The Player Who Eats Steel - Episode 198
198fury.
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Just one scene can change the mood.
The whole world responded to the blueprint presented by Lee Hyun-wook..
- Steele Lane proves once again that he is a ‘warrior’ who will prevent the apocalypse through a surprise raid live broadcast..
- Why we should trust Steele Rain, what is ‘Hex Engineering’, a technological skill that will open a new horizon??
However, the current also changed quickly........
When 11 hours had passed since he returned to Laputa with the body of 'Leviathan', the Demon King once again showed off his presence to the world..
In other words, the Demon King was also trying to move the air current..
And the location is none other than…….
- [Breaking News] The devil appears over New York (1 report))
***
"oh my god……."
Many people walking through Times Square, the most famous street in the world, stopped and looked up into space as if they had paused..
"......."
A shadow slowly approached their faces..
Huh—huh—
The 'flower of death' appeared in the sky in Manhattan, New York, which is still called the world's greatest city..
It was floating high above a skyscraper, overlooking New York, the so-called 'capital of the world', like an obvious scene from many movies about alien invasions..
Huh—huh—
He looked arrogant and relaxed, as if observing a swarm of ants that could be trampled at any time..
In addition, numerous flying undead flew in groups around the area, creating an eerie atmosphere. Among them, even at first glance, there was one 'Bone Dragon' that looked unusually intimidating..
It's called the Flower of Death... … The whole world already knew its power.
At that time, the world's best current affairs broadcaster and New York-based broadcaster was like a portrait collection..
- ……Ha—I didn't know it would come to New York and right over our heads..
- That aircraft looks like the weapon of mass destruction that attacked the 'Ancient Red Drake' in the first wave erosion area in California a few days ago..
- Yes, that's right. We have all seen this being called the Flower of Death, capable of covering a very large area with death gas..
- It was a truly horrific scene. In just one day, they killed all of the ‘Ancient Red Drakes’ that humanity had failed to attack..
- Yes, seeing that scene at the time, each country must have put in all their effort to prepare for its invasion.…….
- That's not possible even if you try..
After attracting the world's attention more intensely than ever before, the actions taken by the devil were…….
- Ah, here’s the news! Well, it is said that the Demon King just sent a message to the whole world.!
It was a message to the whole world..
Soon the screen changed to show the flower of death over New York, and the message 'The Devil's Message' was displayed below it..
- Now, let’s listen together.
Then a man's voice began to flow..
「……From now on, if anyone tries to leave New York, it will rain poisonous gas and poison all over New York. No matter how hard I struggle, the moment I make up my mind, millions of civilians will inevitably die. So, not resisting is actually a way to live longer. Nobody better think about going out of my sight..」
that was the end.
Just a very short and bold threat... … There wasn't even a requirement.
- .......
Even the MCs couldn't help but be embarrassed by this, and for a while, the audio went blank and only terrible silence continued..
- uh… … therefore… … It is not known why the Demon Lord took New York citizens hostage..
- They say they have repeatedly tried to contact the U.S. government, but have not received any response yet..
There was only one name that came to mind at this moment..
- What's going on, does Steele Lane know??
- Now honestly... … It seems that Steelein's response is needed more than the government's or domestic guild union's response..
- Yes, he has to step up. If Steele Rain is watching this broadcast, please… … Please provide an answer.
***
The whole world tried to interpret the devil's intentions.
But no one could come up with an answer..
Lee Hyun-wook, who was the only one to receive the 'warrior privilege', was different..
Because he got a direct hint.
- (!) The Demon King has begun the construction of ‘Devil’s Castle’.
* When the Demon King's Castle is completed, an 'evil rampage' will begin, and one 'gate' will randomly open in the area every 24 hours, and monsters from there will obey the 'Demon King'..
'……what?’
The content was bound to be quite shocking..
‘therefore… … It means you have an infinite supply of legions.?’
It wouldn't be a big deal if a goblin came out of that random gate, but if a dragon just happened to come out, it would be a big problem..
“……Things got complicated.”
Lee Hyun-wook planned to create as many weapons as possible by gathering items from around the world and processing them through magical engineering..
'If you do that, you will be able to widen the gap with the Demon King.…….'
In his opinion, the number of items held by necromancers and demon lords was limited..
‘They must have collected more valuable items than anyone else, but they would not have been able to bring them all with them when moving between dimensions..’
As Lee Hyun-wook observed, all dimension movers came across alone..
In other words, what they wore would be all the items they brought with them..
‘Of course, the necromancer had separate skills related to subspace, but he wasn't the type of person who carried around a lot of airdrop devices like me.…….'
Therefore, Lee Hyun-wook calculated that he could be ahead in terms of the quality and quantity of weapons, and thanks to that, time would be his ally..
However, if the Demon King's Castle is completed and the 'evil rampage' begins, and a monster force of one gate's size joins the Demon King every 24 hours,…….
‘……In the end, time is not entirely on my side..’
So, how should we move now??
‘Rather than waiting for the devil to come forward in earnest like now, we must find the devil and attack him preemptively..’
And the 'target' seemed somewhat clear.
Hyunwook Lee looked at New York on TV. It was a reasonable judgment given the current situation to consider that place as the site of the ‘Demon King’s Castle’ construction..
‘So you took New Yorkers hostage without asking for anything??’
Everything seemed to fall into place like this..
But Lee Hyun-wook felt uncomfortable somewhere..
‘But to reveal it so openly... … It's very suspicious. Once the construction of the Demon King's Castle begins, you won't know that I will be aiming for it........'
But why, for what purpose, was New York, the most eye-catching city, chosen as the site for the Devil's Castle??
And in his eyes, something foreign caught.
“—hmm? That… … It's not the flower of death itself.?”
He was sick of the sight of the flower of death..
But I have never felt this sense of heterogeneity before..
He paused the TV screen showing the Flower of Death. And I looked at it carefully.
The 'flower of death' he knew was bigger than that. And the petals were not blood-colored like that, but purple with red spots, and the shape of the tassels that bloomed like pillars from the center of the flower looked completely different..
He asked Talos what the difference was between 'stamen' and 'pistil', and Talos quickly found the information on the internet and told him..
In other words, it was definitely a completely different flower of death..
‘Then, we need to figure out why the second flower of death was placed over New York..’
Hyunwook Lee came up with the answer without difficulty..
‘That's most likely a bait..’
In order to collect more reliable information, Lee Hyun-wook asked team leader Lee Kyo-jun to take a satellite photo of the flower of death over New York..
And after checking that,…….
'......As expected, he is not there..’
In his previous life, Lee Hyun-wook thoroughly researched the power of the necromancer in order to attack his worst enemy..
And I knew some information related to the Death Flower, one of which was that the 'tassel' part of the Death Flower was a kind of antenna..
It received the necromancer's mana and then released the mana from the roots - it served as a 'router' to deliver commands to the undead in the area..
'Through him, we control a lot more undead..’
But when I looked at the satellite photos over New York taken at five-minute intervals—pictures of the Flower of Death—I noticed that the tassel was not moving at all..
“……Normally, if there is a necromancer nearby, it will squirm in that direction..”
So, the most basic way to find out the location of necromancers among the undead army was to determine the movement of alcohol..
In other words, there were no necromancers there..
What it meant was that there was no devil..
In other words, that place was not the place where the Demon King Castle was built..
‘Yes, he wants me to think that that place is where the Demon King's Castle was built..’
In other words, it was a ploy to waste time..
Until the real Demon King's Castle is built…….
But Lee Hyun-wook, who already knew what the flower of death looks like, was not fooled..
He had a strange smile.
‘The greatest power I have, they have no idea.’
As a necromancer and demon lord who did not know that Lee Hyun-wook knew future information, he could not help but feel that he was spreading his own amazing bait..
‘This fact will be a great weapon until the last moment..’
But finding out the true location of the Demon King's Castle was another problem. Although it was impossible to stop its completion, in the end it was necessary to attack the Demon King's Castle to defeat the Demon King, and finding out its location was a priority..
‘But that doesn't mean we can search the whole world.…….'
Maybe the place where the Demon King Castle was built was deep in the ocean, so it was never efficient..
‘If I deal with Hugin and Munin, I might find it... … But it is important to specify the region first..’
It was a time when Lee Hyun-wook was worried for a while..
A mana message came to him..
The content was that Alain Gidam was urgently looking for him..
He said he was looking for another item this time.…….
‘Oh, and then there was that guy.?’
There is a wild animal that has been well tamed so far..
‘I set him free and find a den with a bunch of people..’
***
"......If you know how hard I worked to get this item, you might cry a little..”
Alain Giam, he was joking while sitting on the sofa in the Order Tower..
Still, I turned my head here and there and rolled my eyes here and there..
"after… … It's luxurious, this place really has a great view. Well, it might be the tallest building in the world..”
This Order Tower had glass windows on all sides. Thanks to that, I was able to see not only Laputa but also the surrounding scenery at a glance..
A panoramic blue sky that looks like the ocean, a huge city center floating above the clouds... … Alain Giam was the first person to see that scene as an outsider, and he smiled brightly as if he was impressed..
‘Haha, I finally got here..’
How miserably I bowed my head to reach this place.?
It was hard work for Alain Giam, who was sitting in a position recognized by the whole world and had quite a strong ego. But he was also a gambler who would risk anything to achieve what he wanted..
‘Laputa, the heart of Stillane... … The fact that he has come this far means that he has already opened his heart to me. And he must be anxious because of what happened in New York, but if I were to make a huge profit here,…….'
He slowly rolled his eyes and glanced sideways at Lee Hyun-wook, who was sitting across from him and examining the tablet PC he held out..
'......You can never say no, you'll be caught in a noose..’
Lee Hyun-wook flipped through the screen a few times and then opened his mouth..
"So, the legendary item ‘Yeouibong’ is inside a gate in China, and it is acquired and bound..”
That’s right, it’s ‘Yeoui-bong’.
Isn't Jecheon Daeseong, the protagonist of the world's most famous classic novel, the weapon of Son Wukong??
"Yes, fortunately, the guild that secured it is said to have preserved the site untouched until now, despite internal arguments over who to give the item to and even bloodshed. Haha—it might have been a joke, but we were lucky..”
Lee Hyun-wook was silent for a moment, and Alain Giam swallowed dry saliva..
But Lee Hyun-wook eventually nodded..
“……If you give me that, I can't not go..”
"Haha—yes, of course.?”
"Yes, the time has come when we will soon have to go to New York and face the devil, so we need to strengthen our forces even a little. Thank you for saving me such a precious item..”
"I also wanted to go and catch him right away, but... … for the earth—”
He raised his index finger and pointed at Hyunwook Lee..
"—'Cause I'm investing everything in you.”
He learned the art of dealing with politics and business for a long time, and found that this kind of blatant wording worked surprisingly well..
No matter how much someone has in their hands, they want to feel recognized in everything they do. No, rather, they want to be confirmed again and again more than anyone else..
‘So, lip service, even if it's done with pressure, will usually work..’
It was no different with Stillane..
And as expected, Lee Hyun-wook smiled cheerfully..
“Monsieur, I am truly grateful as always..”
Hyunwook Lee held out his hand and Alain Giam held it together..
"Then shall we go right now??”
***
Lee Hyun-wook, along with Kim Se-hee and several other members of the Hope Guild, followed Alain Giam to the place where Yeo Eui-bong was said to be sleeping, to an open gate somewhere in China..
yes—
Lee Hyun-wook arrived in China after passing through four two-way portals prepared by Alain Giam..
It was one of China's five most rugged mountain ranges called Jingshan, and dozens of players greeted them..
And from the center of it all, one person walked out..
He was a short but stocky man. One thing that was unusual was that he had all sorts of piercings in his ears and nose..
- Player (LV：72)
* villain, devil conqueror
Lee Hyun-wook recognized him..
'……This is Jang Jun-geol, one of the five evils of the continent..’
He belonged to Dark Star and was one of the top Chinese villains. He was also, above all, a player who used 'Yeoui-bong' for a while..
'In other words, Yeouibong Peak is definitely here..’
He approached Lee Hyun-wook and smiled gently..
"Wow, I never thought I would see you in person. My name is Jang Jun-geol, the guild's assistant master. The Master has to come out in person for something like this, but I have a big problem going on right now..”
He held out his hand and Lee Hyun-wook held it..
And followed his lead and climbed the mountain path..
I think it went about ten minutes longer.…….
“Okay, here it is..”
But all I saw was trees and piles of stones..
“……It's a wide area mirage barrier.?”
"Oh, you recognized me right away.?”
It was a camouflage spell that was also used in the ‘Bukaksan Mountain Great Sanctuary’..
Let's go up a little further and pass a point.—
- passed.
A fairly wide hilly area has spread out..
There were several helicopters parked there and dozens of players fully armed and guarding them..
And then I saw a cave. Considering that it was blocked by a large iron gate, it seemed like that was the space where the gate in question was open..
"Great, but there is one problem with this place..”
“yes?”
When Lee Hyun-wook made a questioning expression, Jang Jun-geol scratched his head shyly and said,.
"As you may have already heard, there were big and small fights between three factions within our guild over the weapon of Jecheon Daeseong sleeping in that cave over there..”
"yes you heard.”
"So, we decided among ourselves that before determining the owner of Yeouibong, we set a rule that only one person from each of the three factions could enter there to prevent petty thieves. Otherwise, a magic circuit was installed so that the cave itself would collapse..”
He said and pointed to the entrance to the cave..
There were clearly all kinds of magic circuits drawn there..
"They say it will take three or four days to unlock it, but we all don't have time for that, do we??”
he said with a grin.
Lee Hyun-wook nodded..
‘You put in quite a bit of effort..’
It seemed like a lot of effort went into this trap..
Lee Hyun-wook turned his head and looked at Kim Se-hee..
"Team Leader Kim, I will go alone, so please wait for a moment.."
"ah……."
Because she didn't know the whole story, she looked somewhat uneasy when she heard that Lee Hyun-wook was going into a strange place alone, but wasn't it Lee Hyun-wook and no one else? Who will talk about his safety??
“Yes, then we will wait outside..”
Alain Giam, who came with Kim Se-hee before him, said.
Lee Hyun-wook nodded and accepted the bracelet presented by Jang Jun-geol..
"Now, you have to wear this to get in there..”
[Item information]
- Name: Loyalty of the Three Gorges
- Effect: You can enter and exit a specific barrier..
Lee Hyun-wook wore a bracelet and entered the cave with Jang Jun-geol and another villain..
Alain Giam watched him disappear, and the Chinese players exchanged looks..
***
And as expected, it was a trap.
“……What should I do about this? The great Steelein took bribes so many times that he lost his eye.?”
“Ugh—there really won’t be a gap this time..”
Naturally, there was no gate in that cave..
But the level of the trap was surprisingly not obvious..
‘what's this?’
Lee Hyun-wook summoned AD-2 from the wrist imprint, but strangely the imprint did not respond..
Jang Jun-geol laughed and said.
“Tsk tsk— This cave is plastered with ‘mana reflux stones.’ In other words, neither you nor our mana can function properly here. In other words, you can't use the skill.."
"......."
"Do you know how much we spent on this facility to get you? It must have cost as much money as that strange arsenal you worked so hard to create.!”
Lee Hyun-wook raised his head and looked at the ceiling and walls..
It was meticulously applied with a rare material item called ‘mana reflux stone’..
To plaster this large space with reflux stones, which are so difficult to find... … Originally, the regurgitation stone was at best used as a tool to lift the barrier..
It costs about the same as orihalcon, so you really have to spend a lot of money to fill this huge space..
This was a ridiculous trap that was possible because he was a villain who encroached on the closed big market called China..
“……This time, I really prepared thoroughly.?”
"So, you said you built that arsenal with the support of your small country? So, how far do you think we, who can harness the power of this great nation, can achieve if we decide to do so??”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded..
"Yes, it's admirable. With a trap prepared to this extent, any player would have no choice but to fall into it.……."
"Ugh—you know me well, right? So are you going to tell me to beg for your life? There is no CCTV in here, so you can do it if you want..”
Lee Hyun-wook looked down at his watch in silence..
“……294seconds left.”
"what?”
"If you can kill me in there, kill me. Otherwise......."
If there isn't a single gap, just force it to be created..
“……This mountain is going to collapse entirely..”
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