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The Player Who Eats Steel - Episode 61

61fury. 

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

The Great Condor was swimming above the clouds.

Lee Hyun-wook climbed on its back and closed his eyes..

‘There is no metal moving around here..’

If you move through the clouds like this, there is no fear of being attacked by a swarm of ironclad insects..

However, when I was at a high altitude, the cold seeped into every part of my body and I started to feel achy. However, when I put 'hard body' on my whole body and even put on a 'mana shield', some of the cold was blocked..

Lastly, I took out the ‘Mana Recovery Potion’ from my belt and swallowed it..

- 10Mana recovery speed increases significantly for 1 minute.. (+200%)

This completes the preparation..

“—let's go down! ”

With his cry, the Great Condor began to glide vertically..

Hung——

As I passed through a layer of clouds, the ground—Cheongryongsan Mountain—came into view..

Gray shimmers and black shimmers were blooming there. The gray shimmer was real smoke rising from the residual fire, but that black shimmer... was a group dance of a swarm of disgusting insects..

‘I have to go down through that..’

Hyunwook Lee jumped off the body of the Great Condor without any hesitation..

He straightened his body toward Mt. Blue Dragon, fell vertically in free fall, and closed his eyes..

Whoo-ooh-ooh——

As if noticing his appearance, a ray of black shimmer began to shoot towards him..

Why—ae—ae—ae—ang——!

The number was exactly 374—Lee Hyun-wook ‘sensed’ their movements one by one..

Then, I stretched my left hand forward..

‘—shredding!’

Bub-bub-bub-bub-bung——!

Dozens of them exploded all at once..

Dozens more followed.,

Dozens of them were torn to pieces again..

As his left hand moved in a slow arc, all the ironclad bugs caught in its path exploded..

Bub-bub-bub-bub-bung——!

In this way, the 374 ironclad insects scattered into thousands of metal pieces..

however…….

‘As expected, if you use Shred recklessly, the mana consumption is unbearable..’

The metal shredding skill was definitely a one-hit kill attack when dealing with those things..

However, the number of ironclad insects was frighteningly large.,

Even if you poured all your mana, you wouldn't be able to reduce the number significantly..

‘But there is only one thing that must be eliminated: the erosion factor..’

Even if I couldn't get rid of them all, I could at least clear a path ahead..

and.......

Sh—sh—sh—sh—sh——!

The ‘pieces of metal’ created in this way followed Hyunwook Lee and rotated around his body..

At that time, another group of ironclad insects flew up..

This time there were a total of 1,188..

It was an unbearable number..

‘As if it penetrates, it penetrates right through.!’

Lee Hyun-wook crossed his arms to cover his head and focused on his forearms..

Blah blah blah——!

He then pulled the 'metal pieces' floating around his body to the front of his arms and used 'metal transformation' to tangle them around in both forearms. Then, a heavy metal shield—a kind of bumper—was completed..

"—Now! give me speed!”

At those words, Hanui, the ‘spirit of wind’ riding on his shoulder, moved..

As the thing began to spin around Lee Hyun-wook's body, a whirlwind enveloped Lee Hyun-wook..

Whoa whoa——!

‘fast!'

Lee Hyun-wook’s fall accelerated..

Like a cannonball, covered in steel and gliding at incredible speeds—

Soon, it collided head-on with 1,188 ironclad insects..

Thong—thong—thong—thong—thong—thong——!

Breaking through one point)

It hit the flying group of ironclad poisonous insects and pierced them in one go..

They took a detour and chased after Lee Hyun-wook, but they could not keep up with his gliding speed..

Lee Hyun-wook closed his eyes again and began to look at all the metals on Mt. Cheongryong..

'……need to find.’

Wherever the erosion factor was, it was impossible to see with the naked eye..

This was the problem that Kim Kang-seok, Choi Jeong-cheol, and Kim Se-hee were also worried about..

Even if you reach Cheongryong Mountain with its defenses loose,,

Thousands of them still cover the surface of Cheongnyongsan Mountain, making it difficult to detect the factors causing their erosion..

In other words, it is impossible to remove the erosion factors through surprise attack..

Lee Hyun-wook responded to this.

‘……I can.’

Yes, that was something only Lee Hyun-wook could do..

‘Since their shells are made of metal, I can detect and analyze their movements..’

‘Through that method, you will be able to infer the location of the erosion factor..’

A swarm of ironclad beetles surround the source of erosion with their bodies, like bees guarding a nest..

Thus, even when Choi Jeong-cheol's 'Semi-Armageddon' hit, the erosion factor was maintained..

In other words, the point where the ironclad insects were particularly concentrated was the cause of erosion..

but…….

'Damn, there are so many…….'

I felt dizzy as I could sense the movement of so much metal on the surface of Cheongryongsan Mountain..

I felt my nerves becoming overloaded as I sensed thousands of movements simultaneously..

Whoa whoa——!

Meanwhile, the altitude was rapidly decreasing..

‘You must find it before you reach the ground. If I don't get it done right away, I'll die..’

But just in time, I found an area that felt strange..

A spot where an unusually large number of ironclad insects gather to form thick insects.,

And for some reason, their movements are somewhat slow and cautious.,

It was like a swarm of worker ants embracing and protecting a queen ant..

‘Yeah, it's somewhere around there..’

Hyunwook Lee turned his body towards that point..

And just before hitting the ground, he gave his body metal control..

His body floated in the opposite direction of gravity and landed on the black, burning ground..

chin—

Immediately after landing, thousands of metal pieces that fell with him rained down like steel rain..

Burr-burr-burr-burr-burr—!

The iron armored insects sitting around the landing site were swept away by the piece of metal, and the whirlwind of honey surrounding Lee Hyun-wook's body exploded around him, pushing away the iron armored insects in the area..

But that was only the equivalent of scooping up a handful of sand from the beach..

Why—ae—ae—ae—ang——!

Thousands of ironclad insects flew towards Lee Hyun-wook all at once..

It felt like a black wave was crashing over me..

But Lee Hyun-wook was able to control the waves..

He raised both hands, palms open..

‘rotates.’

Lee Hyun-wook pulled numerous pieces of metal and made them rotate at high speed around his body. And Hani created a whirlwind in the same orbit, greatly increasing the rotational speed of the piece of iron..

Ku—gu—gu—gu—gu——!

Just like that, a whirlwind of steel arose and surrounded Lee Hyun-wook’s body..

Metal Control and Wind Spirit,

It was a strong inertial defense that could not have been achieved without either party..

Tong—! Tong—! Tong—! Tongue—!

They tried to get through the steel tornado, but they were hit and swept away..

But this was only a temporary solution..

‘Probably won't last very long.’

Soon they will gather together and force their way through the steel vortex.…….

Hyunwook Lee felt like he was standing between the teeth of a monster..

If it were a little later, it would have been cut into small pieces and swallowed..

‘Erosion factor, around here. But you have to find a definite location..’

He closed his eyes again..

The moment an intruder named Lee Hyun-wook appeared, the ironclad insect showed two movements..

The majority rushed towards Lee Hyun-wook, but a significant number headed in a completely different direction..

'……It's a procession to protect against erosion factors..’

Lee Hyun-wook read their movements..

and finally…….

"Yeah, there it is.?”

Just one point, the exact coordinates were pointed out..

Lee Hyun-wook led the steel whirlwind and walked to that point..

Then, something huge rose up from the floor..

- The boss monster ‘Ironclad Giant’ has appeared.

ke—eh—eh—eh—eh——!

A beetle-shaped monster that is likely to be 7 to 8 meters in size.,

It had scissor-like front legs and a spear-like horn on its head..

And the spout had a tube that spewed out an acidic solution..

‘Finally reached the final gate.’

The fact that the boss monster appeared meant that things were going very well..

‘The ironclad beetle is a type of cover that protects its body from erosion factors..’

Like the Hellet Mutant, it was a 'watchman' type boss monster that guards the gate..

It must have been blocking external attacks by covering the erosion factors with its hard body.,

However, as Lee Hyun-wook approached, he had no choice but to stand up..

The guy came towards Lee Hyun-wook..

‘Okay, come out a little more… … Erosion factors are fully revealed…….'

It kicked off the floor, raised its horn towards Lee Hyun-wook, and charged at him like a rhino..

Thump—thump—thump—thud——!

If you hit that thing, even an armored car would have a hole in it..

He broke through the steel tornado without any hesitation, and soon hit Lee Hyun-wook..

T-huh——!

However, the spear-like horn was blocked by something..

yes——

A golden shield surrounded Lee Hyun-wook..

“Seo Eun-ha… … After all, it's my first shield.”

The bracelet on his wrist was glowing..

That was the bracelet that Seo Eun-ha gave to Lee Hyun-wook just before the steel company departed..

In the meantime, Lee Hyun-wook went around to the side and inserted a male and female Unsa into the cracks of its shell..

'—electric discharge!’

support——!

The electric shock that erupted from the tip of the sword passed through every nook and cranny of the guy's body..

Its huge body trembled and became paralyzed for a moment..

In other words, it was a perfect gap..

"It's now!”

With his cry, Hani sent a steel tornado forward, blowing away everything in the area..

Then finally…….

‘There it is!’

The appearance of the World Stone, a red gem embedded in the ground (a factor of erosion), was clearly revealed..

Target identification and zero aiming have already been completed..

Sh——i——i——!

Something, a heavy object, was falling on top of it..

It was, of course, ‘Mogley’..

They had lost the physical defense to defend against that blow..

Kwa——ah——ang——!

Binge drinking—what lay beneath was a force so strong that it could never be fully recovered..

and…….

- ‘You have destroyed the ‘World Stone (Wave)’!

A system message appeared indicating that everything was over..

The assault operation that only Lee Hyun-wook could carry out was successfully completed..

"under……."

Lee Hyun-wook let out a hot breath and looked up at the sky..

The gate may be closed now, but thousands of ironclad insects still fill the sky..

But they seemed to have lost some purpose and were scattered in all directions..

"Command collapse… … It's all over.”

Command collapse, a phenomenon in which a monster that was moving not voluntarily but by some spell lost its goal and wandered when the 'spell subject' disappeared..

In other words, they would lose their aggressiveness..

Of course, since its very existence is a threat, an eradication operation will have to be implemented for a while, but that was for a later time..

And, the gate was collapsing about 20 meters away..

Lee Hyun-wook approached there..

As expected, this time, an item appeared at the point where the gate collapsed..

- Obtained the Ring of Gyges (Hero).

[Item information]

- Name: Ring of Gyges (Hero)

- Effect: When infusing mana, you become invisible for 30 seconds. (Cooldown: 30 minutes)

'Quite a few heroes disappeared in vain because of this item.…….'

This even saved their lives..

And that wasn't all.

- congratulations! You have successfully completed the event quest.!

* Achieve the best performance and receive a ‘1st place’ reward..

"Ah, the quest……."

Come to think of it, after conquering the first erosion factor, the entire Steel Company was given a quest..

I hadn't paid attention until now, but of course Lee Hyun-wook, who was the most active, took first place in performance..

Two lights appeared before Hyunwook Lee’s eyes..

He reached out and grabbed them..

- Acquired the trait Bloom (Special).

* This item is bound upon acquisition..

‘I can't believe I got this again…….'

And the other thing is........

‘What is this?’

- You have acquired the ‘Master Key’ of Ancient Heritage..

* This item is bound upon acquisition..

It was something that even Lee Hyun-wook knew nothing about..

***

"—They disperse!”

In the first floor lobby of the school, one player shouted that.

Just as he said, the black shimmer that was covering the sky was dispersing..

The ironclad insect that had crept into the school also flew out the window..

The situation couldn't have ended so suddenly..

"this… … Uh, what happened??”

The players, who had a premonition of death in the moment between life and death, were dumbfounded..

They carefully walked out of the school and looked up at the sky..

Indeed, the swarm of insects had completely disappeared, and the purple color that had colored the sky was fading..

“……finished.”

All of this meant that the wave was over..

In other words, someone had targeted the erosion factor..

"Who on earth broke the erosion factor??”

"ah! It's not Anyang Duo?”

"huh? They haven't arrived yet……”

Then, someone brought up another name..

"From what I heard earlier, the steel company commander struck the back alone..”

"yes? Alone... … It's possible, that's it?”

"that… … I don't know either.”

And if that were true, it would be a truly historic event..

"In this case, the Steel Company has essentially chewed up the entire wave.?”

"Wow, I see... … Really, I wonder what it is..”

It was a self-evident fact that the name Steel Company embroidered this entire wave..

Meanwhile, Choi Jeong-cheol and Kim Kang-seok also climbed to the roof of the building and looked around..

“……Brigadier General, Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook really did it..”

Kim Kang-seok said that as if he couldn't believe it..

"Yeah, you accomplished something crazy..”

“haha… … That's right.”

"By any chance, did you think it would be difficult for him to do it??”

To be honest, the plan that Lee Hyun-wook came up with was not convincing at all..

Since he had the ability to detect metal, he could infiltrate from high altitudes and at the same time infer the cause of erosion from their movements, and then drop the giant sword Mowglai from a high altitude and destroy it by striking it........

‘Yeah, honestly I thought it was no different than a suicide attempt..’

However, it was Lee Hyeon-wook, not anyone else, who confidently insisted, and there was no other way at the time, so he approved the plan... … He regretted not being able to stop him until the last moment..

“Yes, that's right. I believed in Lee Hyun-wook’s skills, but… … Because I don't believe in miracles..”

Choi Jeong-cheol chuckled at those words..

"But a miracle happened.”

"Yes, really... … I feel saved.”

"Haha, then they will come from outside soon so we can……."

However, Choi Jeong-cheol's words were not heard..

Goo-ooh-ooh-ooh——!

Because a familiar roar sounded from somewhere..

A heavy sound that shook the sky, it was the bell announcing the general announcement..

However, unlike the previous bell, which was somewhat bizarre, the sound was somewhat clear..

And the letters floating in the sky were green, not red..

- congratulations! Successfully captured the 'wave' for the first time in history.!

* A very special reward will be given to Seoul..

At the same time, everyone cheered.

"and——!"

"It's real! Seoul is safe!”

"we won!”

It was a fact I had already noticed, but it finally dawned on me when I remembered this confirming notice..

Seoul, which seemed like it would be lost forever, was saved without any damage..

But their cheers had to stop quickly..

“uh—?”

Because that ‘very special reward’ began to appear in the sky..

"omg! Hey, what is that?!”

To the west, near Seoul Station, a huge gate has opened..

And from there, something was coming down.

It was so huge that its shadow engulfed the upper part of Seoul..

"......."

People could only stand with their mouths open, watching the scene..

“sun, planet……."

Yes, it was a scene where you would think a planet—I mean, a moon-like satellite—was falling to Earth..

"No, no… … It's floating right in the sky. Also, the top part is a little strange..”

On the lower part of the hemisphere, buildings that looked like buildings were erected mushrooms..

Everyone could clearly see.

It was a city in the air.

- ‘Laputa’ appears in the Seoul area!

* The proficiency of all ‘production skills’ increases significantly..

* The ‘production success probability’ of all items increases significantly..

* All 'Hextech Research Progress' increases significantly.

* A ‘mana ecosystem’ will be established in the area..

.

.

.

An extremely long message appeared before the eyes of all players in this location..

It was the moment when Seoul escaped from hell and at the same time took off as the best city in the world..

***

Meanwhile, members of the Taesan guild, including Chu Kyo-yong, were found dead in a classroom..

The reason is currently announced as unknown, but Lee Hyun-wook noticed the reason..

‘The game is over because the villain quest failed..’

The results of the Villain Quest were merciless..

Perhaps while plotting another scheme, Lee Hyun-wook destroyed the erosion factor..

And 8,000 AMT troops were deployed throughout Seoul.,

Each guild also deployed 6,900 players to ensure safety and recover.,

Under the command of General Seo Baek-jin, leader of the AMT Holy Knights, the Seoul clearing/restoration operation was carried out..

There were still quite a few undead monsters wandering around Seoul, so a clearing operation was necessary..

'……What was originally supposed to be a recapture operation in history turned into a sweep operation..’

And the order given to the steel company was to rest..

‘Okay, I really need to get some sleep now.…….'

Hyunwook Lee arrived at the dormitory and fell asleep right after taking a shower..

***

How long did it take for my eyes to open on their own?.

- Metal absorption is complete. Small flash (rare))

- congratulations! New ‘skills’ are given by satisfying special conditions..

- Metal hop count is complete. (Mana Heart)

- Metal absorption is complete. (Mana Heart)

- Metal absorption is complete. (Mana Heart)

Before I knew it, numerous messages appeared before my eyes..

It was the 'Cheoncheol' ring I ate and the 'Mana Generator' I got from Chu Kyo-yong's 'Black Orc'..

"hmm......."

However, the ‘Dweppe Great Mountain Engine’ has still not been completely absorbed..

The time was also ‘unknown’ so I didn’t know how many more days it would take..

At that time, the dormitory door opened and someone came in..

"Uh—loyalty!”

Park Jun-mo, who was standing up, stiffened and saluted..

The battalion commander, Kim Kang-seok, had come to the dormitory..

"No, don't worry about everyone, just rest..”

He approached Lee Hyun-wook..

Lee Hyun-wook got up from the bed and saluted..

"Okay, Lee Hyun-wook, did you rest well??”

"Yes that's right.”

"Yes, you should rest more, but the people who are looking for you... … There are several of them."

I couldn't guess why the battalion commander came here in person because someone was looking for him..

After roughly preparing, Lee Hyun-wook followed him to the battalion commander's office..

Besides General Choi Jeong-cheol, two other people were sitting there.…….

‘Really great people came here..’

It was a familiar face to both of them..

They were Kang Seo-yoon, the master of the Zumunnarae guild, and Woo Seong-moon, head of the National Gate Response Strategy Office..

Even if you exclude their ranks, they were the 3rd and 9th biggest players in Korea’s rankings, respectively..

"Everyone, let me introduce you. The biggest contributor to this operation is Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook.."

Lee Hyun-wook bowed his head and sat in front of them..

Although they were the strongest players in Korea, Lee Hyun-wook was not that nervous..

This is because they were people I had already met many times in my past life..

‘And both are trustworthy people..’

Kang Seo-yoon handed out her business card first..

"Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook, you finished the three erosion factors with your own hands.?”

"yes, that's right.”

"Did you hear what the reward was??”

Lee Hyun-wook nodded..

"I came today to give you that..”

For each erosion factor, 50 million dollars and hero-grade items are given, and the best performing player is given the legendary-grade weapon 'Ge—Bolg', the value of which cannot be presumed..

"But the reason why it came so suddenly… … I have everything, but I don’t know why Director Woo is here. Why are you following me when I tell you I'm going when you originally didn't plan on coming??”

Kang Seo-yoon said that and glared at Woo Seong-moon..

"Haha, someone like Representative Kang is trying to steal the nation's manpower, but who will stop it if not me??”

Hyunwook Lee had a blank expression between the two..

I felt like I would be courted by big guys as soon as I woke up..

"Oh yeah? Hyunwook Lee, I will outfit you with hero grade equipment from head to toe..”

“……yes?”

"So, when you are discharged, come to us..”

Kim Kang-seok's face couldn't help but harden at those words..

The small elite strategy guild was the face of Korea..

In terms of scale, it had the image of being the number one guild due to its overwhelming size.,

Zmunnarae, which had many of Korea's top rankers, was actually the strongest guild..

Above all, Lee Seong-yoon, the No. 1 ranked ‘gravity wizard’ in Korea, was a member of Jeumunnarae..

Next, Woo Seong-moon’s business card appeared in front of me..

"Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook, I am Woo Seong-moon, head of the National Gate Response Strategy Office. We talked through Mana Messenger once before, right? He is the person who gave permission to use the government's second armory..”

I think I spoke informally back then, but now I feel somewhat polite..

“Oh yeah, that was a big help back then..”

"What a great help this sergeant gave to all of us. and… … If Sergeant Lee says he will work for the country, the country will absolutely provide sufficient support. And the Steel Company… … I'm thinking of creating a special unit for this sergeant..”

The intention was not to commission an officer, but to create a unit and grant commander authority..

Well, a person like Woo Seong-moon could have made such a ridiculous exception..

"hmm......."

Hyunwook Lee listened to the story and rubbed his eyes..

After waking up, I was a bit distracted by the sudden flood of suggestions..

He looked down at the two business cards..

“Well, for now......."

Everyone looked at his mouth..

He paused and slowly raised his head..

And after making eye contact with the two people one after another, he opened his mouth..

“……I think my ransom will be more expensive than I thought..”

Everyone had a puzzled look.

I didn't know such arrogant words would come out..

"Oh, I know you did a great job. It means I will treat you decently..”

"Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook,”

Kang Seo-yoon and Woo Seong-moon each added one more word..

But Lee Hyun-wook shook his head..

Until now, I have managed to hide my abilities..

Because it was advantageous to grow quietly and unnoticed..

‘But now the limit has come.’

The biggest reason for hiding one's abilities was to escape the gaze of many people and work freely..

But now that I had made so much effort that I couldn't do that, so I was thinking of changing my strategy..

"I am… … By achieving this achievement, I have awakened to S rank..”

There was silence at his declaration..

"......."

No one showed any reaction.

Because it was that shocking..

"So, even if you two give something, it won't be an appropriate price..”

There were known to be 33 S-rank players so far, and there were only 3 in Korea..

From now on, I planned to make a profit blatantly with a certain aura..