By using the Core Bombs, the destruction of the monster areas happened quickly. However, with each monster area that was destroyed, Junhyuk scowled harder. The A-ranked monsters defending those areas had been designed specifically to fight against him, and everything was getting harder.

If things continued that way, he wouldn’t be able to deal with the A-ranked monsters by himself. Monsters ranked B and lower were kill by the ma.s.sive explosion, but A-ranked monsters were an exception. On top of that, unless Junhyuk killed the A-ranked monster first, they couldn’t use the Core Bombs, so the problem was serious.

On the eleventh monster area, Junhyuk had to turn back. The monster was in Oslo, Norway. It held a huge hammer, and its body was translucent, so physical attacks did not work on it. Junhyuk had his Frozen Rune Sword, but the monster made sure to dodge all of his attacks with it. Junhyuk was at a loss for how to deal with it.

So, he retreated. It was his first time giving up on a monster area. Guardians suggested using napalm, but that wouldn’t work by itself. The other monsters died, but the monster with the hammer survived.

Junhyuk realized that he couldn’t deal with the situation. Instead of triggering monster waves, management was entirely focused on developing monsters that he wouldn’t be able to kill.

At last, he called Sarang. Junhyuk used his communication orb and saw that Sarang was still in her pajamas.

“What’s going on?”

“Sarang, you need to help me.”

That was the first time he asked for her help on Earth, and Sarang became a bit nervous. Then, Junhyuk explained the situation to her.

“A week from now, the borders surrounding the monster areas will be gone. I’m using Core Bombs to destroy those monster areas quicker, but before deploying them, we first need to kill the A-ranked monster stationed in that area, and I can’t kill this monster by myself.”

“You can’t kill a monster by yourself!?”

“Yes. It’s immune to physical attacks.”

The monster could dodge all of the Frozen Rune Sword attacks. He had tried the Spatial Collapse, but the monster had dodged a direct hit and survived. It had to die.

On top of that, from now on, even more difficult monsters would appear. He needed Sarang’s help. After the Core Bombs detonated, he would work alone. Without acceleration, advancing into the tear was not possible.

However, he couldn’t kill the monster by himself. So far, he had been able to do it, but management had developed monsters he wouldn’t be able to kill alone.

He needed Sarang. With her, he wouldn’t have any problems. The two of them would be able to kill that monster.

Sarang smiled.

“Is it time to reveal another hero?”

“Once the world knows you as a hero, you won’t be able to go back on it.”

“Nothing I can do about it. I can’t hide when things are like this.”

Junhyuk felt sorry for her. If possible, he wanted to keep her out of everything. He felt responsible for putting her in that position since he had argued with the manager.

Sarang would come help him, so he had to get things ready for her arrival. She only had one mask, so it would be hard to hide her ident.i.ty.

“I’ll tell Elise and Eunseo. Head over to Guardians.”

“I will.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks for asking me for help.”

Sarang disconnected. Junhyuk knew that Sarang would be of immense help. Jeffrey could also help, but Jeffrey had gone to seek out other champions.

They would take three days to make more Core Bombs with the nine cores he had gathered. In the meantime, he would destroy another ten monster areas. With Sarang, it would be OK.

Junhyuk called Eunseo on the private line. She had dark circles under her eyes when she answered him.

“I got a call from Oslo earlier. How can I help?”

Every city was evacuating civilians, so she was really busy.

“Get Sarang here.”

“What?”

“I’m up against a monster I can’t kill. That means I’ll encounter even more monsters I won’t be able to kill. So, I need her. Get her here as soon as possible.”

Eunseo could guess what would happen, and she replied, “I feel sorry for her. She’s still in high school.”

“She still has to take her math exam, sure, but she’ll help us.”

Things could be worse for humanity. When the borders disappeared, all of humanity would be in danger. Junhyuk had tried going at it at full force while sparing Sarang. If she died on Earth, that would be the end for her. That wasn’t any different because she was a hero.

However, the time had come to ask her for help. He had to kill the monsters and destroy the monster areas. If not, the world would burn.

The iron soldiers could deal with B-ranked monsters, so when the borders came down, the initial wave of monsters would be small, and they could be killed. A-ranked monsters would be dealt with by heroes and champions. Experts would help with the weaker monsters, and hopefully they would activate more powers because of all the danger. There was only a 5 percent chance that a champion would become a hero.

Some champions were special, and their success rates were higher. Junhyuk had to increase the number of champions. Of twenty champions, only one would become a hero. So, he had to get sixty champions fast.

There were many novices and experts, but it would be hard to get that many champions.

Junhyuk told command that when his help arrived, he would resume destroying the monster areas. In three days, he would destroy ten areas, After that, he would continue to push himself. He had to decrease the number of areas. Forty cities had ordered evacuations that day.

After all civilians were done evacuating, the military would send troops to be stationed in those planes. They would form strong defensive lines, but if an A-ranked monster left the area, things would be disastrous. He had to bring the number of monster areas down fast.

While waiting and resting, Junhyuk took out a core. He had earned it after using a Core Bomb to destroy a tear. He closed his eyes as he held it and tried to push mana into the core.

That small core yielded ma.s.sive force. The destruction caused by the bombs made that clear. Junhyuk had mana, but he couldn’t do what the core could do. He wanted to learn from the core.

When the mana went into the core, it suddenly disappeared. Junhyuk sighed and held the core in his hand. The core was completely absorbing the mana.

“Do the managers have this type of energy as well?”

The borders surrounding the monster areas were made out of the energy within the core. The creation of the dimensional tear and the birth and death of the s.p.a.ce around it had to do with the energy of the core. That energy interfered with dimensions.

The managers crossed dimensions at will, so they had to possess that same energy.

Junhyuk focused on the core. Things were bad, and he wanted to learn more. He needed a stronger source of energy.

As he focused on it, he lost track of time, and Sarang arrived in Oslo. However, she did not hide nor wear a mask.

Novices and experts were held as heroes by the world. The Dark Knight was saving Earth, and Sarang had asked Eunseo to be public. She did not want to hide. Eunseo had told her it wouldn’t be possible to go back to normal after that, but Sarang had given her a short answer:

Guardians should protect her.

Ten guards couldn’t stop a thief, but after Sarang revealed herself, she and her family fell under Guardians’ protection.

She was helping save the Earth, so she didn’t want to hide. Sarang was different from Junhyuk in that.

She didn’t wear a mask when she went to him. When Sarang opened the door to the command center, and he looked at her, he said, “You…”

“I won’t hide any longer.”

Junhyuk sighed at her answer. Everyone wanted to save humanity, but there were people who wanted to harm those like the Dark Knight. People in positions of power wanted more power to secure or enhance those positions. On top of that, having a private life would be impossible.

Because of the videos, the ident.i.ties of novices and experts had also been made public, and they would not be able to remain private once they went back home. However, now a hero had revealed herself.

Junhyuk sighed again and asked, “Did you let them know you are a hero?”

“Yes.” She smiled and added, “They called me the first human hero.”

Junhyuk hadn’t publicly revealed himself as a hero, but some people had already guessed it. However, she had told everyone, so the world was now focused on her.

“Do you know what you are doing?”

“Sure,” she said smiling and looked at her watch. “I got a drone as a gift. Shall we fly together?”

Junhyuk shook his head and got up.

“Let’s go.”