Chapter 48

Chapter 48: Rising International Tensions

Before the battle, the Hunter Association had provided me with intelligence on the current ranks of Japan's S-rank Hunters.

They said there was one First-Class Officer.

On top of that, more than half of the Hunters who had been High-Rank NCOs last week had reached Third-Class Officer.

And those who had previously been Third-Class Officers were now Second-Class Officers.

Japan clearly hadn't been sitting around doing nothing.

The Japanese Hunter Agency had evidently mobilized the entire country and devoted every available resource to strengthening its Hunters.

It was practically a nationwide mobilization.

"One-Star General!"

Katana appeared and pointed her long sword at me.

However, there was an unfamiliar, translucent barrier surrounding her body.

What's that?

At that moment, someone beside me offered an explanation.

"It's a high-grade Artifact supplied by the Japanese Hunter Agency. A mana barrier."

Sword had approached me without my noticing.

She glanced at the [One-Star General] tag above my head before looking away.

She must be a little jealous.

Sword continued.

"Now that she's brought an Artifact like that, she won't go down as easily as she did last time. You'd better not let your guard down, General."

Looking at Sword again, I noticed that she was now a First-Class Officer.

[The Resource War is beginning.]

FWOOOSH!

The instant the message appeared, I spread my Knight Commander's Wings and took to the sky.

Then I immediately unleashed my Gatling Laser toward the ground.

Japanese Hunters in the Soldier and NCO ranks were swept away helplessly.

But...

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG-CLANG!

Even when the red beams struck Katana's mana barrier, it held firm for several seconds, producing a metallic clanging sound.

"...!"

However, Katana's expression gradually filled with shock.

The confidence on her face, born from her belief that she could withstand my attacks, slowly gave way to bewilderment.

"This can't be happening...!"

She attempted to counterattack during those brief seconds.

But with so many beams raining down, she couldn't even get close to me.

Eventually...

CRASH!

Her barrier shattered after only a few seconds, and she disappeared along with it.

[First-Class Officer defeated.]

[Contribution Points x30,000 acquired.]

"Ahahahahaha!"

When I burst into hearty laughter after defeating Katana, the low-rank Korean Hunters who had been watching nervously immediately regained their fighting spirit.

My damage bonus against fellow humans exceeds 200%.

A First-Class Officer should have damage reduction of around 100% at this point.

How much did I have when I was a First-Class Officer again?

Of course, a simple comparison wouldn't be entirely accurate.

I was benefiting from First Achiever titles and Badge set effects as well.

Not to mention the Gatling Laser's own destructive power.

Still, Katana had managed to withstand it for a short while.

The other Japanese Hunters had definitely improved since the previous battle, too.

But the result was exactly the same.

[The General's Majesty has been activated.]

[Allies within range receive the effects of Tactical Command (B).]

"The General is fighting alongside us!"

"Let's drive back the Japanese invaders who have come to plunder our resources!"

"WAAAAAAAAAH!"

Below me, golden mana arrows flew through the air.

FWHOOSH! FWHOOSH!

"Bwahahaha! When I attack from here, my arrows hit practically everything I aim at!"

Light grinned as he spoke.

Meanwhile, Fist, who was breaking through the Japanese Hunters' front lines, glanced back at me.

"General. Come a little farther forward."

"Hey, Fist. If you're unhappy, why don't you become a ranged fighter yourself? You shouldn't be ordering the General around."

"..."

"Hmph. That measly 10% buff makes absolutely no difference to me, whether I have it or not!"

Sword gave the two of them an exasperated look before gripping her greatsword and charging forward.

SHIIING! SPLAAASH!

Her greatsword was already as large as her own body, but once she infused it with mana, the blade extended to several times its original length.

She swung the enormous blue greatsword, now nearly ten meters long, from side to side as though it were a toy.

Dozens of Japanese Hunters were cut in half at the waist, their upper and lower bodies separating in a gruesome spectacle before they dissolved into white light.

At this rate, she'll become a One-Star General pretty soon.

If I didn't want her to catch up, I'd have to keep giving it my all.

And so, after the thirty-minute time limit expired...

[The "East Sea Oil Field" Resource War has ended.]

[Korea: 12,083 vs. Japan: 9,961]

[Korea has won.]

This time, Korea had won by a margin of more than two thousand points.

"Yeeeah!"

"General! General! General!"

"All you bastards who wrote posts criticizing the General on Hunter Inventory, come out right now!"

"The General is the only one who can protect us from Japanese invaders!"

"Never slander the General again!"

They were saying some rather embarrassing things in their excitement over the victory.

Still...

Well, it does feel good.

That wonderful feeling of superiority that came from being worshipped!

Anyway, this victory hadn't been particularly difficult either.

I grinned as I hovered in the sky.

As expected.

I suddenly remembered the complaints I'd read on Hunter Inventory a few days earlier.

Nevertheless, I was convinced that continuing to earn as many Contribution Points as possible in the Tower was the right approach.

I felt a little sorry for the low-rank Hunters.

Well, not particularly sorry, actually.

If I didn't keep widening the gap, the others would eventually catch up.

Just look at how quickly Japan is catching up.

If they could improve that much in a single week, they might overtake me in no time if I let my guard down.

And if that happens?

I'd lose the East Sea oil field and everything else.

I'd be completely ruined.

I'd go right back to the days when I barely managed to pay my rent by farming gold in games...!

I never wanted to return to that life.

The Tower is a place governed solely by the law of the strong.

Hold back?

Forget that.

I steeled my resolve.

Once the Resource War ended, I immediately checked my accumulated Contribution Points.

[Total Contribution Points: 25,021,862]

Huh?

I'd clearly surpassed twenty-five million points.

Yet...

[Current Rank: One-Star General]

"...Why haven't I been promoted?"

That was strange.

Based on the pattern so far, I'd expected to become a Two-Star General upon reaching twenty-five million points.

"Does Two-Star General require more points than I thought?"

A message immediately appeared in response.

[No.]

"Then what?"

[The requirements for promotion to Two-Star General are as follows.]

[1. Accumulate 25,000,000 Contribution Points.]

[2. Clear Floor 70 of the Tower of Fate.]

"...There's a floor requirement?"

I hadn't known about that at all.

Until now, I'd only paid attention to the Contribution Point requirements.

I'd never once considered that I might need to clear a particular floor.

After all, I'd never encountered such a condition before.

[Floor requirements apply starting from the rank of General.]

[This measure is intended to prevent the indiscriminate proliferation of Generals and preserve the rank's rarity and value.]

"I see."

I found myself nodding.

So simply reaching the required number of Contribution Points isn't enough to become a General anymore.

If that was the reason, I could understand the requirement.

Eventually, given enough time, anyone could accumulate ten million Contribution Points.

That would create a future in which every Hunter became a General.

This restriction was designed to prevent that.

Come to think of it, I've never even defeated the Floor 70 boss.

There had been no reason to.

I was already earning money through the East Sea oil field.

And PvP and ordinary hunting grounds provided more than enough Contribution Points.

Now there were Resource Wars, too.

Most importantly, my Gate ability allowed me to travel freely between floors.

I had absolutely no reason to clear each floor one by one like other Hunters.

"So I just need to kill the Floor 70 boss right now?"

I immediately opened a Gate and headed for Floor 70.

Tower of Fate, Floor 70.

The boss room deep inside the Resting Place of the Wraiths.

It was the very place where Sword, Fist, and Light had previously been fighting one another.

Starting with the Floor 70 bosses, I needed to be careful.

Even fairly capable A-rank Hunters generally had to form parties to challenge them.

To defeat one alone, a Hunter would normally need to be S-rank.

"Laser No. 1."

PEWPEWPEWPEWPEW!

A barrage of red lasers swept across the boss.

[Floor 70 Boss, "Wraith King," defeated.]

[Floor 70 of the Tower of Fate has been cleared.]

The victory was almost disappointingly easy.

Ding!

[You have been promoted to Two-Star General.]

"Oh, it worked."

[Current Rank: Two-Star General]

[Next Rank: Three-Star General]

But then a concern suddenly occurred to me.

Wait. What about Three-Star General?

What if I needed to clear Floor 80?

Just as the thought crossed my mind...

But I've already defeated the Floor 80 boss.

That S-rank Gate I'd opened in Pyongyang a while ago.

What was it called again? The Orc Great General's Munitions Factory?

That Gate was connected to the setting of Floor 80.

And the Orc Great General, Krog, had been there.

Not that I ever even saw his face.

Wouldn't that mean I'd already fulfilled the condition?

Just as I started to feel relieved, another unsettling possibility occurred to me.

Or perhaps...

Simply defeating the Floor 80 boss might not be enough.

What if I have to clear every floor up to Floor 79 in order?

That would change everything.

Until now, I'd simply used my Gate ability to skip between floors.

I'd hardly cleared any of them in the proper order.

And from Floor 71 onward, I'd never even properly hunted a single monster, much less defeated a boss.

It seemed I might have to start clearing the floors sequentially after all.

There was a good reason for that assumption.

If clearing Floor 80 were enough, the Tower would've promoted me to Two-Star General immediately.

Instead, it had required me to defeat the Floor 70 boss personally.

"...So that's how it works."

Apparently, the next promotion requirement would only become available after I'd completed the previous one.

If that was how the Tower wanted to do things, even I had no choice but to comply.

No, actually...

Whether I aimed for Four-Star General, Five-Star General, or whatever came after Three-Star General...

If I wanted to keep advancing, there was a good chance I'd eventually have to go beyond Floor 80 through the normal climbing process.

It seemed my comfortable days of skipping floors with Gates and enjoying all the rewards without any effort were coming to an end.

Well, I've certainly enjoyed plenty of rewards already.

Besides, it was only the promotion conditions that had changed.

I could still use my Gate ability to skip floors whenever I wanted.

There are a lot of things I've been neglecting.

I'd relied entirely on Laser No. 1 and the Shadow Dagger while repeatedly gathering Contribution Points.

But I'd completely ignored the proper way to climb the Tower.

Come to think of it, how much hardship must other Hunters have endured while clearing each floor one by one?

Not that it's any of my business.

Anyway, I'd skipped all those challenges with a single EX-rank ability.

From now on...

I sighed quietly.

I'll have to start preparing to climb the Tower properly, too.

Another assignment had just been added to my list.

Well, what could I do?

Just as I'd managed until now, I'd somehow find a way through this as well.

I examined my Gate ability again and began preparing to head for Floor 71.

[Title: BREAKING: Yoo Seorin Cleared Floor 78! WTF! BEST!]

[Title: Sword Is Still the GOAT of the Korean Tower. Agree? BEST!]

[Title: The Sword Fanboys Are Going Wild Again. BEST!]

[Title: Fist Takes Another L!]

[Title: By the Way, What Kind of Monsters Appear After Floor 70?]

[Title: How Far Has That General Guy Climbed?]

"She cleared Floor 78? Already?"

The last news I'd seen was about Sword, Yoo Seorin, clearing Floor 75.

While I'd been busy raising my rank, she'd broken through another three floors.

Judging by the general discussion, Fist had apparently cleared up to Floor 77 as well.

Well, everyone has their own strengths.

I didn't think much of it.

After all, I'd just confirmed how easily I could defeat the Floor 70 boss.

To be honest, I expected the bosses up to at least Floor 75 to be more or less the same.

But things might be a little different after Floor 75.