NOVEL FROG Chapter 58: Emergency Meeting
Hero League Headquarter
On the top floor of the Headquarters of the Hero League, an Emergency Meeting was being held by the Seven Heads of the League.
Every single one of them was a hardcore survivor of the Great Catastrophe and the ones to have reached the pinnacle of humanity, the SS Rank.
The mana density was so strong that if anyone below A Rank entered the room, just the sheer pressure would have made them faint on the spot.
It was a very delicate time for Humanity and understandably, everyone in the room was tensed.
After all, they were the ones who maintained the delicate peace that humanity was experiencing, and thus best understood the situation around them.
“Now that everyone’s here, let’s begin the Emergency Meeting. What is first on today’s agenda?” Rufus’ rough voice echoed throughout the room, turning the attention of every SS Rank Hero at him.
Despite all the powerful gazes at him, he sat unwavering at the head of the table, making everyone aware of just how much more powerful he was than all of them.
At Rufus’ command, Byron, his personal assistant, stepped forward. With a snap of his fingers, hologram screens explaining the situation opened up in front of every executive.
“The first discussion is regarding the escape of the Elf prisoner who was captured by A+ Rank Hero, Sakura Kazuya, and detained in the League Headquarters’ dungeon. According to the investigators, traces of an unidentified Beastman were found along with the Elf. However, when further tracking was conducted outside the headquarters, their traces seemed to have completely disappeared.”
Slam!
A loud bang startled the table.
“What is the <Head of Security> doing if prisoners are just escaping like this?”
The complainant was Lakshmi Agarwal, a beautiful brown-skinned woman with black hair and eyes, wearing a vibrant blue saree with hems made of pure gold.
Despite being the weakest SS Rank Hero in the room, her opinion probably carried the most weight in this room, right after Rufus’.
This was because she was the <Head of Treasury> of the League and was in charge of every penny that was spent or earned by the League.
When Earth was in the early stages of the Catastrophe and chaos was prevalent all over the continent, she had single-handedly brought up the economy.
It was also the reason why the currency currently circulating in the Human Continent - R, followed a similar set of rates and rules as her home country’s - the Indian Rupee.
Aside from that, she was also directly or indirectly involved in around 70% of the companies on the continent and was directly responsible for 50% of the continent’s annual income.
Her SS-Rank title was ‘Kubera’s Blessed’, due to her various monetary achievements. Although many suspected her Skills, which had been very carefully hidden from the public eye, also had something to do with her title.
Considering her position, and the fact that she was responsible for each of their department’s budgets, nobody dared to ignore her opinion.
“Odera, how are your boys working if they are letting a mere C Rank Elf escape under their watch?”
The man at the other end of her rebuke was a six-and-a-half feet tall Nigerian-descent man, with muscles that looked like they could crush a coin with their hands.
The man’s name was Odera Okechukwu, the sole SS Rank Hero in the League who specialized in defense. Although he didn’t have offensive Skills, his fortification Skills were so powerful that even multiple SS Rank Heroes working together would find it difficult to get past them and was even capable of guarding against some SSS Rank attacks.
His SS Rank title was ‘Steel Kingdom’, due to his achievement of defending an entire country from monsters single-handedly when the world was still affected by the chaotic effects of the Catastrophe.
“My boys are doing their job fine. It looks like she had outside help. We found traces of a Beastman in the prison. At least A Rank!”
“Just an A Rank? Just follow their trail and capture both of them. I am sure you have guys with Skills specialising in tracking. Use them!”
Some of the Heads nodded in agreement.
“Tracking an A Rank shouldn’t be that hard.”
“The Elf is an important prisoner. We can’t let the other Races think of Humanity as pushovers.”
“Exactly. What if they start invading the Human Continent and stealing our resources? It’s bad enough they already took the other 4 continents.”
Seeing these people, wagging their tails, like dogs, behind Lakshmi enraged Odera. He didn’t want to hear from others how to do his job.
But it was true that a mistake was made, so he could only suppress his anger for now.
“I did send some trackers behind them. But their trails seem to have vanished as if they never existed in the first place. I even used my own tracking Skill, but couldn’t find them. The Elves must have sent someone highly specialised to cut off their tails.”
When Odera said that he personally tracked them, all the Heads who were previously berating him quickly shut up. If even an SS Rank Hero couldn’t track them, then the Elves really must have sent someone powerful.
Rufus, who had been silent the entire altercation, finally spoke up. “Considering how major an issue this was, it was within expectations that the Elves would do something like this. Let’s just be happy with the fact that they aren’t causing any more trouble here.”
“But Rufus, you won’t let Odera go scot-free, right? If we still had that Elf prisoner, imagine what we could have traded from the Fae Forest for her.” Ashton Williams, the <Head of Alchemy>, complained.
“I never said there wouldn’t be any consequences. Odera’s punishment will be decided later. However, there are more pressing matters to discuss.” Rufus silenced him.
Motioning to Su Luxia, a Chinese-origin SS Rank Hero, and the <Head of Dungeon and Monster Research>, he called her forward.
Moving to the front of the room, Su Luxia stood at the podium and opened a hologram screen for everyone to see.
“These past few weeks, my researchers have been noticing some strange readings in various Dungeons around the world. Cross-checking this with information from the Guilds, we have found that since a month ago, monsters in Dungeons are exceeding the Dungeon’s Rank Limit.”
“Many times, Heroes have been attacked by a B-Rank Boss Monster in a Dungeon that was previously calculated to be a C Rank. Even the revaluation of the Dungeon is indicating the previously C-Rank Dungeon to be now emitting B-Rank mana.”
One of the Heads scoffed at the statement. “Doesn’t this just mean that the previous evaluation was incorrect? I don’t see what the point is in discussing this mistake in an Emergency Meeting.”
“It's not a mistake, Orion. If this phenomenon was happening with only one or two Dungeons, we could have said that the problem was the initial evaluation. But the number of Dungeons whose Rank suddenly increased in the past month is 736 - 43% of the Dungeons currently active on the Human Continent, and the data doesn’t even include the Dungeons on the Archipelago.”
“What? How is that possible?”
“Dungeons don’t just Rank up out of the blue!”
“Could the Chaos Alliance be behind this?”
Instant mayhem erupted in the room as Su Luxia presented her findings to the Heads.
Immense pressure filled the room, instantly shutting everyone up. Despite all of them being SS Ranks the oppression was nothing to scoff at, making it evident just how large a gap there was between them and the one who stood at the edge of SS+ Rank.
“Luxia, please continue.” Rufus calmly commanded her.
“Me and my researchers have been analysing the Dungeons for a while, and we have concluded that the mana levels of these Dungeons are slowly rising. In fact, mana levels all over the world are slowly rising.”
“And is there a reason for that?” Ashton raised his hand.
“There is one precedent when a similar phenomenon was noticed by scientists. Unfortunately, there are no proper written records of that time, so I can’t say anything with guarantee.” Su Luxia explained.
“And when was that? You said this phenomenon happened once before.” Lakshmi asked, suspicious about the nervousness in Luxia’s tone. “I don’t think any of us here have ever heard about mana levels rising.”
“...The last time the mana levels rose in such a way…It happened just before The Great 1960 Catastrophe.”
As the words left her mouth, a horrifying silence descended upon the meeting room, as the Heads processed what Su Luxia had just said.
“What the hell are you saying?” Lakshmi was the first to recover from the shock. “Do you understand the gravity of what you just said?”
“Exactly!” Despite being reprimanded by her just moments ago, Odera agreed with Lakshmi. “Earth already faced that disaster once, when it assimilated with the mana that breached it 70 years ago. There should be no reason for it to happen again.”
“We believe it is because the mana density hasn’t reached a maximum on Earth yet.” Luxia explained.
“Could you elaborate on that?” Rufus asked. Even he wasn’t aware of all the details of this, as he had asked Su Luxia to present the situation in front of all the Heads of the League.
The hologram changed to depict the Four Races residing on Earth - Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and Mermaids, along with photos of their Kingdoms that they had established on Earth.
“Although Dungeons only appeared on Earth a mere 70 years ago, along with their marvellous Artifacts and Monsters, scientists have believed that the myths and legends humans spread through civilizations contain trace amounts of a forgotten past, one when Humans wielded mana just like the other Four Races.”
“Of course, we all know that, Luxia.” Rufus and everyone else in the room were familiar with such research.
Humanity always had a thirst for knowledge, especially when it came to energy as versatile as mana.
However, this historical research never bore any fruit, and everyone just gave up, deciding to use the resources on more important matters.
“What does that have to do with mana levels rising?” Ashton asked.
Su Luxia continued her presentation.
“In every myth under the Sun, you will find magical Races worshipping a particular spiritual monument. An edifice that they believe to be the origin of their magic as well the closest thing to their God.”
“The Elves had The World Tree.”
“The Dwarves had The Great Forge.”
“Orcs have their Warlord’s Throne.”
“And the mermaids have their Coral Crown.”
“And of course, the Demon King has his Infernal Obelisk.”
“These are the symbols the Demon King wishes to obtain so that he could snatch their magic. It’s what the Races protect, else their magic be forever lost to time and be remembered only through stories like it was for humans.”
“So, pray tell, what do the humans have that The Demon King desires, one that will allow him to snatch our magic from us forever.”
At Luxia’s question, everyone fell deep in thought.
“This is where I believe the rising mana levels come in. Once the Earth’s mana density reaches a global maxima, I believe we will soon have our very own symbol of magic.”
The screen once again changed, revealing a tall spiralling tower, with thunderous clouds gathering at its top.
“The Tower of Babylon has always been considered humanity’s attempt to reach the heavens and sometimes also our origin of magic in many stories - myth or fictional. I believe this Tower will be our symbol of magic, and what we need to protect from the Demon King, lest our world be destroyed.”
With this, Su Luxia concluded her presentation.
A chilling shiver ran down the spines of all Seven Heads, as well as Rufus’ assistant.
“When do you suppose this Tower will appear? And would there be any other…effects on the world?” Rufus asked.
Everyone in this room had personally bore witness to the tragedies that The Catastrophe brought with it.
Just reminiscing about the past made them remember the helplessness and the lack of hope they experienced as they saw their family, friends, and loved ones be torn apart by monsters that stole their peaceful lives.
“The mana density will reach its maximum point in a few months’ time, from our estimates. As for any concerning effects…I don’t think they will be as devastating as the last one. Earth is already accustomed to mana, so there shouldn’t be any tectonic shifts. But…”
“Spit it out! No need to act all mysterious.” Odera implored her, tired of her enigmatic tone.
“I am sure everyone here knows this, but until now Demons haven’t actually been able to infiltrate Earth, except for the weaker demons who only possess a single heart. The higher Demons are only able to act by making contracts through Awakened and turning them into the Fallen.”
“The main reason behind this was that the mana on Earth was not at a density that could accommodate their existence here. However, once the mana density reaches its maximum, we should probably prepare to be attacked by the Demons.”
The silence in the room was so unbearable that she could hear the other Heads swallowing from the bomb drop she had given them. However, none of the Heads were as shocked as any average Human would have been.
Being at the top of Humanity, they were privy to knowledge that no normal human could get their hands on. From their rare interactions with the other Four Races, they were aware that their home planets were currently under invasion from the Demons.
Therefore, they all knew that sooner or later, the Demons would infiltrate Earth as well.
Of course, they had all hoped that it would be later, rather than sooner.
Rufus asked her one final question. “And what about Humans?”
“A couple, but they might be advantageous, depending on how one sees it…” Su Luxia expounded. “High mana density is the reason why more children Awaken on the Human Continent, with an abundance of Dungeons, unlike the Sanskriti Archipelago. That’s why once the mana density reaches a high enough level, we can expect around 90% of all Human children, below the age of 20 to Awaken. As for the current Awakened, many who might have hit a wall in their Ranking up could suddenly find themselves breaking through.”
Hearing this, the tension in the room intensified even more.
Of course, everyone was glad that there would be more Awakened since it meant more comrades to help fight against the Demon King and defend Humanity.
However, training this many Awakened at once was impossible considering the current infrastructure. They would have to establish more Academies so that they could bear the influx of students.
And public safety…just the policies that would have to be passed brought them a headache.
“Thank you for your insights, Luxia.” Rufus expressed his gratitude, as she took her seat.
Turning to two particular Heads, Rufus commanded them. “Odera. Lakshmi. Meet me in my office later.”
Lakshmi and Odera exhaled a long sigh.
One was responsible for the City’s safety so that no one would get hurt by their newly acquired powers.
The other was responsible for directing funds to provide resources for the newly Awakened.
They could feel the God of Overtime above laughing at their impending doom.
“Anything else, anyone wants to discuss at the Emergency meeting?” Rufus asked a final time.
A hand slowly raised from the edge of the table.