Chapter 194
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 194
Chapter Title: Preparations for the End, Total War - 2
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About two hours later, the emergency meeting concluded.
The Players gathered here resolved to cooperate across all factions to complete the <World Quest>.
Of course, there were surely many who, despite nodding in agreement now, would change their tune the moment they turned their backs.
Still, for Lee Hyun-wook, the significant increase in influential Players supporting him was a success in itself.
‘Now, I won't have to worry about the hero selection vote.’
Only 26 hours remained until the hero selection vote, with the results scheduled to be announced exactly one day later.
"Excuse me... I'd like to have a word..."
"Ahem, I'd like to join that conversation as well, if I may.”
Like this, quite a few Players requested an audience with Lee Hyun-wook.
They expressed their support for him and asked to discuss the 'investment' he had mentioned earlier.
"I believe I can be of great help in securing those military supplies.”
“The same goes for me! I've gathered quite a lot of material items, and I can give you the details later..."
They acknowledged Lee Hyun-wook's power and were strongly expressing their desire to align with him. Of course, Hyun-wook had no reason to refuse.
However, Lee Hyun-wook politely declined, suggesting they discuss such matters remotely, then returned to Prydwen and used 'Emergency Return' to travel to Laputa.
The reason for his haste was...
‘...They might still be targeting me even now.’
As the enemy's primary target, it wasn't wise for him to remain in one exposed location for long.
He also instructed Emilia Müller and Donald Harris, who would be the secondary targets, to stay inside Yggdrasil until he called for them.
'Now is the time to conserve everything and pour all our strength into the final battle.’
To forge weapons from all the world's resources.
And to make soldiers of everyone.
In other words, it was time to prepare for a 'total war'.
'We need to mobilize all our strength and churn out supplies to a degree that, looking back, will seem like overkill.’
Immediately after his emergency return to Laputa, he stood on the ramp door thousands of meters in the air and looked down at the ground.
Before him, the greatest magitech arsenal in history, built by this nation, the Republic of Korea, with an immense investment of resources—the <Taebaek Armory>—came into view.
“Wow—it's developed so much since I last saw it.”
"I know, right? It feels like we've been gone for decades..."
Behind him, Park Jun-mo and Kim Se-hee let out exclamations of awe one after another.
Dozens of massive factories built on the mountainside... Countless helicopters and trucks were lined up, heading in, and hundreds of personnel were inspecting the immense volume of supplies.
'And after bringing Laputa here and bestowing its blessing, productivity increased severalfold.’
The sight of so many production facilities operating at peak efficiency, mass-producing armaments, was truly breathtaking.
It was reminiscent of the United States madly churning out military supplies during World War II.
'Yes, investing in magitech from the very beginning was the right call. It feels like I've been diligently sowing seeds all this time, and now I'm finally reaping the harvest.’
Magitech, as it was called, would later be spoken of in the game-turned-world with the same reverence as the 'Industrial Revolution'.
In the era before it, much like a hunter-gatherer society, one had to wander from dungeon to dungeon inside Gates to find good items.
But after the development of magitech, the standard of Player equipment began to rise across the board.
'If the Necromancer from eight years in the future is a balance-breaker, then this level of magitech is on par with that future. That means... I can equip our allies with gear from eight years from now.’
After inspecting the <Taebaek Armory> using Hugin, Lee Hyun-wook went inside Laputa to meet Kang Jeong-du and Kang Hee-seol and receive a brief report on weapons production.
“...So far, 43 small 180-ton airships, 33 medium 350-ton airships, and 11 large 2,450-ton airships, which can be used as transports for the Colossi, have been constructed, and all have completed their flight tests. However... about 44 of them, though complete, cannot be deployed due to a shortage of flight stones and mana engines.”
The old man, who had seemed so frail he might collapse at their first meeting, was now brimming with a youthful vitality. And his once-slow speech had become businesslike and precise.
This was because his physical abilities had gradually improved as he leveled up working as a blacksmith Player; he could now reportedly carry parts weighing several hundred kilograms on his shoulder.
"Those missing supplies will be provided soon. The whole world will be helping us now.”
“Oh, I see.”
He smiled as if he had expected as much, then continued his report.
"Ah, and we've completed a total of 21 Colossi, but their AI is still low-grade, so they're a bit... simple-minded. We looked into it, and it seems that if we build a central command core, we can issue orders to them all at once. It's still in development, but we should be able to demonstrate it soon.”
Next, Kang Hee-seol stepped forward as if it were her turn and began to chatter.
“Now, now—the most important thing here is that my demon-forged dragon is nearing completion! Well, it still has a few bugs, but I'll be able to officially unveil it soon!”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded.
"Yes, that's all good. A war will soon be upon us, so I'd appreciate your hard work until then.”
Besides the two of them, Lee Hyun-wook also went around encouraging the other blacksmith Players.
After that, Lee Hyun-wook sought out Soiller Widebeer, the leader of the Gray Mountain Dwarves.
He was in his workshop drinking a beer, but he hastily hid the mug when Lee Hyun-wook arrived.
“Ahem—”
Lee Hyun-wook pretended not to notice and held out an item to him.
"Oh—isn't this a Legendary-grade item? I don't know why you're giving it to me, but my heart is already pounding!"
He wiped the soot from his hands on his trousers, then slowly examined the 'Sudarshana' Lee Hyun-wook offered.
"Can you use that to build me a great cannon? The biggest cannon in the world.”
“Ooh—”
At Lee Hyun-wook's words, his nostrils flared.
Until now, Sudarshana had been used as Lee Hyun-wook's personal weapon. But in his past life, it had functioned as the 'Sudarshana Cannon,' a super-weapon mounted on Laputa.
'With a single shot, it sent the allied naval fleet to a watery grave...'
Lee Hyun-wook didn't know how it was made.
However, since it was the Gray Mountain Dwarf clan that had crafted it, he had faith that if he entrusted it to them, they would create something similar.
“Uahaha—with an item that holds this much firepower, something truly magnificent will be born! Yes, trust me with it. I'll create the greatest weapon imaginable!”
"And once that's complete, I'll give you a few more Legendary-grade weapons. Could you make more super-weapons with those as well?”
"Oh... yes, yes! If you're planning to create a legion of great ships and great cannons, just leave it to me! I'll pour my heart and soul into it and show you what I can do!”
***
Having finished a few tasks he had set aside, Lee Hyun-wook called for Talos on his way back to the Order Tower.
"Ah, Talos, where is Captain Seo Eun-ha right now?”
「Yes, I will check right away! Uh... she is currently identified as training in the 'First Surreal Training Grounds.'」
She had been confined to Laputa for quite a while. This was because she had to stay by the side of the dragon egg, which could hatch at any moment.
Though Lee Hyun-wook had contacted her from time to time to check in, it bothered him to keep a Player as dedicated as her idle in a place like this.
As far as he knew, Seo Eun-ha was the type who was only satisfied when she was on the front lines of battle, and she hated watching fights on a TV screen from the safest place in the world more than anything.
'So she might be regretting her decision to follow me to Laputa, right?’
When Lee Hyun-wook scouted Seo Eun-ha, he had spoken grandly about her working on the conquest team he was planning, so he felt a sense of indebtedness.
He took the elevator to the 'First Surreal Training Grounds'.
With a *ding*, the elevator doors opened, and a cacophony of sounds immediately flooded in.
*BOOM— BOOM—*
Loud vibrations and the sound of something breaking... It seemed Seo Eun-ha was training.
Following the sounds around a corner, he saw a massive glass window. Beyond it lay a forest terrain.
The Surreal Training Grounds here used the 'World Stone' to create a virtual space identical to reality, allowing one to gain experience completely equivalent to a real battle.
And since experience was awarded for clearing each stage, it was an overpowered facility that allowed for safe stat growth.
*CRASH!*
Just then, Seo Eun-ha leaped out from behind a tree and rolled across the ground. She was clad in adamant full plate armor, holding a sword and shield.
- Player (LV: 79)
* Special Class (Dragon Knight)
'What, her level has shot up? Just how much has she been training...'
The last time he saw her, her level was 72. To reach 79 through surreal training alone... he couldn't imagine the amount of work she'd put in.
*CRACK—*
At that moment, a thick tree snapped at a right angle, and four ogres charged out from behind it. They began swinging ten-meter-long iron clubs at Seo Eun-ha.
*Groooowl—*
- Ogre Warrior (LV: 98)
- Twin-Headed Ogre (LV: 101)
- Ogre Warrior (LV: 98)
- Twin-Headed Ogre Champion (LV: 111)
*BOOM—!*
She rolled across the ground, dodging the iron club, and the spot where it landed caved in like a sinkhole.
Allowing even a single blow would have resulted in an instant training failure for most Players.
'Damn, she chose a pretty difficult stage.’
Lee Hyun-wook expected Seo Eun-ha to fail this stage.
Against a group of monsters of that level, while she might be able to endure as a tanker, it would be virtually impossible for her to engage and defeat them.
It was a limitation of the defense-oriented knight class, regardless of her skill.
But...
*Wooooo—*
"Huh?"
Weren't those red magic circles, completely unfitting for a holy knight, appearing around her body?
And from them, a giant mace and a long spear shot out, sweeping through three of the ogres and crushing the trees behind them.
*CR-CR-CR-CRASH—!*
Lee Hyun-wook watched the scene with a blank expression.
"That's... a skill the dragons used, isn't it?”
Yes, it was clearly dragon magic. A type of authority that could be used based on the Draconic Tongue.
'Why is Seo Eun-ha using that?’
In his past life, after the dragons were conquered, the Dragon Slayers began to craft items using dragon bodies.
However, they came to the conclusion that they couldn't utilize 100% of a dragon's body.
The reason was that a dragon's body required the use of draconic authority—the Draconic Tongue—to draw out its unique power.
'Ah, is that also a Dragon Knight ability?’
Come to think of it, the Dragon Knight from his past life had also used dragon magic.
But since they always fought while riding on a dragon's back, it would have looked like the dragon's power, not the Dragon Knight's.
'But seeing what Seo Eun-ha just used, the scope of a Dragon Knight's abilities seems much wider than I expected...'
If so, it seemed Seo Eun-ha would be more helpful in future battles than Lee Hyun-wook had anticipated.
'Even while I was away, everyone has been preparing everything on their own.’
Lee Hyun-wook realized he had felt a strange sense of security since coming to Laputa.
It was the same reliable trust he had felt for his comrades in his past life. But since regressing, he had rarely been able to feel it.
That was because he had monopolized everything and handled it all alone to change the failure of his past life.
But now, his comrades had started to pull their own weight... and he felt a strange sense of fulfillment.
Just then, the training session ended. The forest terrain vanished like smoke, leaving only an empty, circular space.
"Whew... huh?”
Seo Eun-ha, standing alone inside, turned her head and spotted Lee Hyun-wook outside the window.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and approached.
Then she unfastened the pieces of her adamant full plate armor one by one. The heavy chunks of metal fell to the floor with loud clangs.
*Clang— Clang—*
“...How long have you been spying on me?”
She opened the training ground door and came out, chugging from a water bottle.
“Anyway, should I stop calling you the Savior of Seoul and start calling you the Hero of Earth now?”
She said with a smirk, and Lee Hyun-wook frowned.
No matter how many times he heard it, he couldn't shake the cheap feeling of the word 'hero'.
"Well... the hero vote isn't even over yet. But Captain Seo, you seem completely different from the last time I saw you.”
"Huh? Me?”
She acted as if she didn't know what he meant, but the glint in her eyes showed she was pleased he'd noticed.
"Yes, I just saw you take out four ogres in a single blow. That's... stronger firepower than most A-rank mage Players, isn't it?"
At this, the corners of her mouth twitched up and down.
'She recently felt a sense of inadequacy and was disappointed in herself.’
When Lee Hyun-wook took her into the Paldalsan Dragon Labyrinth, she had been somewhat discouraged after seeing the skills of the Hope Guild members.
She must have trained hard since then, and she was surely happy with the clear results.
"Ah, well, I've just been unlocking Dragon Knight skills one by one. It definitely feels like my attack power has improved.”
Lee Hyun-wook chuckled and gave her a thumbs-up.
"By the way, where is the dragon egg?”
She pointed to one of the walls, where a stroller covered by a magic barrier was parked.
Lee Hyun-wook approached and checked the black egg.
But...
- (!) This egg is about to hatch. (87%)
‘Huh?’
His 'Insight Lens' could now confirm such detailed information.
'At this rate, it could hatch within a few days. A dragon imbued with divine power...'
Like this, things were progressing one by one, better than he had expected.
But just then, Talos's voice came through his earpiece.
「M-Master—there is an urgent message you must check immediately! The Demon King... has reportedly appeared on American soil!」
***
Lee Hyun-wook immediately returned to the Order Tower with Seo Eun-ha, and as soon as they arrived, Kim Se-hee spoke.
"That bastard has shown up again.”
She was pointing a finger at a monitor.
It was a TV news screen, apparently showing a satellite image, judging by the high-altitude view of a region.
- [LIVE] 'Demon King' Appears in California's Corroded Zone
"What? I thought you said America. It's the Corroded Zone in California?”
Lee Hyun-wook had rushed over, thinking the US mainland was under attack, but thankfully, that wasn't the case.
And this was a scene Lee Hyun-wook had anticipated.
Until now, the being known as the Demon King had been subjugating powerful monster groups scattered across the globe.
And at this point in time, the strongest monster group on Earth was undoubtedly the 'Ancient Red Drake' race born from the First Wave, so it was only natural for him to target them.
However, the reason for their shock was something else.
"Th-that... is that the Flower of Death?”
Kim Se-hee asked, pointing to one side of the screen.
The flying undead hovering over the wasteland were captured on screen... and among them, a colossal object, a single giant flower, boasted an overwhelming presence.
'...It's the Flower of Death.’
A few days ago, during his second clash with the Necromancer, the Necromancer of this dimension had also summoned it.
But its size was on a completely different level.
The Flower of Death he had faced then was an object with a diameter of about 30 meters at most... but this one was at least 2 kilometers wide, an overwhelming size.
Its purple petals drooped like a monster's tongue, and the plant roots at its base extended and writhed like the heads of a hydra.
'That's its final form. So, he finally managed to make it bloom.’
That was the Necromancer's mobile base, nicknamed the Laputa of Death.
The reason he couldn't summon it during his first appearance was likely because it required a great deal of life force as a sacrifice to bloom.
'He made it bloom much faster than I thought...'
Did he sacrifice the monsters he'd subjugated? In any case, the worst weapon the Necromancer could wield had now appeared in the skies of this world.
The black smoke spewing from near its roots was blanketing the California area like a fog, corroding all living things and causing them to rise again as beings under the dominion of death.
- ...The area engulfed by that black smoke has already reached 18 hectares, and the Ancient Red Drakes trapped within will die in a matter of minutes, eventually rising again as undead, according to the local observatory.
The TV news anchor said, then added in a lamenting voice.
- Yes, that... could aptly be called a mothership of death.
In response, Lee Hyun-wook held an emergency video conference with his closest confidants, including Emilia Müller, Donald Harris, and Woo Seong-mun.
They too looked shocked by the appearance of the Flower of Death, and Emilia Müller was the first to speak.
- That level of death energy... honestly, even I can't handle it. Ha, damn it, this is so annoying... Where the hell do things like that keep popping up from?
She spoke as if she was completely fed up.
- And inside such a concentrated force of death, even the holy sword might not be able to exert its full power. Hah... Unless we uproot Yggdrasil and throw the whole thing at it...
At her lament, Woo Seong-mun shook his head.
- ...It is literally a mothership of death.
Into this somber atmosphere, Lee Hyun-wook spoke up.
"Then, let's just make one of our own.”
- Excuse me?
- Huh?
"If that's a mothership of death, then let's make a holy mothership... or something like that. In fact, I was about to suggest this anyway."
Lee Hyun-wook said it lightly as if it were no big deal, and everyone's expressions filled with confusion.
- Uh... I don't see how we'd make that. Please explain.
"Well, we have Laputa, an aircraft larger than any other, don't we?”
At his words, Emilia Müller clapped her hands as if she understood.
- So you mean we should attach a holy relic to it and turn it into a mobile sanctuary, is that it?
"Yes, that's right.”
But she soon tilted her head with a doubtful expression.
- ...No, but the limitations are too clear. The most powerful extant holy relic is the Saint Dome, but even if we moved the entire Saint Dome, it wouldn't be able to dilute the death energy that disgusting flower is emitting.
Lee Hyun-wook shook his head at this.
“Besides that, we have an even bigger object.”
At this, Emilia Müller and Donald Harris spoke at the same time.
- Don't tell me, Yggdra—
—Are you talking about Yggdrasil?
Lee Hyun-wook nodded, then shook his head again.
“Uh... that one's too big... but there's another one on Ganghwa Island.”
That's right. The still-small divine tree, the Shindansu...
It existed as Lee Hyun-wook's property.
"......The Shindansu. We're going to transplant the whole thing onto Laputa."
- .......
"And as it happens, I have some friends who are horticultural experts and can handle that sort of thing.”