Chapter 83

Suddenly, the forest trembled. The moment Heness’s words erupted, Jun-sang somehow felt as if Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 was reverberating in his heart.

Kwa-gwa-gwang!

Heness’s scream, imbued with all her might and overflowing with loathing for the monsters, possessed enough power to leave a deep, profound ripple in Jun-sang’s heavily armored mind. How, then, could one possibly describe the shock received by those less fortified?

-Kaaak!

-Kee-ee-ek!

The monsters, who had instinctively raised their heads at the girl’s sudden shout, instantly felt as though their hearts had burst from their chests and rolled onto the ground, causing them to collapse. Even the bosses were no exception. Sapathan, though possessing a hardier will than the lesser minions, staggered under the sudden, inexplicable surge of confusion. Beside him, Tashas was inexplicably overcome with a crushing sadness, his eyes welling up with tears.

Truly an astonishing effect!

Jun-sang nodded, seeing the monsters in disarray, and spoke to Heness. “Well done.”

“Is this enough?”

“Yes. I’ll call you again, so go back for now.”

“Okay.”

Jun-sang quickly reverse-summoned Heness. He then immediately activated Invisibility and performed a Phase Shift behind Tashas, who was struggling to control his tears. Tashas sensed a presence behind him and quickly tried to turn and dodge, but before he could fully pivot, two iron balls struck his elongated body almost simultaneously. Defenseless, and with his defenses lowered by Heness’s curse, Tashas had no way to withstand the blow. All that was left was for him to shriek and tumble across the ground like a crumpled, withered leaf.

-Kroooaaak!

Even as a mid-boss, he didn’t die in one hit. However, the destructive power of Dual Storm, enhanced by Blood Lord, was sufficient to shatter Tashas’s ribs and turn his internal organs into pulp. He was alive, but as good as dead. Yet, Jun-sang wasn’t satisfied with merely incapacitating Tashas. He immediately performed another Phase Shift, moving to the front of the rolling Tashas, and then, as if pounding garlic, he crushed his head with an iron ball, finishing him off.

Just then, Sapathan’s enormous roar echoed through the forest.

-Khuuuuoooong!

As expected, this one, too, possessed a morale-boosting roar befitting his title of General. As leaves rustled down through the forest, Jun-sang saw the confused monsters regaining their senses. He clicked his tongue and vanished with Invisibility. Sure enough, Sapathan, realizing the urgency of the situation upon Tashas’s demise, let out another roar.

-Kwowang!

As that roar, like a beast’s bellow, reverberated, the eyes of the lesser minions, just emerging from their confusion, began to drip with crimson light like melting candle wax.

“Hmph.”

If their city had been under attack, Jun-sang might have felt a sense of crisis at their ferocity, abandoning defense and disregarding death to increase their attack power. But here in the dark forest, these monsters were not the attackers; they were the defenders being attacked.

Jun-sang moved back up into a tree. He quietly waited for the berserk aura that enveloped them to subside. They had become nothing more than prey to Jun-sang. Sapathan, enraged that his mighty army was being toyed with by a mere human, angrily smashed trees in the forest with his flagpole. It was a futile struggle to find the hidden assailant, but locating Jun-sang, who possessed both invisibility and phase-shifting abilities, was virtually impossible in such a manner. The minions, literally with bloodshot eyes, scoured the forest for the attacker, but at a certain point, the crimson light in their eyes faded, and they fell into a state of despondency.

Jun-sang observed this, then put the two iron balls back into his inventory. After confirming that General Sapathan had entered the shadow of a large grove of trees, he activated Phase Shift. Passing through the dark shadows, Jun-sang’s body began to descend directly above Sapathan’s head. In that moment, Jun-sang brought out his most potent offensive weapon: Blood Sucker. The blood-intoxicated demonic item, irresistible to both its target and its wielder, was once again in Jun-sang’s hand.

“C-ck!”

The moment he gripped the dark, double-bladed axe, the blood flowing through Jun-sang’s body ignited like flames, awakening the destructive instinct hidden within him. Sapathan suddenly felt a jolt in his spine and instinctively turned his head, seeing something large and dark falling towards him. It was too late to dodge. So what then? He had no choice but to block. Sapathan raised the flag, the symbol of the Army of Darkness, to fend off the axe descending upon his crown. Sapathan’s thick, powerful muscles faithfully performed their duty even in a moment of crisis, allowing him to move the thick, tree-like flagpole to the desired position. But that was all. Even the explosive power of Sapathan’s thick muscles couldn’t contend with the force unleashed by the demonic weapon called Blood Sucker, which was heavily infused with Jun-sang’s vitality.

CRACK!

The thick flagpole was instantly severed. And then, Blood Sucker plunged into Sapathan’s crown, who wore an expression of disbelief. The dark double-bladed axe cleaved the massive Sapathan’s body in half in one swift motion, without even a hint of resistance felt in the hand wielding Blood Sucker. It had split Sapathan from crown to groin in an instant.

Jun-sang immediately re-sheathed Blood Sucker in his inventory as soon as he landed on the ground.

Swoooosh!

Blood gushed from Sapathan’s split body as if hot lava were erupting. Jun-sang knelt on one knee, sitting on the ground, enveloped in the blood and bodily fluids, emitting white smoke from his body. It felt refreshing. It should have been hot, pulsating blood, disgusting and reeking of腥味, yet at this moment, Jun-sang found it all incredibly refreshing. Was it because he was drenched in the blood of such a powerful boss? Or was it due to Jun-sang’s increased regeneration and life-drain effects? He wasn’t sure, but after using a healing potion as well, Jun-sang’s body began to recover rapidly.

Sapathan’s body slowly toppled backward, then suddenly accelerated, crashing to the ground with a thud.

BOOM!

And there, before Sapathan’s fallen corpse, Jun-sang, covered in blood and emitting white smoke, slowly rose to his feet.

“Hoooh…”

Jun-sang took a long, deep breath, activated his Invisibility magic, and then Phase Shifted back up into a tree. He then summoned the pouch squirrel, which he had not summoned until now, fearing it might get caught in the fierce battle.

“Go.”

The pouch squirrel, hearing Jun-sang’s soft voice, tilted its head once, then swiftly scrambled down the tree and vanished. Come to think of it… he hadn’t even given it a name yet. It would be better to give it a proper name, but what would be good? How about asking Heness to name it? He imagined she would accept his request with a happy expression.

“Hoooh…”

Jun-sang pondered these thoughts as he waited for his body to fully recover. Would he recover even faster if he called Heness and asked her to whip him?

“Hmph.”

Jun-sang chuckled to himself at the sudden thought. Of course, he could immediately imagine the expression she would make if he asked her to whip him. He didn’t know for sure, but he guessed she’d probably look tearful and ask two or three times if she really had to.

Unlike Jun-sang, who was resting in such a leisurely manner, the monsters, having lost two bosses in a blink of an eye, were in disarray, not knowing what to do. Should they continue their advance as planned? Or should they first escape from the threat of the invisible enemy? At least one of the two had to be chosen, but unfortunately, none among them had ever experienced the privilege of choice. And as the monsters floundered, Jun-sang, thoroughly soaked in Sapathan’s blood, completed his recovery and slowly rose.

“Hoooooooh…”

Jun-sang let out a long breath and then Phase Shifted into the midst of the disoriented monsters. Retrieving the two iron balls named Langdazal’s Fury from his inventory, Jun-sang mercilessly activated the area-of-effect skill called Dual Storm.

Once again, a storm raged through the forest. The monsters tried to resist this absurd storm with their respective weapons, but it was something even their general dared not do. The two massive iron balls crushed their bodies, then activated a shattering effect, tearing them to shreds. When the storm finally subsided, all that remained in that space were swirling blood and gore, and silence. Jun-sang no longer bothered to hide himself. He simply stood with an arrogant posture, gazing at the surviving monsters.

The monsters stopped floundering. And then, with an explosion of killing intent, they charged as one towards Jun-sang, who stood firm.

Meanwhile, in Belkaras…

Meanwhile, as Jun-sang clashed with the Army of Darkness, American players in Belkaras were diligently building barricades on the collapsed castle walls. An overturned armored vehicle had been recovered and was being used as a temporary morgue for the deceased.

“Casualty count finished?”

“Yes, Lieutenant Colonel.”

The representative of the American players was Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson, a Marine Corps officer. He frowned as Second Lieutenant Dylan, serving as his interim adjutant, handed him a document detailing the casualty count.

“Lieutenant Raymond… he’s dead, then.”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

If Korea had Jun-sang, America had a player named Garrett Raymond. He was the first to return in America and a talented sniper who had cleared all quests with an S-rank thus far. In this operation, he had arrived in Belkaras while performing a long-term mission called an Epic Quest, but in the first battle, he suffered critical injuries—a pierced lung and liver—from an unknown attack and ultimately died during the combat.

“Damn it…”

For Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson, it was more heartbreaking to have lost a top-tier player representing America in such an absurd way than the fact that dozens of Americans had died due to endlessly reviving corpses and absurd monsters that could withstand even rockets.

“What’s the ammunition situation?”

Second Lieutenant Dylan replied with a grim expression. “Not good.”

“How bad is it?”

“Even after redistribution, it’s only about fifty rounds per person…”

“Damn it…”

Despite his strong dissuasion, when the zombies suddenly stopped reviving at the last minute, the Americans, under the pretext of avenging their fallen comrades, poured all their remaining bullets into the zombies. Fifty rounds, he thought. If an enemy force of similar scale to before attacked again, this amount of ammunition would only lead to annihilation.

“This is… a mistake.”

Second Lieutenant Dylan thought Wilkinson’s words were a reprimand for his failure to properly perform fire control duties. But at this moment, Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson was thinking of America’s choice to neglect physical training, overly relying on their firepower superiority. Ammunition was not infinite. If they were already facing a shortage of ammunition, even with ten individuals possessing inventory functions, a fundamental shift in tactics might be necessary for future quests.

Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson stroked his chin thoughtfully and asked again. “Have we still not figured out why that armored monster suddenly collapsed and died?”

Second Lieutenant Dylan quickly replied. “We found out. One of the armored vehicle occupants who couldn’t escape due to injuries witnessed it.”

“Oh? What did he say?”

At Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson’s question, Second Lieutenant Dylan hesitated before answering. “He said… a demon emitting red light from its eyes swung a large axe and split the monster in half instantly.”

“…”

Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson frowned. It was a fantastical story, but he himself had witnessed the monster falling in two pieces through binoculars from the battlements. But split in half instantly with an axe? Moreover, he hadn’t seen anyone approaching the enemy at all.

“Could it be… an Esper?”

“Sir?” Second Lieutenant Dylan looked puzzled at Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson’s murmur. But the Lieutenant Colonel, ignoring the rookie’s dumbfounded expression, was lost in his own thoughts. That rhino-like monster hadn’t even flinched, let alone shown a scratch, after being directly hit by a 66mm LAW. And to split such a monster in half with one axe swing? Was that even humanly possible? The survivor in the armored vehicle might have seen a hallucination. But the fact that the monster was split into two pieces was undeniable, and it was also a reality that its corpse had vanished in the blink of an eye. If so, there was only one conclusion. The possibility that another player, beyond their control, had intervened.

The question was, who possessed such an absurd ability? An ability to hide freely from others’ sight. If this was combined with teleportation and attack power that could instantly cleave a monster that withstood rocket attacks… if such a person became an enemy of the United States, would there even be a way to stop him?

Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson clicked his tongue. If he had known this, he would not have ignored Sergeant Blake’s advice to prioritize physical and mental training. America had buttoned the first button incorrectly. But it wasn’t too late. There was still an opportunity to correct their mistake.

“Second Lieutenant Dylan.”

“Yes, Lieutenant Colonel.”

“It’s shameful to admit, but it’s probably best to be practical here. Go and request an audience with the Lord.”

“Understood.”

Second Lieutenant Dylan saluted Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson, then turned to leave the command tent. But at that very moment, their cell phones began to ring simultaneously.

“…”

Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson, Second Lieutenant Dylan, and indeed all the busy Americans preparing for battle, almost simultaneously and in unison, pulled out their cell phones to check the messages.

Defend the City from the Army of Darkness.

: A mighty Army of Darkness is advancing on the trading city of Belkaras. Block their invasion. (Time remaining until invasion: 0 hours 0 minutes)

[This quest involves a large number of participants simultaneously.]

-> Completed!

(Hidden) Eliminate 20 Skirmishers. (Cooperation) -> Completed!

(Hidden) Eliminate 15 Grey Wolves. (Cooperation) -> Completed!

– Your actions and performance in this quest will be calculated.

This process will take a moment. Please wait.

“This?” Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson frowned at the sudden quest completion message. To complete it now, out of the blue? But he didn’t have time to ponder the meaning of the message.

“Damn it! Immediately store all supplies and firearms and prepare to withdraw! Especially the firearms must all be collected! If collection is difficult, destroy them!”

“Ah, understood!”

But even as they busied themselves, the indifferent messages continued.

Congratulations!

: Your rank is D.

– You did not contribute significantly to the completion of this quest.

How about engaging more actively in quests next time?

Reward: A small amount of experience.

*-> Do you wish to receive the reward now? (Y/n) (Caution) Unclaimed rewards will be automatically deleted after 7 days.

“…”

Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson frowned. Something was wrong. Only a D-rank, despite slaughtering over ten thousand zombies? But before Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson could think further, the Americans who had appeared in Belkaras began to return to their original locations with a flash of light.