Chapter 121
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: Absolute Firepower - 1
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A single foreign Player ended a war that had raged for years.
And he had done it in a single battle, annihilating the enemy's main force.
"Hah... he really... finished it all by himself."
Sophie Green let out a sigh as she watched the scene unfold.
Honestly, she had thought it would be difficult for even Lee Hyun-wook to take on the 'Central Hangar' alone.
That was why she had tried to persuade him to wait for the resistance's support and execute a pincer movement.
But he had simply said it was fine and, before anyone could stop him, walked straight into the enemy's den.
That was barely fifteen minutes ago.
In other words, the entire situation had been resolved in just fifteen minutes.
"Ah, no... are monsters like that common in the world?"
The resistance's second-in-command, Bowie Bertrand, shook his head, looking more bewildered than joyful.
The man's power was so overwhelming that it made their years of struggle feel meaningless.
He was so ashamed of himself for having pointed a gun at such a terrifying man not long ago.
"He's the most prominent among those monsters these days... but honestly, it's still unbelievable."
It was a given that weapons made of low-grade metal could not stand against him.
'But even a power like that must have its limits...'
It was only natural for even the most brilliant abilities to face the absolute limit of mana depletion.
That was why using skills carefully and with maximum efficiency was considered the hallmark of a true master.
But she saw none of that in him.
'No, it's more like he didn't even seem to be trying to control his mana...'
He had just mercilessly unleashed all his firepower to utterly crush his enemies.
'Does that man... even have a limit?'
This was the umpteenth time she had been surprised. The more she watched him, the more questions she had, rather than understanding.
'As I thought, Lee Hyun-wook... is definitely beyond common sense.'
While Sophie was marveling, the resistance support troops arrived behind her.
A convoy of 31 trucks—the main force of the resistance.
"—All units, split into teams and sweep for any remaining forces!"
Following Bowie Bertrand's command, the resistance fighters advanced into the gray smoke-covered Central Hangar.
However...
"...They're all dead over here too! It's practically a total wipeout, isn't it?"
"But what the hell killed them? There are almost no signs of a fight."
"I heard earlier that some throwing stars just flew around and killed them on their own."
The Central Hangar was already annihilated, so the resistance occupied the facility without shedding a single drop of blood.
They then discovered a sinkhole several dozen meters deep in the center of the enemy's base.
"What is this? It's not just a hole! There's a huge space down there!"
"Whoa—when the hell did these bastards build an underground facility like this?"
Sophie and a few other Players used 'Levitation Magic' to descend into the sinkhole.
And then...
"Hey, Steelrain is over there!"
Lee Hyun-wook. Scattered around him were the bodies of soldiers from the Ndohz Federation.
It seemed the final battle had taken place here.
Among the corpses, one particularly large giant's body caught their eye.
"Uh, wait a minute... is that person, could that be Lyon Noir?"
The moment they saw the half-face, split vertically, everyone was utterly shocked.
Lyon Noir... no one in the resistance was unaware of the barbarian Player's strength.
"Gasp! It should be impossible to even scratch that man with a normal attack, so how..."
The resistance soldiers who had fought him several times wore expressions of disbelief.
"And look at this size! He died in his 'Giant Form'!"
"Huh... in his Giant Form, he could take on an ogre with his bare hands..."
A powerhouse they wouldn't have dared to face was slaughtered like a pitiful animal. Though he was an enemy, he was still his country's strongest Player, so his miserable death was quite a shock.
"And that sword over there..."
Meanwhile, the greatsword Moglay floated majestically in the air behind Lee Hyun-wook.
Even without seeing it, they knew it was the sword that had bisected Lyon Noir.
"Hey, would you believe me if I said that sword destroyed the Sentinel Tower in one hit?"
"What? How can you destroy a tower with a sword?"
"Well... it actually happened before you support troops arrived."
They stared blankly at the foreigner who had saved their country, letting out various sounds of admiration.
"...Sophie, have the resistance support troops arrived?"
When Lee Hyun-wook spoke, the resistance members' chatter ceased, and silence fell.
"Yes, they have. But... what is this place?"
Sophie asked, looking around. The space resembled the ruins of an ancient civilization.
"It seems to be a secret experimental site for an external force supporting the Ndohz Federation."
Lee Hyun-wook said, pointing somewhere.
"—Gasp!"
As they turned their heads to where his finger was pointing, everyone was horrified. They witnessed hundreds of corpses floating in water tanks lining both sides of an altar where a Red Drake's skeleton rested.
It was a gruesome sight, hard to look at directly. Only then did the acrid smell of chemicals hit their noses.
"What... what is that... What in the world was happening here?"
No matter how brutal this civil war had become, treating people like this was unthinkable.
"Dammit, how could they do something so horrible... They were truly demons..."
A scene of evil that no human could ever commit...
Cries of rage and despair erupted from all around.
"Sophie, we need to mobilize troops and thoroughly search this place."
"Hah—yes, we must. There might be survivors."
There might be a clue inside that could lead them to the Necromancer's trail.
Lee Hyun-wook activated his metal control and swept the area.
He then detected a large amount of metal within one of the walls.
'There's a secret space in there.'
He swung Moglay and brought down the brick wall.
Inside, he found a small, unremarkable laboratory.
On a shelf, a human skull was preserved in a large flask.
'This is also a trace of the dark mages' undead enhancement experiments.'
They must have fled in a hurry when his assault began.
He then discovered a rather large safe in a corner of the lab.
'This safe is metal, but my metal control isn't working on it.'
It seemed to be protected by a rather high-grade magical barrier.
However, after a few strikes from Moglay, the magical barrier peeled away.
*Crack!*
Inside the safe was a metal box, which was an item in itself.
[Item Information]
- Name: Paracelsus's Alchemy Set (Hero)
- Effect: Using this tool will dramatically improve various alchemy skills.
'Oh... they must have been in a real hurry to leave something like this behind.'
An alchemy set item was quite rare. A single item like this could be expected to raise the rank of multiple alchemy skills. And this one was 'Hero' grade.
'Good. I was planning to establish an alchemy research institute anyway...'
For that purpose, he had secured a promise of technical support from Goo Hyo-min, the granddaughter of the Gugwang Group and an alchemist Player. He was also planning to build an alchemy factory on the site of the armory in the wilds of Gangwon Province soon.
'An item of this level will be a great help to the advancement of alchemy.'
However, aside from such minor gains, he couldn't find any evidence that could be used to track the Necromancer.
'Well, if the Necromancer is the final weapon planned by the Villains, they would thoroughly conceal its existence...'
In other words, facilities like this one were likely hidden not just here, but all over the world.
Still, just knowing that the Necromancer was already growing was a huge gain.
'...I've been thinking about how to deal with him for a long time.'
And now, the conditions to make it a reality had been met.
'I will create a Magi-tech army enchanted with divine power... something I couldn't achieve in my past life, and stop him.'
The Commander of the Legion of Death, the Necromancer, whom he would face in the near future...
He planned to thoroughly prepare to devour him.
***
When the world changed as if it were a game, conventional weaponry effectively lost its power.
Even so, many cutting-edge pieces of equipment, condensations of human wisdom, remained useful.
For instance, satellites were a better means of gathering information than any item.
"..."
Woo Seong-mun sat in his office, watching a video filmed by one of those military satellites.
Standing before him was Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun, who had brought the report.
"This is footage filmed at six-hour intervals from 11 PM four days ago until now."
In the thermal imaging footage from the military satellite, the red dots—representing the distribution of life forms—were changing.
"This is an empty lot in southwestern Shanghai, where unusual activity has been observed for the past week."
Every six hours, the red dots grew in number and intensity. Each dot represented one Black Orc.
In the bottom right corner, a counter displayed the total number of red dots detected.
- 5,814
As of three hours ago, there were a staggering 5,814... and then the video ended.
This meant that 5,814 Black Orcs were gathered in one place.
"Hmm, so the Black Orcs' main force is gathering at this location?"
"Yes, that's correct. The location is their troop assembly point, called the Red War Rock."
"Hah... this certainly looks like they're preparing for war..."
And that wasn't all.
The next footage was not from a thermal camera, but an actual photograph.
It was also taken by a military satellite, showing a flock of winged creatures flying in a group. At first glance, they looked like a small flock of migratory birds. However... the moment one realized they were perched on Shanghai's skyscrapers, the scene began to look very different.
It was... a swarm of hundreds of 'Wyverns'.
Hundreds of the rulers of the sky, each over 30 meters long, were gathered together.
"Hmm, Wyverns..."
In other words, if the enemy were to invade this land, an aerial infiltration via Wyverns was a strong possibility.
"Are they really planning to launch an all-out war now?"
Just a few months ago, the Black Orc Kingdom had declared war on the Republic of Korea.
Since then, Black Orcs had infiltrated the country twice to carry out acts of terror.
Public opinion was boiling, with many demanding retaliatory strikes instead of just taking the hits...
But still, avoiding an all-out war at all costs was the wisest course of action.
But now, that seemed impossible.
The Black Orc race seemed determined to seize 'Laputa' by any means necessary.
And perhaps the war itself was an unavoidable 'event'.
At times like this, one name came to mind.
"...By the way, Team Leader Lee, has Lee Hyun-wook's location been confirmed?"
"Yes, we found that he entered Chennai, India under his own name."
Lee Hyun-wook's disappearances were not a new thing, but this time, he had been gone for a rather long time.
"Hah... really, I worry that he acts too selfishly sometimes."
Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun still couldn't hide his displeasure whenever he evaluated Lee Hyun-wook.
"Team Leader Lee, don't worry too much. Is the Lee Hyun-wook you know the kind of person to do foolish things?"
"No, he's not. But it's just that he's out of contact at such a critical time."
At that, Woo Seong-mun chuckled.
"Right, in the end, aren't we the ones feeling frustrated because we desperately need him?"
"...I can't deny that. This country needs Lee Hyun-wook's power in many ways."
Just like that, the Player named Lee Hyun-wook had, at some point, become an indispensable existence for the nation.
"By the way, I heard that Player Lee Seong-yoon is also in the country this time."
"That's right. He called me the night before last and asked to have dinner tonight."
"...Oh, is the Gravity Mage finally stepping up for such an important matter?"
Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun's expression was somewhat excited, a stark contrast to when he talked about Lee Hyun-wook.
Lee Seong-yoon, the S-rank Player who controlled gravity, was undeniably the strongest in the country...
No matter how prominent Lee Hyun-wook's recent exploits were, Lee Seong-yoon's achievements were on a different level.
"Well, I'm not sure if he'll be of help. He's a very busy man..."
Whether Lee Seong-yoon would step in or not was something he would have to discuss when they met later.
"What? But with the threat of war, how could he pretend not to know?"
"That man has a dream far greater than the survival of a nation."
Woo Seong-mun was well aware of the noble purpose that man held.
But even so, Woo Seong-mun's principle was that one must take care of their homeland first.
"Sir? By the way... about that preemptive strike operation Lee Hyun-wook mentioned before."
Not long ago, during a meeting with Lee Hyun-wook, Woo Seong-mun had foreseen the war with the Black Orcs.
There, Lee Hyun-wook had said something astonishing that no one else had thought of.
"Is it really possible... a magical missile bombardment?"
"Theoretically, if the conditions are met, it's not impossible to create."
Until now, no one had attempted it because those conditions had not been met in the slightest.
However, Lee Hyun-wook was creating quite plausible conditions.
"But... I honestly don't know if we have the time to prepare for it now."
With Lee Hyun-wook absent, there was no way of knowing how his plan was progressing.
'No, perhaps... his trip to India might be for that very reason.'
Woo Seong-mun now knew well that every one of Lee Hyun-wook's actions held a greater purpose.
***
Bangui, the capital of CAR. Lee Hyun-wook was crossing the city in an old wagon.
"It seems things have settled down to some extent."
At his words, Sophie Green, sitting next to him, spoke up.
"Well, the Ndohz Federation's number one, Supreme Commander Muhammad Makachev, hasn't been captured yet, and the whereabouts of his nieces, the Enchantress Twins, are unknown. But they say the situation is very good."
Steelrain. That single, unexpected blow had completely dismantled the Ndohz Federation.
It was an obvious result, as the forces at the Central Hangar had constituted 70% of the entire Ndohz Federation.
Even if the 'Enchantress Twins' were alive, there was nothing they could do without their armored weapons.
In other words, the tide of the war had completely turned in favor of the resistance.
"Effectively, all their infrastructure within CAR is gone, so they won't even dream of making a comeback."
The resistance's provisional government entered the capital, 'Bangui', and began establishing a new administration.
The people of CAR had long supported the resistance, so everything proceeded smoothly.
All of that took a total of one week.
During that time, Lee Hyun-wook, as promised, obtained the rights to clear the hidden stage of the 'Vishnu's Labyrinth'.
Two days ago, with the help of a few CAR Players, he succeeded in clearing it.
It was a fairly difficult gate, but it didn't pose much of a threat to Lee Hyun-wook.
'As long as you know what comes out, hidden stages aren't that difficult.'
In his past life, he had experience clearing hidden stages similar in style to Vishnu's Labyrinth a few times.
Thus, he cleared it successfully without any major crisis, and it was finally time to return to Korea.
"Um, by the way... how was the reward for clearing the hidden stage?"
"Well, it was okay."
To Sophie's question, Lee Hyun-wook gave a short answer while looking out the window.
"Thinking about it, a hidden stage with such a difficult entry key must have a pretty good reward... How was it? At least Hero grade... Ahem, is it rude to ask something like this?"
Sophie tried to pry subtly, as if joking, but Lee Hyun-wook just nodded his head dryly.
Watching him, Sophie thought to herself.
'...Huh, I guess the reward was pretty bad?'
If he had gotten a really good item, it would usually show on his face.
At the very least, a Hero-grade item's value was immeasurable in money.
'It probably wasn't below Hero grade, but it might not have met his expectations...'
However, Lee Hyun-wook's inner thoughts were completely different from her assumptions.
'...This is a much bigger jackpot than I thought.'
After returning to his lodging, Lee Hyun-wook took out the item he had 'imprinted' on his wrist.
It was a circular throwing weapon, a 'chakram'.
[Item Information]
- Name: Sudarshana (Legendary)
- Effects
1) Returning: Returns to the owner upon command.
2) Chakra Emission: Emits powerful energy along its flight path when thrown.
3) Chakra Explosion: Rotates at super-high speed at a single point, unleashing destructive energy.
First, the item 'Sudarshana' was something he had expected.
He had come all this way for it in the first place.
'If I use this well, I can create a weapon with absurd firepower.'
And with it, he could deal a significant blow to the Black Orc Kingdom.
But Lee Hyun-wook himself didn't know what other items would drop.
Then, a truly unexpected stroke of luck came his way.
Lee Hyun-wook took something out of his pocket.
It was a stick-like object that, at first glance, looked like a tree branch.
And there were two of them, not one.
[Item Information]
- Name: Superior Replica (Special)
- Effect: Mimics an item of Hero grade or lower, reproducing it with 50% of its effects. (Cannot be modified)
"To get two of these at once..."
This result was incredibly surprising, even for Lee Hyun-wook.
Without hesitation, Lee Hyun-wook took out Moglay from the AD-1's subspace.
'There's really no other item to apply this to besides Moglay.'
- Superior Replica will mimic the 'target item (Moglay)'!
*Vwoom—*
The two 'Superior Replicas' began to glow, gradually increasing in size.
And the next moment, three greatswords manifested before Lee Hyun-wook's eyes.