Chapter 721
Before the bizarre hexagonal building, the Halloween parade was racing toward its climax.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Bang! Bam! Kaboom!
A festival of marching, fireworks, alcohol, and music!
It was the kind of moment that made you realize all over again, albeit a little late, just how grand and massive Halloween in its homeland truly was.
“Did everything go smoothly?”
Gray, his hood pulled low, was the first to speak.
“So-so. I repaid what needed repaying and got what I needed.”
“Seo Jeonghee is a pretty famous figure. I don’t know what you’re planning, but you’ve done something that can’t be brushed off as simple revenge.”
“That’s my problem.”
“Haha. I really have to admit it, you’ve got guts. Then again, you’d need them to pull something like this off.”
“Enough flattery. Just do a good job buying me time. The more spectacularly you draw everyone’s attention, the better our odds.”
“Even for me, thirty minutes is the limit. You know that, right?”
“That’s plenty.”
Jinhyuk lightly cracked his knuckles.
From here on out, he had to infiltrate the place with the tightest security in the world, excluding the Tower of Trials.
And so.
They each moved to their assigned positions.
—
Whummm!
A group of hoodlums dressed as Star X characters gathered at the main gate of the Association’s Hexa Tower.
“Shhh. Shhh.”
It was Gray in a black helmet, along with players from the Dreadroar Guild wearing white combat suits.
And as luck would have it…
…their timing overlapped perfectly with a parade of people cosplaying as Jedi.
The Jedi standing against the Empire.
It was enough to make anyone’s heart pound.
“Ooh! Is this part of the event the organizers prepared?”
“This Halloween is seriously amazing!”
“Awesome! Let’s go all in!”
“May the Force be with you!”
The two waves collided and tangled together in the middle of the road.
“Waaaah!”
“Push them back!”
A deafening roar exploded outward.
In an instant, a large-scale war broke out in the middle of the parade. The impact of such a massively popular franchise appearing here was beyond imagination.
Enough to completely shake the security of Hexa Tower.
Of course, the Association hadn’t been foolish enough not to prepare for something like this.
No, it would be more accurate to say they actually preferred chaos like this.
[8-star Great Barrier ‘Eye of the Storm’ is activated!]
[The stronger the effects of ‘Noise’ and ‘Crowd,’ the greater the benefit granted to the stronghold’s secrecy!]
The Barrier’s defining trait was that it grew denser and stronger the noisier things became. That was precisely why the Association had deliberately built Hexa Tower here and gathered their most important items inside.
However.
Someone was deliberately targeting and destroying the foundation stones that formed the basis of the Barrier.
[Barrier Foundation Stone (East B-3) has been destroyed!]
[Barrier Foundation Stone (South D-8) has been destroyed!]
Unless it was an insider from the Association or a high-ranking Ranker from one of the Seven Great Guilds, it made no sense.
The problem was that, with the crowd so massive and hopelessly tangled together, there was no way to identify who was destroying the foundation stones.
“Check the CCTV!”
“What are the mages and Barrier masters doing? Assess the situation immediately!”
“Just in case, check the vault too!”
Alarm magic, all sorts of Barriers, and layered shields.
They mobilized every available hand to inspect them all.
And so.
Step.
They missed the most important point.
[10-star Barrier ‘Multi-Verse’ is activated!]
[Zodiac Constellations, ‘Aquarius’ is activated!]
An identical vault.
And identical defensive magic layered over it.
To be precise, the security personnel at Hexa Tower believed the fake vault, a perfect imitation of the original, was the real one and concentrated all their efforts on protecting it.
With that, the possibility of any additional intruders approaching had been completely shut down.
In other words.
He had created a situation where he could loot the treasures without a single interruption.
‘Sorry, but you were just unlucky.’
Jinhyuk headed toward the real vault.
Thanks to Gray drawing attention and destroying the foundation stones, he had gained enough breathing room to pull a trick like this. For Jinhyuk, who had reached the pinnacle of Barrier mastery, Barriers of this level were little more than a light snack.
Right then.
A red message flashed before Jinhyuk’s eyes.
[The Vault Guardian has awakened!]
With the Barriers shattered, the traps prepared by spirit masters and summoners were triggered next.
Right. There were still more security measures inside the real vault itself.
“Grrroooar!”
“Graaah!”
Knights clad from head to toe in iron armor drew a wide variety of weapons.
At the same time, golems of all kinds stirred awake in response to the intruder’s presence.
It was an army so vast that anyone would click their tongue at a glance.
The Association was said to be manufacturing large-scale guardians for upper-tier raids. With numbers like these, it really did look possible to storm even a respectable ruin.
“I can see why Gray called it insane.”
Aside from Barriers and shields, they had plenty of other cards prepared.
Of course.
The connections he had built over many years while climbing the Tower of Trials weren’t something to be underestimated either. It meant he had already called in enough reliable reinforcements to fight in his place.
“Kikiki!”
“So we can kill as much as we want?”
Casey and Judro gripped their long halberd and scythe.
“Hoo. You said you were sending me on a nice little sightseeing trip to the U.S. for the family. Was that a scam too?”
“I’m on vacation! And more than that, why do I have to make 100 summoning figurines every single month!?”
Min Jungwoo and Yuri Lee had also ended up being dragged onto a flight to the U.S. against their will.
“So, do you feel like quitting?”
Jinhyuk lightly twirled a dagger in his hand.
The effect was immediate.
“I haven’t fought in a while, so I’m itching all over. Miss Yuri Lee.”
“Damn right! Vacation time is for raising hell. I’ll show you how a Hell-Joseon college student parties!”
[Min Jungwoo activates ‘Fire Spirit’!]
[Yuri Lee activates ‘Army of the Red Sea’!]
Rumble rumble rumble!
Warriors made of fire and statues blessed by Egypt’s protection swelled to enormous size.
Both of them specialized in large-scale warfare!
This time, they would properly earn their keep.
A massive battle erupted at once.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
Kwaaang!
As the two armies crashed together in a long line, Mana and explosions filled the entire field of view.
And Jinhyuk leisurely crossed through the middle of it all and arrived before the Association’s vault.
A titanium door roughly ten meters tall.
Judging by its appearance, its thickness easily exceeded thirty centimeters as well.
Jinhyuk chuckled and placed his palm against the door.
“Shall I dust off some martial arts for the first time in a while?”
The quality of the Mana was completely different from when he had mainly used it in Murim.
[Black Heavenly Demon Emperor Art, 9th Form.]
Whummm!
The Mana gathered inside his body began spinning violently in a counterclockwise direction.
[‘Descent of the Nine Heavens’ is activated!]
Sinister sparks burst from the crimson-black storm.
And then, at that very moment.
Kwaddeuddeuk!
Centered around his palm, the iron door began to crumple.
[The Vault Door is opening!]
Kwoong!
Kwaaang!
Both halves of the door toppled forward and backward.
A thick cloud of dust billowed up.
And as the hazy view gradually cleared, Jinhyuk felt saliva gather in his mouth.
“Wow. Would you look at this?”
Jinhyuk stepped into the vault and let out a whistle.
These were treasures amassed through the combined power of seven billion humans.
And among the items stored here, there were more than a few that could surprise even Jinhyuk.
Still, the top priority was…
…sweeping up the core materials necessary for the coming great war against Eden.
[You have acquired the ‘Golden Reins of Archella’!]
[You have acquired 1kg of ‘Honeybee Wax from the Itclur Desert’!]
With eyes as sharp as a hawk’s, Jinhyuk rummaged through the vault as he pleased.
Aside from the core materials, he stuffed everything that looked useful into his Subspace Inventory. Time was extremely tight, so even prioritizing the key items alone was a challenge.
“Damn it. There’s not enough time.”
At best, Gray could only buy him thirty minutes.
And the fake decoy vault would be exposed soon enough too.
If everyone realized he had committed theft for no reason, all eyes would turn on him at once. He absolutely had to avoid that.
Then…
[Spirit Beasts of the Five Elements are summoned!]
“Master!”
“Did you call for us?”
As the subspace opened, a familiar group of Spirit Beasts came pouring out.
Among them were Goguma, Malang the Azure Dragon, Havelian, and Fried.
“Right. There’s no time, so forget the rest. Among everything you see here, gather whatever looks expensive… no, forget that. Gather whatever looks delicious by your standards.”
Divine Beasts and Mythical Beasts instinctively reacted to high-grade items. If he used that habit, they could round up the truly valuable stuff in no time.
And so, a clean division of roles began.
[You have acquired the ‘Lucid Dream Pill’!]
[You have acquired 10 Highest-Grade Enhancement Scrolls!]
[You have acquired the ‘Golden Fragrance Cloud Generator’!]
[…Acquired!]
Whoosh.
As everyone returned carrying armfuls of what they had collected, a broad grin spread across Jinhyuk’s face.
Jackpot.
No, this was beyond a jackpot.
They had literally gathered only the choicest items collected by the Awakened Associations of the world’s great powers. The only thing he hadn’t found was the grand prize from the Main Event, but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he had already achieved 99% of his objective.
No.
Wait.
Jinhyuk, who had been feeling satisfied, shook his head.
Since when had he ever been satisfied with 99%?
Remaining time: 15 minutes.
There were still corners left where he could squeeze out more profit.
Even if it couldn’t be 100%…
…he still had to bring it up to 99.99% for a veteran’s peace of mind.
“Guys.”
Jinhyuk called over everyone who had worked so hard.
“From here on out, it’s feast time. I’m handing out a special meal just for you, so remember today for the next ten years and repay this body’s kindness properly. No pointless complaints. No objections. Got it?”
Standing before piles of Mana Stones stacked like mountains, Jinhyuk spread his arms wide as though generously sharing his own possessions.
“Mogiii!”
Goguma’s mouth fell wide open.
“Hmm. For once, you’ve prepared a meal worthy of this noble body.”
“Miyooo!”
“Grrrr!”
Starting with Malang the Azure Dragon, Fried, and the Mythical Beast Havelian.
“Ooh! Thank you, Master!”
“I’ll eat well!”
“Hehe. Come to think of it, isn’t our Master kind of nice?”
“Of course! Only Master ever takes care of us like this.”
“Quiet down, all of you. You’re giving me a headache.”
The Spirit Beasts of the Five Elements also licked their lips and rushed straight toward the piles of Mana Stones.
Chomp chomp!
Crunch crunch!
The sounds of Mana Stones being bitten apart and chewed up echoed noisily through the vault.
And so, exactly thirty minutes later.
The vault was little better than a ruin.
—
All the chaos that had erupted in the modern world was eventually sorted out.
The Association launched a massive investigation to catch the Halloween thief who had emptied their vault, but they failed to find the culprits behind the perfect crime.
From the start, the biggest suspect, the Dreadroar Guild, had openly interfered with the investigation and blocked information at the source.
-If you have complaints, come find me anytime. I have no intention of letting you keep picking faults without evidence.
With EX-rank Ranker Gray laying down the law like that, what Association investigator could possibly conduct a comfortable investigation?
-We are already drowning in the investigation surrounding Director Seo Jeonghee. Player Jang Bo-kyung has also declared that she is completely withdrawing from the investigation.
The Titan Guild, effectively their rival, and the Vatican, which had been shattered by Teresa, were both already at their limits just trying to deal with their own messes.
Thanks to that, Jinhyuk was able to move freely onto the next step.
To the very battlefield where the war in the Demon Realm was raging.
“Have you all been well?”
Jinhyuk revealed himself at the stronghold where the combined forces of Egypt and Berial had gathered.
“You’ve finally arrived.”
“I thought my neck was going to snap from waiting.”
Berial and Anubis both sprang from their seats at the same time.
In this war, which had already become hopelessly tangled, there was no one who had been waiting for Jinhyuk more desperately than they had.
“Sorry. I had a lot to take care of outside the Tower. You said you were assaulting the castle where Lucifer is?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. I know that place has a notorious reputation for being impregnable, even within the Tower.”
“We also brought a few hidden cards that make a siege possible. But that’s not the real problem.”
Berial jerked his chin toward one side.
There, Cheongha of the Cat Tribe among the Twelve Zodiacs sat with her legs crossed.
‘Hooh. At this timing, it’s about time to establish relations with the Twelve Zodiacs too.’
The third faction, made up of twelve races.
Jinhyuk’s mind began spinning rapidly as he thought about how to arrange things in the most entertaining and thrilling way possible.
Then, right on cue.
‘Oh, right. I might be able to use this.’
A devilish scheme flashed through his mind, one that could throw the balance between all the factions into complete chaos.