Chapter 75
I hadn’t exactly tried to hide the fact that I was practicing my flight ability, so within a day or two, internet communities around the world were already exploding with reactions.
─Flying Germ Man!
└Did Germ Man always fly?
└Anyway, you’ve got to admit it’s romantic. Cheers~
─How’s he flying?
└I heard he got the Wings of Icarus from the Italian Hunter Association.
└That’s insane...
└What’s that?
└A relic-grade item worth 100 million points from the Italian Hunter Association.
└That’s Germ Man for you...
─But as far as I know, the Wings of Icarus don’t have that crazy acceleration ability.
└Yeah, they revealed its abilities at an auction ages ago. It’s just a no-cost flight skill. Flight speed is completely proportional to movement speed. That’s why it’s always in the top ten most highly valued items in the world. Flight skills are so rare, but the item itself isn’t all that amazing.
└? Isn’t being able to fly in itself amazing?
└... Well, true.
─In the video, he flew off like a rocket. Is the acceleration a Germ Man skill?
└Looks like it?
└It is damn cool, though.
─(Noob) : Germ Man’s new item is damn cool. (Pro) : Where’s that Gate with the flight gimmick?
└Wow, I’m impressed. So this is how you make money in stocks.
└There’s actually a Stage 47 Gate with a flight gimmick, and the local DDF has already shot up 30%.
└They’re fast, as expected...
└There must be lots of fund managers who only track Germ Man’s departure records.
─We don’t need Flying Germ Man. Show us more Kkyu-kyu.
└Kkyu-kyu!
└I’m a devotee of Lady Athena.
└A heretic!
There were plenty of reactions, but by far the best response was to my next target Gate.
People really are the same everywhere.
It was only natural that something directly tied to money would get a good response.
The problem was, even I didn’t know.
With this awakening, and now mobility on top of it...
I felt like my specs had shot up by one... no, several levels at once...
Even bizarre gimmick Gates I’d never considered before were now options.
Taking all that into account...
I had to completely redo my strategy.
The fact that I could slow my leveling pace by sharing it with Ms. Gyuseon also had a big impact.
Either way, it was a situation that left me with a lot to think about.
Well, it was even worse for the person who’d made that schedule.
“Aaaaaagh!”
That was the schedule-maker screaming.
... Naturally, it was Zephyros.
“No! Yeah, of course I knew there’d be variables! That’s why it’s a Gate rated impossible to clear. But... oh, man...”
“Ahem...”
I felt too guilty to know what to say.
“That’s why I brought you a present.”
I went out of my way to stop by France and bring it.
“You brat, that’s the only reason I’m letting you off this easy.”
“Did Ahmad make it home okay?”
“He’d been stubbornly waiting for you, but after seeing your performance in the Catania earthquake, his face went stiff and he went home.”
“... Went stiff?”
“It’d be strange if it hadn’t. Even I got chills, and I thought I knew what you were capable of. There are almost no skills in the world that can affect an area that wide.”
Maybe... I hadn’t controlled my power well enough?
Still, I saved people, so whatever.
“So... where should I go next?”
“Go wherever they pay well.”
“The Level 70 rush...”
“It died down a lot after Ahmad gave up.”
A few countries had challenged Stage 70, but after Ahmad Triain announced he was giving up, their numbers had dwindled.
Some idiots who overestimated themselves still reached Level 70, but they had to face heavy criticism at the national level.
Thanks to that, my value as a Gate clearer was still intact.
“I should buy Ahmad a meal to thank him.”
“Don’t get too happy. It means the whole world is several times more interested in your level now.”
“Tch, you’re right.”
That Ahmad... had gone out of his way to single me out and say I was necessary to clear Stage 70.
“For now, they’re all pretty similar, so it’d be better to start with whichever one on that list interests you.”
Let’s see...
As I read the list...
“Huh?”
“What, did you find somewhere that looks good?”
“... It’s a Gate in London.”
“London, London... London... There’s only one there, isn’t there?”
“Yes, that one...”
The City of Plague.
It was a Gate that sounded ‘Germ Man’-ish from the name alone.
It was Stage 37, so it was just right for me to enter now.
But as soon as I said that, Zephyros went pale and shook his head.
“Hey! Of all the ones you could pick... What lunatic added that one to the list?”
“Why? When have I ever been picky about which Gate to clear?”
“That one’s off-limits.”
“I’m confident.”
I might not have been before, but now that I’d completed my first awakening, I was sure of myself.
But why was he trying to stop me?
“Have you heard of the Three Forbidden Gates?”
“No.”
“Among the Gates rated impossible to clear, there are three that are forbidden even to enter. One of them is that one in London.”
This Hunter business made me feel like there was always something new to learn, no matter how much I knew.
“What’s the problem?”
“It’s exactly what it sounds like: the plague. What if you catch an infectious disease inside and come out? That would expose non-Awakened people to a disease that puts even Awakened on the brink of death.”
“... That’s a bit of a problem.”
“Back then, 130,000 people in London were infected, and nearly 10,000 died. After a global mobilization of resources to contain it, the Gate was banned.”
If the bacteria were that dangerous... then I had to go in all the more.
I was the one who had to go in and bring back samples of the bacteria.
It wasn’t just for my own curiosity. Those samples would help us prepare in case of an outbreak.
“If you really want to go in...”
“... You’ve caught another weird bug.”
“You know I’ve never failed after saying something like this.”
“If you say you’re going in, the government will immediately ban you from leaving the country.”
“Then I’ll fly there.”
“... Ugh, if only you knew when to shut up.”
After letting out a brief sigh, Zephyros raised three fingers.
What did that mean?
“There are three groups you’d have to convince to enter that place.”
“... Three?”
I had a rough idea.
“One is the British Hunter Association.”
“Of course.”
“Another is the UK Health Security Agency.”
“That makes sense, too.”
“The last one is... the Vatican.”
“... What?”
Why was the Vatican suddenly involved?
“Some historically symbolic groups grant Companion Skills just for joining, so certain classes have to join them. For example, someone you know... Kaiser joined the Order of Malta and got a healing-related skill.”
Of all the people he could use as an example, why that guy?
“... Is the Vatican one of those places, too?”
“Yeah. They specialize in consecration. Around 50% of the world’s healers, and over 80% in the West, are affiliated with them.”
According to Zephyros, the Vatican, which had nearly fallen into decline after the Awakening era began, had united healers from almost the entire world with that one Companion Skill.
“Groups like the Assassins’ Order in the Middle East also grew by using Companion Skills to unite people from similar classes.”
“Hearing about stuff like this makes me wonder what the origin of the Awakening really is.”
“If you figure that out, you’ll probably become the god of humanity.”
Zephyros replied with a chuckle, then shrugged and continued.
“Anyway, the Vatican has a strong say in responses to dungeon-borne diseases. I guess that’s natural, since they’re a group that can bring together so many healers to deal with them.”
“I’m surprised those healer overlords... actually listen.”
Healers were known for being snooty even in dungeons.
“If they’re excommunicated, they lose their Companion Skill. They have to listen.”
“Threats really are the best medicine.”
“Anyway, that Gate can only be opened with the agreement of all three groups. So, will they ever agree?”
“... No.”
“Does that answer your question?”
“Yes...”
So there was no way for now.
Well, it couldn’t be helped.
I gave up and went home, but not long afterward...
─Hey! That thing in London wasn’t you, was it?
I frowned at Zephyros’s message.
“... What are you talking about? How could I get from Korea to London in a few hours? It’s not like I have Triain’s private jet.”
─R-right. The timing was just so suspicious. Phew, what a relief.
“Did something happen?”
─Someone barged into that Gate, according to BBC Live.
“... I’m not that much of a lunatic.”
─Got it. As long as it wasn’t you. Damn, I was watching the news while drinking, and I spit out a perfectly good drink.
As soon as I ended the call with Zephyros, I turned on the BBC.
On the live broadcast, a large number of police, summoned Hunters, and healers who had learned the Vatican’s Companion Skill were all surrounding the Gate entrance.
“Let’s see what kind of lunatic this is.”
I was confident I wouldn’t die from most infectious diseases, but what kind of nerve did this guy have?
I watched the live footage for a long time, but the same screen stayed up for hours. What on earth was he doing inside the dungeon?
“Did he set up house in there? Or is he dead?”
It seemed like the viewers thought the same thing.
But even if he was dead, they couldn’t let their guard down.
If they relaxed their watch and he went into the city and spread the plague, it would be the worst-case scenario.
Just then.
There was no glow, but space rippled and someone quietly appeared.
Someone had exited the dungeon.
The guards, whose vigilance had begun to wane, tightened their formation again, and the Vatican healers began deploying their Companion Skill, Consecration Barrier.
A perfect barrier that wouldn’t let anything tainted inside escape.
“Hands up!”
The soldiers aimed their guns, and Hunters capable of ranged attacks all readied themselves to attack.
In this tense, hair-trigger situation...
A man with his eyes and nose hidden behind a mask, leaving only his mouth visible, grinned, the corners of his lips curling up.
At the same time, something began to form in his hand: a red sphere.
The moment he casually tossed it toward the barrier...
Pop! The sphere burst into tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of fragments, piercing the barrier.
The image quality made it impossible to see clearly...
But I saw them turn sharp as needles.
What kind of skill was that?
And the people struck by the red needles that pierced the barrier began screaming.
“Sh-shit! They say we got infected with Contaminated Blood!”
“You bastard!”
As the scene descended into complete chaos, the cordon began to crumble.
A few Hunters tried to step forward, but they slowly backed away at the thought of being infected.
Amid all that, one man stepped forward without hesitation.
Wrapped in a protective barrier of ice coated in white frost, he extended a pure-white staff.
“Grr... Edward Frost... But... even you can’t stop me...”
It was Edward Frost, Britain’s strongest Hunter and the foremost authority on ice magic.
As the man slowly froze from his feet to his head, he continued growling words laced with curses until the very end.
“The great... providence... of that being...”
Before he could finish speaking, the intruder froze solid.
Edward Frost then expanded the ice dome to isolate everyone who had been infected, even slightly.
However...
When he saw that a few people had broken away and were fleeing into the distance, his expression turned crestfallen.
**
Zephyros, who’d been receiving a report with a grave expression, ended the call and let out a deep sigh.
“They got the results of the identity check. Apparently the culprit was a Hunter who had once been infected by the plague and later recovered. His class is Blood Mage.”
“A Blood Mage...”
It was a rare class, but not one you never saw.
If properly developed, it was one of the more powerful dark-magic classes, so it was fairly popular.
“The British police are using mind-subjugation magic to question him about his motive... and it’s bad.”
“What is it?”
“One day, some being in his head claiming to be a god spoke to him. It told him to go back in there and spread itself, since it was trapped.”
No way.
“... We can’t be sure, but if it was actually a dormant period rather than a cure... and if one of its symptoms is psychosis...”
That’s chilling.
“How many Hunters were cured back then?”
“... Tens of thousands, at least. Hunters had better physical fitness than non-Awakened people, so their survival rate was higher. Still, most of them retired because of the physical damage.”
If they went back into the Gate and started spreading the plague... it would be the beginning of a global catastrophe.
We had to stop them.
“I need to go to London right now.”
And I needed to find out...
Just what kind of arrogant bacterium was this, to call itself a god?