Jung-woo’s gaze wavered for a fleeting moment.

【Skill: [■■■■] is authorized.】

【Warning! Causality tolerance exceeded!】

【The world is intervening!】

【Re-evaluation result: Skill will undergo deterioration!】

The timing caught him completely off guard.

The alarm eventually gave birth to a new possibility.

【Skill: [■■■■] is temporarily named!】

Ttiring!

【Skill: [Review Regulation (Ex)] is created!】

Causality tolerance, the world’s intervention, skill deterioration.

And finally, a temporary designation.

These words indicated that the true potential of this skill did not end here.

It was almost certainly a skill that would grow as he completed [Se-gi’s World].

He grasped the mechanism in an instant.

However, it was not an entirely welcome development at this moment.

‘A variable.’

It was the unlocking of a skill he had been waiting for, but its sudden emergence now would disrupt his plans.

He had no idea how this would affect the operation he had already fully optimized.

After all, hadn’t even the exact effects of this skill been properly revealed yet?

A brief moment of panic.

But there was no time to dwell on it.

Jung-woo gritted his teeth.

‘On-site optimization. That’s the only way.’

Stumbling over a single variable is the mark of an amateur.

The operation had already begun, and Jung-woo needed to issue orders.

His gaze shifted forward.

Beyond the drone feed, he saw the squad members advancing in fluidification alongside the shark avatars.

The communicator buzzed.

[Entering detection zone!]

“Confirmed.”

The target appeared on the monitor.

A white serpent of a size that the word ‘massive’ could hardly capture.

It was large enough that one could believe it could swallow a decent-sized island whole just by opening its mouth in that state.

Above its head, three pairs of blue eyes lined along its eye sockets, glowing with a chilling light.

Its streamlined body possessed contours reminiscent of a glacier, reflecting a foamy light that amplified its terrifying aura.

That white embodiment of despair was tearing through the waves as it approached.

200 kilometers from the mainland.

The waves’ height and direction were being rewritten by the pulses of mana the monster spewed.

The reason it was named Jormungandr, after the serpent of myth, was glaringly obvious from its appearance alone.

He had to face that, and he had to win.

The method he chose was a formation that pulled the main force to the rear and deployed the support troops to the vanguard.

It was extreme, but precisely because of that, it offered an advantage in a special situation like this.

A naval battle.

The enemy’s effective range was at least in the tens of kilometers.

The deadline was right before landfall.

There was only one goal.

“We will whittle it down. From this moment on, all independent judgments are forbidden except my orders.”

Before landfall.

No, they would intercept Jormungandr before it reached these waters.

It was a plan aimed solely at that objective.

The egos of those 80 people were unnecessary.

The role of substituting for them belonged entirely to Jung-woo.

How?

No matter how superhuman his cognition and thought processes were, was it physically possible to use 80 personnel with different abilities each in their optimal forms?

Naturally, it was impossible.

However, there was a way to make it possible.

A staggering 94% success rate right in the face of an Out of Rank magical beast.

The variable that created that probability had occurred just a few days ago.

“Rabbit, do your thing.”

Ppok!

While digitizing Rabbit’s performance, he had confirmed one thing: a baseline effect common to all abilities, aside from modifications or range expansions.

‘Base stat doping.’

Come to think of it, wasn’t that right?

Couldn’t he apply that doping effect to himself?

‘No way.’

Chwaaaak—!

Rabbit’s whip raked across Jung-woo’s back.

There was no pain at all. It felt like a long cotton ball merely tapping his back.

The effect was undeniable.

Mana enveloped his entire body, and his L-Class cognition began to cross over to somewhere beyond.

Piiiiing—

A ringing sounded in his ears.

His vision flashed.

Every sense perceiving the world became vividly clear.

The volume of data flowing to his brain became incomprehensibly vast compared to before.

Yet, it wasn’t overwhelming.

It was a stark contrast to when he first acquired the skill named [Review Regulation].

‘I can handle this.’

That realization triggered a surge of euphoria.

A feeling as if every sensory organ in his body was resonating, pushing his cognitive limits higher.

The tidal wave of incoming information even created the illusion that time was slowing down.

Even the sensation of his scattered breath intertwining with the air was digitized.

‘Unnecessary information.’

So, let’s invest all these resources into the necessary information.

His gaze returned to the monitor.

His lips parted.

“Shark, move in.”

Chwaaaak—!

The shark ran along the boundary between sky and sea.

It closed the distance to resolve the priority task.

【[All-Ages Filter (L)] is activated!】

Ppyopyopyopyok!

As always, the noise generated by high-grade entities instantly lost its power.

Its glacier-like scales gradually transformed into a plush shape, and its movements, which had so violently cleaved the ocean, began to grow awkward.

‘Got it.’

Just as the flock of magical beasts flying in formation had struggled to fly within his domain, Jormungandr too lost control over its movements the moment its body turned into a doll.

Above all, water and dolls.

Even the shark hated water in its doll state without using fluidification, limited by its plush body.

Jormungandr was not free from this principle either.

A doll’s body soaked in water is heavy.

It grows heavier and heavier.

It will lose speed.

In that state, the proportion of mana invested into maintaining its body would increase.

Of course, he didn’t let his guard down.

Bearing the title of an Out of Rank magical beast meant it had accumulated vast mana within that massive body on this earth for decades.

He spoke calmly.

“Mutation complete. First wave, sortie.”

As the troops advanced, his thoughts expanded instantly like a blooming flower.

Dozens of live feeds began to be analyzed simultaneously.

It was the beginning of a race with the nation’s fate on the line.

New York, the penthouse suite on the top floor of Universe headquarters.

Edmond was watching the Pacific coast, which, unlike here, was currently in the middle of the night.

It was the live subjugation broadcast streaming on an online live channel.

Additionally, he had tapped into the operation team’s communication channel to share the feed.

It was the most perfect streaming environment on Earth.

“Interesting formation.”

“If you care enough to watch every single subjugation, you should’ve just gone yourself.”

“I would have gone long ago if I could. And our Teddy Bear will succeed in the subjugation just fine without my help. He’s a guy with that much potential.”

Responding to his most loyal aide, Bella, Edmond cheerfully raised his glass and said,

“Watch closely. That formation will become the textbook for naval defensive battles.”

“Nothing has even started yet, and you already know that?”

“I’ve thought about it too. A nation-destroying monster charging toward the mainland via sea routes. The operations, elements, and scenarios needed to stop it.”

“And?”

“My answer was the same. Forward deployment of the support squad. Both Teddy Bear and I thought of it. It’s the only right answer.”

“…What can they do with that?”

“Bleed its stamina. The moment it’s affected by Teddy Bear’s domain, it turns into a doll, right? Water and cotton stuffing aren’t exactly best friends. It takes more stamina to move its body. Even just existing and breathing inside the domain drains its mana in real-time.”

Of course, it still possessed a massive amount of mana.

It would still have enough left to cross hundreds of kilometers, reach the mainland, and devour the land entirely.

But it would be annoying.

That massive body, which had always made Jormungandr the symbol of the apocalypse, would become its own shackle.

“On top of that, they need to provoke it. They’ll test the waters and get on its nerves. Can that arrogant master of the Arctic just sit back and watch? It’ll want to swat them away. So it’ll do whatever it takes. And boom, mana consumption spikes.”

Beyond the screen, the support squad was doing exactly that.

—Taaaang!

Japanese hunters riding on the backs of the rushing shark avatars held anti-giant-beast sniper rifles, exerting their full aptitudes as they fired pinpoint shots at Jormungandr.

They were sniping methods incapable of dealing actual damage.

Moreover, the shooters were actually the ones trembling under the influence of ‘Fear’.

However, they were achieving their goal of dispersing its attention.

“What on earth…”

Bella’s astounded murmur was drowned out by Jung-woo’s voice echoing from the radio channel.

[Squads 1 and 3, advance. Form D-formation. Deploy fire net. Evade, then re-engage. Squad 2, circle around. Halt. Squad 4, detonate mines.]

Endless sniping, along with the real-time deployment and detonation of sea mines to obstruct its path.

Jormungandr’s movements grew rough.

It meant it was actually working.

Meanwhile, Jung-woo, who was orchestrating all this, maintained a strictly businesslike tone.

Despite speaking quite fast, his enunciation was so crisp that every command was clearly heard.

His on-site directives, issued after calculating the squad members’ ability combinations and their synergy with their equipment, felt as if he had rummaged through Jormungandr’s mind, predicting every direction of the condensed mana beams it fired to ensure there were no gaps in their suppressive fire.

It was freakish enough to give one goosebumps.

Bella could no longer see Jung-woo as human.

‘Anyone can see he’s acting as their proxy ego.’

That was what made no sense.

In battles against high-grade magical beasts, the situation changed dozens of times per second.

Yet, in such an environment, he was providing real-time feedback on the condition of every personnel on-site, issuing feasible orders, and going beyond that to dictate subsequent countermeasures.

For an individual to do that—the amount of information a single human brain could process couldn’t possibly be this much.

How?

Questions swelled within her, but holding the position of Edmond’s direct subjugation member meant she was more familiar with the surreal than anyone else.

She accepted it without understanding.

In that state, she unknowingly focused even harder.

Eventually, Jormungandr’s anger crossed its threshold.

—Jjeoeoeoeong!

Jormungandr’s mana wavelength detonated the surrounding area.

The accompanying shockwave possessed destructive power comparable to a massive hydrogen bomb.

Centered on the epicenter, even the seawater was pushed back, momentarily leaving a spherical void in the air.

The sight of the dozens of kilometers long Jormungandr, now turned into a doll, momentarily suspended in midair was etched into her retinas.

Bella, her jaw dropped at the surreal sight, immediately realized her mistake.

“Wait! If it does that, all the personnel firing at it will die as expendables…”

“Watch closely.”

Edmond’s smile deepened.

His eyes remained fixed on the screen.

“You know it too. One of Teddy Bear’s… no, C Otter’s abilities.”

The next moment, the personnel who had been firing just a second ago appeared in the empty air.

Phase Shift.

The Sea Otter’s magic stone had temporarily evacuated them, then dragged them back to the field.

Only then did Bella see the structure of the plan.

“Ah, hit and run…?”

“Yeah, the maximum evasion distance of Phase Shift is about 120km. And you said the Rabbit Buffer was added on top of that? It must have increased even more. It’s well outside the effective range of the debuffed Jormungandr.”

Thus, the environment was already set.

But up to that point, it was something anyone could do if they had the power.

Jormungandr was not an easy enough entity to fall for just that.

“It realizes it won’t work. It’ll ignore them and accelerate its movement.”

“Then…”

“This is by design.”

As soon as he said that, Jung-woo’s transmission echoed through the speaker.

[Open cartridge 1.]

—Kugugugung!

The sky rumbled.

On the screen, something appeared above Jormungandr’s head via Phase Shift.

Edmond whistled.

“Aikio. The eternal idol of hunters. Didn’t they say they requisitioned all of Japan’s Vertenum? He’s using it so freely it makes me jealous.”

Aikio, the highly concentrated magic bomb.

A special explosive created with the sole goal of taking down super-sized magical beasts, possessing the power to obliterate everything within its blast radius.

Dozens of bombs shaped like nuclear warheads dropped from the void.

Right above Jormungandr, of all places, just as it was trying to focus all its efforts on moving.

—Kwagwagwagwagwak!!!

It was an explosion that shook the very screen.

Edmond chuckled, downing his whiskey as he relished the scene like a bar snack.

“Exquisitely delicious.”

The explosion wrought by dozens of Aikio bombs was magnificent.

Bella couldn’t imagine anything surviving a direct hit from that.

She wasn’t the only one thinking that.

The speed at which the live channel’s chat spiked was insane.

Every single comment was a cheer.

[CrazyCrazyCrazyCrazy]

[If it hit the ground it’s definitely Wasteland-bound lol]

[wwwwwww]

[ShinJungwooShinJungwooShinJungwooShinJungwoo!!!]

However, it was immediately after.

“Hah…”

Bella laughed in sheer disbelief.

It was because of the scene unfolding beyond the screen.

“Its head is just scorched. Fuck, it took that and only got its scalp peeled? A few stitches popped?”

“It must have used its mana. Still, its sheer size is nothing to scoff at.”

It was chillingly grotesque anew.

Everyone called high-grade humanoid magical beasts realistic disasters, but seeing this, a monster that dumped all its vast mana into its size was the most baffling.

She couldn’t even fathom how much more of this they had to do.

“…Bleed its mana like that and catch it near the coast? So the main force is in the back?”

“If it were me, I would have done that.”

At those words, Bella’s brow furrowed even more.

Because of the caveat ‘if it were me.’

“…You think Shin Jung-woo won’t do that?”

“Probably, absolutely not.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not a perfect score.”

The main force was powerful enough.

Jung-woo and Hikaru alone had Out of Rank output, and their supporter was a magician-type hunter who had stood at the pinnacle in Korea for a very long time.

Above all, there was Teddy Bear’s strike.

But.

“It’s a gamble. No one knows how much reserves Jormungandr will have left by the time it reaches there. It might choose mutual destruction and hoard its mana until the very end.”

“Then what?”

“I told you. If it were me, I’d just fight it out. If its strength is drained, I’d be confident in winning a 1-on-1 even if it’s Out of Rank. Well, collateral damage is unavoidable, right?”

“That’s obvious…”

“But if you ask if that’s a perfect score, the answer is no. If the mainland is damaged, or if one of his comrades suffers a permanent injury. That’s when points are deducted. Wouldn’t that psychopathic perfectionist hate it enough to gag?”

That was why it was even harder to understand.

“Then what is he trying to do?”

“I don’t know either.”

“What?”

“That’s why I’m watching. I’m excited.”

Edmond’s gaze never left the main force.

“There must be a reason he kept them back there.”

His voice was brimming with excitement.

Bella looked at him, then checked the chat window.

The atmosphere had grown more desperate than before.

Opinions demanding they drop more bombs immediately were chaotically intertwining with despairing comments asking what they would do if that wasn’t enough.

Before long, Bella found herself assimilating into that collective monologue.