Episode 216 [ Ruler of Steel – 3 ]
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What is the most important thing when preparing to fight an enemy?
‘That is information about the enemy.’
If you can understand the enemy’s strength, you can also estimate the enemy’s strategy to some extent. Listing them all and choosing the most likely scenario to respond to is the path to victory.
And in this regard, it was necessary to keep in mind that the enemy was also collecting information about our troops.
‘In that respect, in order to catch the enemy off guard, you must deliver a blow that the enemy cannot predict, that is, an astonishing blow.’
chamberlain….
“What kind of nonsense is this…”
The Demon King soared toward the black portal floating in the distance, and the large eyeball in the center of it turned toward the sky.
In addition, the eyes of the players present and the entire world, watching this situation live, were directed to the sky.
“Look at that!”
“…What’s happening again?”
What was moving there were huge rectangular objects blocking the sun… They were all dozens of stories tall.
Coo—gu—gu—gu——!
The absurdity of buildings rising into the sky and crashing down like this is an astonishing blow that the enemy can never anticipate.
Hyunwook Lee was focusing all his attention on lifting those buildings.
‘If you don’t move well, it will collapse.’
Since it was large and heavier than expected, metal control had to be applied to a fairly large area to maintain its center.
Otherwise, one side could have been crushed like a sand castle.
Meanwhile, Hyunwook Lee recalled something he had heard in his past life.
‘—Hyunwook If you had been given a little more time, wouldn’t you have lifted the entire building we were standing on and dropped it like a giant meteorite? Hahaha… It must be quite disappointing for you, right?’
This was what Gordon Price said sarcastically in his past life when he killed Hyunwook Lee.
But he couldn’t have imagined that it would actually come true.
One hundred thousand tons each… Being crushed by it was bound to be a much more terrible thing than most bombs.
And it was so bulky that there was no way to avoid it.
Lee Hyun-wook’s hand was drawn from the sky to the Devil’s Castle.
“Now this is what you predicted.”
「……」
At that moment, the Demon King’s tentacles were aimed towards the sky, and light began to gather at the tips of the tentacles. That was a precursor to the Demon King’s unique light attack.
“-late.”
However, the buildings had already fallen due to gravity, so it crashed down onto the Demon Castle just before it released its beam of light.
Kwa—ang——!
“Kaaaa——”
Just like that, the Demon King Castle began to fall to the ground.
‘…It’s the best shot to stop him from escaping.’
No matter what attack was launched, the gigantic Demon Castle would have completely ignored it and soared vertically, disappearing beyond the black portal.
However, no matter how great the Demon Castle was, it could not withstand the weight of hundreds of thousands of tons, and it eventually crashed down to the ground.
Qua—ah—ah—ang——!
The dust storm caused by the impact covered Seoul.
“Pfft!”
“Ugh!”
Hyunwook Lee immediately lifted the Mana Messenger.
“—Drop War Box Mowgley right now!”
Currently, a ‘war box’ was floating in low earth orbit over Seoul. And now that the sky is open, the war box can function properly.
Soon, two rays of flash appeared in the sky, and Lee Hyun-wook detected them and guided the direction.
Immediately afterwards, the whitish dust storm that was rising split in two directions, and the Moglei crashed down onto the Demon Castle’s crash site.
The impact caused the ground to turn into liquid, causing the asphalt in the area to wave… An even thicker dust storm spewed out, completely obscuring the northern side of Seoul.
“Uh… are you done?”
Emilia Müller asked from behind. Since she couldn’t see anything, she had no way of understanding her situation.
However, Lee Hyun-wook was able to see through the dust through the [One-Eyed King’s Insight] effect through Hugin and Munin.
And he slowly shook his head.
‘…not yet.’
In his eyes, he could see tentacles writhing under the rubble of the building, indicating that the Demon King was clearing away the rubble in order to fly again.
I couldn’t leave it like that.
‘Go away everyone—’
Following Lee Hyun-wook’s hand gesture, the Mogleis floating around him were fired.
They flew like Tomahawk cruise missiles and landed on the concrete pile, releasing a series of shockwaves and flare webs.
Qua—and—and—and—and——!
In just a few seconds, dozens of shock waves and red heat rays bloomed randomly over the Demon King’s crash site, and a fountain of green blood surged as if the Demon King’s blood vessels were cut, and eventually several strands of the Demon King’s urging were cut off.
Then a strange crying sound was heard.
Ke—eh—eh—eh——!
This was the scream of the Demon King.
‘You can’t just admire that. This is just the beginning.’
Next, the AD-2s flew in busily, pouring countless metal weapons towards the crash site of the Demon King Castle.
Bur—bur—bur—bur——!
And Lee Hyun-wook ‘shredded’ them and repeatedly caused damage to the Demon Castle.
His attacks were uninterrupted, and he even destroyed the H-beams planted inside the building, mobilizing all his firepower to relentlessly gnaw away at the Demon King’s Castle.
Green liquid spurted out again and again with a thud-thud sound.
‘Okay, one way or another, we’ll finish it here for sure.’
How many times have you missed the Demon King so far?
‘That guy can open wide-area portals and move around at will, so we shouldn’t give him even the slightest chance.’
And if I had been late just now, he would have passed through the portal.
In that case, another city would have become its prey and things would have become complicated.
Even if it meant destroying Seoul, he had to tie him down somehow.
Blah blah blah——
That’s why Lee Hyun-wook lifted a few more collapsed buildings. And he dropped it again onto the Demon King’s castle.
At that time, Laputa arrived nearby.
Wooooow——
There were dozens of airships surrounding it.
– Chic—The entire fleet prepares for battle.
This was the voice of Director Woo Seong-moon.
Then the airships widened the gap, maneuvered, and surrounded the Devil Castle crash site.
They planned to block the flight of the Demon King by blocking the sky with their gases.
Soon bundles of rope fell from the airship, and the players rode them and landed on buildings and roads.
– Preparing 11 trillion wide-area flame magic with firepower!
– Preparing a wide-area electric current magic with 14 trillion firepower!
Such communications continued countless times, and an army of thousands of players entered into battle.
– Chick—Do not wait for orders and pour out everything!
Soon, the Seoul sky was colored with colorful magic.
They poured down into a single dot.
This was what was commonly referred to as indiscriminate bombing.
Bang—bang—bang—bang——!
Even so, the ground, which had been weakened by the fall of the building’s Demon Lord Moghlay, cracked with a loud sound, eventually creating a huge sinkhole in the middle of downtown Seoul.
“—Never mind, just keep pouring!”
The intensive attack continued for several minutes…
“stop-”
The entire army stopped at Lee Hyun-wook’s command.
Next, Sehee Kim and Koshiro Kodo created an upward current and cleared away the thick cloud of sand.
Then the appearance of the Demon King Castle’s crash site was revealed…
Whoa….
As many as seven buildings were hit, but they were all crushed to pieces, leaving no trace of the buildings. It just looked like a pile of stones piled up at a mining site.
Also, they were all covered in a green sticky liquid… that must have been the flesh and blood of the Demon King.
And when I looked a little more, I saw that the circular Demon King Castle was half protruding from the center of the wreckage.
It showed no movement.
“Is it over?”
It was Park Jun-mo who muttered that.
Then everyone’s eyes were focused on him.
“Oh, you just said that…”
“It’s unfair to say something like that at this time….”
It was Lee Hyun-wook who answered that ominous question.
“No, not yet.”
In his eyes, he could still feel numerous movements writhing within the Demon King’s Castle.
And sure enough……
– caution! A ‘Realm of Evil’ begins in that area!
* All monsters are greatly strengthened. (+100%)
* Reduces curse immunity for all players. (-30%)
‘Is this… the devil’s domain?’
The meaning of this system message was simple.
‘This guy decided to take a life-or-death decision.’
In other words, the final battle takes place here.
‘I guess I’ll have to get it out now.’
Lee Hyun-wook turned on Mana Messenger and said.
“Ah, please deploy the Laputa Project [Project GS].”
At his words, an airship flew from Laputa.
And then a square object fell from there.
Ugh—— Tong—
It was a large case made of adamant with the words written on its surface.
Lee Hyun-wook imprinted it on his right hand while looking at his surroundings.
Numerous players were gathered in this area.
Hyunwook Lee called out the name of only one person among them.
“…Where are you, Inferno?”
Then, the people separated, a strange heat was felt, and soon, Inferno Han Juhwa, a woman with a shimmering haze blooming all over her body, appeared.
Lee Hyun-wook said while looking at the giant sword Levitain she was holding.
“Maybe the strength I gave you wasn’t enough?”
“ah….”
At that question, Han Ju-hwa made a puzzled expression.
Soon, Lee Hyun-wook continued.
“Then I will provide you with plenty this time.”
***
The whole world was witnessing the scene taking place in Seoul.
– You are watching a scene that could possibly be your last moment with the [Kill the Monster] channel.
– We express our gratitude to the heroes who are fighting for this world and we will support them until the end.
No one could turn away because they knew that the existence of this world, and in other words, their lives, were at stake in that fight.
Still, the current situation could be said to be positive.
– ah! The Demon King’s Castle has finally fallen!
The Demon King, who had been repeatedly running away and counterattacking while losing battle after battle to Steele Lane, was suffering a one-sided attack with the Demon Castle he was clearly riding crashing in the middle of Seoul.
– It’s already been about ten minutes since it crashed… but there’s no response, right?
– yes! I think it is highly likely that it has been retired! I really hope so!
– As far as I know, one of the Demon King’s biggest weapons is the Demon King’s Castle, and one of the goals of the World Quest in the first place was the destruction of the Demon King’s Castle. Things are… very positive right now?
– yes! You can’t let down your guard, but it’s clear that Steelaine and us humans have the upper hand!
But then—
“I… went through a certain process to get here, but only four people stopped me…”
As a voice filled with hatred and anger rang out, the players who had been moving in unison hurriedly took cover.
And the broadcasters who were talking excitedly had no choice but to keep quiet.
It was the voice of the devil.
At the same time, a ray of light erupted from inside the remains of the building along with a thud.
And from that hole…
Keeeeee——!
All kinds of monsters started pouring out.
They were high-level monsters such as Titan Ancient, Red Drake, and Ice Troll.
Even though the monster army had already been defeated several times, there were still overwhelming numbers remaining.
“―Shoot!”
As if they had been waiting for this, all the players fired their prepared magic and it rained down on the heads of the monster army.
however-
– Oh, it doesn’t seem to work!
For some reason, the number of monsters has barely decreased and they are rushing through the smoke created by the explosion?
Then, the players who were at the forefront had no choice but to hastily retreat using portals and teleports.
Wow——
Kueeee——
The scene of them rushing through the city center was so terrifying that the hosts of all broadcasts sighed, and viewers around the world were terrified that they could invade their homes.
– Those things were strengthened by the devil. That’s why it doesn’t seem to be retired even by most players’ wide-area magic!
– Does this mean that each one of them is powerful enough to need to be raided?
At least it seemed that only the attacks of players ranked A and S were working.
But then the players’ attacks subsided.
– uh? Why don’t you attack?
As the offensive disappeared, the monster army pushed in even faster.
– ah! Look over there!
At that time, the broadcast screen appeared above a building.
There were two people standing there.
– Steele Rain and Inferno!
At this point, they were said to be the 1st and 2nd ranked players in terms of firepower.
– But what is all that?
– omg! no way….
And there were a lot of things floating around them, so they were…
Grrr——!
They were all Leviathan.
The dark red writhing body of the sword, as if it had been combed with magma, was emitting heat and creating a thick haze layer by layer in the sky.
Because of the heat, the average temperature across Seoul began to soar in an instant.
“Ugh—I’m suffocating!”
“You’re so hot I’m dizzy!”
Even our players couldn’t handle the heat.
Soon, Lee Hyun-wook and Han Ju-hwa moved their hands at the same time.
Then, the Levitains floating in the air and the Levitains tied to dozens of flame ropes extending from Han Juhwa’s grasp were shot at once.
Qua—and—and—and——!
As they crashed down on the monster army, powerful flames erupted as if a missile had exploded.
Then, every time Han Juhwa moved his hand, the flames shook and swirled, sweeping away the monsters.
“How about now, is that enough?”
She nodded her head in response to Lee Hyun-wook’s question.
I thought I had enough strength after getting two bags of Levatein before he came. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t become stronger than him…
Still, she reached her limits and felt despair again.
However, Lee Hyun-wook broke through that limit very easily.
“Now, feel free to sweep away.”
The flames spewed out by a total of 75 Levitains contained enough heat to melt the city of Seoul—and Han Ju-hwa manipulated them to create a huge wave of fire.
In response, Lee Hyeon-wook moved the metals that had been scattered around and began to quench them in the waves of fire.
‘And if I do this, it will melt well without me having to use metal melting.’
In this way, the waves of fire and the waves of molten metal became tangled and turned into magma and attacked the monster army.
Churrrrrr——
And some of the molten metal fused again, turning into chains that wrapped around the necks and limbs of monsters trying to escape the waves.
Kaaaa——!
As the Moglei flew into the bodies of those screaming one by one, their numbers began to decrease rapidly… It was the moment when the last monster army was annihilated in vain.
Lee Hyun-wook said while looking down at the Demon King Castle.
“It’s all over.”
Demon Lord Gordon Price must have been listening to this voice.
“You lost to me.”
Lee Hyun-wook slowly flew towards the Demon King Castle, which was half destroyed and lying limp.
Then, non-commissioned officers followed him on both sides as if to guard him, but he held out his hand to block their approach.
– Chic— It’s dangerous to approach alone.
This was the voice of Director Woo Seong-moon.
“…Anyway, the only one who can kill the Demon King is me with the hero privilege.”
But then the head of the Demon King split open and blood poured out.
And then one person walked out of it.
Then, a murmur began to spread behind Lee Hyun-wook.
Because there was no one who did not recognize that man.
“Oh, that person…”
His name was Gordon Price, the true form of the devil.
However, at this point, he was known as a missing rich man and the spiritual leader of the players, so few people knew that he was the devil.
He soon came closer and looked up at Hyunwook Lee.
“Yes, I lost.”
Lee Hyun-wook frowned.
He slowly raised both his hands and came a little closer.
And the guy was holding a spear and a shield. They were none other than ‘Achilles’ armor set.’
In other words, you could become invincible by activating ‘Blessing of the River Styx’ at any time.
Lee Hyun-wook placed the Mogley on top of the guy’s head.
Soon the guy opened his mouth again.
“Now—let’s talk about it one last time. Nothing will change if you beat me here. You will eventually have to destroy this world. That is the main story and main purpose of this game.”
At this, Lee Hyun-wook chuckled as if it were absurd.
“Now… are we discussing the direction of experiments on the subject of failed test subjects? That’s no different from discussing biotechnology with lab rats, isn’t it?”
“…As you know, I am a semi-transcendent being who has risen to the same level as them. It means you are on the verge of being chosen by them and becoming a member of them.”
Lee Hyun-wook looked down at him with cynicism.
“But now it is destined to be scrapped.”
Soon, dozens of Mogley shots were aimed at him.
At that moment, Achilles’ armor set emitted white light, and his body was engulfed in golden light.
At the same time, its eyes glowed golden.
– caution! You are under ‘mind control’!
* All senses are temporarily greatly reduced! (-50%)
“—Tsk!”
The moment Lee Hyeon-wook met those eyes, he felt the connection with Hugin and Munin being lost. And all my senses, including sight and hearing, became noticeably fainter.
That wasn’t all.
– caution! A ‘Mind Control Field (Chaos)’ opens in the area!
* Players below a certain level lose consciousness or enter a ‘marionette’ state.
This was a skill that Hyunwook Lee had never experienced before.
In the first place, Gordon Price had been operating in the shadows or as the leader of the villains, and all battles were fought with necromancers or other villains at the forefront.
In other words, the only thing I knew about Gordon Price’s abilities was that he was a telepath and was good at mind control.
‘Did it reach its peak and reach this level?’
It was a wide area mind control skill… it was an unbelievable ability.
That moment-
bang–!
Lee Hyun-wook was struck by magic flying from behind and fell forward.
– Chic— Our troops are being manipulated!
This voice was Emilia Müller.
And Han Ju-hwa also surrounded her body with flames to avoid the attacks of her allies.
And since there were shouts and loud noises coming from all over the friendly camp, it seemed like all the friendly troops, except for S-class people like Emilia Müller and Han Ju-hwa, had turned into enemies.
Hyunwook Lee moved to avoid all kinds of attacks coming from all directions.
‘Damn, my body can’t move as it should.’
It was probably because I was under ‘mind control’ (restricted senses), but I felt noticeably heavier and the incoming attacks felt faint.
Then, a bunch of tentacles shot up through the ground and wrapped around his legs.
“Pfft!”
Whoops——
He tried to break it off by moving the moglay, but perhaps due to limited senses, the moglai stumbled in the air as if drunk, and thick tentacles sprouted from the ground and began to swat away the flying moglae.
Gordon Price started walking toward him.
“Haha— As a result of the many fights I’ve had so far, and the results of winning them all even though I may have been temporarily pushed back… I mustn’t forget that it’s not over until it’s over. “Just one decision can determine victory or defeat.”
“Hyunwook, you were too arrogant and drunk on victory, and that was your downfall.”
As he said that, he grabbed a white spear sticking out from a tentacle on the floor.
And even at first glance, it was giving off an unusual aura.
Go—oh—oh—oh——
Hyunwook Lee looked at it and was able to confirm the information through his insight lens.
[Item information]
– Name: Mystiltein Spear (Myth)
– Effect: This attack has the power of Godslaughter, so it ignores all defenses. If you take blood just 5 times, it will disappear. (Current remaining count: 1)
A weapon that can stab you only 5 times, but can kill anyone with just one hit… In a previous life, powerful heroes disappeared due to that weapon.
“Now Steele… It’s really time to see the end.”
Holding the shield of Achilles in one hand and holding the Mystiltein spear, the guy slowly walked towards Lee Hyun-wook like an executioner.
However, Lee Hyun-wook could not escape his tentacles.
Lee Hyun-wook twisted his body and twitched his mouth.
“Yes, Mystiltain… I thought you had that.”
In his previous life, it was Gordon Price who obtained Mystiltein. In addition, he collected mythical items such as the Spear of Longinus and assassinated heroes with ease.
Literally mythical weapons… Just by securing them, the villains had an overwhelming advantage.
“You had it all, so we had no choice but to lose… But if you think about it…”
Hyunwook Lee pointed to the Mystiltein window with a nod.
“It was great to obtain and grow the seed of that mythical item, but I think there was a lack of imagination when it came to weaponizing it.”
“what?”
“They all have the same primitive spear shape. “I think that’s a huge waste.”
For those mythical items, you had to first obtain a ‘seed’ and then grow it in a complicated way to make it into an item.
And Lee Hyun-wook also took a lot of time to obtain the Mystiltein seed as a reward for the 4th wave and grow it by parasitizing it in Yggdrasil.
And not long ago, I left it to the blacksmiths to turn it into an item.
However, it was not the type of spear I had experienced in my previous life. That was the simplest, but not very efficient option.
“…It means we can make it much better.”
Aren’t there a lot of better weapons out there now?
Siiii——
At that time, gray smoke billowed out from the engraving on Lee Hyun-wook’s left wrist, and a mogley came out and cut off the tentacles that were restraining his upper body.
At that moment, Gordon Price kicked the floor.
“-no use! “You are done!”
At that moment, hundreds of tentacles rose from the floor and blocked Lee Hyun-wook’s vision.
And Gordon Price also turned into a tentacle and hid between them, and the Mystiltein he was holding disappeared out of Lee Hyun-wook’s sight.
“—With this one hit, it’s game over for you!”
Next, gray smoke billowed out from Lee Hyun-wook’s right wrist—and what came out of there was an adamant case with the inscription written on it.
“That goes for you too.”
Clap—
And it opened—
“I made Mystilte with that….”
That look is…
Clap—
“—It’s a shotgun.”
Can only fire 5 shots—
But one shot can kill everything—
Kwa—ang——!
A shotgun capable of killing a god spewed fire.
