The first to discover the monster advancing toward London was not the United Kingdom. It was the United States’ Dimensional Movement detection satellite, which had recently begun monitoring all of Europe.
This satellite was the second Dimensional Movement detection satellite launched by NASA, following the first satellite that monitored North America, and was tasked with monitoring any significant Dimensional Movements occurring in Europe.
NASA’s plan had been to launch a total of ten satellites to monitor Dimensional Movements across the entire Earth, but due to the damage caused by monsters, they had only managed to launch two so far, and it was uncertain when the next one would be launched.
In any case, the U.S. Air Defense Command immediately informed the British Ministry of Defence about the high-energy Dimensional Movement that had occurred in Oxford city.
The United Kingdom immediately declared a state of emergency.
Those included in the communication network were contacted swiftly, and they headed straight for the underground control room at the Ministry of Defence in London.
“Information sharing with the United States is complete. Transmitting to the main screen now!”
A clear female voice echoed through the large control room, where dozens of screens were glowing brightly.
Unfortunately, Major General Scott Randall, who happened to be on duty, ignored the operator’s words and stared at the giant screen in front of him. On the screen was a satellite map of southern England, with a single blinking dot at the center. It was an image captured by the camera attached to the Dimensional Movement detection satellite.
“Can we not determine its rank?”
“According to the U.S. side, the satellite can detect Dimensional Movements of monsters starting from about C-Rank. They expect it to be C-Rank.”
At the operator’s words, the general, whose face was weary, stroked his rough stubble. Shaving had become difficult due to the shortage of shaving cream.
“Keep reporting.”
“The monster’s speed is about 15 kilometers per hour. Judging from its height of 15 meters, it seems to be walking slowly.”
On one side of the screen, a blurry image of the monster from above was visible. It was an enlarged satellite image. It looked like a brown-furred ape.
“Is it certain that its target is London?”
“Yes, it’s heading straight for London-or more precisely, toward London’s Dimensional Movement Blocking Devices. At its current speed, it will reach the outskirts of the Safe Zone in five hours.”
“So Link Corp’s information was correct after all. Maybe it’s about time we reveal their true identity. The higher-ups keeping it secret only makes people more curious. Honestly, if they said they came from the future, I might believe it.”
No one around him responded to his words. They were too busy to engage in such jokes.
The general stopped making unnecessary comments and immediately issued an order.
“Until the Chief of Staff arrives, proceed according to the manual. Contact Link Corp! Since the situation they predicted has arrived, they should handle it best.”
“Understood.”
The control room once again turned into a whirlwind of activity, and the general fixed his gaze on the center of the screen.
Three Humvees were speeding down an empty road. Inside the Humvees, grim-faced men sat holding old-fashioned weapons like spears and swords, most of them with expressions stiffened by tension.
In the passenger seat of the first military Humvee, a blond man sat with his arms crossed, deep in thought, tilting his head slightly.
“Looks like I got the short end of the stick. Maybe I should have suggested a coin toss?”
His joke slightly eased the tension inside the vehicle.
However, his expression remained stiff as he spoke.
Finally, a Detection-type monster had appeared.
Since it was the first to show up, it was likely C-Rank, but still not an easy opponent.
Moreover, the appearance of this monster meant that a Dimensional Beast would appear before long. In the other world, a Dimensional Beast had emerged less than a year after Detection-type monsters first appeared.
In the other world, it had become almost a given that after Detection-type monsters completed their reconnaissance, a Dimensional Beast would follow.
Jake, the Team Leader of Team 2 in the Link System and a C-Rank Linker, thought it was actually fortunate that he had lost rock-paper-scissors to the Team Leader of Team 1.
He was better suited for fieldwork, and she was better suited for operations. As a Special Ability User, she would not have been a good match for reconnaissance. Even now, she was surely monitoring them from the control room.
The vehicle crossed a low hill. Beyond the car, endless pastures stretched out.
“I see it!”
Hearing the shout from the driving team member, Jake narrowed his eyes. He could see the monster approaching them. Its size was so immense that it distorted the sense of perspective.
“Keep monitoring with the smart watch. We’ll draw its attention and circle around the outskirts. We need to check if we can lure it.”
Shouting toward the back, Jake immediately grabbed the radio.
“This is Team 2! Control room, respond!”
“Yes, this is the control room. Have you confirmed the monster?”
The voice of the Team Leader of Team 1 came through the radio.
“Confirmed. It’s definitely an ape-type. Approaching within 150 meters is difficult. If we get any closer, the chances of being hit are high.”
“Be careful. The energy projectile range of a C-Rank monster isn’t always consistent.”
“Okay. We’ll try to lure it while staying as far away as possible.”
“The chances are low. Prioritize safety.”
Jake clicked his tongue as he looked at the monster. The Humvee was just too slow.
It would have been nice if they could have brought a helicopter, but low-flying helicopters were far too vulnerable to flying-type monsters. Dozens of helicopters had already been shot down by flying monsters, and helicopter use had been banned in the United Kingdom.
In any case, they had to buy time.
Their mission was to visually observe the monster and delay its approach to London as much as possible. The longer they delayed its entry into London, the better prepared they could be to face it.
Of course, if it turned out to be a weak monster, they might have been able to handle it themselves, but seeing it up close, that was clearly impossible.
It happened then.
A confused voice came from the back seat.
“Team Leader, the signal for the monster is strange. The color’s different.”
Jake was puzzled by the team member’s words.
‘Different color?’
He checked his smart watch.
A light at the very top of the smart watch was blinking green.
Thinking he had seen wrong, Jake blinked. But the color didn’t change.
Jake’s face turned pale. Raising his head, he shouted.
“Turn the car around! We’re retreating!”
Shouting, Jake hurriedly grabbed the radio and yelled.
“The monster’s rank is different. It’s B-Rank! I repeat, the monster is B-Rank!”
A shocked voice came through the radio. But Jake couldn’t respond. The monster had spotted the cars quickly turning around.
From about 200 meters away, the monster bared its teeth as it saw the Humvees kicking up dust and braking.
The ape-like monster stopped walking and crouched down. It pulled its right fist far back. Light began to radiate from its fist.
The monster thrust its pulled-back fist forward at great speed.
The light that had lingered around its fist shot forward. Its target was the Humvees.
Jake gritted his teeth as he saw the energy projectile flying toward them. There was no way to dodge it. He placed his hand on the car door and poured all his Dimensional Power into it.
The Humvee he was riding in began to glow faintly. The powerful Dimensional Power of a C-Rank Defense-type Awakened began to envelop the entire vehicle.
The energy projectile directly hit the second Humvee, which had reacted slower.
Boom!
It was an enormous explosion.
The explosion blew away the entire hill, completely erasing the second Humvee without a trace, and shredded the third Humvee following behind into dozens of pieces scattered everywhere.
The first Humvee, which Jake had desperately protected, was flung dozens of meters away by the blast. After rolling several times, the vehicle finally came to a stop upside down.
Luckily, because it hadn’t been a direct hit, the Dimensional Power enveloping the vehicle instead of a shield was enough to withstand it.
Jake, his face covered in blood, looked around inside the car. Fortunately, more than half of the people were still moving. Jake quickly kicked at the passenger window. The window flew off, and Jake turned toward the driver’s seat to rescue his teammates.
“Damn it!”
Jake groaned and froze in place.
Through the overturned driver’s side window, he could see a white-glowing orb approaching. It was the second energy projectile fired by the monster.
This time, the Humvee couldn’t avoid a direct hit, and the Humvee Jake was in was completely obliterated.
After staring for a moment at the two large craters left behind, the monster began moving toward London once again.
Everyone watching the scene through the satellite feed in the control room fell silent.
In the midst of the silence, a young woman with long brown hair stepped forward.
“With the current capabilities of British Awakened, we cannot stop a B-Rank monster. I recommend abandoning London.”
Samantha, the Team Leader of Team 1 at the United Kingdom branch of the Link System, spoke to the others with tear-filled eyes.
Her words plunged the Prime Minister, the Chief of Staff, and the other officials hastily gathered here into despair.
“Is there no way?”
The exhausted Prime Minister quietly asked her.
However, the hand gripping the lapel of his suit had turned white from the lack of blood flow.
“If it were the United States, it might be possible, but for us, it’s beyond our capability.”
She continued speaking.
“If it destroys the Dimensional Movement Blocking Devices, London’s Dimensional Power will drop drastically. The entire city could become a temporary Singularity. We must evacuate as quickly as possible.”
Her continued words froze the control room completely.
“Didn’t Link Corp say they could stop it? How did it come to this?”
The Chief of Staff, standing beside the Prime Minister, asked her directly.
“We did not anticipate this. The next expected monster emergence level was C-Rank. No Linker would have predicted it would skip a level and appear.”
The Prime Minister stared blankly at the screen.
On it, a giant monster was steadily walking toward London.
After a moment, he spoke in defeat.
“Issue the evacuation order. And please connect me to the White House.”
The Control Room became busy again, but no one raised their voice.
A dark shadow fell over the Control Room.
That evening, the Safe Zone in London was destroyed.
The area that had been a Safe Zone until just moments ago turned into a Singularity the moment the Safe Zone was destroyed, and the Singularity lasted for three days. During that time, hundreds of thousands of citizens who could not escape London lost their lives.
Two weeks later, a Detection-type monster appeared on the west coast of the United States. Fortunately, this monster was a C-Rank monster. Before it could reach Los Angeles, the Awakened from Link Corp and the Awakened in charge of the eastern region managed to stop it.
The monster attacks continued.
The attacks, occurring once every two to three weeks, happened four times over two months-two were stopped, and two resulted in the destruction of cities.
Fortunately, the only B-Rank monster was the one that had first appeared in the United Kingdom, and since it had not been dealt with, London had become its domain.
Korea, too, was spending chaotic days, shocked by the Detection-type monster attacks occurring overseas. The government was holding meetings daily and continuously contacting the Link System and the U.S. government.
However, monsters had to be dealt with by Awakened, no matter what.
Only when the fire was at their feet did the government become desperate to find ways to raise the levels of Awakened.
One powerful Awakened was needed more than a large number of low-level Awakened.
Hearing the stories of powerful Detection-type monsters, Korean Awakened also became fervent about improving their abilities. No one knew when a monster would appear in Korea. To avoid dying a meaningless death, they had to raise their rank by even one level.
Team Crazy also increased their hunting frequency. Some team members were nearing the completion of their D-Rank experience points. For the sake of safety, Team Crazy needed more C-Rank Awakened.
Everyone was hunting diligently, but one person was going too far.
Yonghoon grimaced as he pulled his sword from the chest of a weasel.
Another failure today.
It had already been two weeks of continuous failure.
Behind Yonghoon, team leader Han approached with an angry expression.
“Captain, you’ve been strange lately! It’s too dangerous!”
Judging by the looks of the other team members who had finished hunting, they agreed with team leader Han’s words.
It was understandable-these days, Yonghoon was engaging in extremely close combat with monsters during hunts. As if he held a grudge against the monsters, he would stab them dozens of times, leaving their bodies covered in wounds.
Because of that, Yonghoon’s hunts had been making the team members’ hearts sink. Sunhee and Hyangseol also looked at Yonghoon with worry.
Yonghoon sighed and apologized to the team members.
“I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful.”
At Yonghoon’s apology, the team members shook their heads.
As the team members began tidying up, Yonghoon checked his smart watch.
Level C
Dimensional Power 1500/1500
His Dimensional Power was full.
And as expected, he had hit the limit and could not level up any further.
Yonghoon was doing his best to break through his limits. During hunts, he had tried to directly strike the monsters’ Dimensional Cores, but it was not easy.
Still, he had succeeded a few times, but contrary to expectations, it did not result in a level-up.
However, directly striking the Dimensional Power seemed to be correct. He could feel his own Dimensional Power ripple the moment the strike landed.
‘Is it a matter of the number of times? Or is it because my level is too low?’
Having succeeded in striking E-Rank and F-Rank monsters, Yonghoon now planned to try it on a D-Rank monster. As the team members said, the risk would certainly be higher, but there was no other way.
Yonghoon sheathed his sword and began helping the team members. In the distance, he could see the disposal vehicle approaching.