Steel-Eating Player - Chapter 174

Episode 174 [Great Gathering, Giant Slalom – 3]

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The reason Lee Hyun-wook was late to participate in the giant slalom was because he wanted to maximize his ‘metal control’. This is because it took some time to pull it up.

He continued to absorb metal all the way to Dresden, while hunting down every titan hoplite in sight.

As a result….

[List of Achievements]

8) Giant Slayer (Level 6)

– Condition: Hunt more than 60 titans.

– Effects: All abilities (+30%) Mana total (+30%) Stun immunity (+40%)

In addition to this achievement, the ‘War Hero’ achievement that applies ‘stack’ was activated, so metal control increased sharply. And just before arriving in Dresden, the metal control succeeded in reaching 100 tons.

Immediately after, he launched the ‘War Box’ into low-Earth orbit and loaded the 100-ton ‘No. 1 Morgley’ into it.

‘Okay, at this level… it is possible to destroy the infamous Deus Phalanx.’

The Deus Phalanx, a phalanx of about a hundred titan hoplites gathered under the command of a named titan, was surrounded by an almost impenetrable magic shield as a passive effect.

And at certain times, it creates a wide-ranging skill named ‘Giant’s Advance’, that is, a powerful earthquake… Its purpose was to collapse obstacles that were difficult for the Deus Phalanx to enter.

‘For example, the city center…’

In other words, Dresden was destined to disappear from the map.

However, Lee Hyun-wook changed that fate.

‘Put a 100-ton giant sword on top of them.’

The simulation had already been run several times in his head, and he concluded that it would work.

‘Just one shot is enough.’

His left hand dropped like a starting signal.

A straight line was drawn from the distant sky all the way to the ground, as if crossing the world.

A 100-ton giant sword slammed into a single point with a large amount of gravitational acceleration, and

the ground in the area liquefied and rose into the air as if a heavy object had fallen on the water.

A sight as if a mountain range was rising…

Qua—ah—ah—ah—ah——!

And everything above it—the titans being torn apart—we caught a glimpse of it through Hugin’s point of view.

In the face of the destructive power that could blow away an entire region, even those giants were nothing more than small leaves swept away by the typhoon.

“That doesn’t make any sense…” Then

,

a strange, indescribable sound filled the whole world. All kinds of explosions, crashes, and vibrations mixed together and went beyond what the hearing can detect. And now

. Even though the northern border of downtown Dresden, where the players gathered here, was about 6-7km away from the crash site, it was not completely out of the impact of the disaster. Ku—gu—gu—gu—gu——I “Gas— The aftermath is coming

.

” !”

“Fuck it, everyone prepare for impact!”

Shock waves, sand storms, waves on the ground, and all kinds of dangerous things mixed together were running towards us, eating away at the grassland.

And on top of it, rocks of inestimable size were soaring… Once it reached a certain height, it soon started pouring down like a meteor shower.

Right this way.

Hoo—woo—woo—woo——

“—Damn it, everyone deploy magic shields!”

In the end, Brian Thiel gave an order, and the wizard unit that had been waiting early stepped forward and cast a large-scale magic shield.

Woowoowoo——

Soon, a multi-layered white dome formed above their heads, blocking the afterstorm.

Tung-tong-tong-tong-tong-—!

Fortunately, it was only a few kilometers away that we were able to block it so narrowly.

“Oh no, what on earth are you hitting on?”

“Is that… the power that one person can exert?”

Voices mixed with admiration and fear came from all over the place. They all looked mesmerized.

“…Mogley was dropped from low orbit.”

It was Brian Thiel who said that.

As a top-tier ‘analyst’ player, he was able to record images of items he had seen once using a skill called ‘database’.

Therefore, even though I could not see the unidentified object that fell from the sky with my eyes, I was able to ‘recognize’ it through some skill.

“—What? Are you talking about that stupid big sword?”

The person who asked that question was Connor O’Neill, the ruler of the sand castle.

He was glaring at Lee Hyun-wook’s back with an expression full of hatred.

“Hmm, aren’t you mistaken? As far as I remember, it wasn’t that strong…”

Actually, I don’t understand. The same thing happened to Brian Thiel.

‘…Yes, as far as I know, no matter how high a Mogley was dropped, it could not have generated such strong destructive power.’

They all knew very well how destructive the item named ‘Mogley’ was.

This is because, as we have been keeping Steelane in check as a rival, we have analyzed his power as much as possible.

And above all, the scene where Mowglei crashed into the Shanghai Orc gathering place was so famous that there was no one who didn’t see it.

But even then, it wasn’t that powerful.

‘At that time… we only managed to break the black dome created by the Black Orc shamans and inflict damage in a certain radius.’

But this time, an area hundreds of times larger than that was literally erased from the map…

‘How on earth could that be? No matter how much it is strengthened, how can it be so large… Otherwise…’

Suddenly, Brian Till turned around and looked at Lee Hyun-wook, who was walking forward.

Even after he had committed the terrible act of wiping out an entire region, he was moving forward alone without any hesitation.

At first glance, he seemed relaxed…

Now that I thought about it, it seemed like the man never once looked anxious. I knew who Brian Thiel was as I looked up almost every video related to him.

‘As if he was always looking ahead… and had insurance just in case…’

Only then did Brian Thiel realize.

‘Ah—were you hiding your true power in the first place?’

These Omega teams were also a team created by gathering the secret weapons hidden by the leaders of EPU’s large guilds.

‘To think that we are the only ones using such deception… is to be deceived ourselves.’

For some reason, he felt devastated.

‘What have I done so far? Ha, you’ve become so ridiculous…’

He felt embarrassed and swept his face with both hands.

As the best analyst player in Europe and as an established player… to be honest, he had a desire to keep the emerging Steele Lane in check. In other words, knowingly or unknowingly, I harbored envy and jealousy towards him.

Therefore, when several large guild leaders contacted him, praising his analytical skills and asking him to take over as team leader for the [Omega Team] project, he thought for a moment and then accepted the offer.

And when Team Omega showed great success in [Titanomachia], they got drunk on the atmosphere and did not hesitate to provoke Steelaine.

Of course, he wasn’t as good as Alexander Chekhov, but he also appeared on TV and mentioned Stillein’s name several times.

I was confident that such a thing could win, and that confidence was based on my own thorough analysis.

‘But I never thought he would have hidden that much power… It was a game that couldn’t be won with strategy in the first place, right?’

I felt like a fool somehow.

***

The whole world was watching that scene.

And the American broadcast program [Kill the Monster], which has the highest viewer ratings in the world today, was also broadcasting this scene live.

– Ah… Mr. Tyrone, how should I interpret this scene? Does this make sense now?

Currently, the broadcast screen of [Kill the Monster] shows Lee Hyun-wook walking towards the grassland that was crushed by ‘Gaia’s feet.’

– Oh, so…

But then—

– Oh! wait a minute! Steele Lane is under attack now!

The opponent was the Titan wizard, a great warrior from the Titan side who had just trampled Alexander Chekhov.

The guy had a stunned expression on his face as he saw all of his colleagues disappear. As soon as he spotted Lee Hyun-wook approaching him, he used a restraint technique called ‘Tartaros Prisoner’s Anger’ on him.

Churrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-—

A purple chain rose from the ground and entangled Lee Hyun-wook’s legs.

– Wow – If he was hit by that, wouldn’t even Alexander Chekhov, who is said to have the greatest strength of all time, be able to escape?

– yes! In fact, it seems to be an absolute restraint technique! And right after that, it is an attack with a truly vicious mechanism that uses an area skill named ‘Gaia’s Feet’ to deliver an unavoidable blow!

Now, the traces of that attack were engraved on the grassland, and the place where Lee Hyun-wook stepped was near the big toe of the giant’s footprints.

Alexander Chekhov, who was hit hard by it, seemed to have fallen deep into the ground.

Maybe it was still breathing, but seeing as it wasn’t coming out yet, it looked like it was so badly damaged that it couldn’t move on its own.

– If this continues, even Steel Rain will be stepped on!

However, in such an emergency situation, Lee Hyun-wook seemed to have no intention of avoiding it.

All he did was stand tall and slightly raise his left hand.

– Uh…

And the next moment, a gust of wind blew…

Chin—

Didn’t Lee Hyun-wook already have the giant sword Moglei in his hand?

– huh?

– Uh…

it seemed to have come from a far away crash site… The titan mage standing in the path of the Mowglai…

split

into two pieces and collapsed with a loud sound. lost.

The world could not help but be shocked once again by that scene.

No matter how much Steelein showed shocking destructive power just before, Alexander Chekhov could not do anything and sent down his opponent with one blow… That may be

natural, but… his power is at a level that cannot be dared to be approached. It was a scene that repeatedly confirmed to the world that we had reached this point.

In response, Tyrone Thompson, a regular panelist on [Kill the Monster] and ranked 5th in the U.S. player rankings, opened his mouth.

– …Now I understand.

– yes?

– You asked me earlier. How should I interpret this situation now?

– Ah yes!

He paused for a moment and then opened his mouth in a solemn voice.

– Steelein is showing off its overwhelming power right now.

– Ah, overwhelming power… Well, at that level, I think it’s more overwhelming than anyone else.

– Yes now it is clear. He…

swallowed dry saliva and opened his mouth again.

– …To be honest, it is the best in the world.

– …….

– And now, I think that they presented such a perfect room to the world out of a desire to avoid unnecessary controversy.

At that time, Kill the Monster’s broadcast magic drone showed a close-up of Steele Lane, and he turned his head to look at the Dresden players and said something.

“—Brian Till Are you going to miss this opportunity?”

At those words, Brian Thiel came to his senses, turned his head, and said to his teammates what was happening.

Then, hundreds of player troops, including Team Omega, who were on standby, began to advance all at once.

Steele Lane was, of course, at the forefront.

– As a member of Team Omega, you can’t help but feel uncomfortable about this situation, right?

– Yes. Since the Omega team has been fiercely competitive with Steele Lane, the picture of him getting a spoon for the meal he prepared cannot be satisfactory.

– Looking at the real-time chat window now… There is a lot of public criticism.

– Well, I don’t think it’s right to criticize Team Omega. They did their best too. But… Stillane just has overwhelming power.

This is how the world truly saw Steele Lane’s true identity.

***

The bloody battle between the two camps expected from the grand title of the Great Battle did not take place.

This is because one camp suffered damage that was close to annihilation from just a single attack that fell from the sky.

And right after dropping Moghlay, Lee Hyun-wook also dropped ‘Balmung’.

‘If you do that, even if you survive the Mowglai’s strike, you will fall into a curse and lose the power to fight.’

So, what the players who advanced towards the huge crater created by Lee Hyun-wook encountered were completely devastated titans, half of whom were already dead and the other half half-dead.

Still, the level 171 boss monster, a titan named ‘Crios’, survived and fought for quite a long time, but eventually fell, having its heart pierced by Lee Hyun-wook’s Moglei.

In this way, Lee Hyun-wook obtained the ‘Victory Flag’, and all players who participated in the war event received a huge buff that temporarily increased all abilities (+10%).

However, compensation payment for [War Quest] was postponed with a system message saying ‘First round completed.’

This meant that Titanomachia was not yet over.

– Alexander Chekhov regains consciousness… Able to return to the front line thanks to the recovery magic of the A-rank priests

– There has been no official announcement since the Battle of Dresden, the Omega Team that was taunting Steele Rain every day

– In the end, Steele Rain! Leaving a crater in Dresden and firmly engraving his position on the world!

That night, Lee Hyun-wook and his group decided to stay for a day at the Players’ Union camp in Dresden.

“But what’s really petty is that no matter how much of a competitor we are, we are also allies… Even though we won so big… Wow, isn’t it too much to have a mourning house atmosphere like that?”

Sehee Kim said while peeking out the window.

Since most of the troops waiting here were members of Team Omega, they were not very happy about this victory, and their expression of sadness was evident.

“Well, [Titanomachia] isn’t over yet, so it’s too early to get into a festive mood.”

Kim Se-hee snorted in response to Lee Hyun-wook’s answer,

“Seriously, don’t criticize me. Don’t you remember how they stood in front of the camera and smiled while criticizing the boss until this morning?”

“Oh well…”

Anyway, [Titanomachia] wasn’t over, and from now on, the third act, the Great War, was scheduled to begin, not the Great Battle… ‘

Now, there are named Titans that everyone has heard of, like Kronos and Atlas. Let’s all come together and do our best.’

They were much stronger than the Krios we faced today.

‘But now things will go well only when Lee Seong-yoon and other Guardian members appear…’

Lee Seong-yoon and his group, the gravity wizard who worked harder than anyone else to stop [Titanomachia], were not even showing their noses.

The reason was that they were still carrying out some ‘hidden quest’ to prevent this disaster.

‘We should be conquering the Tartarus Labyrinth by now.’

Thus, he acquires a Titanomachy limited special weapon called [Power of Hecatoncheires], which is inspired by the gods who made great contributions in defeating the Titans in Greek mythology.

‘But then the Dark Elf Army and the Black Orc King will join… This time, we will not be able to guarantee victory with Hecatoncheires’ power alone.’

Lee Hyun-wook planned to return to Rome at the right time and target the empty houses in the Dark Elf Kingdom, and the second prince was currently waiting in Rome.

‘……If we shake things up from the inside out like that, we will be able to easily win the final war.’

***

Night has already arrived at the Dresden Player Camp.

Since titan hoplites were still frequently discovered throughout Europe, a considerable number of guards were deployed.

In addition, EPU troops were spread out in a radius of several kilometers, and all kinds of reconnaissance planes were lighting up the sky, so humanity’s last hope would not be surprised in the middle of the night.

But Hyunwook couldn’t fall asleep easily. No, I had no intention of closing my eyes in the first place.

This is because he knows better than anyone else that among the many players who seem like allies, there are archenemies lurking.

He placed ‘Hugin’ by the window, launched several ‘Flyeyes’, and then activated the cloaking mode to scout the surroundings.

Then again, I discovered a strange being.

– Dark Elf Shadow Hunter (LV: 89)

‘…As expected, dark elves have infiltrated here as well.’

No matter how well the camouflage was done, it made no sense to infiltrate such an elite unit whose identity checks would have been perfect.

This meant that they were under the protection of someone on the human side.

‘At first glance, they must be villains…’

Lee Hyun-wook moved Hugin so that he landed on the roof of the building the guys had entered.

I tried to listen to their conversation, but strangely, I couldn’t detect even the slightest sound.

‘…Seeing as I can’t even hear footsteps or breathing, I guess they put a silence spell on that building.’

In this case, I had no choice but to go and check in person.

Hyunwook Lee brought out ‘Quinee’.

This deceptive option of maintaining invisibility for a whopping 15 minutes would enable more covert intelligence than any other assassin-type player.

He put on his helmet and slipped into the darkness.

And then he carefully infiltrated the building in question.

‘No matter how much Quiene is used, its presence cannot be hidden, so you must be careful.’

Still, Lee Hyun-wook was able to move while floating in the air, so he was able to minimize his presence by moving without touching anything.

And finally, someone’s voice began to reach his ears, entering the realm of Silence magic.

Hyunwook Lee held his breath and borrowed Hugin’s sense expansion to expand his hearing to the maximum.

Then a woman’s voice was heard.

“…30 minutes from now, the entire Steelein dormitory will explode. ‘Hellfire’ will hit and incineration will burn, so no matter how much he is, he will not survive.”