660

[Chapter 171]

[Crimson Wings (3)]

Southern Gangbuk, Yongsan-gu.

The formation of creatures that came up from the Han River was not as systematic as before.

The disruption in their formation was visible.

This was because the army commanders leading them until now were subjugated the previous day.

In contrast, Yongsan-gu's frontline was showing a solid appearance.

─Fire!!

People waiting in an orderly manner on the frontline.

Squad leaders in charge of each area on the frontline gave orders and bombarded the creatures.

Gurgle...! Gurgle!

The creatures charged desperately.

But they stepped on traps set up in various places before even reaching the frontline and were caught in explosions.

Creatures that could spit poison over long distances immediately deployed magic even sacrificing themselves.

Prepare protective magic!

The opponent is Level 5 Spitting Toad!

The creatures' sacrifice was meaningless.

Yongsan-gu's Players were already equipped with protective magic that could counter the creatures' poison.

Creatures that came to the front without knowing anything lost their lives to Casters' magic just like that.

Such situations unfolded in various places.

[─Are you ready, honey?]

"Yeah, I'm ready." [Don't go too far. We don't know when or how far communication will continue.]

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."

[I wish you good luck.]

Near Samgakji in Yongsan-gu.

Pandora Clan members scattered across Yongsan-gu's main frontlines were also preparing for the upcoming battle.

Among them, the Samgakji frontline was not as densely spaced as Itaewon.

Monsters using their bodies as shields could break through the frontline relatively quickly.

Gurgle gurgle!

Not long after the battle started.

The creatures finally crossed over the frontline.

Kang Si-hyeong looked down at the creatures digging through gaps in the frontline and coming up.

"─Activate."

As supplies came from Gangnam.

He was able to receive items he had requested early from Byeok Hae-su.

He spoke to the bracelet on his wrist.

Drones with the East Sea Group's emblem inscribed.

Drones responding to Kang Si-hyeong's voice started operating.

Buzzzz

A year ago, he met <Great Tree> Seon Gi-jun while doing an internship at East Sea Clan.

At that time, Seon Gi-jun trained him and explained about the limits his body had.

'I'm sorry to say this but... you'll have a hard time being a Guardian. No matter how tough you are, physical issues aren't something you can do anything about.'

'...I know. But I still want to keep doing it.'

'Hmm....'

It was something Kang Si-hyeong knew too.

Nevertheless, he showed Seon Gi-jun his determination that he would become a Guardian.

Then Seon Gi-jun─

'─Then how about doing this. If you can't overcome physical issues, cover them using tools.'

'Tools?'

Among East Sea Group's businesses, there was also a company specializing in making drones.

Kang Si-hyeong received help from Seon Gi-jun and made a contract with East Sea Drone.

And Byeok Hae-su showed interest and participated in East Sea Drone's project.

While East Sea Drone focused on making agile drones, Byeok Hae-su researched drones with materials suitable for combat.

Like that, the essence of their research now revealed itself to the world.

Buzzzz

Kang Si-hyeong controlled the drones.

The drones installed in advance at weak points in the frontline were slow but faithfully carried out his words.

While the drones hovered at a height monsters couldn't reach.

Kang Si-hyeong shouted at his bracelet.

[─Hey, you toad-like things!!!]

Gift <Howling >.

The voice that came from five drones echoed throughout the frontline.

Gurgle! Gurk!

The monsters reacted.

Creatures that had invaded through holes in the frontline looked up at the sky.

Kang Si-hyeong who heard the situation in detail from Bong Gu-rae moved the drones to return to him.

He just had to press the automatic return button.

Of course, drones placed in mana-dense environments sometimes malfunctioned.

Or creatures somehow jumped up and destroyed drones.

Buzzzz

Nevertheless, drones that somehow endured followed behind non-operating drones to lure monsters.

Creatures led by the voice halfway came following the voice heard nearby even when the drone leading them was destroyed.

Thus the monsters gathered together and arrived where Kang Si-hyeong was.

─Begin annihilation!

The creatures fell for it!

A dead end.

Behind Kang Si-hyeong's back was an earthen wall built by Supporters.

And earthen walls were built without gaps on both his sides too.

In other words, the creatures fell into a trap.

Those waiting on top of the earthen walls immediately poured magic and fired guns.

Gueeeeek!!

Right then.

A Level 5 Spitting Toad broke through the bombardment and rushed at Kang Si-hyeong.

Kang Si-hyeong took a defensive stance.

While doing so, he didn't use magic even as the creature approached.

Because there was someone protecting his back anyway.

─Zap!

Pandora Clan sniper Bong Gu-rae.

Intense electricity struck the creature.

The Spitting Toad faltered.

But it took a step forward and tried to reach out to Kang Si-hyeong.

Zap!

Zap!

Just as the creature tried to reach out.

The gun barrel that had caught its target once pierced through it repeatedly.

Bong Gu-rae lying on top of the earthen wall calmly replaced bullets and fired electricity at the creature.

"─Who are you trying to touch?"

What a sight, he thought.

Bong Gu-rae kept pulling the trigger.

Gift <Double Penetration>

And his gift activated.

The creature's movements slowly stiffened.

The creature repeatedly exposed to his gift finally became unable to move.

Zap! Crackle!

There's no easier target to shoot than an immobile opponent.

Eventually other Players joined in and turned the creature into a beehive.

☆

Central Gangbuk, Jongno-gu.

The remaining forces of Level 3 Freak Sphinx invaded Jongno-gu.

Ryu Yeon-hwa who was on standby at the Mana Management Organization set out with Jin Pa-rang to subjugate them.

"─Be careful not to look into those creatures' eyes. With your skill Yeon-hwa, you can probably resist their magic, but naturally resistance decreases when continuously exposed to magic." "Yes, uncle. I'll be careful."

After Noh Eun-ha was defeated by Ye-gyeong.

Some Pandora Clan members volunteered to join the unit facing Ye-gyeong.

Ryu Yeon-hwa was the same.

That was why she was currently in Jongno-gu with Baek Seo-jin's permission.

She stood side by side with her martial arts sect senior, <First Sword> Ji Yong-hyun, glaring at the army.

"─Jin Pa-rang is going out!!"

And then.

Jin Pa-rang who couldn't wait for the creatures leapt out extending the Claw's blades.

10 blades turned red and─

─Blood Claw

Jin Pa-rang immediately jumped up from his position and landed on the creatures' backs.

Then he tore their wings to shreds and fell doing a somersault.

"The point is to just attack from behind instead of the front, right?"

"Jin Pa-rang, don't be careless."

"Don't worry! I don't plan to recklessly face those creatures either!"

Jin Pa-rang acting as Pandora Clan's telepathist dispatched to Jongno-gu.

Ryu Yeon-hwa spoke to him who returned to the main force.

Jin Pa-rang didn't talk back.

Nevertheless, he burned with fighting spirit.

Right then─

─Whiiiieeeaaaaoooooo!!

Gift-imbued artifact

<Resistance >

Level 3 overrank monster Ye-gyeong.

It appeared in the sky over Jongno-gu.

Monsters fell from the sky.

Monsters that use brainwashing magic quickly used magic as soon as Ye-gyeong used jamming.

Ryu Yeon-hwa and Jin Pa-rang who were preparing for the next attack activated their artifacts.

"─I've been waiting."

"I wanted to see you too."

<Snow Spear> Ryu Yeon-hwa.

And <Gale > Jin Pa-rang.

The two smirked.

Ryu Yeon-hwa manifested her internal mana.

Jin Pa-rang's body instantly transformed into a huge wolf.

Jin Pa-rang immediately trampled monsters and leapt into the sky.

Gift <Beast >

Mode: Blade Wolf

Blade Roar

The wolf's howl.

Some monsters trembled.

They were intimidated.

Ye-gyeong's gaze turned to the wolf.

The wolf raised its fur.

Gift <Beast >

Mode: Blade Wolf

Blade Thrust

Soon the space around the wolf rippled as if making waves.

What revealed itself in the space was blades without handles.

Blades that also looked like awls.

Dozens of blades soared.

The blades stabbed into Ye-gyeong's abdomen.

Whiiiieeeeeaaaaaoooooo

But as if ridiculing.

The blades stabbed into Ye-gyeong's abdomen turned into mana particles and disappeared.

Then it created dozens of magic circles to intercept the wolf and the ground.

Right then─

─Imperial Sword 10th Style

Sword Pit

A sword that seemed like a giant would wield it.

Several huge swords appeared in midair.

Swish!!

Whiiieeeeaaaaaooo!!!!

The huge swords stabbed Ye-gyeong.

The creature that had seemed leisurely until now screamed.

It writhed.

The creature that used jamming magic erased the swords stabbed in its back.

But dark red blood dripped from wounds stabbed by swords.

Simultaneously─

One-Shot Style Extreme, Snow Dragon

─Gift-imbued artifact

<Resistance >

One-Shot Style Extreme, Dragon's Scales

<Snow Spear> Ryu Yeon-hwa.

She who aimed for the moment Ye-gyeong showed an opening soared high into the sky and swung her spear.

Kuoooooo!!

The snow dragon opened its maw.

A snowstorm engulfed Ye-gyeong.

In a situation where sword wounds hadn't faded yet.

A huge dragon clashed with Ye-gyeong.

It disrupted the magic.

Ryu Yeon-hwa immediately activated her artifact to prevent the Snow Dragon's body from disappearing unable to withstand the impact.

Snowflakes scattered.

Soon the snowflakes became sharp blades and attacked the wound on Ye-gyeong's back.

Whiiiieeeeaaaaaoooooo!!

Ye-gyeong roared again.

Ryu Yeon-hwa smiled at the corners of her mouth even while falling to the ground.

☆

At that time, Mana Management Organization headquarters.

Jung Ha-yang, who entrusted the role of directing Yongsan-gu's war situation to Mok Min-ho and Noh Eun-ah, was helping with Mana Management Bureau's work.

"─Seongbuk-gu Dongseon-dong direction. Current time 1:07 AM, multiple monsters appeared on Arirang-ro. Number of individuals approximately 20. The average rank of the group is estimated to be Level 5."

Gift <Multitasking >.

She quickly organized information coming into the Management Bureau and information grasped by staff in real-time.

There was no delay in her work processing.

Even when new types of monsters appeared, she didn't ponder long but quickly named them arbitrarily, then requested and gathered information.

Then she provided countermeasures to parties facing the monsters again.

Not only that.

"─Accessed the Player Library and found information on the relevant monster. The monster currently rampaging in Dongdaemun-gu is Level 5 overrank..."

Her speed in accessing the Player Library and finding information was faster than anyone.

Even Twelve Seats <Big Data> Mo Ra-yul doing statistics in the next seat gaped.

...What's with this kid? How can she be this much faster than me? The library access terminal she has is the same as mine...

And what's this. How many pieces of information is she looking at simultaneously now?

She's only 20 years old.

He was astonished seeing Jung Ha-yang not only matching but even surpassing his computational ability.

But Jung Ha-yang accepted Mo Ra-yul's gaze nonchalantly and kept moving her fingers.

The maps created by her hands were being quickly delivered to Navigators on site.

It was then.

"─A large fire confirmed in Dongdaemun-gu direction! Also, unknown mana detected from the east! Currently the fire is rapidly moving from east to 8 o'clock direction!"

Jung Ha-yang hit the table.

Staff who heard her relay immediately started looking for information on Dongdaemun-gu.

Is it the appearance of a new army?

She and the staff became very tense.

Not long after, contact came from a Navigator guarding the frontline in Dongdaemun-gu.

Jung Ha-yang who received the contact─

"─What?"

Doubted her ears.

Soon her face brightened.

"Announcing to all Players in eastern Gangbuk direction! At the current time of 3:17 AM, Twelve Seats <Yamma > Kang Hyeon-cheol Player and <Holy Mother> Park Hye-rim Player are heading towards Jongno-gu leading about 30 Players! So Players guarding the frontline please open the frontline so they can head to Jongno-gu!"

""""...!!""""

Good news was delivered.

The staff all shouted cheers.

They greatly welcomed the return of the arsonist they usually considered a nuisance.

☆

How much time had passed.

Since first losing consciousness, Eun-ha had repeatedly lost and regained consciousness several times.

─Gift <Unknown >

It was because his gift activated.

When he lost consciousness, the gift suddenly awakened and reminded him to come to his senses.

Thanks to that, Eun-ha had to feel the pain of his body collapsing and being reconstructed anew.

"Damn..."

He regained consciousness again.

This time his eyes opened on their own.

Eun-ha painfully raised his upper body.

"..."

His body was still being reconstructed.

Judging by the reduced pain compared to before, the elixir's treatment seemed to be in its final stages.

Eun-ha looked down and clenched and unclenched his hand several times.

Then he smiled bitterly.

"...I'm a mess."

A pungent smell.

A smell like a rotting corpse rose from the clothes he was wearing.

When he pulled back the blanket, his clothes, the bed, and everything around were stained black.

Even the egg he had hugged while losing consciousness had something black thickly stuck to its surface.

The elixir had expelled all impurities accumulated in his body while creating an ideal body.

Is it the elixir's influence?

Mana is thick in the surroundings.

Soon Eun-ha looked around the room and noticed mana thickly spread around.

It was a considerable amount, visible even without manifesting internal mana.

No.

This is my mana.

Soon Eun-ha shook his head.

The mana drifting thickly around was mana that had been permeating his body.

The elixir had removed impurities from the internal mana circulating in his mana circuits and expelled the residue outside.

It was the remnants of mana that had stagnated, unable to circulate internally due to mana circuits damaged by Ye-gyeong's attack.

"What if─"

And staring blankly at that.

Eun-ha suddenly had such a thought.

"─Without using internal mana... could I only use external mana, the mana here?"

It was an absurd idea.

How could one use magic without using their internal mana?

But he couldn't definitively say it was impossible.

One─

─The crazy squid showed converting fire back into mana. How was that possible?

The crazy squid believed without a doubt that it was really possible, and he could use advanced control techniques to support that.

He made others' mana his own, converting it to his internal mana.

Two─

─How have I been using Violent Venom and Platinum Cross until now?

Like Kang Hyeon-cheol, I've also used advanced control techniques to make mana dissolved in the atmosphere my own.

I mixed that mana with my original mana to conserve mana consumption as much as possible.

Then couldn't I use only mana dissolved in the atmosphere without mixing in my original mana?

It wasn't that he hadn't thought about it.

But it was impossible.

Nature wasn't so obliging.

Unless he mixed in his own mana, he couldn't fully make atmospheric mana his own.

But three─

─What if I use Mana Drain?

Mana Drain also ultimately converts natural mana into my own.

Then if I use Mana Drain, and use that recovered mana as a medium to use natural mana?

As a result, wouldn't I be able to use magic without mana consumption?

Four─

─Burst Counter. The core of this magic is using a small amount of mana to stimulate a large amount of mana to explode. If I want to amplify destructive power, I first need to place a large amount of mana under my control with advanced control techniques, twist it tightly, and then release it.

Then conversely, if I keep compressing it under my control without releasing it, couldn't I use mana with that much destructive power as fuel?

If mana dissolved in the atmosphere only serves to reduce mana consumption, wouldn't residual mana after using magic both reduce mana consumption and amplify destructive power?

Five─

─Mana with higher destructive power than residual mana is the opponent's magic itself.

And momentarily placing that magic under my control and reversing its direction is Pride's Counterattack.

Because it boasts that much computational ability, it could get overloaded so I could only use it once a day.

To summarize, the power of mana is as follows:

Magic itself > Residual mana remaining in the atmosphere after magic activates > Mana just dissolved in the atmosphere = One's internal mana.

"Then if I use the opponent's magic itself as a medium to deploy magic like Pride's Counterattack..."

Of course, having such computational ability without borrowing an artifact's power would be in the realm of talent.

He didn't have that.

However─

"─It might be impossible for everything, but partially it might be possible."

Burst Counter.

Magic applying Pride's Counterattack.

When he first created that magic, he defined that this was his limit.

But afterwards, he surpassed the limit he set and created Platinum Cross.

When he created Burst Counter and when he created Platinum Cross.

His self at those two points was different.

And he had grown stronger, continuing to accumulate realizations afterwards.

You don't know unless you try.

"─Absorb even a little of the opponent's magic with Mana Drain to make it my own, use advanced control techniques to scrape together residual mana using that as a medium. Then release or compress that."

The power wouldn't be constant.

The magic's power would be determined by the quality and quantity of mana scraped together.

If gathering mana through the opponent's magic, that much power could be expected.

And simply releasing that would be on par with Platinum Cross.

Conversely, if gathering and compressing it─

"─It becomes a blade that deals direct damage?"

Eun-ha reached out his hand.

A sword was placed in the corner of the wall.

Eun-ha manifested internal mana.

Was it because impurities in his mana circuits had disappeared without a trace?

Internal mana flowed out faster than he thought.

The mana's color was also very clear.

Whoosh

Igiyeom.

Eun-ha called Winter Blooming Coldly to his hand.

Mana Drain

He doesn't use his own mana.

Imagining mana dwelling in the sword.

Eun-ha absorbed some mana.

Using that as a medium, he stimulated mana floating around, mana he didn't absorb, with advanced control techniques.

Make it all his own.

"..."

Was it because the space was narrow?

Or because of mana's omnipresent nature?

The stimulated mana was gathering on the blade emitting blue light without resistance.

As a result, Eun-ha created magic without consuming his own mana.

"...It works."

He cleanly cut away mana unevenly gathering on the blade, and gathered mana.

Then a well-ordered light mass brightly wrapped the blade.

Eun-ha chuckled seeing what he had done.

And─

"─Damn..."

Soon Eun-ha collapsed.

After putting his all into advanced control techniques, his body cried out in pain again.

It seemed time was still needed for his body to be completely reconstructed.