Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Welcome Ceremony
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“Gah!”
Count Bukaku spat out red blood from his mouth and was weakly pushed back.
“Such bad manners. Listen to me or not, do as you please. After all, the one who suffers the loss won’t be me, but you.”
With those words, the unidentified being melted into the air and vanished.
‘How could this be!’
Count Bukaku was greatly shocked.
Who was he?
A Named Player bearing the title of the West’s Fierce Tiger.
Even though he had struck first, he suffered an injury that shook his internals from the opponent’s counterattack.
‘If we had fought to the end, could I have won?’
He wasn’t confident.
Unsure of the opponent’s identity, he hadn’t let his guard down at all.
He had exploded every muscle in his body, drawn up all his mana, and swung his sword wrapped in aura with full power.
‘I thought I’d sever at least one arm and render him combat-ineffective.’
It had been arrogance.
‘I might have been the one defeated instead.’
The speed of the counterattack.
The power loaded into the weapon.
The mana emanating from his entire body.
The destructive aura.
Not a single one was beneath his own.
If anything.
‘It’s possible he went easy on me.’
He might be a cut above.
‘Just who is he?’
Someone with that level of skill.
There’s no way his name wouldn’t be known.
The only ones who could defeat a Named Player like himself were other Named Players.
And likely those with grandiose titles like King or Emperor.
‘I’ve heard the Dao King of the Zhonghua Guild uses gray aura.’
The color of aura depended on the skill learned, so overlaps were common.
‘But the Dao King is dead?’
A dead man couldn’t come back to life and move, so it had to be someone else.
‘Just what kind of organization is this?’
Not content with possessing a Player with the unbelievable skill of Future Sight.
They had used someone who overwhelmed him just as a mere messenger.
Especially the way he vanished into thin air right before his eyes using Stealth at the end—it was utterly shocking.
‘Doesn’t seem like an enemy, though.’
An enemy wouldn’t give away this kind of information.
‘I need to report this.’
This was no trivial matter.
Count Bukaku left the training grounds and began drafting a report to send to the royal family.
* * *
‘Success.’
An emergency summons order had been issued in the great city of Baran.
Seeing them hastily repair the walls and deploy combat troops, it seemed the warning—sent even at the cost of dispatching the Dao King—had hit home.
‘Though I’m not sure if even that will be enough to stop it.’
At any rate, casualties would definitely be reduced compared to before his regression.
“How’d it go?”
The Fighting Emperor asked with an anxious expression.
“Success.”
“Really? Wow! Thank goodness!”
The Fighting Emperor’s worry-filled face brightened.
His previously drooping rabbit ears perked up stiffly into the air, regaining their energy.
“If they prepare in advance, they can block it, right?”
“Can’t say for sure, but they should at least minimize the damage.”
Dimensional gates opened sporadically.
But the one about to open this time was different in scale.
“If we do well, the odds of blocking it go up a bit more, right?”
Kang Hyun-soo nodded at the Fighting Emperor’s words.
The key to this operation was to defeat them in detail.
If they hunted the dragonkin monsters pouring out of the dimensional gate one by one as they emerged?
‘It won’t end in the same disastrous result as before my regression.’
The problem was the Dragon Lord Karas.
‘If that one shows up, we absolutely have to run.’
A monster his current party couldn’t possibly take down.
‘I wonder when it’ll open.’
For now, all they could do was maintain peak condition and wait.
Time continued to pass.
‘Another bust today?’
Just as Kang Hyun-soo thought that.
Crackle!
The air warped.
A massive dimensional gate revealed itself.
Grrrrr!
With a low growl.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Heavy footsteps shook the earth.
“It’s here.”
Before Kang Hyun-soo’s words finished, Song Ha-na and the Fighting Emperor readied for battle.
Starting with the mid-tier dragonkin, the Dragon Turtle, down to low-tier like Lizardmen, all sorts of dragonkin monsters poured out of the dimensional gate in droves.
Their numbers easily surpassed a thousand.
“Let’s go.”
The moment Kang Hyun-soo spoke, he dashed forward.
Song Ha-na and the Fighting Emperor followed behind.
Thud thud thud!
1,980 summoned beasts charged ahead.
Excluding the 20 guarding the Ice King’s Necklace, it was virtually his entire summon roster mobilized.
Roooaaar!
A Dragon Turtle with red-shelled plating let out a roar and charged forward.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
The Fighting Emperor rushed ahead and threw a punch.
KABOOM!
With a massive explosion, the Dragon Turtle’s head burst open.
Fwoosh!
Crackle!
Song Ha-na unleashed flames and lightning.
Slash! Slash!
She cleaved through the dragonkin monsters.
‘Impressive.’
A satisfied smile crept onto Kang Hyun-soo’s lips.
Who would look at them and think they were Level 500 Players?
At minimum, Rankers.
Generously, they could be called Named Players.
‘I can’t just stand around either.’
Kang Hyun-soo drew his Sword of Gluttony and charged at the dragonkin monsters.
KABOOM! KABOOM!
A fierce battle unfolded.
The dragonkin monsters converted into experience for Kang Hyun-soo, Song Ha-na, and the Fighting Emperor with each one felled.
The summons performed admirably too.
Especially standout were the Dao King, Flame Knight, Sword Ghost, One Kill Fist, and Magic Knight.
On top of that, Cabal Units 1 through 7 and Zhonghua Units 1 and 2 flawlessly fulfilled their roles.
‘Smooth sailing.’
Kang Hyun-soo’s level shot up like crazy.
The items and skill books were pretty high-rank too.
Mostly C-Rank and above, with rare B-Rank and even A-Rank drops.
Compared to the overwhelming momentum with which the dragonkin monsters emerged from the dimensional gate, their deaths were disappointingly anticlimactic.
Truth be told, the dragonkin monsters had a point—they were hard done by.
Unlike previous appearances, this was an enormously large dimensional gate.
But the number that could pass through at once was fixed.
Plus, weren’t dragonkin monsters rather bulky?
At best, around a thousand could squeeze through at a time.
Yet the moment they did, enemies numbering at least double theirs had already formed an encirclement and unleashed a ferocious assault, as if lying in wait.
And at the forefront, powerhouses like Kang Hyun-soo, Song Ha-na, Fighting Emperor, Dao King, Flame Knight, Sword Ghost, One Kill Fist, Magic Knight, Cabal 1-7, and Zhonghua 1-2 mowed them down like wheat.
But that wasn’t all.
With rear-guard dragonkin monsters continuing to push forward, the vanguard mid- and low-tier ones had no choice but to advance, even knowing it meant death.
The mid- and low-tier dragonkin who had boldly entered the Atlantis dimension with such fanfare.
In this utterly unfavorable battlefield.
They perished without fully showcasing their abilities.
That was when.
Crackle!
A high-tier dragonkin, a Drake, emerged from the dimensional gate.
Grrrr!
Boom!
The Drake, sizable enough to be called a wingless dragon, was in a league of its own compared to those that had come before.
Shreeek!
Wyverns followed in a flock.
Hiss! Hiss!
Basilisks, flicking snake-like tongues, appeared as well.
‘Now the high-tiers are pouring out.’
With large numbers of individuals boasting combat prowess that overwhelmed the mid- and low-tiers so far.
‘It won’t be easy.’
No more one-sided slaughter.
But.
A satisfied smile formed on Kang Hyun-soo’s lips instead.
‘If I turn those Wyverns into summons and ride them, mobility skyrockets. Drakes and Basilisks would make perfect tanks for ground fights.’
The dragonkin that had appeared until now were relatively low-value, awkward for summons.
The Dragon Turtle was somewhat usable.
But with high defense yet low mobility and weak offense, its utility was limited.
So even with summons dissipating, he hadn’t replaced them, leaving his current count at around 1,500—about 500 gone.
But these new dragonkin were different.
Wyverns excelled in mobility.
Drakes were like moving fortresses.
Basilisks spewed potent venom.
And all three could use breath attacks.
‘Especially the Basilisk’s Petrification Breath—unless you have solid skill resistance, it’s a guaranteed hit.’
Perfect against enemies that relied on numbers over quality.
‘I’ve been waiting for you lot.’
That’s why Kang Hyun-soo hadn’t replenished or revived summons despite the losses.
To make these into new ones.
‘Alright then.’
Thud!
Kang Hyun-soo leaped into the air, channeling Vampiric Aura.
Shreeeek!
The ascending Wyvern flock spotted him charging and gaped their maws.
Fwoosh!
The Wyverns unleashed flame breaths at him in unison.
Swish!
Kang Hyun-soo swung his sword wrapped in Vampiric Aura.
In that instant.
Fizzle!
The Wyverns’ flame breaths evaporated mid-air.
The Vampiric Aura had absorbed the mana comprising the flame breaths.
One Wyvern reared sharp talons and lunged at Kang Hyun-soo.
Slash!
But Kang Hyun-soo’s aura-clad sword severed its leg clean off.
Crunch!
He didn’t miss the opening, piercing its head.
That was the start.
Kang Hyun-soo mercilessly hunted the Wyvern flock with sweeping sword strikes.
Screeeee!
As comrades dropped in droves, the Wyverns shrieked oddly and distanced themselves from Kang Hyun-soo.
Judging him no easy prey, they tried fleeing skyward.
‘You think I’ll let you escape to the sky?’
Kang Hyun-soo had targeted the Wyverns first among the high-tier dragonkin emerging from the gate precisely because they could flee airborne.
“Form battalion.”
At his call, nine mana-forged Wyvern summons materialized.
‘Appoint commanders.’
He designated them as platoon leaders.
‘Summon battalion.’
He then summoned nine units fighting elsewhere.
“Mount up!”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s order, Zhonghua 1-2 and Cabal 1-7 boarded the summon Wyverns.
“Take them out.”
“Yes, sir!”
Shreeek!
Zhonghua 1-2 and Cabal 1-7 took to the skies atop the Wyverns.
‘Wyverns are trouble if you don’t handle them early.’
Flying was a massive advantage.
Wyverns had low defense for high-tiers.
But their offense was top-notch.
Especially raining breath from above or diving with talons and beaks?
All but the elite would be helpless.
‘I’ll leave the skies to them.’
Kang Hyun-soo’s gaze shifted to the Drakes and Basilisks.
Song Ha-na, Fighting Emperor, Dao King, Flame Knight, Sword Ghost, One Kill Fist, and Magic Knight fought valiantly.
‘But there’s too many.’
The dimensional gate no longer spat out Dragon Turtles or Lizardmen—only high-tiers like Wyverns, Drakes, and Basilisks endlessly.
‘We need to clear them as stably as possible.’
Only then could they face the top-tiers to come: Drakans and Dragonians.