This situation was broadcast live around the world.
【M-My word! Right at that moment! N-Now, "Avalon" just exploded!】
The voice of the reporter covering the scene was flustered. His voice coming from a distance.
└ What?????
└ What the??? What is it?
└ ?? Suddenly? What happened?
└ W-Wait! Why is it like that? All of a sudden?
└ Near the chest area? What kind of explosion?
└ Isn't that where the magic core is located?
Not to mention the people watching the broadcast in real time,
“What the hell? That guy? Why is he exploding all by himself?”
“It suddenly just…”
“Don't let your guard down. Infantry, move forward! Check his status!”
“Yes, sir!!”
Even the soldiers fighting on the scene were just as bewildered.
It was a situation where everyone couldn't help but fall into confusion—no one could accurately define what was happening.
And
Here, one more person—
“Hah… hah….”
A man gasping for breath, drenched in sweat…
It was Ha-min.
‘I-It really worked.’
He saw it clearly with his own two eyes. The sight of that bastard's magic core exploding—and from the inside, at that…
The magic core is the source and origin of a magic beast's power. The fact that it exploded meant the bastard's death.
「Annihilation」
This was an instant-kill technique.
‘I-It's real. It actually worked!’
…Gulp!
Ding!
A system message that clearly appeared before his eyes. In fact, this wasn't something only Ha-min could see.
This notification window appears simultaneously to all nearby 「Breakers」. Since it was a divine general class magic beast, at the very least, all Breakers located within the metropolitan area would have seen it. That's how monumental this event is.
【It has been confirmed through multiple Awakened that a raid notification for 「Avalon」 has appeared. We repeat: 「Avalon」 has been eliminated. The magic beast is dead.】
└ Oh? For real? I just got the message too.
└ Crazy, who was it? Who killed it?
└ Does it not say who killed it?
└ The reward must be insane.
└ How do they calculate the rift rewards?
└ Normally, rewards are given individually based on raid contribution!
└ Wasn't there no 「Breaker」 there?
└ Then why is it dead? Was it really a coincidence?
└ I'm telling you, it was a heart attack!! ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹
The comment section was even more chaotic than the scene itself. Eventually, people even began to suspect that the magic beast had suffered a heart attack. The fact that they were spouting such nonsense in this situation also meant that no one was able to come up with an answer.
Of course. How could anyone possibly explain this?
...
Only one person.
Except for Ha-min—
‘I-I caught it! For real.’
This was truly no ordinary feat. Under normal circumstances, it was a Divine General-class, colossal magic beast that could only be taken down through a raid involving dozens of 「Breakers」.
「The Chaos Magic Beast, Avalon!」
Even Ha-min, who had just awakened, knew it. He knew just how fearsome this magic beast was... and how many sacrifices there had been when it first appeared in the tower...
And yet, Ha-min had taken it down all by himself. Without even lifting a single finger...
It was truly an unbelievable skill.
‘What should I do now?’
A serious conflict arose within Ha-min. He wanted to tell everyone right away.
That he had caught it,
That he had killed the bastard...
That he was a hero!!
But,
No matter what anyone said, his ability was complete overkill. And it was an unprecedented unique trait at that!
It was clearly an absolute skill that no other 「Breaker」 in the world possessed.
What if people found out about this? Just thinking about it simply, this was dangerous.
Ha-min was certain.
‘If this gets discovered… there's no way I'll come out unscathed.’
During the early days of the 「Demon King's Tower,」
there was a well-known incident where numerous recovery-type Awakened were captured by criminal organizations and subjected to group experiments.
The problem was that it wasn't just criminal organizations carrying out such acts — even governments and massive corporations had been involved.
And in the worst cases, there was even the possibility of being assassinated without a trace.
The Breaker 「Saintess」 who was assassinated in Paris eight years ago, was a prime example of that.
‘My body is only Level 1.’
He was not invincible. His basic physical foundation was still that of a frail human. At Level 1, he was no different from an ordinary person.
Gulp!
Ha-min swallowed dryly.
They say that when people are faced with crisis, they display superhuman strength, don't they? In a short span of time, countless thoughts raced through Ha-min's mind.
‘For now, I should keep it a secret. I need to learn about this ability myself first. Telling others is something to think about later.’
Even Ha-min himself still knew almost nothing about this 「Absolute Command」.
'First...'
Ha-min checks the time.
'Ah, I really want to go home. For real!'
He was still in the middle of his part-time job at the convenience store.
***
The next day,
└ This is a system error! An error! 100%!
└ To begin with, the fact that 'Avalon' appeared there in the first place...
└ It must have died during the bug-fixing process.
└ But still? That seems a bit strange?
└ The system just killed it? A magic beast that devoted itself to the rift?
The online space became noisy. But this wasn't just limited to Korea.
└ Hey, Korea! Forget about whether it's a bug or not — how are you going to explain the magic core suddenly exploding?
└ I'm telling you, it's a bug fix! ㄱ ㄱ ㄱ
Japan, of course, had their own opinion
└ Koreans think they're so great!
└ Well, that's why their tower raids always end up like that lol lol lol
└ Lol lol lol why? Are they going to insist they were the first to fix a bug too?
This time, China — they too were closely watching the situation. Of course, underlying that was a strong tendency to look down on Korea.
And that wasn't all.
Hundreds of articles adorning the news headlines.
【A Diivine General-class Giant Magic Beast Has Fallen!】
【Korea Overcomes the Crisis! 「Avalon」 Crushed!】
【The Power of the Republic of Korea — 「Avalon」 Has Fallen.】
From simple statements of fact...
【A Suspicious Magic Rift Suppression Operation — The National Disaster Headquarters Currently Remains Silent...!】
【The Final Moment of 「Avalon」? A Suspicious Explosion — What Does It Mean?】
【Government Official Briefing Scheduled! Will Their Stance on the 「Avalon」 Incident Be Revealed?】
News articles beginning to raise suspicions started to appear,
【A Sudden Appearance of a Divine General-class Magic Beast? The Tower Anomaly Theory Becomes Reality?】
【The Government Establishes a Joint Response Headquarters in Connection with the Casualties of This Incident...】
Following the recently emerging tower anomaly theory,
【The U.S. Government, In Relation to This Incident...】
Naturally, the United States had begun to move. The whole world was truly astonished...
...Of course, the person in question was still unaware of this fact.
***
"Fortunately, there are no abnormal symptoms in your body."
The doctor, wearing a modern-style gown, spoke.
"Ah, yes. That's a relief."
The patient receiving the examination was Ha-min.
Immediately after Ha-min had dealt with 「Avalon,」 he was undergoing a check-up at a nearby hospital as part of the government's follow-up measures.
It wasn't that he was injured anywhere, but in the case of a colossal-class magic beast emerging from a rift, its magical waves were so immense that this was a check-up to see if he had been affected by magical exposure.
And the results?
"You seem to have been quite startled, I must say. Your blood pressure has risen considerably. For now, I recommend you go home and get plenty of rest."
"Huh. Blood pressure?"
The diagnosis was 「Neurogenic Hypertension.」
In other words, it meant he had been under a lot of stress.
'Should I even believe this?'
Well, he had been stressed.
Just in a slightly different direction, though...
The cause of the high blood pressure was, of course, the effect of the awakening.
And since Ha-min had awakened as a 「Breaker,」 he was not affected by magical exposure.
"Fortunately, there are no signs of mana poisoning."
「Mana Poisoning」
In the case of ordinary people, exposure to or poisoning from mana could cause serious internal injuries, and in severe cases, could lead to death from shock.
'But something feels off.'
Ha-min suddenly had a question.
There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world!
He had single-handedly eliminated a Divine General-class magic beast, 「Avalon」 all by himself. And at just Level 1, at that.
And with such immense power, a price was bound to follow inevitably.
...
But,
'Am I not way too fine?'
If the cost of using his trait was merely "neurogenic hypertension," something didn't quite match up.
Because he had used a skill close to a divine authority called 「Absolute Command」 yet there was no backlash whatsoever.
In fact, when he had come in for the check-up, he had been a little nervous. Like a thief with guilty feet, he had wondered if there might be some serious problem somewhere invisible.
But there was no issue at all. He hadn't even felt the slightest bit of mana consumption.
In one word... it was completely broken.
After being discharged, Ha-min arrived home and began looking into his ability in earnest.
But nowhere in history did a similar ability exist in this world.
└ Is there a command-type among unique traits?
└ What the hell are you talking about!
└ If it's summoning-type, maybe?
└ But that's limited to summoned creatures.
The closest thing was the abilities of 「Breakers」 who had awakened as summoning-types. They were capable of issuing commands to their summoned creatures.
But fundamentally, it was different from Ha-min.
└ If there were a skill like that, it'd be crazy overpowered, don't you think?
└ If you could give commands to a magic beast, would it even be a magic beast anymore?
└ As expected, no one believes it.
└ Cut the bullshit. Not funny.
└ Fine, then try commanding a magic beast to become your girlfriend!! If that works, I'll admit it!
└ Still, there's no way you'd succeed though?
└ What the hell, man?!
└ Why are you guys suddenly fighting?
Ha-min's question had sparked a pointless dispute of sorts.
He had expected it, but sure enough — it was just as he thought.
‘I shouldn't have asked.’
‘I'll just figure it out on my own.’
There was still much to learn about this ability.
Ding!
▶ Unique Trait
— Name: Absolute Command
— Level: Lv.1
— Command List: 1
— Uses Remaining: 0/1 (Unusable)
You can issue an absolute command to a target.
Command List
1. Annihilation
The number of uses... had become 0.
'What's the cooldown time?'
For most people, the cooldown time would normally be displayed. But there was no such information at all.
'Surely this isn't the end of it?'
At the very least, it seemed to mean that time wasn't the condition.
'How am I supposed to recharge this?'
Usually, unique traits could be used again after some time passed or mana was restored. But this 'Absolute Command' seemed to operate on a completely different wavelength.
'Surely it won't just end here forever.'
In the worst case, there was no rule saying that couldn't happen. It was that overwhelming of a power... so he thought that such a restriction might indeed exist.
No matter how you looked at it, a trait that could only be used once...
That couldn't be it.
...And then, at that moment,
Ding!
【We are settling the rewards for the 「Avalon」 raid.】
‘Huh? What?’
A welcome piece of news appeared. He had forgotten — there were rewards for subjugating a magic beast.
And a Divine General-class one at that...