Chapter 92
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Demon Worshippers, Urban Warfare - 3
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BOOM—!
With the first explosion, the hallway—walls, ceiling, and floor—was torn to shreds, sending all sorts of debris flying.
Simultaneously, the gray barrier conjured by the warlock vanished, and the seven or eight men at the front were sent flying as if hit by a truck. The blood they spilled spread in a fine mist, shrouding the narrow hallway in a thick, crimson fog.
"Gah!"
"Aaargh—"
But that wasn't the end.
Another brutal *clank* of the pump action was followed by a second explosion, but most of them couldn't hear it properly. A high-pitched ringing filled their ears from the previous shot.
However, the scene unfolding before their eyes was unmistakable. Four men who failed to take cover in a room were caught in the follow-up blast and collapsed.
"Cough! Cough!"
Seo Eun-ha coughed and stumbled backward. A cloud of dust, like a sandstorm, rushed down the hallway, thick with the coppery scent of blood.
"Ugh, guh— Sa-save... ugh!"
"Aaargh— I'm, I'm sorry!"
A desperate tangle of screams followed.
"Ah..."
In that moment, Seo Eun-ha recognized that they, too, were ultimately human. But their cries of agony were quickly fading, one by one.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
Six knives, imbued with 'divine power,' flew like hornets and plunged into their necks. They even pursued those who had fled into rooms, relentlessly snuffing out their lives.
And just like that, in a matter of seconds, the situation was resolved.
"......."
Seo Eun-ha looked down at the scene with a strange sense of revulsion.
"That... that gun... using it on people is a bit..."
The mysterious shotgun Lee Hyun-wook used felt like what one might call an 'inhumane weapon.' So brutal it seemed like it should be banned... yet there wasn't a hint of hesitation in Lee Hyun-wook's eyes as he pulled the trigger.
"Yes, its destructive power is excessive. But these are the kind of people who do things no human should, so I believe I've delivered a fitting punishment."
Lee Hyun-wook walked down the blood-soaked hallway, his words rather cruel. The six knives circled above his shoulders, keeping watch.
"If we let them live, far more people... civilians... will die without a trace. And painfully."
Lee Hyun-wook knew what the demon worshippers were doing, and what they would do in the future. Not a single one of them could be left alive. They were beasts in human skin who had sold their souls to a demon.
For Seo Eun-ha, who had yet to experience much PvP or PK, it was a horrifying scene. But an era was fast approaching where she would have to witness—and commit—far more brutal acts.
*'As time goes on, wars between Players will become more frequent.'*
A war that would come to be known as the <World Player War> was also on the horizon.
Meanwhile, Kim Se-hee and Park Jun-mo came up to the sixth floor.
"Gasp—"
They were startled by the gruesome scene decorating the hallway, but they approached Lee Hyun-wook with expressions more accustomed to it than Seo Eun-ha's.
"There are a few more in that room at the end."
Lee Hyun-wook spotted a particularly sturdy-looking iron door at the end of the hall. And he sensed three moving metal objects inside.
"I can feel mana on that door. It seems to be covered by a magical barrier."
"Yes, I'll break through. This should do it."
He planned to perform a door breach with the shotgun. No matter what protective magic was cast on it, unless it was exceptionally powerful, it wouldn't withstand the firepower of the 'Black Rhino'.
Clank—
"Everyone, stand back."
Lee Hyun-wook aimed the muzzle near the handle and pulled the trigger.
BOOM—!
It was a direct hit, but the door held. Still, the barrier covering it flickered and the door rattled, indicating the impact had done something.
Clank— Lee Hyun-wook pumped the shotgun again.
BOOM—!
The subsequent shot finally buckled the door, creating a small gap. Lee Hyun-wook sent the 'Fly-Eye (Prototype)' through the gap.
Whirrr—
Using the hazy dust as a smokescreen, it infiltrated the room.
*'Let's see what they're up to.'*
Lee Hyun-wook surveyed the room through the Fly-Eye's vision.
"Damn it, what the hell are they shooting? A cannon?"
"I don't know! They're about to break in, so get your magic ready!"
Four demon worshippers had built a barricade of furniture and were aiming their weapons at the door. But Lee Hyun-wook had no intention of walking meekly into their line of fire.
But then...
*'Is that...'*
To his surprise, they were holding a woman captive.
And that woman was Choi Tae-jun's hostage, Goo Hyo-min.
*'Choi Tae-jun himself is nowhere to be seen... He was probably trying to negotiate with the Gugwang Group here when we raided, so he must have made a hasty escape somehow. But he was in such a rush he left Goo Hyo-min behind?'*
They couldn't have possibly anticipated such a sudden raid, so it made sense.
"Hey! I don't know who's out there, but you'll die if you come in!"
"Oh, and we have the Gugwang Group's granddaughter as a hostage!"
Hearing their shouts, Lee Hyun-wook considered how to rescue Goo Hyo-min safely.
*'Should I take them out by controlling the metal inside the room?'*
But it was just ordinary metal, so the probability of failure was high... If he couldn't take them down in one go, it would be a disaster.
Then, his eyes fell on Park Jun-mo.
"Park Jun-mo, can you instantly fill the entire room with enough electricity to paralyze someone's nerves without killing them? So thoroughly that not even an ant could escape."
"Ah... that... Yes, I think I can."
He looked hesitant for a moment, but he quickly regained his confidence and nodded.
He had been struck by lightning repeatedly to grow his ability, and he had spent no small amount of time in Laputa's 'Hyper-Realistic Training Chamber'.
He now possessed a certain degree of confidence.
"Hoo—"
Park Jun-mo let out a long breath, his expression turning solemn.
Bzzzt—!
Blue currents of electricity shot from his palm, gathering into a ball like a tangled skein of thread.
The moment he stretched his hand toward the gap in the door, it was sucked inside.
And soon, a brilliant blue light filled the room.
Bzzzzzzzz—!
Simultaneously, Lee Hyun-wook shoved the metal door aside with his 'Metal Control' and entered the room, led by his six knives.
"Urgh—!"
Ahead, the four demon worshippers stared at Lee Hyun-wook, their bodies stiff as if electrocuted. But their hands wouldn't move as they wished, and Lee Hyun-wook fired 'steel beads' at their foreheads.
Thwack—thwack—thwack—thwack—!
He then fired the knives into the backs of the fallen men's hands, pinning them to the wooden floor like insect specimens.
"Aaargh—"
He checked each of their faces.
"...You, Black Mask. Itaya Shigenori, right?"
"Kuh— You, you know me?"
"$950,000. There's a warrant for you from the Republic of Chad, isn't there? And you, you were with him during last year's 'Osaka Sacrifice Incident.' You were worth $470,000... or has the price gone up?"
These were members of <Old Goat>, a group of demon worshippers active in Japan. They were a notoriously vicious bunch who committed all sorts of grotesque crimes to receive a kind of 'sponsorship' from the demon they served.
Lee Hyun-wook reshaped a few steel beads to bind the men's hands and feet.
Meanwhile, Kim Se-hee checked on Goo Hyo-min.
"Uh, the hostage seems fine. No injuries."
She had probably been kept unconscious with some kind of drug.
"Where is that bastard, Choi Tae-jun?"
Seo Eun-ha asked, but the men didn't answer.
"Oh, you all will be sent to Saint Dôme in the Republic of Chad."
At Lee Hyun-wook's words, the men's faces turned deathly pale.
"Gasp! S-sending us to the Saintess, that crazy bitch... anything but that..."
"No! P-please, just kill me!"
The Saintess, Emilia Müller, gained power by 'punishing' dark-type Players. Thus, for them, Saint Dôme had a reputation as a heinous place where the worst possible end awaited.
"But Hyun-wook, it really doesn't look like Choi Tae-jun is here. Seeing Goo Hyo-min, he must have stopped by..."
Seo Eun-ha said as she searched the room.
This was clearly a secret facility for the demon worshipper group, but if Choi Tae-jun wasn't here, the operation was as good as a failure.
"Yes, but he was in this room right before we came in. ...Right?"
Lee Hyun-wook asked, crushing Itaya Shigenori's thigh.
"Ugh!"
But he couldn't answer. He couldn't even if he wanted to. As a demon worshipper, revealing internal secrets meant immediate 'death'.
"It's fine. I already know there were about three others."
Right before he blew up the hallway, Lee Hyun-wook had felt the three 'moving metal' objects inside suddenly vanish.
In other words, someone had used magical power to teleport to another space.
"Let's search the room a bit more."
Soon, he found a suspicious object under the bed.
"First Lieutenant Seo, could you take a look at this?"
It was some kind of mirror. Seo Eun-ha picked it up.
Just then...
- Warning! You have come into contact with an item imbued with dark power.
"...That's right. This object is filled with demonic power."
As a Paladin Player, she could sense the dark energy emanating from the mirror. Furthermore, she had knowledge about the dark element, the primary enemy of the holy element.
"And this mirror's purpose is a kind of 'passageway'."
"Huh? A passageway...?"
Kim Se-hee asked, and Seo Eun-ha continued, recalling the 'Paladin training' she received when she was dispatched to Saint Dôme after becoming C-rank.
"Basically, if you enter this, you step into a demonic realm. Once you reach a certain point there, you find a door leading outside..."
At that moment, Seo Eun-ha's face slowly contorted.
"...In other words, there must be another mirror somewhere that serves as the exit. Choi Tae-jun went in here to get somewhere else. Damn it. To put it simply, we've already lost him. Demon worshippers use these things to travel between locations secretly, and it's almost impossible to catch them."
However, Lee Hyun-wook shook his head.
"No, we haven't lost him. They'll come back out."
"What?"
"I knew this group had another hideout. So I sent forces there as well. The mirror item that serves as the exit is probably there."
He said this absurd thing with complete confidence, then turned on his phone and checked a text message.
- Took over the bad guys' hideout in the black market. (Go)
The message was from Go Jin-hwa of Red Hole Village, sent from her burner phone. Lee Hyun-wook called her.
- Yes, this is Go Jin-hwa.
"This is Lee Hyun-wook. I got your text saying it was handled."
- Yeah, just like you said, I checked the enchant shop in a corner of the market, and it was really a base for those demon worshipper bastards. How did you know? There have been a lot of kids going missing lately, and it turns out it was these sons of bitches. I know it's the black market, but we can't have scum like this running around!
Go Jin-hwa said, fuming. As lawless as the demon world's black market was, where people died easily, crimes targeting children were something she couldn't tolerate.
"More importantly, did you secure the mirror-shaped item?"
- Yes, that's right. They had just taken it out and looked like they were about to perform some kind of ritual. Anyway, I sprinkled 'holy water' all over it and then sealed it in a box made of wood imbued with divine power.
"Good work. It shouldn't function in that state, but it's dangerous to handle carelessly. You could get sucked into the mirror. I'll send someone later; you can hand the mirror over to them then."
After finishing the call, Lee Hyun-wook looked at Seo Eun-ha.
"And it seems we've just secured that other mirror."
She looked up at Lee Hyun-wook, unable to hide her surprise.
"You, how did you even..."
For a while now, she'd had the feeling that Lee Hyun-wook saw through everything, manipulating events as he pleased.
Now, whoever entered that mirror had lost their exit and would have no choice but to turn back and come out through this mirror, the entrance.
"But... are you sure that's the exit?"
She still wasn't entirely at ease. If, by some chance, he had guessed wrong, they could lose their target for good.
"If not... we could always enter the mirror world ourselves and catch them..."
"No, that's not a good idea. Inside there is an environment extremely favorable to demon worshippers. Even for you, First Lieutenant Seo, it would be difficult to exert your divine power. Don't worry. I'm certain."
Indeed, fighting demon worshippers in a demonic realm was madness. It was like an undead trying to fight a paladin inside a holy sanctuary.
In other words, they would be 'cursed' the moment they entered, which must have been why they were forced to leave behind an important hostage like Goo Hyo-min.
"Alright then... once our forces arrive here..."
It was then.
Fwoooooosh—!
A black smoke suddenly spewed from the surface of the demonic mirror Seo Eun-ha was holding, the pressure so great she dropped it.
"Wh-what!"
She tried to catch it, but...
"Kuh—"
The burning pain in her hands forced her to let go.
"It seems they reached the exit faster than I thought. But since it won't open, they've figured out the situation and are rushing back before this side gets blocked off too."
As he spoke, Lee Hyun-wook bent the security bars on the window and shattered the glass.
Fwoooooosh—!
But the smoke filled the room far more quickly than expected, and soon it was billowing out into the hallway. It felt like being in a car sinking underwater.
- Warning! Prolonged exposure to the 'Abyssal Fog' will result in a stat reduction!
"Damn it! At this rate, we have to jump out the window!"
Kim Se-hee's Hani created a gust of wind to push it back, but there was a limit.
The group exited the room and entered one on the opposite side. After breaking the window, Lee Hyun-wook threw the captured demon worshippers outside, then jumped down himself, using Metal Control to land safely. He then helped Seo Eun-ha land as she jumped after him.
"Team Leader Kim, you two land on your own!"
Since Kim Se-hee and Park Jun-mo had almost no metal on them, Hani lifted their bodies, allowing them to descend slowly to the ground instead of relying on Lee Hyun-wook.
Wooooosh—
Before they knew it, black smoke was billowing from the upper floors of the eight-story motel, as if it were engulfed in flames.
A few magical drones approached the area. Military models; the A.M.T forces that had been on standby were moving in.
Lee Hyun-wook immediately summoned 'Prydwen' and took out twelve 'AD-1s,' surrounding the building. He then opened the 'magic ejection ports'.
Vweeeeee—
"...Hyun-wook, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to blow up the building."
"What?"
Giving the demon worshippers time was a foolish move. Among high-rank black magic spells were area-of-effect spells that, despite long casting times and heavy costs, were incomparably more powerful than those of equivalent-level mages.
*'And there's a named warlock in there with them.'*
That was why he had no intention of giving them time to think.
"Everyone, watch your heads."
KRA-KA-KOOM—!
The twelve AD-1s circled the sixth floor, unleashing a frantic barrage of steel beads, iron spikes, and all sorts of projectiles. The fired projectiles returned to be reloaded at a gesture from Lee Hyun-wook.
In other words, it was a near-infinite amount of firepower.
As hundreds, then thousands of shots slammed into it without pause, the entire sixth floor was inevitably pulverized, and cracks began to spiderweb across the building's exterior with sharp *cracking* sounds.
KRA-KA-KOOM—!
The fusillade continued for about three minutes... Whatever it was, nothing on the sixth floor could possibly maintain its shape.
And after some time had passed...
GROOOOAR—!
A monstrous roar began to echo from within the building.
"C-crazy... what now..."
The roar was so powerful that every window shattered, and the car alarms in the parking lot blared in a chorus.
"Right, it's about time you came out."
From the intensity of the roar, Lee Hyun-wook knew instinctively.
Choi Tae-jun. He had transformed into that bull-like monster.
*'And at this level, he must have drunk more Nectar.'*
Nectar, the item called the drink of the gods, granted immense temporary power when consumed. But abusing it would result in an irreversible 'curse,' and could even lead to death.
*'Tsk, this is a bit more troublesome than I thought...'*
Lee Hyun-wook felt a sense of foreboding and slowly backed away.
"Alright... everyone, prepare to evacuate the area."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the building's wall collapsed.
BOOM—!
And something enormous leaped out of the building.
The moment it landed, the asphalt buckled and jutted upward, and the pipes buried beneath ruptured, sending water spraying into the air.
GROOOOAR—!
It was a bull-shaped monster with red horns.
A muscular body that looked to be at least fifteen meters tall, a tail like a harpoon, and a shimmering black aura emanating from its entire form...
That was the 'Incarnation' of the demon 'Moloch'.
"Holy—what is that thing!"
Kim Se-hee cried out in alarm, raising her two daggers.
Seo Eun-ha also swallowed dryly and lowered her shield.
"Uh..."
Park Jun-mo looked dazed, electricity leaking from his hands as if he were wetting himself.
"Th-that... that's not something we can fight!"
Seo Eun-ha shouted. As a raid squad leader for the A.M.T, she had faced all sorts of giant boss monsters in dungeons. And as a B-rank tank Player, she had gone toe-to-toe with them on the front lines.
But she knew instinctively that she could not face this thing.
"...And Hyun-wook, even you will have a hard time."
Seo Eun-ha said cautiously, looking at Lee Hyun-wook.
She knew it was foolish to judge this man prematurely, but this time, she was certain her intuition wouldn't be wrong.
And this time, Lee Hyun-wook nodded in agreement.
"...Probably. You're right."
- Choi Tae-jun: Incarnation of Moloch (LV: 90)
*'Level 90...'*
To go head-to-head with a monster of that caliber, you'd need someone on the level of the Fist King, Han Tae-san, at the very least.
"So, Choi Tae-jun chose monsterization in the end..."
This was the result of overdosing on Nectar.
Thump— Thump— Thump— Thump—
It strode toward the group. Each step seemed to close the distance by at least ten meters.
Lee Hyun-wook's AD-1s fired their projectiles, but they couldn't pierce the thick hide of Moloch's Incarnation.
*'As expected of level 90. Normal attacks won't work.'*
The creature swatted its arm as if annoyed by a mosquito—and then, a black magic circle formed in each of its palms.
From them, massive fireballs erupted.
BOOM—! BOOM—!
The two blasts scorched the sky, and three AD-1s fell uselessly.
"Hyun-wook, it's no use! We have to retreat right now!"
Seo Eun-ha said urgently.
"S-S-Sergeant Lee... is there, is there no way?"
Park Jun-mo asked anxiously.
He was terrified, but he hadn't given up yet.
Because, at times like this...
"No, that's not it."
Just like now, Lee Hyun-wook would come up with an answer.
"Park Jun-mo, what did I tell you was the basic principle of a raid?"
"Huh? Ah! You have to use everything at your disposal!"
"So, what can you make use of right now?"
At those words, Park Jun-mo's eyes darted around, surveying his surroundings.
"What are you best at controlling?"
Another question. Then, Park Jun-mo's gaze locked onto something.
"—Ah!"
"Park Jun-mo, a modern city is the perfect stage for you and me."
At this, Park Jun-mo's eyes widened, and he nodded firmly.
"Yes!"
"Alright then, let's begin. We need to work together."
"Yes!"
Lee Hyun-wook raised both hands.
Park Jun-mo followed suit.
They focused on the 'power lines' running through the alley.
This was an older part of the city where utility poles still stood.
And the wires hanging from them were, of course, made of metal.
Lee Hyun-wook took those long metal strands in the sky—
Snap—!
—and ripped them free.
They whipped around wildly, sparking erratically, but soon followed Lee Hyun-wook's command, flying toward Moloch's Incarnation like lassos.
*'There are plenty of wires.'*
It wasn't just one strand. Dozens of electrical cables followed his lead, wrapping around the neck, arms, and legs of Moloch's Incarnation.
GROOAR—!
The current flowing through them was enough to make the beast flinch.
But the real attack was just beginning.
"Park Jun-mo, don't worry about any power outages. Draw everything you can..."
Lee Hyun-wook said, looking at Park Jun-mo.
BZZZZZZZZT—!
His eyes were glowing a brilliant blue.
"...and fry that giant slab of meat."