Chapter 294. If Failure is the Mother of Success
'An S-rank hunter from Imabari is here?'
The characteristic cold-colored hair of Earth-type mana awakener. A muscular body with low body fat. And even static electricity clinging with every step in combat situations.
Crackle crackle.
A few hours earlier, I had directly faced the four Japanese S-rank hunters. So now, there's no chance of confusing her identity.
'Could this be a serious crisis? If those crazed, red-eyed maniacs are actually under Imabari's command, this might get really complicated.'
I swallowed my dry saliva as I saw the newly arrived awakened one entering Building A. But my worries proved unfounded. The lightning mage who broke through the window asked anxiously if I was okay. Shortly after, another red-eyed awakened fell through the hole in the ceiling, and this one acted in a friendly manner.
'Ah, so that's what it is. It wasn't sothing else—just that the Japanese representative guild ca to handle the chaos.'
Sparkle!
The Japanese lightning mage electrocuted the dangerous target. It seed she had already heard a rough overview of the situation before arriving here, because even though the opponent wore a na tag in Japanese, she activated her skill without hesitation. By witnessing that magic, I understood why that person had been dispatched to the scene.
'In situations like this, of course they'd be better than Japan's number one.'
When it cos to firepower, Moritake to has an overwhelming advantage. But just because fire is applied gently doesn't an it doesn't hurt. If the task is limited to subduing the sa species, naturally that woman would be more capable. In Korea, there are no top-tier hunters with electric attributes, so it's hard to feel the difference, but electricity definitely seems to have many advantages because it's relatively easier to handle.Chiik!
Huh... isn't it?
"Keugh—!"
I've been slling sothing burning for a while now. This is just coming from one of the posters, right?
It was just for a mont—I thought sothing flashed before my eyes. I blinked, and in an instant, the chaos had been subdued. All three awakened ones who had appeared from the ceiling were lying on the ground like logs, motionless. The one who had been hit by the electric attack from the S-rank hunter was especially badly injured. Seeing this, I started glancing around nervously like a guilty Jindo dog, trying to read the room.
"Ranker!"
Perhaps unaware that I'd been ntally overwheld by the sheer presence of an S-rank with an electric attribute, the lightning mage—who had just crisped up her own kind—was now striding toward in large, confident steps.
Unaware that I was shaken both ntally and physically by the overwhelming power of the electric-attribute S-rank, the sorcerer who had crisped her own kind was striding forward with long, confident steps.
"Ranker Giryeo, I'm sorry...!"
It was precisely around that ti. I noticed that the A-ranker, who had been struggling at my feet, had gone quiet. The attacker who had tried to assault the alien ultimately couldn't remove the [Screaming Stake] that had gone into their clothes.
'Poor thing.'
Is this the inevitable fate of a jointed creature lacking flexibility? The sight of the attacker fainting from continuous pain was pitiful indeed. But feeling sympathy for an enemy only leads to loss, so I imdiately focused on the conversation with the Japanese hunter.
"By the way, what exactly happened here? Could you give a brief explanation?"
"Yes. If you need to..."
First, before answering, he quietly changed to a stance with his hands clasped behind his back.
"Do you see the hole in the ceiling over there?"
I lightly moved my hand behind my back, where the other person couldn't see. Honestly, it wouldn't be good if my secret weapon was revealed in such a distant place.
"Awakeners suddenly sprang out from over there."
While the Japanese S-rank hunter was focused on the voice of so corpse, I calmly retrieved the dagger artifact I had used.
"And this person ca at with the intent to kill, even though I hadn't done anything to them."
"Gasp! Did that really happen?"
The collar of the fallen assailant's clothes.
Fragnts of the shattered first hall. Passing by soone's legs in a suit for the last ti. Then, secretly moving the dagger toward the arm behind the back. Taking advantage of the opponent's gaze fixed on the ceiling, naturally returning the equipnt to the item box.
Telekinesis is a very convenient magic in many situations like this. It's a clean and quiet power that's hard to detect visually or audibly. If you have the talent, it's definitely better to learn telekinesis.
"What the heck is this!"
Then from now on, let's focus back on the Japanese side. Just around the ti I safely put away my weapon, the bluish mammal in front of nodded so.
"Iori. Where are you now? Are you still in Building D?"
Then, a reply ca back shortly.
Of course it's D Building! How do you expect to get out of here? Did you catch all three of the ones who escaped?
"Yeah!"
Then send soone to the storage room too. I've already caught two of them myself!
"Wait a second! You're telling a total of five people caused all this chaos?"
I don't know what exactly is going on—but in any case, it's a complete ss.
Now there's the S-rank lightning mage, barely bothering with greetings as she rushes from place to place—and uniford personnel suddenly surrounding Hall 1 in the blink of an eye.
'Judging by how fast they arrived, it doesn't seem like they were dispatched from the station. Damn... So there was a separate law enforcent patrol inside the expo venue all along.'
Information I learned too late. Apparently, there were police officers periodically patrolling the Tokyo venue to maintain order. They had been spread thin across the large complex, so it was only natural that a certain Alphaurian hadn't spotted them until now.
'On top of that, they weren't even awakened, so it must've been hard to keep them on my radar.'
But well, is it really a problem? Those uniford humans hadn't shown themselves inside Building A anyway.
As everyone knows, theft is all about speed and precision. The estimated ti for the sche I had planned was about three minutes.
If everything had gone smoothly within those three minutes as planned, then even if they had rushed over after hearing the fire alarm, it wouldn't have been much of a problem.
Yeah. All the barriers around were just for display, so if I'd had even a brief opening, I really would've had a shot at it. Who'd have thought things would fall apart this frustratingly.
"Hurry up and secure the area. If there are any spectators left inside Building A, guide them to another location."
"I received your call and ca. Are there any injured people?"
"Everyone lying around here is an assailant, so first, secure them..."
But there was nothing I could do.
'Phew.'
Police had sward the area before my eyes. And more importantly, an S-rank Hunter had moved to the upper floor of the building.
"Mission failed!"
I clearly gave up on the [Fragnt of Midnight]. Having almost no experience with such petty criminal acts in my life, I couldn't even dare to attempt it again.
'Objectively, I'm not that experienced in these kinds of situations, and my ability to handle variables is lacking.'
Now I even find myself thinking it's a relief that the plan fell apart from the very beginning. With how big things have gotten, if it hadn't been interrupted by external factors, wouldn't it have turned into sothing far more dangerous?
'I should write the witness statent for my global friends as thoroughly as possible...'
I looked at the mammal being electrocuted and thought. This feels like a divine warning not to be greedy. Better to let go of all desires here than to end up like that because of arrogance from knowing too much. It's definitely better to make up my mind to head back to Korea now.
That's why the lightning unleashed by the Hunter who appeared was truly terrifying. As expected, no matter the country, an S-rank was still an S-rank.
***
Much later. On the rooftop, at one side of the event hall.
"Please block off everything from there to there. There's a crack left here too. Make sure to reinforce this one as well."
Currently, Area A is completely sealed off, and the damaged building is being inspected. Although it wasn't part of the original plan, the Imabari Guild had often taken on restoration work in areas destroyed by breaks during the early days of the dungeon shock. Before long, civil engineers or related awakened individuals from the guild were dispatched to the site to repair the damage. However, despite the smooth progress of the work, soone's sighs showed no sign of stopping.
"Ha, of all places, at an international event like this..."
Judging by the footprints left nearby, it seed the red guards, who appeared to be in a zombie-like state, ca to this garden via that skybridge, then burst through the floor to enter Hall 1 of Sector A, the actual event venue. The blue-haired Japanese man recalled this fact again, sweeping a hand across his face.
"Ahhh!"
Anyway, what an utterly disgraceful humiliation this is. Just as she was deeply lost in her thoughts, it wasn't long before Japan's number one ranked awakener arrived at the scene.
"Representative Ito."
For the guild master to only show their face just now—how disgraceful.
"Don't tell you were being held back by the National Party assemblyman this whole ti?"
However, his actions had a reason. The politician who had visited the event had put strong pressure on Imabari's representative.
'I don't know exactly what the commotion is about, but if I leave him alone here now, it would be like abandoning a key figure in Japan's political world—so it could cause complications in running the guild later on...'
This is why he wants to avoid political talk whenever it cos up outside. Everything is just so sickening now, all because of the lazy exercise of power by those in the establishnt.
"Whoo."
As Moritake to sighed silently, the hunter beside him understood what he ant. His younger colleague also quickly looked disheartened, seemingly wanting to ignore any political troubles within Japan. It was Moritake who continued the broken conversation.
"Anyway, to be blunt, this event was a failure."
It was a clear declaration.
"There's a hole in the building, of all things, so there's no way this commotion won't leak outside."
"Wow."
"We'll be in the foreign news reports soon. The first line will probably be sothing like, 'Is the Japanese governnt incapable of hosting international events?'"
"Representative Ito. Since I was young, my dream was to make a na for myself in the world. After reaching S-rank, I feels like I'm achieving that in too many ways."
And what about the highlight auction, which was scheduled for the second day?
As Area A was closed due to an unknown accident, anxiety spread among the attendees. The event organizers tried their best to humbly reassure everyone that all issues were resolved, but so guests were already checking flight tis back to their ho countries. News travels fast, so this information would likely reach S-rank hunters abroad in an instant.
A predicted upper-limit drop, along with an overall decrease in profits.
Moving forward, the number of people willing to travel all the way to Japan just to participate in the highlight auction is bound to decrease by 100%.
"At this rate, this event might only increase Tokyo's debt."
The outlook was grim.
"By the way, is there really no one we have to pay dical expenses for?"
But amidst this sudden accident, there was one fortunate aspect.
"Yeah. I asked the police who responded several tis, but there were no injured civilians."
It's a dizzying thought. What if there had been injuries among the civilians? And what if, on top of that, the injured had been foreign visitors? Not even wealthy lobbyists could have completely contained the fallout. But, strangely enough—as just ntioned—in this incident, there were only perpetrators. No injured victims erged.
Why? Well, it was because so foreign guests responded quickly, and the incident at Hall 1 didn't involve 'any' ordinary people.
'Oh my god.'
Kim Giryeo.
In fact, by the ti Imabari's lightning attribute user arrived, a certain Korean individual had already mostly cleared the scene. Even more shockingly, the blonde man had left hardly any traces of battle on the first floor of the event hall where he had been.
How could such a thing even be possible? Even if they were outnumbered, Iori's side had ended up wrecking half the hallway while dealing with lower-ranked Awakeners. That's because S-rank Awakeners, with their overwhelming power, often find it more difficult to handle human opponents. And yet, that man—just how quickly did he neutralize his opponents to leave no trace?
'To get such clean results...'
One person collapsed as if falling unconscious into sleep. The other was crawling on the ground, screaming in pain as if suffering from internal injuries.
'To think he easily subdued an A-rank Awakener without any fuss... How did he do it? I can't wrap my head around it. It's as if that hunter must have had experience catching humans like they were beasts...'
Imabari's guild master swallowed dryly for a mont, recalling the situation at the scene as relayed by his colleague.
And at that mont, a call ca through on his phone. It was a call containing new information that couldn't help but surprise Moritake Ito.
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