Episode 88 [Alchemy Factory, Blood Magic, Plague – 3]
——————————==
“…hostage negotiations “I came to do it.”
A man wearing an AMT combat uniform in the lobby of Lab Building B said so.
His voice, resounding calmly in the quiet hostage scene, was quite foreign.
“…….”
Not only the 18 terrorists scattered here and there, but also the
hundreds of hostages squatting in a corner looked at the man.
In other words, the eyes of everyone in this building were focused on one place.
‘…What is that? How did you get in?’
Director Lee, the leader of the terrorists, had no choice but to ask such questions, and after a short period of thought, the conclusion he came to was ‘hidden’.
‘You threatened to kill the hostages if they approach you, but you still proceed with this method…’
Director Lee was so dumbfounded that he snorted in succession and pointed the gun at him.
Then all of his subordinates also raised their guns.
Clunk—clunk—
“Tsk, tsk— These stupid bastards, even though I said that, they still crawl into hiding?”
A magazine containing 20 rounds of 7.62mm, about 10 of which were ‘enchanted’.
If this was fired randomly, it could cause considerable damage to the player.
“Hey, you don’t think this is just a gun, do you? Not only will the hostage die, but you too!”
“I think I heard that a while ago…”
“Huh? “What does this guy say?”
The man, Lee Hyun-wook, shrugged his shoulders and walked towards them without paying any attention.
Then, screams broke out among the hostages.
“Oh no!”
Because it seemed like a reckless, even crazy, response to them:
“Oh, we have a bomb in our bodies!”
“Please stop!”
If he made a mistake, hundreds of people here could have died.
But Lee Hyun-wook continued walking in without any hesitation. “
Fuck,
shoot!” “Just kill them all!”
Manager Lee could not stand it anymore and shouted that, and all kinds of screams erupted again.
But after a while, when the screaming stopped,
strangely… nothing happened.
“Second gun…”
Tick—tick—tick—tick— Only
the insignificant metal sounds were heard here and there, but not a single gunshot rang out.
Just
then, the sound of fingers snapping was heard, and the guns they were holding were torn apart and scattered. And they saw them turn into sharp awls, but they couldn’t react.
Puff—puff—puff—puff—!
They stabbed the terrorists in the neck all at once.
In the blink of an eye, the bodies of 17 people collapsed into nothingness.
“what!”
However, Director Lee was a wizard player in his own right.
He put a ‘mana shield’ on his head to deflect the flying metal awl.
Tung!
“You bitch!” “I don’t know what kind of trick this is, but you’re saying you have no intention of saving the hostages!”
He extended his hand toward the hostages. Although their hands were bare, the hostages screamed in horror.
Mana
is given to the places where bomb vests are placed between the hostages.
Then, the mana circuit would activate and the ‘trigger switch’ would be pressed.
This was something the director had already said to the hostages several times as a threat.
“Uh uhh—”
“—Kyaa!”
So the hostages hugged each other and closed their eyes tightly.
But this time too… nothing happened.
“Hey, why are you just pretending like that?”
Lee Hyun-wook chuckled and said sarcastically.
“Huh? What is it…”
“So there is no third plan?”
“Then… negotiations are over.”
18 rifle parts turned into chains with metal deformation.
Then it flew like a snake, wrapped around Chief Lee’s neck, and pulled him up into the air.
“Kuk, ke—ok!”
He flailed around like he was hanging from a gallows
, and 10 iron balls flew out from Lee Hyun-wook’s waist.
Sigh!
The first blow was to his side, and the beads went in almost halfway and bounced out.
His ribs seemed to have been crushed by the blow. He croaked and let out a terrible scream:
“Kwaaaa—help me!”
“Unfortunately, I don’t take hostages.”
Ten iron balls rotated around his body and began to beat him mercilessly. Dozens of blows in just a few seconds
–
most of the bones in his body were crushed into small pieces. .
Soon, the light disappeared from the guy’s eyes. It
took
less than a minute for a total of 18 terrorists to be subdued up to that point.
“…….”
The hostages looked at the situation with an expression of disbelief, and soon Hyun-wook Lee “ Uh
…”
“It’s him, right? Lee Hyun-wook… Seoul’s savior!”
“Gasp! That’s right! He came to save us!”
They recognized Lee Hyun-wook and expressed intense interest. However, he did not show any reaction. He just slowly scanned the inside of the building and picked up the Mana Messenger from his waist. Chic— “…Negotiations are over
.
”
As he radioed like that, his eyes turned to the open elevator shaft inside the building.
To be precise, I was sensing a roar coming from deep beneath the empty darkness.
Keeeeeee———
He felt the strange movement below him becoming a little more violent.
‘It will start soon.’
And…
– Caution! You have entered the ‘Devil’s Test Table’.
* A disaster of unknown origin is brewing in the area.
A system message announcing the start came to mind.
***
Captain Lee Gil-hyun, the squad leader of the 999th Special Mission Battalion’s elite team ‘Cobra Squad’,
snorted after seeing the scene of Lee Hyun-wook infiltrating Building B using the stealth skill.
“Damn you, you unlucky bastard… Let’s see how good you are. Try to lose at least one hostage! I’ll go on the air and tell everyone that that person insisted on doing it alone!”
Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook Today, no one knows his name.
However, very few people saw his activities in person.
There was not even a single video or photo.
This was because all electronic equipment was disabled in the 4th wave zone where he was active. .
“No matter how good you are, you’re bound to make mistakes. Don’t you think about seeking advice from experts?”
Well, I didn’t doubt his skills since he was a hero recognized by the country… but when he appeared out of nowhere like this and tried to steal my food bowl, I couldn’t help but feel annoyed in many ways.
“Captain Lee, be careful what you say, though. What are you going to do if that person reports negatively to your superiors?”
Oh Seong-hoon, the head of the operations team, said,
“It’s the Blue House line, Chief Woo Seong-moon’s line, right? “I get tired when I get out of the eyes of that old tiger.”
“…Does it make sense to treat us like bridesmaids like this?”
“Of course I feel bad too, but he says it quietly, but you know you started the fight first, right?”
“For now, let’s focus on this operation, so that guy came in, so there’s going to be a lot of commotion soon. And no matter how unlucky he is, you hope that he handles this matter well, right?”
At that time, the first radio signal came in sooner than expected.
– Chick— Negotiations over.
The moment they heard that, the two people couldn’t help but stare blankly at each other’s faces.
“-what?”
“What do you mean it’s over?”
It was definitely Lee Hyun-wook’s voice just now.
“Ah, anyway, so quickly…”
It was only about a minute after he entered.
Because I couldn’t quite believe it, I lowered the altitude of one of the magic drones and checked inside the building.
And then a scene unfolded where all the terrorists were truly wiped out.
Judging from the pools of blood around their bodies, it seemed like they were dealt with without mercy.
“Huh… the suppression team is entering!”
At the command of Operation Team Leader Oh Seong-hoon, the suppression teams waiting in the area quickly rushed in.
“We prioritize the safety of the hostages above all else!”
Seong-Hoon Oh also entered the building following the suppression team.
But the moment you step into the lobby…
– Caution! You have entered the ‘Devil’s Test Table’.
* A disaster of unknown origin is brewing in the area.
A red system message appeared before my eyes.
“Uh… Team Leader, do you see this? It looks like something is happening.”
Oh Seong-hoon nodded slowly and felt a tingle in the back of his neck.
The feeling that something bad was going to happen soon… This was the sense of a veteran.
“Yes, I saw it too. “Where is Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook?”
“I’m standing in front of the elevator entrance over there.”
Lee Hyun-wook was looking at the open elevator to see what was going on. It was a cargo elevator going down to an underground facility, and it was so large that it could even accommodate a large truck. He turned his head and faced Oh Seong-hoon. “Oh, team leader, isn’t this a hostage situation
?
” “It was.”
“Yes, I saw the system message. Damn, I wonder what on earth they were doing here…”
At that time, two riot team agents brought in a man who appeared to be a hostage.
“Team leader, this person here has something to say about the current situation.”
He seemed to be a researcher wearing a white coat.
“I am Ahn Yong-un, a senior researcher in the Mana Control Research Department of this laboratory.”
“Yes, are you talking about some ‘event’ taking place underground here?”
“Yes, that’s right. We had no idea things would turn out this way…”
He swallowed dry saliva and opened his mouth.
“There are terrible monsters lurking down there that eat these humans. And it will continue to increase. So maybe… there will be no survivors.”
“Hmm… When you say monster, you mean monster. Is it true that the gate is open?”
In response to Oh Seong-hoon’s question, the researcher shook his head.
“I don’t know the details, but it’s not a gate. “That monster was created in a laboratory.”
“Huh? Creating a monster… what kind of nonsense is that…”
This was a surprising fact upon hearing it for the first time.
At first, it was a study that started with the subject of eternal life, but as it gradually fell into the devil’s delusion, the research proceeded in a completely different direction. The purpose was to gain ‘power’ by sacrificing humans to the devil.
‘Of all the ways to gain eternal life, I chose to borrow the power of the devil, which is the easiest.’
Accordingly, according to the devil’s will, eggs of ‘ghostly ghosts’ were cultivated in a laboratory.
The number was a whopping 3,800….
Now they had hatched the eggs and started hunting for the first time.
“I don’t know what it is, but I’m sure we have to stop it from coming out of there…”
Oh Seong-hoon couldn’t see through the situation just from this researcher’s explanation, but he had a intuition that it wasn’t an event of moderate difficulty as a warning was displayed as a system message. did.
“…There are a lot of apartments within a 5km radius. This is not a normal problem.”
He muttered that and pressed the ‘Mana Messenger’ button on his shoulder.
“Ah— the operations team leader. “All troops maintain combat readiness. Surround this building immediately.”
However, the researcher shook his head as if to deny his judgment and spoke as if pleading.
“We need to be prepared to stop them. “We need to mobilize a significant number of priests and paladins… no, we need to bring a lot of ‘holy relics’ and set up a ‘sanctuary’ like a bunker around here.”
“…Why do you need something like a holy relic?”
“When you kill that monster, black smoke bursts out, and if you touch it, you will be cursed.”
The explanation goes on to say that the security team here was exposed to some ‘smoke’ that was produced after killing an anglerfish, and after a while, they became anxious and soon turned into ‘inhabitants of hell.’ And when they killed the inhabitant of hell, black smoke was generated again
. As a result, large-scale infections occur.
That was the true nature of the ‘plague’ that swept the eastern part of the metropolitan area.
“That black smoke could not be prevented with gas masks or protective clothing.” It was not a
biological infection, but a magical curse. To put it a little more simply, it means that it is a phenomenon that contaminates not the body but the soul itself and cannot be prevented by the normal MOPP method. As I was listening to the explanation,
Oh Seong-hoon’s face could not help but gradually harden.
“Ha… What kind of terrible thing is happening here? “Did you make this up?”
What was happening here was impossible for even the most elite special forces to respond to.
No matter how much I thought about it, this was not something that could be solved through counter-terrorism operations.
“It’s not terrorism, it’s a disaster. This is….”
That’s right, it’s not a local terrorism, it’s a national disaster.
“Oh, Team Leader, we need to evacuate the civilians around here and close down the area right now.”
He came to his senses at Lee Hyun-wook’s words and nodded.
“Yes, I guess that’s the first thing to do. First of all, we have to do what we can.”
It was at that time.
Ku-gu-gu-gu–
Soon, the entire building began to shake and an unidentifiable sound began to sound.
Kue-e-e—
Something was shaking from down in the freight elevator shaft.
“Oh no! They… are trying to come out to the surface after running out of food in the basement!”
With those words, the researcher took a step back and ran out of the building.
Sigh! Hyun-wook Lee
and Sung-hoon Oh also slowly walked down the elevator shaft. He walked away.
He sensed that the moment when he would face the owners of that strange voice was imminent.
“Oh, Team Leader, leave this to me and lead the blockade operation in the area.”
Oh Seong-hoon’s eyes widened at those words.
“Are you saying you’re going to try to stop them again by yourself?”
“Yes, that’s right. “I am immune to curses, so I can fight without being bothered by the curse.”
In fact, he had obtained and consumed the ‘Archangel’s Herb’ that could block the demon’s influence.
– ‘Archangel Purification’ is in effect. (00:14:53)
“Even so, when you hear those cries, the numbers are enormous. A lot of firepower will be needed.”
“That’s okay too. “My firepower… is more than enough as people say.”
At those words, Seonghun Oh remembered a famous story.
“Ah, no way, steel rain…”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded.
“But as far as I know, I heard that it requires ‘two-way portal,’ which is a wide-area magic?”
It was the mechanism of ‘Steel Rain’, the best linkage technique that we had heard about through the mass media, a
method that connects the sky of the armory and the battlefield and pours down steel weapons like rain .
However, there were no wizards who could cast ‘wide-area magic’ at the moment.
“Over the years, we have diversified the ways we use it. “You don’t have to worry.”
Oh Seong-hoon felt like his head was going blank the more he talked to this man.
From his first appearance until now, he has continued to say that he will take care of things on his own.
And they say everything is ready.
‘How can they be prepared in every way like this?’
But one day, I found myself wanting to believe this man’s words without knowing it.
‘Suggests direction without obstruction in a situation where the road ahead is completely invisible.’
It might be human instinct to want to trust and follow that type of person.
“Yes, I understand. Then I—”
But before he could finish his sentence, another upheaval occurred.
Boom—! Boom—! Boom—! Boom—!
The sound of layer by layer collapsing from the basement beneath my feet. The building began to collapse.
“Damn the building is collapsing!”
“—everybody get out!”
Lee Hyun-wook wrapped his entire body in steel boots, and Oh Seong
– hoon also activated
his mana shield. The floor near the elevator collapsed and cracks began to form in the wall.
Soon, one side of the building collapsed like a sand castle.
‘Even the pillars of the angler devils. ‘You bit it off?’
The idea was to create an entrance to the outside world in a rather radical way.
***
Oh Seong-hoon escaped from the shaking building.
“Fuck it, get the civilians evacuated out of the area!”
Ku—gu—gu—gu—gu——
Immediately after, half of the building B of the laboratory collapsed, exposing the first floor lobby.
There was a huge sinkhole in the floor, and
in the black darkness, red eyes began to emerge like the Milky Way.
As their appearance became darker and larger, the disgusting sound also amplified.
Kueeee——
In front of the hole that seemed like the entrance to hell, there was only one man standing tall.
A broadcasting station camera placed on top of a nearby building caught his back.
“…….”
Looking at that scene, Oh Seong-hoon still couldn’t figure out how to bring about ‘Steel Rain’.
The man was just holding a shield right now.
Keueeee——!
A loud noise, a vibrating stench getting closer and closer… Oh Seong-hoon’s hands were sweating. Without realizing it, he said he would trust that man, but after looking at the situation, he planned to give an order to attack if he was pushed back even a little.
‘If that man fails, we will be allowing those monsters to enter the city center.’
It was then.
Lee Hyun-wook lifted the shield and threw it with all his might into the sky.
“huh?”
At that moment—
hoo—u—u—un——!
A huge object suddenly appeared, creating a gust of wind in the area.
“What the hell!”
All the soldiers, journalists, and civilians present at this location raised their heads and opened their mouths. It
was clearly an empty space,
but a white airship appeared in a flash, as if by magic or instantaneous movement.
Lee Hyun-wook heard sighs coming from all over the place behind him. ‘ Okay
, now there’s no need to hide it.’
Forcing his power to be hidden was also detrimental in many ways.
So now he was thinking of revealing it and taking advantage of it.
He slowly raised both hands under Prydwen’s shadow.
Clap—!
Prydwen’s lamp. The door opened, and the AD-1 airdrop devices mounted on the cargo bay took off one by one.
Wow,
12 engineered cubes smoothly swam in the air and lined up behind the owner’s back.
Lee Hyun-wook looked at their ‘subspace’ . ‘ I opened my back and pulled down the shotgun—Black Rhino.
Clap—
I slowly closed my eyes and felt the cold metal.
I was ready to let them flow away like water. Lee Hyun
-wook, the savior of Seoul , his activities including Steel Rain
It was the moment
when everything that had been only rumored and could not be confirmed until now was
finally revealed to the world.
