“He must be blocking the access road. Don’t worry, guys.”
Seong-Il was reassuring people, but he himself was also very anxious. Seon-Hu had told him he would give him an update on his progress, but there had been no news in the past ten hours.
Cheol-Yeong was one of the people who had noticed Seong-Il’s uneasiness. He helped the older man placate the others, then had a private conversation with him.
“Has he ever done this before? Or…”
“Or what?”
Cheol-Yeong asked, “What if something happened to him?”
Seong-Il shook his head.“You are only saying that because you don’t know much about Odin. There is no way he is in danger.”
However, Seong-Il didn’t sound confident.
Cheol-Yeong shrugged. “I hope so, but we should consider every possible circumstance.”
Seong-Il snapped, “Do you want him to die or what? Don’t jinx it.”
Cheol-Yeong didn’t want that at all as he of all people wished that Odin would return safely.
There were only two hours left until the fifth wave began. Odin said that he would block four out of five infiltration paths in advance, so the village only had to focus on blocking the last one. Therefore, everyone was assigned to the remaining access road. If something had gone wrong for Odin, he likely would have died at least after blocking the road. The sixth wave was the next problem.
The rumor claiming that Odin might have died quickly circulated, causing everyone’s anxiety to reach a peak. There was a person in the reserve forces at the center of this rumor mill, and he was spreading rumors and creating fear. Cheol-Yeong admonished him gently, but it didn’t work. When Cheol-Yeong walked away, the reservist grabbed random people and complained bitterly.
An appropriate degree of tension was necessary to control people, but having a situation where everyone panicked right before the wave was also dangerous. There had been many casualties even when they were commanded by the well-controlled lieutenant. Although the vanguard had worked together to get mana stones over the boundary, allowing them to fill their stomachs with the food they had exchanged for them, it was obvious that more casualties would occur this time than before. In other words, it meant Cheol-Yeong’s probability of survival was also low.
“Why?”
Seong-Il looked where Cheol-Yeong was staring and saw a guy sobbing and wailing with some other people.
Cheol-Yeong grimaced. “Hyung, I’m so sorry to ask you to do this, but can you keep that guy quiet? No matter how many times I tell him to shut up, he won’t listen to me. He is causing uncontrollable fear among the group.”
If Odin had truly passed away and they ended up with survivors after this way, then Seong-Il would be the one who would then need to win the people’s trust. Cheol-Yeong stayed by the older man’s side during the short period of time they had as they prepared for the wave. He even made up some fake relatives in Jeolla-do to win Seong-Il’s favor[1]
“Ah, he can’t do that. I’ll quiet him down. You just focus on your work.”
Seong-Il intimidated the reservist by claiming that he would break the other man’s skull immediately if he continued scaring people by spreading rumors, and it worked. Cheol-Yeong regretted that he had not lined up on Odin’s side in the beginning and wondered if he could have been as powerful as Seong-Il if he had. He should have recognized Odin’s abilities when the younger man had defended against the first wave alone. However, the grouped up soldiers had dominated the village at that moment, and the situation had been chaotic as people had just arrived in this world.
Darkness divided the areas in this world like curtains. As time passed, buildings evaporated, and new roads were created when a new access path was opened.
In fact, if he thought more about this, things that seemed contrary to common sense also happened in the real world too. With an alien civilization invading Earth in such a grand manner, it was inconceivable that the global financial system would be able to be maintained. If Cheol-Yeong had known that the economy would stay intact, he wouldn’t have disposed of his family’s assets in such a hurry. Every time he encountered something contrary to common sense he ended up making a poor decision, leading to irreversible consequences.
He bit his lips tightly as he scolded himself silently.
From now on, I should never repeat the same mistakes I’ve made before. I should survive with timely and accurate decision-making, and keep my future intact after going through the Stage of Advent.
He had a hunch that the World Awakened Association was likely to become an absolute power soon. He was determined to survive and join them as a member one day.
Soon, the wave began.
***
Cheol-Yeong screamed inwardly.
Odin, what was the point of giving yourself airs when this is the result!? You should have cut off the roads such that the monsters couldn’t come before you died!
The wave was carried out on four access roads, and monsters poured out from them. The people around Cheol-Yeong were struggling. He had studied their skills, insignias and items, and had prepared for the worst-case scenario. In addition, he had made everyone join the battle even though he had divided people into the vanguard and non-vanguard divisions. By doing that, they had been able to withstand it so far.
However, the wave of death would start the moment either the front or back groups collapsed. Cheol-Yeong was busy searching for a corner that he could flee from. The village was too risky. He finally decided to run over the dark boundary while the monsters were in a crazy bloodlust as they feasted on human flesh. Originally, he had wanted to escape with Seong-Il, but Seong-Il was currently surrounded by monsters near the rear vanguard. The older man was shrieking and swinging his blunt weapon. One of the monsters ferociously clung onto Seong-Il with its clamped over his ankle.
At that time, Seong-Il and Cheol-Yeong’s eyes met across the chaos and Seong-Il was clearly pleading for help.
Help. Send me more people. Get me out of here. Fuck! Please! Cheol-Yeong!
However, Cheol-Yeong ignored him as Seong-Il was attracting the most attention from monsters. After all, he knew that Seong-Il would soon die. When that happened, more monsters would flock to him to gobble up his flesh. Then, that would be Cheol-Yeong’s chance to run away.
I’ll run toward the darkness when he dies.
Cheol-Yeong shouted at everyone, “We can do this! Odin is coming soon! Don’t back off!”
Then, he tightened the straps of his backpack that held all kinds of supplies. It was a precious bag that would increase his chances of survival in an unidentified dark area!
Cheol-Yeong checked everything one last time. It looked impossible to run away toward the boundary behind his back as there were monsters everywhere. The front was even more crowded with monsters that had flooded in from the three access roads. He waited impatiently for Seong-Il to die.
[The System has been revised.]
[The type of box has been subdivided.]
[Subject: Random skill box, random item box, random insignia box, specific stats figure box, specific skill figure box, specific trait figure box]
Cheol-Yeong dismissed the messages as he thought that they were rubbish. The important thing was that he had noticed that the atmosphere had reversed ever since the messages popped up. The sounds of screams where the monsters were swarming became louder, and he could tell that the shrieks weren’t from humans. In fact, they were the sound of monsters dying. Although the monsters in front of him blocked most of his viewpoint, Cheol-Yeong could still see one thing.
Roar!
Flames flared. Cheol-Yeong widened his eyes and waited for the flames to appear again, then he realized the fire was from a sword when he checked again. Every time the sword showed up, the monsters’ bodies flew after being sliced in half. Blood, burned intestines, and flesh splattered in all directions.
“Odin is back! Odin is back!” he screamed.
The number of monsters in the front quickly decreased. At the same time, Cheol-Yeong could clearly see Odin’s face. He stared at the younger man, who had cleared the monsters in front of him in a few seconds. To be exact, Cheol-Yeong couldn’t take his eyes off Odin, who was walking through the road that people had opened up for him.
Odin was covered in wounds from head to toe and was also soaked in blood. He was limping, and the one arm that wasn’t holding his sword was curved down. Apparently, Odin was applying pressure to his abdomen to prevent his intestines from flowing out of a long abrasion.
Cheol-Yeong was astonished. Odin looked creepy as he was holding a burning sword and all kinds of blood were dripping from his body. However, the more frightening thing was that, the younger man could still move in that condition. He looked like a zombie…
Cheol-Yeong stepped out of the way without saying a word. When Odin passed by him, Cheol-Yeong felt like his heart had skipped a beat. Odin quickly destroyed the monsters behind him. The younger man had truly been walking at a slow pace when he was going from the front to back, but his speed skyrocketed the moment he joined the rear side. He appeared suddenly, eliciting fear, and overwhelmed the monsters with his terrifying power. Fear and pleasure coursed through Cheol-Yeong at the same time. He was simultaneously horrified and thrilled by Odin.
I want to be like him!
[You have completed the quest ‘Fifth Wave.’]
[You have obtained a silver box as a reward for completing the quest.]
[Please select the box you want to receive as a reward.]
Notification messages had appeared, but Cheol-Yeong didn’t notice them as Odin was walking toward him with Seong-Il’s help after dealing with the monsters. It was obvious now that the younger man didn’t die while he was pre-blocking the infiltration roads. In fact, he had turned their desperate crisis into a glorious victory by using his unbelievable power that Seong-Il had mentioned.
Odin was getting closer. Although Odin and Seong-Il were walking while having a conversation, Cheol-Yeong couldn’t hear a word. He came to the conclusion that he had to be the one who could stand next to Odin and have private talks with him in the future. That was his homework from now on.
Cheol-Yeong quickly fixed his expression. It was difficult for him to suppress the thrill that dominated his entire body, but he managed to create a painful look by frowning. He pretended that he felt sorry for the casualties, that he appreciated what Odin had done, and that he was very concerned about Odin’s injury. Soon, Odin and Seong-Il came close enough that he could hear their conversation.
“…Stay close to me after I kill him. You should stay by my side until I wake up again,” Odin squeezed out.
Seong-Il snarled quietly, “I can break that fucking bastard’s nut.”
Odin shook his head slightly. “Save that power, and protect me and my things in the meantime.”
Seong-Il nodded. “Okay, don’t worry.”
Odin and Seong-Il were looking at Cheol-Yeong the whole time they walked. Therefore, Cheol-Yeong obviously knew who they were about to kill.
He pleaded, “Wait, please listen to…!”
Slice-
Odin’s sword beheaded Cheol-Yeong so fast that the now dead man couldn’t even complete his sentence.
1. Seong-Il is from Jeolla-do, a province in South Korea that is famous for its cuisine. ☜