Chapter 50

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Boom!

As the building shook from the explosion, anxious groans echoed from all corners.

“Oh, Mom… I’m scared…”

A child, about seven or eight years old, clung to his mother, sobbing.

“Well, the teacher said that the bad monsters can’t come into the school…”

This was an elementary school near Oksu Station, which served as a shelter in emergencies.

Given the many nearby apartment complexes, it was currently housing a large number of evacuees.

In particular, over a thousand people had gathered in the second-floor auditorium.

“Mom, black… are we all going to die?”

“No, it’s okay. The Players will protect us.”

The mother pulled the child close and pressed herself against the wall.

And she prayed.

For civilians with no power, that was all they could do…

Boom! Boom!

The explosions continued, growing closer.

It meant that the battle outside was not going well.

“Mom, the Players…”

“Yes, the Players are working hard to beat the monsters.”

“No, it’s not that… the Players seem scared.”

“Huh?”

The child’s words made the mother turn her head.

Through the door, which had opened slightly, the corridor could be seen.

Armed Players, the shelter’s security force, were hurriedly moving about.

Their faces were twisted with confusion and frustration.

It was, in other words, despair.

The reason was…

“…The magic barrier on the right corridor has been breached!”

“What?”

It was the worst possible scenario.

“Damn it! We’ll move that way first! The walls must not collapse!”

The security force leader led ten security members toward the right corridor.

All the windows in the corridor were blocked by ‘metal shutters.’

However, with the magic barrier broken, such physical barriers had their limits.

Boom!

This time, a much larger explosion shook the entire building.

It was an impact on the building itself, not the magic barrier.

“I can’t believe it! If this continues, the walls will collapse…”

Crash!

His words came true.

A section of the corridor in front collapsed, and rebar and concrete rained into the corridor.

And… the shadow of something massive standing outside the wall fell into the building.

“Damn…”

The security force took a step back.

“Ugh! What’s that smell!”

An indescribable stench flooded the corridor.

The smell of rotting corpses—hundreds of them, all decaying at once, an overwhelming stench…

As everyone was taken aback by the stench, a massive hand squeezed through the hole.

“Huh!”

It was a hand as thick as a half-rotten pillar, with bones exposed.

When it grabbed the wall and pulled, it tore away as easily as a styrofoam box.

Crash…

“Good God…”

The hole in the wall widened to the point where the sky was visible, and finally, the monster’s face was revealed.

A green giant, towering three stories high—

It was a Zombie Troll.

Roar!

Moreover, though not visible, the screams from outside indicated that a massive number of zombies were surrounding the building.

“…Well, shoot!”

The security force leader said, nocking an arrow and firing it out the window.

The rest of the security force followed, unleashing all kinds of magic.

All hits— but the monster didn’t flinch.

The wounds on its face healed instantly, as if rewinding a video.

The monster, seemingly angry, swung its fist at the building’s exterior.

Crash!

Debris from the building flew in like buckshot, sweeping away a classroom.

“That thing is immune to our weapons!”

One of the security members shouted, almost in tears.

It was true. No matter how much they attacked, the monster kept regenerating.

There was no weapon or skill in the arsenal of a mere shelter security force that could kill such a creature.

In other words, with the magic barrier breached, there was no way to stop its infiltration.

‘It’s over…’

The security force leader felt an indescribable sense of powerlessness and lowered his bow.

At that moment,

– Click… If there are any survivors, please respond.

A small voice sounded from somewhere.

“—What? Leader! A voice is coming from the Mana Messenger!”

The security force leader hurriedly lifted the Mana Messenger from his waist.

“Yes, this is the A Elementary School shelter! Is anyone there?”

For a few seconds, only static was heard.

Though a short time, it felt like several minutes to them.

– Click… Is this the location currently under attack by the ‘Zombie Troll’?

“Yes! That’s right! It’s us!”

In the midst of despair, a glimmer of hope appeared.

The security force leader began to plead with the unknown voice.

“Whoever you are, please! Please lure that monster away! There are over three thousand civilians in this shelter! If this continues, we will all die!”

– Click… Do not stand near the wall; move back.

“Huh?”

– I will eliminate the Zombie Troll. Please move back to avoid any collateral damage.

The security force looked at each other.

Eliminating a Zombie Troll, such a monster…

It was an almost impossible scene in their minds.

But if it was a truly powerful Player, it was certainly possible.

Without a word, they began to back away.

“Leader, look over there!”

One of the security members pointed out the window.

On the school’s wide playground, someone was walking in.

A single man in a black combat suit.

“…It’s AMT?”

However, the only weapons he seemed to have were two swords on his back.

The only peculiar thing was that he had his palms raised toward the sky—

“Even if he’s a Warrior, it would be difficult to defeat a Zombie Troll, no matter how high his level…”

The man approached confidently, but it was hard not to worry.

The first to greet him were a group of ‘Hell’s residents.’

Groan!

The creatures that had been pounding on the building’s exterior seemed to be drawn to him, pouring into the playground.

There were about thirty of them,

a number that would be difficult for an average Player to handle alone.

However, something strange began to happen.

“Huh?”

Before the zombies could reach the man, they began to collapse one by one.

Blood gushed from their heads.

“What… what killed them?”

The man himself did not take any offensive stance.

He simply walked slowly toward the Zombie Troll.

“…Ah! Arrows!”

“What?”

“Look! If you look closely, arrows are floating in the air and moving on their own!”

The security force leader also noticed this.

Whoosh!

An arrow flew freely, piercing a zombie’s head with precision.

“Is he using telekinesis? He looks incredibly strong!”

The arrow did not move with propulsion.

It moved like a living entity, intercepting zombies one by one in an irregular pattern, and within 30 seconds, dozens of zombie corpses littered the playground.

“But that level of destructive power alone won’t be enough to handle the Zombie Troll…”

The scene was impressive, but it wouldn’t be enough to defeat the Zombie Troll.

A powerful enough force to obliterate that massive body in one hit would be needed.

The security force leader, with a glimmer of hope, lifted the Mana Messenger.

“—Ah! The Zombie Troll is immune to most attacks and heals quickly!”

– Click… I know. Don’t worry, move back. There might be a lot of blood.

With those words, the man’s palms, which had been raised to the sky, slowly turned.

At that moment, something fell from the sky.

‘…A black pillar?’

For a moment, the security force leader felt that way.

A black pillar-like object fell, grazing the troll, and plunged into the ground.

Crash!

The moment the ground-shaking impact occurred,

the Zombie Troll’s massive head fell with a thud.

“Huh?”

The headless body spewed blood in all directions and slowly tilted to the right.

Crash!

It was dead. In one hit…

“Decapitation—”

Yes, he had decapitated the giant, who seemed invincible, with one strike.

The security force leader watched the man walking toward them with his mouth agape.

His palms, which had been pointing downward, flipped again, pointing to the sky, and the object, which had been thought to be a black pillar, floated in the air.

Hum

It was a 2.1-meter-long greatsword.

“…”

Everyone watched the miraculous scene in awe.

The greatsword, now horizontal, glided through the air, slicing through the remaining zombies and stood upright behind the man, like a massive cross.

Immediately after, military trucks began to pour into the playground.

There were 13 in total.

– Click… The area is now secure. You can relax now.

***

“…By any chance, are you the Steel Company?”

When the AMT forces entered the school, the shelter security force leader asked.

Hyun-wook tilted his head.

“Yes, that’s correct. But how did you know?”

“Well, didn’t you know? The government is informing everyone through the Mana Messenger.”

Hyun-wook had asked Kim Gang-seok to block external communications as much as possible, so no special messages had come through his Mana Messenger.

At that moment, the security members standing behind the leader approached with their mouths agape.

“Wow! It really is the Steel Company?”

“So, it’s true that you eliminated the Erosion Factor?”

They reacted as if they had met a celebrity.

“Haha… Yes, that’s correct.”

“Wow— How did you….”

“You’re real heroes! Thank you so much!”

“Please! Save Seoul!”

Hyun-wook smiled awkwardly but sighed inwardly.

‘Gang-seo-yoon, you’re making things complicated…’

He instinctively knew that she was spreading the news of the Steel Company’s achievements far and wide.

She seemed to be trying to unite the players inside the Wave Zone based on this good news.

Her intentions were undoubtedly noble, but it would inevitably cause complications.

“Since when have you been under attack here?”

Hyun-wook asked, scanning the elementary school building.

It was in a state that made him marvel at how it had held up.

The 5-meter-tall monster must have pounded it relentlessly.

“About 3 hours, yes, that long.”

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“Haha… But you eliminated that monster in one hit and saved us.”

The security force leader shook his head, looking up as if recalling the scene.

‘Yeah, even I thought it was a terrifying strike.’

Hyun-wook also marveled at the power he hadn’t felt in