Chapter 5: I Obtained an S-rank Reward
Pyongyang Presidential Palace.
While Choi Hyunwoo was experiencing the greatest crisis of his life over possible military service...
"So this is what the air outside the Tower smells like."
Orc Great General Krog took a deep breath and looked around.
Pyongyang had already been dealt with.
North Korean tanks, armored vehicles, helicopters, and other military equipment burned throughout the city, sending smoke into the sky.
Soldiers struck by the Orcs' personal weapon, the Gatling Laser, had been vaporized without even leaving corpses behind.
Emergency communications had reached other parts of North Korea informing them that Pyongyang was under attack.
However, military units from outside the city couldn't easily advance into Pyongyang.
They didn't have enough fuel.
Many units had also lost the will to fight after learning that Pyongyang had already fallen.
However...
"Great General Krog! Human forces are advancing from the south!"
"Are you afraid?"
"No, sir!"
Krog pushed aside the reporting Orc and addressed the Orc warriors standing in formation.
"We Orcs will crush the primitive and weak armies of humanity! Then we will soak this land in human blood and force the entire world to kneel beneath our feet!"
"KRAAAAAH!"
"Great General! Great General! Great General!"
"Drink the humans' blood!"
"Hang human intestines around our necks!"
The Orc army roared at Krog's speech.
Then...
Whoooooosh!
The sound of air being torn apart echoed from the distant sky.
"Great General! A formation of bombers is approaching from above!"
Krog lifted his head and looked toward the blurry clouds.
Shadows moved through the sky.
Bombers and fighter jets escorting them flew in formation at regular intervals.
"It seems the humans still believe the sky belongs to them."
Krog snorted.
Above Pyongyang.
The bombers descended together and opened their bomb bays.
Amid a tremendous roar, black dots began falling toward the ground.
At that moment...
Vrrrrrr!
The barrels of the Orc warriors' Gatling Lasers began spinning simultaneously.
Zzzzzzzap!
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Countless red beams shot upward from the ground and pierced the sky.
The heavens flashed red as if soaked in blood.
Dozens of bombers began spewing smoke before breaking apart in midair.
The pilots disappeared into the light before they could even scream.
The Orcs didn't require any special anti-air weapons.
Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of red laser beams filled the sky.
There was no possible way for the pilots to avoid the Orcs' anti-air fire.
Fighters and bombers were destroyed one after another.
Burning debris scattered beneath them and rained down across Pyongyang.
The remaining pilots urgently attempted evasive maneuvers.
But the lasers pursued them at terrifying speed, almost as if mocking their efforts.
The third and fourth bombers attempting to retreat exploded almost instantly.
Fireballs blooming in the sky dyed the daylight red.
"The god of the sky has abandoned humanity."
Krog slowly smiled.
"Now both this land and the sky belong to the Orcs."
Before Krog even finished speaking, the final bomber formation cut communications and hurriedly retreated south.
Only black smoke and wreckage remained above Pyongyang.
The Orc warriors roared wildly.
Their cheers were louder than the explosions and continued far longer.
"Now it is time to prepare for the true war."
Great General Krog had known from the beginning that the human army stationed in Pyongyang wasn't everything.
"This place is merely the beginning!"
This was the world of humans.
There would be countless human countries and armies waiting for them.
"But there is nothing to fear. We have never met an enemy we could not defeat!"
Numerical inferiority meant nothing.
"Even now, my Munitions Factory continues producing armor and weapons for our warriors! The more our warriors accomplish, the more we will eventually be able to manufacture fighters and submarines as well!"
After finishing his long speech, Great General Krog turned around.
A Gate stood there.
It looked like an abyssal monster opening its jaws.
"Wait here. I will cross back into the Tower, report our first victory, and bring the remaining warriors with me."
"Great General! Great General! Great General!"
With his warriors cheering, Krog stepped toward the Gate.
Half of Krog's body passed through it.
Then...
Flash!
The Gate suddenly closed.
The two connected spaces were severed.
And then...
Splurt.
The remaining half of Krog's body, with the front half cleanly missing, collapsed forward.
"Grrr?"
"Great General?"
For several moments, the Orc warriors couldn't understand what had just happened.
Then...
"Th-The Great General is dead...!"
My house.
"So the Floor 80 Boss died because of that? Because I closed the Gate?"
[Correct.]
The system messages answered my questions surprisingly well.
Apparently, it was willing to explain things related to Tower clears.
Maybe that was because I'd cleared the floor myself.
I was unbelievably lucky...!
People said life was seventy percent luck and thirty percent skill?
No.
Ninety percent luck and ten percent skill!
While I was deciding whether or not to close the S-rank Gate...
Orc Great General Krog had coincidentally attempted to pass through it.
And I'd closed the Gate at that exact moment!
My "strategic contemplation" had worked.
I'm starting to scare myself...!
I was becoming afraid of my own genius.
No.
It had gone beyond fear.
I was in awe.
My hands and feet trembled under the weight of my own existence.
This is the power of a man worth four billion won an hour!
Shake, shake, shake, shake!
The next morning.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Countless system notifications woke me up early.
What the hell? It's only 9:30.
So I closed my eyes again.
When I came to my senses, it was 2 p.m.
What a refreshing morning.
After getting out of bed, I quickly ate something and launched my game.
As usual, I started with some simple life-skill content to gather gold.
Then a nearby character caught my attention.
That's a ranked player.
You could recognize a ranked player just by looking at them.
Their weapon shone with a golden aura.
It was an effect exclusive to Legendary weapons.
I checked the other character's Combat Power.
It was over 3,000.
And their level was only 1,550.
I'm level 1,500.
There was only a fifty-level difference.
