Chapter 229: Episode 229

Right in the middle of the Republic of Malta’s territory, a towering spire had appeared.

“Colonel! The monsters are swarming in!”

The monsters were converging to shatter the Seed of Sealing. The soldiers buzzed in panic, but Yusin remained completely composed.

[Magic Tower defense system activating. Engaging intruders.]

’Now, even Ea can fight.’

A huge magic circle unfolded in the middle of the tower, and a pillar of light shot out like a laser beam.

The flash struck the ground and instantly erased the monsters there, then streaked forward in a straight line as if someone had drawn a line with a pen.

Every monster within that path turned to ash and was scattered by the wind.

“Wooooah!”

The soldiers’ eyes went bloodshot with excitement as they roared in triumph. Next, from the countless magic circles that opened all over the tower’s outer walls, golems began pouring out in droves.

Instead of deploying their usual expensive golem cores, they were summoning fully formed golems to create a physical defensive line. The monsters that charged in were crushed to a pulp by their rock-hard fists.

“Yusin! We’re here!”

From the Magic Tower’s main gate, the Tower members began to appear one by one.

Jin Bora, Jeong Seojin, Eunsol, Samia, and the entire 4th Floor team led by Na Daeyong. Every one of them was in their hunter suit, ready for combat.

“H-Hunter Kim Yusin! What on earth is this…?!”

Colonel Joseph, caught between shock and elation, forced down the twitch at the corner of his mouth as he spoke.

“It’s exactly what it looks like. The Magic Tower will take full responsibility for stopping this catastrophe.”

“Oh, my God!”

Colonel Joseph clenched his fist, his face overcome with emotion.

“Yusin!”

Jin Bora bounced over to him with light, springy steps.

“Wow! You know what’s really crazy? Inside, I didn’t feel anything at all, but the moment I stepped outside—bam! We weren’t in Sanggye-dong anymore, we were overseas!”

Jin Bora was wearing a brand-new hunter suit. It was a sleek black outfit that clung to her body like a spy’s catsuit, and her light purple hair flowed freely down her back, a stark contrast to the dark material.

“Pretty nice, right?”

Sensing Yusin’s gaze, she spun in place like a model. He let out a dry chuckle.

“You idiot. Try to take this seriously.”

“Hehe, of course I’m taking it seriously!”

“Hunter Kim Yusin.”

Samia appeared in a blink of an eye, teleporting beside them.

“So, we’re going to stay here for a while and block the Trial from this side?”

“Yes. That’s the plan.”

Yusin gave her a quick once-over from head to toe and smiled.

“You look good.”

“Thank you.”

Samia wasn’t in a wheelchair. She was standing.

Eunsol had modified her hunter suit, adding an exoskeleton to support her lower body. Running was still difficult, but she could stand and walk short distances.

“How was your first Magic Tower Relocation?”

“It was the best, without question.”

Samia’s proficiency with warp magic had been improving at an incredible rate. This “Magic Tower Relocation” was the work of the 5th Floor Dimensional Control Room, where she was stationed. Originally, the mana cost was so enormous that they hadn’t even considered attempting it, but when the 6th Floor Mana Mine opened, they decided to give it a try.

The Sky Castle Lord Albert’s condition for clearing this catastrophe wasn’t just to test the Tower Master, but to evaluate the Magic Tower’s overall mission capability. Albert, along with many others, was watching this mission closely. So, there was definitely a bit of showmanship involved—a desire to emphasize that the Magic Tower was capable of operating at this level.

“Master!”

Na Daeyong hurried over. Behind him, the 4th Floor team lined up in a neat row.

“Reporting in! Na Daeyong and four others! We’re heading out to assist with the evacuation mission!”

“Just don’t push yourselves too hard.”

“Yes, sir! We’ll be back!”

Na Daeyong and the 4th Floor members saluted, then quickly dispersed. Of course, protecting the Seed of Sealing was the top priority, but with the evacuation still in full swing, there were plenty of places that needed hunters. The 4th Floor team members were now handling their respective specialty magics at an expert level, so Yusin had no worries about sending them anywhere.

Yusin turned his head and looked at Colonel Joseph.

“Colonel, please leave the Seed’s defense to us and focus your forces on protecting the evacuees.”

“Understood!”

Colonel Joseph immediately got on the radio, and the soldiers climbed into vehicles and scattered. The golems were holding back the incoming monsters without any issues.

Meanwhile, Eunsol was piloting flying golems, installing turrets and safety fences all over the area.

’Everything is perfectly set.’

If they cleared this mission successfully, the Magic Tower would finally earn the status of a World Guild. Yusin slowly raised his right arm, stirring his mana.

’I hope nothing goes wrong.’

From the sky, a rain of fire poured down, incinerating the monsters.

* * *

With the Magic Tower joining the fray, the situation in the Republic of Malta improved rapidly.

The Seed of Sealing was safe, as Eunsol had used golems to build a flawless defensive perimeter around it. Whenever she needed to rest, Ea from the Magic Tower took over direct control, leaving no chance for even the slightest gap to form.

Once the front line stabilized, I joined the evacuation operations along with Jin Bora and the 4th Floor team. There were some tough situations now and then—monsters breaking into passenger ships, engines failing mid-evacuation, or people hiding in basements calling for rescue because monsters had overrun their homes—but we managed to overcome every one of them.

Now, there were no more civilians left to worry about. On Gozo Island, only our Magic Tower and the Maltese army under Colonel Joseph remained.

The monsters charged straight for the Seed of Sealing, and we wiped them out with our airtight defensive system.

’…Having this little to do feels kind of wrong.’

I was sitting in the 1st Floor lobby, drinking a mug of hot cocoa that Ea had made for me. This was by no means an easy catastrophe, but considering how much our overall skill level had improved, it felt relatively simple.

“Achoo!”

Next to me, Jin Bora sneezed from under a blanket. She dabbed at her nose with a tissue, her expression vacant.

“You okay?”

“Ah, yes! I’m fine.”

When our eyes met, she flashed a bright smile as if nothing was wrong.

When monsters had broken into one of the evacuation ships, Jin Bora had fought so hard that she ended up falling into the sea. I had gone in and pulled her out, but the battle had continued while she was still soaked, and it seemed she had caught a cold. Ea had warmed up the Magic Tower’s interior and brought out some piping hot jujube ginger tea. Thankfully, I kept it stocked because I drank it often.

“Ugh.”

She shuddered from head to toe as soon as she smelled the ginger. I smiled and told her, “Drink every last drop. Not a single sip left behind.”

“…Okay.”

“And for a while, don’t go outside. Just rest. We have golems, so forget about missions and focus on getting better.”

In the end, the worst injury we had suffered was Jin Bora’s cold. This catastrophe was going almost absurdly smoothly.

’Is it really okay for it to be this easy?’

Even so, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down. This assignment had been given by an officially recognized Rank 1 Sky Castle Lord, and we hadn’t technically cleared the catastrophe yet. Our defensive posture was perfect, so all that remained was to find the key to this catastrophe and eliminate the source.

Jeong Seojin was in the Grand Library, digging through materials on catastrophes. What kind of monster would we end up facing?

“Tower Master.”

Right on cue, Jeong Seojin came down in the magic-circle elevator.

“I found it.”

“…You’re fast, as always.”

Jeong Seojin opened one of Erendel’s ancient tomes. As the pages rustled, the smell of old paper filled the air.

“This is it.”

The illustration on the page showed a flower that looked exactly like the Seed of Sealing we were guarding outside.

“The pattern and shape of the petals, the appearance of the jewel, the strange phenomenon of monsters converging on it, even the types of monsters that gather—it all matches one hundred percent.”

“Nice work. So how do we clear it?”

“It’s written right here.”

Tracing the lines at the bottom of the page with his finger, Jeong Seojin continued, “If we protect the sealing jewel for sixty-six days from the day the catastrophe begins, the catastrophe will be cleared.”

“…”

I stared at Jeong Seojin’s face.

“That’s it?”

“Yes, that’s all.”

A hollow laugh slipped out of me before I realized it.

“Is there anything about stronger monsters showing up later, or another catastrophe overlapping with this one, or some kind of event like that?”

“There’s no such mention. In fact, it says that as time passes, the number of converging monsters will gradually decrease. If the Seed of Sealing is destroyed, there will be a problem, but as long as we protect it, this is a type of catastrophe where nothing else happens.”

“…Hmm.”

So this was a catastrophe that would simply end on its own if we held out long enough. Even as my excitement deflated, a strange sense of doubt crept in.

The condition for Albert, the Sky Castle Lord, to cast his vote in our favor was that we clear this catastrophe in Malta. Officially, it was to evaluate the Magic Tower’s mission capability. It wasn’t an easy catastrophe, but was this really something that warranted a World Guild’s intervention? Could you truly assess our mission capability with something like this? Questions piled up one after another.

“Tower Master. How likely do you think it is that the Sky Castle Lord will go back on his word?”

Apparently, Jeong Seojin had arrived at the same doubt I had.

“Almost zero. He said it in a public setting, and the story has already spread all through the Alliance. If he backs out now, he’ll only make himself look ridiculous.”

“…Hmm.”

I flopped down on the sofa, propped my head on the backrest, and turned on my earpiece.

“This is Kim Yusin. Does anyone need support?”

There was a brief silence, then reports came in from every member of the 4th Floor team out in the field: “Negative!”

–Leave the small fry to us and get some rest! Seriously, nothing’s happening.

–You’re not trying to steal your subordinates’ work too, are you?

Their voices were relaxed. It sounded like things were genuinely quiet on the 4th Floor team’s side as well. The tension drained right out of me.

“So this is how our Malta deployment ends, huh.”

I flopped onto the golden sofa.

“What am I supposed to do for two whole months?”

“How about we throw a World Guild celebration party?” wrapped in her blanket, Jin Bora sniffled and asked.

“Celebrate what? It’s not official yet. And drinking while we’re still on a mission feels wrong… Ah! Should we go clear the 7th Floor Trial?”

This time, Jeong Seojin shook his head.

“It’s far too early. You haven’t fully mastered sixth-order magic, and if you push yourself with an unreasonable schedule in the middle of an operation and get injured, we won’t be able to respond properly to an emergency.”

“You have a point.”

The number one priority of this expedition was the Magic Tower’s promotion to World Guild. We couldn’t afford to get our priorities backward.

“Yusin. Just think of these two months as a vacation and really rest. You’ve been running nonstop from being sidelined to becoming an officially recognized Rank 2 hunter.”

“…I guess you’re right.”

I did like the idea of resting. But beyond the boredom, I felt uneasy. Would we really become a World Guild just by killing time for two months? What if Albert had some other agenda all along?

“…Let’s at least do something.”

I pushed myself upright as I spoke.

“Ea. You still have that list of background checks on the demons who invaded our Magic Tower, right? Bring it here.”

—Yes, Tower Master.

A moment later, Ea appeared and handed me a stack of documents.

Leaning back on the sofa, I calmly went through the list, and Jin Bora started giggling.

“You really are the type who goes looking for work.”

My body had become incapable of functioning without a job to do.

“I don’t think the Sky Castle Lord is the kind of man who would go back on his word… but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared, right? I want to get at least one more demon-related case done during this period.”

If I was going to be anxious anyway, I might as well move. One of the most important duties of a World Guild was “demon extermination.” If we used this downtime to handle some of that work on the side, it would give us more to show for ourselves.

“Ea, Seojin. You two help me dig through the data.”

“Yes, Tower Master.”

“Understood.”

“Yusin—me toooo!”

When Jin Bora tried to join in, I waved my hand briskly.

“You, stop hanging around out here and go inside to rest. Focus on recovering.”

“Aww, you’re leaving me out… Achoo!”

“…Let’s at least get you to a nearby hospital.”

I sighed and turned my earpiece back on.

“This is Kim Yusin. Please arrange transportation to Malta Island.”

Not long after I spoke, there was a burst of static, then a reply.

–This is Muscat Trading Company! We’ll send a helicopter in ten minutes!

’Man, power really is convenient.’

* * *

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