The Cave of Extreme Cold (1)
After getting plenty of rest on Jeju Island, Seon Yul opened the entrance to Absolute Space that led back to Australia’s Death Field.
In truth, the reason he had rested longer than usual, nearly half a month, was because the Absolute Space entrance he had left in Australia was located near Cambolda.
Unfortunately, news of the Arachne raid had spread through the community far earlier than expected, and many people began to take an interest in that area.
Some even went all the way to Lake Lefroy and started taking proof photos.
As this situation continued, Seon Yul refrained from heading to Australia for a while. If he happened to run into other users unexpectedly, it could become a headache.
So he waited until things quieted down as much as possible before opening the Absolute Space entrance again.
Jiiiiing.
Appearing through Absolute Space on the outskirts of Cambolda West, Seon Yul cautiously looked around.
“Fortunately, no one’s here.”
Coming at around 2 a.m. local time in Cambolda West, just in case, seemed to have helped as well.
“If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve opened it farther away from the start. I’ll have to be more careful next time.”
Things he had considered trivial often turned out to be unexpectedly problematic, so he needed to be cautious.
“Alright, first, the objective here is…”
While resting in Jeju, Seon Yul had already searched in advance for the Death Field region where he would hunt.
The criteria he used to choose his hunting ground were threefold.
First, monsters higher level than himself had to appear.
Second, despite that, the hunting difficulty had to be high enough that few other users would go there.
Third, it had to be a place where pack-type monsters roaming in groups appeared.
Using these three conditions, several candidates were selected.
Among them, Seon Yul chose the least popular hunting ground as his first Death Field destination.
“The West MacDonnell Ranges. To get there…”
The hunting ground Seon Yul selected was the A+-grade ‘Sandworm Gate’ located near the West MacDonnell Ranges.
Creatures that roamed underground in groups and hunted enemies on the surface were extremely difficult to deal with in many ways, and yet their dropped loot was unimpressive.
As a result, users rarely went to the Sandworm Gate.
However, to reach this area, Seon Yul first had to go to a nearby city.
Naturally, there was no need to walk.
“Alice Springs.”
Seon Yul had already looked at numerous photos of Alice Springs on the internet, so he immediately imagined one of them and began drawing a door in midair.
Ssk, ssk, ssk.
After lightly sketching the door and injecting mana into it to complete ‘The Door,’ Seon Yul carefully opened it.
The reason was that Alice Springs had a ‘Desert Troll Gate,’ and that place was quite a popular hunting ground within the Death Field.
To reach the least popular hunting ground, he would have to briefly pass through this highly popular one.
Seon Yul planned to move to Alice Springs as quietly as possible and then discreetly make his way to his intended destination, West MacDonnell National Park.
While Seon Yul was moving within the Death Field to hunt, high-ranking officials of the United States Gate Administration were holding a meeting in Washington, where its headquarters were located.
“So, the one who eliminated Arachne was not a team, but solely one person. Just one user.”
Lewis, who had gone all the way to Cambolda West and obtained definitive information through Rewind’s ability, delivered his briefing diligently, and the high-ranking officials of the Administration listened attentively.
“Is that even possible? Lewis, is it true that a single person killed Arachne?”
“It’s true. However, due to the limitations of Rewind’s ability, we couldn’t perfectly reconstruct every detail of the battle situation, so I cannot say with certainty exactly how Arachne was defeated.”
Rewind’s past reconstruction ability had two limitations.
The first limitation was that the restored area was fixed and static.
Only a 500m by 500m square area could be rewound at a time, so they had to change locations repeatedly to check multiple areas. Though it sounded like “multiple times,” in reality, it was impossible to examine every location.
The second limitation was fragmentation during Rewind.
If there were sections within the reconstructed past containing powerful mana fluctuations, the visual clarity of the reconstruction became extremely blurred.
If the fluctuations were strong enough, the restoration would not occur at all and would instead be interrupted.
And these phenomena occurred frequently in Cambodia West.
Of course, interpreted differently, this meant that the Arachne raid had indeed taken place.
Numerous powerful mana fluctuations occurred during the raid process, which was why Rewind could not function properly.
“Then how are you certain it was one person?”
“Even if we couldn’t fully restore the entire battle, the moment Arachne fell at the end was clearly reconstructed. At the exact moment she turned into smoke and disappeared, only one user was standing on top of Arachne’s head.”
Before the battle began and after it ended, the mana fluctuations were not severe, so they were able to secure clear images of those moments in the past.
And in those images, there was only a single magic user.
“One person?”
“Yes, one person. There was only one magic user when the individual first appeared in the Cambolda West area, and after the raid ended, only one remained.”
Lewis nodded confidently and displayed a prepared image on the screen.
It was not a photograph, but a drawing.
A well-rendered drawing depicted a man wearing a safety helmet, a leather mask covering most of his face, and leather armor on both his upper and lower bodies.
“AbsoluteSafetyFirst. I’m certain you’re all familiar with this magic user. Based on the information confirmed through Rewind, I believe that the sole user present was AbsoluteSafetyFirst.”
AbsoluteSafetyFirst’s appearance had never been clearly exposed. However, the intelligence division of the United States Gate Administration had employed every possible method to gather even the smallest details about him, and as the head of that division, Lewis naturally knew all of it.
Therefore, when Rewind reconstructed the image of a single magic user, he was almost certain it was AbsoluteSafetyFirst.
“Are you sure?”
“I am.”
With Intelligence Captain Lewis speaking with such conviction, the Director of the United States Gate Administration, Director Iron, had no choice but to accept it.
The other high-ranking officials attending the meeting felt similarly.
“Hm… AbsoluteSafetyFirst. Hard to believe.”
Of course, Iron was well aware of AbsoluteSafetyFirst… a rising star who had suddenly appeared in Korea and was believed to possess highly threatening awakened abilities.
Even so, Lewis’s report was honestly difficult to believe.
A solo raid to defeat the Super-Giant Tarantula Arachne?
Even the ‘Seven Stars,’ who were known as the current pinnacle of magic users, would likely struggle with such a feat.
“Although the battle scenes were intermittently cut off and we couldn’t confirm everything precisely, we estimate that AbsoluteSafetyFirst utilized that terrifying ‘large-mass falling-type’ attack he uses to take down Arachne.”
“But there were no traces of that attack, were there?”
“Well… perhaps because Arachne’s body was so massive, she absorbed all the attacks entirely on her own?”
“Is that so…?”
Iron tilted his head slightly and muttered.
“Shouldn’t we take some action? Even though Korea is our ally, they’ve been charting more independent paths lately… Leaving this as it is seems too dangerous.”
The Deputy Director, who had been listening, carefully spoke up.
“Then what should we do? This could be a highly sensitive issue. Judging from the Korean Administration’s response, they seem to be pushing AbsoluteSafetyFirst as almost their main user… If we clumsily attempt recruitment or persuasion, it could turn into a political problem.”
“What if we use the Wish Boxes we currently possess to entice him? No matter how well the Korean Administration treats him, it wouldn’t compare to the benefits we could provide…”
“No. I don’t think we should approach it that way. Intelligence division, what’s your assessment?”
Iron turned to Lewis.
“Our assessment aligns with yours, Director. Based on the information we’ve gathered, AbsoluteSafetyFirst is a highly individualistic and cautious user. With someone like that, we absolutely cannot approach rashly.”
Lewis continued calmly, having already prepared his response.
“So first, we need to gain his favor. The Korean Administration will certainly try to block any attempts we make to approach him… So I believe it would be best to propose a joint raid nd approach him by offering an excessive level of compensation specifically to AbsoluteSafetyFirst.”
“Will we be able to approach him?”
“If we conduct a raid together, we’ll inevitably communicate in some form.”
“But AbsoluteSafetyFirst might reject a request for cooperation.”
“Then we offer compensation so excessive that he cannot refuse.”
The so-called ‘an offer too great to decline’ strategy.
A thoroughly American approach.
“The raid location?”
“How about the Cave of Extreme Cold Gate in Alaska?”
The Cave of Extreme Cold Gate, along with the Arachne Gate, was classified as one of the sixteen unconquerable gates.
“The Cave of Extreme Cold? Is that… feasible?”
“It should be more than feasible. In fact, independent of this situation, the Intelligence Division had already been planning to clear the Cave of Extreme Cold independently within this year.”
The U.S. Administration had postponed conquering it due to the unique factors of its being a cave-structured hive-type raid gate and its location in Alaska.
However, since it was realistically conquerable only by the United States, it had naturally been included among the sixteen unconquerable gates.
“Alaska is an area we can afford to leave as it is. Wouldn’t it be better to keep it as a hunting ground rather than clear it?”
One of the high-ranking officials at the meeting voiced opposition.
But Lewis had already prepared an answer to this objection.
He was not called the Administration’s top brain for nothing.
“We can minimize casualties. Especially if we receive assistance from AbsoluteSafetyFirst, we may even be able to clear it with almost no losses. While it’s true that Alaska’s strategic value has decreased significantly for us, we already have plenty of alternative hunting grounds. There’s no need to leave a gate uncleared if we’re capable of conquering it.”
Lewis responded with clear logic, and everyone listening nodded in agreement.
“I will handle negotiations with the Korean Administration. And beginning with this joint raid, I will gradually persuade AbsoluteSafetyFirst and turn him into a magic user of the United States as quickly as possible.”
The reason Lewis spoke with such confidence lay partly in his awakened ability.
He had never revealed his awakened ability to anyone. As head of Intelligence, he had concealed it thoroughly by disguising it as something else.
Externally, he was known as a user with moderate-grade physical enhancement abilities, but in reality, he possessed the S-grade awakened ability ‘Mind Build-Up.’
By using his detailed skills to enhance his own physical capabilities, he had deceived others.
And within Mind Build-Up was also a detailed skill that enabled him to gain the goodwill of others.
Thus, if he could just meet AbsoluteSafetyFirst and be given enough time, he was confident he could persuade him.
“Very well. The plan is approved. If anyone opposes it, speak now.”
Iron said this while looking around.
But no one voiced opposition to his approval.
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