Steel-Eating Player - Chapter 118

Episode 118 [War Ender – 1]

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We arrived in Djibouti, a country located between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea on the west side of the African continent.

It wasn’t too difficult to get through customs there.

It was actually a free pass because the original owner of the container ship, the Ndoz Federation, took care of it in advance.

However, the problem was to deceive the ‘transporters’ of the Ndoz Federation who were waiting for the ship.

“Captain, you remember what will happen if you do something stupid, right?”

At Lee Hyun-wook’s words, the captain who was about to go out of the ship stopped.

“Anyway, if I end up like this, I’ll die even if I end up back on the other side, so… I’m going to give up on this now.”

He was an Indian smuggler who was quite famous in the Eurasian black market. He

had been attached to the Ndoz Alliance for about two years and was in charge of transporting war materials.

“There’s no way those bastards will spare me because they completely ruined this important job. cow? “I went into this dangerous job because I liked the money, but I won’t do anything foolish because I need my life to make money.”

“Okay, I thought about it well, but when you look at your friends’ faces, you might suddenly gain courage that you didn’t have before, right?”

“…At times like that, I think back on your words while touching this damn dog collar. Amen—”

He said, tapping the ‘restraint’ around his neck.

“But who are you? Your face is still covered… and that mysterious power is…”

“Why? Do you think you want to know before you betray? Just remember that he is the person holding your life.”

After a while, transport ships appeared at the dockside and the captain contacted them.

Lee Hyun-wook watched the whole thing through Hugin.

– Hey, you made a necklace? But what design is so crude? You look just like a prisoner?

– Hahaha… This is also the style of dog collar that is popular in Chennai. What do you not know?

In response to a man’s question, the captain smiles slyly and answers.

– Hmm… There are a lot of faces on your ship that you haven’t seen in the last few months?

– Well, back home. You can’t stop the kids who want to go back. So, they picked some new recruits.

The captain seemed to be making good remarks, so the transport manager didn’t seem suspicious.

Meanwhile, HPA members were disguising themselves as Black Factory crew members and unloading doll weapons.

However, I had to stay close to the transporters throughout the process of loading the doll weapons onto the truck.

“Hey you! “It’s a face I’ve never seen before. Where did it come from?”

“Why are these newbies so blunt?”

If he spoke incorrectly, his true identity could be revealed, so he kept silent for the most part.

And about three hours later, a convoy of 15 trucks filled with doll weapons left the port of Djibouti.

“—Well, good luck, you useless sailors!”

Lee Hyun-wook and the HPA members had no choice but to remain in the port and watch.

In the first place, sea transport and land transport were completely different areas, so there was no way to join that procession.

“…Now, let’s get ready to follow along.”

Therefore, the transport procession was scheduled to be preceded by several vehicles prepared in advance.

***

As the sun sets and the grasslands of Africa turn scarlet…

“Who are you…?”

The leader of the road transport in the Amar Mountains of Ethiopia was kneeling on the dirt.

Lee Hyun-wook and the HPA took the mountain road, took a detour, overtook the truck convoy, and ambushed it.

The operation was successful, and 15 trucks and the entire dummy weaponry were captured. Completely secured.

“Can’t you tell who someone is just by looking at them? “They have come to put an end to your evil deeds.”

HPA team leader Alberto Pirlo grabbed the transport leader by the hair.

Although HPA advocated ‘humanitarianism’, it was not a non-killing policy.

“You can’t believe it… are they rebels?”

After listening to that, he cut the guy’s neck with a dagger.

”

Team leader, I’ve taken over the truck.”

“Okay, I’m leaving this place as quickly as possible.”

After giving the order, he took a look at the scenery on this mountain road.

The only thing left scattered everywhere were the corpses of the enemies… It was a perfect surprise operation with no mistakes.

And in the distance, a man standing with Sophie came into his field of vision.

“…It really went according to that man’s plan, right?”

Alberto opposed this operation. This was crazy. It’s important to suppress the expansion of the puppeteer’s power, but he was so greedy that he walked into the middle of the enemy’s lines and openly stole it…

But that’s exactly what happened.

It also succeeded very clearly.

However, as things progress like this, one question becomes more intense.

‘Who on earth is that man?’

According to what I heard earlier, it was that man who manipulated the Living Armor to recapture the Black Factory.

However, the battle he just showed was far from such a manipulative ability.

‘If you just look at that scene, you have to think of it as a warrior type.’

Immediately after the raid began, he jumped in before anyone else and cut down five people with his sword.

‘And that in just a few seconds…’

Immediately after that, he was hit hard by magic, but his body wasn’t scorched at all.

‘That man is a tank, not a Bruiser. It has to be rated A or higher.’

On top of that, he had the ability to control living armor… It was an incomprehensible combination of characteristics.

‘…I don’t know where this guy came from, but I’m sure he’s not an ordinary person.’

While Alberto acknowledged the man’s skills, he did not suppress his caution.

A talented person like that doesn’t suddenly fall from the sky. It was clear that he had come on his own.

In other words, he thought there was a high possibility that the author was hiding something.

‘And seeing as he doesn’t reveal his identity until the end, there’s definitely something there.’

In a country with such a bad situation, businessmen are lured in with a knack for gaining a share.

He ordered two of his henchmen to keep an eye on the man.

Immediately after, the truck whose owner changed hands changed direction and entered a completely different road.

This road was also the same as the road to CAR, but it had a high possibility of avoiding censorship by the Ndoz League.

Lee Hyun-wook got into Choi Do-do’s wagon.

“Hehe… But it’s too early to be relieved as we’ll have to run for another few days.”

Sophie said from the passenger seat.

Central African Republic As its name suggests, it is located in the very center of the inland region of Africa.

And not only is the African continent large, but its roads are not properly maintained.

There was no telling what would happen as we passed through that lawless wilderness.

“I’ll have to run for another four days. But… are you in any pain?”

She tilted her head as she examined Lee Hyun-wook’s face.

There was no way this man was in pain, but it looked like he was.

“Actually, I was going to ask you yesterday, but he looked bad a few days ago.”

Over the past eight days of sailing, Lee Hyun-wook’s complexion looked noticeably gaunt.

The reason was simply that the ‘internal furnace’ was being turned on excessively.

“Oh, it’s okay. I’m just a little tired because the tropical weather doesn’t suit me.”

However, it was true that my head was more complicated than ever.

‘I think this is the first time my head has become this complicated since I returned to the past.’

The reason, of course, was the ‘main quest.’

Lee Hyun-wook thought about its contents several times whenever he had time.

[Main Quest]

– A second chance at life, duty and destiny….

Congratulations! You are two. You are taking advantage of the opportunity of your second life. In doing so, you have been given the destiny to advance to the ‘ending.’

Witness the key elements of this world and take a step closer to the truth!

1) Open the ‘Black Gate’ somewhere in this world. Track it down.

2) Past life—Defeat the ‘dimensional shifter’ who will come from the first world.

3) Encounter ‘■■■’ who knows the truth of this world.

‘The final Black Gate dimension shifter truth… That block. ‘What is it again?’

All of them were like enigmatic stories.

Among them, the one that was most disturbing was item number 2.

‘Someone is visiting from the first world of Lee Hyun-wook’s first life…’

It meant that someone was visiting from the world of Lee Hyun-wook’s first life.

Unlike Lee Hyun-wook, who ‘returned’ to his past body, he jumped across a dimension to his original body…

‘…this is not good at all. If you are someone who has the power 8 years later, you are on a different level. ‘

I didn’t know who it would be, but I was certain that it would be the worst opponent.

‘And by chance, if that person is a necromancer…’

Lee Hyun-wook slowly closed his eyes while considering all the possibilities.

‘Anyway, even in this disaster , I learned that there is an end.’

It is a world that has been completely distorted by a game that suddenly started one day.

‘So what exactly is this game?’

That was a question that everyone in the world had at least once, and one that still hasn’t been resolved.

Like this, games and systems were still uncharted territory.

‘But people… have completely adapted to it before we know it.’

‘Survival’ was more important than pursuing the truth that could not be solved, and

as a result of the struggle for survival, humanity succeeded in adapting.

In other words, we now simply take this game for granted as a new order.

‘… In other words , ‘I gave up.’

At this moment, Lee Hyun-wook’s goal has been revised:

‘I see the end of this game.’

***

On the third day of crossing Africa, we finally arrived at the ‘appointed location’ at dawn. It

was under a rocky mountain in the grasslands of the border area between Central African Republic and South Sudan.

Four wagons were waiting there.

” Sophie, are they resistance fighters?”

“That’s right. The elite troops were probably there to meet you.”

As he approached, a black man opened his arms in welcome.

“—Ah! Sophie Green Our strong supporter is back!”

“I’m glad we were able to meet Liango safely again!”

The two people hugged each other happily, as if they had known each other for a long time.

“Oh, but Bowie didn’t come? “You two always hang out together, right?”

“That’s because he’s not in a good mood right now…”

The man named Liango said and pointed somewhere.

A large black man got out of one of the wagons, took off his sunglasses and lightly raised his hand.

He seemed to be Bowie, but unlike Liango, he didn’t seem to be very happy with Sophie and the others.

“Ah… are you doing this because we failed to secure the terms of the contract with [Old Peace]?”

“Ha—I’m sorry, Sophie. Such an attitude toward those of you who risk your lives to help us, foreigners…” “

No, I understand. “I made a big fuss and took funds that could have been used for other things.”

The sun was starting to set before we knew it, so the party prepared to camp there.

And during dinner, Sophie sat next to Hyunwook Lee and explained the situation.

“Those two Bertrand brothers are the nephews of the resistance commander, and are in fact second-in-commands. And their older brother, Bowie, insisted on a deal with the Old Peace Guild, so they contacted them through us.”

After a while, Bowie came up and said,

“Sophie, thank you for your kindness in coming back to this dangerous place.”

“I’m sorry for not being able to secure Bowie’s last key fragment. I was blabbering…”

He was silent for a while at that point and then slowly opened his mouth.

“…But it’s okay because we bought some time by intercepting the main weapon of the Ndoz Alliance.”

The words had bones. Still, the fact that I gained time meant that I only gained time.

Reinforcements from the [Old Peace] guild, the fundamental solution to end this civil war… A third party, Lee Hyeon-wook, could also sense that there was resentment for not being able to obtain it.

If I revealed Lee Hyun-wook’s identity here, I might be able to alleviate that resentment.

But right now I couldn’t.

The reason is…

‘There is a traitor among the resistance forces here.’

– Yes, since you didn’t explain the details of the operation, I’m finally finding out what’s going on and contacting you.

The sound of some kind of Mana messenger was coming into his ears.

– All of those doll weapons are here. This is why the Bertrand brothers moved.

– Good job. Your family will be well fed for the rest of your life.

– Ha… thank you!

– The 11th Cavalry Division will be heading there soon, so please report back as soon as they move.

‘Oh, if this goes on, I guess I’ll have to keep wearing a mask for a while…’

But others didn’t seem to notice the inside story at all.

“We are defending the ‘Northern Fortress’, the last fortress, but I don’t know if we can hold out for a month.”

“Oh my… things have gotten worse since we were in India?”

“There were three major battles in the meantime, and we lost all of them, so this is the worst situation.”

The resistance now seemed to be at a dead end

when Bowie pointed to 15 truckloads of puppet weapons and said,

“It’s great that you intercepted Sophie, but we’d better just destroy them.”

The reason was in the same vein as Alberto’s earlier suggestion to bury the doll weapon.

It was a concern that if he kept it with him, it would one day be taken away by the puppeteer.

“Oh, there’s something I forgot to tell you.”

She said that and pointed to Lee Hyun-wook.

“This person here was someone we met in Chennai, and he was able to control the Living Armor. The usurpation of the doll weapon was also possible thanks to this person. And thankfully, he decided to help us.”

Sophie subtly informed Bowie of Lee Hyun-wook’s existence, but did not even mention his name.

He looked at Lee Hyun-wook… and turned his head without saying the usual greeting.

“Sophie, no fire mage or fire elementalist can stand fire in front of Inferno. You can’t show off. Rather, the fire they created only further increases the power of Inferno.”

To put it simply, no matter how hard you try, you can’t deal with a puppet master.

“And you can’t even deal with the ‘Enchantress Twins’ cavalry with only living armor.”

He let out a deep sigh as he said that,

“…148 is the number of ‘Enchant Tanks’ that appeared during the last battle.”

The current enemies, the Ndoz Alliance, had a total of two powerful weapons. The

first of them was the war mercenary ‘Puppet Master’ who had become sick of it. The

second was the wizard twins called the Enchantress Twins.

And, perhaps, the puppets as a resistance force. This would be a much more difficult opponent than the magician.

‘They are a duo of wizard players specializing in enchantments.’

It was a similar ability to the Anyang Duo, but while the Anyang Duo applied high-quality overlapping enchantments to their weapons, they had the style of competing with quantity by applying enchantments to large-scale weapons. ‘In other words, it is a type of wide-area enchantment magic.

‘

The target of its application was mankind’s gunpowder weapons and even armored weapons such as tanks.

Soon, negative sentiments about the enchanted tank began to appear here and there.

“Those tanks with magic shields are truly unstoppable, terrible monsters. no see.”

“I used all my mana to fire a shot of conversion, but it ended with the infinite orbit being cut off.”

“Ha… But when you fire an anti-tank gun, it bounces off the magic shield…”

Armor with a magic shield An enchanted machine gun with a main gun warhead made of dungeon steel…

They are difficult to deal with unless you are a very strong player. It was quite difficult.

“And according to intelligence that came in not long ago, there are 269 tanks in the central hangar alone.”

“The moment the enchantment ends and we go out, even the northern fortress will collapse.”

As such, the resistance’s morale was already completely broken. Their last hope would have been reinforcements from the [Old Peace] guild. But even that went to waste, so I had no choice but to be frustrated.

‘Furthermore, there will be many cases where you have to go over to the other side in order to survive.’

As can be seen from this atmosphere, the resistance movement was destined to fail in the end.

That’s why ‘Sudarsana’ also fell into the hands of the villain after being handed over to the Ndoz Federation.

However, a variable named Lee Hyun-wook entered the flow.

‘I think it’s time for this boring conversation to end?’

Lee Hyun-wook was not listening to their conversation properly.

His senses were now touching the ‘hugin’ of the high sky.

At that moment—

“—it’s an attack!”

Everyone jumped to their feet at the sharp shout that rang out from somewhere.

“Huh? “What does that mean!”

When Liango asked that question, the guard pointed somewhere.

“Tanks are approaching about 9 km from the plains to the northwest!”

“You mean you didn’t know until you got that close?”

“It looks like it was enchanted with wide-area hiding magic!”

“Those bastards… they took out a hidden card as if they had been waiting for it?”

At that moment, Bowie pulled a pistol from his waistband and said,

“…How on earth did they know we were here?”

The muzzle of his gun was pointed at none other than Lee Hyun-wook.

“Hyung! “What are you doing now?”

“Liango, stay still!”

It seems that I misunderstood this.

“…Take off that unknown third person’s mask!”

“Bowie! This is someone you can trust! I guarantee!”

Sophie intervened between the two.

“This man saved us by killing William Tell!”

“…William Tell? Are you saying the eye remover is dead?”

“is it so! “And this person stole that doll weapon all by himself!”

Despite her defense, Bowie’s expression did not change.

“Well, I don’t know because I couldn’t see it with my own eyes…”

“What? “Are you saying you don’t trust me now?”

“You guys have believed in it for a long time, but it hasn’t really helped, right?”

“…Bowie, we fought for you!”

As the situation was intensifying, HPA team leader Alberto stepped in.

“Ha… Hey, a tank is coming. What are you doing now?” If you want to shoot, shoot quickly!”

He was irritable for another reason.

“I knew it would turn out like this! I should have just kept everything and came back…”

He was angry that his wishes had been ignored and so many doll weapons had ended up being taken away.

‘This is soybean powder…’

Everyone here was acting with good intentions, but it was not of one mind.

“Green, this country is finished! I’m going to call the governor and tell him to get out, so pack your bags!”

The HPA members was in a hurry to prepare to flee, and the resistance fighters were unable to do anything.

Kugugugu——

Before I knew it, a ground rumble was approaching from the north.

Dozens of tanks, including enchanted tanks, were coming in. The

searchlights they illuminated turned the northern mound pure white. Soon,

chunks of steel covered in magic would appear beyond the mound.

At that time, Hyunwook Lee opened his mouth.

“Did you say Bowie?”

“I will prove that I am not a traitor…”

Lee Hyun-wook raised his left hand.

And he pointed at someone with his index finger.

He was a member of the resistance group.

“If that is proven, dispose of that man.”

“What do you mean? Tell me so I can understand!”

Lee Hyun-wook smiled brightly as he looked at Bowie, who was feverish.

“People are surprisingly hard to understand. Instead…”

At that moment, Lee Hyun-wook’s body began to rise into the air.

Tick!

Bowie pulled the trigger without realizing it, but the bullet was not fired.

Ugh——

“…It was much easier to believe if you showed it with your eyes. .”

It was then.

Bang——!

“Damn artillery fire!”

Whistling——!

A single whistling sound across the quiet meadow becomes increasingly clear.

Inside the high explosive bomb was an enchanted Dungeon Steel Shrapnel.

In other words, it was a magic weapon that destroyed the surrounding area as soon as it exploded.

“—Blood damage!”

But at that time, didn’t the cannonball bend at a right angle in the air and land in an odd place?

Boom——!

“Huh?”

Bang—bang—bang—bang——!

The enchanted tanks spew fire one after another without any time to guess the reason,

but they all bounce off in all directions as if hit by an invisible wall.

“…Is that person deflecting cannonballs?”

Soon everyone’s eyes turned to Lee Hyeon-wook, who was floating in the sky.

“…What is it?”

The Ndoz Alliance’s Enchanted Tank Corps was an object of fear for the resistance.

‘But for me…’

Lee Hyun-wook raised his left hand as he faced the 24 tanks.

‘…It’s just a slightly larger piece of metal.’

The moment he slowly turns his left hand—

‘Shredding!’

Empty! Empty! Empty! Empty! Empty! Empty!

A series of loud noises sound from ahead.

That was the sound of the ‘caterpillar’ being cut off.

24 enchanted tanks stopped all at once.

A pinch device——!

Then, the sound of something being twisted rings out.

This time, the gun barrel melted and became bent.

And the next moment….

‘The shell inside the tank hits the peony and explodes.’

Kwa-and-and-and-and-gwang——!

In an instant, the northern mound turned red.

Lee Hyun-wook’s body slowly lowered, leaving the gorgeous background behind.

“So, is this enough proven?”

Bowie looked up at Lee Hyun-wook with a clear face.

Lee Hyun-wook said quietly to him,

“…I can end this war.”