Raid Strategy (1)
“Mountain Turtle, huh….”
Seon Yul muttered to himself as he read the lengthy email sent by the Bureau.
The Bureau had kindly sent nearly all available information about Mountain Turtle. Given the circumstances, they likely thought it natural to disclose everything they knew, so the email contained all the information in their possession.
Thanks to that, Seon Yul was able to easily review the carefully prepared ‘Mountain Turtle Strategy Report’ created by the Australian Bureau.
“Once it enters Defensive Stance, it does not release that stance in response to any stimulus or attack unless it moves on its own….”
Seon Yul alternated his gaze between the report and the small mountain-like Mountain Turtle (in Defensive Stance) in front of him.
“Ha… this might be screwed….”
He frowned deeply.
The situation certainly did not look favorable.
“Should I just U-turn to Gate No. 2?”
If Mountain Turtle was impossible to raid, switching back to Gate No. 2, the one he had originally planned to attack, wouldn’t be a bad idea.
But…
For some reason, Seon Yul didn’t want to do that.
“It says it’s impossible to raid while in Defensive Stance? Really? Is that actually true?”
The report clearly stated that Mountain Turtle’s outer shell was not only harder than special metals famous for their durability, such as adamantium, but was also presumed to have an inherent ‘damage reduction’ buff applied to it.
“Can’t penetrate it…? I feel like I can.”
Tilting his head, Seon Yul began organizing several thoughts forming in his mind one by one.
He was genuinely thinking that defeating Mountain Turtle in Defensive Stance might be possible.
“If I use that… and do it like this… then in the end….”
He wasn’t just indulging in idle imagination… he was envisioning a strategy with strong practical feasibility.
“This is actually very possible.”
After refining and completing the plan in his head, Seon Yul gave a small nod.
When he finished thinking, he turned to Cheon Li Yu, who had been standing quietly beside him.
“By any chance… in the future you saw, was there a scene of me fighting that thing?”
“I didn’t see you fighting it. But….”
Cheon Li Yu cautiously raised her hand and pointed toward the front opening where Mountain Turtle had tucked its head in and sealed it with hardened shell.
“I did see a scene where you were standing close in front of that spot. That was the last future scene I saw.”
Hearing that, Seon Yul gained even more confidence.
The exact location Cheon Li Yu pointed to was precisely the point he had envisioned for his strategy.
“Good. Let’s do this.”
Having decided to proceed, Seon Yul first quickly drafted and sent a community email somewhere.
Then he turned to Cheon Li Yu.
“Li Yu-nim. I’ll escort you to the emergency bunker we found earlier.”
“Ah… I guess this is as far as I go.”
She had somewhat expected this.
In the final future scene Cheon Li Yu had seen, she wasn’t with Seon Yul.
Which meant the final battle would likely be fought alone by him. She had come this far with him, but she had already considered the possibility that she might have to turn back.
“I’ll somehow end this chaos, so please cheer safely from inside the bunker.”
With that, Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu used the still-open Absolute Space passage to return toward Itaewon.
They moved to a nearby bunker. Before leaving, Seon Yul didn’t forget to push a large truck in front of the Absolute Space entrance to conceal it.
Not far away in Itaewon was a street where embassies were gathered, and there was an unused single-person bunker there.
This wasn’t something he had found by chance… Seon Yul had located it in advance while moving, anticipating that he might need to evacuate Cheon Li Yu.
Once a single-person bunker was entered, it immediately sealed completely and would not open again until either mana reactions ceased or the stored oxygen supply was exhausted.
Typically, the oxygen stored in such bunkers lasted about 7 to 9 hours.
That was more than enough to safely endure until the event ended.
Shortly after, the two arrived at the bunker again.
Fortunately, it was still unused.
“Thank you for today. You were a tremendous help.”
Seon Yul expressed his gratitude sincerely.
“I’m glad I could help. I was actually worried that the future might change.”
“Does the future change?”
“Yes… It does change sometimes. That’s why this kind of random future-foresight ability is too much for me.”
Cheon Li Yu finally voiced what she hadn’t been able to say earlier.
“Hmm… I suppose that makes sense.”
Seon Yul understood her.
Just before entering the bunker, Cheon Li Yu held out her hand.
“It was nice meeting you, AbsoluteSafetyFirst.”
Seon Yul smiled faintly and took her hand.
“It was nice meeting you, too, Cheon Li Yu-nim. And, um… I’m really a fan. I’ll keep listening to your songs.”
“Thank you. Oh! And… if you ever need help later, please contact me through community mail. I don’t know if someone as cowardly as me can really help… but I really want to.”
Cheon Li Yu was timid. She had never even considered hunting monsters alone. She had been so afraid that she hadn’t even registered as a basic mana user, nor had she told anyone she was a user.
The bravest thing she had done was report her future-vision information to the Bureau.
But this time, by directly helping Seon Yul, she realized for the first time that her ability could be of great help to someone.
So even if not for others, she felt she could at least help AbsoluteSafetyFirst in the future.
“Yes. Understood.”
Truthfully, Seon Yul had already decided not to contact Cheon Li Yu unless necessary. But even he couldn’t guarantee that.
Her ability was just too sweet… too tempting.
In the end, he simply gave a vague acknowledgment, placed her inside the bunker, and closed it.
Click. Hiss!
After securing Cheon Li Yu in the bunker, Seon Yul returned to the two Absolute Space entrances he had left open.
Passing through them, he returned once more to Mountain Turtle. Then he closed all previously opened Absolute Space entrances.
Now, the real strategy began.
‘The report says it’s safe to approach while it’s in Defensive Stance….’
Seon Yul was currently about 100 meters away, observing Mountain Turtle.
“It should be fine, right?”
Beyond the report, he believed it would be fine because of the future Cheon Li Yu had seen.
He slowly moved forward.
90m… 70m… 50m… 20m… 15m.
Upon reaching exactly 15 meters, his maximum visual range, Seon Yul finally stopped.
“Whew….”
Tense and ready to open Absolute Space at any moment to escape, Seon Yul watched carefully.
Fortunately, just as the report stated, Mountain Turtle in Defensive Stance remained completely motionless.
“Alright then… let’s begin.”
First, Seon Yul extended his hand toward the opening where the head had retracted.
“The diameter of that hole is roughly… 7 meters?”
It wasn’t a perfect circle, but it was close, about 7 meters in diameter. That was the opening where Mountain Turtle’s head had withdrawn.
Of course, it was now sealed with a hardened shell.
“The largest entrance I can open right now is 4 meters. But if I use a massive amount of magic stones, I can overrun it.”
Normally, Seon Yul could open a circular entrance with a maximum diameter of about 4 meters.
Opening Absolute Space to that maximum required roughly 100 grams of intermediate-grade magic stone.
In Korean won, that was about 10 million.
So he usually opened entrances no larger than 2 meters.
If kept under 2 meters, the magic stone consumption stayed below 20 grams, making it cost-effective.
But once it exceeded 2 meters, consumption spiked. And if he exceeded the maximum 4-meter limit via overrun…
Then the magic stone consumption skyrocketed.
“If I overrun it to about 7 meters… I might really need around 2 kilograms.”
It felt painfully wasteful to burn through the intermediate magic stones he had painstakingly gathered, but there was no alternative if he wanted to execute his strategy.
“Please let it stay under 2 kilograms.”
He prayed inwardly and began concentrating.
Overrunning required considerable time.
He focused all his mental energy on imagining the entrance expanding as wide as possible.
Jiiiiiiing.
Unlike usual, the Absolute Space entrance began opening very slowly.
That was the typical response during an overrun.
Slowly but surely, the entrance reached its maximum normal limit of 4 meters in diameter.
“Expand… expand….”
Tstststst.
As he continued imagining expansion, the entrance slowly began to grow larger.
At the same time, his intermediate-grade magic stones were being consumed at a furious rate.
“Please hurry….”
He continued focusing.
Finally, he created an Absolute Space entrance nearly identical in size to Mountain Turtle’s 7-meter head opening.
The positioning was exquisite.
The Absolute Space entrance and Mountain Turtle’s head opening were nearly touching, with perhaps only 2 to 4 millimeters between them.
When opening an Absolute Space entrance, if an object obstructed the formation point, the entrance would fail to generate. So Seon Yul had deliberately created it as close as possible without overlapping.
This was intentional.
Having opened the entrance at the desired size and position, Seon Yul quickly opened another entrance and entered Absolute Space.
Inside, he first adjusted the transparency of the entrance.
One improvement since Absolute Space shifted from a ‘free service’ to a ‘partially paid system’ was that by paying a small amount of magic stones, he could adjust the entrance’s transparency.
Because the entrance was so large, he spent about 50 grams of magic stone to set the transparency to 100.
The closer to 100, the more transparent it became, allowing him to clearly see Mountain Turtle’s head opening right in front of it.
He confirmed that the two openings were separated by barely the thickness of a perilla leaf.
“Phase one preparation is complete.”
Once inside Absolute Space, Seon Yul felt calm and at ease.
As long as he remained inside, he was absolutely safe.
Being outside Absolute Space felt like carrying constant anxiety and discomfort.
“Ha… 2.4 kilograms gone.”
Checking his remaining intermediate magic stones, Seon Yul frowned.
He knew from tests that overrun consumed massive amounts… but this was his first time pushing it this far.
“I really shouldn’t overrun unless necessary.”
Since overrun was impossible in urgent combat situations, he likely wouldn’t use it often.
“Now, next….”
With phase one complete, phase two was required.
And for that, he needed a reply in his community mail.
“I wonder if they prepared it quickly enough?”
He opened his mailbox and thought of the recipient.
Team Leader Cha Seong Hyeon of the Republic of Korea Bureau.
About 20 minutes earlier, Seon Yul had sent him an urgent email.
The content was simple… but extremely urgent.
[Team Leader, I urgently need a ‘K4 High-Speed Automatic Grenade Launcher’ and as much high-explosive ammunition as possible. It must arrive within 10 minutes for the gate strategy to work, so please source and send it immediately. This is extremely urgent.]
The K4 High-Speed Automatic Grenade Launcher was the core of phase two.
He had known about the weapon before.
The reason he hadn’t used it previously was that its ammunition was high-explosive.
It contained gunpowder that detonated upon impact.
Which meant that even if fired safely from inside Absolute Space, the gunpowder would decay mid-flight, resulting in drastically reduced firepower.
That was why he had chosen a Gatling gun like a minigun instead.
But now, the situation was different.
The gap between the Absolute Space entrance and the target was only 2–4 millimeters.
Even if the gunpowder decayed quickly, it couldn’t decay before exiting the entrance and immediately colliding with the target.
Which meant the K4’s firepower would be superior.
After all, it was designed to destroy armored vehicles.
Each round had roughly the power of a fragmentation grenade, and it could fire about 350 rounds per minute.
Seon Yul believed this level of firepower would significantly increase the chances of success.
Ideally, he would have liked to bring in a multi-launch rocket system and fire it directly… but Absolute Space’s weight limits were an issue, and such weapons were nearly impossible for him to operate alone.
Even in terms of sustained combat, this was the maximum firepower he could handle.
And importantly, he did not intend to use just this.
Normally impossible… but inside Absolute Space, not impossible for Seon Yul.
He planned to operate the K4 grenade launcher and an enchanted GAU-19 simultaneously.
For all this, the most important factor was whether he received a reply.
Fortunately…
The reply, and the requested items… had arrived.
[K4 High-Speed Automatic Grenade Launcher has been sent. Due to urgency, we mixed K212 HEDP (dual-purpose high explosive) and KM383 HE rounds. We’ll send more if we secure additional supply. Good luck.]
Just like before, the items were sent from unknown IDs along with the reply.
“Okay! Good!!”
With the K4 launcher arriving, phase two was complete.
All that remained now…
Was the most brutally simple firepower battle in the world.
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