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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: The Centerpiece of Hell - 2
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*Kwoong—!*
A tremendous roar shook the building, and anxious groans rippled through the crowd.
"M-Mommy… I'm scared…"
A child, about seven or eight years old, sobbed as they buried themselves in their mother's embrace.
"B-but my teacher said… the bad monsters can't get inside the school…"
This was an elementary school near Oksu Station, the entire building repurposed as a shelter in emergencies.
Given the numerous apartment complexes nearby, it was currently housing an enormous number of evacuees.
The second-floor auditorium alone held well over a thousand people.
"Mommy, *hic*… are we all going to die?"
"No, it's okay. The Players will protect us."
The mother hugged her child tighter and pressed herself against the wall.
And she prayed.
It was the only thing a powerless civilian could do.
*Thud—! Thud—!*
The roars sounded one after another, growing steadily closer.
It meant the battle raging outside was not going well.
"But, Mommy. The Players…"
"Yes, that's the sound of the Players teaching the monsters a lesson."
"That's not it… I think the Players are scared."
"Huh?"
At her child's words, the mother turned her head.
Through a briefly opened door, she could see the hallway.
Armed Players—members of the shelter guard—hurried back and forth.
Their faces were twisted in dismay.
It was another word for 'despair'.
The reason was...
"…The magic barrier in the right hallway has been breached!"
"What?"
...they were facing the worst-case scenario.
"Dammit! Everyone, move that way! We can't let that wall fall!"
The shelter guard captain led ten members toward the right hallway.
All the windows in the hallway were blocked by steel shutters.
But with the magic barrier broken, mere physical blockades had their limits.
*Kwoooom—!*
This time, a much larger roar shook the entire building.
It wasn't a strike against the magic barrier, but against the building itself.
"Damn it! At this rate, the wall is gonna coll—"
*Craaaash—!*
He spoke too soon.
A section of the hallway ahead crumbled, sending rebar and concrete pouring into the corridor.
And… the shadow of something enormous standing outside the wall fell over the interior.
"D-dammit…"
The guards faltered, backing away.
"*Urk—!* What is that smell!"
An indescribable stench flooded the hallway.
The smell of rotting corpses—like hundreds of them putrefying at once, an overwhelming foulness…
While everyone was reeling from the stench, a massive hand squeezed through the hole.
"*Gasp!*"
It was a hand as thick as a pillar, half-rotted with bone exposed.
It gripped the wall and pulled, tearing it away as easily as if it were a styrofoam box.
*Cruuunch…*
"G-good heavens…"
As the hole in the wall widened enough to reveal the sky, the monster's face was finally exposed.
A green giant, as tall as a three-story building—
It was a Zombie Troll.
*Uwoooooh—*
And though they couldn't be seen, the monstrous cries from outside the walls made it clear that a massive number of zombies had surrounded the building.
"…J-just fire!"
The guard captain shouted, nocking an arrow and firing it through the hole.
Following his lead, the entire guard unit unleashed all sorts of magic.
Every shot hit its mark—but the creature didn't even flinch.
The wounds on its face healed in an instant, as if a video was being rewound.
Angered, the beast swung its fist at the outer wall of the building.
*Baaam—!*
Shards of the building sprayed inward like shotgun pellets, sweeping through a classroom.
"Th-that thing… I don't think we can do anything to it with our weapons!"
One of the guards cried out, his voice on the verge of tears.
It was true. A monster that kept regenerating no matter how much they attacked it…
A mere shelter guard unit possessed no weapon or skill capable of killing such a thing.
In other words, with the magic barrier torn down, there was no way to stop its infiltration.
*'It's over…'*
The guard captain felt an indescribable sense of helplessness and lowered the bow he had raised.
It was then.
*- Ksshh— …this is… if there are any survivors, please respond.*
A faint voice echoed from somewhere.
"—Huh? Captain! A voice is coming from the mana messenger!"
The captain hastily raised the mana messenger from his belt.
"Th-this is the A Elementary School shelter! Is anyone there?"
For the next few seconds, only static came through.
It was a short time, but to them, it felt like minutes.
*- Ksshh— Is this the location currently under attack by a 'Zombie Troll'?*
"Yes! That's right! That's us!"
In a moment filled only with despair, had a sliver of hope appeared?
The guard captain began to plead with the unknown voice.
"I don't know who you are, but please, I'm begging you! Please lure this monster away! There are over three thousand civilians evacuated in this shelter! At this rate, we're all going to die!"
*- Ksshh— Do not stand near the wall. Step back.*
"What?"
*- We are going to eliminate the Zombie Troll. Please move back to avoid any collateral damage.*
At those words, the guards looked at each other.
Eliminate the Zombie Troll, a monster like that…
In their minds, it was an almost impossible feat.
But for a truly powerful Player, it should be possible.
Without a word, they hesitantly backed away.
"Captain, look over there!"
One of the guards pointed outside.
Someone was walking onto the school's wide athletic field.
A man in black combat fatigues. Just one person.
"…Isn't that A.M.T?"
But the only weapons he seemed to have were two swords on his back.
The only peculiar thing about him was that he was holding both palms up toward the sky—
"If he's a warrior class, it'll be tough to take down a Zombie Troll, no matter how high his rank…"
The man was approaching with confidence, but they couldn't help but worry.
The first to greet the man was a horde of 'denizens of hell'.
*Kkeueeeh—*
The creatures that had been pounding on the outer wall, their aggro now drawn, poured onto the field.
There were about thirty of them.
Enough to be difficult for an average Player to handle alone.
But then, something strange began to happen.
"Huh?"
Before the zombies could even get close to the man, they began to drop, one by one.
Blood gushed from their heads.
"What… what killed them?"
The man himself hadn't taken any sort of combat stance.
He was simply walking slowly toward the Zombie Troll.
"…Ah! It's an arrow!"
"What?"
"There! If you look closely, an arrow is floating in mid-air and moving on its own!"
The guard captain saw it too.
*Shwiiiiik—!*
A single arrow was flying about freely, piercing the zombies' heads with perfect accuracy.
"Is he using psychokinesis? It looks incredibly powerful!"
The arrow wasn't moving as if propelled by some force.
It moved like a living creature, following an erratic trajectory to intercept the zombies one by one, and in just thirty seconds, dozens of zombie corpses were strewn across the field.
"But that level of destructive power won't be enough to handle the Zombie Troll…"
The scene was quite marvelous, but it wouldn't work on the Zombie Troll.
It would take enough firepower to blow away that sturdy giant in a single blow.
Just in case, the guard captain raised the mana messenger.
"—Ah! Most attacks don't work on the Zombie Troll, and its wounds heal instantly!"
*- Ksshh— I know. Don't worry, just step back. There might be a lot of blood.*
With those words, the man's palms, which had been facing the sky, slowly turned over.
In that instant, something fell from the sky.
*'…A black pillar?'*
For a fleeting moment, that's what the guard captain thought he saw.
A black, pillar-like object fell, grazing past the troll, and slammed into the ground.
*Craaaack—!*
The moment the earth-shattering crack echoed,
the Zombie Troll's massive head flew off with a *thwack—*.
"Huh?"
The headless body gushed a fountain of blood in all directions as it slowly tilted to the right.
*Kwoooong—!*
It was dead. In a single blow...
"D-decapitated—!"
Yes, the giant that seemed impossible to kill had been decapitated in one strike.
The guard captain stared, mouth agape, at the man walking toward them.
His palms, which had been facing the ground, turned over once more to face the sky, and following the gesture, the object he had mistaken for a black pillar rose into the air.
*Woooong—*
It was a 2.1-meter-long greatsword.
"..."
Everyone stared blankly at the wondrous sight.
The greatsword—no, the giant sword—glided horizontally, bisecting all the remaining zombies, before coming to a stop in the air behind the man's back.
Its noble form resembled a massive cross.
Immediately after, military trucks began pouring onto the field.
Thirteen in total.
*- Ksshh— The area is secure. You can rest easy now.*
***
"…Are you, by any chance, the Steel Company?"
When the A.M.T. troops entered the school, the man who was the shelter guard captain asked.
Lee Hyun-wook tilted his head.
"Yes, we are. But how did you know?"
"Ah, you haven't heard? The government is spreading the word via mana messengers."
Perhaps because he'd asked Kim Kang-seok to block as much outside contact as possible to avoid interference, Hyun-wook's own mana messenger hadn't received any such transmissions.
Just then, the guards standing behind the captain approached, their mouths wide open in awe.
"Wow! You're really the Steel Company?"
"Then is it true you eliminated the Corruption Factor?"
They reacted as if they had just met celebrities.
"Haha… Yes, that's right."
"Wow— How on earth…"
"You're real heroes! Thank you so much!"
"Please! You have to save Seoul!"
Hyun-wook gave an awkward smile, but sighed inwardly.
*'Kang Seo-yoon, you're making things complicated…'*
Hyun-wook had a gut feeling that she was the one spreading news of the Steel Company's exploits far and wide.
It seemed she intended to use the good news to rally the Players inside the Wave Zone.
Her intentions were undoubtedly noble, but it was also true that it would inevitably lead to various hassles.
"So, how long has this place been under attack?"
Hyun-wook asked, scanning the elementary school building.
There wasn't a single undamaged spot; it was a miracle they had held out.
He could clearly picture how relentlessly the five-meter-tall beast must have pounded on it.
"For about three hours, yes, we were under attack for that long."
"You've been through a lot."
"Haha… And yet you took down that monster in a single blow and saved us."
The guard captain recalled the scene, staring into the distance and shaking his head.
*'Yes, even I have to admit it was a terrifying strike.'*
Hyun-wook himself was newly impressed by the monstrous strength he hadn't felt in a while.
He had dispatched a Zombie Troll in a single blow, a feat that until yesterday would have required hundreds of weapons.
Morglay was truly… the best, no words needed.
"…Mister Soldier!"
Just then, a child's voice came from the auditorium where the evacuees were gathered.
The kid was tugging at the pant leg of a Steel Company member standing at the auditorium entrance.
"...Please, please help me!"
At the sudden cry, everyone's attention turned to the boy.
"What's wrong, little guy?"
Park Jun-mo knelt down to meet the child's eyes.
"*Sob*… Please, please, my friends… s-save them."
As the boy pleaded tearfully, Park Jun-mo patted his head with a flustered expression.
"Huh? Your friends? Where are they?"
Just then, a woman who appeared to be the boy's mother came out and grabbed his arm.
"Ah! I'm so sorry to bother you when you're busy! Hee-mang, you can't bother the soldiers!"
"Haha— It's alright. Did something happen to Hee-mang's friends?"
At Park Jun-mo's question, Hee-mang's mother looked troubled.
"Ah, well…"
The guard captain explained in her stead.
"One of the evacuation groups heading here was attacked by monsters on the way. We had the gates open and were waiting, but, tsk—nearly a hundred people never made it inside."
"Ah, so Hee-mang's friends were…"
Park Jun-mo's expression darkened.
"Yes, that's right."
"…The casualties must have been great."
But the guard captain shook his head.
"But, this is a bit strange. Yes, something was different."
"Oh?"
"They seemed to be intelligent monsters… but they abducted over a hundred people without killing a single one. I think they might have some other objective."
Hearing that, a piece of information surfaced in Lee Hyun-wook's mind.
*'The Multi-Race Black Magic Society. So they're in this area after all.'*
The Black Magic Society was a monster organization that strengthened its black magic by offering humans as sacrifices to an evil god.
And if Hyun-wook's memory served him right, they were also the ones who would be guarding the Corruption Factor.
In other words, he had come to the right place.
"Hmm, but how did they capture over a hundred people so easily? They must have resisted. Were there that many monsters?"
"Well… there were a lot of them, but when they sprayed some kind of strange black smoke, everyone just collapsed. Even the Players. That's why they were dragged away without any resistance."
At that, Park Jun-mo looked at Lee Hyun-wook.
"Could this be… that thing?"
Lee Hyun-wook nodded.
The Steel Company had also experienced this phenomenon on their way here.
At a point where they had to slow down, a manhole cover had opened, and black smoke had suddenly billowed out.
*'It was a trap. The idea was probably to have people pass out after stepping in it and then come back later to collect them.'*
Of course, Hyun-wook had immediately ordered everyone to put on their gas masks.
But some who couldn't react in time ended up inhaling the black smoke…
But, fortunately or perhaps strangely, they were perfectly fine, with no ill effects.
*'That was thanks to .'*
It proved that as long as they were enveloped in it, they could ignore most curses.
"Hmm… there's a high chance those people are still alive."
The guard captain nodded at Hyun-wook's words.
"We also believe they're alive, so we asked some Players to rescue them. They left a few hours ago… but unluckily, that's right when the Zombie Troll attacked."
"Can you contact them now?"
"We sent them a distress signal when we were attacked, but there was no reply…"
If they didn't know how to deal with dark magic, they would just be captured and become sacrifices.
"We'll go."
"What?"
"We will go and rescue the captured people."
Though he had likely been secretly hoping for it, the guard captain looked deeply moved.
"Ah! You'd really do that for us?"
"It's our duty."
"Hah… Thank you so much!"
As Hyun-wook decided on the rescue mission, Park Jun-mo patted the little boy's head and said,
"Hee-mang, we're going to rescue your friends, so don't you worry, okay?"
"…Okay!"
The boy looked back and forth between Hyun-wook and Jun-mo with sparkling eyes and nodded vigorously.
"You guys are heroes!"
His expression brightened, even though they hadn't succeeded yet.
Park Jun-mo felt a prickle in his nose for some reason.
He was overcome with a renewed sense of emotion at being able to so readily help the weak and needy.
Hyun-wook pressed his walkie-talkie and sent a message to the entire company.
"There is a gate nearby suspected of containing a Corruption Factor. Prepare to search."
Thus, Hyun-wook's true objective was the second Corruption Factor that would be there.
"Ahem, I'm sure you know what you're doing, being who you are, but as I said before, you must be careful. I'm talking about that strange magic the demons use. The ones who went ahead are out of contact…"
The guard captain said worriedly, but Hyun-wook just smiled and shook his head.
"Ah, that's fine. It won't work on us."
He planned to crush the bastards in one fell swoop while they were confused about why their own weapons weren't working.
But just then...
*- Ksshh— Ah, can you hear me?*
A voice came from the guard captain's mana messenger.
He raised the device with a surprised look.
"…Uh, is this the Taesan Guild? Are you all safe?"
*- Ksshh— Yes, it is!*
The Taesan Guild…
The moment Hyun-wook heard that, he had no choice but to revise his plan.
Not everyone in the Taesan Guild was a Villain,
but there was a high probability they were minions acting under Ki Baek-jun's orders.
Especially Taesan Guild members who were in Seoul, which wasn't their usual area of activity...
*'And he said the Zombie Troll attacked right after the Taesan Guild members left.'*
Of course, it could have been a coincidence.
*'But for them to contact us again, right as we arrived…'*
This part reeked of something fishy.
*'They probably set up an information network in the surrounding shelters and were waiting for us.'*
Having killed all five Butchers and destroyed the Corruption Factor, Ki Baek-jun must be grinding his teeth…
*- Ksshh— We were in the middle of a battle, so we couldn't—ksshh—reply to your earlier message. Did something happen? Is everything alright over there?*
"Something did happen… but it's been resolved. Oh! The Steel Company is here!"
*- Ksshh— The Steel Company? You don't mean the A.M.T. unit that destroyed the Corruption Factor?*
"Y-yes, that's them!"
*- Ksshh— That's great! We're in a bit of a tight spot and could use some help!*
At those words, the guard captain looked at Lee Hyun-wook.
He wanted him to answer directly.
*'This… is a trap.'*
Several factors, and Hyun-wook's intuition, were screaming it.
Hyun-wook took the mana messenger from the guard captain.
And he replied.
"…Yes, we'll provide support."
But if you know it's a trap, it's no longer a trap.
And it would instead become the opposite.
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