The Player Who Eats Steel - Episode 202
202fury.
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In the distance, a section of the huge mountain range that stood as the background of the world was sinking into vain..
Ku—gu—gu—gu——!
The whitish dust rising there rose like a wave and swept across the red meadow, coming towards us..
And as the area turned into a volcanic area after the first wave, the magma flowing underground was exposed to oxygen, causing an explosion and large mushroom clouds to bloom one after another..
Bang—— Bang——
As a result, the 'Demon King's Castle', which was being built somewhere deep underground, would have been shaken to its core, which would have been a great stimulus to the Devil King..
'……Of course, this alone cannot hit the Demon King Castle..’
Even though it hit as many as four Mowglais, the Ancient Red Drake's underground city would not have completely collapsed..
Wasn't it assumed that the reason they wanted to build the Demon King's Castle there in the first place was because they could avoid Lee Hyun-wook's fall from the Moglei??
'But, you won't be able to stop it forever..’
However, the Demon King knew very well that the dropping of Moglei may not end with this one shot, and that there is no tree that cannot be felled after ten shots..
In other words, if Lee Hyun-wook is left alone, no matter how big the mountain is, he will turn it into dust and crush everything underneath it.…….
'……So, I have no choice but to crawl out..’
Lee Hyun-wook planned to hit the bees that came out of the hive. That would have been a much more favorable fight..
“Now, I think we can start setting up camp..”
At Lee Hyun-wook's words, Team Leader Lee Gyo-jun, who was standing next to him, issued an order to the entire fleet via Mana Messenger. Then, two of the 19 airships broke away from the formation and lowered their altitude..
- Chik – Foundation stone installation operation begins.
Team 1, which landed first, installed a 'mana shield' to ensure basic safety, and then the priests of Team 2, who landed next, placed a number of 'relics' and started up..
yes——
Then, the divine power spread gently, removing the power of death that was coloring this area..
- Chic—First work is finished, second work begins..
Next, a group of engineers moved around, pulled out rolled up iron fences from subspace, and began to surround the edge of the camp site..
As the airship landed inside and began unloading the vehicles and supplies it was carrying, it took on the appearance of a garrison for armed troops to some extent..
- Now blacksmiths are also being brought in to carry out additional work..
And even the dwarves and blacksmiths of Laputa stepped forward to install hextech automatic turrets and placed giant soldiers equipped with artificial intelligence in alert mode..
There were also several large weapons prepared just for this day..
That wasn't all.
- Chik—Dark elf elementalists are ready too..
Then, the elementalists in the dark elf forest scattered seeds and granted mana, and a green wave grew around the camp, forming a large barrier..
In this way, Lee Hyun-wook mobilized everything he could and maximized the camp environment in a short period of time..
‘Laputa will come soon, but we don't know how long this battle will last, so we need to be thoroughly prepared..’
And a well-established base fortress would be a great support in battle. Even if we are pushed back by any chance, it will be a fortress where we can stage a sit-in protest and a supply depot where we can easily receive additional support..
When the camp creation work had been going on for about 30 minutes, Team Leader Lee Kyo-Jun approached me again..
"Now that the dust seems to have settled on the target point, we will deploy a 'special reconnaissance team' to search for the entrance to the Demon King's Castle..”
The Black Tiger Unit's 'Special Reconnaissance Team', comprised of a total of 24 assassination players, had infiltrated the area long before the Steel Fleet arrived..
Based on skills suitable for infiltration such as stealth and expanded senses, they were supplied with all kinds of magic engineering items, so they would demonstrate a clearer infiltration ability than anyone else..
Additionally, Warrant Officer Myeong-ho Cheon was leading them. He would have done better than anyone else when it came to infiltration operations..
and…….
"Now, the first round of reinforcements are said to be arriving..”
Before coming here, Hyunwook Lee asked for support from several leading players from around the world..
They were players that Lee Hyun-wook could trust and have his back on, and they readily responded to Lee Hyun-wook's call and gathered together in one place..
“Then, 10 minutes later, we will open the Wight Hall and welcome the first reinforcements..”
"yes please do that.”
With this, an expedition force was scheduled to be prepared to attack the Demon King Castle..
Of course, the true completion of the expedition would require the troops in New York and North Korea to join..
***
Wooooow——
A thick beam of light soared into the sky and transformed into a ring shape. And then the inside of the ring distorted and a huge portal opened..
Doo doo doo doo——
Dozens of helicopters lined up from there and landed one by one on a short runway on one side of the camp..
And soon, faces that I had met several times in this life, such as Brian Thiel, Edward Woods, and Kodo Koshiro, appeared, and other than that,…….
'……Ailey Holm, who represents Canada, Taylor Fort, who is called the shield of the United States, and Josh Chang, the guardian of Singapore, are people I know well..’
Although they had never met in this life, they were the ones who fought against the necromancer with Lee Hyun-wook in his past life, so they could be believed without much verification..
"Thank you for responding to my request.”
Lee Hyun-wook shook hands with each of them one by one and welcomed them with the utmost sincerity..
Among them, Edward Woods and Kodo Koshiro had a relationship that went beyond competing with each other and even made them blush..
And Kodo Koshiro, whom Lee Hyun-wook knows, was also a person who regarded this game as amusement rather than a disaster..
But for now, it was necessary to make them allies. The firepower of S-rank players was too much to ignore in these war events..
After a while, they all gathered in the operations tent..
“……Soon the devil's legions will pour in to stop us. And as you already know, Titans, Black Orcs, Ice Trolls, Ancient Red Drakes, etc. are under the Demon King's command..”
Hyunwook Lee said.
Edward Woods slightly raised his hand with a worried expression..
“But what if you don't come out and hold on??”
He turned his head and continued talking, pointing out the window at the volcanic terrain..
"I came here four years ago to participate in Operation California Restoration. And it's a shame, but I was taken hostage and witnessed their underground city. It is… … It's much sturdier than we thought.”
4A year ago, heroes from all over the world set out to restore California, which had been eroded by the first wave..
At that time, it suffered such a huge defeat that it was estimated that 30 seats in the world's top 100 were lost, and even to this day, no attempt has been made to attack it..
To that extent, the Ancient Red Drake was stronger than any monster that had ever appeared..
And Edward Woods seemed to have engraved the memory of that time deep into his bones, and showed his worry, unable to hide it..
“……So, they will probably try to stage a sit-in there, and with magma flowing everywhere, it will be difficult in many ways to attack them..”
But Lee Hyun-wook solved his concerns very simply..
"If so, I'll drop Moglay on that mountain again and again..”
"ah……."
"And actually, we already tried it once a few hours ago, but if we keep doing this, our entrance might disappear, so we're holding off..”
It was the strongest pressure that only Lee Hyun-wook could exert..
Brian Thiel nodded at those words..
“……Well, if you hit an ant hole with a pickaxe, it won't come out eventually..”
And soon, the swarms of ants started popping out... … Team leader Kyo-jun Lee’s voice came through Hyun-wook Lee’s Mana Messenger..
- Chick—enemies have been spotted.
After a while, Team Leader Kyo-Jun Lee entered the operation tent and operated the tablet PC, and the crystal projector linked to it activated and a hologram appeared..
It was an intelligence video sent from a 'special reconnaissance team' that had infiltrated close to enemy lines. Soon, along with a man's voice, a ruined side of the mountain appeared before my eyes..
- Those... … This is Ancient Red Drake..
Some movement was captured on the slopes of the mountain that collapsed due to Lee Hyun-wook's dropping of Mogley..
Monsters with huge bodies, about 15 to 20 meters tall, with dark red scales, were crawling out of the ground with glowing amber eyes..
purr—
- The numbers are twenty-three, thirty-five, fifty... … No, it comes out constantly..
Next, Team Leader Lee Kyo-Jun gave us an analysis table through military satellite, and said that the number was a whopping 1,241..
At those words, the players could not hide their embarrassment..
"Oh my... … How can there be so many??”
"At that rate, it seems like there are more than 4 years ago..”
“……Iknow, right. Looks like you've done a lot of breeding so far..”
It was probably natural for them to be so surprised. If there were that many Ancient Red Drakes, it would be a decent country... … No, it was enough troops to overthrow the continent..
And since all of these people remembered the complete defeat of humanity four years ago, and some of them had experienced that defeat themselves, it was not unreasonable to say that the trauma would recur..
But Lee Hyun-wook remained calm..
‘Yeah, I thought those would show up first..’
Because it was just as Lee Hyun-wook expected. As this is the land of the Ancient Red Drake, they could become the most powerful force in this volcanic terrain..
Also, since it was the most numerous monster, it was the perfect weapon for the Demon Lord to kill time..
‘But no matter what, trying to waste time by boldly expending troops like that... … As expected, this means that the construction of the Demon King’s Castle is urgent.?’
All of the Demon King's operations so far have been focused solely on the completion of the Demon King's Castle..
In other words, it could be predicted that once the construction of the Demon King's Castle was completed, a situation would be greatly advantageous to the Demon King..
Lee Hyun-wook predicted that this would not only expand troops through random gate creation, which is called 'evil proliferation', but also greatly strengthen the power of the devil itself, like a kind of 'region'..
‘In other words, it's best to attack as quickly as possible and deal with him before the Demon King's Castle is built..’
Lee Hyun-wook looked at Lee Kyo-jun..
"Team Leader Lee, please indicate where those crawled out. That point would be the entrance to the underground city..”
"Um, and it means the entrance to the Demon King’s Castle, right? We'll have to hit that place as quickly as possible..”
Lee Hyun-wook nodded, and just 20 seconds after Lee Kyo-jun gave an order to someone, analysis data was sent to the tablet PC held by team leader Lee Kyo-jun..
He projected it as a hologram..
A white circle was marked on the satellite map of the mountain..
"uh… … As of now, a total of 4 have been confirmed. And the distance between each point is quite long, so it's hard to tell if they all lead to a single tunnel..”
"then… … It might be a bit risky, but could you ask the special reconnaissance team to check in detail??”
After defeating the Ancient Red Drakes that are now out, we would eventually have to enter the Demon King's Castle directly..
At that time, it would be a huge loss if you took the wrong route and got confused, so it was necessary to check in advance the closest distance to reach the Demon Castle..
"Yes, let me tell you to enter carefully..”
Afterwards, they went outside the operation tent and looked at the Ancient Red Drakes coming towards them..
Goo-gu-gu-gu——!
The earth shook violently as those giant creatures were coming this way..
When I was far away, it seemed like a cavalry unit was approaching, but as I got closer, it seemed like a tank unit was approaching..
“What are you doing! They're closing in fast, so get moving—”
“All wizards, prepare for large-scale area magic!”
All troops fired up all weapons and prepared for defense..
Hyunwook Lee also synchronized with the war boxes floating in low orbit and aimed above their heads..
‘Although we haven't been able to place the Mogley yet, we have still loaded several high-mass warheads..’
However, the Ancient Red Drakes gradually widened the distance between them and formed a fan-shaped formation..
‘This is a move to be aware of my low-orbit Mowray drop attack and minimize damage..’
however.......
"uh… … They stopped..”
They stopped about 1km away from the 'camp'. Then, only 5 came out separately and came towards us.?
“Oh my, that's another trick.?”
“hmm… … Maybe we should talk.?”
And those five Ancient Red Drakes came this way and even polymorphed into human form..
In other words, there was a hint of the will of the commanders of both sides to meet in the middle and have a conversation, as if in the Middle Ages..
To put it another way, you could do it like this.
“……You're trying to waste time..”
You can save a lot more time by making contact, talking, and creating a war of nerves rather than just clashing and fighting..
Lee Hyun-wook noticed such obvious intentions..
In that case, the answer would be not to respond........
"......Let's give it a go first..”
Woo Seong-moon and Lee Kyo-jun looked surprised at Lee Hyun-wook’s words..
"yes? Didn't you say it was urgent at 1 o'clock??”
"That's right, but I have something to check..”
The reason Lee Hyun-wook made that decision was after observing them as Hugin and Munin and checking detailed information with Insight Lens... … Because there was one thing that stood out..
- Ancient Red Drake (LV：134)
* The devil's descendants
This information was obvious at the moment..
But often, there was something a little different mixed in.…….
- Ancient Red Drake (LV：141)
* Demon King's Colony, Potential Spell 'Explosion' Applied
In this way, the additional information for each entity was divided into ‘Devil’s household’ and ‘Devil’s colony’. And the difference was clear, only the latter was shackled by latent spells..
'In other words, not everyone is still loyal to the Demon Lord..’
Until now, numerous monsters have been subjugated to the Demon Lord..
But wasn't the Ancient Red Drake being colonized by the Demon King while he was living well in this land??
‘So, some people were loyal to the devil, but others did not surrender..’
And until now, large groups of monsters born in wave erosion areas have always been divided into several factions..
‘As far as I know, this was the case in all cases..’
First of all, the Dark Elf Kingdom was originally friendly to humanity, but turned hostile towards humanity due to an internal rebellion..
And in the case of the Black Orc Kingdom, there was the opposite case, where forces opposing King Stonox contacted the Guardian and assisted in the plan to assassinate the King..
Also, in the 4th wave, which was not created in this life, and the 'Cult of Death' that was born in the eroded area of Seoul, there was a unique NPC called Lich, who harbored a sense of guilt, and helped restore Seoul..
These complex and subtle conflict elements within a race seemed to have been intentionally placed for strategy purposes as a game..
It was the same here, in the Ancient Red Drake group.…....
'……This way, we might be able to get a guide and some extra troops..’
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