The Gisimche were so gluttonous that it felt as if they had all gone collectively mad.
Wasn't the harvest of pain already more than enough with just the Cataclysm?
For reference, it was January. Neither in Korea nor in India was it a season that could possibly be considered unbearable hot. And yet, in such a cold period, space insects had begun this troubleso spectacle.
Should I be saying it's a relief this didn't happen in Korea...?
The gate that appeared in a South Asian country looked quite difficult to conquer.
An S-rank monster. Back during the Hawaii incident, enemies of that caliber were extrely rare.
No. In fact, calling them rare doesn't quite capture it—I recall that for as long as four years, not a single S-rank nest appeared. It was only after enduring those cursed years that the rarity of S-rank threats gradually began to decline.
The Nucklewave in Hawaii, the Black Dragon in Kagoshima, and after that... was it several cases where A- and S-ranks were mixed together?
Anyway, S-rank gates had started appearing from ti to ti now. Even so, I was shocked by the news the channel was reporting. Because from the perspective of a Archmage, even that gate in the report seed overwhelmingly difficult.
The cosmic bugs that are supposed to keep the balance must've all frozen to absolute zero and died off.
For reference, India is truly a powerhouse of awakeners. In today's world, there's no human resource more valuable than superpowered individuals, and I've heard that country ranks first in the world by population. To the point where they even have several schools dedicated solely to teaching character education to superpowered people.
So, does this an that even a place with nearly as many S-ranks as the U.S. is struggling?
The dungeon shown in the report was exactly the kind of difficulty that even such a nation was falling behind on. For now, since it had no official na, the Blue Gate tentatively called [Delhi No. 1614] looked ordinary on the surface.
It was blue. And from ti to ti, a noise similar to a high-pitched frequency could be heard.
However, the problem was that the enemies appearing inside were simply beyond the level that could be exterminated.
I looked it up, and there's an article saying that India's S-rank team attempted a raid but had to retreat five tis...
Simply put, the prey was far too strong.
Not just one S-rank, but several of them went in together and still failed!
Moreover, they couldn't set aside their worries about a gate blank. This newly erged [Delhi No. 1614] was said to have an especially vast interior space. If that were the case, then once it collapsed, the monsters living inside would spread out on a massive scale.
So an S-rank has appeared right in the capital where humans are densely gathered. Honestly, what can you even do—there's no way to just pass a law regulating population density by region.
The gate remains unconquered. Yet, unfortunately, relocating the capital isn't a realistic option either. After all, the lands that Earthlings favor are rather limited.
Even I, for example, chose to move specifically to the coast out of all the wide land in Korea.
If they kept retreating to avoid the beasts, there would eventually be no territory left. That's why that foreign country had no choice but to throw themselves into conquering the S-rank den.
[YTV Morning Live at 7 o'clock, we will now begin.]
Two days later.
Sahhk.
I straightened my tie over my suit, as if pretending to be an ordinary office worker. It was the look of soone getting ready for work.
Phew, I don't feel like working.
Even the thoughts running through my head were remarkably worker-like. anwhile, the news I had left on out of boredom while getting ready to go out soon delivered a report.
[...A monstrous creature that erged from [Delhi No. 1614] in the province has once again caused civilian casualties. We now connect to reporter Lee CO at the scene. Over to you, reporter.]
The announcer's sharp, ringing voice filled the empty living room.
Another failure.
I thought that if I gave it so ti, things would naturally resolve themselves. But it seed this dungeon was on a completely different level from the S-rank gate [Six-Legged Corridor] that had appeared in Korea. For several days now, negative reports had been streaming in. At best, teams were only managing to hunt a few monsters near the entrance before retreating. That kind of situation might bring tears to anyone with the title of "Hunter," but from India's perspective, it was true that there was no other viable strategy than this endurance approach.
Even though they only adjusted the number of monsters to prevent a gate break, the injuries among S-rank hunters are getting worse.
For reference, such a thod of preventing a gate break is actually very advantageous when it cos to item acquisition. The longer the tug-of-war with the monsters continues, the more likely hunters are to earn valuable rewards.
As expected, it's not going to work, right?
But no matter how much wealth was offered, I could never take joy in this kind of situation. Hunters deal with living humans, after all. Foreign hunters would accumulate fatigue over ti, and anyone could easily predict that this would soon beco a factor in disaster.
Hmm.
Well, whether it's a tie-wearing office worker or a dirt-streaked hunter, pushing yourself too hard leads to the sa bad outco.
[India S-Rank Hunter On-Site Interview ●LIVE]
[Sonakshi (37): At first, we thought we had just taken down the gate's boss...]
But setting the small talk aside.
Another boss-level monster?
I wondered what kind of prey box could make S-ranks struggle like that, and then the morning news I was listening to provided so insight. I'm not sure whether it should be called a mid-boss, or if there were actually two bosses of equal rank, but in any case, it seed that the gate contained several entities overwhelmingly stronger than the regular minions.
So that's at least two, and perhaps even more could appear.
And the way this fact was revealed was utterly shocking.
The [Delhi No. 1614] gate reportedly forces hunters to face powerful monsters in a hall designed like a temple. Because of this atmospheric setting, India's hunters mistook the monsters they had slain for actual bosses. So much so that during their first raid, they had poured nearly all their strength into fighting a single monster. But the mont the monster they thought was a boss died, a third hidden passage in the room quietly revealed itself...
The summary of what they went through is that everything went wrong once the second boss battle began.
Anyway, that's how it was.
Their skill at giving false hope is no joke, huh?
And if you think it ends there, you're mistaken. That gate, besides having tenacious and powerful bosses, seed to make even the basic minions troubleso. Well, it is an S-rank gate, so that's to be expected.
Hmm.
Monsters that are so aggressive they could scratch even the skin of top-tier awakeners, and on top of that, their bodies are small and their speed is high...
This is the worst!
The news was now showing a montage of the new monster. At first glance, the creature looked like a cute little bee, yet it was creating a living hell in India.
[HunterNet]
[b*** Gate balance totally ruined ㅋㅋㅋ]
[12p***: So the cosmic simulation hypothesis was right?? What kind of world only runs properly like a fan?]
In India, the stress from that S-rank gate is even producing new awakeners, so in many ways, that says it all.
I completely agree with you. This is the Gisimche making a mistake.
As anonymous Earthlings have pointed out, this nest failed to properly adjust its difficulty. After all, a prey box exists to be conquered. That way, the planet's inhabitants can keep walking into the trap with hope, over and over again...
Is this going to turn into Nucklewave Incident Part 2?
At that mont, an ad from an international aid organization played on the phone I was watching. The comrcial showed ordinary people who had been affected by the monsters. In other words, the video showed a young child crying loudly with a seriously injured leg.
It's unclear, but seeing such a small child crying, I can't help but feel so pity.
So, what should I do now? Let make this clear—I'm not so kind of Thousand-Ard Avalokiteshvara. Well, my past life did have a few more arms than I do now, but still. Anyway, I couldn't always step in to prevent people from dying every ti sothing bad happened on Earth. The mont I closed my notebook, the very idea of "managent" was effectively ruled out.
But since I had just gone on that island-destruction assignnt a few days ago, ignoring this current situation sohow felt unfair.
Hmm.
The ripple effects if India's S-rank awakeners were to die. Curiosity about the gate that appeared in that country. And most importantly, money.
After weighing all these factors, I ca to a conclusion.
Anyway, I was working these days, so maybe I should go there...
If I had already retired, of course, my approach would have been different. After all, depriving awakeners of the chance to overco challenges on their own—and thereby affecting the natural balance—isn't exactly a good thing.
Whether it's the surplus products floating in the sky or this newly appeared S-rank dungeon,
I'm only dealing with them because I happen to be active right now. Once I've made the money, I'll truly retire and amuse myself alone.
Hopefully everything goes according to plan. I wonder if it's because humans on Earth are so primitive that they keep getting under my skin like this.
With those thoughts settled, I lifted my phone.
Phew.
It seed I'd be earning foreign currency from India this week, and to do that, I had to go through the association once again.
Beep beep beep beep.
While I was on the phone with the Hunter Association, I looked back at the news I had seen.
[Sonakshi (37): At first, we thought we had only taken down the gate's boss...]
Still, one good thing in all this was that the strongest in India happened to be a water-attribute mage.
The governnt may appoint a different representative for the awakeners, but from where I stand, that person seems to be the best choice.
If they're a water mage (assuming I don't interfere), their abilities shouldn't be diminished even when facing an SS-rank.
It's kind of sad that the Indian governnt hasn't asked for help even now. Well, whatever. I'll just negotiate so field compensation with the hunters on site.
Co to think of it, during the Black Dragon raid, we even scored a legendary and an epic item—a huge jackpot. So maybe this S-rank prey box holds so hope as well.
I've finally decided to do so good. Hopefully this opportunity will wipe out my debt.
It was around the ti I started thinking about greed. Before long, I was able to get in touch with the head of the Hunter Association. As expected, the request to enter India was approved without issue. After all, from India's perspective, it was their version of planting season.
Who has the luxury to refuse help during busy tis?
But on the other hand, if you think about it, pushing the farmland so recklessly—maybe that has so kind of significance even for the Gisimche...
...
It was eight hours later, after soone's idle thoughts had drifted by.
[Yes? You're saying I have to enter the dungeon with that South Korean guy who looks like a serial killer?]
For reference, Sonakshi, an S-rank hunter from India, was wary of foreign awakeners participating. Yet her opinion was ignored, and the alien's assignnt went through without a hitch. After all, society is a cold concept.
Kim Giryeo quickly finished negotiations through the Hunter Association and flew to India.
Being the solitary outsider that he was, he didn't brag about it to anyone. The departure of an S-rank hunter went off in a fairly quiet manner.
Bubbling, bubbling, bubbling...
Thus, thus awakener ended up having a rather uneventful al.
Doenjang jigae.
This was inside a restaurant sowhere in South Korea. A man, famous by the nickna "Hero of the People," picked up his spoon and began to think.
It doesn't taste as good as the one Hunter Kim Giryeo made.
Jung Haseong was evaluating the dish he had just taken into his mouth.
A genius...is he even good at this?
A single-serving Korean al with so many side dishes that the table seed to bend under their weight. Back in the day, it wouldn't have mattered how extravagant the spread was—I would have just eaten to fill my stomach without a second thought.
So then, what is there that Hunter Kim Giryeo can do? Empathy...?
Slurp.
But then, it was around lunchti, during that peaceful ti.
♫ ♬ ♩ ♪
A phone call ca.
Spam again? I installed an app to block telemarketing calls, so why is it still not filtering them lately?
Jung Haseong had been in the middle of his al and initially planned to ignore it, but the text that appeared on the screen made him imdiately change his mind.
[Incoming Call] [CEO Esther of Korean Magic Tower]
Now that he was no longer constantly busy with work, he could afford to deal with ssages like this.
Yes, Hunter Esther. I've received your call.
The question now is what he'll say next.
Huh? You think I need to co right now? What dungeon is it?
The curse master who contacted him seed quite anxious.
Uh... what did you say? A genuine S-rank?
And Jung Haseong, having heard all the information, was no longer in a peaceful mood.
So you're saying that this ti, a pure S-rank gate has appeared dostically, with no A-rank monsters mixed in?
This is the beginning of a problem that has never been related to overseas business trips.
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