Offense and defense swap!
- Holy shit, I’m so jealous of the shotgun
- Where are you? I’ll come support you, so let me shoot it just once
ㄴ Why would we need support when we have S-rank shotguns lol
ㄴ Get in line
It was the moment the attacking side and defending side reversed.