Chapter 249: Max, the Museum Manager (5)
Finally, the fight to protect the museum, no, the continent, had begun.
With one gesture, Max hurried to step away. The way he transitioned from enemy to loyal subordinate seemed funny to me, but it must’ve been an unavoidable choice for him.
‘Because he’s desperate.’
He seemed convinced that I could do the tasks he lacked in.
The first reason was that I could directly check the weakening areas with my ability before the system could even alert him of it. The same went for the behavioral patterns of the Ancient G.o.d’s Fragment.
I couldn’t check his information, but I could study his movements.
In a situation where every second was important, being able to see vulnerable areas in advance helped prepare for severe situations.
“You told them exactly the shortest distance, right? Max?”
-Yes. Maybe in a little while, they will enter!
“Very good.”
-Is there anything else you want me to do?
“For now, get me another coffee.”
-Okay!
As soon as I looked at the magical hologram, I saw the expeditionary squads invading where the Ancient G.o.d’s Fragment was located.
“What about the voice connection?”
-It’s already connected. When you want to talk to them, just put the magic power in the magic circle located at the far end and talk, um…
“You can just call me President Lee.”
-Yep! President Lee.
He was certainly quick to catch on, definitely not as stupid as I first thought.
With this, I tried the voice connection out.
-Ah… Voice test. Hyunsung-ssi, if you hear my voice, please raise your right hand.
The returner in the video raised one hand as if confirming. It was comforting, seeing him move with the mythical-grade sword in hand.
The others were already preparing for battle. I knew that they were capable enough of handling the smaller things without me having to tell them to do so.
-Again, it is important not to touch the magic power of the preliminary program. Others, except for Hayan, please infuse your magic power for the preliminary program. Hayan, it would be better to prepare a big spell, and Dialugia should be committed as well.
Of course, the expedition’s magical power was very helpful, although it was still insufficient to overpower him. However, all of them were pretty high-level wizards, and their magic stats were all over 80.
-The same goes for the melee group. You just need to infuse it slowly until I tell you to stop.
I was talking as if they were doing well, but in truth, the situation wasn’t looking that good.
The stronger our power was, the stronger he became. Our system of handling the problem at hand proved to be very complex.
In fact, I was taking magical power from everyone, but it was still not enough to completely seal him. After taking a sip of the coffee that Max made, I continued talking once more.
This time, I was speaking to Max himself.
“Let’s check if there’s any more magic that can be drawn from other areas.”
-President Lee, the situation is…
“I don’t think this is such a good situation… However, it’s good that you guided the expedition members in advance.”
-Ah…
“I will try to block it as much as possible, but there is a high probability that one side will still get pierced. We still lack too much magic power.”
-If you inject the dragon’s magic power…
“We need to be prepared if it gets pierced. Dialugia is just an insurance. The more insurance, the better.”
-I see.
“And since anything can happen, we also have to secure a retreat.”
-What?
“What, punk? Why are you glaring at me? Even if things go wrong, we have to live, so we can come back to make another attempt. You, I don’t think you know because you’ve lived your entire life in this museum, but the guys out there are one of the best in mankind. If they can’t fix this, no one can.”
-Ah! Is that so?
“Otherwise, would we have been able to beat the legendary-grade monster so easily and break the seals placed by the Crack Guardians? Don’t worry too much, Max. To be honest, I also value this museum. It’ll be sad if we won’t be able to use what’s here. And quit twisting my words. I can’t focus.”
-Yes… Yep!
I was surprised at how willingly he followed my commands. He, too, must know that I was undertaking a very serious task.
At this point, I had begun to alternate between focusing on the magic circles and speaking to the expedition members.
-Hayan, keep the magic you are casting as it is and inject a little more magic power to the side where the tentacles are focused on Deokgu. It seems that it’ll break over there.
What was a little annoying was that the monster had become a little cleverer. He had started to focus on one side only. With this, we had no choice but to focus the magic on the weaker sides.
‘d.a.m.n.’
I wanted to preserve the magical powers of Jung Hayan and Dialugia as completely as possible for our future escape, but there was no other way. It would be better to take a risk in order to stop the monster’s tentacles from piercing than to risk having to escape from a failed mission.
That was not the only problem.
‘My magic power is another problem.’
I had to be aware of this, possibly being a long-term battle.
It was a tedious task to continuously pour magic into the magic circle to control the device. Though it didn’t take a lot of magic power compared to casting a spell, I still had to reserve it, seeing as I would have to keep doing this for quite a long time.
This was the reason why I had to use Max, who was watching the situation from behind me.
He was actually doing quite well. My only worry was that he might get too confident of his abilities and make a mistake.
-President Lee, Numbers 21 and 7 are tightly sealed!
“Don’t get too excited. If one gets released, the monster will think that the other can be crushed as well. There are signs…”
-Number 9 was also successfully sealed.
“Don’t move too quickly. Only put it in the place I told you to put it in from now on.”
-Number 10 has been sealed successfully!
“Recover the remaining magic power.”
-Number 69!!
“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Who told you to put it there?!”
-Huh? 6… 9… Look at it…
“A quick look on one side of video 69…”
Craaashh!
Along with the sound, I could see a large tentacle protruding through the seal.
Looking at the towering tentacles, it’s so ridiculous that I want to laugh.
While Max pushed his magic power to the side of 69, the monster bounced as if it was expanding. Once again, I held the magic circle and fired a chain of magic at him, but it was not easy to grab ahold of it.
‘He can break all the others, too.’
No, if I let him run wild, he would surely break the rest.
The situation had already gotten out of hand.
-Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!
The video showed the members of the expedition preparing without me having to tell them. Though I could not hear what they were saying, I could see Kim Hyunsung yelling while Jung Hayan busied herself with activating a spell. They all knew they had to push the monster back in.
The only good thing in this situation was that their target was clear.
-Focus on the tentacles. You only have to hit the tentacles.
It was spectacular to see dozens, no, hundreds of tiny magical powers. .h.i.tting his tentacles continuously. That was probably Jung Hayan’s doing.
Dialugia started throwing herself forward, predicting that she might hurt someone if she used Breath with such strong firepower, and so, I had to invest a little more magical power into the chains that held him, just so she wouldn’t get hit.
“The command and control room’s magic power is being kept to a minimum, and all of the reserves are being delivered to that side.”
-I-I’m sorry…
“You should do better next time, Max.”
-President L-Lee.
It was indeed a spectacular sight to see a large dragon trying to bite the monster. I didn’t even need any audio; just watching it from over here was more than enough.
However, I was unsure as to whether or not the monster received damage from it. I began to worry about the possibility of Dialugia dying, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.
However, the Ancient G.o.d’s Fragment started twisting his tentacles in resistance, causing her body to bounce off and hit against the wall. Sun Hee-young and Ahn Ki-mo’s divine powers immediately shot towards Dialugia, who quickly stood up.
Park Yeon-joo and the Black Swan personnel had also started jumping at the monster with their swords.
‘What…’
It felt like seeing Valkyries jumping onto a G.o.d.
The image of female swordsmen who did not know fear would look beautiful to anyone.
‘d.a.m.n.’
However, the Ancient G.o.d did not seem to think the same way. Smaller tentacles had begun to shoot at them. I didn’t even know he was capable of doing that.
Most of the members blocked the tentacles with their swords. At the same time, Park Deokgu jumped between them and blocked some of the attacks with his shield, and Cho Hyejin grabbed Park Deokgu’s shoulder and swung a spear at the monster.
Thud! Thud!
Although several strands fell off, the attack continued to spread out.
However, Dialugia took the attack with her tail to prevent any injuries from forming. I saw great magical power gathering around her mouth.
-No Breath! Ah! Piercing type! Piercing!
A piercing Breath shot from her mouth, piercing the same side where she had hurt him with her teeth. That was when a chain of the preliminary program broke, creating an opening.
Kim Hyunsung, who had been cutting numerous tentacles with his sword, reached the pierced section.
‘Please… f.u.c.k! Hyunsung!
It felt like time had stopped the moment the returner swung his sword.
The moment the sword, neither slow nor fast, swung through the tentacle, it neatly divided into two parts, wriggling helplessly.
“Yeeeeeeeeeeeessss!!!”
-Grunt!
“Start sealing it! Fast, fast, fast! Seal the other side at once, I say!”
-Waaaaaahhh…
“Don’t cry! No, come out!”
As I fumbled with the magic circle, Max’s trembling voice had begun to resonate from behind me.
-The upper areas are all sealed. Sealed everything from Number 32 to Number 41! Number 69 has also been sealed… Waaaahh…
The monster was now being wrapped in chains. Chains of blue magic power that protruded from everywhere held him tightly, in the same shape back when he was still sealed.
Before long, a large door began to open, one that would put him in a long, deep sleep. The Ancient G.o.d struggled in resistance, but the tide had already turned.
“Disappear, you filthy devil! Puhhahaha!”
At this point, I was totally pumped.
For some reason, his big eyes seemed to stare right into the administration room, but that didn’t matter to me now.
“I’m not giving my museum away! Puhaha! Cough! Cough!”
I ended up laughing so much that I started to cough.
Eventually, he was placed inside, and the big door made of blue magic started to close slowly.
The magical barrier in front of the door began to distort, and a crystal of magical power in the shape of a human began to appear, chanting a spell to strengthen the seal.
‘What is that again?’
It didn’t seem to be a threat.
When I saw Max looking at the video blankly, I realized that this was the Crack Guardian, though she seemed more like a remnant of herself.
I didn’t know what the h.e.l.l she was doing there, but Max had begun to shed tears.
In an instant, she had completed the spell, and the unknown runes flew toward the large door.
Once again, the blue light darted towards the inside of the hall before flying back once more. I could see the expedition members sitting down on the ground and hugging one another.
“Niiiceeeee!”
[You have completed the legendary-grade quest.]
[Quest: Continental Salvation (1/1) (Legendary)]
[t.i.tle is created.]
[t.i.tle: Continental Guardian]
[All stats increase by 1.]
[Museum Manager level has increased by 1 level. The Crack Museum Level 5 Manager t.i.tle has been changed to the Crack Museum Level 4 Manager. A new t.i.tle is forcibly created due to the earnest request of the Crack Guardian Metel.]
[Max’s Guardian]
“Huh?”
Amidst my joy, I turned to look at Max in confusion, only to see him hanging his head in embarra.s.sment.