◈ Episode 386. Flowers and Weeds (1)
The AAU had realized the severity of the situation.
“Do you think the Chief will forgive them this time as well?”
America’s response was incomparably arrogant.
Was it to protect their own citizens? Or, if not, did it mean that America as a whole was too deeply entangled in the situation to back down? They poured attacks upon the Magic Tower’s leadership as if they were willing to go all-out war.
“Is this for real?”
There was also news that came in late.
AAU United States Eastern and Western Branches.
Shock rippled through the staff at the photos they had received.
“They said they even mobilized rift decisive battle weapons?!”
“If you look at the photos, it’s real.”
“So they were serious?”
“No, it’s not like we were asking for much; we just told the bastard spouting nonsense to come out. Why are they overreacting like this? If the Chief hadn’t stepped in…….”
That Meteor Strike truly would have fallen on American soil and then some.
In that sense, Seong Hyeonjun and Yun Sugyeom.
The two let out sighs of relief for now.
“Still, it’s a relief, isn’t it, Senior?”
“…….”
Yun Sugyeom did not answer.
He was bothered by the last words Ho-yeol had left behind.
The disposal of the Demon King you all cried out for.
Just what kind of disposal would America receive?
The question did not last long.
Clench.
“We’re in trouble.”
“……!!”
Branch Manager Bak Minjae—he grabbed his head. He was not someone who easily wavered in any situation. However, when he imagined what was about to unfold, Bak Minjae felt his head swim.
“Branch Manager, are you alright?”
Yun Sugyeom approached and asked in a worried voice. Bak Minjae nodded and pulled himself together. Then he glanced at the monitor. To be exact, at the rift generation coordinates transmitted by the Another Space Ho.
“Sugyeom. It’s going to get a bit noisy from now on.”
“……What?”
“Because it will really ring nonstop.”
Bak Minjae’s warning was immediately realized.
Wheee—!
“R-rift! Where is it?!”
Endlessly updating rift generation warning messages.
Could the Another Space Ho be malfunctioning?
It was enough to make one suspect so.
And then.
“The coordinates are all—they’re all in America!!”
Rifts numbering in the dozens, even a hundred.
All of them had been generated on American territory.
Seong Hyeonjun flinched.
No way, the disposal that Chief I Hoyeol spoke of was…….
“You mean he was talking about those rifts?”
It was not a thought Seong Hyeonjun alone had.
Everyone was thinking, what if.
I Hoyeol.
Could he have reached a realm where he could even create rifts at will?
But Bak Minjae put an end to that absurd delusion.
“Do you all really see the Chief as a Demon King?”
Bak Minjae spoke, putting force into each and every word.
“No matter what the world says, you must not waver. What kind of figure did the Chief show before the rifts? Without minding things like appropriate levels, he was someone who entered the rifts even alone. Would such a person create rifts and pass judgment?”
“…….”
“Hoo.”
Bak Minjae caught his breath and spoke the truth.
“America has simply been thrown outside the fence.”
“……Outside the fence?”
“Didn’t you all think it was strange? After the emergence of the Zero Mountain Range, the frequency of rift generation dropped significantly. Was it thanks to the weight the Zero Mountain Range holds?”
……
A nod.
Among those who had thought so.
Seong Hyeonjun bobbed his head once.
Seong Hyeonjun still had rookie written all over him.
Bak Minjae shook his head.
“From a developer’s point of view, it might not be a wrong thought. Because they updated high-difficulty content called the Zero Mountain Range. It feels like they’re saving new content until the players finish clearing the mountain range.”
Nods.
“But, you know that bastard Raymon Sean well, don’t you?”
“……!”
“Does reality still look like the Arcana Continent Chronicles to you?”
Raymon Sean.
There was no consideration for humanity in the updates he led.
No, rather, it was malicious.
At times, it even gave the delusion that he was making the best moves to annihilate humanity with every regular update.
“The reason humanity has been safe all this time is simple. It’s thanks to the Magic Tower wrapping reality, Earth, the entire world in their fence. You all remember the Magic Tower’s setting, right?”
Yun Sugyeom’s eyes flashed.
“……Absolute Inviolability!”
“Correct.”
Bak Minjae nodded.
“In the Arcana Continent Chronicles, the Magic Tower was a lighthouse that must not waver until the very end. It was a role to stand tall as the greatest armed group and maintain the continent’s balance. Even if empires perished, the Magic Tower must not fall.”
“Then the fact that the frequency of rift generation dropped drastically after the Zero Mountain Range……. Does that mean it was thanks to the Magic Tower considering Earth as their territory?”
“Are you only realizing this now?”
That is right.
The reason humanity had been able to loosen up, even slightly, from Arcana’s encroachment was thanks to the Magic Tower. Because the Magic Tower, possessing the setting of Absolute Inviolability, had declared Earth wholly as their protected zone.
Yun Sugyeom continued, as if in disbelief.
“The reason demon-class monsters mainly appeared……!”
“That’s right. As the Chief said, demons don’t know their place. Whether it’s the Magic Tower’s territory or whatever, they just crossed over without caring. But those who know the Magic Tower’s terror are different.”
Gulp.
Bak Minjae moistened his parched throat.
“Inside every rift, Arcana’s monsters must be swarming. They are the ones who had been grinding their teeth outside the Magic Tower’s fence. Is there any reason to leave the prey thrown outside the fence alone?”
His gaze turned toward the Behemoth-class decisive battle weapon that had been aimed at the Magic Tower’s leadership.
It was a situation where one could neither laugh nor cry.
Bak Minjae opened his mouth calmly.
“Well, I suppose there was a point in dragging that thing here. Eugene McCain.”
*[Quartet of the Slaughter Machines]
[Recommended Level: 500]
[Rift Collapse Rate: 23.7%]
[Behemoth: Ulang’s Swamp]
[Recommended Level: 550]
[Rift Collapse Rate: 38.4%]
[Dallion’s Graveyard]
[Recommended Level: 600]
[Rift Collapse Rate: 42.4%]
…….
The dam had broken.
It meant the final bulwark that the Magic Tower had been holding back had collapsed.
There could be no more appropriate expression than this.
“So why did you stick your nose in for no reason and get whipped, seriously!”
Nam Cheolmin, analyst of the Great Union.
It was the Arcana Continent, overflowing with risk factors. Nam Cheolmin had not rashly entered the Arcana Continent due to his relatively low level. Perhaps thanks to that, Nam Cheolmin’s phone rang without rest. They were all international calls.
Nam Cheolmin glanced at the screen.
“Good grief.”
Starting with Shining.
Nam Cheolmin had acquaintances with numerous guilds and players in America.
They were probably all trying to seek help from the Great Union.
“This wasn’t something that should have blown up this big in the first place, right?”
Marcello too had given a chance, and the Commander had given plenty of chances. They had given opportunities to correct the fault, but instead of begging for forgiveness, America had responded with attacks.
Nam Cheolmin looked at the situation coolly.
“……If it were me, I would have completely turned a blind eye.”
Even if one overlooked the fact that they had deceived the Magic Tower.
It was Ho-yeol who had sacrificed himself for humanity all this time.
Nam Cheolmin, who had watched Ho-yeol from his side, knew.
“Even if out of resentment.”
The weight of the burden Ho-yeol shouldered?
An amount that an ordinary person would choke on without lasting a day.
Shall I give a simple example?
Even the physical training he had heard about from his younger brother, Taemin.
—“Hyung, Master Halkon said that Mr. Ho-yeol never skipped physical training for a single day. He even said the training volume is on a different dimension from ours. When on earth does he sleep?”
That sacrifice had nearly faded in malicious distortion overnight.
If he had been Ho-yeol…….
He would have completely ignored America, if only out of betrayal.
But at this moment.
“Even so, are you waiting, Commander?”
Ho-yeol and the Magic Tower were right there.
Remaining in the sky above.
Until the very end.
It must mean that he had not given up hope for humanity.
“……Damn it.”
Swish!
Nam Cheolmin took off his glasses as if throwing them aside and answered the phone.
As expected, it was a call from the American AAU branch.
Nam Cheolmin didn’t hold back.
He poured it out as if activating his younger brother’s skill, Berserk.
“Shouldn’t you be begging for forgiveness instead of calling me? Are you not grasping reality even after seeing the rapidly rising rift collapse rates? You guys aren’t trying to turn America into a living hell, are you?!”
Nam Cheolmin warned.
“The rift collapse rate is really the final countdown. It’s not too late even now. Reveal everything as it is. That’s the last piece of advice and warning I can give you.”
He added a small personal opinion.
“If you have any pride left.”
A voice that seemed to have made up its mind came back.
“Thank you for telling me that.”
Eugene McCain.
The contacts he had gathered far and wide to build connections were helpful at a time like this. Eugene set down the receiver and headed to the unconscious Joshua. He poured the potion on the table into Joshua’s mouth.
“Urk.”
As expected, Arcana is truly unbelievable even when you see it with your own eyes.
“……Eugene? Where are you going?”
Eugene left the branch manager’s office, leaving behind Joshua, who was trying to get up. The Magic Tower, and I Hoyeol. How was he to communicate with those above the sky?
Eugene did not agonize.
‘If it’s Arcana’s way, surely…….’
Before long, standing on the rooftop of the branch building, Eugene opened his mouth.
“I will tell everything as it is, Chief I Hoyeol of Yusra.”
Then, a gaze was felt. An experience transcending the laws of physics. He felt Ho-yeol’s gaze staring at him from the distant sky. Eugene thought inwardly.
‘……Reveal everything honestly?’
Eugene vowed that he would take everything upon himself.
If that allowed them to overcome this crisis, he would do so gladly.
But the more he watched, the more unbelievable it was.
Eugene spoke bitterly.
“I am but a chess piece; I doubt I hold that much value.”
They must know that civilian damage is unavoidable now that rifts have been generated. Yet there had been no contact from the higher-ups. It must mean their own safety is more important than civilian damage.
But thanks to that.
“Whatever is for America’s sake.”
Eugene could open his mouth without hesitation.
“Chief I Hoyeol, the one who led this situation is the White House.”
Eugene, who had uttered the first word, stopped speaking.
Crackle—
“……?”
Because he was not a player.
“!”
Rifts should not have been visible to his eyes. But he began to see the shattering void. What that meant was simple. It meant the rift’s collapse was imminent. Eugene swallowed dryly and continued.
“It is all the fault of us foolish and rotten ones; what I mean is that the citizens are not at fault. So, O Demon King. Please, show them mercy.”
Clench.
Eugene closed his eyes.
He did not wish for any mercy toward himself.
At this moment, what Eugene felt was a faint sense of responsibility.
And an answer came to such an Eugene.
“You have saved them.”
……I saved them?
What did I save?
Forgiveness?
“……?”
It was the moment Eugene opened his eyes in confusion.
Sssshhh.
He saw silver grains spreading in all directions.
Eugene was neither a player nor knowledgeable about Arcana.
Even so, he could feel it.
“Ch-Chief I Hoyeol?”
The area was dyed in a silver light, the same color as his hair.
Because it was glittering and rippling brilliantly.
Soon, an unbelievable sight unfolded in Eugene’s vision.
Fzzzt—crack.
The rift whose collapse had been imminent.
The rift was gradually beginning to blur.
What that meant was likewise simple.
I Hoyeol was 『Reversing』 the rift’s collapse rate.
“Ah.”
Perhaps because the tension left him.
Eugene fell to his knees without realizing it.
A voice continued to such an Eugene.
“I ask.”
For some reason, the dry voice sounded only warm.
“To you, do I still appear as a Demon King?”
I have secured a witness.
As for interrogation, I can do it properly in the Topaz Hall or Mugan.
What is urgent is the cleanup.
I gathered my mana.
‘I have reversed the rift’s collapse rate, but.’
That is all.
I haven’t completely understood the [『Anomaly』] called rifts either.
So from now on.
It means I have to clear the rifts generated in America one by one.
‘Hundreds of rifts.’
He wouldn’t have been able to clear them all before collapse alone.
But now.
Behind me is the Magic Tower, Arcana’s strongest armed group.
‘Let’s clear them quickly and swiftly.’
I opened my mouth.
“Vivace would be good.”
He hadn’t even raised the [Baton of Rhythm].
What is the intention behind suddenly spewing a musical term?!
But fortunately, there was no time to feel ashamed.
It just so happened that he caught him at a good time…….
No, thank you for diverting my embarrassment.
“I have been waiting for this very moment! To show my vision magic to the world……!!”
“Senior Bensy William.”
“……Yes?”
I continued meaningfully.
“From this moment, I bestow upon you a ‘heavy responsibility’.”