Chapter 371 (1/2)
Act 8
Su-hyeun nodded at Luslec’s question and beckoned with his hand—a gesture that said, “Follow me.”
Luslec scratched his head and followed after Su-hyeun. The latter whispered once they got a bit of distance from Lee Ju-ho, “Please lend us your assistance.”
“But didn’t you say I mustn’t cause a commotion?”
“I said that in case you caused a ‘problem’ somewhere, you know. What I’m requesting to you now is to help me deal with this problem.”
Even if it was Su-hyeun, he had only one body. It was impossible for him to take care of two events happening simultaneously in two different locations.
It was also uncertain if Thomas could raid an indigo-colored dungeon all by himself. Not only that but an outbreak had also occurred, and monsters were flooding out even now, so they would definitely need several times more the manpower required to raid a dungeon.
Also, unlike the inside of a dungeon where you could go as wild as you want, you’d inevitably worry about the safety of other people when fighting inside a city.
Su-hyeun continued, “Well, it shouldn’t be too hard for you. It’ll be several hundred times easier than dealing with the predator we met back then, for instance.”
“Ugh…”
“I know that you don’t have much time, but please, help us.”
Su-hyeun bowed his head at Luslec.
He knew that the length of time the latter could stay here was limited to a few days, but the lives of far too many people were hanging in the balance right now.
If the act of terror perpetrated by the awakeners turned out to be severe, then that could result in the loss of tens of thousands of people, not to mention the severity of a dungeon outbreak.
“Argh, I’m not supposed to do this, you know…” Luslec said while slightly lowering his head as he began chuckling.
“…?”
“Only this one time, okay? Well, I’m sure it’ll be fine if I’m the mysterious hero appearing out of nowhere.”
“You seem to be enjoying this somehow.”
“Of course I’m enjoying it. After all, I’m going to work together with you, Mister Su-hyeun. This will be 10 times more thrilling than some random sightseeing tour, you know?”
Su-hyeun thought Luslec would be troubled by the prospect of losing his valuable time; on the contrary, the latter seemed genuinely pleased about this development.
Su-hyeun sighed in relief and walked back to Lee Ju-ho along with Luslec.
“The incident in Germany, please leave it to this…dude over here,” he told Lee Ju-ho.
“Really? He’s an awakener?”
“Yes.”
“Even then, he alone stopping an indigo-colored dungeon’s outbreak is a bit—”
“It should be more than doable, actually,” Su-hyeun interjected without a trace of hesitation in his voice.
Lee Ju-ho fidgeted around with his smartphone while quietly mulling over his options. If it was Su-hyeun willing to go, then he wouldn’t have been this undecided.
Su-hyeun was fully capable of easily handling an outbreak of an indigo-colored dungeon, after all. Being unsure of such a man’s capabilities would be one of the most stupid wastes of time imaginable.
But what about this awakener before his eyes, whose name was Luslec?
“Even if Su-hyeun is personally vouching for him…”
Lee Ju-ho contemplated for a bit longer before eventually making up his mind. “Please go with Thomas.”
That was him giving half a consent.
After saying that, Lee Ju-ho called someone on the phone. It was to let the other party know that under the name of the Paragon Guild, they would send support to both Germany and Argentina.
“Yes, sir! Understood!” Luslec replied energetically, his voice sounding clearly excited. He then grabbed Thomas’s arm without warning.
Ka-booooom—!
Right after that, he kicked up a mighty dust cloud, and both of their figures instantly disappeared upward.
“We’re flyiiiiiing—!” Thomas’s excited voice belatedly resounded from somewhere high above the skies.
Tumble, drop—
The rising dust gradually settled down. Lee Ju-ho in the middle of his phone call completely forgot about the call itself and dazedly stared at the empty spot, still wondering what just had happened.
“See what I mean?”
Tap, tap…
Su-hyeun lightly tapped on Lee Ju-ho’s shoulder before calling Miru out. He then quickly climbed on the dragon’s back and flew toward Argentina.
All of that happened in the blink of an eye.
As wry laughter leaked out of his mouth, Lee Ju-ho’s hand holding the phone gradually dropped toward the ground.
“Who was that monstrous guy, anyway?”
* * *
Germany was seen as one of the awakener powerhouse nations in its own right. Although not comparable to South Korea or the United States of America, it still retained four S-rank awakeners, and it also boasted quite a high number of A- and B-rank awakeners that formed the vital pillar for the whole system.
Not only that, but the number of dungeons had also noticeably decreased in recent times, leaving a lot of awakeners on standby.
In the middle of this situation, an indigo-colored dungeon had suddenly appeared.
“We can definitely raid this dungeon all by ourselves.”
Germany, and the German Awakener Authority, began drooling greedily at the appearance of such a tasty indigo-colored dungeon.
Compared to other “regular” dungeons, an indigo-colored dungeon boasted a far richer deposit of Ether stones. Not only that, but the market price of Ether stones had also shot up due to the sudden drop in the rate of dungeon generation in recent times.
Without a doubt, the price of Ether stones would only climb higher with every passing day. Successfully raiding an indigo-colored dungeon could, therefore, result in earning an enormous profit internationally for the country.
Of course, that reason alone wasn’t quite good enough to take on the risk.
No matter how valuable an indigo-colored dungeon was, and even if the worth of Ether stones mined from such a dungeon reached billions and tens of billions of dollars, they still weren’t quite attractive enough to risk the potential problem of said indigo-colored dungeon causing an outbreak.
However, the story would change if it was no longer about the money, but the prestige of one’s nation on the line.
“Just by successfully raiding this indigo-colored dungeon, the international community’s evaluation of Germany will change significantly.”
The common reason among those voicing their desire to raid the indigo-colored dungeon by themselves was precisely this one.
They said that by clearing a dungeon of such a caliber, Germany’s international acclaim would rise up to the same level as that of the two powerhouse nations, America and South Korea, and that’s why they needed to turn this critical moment into an opportunity instead.
Thus, Germany brought together her four S-rank awakeners and launched the indigo-colored dungeon raid.