Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: The Skyscraper Twins (3)
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"We've pinpointed the hostages' locations, but we still haven't tracked down Guild Master Kang Doo-il or Vice Guild Master Kang Doo-hyun."
"Hmm..."
Lee A-reum, the guild master of Dessert Club, could only frown at the report from the executive briefing her on the situation at Jamsil Tower, now occupied by Cemetery.
"What a headache..."
The Scientist skill 'Scan,' which could detect the positions of specific people or items.
A-reum had planned to use it to locate Cemetery's executives and then bombard their positions with the mages' firepower to wipe them out in one go. But unfortunately, things had gone wrong right from the start.
"Did they use some kind of item...?"
Perhaps anticipating her plan, they had equipped items that concealed their presence.
No matter how many times Dessert Club's Scientists cast 'Scan' on Jamsil Tower, not a single glimpse of Cemetery's executives could be found.
"Clever bastards."
Cemetery was a band of eccentrics, but they weren't idiots.
As if to say they wouldn't be caught by such half-baked schemes, they had prepared countermeasures against almost every move A-reum and Dessert Club could make.
"...At least we've got the hostages' positions."
"Yes. They're all gathered in the plaza on the 5th floor of Building A right now."
"Building A..."
Everything about the current situation was utterly infuriating, but there was one silver lining: the hostages' locations were secured.
Unlike the executives, the hostages apparently hadn't been given any items, so their positions were relatively easy to pinpoint with Scan.
"...How many are guarding the hostages?"
"Three are directly watching them, but every floor leading there is packed with undead. Getting close won't be easy."
"Hmm..."
Still, reaching them posed massive hurdles. Was it even feasible to sneak in a small team without Cemetery noticing, then protect and evacuate hundreds of hostages?
"This is driving me insane."
Even after conferring with her executives, no clear solution emerged. New intel trickled in bit by bit, but rescuing the hostages safely from those necromancers remained reckless and daunting.
Overwhelmed by sheer numbers of undead, there wasn't even a thread of hope in sight.
—KABOOM!!
"Huh...?"
...If not for the sudden explosion from outside, A-reum's pessimistic thoughts might have lingered unchanged.
"W-What was that?!"
"An explosion?! A monster?!"
The earth-shaking blast sent everyone in the makeshift command tent leaping to their feet. Without orders, they all rushed toward the source of the noise.
"That's..."
What met their stunned eyes was a bewildering scene, too much to process in an instant.
"A pirate ship...?"
A massive pirate ship half-buried through the 1st-floor showroom window of Jamsil Tower.
"An ice wall?!"
"What the hell is this?!"
And thick ice barriers rising around the towering skyscraper, encircling it completely.
"An ice mage? Who did this?!"
"Is there even a player who can cast something this big...?"
"It's sealed off the tower completely! Cemetery's doing?"
"Looks like it? But do they even have a mage?"
Everyone blurted out their reactions to the ice walls, seemingly erected to fully isolate the tower from the outside. Plenty suspected it was Cemetery trying to avoid interference, but A-reum slowly walked toward the walls, shaking her head.
"No..."
This wasn't Cemetery's handiwork.
No, there wasn't a player alive who could erect ice walls this massive around the entirety of Jamsil Tower in an instant.
"This isn't a player. It's..."
A pirate ship out of nowhere, and ice barriers.
A-reum clearly remembered the day those two had appeared together—the day Ace, one of Korea's Top 4 guilds, had fallen.
"Selverion."
Frost of Ruin, Selverion.
She had revealed herself once more.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
02.
"Charge! You corpse-pounders!"
KABOOM!!
With Kim A-rin's hyped-up battle cry, her pirate ship slammed into the shopping mall showroom window on the tower's 1st floor.
CRASH.
The magnificent glass shattered into pieces amid the roar.
The ship's hull scraped sparks across the marble floor, and we entered the tower's interior aboard it.
The shopping mall inside was pitch-black, all lights out since the incident kept people away. But that didn't mean it had turned into some cobweb-choked ruin or abandoned wasteland.
The modern pillars and facilities remained pristine, products neatly displayed. It could reopen for business tomorrow without issue.
...If not for the stench of rotting corpses assaulting my nose and the undead swarming before us.
"My god, how many are there?"
"Ugh, the smell..."
Were they planning a zombie apocalypse on top of everything?
Zombies and skeletons had completely overrun the 1st-floor shopping mall, teeming like ants. Kim A-rin and Lee Min-jun grimaced in disgust.
"So gross. The zombie designs are disgustingly on point."
"Sigh... Now I get why SPR hasn't pushed in."
Kim A-rin drew her pirate cutlass from her belt, while Lee Min-jun pulled out his Scientist-exclusive weapon: an SF-designed portable tablet.
"Haven't fought necromancers in ages."
"Doesn't matter. They're just zombies."
Weapons raised, they prepared to leap from the deck. Facing triple-digit undead, they showed no hesitation.
And why would they? Early-combat Pirates wielded unstoppable power no class could block, and Scientists hard-countered necromancers without question.
"..."
Of course, I could end it all by freezing everything, but I was curious to see their combat prowess.
I'd never witnessed them fight properly.
Plus, the chaos of a brawl would draw Cemetery's executives here to check, like it or not.
With Perolrn safely guarding the hostages, I could just watch and munch popcorn.
"Body Electric."
Min-jun moved first. A few taps on his tablet, and sparks erupted from the floor, electrocuting the approaching zombies and skeletons.
"Kyaa-hoo!!"
A-rin seized the opening, leaping off with a bizarre yell. She pulled her cutlass back, then thrust it forward powerfully.
"Wave Crusher!"
A blue sword wave surged from her blade's tip, sharp as a tsunami's edge.
The fierce, razor-sharp strike neatly severed the necks of the stunned, buffering undead.
Nearly 70 monsters collapsed, engines dead.
"...Impressive."
I blinked in surprise at A-rin wielding a basic skill like an AoE nuke.
"Well, obviously..."
Come to think of it, she'd used it against the Leviathan in Eulwang-ri too. Zombies surviving that would be weirder.
—Groooaaar...
But the undead twitched back to life nonchalantly, despite decapitation.
"...Reviving, as expected."
...Necromancer undead—Necromancer's second job advancement from Summoner—were special. Unlike regulars, only three ways to kill them:
Drain the summoner's MP,
Kill the summoner,
Or pulverize them to dust to prevent revival.
"Flamethrower."
Min-jun knew this, swiftly incinerating A-rin's kills with Flamethrower before they could rise.
—Ruuuuaaaarrr
"...So damn many."
But they'd only cleared a fraction. Others trampled their kin's corpses, charging us.
"Wave Crusher!"
"Flamethrower."
Zombies or not, they bisected under A-rin's blade or burned to ash under Min-jun's fire, one after another.
"Too easy?"
"Right?"
A-rin and Min-jun smirked like it was busywork. As max-level veterans, this was child's play.
"Hmm..."
Unlike their casual laughter, I tilted my head.
"Too quiet..."
We'd fought violently, even setting fires, yet no executives showed.
They couldn't miss this racket. Some special reason keeping them away? Or had they sensed Selverion and fled?
"If they won't come, I'll hunt them down."
Fine. If they hid, I'd find them myself.
"Let's go up."
I hopped lightly off the deck and addressed Min-jun and A-rin.
"Time to hunt the guild master."