The assigned preparation time was only three days.
However, it wasn’t a short period of time because they only slept 2 hours a day. It was to the point that everyone other than Yeorum, including Sophia with her high standards almost vomited from the schedule.
Soujiro went as far as to cry and whinge, “Would a day that I work this hard come ever again in my life?”
The preparation time they spent while vomiting and crying was nearing its end.
Finally, the day of the [B+ Underground Fissure Raid] arrived.
5 am.
After a simple injection, they were hurriedly admitted into the first aid facility of Colosseo Lair. It was an idea from Mihailov so that they would be able to have a short yet effective rest.
7 am.
Yu Jitae woke them up and took them to a virtual dungeon for the final realistic training drill. Meanwhile, Mihailov went around receiving munitions like the essential protective equipment and protective artifacts.
8 am.
They wore the supplied equipment and tuned them so that they were a perfect fit for their body. The process usually took about an hour or two.
And 9 am.
With only 3 hours left until the start of the raid, they had a quieter breakfast than usual. The three cadets excluding Yeorum were evidently quite nervous.
“I don’t like it.”
“Don’t like what.”
“Why’s the team name, Yeorum and the Losties?”
“You’re saying that now?”
“Yesterday was too busy for me to say anything.”
Sophia grumbled.
“I doo what I want.”
Yeorum giggled but the two of them stopped joking around after that.
“Guys. If you’re done with eating, let’s wear the artifacts and take a nap. We need to gather and start the formalities after an hour or so.”
In response to Mihailov’s words, the cadets opened their jewel boxes and took out the protective artifacts. The thick necklace made of black metal had a deep-greenish jewel hanging in the middle.
[Protective Necklace]
It was a Level 1 artifact necklace. Unlike normal necklaces, the protective ones had several devices attached on it that concealed various thorns, and in order to wear it properly, the thorns of the device had to pierce through the skin slightly.
The device was made like that to protect not only the outside, but the inside as well.
“Hukk. This looks like it’ll hurt a bit.”
“It will sting a little. I’ll teach you how to wear it so follow me precisely. You might end up with a few holes on your neck otherwise.”
Mihailov placed the necklace on his neck and pressed on various buttons to stabilise it on his neck. The kids were about to copy him and hang it around their neck.
That was when Yu Jitae, who had been quietly watching over them, stood up from his seat.
He was always quiet and his movements were relaxed. So when he moved at a pace that could be considered slightly urgent, the cadets all gazed at him.
“Wh, what’s wrong?”
The Regressor walked up to Soujiro. He then grabbed the necklace hanging on his neck.
As if he was seeing something different from others, he stared deeply into the necklace. Soon, he immediately turned his body and approached Yeorum.
“Why?”
And before Yeorum could stop him, he pulled the necklace out of her neck. Confusion appeared in her two crimson eyes.
“What is the issue.”
“What’s wrong? Is there something weird?”
Voices of doubt were heard.
“…It’s a defective item.”
“Defective?”
“Yeah.”
Mihailov frowned.
“That’s strange. It’s straight from the munitions department and they have gone through a safety check without a problem. I’ve checked it work as well. Wouldn’t we know if we put it under the light?”
Raising it up, the Regressor placed it under the sun. Indeed, light scattered evenly and the flow of mana was stable as well. It was true that it appeared normal on the outside.
“No, this really is defective.”
A protective necklace had three functions.
One was the protection of the physical body. By casting a thin layer over the body, it would protect it from external shock. It could be considered as a simplified version of [Statue of Competition].
The second function was the protection of the internal body. It protects the organs and stops any dangerous overuse of mana.
And finally for its third purpose, whenever an unbearable level of shock was applied to the wearer, the supplementary gem would destroy itself and create a protective field around the area.
They would basically use up all the leftover battery to create a shield. And after sensing the fluctuation caused by the protective field, the guards will run in and help the cadet – that was how it was supposed to work.
“The supplementary gem is defective.”
“That’s… fuck.”
In response to Yu Jitae’s words, Mihailov couldn’t hide his displeasure.
“The munitions department didn’t even find that out.”
The frown on his face intensified gradually. The scar on his forehead made him look all the more sinister.
It was not a weapon nor equipment that was the problem, but a protective artifact. The most important item that directly correlated to the safety of the cadets.
There should never be a defect in an item like that.
Never.
“These fucking dogshit retards…”
Violent profanities escaped the mouth of the retired soldier, who had belonged to the special forces of Russian hunters.
Meanwhile, the coward, Soujiro imagined the worst case scenario.
In the depths of the dungeon, something causes a sharpshooter like him to be separated from the front-fighters. Since neither Yeorum nor Sophia were there, he would be prone to the attacks of the monsters. If three or four monsters surrounded him in close range, there was nothing he could do.
Armours would break every single time he received an attack and some of the monsters would definitely attack his head. If that happens, the protective shield should be formed to save his life.
…If it didn’t?
“クソ (Damn)…”
A chilling thought travelled down his spine.
“Jitae. I know you’re not a superhuman that should be acting as a mere guardian, but how did you find out that the gem was defective, without any equipment?”
Mihailov requested Yu Jitae to assure them.
Yu Jitae himself didn’t see through it either the first time he saw it. That was how meticulous it was crafted and even now, he needed to check what sort of defect it was.
Thus, he intentionally disabled all the blessings and authorities that protected his physical body. He then pinched on the gem of the necklace with his thumb and the index finger.
Buzz–!
A crack was created on the gem and soon, an alarm went off, going ‘Bbibbibbibbibbbi!’.
Kwaang–!
Immediately after that, an explosive noise echoed across the waiting room. Sharp fragments of mana scattered in all directions but Yu Jitae covered it with his hand to have it remain in his grasp.
“Kyaak!”
“W, what’s happening!?”
If,
If, by one in a million chance,
The protective necklace had to resort to creating a protective layer from Yeorum’s neck…
Drip…
Blood dripped from his wounded palm onto the ground.
While everyone was astonished, Yeorum startledly walked up.
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“What, why are you bleeding? Are you alright?”
“…”
Without a word, the Regressor held the damaged necklace in his hand before collecting all the other necklaces. The issue was that there wasn’t just one defective necklace. There were 4 exactly the same, meticulously crafted defects.
What did this suggest.
He calculated the time in his head.
There were 51 minutes left until the formalities of the raid began, and 2 hours and 51 minutes until the start of the raid.
“You guys stay here.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll come back before the formalities so just stay put. And Mihailov.”
“What is it.”
“Where’s the munitions department that supplied the necklace.”
The moment she met eyes with Yu Jitae, Yeorum felt stifled.
She had seen him get irritated and displeased multiple times. Whenever the surroundings got eerily quiet and an ominous feeling rose up inside her heart, Yu Jitae had always been visibly irritated.
But now, something was different despite the ominous feeling rising up in her heart. Yu Jitae still looked normal.
For some reason, that made Yeorum feel more uneasy.
*
“It was Team 3, those useless bastards…”
Yu Jitae checked the clock. There were 48 minutes left until the formalities.
He had enough time, but it wasn’t that much either.
“I’ll complain. Please go help the kids once the protective necklaces get replaced.”
“…I shall.”
Mihailov restrained the surging anger inside him. Right now, the assignment performance of the kids was more important so the two guardians had to do their own task.
By the time they arrived at the munitions department with urgent steps, there were 46 minutes left until the formalities began. Yu Jitae pushed wide open, the door of the office next to a large storage and walked in.
Inside were Korean staff members eating jjajangmyeon. Some of them got upset at the uninvited guests that walked in without even knocking or setting an appointment, while some were astonished after recognising Mihailov and the orange guardian name badge.
“Umm, we’re in our meal break… but what brings you here?”
Yu Jitae gazed across. There wasn’t anyone who was downright evil in the [Eyes of Equilibrium (SS)].
“It’s him.”
But when Mihailov pointed at someone, Yu Jitae walked up to him.
Then,
Slap–!
He slapped him on the cheek without a word.
The slapped one fell back alongside the sofa he was on and rolled on the floor. Shocked, the officials were frozen stiff while the guards began moving.
“W, what is this about, Mister Guardian!”
Mihailov stepped forward.
“I’m Mihailov from RIL. Defects have been confirmed from necklaces supplied for a B+ dungeon raid, and there is less than an hour left until the formalities. I would like to ask the artifacts to be swapped right now.”
“Ah…”
After roughly understanding the situation, one of the staff members went to the storage and brought protective necklaces.
“Then if you could allow us to collect the necklaces that you consider defective…”
“How dare!”
Mihailov yelled sonorously. Immediately after receiving the boxes, he opened it up and showed the necklaces to Yu Jitae.
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Yu Jitae nodded. These were authentic goods.
“You can go first.”
The formalities required time. Mihailov had to leave right now.
As soon as Mihailov left, the guards surrounded Yu Jitae and the slapped one struggled before managing to stand up. He wasn’t dead after getting hit by Yu Jitae, because he didn’t kill him.
“Excuse me! How could you just hit someone like that?”
“Where’s the director of the munition department.”
Seeing that Yu Jitae was looking for the head of the department immediately after what he did, the staff members shouted aggressively.
“Hello. Do you hear me? Just because you’re a guardian doesn’t mean you can do that!”
“R, right! Absolutely! You have to follow the procedures when filing a complaint…!”
“Mister Guards! What are you doing not stopping him!”
The flustered guards began moving hesitantly.
Yu Jitae lifted their dining table with one hand. The circular wooden table with a diameter of 3 metres was raised just like that.
In the middle of their shock, he threw the table at the window. When both the window and the windowsill shattered into pieces, they turned quiet.
“Uaaah—!”
But there was a guard who was still courageous enough who ran in carrying an electric baton.
Yu Jitae grabbed him by the collar and casually threw him back to the place he came from. But the guard flew all the way to the wall, destroying both the wall and the cabinet in the process.
A different office next door was in full display.
One of the guards urgently raised his walkie-talkie. Yu Jitae looked into his eyes, and thought about killing him. Then, the guard dropped the device with trembling hands. His muscles were frozen stiff and his body refused to move.
When everyone was finally quiet, Yu Jitae opened his mouth.
“Bring me the director of the munitions department. Before I kill everyone.”
His indifferent tone dug through their ears and was etched into their brains. With shivering hands, someone urgently called someone up.
A few minutes later, an old staff member walked into the office in befuddlement.
“I’m Kang Mungu, the team leader of Team 3. What in the world, is…?”
Team leader, he says. Yu Jitae’s eyes twitched.
They don’t fucking listen.
There was nothing more to say. He walked up and grabbed the middle-aged man on the neck and lifted him up into the air.
“Bring the director. Director.”
“…!”
“How many times do I have to say it. Huh?”
Yu Jitae spoke to everyone present but none of them replied. Only the groans of a middle-aged man in pain continued.
“Bring the munitions director here in front of me in 3 minutes. Otherwise, you can stay there and watch who dies first.”
No-one was able to stop him, and no-one dared to run away either. That was when a woman took a step forward.
“T, the director is in a meeting right now!”
“Where.”
“I, in the main conference room of the education department. There was an important report from there. I, I think she would take at least an hour mor…”
“Bring her.”
“…Yes?”
The female staff thought she was hearing things but the moment she looked into the guardian’s eyes, she realised that she wasn’t.
Since they were starting to dilly dally again, he carried the middle-aged man and pushed his head outside the broken window. Only his leg was on the building, while his upper body was outside.
The munitions department was on the 7th floor, and seeing the distant ground beneath, the team leader screamed in fright.
With his back facing the window, Yu Jitae’s face was shaded by darkness. His mouth; his face growled like a beast.
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“Bring her right now.”