Chapter 270. Underground (4)
In the past.
He had gone through the Green Road and had barely gone up but immediately fell into a lethal situation.
Though he had gotten stronger in the Yellow Zone up until then, such a fucked up Zone like the Green Zone was a first.
— What the fuck! How are we supposed to survive here! Are they trying to kill us all!
They could probably survive if they didn’t get caught but the eyes of the Bug Killers were too sharp for them to successfully hide when there was nobody to teach them or help them.
And the information about the location of the exit for the Arancar zone which he had logged into made him fall into a deeper despair.
— What the fuck… The Capital of the Empire!
But there was no need to worry that far.
Since surviving day by day was a challenge in itself.
But right before he was about to get killed off by the Bug Players.
A man appeared before his eyes.
— Hahaha! What a poor bastard!
The first impression wasn’t that great but to him, who only had despair, a ray of hope had appeared.
Of course there were still issues.
***
Rumblee!
The players were in shock from the scene of the man in front of them who was breaking apart an entrance.
The alloy wall which had stood strong despite the combined attacks of all of them was slowly being broken apart.
From that man and the flat object in his hands.
‘… 4th Brigade, I guess they aren’t a pushover. What is that anyway?’
As the flat object in the man’s hand collided against the alloy wall.
The energy field surrounding the alloy wall was dispersed.
This was the reason why the man had been able to smash apart the alloy wall all by himself.
‘Damn. Is there a way to…’
A small wisp of greed appeared inside the player’s minds but they suppressed it.
Since attacking somebody from the Empire was a crazy act in itself and there was something else that made them more curious.
What would be behind the alloy wall?
Kiiiiing!
But right before the entrance was broken apart.
The man who had been attacking the wall, Jang Oh, suddenly stopped.
“Huh?”
“Hey, why did you stop?!”
While the players were questioning his actions.
“Hmm…”
Jang Oh looked around at the players and then let out a wave of darkness.
Nothing tremendously lethal but it was still powerful enough to severely damage them.
And everybody dodged while cursing in shock.
“What the fuck?”
“What the hell man! Why?!”
As the players backed up.
‘Heup.’
Jang Oh gathered up all the strength in his body and smashed the wall under his feet.
Booooom!
The alloy wall that had been badly damaged gave up as a hole appeared.
Jang Oh left behind the players and jumped down.
Whoosh!
“What the hell man!”
“Why are you going alone!”
The players who had backed up all charged towards the hole.
Because they were going crazy from curiosity by this point.
But at that point.
“Back off you bastards.”
Boooom!
The man let out a tremendous amount of darkness and prevented the players from coming in.
And everybody freaked out at this attack and ran away again.
Soon the small hole had closed up again due to the alloy wall’s regeneration.
“Ahhhh! Fucking bastard!”
“How dare a mere NPC do this!”
Everybody started to vent their anger by cursing off Jang Oh who had left them behind.
They had been wary of going in so far but now the story had changed.
An extremely mysterious space that may be the beginning of a giant quest.
And the beautiful world that they saw for a moment before the hole had closed up.
Bright lights, a clear lake and lush forests.
This was not something that should exist hundred of meters below the ice in the northernmost tundra.
“What the hell! Why did they tell us to stay then!? Didn’t they need us?”
“And he said he was the 4th brigade! Why did he come alone!?”
If he was going to go in alone then why did the Empire act like this?
And why did they send them a message to stay here?
‘Fucking hell…’
As everybody was grinding their teeth in rage.
One of the players shouted.
“Let’s go in everybody!”
There was no reason for them to not.
Though they couldn’t break through because they lacked numbers before, they had more than enough now.
They just needed to cooperate to isolate the mana flowing through the alloy wall and penetrate through it.
Everybody acquiesced at these words.
“Sure!”
“Yeah! Do you even know how many are watching this!? We need to show them what’s inside!”
The man who had shouted smiled contently.
‘I’m going to see it with my own eyes. And… Kill those guys if we get the chance.’
The man smiled.
Those who were monsters.
People who someone like him could not even dream of handling.
But seeing the situation now, they would probably fight each other inside.
At least one side will get turned into a mess.
Which gave them an opportunity.
‘This is going to be a jackpot. Hehehe.’
The mysterious shield the man had.
And the glittering artifacts the man who they had been chasing had around his body.
‘This is basically a present box.’
Boooobobooooom!
The players started to break apart the wall while thinking about the scenery inside and the two people who would be fighting to the death.
***
Rummble!
As a man fell down from the hole.
Whooosh!
The man’s body got surrounded by shadows and then appeared right before Hansoo.
Crossing across hundreds of meters in an instant.
And Hansoo frowned at this.
‘Hmm.’
It seemed like he used a skill but because it had mixed with the shadows around Jang Oh’s body, it was hard to tell.
Hansoo muttered to himself as he looked at Jang Oh who had perfectly integrated his skills and the shadow together.
‘A man with many secrets.’
Though they were quite close in the past, Jang Oh was extremely protective of the people in his village and did not show anybody how he worked.
Since he always worked solo.
And Jang Oh was frowning as he appeared before Hansoo.
But it wasn’t from the rage he had against Hansoo.
— …
Jang Oh frowned at the constant trembles of the soul fragment in his head and then shouted in his mind.
— Shut up for a moment. I’ll handle it.
Though they, were ones with the soul fragments, were made to forcibly listen to the orders of the soul, they weren’t under control from the Lord symbol from Clementine’s clan.
Since the powers of a clan didn’t work through dimensions.
They all had their own thoughts and motivations.
— …
Jang Oh released his frown as the fragment loosened up and smiled towards Hansoo.
With an expression full of respect.
And not only his expression.
Jang Oh spoke towards Hansoo.
“Amazing. You’re the second person I’ve seen in my life who is this amazing.”
The first was Clementine.
He himself had rampaged through the lower areas.
But the moment he saw Clementine he understood that the world was large and there was a lot of monstrous people.
Jang Oh decided to follow Clementine due to Clementine’s endless potential in leadership and how she took extreme care of her own people.
Since it felt like there would be no more dangers if he followed Clementine.
‘I never thought there would be somebody else besides Clementine who could shock me.’
Jang Oh whistled.
Actually, this guy was beyond Clementine.
According to what he heard, this guy had saved the World Tree, dealt with the Gragos of the Orange Zone and even killed off all the God-like higher races of the Yellow Zone.
In a world like this where it was hard to even keep one’s own life, this man had saved an uncountable amount of people.
His achievements made him look like a hero who might appear in legends.
And deserving of his reputation, he had pushed out the damned players and revived the Ains even in this Green Zone.
‘How worthy of respect. You… Are doing something that I’ve wanted to do so much but could not.’
His other comrades were telling him to get revenge for Metiron and kill the man in front of him but his thoughts were different.
Kiiiiing.
Jang Oh spoke towards Hansoo in front of him.
“You’ve done well so far but stop here.”
This guy couldn’t even beat him, much less Tiamet.
Jang Oh continued to speak,
“This was good enough. The thing you’re doing… Is enraging Tiamet. Stop here and join us instead.”
This guy’s skill would help him and Clementine tremendously.
Even if this guy wasn’t needed, he liked Hansoo a lot for a strange reason and really wished to recruit him.
So he had told him about Tiamet.
To make him give up on his own.
And to make him join his side.
‘You’ve seen it as well. That power.’
He didn’t know what was beyond that mountain range.
But one thing was clear.
That the thing this guy was doing here was something Tiamet deeply cared about and wanted to prevent.
If he succeeded then Tiamet would stand up from his seat with a towering rage.
Forsaking everything else.
‘Just give up. We’re just… People who are passing by. But if you continue to resist…’
Jang Oh thought of his comrades who were caught like hostages and then clenched his hold on the blackish shield.
***
“We got through!”
Booooom!
The players shouted in glee from the hole in the wall.
But this glee only lasted for a moment.
People started to shout at the hole which had already started to shrink.
“Hey! Not all of us can go in! We have to keep this up!”
A few of the people here would have to stay and keep attacking it to prevent it closing back up again.
A few of the people laughed.
“Well, there’s no reason for all of us to go in right?”
In the distance.
Inside the cylindrical world.
There was a very unique looking area inside this place.
A factory-like structure which was surrounded by giant walls.
‘Let’s see what’s there first.’
Though normal people were afraid of mystery, they weren’t.
‘We’re immortal.’
The mysterious only roused up their curiosity further.
“Hahahaha! Let’s go!”
“Everybody, can you see! Continue to tune in since we haven’t started fighting yet!”
The players smiled at the giant structures from above and then started to fall one by one.
Towards the ground.