【[Step 1] Elm Talent Development Academy’s Psyker wins big in his first appearance.】

    【[Before the recapture of Tbilisi] Elada cadets, 50 people massacre tens of thousands of monsters. Everyone is awesome. Interview available】

    【Descendants of the world’s great hero, Red Lizard Elm Northmund. Follow the first steps of heroes together.】

    【GDO Spokesperson. The exact identities of the students cannot be revealed. U.S. State Department disclosure of their identities poses a serious “security threat”】

    【The origin of the martial arts of the first awakened dragon claw Li Jiyuan is Chinese Wing Chun. Chinese Ability Management Department “I cannot reveal details.”】

    “Ugh… The internet is filled with all kinds of weird stuff.”

    Toby yawned and played with his cell phone in the driver’s bunk of his trailer.

    What was held in Toby’s hand was a smartphone, the latest model that he had recently bought with great enthusiasm.

    The era of flip phones was gone and smartphones with touch screens became the trend, and he too threw away his old phone and bought the latest model.

    People working in the field often reject new changes and prefer the stable old model.

    As a trucker, or Churera driver, he also preferred a stable flip phone, but could not keep up with the trend of the times and bought a smartphone.

    Well, it was comfortable.

    In particular, surfing the Internet has become much more convenient than in the past, and to borrow the vocabulary of someone from the older generation, smartphones can be called “high-tech”.

    I glanced at the clock on my phone screen and saw that the current time was past 11 PM.

    The place where he is currently parking his truck is St. Omer in northern France. The cargo loaded on the trailer must be delivered to Bromley, south London, by 21:00 the next day.

    As a result of starting from Geneva, Switzerland and running without sleeping to save time, I had a bit of time before the time limit.

    Even though I woke up after a good night’s sleep, I still had some free time left.

    ‘If we rest for about an hour and leave around midnight, we will arrive at the Yeong-F undersea tunnel around 3 a.m. And if we keep running, we can at least finish delivering the cargo within the next morning.’

    To eat a late dinner, he spread peanut butter jam on the bread he placed roughly on the passenger seat and pressed the power button on DMB TV.

    I didn’t turn it on expecting anything particularly interesting.

    When you see that the Internet is full of things you are not interested in, there is a high possibility that TV programs are also full of uninteresting content.

    And his thoughts did not go astray.

    “… There is a lot of interest from around the world regarding the armed forces of Ellada students. In the short videos released by GDO after recovering the film from the camera, it was seen that the power of Ellada’s psykers was beyond imagination. Some civic groups expressed concern about their force… ”

    Toby narrows his eyes and changes the channel as he sees the news anchor repeating words like a parrot.

    “On the 3rd, the White House spokesperson fired an arrow of criticism at the protesters demanding to reveal the truth about the world. It is true that several small-scale tactical nuclear attacks have been carried out to date, but they were intended to deal with monsters and were not used at the level claimed by some anti-government protesters. There are the great hero Northmund and his disciples, and they fiercely criticize the protesters, asking what the threat to humanity is… ”

    Click!

    “… So Mr. Brown, do you think the Academy’s psykers could be a threat to humanity? / Yes that’s right. What concerns me is that they have acquired superpowers that transcend humans at a young age. If you gain such transcendent power without a mature mind, your individual sense of responsibility will be weak and you may be easily exposed to deviation. ”

    Click!

    “… The current price of oil is over $2 per liter. Citizens are complaining about the hardships of living due to the extremely high oil prices, but GDO dismissed the rise in oil prices as a temporary phenomenon caused by the increased use of military units in each country. Oil experts expressed concern over the agency’s announcement… ”

    Toby, who was changing channels, ended up pressing the TV’s power button again.

    I forced the peanut butter-covered bread into my mouth, chewed it, and laid down on the bed.

    As I laid my head down on the hard leather pillow, I remembered my miserable situation and shed tears.

    He says he drives a Churera now, but his life was going well until about three years ago.

    Buying your own house in your hometown and calling it pretty… It may have been difficult, but I also had a kind-hearted fiancee.

    His life began to fall apart from the day a portal called the Gate opened to the world.

    Toby’s life, which had been earning handsome profits through stock investments, went downhill from the moment New York was taken over by monsters.

    The light of Wall Street in New York, which was said to never go out, lost its power from that day.

    Of course, it was quickly recaptured by the U.S. military, but after that, stock prices around the world plummeted and never returned to the upward trend.

    The only thing that fluctuates is the stock price of GDO’s partner companies.

    By chance, I found out that the granddaughter of Taesung Group had become a disciple of that red-faced lizard, and I invested just in case.

    result? Of course it was a huge success. In particular, after the recapture of Tbilisi, there was a tremendous rise.

    “Uhihi.”

    Seeing the graph returning to red after a long time, Toby gained strength to live.

    That’s what stocks are like. In a falling market, you feel drained of energy and lose motivation, while in a rising market, the energy of a tiger surges out.

    Toby, who felt strength surging through his body as if he had gulped down a series of energy drinks, jumped out of bed and sat in the driver’s seat of the truck.

    ‘okay. It would be better to just arrive quickly, unload and rest there. Let’s buy some fish and chips and get a good night’s sleep.’

    After burying himself in the soft driver’s seat and feeling the lingering sensation for a moment, he starts the truck.

    The key ring key ring sound of the engine is heard, and soon after, the loud sound of a large trailer engine echoes along the roadside in the middle of the night.

    Like a colonel’s truck, the dazzling turn signals come on and the heavy body moves while emitting pitch-black exhaust gases.

    Toby hummed as he felt the pleasant vibration of the steering wheel.

    It’s so strange to be human. Even after losing close to $100,000, I can’t believe I feel good about only earning a few thousand dollars.

    “Hmm hmmm, hmmm hmmm~ Hehehum~”

    Humming along to the late-night music broadcast on the radio, his trailer makes its way across the quiet country roads of France.

    How long has it been?

    Toby narrowed his eyes. That was because the music broadcast on the radio was gradually crackling.

    Usually, when passing around mountains or other tall buildings, radio waves are sometimes interrupted by terrain features, producing crackling radio waves.

    However, there are not many cases where radio waves are suddenly interrupted in open plains like now.

    In addition, didn’t he spend a lot of money to install a radio repeater on his horse?

    ” Especially in the climax part.”

    As the crackling gradually gets worse, as he tries to change the frequency, he hears something different in his ears.

    Is this a phenomenon caused by radio interference? The sound, probably the voice of a walkie-talkie, is mixed in with his radio.

    However, the sound was too urgent, and as the atmosphere flowed into his ears through the radio, Toby, who was about to press the frequency search button, froze for a moment.

    On the radio, a banging noise that sounds like a gun firing can be heard and people can be heard screaming.

    As a crackling sound came from the car stereo, he felt his hair standing on end.

    ─Headquarters! Currently, an unknown space distortion phenomenon occurs! There is no fire at all inside…

    “What?”

    When a man’s voice sounded like he was in fear, he urgently stepped on the brakes.

    The screeching sound continued for a long time due to the weight of the fully loaded cargo, and Toby’s truck stopped in the middle of the road.

    “Is it a gate?”

    If it’s a gate, it’s a big deal. I don’t have the strength to respond right now. The only firearm available was a pistol hidden in the passenger seat pocket for self-defense.

    I can’t even deal with monsters with this. Even if you empty an entire magazine, you’ll only make them angry and it’s no different from throwing rocks.

    “Shit!”

    Toby urgently attempted to turn the trailer.

    Because it was a narrow two-lane road and his favorite car was a long truck, the U-turn angle itself was not possible, so he tried to reverse with the gear in reverse.

    ‘Looking at the range of radio interference, there must be a gate originating nearby. ‘We need to get out of here as much as possible.’

    It was possible to go backwards because it was a straight road with no curves. Toby looks in the side mirror to see the line of the road.

    ‘uh?’

    Something is strange.

    I can’t see the floor. There isn’t even a white line at the edge of the road, let alone a center line.

    As he looked at the windshield in confusion, an incomprehensible sight caught his eye.

    “… What is this?”

    The entire sky turned black and red. Rocks floating in the sky as if defying gravity. Strange tower-like sculptures that look like buildings but are not from the Earth.

    Before I knew it, the radio stopped working. The truck’s engine noise disappears and only a quiet hum enters his ears.

    Is this a dream?

    ‘My hand?’

    The hand raised to pinch the cheek is red. It was as if the skin had melted away and all the muscles were exposed.

    What is the situation?

    My head doesn’t even turn.

    Suddenly I can’t even see my eyes.

    ㅁㅜㅓ ㅈㅣ…

    Eventually, even the brain that could think of the cause melted, and Toby disappeared from this world without a trace.

    *

    “… Is it Burns?”

    “Hello, Dean. This is today’s report.”

    We all returned from the battlefield victorious, but the atmosphere in Ellada was heavier than expected.

    Of the 50 men who went to the battlefield to see them off, 14 died.

    There are about 10 people whose combat power has decreased due to loss of limbs. The first battle resulted in a total of 24 casualties.

    In fact, since it was a loss of close to half of my combat power, I was also feeling quite depressed.

    Helen, who I expected to criticize me, surprisingly didn’t say anything.

    I felt sympathy for her as she acted brightly as usual, as if she was being considerate.

    Like right now.

    “… How far has the artificial potion development progressed?”

    “There is some progress, but it is still far from reaching the original effect. It doesn’t even reach 5% of the effectiveness of the original potion. Oh! A request has been received from GDO’s research department to provide more potions.”

    “I’m sorry, but I’ve already used up everything. That won’t work.”

    Denying her request, I shook my head slightly and looked out the window. If you look down from the principal’s office, you can see the entire playground.

    But the playground is quiet with no one around. This is because after final exams, Elada entered summer vacation.

    Of course, it was only a week-long vacation.

    Although it is a short vacation, some students went to see their parents, while others simply chose to rest in the dormitory.

    Of course, that’s not the only reason there are no people on campus, since most of the surviving combat members are now hospitalized.

    Even those who were not selected as combatants would not be in the mood to laugh and chat.

    Of course, GDO classified this operation as a great success.

    In the case of the battle to recapture Tbilisi, it was viewed as a mission that could barely be succeeded if five or six heavily mechanized brigade-level units were deployed, and the unit loss rate was also set high.

    A victory achieved with only 14 deaths would have been a great victory worthy of firing congratulations.

    However, as someone who knows the truth, it was also a victory that I could not agree with.

    In a way, it was a sacrifice brought about by my mistake of failing to properly judge the situation even after seeing a scene different from the briefing.

    I took out a cigarette from my inside pocket and put it in my mouth. I was about to snap my fingers to light the fire when she opened her mouth.

    “And for a while, the organization has been requesting to accept new students every half year instead of annually. Is that okay?.”

    “That’s really fortunate.”

    It’s a good thing. First of all, we need combat troops.

    When I nodded with a smile at the welcome news that troops were being replenished, Helen stared at me with blue eyes for a moment.

    It was a very short time, less than a second, but I broke into a cold sweat at the sight of her true feelings coming out.

    “… And finally.”

    As she continued speaking, I looked at her with a solemn expression and an expression that seemed to exclude all emotions.

    “It is said that a spatial distortion occurred in northern France.”

    “Space distortion?”

    “Yes. It is said that a phenomenon that can only be called a spatial distortion occurred in St. Omer, France. Here is a photo of the phenomenon.”

    She took out a few photos from the folder she was carrying at her side and closed the folder.

    There are a total of 6 photos on my desk.

    From satellite photos to close-up photos taken from various angles. I raised my hand and picked up a photo that seemed to have been taken from up close.

    “Um.”

    What the photo showed was a strange sight.

    The wide plain where wheat used to grow is full of dark red colors, as if it had become another world, and inside you can see what looks like a huge tower.

    Ah, this is what was mentioned in the original. Is it finally time to come out to this world?

    “First of all, the space is not getting any wider, but it is said that sometimes one or two monsters come out from inside. Currently, the French government is mobilizing troops to surround the area where the space distortion phenomenon occurred.”

    “… This is a dungeon.”

    “Dungeon… Are you talking about it?”

    Helen’s eyes widened at my answer and she stared at me, then clicked her heels, walked around the desk, and stared at the photo in my hand.

    I handed her the photo of my hand and belatedly lit up the empty cigarette in my mouth.

    “There are three types of dungeons: transition type, development type, and erosion type, but the one taken in this photo is a transition type dungeon.”

    “Transitive type… ?”

    I took a deep breath. The cigarette in my mouth burns loudly, filling my lungs with smoke.

    It is certainly. The appearance of the dungeon described in the original work. It is the one that appears without fail in all novels dealing with the Hunter worldview.

    Exploring dungeons is a dream of hunters, and if you clear it properly, it is a bonanza where you can gain both wealth and honor.

    “The transfer type dungeon is a part of the abyss dimension, the home of monsters, transferred to our world. As you can see in the picture, you can see that the inside is a space of the demon world.”

    I guess I have to step up.

    At this scale, it appears to be a B-class dungeon based on the classification standards of the original work. Currently, I am the only one who can clear this dungeon.

    ‘… It’s so different from the original. In the original work, dungeons are said to have appeared after the 10-year period of struggle ended.’

    I looked at the photo she brought and organized my thoughts. Miscellaneous thoughts about the cause are pouring into my head, but surprisingly, my mind is clear.

    This is because it didn’t seem like the dungeon outbreak would be a real problem here.

    Excluding the erosion-type dungeon, the scope of the dungeon is not particularly expanded, and you can get a large reward upon clearing it, so there seemed to be more benefit than loss here.

    “Then I will tell the organization that. It’s a dungeon… Did this happen to Dean’s hometown, Grandis?”

    “… Well, that’s right.”

    Helen slightly bowed her head in response to my answer and then turned around.

    How on earth is the original work changing?

    I fell into my thoughts again as I felt the sound of her clattering footsteps moving away.

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