Chapter 252. Above the Frozen Land (3)
Her words made me freeze up for a moment. After thinking to myself for a bit, I calmly replied.
“Impossible!”
Well… Maybe I wasn’t so calm.
“I’m the only one from Revival that came here, right?”
“Un. Our kids are with the others, so I should know if they did.”
That could only mean that someone else had come here and cleared the dungeon. I asked Licorice.
“What was the dungeon’s rank here?”
“Antarctica’s Event Dungeons are generally high ranked. This one was SS.”
If it was an SS rank Event Dungeon, no one else other than Revival’s members and the explorers we appointed would have dared to attempt it. Something outside of my knowledge had happened.
I felt stifled all of a sudden. Now that I was a leader of a group, knowing that something outside of my knowledge had happened made me uncomfortable. In the past, when the only thing I cared about was training my spearmanship, I didn’t care about anything else. Of course, I also didn’t know what was happening in the world either.
Now, however, countless possibilities were emerging in my head, tormenting me. Now that I had more things to protect, I was worrying about things that didn’t even happen to me directly. No matter what danger came up, as long as it was in front of me, I could just beat it up…!
“There isn’t even a trace of mana left. Amazing.”
Licorice flew around the glacier and investigated. The result only made me more worried.
“We can’t just be impressed. We don’t know whether the perpetrator is an ally or an enemy.”
“Don’t worry, Dear Husband. Our kids are with the others, so we should know if anything happens to them.”
“Right… Hopefully, we’ll find out in Antarctica.”
I clenched my fists. Golden lightning automatically appeared and crackled around them. If the perpetrator was an ally, if he was a new powerful ability user, that would be the best…
“But if the perpetrator is someone with ill intentions…”
“Dear Husband, that face is too cool! The perpetrator will fall for Dear Husband too!”
“No, I’m done with girls…”
As Licorice said, Antarctica’s Event Dungeons were fairly high in difficulty. Of course, being fairly high didn’t mean a thing for someone like me, who had three G.o.ds’ true names and the power of Lightning G.o.d. But it was still worrying that the number of Event Dungeons was lower than the number the succubi units gave initially.
Two weeks pa.s.sed since we started exploring Antarctica. It was good that we cleared about thirty Event Dungeons, but about the same number of Event Dungeons had disappeared as if they never existed. It meant they had been cleared by someone else.
What was even stranger was that the cleared dungeons were all over the place. If the perpetrator wanted to just clear the dungeons, wouldn’t he have wanted to clear all of them? However, even though there were dungeons closer to the ones he cleared, the perpetrator traveled far to clear other Event Dungeons. This meant the perpetrator had a standard of some sort in choosing the Event Dungeons to clear.
Was it difficulty? After all, none of the A ranked dungeons were cleared. After thinking about it for a bit, I shook my head. Although that might be it, there were some SS ranked dungeons amongst the ones I cleared. There had to be something other than just difficulty.
However, even dungeon explorers only knew Event Dungeons’ difficulties and names before entering them. Did that mean the perpetrator knew more about the dungeons before entering them?
[We’re the only ones.]
[Right. How about contacting Guardian or Freedom Wing? Oh, you already did.]
[Shin, if you need help, just call us!]
Thankfully, the other teams seemed to have had no problems. Feeling a bit relieved, I rushed to finish off the other Event Dungeons. Licorice and the others also followed me quietly, they must have been much colder than when we were in the Antarctic Ocean. I vowed to thank them somehow when everything was over. Of course, I didn’t say anything aloud since I knew they would try to push for more.
Ten days afterwards, a week earlier than the two month time I had set initially, we completely cleaned up Antarctica. It was because we only had to clear half the number of dungeons we expected. The other teams were also finishing up, and the words ‘Revival’ and ‘dungeon’ could be seen everywhere on news.
“I’m finally free from this cold place! Huhu, I was half doubtful, but Dear Husband really closed all pathways. Dear Husband is really amazing!”
[Ha, the ones who picked a fight in Hero’s home are the foolish ones.]
“That’s you, birdbrain.’
[I’m with Hero now!]
I thought Licorice and Lotte’s relationship would get better after staying together for so long, but they were still on bad terms. At least in the past, Licorice was a lot stronger than Lotte, but ever since Lotte evolved into a Blaze Queen, the power balance between the two evened out and their fights became worse. They listened when I stopped them, but soon enough, they quickly broke out into another fight. I didn’t understand why they couldn’t just get along. I patted Plene, who was smiling happily without a care in the world.
“Plene is the best.”
[I like getting patted. I like Shin! More than apple pies!]
Uk. Now that she mentioned it, I haven’t given her an apple pie in a long time. Maybe I should hire a baker soon… I smiled bitterly as I thought about that. Suddenly, Licorice, who was about to start brawling with Lotte, tilted her head.
“Dear Husband, Australia…”
“Didn’t we already finish there?”
“Australia got taken over by monsters…?”
“What…!?”
Why do things never end nicely!? I gritted my teeth and opened the communication channel. As always, Hwaya was the first to report.
[Shin, Oceania was completely taken over by monsters!]
[Not just Australia? That’s impossible. I cleared all the Event Dungeons there!]
[Maybe you missed one? This dungeon was also much bigger than we thought. When it became a Field Dungeon, it…]
I interrupted Hwaya.
[That can’t be. Also, Event Dungeons should transform into Field Dungeons at the same time.]
[Uuu, I don’t understand. I can’t contact most of the countries in Oceania. Not even their Guardians or Freedom Wings! It’s almost like the entire area is isolated! What do we do, Shin? What if the Demon Lord is here?]
[He shouldn’t be, don’t worry. I know the Demon Lord’s aura. It’s not him. I should be the closest one to Oceania. Since I just finished in Antarctica, I’ll head over there.]
[… My team, done today. I’ll join, Kang Shin.]
[M-My team is finishing soon too! I’ll go as soon as I can!]
Daisy and Ye-Eun quickly added. As I was feeling pressured by the sudden monster takeover, I couldn’t be more thankful to them.
[But don’t push yourselves too much. It’s more important that we don’t miss any Event Dungeons.]
[Shin is the one pushing yourself too much! You already had the most work… Shin, don’t go by yourself. My team should be done tomorrow, so wait for us, okay? Don’t be impatient and just wait, got it?]
I only told them not to push themselves and Hwaya was worrying about me. I had always thought this, but Hwaya had somewhat of a motherly side to her. When she has kids, I felt like they would have a hard time dealing with her nagging. Though, she would still be an excellent mother.
I replied with a smile.
[Yes, ma’am. I won’t do anything rash.]
[Uuu, I’m happy you’re listening, but I don’t like the way you replied…]
[d.a.m.n it, how are you guys so fast? My team can only barely finish in time!]
Walker was complaining. Although he obtained a curse ability and reached Gold rank in the Second Dungeon, he was still a bit lacking compared to the other powerful members. Although he had other team members, having one absolute power was extremely helpful in clearing high ranking dungeons. Hwaya retorted generously.
[I’ll send you the explorers from my team. They’ve gotten more useful over the two months.]
[Thanks, friend. I want to be more helpful, but the Americas are too big!]
[You’re doing well, Leon. I’ll take care of Oceania so don’t worry.]
[Of course, I don’t doubt it! Hahaha!]
[I want to help Daddy too! I finished Russia. I’ll go see Daddy!]
[Yeah, Ina. Let’s go with Mommy. Alright, Shin. I’ll see you tomorrow. Get some rest… You must have been constantly running around until now. Sorry.]
[See you tomorrow. I’m fine, so don’t worry about it.]
With that, I closed the communication channel. Feeling more calmed, I sighed and looked back at Licorice.
“Is there anything new?”
“There’s nothing. It’s really as if the region is isolated from the rest of Earth. We’re getting some satellite images… Hold on.”
Licorice took out a crystal ball and put her fingers on it. Soon, several pictures popped up. I became speechless as I stared into the crystal ball. The region… was freezing up.
“Licorice.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
There was no doubt about it. The person who cleared Antarctica’s Event Dungeons, no, at this point, it was doubtful whether the perpetrator really cleared the Event Dungeons. That person and the Oceania had to be related.
Lotte called me.
[Hero, look.]
We were currently flying back after clearing Antarctica’s Event Dungeons. In the first place we arrived when we reached Antarctica from the Antarctic Ocean, a clear trace was left.
“Could it be…”
“We can’t be sure, but probably.”
Licorice looked at the trace left behind by the perpetrator. A bountiful trace of mana and a huge chunk of land torn away through brute force.
“Dear Husband, it’s the demon race.”
The time for war was near.