Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Gigantes Down
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# 23
Players, Chapter 23
A lich.
A wizard who, to escape death, willingly became undead.
Due to their origins, liches were often depicted as powerful mages in typical games and fantasy novels.
Fortunately, the lich in the church's deepest chamber didn't bombard the party with a barrage of devastating offensive magic. It seemed to be pouring all its energy into the abomination it was creating through the red magic circle, leaving no room to cast other spells.
A lich that couldn't use magic.
It was certainly a stroke of luck, but that didn't mean things were going their way.
"Three in total, left and right," Seong Yu-jin said quickly.
Deformed beings that had been hiding in the darkness revealed themselves.
"Bodyguards, huh?"
Choi Yu-ra slung her crossbow at her waist and drew her anti-materiel sniper rifle. The lenses of the visor over her right eye began to move rapidly.
The lich's guards were not undead. They were gargoyles, the kind one might find in an old European church.
A demon's head, a bat's wings, and a body of stone.
Kang-seok twirled the tip of Durendal, his eyes fixed on the gargoyles. They didn't move rashly, instead watching the party warily from their positions.
How should they be handled?
It was Choi Yu-ra who broke the unwanted standoff.
*KABOOM!*
When no one expected it, the anti-materiel sniper rifle roared to life. With a deafening blast, the lich's left shoulder was shattered.
"The shot isn't landing true! There's some kind of magic..."
Choi Yu-ra's words were cut short. Seong Yu-jin quickly raised her shield, blocking the space beside her.
*CLANG!*
A gargoyle, moving like a flash of lightning, struck Seong Yu-jin's shield.
Perhaps because its body was made of stone, the blow carried an immense weight. Seong Yu-jin gritted her teeth against the pain that shot through her arm.
Kang-seok couldn't help her. The very instant Seong Yu-jin and the gargoyle clashed, two other gargoyles rushed him simultaneously.
One held a stone spear, while the other had long, sharp, hook-like claws. As they lunged at him, stabbing and slashing at the same time, Kang-seok quickly used a backward dash to evade their attack.
Striking stone with an ordinary sword would be insane. But what Kang-seok held was Durendal, the 'Unbreakable Sword' with infinite durability.
The moment his dash ended, Kang-seok stomped forward and swung Durendal at the gargoyle with the stone spear.
←←+P
Bash
A warrior-class skill from Kim Kang-san's 'Blood'!
The powerful strike, more like a blunt-force blow than a slash, shattered the gargoyle's head.
Almost immediately, another blast echoed. Choi Yu-ra's sniper rifle fired again, blowing the head of the spear-wielding gargoyle to pieces.
"Hah!"
Seong Yu-jin forcefully shoved the gargoyle with her shield. Kang-seok quickly rushed to her side and used Bash again, breaking the gargoyle's neck.
Even with Durendal's sturdiness, striking stone with full force repeatedly left his hands tingling. Kang-seok gritted his teeth and turned.
With three gargoyles down, it was time to target the lich again. The remaining time was probably just over ten minutes. That should be enough.
But just as he thought that.
[Time Limit: 37 seconds]
[Feeling threatened, the lich has begun to hasten the ritual.]
[There is no time. You must stop the birth of the abomination!]
The sudden change in the time limit was so absurd it made him want to curse, but it had already happened. Pushing aside the bewildered woman's voice, Choi Yu-ra pulled the trigger without hesitation.
*KABOOM!*
The third of her six remaining shots exploded, but once again, it missed the head she had aimed for, piercing the empty air far from its mark. A part of the church wall crumbled, but the lich and its magic circle remained intact.
"Ranged attacks won't work!"
[Time Limit: 29 seconds]
Tearing through Choi Yu-ra's shout, Kang-seok charged. A gargoyle suddenly dropped from the ceiling in a surprise attack, but Seong Yu-jin hadn't been standing idle.
Her taunt skill forcibly drew the gargoyle's attention, and Choi Yu-ra's sniper rifle roared once more.
Kang-seok didn't stop for a moment. He ran past the shattering gargoyle directly above him, his eyes fixed on the lich. He thrust his vertically held sword forward, activating Knight of Knights.
This time was a little different. The moment Durendal pierced the air, a golden sword of light shot out from its tip.
The sword of light, imbued with holy power, pierced through the chest of the lich, which was immobilized by the ritual. A massive crest of light then struck the lich with a slight delay.
[Time Limit: 21 seconds]
Kang-seok was momentarily unable to move due to the recovery animation of Knight of Knights. Seong Yu-jin rushed toward the lich, while Choi Yu-ra aimed for its chest with her anti-materiel sniper rifle, which now had only two bullets left. Dying while trying to save ammo was the height of foolishness.
*KABOOM!*
The shot veered off course again, but she had been aiming for the chest to begin with. Despite missing its mark, it still shattered the lich's right shoulder.
[Time Limit: 15 seconds]
Kang-seok moved. He leaped high, aiming for the lich's head, while Seong Yu-jin charged its lower body, shield first, in a body slam.
Durendal struck the lich's neck. Seong Yu-jin's body slam shattered its pelvis.
But it wasn't enough. The lich was not yet dead. A violet aura flared up like a flame from the red magic circle.
[Time Limit: 10 seconds]
"Stop!"
Kang-seok brought his sword down on the lich's skull. Durendal, imbued with the blue sword energy of Flying Swallow Strike, finally destroyed the lich's skull.
It was over. The lich was dead.
But the glowing text did not stop.
A somber female voice echoed in his ears.
[You were too late. The ritual has reached a point where it can no longer be stopped, even without the lich.]
[Born from an incomplete ritual, the entity will be weaker than what the lich originally intended. I wish you luck.]
Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin turned toward the red magic circle. Choi Yu-ra, still in her sniping stance, aimed at its center.
There was no need to look at the timer anymore. A black smoke erupted from the red magic circle, accompanied by a horrifying scream.
"KHHHUUUAAAAARGH!"
It sounded as if hundreds of beasts were roaring at once.
The party flinched instinctively at the sound, and in that moment, a massive figure tore through the smoke.
A gray body, nearly black.
A colossal frame that seemed to be close to seven meters tall.
A gorilla-like physique, due to its abnormally developed upper body.
The head of some unidentifiable monster, with a maw full of sharp teeth and horns on its head.
The monster's bloodshot eyes fixed on the party. In that gaze, like a snake's bearing down on a frog, Kang-seok shouted. He roused his own mind and moved.
He snatched Seong Yu-jin by the waist and ran. He used consecutive dashes, thinking only of getting out of the abomination's direct path.
And he succeeded. But Choi Yu-ra did not.
"Choi Yu-ra!"
The abomination charged straight ahead. As the nearly seven-meter-tall giant rushed forward, the church's high ceiling seemed insignificant. The ceiling collapsed, and the ground shook.
Like a runaway dump truck, the abomination smashed through the church wall. It didn't stop there, bursting clean outside.
As the ceiling and walls crumbled, Choi Yu-ra could do nothing but cover her head and drop to the ground.
Fortunately, she wasn't trampled by the abomination, but she couldn't completely avoid the falling debris.
The distinction between inside and outside was now meaningless. The silhouette of the abomination roaring under the dark clouds as it trampled zombies had a power that captivated the eye.
But Kang-seok was looking elsewhere. He gave Seong Yu-jin a quick signal and ran to Choi Yu-ra. The marks where falling stones had hit her back and head were clear. Blood trickled down from her forehead.
"Are you okay?"
"Ugh... ah."
He couldn't understand her clearly, but Choi Yu-ra responded. Kang-seok lifted her into his arms and quickly leaped away. The church, its walls and ceiling shattered, was about to collapse entirely.
Seong Yu-jin escaped the church, covering her head with her shield.
Kang-seok moved toward her, his eyes on the abomination. He had no idea how to fight it. He even doubted if Durendal's attacks would have any effect on such a massive monster.
Finally, the church completely collapsed. The zombies that had surrounded it now swarmed toward its center, and the abomination, too, stopped its roaring and turned around. It looked down on Kang-seok's party from above, like an arrogant giant.
The situation was even more disadvantageous than when they had faced Aden, the Gnoll King.
But they still had to fight. Swallowing dryly, Kang-seok steeled himself. Instead of trembling in fear, he prepared to fight and tried to set Choi Yu-ra down.
But Choi Yu-ra refused.
With a weak hand, she pulled on his arm. Though she could barely open her eyes, she forced a smile.
"Do you... know how... I... beat the... Flesh Golem?"
Her voice broke in places, as if just speaking was an effort.
But Choi Yu-ra continued.
She turned her head to glare at the abomination and, instead of Kang-seok's arm, she gripped the dog tags hanging around her neck. She ripped them off violently and shouted into the air.
"Gigantes Down!"
[Gigantes drop requested]
[Time until Gigantes drop: 7 seconds]
[* 1,500 Kron consumed for Gigantes drop request.]
[* Gigantes drop cannot be requested for the next 15 days.]
Glowing letters appeared before Choi Yu-ra's face. This time, Kang-seok could read them too.
Gigantes Down.
Kang-seok knew it. He had only played a couple of rounds, but he had definitely seen it. In fact, he had seen it constantly in videos on YouTube. It was the biggest selling point of the FPS game, Gigantes Down.
The count decreased rapidly. A roar thundered from the sky, and not just the abomination, but all the zombies looked up.
Seong Yu-jin's mouth fell open in a daze.
Exhilaration boiled on the faces of Kang-seok and Choi Yu-ra.
*KRA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GANNNG!*
Between Kang-seok and the abomination.
A massive steel structure descended upon the earth. It shook the very ground, and the shockwave from its landing alone sent nearby zombies flying. Even the abomination reflexively stepped back.
The steel structure glowed red from frictional heat.
As if it were meant to be disposable, it shattered and broke apart. And from within, a giant of steel revealed itself.
It was completely different from the sleek robots common in Japanese animation; it was a rugged, dark green giant that exuded a mechanical feel.
Gigantes.
A five-meter-tall humanoid mobile weapon.
A translucent force field spread around the Gigantes, which was in a crouched position. Choi Yu-ra tugged on Kang-seok's arm again. She handed him the dog tags she held and said.
"You pilot it."
"What?"
"I've only piloted it once anyway!"
She couldn't pilot it properly with her injuries.
She herself had only done it once.
When it came to physical combat, Kang-seok was the best in the party.
Kang-seok understood the unspoken words in her cry. He laid the now-limp Choi Yu-ra on the ground, gave Seong Yu-jin a signal with his eyes, and ran toward the Gigantes without hesitation.
The force field generated as a drop bonus in Gigantes Down only lasted for about seven seconds.
There was no time to hesitate.
Perhaps because Kang-seok was holding Choi Yu-ra's dog tags, the Gigantes responded to him immediately. It opened its front armor while adjusting its arm to make it easier for him to board.
The force field dissipated.
Kang-seok sat in the cockpit, which took up almost the entire torso of the Gigantes, and gripped the controls. He had no idea how to pilot it, but in the game, it was controlled with just a few directional keys and buttons. The Gigantes moved as he willed it.
The front armor closed again, and the Gigantes rose with a heavy, mechanical groan.
The abomination and the Gigantes.
There was still a considerable height difference. But it was a small gap, incomparable to before.
[Gigantes operational time: 5 minutes 00 seconds]
It was enough. Kang-seok gripped the controls and commanded.
"Let's go."
The Gigantes moved. Stomping its foot like a martial artist, it threw a steel fist at the abomination.