Chapter 532
Red status windows flashed one after another.
As the mist completely cleared, the bridge came into view.
It wasn’t a matter of being happy that visibility improved.
With the activation of the worst trap, everyone in the area was now in danger.
“Why! Why didn’t you listen when I told you not to clear the mist!?”
Johannes screamed at Jinhyuk at the top of his lungs.
He couldn’t help but be furious.
It wasn’t like he’d given hundreds of rules. Just one. He’d warned them to be careful about just a single thing.
Yet it hadn’t even been a few minutes before that stupidly simple thing was forgotten—he wasn’t an amoeba.
“I just cleared it because it looked a bit stuffy. Now we’re here. Sorry. I’m seriously reflecting on my actions. See? I even have my hands up.”
“You call that an apology! Can’t you see everything is ruined now because of you, Player Kang Jinhyuk? And you’re smiling at a time like this?”
“Hm. So what you’re saying is, I can’t troll, but you can stab us all in the back? Is that it?”
“Wha… What are you talking about…?”
Johannes inhaled sharply, as if caught off guard.
“T-The Bridge of Illusion doesn’t have any sense-disrupting effect. The mist isn’t harmful to us at all—it’s just a device to keep the guardian asleep.”
“’Hic’… Wh-How do you know all that? This is your first time here…”
“That’s not important. From now on, let’s all sweat it out together. Great Sage. In the fairest way possible.”
The time for snickering safely from the sidelines was over.
If you stoked the fires of hell, then the arsonist should go into the furnace too.
Either die, or cross the bridge alive.
There was only one of two options left.
Just then—
‘Zzzzt…! Zzzzt!’
The Eternal Golem’s magitech quantum cannon finished charging.
If until just now its range was just over the bridge—
Now even where Johannes stood was within its effective range.
“Aaagh!”
Johannes screamed and retreated backward.
“Ugh!”
“Protect the Sage first!”
The other magitech engineers quickly formed a defensive formation.
At the same time—
‘BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!’
Blinding light swept through the ruins.
“Everyone, get behind me!”
At the front, Lee Tae-min pulled out a translucent shield.
[Lee Tae-min uses Machine Lord – ‘Plasma Shield’!]
The shield grew in size instantly, glowing green.
‘BANG!’
An immense shock slammed into his entire body.
It felt as if the whole bridge was going to collapse.
But Lee Tae-min stood his ground, enduring all the firepower with his entire body.
He knew that if he stepped back, everyone behind him would be in danger.
‘Rumble, rumble, rumble!’
How long did it last?
Seconds felt like hours.
Finally, the light from the magitech quantum cannon faded.
“H-Hyung…!”
Lee Tae-min, exhausted, threw down the sword he’d been holding.
A melee weapon created with magitech, ‘Storm Saber.’
…Now!
‘Bang!’
Jinhyuk sprang into the air in a single motion.
A terrifying sword aura burst forth, following the Storm Saber.
‘Vwooom!’
Two different types of mana resonated violently together.
“Guh…?”
The Eternal Golem raised its head.
“After a strong attack, there’s always a gap to make up for it.”
Having a ton of crystal orbs for output is only an advantage when attacking. At moments like this, it leaves nothing but weak points exposed.
The Eternal Golem reflexively reached out to protect its body.
But it was nowhere near enough to block Jinhyuk, who dashed in like a storm.
‘Tap… tap! Thud!’
Jinhyuk darted through the golem’s fingers, using ‘Sword Demon Heavenly Steps’ to dive in.
His movements, as smooth as flowing water, only accelerated.
Now, nothing could block his path.
A flimsy shield was deployed, but—
That was nothing more than a glass wall before his sword aura.
‘Crack!’
His sword sliced cleanly across the neck.
The Eternal Golem’s head was cut off in one perfect strike.
Spinning, the head vanished below the bridge.
Tottering, the huge body lost balance and plunged after it.
* * *
‘That went easy thanks to Tae-min.’
Yoo Yeonhwa and Alice also did their part perfectly, making sure the other players weren’t harmed.
Thanks to them, there wasn’t a single casualty on their side.
On the other hand—
“Ughhh…”
“Cough! Gah! Ack!”
“Anyone, healing potion… anyone, help us!”
Johannes’s side was a disaster.
Of the twelve magitech engineers who’d come, including Johannes, half were either dead or badly wounded after the attack.
The main reason was that, thinking they were safe, they hadn’t had time to prepare.
Johannes, in particular, was so shocked he still couldn’t accept reality.
“I’m only telling you because I’m so nice. You don’t have time to zone out. Yeah, I get that you’re mad, but don’t glare like that. Revenge is fine, but you can only do that if you’re still alive, right?”
Now that the mist was gone, the guardian would soon awaken.
All the traps set here would also trigger.
In other words—
Hell was only just beginning.
* * *
‘Clang! Clang!’
The sound of metal clashing echoed everywhere.
Particle cannons and quantum cannons fired in every direction.
‘BOOM BOOM BOOM!’
‘BOOM!’
They raised shields and used every escape skill they had to dodge attacks as best they could.
After hours of fierce battle, everyone grew familiar with their roles and the patterns.
And of course—
It was Jinhyuk who dismantled the web of traps laced everywhere.
“There, to the left—yeah. Then go for the turrets at the far end next.”
His perfect instructions always let them react a beat ahead of time.
It was almost prophetic—everyone who watched could only gasp in amazement.
‘He’s really incredible…’
‘So this is Player Kang Jinhyuk.’
‘It’s nothing like seeing him in videos. Seeing it in person… He’s a total monster.’
‘How can a human do that? He’s just in a different league from us.’
Among the players, he was already revered like a god.
At this point, they’d follow Jinhyuk’s words into a fire pit.
But just then—
‘Grrrrk….’
A different sound rang out.
Not the sound of metal striking metal, but a jarring discord as the metal itself twisted out of place.
Jinhyuk’s hand suddenly stopped.
‘Is it finally coming?’
The guardian protecting these ruins.
And possibly even more dangerous than a boss monster.
[Iron God of Illusion ‘Creed’ manifests!]
Something strange approached from ahead.
About 170 centimeters tall.
It looked human, like an adult man, but half its face was made of thin iron.
Blood-red pupils locked onto Jinhyuk.
“What, you were trying to cross here with just a few dozen people?”
Creed cocked his head.
Then he spotted Johannes in his view.
“Aha, that old man is here too. Huh? Wait, what’s this? Ahahaha! Seriously? The fool who locked me in here crawled back in without any safe zone?”
Confirming the mist was gone, Creed burst into manic laughter.
Now he could kill everything in sight—not just those on the bridge.
“Uhhh…”
Johannes’s whole body trembled.
His face was pure fear.
The other magitech engineers frantically searched for any escape.
“Hm. Is that guy really that strong?”
Alice asked.
“He’s pretty troublesome. At least on this bridge, he’s between a great hero and a god. Minimum, he’s stronger than Hector.”
The other residents had all avoided Creed when clearing the 33rd floor.
His abilities were just that overpowered.
‘Let’s see, by now he should have fully unlocked his unique spear.’
‘Eye of Gluttony’ scanned the target.
[Creed Arxtrao]
Level: ???
Unique Spear: Iron Lotus
Unique Ability: Empire of Iron
Skill: Lv37 [Iron Body], Lv36 [Iron God], Lv36 [Magitech Spear Wave]… Too many entries. Switching to ‘collapse’ view.
Copy condition: Creed, who played a major role in establishing the 33rd floor, was later betrayed by the sages and imprisoned in the ruins. To him, this bridge is a prison. If you let Creed have his revenge, you can copy one of his skills. If you provoke and defeat Creed, you can copy either his unique spear or his unique ability.
He didn’t need the unique spear, but ‘Empire of Iron’ was the higher version of ‘Machine Lord’—very useful in many ways.
Well, letting him have revenge wouldn’t be hard.
He was willing to do it even without the copy condition.
The problem was…
How to provoke and defeat that headache of a monster.
While Jinhyuk pondered, Creed moved.
“Let’s get rid of the riffraff first. Then we can talk slowly. Old man, you’re in for a long, fun time.”
Creed grinned, not planning to kill them slowly at all, and stretched out his hand.
‘Grrrrk!’
A grating noise pierced their eardrums.
From his palm appeared a chalk-white spike.
No flashy decorations, but its killing intent alone was chilling.
“Let’s see… first—”
‘Bang!’
The spike instantly shot through space.
“Ugh!”
Lee Tae-min jumped up.
It was fast, but not so fast he couldn’t react.
He tried to raise his shield to block it again.
But—
‘Crack!’
“…Huh?”
A crack formed in his armor.
The spike shattered the outer shell and bored inside.
But the problem didn’t end there.
The spike didn’t just pierce; once inside, it spread, taking over everything around the entry point.
“Heh. Still holding up? You should’ve been ripped to pieces already, but you must know some magitech. You’re lasting longer than I expected.”
“You monster…”
Lee Tae-min sweated, doing his best to resist the spike’s invasion.
But it was no use.
He was only buying a little time. In a few more seconds, iron veins would reach the cockpit.
Just then—
‘BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!’
Blood-red spikes erupted.
The spikes Creed had used were deflected.
“Some lowly creature dares to perform tricks before me?”
Alice, her white brow furrowed, spoke up.
“You…”
For the first time, Creed flinched.
Until now, he’d been drunk on meeting Johannes again, but now he finally noticed Alice von Ataraxia.
“Hmph. So you know who I am.”
“Of course I do. I couldn’t not recognize one of the absolute beings once judged capable of reaching the 50th floor.”
Creed shrugged and added one more thing.
“But that was only outside. On this bridge, your vaunted abilities are useless.”
“Oh, what a dull provocation.”
From the warped space behind her, countless red spikes began to appear.
Dozens, hundreds…
There were so many spikes branching through space that they couldn’t be counted with the naked eye.
“We’ll see if my abilities work or not… I’ll test them with my own hands.”