Chapter 125
Chapter 125
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: Chapter 24 Achievement (1)
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“The outer perimeter is already crumbling!”
“Damn, they’re coming fast as hell!”
“At this rate, it’ll be breached in one or two minutes!”
The tankers who had erected the barrier shouted urgently.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Kyaaak!”
“I don’t wanna die!”
The children’s screams erupted mid-rest, startling them.
“Load up magic!”
“It’s no use—resistance is at least stage three!”
Players scrambled into combat stance, their tense shouts filling the air.
“Detection magic!”
“How many are out there?!”
“T-This is insane…….”
“Sixty, seventy…… almost a hundred! And they keep coming!”
Those who sensed the situation outside the rock formation via mana detection cried out in despair.
Just minutes ago, the campsite had been utterly serene. Now it was total chaos.
Sitting idle wouldn’t change a thing.
“I’ll put up a barrier, so everyone gather here!”
I pulled a barrier magic stone from my storage and shouted.
“Move it!”
“What do you mean just go? We have to get the kids!”
“Tanks, reinforce the barrier! Buy us time!”
Realizing their lives were on the line, the players moved swiftly.
Those scattered across the clearing with safe distances began converging at the center.
“Six o’clock is about to break!”
“Hurry! Twelve o’clock’s gonna breach soon too!”
Urgent cries continued, but I just gripped the magic stone tightly.
Tension and anxiety simmered in a razor-thin moment.
“Six o’clock’s breached!”
At the shout from a player on the outskirts,
The map showed every red dot and blue dot gathered in one spot without exception.
Only then did I activate the barrier magic stone in my hand.
Crack-!
The engraved stone shattered, manifesting a barrier across the area.
I’d used five stones at once to expand its scale.
Thanks to that, a barrier large enough to enclose well over a hundred people formed perfectly.
Right after, the tankers’ barriers collapsed one by one.
“Gasp!”
As the surrounding walls crumbled, players gasped at the sight outside.
Five-star evolved beasts had us completely surrounded.
I’d known it from the map, but seeing it with my own eyes, the sheer pressure was overwhelming.
‘Roughly two hundred…….’
Evacuating into the barrier before full-scale war broke out had been the right call.
I let out a sigh of relief while eyeing the densely packed evolved beasts beyond the barrier.
Then, facing the players’ stiff expressions, I spoke calmly.
“Let’s each request reinforcements from our denominations.”
That snapped the frozen players back to reality, one by one.
“Y-Yeah! No need to panic!”
“Right! We just hold out inside the barrier until reinforcements arrive!”
As everyone chimed in to shake off the tension and fear, a chill ran down my spine for some reason.
No, less a feeling and more a sound.
Scrape, scritch.
Like fabric brushing or feet dragging.
I slowly turned my head to trace the source.
All I saw were the five-star evolved beasts crammed densely outside the barrier.
‘No.’
I thought they were all there. But on closer look, the ones on the outskirts were slinking sideways.
Their movement looked like they were clearing a path for someone.
Holding my breath as I stared, soon.
Scritch, scrape.
From between the parted five-stars emerged something bizarre.
The moment it appeared, a groan escaped someone’s lips.
“Seven-star……?”
Five below, two above—the new arrival had seven stars on its head.
The visual impact of that number was unreal.
‘They said multiple general-class evolved beasts appeared near Kalom Fortress.’
Was this one of them?
‘Doesn’t matter where it came from.’
It was already here, that dangerous bastard.
A chilling grind leaked from between my clenched teeth.
The new seven-star, the so-called general-class evolved beast, was truly bizarre.
I couldn’t describe its form with any words I knew.
Smaller than a five-star by a head, but its overall shape kept shifting.
Like flames flickering?
Or heat haze rippling?
Maybe tentacles writhing.
Its form stirred revulsion beyond confusion as it approached the barrier slowly but surely.
Oddly, no footstep sounds accompanied its movement.
My gaze dropped instinctively, revealing something even more astonishing.
With each step, the weeds beneath shriveled and withered.
That revealed the source of the sound I’d heard.
“Kurururu…….”
The suddenly appeared general-class rolled its tongue oddly and halted before the barrier.
With the barrier up, outsiders couldn’t see inside. This space was excluded from that realm.
‘So why does it feel like that thing’s looking right at me?’
Thump, thump-thump. Anxiety swelled, my heart racing.
And my intuition wasn’t wrong.
Black haze spread from the general-class, triggering a system warning.
「A double barrier is formed.」
「Teleportation magic is restricted.」
A spatial magic one rank above a standard barrier.
Beastkin had used this exact double barrier in Viseta to block human traffickers’ escape.
We’d fled inside to minimize damage, only to trap ourselves instead.
My cheek twitched at the unwelcome turn as the general-class extended what seemed like a hand.
One second, ten seconds, a minute passed.
Blood-curdling time ticked by until—crack!
A fissure spiderwebbed across the barrier where the general-class’s hand touched.
Every face inside paled instantly.
* * *
A frigid silence blanketed those inside the barrier.
Not even breathing could be heard.
Everyone stared at the cracking barrier, forgetting to breathe.
Among them, I was first to steady my emotions. My cheek twitched.
‘So that’s where all these bastards came from.’
The general-class seemed to wield spatial mana.
I hadn’t noticed right away for a simple reason.
‘No collision phenomena from teleportation.’
Distorting space to move something prompts causality to intervene, restoring it.
That clash between mana tearing space and causality repairing it causes specific effects.
Like the flash every time Ahel used teleportation magic.
But these evolved beasts had appeared without any such clash.
I wondered why, but no way to know now.
And it wasn’t important right this second.
‘Whatever it ate to get it, but…….’
Forming double barriers and cracking existing ones meant at least tier-four spatial mana.
‘Outmatched Ahel’s mana in rank.’
Plus, I could only teleport objects.
Living beings required far more mana and complex arrays.
‘Shop price is twenty million mana.’
Even with trait buffs, no magic learnable in months of practice.
Yet this thing wielded it.
I fiddled with my spear shaft, grimacing.
‘Spatial types are a pain to deal with.’
Slippery bastards dodging every which way, hard to land solid hits.
Ahel spars were the training I dreaded and struggled with most.
Worse, two hundred-plus five-stars backed the general-class.
‘Unwinnable game.’
Even throwing everything I had, defeat was certain.
Recognizing that, my mouth went dry.
Just then, the fissure in the barrier widened further.
Staring at encroaching doom, my heart felt like bursting out.
I suppressed the impatience and issued orders.
“For now, each party buys one advanced barrier magic stone.”
When this barrier breaks, erect a new one immediately.
Buy time to find a breakthrough.
After directing them, I checked the denomination homepage.
「Title: Near Rakriol Valley—Can you dispatch reinforcements? - Author: K」
The post I’d made right after erecting the barrier had replies promising aid.
‘But not right away.’
Minimum hours, worst case a day or two.
Checked other denominations’ players too—no immediate dispatches.
While assessing inside, the barrier kept deteriorating.
We used new stones players passed over, but it was makeshift.
Minutes to check responses, yet ten stones used meanwhile.
Reinforcements needed hours minimum—hold siege that long?
‘Five stones won’t last long.’
Cracks spread faster than expected.
Hours would demand excessive stones.
‘Hundreds of millions in mana for barriers.’
Waiting blindly inside for uncertain aid was a bad move.
Mana drained per stone, cornered deeper over time.
But double barrier blocked teleportation escape.
Self-rescue only option.
I glared coldly at the general-class wrecking the barrier.
All the while, relentlessly prodding myself.
‘Use your head.’
Find a way out alive.
‘Figure it out.’
Toss synthesized random boxes?
‘No.’
Not ideal for breakthrough—no guarantee of a game-changer.
‘Temoria camp’s silver badge perks?’
Yang Tae-ho awakened silver too, gaining Temoria denomination buffs.
‘Holy Veil.’
Form defensive walls with divinity, not mana.
Key advantage: linkage among same camp.
‘Twelve Temoria members on this mission, including Yang Tae-ho.’
Four silvers—could make a big holy veil.
“We could make a veil too.”
Yang Tae-ho voiced the same thought tentatively.
But after deliberation, I rejected it.
‘Not a solution.’
Holy veil duration was short.
‘Barely twenty minutes.’
Without solving root issue, just extending a death sentence.
Worse, Temoria silver buff cooldown was a fortnight.
One use, then done.
Needed a way to break through, not stall.
For that, objectively assess hand.
‘Status window.’
Player Kang Hyun-woo (Beta Tester) - Silver Badge
Codename: K
Mana: 1,194,662.64 (Attribute Mana: 18,611.50)
Chaos Value: 2.21%
Affiliation: Earth, Palao Denomination
Race: Human (Player)
Rank: Alpha
Attribute: Lightning (★★★★★)
Skills: Mana Operation (100%), Sensory Expansion (100%), Perel Royal Knights Spear Arts (lv.3 - 88.47%), Mana Control (44.41%), Acceleration (39.45%)
Magic: Mana Detection (lv.3 - 79.61%), Invisibility (100%), Barrier (100%), Object Teleport (lv.2 - 59.66%), Space Distortion (lv.1 - 29.84%), Fireball (83.31%), Wind Blade (44.91%), Flame Storm (15.49%), Earth Wall (45.98%), Hellfire (34.11%)
Traits: Capitalism, Assimilation, Tenacity, Purification (lv.2 - 68.75%)
Titles: Bounty Hunter, Mark of Alliance, Grave Robber
Reputation: 234,977
The status window obscured my view, neatly listing my assets.
Making Yang Tae-ho and Kim Yul silver, herd hunting, clearing contamination zones in main scenario.
Nonstop grind pushed mana past a million.
Staring at the number, a hazy word flickered before me.
“Gold Badge…….”
Damn system