Episode 46. [ Dongdaemun Station, erosion factors, giant sword – 1 ]
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For mankind The phenomenon called ‘Wave’ was nothing short of hell.
However, it was just a kind of ‘event’ in the game system.
– You have found a treasure chest (event)!
That’s why such lucky opportunities existed all over the ‘map.’
‘You’re lucky there’s a box here.’
Of course, this event box wasn’t the only one found here.
It’s not easy to find, but there are several throughout Seoul, and
this one just happened to be located here.
“…….”
Fortunately, there were no eyes around here. Hyunwook Lee immediately opened the storage box.
Cheolkeung-
There were two items inside.
It was a silver ring and a gold card.
First, I picked up the ring.
– Obtained the Mana Tank (Level 2).
‘It’s okay.’
The mana tank I got from Heo Young-tae last time was level 3.
Even that alone was an expensive item worth 1 billion won.
But this time, it’s a level 2 higher than that.
Even six times more expensive.’
So this little ring was said to be worth 6 to 7 billion.
Of course, the effect will be about 50% higher compared to grade 3, but anyone who has experienced how much of a weapon that 50% difference can be in battle will know.
Lee Hyun-wook took out the remaining gold card.
– Acquired the property Bloom (Special).
*This item is bound upon acquisition.
‘This… is awesome.’
The previous mana tank was an item with such value that it seemed like it was in fact nothing more than a service.
To put it simply, the ‘blooming’ of a characteristic meant that a new ‘skill’ was created.
[Level growth players] receive 5 levels, [non-level growth players] receive random ‘characteristic blooming’ whenever their abilities increase by a certain amount or certain conditions are met.
In other words, as the player’s level increases, the opportunity to acquire skills decreases.
Therefore, it was a great luck to be able to acquire skills like this without any cost.
– Do you want to use ‘Attribute Bloom (Special)’? (Y/N)
Hyunwook Lee chose Y.
– congratulations! A new skill has been created through a lucky opportunity!
[Skill Information]
– Name: Metal Transformation
– Grade: D
– Effect: Consumes mana to ‘transform’ the form of the controlled metal.
* The amount of mana consumed varies depending on the number of targets to which the skill is applied.
‘Metal Transformation is a skill that can literally change the shape of metal.’
Lee Hyun-wook took out an iron bead and attempted to transform it into metal.
Right pole—right pole—
The iron ball was crushed as if it were shrinking, then widened and soon became a sharp weapon.
This could even be used on ‘rigid’ bodies.
Hyunwook Lee tried to transform his left hand into a rigid body at the same time.
Blah blah blah—
It rose up as hard as scales on the back of my hand and fingers. At first, it looked like a typical rigid body painting, but it soon became longer and sharper, and sprouted out like a leopard’s claws.
Shi-ik-!
If you put weight on the claw when swinging it, it would be stronger than you think, and
it would be good for self-defense in an emergency situation when you don’t have a weapon, or to surprise an enemy.
‘It may be a weak skill right now, but it is a skill that will have significant utility later.’
Being able to freely change the shape of metal, like clay, was bound to be very useful. For example, there was a time when a huge steel bar was made into a chain and tied up an ogre.
While Lee Hyun-wook was growing to the next level, the AMT soldiers completed an inspection of the area, and
Ahn Min-tae, who was in charge of the 2nd platoon leader, came as a representative and reported.
“There are no identified problems. The shield is fully charged and functioning properly. Oh, and we have confirmed in advance the points to be on guard by keeping watch at night between searches.”
Until recently, Ahn Min-tae was just one of the insignificant servants in the company, but now he takes care of things on his own. In many ways, he has grown into a person who can be trusted and entrusted. “Yes, it is night, so I can’t move, but I can fly a magic drone to cover the area
. Confirm the location of the monster and prepare to leave the shelter before dawn. “Tomorrow will be twice as long as today, so tell them to rest.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“But where did Sergeant Kim Se-hee go?”
“Oh, you were at the ticket gate earlier…”
Lee Hyun-wook went out to find Kim Se-hee. Because I had something to give to her.
And from a quiet place near the ticket gate, Kim Se-hee’s voice was heard.
“…No, it’s damn true that I called it out once! Really!”
But for some reason, she seemed to be a bit agitated and shouting at someone.
The moment Lee Hyun-wook turned the corner and faced Kim Se-
hee— whoosh!
Something floating in front of her face disappeared as if evaporating.
It was probably the wind she was ministering to. It seemed like a spirit.
“Sergeant Kim, uh… who are you talking to?”
“Ah…”
Kim Se-hee blushed as if she was embarrassed.
‘It looks like he was fighting a spirit…’
The power of an elementalist comes from ‘spirit affinity’ or ‘spirit control.’
Either communicate with the spirits to borrow their power, or press them to forcibly draw out their power—the higher these two values are, the more high-grade spirits you can command.
And above all, it was a very important element that could bring out the ‘potential’ of the spirit.
However, Kim Se-hee at this time was neither of those things.
‘No matter what, swearing and fighting with a spirit is worse than I thought, isn’t it?’
But at the same time, it was also hopeful.
Just looking at the way she used the power of the wind spirit to rush in and catch Gong Gong-tae’s subordinates in an instant, we could see how much potential she had.
If he could just reconcile with the spirit, his abilities would greatly improve.
“What’s going on?”
Kim Se-hee could not overcome her embarrassment and asked, avoiding eye contact,
“You don’t know that it’s dangerous to be alone like this, right?”
“Oh well…”
“So I didn’t come to catch you, I have something to give you.”
Lee Hyun-wook took something out of his pocket.
It was a small stone with a greenish tint.
“It’s a spirit stone. In this case, there is no need to report to the unit individually. “Sergeant Kim should use it.”
Kim Se-hee made a mysterious expression. He seemed to be trying not to show his feelings, thankful but embarrassed, but it was evident in the hesitant expression of his mouth.
I was cursing and fighting with the spirit just now, and now I can’t believe I’m getting a gift for the spirit… If I want to use it, I have to give it to the spirit directly, but that’s really annoying… That’s what I was thinking.
“Oh, thank you. But how did you know I was an elementalist?”
It was rare for anyone to recognize her true characteristics as she usually wields dual daggers.
“Sergeant Kim Se-hee is famous in our company.”
“Hmm, not really… Anyway, thank you.”
Lee Hyun-wook turned around and blurted out a few words:
“But… don’t fight and just get along.”
“What, what, what… Don’t interfere with the car except during operations, right?”
Kim Se-hee showed her teeth with a full expression of frustration on her red face.
After all, she was a woman who cursed and fought even with her own spirit, so her temper was not normal.
Night soon fell, and Lee Hyun-wook issued an order for the entire company to be on guard and rest.
However , The company members all looked anxious.
It seemed as if the day had passed without any results.
There was a strong feeling in their heads that there were only four days left until the invasion of Seoul.
‘But the rest won’t be long. Something will happen here.’ ….’
Lee Hyun-wook was currently talking face to face with the station security guard.
“…So, you’re saying the monster came in through the subway tracks, right?”
In response to Lee Hyun-wook’s question, the security team leader nodded,
“Yes, it was a rat-shaped monster. Of course, it wasn’t an ordinary rat, it was as big as a dog.”
It was said that in the beginning, monsters were prevented from invading through the subway tracks.
Fortunately, there were only a few of them at the time, so it was only a small commotion…
‘Next time, it won’t stop at that level.’
The Hell Rats, a swarm of man-eating rats that come in like black waves and take away everything humans have, must have been swarming down there in too many numbers to be able to handle them by now.
“Well, they’ve blocked it off since then. They’ll probably never be able to get through.”
“Yes, I guess so.”
It should have been. Unfortunately, history did not go that way.
The magic shield disappeared and a swarm of rats came into the shelter like a black wave.
Thousands of people end up being eaten alive by swarms of rats.
The reason was, of course… there was a traitor in the shelter.
‘Apostate…’
Apostate Gong Hyun-jun was originally a priest-type player, but he began to covet the opposite side, the ‘power of darkness’, and was a madman who kidnapped players and carried out biological experiments.
After becoming a villain, he conducts his research to his heart’s content with the support of Gordon Price.
And he gathers people with similar tastes to himself and establishes a group of ‘mad scientists’…
‘Among villains, they are especially vicious.’
They spread poisonous fog in Beijing and committed an unprecedented act of terrorism in history, massacring as many as 4 million people in just one day.
‘Even the reason for the massacre was to provide corpses to the necromancer.’
The necromancer raised an undead army based on the corpse and marched to the Korean Peninsula.
At that very moment, General Choi Jeong-cheol uses a tactical nuclear bomb and barely manages to stop the first invasion.
Anyway, right now, Gong Hyun-jun was in this very place…
‘There he is.’
Hyunwook Lee just identified its location.
Because that guy was approaching Lee Hyun-wook.
***
15 minutes ago—
Near the entrance to the shelter on the first basement floor of Dongdaemun Station, there was a space called ‘Public Sanctuary’.
Sanctuary literally means a sacred place. When a certain amount of sacred object items are placed, a ‘sanctuary buff’ is provided within a certain area.
The effects of the buff were very diverse. Representative examples include a significant increase in recovery from status ailments and a several-fold increase in the priest’s sacred power, so a tremendous healing effect could be expected.
In other words, this was a kind of emergency room where even dying players could be saved.
But there was an office inside… Strangely, there was a place where the power of the holy object did not reach.
Someone was sitting there.
Sanctuary manager Gong Hyeon-jun was currently trying to ‘mana communicate’ somewhere.
“Yes, yes.”
– So, is it true that AMT troops came into that shelter?
This voice was Ki Baekjun.
“Yes, that’s right. “The number was a little less than fifty.”
– Is that woman Seo Eun-ha there too?
There was the slightest hint of irritation in his voice.
This was because the five butchers realized that they had been attacked all at once.
No matter how much I thought about it, it was impossible, but if it was even remotely possible… it was Seo Eun-ha.
It meant that the second daughter of the Holy Knights was growing faster than expected.
“Hmm… No, among the tall women wearing military uniforms, there wasn’t one wearing armor. After looking around for a long time, I came across as a strange person. Well, it’s true that it’s strange. haha!”
– Tsk— Anyway, not a single one of them should be let out alive.
“Yes, once you come in here, you will never get out alive. I have prepared very well.”
He chuckled and turned around to open the cabinet in the corner.
Clunk—
there were all kinds of flasks and plastic bottles inside.
Gong Hyun-jun picked up one of them.
He poured the light brown liquid inside into the coffee pot.
“Yes, I already did . He tricked the 16 station guards inside into giving them tea and gave them a wild beast potion. Once the spell is activated, they will turn into beasts and tear apart civilians.”
– …….
“Ugh, that’s not all. We’ll spray the shelter with paralyzing poison tonight and then…”
He lifted up a black box in the corner of the cabinet.
“…Sound this alarm that will bring in a swarm of underground rats, and every human here will have their eyes wide open and their eyeballs and intestines eaten away. Isn’t it fun?”
– Yes, I know that you always follow the plan thoroughly.
“Of course. You won’t be disappointed this time either.”
– If this work goes well, it is natural that we will receive significant research funding… I will introduce you to the ‘Chairman.’
“Yes! thank you! Tell them I’ll see you soon!”
The moment he smiled, showing his gums, the Mana Messenger automatically turned off.
Just in time, it seemed that the mana battery was completely drained.
I brewed the coffee pot and checked the system messages.
[Hidden Quest]
– Will you shed the unsuitable light and surround yourself with darkness?…
1) Living body experiment: Successful beast transformation experiment 30 times (17/30)
2) More than 1,000 ‘civilians’, regardless of means slaughter. (In progress)
3) Provide nutrients to the ‘Helet’ group sprouting underground and train 30,000 of them. (In progress)
* Reward: Dark magic book with unknown author – 3
He smiled as he scanned the message.
As planned, this quest was to succeed tonight.
“Now, shall we go find the 18th test subject?”
He put on a white robe and went out of the sanctuary while humming.
Meanwhile, he glanced at the AMT soldiers from time to time.
Then, he noticed a man who looked quite different. A
man with two swords on his back was talking to the security team leader.
‘Ah . ! That man is the leader of AMT!’
He had a brilliant idea and laughed.
‘Wouldn’t it be fun to turn that man into a werewolf the moment he gives the order to respond?’
And for tonight’s big deal, it would have been much more convenient to deal with the leader first.
He hid his dark smile, smiled warmly, and waited for their conversation to end.
And when the man was alone, he naturally approached him.
“Hello . .”
The man’s name, rank insignia Lee Hyun-wook, was not visible.
He looked at Gong Hyeon-jun without any expression and nodded.
It looked like he didn’t want to talk much.
However, Gong Hyeon-jun knew how to get people to talk to him.
“I heard that this wave’s undead are the main monsters. Is that true?”
“…Oh yes, that’s right.”
“It must have been very difficult to respond like this.”
First, open the conversation by bringing up the issue he is most concerned about.
“I guess, yes.”
“I am a priest, the manager of the sanctuary at Dongdaemun Station. And I majored in [Black Magic Response Theory] at the Raid Department of International Player University. “It’s not enough, but I thought it might be of some help.”
And appeal to the expertise you have about the problem.
“Oh really?”
“Yes, I am working on a PhD.”
Then, as expected, the guard disappeared from the man’s eyes.
It had to be that way.
He must be feeling an overwhelming sense of responsibility, so hearing that he can solve the problem can’t help but pique his interest…
“That’s great. Then, there’s something I really want to ask you.”
The man’s expressionless expression relaxed and soon became filled with worry.
‘It’s as easy as it is!’
He hid his smile and nodded with a serious expression,
“Yes, please tell me anything. “I will be of assistance to the best of my knowledge.”
“I was wondering how best to respond if I were to encounter the intangible Ghost series. As you can see, there are currently very few priests in our unit…” “Hmm… that’s a difficult problem. Explain it simply and clearly
. “It’s difficult to do, but if you have some spare time, would you like to have some tea? I have some relevant information in my office.”
The man looked at his watch in confusion, but then nodded,
“…I think it will be okay for about 20 minutes.”
Thus, Gong Hyun-jun succeeded in drawing the AMT commander into the sanctuary.
“Please sit down.”
“thank you.”
“Actually, after finishing my studies at university, I was thinking about serving as an AMT doctor during the ‘player duty period.’”
“Oh really?”
“Yes, but if I want to continue research, I think it would be better to become a sanctuary manager, even though it may be a bit long. In reality, it is there. Haha—”
Gong Hyun-jun continued the conversation naturally and poured two cups of coffee that had been brewed in advance.
Of course, something else was added to it, and the coffee was put down in front of the man.
“Thank you. It smells nice.”
“It’s not expensive coffee, but it’s the best among instant coffees.”
The man lifted the cup to his mouth without any doubt.
‘Okay, drink it. Swallow it quickly…’
But the spell he memorized did not work.
The man lowered the cup again as if he suddenly remembered something.
“Ah! By the way, sir, I was injured during the battle. Can you take care of me?”
Suddenly, what does this mean?…
I felt impatient, but I hid my expression and nodded.
“Um, aren’t there any priests among the unit members?”
“Your skills are not very good. I guess they are all low-level players…”
“Okay, then let’s take a look.”
“Here is your left wrist.”
The man rolled up the sleeves of his combat uniform.
But… there were no special injuries.
There was just a small tattoo shaped like a spear.
“Um… where are you hurt?”
“If you look closely, this is—”
Siiii—
‘Huh?’
It was strange. The tattoo disappeared from his wrist and some smoke was coming out.
Fu—Wook—
“…….”
Gong Hyeonjun didn’t know what happened.
It was just that he realized rather late that there was a long spear stuck in his abdomen.
“Off—off….”
After spitting out a handful of blood, he raised his trembling head and looked at the man. An expressionless, cold
expression was staring at him.
The man raised his left hand.
Blah blah blah—
Something like scales sprouted on the skin of his fingers,
and then they grew sharp like the claws of an animal.
“Big—!”
Gong Hyun-jun shouted, but no voice came out.
The man, Lee Hyun-wook, looked at the shape of Gong Hyun-jun’s mouth and followed suit.
“Why on earth…”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded.
“Yes, you would think so. “We felt that way too.”
Then he took something out of his pocket.
It was a silver iron ball.
“Now, here’s how this happened… You served me coffee, and by chance, I spilled the coffee and it ended up touching an iron bead containing divine power that I had placed on the desk.”
Lee Hyun-wook tilted the cup over the iron bead.
When the coffee touched the iron bead…
Cheeeee——
“The divine power reacted with the poison, causing this abnormal reaction…”
“Kkeke—”
“Of course . I had my suspicions and you were embarrassed and rambling. It would have been okay to say something that seemed to involve Park Gil-sang, a member of the National Assembly at that time… Anyway, when I seemed to let my guard down, I made the mistake of taking out a weapon and swinging it…” The
dagger that Gong Hyun-jun had hidden in his waist fell out on its own and was suddenly held in Gong Hyun-jun’s left hand. .
I tried to throw it away, but there was no strength in my body.
“Well, so in the end, I had no choice…”
The next moment—
sigh—!
Lee Hyun-wook swung his left hand and the guy fell down on the desk.
‘The people at the shelter ‘I’m going to believe these things.’
It looked like he could deal with Gong Hyun-jun and, depending on the case, involve Park Gil-sang.
Lee Hyun-wook retrieved the ‘Spear of Achilles’ that was stuck in the guy’s abdomen.
He also got the ‘Mana Tank (Level 3)’ that was stuck in the guy’s finger. .
It seemed like the total amount of mana would increase several times by tomorrow.
“Um, is it here?”
Lee Hyun-wook opened the cabinet door behind Gong Hyun-jun and looked inside.
It contained all kinds of player-made potions.
“Beast Transformation Potion… I’ve been researching it since then.”
Lee Hyun-wook clicked his tongue as he remembered the ‘final stage’ of this potion.
They roamed the city of Daegu, leaving a huge number of victims.
Because he knew that, he didn’t drink the coffee he gave him.
At that time, a unique shape appeared at the end of the cabinet. The ‘black box’ caught my eye.
‘No matter how you look at it, it’s an item that looks suspicious.’
As I lifted it, information appeared before my eyes.
– I acquired the devil’s alarm.
* When infusing mana, it attracts ‘hell-born’ in the area.
“This….”
Yes, they multiply countless times in the underground tunnels. It was an item that could bring in a swarm of rats.
Gong Hyun-jun used this to massacre the refugees in the shelter.
But that doesn’t work anymore.
Lee Hyun-wook smiled.
“This makes the game too easy…”
I guess . It seemed like it would be possible to eradicate the swarm of man-eating rats infesting the basement in one go.
