Chapter 90 |
“Countless...”
Even the whipping wind seemed to have stopped for the moment.
“...Eh? What?”
“What did you say?”
Hearing my words, people fell into a state of panic.
“Why aren’t we going back? Isn’t it all over?”
“So what do we do now?”
Those who were relatively farther away and less informed joked and took the situation lightly.
“Junghyun, William. First, gather everyone and make them aware of the situation. I’ll leave the otherworlders to Baron Jorge.”
“There are things I need to think about. First, we need to gather everyone.”
“Understood.”
Junghyun Yoon and William Smith clenched their teeth and ran to gather people, while Baron Jorge hurriedly moved to the base of the walls.
“...”
And my gaze was fixed on the multitude of monsters that must be swarming in the darkness beyond.
“Have we already failed?”
The number of monsters was so great that counting them was pointless. The idea of fighting to win had to be abandoned early on.
Because if the real goal of the fourth floor is to withstand this onslaught... then I must have missed something, and I can only think that we’ve already failed.
Or is the objective of the fourth floor to survive and escape through the portal? Was it designed from the start that only 5 out of 100 would survive, making it extremely difficult?
No, that can’t be right. We are only on the fourth floor. It doesn’t seem reasonable for such an absurdly difficult level to appear this early.
“So then...”
All I can do is try my best. Even till the last moment, I’ll gather all the forces and resist as much as possible.
If it seems truly impossible, after regressing, I’ll quickly clear it using the portal and then check the internet for reviews from others. That seems like the most rational course of action.
Junghyun Yoon’s voice called out to me. I lifted my head and looked behind to see hundreds of people gathered in the wide courtyard, all looking up at me.
“Is it true that monsters are coming?”
“Are you sure?”
Voices tinged with panic erupted sporadically. It was probably akin to how people would react if they heard a nuclear missile was heading towards Seoul.
“...It’s true. There are as many monsters as a wave coming towards us.”
“...My God.”
“F**k, f**k, f**k...”
Despair settled among the crowd. While some doubted the truth of my words, if they thought about it a little, they would realize I had no reason to lie.
“...So, what do we do now?”
The man with a surly expression asked.
“You must have some plan, standing confidently before us like this. If there was really no solution, you would have hidden by now.”
“That’s right. I plan to resist until the end.”
I turned away from the people and surveyed the tall castle walls.
“Does anyone here have abilities useful for mass destruction? Something like a wide-range attack...”
All eyes turned to the woman with the protruding jaw, but she shook her head lightly.
“...My ability is powerful, but I can’t use it many times. Because of the strain earlier, I can probably only manage two more uses.”
Her reasoning made sense.
“Then, does anyone have long-range weapons like bows?”
“They only give out melee weapons in the tower, what bows are you talking about?”
That was also true.
Unlike other fantasy towers, the weapons provided by this tower had been exclusively melee. There had been no distribution of bows or crossbows.
“I expected as much.”
I turned again, looking down at the people in the courtyard.
“Therefore, I believe it makes sense for us to boldly abandon the walls.”
“Why, why abandon them?”
“They’re too wide.”
The castle walls, under normal circumstances, would have served as a robust barrier.
However, walls are traditionally used in conflicts between humans. Facing an almost infinite number of monsters, the vast area of the walls was simply too much to defend.
If the walls could stop the monsters, that would be ideal. But if the monsters could breach the walls, we would be powerless to stop them.
“Without ranged weapons or abilities for mass destruction, defending the walls seems futile. Even if we could block the climbing monsters, if just one person tires and the monsters breach that point, it would mean doom for us all.”
“So then...”
“Let’s make our stand inside the castle.”
Narrow passageways. A limited number of entrances. It’s perfect for a defensive battle. The most important strategy when facing numerous foes is to narrow the front.
“Thanks to the narrow passageways, we won’t be surrounded. We just need to block the front. If we can seal the entrances, we can survive.”
There are six passageways in the castle. Today, Baron Jorge hastily blocked three.
“Baron Jorge. Can we still set up barricades?”
“...I’m not sure how fast the monsters are, but at best, we can manage one more due to the day’s work leaving us exhausted.”
“That will be enough.”
If we block a total of four, that leaves two passageways open.
“Your task is simple. Take turns, just block one passageway each. And survive till the end. That’s all we need.”
“But aren’t there two passageways? If we only block one...”
A player asked with a confused expression. That’s when Junghyun Yoon tapped him on the shoulder, cutting him off.
“Don’t you feel it?”
“...Feel what?”
“Ha, seriously.”
Junghyun glanced up at me with a laugh.
“I knew you hadn’t shown all your cards yet... But I didn’t expect you to be this strong.”
His smile was a mix of astonishment, a sense of inferiority, and relief.
“Junghyun’s right. I’ll block one passageway-”
Looking down at Junghyun, I gave a slight smile.
The effect of the Hero trait activates! The effect of the Hero trait activates! The effect of the Hero trait activates! The effect of the Hero trait activates! The effect of the Hero trait activates! The effect of the Hero trait activates!“-By myself.”
**
-54 : 10 : 41
Now, even without sending up flares, the mass of monsters could be seen from the castle walls. It was dark, but with such numbers, they couldn’t be missed. Visually, they seemed about 10 kilometers away.
Rumble...
The ground shook, and a grotesque chorus of breathing, crying, and screaming echoed. The sound alone felt like it could drive one mad.
“Perhaps we’ve discovered this horde of monsters quite early. In other people’s experiences on the fourth floor, they might have been woken up from sleep in utter panic by now...”
The man with glasses joked as he looked down at the mass of monsters, though his face had turned pale, indicating his attempt to lighten the mood was forced.
“Rrrrr!”
“Ah, ah!”
My prediction was correct because he stumbled and fell disgracefully at the sound of what seemed to be an animal growling from somewhere.
As the man with glasses hurriedly got up and dusted himself off, I looked below the walls to see a wolf growling at the base. It appeared that some monsters had moved ahead of the wave, given their large numbers.
“Where is... the person who threw the fire earlier?”
Seeing the wolf, I felt it necessary to test something and looked for the only player on the fourth floor capable of ranged attacks.
“Here I am.”
The woman with the protruding jaw came forward at my call.
“...What is your name?”
“My name is Lee Mijoo.”
It was better to know her name than to keep referring to her as “the woman with the protruding jaw.”
“Mijoo, could you possibly send a fireball at that wolf-like creature charging towards us?”
“...”
“I understand this is a big ask. But it’s necessary. Please.”
“...Okay.”
Lee Mijoo nodded, focused her mind, and produced a fireball the size of a human head.
“Huup!”
The fireball, aimed at the growling wolf directly below the walls, surged with fierce momentum. Just as it was about to hit the wolf...
Swoosh!
“Ah!”
The wolf, with agile movement, dodged the fireball. Mijoo let out a frustrated sigh.
Boom!
“Kreeeeek!”
Right behind the wolf, a small goblin that had been standing there took the direct hit from the fireball and was spectacularly burned.
“Sorry about that.”
“No need to apologize. The goal was to hit any of them, after all.”
I had targeted the wolf simply because it was the first I saw, but my real aim was just to kill a monster.
I nodded at Lee Mijoo reassuringly, then turned my gaze back to where the goblin had fallen.
The goblin had twisted violently as it burned and seemed to have died, collapsing to the ground.
“That’s a shame.”
As the body quickly dissolved into a burst of light and scattered into the air, I couldn’t help but sigh.
If the body had remained, we could have used the corpses of the monsters themselves as barricades. We could have filled the passageways with their bodies for a siege. It would be unsanitary, but not immediately lethal over three days.
However, the goblin had turned into light upon death. Utilizing their corpses was out of the question.
Well, it was a ‘nice if it works, no loss if it doesn’t’ situation.
About 30 more minutes passed.
“...”
Now, I could see the expressions on the faces of the leading orcs. I saw wolves drooling as they ran. I saw a strange, purple, octopus-like creature for the first time.
They all had one thing in common: their eyes were rolled back as they charged. There was none of the intelligent light in their eyes that you might see in the goblin shaman; they all charged like wild beasts toward the castle.
“Ha.”
The sight in front of me was filled entirely with monsters. The whole view was covered with creatures, and despite the grim reality, it struck a chord in me, making me want to capture this moment in a photograph.
Or perhaps a normal person would have wanted to run away.
I chuckled to myself and slowly descended from the walls to head toward the passageway I was supposed to block.
As I crossed the courtyard…
Kuuuuuuung!
A loud roar was heard as the castle walls started to shake violently.
“KuoOOOOO!!!”
“Kheeeeergh!”
“Kwaaaak!”
With the monsters’ cries sounding almost like harmony… Finally, the wave of death collided with the walls.
– – – End of Chapter – – -
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