Chapter 39
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Endless Glass Horde
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Kwaaang!
Countless stars plummeted down, turning the surroundings to scorched earth in an instant. I'd directed most of them toward the glass rabbit, but the hunters hadn't escaped unharmed. Still, since no one had taken serious damage, they kept their focus on the fight.
‘Ten steps back.’
Thud. The final star crashed down. The moment it did, I kicked off the ground and leaped straight behind the glass rabbit. I reached the glass craft in one bound and swung my scythe hard through the air.
Stab. With that familiar sound, something pierced the blade. At that instant, a mechanical screech erupted from the monster's mouth.
―Kiririk!
Splat. I slammed whatever I'd caught on the scythe straight into the ground. The floating glass rabbit twisted like it was malfunctioning before dropping to the floor with a clunk.
I felt whatever was impaled on the scythe thrashing violently. I squeezed tighter, and the transparent thing revealed its true form.
“Is... is that the core?”
A purple octopus-like thing covered in bulging eyes. It looked utterly pathetic, no matter who saw it.
―Kiririk, kkigik!
Swoosh. The octopus's tentacles lunged with sticky threads toward the gap between me and Gel-tan. But then—twang—they bounced off Gel-tan's tail.
―Kiririk. Kk...
The octopus's struggles gradually faded. And then.
[YOU WIN!]
Clunk. I pulled the scythe free from the octopus. Someone tried to approach and say something, but I ignored them, pressed the map firmly, and returned to where I'd started.
‘Was that overkill?’
I had no idea how many floors were left ahead, so was burning through this much stamina the right call? No, I still had plenty of strength left, so it should be—
“You figured out where the core was, so why go with such an over-the-top attack?”
“......”
I glared at Gel-tan for that annoyingly sharp observation, sighed, and answered.
“There was a barrier up. One that wouldn't break even under S-Rank or A-Rank attacks. So I figured it'd take a massive hit to shatter it.”
“Hmm. Sharp thinking!”
Yeah, right.
The rabbit glass craft had been relatively weak once you pinpointed and killed the core. Of course, the others pulling aggro had made it manageable—if I'd been alone, I'd have had to tank all the attacks myself, and that would've been rough.
‘Next was 61, right?’
I let out a deep sigh and looked toward where the text would appear, only to see something odd. Squinting, I checked the letters again.
[LV. @!#]
Static crackled as the numbers shifted. I kept my guard up, staring intently, when a familiar voice echoed.
―Hello. Enjoying the game? Hmm. No deaths yet. Not having fun, huh?
Bullshit.
―The text glitching out? Just doing some tweaks. You're fighting better than expected. So, I figured...
Ding. The text changed. My expression soured instantly.
“Wait, what the...!”
―Better to make it one big thrill. Have fun now?
Click. It cut off like a dropped call. Then the area flushed bright red again.
[WARNING]
And then.
[LV. 999]
“What the hell...”
Pew. My body moved on instinct at the incoming sound. Thunk. Something embedded next to my foot. I scanned around and instantly knew we were screwed.
“Ha.”
Glass bear crafts. Glass fish crafts. And behind them, endless hordes of monsters.
‘This time it's aimed at me.’
Life really...
I took a hesitant step back, then gripped my scythe tight. It was fine. People would come soon.
―Piyeok.
The glass fish spat a small burst of water. Rumble. An ominous roar came from the sky. Looking up, waves came crashing down.
Whoosh. I cleaved through the wave, but then poison dust drifted down from above. Gel-tan's tail whipped fiercely once, sending a gust of wind that blew the poison dust back toward the monsters.
“......”
As I blocked the endless attacks while waiting for backup, something felt off. Why... weren't the others coming?
‘No, they should've been here by now. They'd warp in, so there was no way it'd take this long...’
Wait. If it's warping...
“...Ah. Damn it.”
“Huh?”
Maybe they couldn't warp. The system wasn't fair, after all.
No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than hunters came sprinting from the side. Probably the closest ones drawn by the commotion.
‘Yep.’
Why me, though? Did killing the rabbit earlier piss it off? Now I'd burn through all my spared energy.
Whish! I swung the scythe hard. Stars shot out alongside it, blasting a hole through the center of the monster legion.
But it didn't last. Nearby monsters quickly filled the gap. In short, no end in sight.
Fortunately, nearby hunters were arriving—but only two pairs, four people total.
I glanced at Gel-tan beside me. Even moving on my command, it fought well alongside me. If anything, Gel-tan seemed more flustered by the situation, unleashing fierce attacks on the monsters.
‘Seven S-Rank dungeons’ worth? No, ten?’
Maybe even more, all mixed in. It was a vomit-inducing number.
‘Damn, the monsters just won't end.’
Plus, two glass crafts unleashing heavy attacks kept me from stopping.
I fired off abilities repeatedly, thinning the horde as much as possible and smashing any monsters trying to fly toward the village back to the ground. A cough brought up blood; I swallowed it down.
Hunters were trickling in steadily. Some must've noticed the anomaly and come running. But it was too soon to relax. A shower of arrows grazed my cheek.
‘One more wide-area attack...’
I reached toward the sky. Black lines traced across it, growing larger by the second.
Crunch!
“Shit...”
A shark-shaped ice chunk bit into my extended arm. Gel-tan tried using its other arm to pry it off, but with monsters swarming around, it couldn't get through.
‘Just do it.’
Whumm. Power drained as the area plunged into darkness instantly. Wider range than before—it sucked even more strength, but I ignored it and formed the stars.
Once I'd maxed out the number, my head spun. I bit my lip, clenched my fist, and thrust my arm down hard.
Kwarung! Stars hammered the monster legion. It thinned them somewhat, but many survived under the protection of the giant monsters. As my attack ended, another hunter unleashed a wide-area skill—but it failed against the glass crafts' defenses.
‘Not enough people.’
I lowered my arm, yanked out the shark, and shattered it while thinking.
‘If Seung-hyeon were here, more hunters might've arrived faster.’
He could sustain his ability for ages and carry people for quick travel.
‘No, wait... Right, he hasn't awakened yet.’
‘Not the time for these thoughts.’
Whish. I conjured a star right before an incoming attack, detonating it to block. I crushed flying monsters heading for the village over and over. Landing, then—
Crunch.
“Ah.”
I hadn't noticed the monster on the ground and shoved my leg right into its mouth.
It surged forward in a flash, throwing off my balance. As I started to fall, Gel-tan grabbed me. Before it could pull me up, I twisted my foot and burst the monster clinging to my leg.
“You okay?”
“What kind of question is that?”
Acting like one hit made me some invalid.
Whick. I readjusted my grip on the scythe and swung horizontally this time—unlike before, cleaving monsters in half as they died.
“See? Fine.”
“......”
After confirming to Gel-tan that I was unharmed, I kept slaughtering monsters.
‘Those glass crafts are the cores themselves.’
Those two were tricky. You needed sustained heavy hits to take them down. Attacks barely worked on one at all.
‘But I can't focus just on them right now.’
The others were in the same boat. They tried targeting the strongest glass crafts, but interference from other monsters and distant projectiles kept foiling them. Kill everything to end the game, sure—but take out the crafts first, and the rest would be easy.
‘The upside is more people on our side.’
Just hold out a bit longer. Others would handle the rest. So, a little more...
―Boooring.
The glass bear opened its mouth. Instantly, whoosh—a massive cloud of poison dust poured from the sky, enough to fill it entirely. Spread too wide to dodge easily, I was about to cover my nose with my sleeve when—
“Duck!”
I dropped my head at the shout. Red liquid filled the sky above, absorbing the poison dust. The tainted liquid rocketed toward the monsters, slamming and spreading poison among them.
The familiar voice and ability made me whip my head around. It was Ji Hwa-yeon and Haena.
“Sorry. Got tangled up with someone on the way, back and forth, so we were late.”
“Huh?”
Before I could ask, whoosh—black smoke stretched out horizontally in a long wave. Boom boom! Monsters touching it exploded one by one.
“Ah.”
Finally here.
Looking behind Ji Hwa-yeon, I saw my brother—full white half-mask on—walking over with Ethan tucked under his arm.
“The others were either on their way or just sitting around figuring it'd end if they waited like before. Anyway, the rest...”
Puke. A monster dangled impaled on Ji Hwa-yeon's rapier.
“...later.”
“Let's go! Wipe out those damn things!”
Haena, conjuring gem-like waves, excitedly dragged Ji Hwa-yeon into the heart of the monster horde.
As I turned to handle a charging monster mid-watch, whoosh! Black smoke swallowed it. At the familiar attack, my head turned automatically. My brother approached, eyes narrowed beneath the half-mask, and asked.
“Potions?”
“Yeah, got some.”
“Then why aren't you using them while messing around like this.”
“It's only the second floor...”
“Hard to move, right?”
“No, not that bad.”
My brother sighed, pulled a potion from his watch, and sprayed it over my whole body. It vaporized on contact, healing my wounds instantly.
Confirming I was fully mended, he spun around and charged toward the glass crafts.
‘Ethan's got it rough.’
Stuck under his arm like baggage, reduced to pure buffer duty...
As Ji Hwa-yeon said, more arrivals swelled our numbers. Monsters dwindled fast in response.
Catching my breath, I scanned around and spotted familiar faces, sprinting toward them. Thwack! I hooked a flying monster with my scythe, slamming it down. At the noise, they turned, calling out gladly.
“Ah, Hunter Han Ji-eon!”
It was Yun-sia and Park Woo-yun. They were safe too. Park Woo-yun beamed at me.
After confirming they were okay, I turned back and headed toward my brother. As I got closer—
Puke!
A massive ice spear pierced right through him.