Chương 230: 644
[Chapter 168]
[Still, The Night Passes (7)]
Central Gangbuk, near the Mana Management Organization.
The joint plan of Regulus Clan and Silla Clan to subjugate the Level 3 monster ended in failure.
The environment was not good.
"Why are the streets so complicated..."
Jongno-gu had many extremely narrow streets when you went inside.
Paths leading to residential areas.
But monsters entered those streets and were toying with Players.
To make matters worse, flying monsters were freely flying through the narrow streets causing damage, and even throwing people into confusion, so the situation only worsened.
The mobility of Players who could fight freely in the city center couldn't keep up with the monsters.
Moreover─
─Question.
Monsters rampaging on the main streets.
Those guys were clustered tightly around the Level 3 monster, protecting the army commander.
And the army commander was using the environment with few obstructions and wide open spaces to use brainwashing magic on Players who made eye contact.
Why are manhole covers round?
There were two conditions for falling under its brainwashing magic.
First, look into its eyes.
Second, if you can't answer the question, your mana resistance naturally drops and you fall under the brainwashing magic.
As a result, Players couldn't easily approach it.
"What kind of monster is that?"
"I've never seen a monster like that either. If it's a sphinx, it should ask riddles in the morning like a proper sphinx..."
Regulus Clan Lord Gu Yeon-su.
Silla Clan Lord Kim Yu-jin.
The two could barely establish an encirclement to prevent the Level 3 monster from rampaging any further.
"Anyway, we need to deal with that guy, but I can't figure out how to face it."
"We need to take it down away from Jongno-gu too. Regulus Clan Lord, you saw earlier too, it's worrying that the protective magic covering the skies of Gangbuk disappeared." "...That's right. I hope nothing bad happens..."
The two had serious expressions.
Just before, <Iron Fortress> Moon Jun's protective magic had disappeared.
It could be thought that some problem had occurred to him.
Perhaps he was affected when the Level 3 monster entered Jongno-gu.
That was why the two were anxious.
Right then─
─Question.
"No need for questions and answers."
""""...!!""""
Kiriring.
Suddenly the sound of something cutting through the wind quickly passed by.
Blood burst from the Level 3 monster's back.
A sword strike had flown from far away.
""""...."""
The Level 3 monster stopped, stiffened by the sudden attack.
Players blankly looked towards where the sword strike had come from.
"─I came a bit late."
Zenith Clan Lord.
Twelve Seats <First Sword> Ji Yong-hyun.
He who should have been out in Gyeonggi-do revealed himself.
☆
Southern Gangbuk, Hannam-dong.
Eun-ha, who had come out of Galaxy Group's main house, stopped walking and listened.
It seems like a battle broke out nearby, but hadn't all the Hannam-dong residents evacuated?
It was hard to hear clearly because it was far away.
But the faint sound of gunshots could be heard.
The sound was getting closer and closer.
Eun-ha spread his detection network.
Presences caught in the waves spreading out from him appeared.
About 20 Players...
The number of monsters is a bit less than that.
After grasping the general situation.
Soon Eun-ha paused.
A huge presence suddenly got caught in his detection network.
Eun-ha hurriedly looked up at the faintly blue night sky.
"That guy again..."
Level 3 overrank monster Ye-gyeong.
The creature that had moved to Geumho-dong had once again shifted its territory to Yongsan-gu.
Eun-ha clicked his tongue.
─Boom!!
Right then.
A pillar of light surged up from the ground.
It was an attack that occurred nearby.
The ground shook.
Nevertheless, Ye-gyeong didn't seem to have taken much damage.
It was flying through the sky ignoring the pillar of light.
─It's not trying to go to Yongsan-gu.
It's trying to go to Jung-gu.
Is it planning to go around evenly spreading anomalies?
Eun-ha predicted Ye-gyeong's course.
Whether because it had just been attacked, or because it had planned to do so from the start.
It changed direction from Hannam-dong and was heading towards Jung-gu.
Eun-ha helplessly watched it pass by very close.
Players are coming this way.
Then Eun-ha felt the presence of Players approaching him.
He could roughly guess their identities.
Judging by the attack just now, Twelve Seats <Silent> Yu Su-jin must be mixed in among them.
And her presence meant clan members from her clan had also crossed into the district.
Sure enough─
"─I didn't expect to meet in this situation. Player Noh Eun-ha."
"...Hello."
Tempest Clan Lord Kang Ye-hee.
She who had gained red eyes due to the influence of mana runaway in the past suddenly approached him.
She spoke while adjusting her sharp glasses.
Then someone suddenly appeared behind her─
"─Eun-ha, are you hurt anywhere?"
"Uncle?"
One of Donghae Clan's Six Dragons.
It was <Great Tree> Seon Gi-jun.
☆
Donghae Clan had jurisdiction over Eunpyeong-gu.
So Eun-ha didn't expect to meet Seon Gi-jun here.
To this, Seon Gi-jun said─
"─I was dispatched to this area. So I've been carrying out my mission while taking care of food and lodging for the past few days, when suddenly this chaos broke out."
"Won't Mi-ye scold you if you don't go home, uncle?"
"...Mi-ye entered the dormitory now. I have to stay alone on weekdays, so I thought it would be better to go on dispatch instead. Anyway, I hope Mi-ye is okay... That child must be so surprised..."
"There's Seo-young noona at the academy, and <Sword Empress> too, so you don't need to worry."
"I hope so."
<Great Tree> Seon Gi-jun.
He explained in detail why he was here.
In the end, he drifted into talking about his daughter Seon Mi-ye.
Eun-ha quickly put on the brakes.
Anyway, this disaster broke out in the middle of the night, so you hurriedly came out to evacuate residents and encountered Tempest Clan people.
He grasped the general situation.
Eun-ha turned his head.
About 20 people.
The aura exuded by the Players was quite extraordinary.
They were probably people carefully selected by Tempest Clan Lord Kang Ye-hee to track the fleeing Ye-gyeong.
Seon Gi-jun's colleagues also seemed to be quite skilled.
"It's definitely heading to Jung-gu."
At that moment.
<Silent> Yu Su-jin came.
Yu Su-jin, who jumped down from a utility pole, glanced at Eun-ha and reported the situation to Kang Ye-hee.
Kang Ye-hee, who had been talking with executives, frowned after hearing her story.
"It's already left our jurisdiction. It's awkward to chase after it again from here..."
Kang Ye-hee muttered.
Tempest Clan with jurisdiction over Seongdong-gu.
They were already in a situation where they had crossed their jurisdictional area and entered Yongsan-gu.
She seemed to judge that expanding the frontline further to chase Ye-gyeong from here would result in great losses.
Well, that's understandable.
It's already tight just protecting Seongdong-gu, there's no余力 to worry about other areas.
Tempest Clan has already done its job just by crossing over to Yongsan-gu when they only needed to protect Geumho-dong.
Eun-ha didn't find Kang Ye-hee's judgment strange.
Originally, Tempest Clan had lost massive forces in the last Uijeongbu recapture war, and they still hadn't recovered the forces lost then.
He could understand why she was worried about losing forces.
By the way, Seo-young noona was right. The Kang Ye-hee I knew had a very fiery personality...
It doesn't seem to be that way in this life.
On the other hand, Eun-ha recalled memories from before the regression.
In his previous life, she had followed and adored <Railgun> Shin Myung-hwan, the former Twelve Seats member and first Tempest Clan Lord.
As a result, when Shin Myung-hwan died and Kang Ye-hee succeeded his position, her personality changed to the complete opposite.
She was obsessed with recapturing Uijeongbu, and held strong hostility towards the Fairy Government that planned the Uijeongbu recapture.
And she was belligerent.
But in this life, Kang Ye-hee didn't seem to have such aspects.
Right then,
"─Player Noh Eun-ha."
"Ah, yes."
She suddenly called Eun-ha.
He who had been talking with Seon Gi-jun responded to her call.
"I heard from the telepathist that Player Noh Eun-ha landed a hit on that guy earlier in Itaewon..." "..."
"How about Player Noh Eun-ha giving it another hit while we provide covering fire?"
"What?"
"With Tempest Clan's current forces, we're overwhelmed just defending Seongdong-gu. But it also pricks my conscience to just let it cross over to Jung-gu. So I'm thinking of sending most forces back to Seongdong-gu, and Su-jin and I will try to block it."
"..."
"But even with Su-jin here, we're in a situation where we're severely lacking in firepower. So I'd like to borrow Player Noh Eun-ha's strength..."
"Tempest Clan Lord. Donghae Clan will lend a hand too."
Kang Ye-hee explained the strategy.
Yu Su-jin blew a bubble with gum.
Seon Gi-jun boldly joined in.
Eun-ha looked at the three in turn and then looked up at the night sky.
"..."
The faint night sky.
Dawn seemed to be breaking somewhere.
The night was slowly coming to an end.
After thinking, Eun-ha opened his mouth.
"─Let's give it a try."
☆
A few hours.
It was just a few hours.
People despaired at the fact that the time they had screamed and fled, and fought, was only a few hours.
"P-Please save me...! I'll give you all the money! So please, aaagh...!!"
"Mother, my mother is inside the house. Please save my mom!"
"We have to run away! We have to run away! It's all over now! It's all over!" "Where on earth do we run to! Monsters are swarming from above and below, where on earth do we run to!" "Hold on a little longer! Reinforcements will come soon from Gangnam!"
"What nonsense about reinforcements! Didn't you see Dongho Bridge collapse earlier!? Those guys appeared from the Han River and are surrounding Gangbuk!"
"The library... I can't access it. New types of monsters have appeared in droves, how are we supposed to deal with them!"
It was panic.
People couldn't come to their senses.
Those who had been intoxicated by peace for a long time screamed seeing the monsters that kept popping up endlessly.
Even Players who initially thought everything would be resolved if they just blocked the army were in a panic all the same.
The monsters swarming from the outskirts of Gangbuk were just the beginning.
When monsters entered Gangbuk, anomalies began to occur one after another.
As monsters appeared even inside the frontline, the frontline instantly became meaningless.
"Kyaaaah!!"
"Monsters! Monsters have appeared!"
"Why are these things popping up!" "Aaaagh!! My arm! My arm...!!"
"Chase them! They went into the alley!"
It was truly a total crisis.
People and monsters were mixed together.
Players had to block the atrocities happening inside the frontline while guarding the frontline.
Moreover─
─Bububububu
Monsters reminiscent of grasshoppers.
Nothing was left where those guys passed.
Not only did they tear apart and eat people, those guys even ate buildings.
The biggest problem was that food those guys touched quickly decayed.
"Damn... How are we supposed to fight like this."
"We can't even drink water. I hear nearby marts and convenience stores have been completely wiped out."
Those guys were as quick as ghosts.
As if they had excellent sense of smell, those guys even found places where food was carefully hidden.
They even snatched water bottles Players were carrying on their waists in an instant.
Players who had predicted this would be a long battle naturally cursed at those guys' actions.
"Kuaaagh! W-What are you doing!?" "Be careful! That bastard has a knife!"
"Someone stop that bastard!!"
Even in other places.
People who fell into hallucinations appeared in droves, and they even swung knives unable to distinguish friend from foe.
The administrative functions of the city center were completely paralyzed.
"How much... how much longer do we have to fight. When will this end!"
"It's wrong. It's all over... How are we supposed to do anything when even the Twelve Seats aren't here now!"
Frustration, despair, fear of death, etc.
People harbored more and more negative emotions as time passed.
No matter how much they struggled, the situation showed no signs of improving.
How much longer do we have to fight.
How much longer until this ends.
They endlessly repeated questions that no one could answer.
Each time, they had to be frustrated.
And the greatest calamity was─
─Whiiiiieeeeeaaaaoooooo
That monster floating in the skies over the city center.
It was a monster with a completely different rank from other monsters.
People all over Gangbuk could feel the presence of the whale floating in the sky.
""""...."""
It was a calamity.
A calamity that seemed impossible to do anything about with human hands.
Players had actually attacked it before.
Each time, that guy showed no particular reaction, as if it had just been bitten by an ant.
Such a creature flew all over Gangbuk causing powerful anomalies here and there.
Whiiieeeaaaoooo
How are we supposed to take that thing down?
Is it even possible to take it down?
Everyone had the same thought.
Unable to even inflict significant damage.
Causing countless anomalies.
And on top of that, interfering so Players can't even use magic properly.
How are we supposed to deal with a monster equipped with even mass bombardment techniques?
"It's all over..."
"We're done for now."
It cried out.
Jung-gu, Gangbuk, near Dongdaemun Station.
People lost their will to fight seeing the numerous magic formations floating above their heads.
Magic formations all of huge scale.
The magic formations that made you dizzy just looking up at them would undoubtedly have powerful attack power.
Whiiieeeeeaaaaaoooooooo
The magic formations flashed.
The magic was about to activate.
People shed tears.
Some knelt down.
Some were dazed.
It's all over.
""""...."""
Will tomorrow really come?
Everyone denied it.
The night sky was still pitch black.
The edge of the night sky was slowly brightening, as if the sun was rising somewhere.
But for themselves in Gangbuk, morning would no longer come.
Whiiiiieeeeeeaaaaooooooo
Tomorrow will not come.
People had to resign themselves.
They couldn't move as they looked up at the magic formations that seemed to put a definitive end to their lives.
This is the end, they thought.
Just as they were thinking that,
─Boom!!
A massive roar.
A dazzling pillar of light soared up.
People screamed.
Then realizing they were still alive, they raised their heads.
""""...!!""""
Light was bursting forth.
Streams of light enveloped that creature.
Whiiiaaaaooooo....
The creature trapped in the light streams cried out.
Soon the magic formations covering the sky began to disappear one by one.
Not all of them disappeared.
Some magic formations had already started activating and were trying to fall to the ground.
However─
─Baobab Guard
Propagation
It was instantaneous.
At the points where magic was falling.
A huge tree grew.
A semi-transparent tree.
The tree that took root and grew from the ground exponentially spread its branches and quickly became large enough to cover the entire area.
The tree shook violently.
Whoosh
Countless bombardments.
The branches couldn't withstand the bombardment and kept breaking, and leaves budding on the branches scattered around.
Nevertheless, the bombardment couldn't reach the ground.
Swish swish swish
Even if branches broke.
The tree branches grew endlessly.
The tree born from one person's mana as nourishment absorbed the falling bombardment as if possessed.
Scattered leaves absorbed mana and supplied nutrients to the tree rooted below ground.
Nevertheless─
""""─Ah....""""
The tree gradually collapsed.
The branches that seemed like they would endlessly soar into the sky finally couldn't withstand their mass and kept snapping.
On the other hand, the bombardment had lost momentum but was still falling.
But people weren't just frozen like before.
One person instinctively shouted, and one voice soon became a roar.
"─Block it! Block it somehow!!"
"Block it with all your might! Hold on a little longer!! It's not over yet!"
[...itor relays! All Guardians at the scene please prepare to activate protective magic. Supporters will cover from behind!]
"There's not much left! If we can't block this we might as well go out and die!!"
"We'll die if we can't block it!?"
"Shut up! Block it if I tell you to block!"
<Great Tree> Seon Gi-jun.
They couldn't just let go of the opportunity he had created.
Players who had lost their senses facing death now knew what they had to do.
They had to join forces to block the attack that <Great Tree> had weakened even as he collapsed.
[Everyone deploy magic!!]
Navigators gave instructions.
Telepathists relayed.
Guardians shouted.
Guardians who matched their breathing deployed magic collectively.
Supporters backed them up, and Casters backed them up again.
Whiiiieeeaaaoo....
Magic unleashed by people driven by desperation.
The huge, thick protective magic stacked in multiple layers finally blocked the bombardment.
Meanwhile, swift Hunters quickly ran to <Great Tree> Seon Gi-jun who had exhausted all his internal mana and collapsed.
Monsters tried to pounce on him, but Dealers engaged in hand-to-hand combat with them, risking their own bodies.
Eventually Hunters evacuated Seon Gi-jun to the rear, and Snipers provided cover fire for them to safely retreat.
Rangers moved around the battlefield assessing the rapidly changing situation.
Finally─
─Platinum Cross
""""...!!!""""
Once again a pillar of light surged up.
A pillar of light without the smell of gunpowder.
A pillar of light that shot up from some building rooftop shone platinum.
It looked like a supernova, as if a star hidden in the night sky was shining with its last moment.
That star spread into a cross.
──!!!!
A roar that seemed to shake the world.
The platinum star exploded.
For an instant the night sky flashed.
""""Ah....""""
Platinum light spreads through the world.
Streams of light that spread far into the world dyed the night sky platinum.
The world shone dazzlingly.
The night sky that seemed like it would never pass cleanly disappeared.
Platinum Cross
Once again.
Platinum Cross
And once more.
As if driving away the night.
No, as if determined to drive away the night.
Platinum light flashed repeatedly.
""""...."""
And only then could people confirm where the light streams were coming from.
Platinum Cross
On some building rooftop.
A man wearing a navy blue uniform was swinging his sword repeatedly as if that whale wasn't scary at all.
"Who is... that person?"
"It's <Swift Sword>... No doubt about it."
"<Swift Sword>?"
"The guy who defeated <Yamma> in a fight?"
Just who on earth is that man?
People's questions were quickly resolved.
<Swift Sword> Noh Eun-ha.
The words a Player who knew about him inadvertently muttered spread instantly among those present.
☆
<Silent> Yu Su-jin of course.
Tempest Clan Lord Kang Ye-hee herself and executives would draw aggro.
Donghae Clan would somehow block the damage it causes.
So you unleash your full power.
That was Kang Ye-hee's strategy.
"Damn... It just won't die."
Eun-ha accepted her strategy.
It was a proposal with nothing to lose.
He was in a situation where someone needed to draw aggro to face Ye-gyeong anyway.
It was impossible for him alone.
So when a Twelve Seats member and S-rank clan said they would draw aggro, there was no reason to refuse.
"I'm running out of strength..."
"Baba bubu bababi bu."
"I'm not just complaining, you know? Do you know how hard this is for me..."
"Bubu."
Near Dongdaemun Station.
Eun-ha was facing Ye-gyeong from the rooftop of the tallest building.
Thanks to Seon Gi-jun grabbing Ye-gyeong's ankle and Yu Su-jin drawing aggro.
Eun-ha could focus mana into Winter Blooming Coldly without being disturbed by anyone.
Three times isn't enough damage... It seems four times is needed for significant damage.
Meanwhile Eun-ha frowned.
Its endurance really was ridiculous.
Normally when unleashing Platinum Cross, Eun-ha compressed the mana in his sword three times.
That was the maximum he could handle in dynamic combat.
If he compressed more than three times, he couldn't pay attention to anything else and it was hard to control the destructive power.
Especially in an urban area.
It's only because Ye-gyeong is flying in the sky that I can use it freely.
But because Ye-gyeong was flying in the sky, there was no risk of collateral damage.
Moreover, thanks to Donghae Clan members protecting him, Eun-ha could now comfortably compress mana.
So five times.
─Platinum Cross
A sensation like blood flowing backwards.
His arm wouldn't move as he wanted.
Nevertheless, Eun-ha released the magic he had compressed to the limit.
──!!
The effect was truly amazing.
The sky shook.
The creature that hadn't shown any reaction until now finally bled.
Whiiieeeaaaaooooo....
A wound diagonally crossing its abdomen.
Thick blood poured from the gaping wound.
Its body tilted sideways.
Monsters around it wavered.
Let's see you take another one.
His eyes met Ye-gyeong's.
He felt for the first time that the creature had become wary of his existence.
Its eyes, as it flailed on its side, seemed to be saying just that.
Platinum Cross
Yes, I am your enemy.
Eun-ha swung his sword down again.
The light stream that cut through empty space now grazed its horn.
Whiiieeeaaaa....
The side of its horn was deeply gouged.
It was flustered.
Eun-ha tried to attack it with Platinum Cross again.
Right then─
─Whiiieeeeeaaooooo
"...!!"
It activated jamming.
Eun-ha, who had been compressing magic to the limit, could only be dumbfounded seeing the magic formula futilely scatter.
Moreover, his mana circuits reacted.
It felt like his body would explode.
The compressed mana was trying to flow back into his body.
Mana runaway.
Gift-imbued artifact
<Resistance>
At that moment.
He immediately activated <Resistance> to resist the jamming magic.
Only then could he find stability.
"This bastard..."
If he didn't have <Resistance>, he would have died right there.
Eun-ha spat out blood that had risen up his esophagus and glared at Ye-gyeong.
But Ye-gyeong turned its eyes away from him and was changing direction.
Whiiiieeeeaaaaoooo
It let out some kind of cry.
Then monsters in the area could be seen flinching.
No, not just the area.
All monsters throughout Gangbuk showed the same reaction.
"Is it retreating?"
He had consumed a considerable amount of mana.
His mana circuits seemed tangled, as pain came when he tried to activate them.
Moreover, Ye-gyeong was building a defensive wall with monsters behind it.
In the end, Eun-ha had no choice but to watch Ye-gyeong move away.
""""....""""""
Ye-gyeong disappeared into the sky.
Monsters began to retreat.
It had been a long, long battle.
Players who were exhausted didn't try to chase after the retreating monsters.
They just watched the creatures retreat for a long time and then sat down.
The tension had been released.
Thud
It was the same for Eun-ha.
It felt like he had used up all his strength.
He was completely drained.
"Ah, it's finally over. How much longer do we have to do this?"
"Bibi baba..."
The sky was slowly brightening.
Night was passing, and morning was coming.
The night that seemed like it would never end.
The long, long night was passing.
"I need to rest for now and think about later things later. To think we have to fight again when night comes..."
But it wasn't over yet.
Those guys had merely retreated.
With the Cocoon collapsed, monsters would come again at night with their forces replenished.
However─
─Are you the only ones replenishing your forces?
We'll replenish our forces too now.
We were ambushed once.
Would we be ambushed twice?
Eun-ha flopped down on the ground.
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