Chapter 1484.2

The atmosphere felt strange.

After a certain amount of time, a protruding gate would absorb the waves it constantly emitted and start spewing out monsters. That was why every country considered them the highest-priority gates to deal with.

Hyun-Ah silently glared at Chris, then gestured for him to come over. Once he did, she grabbed his tie and firmly tugged it into place before tying it again. “Can’t you tie your tie properly? Don’t you see all the reporters?”

“Well... wouldn't you doing this here draw even more attention?” He smiled faintly, raising both hands as if surrendering, and her face twisted with displeasure. She then pulled it as if she was strangling him.

“Cough!”

“Stop with the nonsense and check the equipment. Honestly, I don’t even get why you’re wearing a suit on a combat mission.”

He confidently smiled at her. “Because the work won’t be that hard.”

“Even so, your clothes will get dirty if you fight, won’t they? That outfit looks expensive.”

“It’s fine. And you might not be aware, but this is actually a combat suit made of monster material. America just started making them. They’re talking about passing a law for Awakened individuals to wear it as a daily garb once it’s perfected.”

He playfully waved a hand at the reporters.

A couple more Korean Awakened individuals eventually arrive.

“Just in case, I brought two C-ranks this time,” he told her. “Since they’re Korean, the government had no issue, and it’s also for training purposes from the corporate side.”

“I wish you were this cooperative normally...”

“You know, I’m in a pretty important position, too.”

Although he was reluctant to be directly affiliated with the American Department of Defense, the title of S-rank wouldn’t just go away, so his every move was severely restricted.

The two nervous C-rank Awakened picked up their respective weapons, and Chris Marten casually cracked his knuckles and neck. At the same time, the equipment started beeping and changing color.

One of the newcomers told them, “If you look here, it analyzes the residual mana of the gate, meaning we can determine the gate’s form and even the monsters inside.”

“You can even tell what monsters are inside? That’s incredible,” he marveled.

“Here they are. Looks like it’s an A-rank monster, a fern drake.”

“Thankfully, the compatibility isn’t bad.” He turned to ask one of them, “Can you check how many there are?”

“Unfortunately, that’s difficult at the moment. We apologize.”

“No, it’s fine. Even this is already a huge boost to our capabilities.”

Bzzzt.

It wasn’t long before the gate sparked and two blue drakes appeared. The two monsters, each nearly four meters tall, burst out as if tearing the rift apart.

The instant they spotted the people standing nearby, they became hostile and let out deafening roars.

“Kuooo!!! Kuaaah!!!”

Along with the unique roaring sound, Hyun-Ah felt as if her body had become heavy.

Even though she had every right to be scared, Hyun-Ah quietly said after catching her breath, “The equipment... activate it.”

The site manager who had turned pale activated the equipment.

Whummm. Whummm. Whummm.

A powerful wave of sound surged out and began to adversely affect the monsters. The two drakes, who looked up at the sky as if frightened, stumbled.

“Grrr!”

“Graaa!”

Seeing the monsters stagger in pain, it seemed that the debuff was working properly.

“According to our calculations, their strength should drop by nearly thirty percent. Even if their base capabilities are a bit lower, we can take them down without any problem.”

Hyun-Ah asked them, “Does that go for all monsters?”

“No. For now, it only works on some monsters...”

“Still, this is great news,” she cheerfully remarked. “It’s proof that our hard work and investment is paying off.”

While she was pleased, she couldn't help thinking that if they had something like that sooner, they could’ve saved more lives. It was heartbreaking to think about all the Awakened individuals who had lost their lives in accidents before then.

She lamented, “If only it had been developed a little sooner...”

“However, there’s a problem. Because the wave is unstable, if the monsters accidentally become immune, they can become even stronger than they were before they were weakened.”

Hyun-Ah made a complicated face at the expert’s explanation. “Surely, the chances of a problem happening is...”

“That’s why we invited Chris. This way, even if a problem occurs, he can take care of it in no time.”

C-rank Awakened couldn't properly attack or defend against A-rank drakes. So, Chris decided to demonstrate how to fight them by taking on both monsters himself.

Accompanied by an explosive boom, he moved like a superhero and took down one of the drakes in an instant.

“He hasn’t lost his touch,” one of the experts marveled.

“He’s amazing,” another agreed. “He’s called the best Awakened in America, after all.”

His power had a superhero feel to it, so his fame was immense.

The crowd watched his one-sided annihilation of the monsters in a daze.

However, Hyun-Ah maintained her serious face. She shouted, “Don’t lose focus! Check the equipment status!”

“Ah. My apologies!”

Hearing her command, the site staff refocused on the equipment.

After easily defeating the second drake, Chris casually stretched his shoulders. “That wasn’t even good enough to be a post-meal workout. How many more are coming out?”

“The gate’s still active,” one of the staff advised. “It looks like more will emerge soon.”

“Perfect. Princess, just watch from there,” Chris confidently told Hyun-Ah with a smile. “I’ll clean up everything.”

When she heard chuckles nearby, her face turned even redder. She shot back at him, “Seriously, can you not with that annoying way of speaking... And please stop calling me princess! You’re making it awkward with all the reporters around!”

Soon, the gate opened, and the second wave began.

“That’s a bit unique, for the enemies to be coming out in stages like this. Is this a newly discovered gate?”

“Uh... It... it seems so.”

As the flustered site manager fumbled, Hyun-Ah looked at the gate suspiciously. “I wonder what Yeon-Hee is doing...”

While saying that, she spotted a hooligan smiling to himself. She called out, “Hey! What are you doing here?!”

The figure innocently replied, “What do you mean? Just watching.”

She couldn’t find a suitable response.

The one who answered so shamelessly was none other than Davey.

To one side, Kouna kept trying to lean against him only to be pushed away. On his other side, Rinne expressionlessly shoveled the combat rations she had brought as a snack into her mouth.

“I heard new equipment was released, so I came to check it out,” he nonchalantly told Hyun-Ah. “I will say, it’s pretty amazing. Even Tionis doesn’t have that kind of stuff.”

She joked in response, “Haha. Earth’s science is the best in the world, after all.”

It seemed his mere presence gave her a sense of security. Still, she turned to him and asked, “But you weren’t here a moment ago, were you? Where did you just come from?”

“Huh?Oh, I was just looking at the surrounding fields. There were a lot of spirits.”

As he turned his gaze and replied, she gave him a peculiar look.

He continued, “I’m only here to prevent the worst-case scenario. If you get hurt, I’ll step in, but otherwise, you’re all on your own.”

“Whatever.”

After a brief scuffle in an area where the reporters couldn’t see, she sighed in relief when she saw Chris effortlessly take down the second wave.

“Are there any left?”

“Yes, it seems there are still some left... Uuuh?”

That was when it happened.

A massive tremor began to shake the gate, and something huge pushed its claws out.

There was a look of complete and utter shock on Hyun-Ah’s face. “That’s—?!”

“Oh. This looks like it’ll be fun to hit.” As Chris stepped forward, the creature shrieked, scanned its surroundings, and began to charge at him. “The debuff effect seems to be finite...”

Although he couldn’t take it as easy as before, he was fighting well against a named monster. At one point, he fooled around too much and was sent flying by a swipe of its tail, but he didn't seem to mind.

Just as Chris was trying to corner the monster, it roared in a desperate struggle.

“Krrrt!! Krrrt!!!” Yet, at that moment, the equipment began to make strange noises.

“Huh? What’s going on?!”

At the same time, the pressure vanished, and the monster emitted a ferocious wave of energy. It seemed to have grown stronger by absorbing the mana in the surroundings.

“What?”

Seizing that instant when everyone was stunned, the drake locked onto Hyun-Ah and charged at her like a mad beast, roaring, “Kyaaark!!”

“What?!”

Amid the panicked screams around her, Hyun-Ah froze, unable to say a word. All she could do was stare blankly at its massive jaws as the ground shook beneath her feet.

“Not on my watch!!!”

Quick to react as the creature lunged to swallow her whole, Chris shot forward like a bolt of lightning, slammed his fist into its jaw, and sent it flying back toward the gate.

He quickly turned his head and rushed desperately toward Hyun-Ah. “Are you okay?!”

Hyun-Ah shouted in panic, “What are you doing, you idiot?!”

She had never seen him turn his back on an enemy during a fight. She had no clue why he was doing something so abnormal with such a serious look on his face.

No matter how powerful an Awakened he was, there was no way he could come out unscathed after taking an attack from a named monster strengthened by the equipment malfunction.

Just as she tried to move again to stop him from charging toward her, the drake slammed Chris with its tail, sending him flying through the air before he crashed into the ground.

She screamed, her face deathly pale, “Chris!!”

He stumbled, letting out a pained groan.

Boom!!!!

Seeing all of that take place, Davey pointed his finger at the named monster. Following his movement, a condensed ball of holy fire flew from his fingertip and struck true, blowing off its head.

The gate disappeared once the monster was taken care of, but Hyun-Ah was only focused on Chris as he lay on the ground.

“Hey!! Chris!!” She hurriedly ran over to him and helped him up.

Seeing Chris down on one knee with his head bowed and an unusually serious expression, Hyun-Ah burst into tears and shouted, “What in the world were you thinking turning your back on a monster like that?! Are you out of your mind?!”

Hearing her scream, Chris slowly raised his head. Then, with a faint smile, he pulled a small box from his pocket and opened it.

It held a small, pure white ring inside.

“...”

Hyun-Ah just stared blankly at him, as if she couldn’t understand what was happening.