Chapter 208: 38th Floor: Giant Guild Party (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 208: 38th Floor: Giant Guild Party (3)
I charge forward, riding the Bicorn.
Lightning strikes, storms rage, and a wall of fire rises behind the Bicorn.
Giant monsters fall to my spear, and arrows imbued with divine power—Holy Arrows—rain down in every direction.
The undead are sent flying by the Bicorn's charge, snapping like twigs.
A one-woman army.
A warrior worth a thousand.
She says it, she does it! When it's time to act, Lee Do-hee delivers!
She and the Bicorn are cutting a swath through the undead army.
Of course, even with all that, tens of thousands of undead are still swarming toward Dotamuk's position. Their numbers are dwindling, but there are so many that it feels endless.
I was on guard for the two survivors to show up, but surprisingly, there was no ambush.
'The fact that they're not here is making me more anxious...'
Here I am, fighting frantically in the middle of the undead horde. This should be a perfect opportunity for them, yet they're still hiding? They must be planning something.
Before long, I spot the area where I presume Dotamuk and Ilbon-do are. They were darting from one abandoned rooftop to another, surrounded by a black sea of undead.
Dotamuk was handling the monstrous birds swooping from the sky, while Ilbon-do used his skills to take care of the giant beasts, Shadow Knights, and Meat Golems.
They were holding their own, fighting smartly.
And that's when I join the fray.
"Guys!! I'm here!!!"
So, what can I do, showing up all by myself?
'No one has a better type advantage against the undead than me.'
[Sanctuary Declaration]
Sanctuary Declaration, a skill I learned along with Heal and various other divine skills.
A thin, pink membrane forms in a 500-meter radius around me.
<Sanctuary Declaration Lv.1>
◇ All stats of allies within the sanctuary who share the same faith +10
◇ Regeneration +50
◇ Those of hostile faiths and all undead types have their stats reduced by -10 and take continuous damage.
◇ Divine Power Cost: 100.
◇ Duration: 1 day.
◇ Area: 500m radius.
---
Dotamuk and Ilbon-do are treated as being of the same faith as me.
Thanks to my trait's effect, this is also doubled, so everyone's stats increase by 20 and regeneration by 100.
"Oh, Lady Do-hee!!"
"You're here!"
"Only call me 'Lady' when you're in trouble, huh?"
The power of the continuous damage to the undead is proportional to my skill level and Divine Power. However, it's not a high-damage skill to begin with, so it couldn't wipe them out completely.
The lesser undead and monstrous birds all melted away, and I could see the larger ones and the Shadow Knights writhing in pain.
"Alright, let's wipe them out! Stay sharp, we don't know when those bastards will launch their surprise attack!"
Our counterattack begins.
Dotamuk continues to fire his bow from the top of the abandoned building, while Ilbon-do comes down to fight alongside me.
We have to fight as if we're defending the building Dotamuk is on, so the Bicorn joins Ilbon-do in covering our rear while I take the front.
All sorts of monsters—giant beasts, Death Knights, Shadow Knights—charge at us.
They swarm us, trying to inflict damage even as they die within the sanctuary.
CRUNCH!
SLICE!
I thrust and swing my spear.
Even my basic attacks, without any skills, are enough to make the enemies crumble.
Fluid, yet powerful.
I link my movements seamlessly, taking down one enemy after another.
But there are just too many of them. With the small fry gone, the higher-level monsters can now reach us more easily.
'There's no end to them.'
On the other hand, the fact that our enemies still haven't attacked directly suggests they might be trying to wear down our health and mana first.
If they're going to push with numbers, I have a way to counter that.
"Can I count on you this time? Come forth!!"
A portal opens behind me.
The Pig Mage, the Pig King, and all the other Pukteu Tribe pigs pour out.
The moment the Pukteu Tribe sees the enemy, they assume a battle stance.
These guys are different from before.
They are warriors who have experienced defeat and fought on the battlefield.
They've even learned the skills, martial arts manuals, and weapon styles they wanted. Some learned the spear, some the sword, and some magic.
Just because they're pigs doesn't mean they have to live like pigs.
It starts with the Pig King's <Battlefield Shout>.
Their stats were already boosted by the sanctuary's effect, and now they rise even higher for all the Pukteu Tribe.
Immediately followed by the Pig Mage's area-of-effect magic.
Fire magic, the area-of-effect attacks I lack, rains down from the sky, incinerating the undead army.
Besides divine power, fire is the most effective element against the undead. The Shadow Knights and Meat Golems that take a direct hit collapse.
A barrage of Magic Missiles follows.
The Pukteu mages, who learned magic to become wizards like the Pig Mage, fire their Magic Missiles.
It's only a 1st Circle basic spell, but it's a different story when your mana pool exceeds 2000.
My summons' stats can't drop below 20% of my final stats. Since my Divine Power is over 10,000, my summons' stats are over 2,000.
Just 2000, you ask?
I can guarantee you, aside from me, my summons have the highest mana pools here.
To put 2000 into perspective, my defense is 3000—a stat so high that even with a mythical summon's heart inside me, I'd just feel a little warm. For a human, that's a mana level only a 7th or 8th Circle Archmage could possess.
And they're firing Magic Missiles with that much mana?
The power is comparable to a 5th Circle spell like Air Blast.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! KABOOM!
The undead crumble under the Magic Missiles. Any that manage to break through are met by the melee-skilled pigs, who unleash a dazzling, chaotic flurry of skills as if they've been waiting for this moment.
"What the, why are they fighting so well?"
I summoned them thinking they'd just be meat shields or buy some time, aside from the Pig Mage, but they're fighting far, far better than I expected.
I'll admit, I've been treating the Pukteu Tribe like mining slaves this whole time, so I'm a little flustered to see them fighting better than most Awakeners.
"That one... looks stronger than me without my buffs...?"
Dotamuk says, scratching his head as he watches the Pig Mage continuously turn the sky red.
"Things have certainly gotten easier."
Ilbon-do and the Bicorn also fight back-to-back with the pigs, dealing with the undead at a more relaxed pace.
'These... are my summons?'
I have no idea when they grew this much, but I feel incredibly proud.
"Hehehe, see that?! You're not the only ones with summons!"
My Pukteu Tribe is overwhelming the undead to the point where they can hold the line without me even stepping in.
Even though they've only learned basic skills and manuals, their overwhelming mana pools fuel powerful skills and allow them to spam spells without running dry.
Their sturdy defense allows for a confident offense!
Their strength and agility are still a bit low, around 100-200, but they cover for it by spamming skills with no cooldowns.
"Go!"
Is this what it feels like to be a self-made parent receiving an allowance from their successful children?
In reality, all I did was force them into 24/7 endless mining—an unconscionable, trashy act that would've gotten me arrested for child abuse if they were actual children—but seeing them grow like this makes me feel a little proud.
*
Meanwhile, in the giant guilds' situation room.
Things were not good.
The atmosphere, the flow of the battle—it was all going terribly.
The Ohsung Guild Master was screaming his head off and had flipped a table, while the Steel Alliance Guild Master was actually trying to calm him down.
The Magic Tower's Guild Master, Chae Si-ra.
She, on the other hand, was smoking a cigarette with a look of weary resignation.
A red dress that exposed most of her chest, red hair, and red eyes.
Horns protruded from the sides of her head, and a strange magical tattoo was etched on her chest.
She recalled the battle, as if still unable to believe what had just happened.
"How absurd..."
To lose after using two of her secret skills... it was unbelievable. More importantly, both had been perfectly countered.
Solar Requiem wasn't a simple fire spell. It was the culmination of spatial magic that generated gravity and the essence of fire magic.
Normally, when an artificial sun approaches, pulling everything toward it, people run backward or to the side. It's the instinct of any living creature facing a natural disaster.
If you run back, the artificial sun slowly follows and eventually sucks you in. If you run to the side, you lose your balance and get pulled in.
But Lee Do-hee was different.
Forward.
She flew straight forward. She actually used the artificial sun's gravity to accelerate to her limit, then smoothly rode its orbit like a satellite around the Earth, slipping away like an eel.
Her combat sense and instincts were beyond words. How could she find the one and only path to survival against a skill she'd never seen before?
It was the same when the flame giant was summoned. Who in their right mind would think to charge into it?
Sure, a golem's core is usually near its heart, but it can often be in the mana core or the head. If she knew, that's astonishing. If she didn't, her fearlessness as a risk-taker was just as incredible.
It's a shame my disciple couldn't use his third and final skill, but killing him before he could was probably also part of her innate combat sense.
She was an enemy, but Chae Si-ra was impressed.
'If only we weren't enemies, we could have been good friends. Our dispositions seem to match...'
Surprisingly, before Lee Do-hee, the 'official' slut Awakener had been Chae Si-ra. She just didn't stream.
While Chae Si-ra was puffing on her cigarette in admiration, Baek Do-hyeon began to bring order to the chaotic situation room.
Baek Do-hyeon let out a deep sigh and spoke.
As he was about to speak, the room fell silent. If there was one person the Ohsung Guild Master was wary of, it was Baek Do-hyeon.
"Haaah... Forget capturing her alive. We're moving to annihilation. Kill them all."
The reason Kwon Han-jun had revealed Silence in the first round was because they hadn't planned on actually using it anyway.
Their original goal was to capture and brainwash her, so they couldn't use any techniques or skills that might kill her. The plan was to make her wary of Silence's Void Silence skill while taking her down through other, more moderate means.
But the situation had changed drastically.
For a moment, Baek Do-hyeon grew fearful of a ridiculous headline like, [Baek Do-hyeon's Direct Disciple, Defeated by Pigs!?]
Look at that screen.
Ridiculous-looking pigs were oinking as they completely demolished his disciple's terrifying summons.
It was such an absurd and comical scene that if it weren't a live broadcast, you'd suspect it was an AI-generated fake.
'So she was a bitch I should have dealt with myself.'
Suddenly, Baek Do-hyeon remembered Lee Do-hee trembling before him during the Seoul Terror Incident.
It was true he'd hesitated for a moment back then, but he had spared her because she was a bitch with far more uses.
Her looks and skills aside, her body was valuable enough to be worth the trouble, even if just for milking her and using her as an onahole.
'Should I have... crushed her back then?'
But it was true he still coveted her. Even just now, he'd been thinking right up to the last second about how he could capture and brainwash her.
Baek Do-hyeon hated doing things half-assed.
That's why he had hired the high-ranking Awakener, Ju Cheon-gang, last time.
This time, too, to ensure things weren't done by halves, he had persuaded the other guild masters to pool their equipment for his disciples.
Of course, two of them were already out of the fight, but in terms of absolute power, his side still had a massive advantage. To put it bluntly, they had enough overpowered items that they could win easily just by clicking through their item skills one by one.
And yet...
'Why does it feel like we're going to lose?'
Lee Do-hee leads the battle with something more than just what she possesses.
While fighting in real-time, she miraculously escapes through the one and only path to survival, while her enemies die because she sees right through to their greatest weakness.
'She feels like the Lee Do-hyeon I used to know... Wait a minute. Something's...'
Her spear-throwing technique is suspiciously similar.
In truth, past the 50th floor, Lee Do-hyeon rarely had to throw his spear himself, so Baek Do-hyeon didn't see it much, but he could recognize a few similar techniques.
And during the Seoul Terror Incident, Choi Tae-soo, who had been searching relentlessly for Lee Do-hyeon's whereabouts, even risked his life to help her.
'There's something going on...'
He senses that something is off.
Of course, he couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams that the deceased Lee Do-hyeon had transformed into the curvy bio-onahole Lee Do-hee and was going around fucking guys while moaning 'heung-heung'.
'A hidden daughter? A disciple? A lover? Maybe I should investigate later.'
For now, he decides to deal with the situation at hand.
"I'm taking over as the main shot-caller."
The head of the giant guilds, Baek Do-hyeon, becomes the operator himself.
'It's been a while since I've personally taken the operator role... not since I did it for Lee Do-hyeon...'
Just as Lee Do-hee had, Baek Do-hyeon also feels a sense of nostalgia and anger.
*
The end of the seemingly endless sea of undead is in sight.
'Why aren't they coming out?'
I'm starting to get nervous.
There's nowhere to gather sacrifices, so what are they doing?
Just when I thought we had calmly weathered most of the undead assault,
SQUELCH...!!
The undead charge madly, with complete disregard for their own lives.
Their bodies were swollen as if about to burst.
"What the hell."
That's not all.
The smaller monsters had melted away, but the corpses of the larger ones remained. Their bodies also begin to swell and bulge.
'It's Corpse Explosion!'
"Everyone, unleash all your ranged attacks!!"
Everyone projects their firepower, but there was nothing we could do about the ones just barrelling through or the corpses already on the ground.
"Brace for impact!!"
There's nowhere to run.
I quickly cast Divine Shield on everyone.
BOOM! KABOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!
BOOM!!!!!
Corpses explode in every direction.
Flesh, fingernails, and bone fragments fly everywhere.
"Oink!!"
SPLATTER!
When the explosions end with some disgusting sounds, our unharmed party members and the Pukteu Tribe open their eyes. Blood was raining down everywhere, leaving a sticky, unpleasant feeling, but there was no major damage.
Corpse Explosion is an area-of-effect skill. It's more of a skill for slaughtering weaklings, as it's hard to inflict significant damage on targets above a certain level.
It was an attack that would have killed ordinary soldiers, but Divine Shield blocked it once, and it couldn't penetrate our high defense.
'Is that it?'
I scan our surroundings through the falling rain of blood, but there's still no sign of them.
Even when I spread my aura to search, I still can't detect anything.
'An item that blocks detection is really annoying.'
But if things continue like this, we're in a favorable position to win by decision, 3 vs. 2.
They're bound to attack first...
'Huh?'
As the rain of blood subsides and my vision clears, something strange catches my eye.
On the ground... could it be?
Streaks of blood are messily spread across the floor.
At a glance, it just looks like blood splattered everywhere, but I know.
It's... a magic circle I recognize.
'So the Corpse Explosion was just a diversion.'
"It's a magic circle! Everyone, get away!!"
Just then,
"Khahahahat!! It's too late!!"
The enemies appear on a nearby abandoned building.
Baek Do-hyeon's disciple, the black mage Ivan.
The Ohsung Guild Master's disciple, Kwon Han-jun.
"Activate magic."
[Bind]
Ivan's ring glows red, and the magic circle activates.
"Shit..."
CLANG!
I try to jump away, but blue magic chains shoot out from the circle, wrap around my ankles, and slam me to the ground.
"Ugh!"
It's the same for the others.
Everyone's legs are bound by the chains.
"You think you can break our master's magic?!!"
Baek Do-hyeon's magic circle.
Yes.
The very same one where I met my end.
It's a spell that creates a horrifyingly powerful binding effect within its area. It doesn't hinder upper body movement at all; it's a spell focused entirely on shackling the legs to prevent any movement.
I don't know how that bastard came up with this, but one thing is certain: we're all fucked.
Kwon Han-jun grins.
"Silence, release!!!"
WHIRRR~! CLANK, CLANK!
Kwon Han-jun's dark red sword opens up.
He raises the sword high with both hands and gathers energy, and an immense power converges from the sky.
RUMBLE...
Dark clouds and the sky itself are sucked in as a power so vast it sends shivers down my spine gathers.
"Damn it... Everyone, attack if you don't want to die!!"
The weakness of that technique is that he's defenseless while charging it.
If we take him down now, we can win!!
The Pukteu mages pour out ranged attacks.
Dotamuk, having restored his mana with a potion, fires an arrow, and Ilbon-do launches a sword strike.
The Bicorn unleashes its lightning and breath attack.
I quickly throw my spear as well, but,
[Absolute Defense]
Ivan is holding the shield that Kwon Han-jun should have, and he activates its protection skill.
A translucent barrier forms in front of them.
That wasn't their only means of defense.
Black orbs circle around them, creating a screen.
The black orbs automatically track and block my threatening spear throw and Dotamuk's mana-infused arrow with their screen.
All the other miscellaneous attacks are blocked by the translucent wall.
"Khahahahahaha!! You think that'll work?!!"
"Damn it."
No.
This isn't the time to attack them.
They wouldn't have used such a reckless technique without thinking of that.
"Everyone, destroy the magic circle on the ground!!!"
'Am I too late...'
The sky falls.
The void.
A space of nothingness is about to swallow us whole.
“Go, Silence.
──────Silence them.”