Chapter 54: Heroes of Seoul

Chapter 54: Heroes of Seoul

< Chapter 54. Heroes of Seoul – 3 >

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"Wha, what is this...?"

Park Junmo's body was absorbing the current from the lightning.

He stared blankly into the void.

He was probably seeing some ‘system message'.

But he quickly came to his senses and reached out his hand towards the high-level dark magician on the rooftop.

Then, a bluish current began to emerge from his body.

Zzzzt——!

The current intertwined and elongated, turning into something like a spear.

"Wow, that's... amazing, isn’t it?"

Park Junmo threw that ‘spear of lightning' with all his might at the boss monster.

Flash— In the blink of an eye, a blue streak drew between his hand and the rooftop.

Boom——!

The rooftop's railing crumbled completely, and chunks of concrete poured down.

But the high-level dark magician dodged the attack by flying backward.

Vroom—

But that wasn't the end.

As Park Junmo spread out his arms, the spear of lightning expanded like a net,

And it enveloped and gripped the fiend.

Zzzzt——!

The high-level dark magician's body was swept up by the bluish current and thrown backward.Điscover new chapters on n0ve(l)bin(.)com

Still, as expected of a boss monster,

Even while being electrocuted, it glared with wide eyes, preparing a teleportation spell.

But at that moment, Lee Hyunwook reached out his left hand towards the fiend,

And dozens of spears, including Failnaught, shot out.

Being in an electrocuted state, it couldn't react in time.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Swish! Thud!

In an instant, a total of 22 spears pierced its body in various places.

And then...

‘Shatter!'

Crack—k—k—k!

...There couldn't have been a more decisive finish.

[Congratulations! You have defeated the boss monster ‘High-Level Dark Magician (Red Orc)'!]

"It's truly over..."

With this, all obstructions guarding the erosion factor have been eliminated.

Lee Hyunwook activated his Living Armors to eliminate the remaining enemies and turned on the Mana Messenger.

"The situation is over, evacuate the civilians and clean up the scene. And... Park Junmo, come up."

After giving the order, he immediately began to search the rooftop.

Soon, he found the ‘erosion factor’ that had been hidden beneath a pile of stones at the altar.

Root clusters stretching from it pierced through the department store and went all the way down to the underground.

In just three days, the entirety of Gangnam was set to be covered by the roots of this demonic tree.

‘Such a wretched sight won’t be reproduced.'

By eliminating this, the forest of buildings in Gangnam won't transform into the ‘ruins of the devil’.

In other words, a significant part of Seoul can be saved.

Lee Hyunwook tore the World Stone tangled in the roots and crushed it in an instant.

Crash—

[‘World Stone (Wave)' has been destroyed!]

Roar—

The gate that was open on one side of the rooftop began to collapse.

And just like when he acquired the Mogley, the moment the gate disappeared, an item was generated.

Woosh—

Lee Hyunwook reached out and grabbed it. It was a small, round object.

[Acquired Misteltein's Seed (Unknown)]

‘Finally...'

[Item Information]

-Name: Misteltein's Seed (Unknown)

-Effect: None

In Norse mythology, the weapon Misteltein that killed Odin's son, the god of light, ‘Balder', was said to be a branch of mistletoe, and this item follows that legend.

However, being an item with multiple scam-like properties, it didn't drop in a complete state.

To use this seed, one had to plant it in the ground and devote much time and effort to sprout a ‘sapling' from it.

But there was a problem. This mistletoe was a ‘parasitic tree'.

That is, it's a plant that grows by parasitizing other trees. A nourishing tree would have to be found for it.

‘...I can't attach it to just any tree. It has to be at least a divine tree.'

The ‘World Tree' located in the heart of Africa would be ideal, but that was currently impossible.

In many ways, just having the seed didn't mean one could immediately see its power.

‘But it's a great relief that the villains didn't get their hands on it.'

The number of heroes killed by this weapon, that Lee Hyunwook knew of, reached dozens. Even if they had an extraordinarily powerful defense and vitality, Misteltein ‘ignored' all of that.

‘Someday, when I manage to grow it, I can ask Kang Hee-seol to modify it into a weapon I can use.'

Lee Hyunwook tucked the seed deep into his pocket.

There was also much gained from this battle.

He acquired two items from the boss monster, the high-level dark magician.

[Acquired Dark Wood Wand (Rare)]

[Acquired Ancient Coin of the Underground Kingdom]

‘This wand can be given to Park Junmo.'

In fact, as seen earlier, Park Junmo's ‘current control' was perfectly possible even with his bare hands.

However, a wand could still serve as a medium for channeling abilities, acting somewhat like an antenna.

Of course, if one day he achieves a ‘control sense' like Lee Hyunwook, there won't be a need to use a wand.

Then he checked the second item, the ‘Ancient Coin of the Underground Kingdom'.

Although it's metal, absorbing this would not grant any notable ability.

‘I can use this when the dwarf race appears in the future.'

Not all monsters emerging from the gate were hostile.

Some possessed significant intelligence and interacted with humans upon their debut.

The dwarf race was one such example.

In the future, they would appear in various parts of the world, establishing villages and engaging in friendly interactions with humans. Their item crafting techniques and level of magical engineering were unmatched by any human blacksmith.

This ‘Ancient Coin of the Underground Kingdom' was the highest denomination among the dwarves. Currently, it might just be considered a ‘junk item', but its value would change once the dwarves appeared.

‘Tsk, everything I gained today... I can't use any of it right away...'

Anyway, by the time he finished searching for items, Park Junmo came up to the rooftop.

"Sir... Sergeant Lee Hyunwook..."

Only then were they forced to admit it.

That the plan had utterly failed...

"Damn it! If the Vice Leader didn't change the plan inside, what then? I told you! He just failed and died inside!"

"Ugh... But how on earth could that happen? What will we say when the Team Leader asks? That we just didn't see the Team Leader and it happened? Damn... We need to verify what happened, right?"

"This is driving me crazy..."

There were more questions than answers.

"Isn't it weird? At the very least, they should've questioned or doubted us, right?"

If the plan had gone as intended, Choi Minseong's group would have targeted the Steel Battalion's lives.

In the process, there was a high chance they would've been exposed for allying with the monsters.

But instead, they were completely ignored and even received words of concern and apologies.

Of course, they couldn't take those words at face value, but it was confusing in many ways for them.

"Damn it, where did it go wrong? And who the hell are those guys?"

There was not a single part they could guess about.

"Come on, regardless of what happened, we have no choice but to join up with Vice Leader Chu."

At that, the other two men nodded in agreement.

"Yes, if it's him... if he decides to, he could easily handle the likes of those guys."

With the A-rank player, Chu Gyoyong, someone like Steel Battalion was nothing.

"Hey, we don't have the eyes to see right now. Get out the mana messenger."

"Yeah, let's contact the main force and report this fact—ugh!"

For some reason, one of the men couldn't finish his sentence and suddenly fell forward.

The other two looked down at him, and there was a bloody hole in his neck.

The two exchanged shocked glances.

At that moment...

“Ugh!”

Something pierced the neck of another man and shot out.

It was a silver arrow.

"Ah!"

The arrow headed straight for the last remaining man,

who stumbled backward until he hit a wall.

Suddenly, the arrow stopped just in front of his throat.

Whoom—

"Please, spare me!"

Frozen in place, unable to move, he trembled and darted his eyes from side to side.

"Please, let me live!”

He cried out desperately, looking left and right again.

However, there was no one around.

Then, a shadow loomed over him from above.

He swallowed dryly and raised his head.

"It seems you have many questions..."

The commander of the Steel Battalion, Lee Hyunwook, was floating in the sky.

"Ah...."

His body descended very slowly towards the ground as if defying gravity.

"....Have you found any answers?"

The Failnaught touching the man's throat spun around.

It seemed like it could pierce his soft flesh at any moment.

"Choke! Please, spare me! I don't know anything!"

Lee Hyunwook nodded.

"Fine, I'll only ask one thing, and if you know the answer, just tell me that."

"..."

"Where is the Monster Tamer’s ‘Heart Box’?"

"What? How do you..."

The man's eyes widened. It was a question he had not anticipated.

Lee Hyunwook smiled faintly.

"...You know, don't you? Then, can you answer?"

"..."

“I’ll ask again. Where is the Monster Tamer’s Heart Box?”

A Monster Tamer captures monsters and makes them their own.

Most bond with these monsters instead of controlling them.

Taming a powerful and aggressive monster was very challenging.

Yet, Chu Gyoyong managed to do it and thus was recognized as the top Monster Tamer.

His secret was the ‘Heart Box’, which stored the extracted hearts of monsters.

Using it, he could control even the most rebellious monsters, turning them into nearly indestructible beings.

So, destroying that was the key to incapacitating the A-ranked player, Chu Gyoyong.

"I, I can’t....tell...."

Lee Hyunwook forcefully opened the man's mouth and began to shove something inside.

"My method might be a bit unconventional than what you're used to."

Despite trying to resist swallowing, the unknown substance made its way down the man's throat.

“Cough—gulp—”

He swallowed it all.

Immediately after, Lee Hyunwook pointed to the man’s stomach.

And he began to draw circles with his finger.

“Aggghh!”

The man felt indescribable pain as if his insides were being torn apart.

Right. What Lee Hyunwook fed him were tiny shards of metal.

“Khhhhh—”

Lee Hyunwook covered the man’s mouth and whispered.

“Think carefully. No matter what your organization plans next, you will die here.”

"..."

"You can choose: peacefully or painfully."

Choke...

Lee Hyunwook believed in the effectiveness of this straightforward approach.

A result he derived from countless uses in his past life.

‘Villains are predominantly selfish and evil. It’s their nature.’

Receiving a ‘villain quest’ begins with their selfish and wicked acts.

Organizations made up of such people rarely have loyalty.

That's why they implant a ‘latent magic’ in their members, holding their lives hostage, and ensuring discipline.

So, if one were to make the experience unbearably painful for them...

‘Lower-tier members of the organization would easily betray for a peaceful death.’

The final card prepared by Ki Baek-jun began to slowly reveal itself.