Chapter 200
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 200
Chapter Title: Super Gap, The Prelude - 2
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“Damn it… You haven’t called on me in ages, and now you’re just making me dig dirt?”
A round sphere, Maru, floated before Lee Hyun-wook’s head, grumbling as it emitted mana.
Above them, clumps of dirt rained down with a pattering sound. A closer look revealed that the entire ceiling was convecting like water.
“It’s what you do best, isn’t it?”
“What? Are you saying digging dirt is my specialty? Are you looking down on me right now?”
“No… I think you’re just being insecure. You should take some pride in your abilities. You’re not just digging dirt; you’re moving a mountain.”
Lee Hyun-wook retorted while collecting a few items from Jang Jun-geol’s bisected body, including the ‘Ruyi Bang’.
‘The Ruyi Bang… to think it would just fall into my lap.’
“…Hmph, fine. But can you please stop stuffing me in that sub-space? Do you have any idea how suffocating it is in there? I hate being confined.”
“Sorry about that, but I need your help for things like this. Who else is as useful for this kind of operation?”
The creature was an intelligent spirit, but it was also an item, making it perfect to store in the sub-space and take out when needed.
*Rumble—*
Just then, a thirty-something-meter-long tunnel was carved out above them, and along with the sunlight, several voices began to trickle in.
Lee Hyun-wook grinned.
“See? You’re the best in this field. If it weren’t for you, it would have taken hours to escape.”
Lee Hyun-wook continued to soothe Maru. The spirit had a history of rampaging on its own and possessed a strong trauma regarding humans, so its mental state needed careful management.
‘This one will be a great help until the very end, but it’s in a contractual relationship with me, not my subordinate…’
And his efforts seemed to be working to some extent.
“Hmph, well, I guess I am pretty good.”
Lee Hyun-wook floated up and out through the tunnel.
A devastated mountain landscape unfolded before him.
A single Moglay drop had collapsed a peak, triggered a landslide, and drastically altered the terrain.
The mountain path he had walked was now buried under a pile of rocks, and hundreds of trees lay uprooted and scattered about.
This was the power of a 100-ton mass weapon.
‘At this rate… if I apply the Holy Sword effect to a Moglay and fire it with the Gauss Gun, I might even be able to take out the Flower of Death in one shot.’
Of course, they would try to prepare for that.
As Lee Hyun-wook floated over a few rock piles, he saw the Hope Guild members gathered in a relatively open area. They were in the process of subduing and binding the members of the <Jin> Guild.
Several airships hovered overhead, and a significant amount of mana was spreading out from pillar-like objects protruding from their topsides.
*Wooooo—*
It was a wide-area mirage magic to conceal the area, as well as a silence spell.
In other words, the outside world would be completely unaware of the commotion happening here.
After asking Maru to pick out and retrieve the ‘Mana Backflow Stones’ from the underground tunnel, Lee Hyun-wook ignored its grumbling and approached Kim Se-hee.
“Ah, you’re finally out!”
Meanwhile, Alain Gide was kneeling before her, his hands and feet bound and a gag in his mouth.
As Lee Hyun-wook approached, Kim Se-hee removed the gag, and the man immediately shrieked with a frantic expression.
“—Damn it! It’s a, a misunderstanding! H-Hey, Steel Rain… I genuinely have no idea what’s going on! I know I bear some responsibility for how this turned out, but… I was deceived, too! I had no idea they would pull a stunt like this!”
“Think about it, how much have I invested in you until now? Would I really orchestrate something like this? So, let’s just talk this out calmly. Then all the misunderstandings will be cleared up.”
Despite his desperate pleas, Lee Hyun-wook noticed the man’s eyes constantly darting around, scanning his surroundings.
Such a reaction usually occurred when one was looking for an escape route or waiting for someone to come to the rescue.
“Hmm…”
Lee Hyun-wook thought the latter was more likely.
“…There’s someone else around here, isn’t there?”
At Lee Hyun-wook’s question, Alain Gide’s eyes wavered.
“Uh, pardon? What are you talking about…?”
Lee Hyun-wook immediately sent ‘Hugin’ and ‘Munin’ into the air.
- The <One-Eyed King’s Insight> set (2/2) has been activated!
- While Hugin and Munin are active, all senses are amplified by up to 80 times. Additionally, you can ‘see through’ objects of a certain density and volume, and you can perceive the form of any entity if you detect powerful mana.
It didn’t take more than a few seconds.
“…Found you.”
Far away in the forest, between the trees and under the fallen leaves, Lee Hyun-wook spotted a single Player using stealth magic.
- Player (LV: 63)
- Villain
He slowly raised the Ruyi Bang in his hand.
[Item Information]
- Name: Ruyi Jingu Bang (Legendary)
- Effects
1) Expansion: When mana is infused, the Ruyi Bang’s size changes by 1cm per 1 mana.
2) Victorious Fighting Buddha: Every 5 minutes after a battle begins, all stats increase by 10% and barrier value increases by 5%.
‘This is a weapon that suits me perfectly.’
Being made of metal, it was easy for him to control, and the Ruyi Bang’s unique size-changing ability was dependent on the amount of mana. Since Lee Hyun-wook possessed an overwhelming amount of mana—
‘—I can extend and retract the Ruyi Bang more freely than anyone else.’
As Lee Hyun-wook infused it with mana, its length and volume increased in an instant, parting the air and creating a gust of wind.
*Hwoong—!*
“Hah!”
Even Kim Se-hee, who was standing right next to him, jumped back in surprise.
“…Wow, damn, I thought a high-speed train just passed by.”
*CRASH—!*
It extended for hundreds of meters, crossing the valley and slamming into the opposite mountainside. The impact crushed five or six ancient trees like trampled weeds.
Then, as Lee Hyun-wook moved his hand—
*Ruuuumble—!*
A long scar was carved into the massive mountain. It was like drawing a line on a green canvas with a giant brush.
“G-Good heavens…”
It was an overwhelming display of power, different from the Moglay.
While the Moglay focused explosive force on a single point, the Ruyi Bang crushed a much wider area.
“Wow—it’s like you’re shaving the mountain.”
Kim Se-hee’s description felt quite apt.
“Alright, got him.”
Lee Hyun-wook floated over toward the Ruyi Bang. He lifted it slightly, revealing a figure lying prone amidst the splintered trees.
“Keuk—”
It was a man wearing a strange purple mask.
As expected, Lee Hyun-wook recognized him.
‘…Isn’t that Viktor Gagarin?’
He was a mental manipulation-type Player who used ‘Telepathy’ or ‘Mind Control,’ much like Gordon Price, and was one of Price’s key associates.
‘He must have been sent here as a lookout. For him to be on-site himself… the Villains must be getting desperate.’
Given the immense damage Lee Hyun-wook had inflicted, it was no wonder they were running out of people.
Lee Hyun-wook extended a hand toward the man.
But the man also extended a hand toward Lee Hyun-wook…
*Woong—*
In that moment, a strange shimmer obscured his vision, accompanied by a peculiar headache and nausea. And just like that, Viktor Gagarin’s form vanished before his eyes.
‘…Damn it, it’s a hallucination.’
Lee Hyun-wook realized he was under a status effect. Unlike typical debuff skills, there was no warning system message.
As a true mind control skill, it was designed to go unnoticed by the target.
However, while it might deceive Lee Hyun-wook’s eyes, it couldn’t fool Hugin and Munin floating in the sky.
Lee Hyun-wook quickly transferred his senses to the two magitech crows, mobilizing all his other senses besides sight, and…
*Rustle— Rustle—*
He soon detected a faint presence and pinpointed the man’s location.
In that instant, a Pale Note shot out from Lee Hyun-wook’s hip—
*Thwip—*
—and pierced straight through the man’s thigh.
“Kuh!”
The man lost his balance, rolled on the ground, and finally collapsed face down.
Metal generated from Lee Hyun-wook’s palm, forming into something like barbed wire, and began to wrap around the empty space.
Lee Hyun-wook lifted the man up and pulled him forward.
“Damn, it… I never thought Hugin and Munin would be this powerful…”
Lee Hyun-wook approached the man, taking out a glass bottle. He then poured its contents directly onto the man’s head.
*Chiiii—*
It was holy water imbued with the Saintess’s purification skill, capable of dispelling latent spells.
- (!) The ‘Latent Magic’ affecting you has been purified.
“You can’t die as you please now.”
“So if you want to make the last memory of your life even slightly less painful, it would be best for you to cooperate as much as possible.”
***
Above the clouds, the Fridwen and other airships floated.
And inside the Fridwen…
“Oh! Found it.”
Kim Se-hee, who had been searching the two Villains, exclaimed.
She held something out to Lee Hyun-wook.
“It was on that creepy guy with the mask.”
It was a Mana Messenger.
Kim Se-hee came closer and asked in a low voice.
“But can you really find the Demon King’s castle with this? It just looks like a regular Mana Messenger to me.”
“Yes, it is just a regular Mana Messenger.”
“…Huh?”
“But because it’s a regular Mana Messenger, it has flaws, and we can exploit them.”
“Um… isn’t the Mana Messenger the most secure communication channel there is?”
She still looked puzzled.
“You know that this Mana Messenger is also a magitech item, right?”
“Yes, I know that much.”
The ‘Mana Messenger,’ commonly used worldwide today, wasn’t an item that could be farmed from monsters but a magitech item developed by humans. When it first came out, it caused a massive sensation.
Before that, every time a gate-induced mana disturbance occurred, all electronic devices would be paralyzed, causing major disruptions in communication.
“In that case, since we now have the highest level of magitech, we should be able to hack the Mana Messenger… and track its location.”
As he spoke, Lee Hyun-wook brought out a large box.
Inside was a complex, rectangular machine with several mana stones plugged into its center, seemingly for power.
Lee Hyun-wook connected the Mana Messenger to it.
*Click—*
‘I had them develop this a long time ago, thinking it might be useful someday, and they did a proper job.’
Lee Hyun-wook, having some knowledge of the history of magitech, had been guiding the blacksmiths’ technological advancement by providing them with blueprints.
“Ah, so… it’s a similar principle to tracking a phone’s location?”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded and used his own Mana Messenger to contact someone. The recipient was Kang Jeong-du, the research director who had developed this device.
After explaining the current situation, he requested a mana trace.
- Yes, I can start the trace right away, but it will take about 30 seconds, so please stay connected.
The device extracts the mana pattern of another Mana Messenger that has connected with this one at least once, then attempts to automatically connect to it.
Then, like a radio wave, the mana propagates in a wave, and dozens of magic satellites in orbit detect its flow to pinpoint the coordinates.
A moment later, the results came in.
- The Mana Messengers that have communicated with this one are spread across three locations: Egypt, Pyongyang, and Northern California.
“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”
Lee Hyun-wook immediately contacted Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun.
“Team Leader Lee, please drop ‘Mana Measurement Devices’ at the three locations I’m about to give you. And please detect for the ‘Power of Death.’”
Lee Hyun-wook relayed the three locations, and Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun immediately controlled the mana satellites to drop the ‘Mana Measurement Devices’ at those spots.
About an hour passed, and the results came in.
- …The locations where the Power of Death was detected by the Mana Measurement Device’s divinity filter are Northern California and Pyongyang, North Korea. A total of two places.
He didn’t know why the Power of Death was detected in two places at once, but the place with the strongest concentration—Northern California—was highly likely to be where the Necromancer, and thus the Demon King’s castle, was located.
And as far as Lee Hyun-wook knew, there was a massive underground burrow of the Ancient Drake species in the mountainous region of Northern California.
‘He might have built the Demon King’s castle there to defend against my low-orbit Moglay drops.’
But there was one puzzling point.
Why, of all places, was the Power of Death also detected in Pyongyang?
‘He’s plotting something close to me.’
Lee Hyun-wook asked Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun to investigate those two areas as thoroughly as possible.
In any case, they had now managed to pinpoint the location of the Demon King’s castle.
“…Did you really find the Demon King’s castle with just that?”
The one who spoke was Viktor Gagarin. He was completely bound, looking at Lee Hyun-wook with a smirk.
*Crack!*
Lee Hyun-wook flicked a steel ball, hitting the man in the mouth, and three or four teeth clattered to the floor.
“Keok!”
“Seeing you smile so carelessly in front of me… did you think I’d be as benevolent as the heroes in stories just because I have the Hero’s Privilege?”
“Keuk… not really, but you’re even less of a gentleman than I thought.”
“If you open your mouth one more time… I won’t just break the rest of your teeth. I’ll drive steel pins into them and twist them out, one by one.”
At that, Alain Gide, who had been standing beside him, quickly shut his mouth and slightly bowed his head.
However, Viktor Gagarin, despite spitting blood from his mouth, showed no intention of staying quiet.
“I heard where that being called the Demon King came from.”
“So it made me wonder, could it be that you’re from there too?”
“Hehehe—my gut tells me I’m probably right. How else could you accomplish such overwhelming feats? And especially this magitech… how on earth could you achieve such overtechnology?”
Lee Hyun-wook generated a wire from one hand and approached the man. But the man only grew more excited, his voice booming louder.
“But, no matter how great you are, your fundamental starting point seems different from that Demon King fellow… You will never be able to attack the Demon King’s castle. In the end, the castle will be completed, and the Demon King’s legion will multiply endlessly! You are destined to lose!”
Lee Hyun-wook flicked his fingers, and the wires moved like snakes, forcing the man’s mouth open and digging into his teeth.
“Kuh—kuh—kuh—”
*Creak— Crack—*
Just as he was pulling out the fourth tooth, Lee Hyun-wook’s Mana Messenger rang.
- *Kshh—* This is Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun.
“Yes, go ahead.”
- *Kshh—* As you requested, we conducted a detailed inspection of the North Korean region where a high concentration of the Power of Death was detected… and we have observed an unsettling phenomenon in Pyongyang.
“What is it?”
- It’s… something you should probably see for yourself. I’ll send you a video now.
Soon, a video arrived on Lee Hyun-wook’s smartphone.
It seemed to be filmed from the perspective of a ‘Fly Eye,’ likely dropped along with the detector in North Korea.
It sped through a half-ruined cityscape before entering a building. And…
*Gurgle— Gurgle—*
In the basement, something reddish-black was pulsating.
Soon, the Fly Eye activated its ‘Night Vision,’ and…
*Uwaaaahhh—*
It was a tangled mass of people… their torn, melted skin and organs had become a pulp, fused together into a single lump.
Strange geometric brands were seared onto their skin, and on the walls and floor, magic circles were spread out, seemingly drawn with their blood.
- That is the result of a search inside a building in Pyongyang where the Power of Death was radiating intensely, but I have no idea what it is.
However, Lee Hyun-wook knew what it was, and his expression instinctively soured.
‘…The work of demon worshipers. They’ve sided with the Demon King.’
For those insane anarchists scattered across the world, there could be no leader more appealing than the Demon King.
Just then, Viktor Gagarin spat out a dislodged tooth and, against all odds, started talking again.
“Ptooey! You won’t even be able to approach the Demon King’s castle in the first place. Everything you have to protect is on this land, isn’t it?”
Lee Hyun-wook reached out, grabbed Viktor Gagarin by the scruff of his neck, and lifted him up.
“…You’ve turned North Korea into a ‘Death Hive,’ haven’t you?”
“Keuk, you really do know everything, don’t you? Hehehe—then you must also know that a wave of death will soon surge into your world? The demon worshipers were boasting about how many sacrifices they made to prepare for it…”
North Korea, a land all but abandoned after the world turned into a game.
Some Players had become warlords and ruled society, but with administrative power at rock bottom, much of the territory had been overrun by monsters.
Any Player with a sane mind would attempt to escape rather than endure such a place, and North Korea had thoroughly transformed into a wasteland.
But there were those who sought out such a land: the demon worshipers.
This was because the entire world had once united to hunt down the faction that harbored such sinister conspiracies.
Lee Hyun-wook was aware of this fact, but…
‘They received the Demon King’s invitation this time and joined his side.’
That was a development even Lee Hyun-wook hadn’t predicted.
The horrific ritual known as a Death Hive was a gate created by weaving people together, and it would continuously summon zombies and ghouls until it was destroyed.
And things like that were probably set up all over Pyongyang… no, all over North Korea…
‘…An undead army will soon march south. And they will come relentlessly, day and night.’
There was only one way to stop it: find and destroy the Death Hives.
“…Steel Rain, the number of completed Death Hives is far greater than you can imagine. To stop them, you’ll need a considerable number of troops, even the Saintess, and you’ll have to put in some work yourself. Keukkeuk—can you afford to leave your post?”
Lee Hyun-wook gagged the man again and clicked his tongue in pity.
“…After getting beaten by me so badly, you still judge me so carelessly?”
“What?”
***
A short while later, the door to a hangar in Laputa opened.
*Thump!*
A sliver of light pierced the darkness, creating a path. Following it, a woman ran in hurriedly, a Mana Messenger pressed to her ear.
“—Yes, of course. It was already complete!”
It was Kang Hee-seol, and with a thoroughly excited expression, she began to operate some equipment.
A humming mechanical sound began to fill the hangar.
“Hehehe—it’s my masterpiece, the monster that represents Laputa, so you have nothing to worry about.”
She spoke with confidence, placing her hand on a giant lever.
“Do you know how many weapons are mounted on this baby? It’s insane. Twenty thousand bullets tempered with holy water, forty-four Saint Missiles made from the branches of the World Tree, and four Holy Light beam generators. And in its throat… ah, alright, alright. I can just text you the full list, right?”
Her hand pulled the lever.
*Clank—*
*Giiiiiiing—*
Immediately after, with the sound of rattling chains, a massive shadow rose behind her.
*Thud—*
White lights began to illuminate its body in tiers… and finally, two white optical lights pushed back the darkness.
*Thud—*
It was a heavily modified mechanical dragon.
*Clank— Clank—*
All over its massive frame, unidentified mechanical devices were attached, and they began to move noisily, drawing mana from the Dragon Heart.
It was obvious at a glance that all of them were weapons.
“…Ah, the pilot?”
Just then, a shadow appeared behind Kang Hee-seol.
*Clink— Clank—*
She turned her head and waved at someone standing at the hangar entrance.
“Ah! They just got here!”
It was none other than Seo Eun-ha.
Dressed in full plate armor, she entered the hangar with a helmet tucked under one arm.
She looked at the mechanical dragon standing in the darkness.
As a Dragon Knight, she could sense its ‘Dragon Heart.’
And…
- The ‘Dragon Riding’ skill has been activated. (The target dragon gains the ‘Divinity’ attribute under your influence.)
The holy bomber prepared by Lee Hyun-wook was awaiting its first sortie.