Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Scientist (1)
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《Scientist》 - (1)
01.
The collaborative organization between players and the government, 'SPR', had made large apartment complexes in each district their strongholds and continued their battles as a result. The rifts of light in some parts of Seoul were finally starting to fade away, little by little.
In particular, Geumcheon-gu had succeeded in eliminating all the rifts in just two weeks, bringing hopeful news that they could fully reclaim the area once they dealt with the remaining wandering monster stragglers.
There was still a mountain of work ahead, but this sweet news of victory—something they hadn't heard in ages—united players and citizens alike in fervent joy.
Many people thought that next week, or even tomorrow, this hellish natural disaster would finally end, and a sense of certainty that peaceful daily life could return began to blossom everywhere.
But that was a hasty judgment.
What they'd reclaimed was Geumcheon-gu, not all of Seoul. It was just one small administrative district, not the entire country—not the Republic of Korea.
In the vast majority of other areas excluding Geumcheon-gu, fierce battles were still raging on, and even at this very moment, countless casualties were mounting.
Especially in Gangnam-gu, which had been dubbed Seoul's fiercest battlefield, players and soldiers were showing extreme fatigue against the ceaseless onslaught of high-grade monsters.
And even in places like Gwangjin-gu, where Perolln had been—which seemed relatively peaceful—the monsters became far more active as night fell and the moonlight rose, marking the true start of battle.
This catastrophe, where the boundary between virtual and reality had collapsed, wasn't ending. It was charging toward its true beginning.
Even more monsters would pour forth ahead, countless conflicts and disputes would arise, and the world would plunge into even greater chaos.
— Kieeeek!!
The touch of demonic beasts was reaching Incheon, where Kim Arin's mansion was located, as well. As I stepped out for a brief walk around the neighborhood, I encountered a few goblins tearing into what looked like the corpse of a stray cat.
"Ice Blade."
Goblins were nothing more than C-rank low-grade monsters. With a blank expression, I fired ice blades at them.
— Ki, kieeeek!!
The pack of about five goblins exploded into chunks from the mere wind pressure of the ice blades.
"Hm..."
I blankly stared at my right hand, which had unleashed the Ice Blade. It suddenly occurred to me that with this level of gap, I could probably take down B- to C-rank monsters with just a flick of my finger.
"Has everyone evacuated?"
Even accounting for the early hour before dawn, not a single light or whisper could be seen in the neighborhood around Kim Arin's home.
All the mansions were pitch black, gates left wide open, traces of hasty flight everywhere—it seemed they'd already evacuated to safe zones nearby.
"About twenty of them..."
I looked up at the night sky where a full moon shone brightly. There were roughly twenty rifts of light open in the skies above this neighborhood right now.
That meant I had to deal with twenty A-rank monsters and hundreds or thousands of their lower-grade kin to close them all. The day the residents could return home still felt far off.
"Should I help out a bit...?"
I scratched my chin and muttered to myself.
There weren't any players around who looked like they could handle clearing monsters, and given the location of Kim Arin's mansion, I felt like closing at least a few of the rifts—even if not all—would be nice.
Above all, I wanted some simple manual labor. My mind was a mess from the tsunami of thoughts crashing in about guild creation, future directions, and self-reflection. Hunting monsters would let me sort out those complicated feelings.
— Kyaaah!!
— Grrr..."
Closing my eyes and focusing just a little, I could sense the cries of countless monsters nearby. The closest one wasn't far from where I stood.
I immediately dashed toward the source of the sound. Or rather, it was closer to flying—my feet spent more time off the ground than on it.
— Graaah!! Graaah!!
"Ten Thousand-Armed Monkey...?"
The first thing to catch my eye was a grotesque monster: a cyclops with over ten arms sprouting from its body. Its identity was the C-rank monster, the Ten Thousand-Armed Monkey.
It wasn't particularly strong, but it was a nasty one that stole players' valuables or weapons and demanded food or gold ingots of equivalent value in return.
Plus, they were rare enough that encounters were few and far between, so it felt like stumbling upon a natural monument.
"Fascinating..."
Even as I approached it, I cautiously pulled out my smartphone and snapped a photo. I'd played Season Off Fantasy for ages but had never seen one myself.
Click.
With the cheerful shutter sound, its image was captured in my phone's lens. I nodded in satisfaction, then swung my chains without hesitation, smashing its head.
Rare was rare, but a monster was a monster. No need to spare it after taking a picture.
— …...
The Ten Thousand-Armed Monkey collapsed without even a scream. I passed its corpse and headed toward the next monster cries.
My goal this dawn was to kill as many monsters as possible and close the rifts. Lingering or admiring bodies was a luxury I couldn't afford.
— Grrr..."
"That one...?"
Next in view was something with a massive build and gray skin. Bigger than a goblin, smaller than a troll, with a physique vaguely resembling a human.
But its hideous face, the iron plate armor draped over its body, and the club in its hand clearly marked it as a monster—a B-rank Cave Orc.
— Grk?! Grr!!
— Graaah!! Graaah!!
Spotting me charging toward them, the four orcs exchanged hand signals and drew their weapons.
Orcs weren't dumb like goblins or trolls. Their intelligence was on par with humans, and in Season Off Fantasy, there was even an orc federation.
— Grr..."
— Grk...
And now, they grinned lecherously at me as I approached. The kind of creepy smile where you could guess exactly what they were thinking.
"...Gross."
Orcs were monsters overflowing with lust in the game lore. Frowning at their nasty grins, I immediately fired Ice Blades, shredding their faces.
Green monster blood splattered, staining my black dress.
"Ugh..."
The sticky, filthy blood made me gag. I regretted not just freezing them solid to avoid the spray.
— Kyaaah!!
"Frost Wave."
— Graaah!!
"Ice Blade."
— Kieeeek!!
"Die."
Wearing a deeply displeased expression, I relentlessly hunted the nearby monsters. Thanks to the nonstop barrage of Selverion's ice-attribute skills, a chill and cold fog began to settle over Kim Arin's neighborhood despite it being early summer.
...It was just before dawn broke when I finally took down even the A-rank monsters and closed all twenty rifts.
02.
In Season Off Fantasy, there were exactly two classes that could summon mounts—aka means of transportation.
The ranged DPS line, 'Scientist', and
the melee DPS who also held the rare class, “Pirate.”
Pirates could summon massive pirate ships that navigated sea and land at high speeds, dealing lethal damage on collision. Though the ship's size varied by level, it was an undeniably high-utility skill.
In fact, I'd zipped all over Seoul on Kim Arin's pirate ship, so I knew its value well enough.
If the Pirate's ship handled the ground, the Scientist's space carrier ruled the skies.
It had drawbacks like slow speed and low durability, but its overwhelming firepower and status as the only aerial transport made it indispensable in the game.
Especially the aurora cannon, 'Aurora Cannon', fired by the space carrier—it boasted the highest damage among all skills of the 24 existing classes.
"This is awkward."
......And now, one such massive space carrier was hovering right before my eyes.
It was the crack of dawn, with birds just beginning their chirps. The enormous shadow completely blotting out the sky above Kim Arin's mansion left me with a bemused expression.
Out of nowhere, as I returned after closing all the rifts, this gigantic spaceship had stolen my gaze in an instant.
"Uh..."
...And atop that massive carrier, a man in glasses and a white coat was sheepishly bowing his head repeatedly.
"Ah, hello..."
In the freshly rising sunlight, the red diamond emblem on the man's coat chest—the mark of the now-defunct guild 'Ace'—glimmered sadly.