Chapter 113: Disaster
After the Cataclysm, humanity felt the need to proactively attack the Gates in order to prevent them from dungeon-breaking.
To do so, they first needed technology to identify the gates as soon as they occurred, and the technology they used was space technology.
Orbital weapons represented by the Staff of God were commercialized, and reconnaissance satellites with powerful navigation capabilities covered the Earth’s orbit to search for gates around the clock.
Starfield, the Great Gate Reconnaissance Satellite, is the largest space structure on Earth, a collaboration of space development nations around the world.
Built by 20 countries around the world, including the United States, this next-generation reconnaissance satellite is the largest space structure on Earth at 150 meters and a space platform with 27 satellites covering the entire globe.
It observes and delivers information from space and Earth in real time.
Its technological capabilities are the sum total of human wisdom. No space technology can surpass it, and if it does, it will never belong to Earth’s civilization.
“This is Star One. This is Star One, base, come in!”
And so it was in the main communications room of the Starfield. U.S. astronaut Johnson frantically tried to communicate with Mission Control in Houston.
[What’s going on, Johnson?]
The U.S. space agency has been on edge lately.
The agency has been heavily criticized for the hacking of the God’s Staff during the Jilin orc coup and the recent failure to predict the impact of a 6-kilometer comet on Earth.
But it would also be embarrassing for the space agency.
Who would have thought that the ironclad, invulnerable network of God’s staff would be hacked at the same time as Russia’s 5M65 Grizzly?
And who knew that a perfectly good comet would suddenly enter Earth’s orbit and crash into South Korea, nearly wiping out the human race.
Anyway, the event happened, and the organization was tense. Astronaut Johnson spent an unusually intense day on the observation mission and spotted “it”.
“Please confirm that there are no other satellites within three kilometers of this one!”
[Three kilometers? There can’t be a satellite that close.]
After a moment of silence, the ground station returned a common sense answer.
[There are no other satellites in that vicinity.]
“No, there are! What is that thing I’m seeing?”
[What the hell is it?]
“At least 400 meters long…! At least 2,000 tons of mass! I also see a structure that looks like a particle accelerator. Could it be…a charged particle cannon?”
[Ha… it’s not April Fool’s Day yet, Johnson.]
“No, it’s real!”
It’s not even visible on radar but at close range, it was visible to the naked eye. The plasma particles even sped up and shot something toward Earth.
Johnson wouldn’t have noticed it if it weren’t for the glow from the blue particle’s sub-luminescence.
“Shit! I’m going to take a picture and send it to you, so you can see for yourself!”
But Johnson didn’t know that someone was already listening to his communications with the U.S. base in Houston, and they had the means to disrupt them.
“What, what, why isn’t the data coming through?”
[Johnson…pull this shit one more time and I’ll report you to the higher-ups, you know the atmosphere around here with the comet.]
“Gee, I’m serious!”
Johnson was jumping up and down like a madman, but no one believed him.
* * * * *
-Information control complete.
The TTG Guild compound in Naju, South Korea.
Yappy had prevented the information from the satellites that had been hastily launched for this operation from spreading.
Earth’s military satellites are of a very low standard.
The destructive power of the weapons themselves is forgivable, but maximizing their power is something anyone can do if they’re just plugged in.
They had no reconnaissance or communications security capabilities that mattered.
Yappy had launched his own satellites to give Leon more accurate information. It’s not a small low-orbit satellite from the last gate, but a full-fledged offensive military satellite.
Technically, it will be developed into a war satellite that launches an integrated armed platform from geostationary orbit rather than a satellite, but…….
-Lack of space law. Constraints on development. Information control needs to be strengthened.
This barbaric planet doesn’t even have laws for space development, so they had to operate under the radar.
Aside from that, Yappy confirmed the previous bombardment at the risk of exposing the information.
-Sniped 13 Class A Field Bosses. Confirmed 1,322 targets eliminated due to AoE damage on the main battlefield.
That’s a lot of kills and the logic circuitry that powers the AI has spoken.
-The charged particle cannon particle accelerator needs to be cooled and further refined.
-Failed to track enemy special object ‘Wandering Demon Sword’. Blind spots due to planetary rotation.
-Need to go to a geostationary orbit above 36,500 kilometers.
-Rejected. Charged Particle Cannon effective range 450 kilometers. Cannot support friendly forces.
-Recommended to replace the main armament with the Holy Grail. Can be equipped with doomsday armor.
-Rejected. City damage.
Leon will not tolerate blowing up a city to kill a monster.
-Start working on the rocket launcher.
There’s only so much Yappy can do in this situation.
Yappy looked down at the pure white starlight armor he was still tapping with his mechanical arm.
-Make deadlines. Deadline.
Yappy continued to work, moving his mechanical arms busily while simultaneously processing and checking information.
-North Korea unobservable?
Something black was covering the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.
* * * *
“The monsters that tried to enter Tokushima City have all been dealt with. What about you?”
Takeda asked, as the other Hunters reported through his earpiece.
[Minamijo’s horde of merman has been dealt with]
[Anansi’s side is also cleared]
The landing of tens of thousands of monsters from the Dungeon Break was certainly a threat.
However, in this area alone, there were seven S-class Hunters and two hundred A-class Hunters from Japan, including Takeda. In addition, there were more than three thousand other Hunters from various branches.
A few A-class Field Bosses have shown up, but they’re just warm-ups for the S-class Hunters.
Takeda looked around at the piles of Merman corpses around him.
“What about the Koreans?”
They couldn’t have done it any faster than they did. Takeda, who doesn’t admit it, but has a competitive streak against Korean Hunters, checked the status of the Korean side.
[The battle was said to have ended thirty minutes ago. Both Miyazaki and Wakayama successfully prevented the landing.]
“……Thirty minutes ago?”
It was fast. Strangely fast.
The South Korean S-class hunters were fewer than their Japanese counterparts.
Excluding the hunters from the Tokyo area and the Hokkaido chapter, there were only thirteen mobilized S-class hunters. Six of them are on the Korean side.
But they’re not the main force. Even the same S-class, there’s a big difference, and the six S-class hunters on this side, where Takeda is, are the strongest in Japan.
But they were able to take out the landed monsters faster than Takeda’s team?
‘Were there fewer monsters that landed?’
No. Even if there were, could it make such a difference? Takeda asked the control center.
“What about the Lionheart King? Did he go out on his own?”
[He is on standby]
“……And the Queen?”
[Likewise on standby, but… there was a strange ‘shelling’ in the sky…….]
‘It must be the queen.’
He’s not a mage himself but he heard that the magician queen of the Spero Kingdom is fearsome.
Takeda, who knew what the firepower of mages could do on the battlefield, naturally assumed that it was Beatrice who took care of the landed monsters.
[Takeda.]
It was then. Chairman Kamiya, who oversaw the All Japan Association, the heart of the control center, sent Takeda a personal communication.
“Yes, Mr. Chairman.”
[Team 4 hasn’t sent a response since earlier, so let’s check before the monsters make their second landing.]
“Is it possible that the Demon Sword has appeared?”
[No Magical Swordsman were spotted, only Land Sharks, which are boss-level entities.]
A class A field boss rated above the Orc Warrior in terms of difficulty, but Team 4 has the S-class Hunter Nishimori, so there’s no way they would have been defeated.
‘Device malfunction.’
It’s a common occurrence in the field.
The four-team perimeter is about a 10-minute drive from where Takeda is and as an S-class Hunter, Takeda could get there in two minutes.
“Ishida, Fumio, you two follow me, and give your team leaders a heads-up just in case.”
“Understood.”
Takeda, the right-hand man of Kamiya, the president of the All Japan Association, was seasoned and cautious. The five remaining S-class Hunters would move quickly on orders from the control center.
Takeda arrived in the area with the two A-class Hunters… and doubted his own eyes.
“Damn it…….”
Even the cool-headed Takeda reacted this way, and the two Hunters who followed him recoiled in horror.
“No way…….”
“Nishimori-san was killed?”
It was true. All twenty hunters from the four teams that had lost contact were found dead.
Some had been decapitated, others cut diagonally from the shoulder blades. Some were missing their lower half or had been sliced open from the crown of their heads.
“Whoa…….”
Takeda swallowed hard. The four teams of Hunters were the elite of the elite that he had raised himself. Especially the S-class Hunter Nishimori, who was the best swordsman in the Alliance…….
Looking down at the mangled corpses of his fellow Hunters, Takeda honors them with a short moment of silence. Then he analyzes them coldly.
‘Strong and destructive swordsmanship.’
There is a school of swordsmanship called Yufa but it has been sharply divided since the advent of the Hunters.
‘Destructive and fierce swordsmanship. The swordsmanship of the Berserker Chun Jin-soo.’
Chun Jin-soo swordsmanship was famous for being better suited to monsters than humans. Even in hand-to-hand combat, he could shatter defenses with his overwhelming blasts.
He used his superhuman athleticism to leap around, scattering destructive kills.
There’s no way Chun Jin-soo could have attacked the Japanese Hunters, so there’s only one answer.
“Four teams have been wiped out by the Demon Sword.”
Chun Ji-ho, the genius swordsman who was the successor of Chun Jin-soo.
“How the hell did…….?”
“Takeda-san, look this way!”
Fumio urgently called out to Takeda. Where he pointed was the corpse of a huge monster… a land shark, and it was a strange one at that.
“There’s a mark on it that looks like it came out from inside.”
“No way…….”
He was swallowed by a monster to avoid detection and ripped open the monster after landing?
“Damn it. Why is he suddenly acting like this?”
None of the six generations of Demon Swordsmen had ever done anything like this, and the previous generation of Demon Swordsmen had been wiped out in less than two years… Is this kind of strategic activity possible in the fourth year?
“Why now?
The unanswered question was buried with the next message.
[Team 2 is unreachable!]
* * * *
“Demon Sword!”
Yong-wan and his crew, who were preparing for the second landing, blinked at the urgent communication.
“Demon Sword? We couldn’t confirm it with the satellite reconnaissance!”
“That, that… there are reports that it seems to have protruded from a monster’s stomach!”
“Why is he doing something he’s never done before?”
The summoning of the gate and the behavior of the demon sword and the demon swordsman were completely different from before. But apart from that, the S-class Hunters, who were acting as a separate unit, had to leave immediately.
“Where did they come from, Shikoku or Wakayama?”
“Shikoku! We’ve already lost three S-class Hunters from the Japanese side alone! Hunter Takeda is rallying all the teams!”
“Three have already been defeated?”
Lee Yong-wan hesitated for a moment, but Chun Jin-soo shouted out in anger.
“Let’s go!”
The Osprey took flight and as the transport, purchased for 15 billion yen each, carried them over the island of Shikoku, where the Takeda team was, Yong-wan asked.
“Id His Majesty the Lionheart King coming?”
The idea of finding Leon there on the other side of the world caused Chun Jin-soo and Kang Jin-sung to glare at him, but Ha Yuri, Golden Chul, and Huang Yeon-ha gave him a look of understanding.
“Uh… that.”
“What, what, he couldn’t have been hit!”
“He landed briefly due to a mechanical anomaly, and was shot down by a ranged attack from monsters on takeoff…….”
“Holy shit!”
He didn’t say that out of concern for Leon, because he was pretty sure that thing would survive a fall from space.
The problem was that it would delay Leon’s arrival.
“Well, can we just not go?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Chun Jin-soo glared and slapped him, but Yong-wan was uneasy.
He was the embodiment of self-preservation and a well-connected businessman.
His senses were warning him of danger but he was more afraid of Chun Jin-soo in front of him. After all, the plane had already departed.
“Landing!”
The tilt-rotor plane’s rotor blades rose vertically as it approached over Shikoku Island. With no open space to land, the South Korean S-class Hunters had to jump from 50 meters in the air.
“Hutcha…!”
Chun Jin-soo and Kang Jin-sung landed, along with 50 other elite Korean A-classes and Takeda greeted them.
“Thank you for coming.”
Takeda was pleased with the arrival of the Korean Hunters; he’d lost contact with the second team and gathered them all in one place at the same time.
“Weren’t we supposed to stall for time and secure a position against the Demon Swordsman?”
Chun Jin-soo scolded Takeda for not playing the delaying game as originally planned. However, he had no choice.
“He’s stronger than I imagined. If we’d gotten caught separately, we’d have been destroyed individually. In fact, we’ve already lost three teams.”
“Three S-class Hunters…That’s a heavy loss.”
Takeda nodded at Yong-wan’s words. Although Japan had thirty-eight S-class Hunters, its land mass was four times the size of South Korea.
The loss of an S-class Hunter would be devastating. No wonder they had to rally their forces so quickly.
“Anyway, with five here and four in Korea, we have nine S-class Hunters left. That should be enough for us.”
“Why don’t you count me?”
“You’re an S-class.”
“C’mon…you’re behind.”
The S-class Hunters are not the only ones in the room. There were over a hundred A-class Hunters moving in teams. Even if it was the demon sword, it would be foolish to charge here──
“……!”
“……?!”
Lee Yong-wan was started, the hairs on his body stood on end, a chill ran up his spine, and his heart pounded.
Yong-wan had experienced something similar twice before.
The first time was when he encountered Georgic’s punishment, and the second time was when the Demon Archduke Rakshar appeared…….
“No way…….”
Ha Yuri, Golden Chul, Hwang Yeon-ha, Kang Jin-sung, Chun Jin-soo… and the rest of the Japanese powerhouses were stopped in succession.
Even the S-class Hunters, trembled as they felt an invisible presence.
“Ma…….”
A presence from across the street was staring at the dozens of S-class Hunters and over a hundred A-class Hunters, it was the Demon Swordsman.
Yong-wan’s complexion turned pale as beyond his gaze, there was a demon clutching a sword.
The blood-soaked Demon Swordsman opened his heavy mouth at them.
“Brutal slaughter…merciless destruction… …….”
Obtain.
Blood, skulls… stand at the pinnacle of destruction.
“I am the Carnage Archduke Akasha. I am the destruction of all life.”
[Carnage Archduke dominates the space.]
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