[Another man…] the boss grumbled.

“You’re being too honest!” I protested.

The 70th Floor Master was, unsurprisingly, the Incubus King. With stylish clothes and handsome features, he indeed possessed looks that could capture any woman.

His high charm could affect both men and women, but it was useless against my incredibly high charm stat.

He moaned, [I do not enjoy fighting. I would rather whisper into the ears of beautiful women.]

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re a creep. Come.”

He shot a glare at me. [I especially hate men who give off enticing scents like you! They steal my women!]

“Mind your own business!” I snapped.

The Incubus King charged at me with an ornate longsword. When he swung his sword, thousands of ice spears appeared in the air. I did have to give him credit in regards to his boundless mana pool.

He howled, [My ice spear will penetrate you!]

I retorted, “Can you stop making everything lewd!? Also, I’ll be the one penetrating you with my ice spear!”

I smirked and charged forward. At the same time, Ruyue flew up in her beast girl appearance and shouted, [I’ll teach a lesson to anyone who bullies Shin!]

Immediately, the thousands of ice spears flying toward me halted. Then, along with Ruyue’s hand gestures, some became bigger and some combined with others. The Incubus King waved his sword around with a shocked expression, but it was too late. He had completely lost control of his ice spears.

He snarled, [A mere elemental dares to go against me!]

“If you look away, you’ll die!” I crowed.

Not that he wouldn’t die if he didn’t look away. While he was staring at the ice spears in the air, I used Divine Speed and shot a Heroic Strike wrapped in chaos flames. The attack drilled into his shoulder and created a huge hole.

[Kuaaaaak! My noble body!] he shrieked.

I quipped, “Didn’t the other men who went through here do the same thing?”

He howled furiously, [Are you looking down on me for being restrained by the dungeon? You’re no better, a mere human being played by fate!]

The Incubus King furiously charged towards me. I grinned and held up my spear.

Chaos flames and white aura mixed together, burning in a hard to describe form. I then charged toward the Incubus King who was fuming with a navy demonic energy.

“Go to hell with your fate bullshit!” I shouted.

At the same time, hundreds of ice spears strengthened by Ruyue descended. The Incubus King swung his sword and created a barrier. He then used magic to break the incoming ice spears, but his face was grim as if he already knew he would lose.

He wasn’t wrong. He had already used quite a lot of his mana to create the ice spears. When that attack failed, his defeat was only a matter of time.

He screamed, [Human, human, humaaaaan! Despair! Surrender to fate! Become a loser and forever slumber in resentment!]

“Stop talking about yourself!” I retorted.

The ice spears then broke through his barrier and struck him. His beautiful clothes became shredded as his limbs separated from his torso. Coincidentally, only his face remained unhurt.

[Ugh…I won’t forget you!]

The Incubus King coughed out black blood and glared at me. I struck my spear into his face and replied, “Full of bullshit to the end. Even when I see you Floor Masters 10 times a day, none of you remember me.”

[A Grand Achievement! You have defeated the Floor Master, ‘Incubus King’, alone! Amazing!]

[You have reached level 71. You have obtained the qualification to challenge Beyond’s 20th floor.]

[You have obtained 5 bonus stats.]

[You have obtained the title, ‘Incubus King Slayer’. All stats have permanently increased by 1. This effect will apply even if the title is not equipped.]

[You have reached Gold Rank 2. Congratulations.]

[You have defeated the Incubus King alone. You have obtained the special reward, ‘Superior Incubus King’s Top.’]

[You have obtained 500,000 gold.]

[Choose your reward.]

[1. Captivation Magic Book.]

Unlike the Succubus Queen, somebody had already claimed the first reward for the Incubus King. In other words, an explorer who had been bewitched and killed by the Succubus Queen had slain the Incubus King in cold blood. Incubus King, you poor guy…

Regardless, the solo kill reward was the important thing. Captivation Magic Book was another item that was beyond my expectations, and it had come out. I couldn’t refuse the reward either. Thinking I might need to learn to control my charm again, I sighed as I chose the reward.

[You have learned the passive skill Captivation. Captivation strengthens your charm. At level 1, it increases your charm by 10%. Against members of the opposite sex, your charm will have double the effect.]

“I knew it,” I whispered almost despondently.

If this effect multiplied the amplification I got from the Succubus Queen’s Tattoo, then my charm would have quadruple the effect on females. Even if the effect worked additively, it would still be triple. Since the skills I obtained from the dungeon all worked additively, my charm most likely tripled instead of quadrupling. The 60th through 70th floor really increased the charm stat. Hwaya must love it.

Regardless, since my charm reached a troublesome realm once again, I had to control it before I headed out to the Floor Shop.

Loretta greeted me, “Welcome back, Shin-nim...Ooo, your charm increased again!”

I sighed. “If you want to resent someone, Loretta, resent the one who made the dungeon like this.”

She batted her eyes. “Why would I resent anyone? I’m fine as long as you don’t go around seducing women. In fact, I have to thank the Lord for this!”

“At least you’re honest…”

At my wry smile, Loretta puffed out her chest proudly.

“Being honest is my good point! Then, Shin-nim, now…”

I ran. “See you later.”

“I knew you’d say that. I hate you!” she howled.

Leaving Loretta behind, I went back into the Floor Master room to fight the Incubus King again. To implement my plan in time, I had no choice but to work hard.

Two hours afterward, at the guild house on Earth, I checked the guild members who wanted to participate in this expedition. I had already notified everyone on the day I talked to Yua. After I had cleared the 70th floor earlier than expected, I told whomever was coming along to finish their preparations by today.

It turned out it would have been faster to count the number of people not here. No, wait…

“… Everyone’s here?” I looked around in surprise.

“We’re going to reclaim a country. Isn’t it obvious that we’d come?”

Hwaya spoke as everyone’s representative. She was wearing formal attire and was holding a long silver stick in one hand. She stood next to an empty wall, ready to give a presentation.

Michel and Leon also nodded.

“She’s right. I joined Revival because I believed we would drive away the monsters from Earth. This is the first step. There’s no way I can miss it.”

Leon slapped his knee. “Well said, old man! Besides, if I don’t help, I’ll feel weird receiving help to reclaim Texas or California.”

“Ugh, having California taken by them was indeed a great catastrophe…” Michel lamented.

Leon grinned. “Haha, it’s fine, it’s fine! Although we can’t bring the dead back to life, lost lands can always be reclaimed!”

Over 10% of the U.S. population lived in California prior to the disaster. When the Two Moon incident occurred, a large-scale monster attack decimated half of California’s population. Even those who survived had lost their families, properties, and hopes of living.

I winked. “We’ll go to California soon, so don’t worry, Leon.”

He winked back. “I believe you, friend!”

“Shush.”

Hwaya silenced us and projected a screen onto the wall.

“The place we’re going to today is the Philippines.”

“Philippines…” I murmured.

Michel commented, “Because of monsters, 90,000,000 people lost their lives in the Philippines. That’s 90% of their population. It was one of humanity’s greatest catastrophes. ”

“I’ve seen a satellite image. It’s full of vegetation like it has traveled back in time.”

“It’s possible that it’s part of another world’s natural environment. Even if you’ve been to the Philippines before, don’t think the Philippines we’re about to go to is the same Philippines as the past.”

Hwaya spoke with a stern tone and pointed to the Philippines on the screen’s map. Then, a few pictures popped up on the screen. Tall trees and dense vegetation made it feel like we were looking at a scene from the Jurassic Period. Inside the forests, we could see giant monsters roaming about.

“These are pictures taken in the Philippines during the catastrophe. At the time, three SS rankers including me fought against the monsters there. Back then, we had to retreat without even killing 10% of the monsters at the coast. Like the other occupied countries, Philippines’ monsters are rather high ranked. The weakest are A ranks. However, 60% of them are S rank, 10% are SS rank, and 1% are…that.”

I muttered, “Only that…? Ow!”

Ludia hit my head as she scolded me, “Don’t look down on others just because you’re strong.”

I immediately repented my wrongs.

Hwaya continued, “They might have gotten even stronger by now. We can probably safely assume that most monsters have had a half rank increase. The succubi battle units recovered most of the islands other than the mainland, and their reports prove that this is true.”

Licorice interjected, “Right. The monsters there were unusually strong. Dear Husband, the Philippines…I think there’s something in its center region. I felt a powerful aura that made me tremble.”

Hwaya explained, “It could be a commander level monster. In any case, this operation can’t be done without Shin. As you know, Shin, your Evil Eyes will be important.”

I thumped my chest with a fist. “Leave it to me.”

I could petrify all monsters below SS rank without having to use mana. Since monsters with relatively high ranks could naturally cancel the petrification over time, we had to go through the process of shattering their petrified bodies.

Hwaya then showed us more pictures of the Philippines, explaining the monsters endemic to the area. With the Philippines being an island nation, even coastlines had powerful oceanic monsters. As for deeper inland, there were many powerful mammalian monsters, insect monsters, and harpy type monsters. There really were monsters of all sorts.

I chimed in quietly, “There’s also the matter that served as the how this operation started – finding elite monsters for Yua. Daisy, stop drooling.”

Daisy murmured, “Good monster are…dead monster.”

“Your definition of dead monsters is undead monsters,” I pointed out.

Daisy shrugged. “Meki, strong because dead. Other mantis, weak because alive.”

“Is Meki the name you gave to the Evil Mantis Queen?” I asked curiously.

Daisy smiled slightly. “Kang Shin, smart student…!”

While I smacked Daisy’s head, Hwaya’s explanation was reaching its end.

“We've already explained the situation to Guardian and Freedom Wing. The media will talk about us around dinner time. There are some volunteers from various agencies…”

“Reject everyone under SS rank,” I ordered bluntly.

Hwaya laughed. “That’s everyone then.”

She then burned away some of the papers in her hand. Now that I thought about it, the only SS rankers not part of Revival were the ones we made into First Dungeon explorers. They were undoubtedly still busy climbing the dungeon.

Once the papers in her hand became cinders, Hwaya’s expression became serious.

“Let me confirm one last time. We aren’t forcing anyone to participate in this operation. If you’re unsure of your abilities…”

After snorting, Ludia retorted, “You might want to go with Shin alone, but I won’t let that happen.”

Hwaya turned away and grumbled. “Tsk, even if I wanted to, sister-in-law is coming anyways…”

Yua tilted her head and asked Hwaya. “Sister-in-law? What does that mean? My understanding of this must be wrong… Can you tell me?”

Scary. And cold! Thinking perhaps it was just me, I looked at Hwaya who was a SSS rank flame ability user. Seeing how she was also trembling, the temperature around us must have gone down.

“Yua, don’t be so scary. I want to get close to you. Why do you not like me?” Hwaya whined.

Yua blinked innocently. “There’s no way I don’t like you, Unni. Haha… So, what’s the other meaning of sister-in-law?”

Don’t bully Hwaya, Yua! Her life points have already hit zero!

My father gruffly said, “Reclaiming a country with just us…It’s almost like we’re superheroes from comic books.”

“You’re not wrong, Kang Yungoong. We’re this world’s heroes!” Hwaya looked proud.

“Shin, Yungoong[1]. What choices of names…”

“Who cares! Shin, Yungoon! What better describes them!?”

“Men, stop blabbering like idiots. We’re heading out now!”

All 17 members of Revival immediately set off to the Philippines.

From this moment on, we were the main characters of this heroic tale.

1. Shin means “god” and Yungoong means “hero” in Korean. ☜