Steel-Eating Player - Chapter 21

21. Seoul Station, Unlucky Event – 3

—————————

Hangang-daero in front of Seoul Station.

At this moment, there was not a single car on the 10-lane round trip.

This was because it was fully controlled by AMT immediately after the gate occurred inside Seoul Station.

Du-du-du-du-du-

However, the sky was more noisy than usual.

There were a lot of broadcasting station helicopters and drones floating around, and the sound of their rotors echoed loudly in all directions, making the air near Seoul Station tremble.

At that time, military trucks began to line up along the empty road.

“······The troops of the 1st Battalion are coming!”

They were troops from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Port Horse Brigade, AMT unit stationed in Namsan.

“Move quickly! run! run!”

The trucks stopped along the road, and the dismounted troops lined up in the station square.

A total of 186 people from the 1st Battalion were all gathered in one place.

“shit! Get rid of that helicopter! I’m going to die of noise!”

A swarthy-faced man shouted like that and walked towards Seoul Station.

It was Major Moon Tae-ho, the ‘wide area magic control officer’ of the 1st Battalion.

He frowned and raised his head.

“It must be crazy to have an unlock event at Seoul Station…”

The black dome covered part of Seoul Station like a huge lid.

And what a number is floating on the surface…

– 05:41:11

It was a clock, no, it was a countdown.

“Loyalty! “Controller, will you summon the wizards to prepare siege magic?”

Captain Kwak Yong-jun, the 1st company commander, asked as he ran over.

To put it simply, siege magic meant large-scale magic that had to be cast simultaneously by multiple wizards, and in AMT, an expert called a ‘wide area magic controller’ controlled the entire process.

“No, I can’t break that one. It’s not magic, it’s a rule created by the system, so unless you overturn the system… you have no choice but to wait for the time to pass.”

Today’s world is governed by the rules of the ‘game’.

However, it is the ‘system’ that controls the game above that.

How can humanity, which cannot even control games, challenge the realm of the system? Major Moon Tae-ho clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Suddenly, helplessness welled up.

“······Then, do we have no choice but to enter with people who are at the right level?”

Captain Kwak Yong-jun asked anxiously.

It was estimated that about 800 civilians were isolated inside.

However, the way to get inside was limited unless the dome was broken.

No, there was only one thing.

Follow the entry level restrictions according to the rules.

‘The rules for entry are below level 15…’

To put it simply, it meant that we had to form a rescue team made up entirely of youngsters.

“······That’s not something I can decide.”

Major Moon Tae-ho knew very well that such a rescue team might become a suicide commando.

It was then.

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-

A helicopter landed at the station square.

And from there, Lieutenant Colonel Kim Kang-seok, the battalion commander wearing sunglasses, got out.

“Loyalty!”

Battalion staff lined up in front of him.

Kim Kang-seok took off his sunglasses and nodded.

“1st Company Commander, 2nd Company Commander, how many troops are below level 15 that can enter the dome? Please tell me as much as possible.”

Kim Kang-seok was also considering the only way.

“yes! The 1st company has a total of 10 people!”

“The 2nd company… there are 8 people!”

“······.”

As the two company commanders reported, the battalion commander’s face darkened.

There were only 18 people in total from the two combat companies, and since most of the headquarters company consisted of non-combat players, it was safe to say that there were virtually no combat troops.

“How many people are there in the Cheonghwa Guild?”

At Kim Kang-seok’s words, a plainclothes man standing nearby came forward.

He was Deputy Director Lee Jun-yeol of [Cheonghwa], the private guild in charge of this region.

“We are the youngest and we are virtually non-existent. “There is no need to have a large number of players below level 15 in the guild unless they are promising players… But honestly, wouldn’t it be too risky to ask our youngest to go in there alone in many ways?”

As such, among players trained to perform ‘versus monster battles’, the proportion of those below level 15 was bound to not be very high.

This is a game. Therefore, if you experience actual combat, your level will automatically rise, and you can build up to level 15 in your first year of AMT experience.

“I hurriedly applied here and there with troops below level 15… but it seems like it will take time.”

The captain-level support manager reported, and

Kim Kang-seok nodded and looked back at the operations manager.

“Operations Manager, first prepare all players level 15 or lower in each battalion.”

“······Are we going to push ahead with the rescue operation?”

“That’s right. “How many lives are inside, so does it make sense to take care of our own first?”

Saying that, Kim Kang-seok looked at Lee Jun-yeol, the deputy head of the Cheonghwa Guild.

“······.”

Lee Jun-yeol groaned and looked away.

The Cheonghwa guild was supposed to have stronger power than AMT, but it was unable to demonstrate its power in this strange variable situation.

“yes! Then, we will summon the relevant troops immediately!”

After a while, troops below level 15 gathered.

Of course, most of both the 1st and 2nd companies were members of the ‘support squad’ who lacked combat experience.

In particular, in the 5th squad of the 1st company, even the most senior person, Ahn Min-tae, was only level 15 and virtually all of them were gathered together.

However, there was only one executive involved.

He was Lieutenant Lee Hee-min, the 2nd platoon leader of the 1st Company,

and he was also just level 15.

“I appoint 2nd Platoon Commander, Lieutenant Lee Hee-min, as the field commander of the immigration operation.”

He was a C-class player despite his low level.

The reason was simple.

It was because his player trait, ‘Tracker’, was a skill that was highly regarded.

As such, the ‘player level’ was not determined by the system.

“2nd Platoon Commander, Lieutenant Lee Hee-min.”

Kim Kang-seok approached him and called his official name.

“yes! 2nd platoon leader! “I’m waiting for orders!”

Kim Kang-seok’s left eyebrow twitched slightly when he saw Lee Hee-min looking a bit overly nervous.

“Keep calm. The lives of about 800 people are at the end of the 2nd platoon leader’s gun.”

“······.”

“Oh, and I heard that two soldiers under the platoon leader are inside Seoul Station.”

“yes! you’re right!”

They were Vice Platoon Commander Choi Seon-ah and 5th Squad Leader Lee Hyun-wook from the 2nd Platoon.

“If we successfully join them, it will be of great help.”

“Ah… Yes! All right!”

Kim Kang-seok did not hide his high evaluation of Lee Hyun-wook.

Lee Hee-min was honestly in a shocked mood, but that emotion could be seen on his face at first glance.

When Kim Kang-seok gestured, two soldiers came carrying a duffel bag.

It contained the weapons of Lee Hyeon-wook and Choi Seon-ah.

“And one more command.”

“yes!”

“Please actively accept Corporal Lee Hyun-wook’s opinion.”

***

The reception room on the 3rd floor of Seoul Station KTX/regular train was in the form of a terrace overlooking the reception room on the 2nd floor.

There was a passage leading to the department store inside, but it was blocked by the ‘dome’.

The survivors were gathered as far inside as possible, near the Seoul Station food court.

“The gate is open on the 2nd floor, so we have to stop the monsters from going up here to the 3rd floor.”

The station security team leader said.

It was a simple but difficult command.

But it was also the only way.

At his words, Lee Hyun-wook nodded and added.

“The side of the staircase escalator needs to be sealed off. And soon the second eruption will begin.”

“Brit- The second eruption would have come out several times more than the first eruption….”

The station guards struggled with only two venomous armored spiders.

However, the second and third eruptions would erupt in volumes at least three or four times that amount.

“······.”

No one opened their mouths, but in reality, the atmosphere was like a funeral home.

Meanwhile, one fortunate thing was that there were a few ‘players’ among the citizens isolated here.

but······.

“I am a C-rank tier 4 warrior type, but I cannot fight because I do not have a weapon.”

“I’m also a marksman, but without a weapon, I’m practically a normal person.”

“I’m an appraiser, so combat is a bit…”

A warrior without a weapon, a gunner, and an appraiser who was a non-combat type…

it wasn’t that great of a force.

“Would you like to use this?”

One of the guards pulled a dagger from his belt and held it out to the warrior player.

“This isn’t just an enchantment, it’s made of magic metal.”

“Tsk, I usually use a greatsword, but it’s a dagger… Anyway, it’s better than nothing.”

However, it made no sense to deal with a huge monster like the ‘Venomous Armor Spider’ with it.

“When I was fighting earlier, it seemed that physical attacks almost didn’t work. The magic worked…”

What they saw was correct.

The poisonous armor spider was an object with very high ‘physical damage defense’.

“That’s right, so I guess I’ll have to focus my magic attack on one part of its shell, destroy the shell, and then focus my physical attack on that point, um…”

“Then, when you look at their bodies over there, the part with the thinnest skin appears to be the tail end. I think focusing your attack there would have the highest chance of success.”

They began to plan their own strategy.

This was the reason why anti-monster tactics were called ‘raids’. If you face a powerful monster, you are bound to lose.

The best strategy a player could use was to understand the characteristics of the monsters he was dealing with, find their weaknesses, come up with a ‘strategy’, and practice it repeatedly.

“Actually, it would be nice if this corporal over there could take care of everything, but that would be impossible.”

But in the end, they were all glancing at Lee Hyun-wook.

The only hope was that he had the power to break through metal armor.

However, Lee Hyun-wook’s interest lay elsewhere.

He was standing on the third floor terrace and looking at the open gate on the second floor.

‘As far as I know, there was not a single gate open here.’

It was the fact that two gates were open in this space.

However, no one knew about it, and the damage was greater because it was a ‘development’ that Lee Hyun-wook, who had already experienced this incident once, knew.

‘The ones who know this now are me and…’

Hyunwook Lee closed his eyes.

And then I looked at the metal in the area.

A piece of metal, or rather a metal part that someone would have on their body, was leaving the third floor terrace and going down to the second floor.

It was a very suspicious move.

‘······ Villain.’

Lee Hyun-wook had already noticed that a villain was involved here and was keeping a close eye on him.

A while ago, while Seoul Station security was responding to the gate, he mingled with the citizens and identified the villain.

Everyone was panicking and heading towards the entrance, but it wasn’t that difficult to guess that the only man who turned his head and was acting suspiciously, snooping around here and there, was a ‘villain’.

And that same man is now going somewhere on the second floor.

“Corporal Lee Hyun-wook, is there something down there? “I keep watching it…”

Choi Seon-ah approached and asked.

“Yes, there is.”

“······uh? “Are you a separate person?”

Lee Hyun-wook shook his head silently. Then he looked at the guard captain.

“Security captain, come here for a moment…”

“Ah yes.”

The two were ten meters away from the citizens.

“What’s going on?”

“This is very bad news.”

The guard captain swallowed dry saliva.

“I think there’s one more gate here in the dome.”

“······yes? Are you saying the double gate is open?”

Double gate literally means two gates opening at the same time in one place.

“Yes, I saw a completely different monster. “It disappeared over there, so maybe I should check it out.”

The double gate was true, but it was of course a lie to say that I had seen it in person.

It was just to get out of this place for a while.

“Ah… will you be okay by yourself?”

“I will just check. And if there is a problem here, I will immediately rush over and fight with you, so please take good care of me here until then.”

“of course. Don’t worry about that. Still, I am a station guard in name and name, so I have to do my duty.”

Hyunwook Lee nodded and went down the stairs.

***

Yang Joo-seop was wandering around the empty shopping mall on the second floor of Seoul Station.

“Fuck! “Where the hell are you!”

I knew in advance through a system message that a double gate would open here, but I didn’t know its exact location.

And no matter how much of a villain he is, he is still human.

There was no way I was comfortable walking alone in such an eerie atmosphere.

– Monsters in the ‘Unlucky Event’ area will not attack you.

Still, this one line of message made him move forward.

“Well, if you just do this quest, you’ll be promoted to a regular villain, so just be patient.”

Quests are an essential element that presents the goals of MMORPG games.

However, in the case of this game, receiving ‘quests’ was limited to very special cases.

And ‘Villain’ was one of those cases.

[Hidden Quest]

– It will bloom as a small darkness sprouting outside of sight…

1) Buy time until the ‘Venomous Armored Spider’ at Gate 1 builds a ‘nest’ inside Seoul Station. (Failure!)

2) Massacre more than 500 ‘civilians’ by any means necessary. (In progress)

3) Deliver the items received from Gate 2’s elite monster ‘Evil Seeker 11’ to the ‘Villain Alliance’. (In progress)

* Reward: Promotion (Official Villain)

A truly bloody quest message appeared before Yang Joo-seop’s eyes.

Even though number 1 had already been judged a ‘failure’, number 3 was what he valued.

‘If you achieve number 3, you can finally encounter other villains!’

Until now, I have carried out quests alone as a lone wolf, but it will not be long before I meet older villains who have gone before me.

The true rulers who are gradually increasing in power from the darkness of this world…

Yang Joo-seop smirked as he imagined them.

“Oh, this way!”

I caught a glimpse of a purple shimmer inside a franchise hamburger restaurant.

The distinctive light coming from the gate was evident.

He caught his breath and entered it.

however······.

“······huh?”

A skeleton was crushed under a table inside the store.

It was clearly the monster that came out of Gate 2 that he was looking for.

“huh? what? “There is no reason to die…”

He took out a special weapon, a wand, from his waist.

Then I took a breath again and slowly walked inside.

There was a purple gate open in the spacious kitchen

.

Wow –

it was noticeably smaller than the gate that opened on the second floor of the reception room.

It had to be that way. The level of the dungeon was low to begin with, and the gate was opened for a ‘villain quest’ rather than to attack the human world.

However, there were a lot of bone fragments scattered around it.

“uh? “What the fuck…”

Yang Joo-seop realized that it was not just a piece of bone.

The elite monster that came out of that gate

was clearly a skeleton-type elite monster that was supposed to come into contact with Yang Joo-seop on the ‘Evil Seeker 11’ villain quest.

However, that existence was literally ‘hunted’ by someone.

“······omg!”

Yang Joo-seop felt her gaze and turned his head.

Someone was leaning against one wall.

“······.”

It was Lee Hyun-wook, a man wearing an AMT combat uniform.

“You you you…”

Yang Joo-seop couldn’t help but panic.

‘How is this bastard here?’

On the other hand, Lee Hyun-wook was looking at Yang Joo-seop with a cold expression without a hint of surprise.

He was raising his right hand to chest level, and about 10 iron balls were hovering above him and rotating irregularly.

As if it would be shot at any moment…

Woo-ung- Woo-ung-

Yang Joo-seop looked around once again.

Dented stainless steel shelves, dented walls and floors, and crushed skeletons…

I could feel the power of that iron ball without even looking at it.

But there was one place that caught my eye even more.

It was Lee Hyun-wook’s left hand.

A black key was held in his left hand.

“Is that really… Key 2 of the Akashic Arsenal?”

Lee Hyun-wook lifted the key-like thing he was holding in his left hand and tilted his head.

“How do you know the name of this item? “Did you just grab that and get it?”

“what? uh······.”

Hyunwook Lee turned his back from the wall.

“It’s suspicious, but it’s acting strangely, as if it has an appointment with a monster.”

“Oh no, that’s not it…”

Yang Joo-seop was embarrassed and tried to think of an excuse.

Then I realized there was no need to hide.

Anyway, I have to retrieve that item and meet with the Villain Alliance.

If not, anyway…

– caution! If ‘3’ goal fails, ‘game over’.

Game Over······

To the player, game over means death.

“······after! hey! you!”

“······.”

“Do I look like a fucking asshole?”

Yang Joo-seop squealed and raised his wand.

He was a C-class tier 1 player.

He possessed fighting power that would not be lost anywhere.

As for AMT soldiers, of course he didn’t look like a simple soldier, but he was much stronger.

“And your ability is to control a few tin cans and pieces of metal. That seems pretty useful, but unfortunately, it’s not a fun skill for me, you idiot!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Joo-seop swung his wand and used his skill. At that moment

,

green tree-like tree trunks grew from all over his body and began to move like tentacles and wrap around Yang Joo-seop’s entire body.

It seemed to be some kind of defensive skill, but it felt as if dozens of boa constrictors were crawling up from under my feet and wrapping themselves around me.

Lee Hyun-wook immediately stretched his hand forward and shot out 10 iron balls.

The target was Yang Joo-seop’s face.

Puff-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-buck!

However, a tree trunk stretched out from behind and blocked the iron ball.

The iron ball could not penetrate the dense and moisture-rich tree trunk.

At most, it was just a dent, and Lee Hyun-wook took the iron ball away.

“Hahaha! Look – you asshole! “I told you it wouldn’t work on me, you bastard!”

Yang Joo-seop became elated and shouted loudly.

His body was completely covered by the tree trunk, so it seemed impossible to attack it with most physical attacks.

“Then feel the feeling of being hit one-sidedly! Hahaha!”

Yang Joo-

seop completely defended himself by covering his body with stems and stretched out several separate stems for attack.

And I looked at Lee Hyun-wook through the very small gap between the stems.

‘Let’s see how desperate you look!’

But strangely enough, he was smiling.

and······.

From the corner of his smiling mouth and from the inside of his throat…

Si-i-i-i-

black smoke was rising.