Chapter 177: Episode 177

The four-legged monsters were the first to reach the defense line. Eunsol closed her eyes and waved her small arms. At her command, the turrets positioned at the front opened fire in unison.

Monsters riddled with bullets crumpled to the ground. Above them, missiles arched through the sky.

’BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!’

In an instant, the ground was a wasteland.

’My god.’

’How many people’s work is that little kid doing all by herself?’

Everyone gaped in amazement at the firepower Eunsol had established in such a short time.

“My turn!” Jin Bora pulled a massive potion from her subspace, one large enough to hold the contents of an entire magic cauldron. Grunting, she set it on the ground and placed her hands beneath it. “I’ll show you my fourth-circle magic!”

“…What circle did you say?” Cha Doyeon blinked, watching from behind.

“Here I go! Prometheus Elixir!”

With a bizarre yell, she hurled the potion with all her might. The high-capacity flask soared hundreds of meters through the air before landing squarely in the middle of the surging monster horde.

’Fwoooosh!’

The bottle shattered, leaving a sizzling pool of fire on the ground. Monsters that stepped in it writhed in agony, burning to cinders before they collapsed.

“That’s our sunbae Jin Bora!” Na Daeyong gave her a thumbs-up.

Though panting for breath, Jin Bora returned the gesture.

“We can’t let our seniors show us up!” An excited Na Daeyong thrust his fist forward. “Let’s go!”

“Yes!”

The Fourth Floor Team began their assault. The first to charge out was Seo Shimhee, the team’s tank. Leaping powerfully into the air off a guardrail, she spread her arms, and her body was instantly covered in muscle and flesh.

<Metamorphosis – Andras>

The muscular demon that appeared in mid-air clasped its hands above its head and slammed them into the ground.

The ground heaved, and monsters burst apart from the shockwave. A chaotic melee ensued. Every time Andras’s burly arms swung, the bodies of low-rank monsters were smashed like soft tofu. ’Splat! Splat!’

“Hunters! The defense line at six o’clock is weak!”

“I’ve got it!” Kim Sarang moved her arms like a witch stroking a crystal ball. Moisture in the air gathered to form a shimmering sphere of water.

<Water Whip>

The second-order water magic took the form of a whip and lashed out at the monsters. They were sent flying back, thoroughly soaked. Na Daeyong, who had leaped into the air behind them, thrust out a fist wreathed in a magic circle.

<Lightning Glaive>

A single bolt of lightning shot from his fist, electrocuting the drenched monsters in a flash of sizzling light. The charred creatures collapsed where they stood.

“Ughhh.”

Jo Yonghee was trudging through the heart of the monster formation. Entering the enemy lines alone and bare-handed was tantamount to suicide, but strangely, the monsters couldn’t get near him. Instead, they cried out in pain or collapsed from the green liquid splattering from his body.

“…Get out of the way.”

Jo Yonghee placed a hand on the head of a hobgoblin blocking his path.

<Poison Knuckle>

With a gruesome sound, the hobgoblin’s head melted completely.

The more Jo Yonghee sweated, the wider the radius of the poison pouring from his body became.

“Captain! Get out of there now!”

<Strength>

<Light Bless>

From the rear, Cha Doyeon commanded the battle, weaving buff magic circles with light—which had the widest range for ’Remote Casting’—to support her allies. She pulled back the reckless Na Daeyong and recast reinforcement magic on Andras, whose previous enhancement had just worn off.

Watching from behind, Major Wonjung Shin’s jaw dropped. ’They said these kids were from the Labyrinth generation? Are they really rookies?’

The five of them had incredible teamwork. Though their abilities were all different, they moved proactively, like a single organism.

Just then, while Shin was distracted for a moment…

’Whoosh!’

A bipedal monster was trying to get through the guardrail. A rank-5 tantalus. It would be trouble if a monster that fast got into the city.

“This is the Captain! A rank-5 monster just passed—!”

Major Shin’s eyes widened. Someone had jumped even higher than the tantalus that had vaulted over the guardrail.

“The tantalus’s weakness,” Jeong Seojin said, blue mana gathering in the fist he had pulled back to his hip, “Is below the left rib cage.”

The fist shot out like a flash of light, smashing through the tantalus’s head. The headless body fell with a thud next to Major Shin, and Jeong Seojin landed lightly on the ground a moment later.

“…Hunter Jeong Seojin.”

“What is it, Major?”

“But you just said its weakness was below the left rib cage.”

Jeong Seojin silently adjusted his glasses, then walked over, crushed the dead Tantalus’s ribs with his foot, and turned back.

’…Hunters are all insane.’ Major Shin shook his head.

He turned his head again. This time, Eunsol, who had been commanding the golem army and turrets at the front, began to nod off.

’She’s dozing off? In this situation?’ That girl, who seemed to be in charge of all the turrets and golems, was playing a huge role on this battlefield. She absolutely could not fall asleep.

“Sol’s finally dozing off!”

“You can do it, Sol!”

But Jin Bora and Cha Doyeon began to cheer in low voices.

Mumbling in her sleep, Eunsol finally slumped over. Jin Bora quickly caught her, and Cha Doyeon’s eyes sparkled in anticipation of what would happen next. Major Shin was simply bewildered. ’What in the world…’

’BOOM!’

The bottom of the drones opened, and suddenly, golem balls burst out simultaneously like fireworks. At a glance, they seemed to be flying randomly, but every single one was under the control of Eunsol’s ’Remote Control’. They flew toward the dirt, rocks, treetops, and buildings.

From a nearby mountain slope, a face and two arms jutted out, soon taking the complete form of a golem and walking forth. It was a stone golem, a higher-tier version of the mud golem.

The golem balls attached to the concrete buildings also activated. An entire house seemed to bend, gathering around a mana stone to form limbs. From within, a concrete golem rose as if stretching.

Major Shin gasped.

Medium-sized golems, several times larger than the normal ones, began walking toward the battlefield. Major Shin was busy dodging them as they passed.

And then…

One golem ball clicked onto the body of one of Eunsol’s drones. The drone’s body opened up around the magic stone as if it had been waiting. Major Shin was horrified.

’Is this some kind of robot movie?!’

It was a gimmick straight out of a film. The drone’s wings clanked and became arms, while the boosters transformed into legs. The wide body was instantly reconfigured into the shape of a long spine as a head rose from the center. Using its materials as a base, Eunsol’s main golem, the ’iron golem,’ was complete.

Unlike the typically stout appearance of other golems, it had a sleek, high-end design. Its entire body was weaponized, and a blue light emanated from its two eye sockets. Major Shin, who had been watching with his mouth agape, felt his cheeks flush slightly.

’Ahem. It is pretty cool.’

The truth was, he was a super robot enthusiast.

The iron golem took Eunsol’s body from Jin Bora and placed it inside its open chest cavity. The moment the chest closed, its eyes shone even brighter, and blue lights flickered to life all over its body.

“Take them all down, Sol!” Jin Bora shouted, jumping up and down.

The golem broke into a run toward the battlefield with light footsteps.

’Swoosh!’

Leaping into the air with boosters from its legs, the iron golem extended its arm. The metal casing on the arm opened, and dozens of gun barrels emerged, all firing simultaneously. Wherever its arm passed, bullets rained down like a torrential downpour.

’Crack!’

Descending from the air, the golem landed with a stylish kick, crushing the body of a monster beneath it.

“Kreeeeee!”

The surrounding monsters rushed in, sinking their sharp teeth and claws into it, but they couldn’t even scratch the sturdy alloy armor. This time, a sword device emerged from below the iron golem’s wrist.

’Slice!’

The body of the monster at the very front split apart, leaving a clean and perfect cross-section.

’Shing! Shing!’

With dazzling movements, the golem literally sliced through the approaching monsters. Even the members of the Fourth Floor Team, who had been fighting on the front lines, whistled and cleared a path for it.

’Chzzt.’

“Ms. Eunsol. There is a troublesome rank-5 monster 219 yards ahead. Can you take care of it?”

Hearing the transmission, the iron golem stopped its charge and knelt on one knee.

’Clank! Clank! Clank!’

The metal casing on its back opened, revealing numerous launchers. From them, missiles shot into the sky one after another.

’Fwoosh!’

Leaving long trails of smoke, the missiles instantly soared hundreds of meters into the air before their trajectories suddenly tilted sharply. They then changed direction toward the ground and fell at a terrifying speed.

’KABOOOOOOOOOM!’

A series of explosions erupted. Not only was the rank-5 monster Jeong Seojin had requested dealt with, but the entire surrounding area was completely annihilated. With the mushroom cloud at its back, the iron golem began to slice through monsters with its sword blade again.

’My… my heart is pounding.’

It had been eleven years since he had devoted himself to the military, and for the first time, Major Wonjung Shin thought he had found a hunter he wanted to become a fan of.

’Chzzt.’

“This is A-9. We’re joining up.”

“Team K-32 is also joining.”

While the Magic Tower members were fighting hard, other hunters from the Gyeongnam front lines began to gather in Changwon. Some joined the Magic Tower members’ defense line directly, while others went to cover different areas.

“We’re here to help!”

“When did you get here? That was fast!”

With certified hunters from Ayla and Garam joining in, the tide of battle turned even more in their favor as the two groups fought side-by-side.

“Huff! Haah!”

Having unleashed a torrent of mana, Na Daeyong was sitting down, chugging a mana elixir and taking a break. Just then, he caught sight of a hunter brandishing a sword.

His gear was simple: a single sword device. But with minimal movements and minimal steps, he cut down monsters with mechanical precision. For each monster he faced, his target and tactics were different. Sometimes he used a gun; other times he trusted his suit’s barrier to take a monster’s attack before delivering a counter.

Watching him cut down countless monsters with a blank expression, Na Daeyong swallowed hard. ’He’s like a real monster-killing machine.’

While he himself took down many with a single powerful area of effect spell, this hunter was efficiently felling them one by one, impressively racking up a kill count higher than his own. He felt he was still a long way off compared to the veteran pros.

’I can’t lose.’

Na Daeyong tossed aside the empty potion bottle, then generated lightning to wipe out another group of monsters.

The hunter who saw this stopped his sword and turned to look at him. “What ability is that?”

Na Daeyong bowed his head respectfully. “I’m a non-combatant. I don’t have a Unique Ability!”

“Hmm?”

“It’s not a Unique Ability, it’s magic!”

Hearing this, the hunter’s expression hardened strangely. “Ah, I see. You’re one of Kim Yusin’s apprentices? The ones everyone’s talking about?”

“Yes! That’s right!”

The hunter said no more and continued on, cutting through the monsters in front of him. Na Daeyong had no idea what he was thinking.

’Chzzt.’

“This is HQ! To all teams at the Miryang Gate!”

Everyone listened intently to the transmission from headquarters.

“Immortal has started moving again! All hunters, please prepare!”

They had just finished dealing with most of the monsters trying to cross through the passage. Everyone was relatively relaxed.

“Alright, let’s stop it here and rake in that bonus!”

“Get ready.”

The hunters at the gate and the Magic Tower members were all busy with defensive preparations.

A moment later.

“Immortal spotted at two o’clock! It’s coming!”

A transparent giant, seemingly made of empty space, was rushing toward them at an incredible speed.

* * *

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep