Chapter 293: The Waning Time
Bam! Bam! Bam!
[A critical hit has been activated!]
Blood spurted from Mrusielio’s forehead as gunfire rained down like a storm.
The “Precision Shooting” effect triggered by accurately hitting the same spot repeatedly.
“Graaaaah!”
Mrusielio screamed in fury.
The pain was immense, but the humiliation of being treated this way was something she never imagined as a commander who led countless swarms under the queen.
“This is an insult to a commander of countless swarms, a disgrace!”
“Why spread your wings and fly around if you’re just going to hide behind insects? You’re practically asking to be shot.”
Jinhyuk clicked his tongue.
Fools and smoke both love high places, or so they say.
“Human scum… I won’t let you go!”
[Mrusielio uses ‘Yellow Dust’!]
Psssh…
Yellow particles scattered from the butterfly’s wings.
This mysterious powder, which grants intelligence to allies, drives enemies mad and robs them of their reason.
The dust began to surround Jinhyuk.
“It’s a hallucinogenic powder. After thoroughly training you, I’ll play with you every night. No matter how much you beg for more powder, I won’t give it to you easily. Look forward to it. Hehe.”
Hmm. That’s quite a dangerous statement.
Besides…
“Your attack is too slow.”
No matter how powerful the attack is, it’s meaningless if it misses.
Jinhyuk moved lightly, evading the dust.
“Who said I was slow?”
Buzz!
The speed of the dust increased.
It closed in, forming a perfect encirclement, leaving no gap to escape.
But just before the dust reached him…
Jinhyuk unleashed a storm of gunfire at the incoming particles.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
“What do you think you can do with a gun? Do you plan to shoot all of that? No matter how stupid you are, you wouldn’t… Huh? What? Huh?”
Mrusielio’s voice became increasingly perplexed.
No matter how large the particles were, they were still just dust.
Yet he managed to neutralize them all?
What kind of monster could do something so absurd…
“Oh…oh…”
Mrusielio’s mouth gaped.
“I told you. You’re too slow.”
“Screaaaam! Kill him! What are you waiting for? Kill him!”
“Kreeek!”
“Keek!”
Insects joined the fray.
Giant centipedes burrowed into the sand, disappearing from sight, while dozens of hornets charged with their stingers.
Hercules beetles and various carnivorous plants formed a dense wall, pressing in.
“Can’t win by quality, so you try quantity… Typical insect logic.”
Swish! Swish!
Somehow, the Sahbok Sword had switched into his hand, its blade extending in all directions.
A sword technique he developed independently while climbing the tower.
No, calling it a sword technique would be too grand.
It was merely an optimized movement to handle the Sahbok Sword efficiently.
A dance designed to annoy the opponent as much as possible.
But.
When it came to finding and exploiting weak points, it was exceptional.
[The unique ability ‘Grave of Swords’ is activated!]
With added energy, its power was beyond imagination.
“Kreeeek!”
“Graaaah!”
The fragments of the shattered insects littered the ground.
Swoosh!
Slice!
The sword, moving as if alive, dug into the sand.
Simultaneously.
“Groooar!”
“Graaaa!”
The centipedes, hidden in the sand, emerged, writhing as they were skewered by the Sahbok Sword.
Crunch!
A single swing silenced their screams.
“Instead of throwing your precious minions into harm’s way, why don’t you come at me yourself, you deformed Tinkerbell?”
“D-deformed Tinkerbell?”
“In my world, there’s a fairy named Tinkerbell in a story. If you got hit by a car… Hmm, no, make that a 10-ton truck… about ten times, you might look like her.”
He tried to be as gentle as possible, but the insult was clear.
To be honest, besides the gender, they had nothing in common.
“You dare mock me, a noble of the insect tribe? Fine. I’ll crush you with all my power.”
[Mrusielio attempts ‘Cocoon Transformation’!]
[All wounds are healed.]
[If fully encased in the cocoon, defense increases by 3800%!]
A white thread began to wrap around the giant butterfly’s body.
Cocoon Transformation.
A skill reflecting the insect’s ability to grow through metamorphosis.
“The moment you see my true form will be your last…”
However.
Mrusielio tilted her head mid-sentence.
The enemy she was addressing had disappeared.
Her antennae twitched.
Every sense moved to locate the enemy.
He was above.
Above her head, exactly.
Thanks to overlapping ‘Domain of Wind’ and ‘Sword Demon Celestial Step’, Jinhyuk’s movement was almost like short-range teleportation.
Thump.
Landing on the cocoon, Jinhyuk pointed his gun at Mrusielio’s head.
“Who said I’d wait?”
This wasn’t some 12+ rated anime.
He had no intention of waiting for the transformation to finish.
“W-wait.”
Mrusielio cried out, but red magic already formed at the tip of the gun.
If ‘Cocoon Transformation’ completed, there would be no way to deal with her.
But in this moment, her movement was restricted, and her vulnerabilities were exposed.
Only a few seconds left.
This was the perfect time to kill her.
“Don’t feel too bad. No monster can resist my taunts.”
“W-wait a sec…!”
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Red magic bullets shattered the cocoon and pierced through to her brain.
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[You have acquired Mrusielio’s Wings (Material).]
[You have acquired ‘Yellow Dust’ 500mg.]
“Kreeek!”
“Kreee!”
The insects went berserk at that moment.
Normally, they would scatter or attack each other without a commander.
But this strange behavior meant…
Rumble!
A vibration through the ground.
“They saved me the trouble of going to find them.”
It meant the boss of the 16th floor, who lost its right arm, had decided to move directly.
Boom!
The ground flipped, and a giant insect with a dark exoskeleton emerged.
Approximately 5 meters in size.
It resembled a Hercules beetle but was on a completely different level than other insects.
This was the queen.
The highlight of this raid.
“My children…”
The queen surveyed the corpses on the ground.
Emotions of futility and rage, surpassing them all.
“If you’ve angered the higher existence, you should have died quietly. Coming here and struggling won’t change your fate.”
“…Oh. So you know what’s happening outside the tower too?”
“Do not underestimate the ruler of a floor. I know far more than the little knowledge and information you possess.”
The queen’s gaze locked onto Jinhyuk.
“It seems you plan to kill me and obtain an artifact to resist them, but it’s futile. While you spend hours here, the thoughtforms outside will turn your world to ashes.”
“Wow. You’re smarter than I thought.”
Jinhyuk chuckled.
But do you know this?
“There are others in this world capable of handling the thoughtforms besides me.”
Unless Shub-Niggurath itself descended.
There were plenty of people prepared for such situations.
And.
“Why do you think I’ll be here for hours?”
[‘Memory of the World’ is activated.]
Jinhyuk waved his hand towards the air.
A library filled with countless skills appeared behind him.
[The unique ability ‘Sanctuary of the Sun’ is activated!]
Swish!
Pages turned.
The stage of the Egyptian gods was recreated, erasing the queen’s realm.
A desert with a sphinx and a giant pyramid.
Golden rays from the sky formed pillars supporting the sanctuary’s barrier.
“Th-this is…?”
The queen’s eyes filled with astonishment.
In Jinhyuk’s left hand, ‘Daylight’ manifested.
In his right hand, ‘Blood Demonic Energy’ infused the sword.
There was no need to drag this out for hours.
“I’ll finish this in three minutes.”
Jinhyuk’s face lost all trace of a smile.
—
After the gate opened, darkness enveloped major cities worldwide.
Burned buildings and abandoned cars.
Deserted city centers.
In scenes reminiscent of an apocalypse, survivors who hadn’t managed to escape trembled in hiding.
“Mom, I’m scared…”
A child’s whimper echoed through the underground parking lot.
“We should be safe here, right?”
A woman, likely the child’s mother, spoke cautiously.
“I’ve set up flames to interfere with magic detection. We shouldn’t be easily found.”
“We also placed chess pieces as decoys. They won’t hold off for long, but they’ll buy us some time to escape.”
Min Jungwoo and Lee Yuri reassured the people.
After distributing their remaining water and food, they finally took a moment to catch their breath.
“Phew. I said we’d be fine, but we’re really in a tight spot. We’re completely isolated.”
“Haha. What can we do? The situation is what it is. We just have to hold on.”
“You’re always so optimistic. If Kang Jinhyuk doesn’t get here soon, we might all die.”
“Hmm. It seems like we’re calling in a tiger to chase away wolves.”
“The goats outside are the wolves, and the tiger is Kang Jinhyuk?”
“It couldn’t be the other way around, could it?”
“That’s true… Yeah, that’s right.”
The two shivered as they recalled their first encounter with Jinhyuk at the National Museum of Korea.
Especially Lee Yuri, who had the vivid memory of spending a sleepless night crafting chess pieces while listening to labor songs.
“Do you know Player Kang Jinhyuk personally?”
Kim Kitae from the Saoulabi Guild reacted to Jinhyuk’s name.
He had also arrived in Daejeon as part of the vanguard and found himself trapped here.
“Oh? Do you know him too?”
“Yes. We’ve worked together a few times.”
“That damned guy messed things up from the start. We had a huge advantage, and he ruined it… Ah, thinking about it still gives me a headache.”
“It was quite shocking when he burned the Daedongyeojido map. I was completely fooled.”
“A national treasure… Well, I’ve been tricked by him several times too. Haha.”
A strange camaraderie formed between the three of them.
Though it was tinged with bitterness, one thing was certain.
“He’ll definitely come.”
“Of course. Even if he overworks people, he isn’t inherently bad.”
“Exactly. Player Kang Jinhyuk will come up with something.”
The three of them believed it.
They believed Jinhyuk wouldn’t abandon people.
And.
No matter how hellish the situation was, it would change when he arrived.
Just then.
Boom!
A loud noise and a powerful shock reverberated, shaking the underground parking lot.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
“What the… Yuri, could it be those things?”
“The chess pieces… Damn it. It’s not just one. They’ve destroyed not only the decoys but also the pieces placed on the escape routes!”
Lee Yuri shouted with a pale face.
