Steel-Eating Player - Chapter 65

Episode 65. [Conspiracy, Quest, Devil-2]

————————==

about 30 seconds ago

Lee Hyun-wook boldly threw himself towards the event zone inside the wall where the illusion magic was applied.

And he imbued the ‘Ring of Gyges’ with mana.

– The ‘invisibility’ magic of Gyges’ Ring is being applied. (Time remaining: 29 seconds)

The time given to Lee Hyun-wook was only 30 seconds, but he was not impatient.

First, he passed by the two guys holding shields blocking the entrance.

“What, didn’t you just say someone came in?”

“So there’s no one there… Ah! It’s a stealth spell!”

They noticed sooner than expected.

Since I was caught coming in in the first place, there was nothing I could do.

But Lee Hyun-wook didn’t care.

‘If you move quickly, you will end up making a fuss.’

He calmly walked inside the cave and looked around the ‘event map’.

An event map refers to a supernatural space that is formed in special situations.

Unlike the ‘dungeon’, which is a space that exists in a completely different dimension,

The physical space of reality was transformed into a completely different form.

Thus, this ‘secret cave’ was formed in the basement of the shopping mall.

‘And the fact that the event map has been opened is a sign of some event.’

He began capturing the cave’s features to understand its details in more detail.

‘Metal mine terrain, bizarre murals, and the smell of sulfur…’

The event map also had a kind of ‘theme’.

And the theme here is….

‘…It is the devil’s secret altar.’

As I overheard in the previous phone call, it was true that it was related to the ‘devil.’

And all kinds of embossed patterns on the walls… most of them depicted ‘swarms of insects.’

Lee Hyun-wook knew very well the names of the devils they represented.

‘Abaddon….’

Abaddon is a devil who appears in the Book of Revelation, the king of insects, the bottomless pit itself, and a symbol of disaster that brings destruction to the world.

In other words, it was possible to infer that a quest to summon it to Seoul was in progress.

‘There was a time when three demons, including Abaddon, descended on Paris, France.’

In Lee Hyun-wook’s memory, it was right after the 4th wave occurred and his saint was assassinated.

It was a large-scale offensive aimed at the moment when her most powerful sacred weapon, a saint, disappeared.

‘In other words, they brought forward a plan that had been planned. I need to find out what’s going on.’

He quickly made his way inside the cave and soon reached the end of the passage.

Three people were blocking that point.

There were two gunners and one wizard.

I heard their voices.

“…He’s probably an assassin-type player who can use stealth skills, so be careful.”

“In that case, you can hide your footsteps and approach, so set a fire on the floor—”

At that the man standing last—the wizard—raised his wand, and

Woah—ah—ah—ah——!

Flames poured down from the tip of the staff, turning the floor of the narrow passage into a sea of fire.

He showed a plausible response with a very plausible reasoning, but…

“Um… I don’t think there’s anything?”

“You said someone came inside, but where is they?”

The reason it was a futile effort was simple.

This is because Lee Hyun-wook had his entire body ‘rigidized’ and was able to float and attach himself to the ceiling with metal control.

As it passed leisurely over their heads…

– The magic of Gyges’ Ring is being applied. (Time remaining: 2 seconds)

Unfortunately, the skill time has expired.

Lee Hyun-wook slowly landed on the guys’ backs and attempted to ‘generate metal’ with both hands.

Blah blah blah——

The strange sound slowly echoed throughout the cave.

“-uh?”

The two shooter players, who have sensitive senses, caught the sound and quickly turned around.

It’s already late.

Deep—! Deep—! Deep—!

“—Oof!”

Black awls were driven into the backs of the three men’s necks one after another, killing them instantly.

But now that the hiding was over, he could no longer hide himself.

“—Who are you!”

A shout came from the wide terrain cavity inside the cave.

“There he is standing!”

Lee Hyun-wook made his face look like he was wearing an ‘iron mask’.

He slowly turned around with all his arrows floating on the floor.

What appeared inside the cavity was a much larger number than expected, 8 people.

There were some that did not have metal on their bodies, so Lee Hyun-wook could not detect them.

Also, there were two people who just passed by the entrance, so there were a total of 10 people.

“What are you doing! “Surround that bastard!”

At the command of the mustachioed man who appeared to be the leader, 9 people began to surround Lee Hyun-wook.

‘What are you, foreigners?’

They looked hispanic.

However, there were no problems with communication.

This was because the system automatically translated conversations between players.

“Hey you bastard, what are you?”

The mustachioed man said this and took something out of his arms.

Mana Messenger It seemed like they were trying to send mana communication somewhere…

“Huh? Why is this not working again? Damn!”

For some reason, that didn’t seem to work.

Of course, it was because of Lee Hyun-wook.

Lee Hyun-wook was synchronizing with it and forcing ‘end of communication’.

“Why do you want to report it to the police?”

Hearing Lee Hyun-wook’s casual joke, the guy put the Mana Messenger in his mouth and his eyes widened.

“Where the fuck did you come from all of a sudden? What is that damn mask…?”

Lee Hyun-wook was wearing a mask made of steel to hide his identity.

Now that he was a celebrity, he needed to be as careful as possible about exposing his identity.

“It’s a somewhat incomprehensible question, where did a Korean come from on Korean soil? It seems like you are illegally entering our country. Did you know that player smuggling is a serious crime?”

As Lee Hyun-wook said that and took a step closer, the mustachioed man sneered.

“Hey, you’re really surrounded right now, but you’re acting like you think you can escape?”

Lee Hyun-wook shrugged his shoulders and slowly looked around.

There were 10 opponents in the cave, which was about 3 meters wide.

It was clearly surrounded.

but….

‘There is metal everywhere in this terrain.’

This cave was a metal mine.

In other words, it meant that the dungeon was a place where a lot of iron ore was buried.

“Come to your senses, you strange masked yellow monkey! You are completely surrounded!”

“Ugh—now even if I use stealth, I won’t be able to get out!”

They slowly narrowed the siege and began shouting one word at a time.

At this, Hyunwook Lee shook his head.

“…No, actually, it’s not me who’s under siege, but you.”

As he said that and slowly raised both his hands, snickers erupted from all directions.

“That doesn’t even make sense! Just kill me—”

The moment the man with the mustache was about to shout and give the order to attack—

Ku—gu—gu—gu—gu——!

Suddenly, the entire cave began to vibrate.

The guys who were running had no choice but to reflexively stop.

“Uh! What is it?”

“…Earthquake?”

Lee Hyun-wook stretched out his hand above their heads.

“No, it’s not an earthquake.”

“…what?”

“You were in my mouth in the first place.”

“Just shoot that crazy bastard!”

As soon as the mustachioed man finished speaking, all kinds of magic flew towards Lee Hyun-wook.

bang-! bang-! bang-! bang-!

Flame, electricity, magic missiles, etc. mixed together to create a mysterious air current.

However, they could not help but be shocked by the scene that was revealed after the smoke cleared.

“What, how…?”

This was because Lee Hyun-wook was standing tall without moving a single inch.

His body turned into hard metal, and a blue ‘mana shield’ was seething all over his body.

Although he suffered damage from a magic attack, he was not broken in the end.

‘If I just go up a few more levels of hard body, I won’t have to be dependent on Seo Eun-ha.’

Lee Hyun-wook looked at them with a smile.

“Then it’s my turn. I’ll chew the whole thing and eat it—shred—!”

Kwa—ang——!

The ceiling suddenly collapsed with an explosion, crushing two people under the heavy debris.

The rest retreated hastily and took a defensive stance.

But there was no place to escape in this narrow cave.

Blink——! Sigh—enemy——!

The ceiling, walls and floor cracked, and chunks of rock poured down.

“Ugh, damn it, retreat first!”

Something flew out of the hazy smoke towards those who were backing away.

Pick—pick—pick—pick—

Before I knew it, the sharp ‘metal-transformed’ ‘dungeon steel stone’ flew out like a throwing star and got stuck in various parts of my body.

“—Ugh!”

“Damn it! He’s blowing the cost! Protect the vital area!”

But there was no place to escape in this narrow cave.

Lee Hyun-wook placed a huge number of dungeon steel stones on top of the guys’ heads.

‘Shred —!’

They exploded all at once.

Qua—and—and—and—gwang——!

chain explosion

White smoke billowed out along the passage, as if dynamite had been exploded in a mine.

“Ugh….”

“Knock, save me….”

When the heavy drinking subsided, all that remained was miserable moaning.

Lee Hyun-wook slowly walked into the smoke.

***

Lee Hyun-wook was standing at the end of the cave.

Three ‘hextech drills’ were placed on one wall of a large cavity lit by lanterns.

He seemed to be working here, mining something.

“Is this…”

There was something shimmering purple mixed in the crevices of the steel stones of an ordinary dungeon.

Hyunwook Lee placed his palm on it.

– You cannot mine ‘Fragments of Disaster (4th Wave)’ because you do not have any permission!

‘It’s a fragment of disaster….’

In context, it felt like some kind of evil force that dispersed after the end of the 4th wave.

And it seemed to be a mechanism to collect these and resurrect the devil ‘Abaddon’.

“……Now, let me ask you one more question.”

Hyunwook Lee said that and looked down at someone crushed under his feet.

“Ugh…….”

The leader of this work site was a man with a mustache.

Its limbs were filled with sharp restraints made of ‘metal deformation’.

Lee Hyun-wook’s ‘special torture technique’ had been injected into its stomach.

Lee Hyun-wook stepped on the back of his neck and opened his mouth.

“…So you’ve been working on this for two days now?”

“That’s right….”

‘Hell’s Grasp’, which filled the underground parking lot, was prepared for this work.

It emptied the entire shopping mall and was also used as a kind of guard.

“The reason I’m collecting things like that must be because of the quest, but what is it about?”

“…I don’t know that either.”

Lee Hyun-wook sighed and lifted his finger and moved it round and round.

“Kwaaaa——”

The thing opened its mouth wide and trembled.

The dozen or so pieces of metal in my stomach began to move in an arc.

“Ugh, I really don’t know anything—I’m a beginner so I don’t know anything!”

“Ha… I should have told you that if you lie, you won’t die well…”

Through the Mana Messenger wiretapping, I already heard this man asking someone how much progress had been made on the quest.

In other words, he would know it roughly, even if not in detail.

“…Abaddon, you’re trying to resurrect it, right?”

When Lee Hyun-wook brought up that name, a look of bewilderment spread across his face.

“Ugh—how did you do that… So you were a guardian after all—!”

Guardian… well, as a villain, there would be nothing else that could be inferred.

“No, Guardian, those smart guys probably have no idea.”

Unfortunately, the noble group called the Guardians could not even properly chase down the villain.

This was because an insider named Gordon Price carried out a very subtle sabotage.

‘Especially during this period, although the Guardians were individually strong, the group itself was very powerless.’

But at that moment, something appeared before his eyes.

– (!) The quest has arrived.

‘quest?’

[Event Quest]

– Those who witness the sprouting evil, become the vanguard of justice!

You were the first to witness the shady plans unfolding underground.

We succeeded in foiling their first plan.

If you wish, you can continue to trace the roots of evil.

* Do you want to accept the quest? (Y/N)

‘what…….’

Lee Hyun-wook frowned at the event quest that suddenly came to mind.

No, the mechanism for triggering the quest was originally like this.

If you touch a hidden ‘switch’, it pops out.

Perhaps mentioning or hearing ‘Abaddon’ was the switch.

‘…I have no choice but to accept this.’

Hyunwook Lee chose ‘Y’ and the details of the quest came to mind.

[Event Quest]

– Those who witness the sprouting evil, become the vanguard of justice!

1) Stop the resurrection of the devil ‘Abaddon’! (Proceeding)

2) Eliminate as many ‘devil worshipers (players)’ as possible! (Proceeding)

3) Destroy as many ‘Devil’s Secret Altar (event map)’ as possible! (Proceeding)

* Compensation: Paid differentially depending on performance.

– The event buff ‘Devil Pursuit’ is being applied to the player.

1) You can identify the ‘negative energy’ flowing from the devil’s secret altar.

2) Has ‘resistance’ to darkness curses below a certain level.

Lee Hyun-wook slowly looked at the contents.

‘This is clearly a crisis I know nothing about. but….’

Because he had the knowledge and experience in his head to overcome any situation.

A way to overcome this unknown crisis is gradually beginning to be developed.

‘…If you use it well, you can once again get great benefits.’

After gathering his thoughts, he took out his cell phone and made a call.

There are several phone calls…

– Yes, this is Director Woo Seong-moon.

Woo Seong-moon, head of the National Gate Response Strategy Office, answered the phone.

“Director, this is Lee Hyun-wook.”

– Oh, what’s going on?

“You probably know where I am right now, right?”

-……

Woo Seong-moon was left speechless by the unexpected question.

“I knew you had your back on me.”

Lee Hyun-wook knew that two Black agents had been following him since he stayed out today.

– …As expected, you noticed it. I’m sorry, but I’d like to tell you that it’s my job.

The purpose was to monitor and protect the two new S-class players, Lee Hyun-wook and Park Jun-mo.

‘Well, honestly, it doesn’t matter.’

This was an inconvenience that was expected even before it was revealed that it was S-rank.

“Haha—okay. You asked me a while ago if I’d like to work for my country, right?”

Woo Seong-moon was a patriot to his core and devoted himself to his country until the moment of his death.

Therefore, of course, he did not hide his will to make Lee Hyun-wook and Park Jun-mo belong to the country.

In other words, he was a person you could trust if it was for the good of the Republic of Korea.

– Have you changed your mind? I know you decided to start working with Zmunnarae, but…

“Um… I need you to come here before I tell you more details.”

What you just said was a ridiculous thing for an AMT sergeant to call the head of an agency directly under the president.

‘But now it’s different than before.’

In front of his official rank, there was a grandiose title: S-rank player, Seoul’s savior.

– I’d like you to give me a rough idea of what’s going on. You probably know that I am a busy person.

“Seoul, which we worked so hard to protect… is once again in danger.”

It was something Woo Seong-moon could not ignore.

***

Woo Seong-moon arrived just five minutes after the call ended.

Although he was not visible, he probably used ‘teleportation’.

And he was accompanied by many experts in each field.

“Thank you for coming, Director Woo.”

Hyunwook Lee greeted them at the entrance to the underground parking lot.

“They say the safety of the country is at stake, so of course I have to come.”

With the appearance of Woo Seong-moon, not only Lee Tae-kyung and other AMT troops

Kim Se-hee and Park Jun-mo could not help but be surprised.

He thought he was just attacking a difficult monster, but the situation turned out to be too big.

Hyunwook Lee led them into the event map.

“Director Woo, here we are. “I discovered it by accident.”

“Hmm… Is this really a coincidence?”

Woo Seong-moon looked suspiciously while Lee Hyun-wook nodded.

“Well, if you live a sensitive life, even things that would otherwise pass by seem special.”

To be honest, I can only say that I was purely lucky to have found this place at the right time.

But on the other hand, if I had not had knowledge about ‘Hell’s Grasp’, I would have just passed by.

It was a situation where the saying “Unchilgisam (運七技E)” was a perfect fit.

Hyunwook Lee roughly explained that there was a plot to resurrect the devil called ‘Abaddon’.

Woo Seong-moon quickly understood because the devil had appeared twice before.

“Oh my god, it’s been a few days since the wave ended. What do you mean…?”

And Woo Seong-moon’s expression quickly hardened because he knew the extent of the devil’s power.

They went deep into the event zone and identified the bodies of the gunmen.

“Well, these people might be related to the terrorists who threatened Seoul during the wave.”

“Yes, I think so too.”

“Hmm, why on earth are you so anxious that you can’t take over Seoul?…”

Information about the terrorists who appeared during the wave has not yet been made public.

And it was information that should not have been made public in the first place.

‘Nothing good will come of provoking them by spreading information about the villain.’

They will hide more and come out more harshly.

However, they shared their existence to some extent with Woo Seong-moon.

Of course, Woo Seong-moon did not know that their identities were villains.

“Chief! You should come here!”

The person who shouted like that was Choi Hanna, an A-level priest who accompanied Woo Seong-moon.

She was observing some smoldering on the floor in one corner of the cavity.

“This here is a trace of Shadow Link.”

Shadow Link was a method of moving long distances using shadows.

It was a unique skill that could open a two-way portal by planting a ‘mark’ on a person’s shadow.

In other words, even if only one person was infiltrated, a large number of troops could be moved.

And there was only one person in the whole world who could use it.

“In other words… it seems like the ‘Shadow Baron’ has entered Korea.”

He was the ‘Red Player’, the Shadow Baron’s worst criminal and wanted internationally.

The moment he heard that name, Lee Hyun-wook couldn’t help but make a shocked expression.

‘If even the Shadow Baron was mobilized, it would be more troublesome than I thought…”

He is an S-rank player whose details of his abilities are not properly known.

He was a man who moved around the world and was involved in all kinds of crimes.

He was a mercenary who could be hired for money, and this time he seemed to have been hired by them.

“Damn it, it didn’t get caught by our intelligence network…”

Woo Seong-moon said bitterly.

It was evidence that a very large hole had been opened in the information network of the national intelligence agency.

“But, Director, as you know, no country’s intelligence agency will be able to catch this. Isn’t it because of these fraudulent skills that the Shadow Baron has not been caught for the past 10 years?”

Woo Seong-moon nodded his head at Lee Hyun-wook’s words.

“That’s right. In other words, it means that no matter what kind of plot they are plotting all over Seoul, it will be difficult to chase them down. This is a big deal… I think we will have to deploy more manpower than we can imagine.”

If they had infiltrated through a ‘shadow link’ rather than entered the country through normal channels, like the Hispanic foreigners here, their movements would not have been captured by any surveillance network.

However, it was impossible to search all of Seoul like this.

Even if they did, it was questionable whether there would be enough time.

however….

“…I can find it.”

Everyone looked at Lee Hyun-wook’s words.

“yes?”

He had an expression that he couldn’t understand at all.

“I can find the location where those terrorists are hiding, that is, the ‘event map’.”

“…yes? How is that possible?”

“I just received some ‘quests’ and ‘buffs’ right after the battle with those terrorists. Among them was the ability to ‘track’ their location.”

When the details were explained, Woo Seong-moon could not hide his surprised expression.

“That means now only I can track down those terrorists.”

“ah….”

After the wave, Seoul once again fell into crisis.

However, the hero who saved Seoul by ending the wave

This time too, he set out to save Seoul.

Lee Hyun-wook looked straight at Woo Seong-moon and uttered a word of remorse.

“Director Woo, please give me the power of the government.”

“Well, what do you mean by government power?”

“Please leave the intelligence team and weapons to me.”

“So… are you saying that you will become a member of the government in the future?”

But Lee Hyun-wook shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not true. For now, let me tell you that I am a freelance Agent Black.”

It was an absurd request.

They ask me to hand over the government’s confidential information and assets, but I won’t belong to the government…

This was a request to give great privileges only to oneself.

‘Yes, you are openly asking for privileges. But you won’t be able to refuse it.’

Lee Hyun-wook created a close relationship with Zumunnarae by putting [Hope Guild] as a sub of [Zumunnarae Guild]. As Zmunnarae is the best guild in the country, there would be many advantages to being close to it.

And after that, he also planned to build collusion with government organizations, especially the secret intelligence department [Bihyeongrang].

‘No matter how strong Zmunnarae is, the government is superior in terms of information power.’

Information power is more important than any other power.

Lee Hyun-wook, who had experienced the future once, knew this best.

However, I was planning to do this work slowly and over time…

‘This opportunity has come.’

Crisis is an opportunity.

Those words also applied to this situation.

Woo Seong-moon looked troubled.

He was a man of faith. He was a bureaucrat who constantly worked to increase the power of the government, believing that no matter how powerful the guild was, it should not be ahead of public power.

So you don’t want the situation to be influenced by just one player…

‘This is an exception.’

Above all else, the safety of the country and the lives of its citizens came first.

He eventually nodded his head.

“Good. We will assist you with this case as you wish.”

Lee Hyun-wook smiled and uttered the last word as if he had been waiting.

“And… I want you to give me access to [the government’s first arsenal].”

Government’s first armory

It was an arsenal that was a step above the [Government No. 2 arsenal] that was previously opened.