Steel-Eating Player - Chapter 159

Episode 159 [Slum, Spirit King’s Daughter – 2]

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Two flashes of light in the general store, which is already in shambles. It is moving at high speed with an irregular trajectory.

Sh—sh—sh—sh——!

Following its movement, blood spewed out from all over the store, soaking the ceiling and floor.

“Oops!”

“100 million!”

Jack, who had been glancing out the window inside the warehouse, stood up completely without realizing it and looked out.

‘What… is going on?’

A moment later, when the two arrows were returned to the customer’s hands, there was not a single assailant standing there.

Jerbuk- Jerbuk-

“…Are you the leader?”

When the customer raised his left hand, the body of one of the monsters rose into the air, perhaps through telekinesis.

“Ugh—who are you? “That arrow just now…”

“From now on, the only time you can open your mouth is to answer my questions.”

Blah blah blah——

“Eup—!”

Although it wasn’t visible, something seemed to have blocked the gunman’s mouth.

At that point, Jack grabbed the doorknob and Hannah grabbed his forearm.

“Jack, it’s dangerous…”

“No, it’ll be okay.”

I couldn’t figure out how someone who did such horrible things could be okay…

but

I was certain that the only person I could trust right now was that unidentified customer.

He first approached Uncle Hans, who was lying on the counter.

“Thank goodness it’s all….”

He was still breathing. It seemed like he had suffered a heavy blow and temporarily lost consciousness.

Jack sighed in relief and turned his head to look at his ‘guest’.

“Hey… who are you?”

He had his hat pulled down tightly and he was even wearing a mask, so I couldn’t see his face at all.

“At least you’re not a real customer, right?”

Jack, if nothing else, was quick-witted.

This man came here intentionally.

It felt as if they were coming for these monsters.

But…

“Your friend was kidnapped, right Jack?”

Doesn’t this guy even know his own name?

“How did you do that…”

“Was that friend’s name Jane?”

“…Yes Ma that’s right!”

He nodded and approached Jack.

“Jack…”

Behind him, Hannah pulled his clothes, but Jack instead stepped forward.

“I think I can help you, what do you think?”

“Huh? Well… who are you?”

It was perhaps the most basic question.

But the man—Lee Hyun-wook—was silent for a moment.

***

He pondered.

‘Would it be better to reveal his identity here? No… there’s no need to.’

The best surprise attack occurs when the enemy does not know that Steelaine is here.

Therefore, it was right to block any fear of information being leaked at least once.

Of course, since he repeated many Steelaine-like actions just before, he may be noticed.

‘I guess I don’t know yet.’

If Michael Jordan was playing basketball with his identity hidden on a basketball court in a remote neighborhood, who would think that Michael Jordan had come in person? They would have thought of him as a master imitating a similar style. Today, Hyunwook Lee’s fame has spread throughout the world, but everyone knows him. “ Well

…”

At that time, the girl standing behind her came forward hesitantly.

“Are you… by any chance… the person sent by Jane’s father?”

Lee Hyun-wook wondered what this meant.

“…Jane didn’t talk about herself much, but I heard it while we lived together. He said he left home because of a fight with his strict father. And he said his father was a very high-ranking man.”

“And sometimes she jokingly said that her father might come looking for her…”

Perhaps Jane, the spirit’s daughter, had vaguely explained her situation.

‘As expected, it’s an obvious story. The king told her not to go to the human world and the princess who refused to go…’

If you build a certain level of friendship with the Spirit King’s daughter here, a ‘Hidden Quest’ will later be activated.

‘And this guy here is going to be the performer of that quest.’

Lee Hyun-wook looked at the blonde, thin man in front of him. Jack Hamilton Spirit Guardian….

Although he is not a very strong player, he will be active in scenarios related to the Spirit King in the future.

“So… is this the person Jane’s father sent you?”

Hyunwook Lee neither confirmed nor denied Hanna’s question again.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you the details.”

But the two people seemed to have already reached their own conclusion.

“Woman, Jane was the daughter of a famous guild master, right?”

“For some reason… it seemed like the cute guy wasn’t from around here…”

After talking like that, Jack scratched his head and looked confused.

“But… I don’t know what we can do to help. ”

“That’s right. Actually, I don’t even know who kidnapped Jane.”

The two people spoke with concern, and Lee Hyun-wook nodded knowingly.

“We need your help, but we will need it later, not now. Instead…”

He lifted up the long-haired stranger who was lying on the floor.

There was a gag in his mouth, and the material must have been made of metal, so all his teeth were broken.

“…I don’t need much help from you right now . “I think I need it.”

All we had to do now was find out who was taken where.

And Lee Hyun-wook’s interrogation success rate was 100% so far.

***

A cylindrical water tank was set up in a large space in the dark.

And inside it was a girl with green hair. She was sleeping naked.

“…Does this woman resemble your species?”

The man wearing horn-rimmed glasses licked his lips as he looked at the fascinating naked body.

“No, they don’t have a body to begin with. They just assembled a body after us—”

The person who said that was a woman with dark skin and red eyes, and the

pointy ears sticking out from her long silver hair proved that she was not human.

“ Haha—I know that very well. I am also an elementalist in name and description.”

The dark elf snorted at those words.

“Well, your spirit training skills were so poor that they were of no help.”

“…I feel sad when you say that. “Didn’t we provide that tank as well?”

“Don’t you know? With just your skills, you wouldn’t have been able to catch that precious slave—”

Ugh— The man smiled darkly and began to closely examine the girl in the cylindrical tank.

“Anyway, everything is perfect. Using this pretty girl as bait, the Spirit King “If you provoke them, they will try to cause a tsunami and wipe out Yggdrasil due to the foul-tempered nature of their race. Ugh, I’m looking forward to it.”

Even the dark elf, who had been sharp throughout, smiled strangely at that point.

“At that moment of confusion, our army will open a large-scale portal and land.”

“Yes, that’s the peak moment! Ugh—I’m looking forward to it.”

“And… we must not forget that we own Yggdrasil.”

In their eyes, it seemed like the end of the city of Yggdrasil was already looking good.

***

Rootlet Town In Korean, it can be interpreted as a rootlet village.

It was a self-mocking implication that they were on the outskirts of Yggdrasil.

In the center of the place stood a tall four-story building with a sign that said ‘Shopping Center’.

Hyunwook Lee sat down on a bench in the desolate park in front of him and lifted up the Mana Messenger.

“Team Leader Kim, are you ready?”

– Yes, I’m waiting.

This voice was Sehee Kim. She and Park Jun-mo were now waiting about 1km away.

Immediately after coming to the commercial district with Lee Hyun-wook, Lee Hyun-wook disappeared, saying he had caught something, but the

two people did not panic and were waiting somewhere for Lee Hyun-wook’s instructions.

When Lee Hyun-wook apologized for this, Kim Se-hee snorted, saying, ‘What, once or twice?’

Anyway, Lee Hyun-wook left Jack and Hannah in their care and instructed them on future operations.

“That big building painted green over there is the target.”

On the outside, it looks like a shopping complex, but there was no way something like that could exist in a slum.

Hans, the store owner who had fainted earlier and woke up, told me the identity of Rutlet Shopping Center.

‘…It’s a kind of criminal hub where criminal organizations within Yggdrasil gather.’

The country with the world’s weakest public power, which contains the world’s most valuable city…

its operation was ultimately destined to be controlled by overseas guilds.

And since there was no control from public power, there was no way those bigwigs would shy away from doing dirty work.

However, rather than handling such dirty work themselves, they wanted to hire ‘errand boys’, and

naturally, those who gained power among the poor began to borrow to do the dirty work for a living.

The place where they gathered was that shopping center… a crime hub called [Hive].

And there was a strong possibility that the daughter of the Spirit King Jane was imprisoned there.

“Can you check to see if you can feel the spirit’s energy inside the floor?”

At those words, a rather heavy lump of metal in the backpack wriggled.

“Hmm, let’s see…”

Of course, the Spirit King’s daughter is also a water spirit. And spirits can travel back and forth between the phenomenal world and the material world.

In other words, they are simply physical . Since it cannot be restrained by physical methods, it is necessary to use something called a ‘spirit prison.’

“Yes, I can feel it—he is quite powerful, but he is having a hard time!”

Even though Maru was the calm person among the spirit colony, he became very excited when he heard that voice.

“I know what this is! If you scream at this level… your ‘essence’ is being eaten away!”

Spirit prison was a strange magic that bound the ‘essence’ of spirits that existed in the ‘phenomenal world.

‘ ‘You fall into a kind of despair that cannot be simply described as ‘pain.’

So if you are trapped in it for a long time, you become crazy like a colony of spirits.’

“Uuuu——!”

Maru flinched, as if he was remembering a bad memory, as if he was going to kick out his backpack at any moment.

“Maru, calm down. “We will save that spirit.”

“Hehe, did you all hear that? Just calm down and wait! “Why are you making such a big deal about something that isn’t a big deal?”

Maru scolded the other colonies as if he wasn’t impatient.

However, the guy’s voice was shaking and it seemed like he was very angry.

‘I’m worried that there are elementalists and black elementalists in there…’

Spirits are based on the attributes of nature. And isn’t nature often said to be fickle?

The spirits also had the uncontrollable nature of nature, where they could fly at any time.

That is why spiritists say that the process of building trust with spirits is as difficult as dealing with a child.

‘If you don’t do it patiently, you will have to force it and become a black elementalist.’

That was the reason why Kim Se-hee had no choice but to spend quite a long time getting to know Hani.

‘I’m not an elementalist, so if I make a mistake, Maru may explode again.’

So, it was necessary to pay a lot of attention to prevent the Marui spirit colony from moving around arbitrarily.

“Now, can you eat this and stay quiet until I ask you to?”

What Lee Hyun-wook held out was none other than a grade 1 spirit stone.

– Oh, did you really save this precious thing?

Kim Se-hee and Park Jun-mo had saved it while Lee Hyun-wook was busy moving around.

“Okay, absorb it quickly.”

When I put it in the bag, the floor must have started absorbing it, and a faint light leaked out of the backpack.

Lee Hyun-wook made the metal thinner to block the light and then walked forward.

“Now, we’re entering. Please get ready.”

– Yes, then I’ll try to make a fuss.

Lee Hyun-wook casually walked out and glanced behind him.

Hu—woo—woo—woo——

A gust of wind began to spread from an alley about 50 meters away… and soon a huge tornado appeared. Doesn’t it turn into a wind and sweep across the roughly paved road, coming toward the hive?

“Hey, look, there’s a whirlwind!”

“Wow, this is my first time seeing such a natural phenomenon.”

But strangely enough, inside that wind… it was

a wave!

Blue electric current mixed together, creating a bloody scene.

“…Is that a natural phenomenon? Isn’t that just an attack skill?”

The two large figures standing at the entrance of the hive had no choice but to turn their heads in that direction.

“Ugh—dammit, they’re coming this way!”

“Hey, don’t be scared! You’re getting weaker!”

“…Really? Is this really a natural phenomenon?”

In the meantime, Lee Hyun-wook used ‘Stealth’ with Gyges’ Ring and landed on the roof of the hive. There were

many guards there, but they were distracted by the commotion going on on the ground.

But… there was also a guard in front of the rooftop door. There was. The security staff was somewhat excessive.

‘They probably kidnapped the Spirit King’s daughter and strengthened the security.’

Although I was still in hiding, I couldn’t even hide the sound, so I moved stealthily and hid behind the cooling tower.

“Open the floor here.”

At his words, the concrete on the floor melted like cheese.

Kugugugu——

Just like that, a hole big enough for one person to fit in was created, and Lee Hyun-wook jumped into it.

Chin—

It was in a room with the lights off on the 4th floor. It had a musty smell and seemed like the place had not been used for a long time.

“Okay, can you refill the ceiling?”

“Yes, I also have that much sense, so you don’t have to say anything.”

Soon, the hole in the ceiling narrowed, and the sunlight coming in from outside completely disappeared.

“So that spirit’s scream… means it’s coming from underground?”

“Yes, it’s still a long way down.”

It seemed like I had to go down about 5 or 6 floors more.

At first, they tried to enter the basement by cutting a hole in the floor near the building.

However, the security outside the building was too tight and the ground was too thick.

In other words, there was a risk of being caught because that side generated more mana and noise.

Hyunwook Lee closed his eyes and sensed the moving metal as he took control of the metal downstairs.

‘There are very few people here on the fourth floor, but the downstairs is different.’

In this way, all you had to do was scan first, then drill a hole in a place where there were no people and go down.

‘And before going down, you have to disable the CCTV first.’

CCTV is usually located near the ceiling. Lee Hyun-wook sensed this and damaged the internal board.

“Okay, there’s no CCTV or people directly below.”

Kugugugu——

After hearing those words, Maru created a hole in the floor again and Lee Hyun-wook threw himself in.

“Huh?”

But… right after landing lightly on the third floor, I witnessed an unexpected scene.

A muscular black man and a man I made eye contact with the person, and he was naked.

And behind him was a tattooed white man, also naked.

“What is this guy?” “Where did you suddenly fall from?”

I looked around to see what kind of absurd scene this was, and saw that this was the locker room. And since I can feel a lot of metal moving beyond the wall next to me, does it look like a gym?

“Hey! What are you—”

Sigh——!

At that moment, something fell from the ceiling and struck the black man’s head.

It was a large chunk of concrete, and the black man fell forward.

Then, a rebar was pulled out from the ceiling, bent like a snake, and hit the white man’s neck. “Took it!

”

Wooduk—

Before the guy had time to resist, the bloody sound of his cervical spine being broken was heard.

Maru had taken care of it right away before Hyunwook Lee could react.

“What! I said I had this much sense, right?”

“Okay, good job.”

“Tsk—you’re the kind of person who can’t give compliments…”

Lee Hyun-wook crumpled them into the locker room and went down one floor again. As expected, it was in some room.

what? 3rd Floor? Yes, security team 1 is on its way now.”

Judging by the commotion coming from outside the door, it seemed like they had noticed that the CCTV was broken and were checking it.

But no one would have thought that they would infiltrate in this way.

“There’s someone down here and the room next door is empty. Could you please take down the wall?”

In this way, I chose a place with no people and finally reached the first floor.

“I’m almost there! It’s right downstairs!”

But I couldn’t just go down here.

If I had succeeded in kidnapping the daughter of the Spirit King, many dark elf elementalists would have been there. ‘And especially, if you deal with a forest elementalist in a narrow space, you will be caught in an instant.

‘

Lee Hyun-wook knew well the fighting style of the tribe called ‘Forest Spiritists.’

They use as their main weapon the seeds that grow naturally in the ‘Green Hell’, an erosion area in Berlin. They sow them and cause ‘rapid growth’ to the forest spirits. When given a command, the seeds ignite in an instant and a man-eating plant blooms.

Among them, the ‘vine’ type was so tough that it was difficult to cut it unless it was a Mogley.

‘And that kind of tree attribute is the most difficult to deal with with a metal attribute.’

Therefore, the answer was to fall right on top of the spirit prison where the spirit king’s daughter was imprisoned and snatch her up.

‘Don’t wait too long and escape right away.’

Even if a battle were to take place, in order to avoid the vines, an open field had to be used as the battlefield.

“…I think I should fall right on top of it. Where exactly is it?”

“Um… not here. You have to cross at least two walls.”

It was a wall, and there was a lot of metal moving on the other side of that wall.

“If you go out into the hallway from here, the alarm might go off… .”

Lee Hyun-wook summoned AD-2 from his right wrist and took out ‘Black Rhino’ from within it.

“I need to break through these two walls right away.”

“Then, can we just destroy this wall, then the next wall, and then destroy the floor?”

Lee Hyun-wook nodded after thinking about it.

“Okay, let’s go quickly.”

Kugugugu——

Soon the wall in front of me collapsed like a sand castle.

“Uh—what happened all of a sudden!”

Lee Hyun-wook pushed through the dust and climbed over the collapsed wall.

And then I made eye contact with the people across from me.

“huh?”

There was a large table in a dark room.

In front of him, two men were exchanging something while facing each other.

– Player (LV：57)

– Player (LV：66)

“It looks like some big names were making a bad deal?”

This place was a hotbed of crime. There was no way that conversation could be healthy in such a dark room.

“What is this—boo—”

One of the large men standing at the entrance stepped forward, but his throat was immediately pierced by a silver flash.

“Damn it—”

Only then did the eight criminals present twist their bodies and pull out their weapons, as if they had realized the situation.

However, Hyunwook Lee was much faster. He pulled the Black Rhino’s pump and fired it toward the table.

Kwa—ang——!

The two nameless, defenseless giants were thrown out and crashed into the wall.

The guys standing around took out their enchanted guns, but…

“Oh, this is—”

Instead of firing, the guns disintegrated and scattered in all directions.

“Open the floor—!”

A commotion of this magnitude would be noticed by those below, so a quick resolution was needed.

Qua—and—and—and—and——!

Immediately after, the ceiling, walls, and floor merged into one, swallowing five or six people at the same time.

Lee Hyun-wook ran forward, pulling the pump of the Black Rhino, and climbed over the wall again.

The moment I finally landed on the floor at the target point, I felt the floor rippling like water.

“Get ready now!”

At that moment, the floor began to sink and his body began to fall under gravity.

Siiii—

Lee Hyun-wook took out three ‘Fly Eyes’ from inside AD-2 and activated ‘Night Vision’.

‘—If you hesitate even a little, you will end up entangled in man-eating vines!’

In the field of view secured with night vision, I could see many people on the fairly spacious first basement floor looking up at the ceiling in horror. There were as many as thirty players and dark elves mixed together.

And in the center, I saw a large cylindrical water tank. There was a girl inside it.

“That’s the spirit prison!”

However, the unidentified capsule was protected by mana thread. That is, there was no contact.

Lee Hyun-wook aimed the Black Rhino towards that place and fired a ‘destruction spray’.

Qua—and—and—and—and——!

With an explosion, five magic circles bloomed and all the shells poured out.

‘Damn it—’

But the mana shield did not break and the enemies began to respond.

“Get that guy—!”

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssss2s22s20t200b200b\u200b–

A moglai protruded from the sub-space of AD-2 behind Lee Hyun-wook.

He pushed his body towards the tank, grabbed the moglais and swung with all his might.

T-t-t–!

Finally, thick. The thick mana shield was torn off.

At that moment, a black magic arrow was lodged in his side.

This level of damage was okay. But…

– Dark Elf Forest Elementalist (LV: 67)

Those were quite a big problem. .Sure enough, they scattered the seeds widely.

‘Damn, if you get tangled up in that, it’s the end.’

“I’ll knock it out!”

The concrete fragments from the collapsing floor were exploded and scattered like a shotgun.

The seeds that were flying in the barrage were swept away and bounced far away.

“How do you have good sense?”

Meanwhile, Lee Hyun-wook was inside the capsule. He hugged Jane and soared into the sky.

“No——!”

Leaving behind someone’s screams, Lee Hyun-wook escaped to the first floor and threw himself out the window.

“Huh—now…”

Lee Hyun-wook rolled on the floor, stood up, and lifted his body into the air while holding Jane.

Then he stretched out his left hand toward the building.

“…I’m going to tear down this entire dirty building.”

Immediately after, Maru peeled off the concrete of the building and Hyunwook Lee crushed the H beam inside.