Chapter 16 - The Practice (1) (2/2)
Il-hyun took hold of the transceiver. It was about half the size of the regular ones he’d seen. He plugged it into his left ear.
He felt like a true Awakener.
When he first awakened, it felt similar to when he wore a fake coat.
Of course, unlike last time, everyone was in a real situation on a real machine, so he felt more important.
“We got you a sword. Try it: it’s pretty decent.”
Il-hyun gave it a whirl.
Overall, the sleek blade was very sharp, and the design was neat.
He wasn’t an expert, but he realized that this was different from the temporary sword he had made using his instincts.
The Aegis AT Sword and the Defensive Court he received were all monster-like objects made from an entire B-class ether.
Aegis was the only place to acquire this kind of equipment without meeting any special conditions or going through special procedures.
“OK. New intel. It’s from the analysis team.”
Lee Soo-yeon pressed the monitor screen.
3D graphics appeared on the monitor, and the surrounding structures appeared along with place-names.
The surrounding streets and target buildings were visible.
“An hour ago, a double gate appeared inside the hotel in Ulsan. The government response team in Korea is taking care of the other matters.”
When Lee Soo-yeon touched the screen once more, the map zoomed in, revealing the interior structure of the hotel building in detail.
Within the image, two gates could be seen on different floors, both highlighted in red.
“There are two rooms on the 17th and 5th floors of the hotel hall with a B5 grade gate. The remaining time until activation is 15 minutes. B-rank ace monsters will only appear on the 5th floor, so you can block them on the 17th floor. Remember — the monsters spawn pretty fast.”
Lee Soo-yeon and Ghost discussed the strategy calmly, but in his corner, Il-hyun was sweating slightly and listening anxiously.
“I expected it to be different this time, but…”
Il-hyun knew that the gates that Aegis dealt with would be above B rank.
For the veterans, B rank scenes were nothing special.
Il-hyun had never been to even a D rank scene, but he took comfort in knowing that Lee Soo-yeon was more than capable of taking care of B-ranked ace monsters.
If it were a base monster, it would be E rank even though it could well be much stronger than usual. E ranks were easy to think about it.
“The owner of the hotel has asked for no damage to the property, but honestly, it doesn’t matter. This is a B-ranked gate, and it’s full. He can’t expect miracles. Well?”
Lee Soo-yeon looked at Il-hyun, who seemed to be staring intensely at the monitor.
Il-hyun, who had been studying the display while listening to Lee Soo-yeon, now looked at the phrase ‘base monster-D rank’ and his eyes widened.
He thought it was wrong, but it was correct. It was still correct when he closed his eyes and opened them again.
“I think something is wrong there…”
“Where? I can’t find anything wrong. “
“No… Isn’t D rank an ace monster?”
“Oh, normally it is. That’s the standard, and it’s the base for the B-rank gate.”
“Huh…”
Il-hyun scratched at his forehead.
It was unfortunate that there were dozens of ace monster-class D-rank monsters at the gate.
He was expecting trouble ahead.
Il-hyun was a little nervous, to say the least.
“Well, you don’t need to feel any kind of anxiety because you don’t need to do anything heroic right away” said Lee Soo-yeon.
It wasn’t dangerous because he would have Ghost with him, and wouldn’t be right at the gate when the ace monster came out.
It was an ideal task to test how much power he had.
Il-hyun felt the aircraft going down.
Lee Soo-yeon pushed a button with her fist and the door-hatch of the aeroplane opened slowly. They overlooked a bright street at night.
A large hotel and a barricade spanning the surrounding area caught Il-hyun’s eye.
“Already…? It is time already?”
From Seoul to Ulsan, he felt like he had taken a bus and gotten off after just two or three stops.
The development of ether and related technologies made even ordinary passenger planes several times faster.
Plus, the V-74 Whisper, a model developed by Aegis, used a high-grade ether core to achieve tremendous high-speeds.
Because of the nature of Aegis’ work, they had to travel the world in the shortest amount of time possible. This was vitally important.
The aircraft was almost silent in its descent, and made a smooth landing near an empty parking lot.
Three Awakened got off the plane.
A police officer who was standing around was waiting for something to happen.
His face was full of excitement.
“Good morning! Are you here to…?” the police officer was feverish in anticipation.
“Is the civilian evacuation over?” Lee Soo-yeon asked, ignoring his irrelevant and unfinished question.
“Yes, control is over. Internal power’s still the same though.”
“Please keep a safe distance as the building may break, and debris may scatter.”
The police officer’s excitement got the better of him and he burst out in a rapture.
“Yeah! Okay. Champions! I’m a fan!”
Lee Soo-yeon and Ghost were accustomed to familiarity, but Il-hyun struggled to hold in his laughter over the starstruck police officer.
The remaining time until activation was 12 minutes.
They entered the hotel through the front door.