Because of the Southern Empire's achievement, the remaining three empires also sent half of their royal knights to challenge their respective towers.
They succeeded as well.
But they never returned.
Search parties were formed to look for the missing knights. At first, the empires suspected that the knights had fled with the treasures they had obtained, perhaps intending to keep the riches for themselves and monopolize the rewards.
The search parties scoured their own empires and even ventured into the territories of the other empires, searching for any trace of the missing knights.
But they found nothing.
It was only later that they discovered the horrifying truth.
Every force sent into the towers by the four empires had disappeared.
None of them had ever returned.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, each empire placed a ban on its tower. All access was restricted, and no one was permitted to enter.
This continued for 100 years.
As time passed, the world underwent enormous changes. Countless people died, while new generations were born. Even members of the royal families eventually passed away.
Yet the king of each empire continued to live.
They had withdrawn from the world, choosing to remain in seclusion and keep themselves away from worldly affairs.
Over the course of those hundred years, the world progressed, and seven continents emerged.
Those who possessed supernatural powers lived alongside their respective kings on secluded lands. Whenever a monster appeared, these powerful individuals were sent out to deal with it.
As generations passed, however, the people living on Earth gradually forgot about the existence of supernatural powers.
The stories of those who once possessed incredible abilities faded into nothing more than myths and fairy tales.
Even the four towers eventually came to be regarded as government property. Secret research was conducted within them, which was why they were classified as restricted areas.
Some people even began referring to them as "Area 51," "Area 52," and other similar names.
For a hundred years, the towers remained shrouded in secrecy.
Then, another hundred years passed.
And everything came to light.
The so-called myths and fairy tales of the past suddenly became reality.
Then it all began.
Around this time, monsters that were believed to exist only within the towers began appearing outside with increasing frequency.
At first, they were easy to deal with. Most sightings involved only one or two monsters at a time.
But as time passed, their numbers began to multiply.
Some groups consisted of as many as 20 monsters, with an A-Rank monster leading them.
All of these monsters were being spotted around the smaller cracks that had appeared throughout the world.
Then, another 100 years passed.
And finally, it happened.
A World Announcement appeared.
The announcement sent shivers down the spines of everyone on Earth.
Dread was evident on the faces of every person who witnessed it.
Something had changed.
And whatever was coming next was far worse than anything humanity had experienced before.
[WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT]
THE TOWERS HAVE REMAINED UNATTEMPTED FOR 300 YEARS.
MONSTERS HAVE OVERFLOWED THE DUNGEONS.
THE TOWERS ARE AT RISK OF BEING DESTROYED.
[ACTIVATING PROTECTIVE MEASURE 019]
RELEASING ALL MONSTERS TO PREVENT THEM FROM WREAKING HAVOC WITHIN THE TOWERS.
[DUNGEON OUTBREAK]
DUE TO AN OVERLOAD OF MONSTERS WITHIN THE TOWERS, THEY SHALL BE RELEASED.
DANGER RATING: SSS
As the monsters were released, wherever they went, everything in their path was reduced to complete wasteland.
The threat was immediately classified as a World Threat.
Humanity deployed everything it had.
Nuclear bombs, atomic bombs, and even hydrogen bombs were launched at the advancing monsters.
But the result was horrifying.
The attacks couldn't even scratch the bodies of the S-Rank monsters.
The monsters remained unharmed.
They continued their advance, relentlessly destroying everything in their path.
The situation escalated beyond control.
The threat level was raised to:
WORLD-LEVEL DISASTER.
Four entire continents had already been lost.