Chapter 12
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 012
Chapter Title: Star Lord (4)
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The man named Min-jun left So-hee and me behind as he equipped the dark hand axe and the round aluminum shield they called the "Clangor."
He faced off against the larva swarm for a brief moment, muttering to himself alone, before plunging straight into the horde.
Kwa-duk!
No sooner had I thought a black afterimage streaked through the air than the larva right in front of him was crushed.
It was like a wolf burrowing into a flock of sheep.
Before the creatures could even react to his initial strike, the axe blade whipped around like a gale, mashing the surrounding larvae into pulp.
‘Just how high does his agility level have to be to move at that speed…?’
In the precinct where only around two hundred people remained, even I—the second fastest—couldn’t dream of imitating that velocity.
Of course, the number of dead larvae was negligible compared to the swarm piling up behind them, and dozens more, eyeing gaps, flapped their stubby wings endlessly as they swarmed him.
“Th-that guy…”
It was dangerous. Unless a person had eight arms, how could anyone fend off attacks pouring in from all directions?
“Uncle, we should just worry about ourselves. Jumping in like this won’t help anyone, so focus on recovering while Min-jun holds them off.”
“But still…”
Making my worries seem unfounded, the woman named So-hee focused solely on her own healing.
And… a moment later, I could plainly see she was right.
He didn’t take the incoming attacks head-on in place.
He moved flawlessly, dispatching only those charging from angles where they could jab their straws into him, and if one ever managed to latch on, he’d smash it with his shield.
Chwaaak!
As his axe traced a semicircle, the airborne ones split in half, spraying their fluids into the air.
He was pulverizing the larvae head-on, plain and simple.
One swing, one larva.
Kwak. Kwak. Kwa-duk!
Even the bigger ones didn’t survive more than three axe strikes.
By the third swing, their heads would always fly off or their exoskeletons shatter completely.
In that way, the piling corpses of larvae began forming a small mound, one by one, then two.
“…Miss, your name was So-hee, right?”
“Yes, what about it?”
“That young man… what on earth did he do in society to fight like that?”
“Who knows? I don’t really know either. We met after the world turned into this mess.”
“…”
Of course, the biggest foundation allowing the man named Min-jun to fight so fiercely was his high-level stats.
But there was something in his combat that couldn’t be explained by stats alone.
I was a kendo athlete who’d been specially recruited into the police. That’s why I knew.
How devilishly hard it was to gauge the distance between yourself and your opponent like that. And how the difficulty multiplied when facing multiples.
The reach difference between enemy and self, movement speed, trajectories, weapon swing paths and timing.
Moving while factoring in all those elements wasn’t something you could do just by having good physical abilities.
It was genius. True heaven-sent talent.
‘If my master saw him, he’d have shoved everything aside to take him as a disciple. But…’
There’s no beating sheer numbers.
And this fight wasn’t one-on-many—it was one-on-heaps-upon-heaps.
As small bits of damage accumulated, Min-jun’s stamina visibly drained, his steps growing heavy as his larva-slaying speed slowed markedly.
One minute, two, three. With every minute that passed, scratches multiplied on Min-jun’s body, and his form grew soaked in his own blood and the creatures’ fluids.
As time wore on and Min-jun tired, So-hee—who’d treated me somewhat—drew her machete to help him.
Swish—
But Dong-gil grabbed her arm to stop her.
“So-hee, think you could keep up with even half of that young man’s movements if you jumped in there now?”
“…No.”
“Then what’s your way out if five or more larvae surround you?”
“…I don’t have one.”
Dong-gil patted the increasingly downcast So-hee’s shoulder as she answered.
“That’s a perfectly normal response, so don’t blame yourself. It’s just that this situation is so abnormal, any help from an ordinary person would only poison things for that young man right now.”
Dong-gil knew the difference between courage and recklessness all too well, and he’d seen countless situations worsen in the old world because people didn’t.
“This is exactly when you can’t let impatience take over. Stay calm and check our surroundings. If things go south, we’ll have to snatch that young man and bolt.”
As So-hee watched Min-jun wage his bloody melee, praying he’d make it through, she cautiously shifted her gaze to their surroundings.
- Piiiiiiii!!!
A ear-shattering ultrasonic wave ripped through the air from beyond the building.
* * *
“Hoo…”
I’d bluffed big to buy time, but facing the actual bug horde head-on made me sigh.
‘Tsk, did I accept this for nothing?’
「[Sub Quest – Linked (1)]
Difficulty: F+ ~ C-
Clear Condition: One of your own kind is in danger. You can save him if you want, or not. Everyone only has one life, after all.
① Secure and evacuate ‘Sung Dong-gil’
Time Limit: None
Reward: Linked Quest, 200 hours, Karma +0.2
On Refusal or Failure: Karma –0.2」
I’d accepted due to the temptation of survival time and the quest’s subtle taunt…
‘Damn, I really need to fix this hot-headed streak… Ugh, focus on what’s in front of me first.’
If asked whether my current abilities could hold off nearly a hundred of these things, the answer—no matter how many times I thought about it—was a hard no.
So what now?
‘Level up some more.’
The answer to the tough problem was simpler than expected, and I just happened to have plenty of survival time on hand.
Sure, it stung to burn through time equivalent to life itself… but walking bundles of survival time were scattered right in front of me. Pull my investment back with interest, and it’d be fine.
‘Hoarding it turns it to shit.’
I immediately dumped 1500 hours into stamina and agility.
The survival time tattooed on my wrist spun like a slot machine before stopping at 11.
‘…Still hurts my heart, though.’
Thinking I might die in 11 hours sent chills down my spine, but boosting stamina and defense was still the best way to lower the game’s difficulty, same as ever.
Plus, evasion went up too, so I started seeing occasional Misses mid-fight?
From the enemy’s perspective, nothing was more infuriating.
On top of that, agility synergized perfectly with my [Apostle’s Predator] skill. The faster I landed three strikes, the more bonus damage kicked in.
[Stamina has reached Lv.8.]
[Defense and endurance increase.]
[Agility has reached Lv.8.]
[Speed and flexibility increase.]
Reading the messages, I drew my tomahawk and shield to battle the oncoming larva wave.
[Nearby area: Over 100 apostles targeting the user.]
[Within 100m radius takes on ‘Star Ground’ properties.]
[Warning! ‘Star Ground’ rejects those who are not its lord.]
[All of user’s stat levels drop by 3, but time absorption rate triples.]
[Title ‘First Apostle Slayer’ nullifies the negative effects of Star Ground!]
The system messages hit just as the swarm filled my vision, bolstering my plan.
A flat -3 to all stat levels was a deadly debuff for sure, but the title from my first apostle kill meant it didn’t apply to me.
In other words, a chance to triple my survival time gains with zero penalties.
The problem? There were just way too damn many of them.
I didn’t need to kill them all anyway—just buy some time and bail.
.
.
.
I definitely thought that at some point.
‘How many more do I have to kill…?’
At first, everything was great. Knocking away flyers alone stacked time steadily.
Investing the gains back into stats gave me fresh power to kill more.
But… probably starting after the 99th one.
They kept pouring in endlessly afterward, and even as my stats rose, slaying them grew noticeably harder with time.
I’d reached the conclusion that I needed to break through and secure an escape route for So-hee and old man Dong-gil.
But larvae numbering dozens, then hundreds, kept tripping me up.
Every tomahawk swing splattered their fluids across my face and body.
I hated myself for rejoicing at the 3x experience bonus.
‘…No, why are these bastards acting like this?’
Compared to the ones I’d killed so far, these charged me even more aggressively.
When one of their own hurled itself to die, the next threw its life away just the same.
I wondered at their desperate clinging to drag out time.
But in the end, all I could do was swing my axe and crack their skulls, leaving me frustrated.
“Hoo… Hoo…”
‘If I can’t escape, does that mean they can kill me with sheer numbers eventually?’
Even with high stamina for better muscular and cardiopulmonary endurance, my body felt like a soaked towel from the nonstop fighting.
‘If I regroup with those two, they won’t be able to run with their stats down by 3.’
‘So they handle their way out, and I find mine.’
Racking my brain for ways to dodge the press while—
- Piiiiiiii!!!
An ear-shattering ultrasonic wave suddenly tore through the air.
I looked up at the sound and spotted a massive moth flapping gray wings in the distance, flying our way.
The moment I gauged its body and speed closing in, a strong certainty hit me: even if the larvae let me go now, I couldn’t escape that thing unscathed.
‘Damn… we’re screwed.’
I should’ve caught on from the quest’s fluid difficulty rating.
Whether I could flee before that Arktine—or whatever it was—arrived was clearly the line between easy and hell.
But I’d gotten carried away farming survival time, blind to everything, and now I had no excuse to give Dong-gil and So-hee even if I had two mouths.
‘Even with them clinging, I should’ve shaken them off and run somehow. Damn, in that case…’
Its gaze locked toward me, where the larvae corpses piled up, while So-hee and old man Dong-gil were a bit distant.
I had to save who I could. Slicing a larva in half before me, I shouted.
“So-hee! Evacuate to safety with Dong-gil!”
“Min-jun, come with us!”
Shoooaaa—the intensifying rain drowned her voice, but I could read her intent from her lips.
“With that thing’s speed, it’ll catch us no matter what if we go together! I can slip away alone, so evacuate first!”
“But…”
Kwa-duk!
Even then, larvae lunged, and I shoved her aside before swinging my hand axe again, yelling.
“Hurry!! I’ll die like this.”
“…Got it. But you have to come back safe.”
So-hee, her hair plastered wet, wore an expression like she’d burst into tears any second. Looking at her, I opened my mouth.
“Of course. Hey, Dong-gil, know any safe spots around?”
“There’s a police box near Seokchon Station we’re using as a recon outpost! It’s secure.”
“Then we’ll meet there.”
“Don’t get any heroic ideas—just escape safe! You haven’t forgotten my request, right?”
“Of course not.”
“…”
As So-hee dragged her reluctant feet away and vanished into the alley beyond.
I turned, smashed the skull of a charging small larva, and faced the approaching Arktine up close.
‘Will it work?’
No more questions mattered.
I’d just give it my all.
It was the presumed next stage after giant larva, but I hadn’t wasted time either.
Especially since I’d boosted my relatively low strength with these new stats—I couldn’t kill it, but I could make an opening to slip between buildings.
Whooong—whooong—whooong—
Instead of waiting, I charged it, throwing my tomahawk with my full body weight behind it.
The dark axe flew with a terrifying whoosh, striking the creature.