SFRW-Chapter 79

Ch. 79 Sword God From The Ruined World   

The negotiation card that America first presented to Seo Do-jun regarding Guam was exactly as Chairman Na Tae-hwang had predicted – they wanted Seo Do-jun to fulfill three requests for them.  

Exactly three!  

If he agreed to fulfill these three requests, America promised to officially announce the transfer of Guam to Seo Do-jun immediately.  

Chairman Na Tae-hwang firmly conveyed Seo Do-jun’s position to America’s unreasonable demand of three requests when even one would have been too much – that he wouldn’t agree to even one request, let alone three, and told them to come up with a different proposal.  

Naturally, America refused to accept this and tried to bluff.  

“Hmph! You’ve already hunted all the monsters there, haven’t you? That means we have nothing to lose, right?”  

“Exactly! Even if the rift zone remains, closing it isn’t impossible. We can just close it and take Guam back!”  

“The fact that he hunted the monsters before negotiations clearly shows how desperately he wants Guam. Taking a hardline stance by refusing our conditions wouldn’t be a bad move.”  

“Of course. Guam isn’t some unknown island – if we casually hand it over to an individual, the world will undoubtedly mock America’s actions. This needs to be an undeniable, legitimate transaction that everyone can acknowledge.”  

The fact that Seo Do-jun hastily cleared Guam of monsters meant he had a compelling reason to own it. Even if that weren’t the case, America saw no downside since they could reclaim a monster-free Guam without any effort on their part.  

Moreover, regardless of having treated it as abandoned land, America couldn’t afford to lose face by handing over their territory to an individual in what would appear to be a losing deal.  

In response to America’s bluffing, Seo Do-jun coldly declared he would withdraw from Guam without hesitation.  

Furthermore:  

“From now on, I won’t engage in any transactions or negotiations with America.”  

It was America who panicked at Seo Do-jun’s not-so-veiled threat.  

You should know when and where to bluff.  

Strictly speaking, even if Seo Do-jun completely cleared Guam of monsters and closed the rift zone, Guam held no practical value for America anymore.  

But who was Seo Do-jun?  

His abilities displayed during the Monster Wave alone had already captivated both the U.S. government and Hero Association.  

And his true power witnessed in Guam?  

Setting aside his swordsmanship, the overwhelming combat power of the Casserian that had swept through monsters and the mysterious ten humans were so shocking that anyone who saw the footage could never forget it.  

In other words, Seo Do-jun could never be treated as just an individual.  

America had elevated him to someone they absolutely couldn’t afford to alienate, even if they couldn’t naturalize him.  

When such a Seo Do-jun declared he would no longer engage in any dealings with America, the previously stubborn American officials quickly flipped their stance like turning over a hand.  

“Come to think of it, isn’t Kassal our American Hero? Who would criticize giving a useless island to such a Hero?”  

“Exactly! Even if he’d asked for Hawaii instead of Guam, we should’ve given it to him!”  

Thus they clearly realized that when dealing with Seo Do-jun, even America couldn’t maintain the upper hand.  

“I was hoping they’d maintain their high-handed stance a bit longer… Haha!”  

Chairman Na Tae-hwang expressed mixed feelings – half satisfaction, half regret – at America’s attitude change in less than an hour, no, less than 30 minutes.  

Truthfully, the Chairman had believed from the start that America had no choice but to lose in these negotiations.  

At most, they’d tried to bluff because they were America. Of course, the result was them making fools of themselves in less than 30 minutes.  

In any case, America’s second negotiation card after changing their stance was…  

“The Casserian?”  

This was a completely unexpected proposal for Seo Do-jun.  

“America says they’ll hand over Guam immediately if you safely tame the Casserian for them.”  

Even Chairman Na Tae-hwang hadn’t considered exchanging the Casserian for Guam.  

Upon hearing America’s proposal, the Chairman couldn’t help but admire their thinking – exchanging one useless island for a Casserian was absolutely no loss.  

“I’d do it if possible… but even if I handed over the Casserian, would anyone be able to control it?”  

Currently, there was absolutely no one.  

The only person on Earth who could handle the Casserian was…  

‘Vaitel could probably do it too.’  

Unless one didn’t know about Vaitel, taming the Casserian wouldn’t be that difficult for him either.  

In fact, when it came to monster taming, Vaitel had more advantages than Seo Do-jun.  

‘I need to deal with the monsters that came out of the rift before Vaitel decides to cause trouble.’  

Seo Do-jun suddenly felt like the time he’d had to spare had been stolen by Vaitel.  

“So it’s useless unless it’s you?”  

Seo Do-jun couldn’t give a lengthy explanation to Chairman Na’s question, but he firmly stated that no American Hero could handle the Casserian.  

However, since America might think he was lying to avoid giving it to them, he agreed to give exactly three people a chance to try controlling it.  

“America will have to present another negotiation card then. About that opportunity…”  

Chairman Na Tae-hwang subtly asked if South Korean Heroes could also get a chance to try controlling the Casserian.  

Considering the Chairman’s help in negotiating with America on his behalf, Seo Do-jun readily agreed.  

“Hahaha! Thank you! Selecting the right people will give me quite a headache! Though actually, Director Eric Jonathan will suffer more than me!”  

Unlike Chairman Na Tae-hwang, Eric Jonathan, Chairman of the American Hero Association, couldn’t be said to hold absolute power – a natural consequence of America being a superpower.  

The Chairman already pitied how much internal strife Director Eric would face over Seo Do-jun’s three opportunities.  

Ultimately, as Chairman Na predicted, America had no choice but to propose solving another country’s problem as their final negotiation offer.  

The task was clearing the monsters in Canada’s Yukon Territory.  

Canada  

When listing countries most affected since the Age of Rifts began, many mention Canada.  

The reason is simple:  

“Too few people for such vast territory.”  

This is an enormous problem.  

Moreover, it’s not something easily solved.  

Rift zones don’t only appear where humans live.  

Any land besides sky and sea can potentially spawn a rift zone at any time.  

This is why America had to abandon Guam, and why many nations gave up numerous islands.  

While poor initial responses played a part, the bigger issue was lacking personnel to deploy to remote areas.  

Even just a year ago, there were significantly fewer Heroes, and their abilities were weaker.  

The quantitative and qualitative differences in Heroes’ capabilities were stark even when comparing year by year – how much more so looking back 2-3 years or more?  

“Having a cockroach-like population was called a blessing.”  

Sitting atop the Casserian, Seo Do-jun watched as Canadian terrain gradually came into view.  

With insufficient population, Canada lacked the capacity to properly control and manage newly emerging rift zones.  

Moreover, nearly 80% of the population lived in southeastern cities, showing extreme population concentration.  

The reason? 40% of Canada’s territory was cold, isolated Arctic regions inhospitable except to indigenous peoples.  

Yet rift zones could appear anywhere – even in uninhabitable wastelands.  

Thus Canada experienced more monster waves than any other country.  

So much so that a separate North American Hero Alliance was formed because of Canada.  

The only saving grace was that the heavily populated southeast was defended like an iron fortress.  

While they’d thoroughly prevented monsters from advancing south even during waves, everyone knew Canada’s situation was like a ticking time bomb that could explode anytime.  

“Brazil was just being picky despite having plenty.”  

Brazil decided to close its rift zones because it couldn’t manage them itself.  

When America and others offered to manage Brazil’s rift zones, all offers were rejected.  

Why?  

Because the benefits were too good to give away. Brazil preferred destroying them over letting others have them.  

Canada, meanwhile?  

They notified nations they could control, manage, or even gate the rift zones as they pleased – just please prevent monster waves.  

In short, they completely relinquished ownership of their rift zones.  

Yet due to geographical factors and the rift zones being far less profitable than Brazil’s, Canada was coldly ignored.  

Of course, America had claimed the better Canadian rift zones long ago, but even those were gradually being closed as northern conditions worsened.  

“Ice Gnolls, White Bears, Boggles, Ice Imps, Kobolds, Zombies, Slimes, Orcs… all the small fry are gathered here.”  

Seo Do-jun laughed dryly while reviewing materials from the American Hero Association.  

The monsters occupying northern Canada weren’t particularly threatening.  

But their numbers were nauseatingly large.  

In short, the rewards weren’t worth hunting such vast numbers of weak monsters.  

If they were active gates, Heroes worldwide might come to hunt even these weak monsters. But how many would voluntarily come to Canada’s wastelands for such meager gains?  

Thus these areas were neglected for ‘when there’s time and resources’.  

However, as monster waves continued, no one knew what might emerge next. Leaving these dangerous rift zones unattended was extremely risky, just as experts said.  

“Four monster waves, and only Slimes came out?”  

One Canadian rift zone consistently produced only slimes across four waves, turning a 200km radius into slime fields.  

With Slimes rarely dropping magic stones even after killing hundreds, it was no wonder no Heroes went there.  

This wasn’t the only case.  

Some areas alternated between Zombies and Orcs, while others mixed Kobolds and Ice Gnolls across four waves.  

“Is this lucky or not?”  

The aforementioned monsters weren’t particularly difficult to stop if properly contained, no matter their numbers.  

In fact, Canada had established defensive lines, abandoning some territory while only exterminating monsters that crossed these boundaries.  

But then…  

“The emergence of Kings…”  

Seo Do-jun carefully examined photos sent to his phone.  

A Kobold five times larger than normal stood imposingly, surrounded by thousands of prostrating Kobolds.  

This wasn’t just about size – even in photos, it looked special.  

Its skin was darker, and its eyes emitted an intense glow.  

Seo Do-jun knew exactly what this was.  

A Kobold King.  

A being with overwhelming dominance over all Kobolds, commanding them like limbs.  

Its physical stats – strength, stamina, speed, intelligence – were on a completely different level from normal Kobolds.  

With minimum intelligence, it systematically formed its own army by commanding Kobolds. The presence or absence of a ‘King’ made a world of difference, no matter how insignificant Kobolds were.  

The problem wasn’t just the Kobold King.  

As Seo Do-jun swiped through photos:  

An Orc several times larger than its kind, a Slime, an Ice Gnoll…  

Just like the Kobold King, these ‘Kings’ capable of dominating their species had been photographed.  

These were accidentally spotted via satellite – their current locations and how long they’d existed remained unknown.  

By now, even Canada realized something strange was happening.  

Particularly concerning was that the first discovered Kobold King was found in Yukon Territory bordering Alaska, forcing America to stop ignoring the situation.  

As Seo Do-jun entered Yukon Territory – land Canada had abandoned – he began reconnaissance.  

The area was desolate, and Kobolds were frequently seen not far from the Alaskan border.  

The sight made Seo Do-jun question whether this was Earth or the ruined world he came from.  

After some time, Seo Do-jun’s phone vibrated.  

“Kassal? Did you cross into Alaska?”  

It was Gloria calling.  

“Why?”  

“Alaska reported sightings of a giant monster causing an uproar. I called thinking it might be the Casserian. But weren’t you in Guam hours ago? Just how fast does the Casserian fly?”  

Gloria clicked her tongue in amazement.  

“Faster than most planes.”  

“So jealous.”  

Gloria didn’t hide her envy.  

“You could’ve at least called. Since this is through negotiations with America, we could’ve held a welcome party or something.”  

“A welcome party? I wanted to see the situation first-hand. Track my location from now on. And where I contact… Never mind, no need.”  

Even while talking, the Casserian was moving rapidly. Soon they spotted the Kobold King leading tens of thousands of Kobolds – coincidentally heading toward Alaska.