Chapter 109
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Jeju Island, Phaethon Raid - 1
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Ki Baek-jun was watching the TV news while on a call with someone.
Every report was about the ‘Steel Fleet’.
“Yes, I saw. I assume that is also the power of Laputa?”
At this point, he was less flustered and more dumbfounded.
“Ha…”
Time and time again, no matter what plan he devised, that bastard Lee Hyun-wook would counter with some absurd trick as if he’d known all along, ruining everything.
It was happening again.
An airship fleet, of all things…
“…I never imagined something like that would appear and ruin our plans.”
And so, the plan to sink a majority of Korea’s rankers in the waters off Jeju had failed.
But that was just a secondary plot anyway.
Their true objective was to empty out Seoul.
And steal ‘Laputa’ in its entirety.
The person on the other end of the line explained that although they couldn’t orchestrate the ‘Jeju Airship Disaster’, there were still plenty of ways to keep them tied down on the island. As long as they couldn’t return, the operation would be a success.
“Yes, we are all prepared on our end.”
Ki Baek-jun said, turning his head.
In a dark, spacious underground facility, figures were lined up.
Grrr—
They were not human.
With the thick, beastly stench, red eyes, and sharp claws, they radiated an unmistakable aura of being something fundamentally wrong.
“The special forces we’ve prepared are very well-trained beasts. Haha… Yes, that’s right. We can have high hopes for those Black Orcs as well.”
A large number of ‘Black Orc’ units had even been mobilized for this operation.
Despite the heightened surveillance from the Korean government’s intelligence agencies, they had somehow managed to slip through and plant their agents on this land.
“Then… we will soon deliver Laputa to you, whole.”
Ki Baek-jun decided to pour everything into his final operation.
With this, he planned to leave this godforsaken land for good.
Until the day this land turned to ash, and he reigned supreme…
***
An urgent message from Jeju International Airport froze the Steel Fleet in its tracks.
The crackling transmission was filled with desperate screams.
And a repeated warning: do not land, under any circumstances.
…Why?
The inability to know the reason only amplified their anxiety.
“…This doesn't seem good. What should we do?”
Yeo Sang-min turned his head to look at Lee Hyun-wook.
But there was no time to verify the contents of the message.
The Steel Fleet had already reached the coast of Jeju.
“Hmm… For now, we continue the operation.”
That was the decision of the Jeju operation commander, Kang Seo-yoon.
—…Will that be alright?
Someone from another airship asked.
“We don’t have time to reconsider the plan now. And in a situation with such poor visibility, it’s difficult to find another landing spot besides the airport runway.”
As she commanded, the Steel Fleet descended deeper into the hazy smoke that was swallowing Jeju Island. Visibility was barely 10 meters. The shape of Jeju Airport was faintly visible in the distance, but they couldn’t make out any details.
Thus, they still had no idea what was happening inside, or why the warning not to approach had been issued.
But the moment they reached a certain point—
“—Huh! Halt!”
The entire fleet came to a stunned stop.
“Gasp! Wh-what is that…”
Their gazes were fixed on the runway of Jeju International Airport.
“……”
The movements that swarmed its surface…
It was an immense number of ‘Skeletons’.
Clatter! Clatter!
Bones in rusted iron armor were arrayed densely across the runway. The exact number was impossible to count, but there had to be at least five or six thousand of them, with hulking figures that appeared to be ‘Troll Skeletons’ scattered among them.
And in the center, skeletons clad in black robes stood out.
Fifteen of them in total.
A green aura emanated from their bodies.
‘Priests of Death, too… a very tricky combination.’
As long as they were present, the five or six thousand skeletons would regenerate endlessly.
In other words, they were a top-priority target with an extremely high difficulty.
‘This combination… it’s a Legion of Demons, isn’t it?’
Weapons of war, summoned through a ‘contract’ with the lords of Hell…
As they turned their heads in unison toward the fleet, like machine parts… a bizarre spectacle unfolded as green lights from their eyes dotted the airport runway.
A sinister feeling welled up, as if looking down upon a slice of Hell itself.
“……”
Facing it, the Players couldn’t help but feel a primal fear. A revulsion toward death… this was why magic that dealt with death was shunned.
“…Dammit, why are things like that gathered on the runway of all places?”
It seemed they needed to leave this spot immediately, let alone land.
Just then, a line of system messages appeared before Lee Hyun-wook’s eyes.
- (!) A quest has arrived.
[Hidden Quest]
- Purify the ‘vengeful spirit’ of Phaethon, son of the sun god…
Phaethon, son of the sun god, who fell to this land.
His vengeful spirit has raised a legion of the dead through a deal with a ‘demon’.
As a Player who holds the <Helios’s Blessing>, you have the duty and the right to stop the hate-reborn Phaethon.
* Reward: Core of the Sun Chariot (Legendary)
‘So this quest appeared because I obtained another meteorite fragment?’
Lee Hyun-wook took out a small metal fragment from his pocket.
[Item Information]
- Name: Helios’s Blessing (Heroic)
- Effects
1) Fire Resistance Increase (+100%)
2) [Special] Phaethon Conquest Buff: Temporarily increases Fire Resistance for each of Phaethon’s minions hunted (Current 0 hunted: 0%)
‘And the quest reward, the Core of the Sun Chariot, is…’
The ‘Core of the Sun Chariot’ that Lee Hyun-wook remembered was the engine component for the airship ‘Helios’. And that was the ultimate combat airship.
But now was not the time to be distracted by such things.
“Hey! It looks like they have anti-air weaponry too!”
Twenty ballistas on wheels were turning to face them. These giant crossbows, operated by pulleys, were siege weapons used to batter down castle walls. The bolts loaded onto them looked to be at least 2 meters long.
Creeak— Creeak—
They began to raise their heads toward the Steel Fleet.
“Dammit, those aren’t ordinary ballistas. We can’t get hit.”
Kang Seo-yoon said with a frown.
Come to think of it, black characters were floating and rotating around the ‘iron spears’ loaded on the ballistas. They were enchanted with death magic.
One of the mages informed them that it was a Mana Inversion spell.
In other words, it was a weapon that could easily pierce through magic shields.
“Hey, that’s metal. Can you control it?”
Lee Hyun-wook shook his head. The ballistas’ iron spears were certainly metal, but they weren’t being ‘detected’ by his current metal control.
“The aura emanating from the Priests of Death is enveloping the entire legion. As long as that’s there, I won’t be able to control them.”
“So if we kill them, you can blow all of that up?”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded.
“Yes, and as it happens, they’re all wearing iron helmets.”
Kang Seo-yoon pulled down the bow slung across her back.
“I’ll intercept them, so everyone, evasive man—”
But the enemy’s attack was faster.
Thwang—! Thwang—!
A brutal sound. The air trembled as the taut strings of the pulley-drawn ballistas were released. With it, 2-meter-long iron spears flew fiercely toward them.
Whoooosh—
The sound of tearing air approached rapidly.
Crack—! Crack—!
One of the airships in the lead, was struck by three iron spears in succession. Though it had a magic shield, it was pierced as easily as a vinyl sheet.
— …Aaargh! This is Steel 3, we’re going down!
The airship ‘Steel 3’ began to plummet, trailing black smoke.
The ones on board seemed to be the Anyang Duo.
“No!”
Judging by its trajectory, it was going to crash right onto the runway.
It was falling right into the midst of the skeleton army.
Even if they survived the impact, the aftermath would be the real problem.
“Dammit, get out of the way!”
Just then, Han Tae-san’s shout was heard.
He ran towards the ramp door.
Thud—!
The airship rocked from his running start.
And then his figure vanished from sight.
“…Huh? Did he just jump?”
Kim Se-hee asked, unable to comprehend.
Looking out the window, Han Tae-san was in a vertical freefall from hundreds of meters up. Like a diver entering water, he kept his body straight, plummeting at high speed. Just before hitting the ground, he did a flip and landed perfectly on his feet.
BOOM!
Clatter! Clatter!
From all sides, the skeleton army was already charging toward him.
“Hah, you filthy undead bastards… I’ll smash every one of your skulls—!”
He snorted and threw a punch. An incredible blast of air pressure erupted, as if from a cannon, sending a cluster of approaching skeletons flying backward.
WHOOOOSH—!
In that moment, the shadow of the falling ‘Steel 3’ loomed over his head.
Lee Hyun-wook poured all of his metal control into Steel 3.
- Currently Controllable Metal Weight: 1741kg
His control was halved since he wasn’t in Seoul, but it would help. At the same time, Han Tae-san took a deep breath and reached his hands toward the falling airship.
CRACK—!
The moment the asphalt he stood on split apart, the 7-meter steel behemoth stopped in mid-air. He had caught the airship with his bare hands.
“—Hrk!”
But even for him, holding a multi-ton airship above his head was a strain. He lowered it to the side as if toppling it over.
CRASH—!
The airship landed on the runway without a major impact.
“Wow, seriously…”
Everyone was in awe of his superhuman ability.
“But… he only avoided the collision with the ground.”
Having already landed, they were now isolated within the skeleton army.
Clatter! Clatter!
Like predators spotting their prey, the skeletons began to swarm them.
Looking down from the sky, it resembled a swarm of ants converging on a fallen bird.
It was a worrying sight; it looked like the airship would be torn to shreds at any moment.
— This is Steel 3, requesting rescue!
But there was no time to save them; the entire fleet was in danger.
Swish—Swish—Swish—Swish—
Six more iron spears were already flying toward the Steel Fleet.
Kim Se-hee tried to generate wind to push the incoming spears away.
But she couldn’t.
“Crap, they’re too heavy!”
They were subsonic projectiles weighing about a ton each; the kinetic energy was overwhelming.
Crack—!
‘Steel 6’, floating to their left, was pierced through.
— Chk— This is Steel 6, we’ve been hit by enemy fire! Disengaging from the battlefield!
Fortunately, the damage didn’t seem severe enough to cause a crash, but if they lost one ship per volley like this, they would eventually be annihilated.
“…This is not looking good.”
Lee Hyun-wook released all the iron safety clamps holding the AD-1s loaded in the Prydwen’s cargo bay. Then, he imbued them with mana to ‘start’ them and pushed them out of the ramp door one by one. There were twenty in total.
— Oh? Finally gonna make it rain steel?
Han Tae-san’s voice came through the Prydwen’s mana messenger.
His tone was full of confidence, unfitting for the current atmosphere.
But no matter how strong they were, if they were forced to continue fighting while surrounded by so many monsters, they would inevitably reach their limit.
Especially with twenty Priests of Death present…
Crumble—
The skeletons that had been shattered by Han Tae-san’s fists were enveloped in a purple shimmer, then pulled back together and reassembled as if time were reversing.
They were back to square one.
— Son of a bitch! Can’t someone enchant my fists with some holy power?
— On my way!
Someone responded to his words, and Steel 7 and Steel 9 lowered their altitude.
Both airships were carrying Paladins and Priests.
Just then, three iron spears flew toward them.
— Dammit, dodge!
— I got this!
Han Tae-san leaped over ten meters in a single bound, swatting away two of the iron spears.
Clang! Clang!
He tried to kick the third one away… but missed.
— Shit, dammit!
Just as that one spear was about to pierce Steel 7—
Bong—
A golden shield materialized and deflected the iron spear.
A large shield made of holy power.
It had nullified the death magic imbued in the spear.
— Phew! Nice timing!
‘Well, considering how many Priests are on board…’
There were a whopping 31 Priests, all at least C-rank, tier 1. If they worked together, they could push back the power of the Priests of Death.
Next, giant golden hammers materialized around the airship.
It was a skill called <Angel’s Hammer>, cast jointly by four Priests.
BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—!
The skeletons crushed by those hammers did not regenerate.
Then, a beam of white light—a holy power buff—shone down on Han Tae-san’s body.
— Yeah, this is it! So I just need to break through and smash those Priests of Death, right?
A white ‘Saint Aura’ enveloped his fists.
“—Han Tae-san, I’ll cover you!”
Kang Seo-yoon also trusted in Han Tae-san’s strength and supported his reckless plan.
She took a rope from her waist, hooked it to the ramp door’s railing, and leaned her body so far out that she was almost falling, drawing her bow.
Then, translucent fox tails materialized behind her.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Where her arrows struck, white foxfire erupted, creating a vortex that tore everything within a 5-meter radius to shreds.
‘That’s Kang Seo-yoon for you.’
Ranked 4th among Korea’s Players, Kang Seo-yoon, also known as ‘Foxy’, specialized in area-of-effect archery.
“Lee Hyun-wook, you provide some cover too!”
“Yes, I was just about to.”
Lee Hyun-wook maneuvered the twenty AD-1s and arranged them above the skeletons’ heads.
‘But… my attack won’t work.’
Lee Hyun-wook had a feeling.
And just as he thought…
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat—
As expected, his Steel Rain was futilely blocked by a black dome.
It was a large-scale defensive barrier cast collectively by the twenty Priests of Death.
“Ah, alright… I get it.”
Kang Seo-yoon scratched her cheek and started firing arrows again.
‘Just as I thought. Without a special item like Kang Seo-yoon’s, you can’t get through that.’
Her arrows could ignore the dome thanks to the ‘Magic Resistance Ignore’ option on her item, the ‘Fox Marble’.
It was the same option as Lee Hyun-wook’s Failnaught, but hers was ‘wide-range’.
— Hahaha! What? Don’t tell me your signature move, the Steel Rain, isn’t working?
Han Tae-san laughed as he ripped the head off a Troll Skeleton and threw it at a ballista. It flew like a bowling ball, smashing through the surrounding skeletons before destroying the siege weapon.
— Hah—a strike!
Next, he grabbed a Troll Skeleton’s shin bone with both hands and swung it like a club.
Whack—whack—whack—whack—!
— Man, I guess you’re no good unless you’re secretly stealing contribution points, huh?
That guy, Han Tae-san, seemed to be holding a grudge from losing first place last time. He had been trying to get under his skin ever since they met.
‘That bastard and his mouth…’
Lee Hyun-wook had suffered from that incessant trash talk in his past life too.
He discreetly applied his metal control to Han Tae-san.
— Ugh! Dammit, why is my head hurting again…
‘But just because my attacks aren’t working doesn’t mean I can just stand here.’
Lee Hyun-wook took out an item he had prepared in advance.
It wasn’t an ‘item’.
[Object Information]
- Name: Tower of Eternal Flame (Legendary)
- Effect: When this object is ‘installed’, the following effects are granted within a certain radius (1km). (Re-installation cooldown: 10 days)
1) Land of Smelting: The melting point of metal within the area of effect is drastically reduced.
2) Magic Forging: ‘Mana’ is imbued into molten metal within the area of effect.
He had asked the Gray Dwarves to modify the ‘Box Containing Eternal Flame (Legendary)’, which he had obtained from the meteorite in Gangwon Province, into an object.
Modified this way, it became a ‘totem’ that provided a buff to the surrounding area.
‘The item I wanted so badly in my past life. Let’s see what it can do.’
Lee Hyun-wook sent it flying somewhere.
Its destination was a massive building next to the runway: a hangar.
- The <Tower of Eternal Flame> will be installed in the target area.
Meanwhile, Kim Se-hee couldn’t hide her admiration as she watched the battle on the runway.
“Wow… this is the first time I’ve seen rankers fighting together up close. They’re really on another level. I guess you can take a break, sir.”
Just as she said, the tide of battle had begun to turn.
— Let’s go!
Han Tae-san cleared a path, and the Anyang Duo advanced behind him. Four magic circles appeared behind Lee Hye-min, and heavy machine guns materialized from them.
— I’ll provide covering fire! Push through!
Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat—!
Hundreds of skeletons were reduced to bone fragments along their path of advance.
Even a Legion of Demons couldn’t stop the Steel Fleet, which had gathered some of the most renowned Players on the Korean peninsula in one place.
— Whoa! As expected of the Fist King!
— Yeah, that’s what a true top-tier Player looks like, right?
— No matter how strong the rising rookies get, they’ll never catch up to him…
Cheers echoed through the communications.
— Looks like today’s the day the Fist King teaches a rising rookie a lesson, eh?
That rookie was, of course, Lee Hyun-wook.
“…Excuse me, Mr. Han Tae-san?”
Just then, Lee Hyun-wook called out to Han Tae-san.
— Huh, what? Got something to say?
But Lee Hyun-wook’s reply was utterly absurd.
“No, just don’t go in too deep from now on. It’s dangerous.”
— What? Kid, you got bad eyes? Do I look like I’m in danger?
“No, but you will be soon. Because I’m about to use a wide-area skill.”
Laughter trickled from various channels.
To them, what Lee Hyun-wook was saying sounded completely ridiculous.
— Hey, we all saw your Steel Rain get blocked just now, so just stay quiet and back off.
It was then.
Rumble—rumble—rumble—rumble—
A violent vibration was heard from somewhere.
It wasn’t the tremor of something shaking…
It was the peculiar, dissonant sound of thick metal being crushed.
Rumble—rumble—rumble—rumble—
“…Huh, fire? Why is there suddenly a fire over there?”
At Kim Se-hee’s puzzled voice, everyone turned their heads.
Just as she said, smoke was rising from somewhere.
The source was the hangar.
Bubble— Sizzle—
The thick hangar door was melting like cheese.
“Mr. Han Tae-san, and everyone else, please fall back.”
— Ah, damn it, why! You worried I might get hit by that drizzle you call rain?
“No, this time… you’ll be swept away by a wave.”
In that instant, the hangar door collapsed as if it had exploded.
Black smoke billowed out from within.
And then, a crimson wave burst forth.
CRUUUUUUMBLE—!
Tens of thousands of tons of molten metal, forming a crimson tide.
— Huh? What… is that? Is lava spewing out from somewhere?
Indeed, it could be compared to lava.
But the difference was, this was flying through the air.
It coiled together, rotating in a spiral as it rose.
WHOOOOOSH—!
Its shadow fell across the runway.
The heat it generated shimmered across the area like a haze.
— Lee Hyun-wook, you… what the hell are you doing?
Lee Hyun-wook had detected a passenger plane stored inside that hangar and had been using ‘Metal Fusion’ on the entire thing for the past few minutes.
‘Thanks to the totem, the Tower of Eternal Flame, it was much easier.’
Even so, it was an absurd feat.
A typical A380 passenger jet weighed about 2.7 million tons.
To melt all of that would have required hundreds of skill uses.
‘But, with my total mana, it’s possible.’
An absurd amount of mana. Lee Hyun-wook had just poured all of it into this.
Furthermore, thanks to the totem, the metal had been reforged into ‘magic metal’.
The steel wave created in this way began to surge forward.
RUUUUMBLE—!
The asphalt of the runway boiled and bubbled in its wake.
“…Now, isn’t it tiring to punch them one by one?”
“…….”
“I’ll take care of them all at once now. Please step aside.”