Chapter 60: Entangled (4)
“Ugh…”
A large explosion. I stumbled backward.
The player who seemed to be an elite was engulfed in the explosion and died.
I definitely saw it. That bluish energy he was using as a shield.
Among the others armed with crude cold weapons, there were those that stood out.
They were clearly special beings that had received gifts from the player, though I had no idea what items from what world they carried.
“…For now, I’ll just take what I can.”
I gathered the ores that appeared with the vibration of the phone I had hidden in my pocket.
The Legion was watching me. And it was helping me.
I had to fight like this to convey my intentions.
The limit of the Legion ores I could deliver at once was three.
Moreover, I knew how much biotic energy was consumed to create one.
Every shot was not light at all.
“?!”
With all my strength, I threw one of them toward a kobold messing around right above the fortification.
I had been watching for a while now, and that kobold was casting enhancement spells on the players.
Naturally, bullets from machine guns, grenades, and rifles came flying in, but he protected himself with a barrier.
The fact that they could withstand the bombardment of artillery while charging at us must have been thanks to those spells.
“Ugh!”
“Another explosion…!”
My allies faltered with the successive explosions.
In the end, I succeeded in destroying the barrier and killing the kobold, even though it exploded all at once.
However, this was a war. A great war where tens of thousands of forces clashed.
I hesitated as I saw the continuous flood of enemies coming in. The hastily made shabby wall was quickly overcome by them.
“The front has been breached… right now we’re at…”
“What? Breached?”
On top of that, the voice from the radio of the nearby communications soldier brought us greater despair.
“We must be prepared.”
I steadied my heart. If things went south, we could completely lose here.
Currently, the enemies had formed an alliance of two forces.
The low-level demons we referred to as Nol and Kobolds.
But as shown by the goblins we met last time, they were units that benefited from ethnic traits and the assistance of players.
I still didn’t know the extent of their power.
One thing was certain: there was some powerful command structure among them, as they were pushing through the bullets while stepping over the corpses of their kind.
It was an incredibly simple yet definitive strategy.
There were too few hunter forces to stop the special forces armed with gifts and spells.
They twisted their bodies and infiltrated through the firepower, slaughtering our soldiers.
“This bastard…”
I kicked a Nol that was trying to take out a machine gunner and moved into a struggle.
The bastard was already enhancing his body. He had a similar level of strength to mine, even with my physique enhanced to only reach my chest.
Barely shrugging off his arm, I kicked him using my relatively longer legs.
Then, I attacked wildly with the sword I had taken from him. Until he died.
Although I managed to handle one like this, honestly, there was hardly any hope in sight.
“Everyone, we must retreat! There are too many of them!”
“But…”
I urged the soldiers to fall back. The field commander still hadn’t ordered a retreat.
“But, Hunter! We have to hold our position, we must keep firing.”
At my words, someone stepped forward.
A sergeant, the artillery control officer. He wore a combat uniform drenched in who knows whose blood.
“That is our mission. We are soldiers.”
Although his voice trembled, his eyes did not.
I felt it too. It was a moment of decision.
Should I continue to fight alongside them until we kill all those monsters, or should I run away just like this?
Of course, they were reserve soldiers, but in the end, I was just a civilian here—not a soldier. I wasn’t even a mercenary. Just an ordinary college student who had been taking exams a month ago.
“…Please shoot first at the ones I designate.”
At the end of that brief silence, I contorted my face.
[The moment an ordinary college student becomes a true warrior]
“Stop talking nonsense! This is…”
[Have you ever considered that might be your true nature?]
As I ran, my breath momentarily caught in my throat.
Am I a warrior? What a ridiculous story.
If I hadn’t been forced to be a player and dragged into this game…
[Haven’t you dreamed since that day? Wanting to fight when you gain power.]
“Ha. What do you know?”
I split the head of a Nol who charged at me, wielding a sword.
My face flushed with embarrassment, as if my hidden secret had been revealed, and I felt disgusting.
What he said wasn’t wrong. Still, I believed I had realized reality early on.
“Look at that. How can I defeat those things? It’s a certain death, isn’t it?”
I couldn’t help but laugh hollowly. I was the one who jumped in first.
Enemies swarmed before me.
“Get out of my way!”
At that moment, they appeared.
People who truly deserved the title of hero rather than someone like me.
A tremendous and fiery blaze surged forth.
The fiery curtain instantly engulfed the enemies.
The power of flames that could burn away even cruder enhancement spells in a single hit.
The S-class hunter of South Korea, Ji Chang-hyun. A figure I had only seen on TV just brushed past me.
—
“Why did they suddenly flee? Even though one S-class was with them, only twelve hunters came as support.”
“I just found out the reason.”
In the middle of the base, where the wounded were being treated.
Robert returned with a pale face from somewhere.
“Our seniors, you know? Chris Baker, Chae Yeon, those two. Right after the support arrived, they led their team to strike at the enemies’ main camp.”
“Those two… with only one squad?!”
Everyone was taken aback. They gasped at their recklessness and praised their courage.
However, I grasped the intentions of Chae Yeon, or rather the player controlling her.
‘There are still no strong foes equivalent to an S-class hunter among them.’
This crazy game has completely messed up its balance. No player or unit has the chance to change their initial partner.
No matter how much gifts and spells they receive, Nol and Kobolds are fundamentally low-level demons.
Even if we equip them and teach them spells, their individual strength isn’t that strong, unless it’s collectively.
‘They must have deliberately waited for Ji Chang-hyun to arrive due to the execution authority.’
At this point, the execution authorities available may be two? Three? Or maybe none at all.
So they waited, intentionally confusing the targeting until Ji Chang-hyun entered.
If successful, it’s a sweet looting of empty houses. Even if they fail and get beaten by execution authority, it’s only losing two pawns on their side.
I have no idea what kind of aliens they are, but they are something extraordinary.
“Where are you going?!”
“…Just to rest a bit.”
“Alright, just make sure you rest well today.”
Perhaps my expression was not good, Robert let me go.
However, the place I headed to was not the barracks.
—
…
A place where the bodies of the deceased were being gathered. Covered by white cloth, they seemed to number in the hundreds.
Among so many, I found one person.
The sword they had used before their death lay broken in half beside their belongings.
[Isn’t it just a fleeting relationship?]
“I can tell you’re not human.”
I felt no sadness. Yoon Su-Ah was literally just someone who had crossed my path.
But that didn’t mean I felt indifferent. I was just angry. She saved my life once, but I couldn’t save hers.
“The Legion will understand. They know my feelings right now.”
[They are equally enraged. The reason is simple. You are angry.]
“…Really?”
I had a bitter taste in my mouth. It felt even more so after experiencing the real fight.
The Legion is strong. Not just at their level, but even if the Devouring Fungus they faced fell into this demonic realm, they could probably still swallow up those Nols and Kobolds.
“Were you close with Su-Ah?”
At that moment, someone spoke from behind me.
The voice was not unfamiliar. I was sure I had heard it somewhere, possibly on TV.
“Is that you, Ji Chang-hyun?”
“I heard the story… Kang Shin-woo.”
I was finally face to face with the S-class hunter I had never dreamed of meeting.
“You heard the story?”
“About what kind of feats you’ve accomplished. Of course, all the hunters fought desperately. But they are soldiers. They did what they had to do. Yet you, Kang Shin-woo, have no reason to fight.”
His expression was peculiar, making it hard to guess his intention in approaching me.
“I…”
“Su-Ah is my cousin.”
“Oh.”
“And Kang Shin-woo, don’t you want to become stronger? Now is the time for people like you, who are righteous and capable, to step forward.”
“Excuse me?”
The sudden onslaught of questions left me dazed, and I foolishly asked again.
I subtly reached into my pocket to touch the ore.
This isn’t a bomb; it’s an ore that detects players and units.
“I will reveal the secrets of evolution and the secrets of this world. I have faith in my judgment. So does my mentor.”
Ji Chang-hyun’s eyes sparkled. The detector he held also grew hot.
The S-class hunter of South Korea, Ji Chang-hyun, was surely someone involved with this game.
