Chapter 21: I Became a Tower Knights Squad Leader
Washington, D.C.
The White House.
An aide pointed toward the screen.
"This footage was secretly obtained by one of our intelligence assets."
The screen turned on.
The President of the United States looked toward it.
Then...
Pew-pew-pew-pew!
Red beams swept across the interior of the Tower.
Dozens of Hunters and monsters along the path were instantly reduced to white ash.
Silence followed.
The National Security Advisor spoke first.
"After analysis, we believe the weapon belongs to the same family as the Gatling Lasers we recovered."
"The same family?"
The President looked for clarification.
The advisor continued.
"Its firepower pattern is identical to the weapons transferred to us by the South Korean government."
The President narrowed his eyes.
"So that weapon is currently not in our possession."
"Correct. The Korean government does not appear to officially acknowledge its existence."
"Who is using it?"
"We don't know. Korean Hunters have started calling the individual 'Crimson Rain.'"
Heavy silence filled the room.
"Should we lodge a formal protest?"
The National Security Advisor asked.
The President watched the video to the end without answering.
The laser barrage continued for several seconds.
Buildings and terrain were torn apart.
Finally, the President shook his head.
"No. For now, remain silent."
The National Security Advisor frowned.
"But Mr. President, this weapon is extremely dangerous."
"South Korea is currently our key ally in responding to the North Korean crisis. There's no reason to cause a diplomatic dispute over one weapon. More importantly..."
The President looked toward the screen again.
"This footage is militarily invaluable. Chief of Staff, replay it from the beginning."
"Yes, Mr. President."
The recording restarted.
Duration of fire.
Spread angle.
Penetration.
Terrain destruction.
Immediate vaporization of human targets.
The analysis program automatically extracted numerical data.
"We could never obtain this kind of data in a laboratory."
The National Security Advisor's expression changed.
He finally understood.
"Correct. We recovered hundreds of Gatling Lasers, but we obviously cannot test them on human beings."
The President smiled slightly.
"Someone is doing the testing for us."
The atmosphere became strange.
"Do we simply continue surveillance?"
"Yes."
The President gave a short order.
"We don't know who this 'Crimson Rain' is. For now, let him continue. Every new recording should immediately be transferred to the analysis team. Firing interval, energy consumption, effective range, lethal radius. Everything."
The advisor nodded.
Then asked one final question.
"Do we tell South Korea?"
The President shook his head.
"Why would we be the ones to tell them?"
A meaningful smile appeared.
The South Korean government believed it was keeping this secret from the United States.
But America already knew everything.
The President's expression suddenly became serious.
If the Gatling Laser is truly this effective, then even if hundreds or thousands of Hunters riot, our military and police should be able to suppress them without much difficulty.
He asked:
"Estimated rank of Crimson Rain?"
"Even counting only confirmed Low-Rank Soldier deaths from the footage, he should be at least High-Rank Soldier."
"So he may already have reached Low-Rank NCO."
"Correct."
"And our people?"
"Our highest-ranked American Hunter was promoted to Mid-Rank NCO ten minutes ago. He owns two Squad Leader Rings, one Necklace, and one Bracelet. America currently leads the world in the acquisition speed of Tower Knights equipment."
"Mid-Rank NCO... What about China?"
"China officially prohibits PvP inside the Tower. However..."
That made sense.
China heavily suppressed Hunters.
More than one hundred Hunters had reportedly received death sentences in China just the previous year.
The word "however" mattered.
"We've received intelligence that they are secretly planning a project to mass-produce Low-Rank NCOs."
The President's expression darkened.
"Next item. Please look at these military satellite images of an unidentified structure that suddenly appeared in Pyongyang..."
[Tower of Fate Floor 29 cleared.]
Hiss.
Another Highest-Grade Magic Stone is empty.
While climbing, or rather clearing, the floors, I'd tested something.
One Highest-Grade Magic Stone lasts exactly one minute.
If I kept Laser No. 1 firing for one minute, one stone disappeared.
That meant two hundred million won per minute.
One hour?
Twelve billion won!
That's triple my hourly value!
I suddenly understood just how precious Highest-Grade Magic Stones were.
Fine. I admit it, Highest-Grade Magic Stone. You deserve to be treasured.
Without money, even an S-rank weapon couldn't be used.
So I stopped climbing for the day.
It's late anyway. I'm getting sleepy.
Before bed, I decided to check everything I'd earned through Floor 29.
A huge number of messages had piled up.
[Contribution Points x524,800 acquired.]
Five hundred twenty-four thousand!
The message log showed dozens of Mid-Rank Soldiers and even several High-Rank Soldiers.
Probably named monsters or Bosses.
I had earned more than twice as many points as Floors 20 to 24.
What was my rank now?
[Promoted to High-Rank NCO.]
"Good. Show me the Contribution Point Shop."
[Contribution Point Shop]
[Current Contribution Points: 596,000]
[Total Contribution Points: 901,100]
[Current Rank: High-Rank NCO]
[Next Rank: Third-Class Officer]
Question.
What could I buy with 596,000 points?
Answer.
Everything!
Top.
Bottoms.
Boots.
Helmet.
Badge.
With those, the Squad Leader full set was complete.
Exactly nine hundred thousand points for the full Squad Leader set.
An S-rank Hunter could probably complete it overnight if they really tried.
