Chapter 206
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 206
Chapter Title: Assault on the Demon King's Castle - 5
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“…Zeus Ex Machina? What’s that?”
The question came from Seo Eun-ha. Since it was a question on everyone’s mind, all eyes turned to Lee Hyun-wook.
Lee Hyun-wook pointed to the mechanical dragon that had landed beside them and spoke.
“Like that mechanical dragon, it’s a weapon being secretly developed at Laputa’s research labs. Captain Seo might have seen it while coming and going from Laputa.”
“Ah… I think I might have…”
But Seo Eun-ha’s reaction suggested she wasn’t sure. Although she had lived in Laputa for a while, she hadn’t closely followed the projects the blacksmiths were working on. She had been solely focused on her ‘surreal training’.
“But what kind of weapon is it that you think can kill Titans or Black Orcs?”
This time, it was Edward Woods who asked.
“From what I heard, the number of enemies that appeared near the camp is in the thousands… Can it really stop them?”
He looked worried about his comrades back at the camp, beyond the uplifted mountain range.
The consensus among Edward Woods and the others was that if they didn’t help right now, their allies might not last more than a few minutes.
“Well, to be precise, its capabilities are more suited for delaying them, not killing them.”
“Pardon?”
“…What attribute do you think is best for subduing a large number of enemies without killing them?”
Brian Teal was the one who answered.
“According to big data, three come to mind.”
As the world’s top analysis-type Player, he presented the correct answer based on solid data.
“…Wind, ice, and electricity. In terms of mana consumption versus area of effect, their range is wider than any other, but their damage is the lowest. Ah, of course, their lethality can be maximized if the proficiency in each ability increases.”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded.
“At that camp, there are Players who have mastered two of those abilities, and magitech equipment is prepared to maximize their powers.”
Lee Hyun-wook slowly lifted one of the AD-2s into the air as he continued.
“To explain further, it’s similar to how my metal control ability is pushed to its maximum with these metal boxes.”
Lee Hyun-wook’s metal manipulation ability could be converted into extreme firepower thanks to the magitech-engineered ‘Air-Drop Device’ series.
“Ah… Are you talking about those two who are always with you?”
He meant Kim Se-hee and Park Jun-mo.
A wind spirit shaman and an electricity controller, respectively.
“Yes, that’s right. And as you all know, the one who controls electricity is what you’d call an S-rank Player. He’s also one of the most powerful weapons I can handle.”
Lee Hyun-wook held Park Jun-mo’s potential in high regard.
His ability, electricity, was ‘formless,’ traveled at the ‘speed of light,’ and was ‘projectile-based.’ And it even had area-of-effect damage called ‘electrocution’… which made it exceedingly difficult for enemies to block his attacks.
But for all its power, perhaps for the sake of balance, the method of growth was also quite difficult.
‘His method of growth is getting struck by natural lightning.’
So, they had sought out regions with severe weather, inducing lightning in all sorts of ways, and Park Jun-mo had been struck thousands of times.
The reason Park Jun-mo hadn’t been with Lee Hyun-wook for the past few weeks was also because he had been ceaselessly getting struck by lightning in preparation for the final war.
‘I feel a little bad, but it couldn’t be helped.’
And so, Park Jun-mo had grown several times stronger.
Strong enough to fill this entire area with electricity…
“So, he’ll buy us time.”
Lee Hyun-wook looked up at the volcano that had split the camp and their location in half.
He couldn’t see over the mountain with his own eyes, but through the transcendent senses of Hugin and Munin, he could detect a certain ‘vibration’ from the other side.
Thud—thud—thud—thud—
It was the sound of something pounding the ground thunderously, like a herd of stampeding water buffalo. He knew without seeing that it was the sound of the enemy’s footsteps, advancing toward the camp.
‘…Thirty minutes. He should be able to hold out.’
Even as he felt a terrible premonition, he trusted in the newly strengthened Park Jun-mo and Kim Se-hee.
He hadn’t predicted this exact situation, but he had left them at the camp to prepare for such a possibility.
Still, he couldn’t help the tightness in his chest.
He couldn’t see a thing from here.
And…
‘…I don’t know what other variables might arise.’
In fact, this very situation was an unforeseen variable for Lee Hyun-wook… If another one were to occur, his ability to respond was currently ambiguous at best.
Therefore, while he trusted Park Jun-mo and Kim Se-hee, he could only hope that luck was on their side.
***
The ‘camp’ served as a forward base for the assault on the Demon King’s castle, and 2,344 Players had currently arrived as the advance party.
About a fifth of them were combat personnel; the rest were tasked with supporting the upcoming battle.
For instance, blacksmiths, analysts, priests, and so on.
In other words, the camp’s current combat strength was remarkably weak.
Still, the battle was expected to take place about two to three kilometers away, so the Players at the camp believed they wouldn't be directly attacked.
Even if a flanking attack were to occur, they thought Steel Rain’s side would immediately come to their rescue.
So, the camp was currently maintaining minimal security while handling various preliminary tasks to support the impending battle.
But…
Rumble—rumble—rumble—!
The entire world twisted in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, the ground they stood on split apart, magma shot up, and the plains uplifted to form mountains.
A world-altering event.
That’s what you could call the drastic topographical change that had just occurred.
“Ugh— What’s happening all of a sudden?”
“…What happened to Steel Rain’s group?”
Even in the midst of that chaos, the first thing the camp’s Players thought of was inevitably Steel Rain’s party. Their very survival was tied to their existence.
But the uplifted mountain range blocked their view of Steel Rain’s group… and a chill ran down their spines.
In this godforsaken land, deep in enemy territory, how long could they last without Steel Rain’s direct protection?
But they didn't have long to ponder such things.
Rumble—rumble—rumble…
The world was shrouded in a hazy smoke, magma surged in like a tide, and fragments of rock, blasted into the air by explosions, began to rain down on the camp.
For now, they had to think about survival.
“Dammit— Get moving!”
“Don’t just stand there, do something!”
The scene might have been similar to the final moments witnessed by the residents of Pompeii.
In other words, it was a cataclysm powerful enough to wipe out this small camp in an instant, like a candle in the wind.
Just then—
By a hair’s breadth, at the last possible moment, a wide-area magic barrier deployed, covering the camp like a dome.
Vwoom—
Boulders the size of houses rained down on it one after another.
Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud—!
“Whoa, shit— What’s with this all of a sudden!”
The mage Players assigned to defend the camp, the so-called ‘Camp Guard’, had swiftly cast the wide-area magic barrier.
It was a good thing they had all been on high alert, as a battle with an undead army had been taking place nearby. If they had been even a moment later, the camp would have been annihilated.
“What in the world is going on?”
“…I don’t know what it is, but I have a feeling we’re screwed.”
Just then, a sharp voice blared from the loudspeakers set up around the camp.
- All troops, prepare for battle! All troops, prepare for battle!
The voice belonged to Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun.
He was the deputy to Director Woo Seong-mun, who was in charge of camp operations.
And he was urgently issuing a combat order.
Didn’t that mean something was approaching?
But for them, ‘battle’ was not part of the plan.
One by one, they raised their heads and scanned the area around the camp.
“Huh? What? A battle…?”
“…What’s about to happen?”
But the area was so thick with volcanic ash that their visibility was nil, making it impossible to even guess what was approaching.
However, even if they couldn’t see it, a growing roar…
Thud—thud—thud—thud—
The deep vibration sent a shiver down the Players’ spines.
Anyone could tell it was the sound of footsteps.
And it was the sound of something very large, and very numerous, drawing near.
Soon, shadows began to emerge one by one against the curtain of volcanic ash that surrounded them, and they grew larger and larger.
As the figures holding large shields and spears taller than themselves became clearer, the Players instinctively took a step back.
“Hah…”
One of them muttered under his breath.
“…T-Titans.”
Indeed. They appeared to be the man-eating giants, ‘Titan Hoplites.’ The same beings they had fought during the <Titanomachy>… but who had vanished along with the Demon King before the final siege.
They had appeared before humans once again.
Of all times, right here, right now.
“C-Can we stop them on our own?”
“…I don’t know. I think we’ll need Steel Rain.”
But that wasn’t all.
Graaaaah—
Beneath the giants’ feet, a mass of small, dark figures moved… no, they were only small in comparison; the burly creatures, much larger than humans, were none other than the Black Orc legion.
Moreover, mixed in among them were five-to-six-meter-tall Ice Trolls.
It was, quite literally, a monster army, surging toward them amidst the swirling volcanic ash.
“…”
No matter how they looked at it, and even if they tried to muster some courage, the Players here were not on a level to face them.
Weren’t they just a security force to begin with?
“W-We can’t stop them!”
The first to voice this truth was Antonina Grasso, the leader of the ‘Camp Guard.’
She was Italy’s 4th ranked Player, a staggering level 80.
In essence, she was the strongest person here.
Yet even she wasn’t confident she could easily take down a single one of the hundreds of Titan Hoplites approaching.
And now she had to fight a horde of them… It was madness. It was suicide.
“T-Team Leader, what should we do then?”
She hesitated for a brief moment before turning to her allies and issuing an order.
“—Listen up, everyone! Pour all your mana into the magic barrier to max it out right now, then take a mana potion and prepare to open a long-range portal. We have to get out of here!”
In the end, a full-scale retreat was the only answer.
However…
Screee—ee—ee—ee—
A deep scraping sound echoed from above her, and she instinctively looked up. She realized that the top of the magic barrier was tearing and slowly melting away.
Their only lifeline was being severed.
“…That’s a barrier-disintegration spell, isn’t it?”
It was a ridiculously overpowered skill that nullified magic barriers.
“Crazy, using such a garbage spell…”
She had only ever heard of it; this was the first time she had actually witnessed it.
Because it wasn’t a skill in the normal sense, but a part of black magic based on ‘human sacrifice.’
“Oh— I’m touched you recognize how expensive my magic is.”
A voice echoed from above, amplified by magic.
Lifting her head, she saw the volcanic ash covering the sky slowly thinning, revealing a single zombie hippogriff hovering there.
And she saw the woman riding it.
Many recognized who she was.
“Th-That human is Rachel Hardy…”
“The Witch of Manchester!”
The woman’s infamy was so great that everyone startled at the mention of her name.
Rachel Hardy was a vicious Red Player, known as the prime suspect in a series of massacres that had occurred in the UK over several years.
The so-called Witch of Manchester…
It was said that all her victims had been sacrificed as materials for black magic.
And now that woman had appeared as a vassal of the Demon King.
“Any of you want to become a part of my magic? I had to extract and combine about twenty souls to prepare this, but for a Player of your caliber, I think five would be enough.”
Rachel Hardy smirked and placed a hand on the zombie hippogriff’s head, and the monster began to lower its altitude.
At the same time, she raised her staff. A single ‘Fairy’ was attached to it like an ornament.
A red light emanated from the tiny mummy’s eyes, nose, and mouth. As if coming back to life, it opened its mouth wide and let out a small shriek.
Kieee—
A black sphere shot out and struck the melting magic barrier, causing it to dissolve even faster.
“Hehe— My choice was right after all! I’ve spent my whole life running from this dog-eat-dog world, but I always knew a moment like this would come! Now, you’re the ones who have to run, not me!”
Rachel Hardy shouted, ecstatic.
She was one of the first-generation black mages, who had endured the world’s persecution of dark arts and stubbornly survived in the shadows.
Then she found a benefactor in the Demon King and entered her golden age.
Eventually, the magic barrier completely collapsed.
“Now! Let’s go kill them all!”
At Rachel Hardy’s cry, the monster army advanced.
As a vassal of the Demon King, she had been granted authority to command 55 Titans and 644 Black Orcs.
Rumble—rumble—rumble—rumble—
Viewed from a distance, they would have looked like a herd of mongooses about to be trampled by a stampeding herd of water buffalo… no, elephants, kicking up a cloud of dust.
It was a perilous moment, yet the Players could neither fight nor flee in the face of approaching death.
“Uh…”
They realized that turning their backs and running now would be nothing but a futile struggle.
It was like being frozen in front of an oncoming truck.
It was then.
- Chk— All troops, brace for a gale.
That voice came through the mana messengers of Camp Guard Antonina Grasso and a few other key Players.
“Huh?”
- Chk— I repeat. Everyone. Get down. Now!
A woman shouted.
“—Everyone, get down!”
Not knowing what was happening, Antonina Grasso instinctively relayed the order.
The Players, one by one, and then all at once, dropped to the ground.
Vwoom—
In that instant, the air currents in the area completely shifted.
The wind, which had been thrown into disarray by the mountain’s upheaval and the volcanic eruption, began to flow in a single direction.
Toward the enemy lines.
Toward the monsters.
The winds began to flow like a river swollen by the monsoon rains.
Fwooo—shhhhh—!
A storm.
A wind powerful enough to be called a storm blasted from the upper rear, completely sweeping away the volcanic ash that had clouded the area.
Boulders sent flying by the volcanic eruption were lifted into the air again.
The fractured ground was lifted up whole.
And the magma that had been flowing this way reversed its course.
“Ugh! What is this!”
Rachel Hardy, who had been hovering in the sky on her zombie hippogriff, was also swept up in the gale, sent flying hundreds of meters away before crashing to the ground.
Smack—
She landed where magma was flowing, but she had enveloped herself in a magic barrier just before impact, so she wasn’t burned.
She crawled out of the magma, spitting curses.
“Shit— What is this! Where did this gale come from! Hurricane, Kodo Koshiro, isn’t supposed to be here, so why…”
Even the Titan Hoplites, who were over 15 meters tall and weighed hundreds of tons, stopped their advance, shielding themselves with their shields and planting their feet firmly.
Like people pushing through a typhoon, they could inch forward, step by step, but it could hardly be called an advance.
And the relatively smaller Black Orcs couldn’t hold their ground and were pushed back, some even tumbling across the ground.
The monster army’s march came to a sudden halt.
The wind pressure was that overwhelming.
Its source was…
Wheee—eee—eee—
Though muffled by the sound of the wind, a mechanical hum could be heard from somewhere… Rachel Hardy raised her head and traced the sound.
She spotted massive airships rising from various points in the camp.
“Huh? They should have been knocked out by the Mana Reversal Bomb…”
Before this battle began, Gordon Price had fired a ‘Mana Reversal Bomb’ to disable all magitech equipment.
But it seemed they had already been repaired and were functioning again.
Looking closely, she saw a circular device attached to the underside of the airships.
It was a device that looked like a turbine in a power plant. Or perhaps the jet engine of a fighter.
It was spinning at high speed, and massive blue magic circles bloomed above it, forcefully pushing all the air in the vicinity in one direction.
Fwooo—shhhhh—!
Because they were blasting out such a stormy wind, the airships were inevitably pushed backward by the reaction. It was like firing a thruster with immense output in the opposite direction.
Yet they didn't fly away completely but remained fixed at a certain altitude, because they were firmly tethered to the ground with ropes made from the ‘World Tree’s vines.’
“Ugh!”
“C-Can’t… breathe…”
And because all the air was being swept in one direction, there wasn’t enough oxygen left, and the Players began to suffer from shortness of breath.
But there was no stopping this attack.
“Heh— The secret weapon pays off big time again! So, how do you like it! A taste of Enlil’s Frenzy!”
The one shouting was Kang Hee-seol, wearing an oxygen mask.
Those storm-generating devices, ‘Enlil’s Frenzy,’ were also her design.
They were objects imbued with over a dozen hero-grade ‘Sylph’s Orbs’ gathered from all over the world, designed specifically to generate powerful winds.
That was how they made the impossible possible, blanketing such a vast battlefield with a storm.
Thud— Thud—
However, the Titan Hoplites, with their overwhelming weight, were stubbornly pushing through the typhoon and had now reached the vicinity of the camp.
Just then—
Swish— Swish—
Blood burst from their Achilles tendons and the backs of their knees. Something had sliced deeply through those spots, severing the tendons.
「Kuaaargh—」
And no matter how gigantic they were, even giants couldn't walk through a storm with their leg tendons cut.
They stopped advancing and finally collapsed helplessly.
Swish— Swish—
That was the sixth one.
In an instant, the Titan Hoplites were neutralized.
The one felling them, the small blade hidden within the wind, was a single woman.
The only being who could move freely on the wind.
Kim Se-hee, who had become the world’s greatest wind spirit shaman.
Whoosh—
“Hani— Let’s aim for the one on the right!”
Riding the wind paths opened by Hani within the powerful storm that no one else could defy, she flew at incredible speed.
Like gliding through a canyon wearing a jet suit.
She also wore a cloak made from the wing membrane of a black dragon, an item that allowed for even freer flight.
But as time passed, the Titan Hoplites began to detect her movements and chase after her.
Whoosh—
She had just narrowly dodged a massive hand.
“Ugh! Shit!”
If she wasn't careful, she could be crushed by a giant hand.
“Whoa— Whoa—”
Next, two hands flew toward her. She performed an acrobatic flight, narrowly weaving between the two hands as if passing through a narrow canyon.
She barely made it through, but she clipped a pinky finger, lost her balance, and spun in the air.
Thanks to Hani’s assistance, she quickly regained her balance.
But this was dangerous.
“How much longer do I have to hold out!”
She shouted.
Her mission, after all, was to buy time.
Then, Kang Hee-seol’s voice came through her earpiece.
- Final boss is launching soon. Just hold on a little longer!
About 30 seconds left!
In the meantime…
Clank—Clank—
At the center of the camp.
The fourteen airships, including the Prydwen, that were docked there started their engines all at once.
Thick cables were attached to their mana engine sections, all leading to a single point.
An enormous amount of power, mana, was flowing through those cables…
Vwooooom—
“Alright, starting up the Zeus Ex Machina!”
Kang Hee-seol shouted, pulling a lever on the control box.
Then—
Vwooooom—
A 25-meter-tall, deep blue metal giant, as if carved from a blue sapphire, rose to its feet.
Bzzzzzt—
Electricity could be seen arcing across its body.
A colossus, one of the pinnacles of magitech.
The best among them, Talos, was made of Orichalcum, and the mass-produced colossi made after it were Adamant.
So what was the body of that blue colossus made of?
Sky Iron.
It was a 1,558-ton metal giant made of ‘Sky Iron,’ a magical metal that generates electricity when imbued with mana, and various lightning-related orbs.
In other words, with a huge supply of mana, this 1,558-ton lump of Sky Iron could produce an unbelievable amount of electricity.
And its engine was none other than ‘Mjolnir’…
It was absorbing the mana from fourteen magitech engines and converting it into highly concentrated electrical energy.
Cra—ckle—bzzzt—!
Even without taking any action, electricity began to burst from its body, so intense that the ground beneath it began to undergo vitrification.
And in its chest was a cockpit.
The person inside was the controller of electricity, Park Jun-mo.
And right now, he was engulfed in an enormous amount of electricity.
In other words, the perfect environment for him to be at his strongest had been created.
Feeling a power he could barely contain, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Hoo— Team Leader Kim. Please get to safety!”
- Aish, Park Jun-mo! You’re finally ready?
“Yes. From now on, that place…”
Thud—
Zeus Ex Machina.
The Thunder God of the Machine.
The 25-meter colossus with such a name took a step forward.
“…will be a place where no living thing can survive.”
With that small movement alone, a large amount of electricity was discharged, vitrifying the ground in the area. And though invisible, raging currents of electricity shot out, causing nearby electronic and magitech equipment to malfunction.
Even from hundreds of meters away, the Players’ hair began to stand on end.
A magnetic field.
Electricity was beginning to blanket the entire space.
It was the harbinger of a great disaster.
Its massive body slowly rose into the air.
Cra—za—za—za—!
With every bit of altitude it gained, electricity exploded outwards.
Cra—za—za—za—!
The torrent of electricity spread through the volcanic ash that filled the sky, painting streaks of multicolored light across the heavens.
It was a bizarre and mystical sight, like the manifestation of some nameless nebula in deep space, and for a moment, everyone could only stare, mesmerized.
And as the single figure floating serenely at its center slowly raised both hands, even more electricity scattered, electrifying an even wider area.
The entire world was dyed in an otherworldly glow that seemed to exist only in imagination.
The moment its hands slowly tilted down, pointing to the ground as if delivering a revelation—
The whole world was bathed in a deep blue light,
and the movements of all living things were forcibly brought to a halt.