Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Airship Rescue
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While it was still too early to say airships had become commonplace, they had rapidly expanded their sphere of activity since their initial development.
The greatest advantage of an airship was the simple fact that it could fly.
Unlike conventional means of transport like carriages or boats, which were heavily constrained by natural terrain, airships could set their courses freely. This, combined with their speed, resulted in a dramatic reduction in travel time.
Adding to this was their recreational value.
The fact that one was flying, the spectacular views of the world below, and the sense of superiority granted by its rarity—since the high cost meant not just anyone could afford a ride.
Thanks to this combination of factors, at least a quarter of the airships operated in most countries were run as ‘luxury cruise liners.’
The two airships hanging motionless in the sky were vastly different in size and shape.
One was a small, sleek-looking express vessel, the other a large, hulking cruise liner.
Even without the quest notification, the scene perfectly conjured the image of ‘pirates.’
[This is a transport ship for long-distance civilian travel. The ship’s own guards and some passengers are currently fighting back against the attackers.]
[With many civilians on board, it is impossible to predict what kind of casualties might occur. Please hurry!]
[*Fewer civilian casualties will result in a greater quest reward.]
After dismissing the glowing text and receiving the briefing solely through Iris’s voice, Kang-seok stood before the retractable door at the stern of the Black Dragon. He felt like a paratrooper straight out of a movie.
“The most important thing is everyone’s safety! Don’t push yourselves too hard!”
Kim Kang-san, standing closest to the door, turned to address the group. They were lined up in two rows: Seong Yu-jin led the left line with Park Han-yeong and Choi Yu-ra, while Kim Kang-san, Go Min-gu, and Kang-seok stood on the right.
Yang Jun-gyu’s tense voice echoed from a tube attached to the wall. As soon as his clumsy countdown finished, the door swung open, revealing the decks of the two airships below.
The Black Dragon was passing precariously close above the sails of the docked airships, creating a narrow window of opportunity.
Due to the massive sails of the cruise liner, even at the closest approach, there was a height difference of nearly ten meters between the Black Dragon and the deck below.
For Players who had entered the realm of superhumans, such a height was ‘manageable,’ but a single misstep and a fall off the deck meant a one-way trip to the afterlife.
“Adamas! Move out!”
Shouting the slightly embarrassing slogan, Kim Kang-san was the first to leap. The Black Dragon wasn’t docking but merely passing over, so there was no time to hesitate.
Kim Kang-san and Seong Yu-jin jumped in different directions. Park Han-yeong followed with a silent leap, while Go Min-gu shot through the air, letting out a cry that was somewhere between a song and a scream.
The problem, surprisingly, was Choi Yu-ra.
Each Player’s enhancements upon leveling up or advancing their class were different.
Most FPS Players saw their skills with various firearms improve or gained new weaponry, so their physical abilities tended to be weaker compared to other combat-oriented Players.
A ten-meter drop.
It was a daunting height for an FPS Player. In fact, it was only natural for her to feel a psychological resistance to making such a jump.
Seeing Choi Yu-ra hesitate, contrary to their initial plan, Kang-seok quickly reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist.
Her reaction, however, was unexpected. Instead of shrieking as she had before, she naturally reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck as if she had been anticipating it. Not stopping there, she aimed the crossbow in her other hand at the deck below.
Kang-seok kicked off the air to slow his descent. As they traversed the space, almost running along the high sails of the transport ship, Choi Yu-ra repeatedly pulled the trigger of her crossbow. She fired at the pirates—no, sky pirates—on the deck who were staring up at them in astonishment.
For Kim Kang-san, fully clad in plate mail, and Seong Yu-jin, who had activated her magic armor, Arnakeu, their very descent was an attack.
The sky pirates on deck, who had assumed combat stances upon seeing the Black Dragon approach, were thrown into chaos by the sudden appearance of the two figures in their midst.
Park Han-yeong, landing next, used her stealth to disappear among the sky pirates, while Go Min-gu swung his massive totem, sweeping away everything around him.
Kang-seok didn’t just simply land, either. He executed a high-speed drop at the last moment. The instant his feet touched the deck, he released Choi Yu-ra and activated the new magic gauntlets he had received from Vivian.
“Armored!”
A translucent silver gauntlet enveloped his left arm.
Until now, Kang-seok had lacked a proper ranged attack. But not anymore. The air around the palm of the gauntlet shimmered as it began to vibrate upon materializing, and the wave generation magic imbued in it converted the vibrations into a shockwave.
Kang-seok thrust his left hand toward the sky pirates whose positions he had pinpointed during his descent. He opened his palm wide and fired the wave.
The wave, initially the size of his palm, spread out like a net and swept over several sky pirates at once. Its power was reduced due to the wide area of effect, but it was enough to make them stumble.
A ranged, area-of-effect attack.
It felt like firing a weak energy blast from a fighting game. It wasn't powerful enough to be a finishing blow, but it would be incredibly useful when facing multiple enemies.
Satisfied with the gauntlet’s first field test, Kang-seok grinned and gripped Durendal. He didn’t know the condition of the transport ship’s passengers, so he had to hurry, just as Iris had said.
Instead of speaking, Kang-seok exchanged a look with Choi Yu-ra.
They had agreed on a plan before jumping, so Choi Yu-ra didn't say a word, simply turning and running in the opposite direction from him.
The women, led by Seong Yu-jin, would attack the sky pirates’ airship, while Kang-seok, Kim Kang-san, and Go Min-gu would take down the pirates attacking the cruise liner.
[It seems the sky pirates have not yet breached the transport ship’s cabins.]
[Resistance from adventurers or Players is expected.]
The sky pirates’ airship was built for speed, so their numbers were likely around thirty at most. With nearly ten of them on the deck, the number attempting to breach the transport ship’s interior couldn't be that large.
“Uwooooh!”
With the superhuman strength of Kim Kang-san and Go Min-gu swinging their hammer and totem, the sky pirates couldn’t even get close. A few raised their crossbows to fire, but Kang-seok didn't allow it.
Dashing to close the distance, Kang-seok leaped high and activated his gauntlet again. He fired a wave over the pirates' heads, then launched himself toward the cabin entrance and shouted.
“I’ll leave the deck to you!”
Kim Kang-san answered with a mighty swing of his hammer. He sent the sky pirates, who were staggering from the shockwave, flying with a satisfying blow.
As the sky pirates were sent flying through the air by the war hammer and totem like a scene from a comic book, Kang-seok kicked down the half-shattered cabin door. He charged inside, and several sky pirates standing in the narrow corridor, typical of an airship, turned to look at him at once.
Six of them in total.
Instead of using his gauntlet, Kang-seok kicked off the floor. He twisted in mid-air, then kicked off the corridor walls to launch himself again, diving among the sky pirates like an eagle snatching its prey.
The pirates couldn’t even react to Kang-seok’s phantom-like movements. One of them only realized Kang-seok was right in front of him when the sheathed Durendal smashed into his jaw.
The corridor was narrow, leaving little distance between them, and Kang-seok unleashed nearly every attack in his arsenal to take them down.
He struck one pirate in the side with Durendal. He shoved another away with a powerful palm strike from his gauntleted left hand, then spun and swung Durendal again. He struck two more almost simultaneously in the head, neck, and waist, felling them, before delivering a powerful push kick to the last one’s abdomen.
It took only a few seconds.
Standing amidst the fallen sky pirates, Kang-seok didn't pause to gloat but turned back toward the main cabin. The corridor was L-shaped, so he had to round a corner to enter.
But just as he turned the corner, the backs of two flying sky pirates filled his vision. The fact that he saw their backs and not their fronts meant their flight was not of their own volition.
Unfazed, Kang-seok swung his left hand.
He snatched one of the pirates flying toward him like a thrown rock and slammed him onto the floor. The other flew past Kang-seok and crashed into the wall, where he was knocked unconscious.
With his view now clear, Kang-seok saw the man guarding the cabin entrance. The twitching bodies of the sky pirates strewn across the corridor testified to his strength.
Ivory-colored reinforced armor and a massive war hammer crackling with lightning. Though he had lost an arm and no longer carried a shield, his fortress-like sturdiness remained unchanged.
Kang-seok knew this man’s name—this Player’s name.
“Christian!”
He called out in greeting, and the response was immediate. The man leaned his war hammer against the wall, removed his helmet to reveal his face, and spoke in a voice just as pleased as Kang-seok’s.
“Dark Destiny Lord.”
It was Christian, the Player he had fought alongside in the Tower of Raum.
They hadn’t had time to talk after defeating the Demonic Beast Raum, only managing to exchange names, but having crossed the line between life and death together was enough.
Why was Christian on this airship? Was he also on his way to participate in the second World Quest?
Kang-seok’s gaze naturally fell to Christian’s left arm. Whether he had removed it himself or not, the space below the large shoulder pad where his left arm should have been was empty.
But just then.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
A woman’s scream echoed from inside the cabin. Christian quickly put his helmet back on and gripped his war hammer, while Kang-seok rushed past him and entered the room first.
To be precise, it was less a cabin and more a space resembling a hotel lobby. It seemed the crew had gathered the passengers in one place for safety upon seeing the sky pirates approach.
Wealthy-looking passengers were huddled against the walls, their faces filled with fear. On the far side of the lobby, a frantic-looking sky pirate held a knife to a female passenger’s throat, while other pirates around him were brutally killing the airship’s security guards.
Upon entering the lobby and witnessing a guard being killed, Christian let out a roar that was nothing short of a lion’s.
The passengers screamed and rushed toward Christian, while the startled sky pirate pressed the knife deeper against the hostage’s neck.
Kang-seok lowered his stance. The moment the surging crowd of passengers briefly blocked the pirates' line of sight, he dashed forward along a pre-planned trajectory.
His path wasn't limited to the ground. He combined his innate abilities of Double Jump and Air Dash with the force field generation of his Skywalker Boots to execute a truly three-dimensional maneuver.
Humans were creatures governed by preconceptions. While the sky pirates were focused straight ahead, Kang-seok was running along the wall. By the time they noticed and turned their eyes toward the wall, he had already kicked off the ceiling and thrown himself into their midst.
These were men who had just killed people right before his eyes. Moreover, they were holding a hostage. Kang-seok held nothing back.
Durendal drew a black arc. It cleaved one pirate's body in two. He then extended his left hand toward the pirate holding the hostage, placed it on the man's face, and generated a shockwave.
“Gah!”
The pirate screamed as the focused, unexpanded shockwave hit him directly in the face. Kang-seok struck the man’s neck with the pommel of Durendal. The pirate lost consciousness in an instant and collapsed limply.
Three sky pirates remained.
Kang-seok didn't let up. He immediately swung Durendal wide, slashing the chest of a stunned pirate, then snatched the freed woman by the waist. He kicked off the ground and moved out of the pirates’ reach.
The remaining pirates, having lost three comrades in the blink of an eye, stared at Kang-seok in a daze. And it was at them that Christian charged.
He was like an enraged bear.
The blow from his lightning-wreathed war hammer crushed one pirate's chest. The last one tried to turn and flee, but Christian wouldn't allow it. He unhesitatingly threw his war hammer, striking the man square in the back.
[Quest Cleared: Rescue the Hijacked Transport Ship.]
[None of the Adamas guild members are injured. Good work.]
It seemed things on the deck had been taken care of as well.
Kang-seok let out a small sigh of relief and turned his attention to the woman he was still holding. He released his arm from her waist and finally got a proper look at her face.
The first things he noticed were her black bobbed hair with a reddish tint and her black horn-rimmed glasses. Unlike the other passengers, she wasn't wearing expensive-looking clothes, but rather ordinary travel attire.
She looked to be in her mid-to-late twenties. She had delicate features and sharp eyes, the face of a beauty, though her horn-rimmed glasses toned down that impression.
“Are you alright?”
“Dark Destiny Lord?”
The woman’s eyes widened as she spoke, almost at the same time as Kang-seok asked his question. When he gave a reflexive, wry smile, she clapped her hands in delight.
“Dark Destiny Lord! Choi Kang-seok! I’m Oh Ha-na. I’ve heard so much about you. Wow. You’re much more normal—no, cooler than the rumors say!”
“A… Player?”
This time, it was Kang-seok’s turn to be flustered. It wasn’t because of her name, Oh Ha-na, or her comment about him being ‘normal.’
Just moments ago, she had been helplessly captured by a sky pirate. Her fearful, teary-eyed expression had been genuine. Even now, as she squealed with delight, the tear stains were still visible on her face.
Of course, not all Players were necessarily strong.
There were cases like Khalid, and the sky pirates they had just defeated only seemed weak because Kang-seok’s party was so overwhelmingly powerful; they were skilled enough to take down the guards on an airship full of wealthy passengers.
‘A production class?’
If she had been captured suddenly, her reaction was understandable. With a knife at her throat, any non-combat Player—or even a combat Player, for that matter—would have been terrified.
“Mr. Choi Kang-seok?”
When Kang-seok didn’t answer, Oh Ha-na tilted her head slightly and prompted him. He pushed aside his confusion and replied warmly.
“I’m Choi Kang-seok. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Oh Ha-na smiled again and offered him a handshake.
***
“Nickname NOGADA GIRL… So there’s another one like Gobong.”