Novels online

The Player Who Eats Steel - Episode 29

29. Cheongdam-dong, Red Gate - 2

========================

The reason Cheongdam-dong’s ‘Red Gate’ became ‘Murder Gate’ was simple..

‘The risk of battles with monsters that are highly intelligent and live in groups increases as the battle progresses..’

Because they ‘learn’ over time..

Therefore, increasingly diverse and difficult ‘unexpected patterns’ are used..

In other words, when the first strategy failed, you should have thought a little more and then tried the second strategy..

The gnolls inside the gate must have also become more clever as the episode progressed.······.

‘Especially in the case of some boss monsters, they act much more intelligently..’

Just as human groups produce completely different results depending on who the leader is, even in the same game, the group led by the 'Old Alpha Male' was quite dangerous..

He knew how to observe and think..

They would have watched humans coming in through a certain 'passage-gate' through which they had to exit, and would have come to the conclusion that it would not be a one-time thing..

‘And I worry. The most effective way to kill······.’

What he came up with was to launch a 'concentrated attack' as soon as he passed the gate..

Maybe it was a simple idea, but it was very effective..

While maximizing the advantage of their overwhelming numbers, the nature of this vast wasteland meant that players who had just passed through the gate had little place to hide..

Until the 5th attack, that method works..

But history changed.

It had to be that way..

No matter how clever they are······.

‘All at once, it rushes in.’

Pa-ba-ba-ba-ba-

What they didn't know was that the hundreds of arrows, bolts, crossbows, etc. they had fired would stop in the air, split apart, and rain down on their heads like hail.,

I could never, never have imagined it..

“Wow...what is that?······.”

With someone's admiration, a steel storm swirled along Lee Hyun-wook's fingertips..

Pa-ba-ba-ba-ba-

As the storm fell on the hill, a cloud of sand rose up..

The gnoll troops were swept away in an instant, dozens of them falling to their knees in an instant..

that was just the beginning.

They fell vertically, then rose again, this time shooting horizontally..

Like a swarm of locusts, they fly in in droves and scratch everything..

and······.

‘······rotation.’

It became a black tornado and began to destroy the hill..

The metal storm and the sand storm tangled together and made a loud noise..

Sh-shh-sh-sh-sh-

Although it was a small piece of metal, it stuck to the fur and spun around, causing scratches on the skin, and was quite fatal if it grazed the eyes or nape of the neck..

Wow! Wake up! Wow! Wow!

The sound of a pack of dogs howling echoed through the wilderness..

“uh? They run away!”

Since they were unable to respond, the gnolls began to run away in panic..

‘But the damage does not end here. They'll keep getting weaker.’

That's because 'poison' was applied to the end of the arrowhead of that piece of iron..

In other words, if you had suffered even a small injury from the metal storm, you would have been poisoned..

“How do I chase...?”

I know it doesn't make sense, but Ahn Min-tae asked that..

Lee Hyun-wook shook his head..

Moving carelessly in the dungeon was suicidal..

‘There are probably about half of those troops, and the other half are waiting in the rear..’

A lot more troops and ships would be waiting for them..

“······Bah, what was that just now? this is what you did?”

Park Ki-taek, head of the Cheonghwa Guild strategy team, asked that question..

The entire Cheonghwa guild turned into surprised rabbit eyes..

Meanwhile, arrows were lodged in Park Ki-taek's left shoulder and thigh, and the wounds were stained blue. As expected, it was because of the ‘poison’ that would be applied to the end of the arrowhead..

‘Poison... It's not a strong poison, but it's the blood of the desert mana burn frog that slowly eats away your stamina and mana..’

Old Alpha Male seemed to have realized that the most terrifying weapon wielded by humans was 'skill', so he was cultivating a large number of poisonous frogs that burn mana..

“Well, I heard that you have the ability to manipulate metal, but I never thought it would be like this.······.”

Park Ki-taek did not hide his surprise..

Park Ki-taek and the Cheonghwa Guild also heard information about the AMT Special Strategy Squadron, so they also knew that they were active in the Seoul Station Unlucky Event..

But honestly, deep down, no, I was ignoring it outright..

15The lower-level unlock event will be lower-level than this Red Gate dungeon anyway, and the AMT soldier, who is the lowest level, is just the bottom no matter how good he is.······.

But, that didn't seem to be the case.

Lee Hyun-wook reached out to Chunghwa’s team leader, Park Ki-taek..

Park Ki-taek tried to hold his hand, thinking he was trying to help him up, but Lee Hyun-wook shook his head..

“No, let's borrow a shield..”

A shield?······.

Park Ki-taek, who was embarrassed, dropped his hands and made a nervous expression..

“yes? Why are you giving me my shield??”

“Well... if you don't want to get out of here, well, I'll bury you with that shield someday..”

“······.”

Park Ki-taek couldn’t ask back..

Although there is a healer, 11 out of 14 people were hit by arrows, including the healer..

And two people were in critical condition and needed intensive care..

In other words, it was difficult for Cheonghwa's attack team to be active anymore..

‘Even though you have suffered damage, taking time to recover is one way..’

As a team leader, Park Ki-taek constantly searched for ways..

But well······.

When night comes, I can't see what kind of attack that vicious group of gnolls will carry out in the future, and how I should lead this wounded army to respond... It's already dark before my eyes..

‘Something must be done before night falls..’

If you spent the night in this wasteland, you would experience an even deeper hell..

Then there is only one way,

I have no choice but to trust the AMT special attack platoon.······.

‘Damn, if this goes on, even if I get out alive, I don't think I'll be able to see anything good.······.’

Even though he had already brought shame to the guild, he had already done so..

But survival was the priority right now..

“······Here, take it..”

Lee Hyun-wook accepted the brass-colored round shield presented by Park Ki-taek..

“Is it mithril alloy? It's quite light..”

“······.”

As expected, it seemed like the Cheonghwa guild spent some money..

“A few gnolls might attack here, but you can handle that much.?”

“······Sure.”

“Well then, we have no choice but to attack it ourselves. This is a situation where we have to do it all from start to finish, without help, so after the strategy is over, don't say anything and testify straight..”

“······yes.”

Park Ki-taek nodded bitterly..

The distribution of rewards obtained from dungeon raids is determined by agreement between both parties, and the agreement was reached at a strategy meeting held between the people in charge of both sides just before entering the gate..

As a result, the Cheonghwa guild, which is evaluated to have a relative superiority in power, was contracted to own a whopping 70%, and also had priority selection of items, aka 'seed rights'..

‘But if this happens, we may only have 20%, or even 100%.······.’

But that is literally a prior agreement..

It can change depending on the attack situation..

Even if we somehow managed to conquer this dungeon, it was essentially the same as conquering AMT alone..

In other words, the prior agreement had no choice but to be overturned..

‘In fact, AMT takes over everything.······.’

Lee Hyun-wook's voice drove a wedge into Park Ki-taek's worries..

“Listen carefully, the Cheonghwa Guild strategy team is effectively out. We do it just between us.”

virtually out······.

That was correct.

As soon as it starts······.

However, the atmosphere was not good on the AMT side..

“Hmm... then what should I do now??”

“Can we conquer this on our own??”

No matter how great Lee Hyun-wook was, half of our troops were neutralized..

And as clever as the gnolls were, they wouldn't be fooled twice if they had been fooled once..

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

Sure enough, several gnolls holding large ‘wooden shields’ appeared on the sand dune..

They protected themselves with shields and dragged their fallen comrades down the hill..

“If that's the case... wouldn't Corporal Lee Hyun-wook's attack not work well??”

If you showed up with a bunch of shields like that, the effectiveness of your metal attack would inevitably decrease drastically..

Pieces of metal blow like a storm and damage the skin by scratching it countless times..

However, the moment it got stuck somewhere, the speed slowed down and the destructive power had no choice but to plummet..

next······.

Ah-ooh!

A howling was heard from somewhere..

“Damn, what is this?······.”

This was the gnolls exchanging messages over long distances..

In other words, they were systematically moving to prey on intruders entering their territory..

Only then did it feel real again..

That I'm standing in the territory of those beasts······.

Everyone looked at Lee Hyun-wook with eyes full of worry..

“Yeah, honestly we are overwhelmingly outnumbered..”

“······.”

“But it can be overturned at any time. Do you remember the boss monster at Seoul Station, the queen spider??”

everyone nodded.

A queen spider with overwhelming majesty that can never be defeated.······.

Even though Han Taesan appeared and turned it into a mess, until then, he used the water-metal-electricity-ice combination to stun and bind it and then remove its shell..

If we had had a little more time, we could have caught it without Han Tae-san..

“Raids must use everything you have and, more importantly, everything around you - the terrain..”

“Terrain, you mean??”

“Okay, this time we have to use the terrain..”

But they did not understand what it meant.

“What do you mean by topography??”

Park Jun-mo asked.

“Park Jun-mo, what do you see in your eyes now??”

“uh······.”

Park Jun-mo took a look around..

The place where they were standing was like a desolate wilderness, and from the sand dunes over there, it was a desert..

“It's just sand and dead trees······.”

Lee Hyun-wook nodded..

“Yeah, I use that..”

······Are you using sand??

Until then, no one understood what Hyunwook Lee said..

***

Lee Hyun-wook favored a ‘bead’ type weapon..

‘Perfect center of gravity makes it easy to control.’

Weapons such as long spears exhibit wildly different movements depending on where the metal control is placed..

But controlling the beads was very clear..

All you have to do is put your strength into the ‘center’.

‘Moreover, there is no need to worry about it getting caught somewhere..’

In the future, if hundreds or thousands of weapons were to be controlled simultaneously, it would inevitably become difficult to make delicate movements..

Like a swarm of sardines or a swarm of wasps, the best thing to do was to just control it with a certain flow, but every time that happened, things would get caught somewhere and 'break away'..

But the beads were different.

It's small, circular, and smooth, so even if it gets caught somewhere, it'll come out in no time..

It was still like that now..

ssssss······

Hyunwook Lee was moving 20 iron beads out of sight, but they didn't get caught anywhere..

ssssss······

In the desert sand, they were moving beneath the sand like desert beetles..

Hoo-woo-woo-ung-

A gust of sand blew.

“······Ugh!”

Except for Hyunwook Lee, they were now walking in the desert for the first time in their lives. Since I was born in Korea, I had never experienced the desert, so it was difficult to adapt in many ways..

It was hot, dry and blinding..

‘Still, we can say that we are fortunate in this level of environment..’

As you get to higher dungeons, the level of hell that you can't even imagine unfolds.······.

“······stop.”

Ahn Min-tae, the leader, raised his hand and pointed somewhere..

It was a huge pile of sand..

Lee Hyun-wook told me in advance that gnolls lurk in places like that..

In response, Archer, Private Choi Tae-yong stepped forward..

pick-

The arrow he shot got stuck there, the sand loosened and something was revealed..

It was a corpse.

He was injured by Lee Hyun-wook and seemed to have died while retreating..

“Huh, surprise, I thought a real gnoll had appeared.······.”

Even before Ahn Min-tae’s complaint ended,,

Ah-ooh!

A real gnoll's cry could be heard not far away..

This was not a good sign.

“The words... become seeds.······.”

Everyone lowered their posture and looked around..

“Corporal Lee Hyun-wook! It's coming out from behind the stone over there.!”

Park Jun-mo's shout,

Just as he said, a group of gnolls rose up from behind a pile of stones all at once..

Crrrrrrr······.

About 20 of them, but instead of holding swords or spears, they were carrying wooden clubs..

Even the arrows had their tips removed and their shafts sharpened..

‘As expected, Old Alpha Male... you clearly sensed my abilities..’

It seemed like he realized right away that he was going to break the metal beyond manipulating it and prepared for it..

In addition, as he had suffered a lot in the past, he was wearing a wooden shield and a thick hood..

If you prepare like that, you can avoid being fatally damaged by a piece of metal..

“······Beware of poisoned arrows and hide behind a shield..”

Three tanks, including Ahn Min-tae, stepped forward, raising their shields..

Lee Hyun-wook also held up the mithril alloy shield he tore off from Park Ki-taek..

The rest lowered their posture and moved at an ‘angle’ where they could be protected by the tanker’s shield..

“uh! 3 o'clock, coming from behind the tree!”

“No, they're coming from behind!”

10 animals appeared behind a tree.

And up to 12 in the back.······.

There were 44 in total..

“Damn, we're surrounded.!”

It was a trap.

There were ambushes all over the place, waiting for players to enter this deep place..

“Park Jun-mo, ready for a surprise attack?”

“Yes, now you can fire at number 7!”

Even when dealing with kobolds, they said 4 was the maximum..

Of course, his abilities did not improve..

My fine control ability just improved with a lot of practice..

Clearly, all of them have become much stronger since the past few days..

And it was going to continue to get stronger in the future..

“Yes, sand is an insulator so it hits the gnoll directly..”

“yes!”

Park Jun-mo took a breath and boldly swung his wand..

T-huh!

There was a flash of light for a moment, and the two who were measuring arrows jumped up and fell into a pile of stones..

Kke-Aeng!

This is easier said than done, it was quite a hit..

“······Great, it was good.”

“They hesitate.”

With that powerful blow, the gnolls who had been narrowing the siege stopped for a moment..

But it was only for a moment.

Ah-ooh!

When the howling sounded again, they started moving again..

Perhaps, there was an order from Old Alpha Male..

He was watching from somewhere..

Whoosh- whoosh- whoosh-

As the distance narrowed, they started shooting arrows..

But arrows without a tip were neither very fast nor very accurate..

“Stay focused, dodge the arrows, keep the siege, let them come.”

“······.”

“Stay calm, they won't pounce until the distance is sufficiently closed..”

As he said, the gnolls slowly walked in until the distance was narrowed to 100m..

Then, they started to put their arms around each other's shoulders..

“uh? What is that again?······.”

It formed a kind of shield wall, like the Roman Testudo square..

‘You've figured out a way to block my skills..’

The idea was to almost completely block metal attacks by stacking shields on the front, sides, and above the head..

You can somehow squeeze a piece of metal between the gaps in the shield, but······.

‘······Without speed and volume, you're just annoying your enemies..’

As I said before, a piece of iron was only effective if it was driven like a storm..

A single point of wind actually has no power, but if the winds gather and tangle to form a typhoon, it can uproot trees and collapse buildings..

“Corporal Lee Hyun-wook, the distance has been narrowed to about 50m..”

They slowly began to threaten us, like a pack of wolves hunting..

Crrrrr······.

The pressure was enormous..

They didn't show fear anymore like before, but everyone was shaking..

“after······.”

If things continued like this, it felt like I would be devoured by them at any moment..

Before you know it, the distance is far enough that you can feel the unpleasant smell peculiar to wild animals wafting out to the gnolls.······.

“Okay, keep waiting.······.”

Everyone held their breath and looked at Lee Hyun-wook’s mouth..

He closed his eyes and was sensing metal.

Iron beads scattered everywhere······.

there······

“······shredding.”

Infused with mana.

P-billion-! Per-billion! Per-billion!

With a roar, the shield wall of the gnolls narrowing the siege, sand rose up from under their feet..

Per-billion! Per-billion! Per-billion!

To be precise, the 'iron ball' buried underneath exploded like a land mine..

They had built a square with shields to defend themselves on all sides, but there was only one area that was impossible: under their feet..

And this too, like the first attack, was an absolutely unexpected blow..

Wake up! Wow!

Dozens of fragments severed the gnoll's toes and tore his calves and thighs..

In that split second, about 20 people fell over..

Pieces of metal, sand, fur, blood - they were all tangled together and soaring into the air..

Hu-du-du-duk-

The ambitious shield wall devised by Old Alpha Male collapsed so easily..

“It's not just about looking over your head..”

It was a storm of metal pieces pouring down from above, followed by an explosion of metal pieces rising from below..

This was the method of using the terrain that Lee Hyun-wook talked about..

“No matter how clever they are, they are beasts..”

Hyunwook Lee said that and raised his left hand..

“······start hunting.”

As he promised earlier, Lee Hyun-wook planned to use this Red Gate as a 'nutrition'..