Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: A New Ally
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# 21
Contrary to Choi Yu-ra’s usual personality, her story was remarkably straightforward.
“Four of the five of us were FPS players. I was the only Korean; the rest were all foreigners… two Europeans, one Chinese, and one Japanese.”
It wasn’t just Koreans who were targeted. The summoning had been worldwide.
“The one who said he came from playing Beast Hunter was the Japanese guy. Other than me, they were all men.”
Choi Yu-ra didn’t mention the names of the players she had been with, even though her expression grew wistful whenever she spoke of the Beast Hunter player.
“It was pretty easy at first since they were all from FPS games. We just had to unleash a hail of bullets on anything that approached. The problem was when we ran out of ammo.”
Guns and swords were fundamentally different weapons.
Their destructive power was incomparable, and the difference in their speed and range was also significant.
As Choi Yu-ra said, it must have been a one-sided slaughter by the players in the beginning.
But, as expected, the problem was the supply of ammunition.
Guns were different from swords. A gun without bullets was nothing more than a heavy lump of metal, difficult to even swing.
“Zombies and skeletons were our main enemies. As you know from fighting them, they’re actually tricky opponents to handle with guns. So we wasted even more bullets. On the first day, one of the Europeans and the Chinese guy died. The rest of us could no longer afford to use our guns carelessly.”
Choi Yu-ra gestured with her chin toward the heavy sniper rifle and submachine gun leaning against the wall.
From the way she told the story, it seemed unlikely they had much ammunition left.
“Since we couldn’t use our guns, the guy who played Beast Hunter naturally became the group’s leader. He used melee weapons, not guns. I don’t know much about the game Beast Hunter, so it’s hard for me to say… but anyway, he could somehow make weapons out of things like skeleton remains. He’d also improve existing weapons. This was one of the things he made.”
Choi Yu-ra picked up the crossbow she had been cradling instead of the submachine gun.
“He said he was a mechanical engineering major in the real world… anyway, a science student. He modified this to allow for rapid fire. He also attached a magazine for the crossbow bolts.”
After gazing at the crossbow with affectionate eyes, Choi Yu-ra took a deep breath. She set it down again and resumed her story.
“On the fifth day, everyone but me died. It was a Flesh Golem, twice as big as the one you saw earlier today, and it just wouldn’t die. Anyway… I ended up alone, found this village, and since then, I’ve settled down here, earning Kron. And then I met you two.”
She rushed through the end, skipping over many details. It seemed she didn’t want to talk much about the final battle where everyone had died.
Choi Yu-ra looked directly at Kang-seok and said,
“I definitely killed the Flesh Golem that was the tutorial boss. It won’t be a threat anymore. And… you’re probably right. The source is likely the old site where the cemetery is. That’s the direction I came from to get to this village. The closer I got to the village, the less frequently the zombies appeared.”
Though a little incomplete, her story contained all the necessary information.
Five players of different nationalities.
The tutorial boss, a Flesh Golem, had been defeated.
And as Kang-seok had predicted, the source of the undead was likely the cemetery.
Seong Yu-jin gently stroked the back of Choi Yu-ra’s hand. At the clear gesture of comfort, Choi Yu-ra chuckled.
“I’m fine. It’s been half a month, and we weren’t together for that long.”
But her eyes said otherwise. It was dark, so he couldn’t be certain, but they looked red and swollen.
After observing Choi Yu-ra for a moment, Kang-seok took a breath and spoke.
“In any case… if what Yu-ra says is true, then there’s a high probability that something in the cemetery is raising the undead. No, considering the additional quest text, it’s almost certain.”
Seong Yu-jin nodded in agreement. Choi Yu-ra then asked,
“Hey, but are you planning to do this with just the three of us? We don’t even know how many zombies or skeletons there will be.”
If there were dozens, they could manage somehow. But if there were hundreds, it would be a different story. As the saying went, there was no beating sheer numbers.
Kang-seok mulled it over.
“I’d like to get more help if possible, but looking at the state of this village, that’ll be difficult. Setting the forest on fire is an option I’ve considered, but I don’t think it will be easy…”
Moreover, the quest information stated that stronger undead would appear over time. If they wasted time, they could run into an enemy they couldn’t handle. A war of attrition, where they fought off approaching zombies to reduce their numbers and level up, was not a viable option.
Lost in his own thoughts, Kang-seok suddenly looked up. It was because of Choi Yu-ra’s intense gaze on him.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing. You’re just more extreme than you look. Burning down the whole forest? That’s a bold plan.”
“It’s just wishful thinking. It’s not a realistic plan.”
Without the ability to control the wind, a misstep could turn the entire area into a sea of fire, and they could burn to death along with the villagers.
Recalling the forest fires he had seen in the military, Kang-seok shivered lightly, as if the thought gave him goosebumps, and continued.
“Even if the undead are being produced in the cemetery, there must be a limit to their numbers. It’s not like there are thousands of corpses piled up there. They might be suffering from a shortage of troops, too.”
It was just like Labyrinthus. Monsters didn’t respawn like in a game.
“The quest name is ‘Investigate the cemetery, believed to be the source of the undead outbreak.’ After we finish the investigation, a new linked quest will likely appear. Something like, ‘Destroy XX, the source of the undead outbreak.’”
“Ooh, that sounds plausible.”
Choi Yu-ra chimed in, and Seong Yu-jin nodded as well.
Kang-seok tapped the map with his finger.
“Anyway, the first step is to investigate. The three of us should be enough for that. We should decide our next move after we see the linked quest.”
The number of zombies and skeletons Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin had defeated in the village today was close to thirty. Choi Yu-ra’s combat prowess was still an unknown, but it was clear she could at least pull her own weight.
‘If possible, I’ll aim to wipe out all the undead.’
Now that he couldn’t return to Labyrinthus, the undead in the forest were his one and only source of Kron.
Based on the flow of events so far, clearing this quest would likely provide information on a new source of Kron or a new quest, but he couldn’t be complacent.
He had to earn as much Kron as possible while he could.
Once the conversation had more or less concluded, Choi Yu-ra crawled back to where she had been lying down and lay down. She gave a salute from her prone position and said,
“It’s nice having a leader. I don’t have to make any decisions. I’ll be in your hands from now on, leader of the Dark Destiny Lord clan.”
“I’ll be counting on you too, Dark Des… Kang-seok.”
Seong Yu-jin, who had intended to tease Kang-seok along with Choi Yu-ra, quickly changed her words at the last second. It was because of the look of displeasure on Kang-seok’s face.
Kang-seok shook his head at Seong Yu-jin’s apologetic grin and blew out the candle with a sharp exhale.
“Let’s get some sleep.”
There were no objections, and so the night deepened.
* * *
“I’m disappointed, so disappointed. You had two beautiful, doe-eyed women in one room, and you really just slept? Do you have any idea how incredible Yu-jin’s figure is?”
“Shut up.”
Morning.
The villagers, who made their living cultivating medicinal herbs, had already left for work. They explained that undead rarely appeared during the daytime, unless dark clouds gathered overhead.
Kang-seok planned to finish the investigation quest before the sun set, if possible.
“Is that all your gear?”
They were in a party, set to fight together. The better they knew their comrades’ fighting styles and equipment, the easier it would be to coordinate.
Choi Yu-ra scowled.
“You sound like you’ve been ripped off your whole life. One heavy sniper rifle, one submachine gun, one auto-loading crossbow, three incendiary grenades, one shock grenade, and one standard grenade. One knife. That’s it.”
A typical heavy sniper rifle weighed at least 14 kilograms, yet Choi Yu-ra carried the heavy weapon on her back as if it were nothing. Furthermore, she had a submachine gun strapped to her waist, and the crossbow in her hand didn’t look light either.
Like Seong Yu-jin, it seemed her game character stats gave her considerable strength.
Kang-seok asked again.
“Ammo count?”
“I feel like I’m the only one laying all my cards on the table, but to be honest, I have six rounds for the sniper rifle and seventeen for the submachine gun.”
“That’s not much.”
The heavy sniper rifle was single-shot by nature, and considering its power, six rounds wasn’t a small number. But the submachine gun was different. Firing on full auto would empty the magazine in seconds.
Choi Yu-ra shrugged.
“You saw me retrieving my crossbow bolts one by one yesterday, right? FPS is actually tougher than your average MMORPG, you know?”
“What are the incendiary and shock grenades?”
“They’re grenades that cause fire and lightning, just like their names suggest. One incendiary grenade can probably… set an area the size of a couple of those huts we slept in ablaze in an instant. The shock grenade was effective against electronic devices, but well, its range is similar to the incendiary grenade’s.”
“Hmm.”
The power was sufficient, but the quantity was the problem. With no way to resupply, he couldn’t ask Choi Yu-ra to sacrifice her own gear.
“How many bolts for the crossbow?”
“Thirty with a full magazine. They’re only a little bigger than darts, but they’re incredibly heavy all together.”
After compiling all the information, Kang-seok came to a conclusion.
“You can’t be the main damage dealer. I’ll just need you to provide cover from the rear.”
“That’s pretty much the archer’s role in an RPG, isn’t it?”
Shrugging, Choi Yu-ra suddenly reached for her waist. She unclipped an incendiary grenade from her pocket and held it out to Kang-seok.
“Take it.”
“Huh?”
Kang-seok, who had taken the grenade without thinking, blinked in surprise. But Choi Yu-ra just grinned and unclipped another one, giving it to Seong Yu-jin.
“You too, Yu-jin.”
“Yu-ra?”
Choi Yu-ra only had three incendiary grenades. And now she had just handed two of them to Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin.
Both Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin couldn’t help but be surprised by her willingness to share such precious, irreplaceable weapons.
Choi Yu-ra winked at the two of them.
“I’m not giving them to you, I’m lending them. Don’t use them unless it’s a real emergency, got it?”
The wink looked a bit awkward due to the visor she wore over her right eye, but she was as cool and straightforward as ever. Seong Yu-jin, with a touched expression, nodded and then pulled Choi Yu-ra into a tight hug, while Kang-seok tucked the incendiary grenade into his clothes with a pleased expression.
A new ally and a new quest.
“Let’s move out.”
Kang-seok took the lead.