Chapter 208
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 208
Chapter Title: Checkmate - 2
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The King of the Black Orcs.
World Boss Monster, Stonox.
The name of the being that had shaken the great nation of China to its core, leaving it beyond recovery, and plunged all of Northeast Asia into terror.
Although the Black Orc army's invasion of the Korean peninsula had ended in a hollow failure, Stonox had abandoned his kingdom and vanished… which, paradoxically, became an even greater source of fear.
It meant that a boss monster of such magnitude was wandering the world somewhere.
And just a moment ago, it was proven that his infamy was not for nothing.
Even when the monster army marching on the camp was pinned down, hadn't he single-handedly charged in and created an opening?
His presence was like that of a general from an ancient legend.
But now, that incredibly powerful boss monster…
“Grrr—gh…”
…was collapsed on the dark red ground, where the heat of the magma had yet to cool, coughing up thick, dark blood.
One of its arms was completely severed, a leg was twisted, and all manner of swords and spears were embedded in its body.
Its wound-riddled frame was bound by ‘Gleipnir.’
The final moments of a valiant, defeated general.
It was the perfect picture of such a scene.
A man slowly descended from the air before him.
Steel Rain, Lee Hyun-wook.
The man who had once shattered the Black Orc army had finally brought down the Black Orc King.
And with great ease.
“What the…”
The other Players watching the scene wore dumbfounded expressions.
“What just happened?”
“…He just dispelled the black smoke, didn't he?”
Stonox’s signature attack style, transforming into black smoke.
The past few battles had already proven how difficult it was to counter.
It had deflected electrical attacks, and while wind attacks seemed like a natural counter to its smoke-like properties, even those had been blocked.
But strangely, Lee Hyun-wook’s attack had subdued the beast with incredible ease.
That was because, from the very beginning, Lee Hyun-wook knew how to defeat it.
‘Every monster has a clear weakness, a method to defeat it. It just takes trial and error to figure it out.’
In his past life, humanity had fought Stonox several times and had been defeated just as many. Based on the big data accumulated in the process, Kim Se-hee and other members of the Black Tiger Unit had succeeded in assassinating him.
Lee Hyun-wook had also assisted in that operation in various ways.
“Wh-what just happened?”
Kim Se-hee landed beside Lee Hyun-wook and asked.
Come to think of it, in her past life, it was her destiny to die alongside Stonox. But this life had unfolded entirely differently, leading to the current situation.
“And what did you sprinkle just now? It seemed to work, right?”
A moment ago, Lee Hyun-wook had scattered something into the black smoke.
Immediately after, he had launched his attack, and it began to inflict effective damage on Stonox, leading to his complete subjugation.
“This creature doesn’t actually become the black smoke itself. The smoke is just a diversion.”
The so-called Devil’s Shadow.
It uses the black smoke as a curtain to create an ‘overlapping space’ within it. Then it moves through that space to evade attacks.
Since it existed in a different dimension, it was impossible to hit.
Therefore, the priority was to collapse that overlapping space.
And so, what Lee Hyun-wook had scattered was the ‘Mana Backflow Stone’ he had acquired in large quantities from China a while back. He had ground it into a fine powder and dispersed it, causing the mana flow in the area to cease.
‘Then, the subspace magic of spatial overlapping shatters.’
In other words, Stonox could no longer dodge Lee Hyun-wook’s attacks. Steel weapons pierced its body, slowing it down, and a single blow from Moglei severed its arm.
“Wow… Still, a boss monster of that level was taken down pretty easily. I guess its body is weak since it’s a warlock type.”
“That’s right.”
As she said, Stonox’s defenses were relatively weaker than one might expect. That was why he always kept an escort force with him. The warrior chief Sumakt, whom Lee Hyun-wook had dealt with in Seoul, was one of them.
But since they had all been killed during the invasion of the Korean peninsula, the current Stonox was essentially a shadow of his former self. If one knew how to defeat him, he could be taken down much more easily than anticipated.
Lee Hyun-wook looked down at the creature.
The creature looked up at Lee Hyun-wook.
「Chieftain of humans, grant me a clean death.」
True to his character as a king, his tone was lofty to the very end.
Lee Hyun-wook, without much thought, raised Moglei. The beast was no longer a final boss, but more of a mid-boss. There was no need for pointless conversation.
*Thwack—*
With a single strike, its head went rolling down the slope.
“…And with that, one of the monster species that has killed the most humans has been annihilated.”
Brian Teal spoke from behind him.
As a Player analyst who had long studied monsters from around the world, he marveled as if witnessing a historic moment.
“I thought it would take at least another five years…”
His judgment was, as always, quite accurate. Indeed, without the variable of Lee Hyun-wook, Stonox was slated to be defeated about five years from now.
“In any case, it seems things are finally wrapping up.”
*BOOM— BOOM— BOOM— BOOM—*
Though their most troublesome foe, Stonox, had been dealt with, the battle against the army of thousands of monsters was still raging.
Lee Hyun-wook turned his head and looked at the battlefield.
The momentum had already, completely, shifted.
In the sky, a mechanical dragon and dozens of airships had seized control of the air, unleashing an indiscriminate barrage.
*KRA-KA-KA-KOW—!*
In particular, the mechanical dragon, though it had yet to receive proper maintenance, was still showcasing overwhelming firepower. Every time it banked and unleashed a volley, dozens of Titans collapsed in heaps.
And into the enemy lines, reeling from the bombardment, various forces advanced.
「Let’s gooo—!」
First, Talos and the Colossi, having jumped from Laputa, landed in the heart of the enemy formation like paratroopers.
*THUD— THUD— THUD— THUD—*
As their massive bodies, each weighing hundreds or even a thousand tons, struck the ground, the thinly solidified magma shattered and flew in all directions. But they moved as if it were nothing, pushing through like they were wading through a swamp, and formed their ranks.
The weapons they held were not swords or spears, but machine guns… shaped like the multi-barreled machine guns commonly known as ‘miniguns.’
Soon, the barrels began to slowly rotate…
*D-D-D-D-D-D-D—!*
And spat fire.
They spewed thousands of rounds per minute, tearing everything within range to shreds.
That wasn't all.
「Prepare to fire Titan Breakers!」
At Talos’s command, the unusually large Colossi waiting in the rear knelt down.
The rectangular devices mounted on their backs opened with a *clank*. They appeared to be rocket launchers.
「Fire! Smash them to bits! Uahaha! Chaos! Destruction! Oblivion!」
*FWOOSH—SH—SH—SH—!*
A volley of gray smoke trails erupted from them. Like guided missiles, they tracked and intercepted the Titans.
*BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—!*
Dozens of Titans fell in an instant.
The sight was truly no different from the giant combat robots of science fiction, making one feel as if the genre had changed.
“Wow… This feels like a completely different world now.”
“It’s just modern warfare… no, future warfare.”
The Players, who had fought by wringing out magic with cold weapons, were left speechless before the pinnacle of magitech firepower.
On one side, Agaidika and the Ancient Red Drakes charged forward like cavalry, plunging between the Titans and trampling the Black Orcs and Ice Trolls.
At first glance, they looked like a cavalry unit, but when they launched themselves off the ground with incredible elasticity and began to tear at the Titans' necks, they mirrored a pack of wolves.
Most Players didn't know why these creatures had become allies. But they were certainly glad they weren't enemies.
Meanwhile, the airship fleet that had arrived with Laputa carried the second wave of reinforcements, who also joined the battle.
“—Let’s go too!”
“We can’t let the monsters and robots show us up!”
The attacks of the high-level Players who had gathered from all over the world were also proving highly effective.
They advanced using their well-honed traditional raiding methods, hunting the Titans one by one. While it lacked in sheer firepower, it was the safest and most reliable approach.
Soon…
“They’re running away!”
Ultimately, the monster army chose to flee.
“Keep after them! Kill every last one!”
Like a horde of fleeing rats, they scurried in one direction.
Their destination was the pit from which they had emerged.
“Damn it! They’re escaping underground!”
“We have to get as many as we can inside!”
But…
*Krrrrrr—*
From that area, vines began to grow.
And in just a few minutes, they had grown so rapidly that they could be called a forest.
Green Wave.
True to its name, it rose like a green tide and swept towards the fleeing monsters.
The Dark Elf army, led by the Second Prince of the Dark Elves, Clypeus Griseo, had been lying in ambush in the rear and had now sprung their trap.
“—Leave none alive! Bind every last one of them!”
The vines ensnared the remaining monsters, dragging them into the thicket, and soon, the sound of things being crushed and juiced began to echo.
“…It’s over.”
Cheers erupted from all around.
“We won!”
The Players couldn't hide their joy. For them, it was nothing short of astonishing. They had achieved a perfect victory against an overwhelming monster coalition with almost no casualties on their side.
‘Yes, it was perfect.’
Lee Hyun-wook thought.
‘And to stop me, he used far too much.’
And all the forces Lee Hyun-wook had prepared had only just arrived.
In other words, the time had come to begin a proper counterattack.
‘…Now I’m certain. I am stronger than him.’
That was why the Demon King was so desperately trying to complete the special advantage known as the ‘Demon King’s Castle’ rather than confronting Lee Hyun-wook directly.
Just then, the airship ‘Theseus’s Ship’ approached Lee Hyun-wook. The one who disembarked was, of course, Donald Harris.
“Mr. Harris, is what I asked for ready?”
Lee Hyun-wook had made a request to him a long time ago.
In response, he pointed to the flying city, Laputa, which was emitting a white light in the sky.
“Yes, Mistilteinn. That terrible thing is safely stored inside Laputa.”
The weapon that could kill a god, Mistilteinn.
Having absorbed the nutrients of the Myth-grade weapon Yggdrasil, it had finally blossomed into a weapon.
“In my opinion, that thing is truly insane. So… you’ll need to handle it with special care. There’s no guarantee the tip of the blade you wield won’t dig into your own flesh.”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded and walked toward the center of the battlefield.
There, Players from the second wave of reinforcements, such as Lee Seong-yoon, Kang Seo-yoon, Han Tae-san, and Kim Kang-seok, were gathered.
To the left, the pack of Ancient Red Drakes, and to the right, the group of Dark Elves, waited at a distance.
Some Players showed signs of anxiety, visibly bothered by their presence.
It seemed that due to the fundamental difference between Players and monsters, they couldn't easily mingle even after fighting together.
Still, their goal was the same.
The Demon King.
To kill him.
“I know we don’t have much time. We should start the counterattack right away, shouldn’t we?”
Lee Seong-yoon said.
Lee Hyun-wook nodded.
“Now… it’s time to drag the queen out of the anthill.”
“An anthill… The inside must be quite complex.”
At this, some Players groaned.
Though they were Players who entered gates to conquer unknown worlds—dungeons—conquering a dark underground area was their least favorite task.
A narrow, dark place filled with traps.
Such a location was the most difficult kind of battlefield.
And it was also where the most casualties occurred.
At this, Lee Hyun-wook shook his head.
“There’s no need to enter the anthill directly.”
Simultaneously, two beams of light shot down from the sky.
*BOOM—! BOOM—!*
The impact startled everyone.
From a distance, the shockwave approached, and with it, a cloud of pale dust rose.
“Whoa—”
“Th-that scared me.”
“Is that Moglei?”
Lee Hyun-wook shook his head.
“I have a few more of similar weight loaded in the War Box.”
“Ah… But where did you attack?”
It was the spot Lee Hyun-wook had pounded with Moglei when he first arrived here. After being thoroughly smashed once, tectonic shifts had occurred, further weakening the ground.
Lee Hyun-wook led the Players over and, on the mountainside, they faced a massive sinkhole… no, a crater the size of a basin.
*Krrrrrr—*
Just then, the pile of rocks filling the crater began to crumble. Maru was using his strength. Following that, Lee Seong-yoon used ‘Gravity Reversal’ to lift the entire pile of rocks.
And then…
“Huh? I can see pillars!”
“That looks like some kind of ancient ruin.”
Inside the pit, enormous structures that could be called buildings lined the walls like a forest of mushrooms.
“…It’s not a ruin. It’s our city.”
The one who said this was Agaidika.
He wore a deeply bitter expression, as if the destruction of his home was a hard pill to swallow.
But it couldn't be helped.
“Agaidika, about where is the Demon King’s Castle being built?”
At Lee Hyun-wook’s question, he briefly closed his eyes.
As the guardian of this land, was he communing with the land itself?
Soon, he opened his eyes and turned his head to the right.
“It’s a bit further to the right. And you have to pass through three cities.”
“Three cities? What do you mean?”
“Our city was built in several layers.”
“So, three floors. And the depth?”
The Ancient Red Drake race’s system of measurement wasn't metric, so after a bit of explanation, they roughly estimated…
“It’s about 4 kilometers deep…”
Hearing this, the Players clicked their tongues.
“4 kilometers… That’s much deeper than I thought.”
“Seriously, what kind of city is that huge?”
Agaidika then explained with a displeased look.
“That place was our temple, called the Heart of the Land. A sacred place with divine power that governed this entire region. But… after he seized control, he’s been plotting something evil.”
“So, how much time is there until the Demon King’s Castle is complete?”
Lee Hyun-wook asked, looking down into the pit.
“…I haven’t heard the exact time, but I overheard that it would be finished by the end of today.”
That meant there wasn't even a full day left.
Or perhaps only a few hours.
‘How can we break through and get down there as fast as possible?’
That question was actually pointless.
Physically, the best way was to do what he did before: pull Moglei up to low orbit and drop it.
However, there were limits to breaking through a 4-kilometer-thick layer of earth. Of course, if he kept at it, he would eventually break through, but…
“In my opinion, if we try to break through by dropping Moglei, they will respond from their side. If we’re out of time, we need another way.”
The one who said this was Lee Seong-yoon.
As he said, whether it was dropping Moglei or some other attack, breaking through physically might not be difficult. But the Demon King's side would continuously put up magical barriers to endure it.
“Direct entry might be the answer. Without collapsing it carelessly. If we dig around recklessly, we might block our own path in.”
Lee Seong-yoon’s argument was sound.
That method might be the closest to the right answer at present.
‘But that’s also a waste of time. And the most dangerous.’
Lee Hyun-wook thought quickly for a short time.
And then, an idea came to him.
He hurriedly raised his Mana Messenger.
*Click—*
“Team Leader Lee, it’s me.”
- Yes, go ahead.
It was Team Leader Lee Gyo-jun.
“Could you connect me to Kang Hee-seol?”
A moment later…
- Yes! You called?
It was Kang Hee-seol.
She sounded ecstatic, likely because the many magitech weapons she created were playing a major role.
“I need you to modify a weapon.”
- Uh, modify? What is it?
“Sudarshana.”
- Uh… wasn’t that already completed? Are you modifying it before it’s even been used once?
Lee Hyun-wook had previously asked the Gray Mountain Dwarves to turn Sudarshana into a giant weapon, and it had been made into a cannon-like form.
However, Lee Hyun-wook intended to use it in a different way.
“Sudarshana rotates at an incredible speed when used. Modify it to work like a motor. As fast as you can.”
***
“Pant— pant—”
Rachel Hardy gasped for breath as she deactivated her stealth magic.
She couldn't cast stealth magic herself, but the bracelet she wore had such an effect.
Having lived as a wanted Red Player, she had acquired plenty of items necessary for escape.
That was how she had been able to escape from the pandemonium just now.
And next to her, a massive figure suddenly appeared.
He, too, had deactivated his stealth.
“Damn it! Just how many hidden weapons does that bastard have?!”
The burly man, Anton Blakovich, appeared and spat out curses.
“Shh! Shut your mouth! Don’t you know how sensitive Steel Rain’s two crows are?”
“Ah, right. Sorry.”
They hid behind a pile of rocks on a mountain and observed the battlefield.
By now, not a single monster remained.
And they hadn't just partially retreated… they were annihilated.
“We’re screwed.”
“We’re fucked.”
The two muttered simultaneously.
Then, something fell from the sky, creating a large crater.
Steel Rain and the Players went over to it and began to dig out the earth.
“Damn it… he’s trying to break through to the underground. He knows the Demon King’s Castle is down there.”
Rachel Hardy said.
“That damn drake must have ratted them out! Damn it, Rachel, how much time did they say was left until the castle is complete?”
“Gordon said 7 hours earlier, so there should be about 6 hours left now.”
“Hmm… I think we can hold out for that long.”
At those words, Rachel Hardy frowned.
“…Anton, please stop being so optimistic. Earlier, you said that old orc man would show up and solve everything. But what the hell is this situation now?”
However, Anton Blakovich did not back down.
“No, think about it. The most powerful destructive force Steel Rain can use is dropping that big sword, right?”
“…Right.”
“You think he can dig all the way to that incredibly deep cave where the Demon King’s Castle is with that? He might be able to shake the ground and collapse it, but for something like that, we can just put up some thick magic barriers, right?”
“…”
“It won’t be hard to hold out for 6 hours like that, and once the Demon King’s Castle is complete, His Majesty the Demon King will gain power and launch a counterattack. There’s still hope. Plenty of it.”
His words made sense, so Rachel Hardy didn't argue.
“…I hope so too.”
“It will be. Even if Steel Rain brings Moglei’s dad or Moglei’s grandpa, it’s impossible for him to break through to that place within 6 hours. His Majesty the Demon King must have calculated all that when he chose that location.”
“I get it, so stop jinxing it. Honestly, when you say things like that now, it makes me anxious.”
But just then…
“Huh? It looks like they’re about to do something strange over there.”
Rachel Hardy spotted something.
“…He’s taken out all four Mogleis. What’s he doing?”
The mere appearance of those brutish greatswords was enough to send shivers down the spines of their enemies. Now that four of them were gathered in one place, their nerves couldn't help but be on edge.
Just then, Steel Rain floated all four Mogleis into the air simultaneously.
Then, he generated metal from both hands, creating something like cables…
“…He’s connecting them?”
He began to bind the four greatswords together.
He did so in a bizarre shape, with the tips of the four swords forming a single point.
“…What is he trying to do?”
“I don’t know, but he’s taking something else out.”
While that was happening, Steel Rain took out another item.
“Hmm… it looks like a golden pipe.”
“…A pipe? Is it an item?”
But then, that item began to grow longer…
*Fwoooosh—!*
In an instant, it swelled to an enormous size, creating a gust of wind.
“Hah!”
It had grown so large and thick that it felt as if a building had shot up before their eyes. It had to be over 100 meters long.
Only then did the two of them realize what it was.
“…Th-that’s the Ruyi Jingu Bang!”
“But it can get that big?”
The Ruyi Jingu Bang, an item that grew in size depending on the amount of mana infused.
Just how much mana would be needed for it to become that large?
“…But what is he trying to do with that?”
It was still a series of incomprehensible actions.
Steel Rain attached the four connected Mogleis to the end of the Ruyi Jingu Bang. With his ability to fuse metal, he could weld it on as if it were one solid piece.
“Is he making a long spear?”
“…I don’t think that would make it any stronger.”
Even if he hammered the ground with that, it would be difficult to break through 4 kilometers of bedrock.
Just then, an airship flew over to them.
It went to the very top of the Ruyi Jingu Bang, to its end, opened its ramp door, and brought out a circular mechanical device, placing it on top.
*Thunk—*
Next, Steel Rain stepped forward and attached the circular device to the end of the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
*Clank—*
With that, a bizarre object was completed, with four Mogleis at the bottom of the Ruyi Jingu Bang and an unknown circular mechanical device at the top.
“…What the fuck is he trying to do?”
Rachel Hardy muttered, suppressing her impatience.
It was none other than Steel Rain combining legendary-grade weapons… something was bound to happen.
Just then, Steel Rain slowly raised both hands and pushed the object into the crater.
*Thump…*
And a moment later—
*WHIRRR—WHIRRR—WHIRRR—WHIRRR—!*
With that sound, the circular mechanical device at the top of the Ruyi Jingu Bang began to shake violently.
And from within it, a red light and dense energy erupted.
“…That’s an incredible amount of energy!”
That immense power began to rotate the giant Ruyi Jingu Bang counter-clockwise. And very quickly at that.
Then, the four Mogleis attached to its end, receiving all that force, rotational energy, and gravity, began to dig into the ground.
*KRA-GR-GR-GR-GRIND—!*
“Ah…”
Only then did they understand what Steel Rain was trying to do.
“That crazy bastard… It’s a drill.”
Sudarshana as the motor.
The Ruyi Jingu Bang as the shaft.
Moglei as the drill bit.
In an instant, a vertical tunnel began to open up.