The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 27

"The preparations?"

Cheon Yuhwa asked Kim Jae-hyun, who was driving while looking out the window.

It was a question he had been hearing continuously since this morning.

Normally, he probably would have frowned and told her to ask in moderation.

"There are no problems whatsoever."

However, instead of grumbling, Kim Jae-hyun calmly repeated the same answer he had given before.

Having assisted her from the side for so long, he knew how hard she had been working, but even he could not fathom the weight of the burden on her back.

"The team leaders are waiting at their designated locations with their new team members, feigning coincidence. And thanks to keeping the monster prices high as you ordered, most of the dungeons in the metropolitan area have already been dealt with."

So, hoping to lighten the load on her back even a little, Kim Jae-hyun spoke as calmly as possible.

"In cases where players were reluctant to enter due to the dungeon environment, we mobilized our guild members to clean them, so you can rest assured, miss."

"Right..."

Hearing his words, Cheon Yuhwa gave a small nod in response and looked out the window again, organizing her thoughts.

A peaceful scene of people actively walking the streets unfolded.

Watching the scene, she spoke carefully to him.

"Honestly, I hesitated a bit. I knew I couldn't completely stop this no matter what I did, but I also thought I shouldn't completely stop it."

It was a short sentence, but it contained the worries she had been wrestling with ever since she came to her senses.

"If people get through this process without any pain, they'll continue to think of dungeons as simple workplaces, not as something dangerous."

"I know."

Kim Jae-hyun said calmly.

It was something he could say because he had heard her story from beginning to end.

At his answer, Cheon Yuhwa smiled faintly.

In truth, she felt sorry for him.

When she first returned to the past, she was half out of her mind and ended up telling him everything.

She had made him share the burden she was carrying.

But...

'Still, at times like this, it's nice to have someone who can empathize with my story.'

Cheon Yuhwa swallowed those words and looked out the window again.

Woooong--!!!

At that moment, her phone next to her began to vibrate continuously, signaling some breaking news.

"It's starting."

The signal flare announcing the approach of the world she had been preparing for had been fired.

***

"What is this situation?"

"I know, right? I have no idea what's going on right now."

Lee Shin and Eun Yeon-woo, having finished a long drive and arrived at a dungeon in a rural area, were each lost in thought as they looked at the dungeon before them.

The dungeon in front of them was slightly different in appearance from the ordinary dungeons they had seen so far.

To be specific...

"Why is this thing cracked?"

"There's no way I'd have an answer even if you ask me that."

Lee Shin's eyes sparkled as he looked at the entrance of the dungeon, which was beginning to crack, while Eun Yeon-woo took a few steps back, looking at the dungeon with wary eyes like one would look at a balloon about to burst.

He didn't know what the situation was, but he could easily tell that nothing good was about to happen.

"I'd like to suggest we get in the car and go back the way we came right now, but you'd say no, wouldn't you, brother?"

"You know me well."

At Eun Yeon-woo's words, Lee Shin replied with a broad smile, and Eun Yeon-woo clutched his head as if it were a headache.

"And if you're thinking of running, it's already too late."

"Excuse me?"

The moment he first faced the cracked dungeon, Lee Shin had noticed that a larger amount of mana was flowing out than from previous dungeons, and he also noticed that the flow was different from usual.

'How should I describe it... Should I say it's like water leaking from a cracked pot?'

And his senses were telling him that the mana leakage was reaching its peak.

"It's breaking."

Jjeojeok-

The moment Lee Shin muttered with anticipation, the crack in the dungeon spread to the center, and the entrance completely shattered.

In that instant, a dense concentration of mana, as if all the mana in the dungeon was pouring out, burst out in all directions.

However, there was no time to marvel at that fact.

Kireuk-

Kireuk-

Kireureuk-

"...Haa, I should have just turned the car around when I thought something was strange."

The moment the gust of mana passed them, the monsters presumed to have been inside the dungeon revealed themselves before Lee Shin and Eun Yeon-woo.

Even seeing that sight, Lee Shin muttered simply with the expression of someone who had just remembered something they had forgotten.

"Ah, right. Come to think of it, the system did say that if you leave a dungeon alone for too long, it collapses and the monsters inside come out."

"...? The system said that?"

It was the first time Eun Yeon-woo had heard it, but Lee Shin had actually heard it.

And the reason he had heard that story from the system was simple.

When he heard that Pantheon was ending its service, he had chosen to talk to the system, and thanks to his expanded authority, he was able to get answers to most of his questions.

Eun Yeon-woo, who heard his muttering, looked at him with a strange gaze, but he ignored him and asked a question in return.

"Yeon-woo, what were these things called again?"

"...Little Goblins. A subspecies of goblins, weaker and dumber than goblins, but just as tricky to deal with when they fight organizationally and gather in numbers."

"Really?"

Eun Yeon-woo answered his question without averting his gaze, and Lee Shin, hearing his words, smiled in satisfaction and looked at the horde of monsters in front of him.

There seemed to be a little over a hundred of them, and in the center was a boss monster with a particularly large build.

"Can I have some fun for the first time in a while with this many?"

With an excited expression like a child before opening a gift box, Lee Shin took a weapon out of his inventory and swung it.

Thud-

In that sudden situation, the heads of three Little Goblins, who didn't even know what was happening, fell off.

"Hmm? It was shorter than I thought, so I only managed to take care of five. Well, does it matter?"

Kireuk- Kireuk-

The Little Goblins, angered by him who had suddenly attacked them, took out crude weapons from their waists and charged.

"Puhaha! Ah, I was just going to clear one dungeon and go somewhere else, but it's fun that something like this happened."

Facing them, Lee Shin raised his internal energy and at the same time, lightly swung his hand and moved his body.

Whoosh-

And the result was simple.

The death of his enemies.

The arms of the Little Goblins that had swung their crude weapons at him were continuously cut off and floated into the air.

At the same time, the weapons that had cut them also continued to float into the air.

But his hands were never empty, and so the attacks continued.

Without resting for a single moment, he continued to swing his weapons.

Red blood flowed from the severed limbs, staining the path he had passed in red.

Kiryyaaaak--!!!

Kireureuk--!!!

Seeing that, the Little Goblins shouted, even more excited.

But strangely, while there were shouts of anger, there were no screams of pain.

But that was only natural.

Scrape-

"Ah, this is fun for the first time in a while. Well, it's a little disappointing that there are only weak ones."

Because before they could even scream, the heads on their shoulders had fallen off.

What followed was a repetition of what had come before.

He cut off the neck and at the same time, let go of the weapon he was holding.

Eun Yeon-woo, who was far away, let out a sigh of relief as he watched him.

'This is probably the safest place to be.'

From the day they first met until now, he had watched him fight from his side.

And yet, it was hard to know how strong he was, but he thought he probably wouldn't die in the current situation.

And if he was safe, then he wouldn't be in danger either.

"He hasn't even used his full strength and he's already cut their numbers in half, that says it all."

Suddenly, Eun Yeon-woo realized he would have to butcher all of those after the fight was over and sighed, but he kept his eyes on Lee Shin.

Clank-

At that moment, Lee Shin smiled at the familiar sensation he felt in his hand.

"It's finally all used up and in my hand."

Lee Shin enjoyed the sensation of the single iron spear gripped in his hand and, as if loosening his hand, simply swung the spear.

Thud- Thud- Thud-

Following the light trajectory of the spear he swung, the heads of the goblins, who had lost their bodies in an instant, rolled on the ground.

Seeing the bodies of more than ten Little Goblins fall at once, even Eun Yeon-woo, who thought he had become somewhat accustomed to his power, stared with his mouth open.

"What is this... is that possible at the same level?"

It was a remark that would have made Lee Shin chuckle if he had heard it.

In the tutorial, he had learned and achieved many things.

The weapon skills to handle many weapons and the martial art he was using now were among them.

But the biggest thing he had gained during that time was not such things.

Lee Shin, who had been a monster from birth, had carved out a path of carnage he had chosen for himself and had obtained the killing ability to kill an enemy stronger than himself in any situation.

"Haa, it's still not enough."

And yet, he was dissatisfied even with the power that was beyond the level set by the system.

Kireuk-

Gyururururuk-

Before he knew it, only ten Little Goblins were left, and the boss monster was looking at him, contemplating whether to charge or not.

Seeing that, he thought for a moment and then raised his spear.

The internal energy drawn from his dantian, according to his will, turned into [Flames] and wrapped around his body.

"Well, I don't think I really need to use it, but since it's been a while since I held a spear, it would be good to loosen up my hands."

At that moment, the ten Little Goblins, unable to withstand the tension, charged at him with the boss in the lead.

At that, he smiled lightly and, transferring the [Flames] that were rising over his body to the spear, swung it.

Hwarureureuk-!

Then, following the trajectory of the spear he swung, a red line was drawn in the air.

-Flame Lightning Tree God Spear

-Flames

-Ten Leaves

The Little Goblins that had jumped at him were mesmerized by the sight of flames blooming from the red line and died on the spot.

"You shouldn't pay attention to the flames during a fight. Well, it's a spear art designed with that intention in the first place."

The bodies of the ten Little Goblins, having lost their heads, collapsed to the ground.

But due to the heat of his spear, no blood flowed from the wounds.

Gyururururu-!!!

The only one that survived was the boss monster.

But even that was just something he had let live for fun.

The wounded creature screamed and rushed at him, and he, amidst the ten slowly falling red leaves, corrected his stance and changed his internal energy once more.

Pajik-

His spear, which had contained [Flames], now contained [Lightning].

These two were the two pillars that made up the [Flame Lightning Tree God Art].

'Well, I couldn't be bothered to think of names, so I just decided to call them [Flames] and [Lightning].'

As he was having such useless thoughts, the dungeon boss had already approached right in front of him and swung its weapon.

The moment its weapon grazed past his nose, he, looking at the boss's heart, moved his feet and at the same time, extended the hand holding the spear forward.

-Flame Lightning Tree God Spear

-Lightning

-Five Branches

The golden line pierced straight through the boss's heart, and that was the end.

Kuuung-

"Still, I enjoyed it a little."

Lee Shin shouldered the spear he hadn't held in a long time with a broad smile, briefly surveyed the scene he had created, and then looked at Eun Yeon-woo.

"Truly, you are amazing, brother."

Eun Yeon-woo said with a fed-up expression and took out the tool stuck in his belt, gripping it in his hand.

Now that the battle was over, it was time to collect the spoils.

Thus, their fight in a sparsely populated rural town came to an end.

-Uwaaaaaak-!!!

-R-run awayyy-!!!

On the contrary, for the world, it felt like it was just the beginning.

(End of Chapter)