Episode 172 [Great Gathering, Giant Slalom – 1]
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The world’s attention was focused on the [Titanomachia] that occurred there in Europe.
But so far, only despairing news has been conveyed.
It is said that reinforcements are being prepared from all over the world, but it will still be several days before they arrive in Europe and be sent to the front lines….
Thus, the safety of the civilians trapped in the city shelters occupied by the giants was like a light in the wind.
however….
– [Breaking News] Steele Lane appears in Rome… Titanomachy enters the war without notice? “No one knew.”
The first news of victory was actually reported that Steele had appeared in Rome, was hunting titan hoplites, and was rescuing isolated civilians.
– He came again this time? The world’s attention is focused on whether Steele Roma’s activities are true.
Even so, wasn’t the world in an uproar because he suddenly appeared in Yggdrasil City and captured another black dragon?
Immediately after that, [Titanomachia] broke out, and the voices of citizens around the world who wanted him to be active were growing louder, and at that moment, he really took action as if responding to those voices.
But at first it was thought to be just a rumor.
“Hey, even if it’s Steele Rain, does it make sense to jump in like this all of a sudden? That’s just a rumor, so don’t worry about it.”
Timothy Jackson, the editor-in-chief of an American media outlet, also snorted after hearing the report.
Honestly, no matter how new and mysterious Steel Rain is, the fact that he would jump into such a dangerous place and rescue civilians… isn’t that a very difficult scenario to understand?
And above all, since he had received so many fake reports about where Steele Rain had appeared and what he had done, he had no choice but to start with suspicion.
But it would be different if there was solid evidence.
“Um… Timmy, you should take a look at this.”
His subordinate brought a video and when he played it, his eyes widened.
“Huh? It’s true! Why is that man suddenly going to Rome and killing giants?”
He clicked his tongue at the assault of the metal giant taking place on the screen.
“Huh, anyway, is it possible to defeat a level 110 giant monster like that? ah! “This is not the time to be like this. Put this on the main portal quickly!”
– [Breaking News] The existence of a video of Steele Lane’s performance in Rome has been confirmed and turned out to be true.
– Support from citizens around the world pours in on Steele Rain, who carried out the rescue operation alone, even though the major guilds of the EPA were reluctant to do so.
“What is he…”
Then the whole world began to praise Steele Lane once again.
Since he was just quietly saving the world without any corruption or demands, he completely fit the image of a ‘hero’ that the world wanted.
However, just a few hours after his performance was reported, several guilds affiliated with the EPU began sending press releases to media outlets.
The content was that they, too, were holding on to the Titan Hoplites and were even doing a much bigger job than Steelerain.
“…Huh? Why do they suddenly seem like they’re trying to do something in a hurry?”
Timothy Jackson, a veteran in the industry, sensed their intentions and snorted.
Then his subordinates also nodded their heads.
“That’s right. It looks a little obvious. It seemed like they were really jealous ever since the rivalry between DS and Steele Lane…”
“Tsk tsk, they say they are heroes carrying the world on their shoulders, but they look restless like teenage stars who only care about the number of likes on social media….”
However, the moment he checked the strategy video they sent as an attachment, Timothy Jackson, who had taken a bite of the donut, opened his mouth wide and the donut fell on the desk.
“Wow… what? Is this real?”
“If this is real, wouldn’t it be amazing?”
“It wasn’t rigged, of course?”
The video included the process of five players hunting four titan hoplites, showing a truly surprising hunting speed.
“It’s like a perfect task force set up just to catch the titans! Wow… where on earth are you hiding this much firepower?”
First, something brown flowed along the road like a river and tied up the legs of four titan hoplites like an anaconda.
Kudduddd——!
“What the hell are you doing!”
“It looks like I fell into the mud!”
They started to struggle in panic, but the more they did, the thicker the brown restraints became.
And in the end, both legs were completely restrained so that they could not move.
“What is that that you can’t solve?”
“Uh… I don’t think it’s solid?”
After looking a little more closely, I realized that it was ‘sand’ and that the sand was pouring out of a red jar hanging on a man’s back.
“Wow, can that much sand come out of that small jar?”
“…It is an unusual item even at first glance. “Maybe it’s legendary level?”
Immediately after that, black rays of light erupted from somewhere, and they curved as if attracted to a magnet and hit the eight eyeballs of four titan hoplites precisely.
“Kaaaa——”
In other words, their feet were blocked and their sight was also taken away.
“Uh, was that a bullet…?”
“I don’t think it’s just a bullet.”
“Yes, it is a magic bullet, but how is it so accurate?”
“…Could that be an item too?”
And finally, a large figure wearing a lion skin kicked off the floor and flew up.
“…Hey Hercules, what is it?”
The appearance was clearly the attire of ‘Hercules’.
And all kinds of buff skills were applied to his body, and those were the skills of the famous S-rank Buffer, Nisha Kaif.
This ‘Omega Team’ also hired her to bring out the maximum potential of her members.
Right pole 1 Right pole 1
Soon, black energy bloomed from his body and his muscles began to swell, and he kicked off the floor and leapt, swinging a black wooden blunt object in a very large trajectory.
however….
A billion——!
It was so powerful that it crushed the head of a titan hoplite with just one blow.
A billion——!
A billion——!
One after another, in just one shot….
The video ended with a scene of ‘Hercules’ leisurely stretching.
“…What, what happened?”
The process was so fast that I had to run it over and over again to make sure it was accurate.
In any case, the important thing was that it took only 39 seconds to kill the four animals.
By the fourth time I watched the video, Tim Jackson was smiling and biting into a donut.
“Ha… I can see a picture of this.”
“Yes? What picture are you talking about?”
“Can’t you tell just by looking at him?”
“Uh… um…”
“If we create a competition structure like the two lights that will save this catastrophe, the two-horse chariot, etc., how much will the people of the world be heartbroken and excited at the same time?”
No matter how cruel an incident, such as a war, disaster or crime, was, it was a major event that media outlets could not afford to miss.
But on top of that, if it was a friendly competition between two groups of heroes… it couldn’t have been the optimal situation to gain views.
“And didn’t the EPU guys send us this press release with the intention of picking up an article with that structure?”
“…Oh, is that so?”
“Hey, look at this. Otherwise, there’s no way they would have emphasized in bold a phrase comparing Steele Lane’s attack time to their own attack time.”
“Oh, come to think of it….”
He chuckled, put down the donut, and nodded.
“Let’s just wait and see. They say that if they raise their game like this, they can do overwhelmingly better than Steele Lane… Didn’t Edward Woods break down before this too?”
“Oh, that’s right.”
“This time, it will be even more fun because it seems like they really gritted their teeth. It’s really ironic. This kind of catastrophe is more fun than any other show….”
In this way, reports began to rush around the world on the activities of ‘Steel Rain’ and ‘Omega Team’.
And after the Omega Team’s hunting video was released, the public’s opinion changed significantly.
– Is Stillane’s performance just a preview? Real heroes set out to hunt giants! The revelation of the activities of the so-called ‘Omega Team’ brings a spark of hope to the world…
– [Breaking News] Omega Team sets out to restore Europe, starting with Austria Vienna.
– EPU Chairman “We will mobilize all available resources to support the Omega team. They are the hope of humanity beyond Europe.”
– Claim yourself to be the vanguard of the Omega team Titanomachia, which has performed better than Steele Rain!
In this way, ‘Omega Team’ began to emerge as a hope and solution to this situation.
Hyunwook Lee also heard the news in Rome.
He repeatedly watched a 39-second video featuring Team Omega on his smartphone and analyzed their weapons.
“Wow… honestly, isn’t that incredible?”
“I see. They’re much faster than us, right?”
On either side of Lee Hyun-wook, Park Jun-mo and Kim Se-hee were voicing their admiration.
“Well, if I were to really ask, there are 5 people over there, so it’s not because of the boss, but because we’re not enough, but….”
They had caught 19 Titan Hoplites so far, so they knew better than anyone else how amazing it was to catch 4 in 39 seconds.
‘…Yes, it’s ridiculous.’
And honestly, even as Lee Hyun-wook, I couldn’t help but be surprised.
This is because all kinds of ‘legendary’ grade items that did not appear at this time were being used in the video.
‘What you see in this video right now is the Hercules armor set pattern, even Ak-Kelte…’
From his recollection, they were not scheduled to appear until at least two or three years later.
‘This means that the large guilds have been hiding those items for quite some time.’
In any case, the players armed with such legendary weapons were the strongest players belonging to large guilds from various European countries.
‘Even though the guild they will belong to is an extremist group called [Puture], that doesn’t matter. Whatever their purpose, it is true that it is one of the important weapons against the disaster that threatens the world…’
But there was just one problem.
‘That’s… one of the members of Team Omega is a villain.’
His name was Connor O’Neill, an S-rank player of Irish nationality, also known as the ‘Sandcastle Ruler’, and as his nickname suggested, he was a man with the ability to control sand.
‘But since I’ve already obtained the legendary item, Sikyang (息壞)… it will be quite difficult to deal with him.’
Here, in Chinese mythology, Sikyang refers to the living magic sand that grows endlessly.
Connor O’Neill, who carried a jar containing such a thing on his back, boasted such powerful firepower that he was called the ‘God of the Desert.’
If he decided to start spewing out sand, he could submerge a city in a sandstorm.
‘As expected… the villain side also plans to take advantage of this opportunity. Perhaps at a critical moment in the war, he and other villains will betray and target the Human Alliance…’
In other words, the Titanomachy and the Dark Elf Army… It seemed like the villain side was making its last effort to take advantage of those two big events.
‘Then, if this matter is resolved properly, their arsenal will have no choice but to run out.’
As the number of villains that Lee Hyun-wook has defeated so far is considerable, their strength must have been reduced considerably.
Of course, I could never relax as the final weapon, the Necromancer, still remained.
‘He will definitely appear in this war, and based on the last fight, he will have prepared a way to neutralize the saint… It will definitely not be an easy fight.’
Lee Hyun-wook swallowed one adamant, took a breath, and stood up.
Then he stretched out his left hand towards the giant sword that was floating in the air about 2 meters away.
yes–
It slowly approached Lee Hyun-wook.
Now this Mogley weighs a whopping 50 tons.
In-depth care was needed as if you make the wrong move and give acceleration, several buildings could collapse like dominoes.
But even at this level, if you can only exert half of your power, who will believe you?
– (!) The power of ‘Moglai (Legendary)’ is partially limited as certain conditions are not met!
‘Ha, it’s been a long time since I felt like I lacked control over metal…’
Yesterday, Mogley reached mass liberation (level 4) and weighed 50 tons.
However, before that, one Moglei achieved ‘Dragon Slayer (Level 3)’ and was promoted to ‘Legendary’ level, and mass liberation was also ‘strengthened’.
‘As a result, my hero rank has risen by about twice.’
Therefore, mass liberation-strengthening (step 4) is….
‘…It was originally supposed to be a whopping 100 tons.’
However, because there was no such level of metal control, the double reinforcement was not applied and remained at 50 tons.
‘And that’s not the only problem.’
Mogley (Legendary) from past life 1 weighs 100 tons.
The original Mowglai (hero) of this life number 2 is 50 tons.
Two 25-ton replica Mogleys 3 and 4
The total is 200 tons, but…
– Current steerable metal weight: 58051 tons
‘…I still don’t have enough control over the metal, so I can’t handle all four at full weight.’
Therefore, with the exception of ‘Mogley (Legendary)’, the remaining three had to maintain ‘mass liberation’ at ‘level 3’.
Of course, you could always increase the level as long as your metal control increased.
‘If this is the case, I’ll have to focus on increasing my metal control for a while…’
However, there was a way to sharply increase metal control.
That was to increase the level of giant slayer ‘achievement’.
[List of Achievements]
8) Giant Slayer (Level 1)
– Condition: Hunt 10 or more titans.
– Effects: All abilities (+20%) Mana total (+20%) Stun immunity (+30%)
‘This achievement increases in level every time you catch 10 more fish, and the effect increases by an additional 2%.’
This was one of the best rewards you could get during this event.
Of course, it is safe to say that there are very few players who can catch that many titans…
‘I am possible.’
Hyunwook Lee was currently sitting on a sofa in an empty hotel. He picked up his coffee cup, took a sip and closed his eyes.
Then his gaze moved to the Roman sky. That was, of course, Hugin’s point of view.
Huuuuu——
Soon, a group of Titan Hoplites were found in the city center about 2km away.
They were tearing apart a building, and there seemed to be survivors inside.
“…Okay, I found another bunch.”
At his words, Kim Se-hee and Park Jun-mo stood up.
“No, wait this time.”
“yes?”
“This time, I’ll just handle it on my own.”
“Uh… you’re not going out and you’re staying like this?”
Hyunwook Lee nodded his head with his eyes closed and stretched out his left hand.
bang–!
Then Morgley smashed the window and flew out.
“No need to open the window….”
And it rises vertically towards the sky.
Huuuuu——
As we reached an altitude higher than the clouds and higher than Hugin, the giant sword slowly stopped…
whiz–
It soon tilted and the tip of the sword pointed toward the floor.
And it falls in the direction of gravity.
Fuuuuuu——!
Like a ballistic missile, it was launched fiercely at its target, and the distance narrowed in an instant.
The four titan hoplites who were tearing down a building could not react.
A billion——!
Just like that, one guy’s entire upper body was blown away.
“uh?”
“What the hell!”
The remaining three raised their shields with puzzled expressions. However, the entity that attacked him was not detected anywhere.
They just saw a heavy sword circling a bell tower and flying back… The moment they caught it, they felt the fear of death.
“omg! You can’t get hit by that or that!”
“Raise your shield to block!”
‘You can never stop something like that.’
Zeng——!
A direct hit pierced through the guy’s body through the shield and then pierced the nape of the guy standing behind him.
“Turn it off….”
Lee Hyun-wook slightly waved his left hand, and the Moglei swung loudly with the bell, cutting off the head of the last man standing next to him with one blow.
Sigh——!
“…It’s done.”
Lee Hyun-wook slowly opened his eyes and said.
“Huh? Really?”
About two kilometers away, sitting on a hotel sofa, he disposed of four titan hoplites with just a few movements of his left hand.
However, Lee Hyun-wook did not use Moglei’s skills such as ‘Shockwave’ or ‘Mana Explosive Sword’ carelessly.
They were also ‘strengthened’ in proportion to the mass liberation, so if done incorrectly, they could not only leave huge craters throughout the city of Rome, but also collapse nearby shelters.
‘39 seconds….’
It was said that that was how long it took Omega Team to deal with a group of titan hoplites.
But honestly, I was confident that if Lee Hyun-wook gave his all, he could easily overcome that level.
But there was no need for him to reveal all his power to the world, as he had enough now.
If he revealed the secret weapon he was hiding over there… Lee Hyun-wook planned to hide it until the right time came.
***
Two more days have passed since then.
[List of Achievements]
8) Giant Slayer (Level 3)
– Condition: Hunt more than 30 titans.
– Effects: All abilities (+24%) Mana total (+24%) Stun immunity (+34%)
‘I’ve caught 34 so far….’
Since both Kim Se-hee and Park Jun-mo were given the level 1 giant slayer, they were able to say that they caught a total of 54, and thus succeeded in eliminating all the titan hoplites throughout Rome.
“…I really appreciate it!”
The middle-aged man who said this was a high-ranking public official in the city of Rome with the title of Director of Shelter Safety Management.
“I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of the city of Rome. We will never forget this favor!”
He continued to express his gratitude, almost in tears.
And behind him, numerous players gathered fully armed, all of whom were isolated in Rome.
Of course, no matter how many of them gathered together, they did not have the discretion to deal with a large level 110 monster.
However, as Lee Hyun-wook had completely cleared this area, he came out with confidence and began to build a defense line in case of an unexpected situation.
“Yes, good luck.”
Hyunwook Lee said that and lifted his body into the air.
Pridwen was waiting there, and Talos stood tall behind him.
Someone took a picture of the scene and posted it on the Internet, and numerous articles were produced based on the photo.
– Steele Retakes Rome in 3 days!
However, the news was quickly buried by bigger issues.
– Omega Team moves west after retaking Vienna, the capital of Austria. “The next target is the German city center” Moving forward like a tank!
– Omega Team enters Munich… Munich citizens continue to cheer at the appearance of true heroes
– Omega Team shows off its power by taking on 3 groups of 15 Titan Hoplites at the same time in Munich!
They were definitely faster than Lee Hyun-wook.
This was because not only did Omega Team itself have tremendous firepower, but many large guilds were providing all-out support.
– The overwhelming firepower of the 5 members of Omega Team is estimated to have killed a total of 91 giants so far….
Although it seemed like only the five members of Omega Team were active, there were probably hundreds of players behind them assisting with the operation.
That didn’t mean it was bad. It was natural to do everything possible to prevent this disaster.
however….
“Boss, look at this for a moment.”
While traveling north on the Pridwen, Sehee Kim suddenly held out her smartphone.
It was a live broadcast of some news, and at first glance, it seemed to be the scene of the Omega Team in action.
However, at the top, the phrase [Mention of Team Omega Steele] caught my eye.
And a large man was holding a microphone with the corpse of a titan hoplite in the background.
– …Uh, can I use this broadcast to say something to that Steele friend?
– Yes, you can.
– Stillane My name is Alexander Chekhov. Of course you know, right?
He was a level 91 berserker player and was famous as the next best bruiser after Han Taesan.
However, he was now wearing the best tank item set called [Hercules’ Armor Set], which greatly increased strength and stamina, and he was always wearing Nisha Kaif’s buff, so he was probably the best brewer in the world right now.
He mentioned Lee Hyun-wook during a live broadcast representing Team Omega.
– …I wanted to contact you separately, but I didn’t have a good way. Anyway, I enjoyed the recapture of Rome. Does it really live up to its name?
He scratched his cheek with a thick finger and opened his mouth again.
– But I wonder if there is any reason to move like a lone wolf like that. It looks kind of cool, but… hehe… you know that’s not the point, right?
“…….”
At that point, Park Jun-mo and Kim Se-hee, who were watching from the side, caught Lee Hyun-wook’s attention.
– If you really want to save this country, not just try to look cool to the girls sitting in front of the TV like some gay K-pop star…
He made a somewhat solemn expression and then uttered his last words.
– I want to tell you to come under us and fight together. Because that is truly what we do for the world.
“Haha, do you really have to say something so unlucky?”
Kim Se-hee complained, and Hani, who was sitting on her shoulder, raised her middle finger toward the smartphone screen.
‘Well… the inside is clearly visible.’
Now, based on thorough calculations, they were provoking Lee Hyun-wook and telling him to come under them.
Of course, he didn’t really want Lee Hyun-wook to join, but rather he wanted to use the reputation he had built so far to rise to even greater heights.
And already within a few days, the world recognized that Team Omega was stronger than Steele Lane.
But then
Go one oh one oh——
On the screen, a red light could be seen rising from a considerable distance behind Alexander Chekhov.
Hyunwook Lee suddenly raised his head and looked out the window of Prydwen, and saw the same red ray of light rising from the northern sky.
– huh? What is that again?
While everyone on and off the screen looked at the scene with expressions of incomprehension, only Lee Hyun-wook noticed the true nature of the phenomenon.
‘…The second act of Titanomachia has opened.’
Since we had captured a significant number of Titan Hoplites, we could say that Phase 2 of this event had begun.
‘The [giant slalom] is about to start.’
Until now, small-scale local wars had been fought against the Titan Hoplites that had appeared throughout Europe, but now they are gathering in one place to form a true army.
‘…If hundreds of those giants gather in one place and advance in a square called the [Deus Phalanx], it becomes impossible to deal with them in the way we have until now.’
In other words, it could be said that the ‘war’ with the Titans called [Titanomachia] had only now truly begun.
But then a system message appeared in his eyes.
– (!) You automatically participated in the war event ‘Titanomachia: Grand Battle’.
“Oh, do you see this now?”
and….
– The ‘War Hero’ achievement effect is activated.
“Oh, now that I think about it, there was this….”
[List of Achievements]
6) War Hero
– Condition: Achieve maximum achievement in the war event.
– Effect: All abilities increase when participating in a war event (+50%)
‘If you do this well… you can hit 100 tons.’
At that point, Lee Hyun-wook imagined.
A phalanx formed by hundreds of Titans… An advance as solid as that mountain range…
‘…no one can break through.’
However, if you slam a 100-ton God’s Staff on top of it and then explode a proportional shock wave… will the Phalanx be able to maintain itself?
