Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Demonic Beast Cimeries
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[Second Wave Cleared.]
[Rat Scavengers 40/40]
[The Third Wave will now begin!]
[Minotaurs 3, Ogres 3]
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The thunderous noise didn't come from the entrance. Kang-seok and the others turned to look at the left wall. There was no need to touch it or get closer. The cracks spreading across its surface proved everything.
“I-It's breaking?”
Choi Yu-ra's eyes widened in surprise. John asked no one in particular.
“Should I just blast it when it breaks through?”
A flame had already ignited in John's hand. He could only use Fireball a few more times, but his anxiety got the better of him.
Kang-seok's eyes darted across the Players. He shouted to Park Hyeong-sik.
“Hyeong-sik! Over here!”
“Yes!”
Park Hyeong-sik answered quickly and ran toward Kang-seok, but only Seong Yu-jin seemed to grasp his intention.
Seong Yu-jin moved to Kang-seok's side and shouted to the others.
“Oliver and Daniel Kim, take the entrance! They might come from that way too! Yu-ra and Su-min, you're on the entrance as well!”
Kang-seok stood with Park Hyeong-sik before the cracking wall. Seong Yu-jin stood beside them, shield raised, ready to use Taunt.
Kang-seok spoke quickly.
“When the wall breaks and the monsters appear, use Lightning Kick. Got it?”
He didn't know if it was Minotaurs or Ogres breaking the wall, but their objective was clear. They were creating another infiltration route.
Smash the first one that comes through with Park Hyeong-sik's Lightning Kick.
“Ah, got it.”
Park Hyeong-sik replied, his tone slightly uneasy. It wasn't because he was nervous, but because he was worried about what would happen *after* he took one down.
Like Oliver's Fierce Tiger Assault, Lightning Kick was a skill with a long recovery time. What if another monster charged in right after?
Kang-seok read Park Hyeong-sik's anxiety, but there was no time for a detailed explanation.
“It's breaking through!”
As if on cue with Baek Gi-hyeong's shout, a section of the wall crumbled.
For all its power, Lightning Kick had a long wind-up. Park Hyeong-sik immediately let out a kiai and prepared to unleash the skill.
“Kuaaargh!”
“Uwoooargh!”
An Ogre charged through the collapsed wall, and Park Hyeong-sik unleashed his Lightning Kick. The perfectly executed strike sent the Ogre flying back out with the same momentum it had charged in with.
“Another one!”
Someone screamed. Another Ogre appeared, and this time, Kang-seok stepped forward in Park Hyeong-sik's place.
Perhaps because he had used it once before, he executed Lightning Kick more naturally.
Kwagagagagang!
The amount of lightning that erupted was less, but the raw power was no less than Park Hyeong-sik's.
This Ogre was also sent flying back violently, and the other Players, including Daniel Kim, gasped in astonishment.
“How?!”
“I wasn't seeing things?”
Kang-seok had definitely used the same Fierce Tiger Assault as Oliver. But now, he had used Park Hyeong-sik's Lightning Kick.
Not only Park Hyeong-sik's group, who were seeing Kang-seok fight for the first time, but also Baek Gi-hyeong's group, who had seen him defeat the Ogre outside the temple during the first wave, couldn't hide their amazement.
Choi Yu-ra shouted.
“The entrance! They're coming through the entrance too!”
A Minotaur with a giant battle-axe and an Ogre with a warhammer charged in from the entrance. Another Minotaur poked its head through the hole in the wall.
Daniel Kim and Oliver charged the Minotaur and Ogre, respectively. By the wall, Seong Yu-jin taunted the Ogre and tanked its attacks with her shield, protecting the recovering Kang-seok and Park Hyeong-sik.
Both the Ogres and Minotaurs were formidable foes. The relentless fighting was also adding to their fatigue.
But there were ten Players. And Jade and the other priests of Gawain weren't just standing by either.
“May the blessing of the benevolent Gawain be upon you!”
A basic healing divine magic, common to all cults, enveloped the entire party.
It didn't instantly restore them to peak condition like in a game, but it was more than enough.
Minor wounds healed over, and their ragged breathing returned to normal.
[Third Wave Cleared]
[Minotaurs 3/3, Ogres 3/3]
[Well done. Please hold on for just a little longer!]
[The Fourth Wave will begin shortly!]
Halfway there.
The continuous battles had drained their concentration more than their stamina.
In a game, you could hunt nonstop for hours, but reality was different.
This was a real, life-or-death battle, so they couldn't let their guard down for a second, which meant their mental energy depleted just as quickly.
The hole in the wall had effectively created a second entrance. Kang-seok guarded it with Seong Yu-jin and Park Hyeong-sik, while Daniel Kim took the main entrance with the rest of the party.
Just as the desire for more rest conflicted with the wish for it to just start already, the letters of light appeared.
[Fourth Wave]
[Rat Scavengers 50]
A silent scream spread through the Players.
To kill a single monster, you had to swing your weapon at least once. In that sense, dozens of Rat Scavengers were more annoying than five or six Ogres. And now there were fifty of them!
“If the fifth wave is Rat Scavengers too, I'll just die!”
Choi Yu-ra shrieked, hurling a fire grenade.
John, too, decided it was no time to hold back and fired a Fireball at the black swarm of Rat Scavengers.
But the number fifty was no joke.
A dozen or so Rat Scavengers were incinerated by the fire grenade and Fireball, but over thirty still remained.
Facing that furious wave of numbers, Baek Gi-hyeong, who had been waiting in the rear, stepped up. He put Choi Yu-ra and John on his dogsled and started running.
“Roadkill!”
The two beasts, too large and powerful to be called mere dogs, charged forward, trampling the Rat Scavengers.
Baek Gi-hyeong deliberately swerved the dogsled wildly, knocking Rat Scavengers away while preventing them from getting close.
Choi Yu-ra and John launched a fire grenade and a Fireball, respectively.
“Making a U-tuuuurn!”
The dogsled spun around in the middle of the Rat Scavengers.
As he sped back toward the temple's interior, Baek Gi-hyeong threw everything he could get his hands on.
Banana peels, primitive bombs, hammers—all sorts of items rained down on the Rat Scavengers. They trampled and crushed each other in the chaos.
“It's a free-for-all! Just charge in!”
Oliver and Daniel Kim charged into the completely broken formation of Rat Scavengers. Park Hyeong-sik also left the hole to Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin and joined the fray.
[Fourth Wave Cleared!]
[Rat Scavengers 50/50]
The ten Players were currently in Baek Gi-hyeong's party.
Seong Yu-jin, while catching her breath, brought up a separate window of light and smiled, slightly bewildered.
“We're really raking in the Kron.”
It was only natural, given they had defeated over a hundred monsters in such a short time.
Even accounting for the Kron reduction from leveling up and being in a large party, the amount of Kron they were earning was on a completely different scale than before.
Iris's voice echoed in Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin's ears.
[It seems the monsters have changed their strategy.]
[The fifth and sixth waves will arrive simultaneously.]
[The seventh wave will likely be the leader of the monsters who orchestrated this whole situation.]
[You're almost there! Please hold on just a little longer!]
Only Kang-seok, Seong Yu-jin, and Choi Yu-ra heard Iris's voice, but the other Players saw a similar message in letters of light.
The thought of the fifth and sixth waves coming at once was horrifying, but on the other hand, if they could just get through this, there would only be one wave left.
They couldn't properly sense the passage of time since the battle had begun.
Jade and the other priests couldn't see the letters of light and must have been even more anxious, yet they hadn't lost their will to fight.
The group waited with tense expressions for the next message. A moment later, letters of light appeared, announcing the start of the fifth wave.
[Fifth Wave]
[Rat Scavengers 70]
“You son of a bitch!”
Choi Yu-ra finally let out the curse she'd been holding back. Oh Su-min, standing next to her, muttered with a dazed look.
“But don't actually die, sis.”
Baek Gi-hyeong let out a dumbfounded laugh, while Daniel Kim and Oliver each muttered some unintelligible curse.
The number seventy Rat Scavengers made a curse rise to the tip of Kang-seok's tongue as well, but he didn't let it out.
It wasn't because Seong Yu-jin was next to him.
It was because something more important had occurred to him.
‘The sixth wave!’
She had said they were coming simultaneously. Iris's voice continued.
[Sixth Wave.]
[Forest Giant 1]
“A Giant?”
Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin looked at each other. Then, almost at the same time, they looked up at the ceiling.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Following the ground-shaking sound, the temple ceiling began to tremble. It was as if something was pounding on it.
“It's almost the end anyway, let's just go outside!”
Baek Gi-hyeong shouted as he loaded Choi Yu-ra, Oh Su-min, Oh Su-jeong, and John back onto the dogsled.
As the dogsled charged forward powerfully, Choi Yu-ra, half-wailing, threw a fire grenade, and John, looking like he was on his last legs, fired a Fireball.
Oliver ran after Baek Gi-hyeong with Jade and the priests, while Park Hyeong-sik and Daniel Kim approached Kang-seok.
The roles were divided naturally.
Again, no words were exchanged. After a quick glance, Kang-seok was the first one out through the hole.
A vicious-looking green giant, larger than Aden the Gnoll King but smaller than an Abomination, was pounding on the temple ceiling with a massive log.
This time, he couldn't ask Choi Yu-ra for Gigantes Descent like before. Kang-seok glared at the giant and gripped Durandal.
Daniel Kim and Park Hyeong-sik, emerging from the hole one after another, both wore horrified expressions. Seong Yu-jin, however, was carefully examining the Giant's ankles.
“Aim for the legs!”
Kang-seok had the same thought. By the time Seong Yu-jin shouted, he was already charging toward the Giant's legs.
“Guoooargh!”
The Giant let out a monstrous roar and turned toward Kang-seok.
It was slow, as befitted its size, and Kang-seok instantly used Double Dash to get behind the monster. He swung Durandal and Laevateinn simultaneously, hacking at the Giant's legs.
The Giant shrieked in pain and swung its arms wildly. Instead of retreating, Kang-seok stuck close to the Giant, dodging its arms. He sliced deep into its thigh, finally forcing the giant to its knees.
“There's no champion...”
“...against a mob!”
Daniel Kim and Park Hyeong-sik didn't miss the opening. As if shouting a prearranged slogan, they yelled and struck the Giant's chest and waist.
Kang-seok had no intention of dragging this fight out. He had to help the others fighting the Rat Scavengers, and more importantly, the seventh wave, which could arrive at any moment, was on his mind.
Daniel Kim and Park Hyeong-sik charged the Giant again, distracting it. Kang-seok leaped, aiming for the exposed back of the Giant's neck. He drew Durandal back, preparing to finish it in a single blow.
The skill he unleashed was Knight of Knights!
A sword of light and a crest.
When this deadly combo struck the neck, one of the body's vital points, the Giant couldn't take any more. It let out a bizarre groan and collapsed.
“Hah, haah... hah...”
As expected of an ultimate skill, Knight of Knights consumed a great deal of stamina and mental energy. Kang-seok took deep breaths to steady himself and looked toward the temple entrance. The group on the dogsled was faring well against the Rat Scavengers.
There was no need for Kang-seok to intervene.
Perhaps because the Forest Giant was dead, the Rat Scavengers, which had been attacking recklessly until now, suddenly changed their behavior. As if on some unseen signal, they began to flee in all directions.
[Fifth Wave Cleared]
[Rat Scavengers 32/70]
[Sixth Wave Cleared]
[Forest Giant 1/1]
[Amazing! You've all worked so hard!]
Iris's final exclamation of admiration was only heard by Kang-seok, Seong Yu-jin, and Choi Yu-ra.
The sixth wave was cleared. Now, only one wave remained.
Whether it was from the joy of being nearly finished or the anticipation of the Kron and quest rewards, the Players' expressions were quite bright.
Oliver, looking around, shrugged and said.
“Cleaning up all these monster corpses later is gonna be a pain...!”
Oliver's words were cut short. It was a result that was half his own doing and half not.
Among the Players, no one witnessed exactly what happened.
One moment, Oliver was sent tumbling to the ground, and in the spot where he had been standing, a strange being appeared.
“Kuaaaack!”
Oliver, who had been sent flying seven or eight meters, let out a monstrous scream, covered in blood.
It wasn't just because of the physical pain.
At Oliver's feet lay his right arm, literally crushed and severed.
A strike from behind.
A horizontal slash.
Monstrous strength that sent the muscular, 200 kg Oliver flying nearly ten meters.
“Oh? You survived?”
It had the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. Its indifferent voice sounded as if it had seen something curious, yet didn't particularly care.
Its upper body was covered in black armor.
In its right hand, it held a massive spear, and on its left arm was a large kite shield.
Its horse-like lower body was a flawless jet black.
[Seventh Wave]
[A-A centaur—Demonic Beast Cimeries.]
Iris's voice trembled. An unconcealable fear laced her words.
This was different from the monsters they had faced so far. It could speak human language and was properly equipped with weapons and armor. A red glint shone from between strands of its flowing black hair.
The silence created by its sudden appearance pressed down on the entire group.
Even with Oliver screaming in agony right before their eyes, the Players couldn't tear their gazes away from the Demonic Beast Cimeries.
Their instincts were screaming at them.
Look away, and you die.
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, Cimeries moved.
Even though everyone was watching Cimeries, no one could react to its movement in time. Iris's voice rang out a moment too late.