Ding!
[5★ The Blackened Saint Selene has eliminated 1★ Rock Cleaner.]
[Reward: 5Exp / 1★ Rock Cleaner]
Ding!
[5★ The Blackened Saint Selene has eliminated 1★ Small Tree Stump.]
[Reward: 5Exp / 1★ Small Tree Stump]
“Hmm.”
Before my eyes was an astonishing scene. I shook my head in awe.
An angel of death had descended.
Selene was literally reaping life.
Every time she swung her wedge-shaped sword, flames erupted. To the storm of fire, the one-star calamities were no more than falling leaves in the wind.
[5★ The Blackened Saint Selene has eliminated 1★ Rock Cleaner.]
[The stronghold is full. Unable to collect calamities.]
She had already wiped out ten of them.
It had been barely two hours since we had left Seoul, and Selene was already destroying all the calamities in sight with unmatched prowess.
All calamities in the nest had been annihilated. I clapped my hands to get Selene’s attention.
“Selene, it seems this place is mostly cleaned up. Let’s move on.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Selene sheathed her sword. I pulled out my phone to check the information.
“It appears there’s a nest near Cheonan with a cluster of calamities. It seems to be considerably larger than this one. Let’s head there.”
“I shall follow your commands.”
There were advantages to the widespread certification system for Awakened Ones.
Through internet communities, one could precisely verify the information about dungeons.
I started the car, and Selene seated herself in the passenger seat. Despite appearances, she had adapted very well to modern conveniences.
“Are you planning to eradicate all calamities from this land?”
“No, once it feels sufficient, I plan to head back. Moreover, there are checkpoints everywhere, making it difficult to move around.”
Since calamities began appearing on Earth, roads were no longer solely for the use of humans.
The government had stationed soldiers and police at checkpoints stationed everywhere. In order to avoid these checkpoints, using quiet national roads became a necessity.
While driving, I adjusted the status window.
<Overlord 'Actor's Stronghold>
[Collected Calamities 10/10]
[Collected Experience Points: 3435Exp]
[Collected Equipment 3/20]
I opened the stronghold upgrade screen.
The Disaster Order stronghold could be upgraded through experience points.
The barracks was my current top priority. I repeatedly pressed the hammer button.
[Stronghold Upgrade: Barracks]
[□□□□□□□□□□]
[Expands calamity storage limit by 10.]
[Required Experience: 100Exp]
The amount of experience needed for upgrades initially stood at 100 but doubled with each upgrade.
Ordinarily, one could manage a single upgrade at most.
However, I currently possessed an amount of experience that defied imagination. I pressed the button without hesitation.
Ding, ding, ding, ding.
[Stronghold Upgrade: Barracks]
[■■■■□□□□□□]
[Required Experience: 800Exp]
I invested a total of fifteen hundred experience points to upgrade the barracks four times.
[Collected Calamities 10/50]
This would allow me to collect forty more calamities.
“Selene, can you handle forty?”
“…My Lord, I have gone on countless expeditions as per your commands. Among the expeditions I have undertaken, none have been as easy as this.”
“Indeed.”
Sending a five-star calamity like Selene into such a nest filled with petty calamities was akin to using a cleaver made for slaughtering cattle to kill a chicken.
In a game, this would be something you’d never imagine.
Perhaps because I had these frivolous thoughts, I failed to notice the checkpoint at the end of the road.
“There’s a brief inspection ahead.”
“Damn.”
Before I could react, we had already stopped at the checkpoint.
A police officer approached from a distance.
Though Selene was seated in the passenger seat, it was fortunate she had good instincts.
[5★ The Blackened Saint Selene activates skill 「Dark Hued Curtain」]
Poof.
By the time the police officer arrived, Selene had long since vanished into the darkness.
It was a stroke of luck that I had acquired the stealth skill when playing games.
“Are you alone?”
Thankfully, the officer didn’t notice Selene’s stealth skill.
He stared expressionlessly at me for a moment before breaking into a smile.
“Ah, you’re an Awakened One, aren’t you?”
“Do you have your registration?”
“No, I haven’t yet.”
“You should do it soon. Although, the voluntary registration period has a few days left, so you don’t have to rush. Anyway, from the looks of it, you’re heading to the Cheonan nest to hunt calamities, right? Thinking of gathering companions there?”
“…Ah, yes, that’s the plan.”
With my response, the officer nodded, as if it was a common occurrence.
It seemed the Cheonan nest was the most famous among those near the capital area.
“So, what’s your nickname? Even if you’re unregistered, we at least need to record something.”
The officer chuckled and shook the clipboard in his hand.
If I said Actor here, they’d probably handcuff me.
After some brief contemplation, I replied.
“Main, Nam Joo-yeon.”
“Main? Hmm, the male protagonist? Ha ha, that’s a name for an actor.”
I chuckled in response to the officer’s joke.
Indeed, it was also the reason behind my in-game nickname, Actor.
Fortunately, the officer didn’t connect the dots between my name and the two letters ‘Actor.’
Whistling lightly, he tipped his hat and nodded briefly.
“Wish you a successful hunt.”
“Thank you.”
I pressed the accelerator.
As soon as we cleared the checkpoint, a deep sigh escaped me.
At the same moment, Selene, who had been hiding within the dark curtain, revealed herself.
“…My Lord, what is ‘Main’?”
“My real name. More accurately, Nam Joo-yeon.”
“…”
Selene sharply inhaled.
Then, with her hands gently clasped, she only twitched her lips.
“…Why do you look like that?”
“Can I ask what it means?”
“Not much. It’s just… my parents named me with the hope of becoming the protagonist of the world.”
Well, in one sense, I did become the protagonist.
Who would have guessed the world would become a game?
As I chuckled wryly, Selene’s eyes widened.
“Could it be… am I hearing my Lord’s true name?”
“True name?”
“By ‘true name’ I mean ‘origin.’ It is truly an honor to learn my Lord’s origin. The name’s meaning is both beautiful and grand. Myself, Selene, am deeply moved by the trust my Lord has placed in me.”
“…”
If it makes you happy, go ahead.
Think whatever you like.
I shrugged my shoulders and headed toward Cheonan.
[5★ The Blackened Saint Selene successfully completed the 「Cheonan Crystal Nest」 expedition!]
[Reward: 150Exp / 2★ Starglow Dust Golem]
Ding.
[Collected Calamities 50/50]
[Alert: The Stronghold is full. Unable to collect calamities.]
We devoured the nest.
The Awakened One Management Bureau learned that the nest in Cheonan had disappeared early that morning.
Upon dispatching personnel, they received a shocking story.
“So… without any warning, the nest just disappeared?”
“Yes…”
“And what about the calamities inside?”
“We don’t know. When we checked, there was nothing there.”
The nest vanished in the dead of night.
Of course, the disappearance of calamities was a good thing.
However, this sort of disappearance was unprecedented.
“Damn.”
Managing Bureau Awakened One, Jo Geon-wook, pressed his temples.
The Cheonan nest was a site carefully watched by the Managing Bureau.
Due to the tendency of calamities to gather together, if the area was managed carefully, they could act as bait in the next spewing. Simultaneous with this, it was also a site with potential for use as a stepping stone for the growth of awakened ones within the country.
“Here there were more than a hundred calamities in a magical environment, and they’re gone in one night? Does that even make sense?”
There were two probable scenarios.
Either the dungeon and calamities had disappeared naturally or someone had cleared out all the calamities.
Jo Geon-wook thought the former highly likely, but nonetheless, he had to consider all possible situations since he was sent to investigate.
“Grab a complete list of all awakened ones who traveled on this road that evening from nearby police stations.”
“Got it.”
Jo Geon-wook reviewed the roster after receiving it.
The last awakened one to visit…
“Nam Joo-yeon.”
Unregistered Awakened One.
Highly suspicious.
Jo Geon-wook mulled over the name and asked the manager.
“Hey, what time exactly did the nest disappear?”
“Around 9:15 PM.”
“Hmm.”
The Awakened One Nam Joo-yeon passed through the checkpoint at 8:39 PM.
Even if one traveled quickly from the checkpoint to the nest, it would take a minimum of 20 minutes. Cleaning out a dungeon filled with hundreds of calamities in five minutes was physically impossible. Therefore, this Awakened One most likely knew nothing.
Jo Geon-wook reviewed the roster afterward, but on that late night, only four Awakened Ones had passed through the Cheonan checkpoint.
Those too had significant time gaps between them.
“…It seems it likely disappeared naturally…”
The Managing Bureau was now confronted with a new issue.
And it was only the fifth day since it had been established.
[Natural disappearance of the Cheonan Nest]
[The Awakened One Management Bureau observes the disappearance of the dungeon. A new hope sprouts for humanity!]
“…What in the world is this nonsense?”
The next day, upon reading the headline, I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion.
