LTTH C75

Chapter 75

At the highest floor of the tower—a rare patch of green atop a bleak urban skyline—blue light rippled through the still air. It swirled, gathered, and shaped itself into human silhouettes. It was Hansol and his companions, who until moments ago had been fighting a full-scale war against monsters in front of the Hunter Association. Yet despite Kassie’s spell having enveloped more than ten people… only Hansol, James, and Kassie materialized in the Sky Garden.

Hansol adapted quickly to the sudden shift in scenery and scanned the space. No matter how long he looked, no other hunters appeared.

Where did everyone else go?

“Kassie, where are the others?”

“…It seems… only the three of us were able to enter the Tower.”

“No way.”

That couldn’t be right. Those hunters had run toward danger without hesitation. Whatever Kassie’s intentions had been, the reality was clear—only the three of them had escaped to safety, abandoning the others outside.

Uneasy, Hansol brushed past Kassie and hurried to the garden’s edge. Kassie and James followed after him in alarm.

“Kassie, you did teleport them with us, right?”

“I did. I think… they just ended up below.”

The Tower’s first floor.

Hansol gripped the railing and looked down. The height made the gathered masses look like clusters of tiny dots. He couldn’t distinguish who was a hunter and who was civilian.

Still… thank goodness for that.

Encircling the Tower was the vast blue barrier generated by the Tower’s own arcane array. It wasn’t as strong as the internal shield, but it extended around the surrounding area. So long as that barrier held, the people below were safe.

Letting out a quiet breath of relief, Hansol stepped back from the railing. They had almost abandoned the very hunters who had tried to help them.

“Hansol-nim!”

Hansol barely had time to let his pounding heart calm when blue light flashed again. The Tower Master appeared in a rush, eyes widening the moment he saw Hansol—then sprinted forward with a force that startled even James.

Before Hansol could say a word, the Tower Master seized him in an almost crushing embrace. It all happened too quickly to stop.

“Tower Master…?”

What…?

The arms around him trembled violently. The man’s entire body shook as though meeting a family member lost for decades. Hansol blinked, unsure how to respond.

“…Hansol-nim. Thank goodness.”

He seemed to be trying to mask it, but the tremor in his voice gave him away. Hansol didn’t need to see the Tower Master’s face to understand—he was crying. Hard.

“…Are you alright?”

“That is what I should be asking. I truly… I truly thought something had happened to you…”

His voice was wet, his words tumbling out rapidly with barely restrained emotion. Even though they had left Hansol with the world’s top-ranked tank, it seemed the Tower Master had found little comfort in that.

Well… with James’s usual behavior, I can’t really blame him.

But Hansol hadn’t expected this kind of reaction. His overwhelming emotion left Hansol more bewildered than moved.

“I’m fine. James was with me.”

A simple, matter-of-fact response. It was so plain that the Tower Master let out a deep sigh. This clearly wasn’t the answer he had wanted.

Shaking his head, he murmured, “Hansol-nim, that kind of reaction counts as having no danger awareness at all. Truly.”

Hansol disagreed silently. If anything, he considered himself too easily frightened—though that wasn’t exactly something to brag about.

“I never should have let you go alone. I should have gone with you. No matter what I needed to discuss with that other mage, you were more important. That was my mistake.”

Hansol glanced toward James. The Tower Master was acting as though James hadn’t existed. Surprisingly, James didn’t look offended.

“That’s what it is. I didn’t protect him properly. If he’d gone with the mage instead, he wouldn’t have been trapped by those monsters.”

His willingness to admit that much startled Hansol. But Hansol knew without a doubt—

“If it weren’t for James, I wouldn’t have made it out alive.”

Hansol’s words were nothing but the truth. Yet James didn’t seem pleased—only offering a small, muted smile. Pushing comfort on him now felt futile, so Hansol turned back to the edge and looked down again.

Even more people filled the space below than before. They all knew the Tower was the safest place; naturally, they were converging here. But…

“Letting them all inside… that’s impossible, right?”

“If it were your wish, I would find a way. But the Tower simply doesn’t have room to hold that many. And we cannot selectively accept only some.”

That was true, and Hansol knew it. Still, he had asked because some part of him hoped otherwise.

Hansol’s knuckles whitened as he gripped the railing. Dozens of possible actions flickered in his mind—create a Sanctuary, blanket-heal, anything. Saving them for now was entirely possible. But afterwards?

The monsters outside weren’t undead. Healing spells wouldn’t kill them; at best, they pushed them back. It wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.

We need to eliminate the cause.

Hansol’s eyes travelled past the barrier. Many buildings still stood intact—for now. But given more time, the destruction would spread. The monsters had to be eradicated, and quickly.

“In my view, this wasn’t a gate break or a new gate. Do you have any idea where these monsters came from?”

If anyone had answers, it would be the mages—the ones who had studied monsters longer than anyone and the guardians of the Tower’s history.

“At the very least, it wasn’t a gate. No new gate formed, and no break occurred.”

“Then what is it?”

“Well…” The Tower Master hesitated. “Perhaps… the system simply doesn’t like us.”

“That’s—”

Absolute nonsense. Hansol bit back his protest.

“It was a metaphor. A metaphor.”

Apparently Hansol’s expression had shown everything, because the Tower Master hurried to clarify.

“It has been fifty years since hunters, gates, and monsters first appeared. And in all that time, there has been one—only one—instance where monsters stepped onto our land without warning.”

He inhaled deeply, his expression darkening.

“The Great Catastrophe…”

“Yes. Although this time, it’s… somewhat different.”

Hansol knew of it. The memory of that disaster was etched into history. Back then, the system had been the first to issue warnings and explanations. Now? Nothing. Total silence. When it should have alerted them of danger, it felt as though it had vanished.

“And although we haven’t fully confirmed it yet… I believe this phenomenon is occurring only in our country.”

“What—”

“Only Korea is affected.”

The words dropped like stones. Hansol’s face drained of color. No response came out. His lips moved uselessly.

What does that mean…?

Not first. Only.

Had the system abandoned Korea? Had Korea been singled out? His thoughts spiraled, twisting through fear and disbelief.

Never before had a catastrophe hit a single nation alone. Even England’s fall through gate breaks had affected multiple countries. This was different. An anomaly. But also unmistakable.

The system intended Korea’s collapse.

“To escape this disaster, we must do exactly as before: annihilate every last monster.”

Twenty years ago, after the Great Catastrophe, it had taken years to rebuild society. Eliminating the monsters had consumed the most time. There were more high-level hunters now than back then—but the monsters had likely grown stronger too.

Hansol recalled the tiny dwarf monster that had turned a living person into a puddle of blood with a single swipe. He would never forget it.

“Shouldn’t we request aid from other nations? If it’s only happening here… they might be willing.”

“That is the Association’s job… but I doubt it.”

The Tower Master’s voice cooled.

“No nation will readily send their elite hunters into unknown danger. And low-level hunters won’t make a difference.”

Hopeless. That was the only word for it.

Hansol had grown stronger—unimaginably stronger compared to when he had been Level 1. And yet… saving an entire nation was still impossible alone.

“For now, we do what we can. And first… we guide the people gathered outside the Tower.”

He clapped his hands decisively, shifting the mood.

Talking up here would change nothing. They needed help—other nations’ hunters, or domestic rankers. Hansol took one last look down at the crowd and steeled his heart.

People would die. Many. And he could not save them all.

He couldn’t let that break him. In England, he had learned that if he faltered over one person, ten more would die.

I’m truly sorry…

He silently offered his condolences to those he would inevitably fail to save.

Then he followed the Tower Master toward the first floor of the Tower, where the evacuees awaited.