Chapter 97

Chapter 97.

To summarize Min Ji-hee’s report.

“You want to use the Mobile Fortress for military purposes?”

“Yes, Lord Apostle. Operating ‘Arachne’ as nothing more than a walking Mobile Fortress would be extremely inefficient.”

“Hmm.”

“This can be called a ‘strategic strike mothership’ unprecedented in human history.”

Min Ji-hee’s eyes gleamed sharply.

It seemed she already had a rough picture in her head of how to operate the Mobile Fortress Arachne.

“In detail.”

As if she had been waiting for that, Min Ji-hee poured out her explanation.

“First, we select only the elite Hunters of A-rank and above, as well as those among B-rank who specialize in combat, and have them board Arachne.”

“And?”

“Using Arachne’s perfect stealth function and barrier, we drop the Hunters directly from high above the enemy’s heart.”

“A kind of carrier, then.”

“Exactly. And the first target of this strategy is...”

When Min Ji-hee tapped the watch on her wrist, a hologram appeared.

It was a map of the Republic of Korea glowing blue.

Among it, a red dot had been marked on one stronghold in the south.

“Busan.”

Busan.

In the past, when Seoul fell, it became the Republic of Korea’s second capital, but in the end, it was a ruined city swallowed by a great offensive of marine-type Demonic Beasts.

“Through Arachne, we intend to reclaim the lost second capital.”

‘So this was her goal from the start.’

How should Arachne be operated?

Min Ji-hee had attached one phrase in front of that proposition.

How should Arachne be operated ‘for the Republic of Korea’?

And she had set the first priority as the recapture of Busan.

It was a very Min Ji-hee approach.

‘Busan, is it...’

The reason the Republic of Korea, a country that possessed Han Seol-ah, had still been unable to reclaim Busan was clear.

When the bastards found themselves at a disadvantage on land, they immediately fled into the sea, and when Han Seol-ah, the Guardian, left to stop Gates in other regions, they crawled back out like ghosts and struck the rear.

Han Seol-ah was like the final adhesive holding the tattered thing called the Republic of Korea together so it would not tear apart.

With that tattered cloth threatening to rip here and there, there was no way to keep Han Seol-ah stationed indefinitely off the coast of Busan.

In the end, they had no means to strike the sea, the bastards’ home base, directly.

The fact that they were marine-type Demonic Beasts was what had prevented Busan’s recapture.

“The fundamental reason we lost Busan is the marine Boss lurking off the coast of Busan, the supermassive ‘Kraken.’”

Min Ji-hee clenched her fist tightly and continued.

The ‘Busan Gate’ formed far out over the South Sea.

Marine-type Demonic Beasts poured out from there and attacked Busan.

Finally, the supermassive squid, the ‘Kraken,’ appeared and dealt the finishing blow.

Normally, a Gate’s Monsters should naturally turn into golden dust and disappear as time passed.

But this one was different.

As if it knew the loophole in the System that ‘a Gate closes if excessive destruction occurs,’ it did not completely destroy Busan. Instead, it ruled for a long time, neatly picking out and eating only the people like the choicest morsels.

As for the second method of closing a Gate, ‘subjugation’...

“To strike the Kraken, we need to send a strike force into the middle of the South Sea. But with existing warships or transport aircraft, it was impossible to break through the tsunamis and tentacle attacks it caused and insert Hunter Han Seol-ah in ‘an intact state where combat was possible.’ We pleaded with other countries to lend us transport methods, but we were refused every time.”

It had been impossible.

In the end, Min Ji-hee had been forced to abandon Busan with tears in her eyes.

“But now, we have obtained a means to kill the Kraken.”

In her eyes burned the desire to finally accomplish a long-cherished wish, no matter what.

“Arachne is amphibious. Its concealment function is also top-class, so the Kraken cannot detect it and flee. On top of that, it has a barrier and innate durability strong enough to withstand even the Kraken’s attacks.”

It was possible.

They could reclaim Busan.

If they had Arachne!

‘Nice.’

As I listened to Min Ji-hee’s explanation, satisfaction welled up inside me.

The Kraken?

I could catch it.

‘I have made plenty of Anchors too, so if I install them off the coast of Busan and go back and forth through a Link, it should be perfectly possible.’

Min Ji-hee probably knew I could kill the Kraken too.

But perhaps our last push-and-pull had clearly had an educational effect, because Min Ji-hee no longer relied only on my combat power.

She had devised a broad strategy to overcome the crisis herself by using the cards held by the Republic of Korea.

Just like Min Ji-hee.

‘Very good.’

More than the excellence of the plan Min Ji-hee had presented, what pleased me was the fact that Min Ji-hee’s innate ‘sparkle’ as a staff officer had come back to life.

“It is an excellent plan.”

“Thank you! Then I will immediately report the detailed departmental organization and Hunter selection schedule for Arachne’s operation...”

“No.”

A subordinate who had proven her ability deserved a reward befitting that ability.

“I will entrust everything related to Arachne to you.”

“...Pardon?”

“From start to finish, do everything on your own. You do not need my approval either.”

Min Ji-hee flinched and froze.

At my unprecedented declaration, Min Ji-hee’s body began trembling faintly.

‘Heh.’

She must have understood what I meant by ‘I trust you completely,’ right?

The analysis of ten years’ worth of overtechnology.

The coordination of the Hunters who would board it.

Defending against friction with other countries.

And even the master plan for the national undertaking that was the recapture of Busan.

What kind of superior hands the full authority over such an enormous project to a staff officer while even omitting the reporting system?

Was this not the model of leadership that completely trusted a capable subordinate and granted her unlimited authority?

‘There is no superior in the world like me.’

The ‘good superior’ said to exist only in legends.

That is me.

“From start to finish, do it all yourself.”

From now on, she may call me a unicorn superior.

Min Ji-hee seemed overcome with emotion. She stared into empty air with unfocused eyes, and before long, a single tear rolled down her cheek and fell.

‘You are that moved...?’

I will have to take good care of her in the future too.

***

After sending back Min Ji-hee, who somehow looked as if her soul had left her body, I moved alone to the front of the Seoul Tower.

I brought Nopi too, just in case something happened.

For emergencies, I also brought plenty of Link Stones to escape through an Anchor.

And I summoned every member of the climbing party.

Everyone would take part in this farming run.

I would also distribute all the Artifacts obtained in the process.

‘Yeriche ran away, so it cannot be helped.’

Tsk, tsk.

Blame your own foolishness for leaving without my permission...

[Lord Apostle, this is the recommendation list sent by Representative Kang Hyo-jun.]

While I was waiting for the party members to gather, the information I had been waiting for arrived just in time.

Snowy displayed the list in full.

Even with a rough glance, it was an enormous amount.

For material organized and sent in ten minutes, a considerable amount of effort had gone into it.

[Hair Loss Treatment]

[Opinion: Even Mana, which has cured cancer, has not been able to cure hair loss. A treatment capable of curing hair loss would truly deserve to be called ‘God’s Potion.’]

‘True. Even physical enhancement-type Hunters cannot do anything about a completely stripped crown....’

May the late Mr. Hair Follicle on Kim Cheol-su’s head rest in peace. Action Beam.

[Glutton’s Potion]

[Opinion: Everyone wants health, but not many people want to maintain that health by ‘eating less.’ If it can boost the body’s structure so that one can ‘eat enough delicious food to be satisfied’ while ensuring there are ‘no adverse effects on health,’ it would deserve to be called ‘God’s Potion.’]

‘He is right.’

People do not want to live without gaining weight by giving up or being deprived of the pleasure of eating.

They want to eat a lot while not gaining weight and staying healthy.

‘It is a mass-production potion for mukbang streamers.’

[Solution of All-Matter Fusion]

[Opinion: As an artisan, one would want to draw out the ultimate efficacy of Mana Stones, but because Mana Stones are objects that absolutely do not mix with other materials, one has no choice but to give up. If this is a potion that makes such ‘fusion’ possible, then from an artisan’s perspective, it would deserve to be called ‘God’s Potion.’]

Below that, dozens of ingenious ideas continued so densely that I had to scroll down for quite a while.

[Permanent PTSD Eraser for Hunters]

[Pet Lifespan Extension Elixir]

[Ten-Minute Full-Recharge Sleeping Pill]

[Non-Narcotic Painless Analgesic]

...and so on.

Its quality was so high it was hard to believe it had been organized in only ten minutes.

‘See? You can do it, Kang Hyo-jun.’

This made it certain.

People grow stronger the more you work them.

The one regrettable part was that it lacked information on whether these could or could not be made with high-floor materials obtainable only in the Republic of Korea’s Tower.

‘Well, of course.’

There was no way anyone besides me knew what came out on the high floors.

I had probed him because I thought the Black Market’s intelligence network might know something, but it seemed they did not.

In any case.

It was extremely useful and excellent material, but...

It was too long.

‘When am I supposed to sit here and read all this?’

“Snowy, summarize it in three lines.”

[I recommend three options: the Hair Loss Treatment, the Glutton’s Potion, and the Solution of All-Matter Fusion.]

“As expected.”

Those were the items that stood out most to me as well.

“Unfortunately, the Hair Loss Treatment cannot be made.”

With the level of potion I was currently considering making, hair loss could not be cured...

“If it were an upper-grade or higher Elixir, it would be possible, but...”

Would it be okay to release something like that on Earth right now?

Should I release it around the time Kim Cheol-su’s hair follicles die completely?

By then, Earth’s alchemy should have developed a lot too.

Of course, the difficulty of making it played a part as well.

It seemed like this was something I should challenge only after opening Branch 13 - Creation.

“The Glutton’s Potion is out too.”

It was certainly a strange and amazing potion, but if Happy called that person an ‘old geezer,’ then he was probably old.

His interest in it would likely be low.

And it was not appropriate to release on Earth, where food was already scarce.

‘It is a world where far more people die from starvation or lose muscle than grow fat from eating their fill...’

I should think about it later, once the food situation became as abundant as it had been before the Tower appeared.

In the end, what remained was the Solution of All-Matter Fusion.

To summarize, it was a solution that could dissolve even Mana Stones.

It was perfect for drawing the artisan’s interest.

And it seemed we would also be able to use it effectively when making parts for our Nopi in the future.

As for the method of making it...

At this level, it was not difficult.

I turned on Lost Honor through the Nopi I had brought and showed the recipe to Snowy.

“Snowy, organize all the required materials. Check whether they can be obtained with Gold or Points too.”

[...I cannot read it, Agent.]

“What?”

[It is a writing system that does not exist in my DB.]

“What are you talking about? It is Hangul.”

To my eyes, it clearly looked like Hangul.

“Look. Read it after me. Dew-of-the-World-Tree.”

[...It is not Hangul, Agent.]

If this was not Hangul, what was it?

But Snowy would not lie.

“Then how does it look to you?”

[Like... a grotesque colony of worms, endlessly squirming and changing shape however they please.]

“Only the letters in this recipe?”

[No. Everything displayed on the screen is like that.]

Wait.

A chill swept down my spine.

“Then all the letters in Lost Honor up until now... have looked like that to you?”

[Agent.]

Snowy spoke slowly, as if to calm my agitation.

[It is not just the letters.]

“Then what?”

[The entire frame of the screen you have floating in the air is formed from clusters of those incomprehensible, squirming insects.]

This was a situation I had never imagined at all.

Before long, one intense question flashed through my mind.

“Wait. You definitely checked Nebula’s remaining Mana for me before.”

[I statistically inferred that the structure of the screen Agent mainly watches would resemble a common MMORPG interface from the early twenty-first century.]

Snowy’s calm voice continued.

“Right. So?”

[...In the past, when Agent pointed into the air with your finger and said, ‘This is MP,’ I scanned the length of the ‘worm swarm’ gathered in that area in real time and reported the percentage by calculating backward from how much that length decreased.]

I was so dumbfounded I could not even let out a hollow laugh.

“...Insane. Why are you only telling me that important fact now?”

[Magic is an incomprehensible power, so I thought it was only natural for it to be strange. Until now, I believed the source of Agent’s power was those ‘worms,’ and judged that you were borrowing power from the world of those ‘worms.’]

Snowy explained this in a little more detail.

It said that when I unlocked Deathlord and cast the Authority magic ‘Ocean of Blood’ in the basement, it saw that and concluded that I was ‘copying already completed magic from the world of worms and overwriting it onto reality.’

Therefore, to Snowy, this... ‘world of worms’ inside the monitor that I called ‘Lost Honor’ had been confirmed as an ‘incomprehensible Other World dimension.’

“So you never mentioned it because you did not think it was strange?”

[...I now judge it to be extremely strange.]

Snowy’s voice became just as serious.

[What exactly is that?]

What else would it be?

...A game.

An incredibly mysterious one.