Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Race Against Time
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Players Chapter 22
Military maneuvers always required formation.
Zombies could leap out from anywhere in the forest, so Kang-seok had his party fall into formation.
Kang-seok, who had the best mobility on the team and was boosted by a Stealth Rune, took the lead.
Seong Yu-jin, the tank, followed him, with Choi Yu-ra, the damage dealer, at the rear.
Kang-seok watched their front while Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra covered the flanks.
About two hours had passed since they left the village and entered the forest.
In that time, the number of zombies and skeletons they had encountered was a mere five in total.
"I guess they really don't come out much during the day."
Even those five had been found quite deep inside. Just as the villagers had said, the creatures seemed to restrain their movements while the sun was high.
Hearing the slightly relaxed tone in Seong Yu-jin's voice, Kang-seok shook his head.
"Still, we can't let our guard down. The trees create a lot of shade."
Their pace was slow due to their constant vigilance, but even after walking for two hours, the forest showed no signs of ending.
The trees grew taller, their branches thicker, until more than half the sky was obscured.
Pausing for a moment, Kang-seok looked back at Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra.
"What was it like when you usually hunted?"
The question was unspoken, but it was obvious who it was for. Choi Yu-ra took the opportunity to take a break, plopping down on the ground.
"I'm more of a 'find a good spot and wait' type. It's been two weeks since I've gone this deep myself."
She unslung her heavy sniper rifle, setting it down before stretching her legs out. Seong Yu-jin, looking equally tired, glanced at Kang-seok before cautiously sitting down as well.
They hadn't rested once in two hours; it was about time for a break.
Kang-seok sat a short distance from Seong Yu-jin, keeping watch ahead. He gestured toward the sky with his chin.
"Look at the sky."
"Dark clouds..."
Dark, heavy clouds were visible beyond their path. They had the same artificial feel as the ones they had seen from the village yesterday.
The direction of the cemetery.
"Looks like we're heading the right way."
Kang-seok's gaze drifted into the distance.
A cemetery large enough for a village wouldn't be located inside the forest.
Before heading straight for the cemetery after exiting the forest, Kang-seok and his party first climbed a rather high hill to look down on it.
The cemetery was even larger than they had imagined.
Though they couldn't measure its exact size, it seemed to be at least a few hundred feet on each side. The wall surrounding the grounds wasn't a simple wooden fence but a proper stone wall.
In the center of the cemetery stood a stark, gray building of immense size. It resembled the large, ancient cathedrals one often sees in pictures of Europe.
"This is more intense than I expected."
Kang-seok frowned, a look of dismay on his face.
A cemetery of this scale likely meant there were far more corpses than anticipated. The village that had supposedly vanished beyond the forest must have been the size of a small city.
"Zombies are circling the perimeter. It doesn't look like they're standing guard, but it serves the same purpose."
Choi Yu-ra said, fiddling with her visor. Seong Yu-jin timidly raised her hand.
"This counts as investigating, right? Shouldn't the quest clear message pop up?"
It was a plausible enough thought that Kang-seok and Choi Yu-ra almost simultaneously pulled up their quest windows. But as is often the case, their hopes were dashed.
"Looks like we'll have to go all the way inside."
Choi Yu-ra gestured toward the cemetery with her chin, and Seong Yu-jin's shoulders slumped slightly. Kang-seok took a deep breath and replied.
"Let's get a little closer."
Though called a hill, the drop between where they stood and the cemetery was nearly a cliff. So, Kang-seok led Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra back into the forest. After another thirty minutes of walking, they reached the edge of the woods.
The distance between the forest's edge and the cemetery was about fifty yards.
Hiding in the undergrowth while observing the cemetery, Kang-seok turned to Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra.
"I'll go in alone for a quick look. Yu-ra, you get ready to provide cover from here. Yu-jin, you protect Yu-ra."
"Yes, sir."
"Okay."
Choi Yu-ra gave a playful salute and drew her crossbow, while Seong Yu-jin nodded seriously and readjusted her grip on her shield.
Kang-seok licked his lower lip and glanced toward the cemetery one more time. The Stealth Rune could mask his presence, but the area between the forest and the cemetery was wide open. Getting across unseen would be impossible.
Kang-seok rubbed his palms together a few times, then slapped his thighs.
Seong Yu-jin spoke.
"Be careful."
"Don't worry."
Kang-seok replied with a grin before turning to face forward. His smile vanished as he kicked off the ground.
With the Dash skill added to his Stealth Rune, his takeoff was completely silent. He sprinted forward, his eyes scanning the area.
The main gate of the cemetery.
Four zombies were wandering nearby.
The distance was about twenty yards.
Two of the zombies turned to look at him. But by then, the distance between them had already closed to ten yards.
Kang-seok lowered his center of gravity and unleashed a double dash. He slid toward the zombies, drawing Durandal.
A sequence of moves played out in his mind.
A diagonal slash, top to bottom. He bisected the first zombie's torso as if slicing through straw, then immediately pulled his blade back. This time, he swung horizontally, shattering the second zombie's head, and used the momentum to swing Durandal behind his head. He brought it down again in a powerful vertical arc that split the third zombie's torso.
One zombie left. Kang-seok let go of Durandal, which was embedded in the third zombie's body. He spun, delivering a vicious roundhouse kick to the last one.
"Urk!"
The zombie fell with a grotesque sound. Kang-seok stomped on the neck of the creature whose torso was destroyed, finishing it off, before finally letting out a long breath.
It had taken only a few seconds to defeat the four zombies.
Picking up Durandal again, Kang-seok looked toward where Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra were hiding. He gave a hand signal, then stepped inside the cemetery entrance.
[Quest Cleared: Investigate the Source of the Undead.]
[Quest MVP: - ]
[Quest Reward: 200 Kron]
The moment he stepped into the cemetery, glowing letters announcing the quest's completion appeared.
"Alright."
Smiling at how things were going as planned, Kang-seok turned to head back. He needed to regroup with Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra.
But it was at that exact moment.
[Chain Quest: Defeat the Lich, the source of the undead outbreak.]
[The Lich is presumed to be in the deepest part of the cemetery.]
[The Lich is creating a very powerful undead monster, an Abomination.]
[Time Limit: 19 minutes 39 seconds]
"What?"
He had expected a chain quest. But a time limit?
[You must defeat the Lich within the time limit. The Abomination is a formidable enemy that you cannot handle with your current abilities. You must settle this before the Lich creates the Abomination.]
[Fortunately, the Lich is focused on the creation ritual and can barely use any other magic.]
[Good luck.]
[I pray for your survival.]
It wasn't just the glowing text. He also heard the business-like woman's voice from when he left Labyrinthos, but this time, unlike before, her voice was laced with bewilderment and concern.
The glowing text vanished. As if on cue, a violet miasma rose from all over the cemetery. Dozens of zombies burst from the earth at once.
[Time Limit: 19 minutes 25 seconds]
Kang-seok swallowed dryly.
* * *
"Kang-seok!"
"Get down!"
The voices of Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra rang out simultaneously. Seong Yu-jin charged toward Kang-seok with her shield raised, while Choi Yu-ra fired her crossbow on the run. A perfect three-shot burst flew past Kang-seok, dropping three zombies.
Kang-seok couldn't just stand there. He pulled Durandal from the zombie's body again and kept an eye on the zombies rising from the graves. They moved sluggishly, as if just waking from a deep slumber, but with dozens of them, the pressure was immense.
"A time limit?! What happened?! What did you do, get us into trouble?"
Choi Yu-ra, who had arrived behind Kang-seok, chided him as she continuously fired her crossbow.
Instead of answering, Kang-seok kicked and shattered the head of a zombie whose hand had just emerged from the ground. Not stopping there, he yanked Choi Yu-ra by the waist and leaped. He executed a backward dash in mid-air to dodge a zombie that erupted from the spot where Choi Yu-ra had just been standing.
"Eek?"
Choi Yu-ra let out a small scream, but there was no time to worry about that. Kang-seok landed beside Seong Yu-jin, who cleaved the head of a zombie rising at her feet before looking up with a fierce expression.
"The source must be that church, right?"
The glowing text was visible to all party members. Moreover, they had all heard the woman's voice, which had sounded almost desperate.
For Seong Yu-jin, the important thing was how to overcome the current situation, not why this chain quest had appeared.
The time limit was now just over 18 minutes.
This was no time to delay. Seong Yu-jin's gaze fell on the gray building beyond the dozens of zombies.
Like Seong Yu-jin, Kang-seok also grasped the core of the problem. But at the same time, another thought crossed his mind.
'Retreat.'
He didn't know what kind of monster the Abomination the Lich was creating was, but if they ran with all their might for the next 18 minutes, they could likely put enough distance between them.
This wasn't an RPG where you could continue as many times as you wanted; their lives were more important than any challenge.
Besides, it wasn't just his life on the line, but Seong Yu-jin's and Choi Yu-ra's as well.
Kang-seok looked in the opposite direction from where Seong Yu-jin was staring.
A violet flame suddenly erupted in the direction from which Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra had come. It spread in an instant, as if to encircle the entire cemetery, forming an impossibly high wall of fire.
Choi Yu-ra's eyes widened in shock. Seong Yu-jin's face looked like she was about to cry, but she forced a smile and spoke to Kang-seok.
"Our escape route... seems to be blocked, right?"
They couldn't delay any longer. The horde of zombies that had risen in front of them was beginning to advance.
Kang-seok gripped Durandal. He gave Seong Yu-jin a single nod, then powerfully kicked off the ground.
"Run!"
[Time Limit: 17 minutes 58 seconds]
There was no time to deal with all the zombies. They had to get inside the church and eliminate the Lich as quickly as possible.
A single-point breakthrough.
Kang-seok drew Laevateinn. With a sword in each hand, he charged forward, with Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra right behind him.
Three crossbow bolts took down three zombies in front of them. Kang-seok dove into the newly created opening, swinging Durandal and Laevateinn wildly to clear the surroundings. Seong Yu-jin stuck close behind him, raising her shield to cover his blind spots.
But it wasn't working. If it had just been Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin, maybe, but now they had Choi Yu-ra with them. Advancing slowly like this was clearly impossible. There were just too many zombies.
"Aaargh!"
Choi Yu-ra screamed and fired her crossbow repeatedly, but it was no use. The zombies pressed in, seemingly determined to crush them with sheer numbers and weight, never stopping their advance no matter how many fell around them.
[Time Limit: 16 minutes 40 seconds]
They had barely made any progress. In fact, they were being surrounded.
Seong Yu-jin shouted.
"Jump! Kang-seok!"
Her cry was filled with both desperation and urgency, and Kang-seok reacted instinctively. He didn't just jump vertically; he kicked off the air to propel himself even higher.
Seong Yu-jin literally tackled Choi Yu-ra. She grabbed her by the waist, knocked her down, and then covered her with her own body.
Pinned under Seong Yu-jin, Choi Yu-ra's vision was blocked, and she was utterly bewildered. Was this some kind of murder-suicide pact?
But Kang-seok, looking down from above, saw things differently. He had seen what Seong Yu-jin did just before she tackled Choi Yu-ra.
Kang-seok quickly maneuvered with a mid-air double dash. Seong Yu-jin held Choi Yu-ra tight, and Choi Yu-ra, her face buried in Seong Yu-jin's chest, was too stunned to say a word.
Zombies swarmed to attack Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra.
But a massive explosion of fire erupted first.
FWOOOOSH!
The flames from the grenade Seong Yu-jin had thrown swept through the area. It engulfed the zombies that had been mindlessly charging, and in an instant, a dozen of them became sacrifices to the inferno. It was as if a hole had been blown clean through the dense horde.
Kang-seok, who had barely avoided the flames, swung Durandal and Laevateinn as soon as he landed. He rushed over to Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra.
'The Flame Rune!'
An item that increased resistance to fire.
The inferno couldn't swallow Seong Yu-jin. The flames were pushed back, and Seong Yu-jin, along with Choi Yu-ra pinned beneath her, was completely unharmed, not a single hair singed, even as a dozen zombies burned around them.
"Yu-jin!"
The moment Kang-seok shouted, Seong Yu-jin snapped her head up. She quickly scanned their surroundings, then helped Choi Yu-ra to her feet.
Choi Yu-ra saw the burning zombies and the ash scattering around the epicenter of the blast and understood the situation. It was possible because they had all shared information about their items before setting out.
It had been a gamble for Seong Yu-jin. She hadn't known exactly how much fire the Flame Rune could block, nor the true power of the flame grenade; both were unknowns.
But now, everything was proven. Choi Yu-ra's eyes glinted. This time, she grabbed Seong Yu-jin by the waist and shouted to Kang-seok.
"Get behind us! I'll clear a path!"
This time, it was Seong Yu-jin's turn to be wide-eyed.
"Yu-ra?"
Instead of answering, Choi Yu-ra pulled out a flame grenade, and Kang-seok understood immediately. He quickly dove behind her.
"Here I go! Friend shield!"
Spinning Seong Yu-jin around to face forward, Choi Yu-ra used her as a shield and hurled another flame grenade. It was a dangerously close throw, just shy of the flame's reach.
"Eek?!"
Before, she had done it knowingly, but this time she was on the receiving end. Seong Yu-jin let out an involuntary scream, but even so, she spread her arms wide. Instead of blocking with her shield, she tried to protect Kang-seok and Choi Yu-ra behind her as much as possible.
A second explosion erupted. The inferno swallowed another group of zombies, and Seong Yu-jin squeezed her eyes shut and screamed again. Choi Yu-ra yelled.
"Let's go!"
The flames died down. The zombies blocking their path had been annihilated. Kang-seok sheathed Durandal and Laevateinn, then spread his arms. Grabbing Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra by the waist with each arm, he shot off the ground.
"You're heavy!"
But he was still fast. Dashing through the gap in the zombie horde, Kang-seok threw Choi Yu-ra toward the church doors.
[Time Limit: 15 minutes 21 seconds]
Choi Yu-ra broke her fall with a roll. She shot to her feet and quickly opened the church doors. Kang-seok, still carrying Seong Yu-jin in his arms, threw himself through the open doorway.
"Close it!"
It was impossible to tell who had shouted. Choi Yu-ra slammed the doors shut, and Kang-seok, after setting Seong Yu-jin down, bolted them.
"Hah, hah."
The three of them gasped for breath almost in unison. Then, Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra shouted at the same time.
"Yu-ra, you!"
"Hey, how could you just throw me! You can't play favorites like that!"
Seong Yu-jin to Choi Yu-ra, and Choi Yu-ra to Kang-seok.
Instead of continuing the chain, Kang-seok drew Durandal again.
The inside of the church was dark. Candles were lit here and there, but they were not enough to drive away all the shadows.
But even in the gloom, one thing was clearly visible.
A vast, pillarless space, like a chapel.
A massive, violet being standing in the center.
Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra saw the same thing Kang-seok did. Without a word, they each raised their weapons.
A being shrouded in a violet aura.
A pure white skeleton that looked as hard as metal.
A luxurious black cloak embroidered with gold thread.
Beyond it, a large, red magic circle was spread out. Inside the circle, dozens of corpses were piled high.
Chain Quest: Defeat the Lich attempting to create an Abomination.
[Time Limit: 15 minutes 14 seconds]
Kang-seok tightened his grip on Durandal.