Steel-Eating Player - Chapter 57

Episode 57 [Last erosion factor -3]

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Hyunwook Lee sat in his command vehicle and faced the approaching hell from the front.

He said that the ‘black fog’ flowing from Mt. Cheongryong was engulfing the downtown area.

“Are those really… bugs?”

Kim Se-hee asked from the backseat.

“Yes, it looks like that.”

“Oh crazy….”

Like the ‘Locust’, a swarm of locusts that sweeps through crops, hordes of insects swarm around and devour whatever they can find… But the problem is that what they are devouring is not the crops, but the ‘city’ itself.

‘That’s why it was later nicknamed [urban predator].’

Today is their spectacular first appearance.

Why—ae—ae—ae—ang—!

As I moved forward, the disgusting sound of wings getting louder and louder, making my head pound.

The upper floors of the buildings they passed by disappeared as if melting.

They were gnawing it with their jaws, but it was so fast that it almost looked like it was melting.

“You’re crazy…”

The driver moaned as he said that.

It was a natural reaction.

Stepping on the accelerator pedal in that direction was definitely not easy.

Why—ae—ae—ae—ang—!

As the distance narrowed, everyone in the car let out a faint groan as the disgusting sound grew louder.

What if the things we’ve faced so far were monsters that could be defeated somehow?

It felt like some kind of disaster that I couldn’t respond to, so my courage was bound to fade…

However, Lee Hyun-wook remained calm as always.

‘On the outside, it looks the most heinous, but the law of destruction is very clear.’

That was the reason why Hyunwook Lee placed it last among the four erosion factors.

Iron armored beetles are a group of insects with metal skin that fly around in a tangle, maintaining a very close distance from each other. Thus forming one gigantic steel storm was their weapon.

‘But what would happen if something like lightning struck in the middle of that tight formation?’

Their hard shells—metals are naturally one of the strongest conductors

Inside it is just a living thing made of blood and flesh.

To put it simply, it had the characteristics that made it perfect for getting electrocuted.

‘…a very interesting scene will occur.’

Hyunwook Lee lifted up the Mana Messenger.

“Are Park Jun-mo ready?”

– Chick— Ready!

Now the ‘lightning’ is ready.

Lee Hyun-wook’s eyes landed on the leading armored search vehicle.

The loop on the ceiling was originally supposed to be equipped with a machine gun or something.

Now there was a very special item sitting there.

‘I’m looking forward to the Thunder God’s mace.’

Raijin’s Mace, an artisan-grade support weapon made from hero-grade items

Its ‘spear tip’ was pointed towards the sky ahead.

“-launch!”

The moment Lee Hyun-wook’s order is given

Raijin’s mace began to emit a blue light.

Chi—i—i—ing—!

Spear named Indra’s Blessing

A huge amount of electric current spewed out from the tip.

They were shaking as if they were going to bounce in all directions at any moment.

It was pulled by some powerful force and condensed into a single dot.

Thus, a huge electric sphere resembling a blue thread was born.

At that moment, Park Jun-mo pulled the trigger.

T—————!

In an instant, the world turned black.

The electric sphere shot out like a cannonball and hit the center of the black wave-like wave.

Pa—ja—ja—ja—ja——!

The electric sphere transformed into a bundle of currents that stretched out like a spider’s web, and the metal body of the armored beetle crossed over the conductive mass, reaching hundreds of meters away—in an instant, entangling the entire horde.

But it was just the beginning.

“Park Jun-mo, show off your skills.”

At Lee Hyun-wook’s command, Park Jun-mo stretched out his hands towards that place and began to spread them wide.

Pa—ja—ja—ja—ja——!

Then, the electric current mixed with the swarm of insects followed his gestures and spread to a larger area.

It was a mysterious and daunting scene, like ‘volcanic lightning’ where lightning strikes within volcanic ash.

“and…”

The ironclad insects, whose nervous systems were paralyzed by the electric shock, fell towards the ground.

“—Move quickly!”

Meanwhile, the procession of the Steel Company stopped and the entire force gathered on the road.

Lee Hyun-wook also got out of the car, looked at the situation, and lifted up the Mana Messenger again.

“Now is the time! Let’s unleash all our lightning magic!”

At his command, all wizards fired the ‘electric magic’ they had prepared in advance.

That—that—that—that—jeong——!

Although it is nothing compared to the Thunder God’s mace, dozens of lightning magic shots were fired at the same time and made a loud noise.

Subsequently, various lightning effect items obtained from the government arsenal were mobilized.

The beasts fired arrows enchanted with electric properties.

Wizards sent consumable items such as ‘electric bombs’ flying with wind magic.

Captain Ko Jin-han was a magic bullet gunner and fired ‘blitz bullets’ at random.

And Lee Hyun-wook also sent ‘Unsaamsu’.

Whoosh——

The moment it finds itself in the middle of a horde of ironclad—

‘Electric release—!’

With its potential unleashed, the skills of the Unsa male and female exploded out, electrocuting dozens of animals at once.

Pa—ja—ja—ja—ja——!

As a result, more than half of the ironclad insects stopped flapping their wings and fell in vain as they were swept away by the current storm.

The—the—the—the—the—the—

The sound of the metal pieces falling to the floor resonated loudly.

This was truly an enormous, wide-area blitz attack that could never have occurred on the scale of a single company.

“This… isn’t a joke…”

Lee Hyun-wook was also surprised and muttered that.

To be honest, until yesterday, I had no intention of having a head-on confrontation like this during this ‘last event’.

Actually, it was crazy to face them head on. Because the moment you are swept away, you will be completely annihilated…’

Therefore, I just planned to wait until the ‘reinforcements’ from all over Seoul arrived.

But as you can see, we succeeded in pushing them out with this firepower.

‘These two things started it: the government arsenal and Park Jun-mo’s awakening.’

This was possible thanks to those two favorable factors.

The group of ironclad insects eventually disbanded and began to disperse in all directions.

“Oh! They’re leaving!”

“It’s great!”

A huge number of defeated soldiers who had fallen on the asphalt were trembling and squeaking – making disgusting noises, and the gunners, led by a tanker, approached carefully and shot them down one by one.

Meanwhile, a bus presumed to be carrying civilians entered the ranks of the Steel Company.

“It’s okay now! We’ll protect you!”

That’s how the situation ended.

‘But it’s still too early to let down your guard.’

As the iron armored insect’s weaknesses were clear, its strengths were also clear.

‘The number is greater than that of Helet. And it is replenished quickly.’

He continued to look towards Cheongryong Mountain.

Even now, countless bugs were pouring out of the gate there.

“Ahn Min-tae, that’s enough. Take care of the civilians and prepare to retreat. They will come back.”

“Yes, I understand.”

As Lee Hyun-wook said, the scattered swarms of insects began to gather again in the distance.

The numbers were still so enormous that, if seen from a little further away, they would have looked like dark clouds.

Lee Hyun-wook actually thought that this moment was more dangerous.

‘I’ll be back soon. And… if it goes into a war of attrition, we are at a disadvantage. ‘You have to leave within 10 minutes.’

He looked at Park Jun-mo.

“eww…….”

He tried to control the electric current by drinking ‘mana recovery potion’, but he must have overdone it and was even bleeding from the nose.

Not only Park Jun-mo, but almost all the lightning weapons that had just been used were in ‘cool time’.

In other words, if we were to fight again now, we wouldn’t be able to win.

“That swarm of bugs has unlimited refills! If you don’t want to get eaten, get ready to move as quickly as possible!”

Min-tae Ahn shouted loudly and urged him to move quickly.

But then…

“-uh? Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook, look over there!”

Choi Taeyong shouted and pointed somewhere.

“It looks like those swarms of bugs are already coming back!”

“-what?”

Lee Hyun-wook couldn’t help but be taken aback by those words.

He turned his head and looked in the direction of Cheongryongsan Mountain.

“shit….”

Indeed, a line of black shimmers stretched out from that area and flowed in this direction.

A number that was at least two times greater than the number captured in the previous battle was flying at an incredible speed.

It was a number that could not be dealt with at this time, having already unleashed its firepower once.

‘It’s much faster than I thought. Why on earth….’

Since ironclad poisonous insects also live in groups, it was natural for them to take group action when their species was attacked.

But something is wrong with this.

No matter how much a monster ignores the laws of nature, there is bound to be some degree of ‘process’.

For example, a surviving individual returns to its nest and sends a signal that it has been attacked.

‘Monster behavior clearly has such a mechanism.’

However, it was impossible for the ‘nest’ to react just a few minutes after the battle began.

then….

‘As expected… there is Chugyoyong near here.’

In other words, Lee Hyun-wook noticed that a special case of controlling monsters was involved, like the ‘Devil’s Alarm’.

He turned and shouted to the entire company.

“I’m looking for a building with an underground parking lot near here right now!”

“yes!”

“No! You don’t have to have a parking lot! Even if you have to abandon all your vehicles, find a place to hide!”

Lee Hyun-wook corrected his order.

He had to boldly take losses.

If they acted complacently, they would be exterminated.

‘I let my guard down…’

The intention was to quickly hit and run to save the bus carrying civilians.

‘But I never thought they would take such rapid and extreme action…’

Should we have turned a blind eye to the sacrifices of civilians?

Hyunwook Lee even had that thought for a moment.

‘No, if Park Jun-mo and I use all our strength, we can somehow beat him.’

I have been through this crisis many times in my previous life.

Although he was working his way through this life, it made no sense for him not to experience a crisis.

Several cases crossed in his mind.

He soon decided that it was quite possible.

But then, a bright blue light fell on his face.

yes-

He turned his head to follow the source of the light.

“huh?”

At that moment, a thick beam of light fell from the sky.

T-uh-uh—uh——!

It was a teleportation.

Everyone who was moving around stopped as if surprised and slowly took a step back.

Soon, several figures began to emerge from within the beam of light.

Jeok- Jeok-

Soon the leader’s face was revealed.

‘General Choi Jeong-cheol?’

Archmage Choi Jeong-cheol was standing holding a large metal staff.

And after that, AMT’s elites such as Kim Kang-seok, Seo Eun-ha, and Choi Young-jun were seen.

“Oh, now that I think about it…”

We decided to join them in finding the cause of erosion first and were sharing coordinates in real time.

However, when he heard that a large-scale battle was taking place here, he seemed to immediately use teleportation.

‘I never thought I would use it so boldly, even though it would consume a lot of mana… Anyway, it’s perfect timing.’

General Choi Jeong-cheol looked at Lee Hyun-wook and smiled.

“…The Steel Company led us to our final moments.”

Lee Hyun-wook saluted him.

He nodded, lifting his staff and tilting it forward.

It pointed to the area near ‘Cheongryongsan Mountain’ where swarms of ironclad poisonous insects were rising.

“Sergeant Lee Hyeon-wook, is there a factor in the erosion of the small hill hidden by that building over there?”

“Yes, everything seems certain at the moment.”

“Hmm… he seems to be going crazy with the extra events, so I need to calm him down a bit.”

Choi Jeong-cheol turned his head and looked at Kim Kang-seok.

“The 1st Battalion Commander may be a little hot, so tell the kids to stay out of the way.”

At his words, Kim Kang-seok turned his head and shouted.

“All troops take cover! Beware of heat storm—!”

His voice was as loud as his size.

Following the order, all troops took cover in alleys and trucks.

And Choi Jeong-cheol began to move forward alone.

Jerk— Jerk—

The brigade commander walked alone toward the horde of monsters, but no one followed.

It wasn’t because I was afraid of the monster, but because I was worried about being caught up in his skills.

Of course, among these, the only ones who saw his magic in person were Kim Kang-seok and Lee Hyeon-wook from his previous life.

However, Choi Jeong-cheol’s one shot was so famous that even if you had no experience, your body would react automatically.

Why—ae—ae—ae—ang——!

Before I knew it, the sound of the ironclad insect’s wings flapping got closer.

But somehow it felt smaller than before.

Little Giant Choi Jeong-cheol glared at them and raised his staff.

At that moment, a red ray of light shot up from the tip of the wand.

Ji—ing——

The ray of light stopped high in the sky

Energy was concentrated at that point and a small fireball was formed.

And the small fireball quickly began to grow to a huge size.

Go—oh—oh—oh—oh——

The temperature in that space changed suddenly, a convection current occurred, and a gust of wind blew through the area.

‘That couldn’t be…….’

It grew to a size of over 50 meters in the blink of an eye.

A huge ball of flame blazing above my head… I could almost believe it was a small sun.

“Ugh—”

Even though I was hundreds of meters below, my face felt hot.

‘As expected, I’m trying to burn all of the Semi Armageddon mana and give it a good blow!”

Choi Jeong-cheol tilted the destructive sphere towards Cheongryong Mountain.

Qua—and—and—and—and—and——!

The massive fireball began to curve and move as if it were a satellite of the Earth.

And all the ironclad insects that overlapped in its line of movement turned into a handful of ashes and disappeared.

Qua—and—and—and—and—and——!

erase it It was a scene so destructive that it would not be an exaggeration to describe it.

And even if it didn’t touch it directly, it couldn’t overcome the enormous heat and scattered in all directions.

The horde of monsters that only seemed threatening was neutralized like a swarm of mayflies.

“and….”

General Choi Jeong-cheol’s extensive fire magic that overshadowed the previous performance of the Steel Company… Everyone could not keep their mouths shut in front of him. Even Lee Hyun-wook, who knew his skills well, was once again surprised.

‘Even at this time, the Archmage’s firepower was beyond imagination…’

Of course, Choi Jeong-cheol’s strike, which grew even more a few years later, was still noticeable.

‘That man was the one who first distorted the always expressionless face of the necromancer.’

In this way, Choi Jeong-cheol was a one-shot power that focused solely on ‘range’ and ‘destructive power’ – a power of the level of a tactical weapon.

So he wasn’t very suitable for all other situations, but he was the best when it came to wiping out large numbers like this.

‘And in the first place, it shouldn’t be a good match…’

Usually, fire has difficulty causing effective damage to metal.

Lee Hyun-wook knew that best.

Many fire-type players fell without being able to pierce his steel.

Therefore, fire magic had to be avoided when hunting ironclad poisonous insects.

But in the end, smelting metal involves fire powerful enough to melt everything—

That was the fire magic that Choi Jeong-cheol used.

Suddenly, like the setting sun, Semi Armageddon disappeared behind a tall building and the world became dark.

There was Cheongryongsan Mountain right nearby….

Qua——ah——ang——ah——!

The entire mountain was blown away with an explosion.

Ku—gu—gu—gu—gu——!

A fever mixed with sand blew all the way here.

“Ugh!”

Lee Hyun-wook stopped the craze by driving it into the ground at Mogulay.

But at that moment, Lee Hyun-wook realized one thing.

‘Even though it was hit to this extent, the erosion factor did not disappear.’

There was no system message indicating the end of the wave.

That means it’s not over yet.

Perhaps a swarm of ironclad insects protected the erosion factors by surrounding them with their bodies, like a swarm of bees.

And Choi Jeong-cheol’s strike has a huge ‘cool time’, so he will not be able to use it for a while.

‘Then in the end, it’s time to start again.’

Before I knew it, Choi Jeong-cheol was looking back at Lee Hyun-wook.

“Well, it gives you time to make something up, doesn’t it?”

***

The Seoul Erosion Response Headquarters was busier than ever.

This is because news of the third erosion factor was announced and an ‘additional event’ began after that.

and….

“Chief! They say the last cause of erosion has been discovered!”

We have just received news from General Choi Jeong-cheol, commander of the 3rd Port Horse Brigade, that the last cause of erosion has been discovered.

At those words, Gangseo Yoon stood up and slowly caught his breath.

“It’s finally here… Yes! Where is it?”

“It’s called Cheongryongsan Mountain in Gwanak-gu!”

“Okay! Now it’s really the last moment!”

She walked to the terrace, looked down on all the staff at headquarters, and raised her voice.

“Tell every player you can reach to gather there and work together to save Seoul!”

They began contacting all players within the wave zone.

The location of the last source of erosion has been revealed.

Now, if only I could concentrate enough power…

‘We really protect Seoul….’

Therefore, it was not impossible to achieve the unprecedented feat of conquering a wave.

Gangseo Yoon sat down, feeling her heart pounding.

She said “hu…….”

Then she suddenly turned her head and looked somewhere at her.

Seongmoon Woo, head of the National Gate Response Strategy Office, was sitting there.

‘You’ve been sitting idle for the past two days, but now you’re doing your best?’

That kind of inconsistency was just a no-no in her eyes.

‘Now that I think about it… I have to find out the real reason.’

She walked up to him, crossed her arms, and looked down at Woo Seong-moon.

“Director Woo, please tell me more now.”

“…yes? “What do you mean?”

Woo Seong-moon asked with a puzzled expression at the question that came out of nowhere.

“Do you think Director Woo is the only one with information? I also have ears and eyes in all directions.”

“…yes?”

“You came running here right after analyzing the wave zone with A-grade analyst players.”

Analyst players have the ability to ‘interpret’ various information in the game.

In other words, if a team of top-level analyst players were given enough time, it would be possible to obtain large and small information about that wave.

And this time, it seemed like they had figured out something pretty big.

“At that time, I analyzed the wave zone and saw some information. That’s why I boldly opened the second armory and gave it all away. So… I asked for information so sweet that I completely forgot about any thoughts of preparing after the erosion. no?”

“…….”

“Isn’t it true that the people in there are trying to steal the reward by sacrificing their lives to capture the wave and secretly hide it and eat it?”

When Kang Seo-yoon opened her eyes and pushed, Woo Seong-moon laughed and waved his hand.

“Haha—don’t worry. That’s something you can never hide.”

“Why can’t you hide it?”

“That’s it… it’s going to be huge, huge.”

Woo Seong-moon eventually began to reveal the information he knew.

“CEO Kang, isn’t the event called Wave a kind of large-scale regional quest?”

“Yes, well… you can see it that way, right? I’ve never woken up before, so I’m not sure…”

“That’s right. Then, if you break it….”

At those words, Kang Seo-yoon clapped her hands with an expression of understanding.

“…There will be a very big reward. ah! “Did you really find out what the reward was?”

Woo Seong-moon nodded, and Kang Seo-yoon’s eyes lit up.

I couldn’t even imagine how great the reward would be if I conquered something as big as a wave.

Even the local quest [Unlucky Event], which takes place in a much narrower area, sometimes yields ‘Hero’ grade items.

A thought occurred to her and she gulped.

“No way! Myth level… right?”

There was a high possibility that a [Mythic grade] item that had never been released before would be released.

But Woo Seong-moon shook her head.

“Well, that’s not it. And maybe something worth more than that.”

“…yes? “What on earth is more valuable than myth level?”

“CEO Kang, what do you think is the most valuable among the items and objects that have appeared so far?”

Gangseo-yoon thought about that question for a moment, then slowly raised her head and looked at Woo Seong-moon.

“The World Tree… are you talking about?”

A sacred tree opened in the Republic of Chad, the center of Africa….

It had a greater impact than any item, object, or ability that had appeared so far.

Without the World Tree, responding to the Gate would have been much more difficult.

“Yes, when I attacked the most difficult type of gate called the World Capital’s ‘Blue Gate,’ sprouts sprouted in that spot. However, if I attack a much more difficult wave… it seems like an object will be created in the sky above Seoul.”

“What… is that?”

Woo Seong-moon nodded and leaned back in her chair.

Then she looked into space and slowly opened her mouth.

“Laputa, the city of magic engineering… that’s all that came out of the analysis.”

The legendary island floating in the sky was scheduled to appear over Seoul.

Kang Seo-yoon could not have predicted what it would be or what impact it would have.

At that time, Woo Seong-moon raised his index finger.

“But there’s one problem.”

“…yes?”

“Where did that certificate that allows you to enter the deepest core of the World Tree come from?”

The World Tree is currently within the territory of the Republic of Chad, but the Republic of Chad has a monopoly on the various by-products obtained from the World Tree.

Everything else was a right granted to only one player, the ‘Manager of the World Tree’.

“That’s it… Of course I got it from the dungeon inside the Blue Gate. The World Tree itself was a reward for conquering the Blue Gate and was a ‘token’ for administrator authority. Anyway, it was some kind of item that could be obtained in the dungeon, I guess?”

“Yes, then wouldn’t someone in that wave zone have some special rights regarding Laputa?”

That was reasonable.

Gangseo Yoon smiled and nodded.

“So… that means someone in there is winning a lottery like no other in history.”