Episode 74 [Hidden Stage, Ruins Exploration -1]
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Approximately 10 minutes before entering the gate.
The Cheonghwa guild strategy team was currently feeling puzzled quite a few times.
The reason was because of the two trailers brought by the Hope Guild.
The objects inside were extremely strange, but what was even more incomprehensible was…
“……Wow, look at that. It looks like they’re really trying to drag that thing in.”
It was said that they were checking the entry route as if they were trying to get the trailer itself into the gate.
“What nonsense… Don’t you know that vehicle engines stop in dungeons?”
The world has turned into a game. And the game follows rules. In the
‘dungeon’ inside the gate, modern civilization loses its function. That was the basic principle of this game. In other words,
all vehicles, whether internal combustion engine or electric power source, can be used in the dungeon. “ Hmm
, but that looks like a ‘mana engine’?”
“What? Where did you get that expensive thing— uh… it’s real, right?”
They separated the container from the trailer and began to connect it to a huge sphere.
Ugh——
The sphere had a lot of magic circuits engraved on it.
The mana engine
was literally a device that ran a machine using mana as a power source, so it was a very valuable item.
“Wow . How did you get that? It can only be made in the Republic of Chad, so it would be very expensive…”
“That’s right. “Didn’t you spend all the money you earned from wave rewards there?”
However, as far as they know, there have been almost no cases where that famous technology has been used.
Until now, there was virtually no way to efficiently supply mana, the engine’s power source, and the only feasible method was to prepare a huge number of ‘mana batteries’.
But that way the money is broken.
In other words, it was a foolish strategy that never made sense.
“Hmm, no matter how much I can run the mana engine, what’s the use if it’s so slow?”
Even if all of that was covered, the ‘output’ wasn’t good, so the speed wouldn’t be that fast.
And being slow was a pretty fatal problem.
In a dungeon where you don’t know when and where and what will happen, you always have to be prepared for an emergency. More than anything else, I had to be extremely wary of my mobility being limited.
“This is very unsettling. “Don’t you think we’ll have some trouble because of them?”
“Oh, that’s right… Just by looking at it, it smells like a wealthy guild…”
As I looked at the hopeful guild, 10 minutes had already passed and entrance to the gate had begun.
“—Cheonghwa Guild enters first!”
The first team of the Cheonghwa Guild entered the gate.
Taking a lesson from the Cheongdam-dong Red Gate incident not long ago, they raised their shields above their heads and slowly stepped into the gate.
– Caution! You have entered a dangerous area.
* 24 hours You can leave later.
As I waded through the system messages, a dry wind hit my face.
Huuu——
“Team 1 is on guard around the area, and Team 2 is aware of the terrain.”
Upon entering, the leader of the strategy team, Park Mu-han, gave this instruction.
The first thing to do immediately after stepping into the dungeon was to understand the terrain.
“Damn it, it’s the red desert of all deserts. “I got a bad map.”
Prior to entering the gate, the ‘analysis team’ analyzed the gate and found out that the inside was a dry climate, that is, a desert terrain. However, there were more than dozens of desert terrains that appeared in the dungeon.
And this time, it was the ‘Red Desert’ where violent giant monsters live.
“Hmm… Isn’t the Red Desert Orc Tribe Alliance a fairly high-ranking entity among the Orcs?”
“That’s right, the ‘longbow’ they use, made from the tendons of desert buffalo, is quite powerful, so be careful.”
And 180 seconds later, the Hope Guild entered the dungeon.
Woo-woo—
as expected, with two trailers in front….
Park Moo-han approached the Hope Guild with a somewhat disapproving expression.
“So, are you ready?” “It might take a while, but we’ll leave first.”
“Yes, we don’t mind. “Let’s start first.”
Lee Hyeon-wook, the man called the savior of Seoul, said that and slowly looked around.
Park Moo-han did not even twist Lee Hyun-wook’s leisure.
“Ha, and since he is such a famous person, I wasn’t going to give him advice, but… that trailer… if you drag something that slow, you could get into real trouble.”
Even though he spoke with explicit force, Lee Hyun-wook still did not look at Park Mu-han.
He looked at each of the geographical features in the area as if he was examining them, and then answered a beat late.
“Oh yes… Thank you for your concern, but we are fine. .”
“No—true! We’re not okay….”
“Oh yeah, then just take care of it and don’t call for help later.”
With those words, the two attack teams moved some distance apart.
“Wow… the Hope Guild are really slow.”
There was no way that a trailer driven by a mana engine would be fast.
Moreover, the engine itself was not designed for actual driving, so it was as if it had practically given up its mobility.
How long had passed?…
“—A group of orcs appeared at 2 o’clock. !”
Orcs appeared one by one on the sand dunes about 300 meters away.
As a high-level orc appearing in the Red Desert, it was slightly larger and well-armed.
“It seems like the scouting party just took a quick look at it and thought it was worth a try and came rushing in.”
The number was about 300, which was not a small number.
And that was not the end.
“Team leader! There’s a group of orcs approaching at 7 o’clock! “I see over a hundred!”
As expected, the Orcs were a compliant race, so they brought out a siege strategy.
Park Moo-han launched a magic drone to determine the exact size of the Orc troops.
‘A total of four hundred and fifty… Well, that’s a number that’s enough to win. Still, there will be quite a bit of bloodshed.’
Park Moo-han was the leader of the strategy team who played in higher-level dungeons.
At this level, no matter how difficult the situation was, he did not blink an eye.
However, that didn’t mean I was letting down my guard.
‘First, pay attention to the longbow attack, widening the distance, and then strike slowly with ultra-long-range magic.’
No matter how good your skills were, it was foolish to clash head-on with the Orc troops. It uses various magic to destroy metallurgy, and when their ranks become loose, it charges in and destroys them.
‘Orcs are balanced monsters in all aspects, so they are difficult to attack, so you must not let your guard down.’
Park Mu-han had a feeling that it would be quite a long battle.
But then an unexpected problem arose.
“—Team leader, look over there! It looks like the Hope Guild will soon be attacked by a horde of orcs!”
As it happened, the Hope Guild’s strategy team was standing in the path where the orcs approached at 7 o’clock.
They were still moving slowly, escorting the huge trailer.
“What? No two! What on earth are they doing now—!”
There were already over a hundred orcs approaching that direction, and it looked like they were about to collide in just a few minutes.
And to come face-to-face with a large force of orcs… was crazy.
“…What should I do? They’re that slow. “We will be surrounded by these guys and be annihilated!”
Park Moo-han felt his irritation rising as he looked at the frustrated looks of the Hope Guild.
“This is going crazy… Call them right away and tell them to abandon that fucking trailer and come back towards us!”
“yes!”
“Gunners, get ready to fire support right away! Oh what? A hero who saved Seoul? Of course, it’s all damned…” I
was looking at the Hope Guild with disapproval, but that didn’t mean I wanted them to die.
No matter how obnoxious it was, they were all of the same race, human beings…
But…
“Oh! Something is starting to come out in the Hope Guild trailer!”
“-what?”
At those words, Park Muhan looked towards the Hope Guild through binoculars.
In the first trailer for Hope Guild, something was really taking off.
It was… a black iron box.
“What is that… was it something that could fly?”
They had seen the black box through the gap in the trailer door before entering the gate.
“Wow… I just thought you packed a cooler full of food…”
Actually, there was no more reasonable guess than that. Otherwise, what kind of box is worth carrying into the dungeon?
But at this moment, its appearance began to feel quite different.
Woowoowoo——
Blue light spreads across the black steel surface, and the heavy box rises very gently into the air. It didn’t rise up due to some kind of propulsion, but as if it was floating due to buoyancy…
“Those things on the surface are all magic circuits…”
They stared blankly at the scene, blocking the sunlight with their hands.
A total of 12 aircraft were flying freely, but no noise was made.
They lined up in the sky, reflecting the intense sunlight pouring down on the desert.
Hung— Hung— Hung— Hung—
I had no idea what it was… but
for some reason, it couldn’t help but be a mysterious and magnificent scene.
“…Have you ever seen anything like that, team leader?”
At that question, Park Muhan slowly shook his head.
“No, this is my first time seeing it too.”
He was ranked 151st in the Korean player rankings.
And he must have participated in more than 90 strategic missions so far.
But… I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.
They formed a single line and approached the group of orcs at a very slow speed. “…So what are you trying to
do by flying like that?”
From the outside, I had no idea how it worked.
Aaaa——!
Before we knew it, a group of orcs had approached the Hope Guild and began to measure the performance of their longbows.
And at that very moment—the bottoms of the twelve metal boxes opened all at once.
Ki—i—ing——
A blue light began to spread out from there.
In front of that strange scene, the orcs raised their heads with blank expressions.
Soon—
lights flashed from the box and something came out in large quantities at high speed.
To—do—do—do—do—do——!
Along with him, a group of orcs collapsed as if they were being bombarded with machine guns.
The red sand dust of the red desert rose like a blood mist, and its terrifying firepower was felt indirectly.
“…what on earth is that!”
It was only then that the members of the Cheonghwa guild began to perceive the unidentified object quite differently.
‘It’s like a scene where an Apache helicopter squadron fires cannons at an infantry unit.’
It now looked more like a combat helicopter than an ordinary metal box.
To—do—do—do—do—do——!
In the attack that lasted for about ten seconds, half of the orc group disappeared.
“…….”
Even Park Mu-han, a B-tier 1st tier who had experienced all kinds of hardships, could not help but gape.
‘Huh—what kind of skill is that? It looks like a control group…’
Park Moo-han looked towards the Hope Guild through binoculars once again.
Lee Hyun-wook, a man well known as the commander of the Steel Company…
He began to slowly raise both hands.
Then, the projectiles that were fired—the iron balls rose into the air and returned toward the box.
‘I’m reloading!’
Immediately after, the metal boxes glowed again, chasing the fleeing orcs.
To—do—do—do—do—do——!
In just two attacks, over a hundred orcs literally melted away.
And before we knew it, 22 units of ‘Living Armor’ had been unloaded from the second trailer.
They had bright blue eyes and were moving their heavy metal bodies on their own.
Grabbing —
and grabbed a 3m hammer and ax, and the orcs began to advance to the body.
All the orcs had already been defeated, but the plan was to deal with those who were still alive.
“Let’s start finishing the Hope Guild!”
And after that, 18 players followed with weapons in hand.
It looked like a commando advancing with an armored vehicle at the fore.
“No, how do they move…”
Of course, there were many cases where wizards used ‘control magic’ to manipulate Living Armor.
However, it was a non-mainstream magic that was evaluated as ineffective in many ways.
It was because a lot of mana was consumed just to roll one armor.
But now, only one person was controlling 12 flying boxes and 22 living armors.
‘Nonsense. ‘That is impossible as far as I know.’
He stared blankly at the scene where the Hope Guild suffocated the surviving Orcs.
“It’s over…”
I expected it to be a long fight, but it ended in just a few minutes.
“…uh! manager! “The Orc troops on the 2 o’clock side are starting to retreat.”
Now that I think about it, the Orc unit that appeared from 2 o’clock was a large-scale main force.
But after witnessing that ridiculous scene, he seemed to have lost his will to fight.
The firepower was so overwhelming that the brave Orc troops decided to retreat.
But…
woo-woo—
12 flying boxes started tracking them across the desert.
That’s–!
Having witnessed their terrifying destructive power, I fired my longbow from afar as they approached.
However, the tip of the longbow is also ‘metal’.
‘It’s quite far, but it’s reachable.’
Hyunwook Lee was able to give them ‘metal control’ based on Hugin’s expansion of his senses.
Hung——
Dozens of arrows fired with powerful tension stopped tall in the air.
Ugh—?
Punishment made of steel rained down on the orcs’ heads as they
panicked in front of an incomprehensible scene .
Two-two-two-two-two-two—-!
This time, that wasn’t the end.
“Crush—!” The iron balls fired like bullets exploded, carrying enormous physical energy
and bouncing in all directions. Like cluster bombs exploding, a steel storm covered the vast area.
—and—and——!
The moment they reach the ground, a sandstorm erupts with earth-shattering tremors.
No matter how strong the okra were, they could not survive such a steel storm.
Hundreds of them fell to their knees from the blow. Even if you were lucky enough to avoid that firepower…
Pow—! Pow—! Pow—! Pow—!
A spear was summoned from the subspace of the airdrop device and accurately intercepted those guys one by one.
About three hundred orcs . Among them, only about 50 survived and were able to escape.
“………”
No one on the Cheonghwa Guild attack team who was watching this could open a word.
Clunk-clack-clack-
they soon headed toward the pile of orc corpses. Ki Living Armor and 18 Hope Guild members reached it. It
was the same as before, but in a destructive and cruel pattern.
“I think I can also earn experience points and mana stones very easily with Team Leader Lee.”
Hope Guild members, including Lee Jeong-jun, were once again amazed at hunting with Lee Hyun-wook for the first time in a long time.
“You really got the experience you gained in a year in just a few days?”
“But wow… where on earth did you get such a ridiculous weapon?”
He pointed to Lee Jeong-jun’s airdrop device and asked, and Lee Hyun-wook smiled silently.
‘Honestly, I didn’t know I would get this firepower so quickly.’
At this time, magic engineering was developing around the Republic of Chad, but it was not yet at the level of replacing the player’s abilities. Therefore, it could not be used as the player’s personal weapon. ‘However, thanks to my ether engine ability, it was able to reach a level that surpasses the times
. ‘I can now use it.’
And it could be said that Kang Jeong-du’s amazing skill also played a part, and
that was also thanks to the fraudulent buff given to the entire Seoul with the appearance of Laputa.
– Chic – Ah, this is the Cheonghwa Guild.
Park Mu-han’s voice came through Lee Hyun-wook’s mana messenger.
“Say yes.”
– Chic— I didn’t know you earlier… Hmm, I’m sorry for being rude. I’ve been rolling around in dungeons for quite a few years, and to be honest, this is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like that in my life. I think that’s why I didn’t believe it.
When I witnessed Lee Hyun-wook’s skills in action, I had no choice but to accept the fact that I had been denying.
“Yes, I understand everything.”
– The rumored steel rain… It was real. It was an admirable ability.
Ten years have passed since the world turned into a game.
Humanity has adapted to this damn game and I think we are now understanding and controlling it.
That’s why many concepts are ‘ ‘It was entrenched.
’ ‘The artificial system of player ratings is a representative example.’
The world is ruled by common sense.
And common sense is not absolute knowledge, but an artificially entrenched concept.
If something that goes against that common sense happens, the world does not easily accept it.
No matter how much it claims to be true, those who think it is fake news or false information. A significant number. And this is even more true for people who think they have risen to a certain level in a field. If the
world they know is shaken, their authority is threatened
… It’s hard to believe.’
But then…
Ugh——
Lee Hyun-wook heard something strange vibrate in his inner pocket.
What it was….
[Item information]
– Name: Master key of ancient heritage
– Effect: Unknown
“This suddenly happened. Why…”
– (!) The quest has arrived.
‘Is it related to Questrani Laputa?’
[Hidden Quest]
– The path of the heir to an ancient civilization….
You have obtained an ancient legacy through a special opportunity.
That special item will lead you to old glory.
* Do you want to accept the quest? (Y/ N)
Ancient Civilization This seemed to refer to the race that founded Laputa.
Lee Hyun-wook accepted the quest without hesitation.
[Hidden Quest]
– The path of the successor to an ancient civilization….
1) In the dungeon, go to the hidden stage ‘Gnome’s Ruins’. ‘Explore! (in progress)
2) Stop the Guardian of the Ruins! (in progress)
* Reward: Ancient Coins of the Underground Kingdom (10)
‘Hidden Stage That’s in this dungeon.’
A hidden stage is a space hidden within a dungeon, a phenomenon that is very rarely discovered.
And most dungeons are closed without even realizing that such a thing exists, but later, after learning the value of hidden stages, the value of ‘explorer’ type players increased. As such ,
it was also a place where very rare items were sleeping.
‘But if it’s a gnome…’
Gnomes are an ancient race whose traces are found in items or objects, but as far as Lee Hyun-wook knows, they have never appeared. It was a name.
‘And they are also the founders of magic engineering.’
When I thought about it, the ‘Hammer of Hephaestus’ was scheduled to appear in this dungeon.
In other words, since it is a dungeon that spits out items related to the blacksmith series, there seemed to be a ‘hidden stage’ related to it.
Perhaps magic engineering will continue to have a strong and unrivaled power. It seemed like an opportunity to grow had come.
‘In this field, I can be overwhelmingly ahead of those villains.’
