Steel-Eating Player - Chapter 202

Episode 202 [Battle of the Demon King’s Castle – 1]

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In the distance, there was a huge mountain range that stood like the background of the world. It was sinking in vain.

Coo—gu—gu—gu——!

The whitish dust rising there rose like a wave and swept across the red meadow, coming towards us.

And as the area turned into a volcanic area after the first wave, the magma flowing underground was exposed to oxygen, and large explosive mushroom clouds bloomed one after another.

Bang—— Bang——

This would have shaken the ‘Demon King’s Castle’, which was being built somewhere deep underground, to its core, and would have been a great stimulus to the Devil King.

‘…Of course, this alone cannot hit the Demon King’s Castle.’

Even though as many as four Moglays were struck, the Ancient Red Drake’s underground city would not have completely collapsed.

Wasn’t it assumed that the reason they wanted to build the Demon King’s Castle there in the first place was because they could avoid Lee Hyun-wook’s fall from the Moglei?

‘But we won’t be able to stop it forever.’

However, the Demon King would have known very well that the Mowlay drop might not end with this one shot, and that there was no tree that wouldn’t fall after ten shots.

In other words, if Lee Hyun-wook is left alone, no matter how big the mountain is, he will turn it into dust and crush everything underneath it… ‘…

so he will have no choice but to climb out.’

Lee Hyun-wook planned to hit the bees that came out of the hive. That would be a much more advantageous fight.

“Now, I think we can start setting up camp.”

Team leader Lee Gyo-jun, who was standing next to Lee Hyun-wook’s words, issued an order to the entire fleet through Mana Messenger. Then, two of the 19 airships broke away from the formation and lowered their altitude.

-Chik—The foundation stone installation operation begins.

Team 1, which landed first, installed a ‘mana shield’ to ensure basic safety, and then the priests of Team 2, who landed next, placed a number of ‘relics’ and started up.

Hung——

Then the divine power spread out gently, removing the power of death that was coloring this area.

-Chik—The first work is finished and the second work begins.

Next, a group of engineers moved around, pulled out rolled up iron fences from subspace, and began to surround the edge of the camp site.

As the airship landed there and began unloading the vehicles and supplies it was carrying, it took on the appearance of a garrison for armed troops to some extent.

– Now, blacksmiths will be brought in to carry out additional work.

And even the dwarves and blacksmiths of Laputa stepped forward to install hextech automatic turrets and placed giant soldiers equipped with artificial intelligence in alert mode.

There were also several large weapons prepared just for this day.

That wasn’t all.

– Chic— The dark elf elementalists are also ready.

Then, as the elementalists in the dark elf forest scattered seeds and granted mana, a green wave grew around the camp, forming a large barrier.

In this way, Hyunwook Lee mobilized everything he could to maximize the camp environment in a short period of time.

‘Laputa will come soon, but we don’t know how long this battle will last, so we need to be thoroughly prepared.’

And a well-established base fortress would be a great support in battle. Even if we are pushed back significantly, it will be a fortress where we can stage a sit-in protest and a supply depot where we can easily receive additional support.

When the camp creation work had been going on for about 30 minutes, Team Leader Lee Kyo-jun came up next to me again.

“Now that the dust seems to have settled on the target location, we will deploy a ‘special reconnaissance team’ to search for the entrance to the Demon King’s Castle.”

The ‘Special Reconnaissance Team’ of the Black Tiger Unit, made up of a total of 24 assassination players, had infiltrated this area long before the Steel Fleet arrived. Based on skills appropriate for infiltration such as stealth and expanded senses, they even equipped all kinds of magical engineering items

. They would demonstrate a clearer infiltration ability than anyone else they had been supplied with.

Also, Warrant Officer Cheon Myeong-ho was leading them. He would have done a better job than anyone else in infiltration operations.

And…

“The first round of reinforcements are said to be arriving now.”

Before coming here, Hyunwook Lee requested support from several influential players from around the world.

In Lee Hyun-wook’s judgment, they were players he could trust and have his back on, and they readily responded to Lee Hyun-wook’s call and gathered together in one place.

“Then, in 10 minutes, we will open the Wight Hall and welcome the first reinforcements.”

“Yes, please do so.”

With this, an expeditionary force was planned to be prepared to attack the Demon King.

Of course, the true completion of the expedition would require the troops in New York and North Korea to join in.

***

Woowoowoo——

A thick beam of light rose into the sky. It was transformed into a ring shape. Then, the inside of the ring distorted and a huge portal opened.

Dududududu——

Dozens of helicopters lined up from there and landed one by one on the runway on one side of the camp.

And then Brian Thiel Edward Woodsko Like Koshiro Do, faces I have met several times in my life appeared, and other than that…

‘…Ailey Home, representing Canada, Josh Chang, the guardian of Taylor Port Singapore, known as the shield of the United States, are people I know well. ‘

Although they had never met in this life, they were the ones who fought against the necromancer with Lee Hyun-wook in the past life, so they could be trusted without much verification.

“Thank you for responding to my request.”

Lee Hyun-wook shook hands with each of them one by one and greeted them with the utmost sincerity.

Among them, Edward Woods and Kodo Koshiro had a relationship that went beyond competing with each other and even made them blush.

And Kodo Koshiro, whom Lee Hyun-wook knew, was also a person who regarded this game as amusement rather than a disaster.

But for now, it was necessary to make them allies. The firepower of S-class players was too much to ignore in these war events.

After a while they all gathered in the operations tent.

“…Soon the devil’s legions will pour out to stop us. And as you already know, Titan, Black Orc, Ice Troll, Ancient Red Drake, etc. are under the Demon King’s command.”

Hyunwook Lee said.

In response, Edward Woods slightly raised his hand with a worried expression.

“But what if I don’t come out and hold on?”

He turned his head and continued talking, pointing to the volcanic landscape outside the window.

“I came here four years ago while participating in the California recovery operation. And, shamefully, I was taken hostage and witnessed their underground city. That place… is much more solid than we thought.”

Four years ago, heroes from all over the world set out to restore California, which had been eroded by the first wave. At that

time, it suffered a defeat so great that 30 of the world’s top 100 seats were said to have disappeared, and even to this day, no attempt has been made to conquer it.

That’s how much more powerful the Ancient Red Drake was than any other monster that had appeared so far.

And Edward Woods expressed his worry, unable to hide his worry, as if the memory of that time had been engraved deep in his bones.

“…So, in most cases, there was a sit-in protest there. “We will try to do this, and it will be difficult in many ways to hit it because magma is flowing in various places.”

However, Lee Hyun-wook resolved his concerns very simply:

“Then I will repeatedly drop Moglay on that mountain.”

“Ah…”

“And actually, we already tried it once a few hours ago, but if we continue this, the entrance we can enter may disappear, so we are in the process of not doing so.”

It was the strongest pressure that only Lee Hyun-wook could apply.

At those words, Brian Till nodded.

“…Well, if you hit an ant hole with a pickaxe, it’s impossible not to come out in the end.”

And soon the swarm of ants started popping out… Team leader Kyo-Jun Lee’s voice came out through Hyun-wook Lee’s mana messenger. – Chick

– The enemies were captured.

After a while, Team Leader Gyo-Jun Lee came into the operation tent and operated the tablet PC. Then, the crystal projector linked to it activated and a hologram appeared.

It was an intelligence video sent from a ‘special reconnaissance team’ that had infiltrated close to the enemy lines. Soon, a man’s voice and a ruined side of a mountain appeared before my eyes.

– Those are… Ancient Red Drakes.

Some movement was detected here and there on the slopes of the mountain that collapsed due to Lee Hyun-wook’s Mogley drop.

Giant monsters measuring about 15 to 20 meters in size with dark red scales and amber eyes. They were shining and crawling out onto the ground.

Grrrr— –

The number was twenty-three, thirty-five and fifty… no, they were coming out constantly.

Team leader Lee Gyo-jun then relayed the analysis table from the military satellite and said that the number was a whopping 1,241.

That’s what he said . The players could not hide their bewilderment:

“Oh my god… how can there be so many?”

“If that’s the case, it seems like it’s more than it was four years ago.”

“…I see. It looks like they have been breeding quite a bit.”

It was natural for them to be so surprised. That number of Ancient Red Drakes was enough to overthrow most countries… no, continents.

And they all remember the complete defeat of humanity four years ago, and some of them Since they were the ones who had personally experienced that defeat, it was not unreasonable to say that the trauma would recur.

However, only Lee Hyun-wook remained calm.

‘Yes, I thought they would appear first.’

That’s because it was just as Lee Hyun-wook expected. As this is the land of the Ancient Red Drake, they could become the most powerful force in this volcanic terrain. They are also the most numerous monsters, so it is a perfect weapon for the Demon King to kill time

. ‘But no matter what, the fact that you’re trying to waste time by

consuming troops so boldly… does that mean that the construction of the Demon King’s Castle is that desperate?’

All of the Devil’s operations so far have been focused solely on the completion of the Devil’s Castle. In other words,

once the construction of the Devil’s Castle is completed, it can be expected that a situation will be greatly advantageous to the Devil.

This is through the creation of random gates called ‘evil proliferation’. Lee Hyun-wook predicted that this would not only expand the military, but also greatly strengthen the power of the Demon King itself, like a kind of ‘zone.’ In other words, the

best thing to do is to attack as quickly as possible and deal with him before the Demon King’s castle is built.’

Lee Hyun-wook looked at Lee Kyo-jun.

“Team leader Lee, please mark the place where those crawled out. That point would be the entrance to the underground city.”

“Well, that means it’s the entrance to the Demon King’s Castle, right? We’ll have to hit that place as quickly as possible.”

Lee Hyun-wook nodded, and after Lee Kyo-jun gave someone an order, analysis data was sent to the tablet PC held by team leader Lee Kyo-jun in just 20 seconds. He displayed it as a hologram. A white circle was displayed on the satellite map of the

mountain

. “Uh… As of now ,

there are a total of 4 confirmed. And the distance between each point is quite long, so it’s hard to tell if they all lead to a single tunnel.”

“then… “It may be a bit risky, but could you ask the special reconnaissance team to check in detail?”

After defeating the Ancient Red Drakes that were coming out, they would eventually have to enter the Demon King’s Castle directly.

At that time, if you take the wrong route and get confused, it could be a big loss, so it was necessary to check in advance the shortest distance to reach the Demon King’s Castle.

“Yes, I will tell you to enter carefully.”

Afterwards, they went out of the operation tent and looked at the Ancient Red Drakes coming this way.

Gu—gu—gu—gu——!

The earth shook loudly because those huge creatures were coming this way.

When they were far away, they were cavalry . seemed to be approaching, but as it got a little closer, it seemed like a tank unit was approaching.

“What are you doing? They’re getting closer quickly, so move quickly—”

“All wizards, prepare a large-scale, wide-area spell!”

The entire force fired up all weapons and prepared for defense.

Lee Hyun-wook also synchronized with the war box floating in low-orbit orbit and aimed overhead.

‘We haven’t placed the Mogley yet, but we still loaded a few high-mass warheads. ‘I left it.’

However, the Ancient Red Drakes gradually widened the distance between each other and formed a fan-shaped formation.

‘This is a move to minimize damage, being aware of my low-orbit Mogley drop attack.’

But…

“Uh… they stopped.”

They stopped about 1km away from the ‘camp’. Then, didn’t only five of them break away and come towards us?

“Oh, what are you trying to do with that?”

“Hmm… maybe we should talk?”

And those five Ancient Red Drakes even polymorphed into human form as they came this way.

In other words, there was a hint of the will of the commanders of both sides to meet in the middle and have a conversation, as if in the Middle Ages.

To put it another way, you could do it like this.

“…You’re trying to waste time.”

Rather than just confronting each other and engaging in battle, you will be able to save a lot more time by making contact, talking, and creating a battle of nerves.

Lee Hyun-wook noticed such obvious intentions.

In that case, the answer would be not to respond, but…

“…Let’s go for now.”

Woo Seong-moon and Lee Kyo-jun looked surprised at Lee Hyun-wook’s words.

“Yes? “Didn’t you say it was urgent at 1 o’clock?”

“That’s true, but I have something to check.”

The reason Lee Hyun-wook made that decision was because as a result of observing them with Hugin and Munin and checking detailed information with Insight Lens… there was one thing that stood out. – Ancient Red Drake (LV：134) * Affiliate of the

Demon

King

This information was obvious at the moment,

but sometimes it was mixed with slightly different information…

– Ancient Red Drake (LV：141)

* Application of the Demon King’s Colonial Potential Spell ‘Explosion’

In this way, the additional information for each entity is ‘Demon King’s’. It was divided into ‘subjects’ and ‘demon king’s colonies’. And the difference was clear, but only the latter was shackled with latent spells. ‘In other words,

not all of them are loyal to the demon king yet.’

Until now, many monsters have been subjugated to the Demon King.

But wasn’t the Ancient Red Drake colonized by the Demon King while he was living well in this land? ‘That’s

why some were loyal to the Demon King, but others did not submit.’

And until now, large groups of monsters born in wave erosion areas have always been divided into several factions.

‘As far as I know, this has been the case in all cases.’

First of all, in the case of the Dark Elf Kingdom, it was originally friendly to humanity, but turned hostile towards humanity due to an internal rebellion.

And in the case of the Black Orc Kingdom, there was the opposite case, as the forces opposing King Stonox contacted the Guardian and launched a plan to assassinate the king. Also ,

in the ‘Cult of Death’, which was born in the eroded area of Seoul in the 4th wave, which was not created in modern life, there was a unique NPC called Lich, who harbored a sense of guilt, and helped to restore Seoul. The complexities within one race are like this

. And the subtle conflict elements seemed to have been placed intentionally for the sake of strategy as a game.

The same was true for the Ancient Red Drake group here…

‘…If I do this, I might be able to get a guide and additional troops. .’