A Player Who Eats Metal

Chapter 48: Dongdaemun Station, Erosion Factor, The Giant Sword

<Chapter 48. Dongdaemun Station, Erosion Factor, The Giant Sword -3>

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"… Please, I'm begging you. Yes, I'll contact you again."

Ranked 4th among South Korean players, Kang Seo-yoon ended a call.

At that moment, news was being broadcast on the wall-mounted TV.

―… Amid growing criticism against the government and guilds for their inability to propose countermeasures, South Korea's future, which had risen as the top player nation, is becoming uncertain.

"Rise? It’s more like the countries that were at the top sank, and we just floated up relatively…"

It was true that South Korea was regarded as the most powerful player nation of the current era.

However, the reason wasn't so much that every player from this country was extraordinary, but because the originally powerful nations—like the USA, Germany, and China—were one by one swept away by the wave.

Thus, South Korea's international stature had risen, but…

‘… Now, it’s our turn.'

Perhaps this country's fate was to sink as well.

―I'm begging you! My son is trapped inside there! Please, save him!

The news started showing scenes of people protesting somewhere.

A middle-aged woman crying and pleading for her trapped family to be saved from the wave zone, young players inflamed with passion, ready to break into the wave zone…

"Ah, the talk of breaking in sounds foolish, but someone has to step up. If not them, then who?"

She turned off the TV with a bitter feeling.

Then, she opened the door and went out.

Immediately, a loud commotion enveloped her.

"– Connection for #3 established. Yes, it's the White Tiger Guild!"

"New information! There's a corpse golem roaming in Dongjak District!”

"What? Does that mean there's a death mage nearby?”

Amidst the intertwining shouts, dozens of employees were bustling about in the vast space.

This place was the situation room, located underground of the <National Gate Response Committee Integrated Command Center>.

They were, naturally, dealing with the 4th wave.

They weren’t dealing with the ‘post-event measures,' but focusing on the present situation.

In other words, it was a ‘control tower' set up to prevent the ‘erosion of Seoul'.

And the top executive of this organization, the ‘Head Player', was Kang Seo-yoon.

Typically, senior government officials should handle such matters…

But for various reasons, she was now in charge.

"Connection established with #13 mage, recording the conversation with an unidentified player."

"#44 mage, communicating with B-class player, Lee Chul-hee, located in Daerim 2-dong."

"Communication with #51 mage has been cut off… seems like they've been ambushed."

And the main mission of this ‘Control Tower' was ‘communication' with the players inside the Wave Zone.

Convincing and rallying the players inside to find the source of the erosion.

The decision-makers in the Control Tower had all agreed that this was the best they could do from the outside.

Thus, they were currently in communication with players inside the Wave Zone, employing 35 senior mages.

"Emergency Communication Officer, any updates? Have you made contact with anyone inside?"

At Kang Seo-yoon's question, a man seated at the highest position turned his head.

"Ah, we have a few contacts. However, the response has been rather… "

"Ah… even if we offer Legendary grade items, they still won't come forward?"

"Yes, well, they don’t want to die. If there was a powerful rallying point, people would gather around it… but for now, everyone is saying they will wait and see."

"Hmm, so they don’t want to be the first to step up…"

Indeed, the Wave was fundamentally different from ordinary gates and dimensions.

It was a hurricane of impossibility that had never been overcome even once.

Who would want to go into that?

So a ‘rallying point' was needed.

Someone trustworthy to follow…

‘…then people tempted by items and cash rewards would start gathering subtly.'

The problem was that they hadn't yet found such a capable rallying point.

Why couldn't they find even one such person in all of Seoul?

"Ah! However… there's one group that has given a positive response. They even had a systematic response plan in place before we contacted them."

Kang Seo-yoon's eyes lit up.

Who would this force be, taking the initiative even in the hopeless Wave Zone?

"Oh! Who is it? A guild? What's the leader's rank? How many are they?"

She blurted out questions.

However, for some reason, only bitterness was swirling on the face of the Emergency Communication Officer.

"Well, it's… AMT. The 1st Battalion of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade based in Namsan. They have been searching for the source of the erosion since this morning."

"Ah…"

It was news she had looked forward to, but it wasn't exactly the kind she wanted to hear.

‘Of all things, AMT…'

Especially if it was the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, it wasn't a special forces unit but a battalion centered on regular soldiers.

In her judgment, they would not be very useful.

At that moment, someone approached her from behind.

It was a middle-aged man in a white suit.

"Ah? Mr. Ki, what brings you here?"

He was Ki Baek-jun, the leader of South Korea's 3rd-ranked guild ‘Taesan,' and ranked 10th among South Korean players.

"I've come in person to deliver some good news."

"Oh?"

"Coincidentally, one of our guild's main assault teams was attacking a gate that opened in Heukseok-dong."

"Ah?"

"An hour ago, we received a contact that they had completed the raid. After a brief maintenance period, they decided to go search for the erosion factor. It’s a rather capable team, including one A-rank and three B-ranks."

Kang Seo-yoon nodded her head repeatedly with an expectant expression, and Ki Baek-jun smiled.

"Centered around those friends… it would be good to rally the players."

* * *

"…It won't take long."

Just before entering the tunnel, Lee Hyunwook spoke as if to assure.

However, An Min-tae, who was accompanying him, honestly expected it wouldn't be a short battle. Once they went into that dark tunnel, there was a high likelihood they'd encounter a ‘boss monster.'

‘Whatever comes out, it’s bound to be formidable.'

The idea of quickly defeating the boss monster of a ‘Wave,’ not a regular gate, was hard to imagine.

Of course, he believed that Lee Hyunwook could somehow manage it, but…

‘It's only natural that it would take a considerable amount of time.'

That's what An Min-tae thought.

But then…

"Insane…"

He was currently tongue-tied in amazement.

The subject of his awe was, unsurprisingly, Lee Hyunwook.

‘Even so, it’s a boss monster!'

The reason was that, with just a few gestures from him, the boss monster had turned into a bloody pulp.

Moreover…

‘It took about 10 minutes… Is this even possible?'

Yes, it was 10 minutes ago.

As they proceeded through the tunnel, they encountered a Line 1 train blocking their path. Lee Hyunwook said it looked like the boss monster had nested inside it.

And indeed, it was lurking inside.

The boss monster, named ‘Hell Rat Mutant' in An Min-tae’s memory, had two heads, and six tentacles writhing like snakes on its back; it was the size of a bear but looked vaguely like a sewer rat.

Everyone was momentarily taken aback by its grotesque appearance.

However, as always, Lee Hyunwook spoke with a calm expression.

"Tsk—choosing a nest is one thing, but you chose very poorly."

And, also as always, he slowly raised his left hand.

That was the beginning.

Lee Hyunwook inserted hundreds of steel beads into the train, then sequentially caused them to ‘shatter.'

The steel shards ricocheted mercilessly, stabbing the boss monster within the confined train space.

Naturally, the boss monster tried to escape, but something strange happened.

‘The steel columns inside the train moved like snakes and began to restrain the boss monster!'

An Min-tae saw it clearly. The stainless-steel handrails within the train—those frames twisted and tightened around the boss monster's body like chains.

An Min-tae didn't know, but it was Lee Hyunwook’s recently awakened ability, ‘Metal Morphing.'

He had transformed the solid stainless steel to instantly bind the creature.

However, that alone couldn't fully immobilize the massive creature.

With a single squirm, those bindings snapped.

But Lee Hyunwook had anticipated that.

He immediately mobilized his Living Armor units to block the back door of the train.

He then ordered the mages to shoot ‘Ice Magic' between the train and the tunnel walls.

The narrow gap was filled with ice, making escape through the windows impossible as well.

In essence, it seemed as though he had completely trapped the boss monster inside the train.

Immediately afterward, Lee Hyunwook focused his energy on the metal inside the train.

At the same moment the hundreds of steel beads ‘shattered,' they also ‘transformed' into sharp objects.

They started to spin loudly as they entangled with the boss monster.

In the confined space of the train, not a single piece could escape.

No matter how powerful, no boss monster could withstand such a crazy attack, and blood splattered all over the windows. Eventually, chunks of flesh began to stick to them too.

An Min-tae watched the scene and felt chills run down his spine.

‘What is this… it's like a blender…'

An Min-tae's observation was accurate.

The train had effectively become a giant blender that shredded the boss monster trapped inside.

Furthermore, Lee Hyunwook directed Park Junmo to release a ‘current' throughout the train. The intention was to stun the struggling creature to make it easier to grind.

‘Devilish! Truly, the greatest devil is a human!'

Thus, the boss monster, unable to escape from the train,

was ground into pieces for about 5 minutes as punishment for choosing the wrong nesting spot.

Kwaa-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga!

Even when it seemed that the creature's movements had stopped, Lee Hyunwook did not cease operating the ‘blender.'

All of that took exactly 10 minutes.

In that brief span of time, something unrecognizable was born, which was once a ‘boss monster.'

"Ugh—!"

"Damn…… looks like ground meat."

Looking at that gruesome sight, even while wearing a gas mask, it felt like they could vomit.

"How the heck… this is still a boss monster from the ‘Wave,' after all…"

An Min-tae was dumbfounded as he said this, but Lee Hyunwook appeared unfazed.

"When it comes to raids, if you use elemental advantages correctly, it can sometimes be surprisingly easy."

In reality, the ‘Hell Rat Mutant' was not a very powerful boss monster.

‘It's just a guardian for the gate behind it.'

The dangerous aspect of Hell Rat monsters lay in their overwhelming numbers; thus, the boss monster was designed to be more of a gatekeeper, for balance's sake.

To those unaware of this fact, it appeared to be an incredibly dominant battle.

"Let's move inside."

"Ugh…"

They proceeded into the train car, which had just served as a ruthless killing zone..

Sticky pools of blood were spattering and flowing around like jelly while bits of gory flesh were falling from above.

"Damn it…"

Metal shrapnel was embedded everywhere; if you were not careful, you could rip your clothes and skin.

However, on one of the bigger chunks, a sword was embedded—The Sword of the Cloud.

[ Energy rises within the Sword of the Cloud. (100%) ]

‘Fortunately, it stabbed right into the heart.'

By absorbing its blood, the number finally reached 100%.

The moment Lee Hyunwook retrieved the sword, another system message appeared.

[ Congratulations! The potential of the Sword of the Cloud has been released and upgraded to ‘Unsu Am-su.' ]

‘Finally, the potential has been released.'

Lee Hyunwook checked the information on the Sword of the Cloud—now ‘Unsu Am-su.'

[Item Information]

-Name: Unsu Am-su

-Effect: Absorbs water to emit ‘Water Mist' or ‘Electric Shock.'

The existing ‘Water Mist Emission' skill remained, and ‘Electric Shock Emission' was newly added.

Woo-woo-woo—

Ancient-looking characters were now engraved on the blade with a wavy pattern.

Those characters emitted a white light for a moment—

Pajiji—

An electric current flowed around the entire blade of the Sword of the Cloud.

‘Now, I won't need to rely on Park Junmo when I need electric attacks.'

As he initially thought when he first picked up this sword, the combination of steel and electricity was truly remarkable.

Of course, he'd have to practice a few times to use it properly, but now was not the time for that.

"Listen carefully. We've defeated the boss monster, but the ‘World Stone' did not appear."

"…Excuse me?"

"Is that even possible?"

When you defeat a boss monster, a ‘World Stone' appears.

And when you destroy it, the gate closes.

This had been the basic formula for dungeon raids.

"There could be various reasons, and one of them is the ‘Erosion Factor.' Let's keep moving forward."

They passed through the train car and came out on the other side, advancing again into the darkness.

Since they had found evidence that their target was not far away, there was no time to lose.

Then, Lee Hyunwook discovered something.

"Hmm… Hold on, shine a light on this wall."

Park Junmo raised his flashlight, illuminating the spot that Lee Hyunwook pointed out.

In a crack on the concrete tunnel wall, something black was embedded.

"Huh? It looks like some kind of crystal."

Lee Hyunwook took out a dagger and scraped it off.

"…What is that?"

"It's Dungeon Iron Ore."

[ Acquired Dungeon Iron Ore (Grade 3) ]

It was a typical material item that could be obtained in a dungeon.

When a blacksmith player refines this, it can be made into Dungeon Steel.

"Really? Does it grow here?"

"It's evidence that this place is becoming a ‘dungeon.'"

"You mean…"

"Simply put, the erosion is progressing."

Erosion occurs very rapidly over five days, with an explosive ‘Major Change' happening on the last day. The earth flips, the climate changes abruptly, and earthquakes and storms even occur in the surrounding areas.

This was a sign that such a phenomenon was slowly beginning here.

"Anyway, for us, it's a good sign right now. It means the Erosion Factor is very close."

The group increased their pace.

And about 5 minutes later…

"There! Look! It's the gate!"

Finally, they saw a purple flickering light.

Tens of Hell Rats were gathered around, but they were easily dealt with. The group searched around and found something about 10 meters beyond the gate.

"Here, there's something on the ground!"

A red stone was embedded in the gap between iron rails, on the concrete floor. It was pulsating and writhing as if sprouting roots.

Thump—Thump—Thump—Thump—

And so, a periodic vibration echoed.

How should one put it… Yes, it was like a heartbeat.

"It's the World Stone!"

An Min-tae said so, and Lee Hyunwook nodded.

"More precisely, it's the Erosion Factor."

"What! Really?"

"An Min-tae, you should study more, not just train."

In this manner, the true identity of the ‘Erosion Factor' was the ‘World Stone.'

The World Stone takes root in the Earth's surface and causes significant geographical changes. This is what is called ‘erosion.'

So even if it's not part of a wave, a long-neglected World Stone can also trigger erosion.

In any case—

‘Good, we've stopped one.'

Lee Hyunwook launched Failnaught, striking the World Stone.

Zza—Ang—

With a loud noise, cracks formed on its surface and it burst open with a small pop.

Since there wasn't a particularly grand impact, everyone just stood there blankly.

"……. "

They were uncertain whether or not they had succeeded.

Then, a system message appeared before their eyes.

[ You have destroyed the ‘World Stone (Wave)!' ]

The moment they saw that, they locked eyes with each other—

"We did it! We did it! We've succeeded!"

"Woah—!"

All 15 members of the search team cheered in unison.

They had accomplished an achievement that had only been achieved once in history.

It must have been an indescribable sense of accomplishment.

Lee Hyunwook also smiled, but his smile contained a different kind of pleasure.

‘Not only a great achievement, but I've also gotten my hands on 55 billion and a Hero-grade item.'

Lee Hyunwook was also aware that a ‘prize' was on the line for this fourth wave.

‘By now, Kang Seo-yoon must be making a fuss. Probably tearing into the Guardian guys…'

In his previous life, the same amount of money was at stake, but only one was removed in the end.

It wasn't a problem that could be solved just because there was a reward involved.

‘But this time, I'll take it all.'

Of course, the achievement was accomplished with the help of 40 members of the Steel Squad, so a certain amount had to be distributed among them.

However, given Lee Hyunwook's overwhelming contributions, the share that would come back to him was expected to be substantial.

‘I'll invest half in assets and the other half in Cheolsu hyung's guild.'

Lee Hyunwook planned to grow Park Cheolsu's <Hope Guild> into his own organization.

Then, a sudden gust of wind began to blow from somewhere.

Whooo—

It was because the gate was starting to close, causing a change in air pressure in the tunnel.

The gate, with its purple shimmer, crumpled like a piece of paper and soon condensed into a single point.

‘…It's finally coming out.'

Lee Hyunwook looked at that spot.

As the gate closed, something enormous revealed its shape.

It followed the direction of gravity, and—

Zzha—eck—

It plunged into the concrete, making a loud noise.

Caught off guard by its sudden appearance, the elated group was startled and took a step back.

Park Junmo lifted up the lantern to illuminate the object.

"What in the world is that…"

Everyone scrutinized the object closely.

"It looks like a sword, doesn't it?"

"Well… it looks like a sword, but can it really be called one?"

As indicated by their reactions, it didn't have a normal shape.

"It's too big to be called a sword."

True to the statement, the sword was grotesque.

It was larger than a person, making it unsuitable to be wielded as a weapon by human hands.

At a glance, the length of the blade seemed to exceed 2 meters,

And its width was also greater than the torso of an adult man.

From hilt to tip, a massive sword in deep black…

As everyone was wary of this strange object, Lee Hyunwook approached the sword.

And he reached out his hand to grasp the hilt.

[ You have acquired Mogley. ]

‘It's been a long time.'

[Item Information]

-Name: Mogley (Heroic)

-Effects:

-Mass Release (1~5): Unlocks the sealed ‘mass,' granting the user the ‘Strong Bone' buff.

-Shockwave: Generates a powerful shockwave. Its destructive force is proportional to the Mass Release level.

"Uhm… Sergeant Lee Hyunwook, can you actually wield that?"

An Min-tae asked.

Yes, at first glance, it looked like it weighed dozens of kilograms. It was absolutely not suitable for being wielded as a weapon, even for high-level Barbarian players, it would be too much to handle.

‘So that's why Red Berserker was a monster.'

The villain from the Warrior class, Red Berserker, had once brought down an 8-story commercial building just by swinging this insane weapon.

Indeed, its destructive power was enormous…

But honestly, it was much more powerful when Lee Hyunwook, who defeated him and became its second owner, used it.

Because…

"You don't necessarily have to grasp and swing it."

Lee Hyunwook let go of Mogley's hilt.

And he took a step back, slowly raising just the fingers of his left hand.

Then…

Zzhezhezhe–

It broke through the concrete and slowly rose into the air.

The massive body stood erect in the air.

'55kg…'

Even with the mass minimized due to being sealed, it still weighed a whopping 55kg.

In this way, the reason Lee Hyunwook could use it better than anyone else was simple.

He could control it freely without having to physically bear its enormous mass.

And that was more flexible, effective, and powerful than swinging it by hand.

‘Right now, I can only use it at the first level of weight, but it will become much more powerful as I release its mass.'

One of Mogley's skills was ‘Mass Release.'

It was divided into a total of five levels, and the previous life's Lee Hyunwook had unlocked up to the third level.

At that time, the weight of Mogley reached a whopping 2 tons.

Lee Hyunwook had dropped that 2-ton greatsword from thousands of feet in the air,

And after granting it full metal-controlling force,

Had lodged it into the head of the Black Dragon that was flying over Suwon—

He remembered that historic moment.

"…Things are going to get much easier."