Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: The Coming Calamity
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# 102
“G-Galaxy Wars?”
Kang-seok, who was looking up at the Black Dragon from the ground, muttered unconsciously.
It was Galaxy Wars, a game that was once hailed as the nation's favorite. He recognized the fighter jet’s peculiar Y-shaped wings in an instant.
Most of the Players looking up at the sky had a similar reaction. Even those like Seong Yu-jin, who didn't recognize the fighter from Galaxy Wars, were shocked by the mere fact that a fighter jet had appeared.
[Quest: Defeat Sea Emperor Vepar and save Sicily.]
[Number of Players challenging the quest: 531/531]
[The second World Quest has begun.]
[Mr. Choi Kang-seok? Mr. Choi Kang-seok!]
Snapping back to his senses at Iris's repeated calls, Kang-seok quickly scanned the entire area around the Black Dragon again.
The Shangri-La Navy's airships were full-fledged warships to begin with, so they weren't being easily overwhelmed by the flying monsters. Once they launched a proper counterattack, it was the flying monsters that were pushed onto the defensive.
With Choi Yu-ra providing a continuous barrage of sniper fire from the Black Dragon, the situation in the sky quickly improved. The two pure-white fighter jets prevented the flying monsters from rashly approaching the Black Dragon.
'That thing has the durability of a paper airplane. Is it really fine?'
The space superiority fighter, Grim Reaper.
A fighter jet dismissed as a paper airplane because, contrary to its fearsome codename, its armor was weak and its firepower was mediocre at best.
Based on his experience so far, it seemed its armor would be weaker than the Gigantes Choi Yu-ra summoned, not stronger.
But for now, it was fighting well, capitalizing on its high mobility. With three of the Shangri-La Navy's combat airships present as well, it seemed safe for the moment.
[Mr. Choi Kang-seooooook!]
[Can't you hear me?! Dark Destiny Lord!]
Iris’s voice was a bit more agitated than usual, as if she was getting frustrated. Kang-seok turned his gaze back to the fierce battle on the ground. He quickly reviewed the glowing text displayed by Iris, his eyes narrowing.
“Sea Emperor Vepar?”
[I believe it refers to the Demonic Beast Vepar.]
[Just as Raum was the final boss of the Tower of Raum, it is highly likely that this will be the final boss of the current World Quest.]
Was she talking about the sea monster from the World Quest announcement video?
Before he started running again, Kang-seok looked over the demonic beasts. Instead of recklessly jumping into the fray, the five beasts approached slowly, carefully observing the Players.
The demonic beast in the form of a young girl, standing alone on the sea, focused solely on creating waves to batter the fleet.
Was Vepar not among them?
As if reading Kang-seok’s mind, Iris spoke quickly.
[Demonic Beast Allocen, Demonic Beast Caim, Demonic Beast Murmur, Demonic Beast Orobas, Demonic Beast Decarabia.]
[The demonic beast standing on the sea's surface is Demonic Beast Crocell.]
[It seems Sea Emperor Vepar is not among them.]
It hadn’t appeared yet.
Kang-seok remembered the Tower of Raum. The Demonic Beast Raum had tied up the main Players with Oriax and Vapula, then moved alone to pick off the remaining Players one by one.
Would it be the same this time?
He couldn't be sure. The only thing he could face right now was the fact that he had to stop the five demonic beasts, starting with Allocen.
Christian had already reached the front lines, swinging his warhammer. Seong Yu-jin, fully clad in her Magic Armor Arnark, was also glaring at the demonic beasts approaching the front.
Kang-seok readjusted his grip on Durandal.
Five demonic beasts.
One of them, the golden giant, was approaching in a straight line toward him.
Kang-seok made his decision. He charged toward the Demonic Beast Allocen.
* * *
At Yang Jun-gyu's voice coming through the communicator, Choi Yu-ra also let out a sigh of relief.
Galaxy Wars had first been released a good seventeen years ago. While it had maintained its status as a national favorite until five or six years ago, for the thirteen-year-old Yang Jun-gyu, it was just an old classic he might have glimpsed somewhere, at best.
Choi Yu-ra clutched her chest and replied.
“They’re on our side. Ha-na summoned them. For now, don't run too far; just hover around this area. We need to watch the ground situation and be ready to support Kang-seok if needed.”
With a comment typical of Yang Jun-gyu, the voice from the communicator cut off. Choi Yu-ra turned to look at Oh Ha-na, who had collapsed to the floor, her shoulders slumped in exhaustion.
“Are you okay? Does summoning them cause some kind of physical strain?”
Gigantes Descent, one of Choi Yu-ra’s specialties, was a skill with a heavy penalty.
She could only summon it once every fortnight, and despite the rather short duration of the summon, it consumed a whopping 1,500 Kron each time.
If a disposable Gigantes was like that, what about those fighter jets?
Were they also disposable? Or was there a time limit on the summon?
Oh Ha-na shook her head.
“It just costs Kron. A lot of Kron. A whole, whole lot…”
She finished with a faint, almost transcendent smile—the very picture of someone smiling through the pain.
“Building a proper production facility and summoning them takes too much time and Kron, so I called them in as mercenaries. Uh, have you played Galaxy Wars? Your face says you have. You know how you can call in small unit bundles as mercenaries in the game.”
“Oh, that. So that’s why there are two of them. Then they must be disposable, too?”
“That's right. That’s why it was relatively cheap.”
But judging by her expression when she said ‘relatively cheap,’ it was clear that while it might be cheaper in comparison, it still cost an enormous amount of Kron.
'I see why she never mentioned it before.'
Despite the high Kron cost, the tactical value of Oh Ha-na’s ability was immense. It seemed quite a few Players had likely tried to exploit her in various ways after the Great Summoning.
“Anyway, thanks to you, we can breathe a little. I’m sorry for getting angry earlier.”
“It’s fine, it was an emergency. I would have been angry, too.”
Choi Yu-ra extended her hand, and Oh Ha-na took it to pull herself up.
It was an incredibly heartwarming scene, but it couldn't last long. A fierce battle was still raging on the ground below.
“So that’s a demonic beast…”
Looking down at the ground, Oh Ha-na swallowed dryly. From this high altitude, the entire front line was visible, which only amplified the severity of the current battle.
First, there were just too many monsters.
The Players were strong, but it was questionable whether they could overcome the sheer numbers. In fact, the Shangri-La Navy’s front line was already crumbling.
And then there was the presence of the demonic beasts.
All five were massive and grotesque.
The golden giant Allocen with burning eyes.
The huge monster Caim with the heads of a bird and a dog on one body.
A strange figure with a gaunt body wrapped in green robes and a crown atop its skeletal head. Murmur, riding a giant chariot made of skulls and cracking a whip.
The pentagram-shaped demonic beast Decarabia, looking like a colossal starfish placed on land.
The beast Orobas, the size of a house, with the head and lower body of a horse and the torso of a man.
These five were tearing through the Players' front line. When the demonic beasts truly joined the fray between monsters and Players, even the Players who had been holding their own were quickly put in a difficult position.
Choi Yu-ra, having experienced several battles against demonic beasts, knew.
Having a crowd of average Players wasn't enough to effectively counter a demonic beast.
A powerhouse.
A Player strong enough to clash with a demonic beast head-on.
Among the five hundred-some Players, how many could there be?
[Quest: Defeat Sea Emperor Vepar and save Sicily.]
[Number of Players challenging the quest: 517/531]
Choi Yu-ra dismissed the glowing text. She tried to find Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin in the battlefield where thousands were fighting. And it was an easier task than she had first thought.
The golden giant, Demonic Beast Allocen, stood out more than anyone else on the battlefield.
There were those who were facing Allocen head-on. They fought a fierce battle in a clearing that had naturally formed because other Players and monsters didn't dare approach.
Choi Yu-ra clenched her fists tightly. She activated her scope's zoom function and watched Kang-seok fighting Allocen. She was tormented by the fact that she couldn't be there, only watch from afar.
But then, at some point.
A sudden sense of foreboding made Choi Yu-ra lift her head. She looked at something other than Kang-seok or Seong Yu-jin.
In the distance.
Using her scope's zoom again, Choi Yu-ra stifled a scream.
* * *
It shatters, shatters, and shatters.
Demonic Beast Allocen's fighting style was simple.
It pulverized the enemy before it with the monstrous strength generated by its six-meter-tall body.
Its two fists, wreathed in flames, were massive. It was as if it had wrecking balls attached to its fists.
With every swing, the ground cracked. The air screamed from the sonic booms, and roaring flames engulfed the surroundings.
It was similar to his fight with Oriax. It charged like a bulldozer, so ranged attacks alone couldn't tie it down. That was why Kang-seok took Allocen head-on. He dodged the storm of giant fists with terrifying concentration. He endured Allocen's flames with the Rune of Flames and battered its entire body with the power of the Black Flame.
Christian was fighting elsewhere. Go Min-gu was supporting Kang-seok with various spells and songs, while Seong Yu-jin darted between the two, protecting them. In effect, these three were facing Allocen alone.
It couldn't be helped. There were over five hundred Players, but the monsters numbered in the thousands, and the power of the five demonic beasts was immense.
Among them, the most terrifying was the existence of magic.
The demonic beasts until now had mostly been skilled in close-quarters combat. Even the Demonic Beast Raum, despite traversing the battlefield with its incredible speed, ultimately used only the claws on its hands to attack.
Oriax, Vapula, and Andras were not much different. Cimeries was no exception either.
But the demonic beasts that appeared this time were different.
Decarabia, a living pentagram, continuously cast area-of-effect attack magic. Blade-like winds, fitting for a stormy night, swept over the Players.
Every time the Demonic Beast Murmur gestured, monsters that had already died rose again to attack the Players. They were much weaker as zombies than when they were alive, but again, the problem was their numbers.
The Demonic Beast Caim chattered simultaneously from its bird and dog heads, spewing various curse magics. The buffs cast by the Players clashed with Caim's curses, making the battle on the front lines even more difficult.
But Kang-seok did not grow impatient. He maintained his focus with composure.
They were certainly struggling. But there were still many Players. This wasn't a situation where they were being picked off one by one, like in the Tower of Raum.
That was why Kang-seok was able to see.
He wasn't so consumed by Allocen that he couldn't think.
The presence of Sea Emperor Vepar, who had yet to appear.
The Demonic Beast Crocell, which had nearly wiped out the fleet with waves but still hadn't joined the main battle.
A fist arrived before his eyes. Wreathed in flames, it was nearly as tall as Kang-seok himself, and so fast that dodging was impossible.
Kang-seok gritted his teeth and focused. He split time, as if using Overdrive. He activated the Force Shield he had received from the Demonic Beast Oriax and simultaneously threw his body backward. He unleashed the Black Flame enveloping his body forward.
Flame met flame and they canceled each other out. The immense impact shattered the Force Shield's field, and the repelling force sent Kang-seok's body flying through the air.
But it hadn't gone as Allocen intended. By deflecting the attack with the Force Shield, Kang-seok had thrown himself backward, drastically mitigating Allocen's power. Kicking off the air to accelerate further was also effective.
Kang-seok soared. It was no exaggeration to say he had shot up into the sky.
Reaching a height of several dozen meters, Kang-seok flipped his body. Even though he had reduced it, Allocen's power was so immense that he hadn't escaped completely unscathed.
Pointing his head toward the ground, Kang-seok kicked off the force field generated by his Sky Walker Boots and launched himself downward.
And at that same moment, he realized. With his expanded field of vision from the high altitude, he noticed it.
The thing positioned in the far distance.
A being that revealed its full form in the stormy sea.
Its mere appearance wouldn't have been a problem. The arrival of a sea monster was already expected.
What the sea monster was doing now. The real reason they had to stop it!
→↘↓↙←→ + HS
Rest in Peace: Black Bullet
Kang-seok became a jet-black bullet. With the added momentum of his fall, he slammed into Allocen.
A tremendous sonic boom shook the entire area. Struck in the chest by the Black Bullet, Allocen didn't just get pushed back; it was knocked flat on its back.
Immediately deactivating Black Bullet, Kang-seok drew Durandal. He aimed the tip of his sword at Allocen's half-shattered chest, its defense seemingly weaker than Oriax's.
But he couldn't achieve his goal. Lying on its back, Allocen swung a fist wildly, which descended on Kang-seok's flank. Kang-seok quickly jumped to evade the fist. He threw himself backward to escape Allocen, who was rising with an agility that belied its massive frame.
Allocen let out a crazed laugh.
What Choi Yu-ra had seen.
The other quest, triggered by Kang-seok's realization.
[Quest: Stop Sea Emperor Vepar's tsunami.]
[Time remaining until the tsunami hits: 26 minutes, 48 seconds]
Having grasped the situation right after seeing the glowing text, Seong Yu-jin fixed her gaze on the distance. Having seen Crocell's waves destroying the fleet, she could imagine it. She understood the true purpose of this quest.
A localized tsunami, triggered abnormally.
One that would be more than enough to swallow the entire island of Sicily.
Allocen smiled. It charged toward Kang-seok.