Chapter 196: Rising Flames of War (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 196: Rising Flames of War (2)
"Jinhyuk..."
Teresa's face was deathly pale.
Only despair lingered on her bloodless face.
...This was.
Jinhyuk's eyes narrowed.
The scene unfolding behind Teresa.
The city, stained with smoke and blood, was no longer the brilliant cultural hub it once was.
He knew exactly what this phenomenon was.
'An Outbreak.'
Unlike the manifestation of the Three Despairs in Beijing, China, this was the aftermath of a massive monster raid.
"Please... help us. So many people... right now..."
Teresa looked on the verge of complete exhaustion, as if she had fought with everything she had.
The reason she hadn't even been able to request support until now was likely because she had spent every spare second saving people.
'The damage is worse than I thought.'
The words "Are you okay?" rose to his throat, but at that moment, ripples began to distort the screen.
[Due to Lv.?? 'Gray Fog', the video chat is being forcibly terminated.]
The connection cut out with a burst of static.
At the same time, Teresa's image vanished.
Leaving only her unfocused eyes and trembling lips behind like an afterimage.
"..."
Jinhyuk clenched his fists, his expression hardening.
Though worst-case scenarios flashed through his mind, his head remained surprisingly cool.
He couldn't afford to panic.
Every second counted.
What mattered now was drawing the best possible outcome from the information at hand.
"What are you going to do?"
Alice, who had been watching silently, spoke up.
Beside her, Andrea also looked at Jinhyuk with a worried expression.
"Alice. I need you to take over Andrea's training. This is important in its own right, so we can't delay it."
"And what about you?"
"I... need to head to the Awakened Association first."
In a situation like this, associations worldwide would be on high alert. To get the most immediate information, he had to go to the Association.
"Hmm. I figured you'd want to go save them. But is there really any need? Whether an Outbreak happens in Europe or not has nothing to do with us, does it?"
The idealistic notion of saving every human was nothing more than a hollow sentiment.
Because once an Outbreak occurred, casualties were inevitable.
Alice was suggesting that it would be more beneficial to focus on their own growth during that time.
She was right.
She was right, but...
"I can tolerate a lot of things, but I can't stand my employee quitting without my permission."
Enhancing shareholder value is the cornerstone of a company's growth.
Above all, the only way to leave this company is if the boss fires you.
"How typical of you. Well, that's exactly why I like you, though."
Alice shrugged.
Then, she quickly added:
"But will you be okay without me? The guy who came down this time... he's no pushover."
"I have a rough idea of what to expect."
Piecing together the clues captured on the screen, the Outbreak had occurred on the 14th floor.
However, by design, an Outbreak shouldn't be able to happen on the 14th floor.
Because the entity ruling that floor had absolutely no interest in anything outside its own domain.
Yet, the fact that this was happening meant someone had intervened.
And at this point, there was only one group that would want to tie the Players' hands and feet.
Namely...
The Murim faction had made their move.
Weakening Teresa, who could aid the Empire as a Holy Knight, along with her followers, was undoubtedly part of their plan.
'I already didn't like them one bit, and now they've gone and done this... is that how it is?'
Jinhyuk's eyes turned cold.
* * *
Although the world had changed with the appearance of the Tower of Trials, most people didn't fully grasp the true danger of the Tower.
It was only natural.
Those climbing the Tower were the Awakened Players.
Everyone else merely watched from the sidelines, doing nothing more than praying for their safe ascent.
They believed their peaceful daily lives would last forever.
Right up until today.
"Kieeeek!"
"Grrr..."
From low-grade monsters like ghouls and zombies...
...to mid-to-large-scale monsters of grotesque, unrecognizable forms.
A massive horde of undead monsters roamed the streets, hunting for living humans.
Crash!
Whoosh... Boom!
Crumbling bricks and burning streets.
The military, which had attempted a clumsy response, was wiped out immediately after the Outbreak, and nearby Players were swept away in the aftermath.
The casualties from the first Outbreak alone numbered around 50,000.
Considering it had only been twelve hours, it was a truly staggering scale.
"Damn it..."
Pant, pant, pant.
"Please...! Please."
Inside a commercial building across the intersection, five or six men and women were huddled together.
They were Players from the 'Olympus' Guild, one of the Seven Great Guilds and the largest in Europe.
The most prominent among them was, of course, Maria, who had reached the rank of Archmage.
A realm where she could cast two or more 6th-circle spells simultaneously.
Maria was gathering the few surviving Players, looking for the right moment to escape this living hell.
'I have to find a gap.'
She had to find a weak point in the encirclement and escape through it.
Hummm!
Maria gathered her mana while maintaining a wide-range detection spell.
The situation was so dire that she had no idea who or how many had survived, but she didn't have the slightest intention of giving up.
But right then...
Flinch.
Maria's senses caught on something.
'Could this feeling be...'
A mana so cold it chilled her to the bone.
A sticky, unsettling sensation bound her entire body.
[The target has detected your presence!]
Shiver!
Goosebumps broke out along her spine.
There was no way she wouldn't know.
How could she not?
An entity so obsessed with magic that he sold his soul to the Demon King.
The worst mage in history, who was promised eternal life but became nothing but white bones.
"A Lich..."
Maria looked up at the sky with eyes full of dread.
Dark clouds began to shroud the previously cloudless sky, and soon, purple magic circles began to manifest one by one.
This wasn't just Double Casting.
Triple...
No, maybe even beyond that...
"My God..."
"An AoE spell that covers... the entire city."
"H-How are we supposed to defeat a monster like this?"
Since they were all magic-class Players, everyone keenly realized just how absurdly powerful the spell being cast was.
A despairing gap in strength.
At their level, they wouldn't even be able to touch the soles of this monster's feet even if a thousand years passed.
[The Lich activates the unique ability, 'Advent of the Specter'.]
The sky dyed pitch black.
At the same time...
Rumble, rumble!
An indescribable energy began to encroach upon all of Europe.
* * *
The Korean Awakened Association.
Inside a massive conference room of over three thousand square feet, Korea's most prominent Rankers were gathered.
Moon Gyu-ho, the master of the Dangun Guild, and Cha Yoon-kyung, a Ranker from the same guild.
Gong Min-woo of the Ssaulabi Guild, and Yoo Jin-ah, who served as its vice-guild master.
And finally, Jinhyuk, who was officially unaffiliated.
Five of Korea's top Players had been urgently summoned.
A thick tension hung in the air.
The mana filling the room was so sharply honed that an ordinary person would have found it difficult to even stand.
It was proof of just how extremely on edge everyone was.
Indeed...
'I guess the gravity of the situation warrants this.'
Although Outbreaks had occurred several times since the appearance of the Tower of Trials, this was the first time one had caused such a catastrophic scale of damage.
It wasn't just a simple tear; it was as if dimensions themselves had been directly linked.
That was likely why emergency meetings were being held worldwide to aid Europe.
Jinhyuk glanced around.
'Seeing a lineup like this in one place is quite a spectacle.'
These were celebrities so elusive that seeing them in person was said to be harder than meeting a top star.
In particular, Moon Gyu-ho of the Dangun Guild was the most shrouded in mystery.
Because he was obsessed with finding hidden labyrinths and ruins rather than climbing the Tower, he rarely made public appearances.
For that reason, almost nothing was known about him.
'I heard rumors that he's absolutely crazy about getting stronger...'
For some reason, Jinhyuk felt a spark of curiosity.
Just then...
Click.
The door opened, and the person who had called this meeting appeared.
It was Han Sang-jin, the president of the Korean Awakened Association.
Everyone's eyes turned toward him.
"Thank you all for gathering despite your busy schedules. Since time is short, I will skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point."
Han Sang-jin expressed his brief gratitude and got down to business.
The real-time situation in Europe appeared on the massive screen in the center of the conference room.
"As you may already know, gates have appeared across Europe due to the Outbreak. So far, a total of five have been confirmed: one Grade A and four Grade B. The number of casualties is estimated to exceed 100,000 as of fourteen hours ago. Of course... these numbers are increasing exponentially even as we speak."
"Are you saying a Grade A gate appeared in an Outbreak?"
Gong Min-woo of the Ssaulabi Guild frowned.
"It's shocking enough that five Outbreaks occurred simultaneously... but a Grade A on top of that?"
"..."
The others' expressions hardened further, realizing the situation was far more serious than they had anticipated.
It was only natural.
While a Grade B gate could be handled by a single raid team from any decent guild...
...Grade A was on an entirely different level.
It required at least five raid teams, and even then, failure was a common reality.
Furthermore, because the difficulty varied wildly depending on the type of boss, an Outbreak involving a Grade A gate was bound to cause massive headaches when trying to devise a countermeasure.
"Based on estimated mana levels, associations and intelligence agencies worldwide are classifying it as Grade A."
"Is it a dungeon-type Outbreak? Or..."
This time, Cha Yoon-kyung spoke up.
There were three types of Outbreaks in total.
Dungeons, labyrinths, or ruins.
Even for the same Grade A, the level of danger varied greatly depending on which of the three the Outbreak originated from.
If it was a dungeon, it was at least manageable...
...but if it was connected to a labyrinth, or in the worst-case scenario, ruins, they would have to brace for catastrophic casualties even if the guilds formed an alliance.
However...
"It is none of the three."
At those words...
...the guild representatives felt whatever sliver of hope they had left completely vanish.
"The enemy we must eliminate is a 'Lich'. A boss monster in charge of an entire floor. And he has already used 'Advent of the Specter' to completely seize Western Europe as his domain."
"Troublesome" didn't even begin to describe it.
Because a boss-class Lich was entirely different from a regular Lich.
"...President, do you understand the implications of what you are saying?"
Moon Gyu-ho, who had remained silent until now, spoke for the first time.
The only way to kill a Lich that had deployed 'Advent of the Specter' was to use magic, not physical attacks.
However, the Ranker with the highest level of magic proficiency among existing Players was currently in Europe.
And the fact that the Olympus Guild, which possessed such a Ranker, was calling for outside help meant...
...that the Lich's strength was several levels above Maria's.
It was a mission that was practically a suicide run.
...At least...
...everyone except for one person thought so.
'No one who can win in a magic battle, huh...'
The corners of Jinhyuk's mouth curled upward.