I Conquered the Tower with the EX-Class Character That I Raised - Chapter 90

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 90
“I’m going to Pandemonium.”
“Understood. So we’re abandoning the United States then…”
“No, we’re saving the United States too.”
Min Ji-hee’s eyes widened as she turned to look at me.
Her expression screamed, ‘What are you talking about?’
I immediately called Lee Hyung-je, and his obsequious voice came through the moment the signal connected.
[Yes, Apostle.]
“A Corrupted Entity has appeared in the United States. Negotiate directly with the American Hunter Association. Tell them I’ll resolve the Corrupted Entity while extracting as much as possible from the deal.”
[Yes. What should we use as the negotiation asset?]
I looked at Min Ji-hee.
“Tell them I’ll dispatch a subjugation team with Min Ji-hee as the core.”
“Excuse me?!”
Min Ji-hee was startled.
“A-Apostle. I have no combat abilities whatsoever. Please reconsider and dispatch Hunter Lee Ah-woon or Hunter Kim Chul-soo instead of me…”
I raised my hand to silence Min Ji-hee.
“Understand? Get the strategy from Min Ji-hee, then sell everything including this final proposal.”
[Yes, easy enough.]
I ended the call.
Min Ji-hee stood there with a flushed face, stamping her feet.
“Apostle…!”
“Min Ji-hee.”
It was time she truly understood her own worth.
“You can do this.”
* * *
After the Apostle departed by helicopter.
“I’m here.”
Min Ji-hee entered the conference room with heavy steps.
Lee Hyung-je, who had just finished a video call with the Americans, and Kang Hyo-jun, who sat beside him continuously typing at his keyboard, merely nodded in greeting.
“Phew, that was intense.”
Lee Hyung-je collapsed into his chair, wiping sweat from his brow.
“How did it go?”
“You know that video the Apostle recorded? They remembered it. When I said we’d handle it, they jumped at the offer.”
A cunning smile played across Lee Hyung-je’s face.
“We’re also coordinating civilian evacuation through the Black Market’s network.”
Kang Hyo-jun added while continuing to type.
“The United States is sending a private jet. The one with a magic stone embedded in it. You, Jin Cheon-jin, and Han Seol-ah can take it to the States.”
“…”
“Thanks to that, we squeezed out everything we could. The jet will arrive soon. But why do you look like that, Ji-hee?”
“I’m not confident.”
Min Ji-hee fidgeted with her fingertips, her face drained of color.
“I can manage monster wave defense and eliminate boss monsters mixed within them. Honestly, there’s probably no one in the world better at it than me.”
“That’s true.”
“But when facing a single overwhelmingly powerful entity, I become far more incompetent than I’d like. It happened with the Frost Dragon too.”
Min Ji-hee lowered her head.
Even after receiving a self-defense artifact from the Apostle, the fundamental fear hadn’t dissipated.
It was the same during the battles against Scathaha and Resonar.
Her only role had been serving as a high-performance loudspeaker to relay the Apostle’s will.
“The opponent is an unknown enemy we’ve never faced before. If I make even a single mistake here, Jin Cheon-jin and Han Seol-ah—South Korea’s strongest forces—will die meaningless deaths simultaneously.”
The weight of precious lives depending entirely on her judgment bore down mercilessly.
That suffocating anxiety began slowly strangling Min Ji-hee’s breath.
Then,
Clack—!
A sharp sound severed Min Ji-hee’s reverie.
Kang Hyo-jun slammed the Enter key harshly and spun his chair to face her with a piercing glare.
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
Kang Hyo-jun’s eyes had turned glacially cold.
“Incompetent? You? Every strategist in the world should bite their tongues off in shame.”
“…But still—”
“Excluding that dragon and other ‘special cases,’ who’s been holding this nation together all this time?”
“Han Seol-ah—”
“No! It’s you, Min Ji-hee.”
Kang Hyo-jun’s piercing gaze seemed to bore straight through her.
“Han Seol-ah and Jin Cheon-jin are merely the strongest pieces you can deploy. You’ve been operating the chessboard called South Korea. Every single strategy and tactic against monsters in this nation—you created them all. Am I wrong?”
“Anyone could do that much—”
“Bullshit. Look at India, which had better circumstances than us. They had five S-rank Hunters—five times more than our single one. Their tower was twenty floors lower too. But they had no command center. So what happened? Didn’t they collapse?”
Min Ji-hee fell silent under the relentless barrage of Kang Hyo-jun’s words.
“Stop shrinking yourself. It’s disgusting to watch.”
“…That’s rather harsh.”
“You’re the harsh one.”
Kang Hyo-jun growled low.
“I genuinely respect you. I believe only the Apostle and you stand above me. Only those two.”
“…”
“So just do what you always do—make some irritating prophecy like ‘I should have known you’d say that.'”
“…Irritating?”
Min Ji-hee’s eyebrows twitched as she took a step forward.
“Now, now. Don’t get heated. Everyone calm down.”
Lee Hyung-je slipped between them diplomatically.
“Tch.”
Kang Hyo-jun clicked his tongue briefly, then turned his attention back to his laptop and resumed typing rapidly.
“I agree with Representative Kang Hyo-jun. Ji-hee, don’t overthink this. Do what you’ve always done out there. If you’re still anxious, remember—the Apostle trusted you with this task.”
“…Yes.”
“Han Seol-ah and Jin Cheon-jin are already standing by. Let’s move.”
Following Lee Hyung-je’s lead, Min Ji-hee rose to her feet.
Just as she was about to step out of the conference room, she turned back without looking and asked.
“…Why do you trust me so much?”
“Before the Apostle appeared.”
Creak.
Kang Hyo-jun leaned deep into his chair and continued.
“…Back then, you were our hope.”
“…That’s Han Seol-ah’s story, not mine.”
“Well, from the outside looking in, I suppose it appears that way. But anyone who fought within South Korea knows the truth. You’re the real one.”
Kang Hyo-jun closed his eyes.
Before he’d ever entered the Black Market.
He too had participated in the defensive battles.
So he knew.
That moment when you’ve crushed beast after beast after beast, and the thought comes—’I’m going to die now.’
When despair is so overwhelming that you surrender to the certainty that this is the end.
Min Ji-hee’s briefing—’Hold position’—followed by a cascade of healing light from the healers.
The reserve squad rushing in to drag out the wounded.
And finally, Han Seol-ah’s scorching permafrost descending upon them.
That single word from Min Ji-hee—’Hold position.’ When you hear it, you know the situation is resolved.
That’s what kept the tanks from breaking.
The tanks on the front line know that Min Ji-hee will never abandon them.
So they believe. They believe that someday, with that single word, a miraculous flood of healing light will pour down upon them.
“…Thank you.”
Click.
The door closed.
Kang Hyo-jun clicked his tongue and returned to his work with renewed focus.
* * *
“Your expression brightened.”
“…That brat was being cheeky.”
Min Ji-hee frowned.
Eighteen years old—an A-rank tank boy who once went by the name Kang Jun-hyuk.
When he suddenly took over the Black Market Korea Branch and presented himself as ‘Kang Hyo-jun,’ she’d thought him an immature, half-baked kid. But…
‘Nine years have passed… He must be twenty-seven now. He’s all grown up.’
Min Ji-hee swept her hair back.
Gathered it into a single line and tied it down.
She carefully polished her glasses and pushed them up with a sharp click.
“Let’s go.”
* * *
Inside the private jet heading toward the United States.
The American Hunter Association official’s face had grown gaunt.
“Is it really true that just three of you can defeat that monster? We’ve poured massive resources into you!”
“We’ll give it our best.”
“Two elite S-Rank teams have already been annihilated! Please, you must stop this calamity…!”
“We’ll give it our best.”
‘Two S-Rank hunter teams… considering America’s composition, that would be four S-Rank hunters, eight A-Rank, and twenty B-Rank.’
America’s composition, blessed with abundant hunter resources, differed from South Korea’s.
Two S-Rank hunters served as team captain and vice-captain.
Below them, four A-Rank hunters handled the actual combat.
Ten B-Rank hunters managed miscellaneous tasks and combat support.
A lavish roster of sixteen members in total.
That Corrupted Entity below had devoured two such teams.
Min Ji-hee waved her hand, dismissing the official.
Even as he stepped through the door, he continued muttering, “Please, please.”
Min Ji-hee activated the radio connected to the Apostle.
“We’ve confirmed that no Corrupted Entities have been observed in regions outside the United States.”
[Cross-verification?]
“Information confirmed through the Black Market. Since the Market has established intelligence networks even in the ruins of India, we can consider the reliability at ninety-nine percent.”
[I see.]
“Could multiple Corrupted Entities be deployed simultaneously?”
[No. Corrupted Entities aren’t summoned like familiars. The Apostle of the Outer God’s role is limited to scattering eggs and remotely triggering their hatching. Everything after that—the destruction—falls solely to the Corrupted Entity.]
“Then…”
Dozens of tactical hypotheses and data surged through Min Ji-hee’s mind like waves, then receded.
Propose, examine, discard. Propose, examine, discard.
In an instant, she eliminated unnecessary variables and reached her conclusion.
“It’s a showcase.”
[My thoughts exactly.]
The purpose of this terror attack was to “demonstrate.”
A stage to instill the world with fear of the unknown—the Corrupted Entity.
“…You’re concerned that rash intervention could trigger simultaneous terror attacks worldwide. Yet if the world witnesses the American Corrupted Entity being stopped, it could conversely dilute that fear.”
[Exactly. That’s why we couldn’t abandon America.]
The Apostle’s dry voice crackled through the headset.
[You eliminate the Corrupted Entity in America and ruin their plan. Meanwhile, I’ll strike the main base.]
The reason the Apostle had reassigned the operation and entrusted America to her before boarding the helicopter.
A meticulously calculated feint.
“I understand.”
As the private jet, cutting across the Pacific at supersonic speed, reached the operational zone, the hatch suddenly dropped open without any formal announcement.
“Then I’ll begin.”
“Yes. Show me.”
Min Ji-hee turned to look at Han Seol-ah and Jin Cheon-jin.
The two gave a thumbs up signal and leaped from the aircraft without hesitation.
Min Ji-hee switched to a headset connected to both their receivers.
Inside the aircraft.
Countless monitors flickered to life, displaying camera feeds tracking the Corrupted Entity.
“B-04 camera, three degrees down. E-08 camera, zoom in more. G-12 camera, not there—”
Min Ji-hee made precise adjustments to the camera positions.
[Target visually confirmed.]
[I’m going in first.]
Jin Cheon-jin erupted with mana, hurtling toward the Corrupted Entity in an instant.
The eyeballs embedded in the back of the Corrupted Entity’s head spun around at the sensation, fixing on Jin Cheon-jin.
Simultaneously, tentacles surged forward.
“Don’t block it.”
[Slip through.]
Whoosh!
Jin Cheon-jin twisted his body mid-air, evading the tentacles by a paper-thin margin.
At the same moment, he added centrifugal force, launching himself at the Corrupted Entity with even greater speed.
[Haaah!]
Gravity, centrifugal force, and the explosive power of mana converging, Jin Cheon-jin drove his palm forward with all his might.
Boom—! Crash!
A heavy explosion erupted, sending dust skyward.
But the impact was fleeting—through the black smoke, dozens of the Corrupted Entity’s tentacles came crashing down toward Jin Cheon-jin.
“Evasion ready. Seven total!”
Tap-tap-tap!
Min Ji-hee’s fingers flew across the controls, and the predicted trajectories of the tentacles appeared in real-time as red lines across Jin Cheon-jin’s goggles.
Jin Cheon-jin flowed gracefully through the gaps between the red trajectories.
Crash-boom!
Amid the deafening sound of asphalt shattering, the relentlessly descending tentacles only grazed Jin Cheon-jin’s afterimage.
But there was no way to avoid every erratic strike that twisted its trajectory mid-air.
[Ugh!]
Wham!
The unavoidable blow—I had no choice but to endure it with a body wrapped in mana!
[Ack!]
Even as I anticipated the damage and drew up mana to defend as much as possible, the tentacle’s destructive power transcended imagination.
My feet carved deep furrows into the asphalt as I was driven back dozens of meters.
“Fifteen meters back, target is the collapsed building debris. Leap and move forty-five degrees right. Pin the Corrupted Entity’s gaze at eleven o’clock.”
[Leaping!]
The moment Min Ji-hee’s command fell, I kicked off the asphalt and burst violently to the right.
As its countless red eyes locked onto my trajectory in unison, I had drawn its full attention.
Min Ji-hee’s gaze swept across dozens of monitor screens simultaneously.
Her brain rotated at superhuman speed, converting every variable on the battlefield into numbers.
The trajectory of the tentacles, the mana flow of the Corrupted Entity, Jin Cheon-jin’s airtime, and even Han Seol-ah’s descent speed as she plummeted from the sky above.
“Han Seol-ah. Current altitude 500 meters. Target the left shoulder joint eye with ‘Ice Arrow’ ready. Casting time three seconds. Can you see it on your goggles?”
[Yes. Ready!]
“I’ll call the timing. Three, two…”
The Corrupted Entity was about to raise another massive tentacle toward Jin Cheon-jin.
“One. Fire!”
[Haaah!]
Kaang!
A colossal spear of ice descended from the heavens like lightning, striking the eye with perfect accuracy.
The absolute zero cold that perpetually dwelt within her body exploded outward in all directions.
One entire tentacle froze solid under that tremendous chill.
Kiiiieeek!
The Corrupted Entity shrieked with a bone-chilling cry.
“Jin Cheon-jin, destroy the frozen tentacle!”
[Haaaah!]
Kwaggguk—Boom!
As Jin Cheon-jin’s fist, wrapped heavily in mana, drove forward, the frozen tentacle shattered explosively into fragments.
Simultaneously, a dark, noxious miasma began gushing from the severed surface.
Jin Cheon-jin’s body reflexively flinched to create distance,
“Range fifty meters. Highly toxic area-of-effect attack! Don’t retreat—push forward instead. The safe zone is three meters directly below the creature, in front!”
An order to narrow the distance against an area-of-effect attack.
Yet Jin Cheon-jin forcibly twisted the momentum that had been carrying him backward, and without a moment’s hesitation, he leaped straight into the heart of the poison.
A blind spot created by dozens of tangled tentacles.
It was the only space where one could escape the cascading toxin.
“Han Seol-ah. Maintain altitude at 300 meters! Deploy ‘Eternal Permafrost’ on the severed tentacle surface!”
[Yes!]
“Jin Cheon-jin. In four seconds, block the three tentacles surging from the lower right!”
[Understood!]
Kwang!
In that split second of opening as Jin Cheon-jin intercepted and deflected the attack,
[Freeze solid!]
Transmit light—!
A storm of absolute zero erupted from Han Seol-ah’s fingertips, consuming the earth itself.
A chill that froze to the bone burrowed through the severed surface, beginning to freeze the creature’s interior.
[Kiiiiiii…!]
The Corrupted Entity’s grotesque cry gradually faded and cut off abruptly.
The monstrosity that had towered dozens of meters high transformed into a massive ice sculpture trapped within a wall of ice.
“Jin Cheon-jin, finish it.”
[End this!]
Jin Cheon-jin drove his fist, mana drawn to its absolute limit, directly into the center of the ice statue.
Crash—!
As shards cascaded down like a blizzard, the black ‘Egg’ in its true form fell lifelessly to the ground with a soft thud.
[Huff, huff… Subjugation complete. Ji-hee, just as you said, it reverted to Egg form. Doesn’t look like it’ll crack.]
Jin Cheon-jin’s ragged breathing came through the radio.
“Thank you for your efforts. Secure the Egg in a mana-blocking containment case and return immediately.”
Min Ji-hee finally removed her headset and wiped the cold sweat from her brow.
In that moment.
A System Message appeared before Min Ji-hee’s eyes.
[Your awakened ability evolves.]
[Awakened Ability: Mystic Eyes (B) → Commander’s Eyes (A)]
‘…?!’
Meanwhile.
The American control room on the other side of the screen was already in chaos.
“Oh, my God. Good heavens. Just five minutes? They caught that calamity in five minutes?!”
“That monster… defeated by three Korean Hunters…!”
The American operators’ shocked screams seemed ready to pierce through the speakers.
At the same moment, in the South Korean conference room.
Lee Hyung-je, watching the same scene on the shared screen, clapped his hands in admiration.
Kang Hyo-jun smirked and gave a light nod toward the monitor.
“Didn’t I tell you the nation would collapse without you? Commander.”
Back inside the private jet over American airspace.
Min Ji-hee turned off the monitor and set down her headset, clenching her trembling hands tightly.
The Apostle had told her.
‘You can do this.’ And now, she had proven it beyond doubt.
That she was the world’s greatest commander.
* * *
And at that very moment.
I was flying over the West Sea, where the aggro radar had pinged.
“The location should definitely be here.”
Yet neither my naked eye nor the Sword Spirit’s keen senses detected anything but the murky seawater.
‘There was a reason the entire world couldn’t find it for ten years.’
Even an S-rank detection skill would be useless at this level.
But I had.
A cheat key that could surpass even this.
I pulled Nopi from my inventory and powered it on.
The synchronization with my home PC was severed, and the familiar startup sound rang out.
“Nopi. I need your help.”
[The power of an EX-grade graphics card that reads ‘threads of mana’.]
Time for the Eyes of Mana to shine.
Click.
[B:98%]
Merely activating synchronization drained 2% of the battery in an instant.
Within the empty void, tangled threads of dark mana began to coalesce, revealing the silhouette of a colossal mobile fortress.
“Found you, you little vermin.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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