Chapter 141
Chapter 141
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: The Gangster Party Emerges
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Everyone stared in awe at the sight.
It was the moment the world's first-ever "Gangster Party" made its appearance.
"...That's insane power."
"What kind of technique is that? Did the attack spread out from that tree?"
A few among them tried to figure out what was happening. It was only natural.
The enemies they were facing right now were monsters equivalent to or slightly below a level 10 Master—putting them at levels 8 to 10.
Tough beasts that shrugged off ordinary firearms and even mid-to-low-tier magic, coming at them in dozens, hundreds. It was a scale impossible to handle without damage unless special forces or a military unit got involved.
Kuuu--!
But when the air trembled violently.
Pipiping! Boom! Clang!
Flesh exploded and metal snapped all too easily. The tremendous vibrations, amplified by amplification magic, swept away the waves of oncoming monsters like a tidal wave.
"Whoa... That's got to be on par with a 7th-class destruction spell, right?"
The sheer power wasn't all that surprising. Boram alone was an 8th-class mage, after all. Even if her specialty was barriers, she could cast wide-area spells of this magnitude multiple times.
The issue was the efficiency.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Woooong!
It exploded, exploded, and exploded again. Now, not a single monster could even get close to the tree protecting them.
Crunch! Kukuku...!
With no enemies left that could damage the tree, its roots dug into the ground, absorbing the surrounding energy as it began to grow larger.
Crunch! Crackle!
The tree even used the scattered corpses of the golem constructs and fanatics as fertilizer!
Gogogo.
It grew. It kept growing. The tree, having harvested the bodies of the largest monster horde on Survival Island, had now become a towering giant over 20 meters tall.
And as it bulked up.
Bang! Bang! Kaboom!
"Huh? The attack range is expanding."
"It's hitting every enemy within 300 meters. No, 450 meters now."
The monster waves crashing in shattered like they'd hit a breakwater. It was a massacre scene that was hard to believe even seeing it with their own eyes.
Bang! Boom boom! Kaboom!
"Whoa, it doesn't stop. How's it firing off that much power nonstop?"
"Are they using the tree for defense and shadows for offense? It's a total one-sided beatdown."
"Talk about gangsters..."
As the monster waves flooding the base camp thinned out, people finally had some breathing room. They maintained their gear, rotated shifts, and chatted idly.
The performance of this new support force was so overwhelming that it drew everyone's eyes. And among them was a Siamese cat.
"A 6th-class sorcerer commanding 7th-class spells. A 5th-class mage who's mastered the rare amplification school. A chakra master who opens gates of darkness. And... a swordsman who killed an 8th-class mage."
Well-groomed fur. A cute cap. To anyone glancing over, he'd look like a pet cat or a fancy smart pet. But in truth, he wasn't a cat—he was an alien race that resembled one.
The transcendent Prayana.
The Prayana were rare despite their vast numbers, hard to spot in everyday life. But he—this one, Na Taeseok—was unusually active for one, beloved as Earth's top star PD.
"Hoo..."
In the brief lull, Boram plopped down beside Na Taeseok and spoke while eyeing the hundreds of screens filming every corner of the island.
"That Han Jaeyeon guy's especially strong. No, get this—he was sizing me up."
"Catching the Dreamwalker Sect leader? No surprise he could size you up. I figured it was just luck when I heard, but... no way this performance makes sense. I know Seongjae's abilities inside out."
The massive tree scattering a soft glow pulled aggro so widely, it was like it had a taunt skill.
Monsters summoned from kilometers away flipped their eyes back and charged!
And those charging monsters.
Boom boom!
Kaboom!
Shattered by the waterfall-like vibration waves bursting from the shadows. The staff watching gasped in admiration.
"Whoa! No cooldown or anything?"
"No, more than that—how can they keep using a technique like that? Mana's gotta be running low."
"It's vibrations! Isn't that Heaven-Shaking Seven Colors?"
"If it's Heaven-Shaking Seven Colors, that's even worse! You'd need to devour hundreds of beasts to spam vibrations like that!"
Questions popped up everywhere. Taeseok thought to himself.
'A bizarre combo technique. In terms of output and efficiency, it surpasses your average 8th-class mage.'
Of course, that didn't mean they were 8th-class or higher, or could beat an 8th-class mage.
It was because their power usage was way too specialized.
'No mobility at all. Three gigas sniping from a kilometer out would kill them just by landing hits.'
But against monsters that only had numbers and mindless charges, the shadow-fired vibrations were a wall of despair.
The area around the giant tree had turned into a killing field that deserved the name.
"The vibration range is widening. And Seongjae's water birch tree is way bigger than in the movie."
Na Taeseok wasn't much of a fighter despite being transcendent. Natural enough—if he cared about combat, why come to the ultra-peaceful 34th Earth?
He was a born PD who found fulfillment in videos and the joy of his viewers.
Most of Taeseok's abilities had nothing to do with combat. He was high-tier for a Prayana not even fully matured into an adult cat, but on 34th Earth, he could barely take a single cop!
Even so.
'Good. Perfect...!'
His eyes, honed from seeing countless ability users, read the situation perfectly.
"The potential's exploding."
Crisis was birthing heroes.
* * *
"The potential's exploding."
I laughed in disbelief.
"No way—they're growing right here?"
No one answered my mutter from inside the now much larger tree.
Just urging.
"Thuseung! Now!"
"Isn't it better to wait a bit? We've only got forty..."
"Thuseung!"
"Fine."
I sighed and raised my palm. I fixed myself to the ground with Land Breaker, then slammed down with enough raw strength to rip my composite armor.
Crack!
The feel in my hand was different from before. Meaning Olya absorbed the impact even more perfectly this time.
"Hng...!"
Her skin wrapped around my hand as she groaned.
And then.
"Ung...!"
"Haa...!"
Lea and Hye-young shuddered.
Boom boom boom!
Vibrations shot through the shadows, exploding the monsters approaching the tree.
"Resonance factor... 13.2!"
"Even farther shadows... realm of shadows..."
The two women performed their roles as if entranced.
The standout phenomenon was how quickly the three women's capabilities were growing.
"Whoa, the vibrations themselves are stronger, and now amplified 13 times."
That wasn't all.
"It's even popping monsters beyond the hill."
In the process of generating, amplifying, and transmitting the vibrations, the three women were pushing past their limits. Controlling such overwhelming power was stimulating their growth.
But the most dramatic growth came from someone else.
Rumble rumble crunch!
The tree grew another level, booming heavily.
I turned to see branches piercing corpses through the translucent trunk, sucking something in.
Monster bodies vanished after time, but apparently they could still be absorbed as fertilizer.
"Hey... You sure it's okay to suck up dark-attribute monsters like that? You're a wood-attribute sorcerer, right?"
At my words, Seongjae opened his eyes from meditation.
"I've got another attribute too."
"Light?"
His voice pitched up at my guess.
"No!"
Hooo...
A faint dawn light emanated from Seongjae's body.
"The name of the ultimate spell I command is [Dawn]! The punisher's power that devours darkness and calls forth morning...!"
Light poured out. The light born from burning darkness invigorated everyone inside the tree and even grew the tree as its own attribute.
'The synergy between light and tree spells is nuts. He must've known when he summoned it.'
Thinking that, I waved my hand in front of his eyes.
"Hey, but..."
His pupils didn't twitch. He answered me but wasn't looking at me at all.
"You in your right mind right now?"
"......"
No reply.
"Well, no one sane would spout lines like that..."
"Thuseung!"
"Got it, got it!"
He called me again, so I raised my arm.
I suddenly laughed at the absurdity.
'They're all growing on their own!'
Everyone else zoned out, leaving only sane me feeling awkward.
That was when.
Kaboom kaboom!
A massive explosion rocked the earth.
I turned to see the Red Dragon and Blue Dragon tearing into the fallen wraith dragon with bites and tail strikes.
The wraith dragon resisted, spewing massive death ki, but one wing was already gone, and its lower body burned in unquenchable flames.
"I thought we'd need to help after this fight wrapped, but they're finishing first?"
The insane monster wave was nearly over. Even endless respawns had limits!
But if the transcendent-grade monsters fighting the Five Dragons fell, the battle would end regardless of prior events.
No number of completed monsters—tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands—mattered.
That was the stature of transcendents.
"Though it's weirder the fight's lasted this long."
Sure, they were transcendent-grade foes, but we had five transcendents. Considering the rumors that each of Five Dragons—F·D—was ancient-dragon tier, it was blatantly abnormal.
'Of course, the F·Ds claim they're just freshly over 1,000 years old, young adult dragons.'
At that moment, Red Dragon Ruby breathed, incinerating the wraith dragon's head completely.
That's when I realized why the fight dragged on.
Kuuu!
Darkness gathered in the sky, then
-Kraaaang--!
A roar that made my fur stand on end, and a black body brimming with death ki appeared.
"Ah, damn... Respawning now? No way."
It defied spiritual studies. Even the textbook apocalypse projects couldn't pull this.
[Hahaha!]
A cackling laugh erupted, like a pro voice actor dripping with evil. I looked up to see a black-robed man in the sky.
[Alright! Finally turn 10!]
Ruby flicked her head at the cheery voice.
[Plenty of leisure for someone who keeps dying. Betting on respawns? We've already locked your coordinates. Those respawns won't last more than two or three more.]
The Five Dragons hadn't just fought—they'd probed their limits. But Dark Messiah wasn't fazed.
[Hahaha! Dragons truly are impressive. But even you geniuses lack turn sense? It's turn 10! Turn 10! For me, savior of darkness, to reach turn 10 unscathed!]
[What nonsense is this?]
[Three Death Lists!]
Dark Messiah shouted grandly, raising a dagger to slit his own throat.
Slash!
It happened almost simultaneously. First, Dark Messiah's head hit the ground—he'd severed his own neck.
And then.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Red Dragon Ruby's head. Blue Dragon Sapphire's head. Black Dragon Heukyo's heads... hit the ground.
"......"
Cognitive dissonance hit; I stared blankly until screams erupted from afar.
Everyone peeking at the transcendents' battle via sight, magic, cameras—they'd all seen it.
Woooong!
Darkness gathered in the air, and Dark Messiah respawned.
He grinned wide and yelled.
[Now it's 3 to 2!]
"Ah, damn."
Curses slipped out. Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.