Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Chapter 154: Balance Collapse

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

154 – Balance Collapse

“Are you really okay with this?”

Soo-jeong asked Myung-jun with a worried expression.

Although they accepted the U.S. government’s request for help because there was no other option, there was very little information about the situation inside the gate.

However, Myung-jun reassured Soo-jeong with his usual warm expression.

“Don’t worry. I’ll probably be fine.”

“It would have been good if Kei or Arin could go in with you.”

“But there’s only one slot available.”

Then, with a cold gaze, he looked in the direction of the gate.

Unlike the countless black gates he had raided before, this gate was ominously tinged with a deep purple hue.

It was clearly a gate where the ‘difficulty increase’ that Grimoire had warned him about was applied.

‘Judging by the number of crystals needed for stabilization, it is indeed a Grade 7 gate…’

Despite being a gate that had consumed three Strikers, Myung-jun did not feel particularly uneasy.

Unlike other Awakeners who struggled with Grade 7 gate raids, Myung-jun had already been raiding gates at the level of Grade 8 through ‘Overrun,’ a method that forcibly increased the gate’s grade.

‘Overrun,’ a trick that involved throwing crystals stained with the blood of Awakeners into the gate to artificially raise its grade, could increase the grade by two levels for gates up to Grade 5 and by one level for gates from Grade 6 onwards.

Myung-jun was curious whether the ‘Overrun’ trick would work on the purple gate with the ‘difficulty adjustment,’ but he didn’t bother to test it.

If the difficulty of the Grade 7 gate in front of him had been adjusted to the level of Grade 9, using Overrun would risk turning it into an unprecedented ultra-high-difficulty Grade 10 gate.

Thinking about testing the Overrun method on a Grade 4 or lower gate after the difficulty adjustment was complete, Myung-jun began to throw the container boxes placed around the gate one by one into it.

“Put that box in too. It could be dangerous if we run out of ammunition because there are too many enemies.”

“Senior, we’ve already put in about 500,000 rounds of spare ammunition.”

“Take 200,000 more.”

Seeing Soo-jeong’s face, Myung-jun didn’t argue and silently threw the box she pointed at into the gate.

He fully understood the reason for her anxiety.

Soo-jeong, like him, watched anxiously as Myung-jun threw dozens of containers into the gate and spoke to Ito Kei, who was also watching with a nervous expression.

“Kei.”

“Yes, noona.”

“If another slot opens up, you go in first. Put on your special suit in advance so you can enter at any time.”

“Got it.”

Watching Kei run into the Shadow Hawk to put on his special suit as instructed, Soo-jeong sighed.

‘Kei or Arin should have gone with him…’

Her concern wasn’t about Myung-jun’s combat ability.

Even if they ran out of pre-prepared ammunition or weapons, or if the Elimination Suit got damaged, in the worst-case scenario, they could forcibly summon the Knights by consuming a massive amount of points.

However, the unique domains of the Seeker, ‘exploration’ and ‘tracking,’ were difficult to cover with the equipment she had made.

The performance of her equipment significantly dropped within the internal area of the gate, which was a fundamental issue.

Of course, even with reduced performance, her equipment was still powerful enough to dominate existing gates.

Unlike the existing equipment that became useless the moment it entered the gate, the equipment she made maintained a certain level of stable performance even inside the gate.

However, it was natural for her to feel anxious since the gate in front of her had consumed three high-performance Striker series units, which were among the best of her creations.

‘Since the Assault Striker, specialized in durability, was destroyed, there must be monsters that surpass its defense. The Universal-type, specialized in communication and scanning, was also destroyed, so most utility equipment won’t work. The fact that the Support-type, focused on firepower, was defeated means there are monsters so tough that even the Support Striker’s armaments couldn’t annihilate them.’

Of course, the Elimination Suit that Myung-jun was wearing had performance that far exceeded the mass-produced Striker series, despite being only half their size.

In the current situation, it was the strongest card Myung-jun could play, excluding the Knights.

At that moment, Myung-jun, who had just thrown the last container into the gate, spoke.

“Senior.”

“Huh… Oh?! Yes.”

“What are you thinking so deeply about?”

“I don’t know… I’m just… anxious.”

After a moment of contemplation, Myung-jun opened the hatch of the Elimination Suit and jumped down to the ground.

Then he walked over to Soo-jeong and said,

“Don’t worry too much. I think the Elimination Suit will be enough to clear the gate.”

“I know. Even knowing that, I can’t shake this uneasy feeling. I don’t like the fact that we can’t bring a Seeker either.”

“If that’s the reason for your anxiety, you don’t need to worry.”

“Why not?”

“Think about it. EDF sacrificed three Strikers to rescue the Seeker they initially sent in. Even though the two teams sent in earlier were wiped out, the slot used by the Seeker remained open. That means…”

“Are you saying the Seeker inside is unexpectedly skilled?”

“If we can join up quickly, the lack of information inside won’t be a problem.”

Although Myung-jun had other concerns, he didn’t share them with Soo-jeong.

He didn’t want to burden her with more worries after she had just been reassured.

To further ease her mind, Myung-jun gently patted her shoulder.

“Senior, don’t worry too much. If you appear anxious, the other clan members will also become uneasy. Let’s trust in the best equipment we’ve prepared.”

“Yes… yes! You’ll be back soon… huh?!”

Soo-jeong couldn’t finish her sentence.

Like a newlywed couple leaving for work in the morning, Myung-jun lightly kissed her on the lips.

With a bright red face, Soo-jeong looked at him as he smiled and said,

“Depending on the situation inside, I’ll clear the gate and return as quickly as possible, as long as it’s not a survival-type gate.”

“Oh… okay… come back soon…”

Having calmed Soo-jeong’s anxiety, Myung-jun boarded the Elimination Suit once more.

With the massive 5-meter frame, he walked towards the gate.

“Well then.”

Standing before the gate, Myung-jun muttered as if talking to himself.

“Let’s see how well this ‘difficulty adjustment’ has been done.”

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– Tutututututatatatata! –

– Boom! Boom! Kaboom! –

“Queeeeeeck!!”

The first thing Myung-jun saw upon entering the gate was the sight of the deployable turrets he had thrown in first, spitting fire wildly and attacking the monsters.

The turrets had firepower so powerful that they wouldn’t even allow approach in a typical Grade 7 gate, but the monsters inside this difficulty-adjusted gate were casually deflecting the powerful special rounds from the turrets as if they were toy bullets.

‘What about the new rounds?!’

Myung-jun quickly turned his gaze to check the position of the second set of turrets he had deployed.

Unlike the old turrets that were showing little effect, the new turrets were clearly piercing through the monsters with each shot.

“Sure enough, the difficulty has increased.”

Unlike the old rounds, which were enhanced for attacking monsters using Myung-jun’s ‘Trait Transformation’ ability, the new rounds were developed with the involvement of Seung-ho, the new member of the Liberal Clan and an Alchemist class.

True to the reputation of the Alchemist class, known as the ‘Money-Eating Monster,’ each round was exorbitantly expensive, but in this chaotic situation, they were proving their worth.

“Still, the numbers are a bit lacking. But considering they’re just for buying time, this level is acceptable.”

As Myung-jun stomped his foot, one of the massive containers scattered around opened with a loud mechanical noise, revealing its contents.

Inside was a massive ‘Gatling Gun’ so large that even the 5-meter Elimination Suit would need both hands to lift it.

– Clack –

Picking up the enormous Gatling gun, with a barrel length of over 3 meters, Myung-jun grabbed the massive ammunition belt, each round resembling a tank shell, and loaded it into the Gatling gun.

He then aimed the gigantic barrel at the approaching monsters.

“It’s a bit of an expensive weapon to use right from the start.”

Rotating the enormous barrel, which seemed more fittingly called a ‘cannon barrel’ than a ‘gun barrel,’ Myung-jun spoke.

“Let’s start with a greeting, shall we?”

At that moment, the insane weapon, capable of firing 4,000 rounds per minute with the firepower of tank shells, began to unleash its fury.

The rounds that were fired had the power to penetrate the skin and muscles of the monsters, which had durability approaching Grade 9, and pulverize their bones.

– Tutututatatatatatatata!! s-

“Queeeeeeck!!”

Seeing their comrades explode like balloons as the rounds passed through, the monsters screamed in terror.

They then began to flee in panic, a stark contrast to their fierce assault moments ago.

– Swoooosh s-

Myung-jun ceased fire as he watched the monsters retreating rapidly.

However, his face bore a serious expression that did not match the overwhelming victory he had achieved.

“This is serious… I understand why three Strikers were taken down.”

Throughout his numerous gate raids, Myung-jun had never seen monsters ‘fleeing’ like that.

Typically, the more comrades they lost, the more berserk they became, charging like mad warriors.

The fact that they understood the concept of ‘fear’ indicated an increase in intelligence, which was why Myung-jun cautiously set down the Gatling gun.

“Open all containers. Set auxiliary parts to auto-tracking mode.”

In an instant, accompanied by a cacophony of mechanical sounds, hundreds of containers around Myung-jun began to open simultaneously.

Inside were numerous weapons, ammunition racks, and support parts that ignited and floated into the air.

Watching this, Myung-jun thought it was a sight that always made a man’s heart race and spoke.

“Activate the floating fortress Nautilus in operational mode.”

[Confirmed. Switching Nautilus to operational mode.]

In an instant, the components from the six largest containers began to combine in mid-air.

Once the assembly was complete, the components transformed into a structure resembling a space battleship, similar to the one Myung-jun had used against Moon Hee-cheol in the past.

[Floating Fortress Nautilus. Awaiting orders.]

“Maintain distance and follow me while keeping a lookout.”

[Order confirmed. Would you like to store the support equipment?]

“Yes.”

Upon Myung-jun’s command, numerous weapons and spare ammunition flew towards Nautilus.

They began attaching to Nautilus simultaneously, as if assembling Lego pieces.

[New spare ammunition stored.]

[Electromagnetic guided railgun installed.]

[Nemesis force blade stored.]

[Photon range search radar installed.]

As Myung-jun watched the numerous components being absorbed and combined into one, the massive railgun he had used earlier flew into view.

The railgun, with a barrel length of 3 meters, was mounted on the lower part of Nautilus, ready to fire at any moment, and a familiar voice echoed in Myung-jun’s ear.

[155mm ultra-large caliber special round rapid-fire equipment ‘Minigun.’ Installation complete.]

Hearing the cute name for the overwhelmingly powerful weapon, Myung-jun couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Well, it’s true that the difficulty has increased…”

He then looked towards the distant forest of giant mushrooms and said,

“At the very least, I’ll need to meet the gate boss to see how much stronger they’ve become.”