Chapter 45
Part 44
"Aaaaah!"
"The left flank is breaking!"
"Stop them! I said stop them!"
Step.
At that moment, Mincheol stepped forward.
"Awakener Cha Mincheol?! Where are you going?"
"I'll hold them off."
CLANG!
Giant's Roar.
BOOOOOOM!
Mincheol struck his shield with Giant Slayer's Shatter.
An enormous shock wave spread across the entire battlefield.
"Chwiiik?!"
"ROAAAAR!"
The monsters that had been breaking through the left flank all turned their heads.
Then they began charging toward Mincheol like mad.
"W-Wait, what?!"
"They're all going after him!"
"How is he supposed to handle that alone...?"
RUMBLE!
BOOM!
Indomitable Barrier.
An opaque blue barrier of mana spread out from Mincheol's shield.
The barrier continued expanding until it surrounded him completely.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Hundreds of monsters slammed into it simultaneously.
Yet the barrier showed no signs of breaking.
"Woojin!"
"Yes!"
RUMBLE!
The moment Mincheol called out, Woojin spread both hands.
The gravity around Mincheol grew heavier, causing the monsters' movements to slow as though they were moving in slow motion.
Some of the monsters even dropped their weapons because they had suddenly become too heavy to hold.
HUMMMM!
"Chwiiik?!"
The monsters that tried to escape struggled helplessly in place.
No matter how hard they ran, they couldn't move forward.
Woojin had distorted the surrounding space as well.
"I'll stop anything that gets past! Hyung, just concentrate on what's in front of you!"
"Excellent!"
CRUNCH!
Mincheol swung Shatter, crushing four Orcs simultaneously with its hammer side.
Whoosh!
Then he twisted his wrist and slashed with the axe blade.
Slash!
A Lizardman Spearman's body was split cleanly in two.
"...What the hell is that?"
Park Hyunwoo stared in astonishment.
The man had just alternated between crushing and cutting attacks with a single weapon.
"Team Leader, over there..."
"?"
At his subordinate's voice, Park Hyunwoo turned his head.
His eyes widened.
Grab.
Hwarin placed the crown on her head.
BZZZZZZT!
Her black hair whipped around violently, and her red eyes grew even darker.
Raise Skeleton.
Flesh Stitch.
CRRRRACK!
The moment Hwarin cast her spells, the corpses Mincheol had cut down began rising together.
At the same time, the severed bodies of the monsters started stitching themselves back together.
"Chwii... ik..."
"Grrrr..."
Then the reanimated monsters charged at the creatures that had been their allies only moments earlier.
"That woman was a Necromancer?!"
"But she was blessing our side just a moment ago! Wasn't she a Saintess?!"
"How many monsters has she summoned already?"
A great commotion spread among the Awakeners defending the area.
A Skeleton impaled an Orc with its spear.
Then...
CRACK.
That Orc rose again.
CRRRRACK.
The Lizardman killed by the reanimated Orc stood up as well.
"..."
Park Hyunwoo swallowed as he watched.
Their forces were increasing with every enemy they killed.
He had never seen anything like it.
Normally, even Necromancers couldn't immediately resurrect enemies like this.
They could only use the undead they already possessed during battle.
After the fighting ended, they would collect the corpses and turn them into undead.
But this woman was creating more undead in real time.
"Don't kill them! Push them toward the undead!"
"Yes!"
Mincheol used his shield to drive an entire group of Orcs backward.
SCREEEECH!
The retreating Orcs were impaled on the Skeletons' spears.
Then they immediately joined Hwarin's army.
"...Team Leader, what should we do?"
"..."
Park Hyunwoo couldn't answer.
Ever since the three companions stepped forward, most of the Association's personnel and guild members had simply stood there.
There was no need for them to fight.
"...Everyone, follow Awakener Cha Mincheol's instructions. Until he asks us to intervene, we'll remain on standby."
"Pardon?"
"Don't make me repeat myself. This isn't a battle we should interfere with."
Park Hyunwoo gritted his teeth as he issued the order.
Pride?
That was completely irrelevant right now.
Those three were doing the work of all 120 defenders combined.
What right did he have to worry about his pride?
"Haa... Haa..."
Wipe.
Hwarin rubbed the area beneath her nose with the back of her hand.
A red stain appeared on her skin.
"Noona, you're having a nosebleed! Are you okay?"
Woojin looked toward her.
As a fellow magic-type Awakener, he could tell how much strain she was under.
Thanks to the World Axis Ore, he could now use his abilities without suffering from headaches.
More than that, he could store an unlimited number of formulas and values.
All he had to do was retrieve them whenever he needed them, which had greatly reduced the burden on him.
But Hwarin was still pushing herself.
"I'm fine. I can still hold on."
"Yugeon Hyung told you not to overdo it!"
"I'm not overdoing it."
Hwarin gave him a faint smile.
In truth, she was getting a little exhausted.
There was no mana consumption, but she was currently controlling more than six hundred creatures.
The strain was steadily wearing down her mental strength.
Then...
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
The entire battlefield grew quiet.
A completely different kind of vibration traveled through the ground.
"...It's coming."
Mincheol adjusted his grip on his shield.
Step.
A gigantic shadow emerged from the Tower's entrance.
An enormous black wolf, as large as a house.
Riding on its back was a red-skinned creature twice the size of an ordinary Orc.
It carried a massive axe with a serrated blade.
[Lv. 55] Red Orc Lord Krash
"Grrrr... The stench of humans is strong here."
Krash rested his axe on his shoulder and surveyed the defensive line.
Eventually, his gaze settled on Mincheol.
"Are you the leader of this group?"
"I am."
"Good."
BOOM!
The moment Krash finished speaking, the black wolf kicked off the ground.
WHOOSH!
Despite its enormous size, it charged at a speed that was difficult to follow with the naked eye.
"Hyung!"
BOOOOOOM!
CLANG!
Mincheol raised his shield, but the impact sent him sliding backward.
SCREEEECH!
His feet scraped more than ten meters across the asphalt.
"Ugh...!"
His arms were tingling.
Even though he had raised two layers of barriers, the impact had still reached him.
It's fast and heavy.
Mincheol gritted his teeth.
This boss was different from the ones he had fought before.
An ordinary Orc Lord was simply heavy and powerful.
But this one combined tremendous weight with incredible speed.
Step.
That bastard...
When Krash shifted slightly to the side, Mincheol immediately recognized his intentions.
After their first collision, the boss must have realized that breaking through Mincheol's defenses wouldn't be easy.
So he was planning to go around him.
He was probably targeting the people standing behind Mincheol.
In that case...
He would have to pin the boss down.
Whoosh!
CLANG!
Krash suddenly changed direction and accelerated.
"I'll devour the ones behind you first!"
His attention shifted toward the Association's defensive line.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Mincheol's eyes turned cold.
"Woojin!"
"I'm already on it!"
BZZZZT!
Woojin extended both hands, and the space in front of the boss folded.
"ROAAAAR?!"
The charging wolf let out a strange howl.
It was clearly running forward.
Yet its body remained in exactly the same place.
"Noona!"
"Got it!"
Death Hands.
WHOOSH!
Dozens of black hands erupted from the ground and seized the boss's legs.
At the same time, Hwarin's undead began swarming it from every direction.
"You...! Let go of me, you insects!"
BOOOOOOM!
Krash swung his axe, sweeping away the undead clinging to him.
But the undead he cut down rose from the ground again.
"Now, Woojin!"
"Yes!"
BZZZZZZT!
Woojin gritted his teeth and pressed both hands downward.
"Gravity, two hundred times!"
BOOOOOOM!
RUMBLE!
The boss and its wolf were instantly crushed against the ground.
The asphalt cracked like a spiderweb beneath them.
"ROAAAARGH?!"
"...Five seconds!"
"That's plenty!"
Dash!
Mincheol kicked off the ground.
With his gravity reduced, his enormous 191-centimeter frame soared as high as a three-story building.
Then...
Check the landing point.
Directly in front of the boss's head.
"Gravity, ten times."
WHOOOOOSH!
With Woojin's ability increasing its weight, Mincheol's axe came crashing down toward Krash's neck.
"It's over."
"ROAAAAAR! I won't let it end so easily...!!"
CRUNCH!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Mincheol's axe cut through the boss's neck.
Then it cut through the wolf.
Finally, it split the ground itself.
An enormous fissure stretched more than a hundred meters across the battlefield.
"Haa..."
BOOOOM!
As Mincheol released a relieved sigh, the boss's massive body toppled onto its side.
At the same time...
"Grrrr..."
The monsters that had been rampaging across the battlefield began wandering in different directions like animals that had lost their way.
"We'll leave the remaining monsters to you."
"Ah! Yes!"
Park Hyunwoo, who had been staring in disbelief, finally came to his senses.
He immediately led the Awakeners in pursuit of the fleeing monsters.
Thud.
"Ah... It's finally over..."
Hwarin dropped to her knees and removed the crown.
At the same moment, her undead army collapsed all around her.
"Noona!"
"...I'm fine. Really."
"Your nose is bleeding like crazy!"
Woojin hurried over and cast a healing spell on her.
As a Saintess, Hwarin actually possessed far more powerful healing magic than he did.
But right now, she looked too exhausted to cast even a single healing spell herself.
Just then...
Step. Step.
A familiar voice reached them.
"Good work, everyone. You did well."
It was Yugeon.
He had come to Gwangmyeong as quickly as possible after finishing the battle in Incheon.
But the three of them had performed far better than he had expected.
"Haha. Hearing you acknowledge our efforts feels really good, Hyung."
"It really does."
"Ugh... I'm so exhausted."
Thump.
The moment Yugeon appeared, all the tension left their bodies.
The three companions immediately sprawled out on the ground.
[Yesterday morning, the fourth Monster Wave, which occurred in Incheon and Gwangmyeong, came to an end.]
[The number of civilian deaths caused by this wave currently stands at zero. Damage to infrastructure was also extremely minor compared to previous waves.]
[What has attracted particular attention, however, is the date and location of the wave.]
[Three days before the incident, Awakener Han Yugeon used his National Alert Authority to warn the entire world that a Monster Wave would occur.]
[The wave subsequently occurred on the exact date he had predicted.]
[Because the warning was issued at the national level, other countries were also able to prepare in time, keeping their losses relatively low.]
[Several countries are now seeking to learn how Awakener Han Yugeon knew the date of the Monster Wave and what method he used to predict it.]
