Chapter 105
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Turning the Tide
# 105
Players, Chapter 105
Hundreds of meters separated the Sea Emperor Vepar from the island of Sicily.
But not just the Players—everyone on the island noticed the change. The red light that erupted the moment the Red God’s divine artifact worked its miracle shone clearly in the darkness.
[Quest: Defeat the Sea Emperor Vepar]
[Current Challengers: 461/531]
Luminous text filled one side of their vision. The other was filled with skeletons rising from the ground.
The front line.
Christian, who was facing the necromancy-wielding Demonic Beast Murmur, swung his shield wide, shattering the skeletons. He readjusted his grip on his warhammer and took another step forward.
As the battle intensified, the Players naturally divided their roles.
Some fought the five demonic beasts. It was like running five simultaneous raid boss battles.
Those not fighting the demonic beasts dealt with the other monsters. By blocking their still-numerous paths, they created an environment where the Players engaged in the boss fights could focus solely on the demonic beasts.
The demonic beasts were certainly strong.
But the Players were strong, too.
The Demonic Beast Murmur felt a sense of bewilderment.
Its specialty, necromancy, was as potent as ever. It could raise corpses as effortlessly as it had at the start of the battle.
Yet the fight was growing more difficult. The wall of corpses Murmur had raised was being pushed back, and soon, the distance between the Players and Murmur was a mere ten meters.
“Holy Cross!”
“Turning Undead!”
“Flames of Purification!”
A torrent of light and holy-attribute attacks, the bane of the undead, poured down. The wall of corpses crumbled under the Players’ competing skills, and as fast as Murmur raised new undead, the Players dismantled them.
The distance closed during the war of attrition. At the forefront of the Players was Christian, a man in ivory-colored power armor, advancing with grim determination.
“Uwooooh!”
Christian leaped. With Murmur finally in weapon range, he swung his lightning-wreathed warhammer.
*CRACK-K-K-K-K-K-BOOM!*
The roar deafened them, but the Players paid it no mind. Go Min-gu slammed his totem into the ground and, gripping the Staff of the World Tree like a microphone, began to sing.
“Hear! My song!”
He wasn't alone. Other Players, too, belted out their own tunes at the top of their lungs. There were quite a few who played instruments as well.
Bards, minstrels, singers, and musicians from various games confronted the Demonic Beast Caim. They overwhelmed Caim, who had been ceaselessly muttering curses from its bird and dog heads, with sheer numbers.
Clerics, enchanters, buffers—it didn't matter. The power of buffs that countered curses enveloped the Players. They pushed back the storm of Caim’s curses with a wave of buffs.
The Demonic Beast Caim, whose power stemmed from curses, was cornered. The Players didn't stop. Go Min-gu shouted again.
“Counter Spell!”
“Spell Break!”
“Spell Shatter!”
“Silent!”
The members of Unit 11, composed entirely of mages, confronted the Demonic Beast Decarabia.
A demonic beast that cast spells as easily as breathing versus dozens of mages.
There was no spectacular magic duel.
Instead of causing a magnificent and dazzling clash of ice and fire, light and darkness, Unit 11 consistently ran interference.
The Demonic Beast Decarabia couldn't create a single spell. Every time it tried to weave the fabric of magic, counter-weaves surged from all directions to tear it apart.
As a giant starfish, Decarabia had no significant combat abilities other than magic. It tried everything to complete a spell. And Unit 11, witnessing Decarabia’s struggle firsthand, did everything in their power to stop it.
Samer, the leader of Unit 11 and guild master of the Chosen, came from a game that had no notable spell-disruption skills. So, he simply unleashed a barrage of powerful offensive spells at the magic-less Decarabia. Other Players with ranged attacks joined Samer, bombarding Decarabia, and the physical pain made it even harder for the beast to concentrate on its magic.
Warrior Duke Allocen instinctively sensed the battle was turning against them.
The Players were not just a mob of great numbers.
They were all different. A group of powerful humans, each with their own specialty.
Among their vast pool of talent were those strong against Decarabia. There were those who, while weak against Caim, could prove overwhelming against Murmur.
In the rock-paper-scissors game of matchups, the Players held an incredible advantage over the demonic beasts.
Once the battle had progressed enough for the demonic beasts’ matchups to be figured out, the Players began to move, seeking out opponents they were strong against.
Behind this coordinated movement was the RTS player, Jang Tae-san. The message he sent across the entire battlefield gave the Players a unified concept.
*Clear* the boss monster.
The demonic beasts were being cleared. Murmur, Caim, and Decarabia were already on the defensive. Only Orobas, a simple brawler, was putting up a decent fight.
Allocen was the leader of the five demonic beasts. He needed to command the others and turn the situation around.
But Allocen couldn't. The reason he could only sense the state of the battle by instinct instead of analyzing it with intellect was right in front of him.
“Attribute Enhancement. Water.”
He was already in close. Allocen, who had glanced away at the other demonic beasts for just a moment, could only raise his arms to guard again.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor, having leaped up to aim for the upper body of the six-meter-tall giant Allocen, repeatedly struck his guard. It was a simple, brutish attack, but it was clearly effective.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor was also naturally clearing Allocen. Against the fire-attribute Allocen, he consistently used water-attribute attacks.
The Fist Master of Chakra Online was a wielder of the Five Elements.
Changing one’s attack style to match the opponent monster's attribute was the most basic of basics.
Finally, Allocen’s guard broke. The Heavenly Dragon Emperor, who had been relentlessly throwing punches, did not miss the opening. He used a ‘motion cancel’ to cut his attack short and moved his left hand. With a water-attribute knife hand, he split the flames Allocen breathed out the moment his guard shattered. He used the Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon, kicking off the ground with a burst of energy to gain propulsion.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor drove into Allocen's guard. He thrust the Heavenly Demon's Divine Palm toward the half-shattered silver armor.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
A brilliant five-colored mana cannonade rained down on the Sea Emperor Vepar. Three airships from the Shangri-La Navy cut through the night sky, their presence slow but deliberate.
The Sea Emperor Vepar, who had been expressing her fury at the destruction of her tsunami spell, quickly turned her gaze toward the airships. She let out a shriek and formed a force field, meeting the mana cannon fire head-on.
Light shattered and scattered. The shockwave shook the surrounding sea, and Seong Yu-jin hugged Kang-seok with all her might and turned her body.
The shockwave slammed mercilessly into Seong Yu-jin’s back. Her slender body staggered violently, but she managed to spread her radiant wings. As soon as the shockwave subsided, she hastily flew up.
Amidst the stormy night sky, the wings of pure white light were too conspicuous. The Sea Emperor Vepar did not miss her. She redirected the power she was about to use on the Shangri-La Navy’s airships toward Seong Yu-jin and Kang-seok.
Dozens of bizarre, massive tentacles shot out towards Seong Yu-jin all at once.
Seong Yu-jin, who had transformed immediately after her second job advancement, was not yet accustomed to flying. Even flying at full speed was a struggle, let alone performing evasive maneuvers.
But Seong Yu-jin didn't give up. If she was caught by the tentacles, it wasn't just her who would die. Kang-seok, limp in her arms, would be a dead man too.
A tentacle pierced the space right beside Seong Yu-jin. Its momentum was so powerful that even without a direct hit, her flight path was disrupted. The tentacles surged in succession. Realizing she could no longer dodge, Seong Yu-jin curled up. She shut her eyes tight and held Kang-seok closer.
“Uraaaaaaah!”
“Uwoooooooh!”
The roars of Yang Jun-gyu and Choi Yu-ra reached her ears. Tearing through the sound of wind and waves, the hull of the Black Dragon performed a flight maneuver bordering on acrobatics. Choi Yu-ra’s Gigantes, which she had fixed to the deck at the cost of half-destroying it, unleashed every weapon it had at the tentacles. She was in such a hurry that she even fired the flamethrower, which had no chance of reaching the tentacles, heating the cold air.
“Yu-jin!”
Park Han-yeong, a rope tied around her waist, leaped from the stern hatch of the Black Dragon. Using the momentum from the Black Dragon's sharp turn, she practically flew through the air. She wrapped her arms around the back of the still-crouched Seong Yu-jin.
“Die! Die! Die!”
Choi Yu-ra kept pulling the trigger. Tentacles that escaped the barrage of fire hammered against the Black Dragon’s hull. Instead of his usual tearful expression, Yang Jun-gyu roared as he pulled on the control stick. Beside him, Sekhmet bolstered his courage with a sacred song.
The Black Dragon, which had performed a near-nosedive to save Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin, banked sharply. It soared once more as if riding a high wave, and Kim Kang-san pulled the rope with all his might, retrieving Kang-seok, Seong Yu-jin, and Park Han-yeong. Oh Ha-na typed on a keyboard made of light.
“I don’t want to die!”
Oh Ha-na, her cry half a sob, frantically spent the Kron she had been saving. A familiar voice came from the light keyboard.
“Do you want to… Ok, Bye…”
Two Grim Reaper fighter jets appeared through the dark clouds and immediately threw themselves at the tentacles to protect the Black Dragon. Seeing her remaining Kron balance, Oh Ha-na finally burst into tears.
The Shangri-La Navy didn't approach Vepar easily, but they didn't stop their bombardment either. Thanks to their covering fire, the Black Dragon barely escaped the tentacles’ range and circled in the air. Carried by the centrifugal force, Kang-seok, Seong Yu-jin, and Park Han-yeong flew into the Black Dragon, tumbling to the floor in a tangled heap with Kim Kang-san, who had been holding the rope.
[We’re alive! We’re alive!]
Iris exclaimed with joy. Seong Yu-jin, who had crashed squarely into Kim Kang-san’s full plate armor, swallowed a pained groan and looked at Kang-seok in her arms. Kang-seok was gasping for breath, but instead of losing consciousness, he opened his eyes. He exchanged a look with Seong Yu-jin.
[I’m sorry, but I don’t think this is the time for a tearful embrace or a kiss!]
[Vepar’s attacks are continuing!]
As soon as Iris’s warning ended, the Black Dragon shook violently again. Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin, and Kim Kang-san and Park Han-yeong, all clinging to each other, rolled across the floor in clumps. Oh Ha-na screamed and closed the stern hatch.
The roar of cannons continued. Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin quickly got to their feet. Just as Iris had said, there was no time for sentiment. Kang-seok looked out the window.
A massive pillar of water shot up from the sea’s surface and pierced the hull of one of the Shangri-La Navy’s airships.
The airship, impossibly torn in two, crashed into the sea. The runaway mana cannon exploded, filling the sky with a blinding flash. The other two airships were tossed about in the air, caught in the blast’s shockwave.
At the terrifying sight, Kang-seok unknowingly swallowed dryly.
Choi Yu-ra, having exhausted all her ammunition and energy, could only pant and sweat in the cockpit of her Gigantes.
Sea Emperor Vepar.
A being worthy of being called the final boss of the second World Quest.
She was different from the Divine Bird Raum. Vepar’s sheer size demanded a completely different kind of fight.
What to do? How could they defeat that ‘monster’?
The distance was great. Over a hundred meters separated the Black Dragon, now high in the sky, and Vepar, positioned on the sea’s surface.
But their eyes met. Piercing even the darkness, Kang-seok’s and Vepar’s gazes crossed.
A beautiful, nude woman with blue hair. But her eyes, which should have been cold, were burning with hot fury. Vepar recognized Kang-seok as the demonic beast slayer who had already defeated several of her kind.
Vepar stretched her arms toward the sky. A massive pillar of water shot up, aiming for the Black Dragon.
And Kang-seok turned his gaze. It was by no means out of fear.
The Locust God’s divine artifact, Morning Glory.
From the bracelet, a faint golden light began to glow.