Steel-Eating Player Chapter 104

Episode 104 [ Okinawa, Unlucky Event – 4 ]

——————————==

“…I think I will live now.”

Players who suffered from the ‘Hell Heat Wave’ for a while were able to wash away all debuffs by visiting the ‘Sanctuary’ after returning to the shelter.

“So now we have to start the operation again, right?”

“Okay, I’ll kill him during the attack tomorrow.”

The ones having this conversation were [Iron Eagle] guild members.

They were a mid-sized guild active in the Texas region of the United States.

But their real job was not ‘strategy’.

Specializing in player assassination under someone’s contract.

That was the actual main source of income for this team.

The reason I applied for this unlucky event was because of a ‘contractor’.

“Honestly, this operation is bound to succeed as long as we don’t make any mistakes, right?”

“Yes, that handsome guy from Seoul is as good as dead today.”

So far, the villain side has targeted Lee Hyun-wook several times.

But it failed miserably every time.

But now—they thought they were different.

“In the first place, he wouldn’t even know who we were… hehe—”

No one would know that they were targeting Lee Hyun-wook.

“So you have to make sure you shoot him in the back at the right moment.”

Also, this conversation now takes place within the ‘Silas’ skill.

In other words, their voices could not be heard outside the 3X3m range.

But… there was someone who was listening to their voices.

– …With this bullet, he won’t be able to stop it.

‘…Hmm, in some ways, it’s really unfortunate.’

Hyunwook Lee: Their voices were coming into his ears.

When they were unable to come to their senses due to the debuff, the eavesdropping function of the ‘Fly Eye’ installed in their equipment was activated.

also….

– ‘Cloaking’ from ‘Fly Eye (V1)’

* Mana consumption per second: 50

And as a result of the upgrade, a ‘cloaking’ function was also installed.

In other words, there was almost no fear of being caught secretly storing it.

Of course, it takes a lot of mana to maintain cloaking, but

Lee Hyun-wook’s mana recovery was more than enough to handle it.

‘I’ll have to think about a way to cleanly dispose of them.’

Since there were so many eyes watching, it had to be handled carefully.

***

– We are gathering strategies for all players!

As soon as the sun rose, the shelter’s internal announcement rang.

The first and second rescue teams gathered in the shelter’s hall.

“H—am—”

The first rescue team leader, Kojiro Kodo, appeared among them.

He yawned widely, as if he wasn’t nervous at all.

Then he looked around at the players and slowly opened his mouth.

“Now, as you all know, in order to tear down this dome covering Okinawa, you must attack the boss monster.”

His finger pointed toward the low mountain peak outside the window.

“I presume the final boss monster is over there… we need to hit that place, and we’re going to surround that mountain.”

He then said that he would attack the mountain from four directions.

In other words, they said they would divide into four teams and carry out a strategy.

“…Does anyone have any objections?”

He even showed an attitude of trying to collect the opinions of others.

however….

‘Mr. Kodo will take care of it from start to finish.’

‘Well, there’s no way they’ll listen to our opinion anyway…’

Most of them thought so.

In the first place, there was no mood to dare to object.

There was a huge gap between the second-ranked S-rank players and players below level 65 that could not be crossed. And it was a well-known fact that Kodo Koshiro’s personality was nothing short of a maverick.

“Well, no one has any objections? Great!”

Lee Hyun-wook was also silent, but inside he clicked his tongue.

‘It’s a really stupid and shady strategy.’

The entire army was only 98 people… It was ridiculous to surround a mountain with such a small number of players. If the boss monster decided to escape the siege, it could do so.

And if by chance the number of monsters is greater than expected…

‘…Teams with weak power may become dangerous.’

But the second ranked player is not an idiot, so why would he carry out such a strategy?

‘The idea is to somehow defeat the boss monster as quickly as possible.’

By diversifying attack routes, the number of miscellaneous mobs is dispersed as much as possible.

Use your firepower to the fullest to break through by one point—

The intention was to deal with the boss monster first before Hyunwook Lee.

“Oh and…”

He grinned and opened his mouth.

“…Don’t be distracted just because there’s a great game at stake.”

He laughed haha, and laughter flowed from the players as well.

Those words subtly emphasized that there was a ‘confrontation’.

In the future, I hope this story spreads more widely as the world goes on…

‘Are you really seeing this situation as a show for yourself?’

The more Hyunwook Lee saw that, the more pitiful he felt.

However, it was reported that the refugees in the shelter also gathered together after hearing the news of this match and made bets on who would win.

‘Looking at things like this, what Kodo Kojiro said is correct.’

The world also enjoys this phenomenon as entertainment. That’s true.

And the bets… were overwhelmingly towards Kodo Kojiro.

After a while, the players finished arming themselves and came out of the shelter.

“Now, it’s about 30 minutes to the gate, our target area.”

They marched towards the gate, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.

Soon, earth-shattering footsteps began to approach from all over the place.

Thump—thump—thump—thud—

“…Avatars of Eldjotun are approaching from all directions.”

Wizards reported their observation results through ‘magic drones.’

But they didn’t come at all.

It moved as if… it was surrounding the player’s group.

“Uh, I guess they noticed our movements?”

As we have already seen once, the boss monster here is intelligent.

It seemed like they had figured out that they were heading towards the gate and were trying to stop them. If things continue like this, the offensive will begin the moment we reach the top of the mountain.

It will attack from all directions simultaneously—

‘If I carry out this foolish strategy, quite a lot of people will die, right?’

Lee Hyun-wook wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

“Um… Captain, is it okay to split the team in this situation?”

Kodo Kojiro’s subordinates also seemed to feel uneasy.

It was dangerous to carelessly distribute power in this state.

but….

“Okay, let’s proceed.”

“But… Then the team was isolated due to lack of firepower—”

“Hey—Shinji, what do you say you know about level 63?”

“Ah… I’m sorry!”

Shinjiro Kodo shook his head and slapped the man on the shoulder.

“No, no. It’s okay. You were brave enough to voice your opinion, right? If they really bother you… can I just sweep them away?”

“…yes?”

He smiled bitterly and raised his staff.

“Nisha, can you give me a skill enhancement buff?”

He said that to the woman standing next to him.

She was an S-rank player, a hired mercenary from India.

‘Nisha Kaif is the one and only S-grade Buffer.’

Her buff was famous for strengthening ‘skills’ and raising their level by one or two levels. In other words, maximizing the potential of top-level players made a huge difference.

Therefore, when her top-level attack teams attacked her difficult gates, they would spend generously on her to hire her.

yes–

The red energy flowing from her hand touched Kodo Koshiro’s heart. Then his body trembled as if he was feeling pleasure.

“Great, Shinji—I’ll erase your anxiety….”

Then his subordinates panicked as if there was an emergency.

“Gasp! The great commander is trying to create ‘wind’!”

“Everyone prepare for tornadoes right now!”

Then, the moment Kodo Koshiro slammed his staff down on the floor —

Qua—ah—ah—ah——!

A gust of wind suddenly rose around his body.

Immediately after, a tornado began winding down from the sky.

The closer it got to the ground, the thicker and louder it became—it looked as majestic as a dragon descending.

Qua—ah—ah—ah——!

“Ugh—!”

“Tsk, be careful!”

Players around him had to lie down on the ground or hold on to something to avoid being sucked into the tornado.

The gray tornado thus born wriggled and moved as if it had become the tentacle of a giant octopus, following Kodo Kojiro’s staff.

A scene where it looks like an alien monster is ravaging the Earth…

Qua—de—de—de—de——!

It crushed the ground.

Everything that existed on it, including monsters… everything including buildings, street trees, telephone poles, and roads were completely swept away.

In just ten seconds, seven two-story residential buildings collapse.

omg! “The whole building is blowing up!”

“Ugh! Everyone watch your head!”

Those who watched it had expressions of bewilderment.

“Aren’t you destroying everything too much?”

As a player, it is of course important to catch monsters well.

However, unless it was an unavoidable situation, it was not right to attack and cause such great damage. Just with that one skill, hundreds of people lost their homes, which shook up the lives of civilians.

‘No, this isn’t a strategy in the first place.’

The strategy is to find the optimal move and take the least amount of damage.

‘There is no disaster more dangerous than a player who is obsessed with his own power…’

Lee Hyun-wook clicked his tongue again.

Meanwhile, Kodo Koshiro has reduced the entire area to ruins.

He looked back at the players with a triumphant expression.

And after making eye contact with Lee Hyun-wook, he smiled.

“Now, there’s nothing to worry about now, right?”

“I have cleared the road, so let’s move forward again.”

Koda Kojiro left those words and moved forward again.

The players followed him with mesmerized expressions.

“No, can you beat that…?”

Kim Se-hee asked again with an anxious expression.

To be honest, the firepower he just showed was several times that of Lee Hyun-wook.

***

As per the mountain entrance operation, the players dispersed in four directions.

“Then good luck to everyone!”

“That’s right! Let’s go out alive and see!

The Korean team headed to the southern face of the mountain on Route 4.

And in addition to them, 19 other players accompanied them.

“Please take care of Mr. Lee Hyun-wook.”

“Yes, please take care of me too.”

Most of them were [Iron Eagle] guild members.

They actively volunteered to be on a team with Hyunwook Lee.

“Our sniper team is on top of a building overlooking the mountain. We will provide covering fire from there, so you can trust us and pour down fire.”

That’s what the team leader said.

They stuck around like this, claiming that since they have many shooter players, they are suitable to cover the firepower of Lee Hyun-wook.

“Yes, please do so.”

“Oh, and aren’t there those flying boxes?”

“You mean the airdrop device.”

“It could block our snipers’ view.”

“I will adjust it well, but my deal comes first.”

“Ah! That makes sense. Yes, thank you!”

He said a few words to Lee Hyun-wook and then left.

Then he turned on Mana Messenger and whispered softly.

“… Of course, it’s natural, but he doesn’t even know about it.”

His ears heard the voices of the sniper team in the rear.

-Maybe even at the moment of his death, he won’t even know about his dreams.

“Hehe—I guess I’ll end up wondering why I died in the afterlife?”

At that time, I saw a tornado coming down from the distant sky.

The huge tornado was visible from the south side, on the other side of the mountain.

Kwa—ga—ga—ga—ga——!

It tore the mountain apart and whitish dust rose up.

“…Wow, it’s so fast that you’ve already gotten there!”

Here, on the 4th route, I had just entered the beginning of the mountain and had to deal with at most a dozen monsters, but on the 1st route on Kodo Kojiro, the speed of entry was similar to that of a tank corps pushing relentlessly.

“…It seems like you’re really pouring in your mana without holding back?”

“Well, since there is a ‘buffer’, mana supply will be fast.”

“And you also have two top-tier mana tanks.”

“So, you have about 40,000 mana available?”

Hyunwook Lee listened to the conversation of Japanese players behind him.

To be precise, it was hacking—eavesdropping—on their mana messengers.

Because they were surveillance measures planted by Kodo Kojiro.

“This is a one-size-fits-all match anyway, right?”

“So what was Lee Hyun-wook thinking when he received this?”

“No matter how you look at it, he’s a good person…”

Although they acknowledged Lee Hyeon-wook, they did not have any doubt that Kodo Kojiro was one level. And that was a pretty objective assessment.

“Ah! I understand. After all, isn’t it because of anti-Japanese sentiment?”

“Haha—I guess that’s why you called in?”

“Well, how can we defeat Mr. Kodo with firepower in the first place? It’s clear that the Korean kids’ unique sense of rivalry against us has developed.”

Like this, everyone was talking about ‘firepower’.

The total amount of damage that a single player can inflict—Kojiro Kodo is considered the best in that regard, along with Inferno.

However, in addition to ‘power’, firepower required ‘sustainability’. And here, ‘sustainability’ did not just mean having lots of bullets and firing them continuously.

‘…You must be able to continue attacking in any situation.’

In other words, a kind of all-weatherability is needed.

No matter how powerful a tank is equipped with a cannon, if it gets stuck in the mud or slips on snow, its firepower will ultimately be lost.

‘Koji Kodo’s firepower is the same.’

Hyunwook Lee looked at the tornado tearing the mountain apart.

‘That will soon stop.’

And soon something started.

– The area of influence of [Muspelheim] will be lifted!

“Huh? What? Is it over?”

At the same time, the heat from the ‘hell heat wave’ still remaining in the air is sucked into a gate opened on another mountain in the distance.

“Oh, you haven’t already caught the boss monster?”

“Hey—it’s Kodo, after all!”

however….

The gate at the peak of the mountain they are heading towards shakes.

Something emanates from there.

Woah—ah—ah—ah—ah——!

It was a blizzard.

And it was extremely cold.

It is a widespread disaster that could cause the entire world to suddenly freeze.

– caution! You will be exposed to the ‘hell cold wave’ of [Niflheim]!

* ‘Status abnormalities’ and ‘status reduction’ begin rapidly!

From the mountain peaks, the air freezes and frost forms on the leaves.

“—Ugh! What!”

“It’s so cold!”

With this, Loki’s final prank began.

‘…Phase 2 Muspelheim is replaced by Niflheim.’

In other words, a strong heat wave turns into a terrible cold in an instant.

This was an incredible climate disaster. Even a brief period of abnormal weather in the Earth’s ecosystem can kill many living things. However, if things change from extreme to extreme in an instant like this, there is nothing that can survive.

“Ugh! “I feel like my cow fingers will break!”

– caution! You fall into ‘hypothermia (stage 1)’.

* All abilities are reduced. (-10%)

* All recovery abilities are greatly reduced.

* Physical functions decline significantly and judgment becomes impaired.

– caution! You fall into ‘frostbite (stage 1)’.

* All abilities are reduced. (-10%)

* The accuracy of all attacks decreases significantly.

* caution! Vitality continues to decline.

The debuff hell that I barely endured has come in a new version.

“…Oh no! That hell is repetition!”

“Damn, what kind of ridiculous event is this!”

Such screams were not only heard here.

It rang in all four directions—even where Kodo Kojiro was.

“What the fuck is happening all of a sudden!”

Kodo Kojiro shouted like that.

All kinds of warning system messages were repeating in his eyes.

Because of that, he was unable to demonstrate proper firepower.

“Huh! Nisha, do something! Do you have any skills to remove abnormal conditions?”

“No, you know I can’t help this!”

This was the same situation as when I first entered the dome.

“Do you know how much money you received from our guild?”

“Ha… So I told you to move carefully! Why on earth are you acting like a child to suddenly bet on some kind of match?”

When she got angry in return, Kojiro Kodo turned his head.

“Second rescue team leader, Tai! Is it there?”

“Yes! Here it is!”

“You said you brought items to prepare for the cold, right?”

“Oh yes! But… I left it at the entrance to the dome.”

A three-layer winter suit made of Ice Troll leather….

I never thought it would be useful.

“Damn it! Bring that back right away!”

“…yes? Oh yes!”

She hurriedly turned around, leading her own team.

“Our honor is at stake here! Come as quickly as possible!”

He shouted and looked at the frozen mountain peak.

No, he was thinking of Lee Hyun-wook beyond the mountain peak.

His heart became quite anxious. He wanted to beat the bastard somehow.

‘But he’s in the same situation anyway.’

He ground his teeth.

“It’s just a little bit delayed, so just wait a little bit….”

***

All kinds of monsters pour out from the gate opened on the mountain peak.

White wolves with a body like a polar bear

Monster birds with huge wings like pterodactyls

They were all beasts that ruled the legendary snow mountains.

But what the players were afraid of was the cold more than that.

“Hehehe—it’s so cold—my body…”

And that was the same for the snipers on the rooftop in the distance.

– Dammit— Bo Boss! My fingers are stiff and my accuracy is dropping!

Such a radio message came into the ears of the leader of the Iron Eagle Guild.

“…….”

– I think we should get started right away! If things get worse here, the sniping will fail!

If everything went according to plan, we had to aim for the moment when the battle would begin and make sure we let our guard down. But the situation changed suddenly and all plans went awry.

If not now, there might not be a chance to deal with Lee Hyun-wook.

“…Yes, I can’t help it, but I do it.”

– That’s it—

But that was then.

– Beep—Beep—Beep—Beep—

“…Huh? What does this mean?”

– uh? What is this… Mac, your bag suddenly came from somewhere—

Kwa—ang——! Kwa—ang——!

…I hear a series of heavy drinking sounds from somewhere.

When I turned my head, I saw smoke rising from the rooftop of a building in the distance.

This was where the snipers of the Iron Eagle Guild were hiding.

“what! Will! vein! “What’s going on there!”

But no answer came back.

– Ugh….

There are only screams of pain…

But the real disaster began then.

Kuaaa——!

The monster birds sitting on the mountain peaks seemed to have been attracted by the ‘aggro’ caused by the heavy drinking, soaring in droves. And then flies to the explosion point.

Kuaaa——!

The number… seemed to be around a hundred.

“Gasp! Damn the monsters are coming! Get out of there now!”

However, seeing as there was no answer, it seemed like there was no room for escape.

Soon those monster birds would land on the rooftop.

Lee Hyun-wook watched the scene and showed no reaction.

“Mr. Lee Hyun-wook! Please help my colleagues!”

But he shook his head.

“…I’m sorry, but I’m late.”

“Oh no, how do you know it’s too late!”

He shouted, turned his back and ran towards his colleagues.

And there was a ‘fly eye’ in his bag too.

‘With this, the disruptor has disappeared.’

It couldn’t have been such an easy process.

At that time, Kim Se-hee came to me, trembling.

“Damn, I think we’ll all die at this rate. Is there anything this time?”

Now, even without saying anything, it seemed like he was looking forward to it first.

That was because Lee Hyun-wook’s expression was the same as usual.

Perhaps because they felt that, both Kim Se-hee and Park Jun-mo were quite calm.

“There is something.”

“Hehehe—I thought so.”

Lee Hyun-wook summoned several AD-1s and took something out of them.

It was a red, complementary material item called ‘Scorching Heart’ that I kept without stopping every time I caught a monster in Muspelheim.

When I took it out, intense heat radiated out.

– The cold that seeps into the body is relieved.

“Uh… it’s warm!”

[Item information]

– Name: Burning Heart

-Effect: Releases intense heat in the area. (Caution! If there is a large impact, it may explode and turn the area into a ‘magma field’.)

“Did you collect it knowing it would be used like this?”

Hyunwook Lee shook his head.

“For these trick traps and puzzles, there is always a solution. And the most basic one is…”

“…These are items that can be obtained by killing monsters?”

“Yes, that’s right. So you shouldn’t neglect rooting.”

Lee Hyun-wook then took out a bunch of his iron beads.

“But how they use it varies greatly.”

Blah blah blah——

An iron bead transformed into the shape of a cross and wrapped around the surface of the burning heart. It looked like a net used for packaging fruit.

When I gave it metal control in that state, it flew as a whole.

‘And if you apply force to it, it explodes.’

In other words, it was possible to expect an effect as if a detonator had been planted.

In this way, a plausible bomb was created.

And just in time, the test subjects appeared.

Wow——

Huge wolves appeared on the uphill path of the mountain.

– Niflheim Frozen Wolf (LV: 75)

– Niflheim Frozen Wolf (LV: 77)

– Niflheim Frozen Wolf (LV: 78)

Lee Hyun-wook sent his ‘blazing heart’ towards those guys.

And then activate the detonator on their heads.

Pur—un——!

Red-hot flames soared and red liquid poured out in all directions.

Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!

It was magma.

The cold-attribute creatures covered in it were mortally wounded and fell down.

Bubble—bubble—

And at that point, a ‘magma field’ is formed, emitting heat.

“Wow… That’s a solid strategy, isn’t it?”

As Kim Se-hee said, it was the most efficient strategy.

Lee Hyun-wook planted detonators in a total of 46 burning hearts.

And they were mounted in the subspace of AD-1.

‘Okay, it’s over.’

Chick—

“Ah, this is route 4. Please listen carefully to the entire route.”

Chick—

“From now on, I’m going to blow up this entire mountain.”

Chick—

“…So everyone, please stay back.”

His last words were a sight to behold.

“…it might be a little hot.”

Talking about heat in this terrible cold…

Everyone could not help but be puzzled by those words.

Woooooo——!

30 AD-1s advance under the cover of 175 Adamant Stars. The scene was like watching a ‘bomber squadron’.

Immediately after, monster birds fly in from the mountain peak and attempt to intercept them.

but-

30 AD-1s formed a fire net, firing thousands of projectiles as if they were attack helicopters, and penetrated their check.

And finally we reached the top of the mountain

Of the 30 AD-1s, only two descend when lowered.

They were the ‘bombers’.

Soon, the lower part of them—subspace—opens, and dozens of ‘flaming hearts’ fall like a carpet bombing rain.

It is clearly visible from here too. That red-hot gunpowder writhing—

Then he lifted up the Mana Messenger and transmitted a short message.

“…blow it up.”

The world was dyed layer by layer in scarlet.