Flames of Vengeance (Part 1)
May 6th. 7:30 a.m.
We took the first step of what would be our first — and final — large-scale expedition.
Vrrrooom...!
By car, of course. The blacksmith-class survivors and Jung Miju had thrown themselves into getting four trucks, one compact car, and two vans up and running. We loaded fifty-five people plus a mountain of combat gear and supplies, and set out.
As if anyone in their right mind would try to cover that bridge and the vast expanse of Gangbuk on foot alone. Move that slowly and you'd be walking straight into disaster in real time.
Granted, once we reached Gangbuk we planned to proceed on foot. Those bat bastards flew, after all. Get ambushed inside a vehicle and you'd be sitting ducks. Only two or three people in the whole convoy even had classes suited for fighting back from a car, and there was only so much I could do bouncing between vehicles as a one-man shield wall.
So the cars were only for getting us across the bridge and over the Han River. After that, the moment the buildings started clustering thick around us, we'd ditch the vehicles and approach on foot.
Our destination was locked in either way. Seoul Station. It was dark, sure — but with the headlights cutting a path ahead and flashlights packed in abundance, a careful advance wouldn't be a problem. More than anything, the vehicles themselves would make excellent cover.
And so we set out. The moment we crossed the bridge and entered Gangbuk proper, I couldn't help but click my tongue at the sheer darkness swallowing everything in front of us.
This wasn't "the clouds are a bit heavy." It was filthy, absolute black. We'd left in the morning, and yet it looked like the dead of night — a ghost city with every last light snuffed out.
"Jung Yun and her people had some serious guts. To even think of breaking out through darkness like this."
"Th-thank you for the compliment..."
Ah, right. Jung Yun was riding in our van.
Six of us were packed into it. Kim Seyeon had the wheel up front, with Han Sora riding shotgun on scout duty. In the back sat me, Park Seeun, Yun Mina, and Jung Yun.
Naturally, our van ran point. Headlights on, Sora's eyes peeled wide, scanning for threats from every direction.
We all understood: the moment to disembark would be the moment Sora sounded the alarm.
That moment arrived sooner than expected.
"Th-th-there! About five hundred meters ahead! A-at least several dozen orcs and goblins closing in! Eeyot!"
The instant Sora's frantic warning hit, Kim Seyeon visibly eased off the gas and signaled the vehicles behind us to slow as well.
The van crawled to a near-stop, then halted completely. The second it did, I threw the door open and hurled myself outside.
Ah — up ahead was... too dark. Way too dark. The headlights were on, but they didn't reach nearly far enough. All I could sense was something moving out there.
No choice, then.
I pulled an explosive potion from my bag, carefully stripped the safety seal from the carefully wrapped vial, and hurled it forward with everything I had.
Whooosh...
The potion sailed through the air for a long beat before—
BOOM!
—it hit the ground and detonated.
And then I could see them.
"Kuruk!?"
"Kikikik!?"
Their shapes swam into view in the firelight bleeding from the blast. Definitely dozens of them pouring toward us. How the hell were these things even tracking us in darkness this thick?
Ah... looking closer, something felt off even from this distance. Those bastards weren't flinching whether the potion exploded in their faces or not. They just kept coming, stomping straight through the heat.
"Mind control seems all but confirmed. This has become troublesome."
When the monsters had flooded across the bridges from Gangnam into Gangbuk, we'd theorized that something up north was using a mind-control skill to sweep every monster in Gangnam along with it.
And now, right in front of me, orcs and goblins marching through flames that should have been agony were proving that theory in real time.
There were quite a few of them... but there was no reason to dump our full strength on trash like this. Instead of the silver longsword I'd purchased, I drew the iron sword I'd been using for ages. A silver blade was wasted on these things.
"Have everyone disembark and form up for combat. I shall hold their advance in the meantime."
Not that I had any intention of throwing our people at orcs and goblins right this second. The real moment for them would come when something stronger showed up.
Meaning: when it was time for them to support me on the front line.
"Yes, Jeong Hoon! Ah, just a moment — it's not long, but let me cast the new Lesser Blessing I learned..."
"Ah, understood, my lord! E-everyone, get out of the trucks right now and be careful with your gear—!"
Kim Seyeon answered crisply and even layered the blessing on me before she went. Jung Yun, still something of a rookie, stumbled over her words as she scrambled.
I watched the two of them dash back to relay orders to the drivers for a beat, then walked forward.
Oh. Lesser Blessing wasn't half bad. No — it was incredible. I could feel every stat climbing for real. All stats up ten percent for thirty minutes, was it? An absurdly broken skill. And this was only the lesser version.
So this was why Han Sora used to sing that Brave Saga Online was a cleric-carry game.
Thanks to that—
Thwack! Slash!
"Kueeek!?"
"Kieeek!?"
—I could carve through goblins and orcs like I was dicing vegetables without breaking a sweat! My body felt so much lighter than before!
I swung the iron sword without restraint. I'd figured these monsters had lost their reason to the mind control, and they truly had.
Even taking fatal wounds, they only groaned in pain and kept coming, trying to counterattack. Of course, it wasn't my first time dealing with mindless monsters, so I didn't hesitate.
Just like before, I swung the iron sword with the intent to grind them into paste.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoooosh!
Slash, shhk! Spray!
More orcs and goblins than I could count died by my hand. The explosive potion's firelight had faded, but the party behind me had the good sense to concentrate their lights forward so I could still see. The lack of any real screaming, though — that was deeply unsettling.
The whole slaughter took maybe a minute or two. I kicked the last few still shambling toward me like soccer balls and clicked my tongue at myself.
Strength 20.9 was something else. I'd just launched a full-grown orc like a damn football. This was past superhuman and edging into ogre territory — hell, maybe troll level.
I wondered briefly if I was overdoing it. What if I burned myself out before we even reached the final boss — "that bastard"... Yeah, right. Honestly, this barely registered as a warm-up.
Well. Over before anyone else even got a chance to step in. It was a gruesome scene, but I'd grown used to that by now. All I felt was satisfaction.
I tapped the iron sword against the ground, shaking off blood and scraps of flesh, and started back toward the group.
BOOM.
That was when a heavy tremor rolled up through the soles of my feet.
Th-this familiar vibration — don't tell me...!
"Uwooooah! Humans! Humans!"
"Idiot! We watched the humans! Saw them yesterday too!"
"That human — we can eat him! Eat!"
"No, stomp him dead! We don't eat people!"
Trolls! And this time they were every bit as massive as the trio I'd fought before. Roughly four or five of them lumbering out of the dark.
"Jeong Hoon! We're ready!"
In the meantime, Kim Seyeon called out that our people were locked and loaded for a real fight.
Ah, truly perfect timing. Opponents like these were exactly why we'd hauled all that carefully stockpiled gear along.
"Herd them into one spot!!"
I registered Kim Seyeon's next order as well.
Herd them. Meaning pack those giants tight together? Those hulks?
Easy enough.
I strode boldly straight at the nearest troll.
"Huh? Bwahaha! This human's got guts! Walking right up even after seeing u—"
Warrior Skill
True: Gale Strike
"DAAAAAAAGH!!? IT HUUUURTS!?"
Slash, slash!
Status: In Extreme Pain
With my blessing-boosted strength, I slammed the iron sword into the troll twice in rapid succession. Damage was definitely up. Strength really was king. The troll crumpling and screaming was the natural result.
"It hurts, it huuuuurts! This human is too stroooong!"
As that one staggered and howled, the other trolls' aggro snapped to me on instinct. Of course it did. No way they'd just stand there watching a tiny human strut around right in front of them.
"Human is brave! Came to die by our hands!"
"Die!"
"Wait a second. I think I've seen that human before? Looks like the one who killed our kin!"
"I don't know!"
Trading that idiotic banter among themselves, the trolls closed in. In an instant the giants had me surrounded — and I—
"..."
—just stood there.
Right where I'd wounded the first troll, I simply stood still. Even as their fists came within a few dozen centimeters of my face, I didn't move.
Because I was confident.
Thud, crack!
"Uryaaaaaaaaagh!"
"Hey! Your fist is a rock! You almost broke my fist!"
"Why are you hitting my fist!?"
"No! I was trying to hit the human... Where'd he go? Human!"
Confident that I could dodge out of that spot at the exact right moment.
Five trolls tangled up in a confused heap was a sight I sincerely never wanted to see again.
I raised my right arm and stepped backward, sending the prearranged signal.
"Now. Commence throwing!"
The instant that voice rang out, I spun on my heel and sprinted hard toward the party.
Then I looked up. Across the gloomy, lightless sky, countless vials and powder charges stitched a constellation — and with them, arrows already lit and streaking sharp through the dark.
I poured power into legs that had once been Agility 18 — no, now Agility 19.8 — and tore myself free of the kill zone as the bombardment came down.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Fwoooosh!
"GUEEEEEEEHK! I'm dyiiiiiing!"
"F-fire! Fire! Somebody put it out! Too hot!"
"This is a scam! Trolls fear fire! Save us!"
"We didn't follow the vampire for this! Vampire bad! Boss is bad!"
The trolls howled the same brain-dead nonsense as before, writhing in agony. I could practically watch their health bars plummet.
Explosive potions didn't just deal blast damage. Handled right, the liquid would splash out on a weaker detonation and whip the flames into a roaring inferno. The alchemists had been ordered to brew them specifically with trolls in mind... by Seo Hyejin, apparently.
She didn't even need to go this far with the contingencies.
She hadn't even been there when I fought the trolls. She'd put all of this together from nothing but Kim Seyeon's and the others' testimony. I forced down the fresh wave of longing that rose in my chest.
I never imagined a little over a month of knowing someone could leave a bitterness this sharp.
Thwip, thwip!
A few arrows streaked past my back and snuffed out what remained of the trolls' lives. Han Sora, now equipped with a silver longbow of Rare grade instead of an ordinary one, was unstoppable.
Well, vampires might shrug off a bow like that... but if the arrowheads themselves were silver? That was another story.
Either way, the trolls were thoroughly dead. I turned back toward the party with a light step.
Or rather — I was about to, when—
"O-oppaa! Look out! Get away from there! Hurry!"
Huh? Danger? I didn't see any monsters nearby. Hell, I couldn't even feel a threat through my skin—
BANG!
That sound just now... was deeply unsettling.
Thuk!
"Khgh!?"
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Oppa!"
Park Seeun's and Han Sora's screams, and the alarmed murmur of dozens of people, washed over me as my body pitched hard forward.
Thud!
I caught myself on my feet, but—
"Ghk...!"
−300 HP
Piercing wound to the arm!
My arm hurt. And it was burning hot! Like something sharp and searing had punched clean through it!
Damn it — they went for my right arm! Clutching the arm as blood poured freely, I scanned the surroundings.
What the hell was that just now... a gun? Did a bullet just go through my arm?
Ah... shit, shit, shit, shit, shiiiit!
Thud-thud-thud!
The second the thought that someone was handling firearms clicked into place, I kicked off the ground and threw myself clear of that spot.
BANG, BANG, BANG!
Whizz! Ping! Ping!
Holy shit! I almost died for real!
I scrambled behind the nearest building wall, tucking myself into the blind angle from the direction the bullets had come. The others were doing the same — ducking behind the vehicles or plastering themselves flat against building walls.
"What the hell? What is this!?"
"Can the vampires use guns now too?"
"N-no way! Those things can use our weapons? That's the worst-case scenario!"
It was the worst-case scenario. Monsters from another world learning to handle the weapons of ours — firearms, no less — meant stripping away one of the vanishingly few advantages human civilization still held.
And on top of that... I'd just fought gun-toting monsters yesterday and come back. Damn it. If monsters really could handle firearms from here on out, every plan going forward would go completely sideways. If they dug into guerrilla tactics or a siege with those things, cleaning them up would be a nightmare—
"N-no..."
A voice cut through the panicked chatter — and through my own spiraling thoughts.
Han Sora. Voice shaking with fear, but forcing it higher so every word would land.
And what came out of her mouth next was—
"No... i-it's not a monster. The one sh-shooting... the one using the gun... is a person. S-survivors, just like us! A p-person... is shooting at people!"
It was the one piece of testimony I had absolutely never wanted to hear.