Junhyuk expressed his decision, and people’s expressions hardened as they listened. In any event, they had to destroy the dimensional tears. They had been thwarted that time, but they would come up with a new plan.
Eunseo said calmly, “We have fifty novices and two experts on standby.”
Those numbers were enough to fill the void left by the casualties, but that still wouldn’t be enough to push ahead.
Junhyuk said evenly, “I said full force. How many iron soldiers can you supply us? I don’t mind if they are older models.”
Iron soldiers carried weapons and were dense enough to withstand monster attacks. On top of that, they were extremely mobile.
They were expensive, but they could replace people in the advance, so that was their strong point. It would be a good idea to use them more.
Eunseo tapped something, and Elise showed up on the corner of the screen. She had dark circles under her eyes, which meant she had to be working hard on her research.
“What’s going on?” Elise asked as she saw all the screens staring back at her.
Eunseo spoke instead of Junhyuk, “We were countered while destroying the tear this time. Check it out.”
Elise looked at one of her monitors and scowled.
“That’s different.”
“Yes, that’s why we have a request. How many old iron soldiers do we have available?”
Elise quickly typed a few things on her computer and replied, “The deployment of the new model is done in some places, so we can gather twenty-four of the old model.”
Twenty-four iron soldiers equipped with heavy weaponry would be great help. And with the new novices and the two experts, they would be much stronger.
However, the novices would still be vulnerable. Junhyuk sighed and said, “OK. Then, send me those iron soldiers. Send me the novices and the experts as well.”
It was his decision in the end whether he would use them or not, but first, they’d have to all gather in one place.
After staring at him, Elise said, “I have a weapon that is still in the experimental stage. Would you like to use it?”
“What’s the weapon?” Junhyuk asked, interested.
She replied, “It’s hard to explain, but its level of destruction is greater than a strategic nuke deployment. If you use it, New Delhi will disappear from the map.”
“Are you going to use such a dangerous weapon?!” the Indian delegate shouted suddenly. He was very angry. But, Junhyuk raised his hand, and the Indian delegate shut his mouth. He was still fuming however.
Junhyuk continued, “Why are you suggesting something so dangerous?”
Elise replied, “It is not a radioactive weapon, and we can control the blast radius of the explosion. We can accurately detonate it inside the monster area, and it will kill all of the monsters there. We may also destroy the dimensional tear in the process.”
Junhyuk frowned a bit.
“To destroy dimensional tears, we have to destroy the tower core inside the tears. Unless we do that, the tears will persist. We should put some more thought into this.”
“The heat of the explosion will enter the tear and kill the monsters within it.”
“What about A-ranked monsters?”
“Until a while ago, all known A-ranked monsters wouldn’t have been able to withstand the heat, so unless a monster specializes in fire, it’ll die. The Chinese Dragon might survive because its scales are resistant to heat.”
The scales’ resistance meant that the dragon could survive the blast.
Junhyuk looked at the Indian delegate and the others.
“If this weapon works out, we can destroy dimensional tears faster than ever. The buildings inside the monster area will be destroyed, but without radioactive residue, countries can rebuild.”
The delegates were a bit surprised by his assertion.
“The costs will be astronomical!”
Junhyuk replied calmly, “If the tears persist, it will be nearly impossible to destroy them later on. There is no guarantee that we can destroy them all.”
When Junhyuk said that, the delegates quieted down. They weren’t happy with the situation, but they weren’t entirely opposed to the use of the weapon either. They were deciding on whether or not to drop a weapon more destructive than a nuke on the major cities and capitals of the world.
Eunseo looked at the delegates and told Junhyuk, “We’ll have a longer discussion on the new weapon and let you know.”
“Of course. I’ll destroy the tears as quickly as possible,” he declared, and everyone nodded.
Junhyuk left for the monster area. Outside, he saw that the monsters were going wild inside the border. There were more monsters coming out of the tear.
“The tear still had monsters in it?”
The other tears would probably act similarly. From then on, Junhyuk took a positive stance on the use of the new weapon. His mind had been made.
Junhyuk decided to stay at the camp to protect the border. Management could send more monsters if they wanted to. He would be there for them.
—
Junhyuk was waiting for support when someone approached him.
“Elise?”
She was covering her baggy eyes with sunglasses.
“I need your permission to use the new weapon. It’s the best option to destroying tears, but its composition is problematic. Can we talk?”
Junhyuk took her to his resting area, one of the tents among many military tents, and offered her a seat.
“Are you OK? You look exhausted.”
She said calmly, “Next time I visit Bebe, I’ll buy some intelligence runestones.”
“Intelligence runestones?”
“Just from watching Sarang, I know I’ll need some for myself. So far, I had thought I was smart enough to do everything, but I’ve reached my limit with using magic,” she said, taking sips from the tea he had made. Elise sighed and continued, “The weapon was created with the same technology that uses mana stones to power iron soldiers. However, I’m using the core for power.”
“You learned how to use the energy from the core?”
They didn’t know what kind of energy was contained within the core yet, but Elise had learned how to harness it.
She said calmly, “I managed to force the energy out of the core. Using it, I learned a few things. I don’t know how the energy emanated by the core creates monster areas, but that energy will only create an explosion inside the area.”
“Just inside? Not outside?”
Elise nodded and replied, “I can’t be completely sure, but I’ll place bits of the core around the border to test.”
“Good thinking.”
Junhyuk had a positive opinion on the use of the new weapon. The energy would remain inside the area and kill the monsters. Mana stones also yielded high energy, which caused great destruction, but by using the core as a catalyst, they could create explosions that would kill A-ranked monsters as well.
He asked, “Will the entire core be used?”
It would be better to be able to manufacture more weapons at once. If the entire core was used up every time, he would have to go in to get another core every time as well. Nevertheless, destruction of dimensional tears would be easier with that strategy.
Elise shook her head. “That’s only for the first use. We’ll require the extra pieces to test out the border and explosion first, but after that, with one core, I’ll be able to create ten of those bombs.”
They would definitely be able to destroy tears more easily.
“What’s its name?”
“I named it Core Bomb.”
“That’s a good name.” Junhyuk was seriously thinking about using the Core Bomb. “I know what kind of weapon it is, so we have to wait to hear from the delegates.”
Elise yawned hard.
“I have to watch to make sure they work properly, so I’ll remain here.”
“You can’t go in.”
“Of course. I don’t want to. Instead, take this with you.”
Elise gave him a watch, and he inspected it.
“It is a research and measuring device. I want to know more about the inside of the tears.”
Junhyuk wanted to take Elise inside, but he couldn’t. Instead, he would take her device with him.
“You’re clever.” He asked her then, “What about your rings?”
“My crafting success rate has gone up, way up.”
“Are you making other weapons?”
“Yes. I’m trying to use the dragon’s scales, but I haven’t created anything yet. If my research is successful, I’ll make something new.”
By using A-ranked monsters to make weapons, Elise would get a lot of money. He expected good things from her.
“Continue making invisibility cloaks on top of everything else.”
“I wish there were two of me.”
Research and development and magic training. Elise was incredibly busy now.
“If you need help, let me know.”
“Of course.”
They were still talking when Brigadier Johnson came to talk to him. He told Junhyuk, “Guardians has called a meeting.”
Junhyuk told Elise to wait and followed Johnson. When he arrived, he saw the delegates and Eunseo on the screens. She looked at him.
“We’ve discussed. We approve the use of the new weapon. New Delhi will be a trial, and we’ll decide on how to proceed after.”
Junhyuk nodded and replied, “The weapon’s name is Core Bomb. We’ll deploy it at 1400 hours today.”
