Chapter 5
Chapter 5: Return
I left the Community to keep exploding on its own and, having received a whopping 10-hour rest period, I finally entered the small cabin that had been built.
"Oh, it's pretty cozy?"
At least it was more than enough for one person.
About 8 pyeong or so.
There was even a dining table and chairs inside, and windows too.
"Unbelievable. Is this even real?"
Flop.
There was a cotton-stuffed blanket and pillow, no less.
A bed!
Others had said they couldn't even lean against anything out of fear their Crystal Orb durability might drop, resting on clumped-up weeds they'd torn apart.
And here he was, lying down on an actual bed to sleep.
"Let's sleep. I'm dead tired."
***
"What a nightmare."
Drip…
Grip.
Hwang Jin-hyeok pressed a clean bandage against the wound seeping blood from his side to stop the bleeding, then accessed the Community through the Crystal Orb.
"Ha…seriously. Someone like this actually exists?"
[Name: Hwang Jin-hyeok]
[Unique Trait: 1-Hit 3-Pierce]
[Trait: Strength, Swiftness +1, Swordsmanship]
"Can someone actually have a better trait than mine?"
Hwang Jin-hyeok's Unique Trait—1-Hit 3-Pierce.
When he dealt damage to 1 enemy he considered a foe, up to 2 other enemies would receive the same damage.
Maximum of 2 additional targets.
A single attack hitting a whopping 3 targets, piercing through armor as well.
Meaning kill 1 and the rest die simultaneously.
He even had the Swiftness trait enhanced to 100% and upgraded on top of that.
And the Swordsmanship trait earned by clearing the tutorial.
Whether it was because even a dagger counted as a sword, it had become far easier to wield.
"This isn't simple skill enhancement or anything like that. Talent. A whopping talent has been granted."
Talent.
Where both the ceiling and the floor are absurdly low and high respectively.
To think such a talent had been given to him?
Grip.
"What a nightmare…I thought the blood-soaked battles were behind me."
After going on multiple deployments, he'd come to realize he was gradually becoming intoxicated by blood—so he had temporarily completed his military service.
Of course, he'd submitted a leave of absence request, and his status was still that of a special forces soldier.
Was it fate that someone like him had been called to this place?
Or mere coincidence?
Physical ability and skills.
And now even a superpower.
He'd naturally assumed that he would rank 1st here—a place where enemies swarmed in through sheer numbers.
"Who are you? And what is your trait."
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
Author 777.
No—Hwang Jin-hyeok's heart began to race.
Just like it had when bullets and shells were flying.
***
"Uwaaaaaaaahhhh…slept well."
Opening my eyes, the remaining time was 3 hours.
I'd only slept 7 hours.
Maybe because I'd been catching short naps—unlike what I'd expected, which was sleeping over 10 hours, I'd slept 7.
"Hmm. Plenty of points too."
7 hours had passed, so tens of thousands of points had accumulated.
"3,000 for Mid-Grade. The rest are all Low-Grade."
This time, Scouts came out at a slightly higher ratio.
"What's this. Are they only available from Mid-Grade?"
[Mid-Grade Transport]
Given how many Low-Grade and Lowest-Grade I'd pulled without getting one, it seemed to be a mechanical soldier that only summoned from Mid-Grade onward.
It looked like a truck, but with arms around it.
Like one of those cars from children's animated shows, you'd have to say.
And it was enormous in size.
Nearly the scale of a house.
"Oh…come to think of it, it's grown?"
I hadn't noticed, but the land kept gradually expanding as the waves progressed.
"Could it be that this is a defend-and-reclaim-territory sort of thing? And they're using us Earth people for that?"
It felt like things were starting to piece together, but for now, that wasn't what mattered.
Trait—Command.
This wasn't something that could only be used in combat.
I had them move corpses to one spot, and everything that would be needed somewhere—bones and the like—was all moved to a single location.
Afterward, the Combatants began keeping watch around the perimeter.
Having finished issuing commands to the Mechanical Legion like that, I quietly slipped into the Community.
Surprisingly, it was still ablaze even now.
Well, of course—this would be what everyone here wanted most.
But wasn't the information right now even more important than what I'd shared?
Someone had figured it out.
[Waves can be repeated.] Author: Explosion Maniac
Told it I wanted to repeat and it let me. Crystal Orb durability doesn't go up or anything.
Coins do drop though. If you want to earn coins, do it. You can't choose which repeat. Only the wave you last fought is possible.
Posting this because you lot won't shut up. Figure it out yourselves.
He'd certainly been draining information while growing stronger without giving anything back, and had been running his mouth a lot, so public opinion wasn't in his favor.
Most comments were in the mood of forgiving him or laughing it off.
"Hmm. Can I repeat?"
[Proceeding with Wave Stage 7.]
"Oh damn…it just starts right away?"
Goblins began appearing simultaneously.
"Move out."
The Combatants charged and began dealing with them.
The newly appeared Transport was used to move corpses over to where the Gatherers were.
"Repeat."
The time it took to fight was barely under 10 minutes.
I repeated the battle right up until 20 minutes before Wave Stage 8 was set to begin.
The coins gathered from that came to nearly 200.
"Ah, this time I just want more numbers!"
First, I used coins to buy and put on a leather armor and chain armor just in case.
That's how it was usually done in web novels.
"Ah, it's heavy…"
Still, there was no problem rotating my arms or throwing.
There were hundreds of daggers, and I'd use those for throwing.
The blades had gone dull—I was wondering what to do when these guys proved their worth.
[Lowest-Grade Mechanic]
[Low-Grade Mechanic]
[Mid-Grade Mechanic]
Using the various tools I'd bought at their request, they reforged the daggers—far more gleaming and sharp than before.
They even restored the swords the warriors had used, and the bows, swords, and arrows the archers had used—like new.
The cloth was too dirty and worn to be of use.
Rumbleeeeeeeeee—
The gate of the black abyss began to form.
What began emerging from it was a group of 20 warriors and 30 ordinary goblins.
Additionally, 10 archers.
"Kieeeeeeeeeeek!"
The enemies started charging in.
Just as predicted, what was charging in now was a force that could genuinely be called a small-scale army.
I began throwing into the gaps between the charging enemies.
Thwack.
"Kiiiiiik!"
Slice—
Daggers lodged straight into the faces and chests of the oncoming enemies.
"This is insane."
There was a thrill in dealing with them.
"Raptors 1, 2, 3, 4—Overload."
<Whirrrrrrrrrrr…>
White vapor billowed out from the raptors' mouths.
The Overloaded units charged in an instant, and the swords swung by the goblins were dodged with ease.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
"Grind them. Lowest-Grade to the right. Low-Grade, hold the line properly."
Battles ending in an instant.
"Ha…this is insane, for real."
It was too much fun.
Like playing a game, you'd have to say.
I couldn't believe the reality I was in that had me doing nothing but laughing.
I posted Wave Stage 8 info to the Community again, then stopped by the river to wash up.
I washed my sweat-dirtied body and came back clean.
[Reward: Trait Enhancement Ticket]
"Hmm. I'll enhance Overload twice."
When Overload was applied, the time the raptors were enhanced was a mere 4 minutes.
And when it ended, their movements even became sluggish.
"Lowest-Grade Combatants are almost all broken down. Low-Grade and Mid-Grade are still around…hmm…"
I wanted to summon only the Combatants I wanted—I was thinking about how to go about that, when a quest finally appeared.
[Path of the Unique Trait (2)]
[Don't forget. You are the Mechanical Legion Commander. Increase the Mechanical Legion's numbers to 5,000.]
[Reward: Trait: Troop Selection]
"5,000?"
5,000 filled with only Lowest-Grade would be a bunch of 500,000 points.
"Easy. All current points into Lowest-Grade. Then repeat Wave Stage 8."
Rumbleeeeeeeeeeee—
"Let's go."
***
I repeated Wave Stage 8 countless times.
Most were pulled as Lowest-Grade, but I mixed in Low-Grade and Mid-Grade as well.
The Mechanical Legion of 5,000 units was achieved like that.
There was no more room for them to grow.
"5,000 reached~"
[Path of the Unique Trait (2) Complete!]
[Acquiring Trait: Troop Selection.]
"Then give me 30 Low-Grade Gatherers."
The pile of corpses stacked around here was beyond absurd.
"I should buy some materials. Iron rebar first and…"
Pulling had yielded a large number of Engineers.
Still, since they were here, shouldn't I put them to use?
I planned to use the Engineers to build walls, a fortress, or something of the sort around this area.
It didn't seem like I'd be here for just a day or two.
I had the Engineers build a sturdy and upgradeable fortress.
Additionally, I had them construct walls made of wood and stone.
Since wood and stone were incredibly cheap.
With that, large-scale construction began, and we cleared Wave Stages 9 and 10.
Naturally, between those, I repeated waves multiple times to supply coins and purchase materials.
"A fortress!"
The fortress that had been built, and walls made of wood and stone that looked solid just at a glance.
The fortress itself wasn't that large—slightly bigger than a 2-story country house.
[Return Stone: 10 Days]
"Phew…finally."
Even while repeating Wave Stage 10 multiple times, I had waited for the fortress to be fully completed before returning.
In the meantime, Author 777 had returned.
"Phew…pheeew…here I gooo! Return Stone—use!"
Fwooooooosh—
The Return Stone melted away, and just like when I'd been summoned here, light began emanating from my body.
"Let's go!"
When I opened my eyes full of anticipation, what greeted me were tall buildings and cars.
And goblins.
"…Goblins?"
"Kieeeeeeeeeeeeek!"
"Goblins! Help!"
"Looks like another Defender died!"
A gate that had appeared out of nowhere, and citizens fleeing from it while shouting things I couldn't make sense of.
"Ha ha…we're screwed."