Nightmare March.
Approximate death toll: 8,000.
The rifts were one thing, but the sheer size of the losses couldn’t be chalked up to rifts alone—human-made disaster played no small part.
A government that abandoned its people, and hunters who turned their backs on their duty.
Out in the streets, protests demanding the president’s impeachment continued every day.
Nationwide petition drives demanded punishment for the big guilds.
Eun Seok-won, the Silver Lion, lost one eye.
The Class-1 Rift at Seoraksan had the highest number of casualties.
And the ones who stood alone to block it were 〈Silver Lion〉 and the forces under its banner.
Countless brothers of the Lions never returned and were buried in Seorak forever.
The 〈Silver Lion〉 guild publicly declared support for sweeping reforms to the Awakeners Act.
The damage to 〈Heta〉—which had defended Uijeongbu alone—was just as severe.
Heta’s current grandmaster announced a temporary closure of the sect and, along with it, his retirement, passing the grandmaster’s seat to his high-school-aged granddaughter, White Bird.
As for the rest of the big guilds besides 〈Silver Lion〉 and 〈Heta〉—
The flames of…