Chapter 136
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 136
Chapter Title: Necromancer, an Endless Clash - 1
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The potent power of death that had swiftly consumed Ganghwa Island...
...was first detected, surprisingly, by someone outside the island.
*'Huh? What? What's happening right now?'*
It was the Saintess, Emilia Müller.
As per Lee Hyun-wook's suggestion, she had been waiting on Laputa. While there, she attempted to sense and commune with the divinity of Ganghwa Island's sacred tree, the Shindansu, and as a result, she detected the power of death secretly burgeoning.
*'…Something is opening up on Ganghwa Island, isn't it?'*
She was sensitive to powers of the 'dark' element. Since the very source of her power stemmed from their suffering, her senses could be likened to those of a hunter tracking its prey.
*'This is the power of death… How can it be this strong?'*
This time, however, she felt her heart tremble like a hunter facing a beast.
That was how intensely the dense aura of darkness was skillfully encroaching upon the southern part of Ganghwa Island.
She judged that at this level, even Lee Hyun-wook would likely be unable to overcome it.
*'I have to help.'*
She exhaled slowly, opened her eyes, and rose from her seat.
"Peter, how long would it take to get to Ganghwa Island if we leave right now?"
At her words, Peter Clark's eyes widened.
"Pardon? What do you mean all of a sudden?"
Yeo Sang-min, who was standing nearby, interjected, waving his hands dismissively.
"Hey now, it's dangerous on Ganghwa Island. There's a battle going on."
"I know that. But something terrible is about to happen, and everyone could die."
Her claim, for now, seemed rather baseless and far-fetched. Yeo Sang-min frowned and stared into the air.
He was checking the vision of his distant clone.
"Hmm, my clone is there, so I'm watching, but… I don't see anything like that happening."
What he was seeing was Lee Hyun-wook fighting the James Bernard from the future.
And since Lee Hyun-wook was beating him one-sidedly, no major crisis was apparent.
"Emilia, are you alright? You haven't touched a drop of alcohol since yesterday…"
This time, even Peter Clark chimed in, seeming to doubt her.
As both men refused to readily believe her, Emilia Müller's face crumpled.
"Ah— are you saying I'm not in my right mind because I'm not drinking?"
"Ah, no, that's not it! I just meant it's unusual, yes!"
"Is there anyone here who can sense dark-element powers better than me? Huh?"
To that, no one could argue.
"It's not that, but… didn't Steel Rain himself say it was dangerous and that you should wait?"
"Even if I hide and survive, if everyone there gets wiped out, it's game over anyway. If Lee Hyun-wook dies, all our future plans become useless. You know that, right?"
Her fierce determination meant no one could stop her.
In the end, Peter Clark picked up his sword and shield and ordered his adjutant to prepare for departure.
"Emilia, but it will take at least thirty minutes to get there."
Even flying in a straight line through the sky would take some time.
"No, that will be too late."
"But there is no faster way at the moment."
At that moment, her eyebrows twitched violently.
"Damn it… It's already starting."
She could feel the Shindansu beginning to groan, enveloped by the power of death.
Had there ever been a being who wielded such a powerful authority of death before?
Whatever it was, she was the only one who could stand against this authority of death.
"Then there's only one way."
She pulled an item from her clothes.
[Item Information]
- Name: World Bridge (Special)
- Effect: Infusing it with mana opens a wide-area teleport gate to a 'registered location'.
It was a return item personally crafted by Donald Harry, the administrator of the World Tree.
"I'm returning to the Saint Dome right now."
“Ah, don't tell me…”
"Yes. Tell them to prepare the entire force for deployment."
As Emilia Müller spoke, someone approached from behind her.
"Then please take us with you."
The voice belonged to Kim Se-hee. Behind her stood Park Jun-mo and Lee Jeong-jun.
***
Since the world turned into a game, sudden disasters called events had occurred frequently.
Thus, Players were people for whom facing unexpected situations had become routine.
"...But still, there should be a 'predictable range'! What the hell is this bullshit development!"
someone screamed in despair.
No one had expected to be surrounded by an undead legion right after the war ended.
"Damn it, we're completely blocked in by that fucking black smoke!"
The white aura emanating from the Shindansu, the sacred tree, had formed a 'sacred shade'.
Within it, 87 domestic and international support Players and 91 A.M.T. soldiers were gathered.
Getting poisoned by the surrounding black smoke, the 'Breath of the Abyss', would result in a massive debuff.
Of course, that alone wouldn't kill them, but the problem was the undead legion lurking within it.
"Crazy… They're swarming like a colony of ants. I-Is this for real?"
a marksman-class Player said, using a clairvoyance skill to peer through the smoke.
*Clatter— Clatter—*
From almost every direction, the undead legion was approaching.
The shadows stopped at a certain distance and formed ranks like a Roman legion.
This meant they were a systematic army under intelligent control.
"Damn it, so how many of them are there in total?"
"That… I can't tell."
“Hmm? You can't see that far?”
"No, I mean they're countless."
The Black Orcs who had fallen in the previous battle had all risen as undead.
At this rate, breaking through on the ground was practically impossible.
"Hah..."
Even for Players who had been through thick and thin, this situation was terrifying.
"B-But this tree, it's a transcendent-grade object, so shouldn't it be able to hold out?"
“Well, it's not the World Tree, and it only just appeared… This place will be conquered soon enough.”
He was right. The shade of the sacred tree was like an 'air pocket' in a sinking ship.
For now, it provided a space to breathe, but it was bound to disappear soon...
"We've received word that the troops waiting in northern Ganghwa Island have departed!"
However...
*Clatter! Clatter!*
Soon, the clamorous sound of bones clashing echoed from all directions, growing louder and louder.
And above the black mist, green glints of light began to appear one by one, growing more intense.
It seemed… that hoping to survive until outside help arrived was a futile wish.
Just then, a voice rang out from above.
"—Everyone, snap out of it and prepare for battle!"
The one who shouted was Kang Seo-yoon.
She was standing atop Prydwen, which floated above the Shindansu.
“Why are you all dazed? This is familiar territory! Tankers to the front, Priests to the back!”
As if snapping back to their senses, spirited voices rose from all around.
"That's right, we're not amateurs. Let's give them a real fight!"
"Yeah, we're not the type to get scared by a situation like this, are we?"
These people, who until the last war had acted individually to secure their own gains, began to move as a single team. The crisis they now faced was one that demanded nonpartisan cooperation.
"Alright! Marksmen, prepare your skills and wait for my command!"
And the famous Foxy, Kang Seo-yoon, was undoubtedly a trustworthy commander.
She was South Korea's 4th ranked Player and the master of the Zmeun-narae Guild.
Besides, hadn't she also been the supreme commander of the 4th Wave response headquarters?
However...
*Clatter! Clatter!*
Even as the presence of the undead legion drew near, she did not give the order to fire.
She hadn't even drawn her own bowstring… The Players' breathing grew heavier.
"Hey, what in the world are you waiting for?"
someone finally asked impatiently.
At that, a large man standing in the tanker line snapped his head around and retorted sharply.
“Ah— if you've got no sense, just shut up and wait, will you?”
He was Han Tae-san.
"......."
The man considered virtually the world's strongest bruiser… The Players dared not argue.
Meanwhile, Han Tae-san tilted his head up slightly and glanced somewhere.
Only then did a few Players realize what he meant they had to wait for.
"Ah… It's Steel Rain! He's preparing a big one."
In the sky, Steel Rain's weapons were moving like a flock of seabirds that had spotted a school of sardines.
And the moment his left hand pointed toward the ground, the steel weapons plunged vertically downward.
"Yeah, here it comes!"
*Swoosh—swoosh—swoosh—swoosh—swoosh—!*
At that instant, a black dome formed over the heads of the undead legion.
“Huh?”
“Ah!”
Those who had faced the demon army at Jeju International Airport knew what that was.
The wide-area defensive barrier skill conjured by the Death Priests was not easily pierced.
In other words, if they had blindly unleashed their attacks, most of their firepower would have been absorbed by that barrier—
But if the weapons imbued with a full three stages of holy power by 'Argetlam' were at the forefront...
*Cra—a—a—a—ck—!*
The black dome, struck dozens of times per second, finally shattered.
In other words, an 'opening' to pour in firepower had been created.
At that very moment, Kang Seo-yoon drew her bowstring and opened her mouth.
“Fire—!”
At her shout, all the Players unleashed the skills they had charged.
All sorts of skills tangled together, painting the sky in a myriad of strange colors.
They traced different trajectories as they poured into the space where the dome had been.
*BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—!*
The immense explosive pressure pushed back the Breath of the Abyss, clearing their line of sight.
Hundreds of undead could be seen being swept away, toppling over and shattering.
Following that, Lee Hyun-wook's steel weapons began to tear through the inside of the dome.
In just a few tens of seconds, they succeeded in completely wiping out the undead that had approached.
"Kuh… Seriously, Steel Rain's firepower is something else!"
“Alright, a rain of steel should be enough to wipe out the undead legion!”
Before long, vitality began to bloom on the Players' faces.
They felt that this was possible.
But...
*Tssstststs—*
A strange sound, like the whisper of a malevolent spirit, echoed softly...
*Clatter— Clatter—*
Green light bloomed from all directions, and the shattered bodies of the undead began to reassemble.
"Huh? Weren't those all weapons imbued with holy power?"
"Th-That's right! To the eyes of a Priest like me, I can see it…"
It was generally known that holy power neutralized the power of darkness.
*'That's true. The two attributes are like fire and water.'*
But if the fire is overwhelmingly strong, it will instead vaporize the water and flare up again.
Similarly, no matter how much holy power is used, it cannot win if the power of darkness is too great.
Of course, if this situation were repeated, the corpses themselves would eventually be completely purified...
But it was unknown just how many times they would have to be 'retired' for that to happen.
*'And most importantly, there are too many corpses around here right now.'*
A battlefield piled with corpses after a fierce battle is the optimal environment for a Necromancer.
In short, the corpses are constantly 'refilled', ensuring his forces never run dry.
This meant a Necromancer on a battlefield was not a being that could be defeated through a simple contest of strength.
So, what was the best way to defeat one?
Lee Hyun-wook knew it well.
*'There it is.'*
At that very moment—something was caught by Hugin's senses.
The moment he had unleashed his barrage and retired a significant number of the undead legion—
—he sensed a powerful death magic being activated from somewhere far away.
It was undoubtedly the 'Death Priests' who had hidden themselves after appearing.
*'But are they the only ones?'*
However, they were not what Lee Hyun-wook was looking for.
He once again amplified his senses and scanned the area.
But he couldn't find anything.
*'…Don't tell me, the Necromancer isn't here?'*
The surest way to end this undead legion was to kill the 'caster'.
In other words, the Necromancer… if he tore that bastard to shreds, the undead legion could not be revived.
*'For that purpose, I have four Mogleis floating high in the sky.'*
To slam all four of them right on top of the bastard's head...
But the bastard himself didn't seem to be here.
*'It means he's already grown strong enough to transfer his authority to his subordinate generals…'*
If he had distributed his power among several vassals, the strategy of targeting the main caster would be nullified.
*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Just then, black spheres shot up from somewhere within the Breath of the Abyss.
Checking with Hugin's senses, he saw Troll Skeletons firing some kind of cannon.
They exploded in the sky—between the AD-2s.
*'Damn it...'*
Lee Hyun-wook reacted quickly, but seven AD-2s were caught in the attack and melted away.
*Chiiii—*
*'…First, I have to counter with firepower.'*
As he had judged earlier, he didn't have the luxury of singling out and eliminating the main caster right now.
If he acted too cautiously, the shade of the sacred tree would eventually be overrun.
This fight… was extremely disadvantageous. For Lee Hyun-wook, it was because he had something to protect.
*'They're probably targeting the Shindansu this time, not me.'*
Now that they knew the Shindansu had appeared here, they intended to nip it in the bud.
Because if Lee Hyun-wook were to also embrace divinity, he would become an even bigger nuisance.
*'Right, I'll make sure that happens…'*
Lee Hyun-wook stretched out both hands and brought down all the metal he had floating in the sky at once.
And he moved them like a wave, crashing them head-on into the undead legion.
*KWA—GWA—GWA—GWA—GWA—GWA—!*
Harsh collision sounds echoed from all directions, and sparks flew.
The Necromancer's undead legion, even when torn and shattered, was enveloped in green smoke and rose again.
Lee Hyun-wook's steel weapons, even when broken and bent, melted down and reformed into one before soaring back up.
The metallic smell of blood and rot from the corpses, mixed with the acrid scent of burning iron, blanketed the battlefield.
*KWA—GWA—GWA—GWA—GWA—GWA—!*
Like that, the fierce clash repeated endlessly, as if it would never end.
"This is… a battle of infinity versus infinity."
someone said.
Like the clash of an unquenchable fire and an infinitely supplied stream of water,
it was a battle of strength versus strength, where neither side would yield.
But there is no such thing as eternal symmetry.
Eventually, the balance had to tip to one side.