The battle to protect the museum; no, the continent had begun. When I waved at the struggling Max, he quickly got up from his seat. It was funny how he became loyal to me in just a few hours, but he had no choice.

‘He’s desperate.’

I had no idea when it came to other tasks, but I was better than him at this type of task where I had to supplement insufficient mana. One of the reasons why I was better than him was that I could see the part that was getting weaker even before the system could give a warning. It was the same for the dirty Fragment of the Ancient God’s pattern. Even though I didn’t have detailed information about the monster, I knew its movement pattern. In this situation where there was no time to waste, knowing the weak spot ahead of time was really helpful.

When I spoke as soon as I sat down, I heard Max talking.

“You told them the shortest distance, right? Mr. Max?”

- I did and they’re probably going to enter soon!

“Nice,” I commented.

- Is there anything else…

“Make me another coffee,” I ordered.

- Yes, sir!

As soon as I looked at the mana hologram, I saw the expedition party entering the area where the Fragment of the Ancient God was located.

“Is the voice connected?”I asked.

- Yes, it has already been connected. When you want to talk to one of the warriors that you came with, put your mana into the magic circle located at the far end. Uh…

“You call me Mr. CEO,” I replied.

- Okay, Mr. CEO!

He had to have experience because he was quick when it came to getting work done. I guess I was wrong when I assumed he was an idiot, but he was moving in such a hurry that he had overlooked a few things.

- Ahhh. Ah. Voice test. Raise your right hand if you can hear my voice, Mr. Hyun-Sung.

The regressor on the screen raised his hand to confirm it, and he looked really reliable wielding the mythic-ranked sword. The others were preparing for battle, and I was certain they were going to do just fine even without me nagging about the small details.

- As I have explained before, it’s important that we don’t touch the backup program’s mana. I would like the others, aside from Ha-Yan, to pour their mana into the backup program. I want Ha-Yan to prepare a big spell and for Dialugia to transform into her original form.

Obviously, there wasn’t enough mana to overpower the monster, but the expedition party’s mana would still be helpful. After all, the mages were powerful and their magic stats were over 80 points.

- The same applies to the melee group. Slowly pour your mana until I tell you to stop.

I talked calmly as if things were going well, but things weren’t actually going that well. The more powerful we got, the more resistance the monster showed. In addition, the process of pouring mana into the weak spot while constantly tapping on the magic circle was a complicated process. We gathered mana from all over the place, but it still wasn’t enough to completely seal the monster.

After taking a sip of the coffee, I spoke to Max.

“Check if there are any other places we can gather mana from.”

- CEO Lee, the situation…

“The situation isn’t that great, but it’s a good thing we sent the expedition party there ahead of time,” I replied.

- Ah…

“They’ll do their best to stop it, but it’s likely that one of the seals will break because we still don’t have enough mana,” I added.

- What if we pour the dragon’s mana into it?

“We need to be prepared in case the seal does break. Dialugia is like insurance and the more insurance we have, the better,” I answered.

- I see.

“We may run into an unexpected situation so secure an exit,” I ordered him.

- What?

“Why are you looking at me like that? If something goes wrong, then we have to survive so that we can come back to fix this. You probably don’t know this because you have been hiding in this museum, but the people over there are one of the strongest people among the humans right now. If they can’t fix this, no one can,” I explained.

- Oh! I understand.

“Without them, do you really think it would have been possible for us to defeat a legendary-ranked monster so quickly and destroy the seal the Rift Guardians had placed on the monster? Don’t worry so much, Mr. Max. I cherish this museum as well, but it’s unfortunate that I can’t use the items here. You also have to stop nitpicking everything I say because it makes me lose focus,” I warned him.

- Y-Yes, sir!

Max remained quiet because he was shocked, and I was sure he knew better than anyone that this task wasn't easy.

The sound of mana being poured into the program continuously reverberated as I tapped on the magic circle while talking.

- Ha-Yan, maintain the spell you’re casting and pour a little bit more mana to the one that’s binding the tentacle near Deok-Gu. That one looks like it’s about to break.

What annoyed me a bit was that the monster had become a bit more ferocious and was focusing its power on one side. Of course, I had no choice but to focus the mana on the weaker side.

‘Shit.’

I wanted to save Jung Ha-Yan and Dialugia’s mana in case we had to escape from here, but there was no other choice. I thought it was more advantageous to get things done one by one rather than doing them all at once.

However, getting things done wasn’t the only issue.

‘My mana is the problem.’

It was going to be a fairly long battle and controlling the panels while pouring my mana into them was a lot of work. Obviously, a spell would consume more mana, but since I thought this battle was going to last a pretty long time, I had to save mana.

That was the reason why I was using Mr. Max watching from the back, and he was doing a pretty good job. However, I was kind of worried that he was going to cause trouble because he looked really excited…

- CEO Lee. Seals 21 and 7 have been completely restored!

“Don’t get too excited now. That monster thinks it can break the others as long as it can break one of the seals. I’m starting to see… signs of that…” I said.

- Seal 9 has been restored as well.

“Don’t move so hastily. Only pour mana into the place I tell you,” I warned him.

- Seal 10, too!

“Recover the remaining mana,” I ordered.

- Seal 69!

“You bastard! Who told you to pour it there?!” I yelled.

- Huh? 6… 9… Seal 69…

“Hurry and pull Seal 69 up…”

Crack!

One of the large tentacles broke through the seal and the way it stood tall was so ridiculous I was at a loss for words. While Max was pouring mana into Seal 69, the tentacle sprung up as if it was growing. I used the magic circle to shoot a mana chain toward the tentacle, but it wasn’t so easy to restrain it.

‘It might break the others.’

Actually, the other seals would shatter if it jumped around. However, the situation was now out of my hands.

- Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!

The expedition party was already preparing for battle even before I said anything and even though I couldn’t hear the party, I saw Kim Hyun-Sung yelling and Jung Ha-Yan activating her magic. They already knew that they had to seal this worked-up monster and the good part about all this was that they already knew what to target.

- Just the tentacle… you must attack the tentacle.

Seeing hundreds of tiny magic beams continuously attacking the tentacle was a spectacular sight, and I was sure it was Jung Ha-Yan’s magic. I guess Dialugia thought that Breath was too strong because she jumped into battle, and I had no choice but to invest a little bit more mana into the chains holding the monster down when I saw that.

“Maintain the control room with the minimum amount of mana possible and send the rest over there,” I ordered.

- I-I’m sorr—

“You just need to correct your mistake, Mr. Max,” I interrupted.

- CEO L-Lee.

Seeing the large dragon trying to bite the monster was a sight to see and even though I was watching it through a screen, it was enough to make me jizz my pants. However, I couldn’t tell if her attack injured it. I was worried that my wife was going to get herself killed by overdoing it, but luckily, she was fine. However, it had to have been difficult for her to overcome the resisting monster because the tentacle twisted and sent her flying to a wall. When Sun Hee-Young and Ahn Ki-Mo used their holy power on the large dragon that stood up as if nothing had happened, Park Yeon-Joo and the members of the Black Swan Guild pounced at the monster with their swords.

‘What the…’

They looked like valkyries attacking a God. Seeing these fearless female warriors would make anyone think that it was such a beautiful sight.

‘Shit.’

But I guess the Fragment of the Ancient God didn’t think they were beautiful, as the large main tentacle being tied down by the blue mana unleashed smaller tentacles toward them.

‘It has a skill like that?’

Some blocked the tentacles with their swords while the others found it dangerous to do so. Fortunately, Park Deok-Gu ran between them and used his shield to block some tentacles, and Jo Hye-Jin swung her spear after jumping off Park Deok-Gu’s shoulder.

Drop, drop.

A few tentacles fell to the ground, but Jo Hye-Jin closed her eyes when she saw the tentacles that were still flying her way. But after noticing that she remained uninjured, she looked up and saw Dialugia blocking the tentacles using her tail, and I was sure that she also saw the large amount of mana gathering in Dialugia’s mouth.

- Don’t use Breath! Ah! Use the concentrated one!

The concentrated form of her Breath penetrated the area she bit earlier. One of the backup program’s chains holding the monster down broke as it struggled in pain. And I saw Kim Hyun-Sung attacking the same area while cutting the tentacles attacking him.

‘It’s up to you… Shit! Hyun-Sung!’

When he swung his sword slowly, it felt like time had stopped and the moment his sword landed on the tentacle, it was cleanly severed.

“Yeeeeees!!!” I screamed.

- Kgggggh!

“Seal it! Hurry, hurry, hurry! Seal the other side, too! Seal it!” I yelled.

- Ahhhhh…

“Stop crying! Move over!”

Obviously, I continued to pour my mana into the panels and when I started tapping on the magic circles, I heard Max’s voice.

- The upper half is completely sealed. Seals 32 to 41 are restored! Seal 69 is restored as well. Gaaah…

The blue chains wrapping around the monster from different places started tying the monster up like the first time we tried to seal it. Eventually, a large door that would put the monster in deep slumber opened and although the monster struggled, it was no use.

“Disappear! You dirty demon! Hahahaha!” I laughed.

At this point, I was so happy that I wanted to dance, and even though it felt like the monster’s large eyes were looking toward the management room, it didn’t really matter.

“I won’t hand over my museum! You bastard! Haha! Cough! Cough!”

In the end, the monster got pulled inside and the large door made up of blue mana slowly closed. The mana by the door distorted and in the middle of it, I saw a human-shaped mana crystal.

‘What’s that?’

It wasn’t a threat to us and seeing Max stare at the screen made me think that woman was a Rift Guardian, but it was more like the remaining thoughts of the woman rather than the Rift Guardian herself. I didn’t know the backstory, but Max was crying while watching the woman casting a spell. She instantly completed the spell and unknown runes started flying toward the large door. A blue light filled the room again and when the light disappeared, I saw the expedition members hugging each other while sitting on the ground.

“Niceeeeeeee!” I yelled.

[You have completed the Legendary-Ranked Quest.]

[Legendary-Ranked Quest - Continental Salvation (1/1)]

[A title has been created.]

[Title - Continental Guardian]

[All stats have increased by one.]

[The Museum Manager Rank has increased by one. The Rift Museum Rank 5 Manager title has changed to Rift Museum Rank 4 Manager. Due to Rift Guardian Metel’s earnest request, a new title has been forcefully created.]

[Max’s Guardian]

“Huh?”

My happiness only lasted for a moment. When I looked at Max as if I was asking what this meant, he looked strangely surprised.