Chapter 158. Solo. The game speed is accelerating.
After defeating the boss monster, Nefirim, Seo-woon, instead of heading to the capital, proceeded through an uncharted forest, preserving his inner strength and senmaiki to the fullest extent. Furthermore, his pace was quite slow due to constantly replenishing his senmaiki as he advanced.
"The palace city must have been completely sacked… The next largest village or city is…" Seo-woon's eyes flashed as he examined the map.
Having planned his route as close to the villages and cities as possible, Seo-woon stood up and completely changed his expression. His expression hardened, and he adopted the typical scout look, staring ahead with intense concentration.
As he began to advance forward, his clones also moved slowly, observing their surroundings. Hidden among the dense trees of the forest, a pair of crooked eyes stared intently at them.
"Four people. A scout archer, a knight, a warrior, and a mage. A basic group. They look tense, so they must be the ones whose guilds were destroyed or disbanded."
The knight, who was busy farming, placed the scroll he was reading in his subspace and said, "Stop contracting and gather the guild members. Players who are contracting are priority."
A moment later, about 20 players rushed out from the house they were farming in and gathered in the center of the village.
"I feel it. I feel something, so it must be the crooked eyes."
At Hamit's words, Seo-woon slowed his pace even further and pretended to be alert to his surroundings. "There are a lot of siege traps 30 meters ahead. The range is about 15 meters. There are also magic traps and other annoying traps nearby."
Hearing this, Seo-woon smiled inwardly and began walking as if he knew nothing. Despite this, he made sure to keep his left eye tightly closed. He aimed to avoid showing his Hwagangjeong to hide any obvious features that could give away his identity. As Hwaganggeumjeong's vision spread around her, she saw the silhouettes of those running toward her.
"Twenty-three. Not bad."
As one of the approaching figures approached, the loud clanking of his armor caught Seo-woon's attention. He froze in place and raised his fist. At the same time, Seo-woon's clones drew their weapons and stopped in their tracks. The enemies, seeing this with their distorted eyes, also slowed down and approached more stealthily.
When the moment of tension passed, Seo-woon drew his bow and shouted. "Everyone, run!"
At the same time, his clones leaped in the opposite direction of the approaching enemies.
"Damn it! Chase them!"
In an instant, about 20 enemies appeared in his field of vision and, without even taking a proper position, rushed toward Seo-woon. Seo-woon, still with a stern expression, pulled back his bowstring.
He noticed his lips curl strangely, and a single arrow flew toward the knight at the front of the group. The moment he aimed his bow, the knight, who was protecting himself with a large shield, smiled as if he found it amusing.
***Shh! Kwaang!***
The arrow flew right into the center of the shield and exploded, throwing the knight backward. Seeing the knight, who had charged forward at tremendous speed, mercilessly tumble backward more than ten meters, defying the law of inertia, Seo-woon drew another arrow.
"I should have used a defensive skill," Thinking this, Seo-woon began firing explosive arrows at the panicked enemies.
***Bang! Kwaang! Bang!***
"Knights! Forward!"
By the time they tried to take their positions, the three mages had already been caught in the explosion and were dead. The intense explosions blurred their vision, and the flying bullets knocked the mages' breath away.
"Damn it! You're more than capable of buying time on your own. You two, save the mages. The rest of you, deal with this guy first…"
The player who was giving the orders was momentarily lost for words when he saw Seo-woon charging towards him without firing an arrow. "What are you doing there! Kill him! You're even trying to kill dead mages, aren't you!"
Seeing Seo-woon charging towards him, the knights rushed forward to meet him, and the player giving the orders tried to order the knights to pursue the fleeing enemy.
***Ziiik!
Cheer!***
***Ssuk! Ssuk!***
If it hadn't been for the sound of the knights being slaughtered… His eyes widened when he saw the eight knights who had rushed forward to deal with the enemy scouts being cut down in an instant, but Seo-woon had already reached him. Even though he saw Seo-woon charging towards the mages who were just taking up positions in the back row, the player giving the orders couldn't move.
"Run… run…" The order came too late. They didn't have the skills to outrun Seo-woon, who was charging at them.
Seo-woon activated Hwagyeonggeum and jumped into the middle of the enemy ranks without taking a single hit. It wasn't just that he didn't take any hits. He was aware of every single movement the players made, as if he were watching them right in front of him. He could vividly feel the warrior behind him pull out a scroll from his subspace with a terrified expression.
***Squeak!***
Just as the warrior was about to tear the scroll and escape this area, his waist was cut, and he collapsed to the ground before he could tear it. It felt as if the area itself was completely under his control. The feeling that no one could defeat him in this area grew more and more intense. The feeling he'd lost last time he faced over 100 players was now returning, and Seo-woon's lips curved upwards.
"Ji Jin-soo-woon!"
***Tap.***
The player giving the orders had his head ripped off as he finished his words and collapsed to the ground.
"Hoo." As I watch the bodies disappear and the boxes left behind, Seo-woon took a deep breath as if he'd just finished a light exercise, and as he began to spasm, the clones that had disappeared returned and helped him up.
"You like the bait? You're all hooking the hook beautifully."
#
[Beep! Are you sure you want to release the seal of Demon King Crossino?]
Hearing the notification, the man placed his finger on the O key without hesitation.
***Srrrring! Sring! Clang! Clang!***
The moment he broke the seal, the sound of chains scraping and falling filled the dark underground area.
[Ding! The player named Delphoter has awakened the epic monster Crossino from his seal. The game has progressed to Chapter 2.]
Having freed the demon king, Delphoter and his companions looked worried due to the ominous voice, while a voice that invaded their minds began to echo in the underground area.
***Khaah! Hahahahahahahahah! Kkkkkkkkkkk!***
As laughter and a voice like a monster's roar echoed, a man emerged from a thick circular wall, and Delphoter, without a moment's hesitation, tore the scroll, leaving his comrades behind.
"Delph…"
***Crack!***
Before the stunned knight could finish his name, his head was crushed. The man who crushed his head looked at the red blood and brain tissue on his hands and wore a wistful expression. "I never thought I'd taste human blood again." As he said this, he licked the blood from his hands with his tongue, trembling from head to toe.
The remaining members of Delphoter were overwhelmed by the strange aura emanating from him, and they collapsed where they stood. The Demon King. Crossino.
Long before the existence of countless empires, it was a tremendous shock to truly see the Demon King before him, who was said to have split their world, the continent of Antrapha, into three, bringing humanity to the brink of extinction.
According to legend, he was sealed by a warrior chosen by heaven, who later became king and founded the Kuren Empire. This wasn't just a simple founding legend, but a story from the distant past that everyone knew as true. The scene of the legendary Demon King reaching out to them would remain a permanent trauma in their minds.
***Kwak. Kwak.***
"You did well by freeing me from my seal. I will send you off without pain. Consider it an honor."
As the man spoke, black wings ripped through his skin, spreading behind him, and he looked up towards the dark ceiling of the underground chamber.
***Kaboom!***
With a deafening roar, he pierced the ceiling and launched into the sky. As he was bathed in sunlight, his skin darkened and began to glow.
"Jinseon… If you're going to give me a mission, you should at least make it easy to find. I don't like you at all… Huh?"
***Beep!**
* Remaining survivors: 254. . . .
Jinseon-Dayker (killed by Gang-ki)
Seeing the list and hearing the notification in front of him, the man's jaw twisted. At the same moment, a man split the sky and disappeared in a single direction.
#
Seo-woon frowned as he saw new targets quickly appear. What worried him most was that the awakened epic beast was heading in his direction.
"Coincidence?" It was unusual that the new field of vision that had begun to form as soon as the Epic Monster Crossino appeared was flying towards him, who was on the opposite side of the field. Seo-woon eliminated his clones and flew towards the new field of vision.
The new field of vision was a red swamp at the edge of the map. With almost 70% of the map blocked off, the current situation could be considered the early stages of the game, and that wasn't too bad for Seo-woon. This development suited his desire to finish the game as quickly as possible.
"If I gather the players rushing there, I won't have to face the Epic Monster."
After checking the red swamp on the map and the surrounding wasteland, Seo-woon closed the map and focused on his light steps. In an instant, he broke through the forest and sprinted towards the newly designated target.
It had been four days since he'd started moving without proper rest. Players, escaping the rapidly shrinking force field and running towards the same target, began to appear one by one. Seo-woon didn't attack them, keeping his distance and running forward.
As the force field accelerated, the players agreed that they should enter the force field first. The number of players sprinting from a distance they seemed as small as ants began to increase, until finally, at least 100 players were sprinting in every direction, kicking up dust.
As the number of people increased, a subtle rivalry began to develop among the sprinting players trying to escape the field. Those in the lead, relatively free from the pressure of the field, had no choice but to observe each other. Seeing the players from afar firing spells at each other and firing arrows to keep each other under control, Seo-woon pursed his lips and sped up even faster.
When he suddenly began charging forward, the magic flew at him from all sides, but Seo-woon paid no attention. Although fire magic was powerful, high-level magic, the players closely following him began to slow down and increase the distance between them when they saw him withstanding the attacks with his bare hands. They had apparently noticed the figure.
"It doesn't matter. You all have to go in." With that thought, Seo-woon began to run without restraint, and the distance between him and the players following him widened even further.
After running for a while, he started to see the newly established field's cut-off line in the distance. When he was about 500 meters from the finish line, Seo-woon turned around.
"Hahmit!"
Seo-woon, transformed into a tong-a, strung his bowstring.
"The easiest prey is driving prey."
Seo-woon began shooting his arrows at the tiny players who were running toward him in the distance, kicking up dust. Shooting the arrows at about a 45-degree angle, they fell in a parabolic arc; they exploded or emitted electric shocks that disturbed the players running toward him.
***Shh-Kwaang!***
"Damn kid!"
"Get out of the way! Stay away from his arrows!
Despite his screams, Seo-woon's arrows were fast and shorter than normal arrows, making them difficult to spot in the sunlight. Only skilled warriors and knights could quickly predict the direction of his arrows and dodge them by making sharp turns.
"Damn bastard! Come closer!"
There were many players gnashing their teeth like this. Naturally, the players' tension was lifted by Seo-woon's rain of arrows. In this situation, they had no way of sparing any energy to control the other players. Naturally, a common hostility towards Seo-woon grew between them, and a bond formed.
"Let's kill that guy first!"
"Let's drive him away!"
"Insolent bastard! Just because he's a crown player?"
"If we kill him, we'll get some cool items!"
It's said that human greed is endless and that people repeat their mistakes. Standing in front of Jin Seo-woon, the player they avoided at all costs, and seeing countless players surrounding him, they began to forget the fear they once felt towards the crown-ranked player.
As the players drew closer with a barrage of attacks, Seo-woon transformed his sword into a chain blade. With a smile on his face, Jin Seo-woon gripped the sword tightly with both hands and charged towards the players who had gotten close enough for him to see their expressions.