Chapter 77 – Falling Into Confusion

I had hoped it wasn’t, but it was the same situation as when the level 29 portal exploded.

My cellphone was constantly ringing.

Even without checking the contents, I knew that it would be text messages regarding evacuation and asking for reinforcements.

However, I thought I should at least check the portal’s level and the location of it.

If it was occurring near my mother, I had to move.

“Ugh….”

Since my eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the abandoned mine shaft, I squinted due to the bright light of the smartphone screen.

However, that was only the beginning of my sour mood.

After confirming the information in the text, my face scrunched up further.

Current Time 20:00

Around Yangpyeong-gun Yongmun mountain level 29 portal explosion.

Around Yangpyeong-gun Sori mountain level 29, 31 portal explosion.

Around Yangpyeong-gun Jungwon mountain level 30 portal explosion.

* Any civilians living near, please evacuate to the nearest Awakened association building.

* Any Awakened nearby, please assemble to the designated location.

“Portal explosions in 4 places simultaneously? This is definitely unnatural. The radical faction… Are they finally making their move?”

The location of the level 34 dungeon I was at was the Jungmun mountain.

Since the tremor I felt was intense, the level 29 portal that was reported was probably nearby.

I immediately turned on the map application, and entered in the coordinates sent by the association in the GPS.

As I had predicted, it wasn’t far off.

Number 1 and 3. Using the Titan Boots and Blink, the distance would only take 10~20 minutes to cover.

It wouldn’t take long before the Awakened from the association and from the guilds would be arriving here in droves.

They probably were using drones already to do surveillance on the movement of the monsters.

The level 34 dungeon that Ho Jin informed me of was already known by the association.

After all, Ho Jin had learned of it by looking at their files.

They probably had left it alone because humankind wasn’t strong enough to conquer it, praying that it wouldn’t explode.

Unluckily, this location was near the explosion.

If it was found out that the entrance to the abandoned mine shaft had been opened, things would get annoying for sure.

“Whew….”

I sunk deep in thought for a brief moment.

Even if 1 or 2 portals exploded, they wouldn’t have much difficulty stopping it like before.

Despite the levels, it was in the range that humankind could stop.

However, the explosions had occurred in 4 different places at once.

On top of that, 3 of the portals needed Awakened magicians.

In a situation where they had to pool together manpower to reduce the casualties, they had to split.

“I’ll be moving quickly.”

I decided to suppress the portal explosion near me.

Was it because many casualties would occur for the association and guild?

Was it because it would be a huge threat to humankind?

No. I did feel something, but these reasons weren’t enough to move me.

I just wanted to break down the the tower the radical faction had raised with all their hard work, to show how pointless it was.

The radical faction. The project they’re so proud of.

Also I couldn’t stand any insects getting in the way of my premium dungeon I’m enjoying so much.

With condensed flame in my hand, I welded the metal entrance to the abandoned mine shaft cleanly and headed for the portal.

****

Hiding my form, I arrived near the portal that was in the process of exploding.

The purple light from the portal came into view.

I didn’t just rush in there, but instead used the rocks nearby as platforms to jump up into the air.

Before leaping, I picked up a stone out of the pile in my hand.

-WOOSH!

An intense sound of wind and friction against the air filled my ears.

I was able to see a bird’s eye view by jumping up into the sky and looking below.

Before arriving at the center, I used Eye of Insight to scan the portal and the surrounding area.

4 drones came into view, flying nearby the portal while recording footage.

I was also able to see a few gargoyles roaming about near the portal.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem as though any Awakened had arrived yet.

-Crack!

I broke apart the stone in my hand into a few pieces, then held them in each of my hands.

As my body fell downwards, I threw the stones towards the drones.

I needed them gone before I could topple the tower they raised with all that effort.

-Woosh!

-BOOM!

Even without holding any weapons, my strength was nearly 700.

The stones I threw flew like bullets, smashing through the drones.

The wind resistance didn’t impede me at all.

I just threw them towards the red dots, right on the mark.

Hit dead center, the drones fell to the ground, headless.

“Got rid of the spectators… Time to start with the few impatient ones that got out first.”

I’ve used skills only a few times outside of dungeons and battlegrounds.

Other than the time I first Awakened or to torture Jin, there had been none.

There was no reason to use Meteor and Iceberg to grab unwanted attention.

Even if the defenders haven’t arrived yet, the shock wave would alert them.

In both my hands, I condensed many A ranking Explosion and Holy Shock spells.

Taking my aim, I fired each shot into their chests.

“KURURU!”

“KWUAAH!”

Intense flames that would not extinguish burned at their chests, and each of them were howling Fear spells.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem as though there were any ranged mage gargoyles.

Flapping their bat-like wings, they swarmed towards me to attack.

Noticing how the Mana Shield shook quite a lot, it seemed that their attacks were quite powerful.

The moment they perfectly gathered around me as the center…

The area around me was bathed in a red glow.

Flames falling like a leaf in autumn, the main character behind it was Fire Shock.

Without any discernible pattern, the flames were enough to bathe their bodies.

On top of that…

It wasn’t enough that their bodies were burning away at the flames, holes began to form on their bodies.

It was the power of the level 200 Gravity Laser, as wide as an adult’s arm.

And since I decreased the area of effect, more beams of light were able to focus on them.

“KUWWEHHH!”

“KWUACK!”

“Definitely lasted longer than the lizardmen.”

They were cleanly obliterated.

Looking around, the area was lit ablaze due to the 15m of Fire Shock.

It seemed fierce enough to burn the entire mountainside.

Using Glacial Field to douse the flames, I looked at the portal.

The portal still shook, looking normal as usual despite letting monsters out at any given moment.

Instead of waiting for them, I decided to enter.

While I wait for this portal that could explode whenever, others could arrive.

If they wouldn’t come out, then I had to go in to kill them.

I heard recently from Ho Jin that they had used this method for defending against the level 25 portal explosion, so I didn’t hesitate in the slightest before walking towards the portal.

****

“Does that make any sense?”

“It’s the truth. Even leader Shingeon has confirmed it as well.”

“So you’re saying that 4 recording type drones all exploded suddenly.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“And the portal was cleanly turned into a dungeon by the time of arrival.”

“Yes.”

“You little shit! Won’t you get it together? Do you think this is a level 1 or 2 portal? It’s a level 29 portal. A level 29!”

“…..”

“But you’re saying that it was perfectly cleared before the arrival of any defensive units? 20 minutes after the drones exploded to boot?”

“If you look at the field data here….”

“Give it to me! Shingeon, you delusional bastard!”

The man received the photos of the scene from the reporter.

The reporter was one of the squad members led by Shingeon that had been deployed to the scene of the level 29 portal explosion.

The man was very upset after hearing such a bogus report, but after looking at the picture, he couldn’t help but be surprised.

“….Th- This….”

The man’s name was Lee Sang-Ho.

He was one of the 3 reinforcements sent for Yoon Jong-sun at the battle by the seaside before.

Underneath commander Yoon Jong-sun was Lee Sang-Ho, Kim Hye-won and Shingeon.

The four of them were the magician representatives of the association.

The magician battalion that Lee Sang-Ho was leading was currently taking care of the monsters nearby the level 29 portal at Sori mountain in preparation to enter.

Shingeon had already headed for the level 29 portal by Yongmun mountain, which had already become a dungeon.

Yoon Jong-sun and Kim Hye-won had headed to Jungwon mountain to stop the strongest portal of them all, the level 30 one.

Calming down, he asked the reporter.

“What are the chances that the explosion detector made an error?”

“That’s not the case. Looking at the debris in the area, we were able to recover one of the machine’s memory. We were able to confirm that gargoyles were pouring out of the portal.”

“Damn… This is crazy. You can’t confirm who it was?”

“Yes… No evidence was found nearby, and since the portal has already become a dungeon, we’d only sustain casualties by entering it now.”

It was then.

“Cool! Guy! There are many, but I will be~”

Sang-Ho’s phone began to ring.

The caller’s identity was Kim Hye-won.

Right now, she and Yoon Jong-sun should be locked in a fierce battle right now.

However, a phone call was being made from her.

‘Did she not arrive there yet?’ He thought so as he took the call.

“What, did you not arrive there yet?”

“No, we arrived.”

“Are you prepping beforehand? You need to focus on the fight.”

“That’s…”

“What is it? Tell me.”

“Did you receive the report from Shingeon?”

“Yeah. I just received it. I’m not sure what kind of crazies went all out, but they cleanly…”

“… It’s the same here.”

“What? What’s the sa-… Shit. What?”

“The level 30 portal also became a dungeon.”

“Holy shit! What’s going on!”

“For now, the commander left me here to wrap things up and is headed your way.”

“Was cleared 20 minutes after the drones exploded, the same as here? Any evidence? Any evidence at all?”

“Other than mudmen corpses lying around instead of gargoyles, the situation is the same.”

“Ha… This is ridiculous.”

Sang-Ho was blankly staring at the portal in front of him.

He couldn’t even begin to guess what group pulled off something like this.

Perhaps he should be thankful to these people.

To a certain degree, Sang-Ho felt that way.

However, this was a portal level that could be barely blocked with the deployment of an entire battalion.

If that many people had moved, at least a little bit of evidence should have remained, but…

“This was done by one person….”

Biting his lip, Sang-Ho let out a bit of monologue.

At that moment, one of the battalion members yelled.

“Leader! The nearby area has been cleared. Let’s enter!”

“Good work. I’ll take the lead.”