Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 026
Chapter Title: Savior of Seoul (4)
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Not a single ominous premonition had ever been wrong.
The goblins inside the eggs hatched all at once.
Kieek! Kiieek...
Kieeeek!
The eyes of the goblins bursting from their shells burned with hatred that was hard to believe came from newborns.
'...Damn.'
Even after smashing thousands of eggs before they could hatch, there were still over a thousand goblins.
Maybe even more. His detection range only extended a few hundred meters, after all.
'What a pain.'
Of course, it wasn't a real crisis. Thousands or even tens of thousands—they were just goblins.
But the physical fatigue building up since the final exam was impossible to ignore. He hadn't slept a wink in 99 straight hours.
'...No choice.'
Lee Sang-hyun decided to actively use his mana to minimize the strain on his body.
'Gotta spend it.'
Whiiik!!
Sword qi shot out along the arc of his blade. The bluish qi, reminiscent of the sea, was both beautiful and devastatingly powerful.
Slaaash!!
Dozens of goblins fell in a single strike. They didn't even know what killed them—only realizing they'd been attacked after their bodies split in half.
Kieek! Kieeek!!
The goblins shrieked at the sudden assault, but their cries didn't last. Their bodies cleaved apart moments later.
Thud thud thud.
'Need to chain them.'
To speed up the hunt, Lee Sang-hyun unleashed sword qi repeatedly. It felt awkward since he'd never chained them before, but there were no mistakes.
Thud thud thud.
Two blasts of sword qi swept away over a hundred goblins.
'Next... over there.'
Having cleared one group in an instant, Lee Sang-hyun moved to the next cluster and wiped them out too.
Slaaash!
His proficiency with sword qi improved rapidly. From just two strikes, it grew to three, then four, and soon five.
"Kieee... eek...!!"
As his control sharpened, the goblins dropped even faster.
Thump!!
It took barely ten seconds to fell hundreds.
'Not bad.'
Still room for improvement, but it was more than passable.
Thoroughly satisfied, Lee Sang-hyun swiftly cleaned up the rest.
Kieek! Kieeeek...!!
He hadn't let his guard down. But he hadn't noticed them hatching either.
'...Ceiling too, huh.'
Not just the floor—the ceiling held eggs as well. Ones harboring something stronger than goblins: orcs.
Splort. Splaaat!
The egg tops split open like blooming flowers, spilling thick liquid and dropping orcs.
"Kr... waa... raaah...!!"
One led to hundreds more tumbling from their shells.
'Take them out fast!'
Lee Sang-hyun didn't stand idle. He fired sword qi, cutting down the newborns.
Slaaash!!
Dozens of orcs crumpled in a flash.
"Krooooh!!"
But orcs weren't fragile goblins. They roared in fury at their attacker, fearless.
"Kraaaah!!"
"Kuooh!!"
The sight of hulking, brutish orcs charging en masse sent chills down the spine. A far cry from the puny 150cm goblins.
But not truly threatening.
'Freshly hatched, so they're dumb.'
The orcs Lee Sang-hyun knew used terrain cleverly and wielded weapons with skill—cunning warriors.
These? Barely born, far from clever.
"Krooooh!!"
Their mindless swarm said it all. No intelligence would charge like that.
Definitely green.
'Let's try it.'
Lee Sang-hyun fell back, took stance, and unleashed sword qi at the horde.
One, two, three, four...
Up to twenty.
A total of twenty blasts erupted.
Baaam!!
Goblins and orcs were different.
"Kuooh!!"
Krunch!!
Orcs were overwhelmingly stronger. Far beyond goblin fodder—even final exam stages 2 and 3 passers struggled against them.
"Definitely different from the 0.1-pointers!"
"Some are worth 0.3, though?"
"That's how strong they are."
"Bet the win goes to whoever bags the most orcs."
"Everyone, careful! Mess up, and we're done."
"...Still just orcs."
Final exam stage 1 passers vented their frustration. What they'd seen as opportunity had vanished.
"Damn it! Should've saved mana if I knew..."
"Score gap's insane! Hundred goblins for one point?!"
"This is their idea of a reward...!"
"Shit! If I had mana left..."
"Discriminating like this..."
"...Pisses me off."
Crunch!!
Bae Jin-cheol, first back in Seoul, was losing his mind with resentment.
Because mana shortage forced him to watch others hunt orcs helplessly.
'If I'd known, I'd have paced myself! No way I'd dump all mana on goblins...!!'
Everyone knew orcs outscored weak goblins. But ten times more? Too much.
'Damn it! Daaaamn!!'
Squeeze!!
But Bae Jin-cheol was powerless.
Nothing to do but wait for mana recovery.
Twenty sword qi blasts felled hundreds of orcs.
Thud.
Not a single survivor. All dead, each with a single slash across the throat.
'...It works.'
Half-doubting, but success. Total wipeout.
Exhaling held breath, Lee Sang-hyun scanned around.
'All done?'
Nothing within hundreds of meters. Even the ceiling, overlooked earlier, showed no life signs.
'Gotta go deeper.'
But no complacency. He searched more meticulously.
And found dark red eggs.
Wriggle wriggle!
Dark red eggs cradled orcs.
Twice the size and bulkier than before—mutants or orc warriors, likely.
Squirm squirm!
'If these got out... tons would die.'
Fortunate to find them now. Lee Sang-hyun smashed them all.
Pop! Prrrp!!
Dark red eggs burst, spewing thick fluid. Growing orcs crushed without resistance.
"Kr... uh... uhh...!"
A few sensed danger, hatching prematurely—but sword qi slit their throats.
Slaaash!!
"Kr... aa... aa...!!"
Surprisingly, these hatched orcs didn't drop in one hit. Clinging to life, they glared at their attacker.
Grrr...
Blood pooled in their bulging eyes.
'...More rage at me than will to live?'
Their fury instilled a twinge of dread in Lee Sang-hyun. Honestly...
'Creepy.'
Feeling chills crawl his spine, he finished the live ones.
"Kru... uhh......"
Thud.
Thus, all black orcs from the dark red eggs met their end.
No survivors.
The Ark of Death's claim that conquering the black tower was impossible wasn't empty words.
Conquering it was physically impossible, regardless of players' levels—'impossible' was actually understated.
"......"
Just the visible eggs numbered at least 100 million. Factoring distant ones... billions for sure.
Tens of thousands goblins, thousands orcs, hundreds black orcs, dozens ogres.
After felling them all, Lee Sang-hyun figured that was enough. Floor 1 cleared.
Wrong. A massive mistake. Not even 1%—barely 0.01%.
Wriggle wriggle!!
'...All those are monsters.'
Luckily, unhatched. Still growing, needing time.
But destroying billions before hatching? Impossible.
Sword would tire. If some hatched mid-swing, exhaustion would doom him.
'...What now?'
Time for decision. But no clear path.
Wriggle wriggle!
Lee Sang-hyun's eyes shook uneasily.
'How......'
Right then.
Nameless said water.
At first, it didn't click. Just 'water' offered little to infer.
'Water... water, huh.'
But soon, one possibility emerged. Lee Sang-hyun acted on it immediately.
'Of course...'
He raised his right hand toward an egg, closed his eyes, and focused.
'Can't know the shell's makeup, but the liquid inside? Mostly water. So...'
Pure theory. But if the thick fluid's core was moisture, could he control it? As one who'd absorbed water's origin?
Wriggle wriggle!
Blub blub...
...Thump!
...Thump thump!!
He felt it. Things invisible with eyes open now visible, tangible as touch.
Definitely the 'water' filling the eggs.
'Blood's water too.'
A bit alien, but he sensed blood flowing through veins.
'All of it water.'
Soon, he fully grasped the water within. And knew what to do.
'Expand.'
If water.
If water exists.
He can sense it.
No matter how many.
How far apart.
He can dominate.
Vmmm!!
Lee Sang-hyun expanded his sensory domain. Like extending detection range, he stretched water sense.
Waves.
Ripples on water.
Spread out.
...Thump! ...Thump!!
Eggs registered. Clear as seeing with open eyes.
'More...!'
Domain doubled: two to four, four to eight, racing afar.
'Just a bit more!!'
Hundreds to thousands.
Thousands past tens of thousands to millions.
Thump...!!
Millions weren't small eggs. Massive clusters, single entities.
Millions to tens of millions, tens to hundreds.
Thump...! Thump...!!
Finally, all eggs—even those packing the black tower—within grasp.
Lee Sang-hyun quietly opened his eyes.
Thump thump!!
The surging elation rivaled absorbing water's origin—omnipotent godhood illusion.
'Source and root of life.'
Gulp!
Unable to hold back trembling, he swallowed. Joy overflowed his heart.
'Water is my power.'
He realized: not berserker, but 'water' his true strength.
Thump...!!
One task left.
'Seize.'
Lee Sang-hyun gripped the water filling billions of eggs.
A colossal mass entered his hold.
Thump...!!
The mass: one aggregate, one lifeform. He felt it fully, twisted the flow.
'Burst.'
With firm voice, his will spread.
Fwoosh.
His will: one 'flow'. Unstoppable, natural as downhill water.
Dong! Doong...!
Billions of eggs couldn't resist.
Impossible normally—defying survival instinct.
Yet eggs, monsters, utterly violated without defiance.
Dong. Dong. Doong.
Will, rippling like water strands by hundreds, thousands, reached the 'end'.
Then—explosion.
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Billions of eggs burst in 1 second.
1 second.
In mere 1 second, monsters that could slay half humanity—extinct.