Chapter 33: The Rupture of Seoul

At that exact hour, inside the Korean Awakened Association’s Emergency Command Center.

“What are you standing around for?! Move, move, move!”

The Awakened Management Division was locked in a state of absolute, localized panic. A phenomenon that had not manifested within the metropolitan borders for several years had just triggered: an active, uncontained Dungeon Break. Naturally, the administrative floor tasked with monitoring and managing active hunters was running at maximum capacity.

“Deputy Kang! Deputy Choi! Give me a telemetry update right now!” Department Head Kim Sung-ho roared, slamming his hands onto the central tactical table.

“We have successfully broadcasted localized emergency alerts to every registered hunter currently pinging within a five-kilometer radius of the epicenter! Furthermore, because the Seoul Awakened Academy is sitting directly adjacent to the red zone, we have issued an immediate institutional request for logistics support!”

Hearing that the academy had been pulled into the response loop, Kim Sung-ho’s eyes widened. “An institutional request to the academy? Tell me you didn’t draft those students into active frontline combat. If a high-potential cadet suffers a fatal casualty matrix out there, the political fallout will destroy this division.”

“Frontline combat? Absolutely not, sir. The request parameters are strictly limited to non-combat civil evacuation and structural rescue logistics. Furthermore, we explicitly specified that only cadets holding a verified classification of C-rank or above are permitted to enter the field.”

Even if a cadet achieved a C-rank mana density metric, a massive, unquantifiable gulf existed between them and a veteran professional who had spent years clearing dungeons. Throwing raw, unconditioned students into an active meat grinder would inevitably trigger a mass panic response, causing their mental state to collapse before they could even channel their attributes.

Worse, panicked cadets frequently became physical obstacles, actively disrupting the tactical efficiency of veteran hunters. Therefore, the established safety regulations mandated that regardless of a student’s rank ceiling, they were strictly restricted to civil extraction duties.

“Ensure the regional controllers maintain total site command,” Kim Sung-ho commanded, his voice tight. “Student involvement in active containment is strictly prohibited. Now, what is the status of the professional hunters who received our emergency broadcast?”

Deputy Choi Hyun-sung quickly pulled up a real-time tracking map on the main display. “Sir! Hunters holding a D-rank registry or lower have been assigned to civil security and rescue corridors. Hunters certified at C-rank or above are currently redirecting toward the active combat zone. Additionally, the original raid team that evacuated the gate has successfully established an emergency defensive bulkhead at a bottleneck intersection near the portal. They intend to hold that line and suppress monster dispersion until our heavy vanguard units arrive.”

While the emergence of an Elite entity and a subsequent localized Wave was an unpredictable variable that standard raid parties couldn’t naturally prevent, the party that abandoned the dungeon still bore the administrative and moral liability for allowing a Break to occur. To mitigate the inevitable penalties and protect their licenses, they had chosen to hold the line at the mouth of the rupture, buying critical minutes for civil evacuation.

Of course, expecting a single fractured raid team to completely contain a mass surge of monsters that were designed to scatter in all directions was a statistical impossibility.

“Identify the closest major guild assets,” Kim Sung-ho ordered.

“The Baekho Guild, sir.”

The Baekho Guild was currently ranked 11th in the national league—a highly disciplined, upper-tier combat force.

“Have they deployed?”

“We initiated a direct override call, but their primary assault teams are currently locked deep inside a long-term raid cycle. Their remaining active roster consists entirely of a few C-ranks and residual D-ranks. They’ve stated they cannot provide heavy combat containment, but they are deploying their logisticians to assist with the civil evacuation corridors.”

The rupture was originating from a gate classified as the Werewolf Warrior Training Grounds—a standard C-Rank Dungeon. To successfully establish a hard containment line against such a variable, hunters holding a B-rank classification or higher were mandatory. While C-ranks could act as auxiliary DPS, surviving against a massive, coordinated horde of equivalent-rank monsters was a statistical anomaly.

“Dammit! What about the top-tier organizations?”

“They are all reporting similar deployment constraints, sir. The only exception is the Twilight Guild. Because they maintain a secondary regional base nearby, they’ve authorized an immediate heavy combat deployment. However, due to traffic congestion and gear allocation times, their estimated arrival window is forty to sixty minutes.”

While the news that the Twilight Guild—one of the nation’s Big Five titans—was moving its heavy assets was a massive relief, the countdown clock on the central screen was remorseless. Less than ten minutes remained until the break. If the frontline had to hold for forty minutes against a C-rank surge, the localized casualty metrics would be catastrophic.

“Tsk! Re-establish communications with the Twilight vanguard and order them to utilize high-speed travel skills or item attributes to compress their transit window! Keep dialing every single mid-tier guild on the registry—force them to send whatever combat power they have idling!”

“Understood, sir! But… Department Head Kim,” Choi Hyun-sung murmured, looking up from his auxiliary monitor with a hesitant expression.

“What is it? Speak quickly.”

“Our real-time tracker shows that Awakened Jang Se-hyeon is currently inside the red zone. His GPS coordinates place him directly at the Awakened Academy. It’s highly probable he went there to visit his sister… Sir, what if he gets caught in the initial shockwave? If an asset like him suffers structural damage…”

Despite officially holding a D-rank registry, Se-hyeon was currently classified as a high-priority, specially monitored asset within their division—a suspected Irregular of immense potential value. Choi Hyun-sung was deeply concerned that a future pillar of their division’s political leverage might be wiped out before they could even fully appraise him.

“Is that so? Jang Se-hyeon is at the epicenter?” Kim Sung-ho’s expression suddenly relaxed, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Then we should consider ourselves remarkably fortunate.”

“Sir?” Choi Hyun-sung blinked, completely thrown off by the reaction. “Fortunate?”

“Think about the data, Deputy Choi. Jang Se-hyeon possesses a verified combat log showing he single-handedly suppressed an entire D-rank dungeon Wave. Furthermore, our recent intel confirmed he successfully brought down a Queen Arachnid—an entity operating at the absolute ceiling of the rank hierarchy. That data proves his combat output is functionally capable of neutralizing C-rank entities. He will act as an unexpected force multiplier on that line.”

Though officially branded a D-rank, Se-hyeon could not be evaluated through standard bureaucratic frameworks. What normal D-rank could obliterate a localized wave alone or harvest a boss-tier spider? Kim Sung-ho’s analytical mind immediately recognized that Se-hyeon was a highly capable combat piece already placed on the board.

“B-But, sir… the sheer scale of a C-rank Break…”

“Listen to me, Deputy Choi. If Awakened Jang Se-hyeon delivers a combat performance that exceeds our standard projections during a high-visibility crisis, it reflects directly on the Awakened Management Division. We are the ones who identified and protected him.”

Since their division was actively sponsoring and monitoring Se-hyeon’s file, his success in a public crisis would instantly elevate their division’s political capital within the Association’s higher echelons.

“Haa… I understand, sir. However, as his dedicated handler, I will issue a direct, private advisory text urging him to maintain tactical caution.”

“Do that. And ensure the phrasing highlights that our division is personally watching over his safety. Make him feel valued.”

“Understood, sir.”

Kim Sung-ho clapped his hands loudly, snapping the rest of the floor back to attention. “Alright, everyone focus! The clock is ticking down to zero! Maximizing our hunter deployment speed is the only variable that will minimize the civilian death toll today! Keep pushing!”

Meanwhile, having cleared the main perimeter wall of the Seoul Academy, Se-hyeon pulled his smartphone from his pocket as it vibrated violently with incoming data.

[Association Emergency Alert: A C-Rank Dungeon (Werewolf Warrior Training Grounds) is experiencing an imminent structural failure leading to a Dungeon Break. All regional hunters holding a D-rank registry or lower are ordered to assist with civil evacuation. All hunters holding a C-rank registry or higher are requested for active combat deployment.]

That was the standard broadcast sent to the regional grid. Immediately below it was a secondary, direct message.

[Awakened Jang Se-hyeon, this is Deputy Choi Hyun-sung of the Awakened Management Division. Our tracking grid indicates you are currently located near the designated red zone. Please prioritize your personal safety matrix and avoid engaging high-threat entities if possible.]

Se-hyeon let out a dry, low chuckle. “So they are actively monitoring my coordinates, are they?”

It was mildly amusing that they had assigned him a high enough asset priority to warrant a personalized warning text. Of course, from a functional perspective, the text provided zero actual combat utility.

“Hmm… according to the tactical application, the rupture is about to trigger,” he murmured, switching to the Association’s live dungeon tracking app.

The map display centered on his current position had turned a violent, flashing crimson, with a digital countdown clock ticking down rapidly. According to the interface, less than sixty seconds remained before the barrier dissolved completely.

The fact that this specific gate had manifested directly within a dense, urban commercial sector meant that if the initial containment line buckled even slightly, the resulting civilian casualty figures would be immense. Though civil defense authorities were actively clearing the streets, fifteen minutes was a comewise joke for a complete urban evacuation. People would still be trapped in buildings and gridlocked vehicles when the teeth met the meat.

“I suppose it’s time to utilize the alchemical mobility assets,” Se-hyeon decided.

Up until now, he had been moving at a standard human jog to avoid drawing eyes, but the countdown left him no choice. He quietly activated the internal spell matrix linked to his gear.

‘Wind Boots!’

HUMMMMMM!

The moment the dark mana flooded the hidden runes within his footwear, the atmospheric pressure around his ankles shifted, lifting his boots a few inches entirely off the concrete pavement.

“Let’s compress the distance.”

SWIIIIIIISH!

His hovering frame tilted forward, and in the next microsecond, he transformed into a streak of pure, high-velocity motion, tearing through the empty streets at a speed that defied human biology.

Meanwhile, directly at the mouth of the glowing dungeon portal.

“Sixty seconds to rupture! All vanguards, fix your shields! Casters, prep your arrays!”

The original raid party that had triggered the evacuation was currently deployed across the primary intersection leading to the gate, desperately trying to establish a hard chokepoint to prevent the monsters from bleeding into the wider residential grids. They had fractured their remaining numbers, sending a few smaller scout parties to cover adjacent back alleys.

“Dammit! We couldn’t even suppress the population density when we had the spatial advantage inside the dungeon! How the hell are we supposed to hold them out here in the open?!” a frontline tank screamed, his hands shaking against the rim of his steel shield.

“Shut up and hold your line! If our bulkhead breaks here, this entire district turns into an absolute slaughterhouse! Look around—regional freelancers are already arriving to bolster our flanks. The Association confirmed that the Twilight Guild’s vanguard is en route. We just need to survive until the titans drop!”

While it was true that local hunters were responding to the broadcast, the vast majority were D-rank logistics personnel or low-tier skirmishers who had immediately redirected to the civil evacuation corridors. The actual number of high-output combatants standing at the primary intersection remained dangerously low.

The central variable was simple: could they survive long enough for Twilight to arrive? The Twilight Guild possessed the highest concentrated DPS output among the nation’s Big Five organizations. If their heavy assault squads materialized, they could clear a C-rank break in minutes. But forty minutes was an eternity when facing a horde.

As the makeshift defense line tightened, the air around the portal began to crackle with violent, localized static.

BZTTT! BZZZZT!

Massive, spiderweb-like fractures of crimson energy began tearing across the smooth blue surface of the portal. Then, with a sound like shattering glass—

CRACK!

The stable blue light inverted into a deep, corrupted blood-red.

“T-They’re breaking through! Brace yourselves!”

Through the massive, bleeding tear in reality, a tidal wave of massive, fur-covered horrors began to pour onto the asphalt.

“GAOOOOH!” “AWUUUUUU!” “GRAWRRR!”

It was a literal deluge of Werewolf Warriors—beasts standing over two and a half meters tall, their claws glinting with innate mana signatures, their eyes entirely bloodshot with dungeon-rage.

“Hold! Do not let them breach the gap!”

The roaring wave of monsters slammed directly into the hunter line, instinctively targeting the concentrated mass of human mana signatures blocking their path.

BANG! BOOOM!

The heavy B-rank tanks at the apex of the wedge locked their boots into the shattered asphalt, their bodies absorbing the immense kinetic impact as the Werewolf Warriors threw themselves against the shields.

“Forget the standard aggro rotations! Just unleash everything you have!”

Hundreds of Werewolf Warriors had already cleared the threshold, and the bleeding portal showed zero signs of slowing down. While F-to-D-rank gates typically contained a total population of one to three hundred monsters, a C-Rank Dungeon broke straight into the thousands. The sheer volume of a C-rank Wave was an entirely different tier of nightmare. The internal population of this specific gate was estimated to be near two thousand entities. They had barely seen the tip of the spear.

CRASH! BOOM! CRUNCH!

The secondary engagement erupted with terrifying violence, and within the first thirty seconds, the hunter defensive line began to visibly warp inward under the sheer weight of numbers.

“Tsk! This is madness! How are we supposed to suppress this volume?!” “There are too many! This exceeds our mathematical containment parameters!”

In a standard, controlled raid environment, a single well-balanced party would engage three to five monsters simultaneously. If a pack exceeded ten, they would utilize crowd control or pull in auxiliary parties. But here, they were facing a simultaneous, unmitigated charge of hundreds of beasts. The defensive line consisted of barely ten to twelve fractured parties. Ten tanks were currently trying to act as a physical dam against a raging river of teeth and claws.

“Sir! Multiple packs are breaking off from the flanks! They are bypassing our intersection and moving into the residential streets! If they hit the unevacuated blocks, the civilian casualty metrics will go vertical!”

“What do you want me to do about it?!” the frontline commander roared, his shield sparking under a werewolf’s heavy iron axe. “Can’t you see our primary bulkhead is on the verge of collapsing?! If we break here, everyone dies! We have to trust the alleyway parties to intercept the strays! Maintain your focus on the core mass!”

Ahhhh! Help me! Run! Get to the cars!

From the adjacent blocks, the distant, piercing screams of civilians began to echo through the air as the flanking packs discovered the gridlocked evacuation traffic. But the primary combat line couldn’t spare a single blade.

“If this intersection falls, Seoul loses an entire district! Do not turn your heads! Stand and hold!”

Under the relentless, crushing pressure of the Werewolf Warriors, the vanguard tanks began to slide backward, their boots carving deep grooves into the ruined street.

“Ugh! If one side gives ground, everyone steps back in unison! Maintain the line integrity! If a single gap opens, they will flank us and tear the casters apart!”

Even among B-rank tanks, a massive variance in personal attributes and equipment existed. The moment a less-equipped vanguard buckled under the kinetic load, the rest of the line was forced to cede ground to prevent a fatal breakthrough.

“Argh! I… I can’t hold my block! The pressure is too high!” a tank screamed, his arm buckling as three Werewolf Warriors slammed their axes down onto his iron rim simultaneously.

It wasn’t a cry of cowardice; it was the cold, objective reality of their situation. The sheer mathematical volume of the horde had entirely overwhelmed human endurance.

But right at that desperate microsecond—

SHIIIIIIIIIIK! BOOM! CRASH! EXPLOSION!

From the high sky above, a concentrated barrage of pitch-black spheres descended like a heavy artillery strike, slamming directly into the dense center of the Werewolf horde. The resulting concussive explosions tore through the monsters’ ranks, completely vaporizing the lead beasts and throwing the surrounding pack into absolute chaos. The immense physical pressure pressing against the vanguard line vanished instantly.

“Heh… Huh?! What was that?!” “Did… did the high-rank reinforcements arrive?!”

The battered hunters behind the shield wall stared at the smoking craters in absolute shock, their minds instantly concluding that a top-tier guild’s elite bombardment squad had just drop-deployed onto the field.

A few moments prior, Se-hyeon had rocketed through the adjacent blocks using the enhanced velocity of his Wind Boots. Coming to a halt on the roof of a three-story commercial building overlooking the intersection, his eyes scanned the battlefield.

“Ho? So those are the hunters who abandoned the interior?” Se-hyeon muttered, observing the desperate shield wall. “They’re mostly B-ranks, so their structural durability isn’t terrible. They’re managing to maintain a loose line despite the stress.”

Though from his perspective it was a fragile, pathetic display on the verge of total collapse, the fact that they hadn’t broken and fled civil space was commendable enough.

“However, the monsters are already beginning to leak through the secondary vectors. I need to clear the field quickly.”

The Werewolf Warriors, realizing the central intersection was a bottleneck, had begun diverting their pathing into the side streets. While the commander had mentioned small ambush parties covering those zones, a force that was currently overwhelming twelve coordinated parties would easily stomp through a lone 1-or-2-man rookie squad.

Hearing the distant screams of civilians echoing from the traffic lines, Se-hyeon decided to skip the warm-up.

“Dark Orb.”

Extending his right hand as he stood at the lip of the rooftop, he manifested his primary offensive spell.

HUMMM! WUUUUONG! HUMMMM!

Thanks to his Stage 3 Awakening, the casting speed and capacity had scaled immensely. Within a single heartbeat, thirty massive, rotating spheres of dense, pitch-black void energy materialized in a perfect halo around his body. With a cold flick of his wrist, he launched the entire array directly into the thickest concentration of the monster horde.

SWIIIIIIISH! BOOM! BLAST! CRASH!

With his massive, augmented magic stat now being added directly into the spell’s core damage calculation, the destructive payload of a single Dark Orb was leagues above its previous iteration. Thirty of these high-tier void bombs detonated simultaneously in a concentrated cluster, unleashing a catastrophic shockwave that entirely pulverized everything within a thirty-meter radius, reducing C-rank Werewolf Warriors to fine ash in an instant.

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