Gallio’s Crisis!

“Rank promotion exam?”

“Yes!”

When we were about to receive a quest after finishing our morning training as usual.

Dendeli stopped us and said.

“You three have been performing really well lately. Physique could have been promoted earlier if her endurance wasn’t an issue. But now that problem has been solved, so I think it’s definitely possible. What do you think?”

“Um… don’t they also test personality and aptitude for B-rank and above?”

“Don’t worry about that! Your sincerity and character are already well-known at the guild. So all you need to do is complete the quest set for the examination!”

“Oh!”

That’s good.

“Luna-noona, Physique-noona! What should we do?”

I asked my noonas out of courtesy.

“I’m definitely fine with it!”

“Y-yes! I-I want to be promoted too!”

“Great! Then we’ll take the exam! Which monster do we need to hunt?”

“Yes! The monster you three will hunt is…”

Just as Dendeli was rummaging through a drawer under her desk to take something out.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

“Huh?!”

“Kyaa!”

“W-what’s that!”

Suddenly an earthquake occurred.

The ground shook and vibrations caused people to panic.

“Th-th-the ground is shaking!”

“J-Jin-saaaang!”

“G-get outside! Let’s get outside!”

If things start falling while we’re inside, it could be dangerous!

I took Luna-noona and Physique-noona outside.

Fortunately, since Gallio doesn’t have tall high-rise buildings.

We waited outside for the earthquake to stop.

“J-J-Jin-sang! W-what is this!?”

“I-it’s an earthquake! Physique-noona! Do earthquakes u-usually happen in Gallio!?”

“This is my first time experiencing one since birth!”

And the earthquake only began to calm down after 3 minutes.

“Oh, m-my heart is pounding!”

This was the first time I felt such a strong vibration.

Once the earthquake seemed to settle down, we returned to the Adventurer’s Guild.

Chairs and desks in the Adventurer’s Guild were knocked over haphazardly.

“Uwaaaah!”

Dendeli was screaming because the documents she had organized were scattered all over the floor.

“U-umm… let’s h-help.”

“Y-yes! Let’s do that!”

“That’s a very righteous spirit!”

Luna-noona, Physique-noona, and I helped clean up the Adventurer’s Guild.

Of course, not just us, but other adventurers who were in the guild also helped with the cleanup, righting overturned chairs and tables around them.

“What in the world happened…”

“I never thought I’d experience an earthquake in my lifetime.”

“O-okay, this is from last year, and this is… from this year… it’s okay! It’s okay! They’re not too mixed up! I can do this!”

While everyone was busy cleaning up.

“B-big trouble! D-Dendeli! Dendeli!”

A man who appeared to be a guild employee rushed into the guild looking for Dendeli.

“I’m busy reorganizing the scattered documents right now…”

“That’s not important right now!”

“It’s important to me!”

“Th-the legendary! That legendary monster has appeared!”

“Legendary?”

“The Mountain Turtle has appeared!”

“M-Mountain T-T-T-Turtle!?”

At the employee’s words, Dendeli dropped the documents she was organizing and screamed.

“D-d-d-don’t tell me that vibration just now…”

“It happened when the Mountain Turtle emerged from the ground! Damn! Emergency! It’s an emergency situation! I’ll go inform the temple, so you explain the situation to the adventurers! Got it!”

“Ye-ye-ye-yes!”

After the guild employee went outside.

“E-everyone~! E-emergency! It’s an emergency situatiooooon!!!”

Dendeli shouted loud enough for the entire Adventurer’s Guild to hear.

◈

Mountain Turtle.

It’s said to be a legendary monster that appears maybe once every 200 years.

A giant turtle reaching 30 meters in size.

While not as big as an actual mountain, the pressure one feels when seeing it up close is said to have the heaviness of a mountain approaching.

This monster is literally a living disaster.

Like a turtle, it moves slowly.

But due to its size, it crushes buildings and devastates everywhere it passes, making a complete mess.

Moreover, it’s ridiculously tough, with durability far beyond that of an Iron Golem.

Not only physical attacks, but even magic doesn’t work well on it, making it a veritable iron wall.

It’s said that in the past, high-ranking adventurers confident in their firepower had to band together to barely defeat it, as recorded in historical documents.

And now such a Mountain Turtle had emerged from the ground, caused an earthquake, and was heading toward Gallio.

“Wait, why does this Mountain Turtle emerge from the ground like a golem?”

When I asked out of curiosity, Dendeli explained.

“Mountain Turtles usually grow while sleeping deeply underground. And they have a habit of coming out when they are fully grown.”

“Wow.”

It grows just by sleeping.

That’s completely effortless.

“Anyway! The Mountain Turtle is heading toward Gallio!”

Dendeli spoke based on information brought by another guild employee during her explanation.

“Based on where the Mountain Turtle was spotted, it will take 5 days for it to reach Gallio! So we have to defeat the Mountain Turtle during those 5 days! I-if not… Gallio will be devastated!”

“Mountain Turtle…”

“Will my hammer be effective?”

“Damn, such bad luck.”

“What’s the reward for subjugation?”

Unlike during the Monster Parade in Kellion.

The Mountain Turtle just destroys its surroundings as it passes and doesn’t chase or kill fleeing people, so the adventurers remained calm.

“This quest is a group subjugation. In other words, a raid quest. We plan to calculate contributions after subjugation and distribute rewards to each adventurer, and the guild will also buy the Mountain Turtle materials at a high price! And! As a base payment, we will give 5 gold to everyone who participates!”

“Oh! 5 gold!”

“Now that’s worth participating!”

5 gold.

That meant you could earn the equivalent of 5 million won just by participating.

But what if you made the greatest contribution to its defeat?

You could earn an amount beyond imagination.

And that means.

Defeating the Mountain Turtle was that important to Gallio.

The adventurers were burning with enthusiasm after hearing the announced amount.

And that…

“Luna-noona! Physique-noona!”

Applied to me too!

“Let’s have our Strongest~ Trio shine in this raid! Let’s protect Gallio!”

“Jin-sang is right! The Mountain Turtle that threatens people! Especially this Gallio! Let’s destroy it! With these fists! Directly!”

“Y-yes! L-let’s do our best!”

◈

Together with the priests from the temple and the adventurers from the Adventurer’s Guild, we moved by carriage to the area where the Mountain Turtle was reported to have appeared.

And what we saw was.

“Wow…”

A truly enormous turtle monster that really could look like a mountain when seen up close.

KUWOOOONG!

Moreover, due to its size, the feeling of the ground trembling with each of its movements was truly terrifying.

If you get crushed by that, you’d really be dead in one hit.

“Alright! Now that we’ve arrived, let’s start the subjugation immediately! The achievement will be ours!”

“According to the teachings of the goddess! We will destroy that monster!”

And adventurers, priests, and holy knights quickly jumped out from various carriages and rushed toward the Mountain Turtle.

“J-Jin-sang! S-shouldn’t we go too?”

“That’s right! Let’s go go go!”

“Wait a moment. It doesn’t look like something we can defeat easily. Let’s watch for a bit and see.”

We waited near the carriage and observed what others were doing.

“Uryaaah!”

CLANG!

Some adventurers swung hammers and greatswords at the Mountain Turtle’s legs.

But they were of no use against the Mountain Turtle with its enormous, thick, and hard skin.

Rather, as the Mountain Turtle began to lift that foot, they had to hurriedly distance themselves.

“Icicle Arrow!”

“Blaze Boom!”

“Storm Cutter!”

KAKAKAKANG!

BWAAAANG!

WHOOOOOSH!

Some mages cast their most confident spells, attacking the legs, but again, they were ineffective against the sturdy Mountain Turtle.

“How can it be so tough!”

“Heh, idiots! If it’s tough, aim for its weak spots! Go! Power Shot!”

WHOOOOSH!

An archer shot an arrow toward the Mountain Turtle’s eye.

TING!

The Mountain Turtle’s eye itself was like a huge rock.

The arrow shot by the archer simply bounced off.

“Pfft! Idiot! If you could easily defeat it by shooting its eyes, would they call it a disaster?”

“Shut up!”

“In the name of the goddess! Uoooooh!”

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!

The priests were also continuously attacking with hammers, halberds, morning stars.

Or using holy magic, but no one could stop the Mountain Turtle’s march.

“J-J-Jin-sang, w-what should we do? O-our attacks p-probably won’t work either.”

“Hmm…”

“Jin-sang! Just give the word! Even if it doesn’t work! Over and over! I’ll attack until it does!”

Luna-noona was anxious, while Physique-noona looked ready to rush in at any moment.

I looked at Physique-noona.

“Physique-noona.”

“Yes! Are we charging in right now?!”

Looking at Physique-noona, whose eyes were shining with eagerness, I pointed at the Mountain Turtle and asked.

“Can you break that shell?”