Chapter 18
Chapter 18
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: How the Rank 1 Hero Protects the World
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“What? What the hell!”
“Who killed it?!”
“It was an A-Rank Monster!”
“Maybe there’s another ranker besides Lee Woo-yeon?”
Voices realizing too late that an A-Rank Monster had been killed buzzed with excitement, but it wasn’t anything to get so hyped about. Contrary to their expectations, I wasn’t much of a fighting force in my current state.
My mana levels were barely normal, so I’d deliberately chosen the Nameless Bow, which could make use of my class correction, but that didn’t mean I could fire it endlessly.
By my calculations, 50 to 70 shots was the limit.
And that was just considering mana—whether my strength and stamina could hold out that long was questionable. That was why I hadn’t pulled it out until now.
On top of that, I’d hit it precisely between the eyes because the monster was just emerging, but against rampaging monsters, my accuracy would drop sharply.
In other words, the most monsters I could take down was a few dozen.
Compared to that, the horde pushing through the light looked like a swarm of cockroaches.
A few even resembled wingless birds with feathers.
Those things look just like dinosaurs… Wyverns? A gray bird with sticky mucus clinging to its wings and head spewed fire as it took flight.
Better not let that one get away.
I nocked an arrow and drew the bowstring.
The monster, soaring powerfully upward, had its slender neck pierced by the arrow. It let out a horrific screech as it plummeted to the ground.
“Another one! He took down another!”
“Who the hell is it?!”
Cheers erupted, but only for a moment.
The monsters following behind swarmed the corpse of the one I’d shot down.
They buried their heads in it and began devouring the body.
“Ugh… urk…!”
The hunters witnessing the scene head-on covered their mouths to stifle their nausea.
It wasn’t just the monster I’d killed.
There were so many squeezing through the rift that they seemed to get in each other’s way. Weaker ones were being attacked not by hunters, but by other monsters pushing from behind.
They tore into each other when they got in the way, more monsters climbed over the corpses, and the newly created bodies were ripped apart, soaking the ground.
It was a gruesome sight.
Muffled sobs echoed continuously from inside the buildings.
Even the despair of those people was a familiar scene to me. I’d seen it countless times, dozens of times.
But I never imagined I’d witness something like this in Korea.
- Secondary Monster Wave activation time: 00:28:20
Monsters were still emerging from the rift, but the spawn rate was gradually slowing.
Now, the monsters were approaching the road where hunters had formed a defensive line and were waiting.
Occasionally, monsters tried smashing into buildings where civilians had evacuated, but mages on standby beforehand provoked them with spells, narrowing their field of vision.
I drew my bowstring again, shooting down a few more wyverns trying to take to the skies.
- An arrow infused with mana has consecutively slain an enemy five times!
- Skills related to the bow are preparing to awaken.
Such system messages appeared, but they weren’t particularly important. The skills I needed weren’t like that.
Sure, it was an achievement worthy of a system message, but no one was watching my exploits anymore.
The hunters preparing to meet the monsters were gripping their weapons, their eyes fixed only on the savior hovering in the sky.
In other words, Lee Woo-yeon.
“…If only I were in normal condition.”
Saying it didn’t change anything, but watching him… it made my insides burn with frustration.
I didn’t particularly enjoy hunting monsters. If someone else was doing it, I’d gladly pass.
But facing such a powerhouse right in front of me while I was robbed of my strength and rendered powerless… it stung. Useless rivalry.
As I dry-fired the empty bow, my eyes met Lee Woo-yeon’s as he flew far off in the sky.
He flapped his gleaming golden wings, noticed our gazes meet, and flashed a grin.
But his eyes held no joy—still cold and calculating. His mind was probably running the same numbers as mine.
Glancing at it, there were already hundreds of monsters pouring from the dungeon rift. Just as Lee Woo-yeon and I had estimated.
At this point, where I and the other hunters were luring the monsters and gathering them in one place as much as possible.
If Lee Woo-yeon couldn’t hold them back here, we’d have to brace for some casualties.
I pointed a mana-infused arrow right at him, as if to say, show me what you’ve got.
Lee Woo-yeon raised his right hand like before. His lips seemed to move slightly.
I could feel mana gathering around him.
The spell he’d used earlier looked like Hellfire. What would it be this time?
Truth be told, I was so envious of Lee Woo-yeon right now that I felt like I might keel over.
If I could use magic too, it would help tremendously in this situation where my physical stats were scraping the bottom, but unfortunately, I had zero talent for it.
The strongest magic swordsman I knew, Lucas, had told me I lacked one crucial thing for magic. When I asked what, he said this.
‘What is it?’
‘Finesse.’
That bastard Lucas.
So that fiery fox bastard has the finesse I lack, huh?
Fueled by rivalry, I stared as Lee Woo-yeon cast his spell.
“Huh?”
Lee Woo-yeon, having met my gaze, shaped his empty left hand like a gun. He mimed shooting at me, then winked and blew on his finger like clearing gunsmoke.
…What the hell was that?
“Is that bastard actually insane?”
When I flipped him off, Lee Woo-yeon frowned. Not the reaction he wanted, huh?
Even while messing around, mana was steadily gathering in his right hand.
A massive blue magic circle appeared in the air. The same color as Lucas’s.
The ornate magic circle blazed blue, dyeing even the sky. In that instant, as the scene was drenched in fiery light, Lee Woo-yeon spread his wings and raised his sword.
He swung it toward the monsters.
Flames with destructive power incomparable to before swept across the road.
Not just ordinary flames. The blaze rose like a typhoon, devouring monsters like lava.
Where the flames passed, only half-melted monster corpses emitting a foul stench remained.
- Secondary Monster Wave activation time: 00:25:10
I stared down at the scene in a daze.
“No way… why the hell…?”
It had taken barely two minutes to get this far. Only five minutes since the wave began.
The moment I checked the time, chills ran down my spine.
…No way.
“Woooah! Woooaah!”
“Lee Woo-yeon is insane!”
“He’s Korea’s strongest!”
“We’re saved now!”
Shouts erupted from the people confirming the monster corpses, echoing loudly through the streets.
The atmosphere, filled with despair just moments ago, flipped instantly to cheers and relief.
And I, who could only watch, gritted my teeth.
Lee Woo-yeon, still with wings spread, swooped toward me. He looked slightly baffled.
“Didn’t expect it to go this smoothly. Total wipe-out unexpectedly? No more monsters spawning.”
I looked up at him, biting my lip. A hoarse voice escaped me.
“You… you don’t actually know, do you?”
I stared straight into Lee Woo-yeon’s eyes as I said it. If he was trying to play dumb again, I was seriously going to deck him.
But his eyes were filled with genuine puzzlement.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
Lee Woo-yeon truly had no idea.
Realizing that, a massive wave of despair crashed over me.
He had no clue what possibilities this situation entailed.
“Has something like this never happened before?”
“Like suppressing it this quickly? Korea hasn’t had many large-scale dungeon breaks to begin with. So this is the first time….”
Lee Woo-yeon trailed off, puzzled.
Only then did his explanation make sense to me.
I’d been the idiot.
The first large-scale spontaneous dungeon break in Korea was five years ago, when the System first appeared. After that, they were either small-scale or barely happened at all.
Large-scale monster waves like this weren’t common.
So naturally, Lee Woo-yeon would think to annihilate as many as possible at once.
That way, he could minimize casualties.
Damn it. If the primary monster wave cooldown had been just a bit longer, we could’ve stopped it.
Lee Woo-yeon landed on the rooftop railing and looked at me curiously as I hung my head.
Sensing something off, suspicion was slowly creeping into his eyes.
“What are you trying to say?”
Cheers still rang out from below the building without end. Everyone was chanting Lee Woo-yeon’s name. …Yeah, they had every reason to sense victory.
But in that moment, a system message appeared.
- 80% or more of the monsters for the Secondary Monster Wave have been instantly killed.
- Secondary Monster Wave halted.
- Top Achiever: Lee Pil-yeon
Everyone stared blankly at the unexpected message floating in the air, stunned.
I was the only one who had to rage.
“Damn it.”
Normally, there’s no way to stop a monster wave mid-dungeon break.
But there was this case.
If players wiped out most of the monsters before the wave fully started.
The System acknowledges the players’ victory and halts the monster wave.
And this… was the worst-case scenario we could face in a spontaneous dungeon break.
The next moment, messages appeared one after another.
- Warning! Tertiary Monster Wave beginning. Monster rank restrictions apply (ranks appear randomly)
“What?”
Lee Woo-yeon nearly dropped his sword. His eyes blankly scanned the system message.
Yes. When a previous wave halted midway like this, the next one started immediately without delay.
- Tertiary Monster Wave activation time: 00:00:00
- ‘Boss Monster’ will appear in the Tertiary Monster Wave.
- Players cannot leave the area until the Boss Monster leaves the zone.
And above all, the danger level skyrocketed exponentially. As if fueling competitive rivalry against a worthy opponent.
The streets, wrapped in cheers moments ago, now held only silence.
They didn’t even have the strength left to scream.
In that quiet despair, my eyes met Lee Woo-yeon’s.
Stunned gaze.
Lee Woo-yeon clenched his red lips tight; the playful demeanor from before was gone. His bitten lip tore, blood trickling down to his chin.
He ground his teeth and said.
“That means the activation time is infinite?”
“Yeah. Unless we meet the clear condition, we can’t leave.”
The clear condition was defeating the randomly appearing boss monster of random rank.
No one knew what it would be.
Lee Woo-yeon closed his eyes. His grip on the sword tightened fiercely.
“My fault… I should’ve anticipated the System’s malice. Reckless of me.”
“No, it’s not your fault.”
I wasn’t trying to comfort him.
It was just the truth.
This wasn’t Lee Woo-yeon’s fault. He hadn’t even known this was possible.
Honestly, it wasn’t common in Tartarus either. The proper strategies for spontaneous dungeon breaks were only known after I fell into that world.
To spread strategies, you had to survive first, obviously.
Meaning no one had survived until then.
If I hadn’t experienced it myself, I wouldn’t have imagined this could happen.
“You had no idea.”
It was simply a matter of not having enough time.
But if we had to assign blame, it was mine for knowing about cases like this and not warning anyone beforehand.
I’d looked into it, but I was still too ignorant of Korea’s situation to know what info to share.
A mistake born of ignorance.
But in the end, neither Lee Woo-yeon’s mistake nor mine was the root cause.
“That damn System always pulls shit like this.”
As if gleefully demanding we die, die, die.
I stowed my bow and summoned the Apex Light Sword.
My trembling arms pitifully lacked strength.
Lee Woo-yeon looked at me. I met his gaze and gave a shameless grin.
Ariadne once said acting a bit brazen helps in surviving near-death crises.
No point regretting now—it was done. What we needed wasn’t regret, but a solution.
“So for now, just focus on surviving, Lee Woo-yeon-ssi.”