Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: New Formations
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Kang-seok's gaze turned to the empty air again. He asked in a small, suppressed voice.
“Yu-jin and I are safe. What about Yu-ra's side?”
His first priority was to assess Choi Yu-ra's situation. But a prompt reply didn't come from Iris. After a moment's wait, Kang-seok spoke again, flustered.
“Iris?”
Could something have happened to Choi Yu-ra's group?
Seong Yu-jin must have had the same thought, as urgency returned to her face. Fortunately, Iris's voice came back.
[Ms. Choi Yu-ra's group is also safe. So you don't need to worry about her well-being. Raum's Tower seems to have a structure that narrows as you go up. Moreover, the sections also seem to decrease as you ascend, so you should be able to join up with Ms. Choi Yu-ra's party as you climb.]
Iris seemed confused by the current situation; her voice was somewhat anxious, and her words were close to rambling.
Kang-seok forced himself to take a deep breath to calm his heart before asking something else.
“Iris, what's the situation outside?”
[Um… I'm sorry. I can't tell. I don't know.]
The number of Players challenging the quest: 312.
There had been over five hundred Players gathered to see Raum's Tower, which meant about two hundred of them were now gone.
‘There’s no way they all died.’
It was clear that dozens of Players had lost their lives to the appearance of Raum's Tower and the subsequent bombardment. But it was definitely not two hundred.
Kang-seok had headed into the tower simply because the path inside was shorter than the path to escape the branch.
The Players who were closer to the edge of the branch would have fled off it instead of heading into the tower.
A sudden appearance and a continuous bombardment.
If all this was intentional, then the Players had taken a solid blow from the ‘Demonic Beast’ side.
They had lost about 40% of their total forces before even starting the tower raid.
Kang-seok squeezed his eyes shut. Fortunately, Choi Yu-ra was with Kim Kang-san and all the other guild members. He didn't think they would be easily defeated by any monster they encountered.
“Tell Kang-san not to move too rashly. And Iris, is it impossible to maintain contact?”
[It seems it will be difficult. However, I might be able to try connecting on each floor.]
The connection with Iris wasn't constant. It connected and disconnected with each quest, so having a continuous real-time conversation with Choi Yu-ra's group was impossible.
“Alright, thanks. See you on the next floor.”
Kang-seok said in the brightest voice he could manage. It was to reassure not only Iris but also Choi Yu-ra's party, who would hear the story from her.
[I wish you good luck. I will see you again on the next floor. I promise.]
As if to show Iris, who was adding a few more anxious words, Kang-seok held a smile. Then, a faint, unknown wistfulness was felt for a moment before the connection with Iris was cut.
Kang-seok's shoulders slumped as he let out a sigh. Seong Yu-jin, who was still lying on his chest, also let out a long, held-in sigh and relaxed in his arms.
Things had gotten tangled from the start, but for now, everyone was safe. All that was left was to tackle the World Quest step by step.
“Uh, um.”
Seong Yu-jin made a vague sound, as if suddenly embarrassed, and got up from Kang-seok's embrace.
Saying anything unnecessary here would only make things awkward for both of them, so Kang-seok waited for Seong Yu-jin to get up and move away. Only after the weight on his chest was gone did he sit up.
As he had confirmed at the very beginning, Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin weren't the only ones in this room.
“Um… is it possible to communicate with the outside?”
One of the two other Players in the room.
He was a man with black curly hair, wearing leather armor. His skin was dark, possibly of Middle Eastern descent, and he seemed very frightened by the current situation.
Now that he looked, the man looked incredibly awkward in his leather armor.
It was an unfitting description for a Player who had passed the tutorial, but he gave off the impression of being unfamiliar with combat itself.
Kang-seok faced the man with slightly wary eyes and spoke.
“Not completely. It's possible to communicate occasionally.”
Kang-seok hadn't immediately revealed Iris's identity even to Yang Jun-gyu. There was no reason to honestly tell a strange Player he'd just met in this room about Iris.
The curly-haired man's eyes darted around once more before he suddenly approached Kang-seok. He offered an awkward but friendly smile and introduced himself.
“I'm Kalid Hassan Ahmad of the Seven Sword Knights…”
The curly-haired man—Kalid—stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening. It was because of the letters of light that appeared one by one the moment he faced Kang-seok up close.
[Rarity: Unique]
‘U-Unique?!’
The highest grade of the five rarity levels. The Unique grade, which literally meant there was only one.
He couldn't help but be flustered. He had met over a hundred Players so far, but not a single one of them had been Unique grade. Super Rare was the highest he'd seen.
Only one person.
A Player among the roughly nine thousand who had no one else from the same game.
The surprise didn't end there.
[Potential: S]
He felt like he'd been hit in the head with a hammer.
Potential S.
A measure of how much of their original game's abilities they could draw out.
This was the first time he'd seen an S-rank. Even Hoshino Asuka, who had the highest potential within the Seven Sword Knights, was only A+.
Ordinary Players usually had a rank from C to B-. Just a B or B+ was considered decent, but this was S-rank. And on top of that, from a Player with a Unique rarity.
And the final letters of light that appeared were the finishing touch. At the same time, Kalid could understand the previous two sets of letters.
[Nickname: Dark Destiny Lord]
“My god, the Dark Destiny Lord! The Savior of Aachen?!”
This time, he said it out loud.
Kang-seok, who had grown more wary when Kalid stopped speaking, let out a dry cough as if he'd been hit by an unexpected blow.
Another voice followed.
“Dark Destiny Lord? Then… are you by any chance Choi Kang-seok, the one who discovered the World Quest?”
It was a short, somewhat chubby man. His face was pale and his features were neat; he looked like he'd be quite handsome if he lost a little weight.
Kang-seok took a deep breath to calm himself.
As he had thought before, 'fame' could become his strength. He faced Kalid and the chubby man directly and introduced himself.
“I'm Choi Kang-seok of the Adamas guild.”
Kalid and the chubby man swallowed dryly at almost the same time. Kalid was the first to extend his hand again.
“Kalid Hassan Ahmad of the Seven Sword Knights.”
The Seven Sword Knights. The very first Player guild.
As expected, they had also participated in this World Quest. After shaking hands with Kalid, Kang-seok glanced at Seong Yu-jin.
Seong Yu-jin offered a gentle smile and greeted the two men.
“I'm Seong Yu-jin of the Adamas guild.”
Seong Yu-jin's warmth always softened the atmosphere.
This time was no different; as Seong Yu-jin spoke, the tension on Kalid's and the chubby man's faces eased slightly.
The chubby man said.
“I'm Kim Ha-neul. I'm not affiliated with any particular group.”
Even though the number of Player guilds had increased, there were still fewer than twenty.
Compared to the total number of Players, that was an incredibly small number, so it was natural that more Players were unaffiliated.
After the introductions, Kalid and Kim Ha-neul naturally looked to Kang-seok. Having unintentionally taken the leader's position, Kang-seok spoke calmly.
“The World Quest has already begun. I plan to attempt the quest for now in order to join my comrades. If you're going to join us, it would be best to form a party.”
As soon as Kang-seok finished speaking, Seong Yu-jin sent a party invitation to Kalid and Kim Ha-neul. Having synchronized in real battles for several months, the two knew well what the other was thinking.
Kim Ha-neul immediately nodded and accepted the party invitation. But Kalid did not. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying hurriedly.
“I, uh, I don't really have any combat abilities. Do you know a game called SM… Sports Manager? It's a game where you become a team owner and build a sports team. I'm from that game.”
There were a few games called 'time machines' because you'd lose all track of time once you started playing.
Sports Manager was a famous game that had been called a time machine for over a decade, so not only Kang-seok but also Kim Ha-neul immediately understood what game it was.
But once again, Seong Yu-jin blinked as if she'd never heard of the game before and asked.
“What kind of abilities do you have?”
“I can see Players' nicknames, the rarity of their original games, and their potential. It's like looking at a player's stats in the game.”
While speaking, Kalid looked Seong Yu-jin up and down.
It wasn't just because of Seong Yu-jin's beauty or figure.
It was because, just like with Kang-seok, the letters of light that appeared in succession were quite interesting.
[Rarity: Common]
[Potential: A+]
[Nickname: Eloa]
‘Is the Adamas guild filled with nothing but monsters?’
As he had told Asuka before, rarity didn't absolutely determine a Player's strength. What was more important was the Player's potential.
But even the woman before him had A+ potential.
When Kalid looked her up and down, Seong Yu-jin's expression became somewhat displeased, as if she'd encountered a pervert on the subway, but she didn't overtly show her feelings. She pulled her coat slightly tighter and asked Kalid.
“If that's the case for Players, what about monsters?”
“Similarly, I can see their names and grades. If it's a creature I've seen a few times, I can see other information as well. Things like weaknesses or special traits.”
This was one of the few ways Kalid could be helpful in combat. Because of this ability, despite having no combat skills, he was often dragged to the battlefield by Park Chang-ho.
“I understand your abilities, Mr. Kalid. But for your own safety, I think it would be best to form a party for now.”
When Kang-seok spoke calmly again, Kalid soon nodded as if he understood. He touched the letters of light floating in the air and accepted the party invitation.
‘Choi Kang-seok of the Adamas guild.’
He might have been intimidated by the Unique rarity and S-rank potential, but this person seemed to possess a different kind of strength than Park Chang-ho.
‘What if I had met this person before the guild master?’
It was a futile delusion, so Kalid quickly stopped thinking about it.
Seong Yu-jin asked Kim Ha-neul.
“Mr. Kim Ha-neul, could you also tell us your original game?”
Knowing the abilities of a party member you'll be fighting alongside was the most basic of basics.
Since the situation was rather extreme, Seong Yu-jin, unlike her usual self, asked about the game itself directly.
Kim Ha-neul seemed to hesitate for a moment, then quickly looked between Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin. He met Seong Yu-jin's eyes and spoke.
“I'm from Magic Masters.”
Once again, it was a game Seong Yu-jin had never heard of. And the same went for Kang-seok and Kalid.
According to what Kalid saw, Kim Ha-neul's rarity was Rare.
A high rarity usually meant one of two things.
One was that players from that game had no notable combat abilities and thus couldn't pass the tutorial, and the other was that the game itself wasn't very famous, so the number of players was small.
But in Kim Ha-neul's case, neither applied.
He had combat abilities, and the game itself was quite famous.
However, the game Kim Ha-neul played was primarily an offline one rather than online. It was a game played face-to-face with other people.
Kim Ha-neul suddenly pulled a thick deck of cards from his coat. The moment Kang-seok saw the stack of cards, which was distinctly different from playing cards, he recalled what 'Magic Masters' was.
Kim Ha-neul said.
“It's a TCG, a Trading Card Game.”
* * *
“What did Kang-seok say? You told him we're fine, right?”
Choi Yu-ra asked in an exhausted voice, staring into the air. Her face was covered in a cold sweat.
Iris replied in a voice that was, for some reason, tearful.
[He said to meet at the top. He repeatedly told you to be careful. I told him that your party was fine, Ms. Choi Yu-ra. Sir Choi Kang-seok was relieved.]
“Heh, that's my Kang-seok.”
Anyone could tell Choi Yu-ra's voice was exhausted. It felt like she was barely squeezing the words out. Park Han-yeong held her hand tightly, her voice choked with tears.
“Don't talk anymore, sis.”
[It's definitely not a fatal injury. Mr. Go Min-gu is using a healing spell, and we've used plenty of potions. She'll definitely be okay.]
Lying with her head on Park Han-yeong's lap, Choi Yu-ra's abdomen was covered in red blood. A fragment of a black fruit had embedded itself there, causing a rather severe injury.
As soon as the fragment was removed from her abdomen, Go Min-gu set up a healing totem and focused on his recovery spell.
However, since coming to this world, Go Min-gu had focused more on various buff-related spells than on healing, so the recovery was slow despite his efforts.
Kim Kang-san poured an entire bottle of potion on Choi Yu-ra's wound, and when that wasn't enough, he opened a new one. He slowly trickled the potion onto the lips of the pale-faced Choi Yu-ra.
It was at that very moment.
“If you don't mind, would it be alright if our healer lent a hand?”
They had been so focused on the injured Choi Yu-ra that they hadn't paid attention, but there were other Players in the room besides their party.
The one who approached their group was a man in a salaryman-like outfit with droopy eyes. Beside him stood an incredibly cute cat-eared girl.
Kim Kang-san didn't answer right away, wary of the man. He was grateful for the goodwill, but he couldn't let his guard down so easily.
The man before him was dangerous.
Kim Kang-san's instincts told him so. Due to his profession in the real world, he was an excellent judge of character.
The man, reading Kim Kang-san's thoughts, showed his empty hands as if to say not to worry and continued.
“It seems like we have to form a single party per entrance, so it would be best to cooperate. She's our healer, but she's truly skilled. Please, let us help.”
The cat-eared girl nodded and took a step forward. Judging by her eyes, even if the man had other intentions, the girl genuinely seemed to want to heal Choi Yu-ra. She had the face of someone who couldn't bear to see a patient in front of her.
“Brother.”
At Park Han-yeong's call, Kim Kang-san made up his mind. His own instincts were still screaming at him to be wary of the man before him, but the situation was too dire.
“Then, please.”
As Kim Kang-san accepted, the cat-eared girl quickly approached Choi Yu-ra and stretched out her hands. A pure white light shone, and Choi Yu-ra's condition began to noticeably improve.
The faces of Go Min-gu and Park Han-yeong lit up.
The man, who had been quietly watching, handed a business card to Kim Kang-san, whose eyes still held a light of caution amidst his relief.
He smiled brightly and said.
“I'm Park Chang-ho of the Seven Sword Knights.”