My Self-Indulgent Skill Book - Episode 063
Episode 63
The numbers were gradually decreasing.
It didn't take long to realize that they signified time.
Just as I was watching the sky, a loud noise rang through the guild hall.
Everyone's cell phones had rung simultaneously.
[Emergency raid occurring. Hunters nearby are requested to participate.]
An emergency raid alert. It was a text sent by the city.
When I saw the detailed locations, I wondered if the city had sent the text by mistake.
Raids were occurring throughout Seoul.
'City Hall is included too?'
I looked out the window once more. Far below, I could see people fleeing.
'Wait.'
Feeling a sense of foreboding, I checked the raid alert text once more.
Dongdaemun—it included the area where my house was.
My heart dropped.
"Huh!? Hwajin!?"
I heard the old man calling, but there was no time to explain the situation.
I immediately left the guild and called Jinhee.
But Jinhee didn't answer. I tried calling Hyeongcheol too, but he didn't answer either.
'Damn... I hope nothing happened to them already.'
I looked around. Traffic had come to a standstill due to the field monsters that had suddenly appeared in downtown Seoul.
I activated [Swiftness] and then used [Mana Barrier] to leap through the air, almost as if flying.
The state of the city was tragic.
Large monsters were destroying buildings indiscriminately, while smaller monsters were attacking fleeing people or cars.
People's screams could be heard everywhere.
'Please be safe.'
I gritted my teeth and increased the distance of my jumps.
Arriving at Dongdaemun, I changed direction from the railroad tracks and headed toward Hyeongcheol's clinic.
From here, I knew the way even without jumping through the air, so I descended to the ground.
At this time, Jinhee should have been working at Hyeongcheol's clinic.
Small monsters were already roaming the neighborhood. Corpses of people were strewn about the streets.
The monsters rushed at me the moment they saw me.
"Get lost!"
I quickly swung the Flame Lightning Demon Spear imbued with [Lightning Spear].
The spreading lightning swept through the small monsters, clearing a path through the street.
Arriving at the clinic, I saw the door wide open and entered gripping my spear tightly.
'Ah.'
There was no one there.
It was completely empty—no Jinhee, no Hyeongcheol, no monsters.
'They ran away.'
Then my phone rang. It was a call from Hyeongcheol.
"Where are you!?"
I asked that first without any preamble.
[I'm at the shelter with your sister right now. Everyone from the neighborhood is gathered here.]
"Are you both hurt?"
[We're fine. But more than that, I'm dying here looking after the patients.]
Strength drained from my body, which had been extremely tense.
I headed toward the nearby school designated as the shelter.
As I went to the school, I saw Hunters.
They seemed to be using this place as a base to deal with the field monsters.
"Huh, that person?"
"It's Lee Hwajin!"
"The Hunter who defeated the Tyrant!"
I heard nearby Hunters pointing at me and murmuring.
I went inside and looked around for Jinhee and Hyeongcheol.
Finding the two was easy. They were both tending to patients on one side.
"Ah, Brother."
Jinhee discovered me and approached.
"I'm relieved you're safe."
"Yeah. Hyeongcheol brought me here as soon as the alarm went off."
I looked at Hyeongcheol.
"Thanks."
"What's there to thank me for? But how did you get here so fast?"
"I flew here as soon as I saw the alert."
"What are you, a bird? Flying here?"
Hyeongcheol chuckled.
"Anyway, that's great. With you here, we don't have to worry about dying."
Normally, I would have retorted to Hyeongcheol's joke with a joke of my own, but right now, those words didn't come easily.
The world was changing every moment.
A worldwide Overflow, disappearing dungeons, a sky turned red, field monsters suddenly pouring out, and a 24-hour time limit floating in the sky.
I had no idea what would happen next.
"Did you see the clock in the sky?"
When I asked, Hyeongcheol and Jinhee made puzzled expressions simultaneously.
"What are you talking about?"
"Why would there be a clock in the sky, Brother."
"...What does the sky look like to you two?"
"It's just the same old sky."
Hyeongcheol answered like that.
'The guild members were all surprised when they looked at the sky. So does that mean only Hunters can see that red sky and the time?'
Just as I was wondering what the hell this all meant, a commotion broke out outside.
We went outside the school building to look.
'Damn it.'
Monsters were swarming in from afar in hordes.
It was a sight that made it seem as if they had caught the scent of the people in the shelter.
Hunters could be seen falling back, unable to overcome the numbers.
"Both of you, stay inside."
I gripped my spear.
"Brother, be careful...."
Jinhee said with a worried expression.
"Don't worry."
I gave a smile and ran out toward the monsters.
Roughly counting, hundreds of monsters were charging toward the school gate.
'A single Tyrant was scarier than that mob out there.'
I gripped my spear with both hands and took my stance.
"Move aside if you don't want to die!"
When I shouted, the Hunters scattered to both sides.
"[Extreme Radiant Slash]!"
Light poured forward.
Kugwagwagwagwa.
A moment later, the street—which looked slightly darkened by the aftermath of the skill just now—bore only the traces left behind by a pillar of light that had swept through.
[You have routed an overwhelming number of enemies in a single blow!]
[A new Word,
Immediately after the message about acquiring the new Word, I heard the Hunters cheering.
'Let's take this chance to wipe out all the monsters nearby.'
I used [Mana Barrier] to stand in mid-air.
I could see Hunters and monsters fighting here and there.
I picked places that seemed impossible to hold, as well as places other Hunters couldn't reach in time, and went around clearing out the monsters.
About an hour later.
The field monsters that had appeared in the Dongdaemun area seemed to have been completely taken care of.
No new monsters were appearing either.
[The 1st Wave in Dongdaemun has ended.]
[Raise Points will be distributed to the top 5 in proportion to the monsters defeated.]
After that voice was heard, text floated in the sky.
--------------------
1st place. Lee Hwajin - 53,000RP
2nd place. Kim Yeonggwon - 1,500RP
3rd place. Shin Haesu - 600RP
...
--------------------
Sounds of surprise came from Hunters here and there.
It must have been thanks to wiping out the monsters with [Extreme Radiant Slash] at the beginning and then going around clearing out monsters here and there.
'Raise Points, RP... I feel like I've seen this somewhere before.'
As I racked my memory, I recalled a long sword.
***
The places where field monsters appeared were not just Seoul, but the entirety of Korea, mainly cities where people lived.
Seoul was where the monsters were cleaned up the fastest, and other heavily populated cities like Busan, Incheon, Daejeon, and Gwangju also endured against the monsters.
However, several less populated cities were completely annihilated, producing refugees.
Even the cities that held out suffered catastrophic damage from the monsters that suddenly appeared in the city centers.
"It feels like the war against monsters has started all over again."
The old man said.
The day after the field monsters suddenly appeared, we gathered in the guild hall and shared the information we had learned.
I heard that after I rushed out yesterday, the old man and Ms. Hyeri also immediately went to find their families.
I also heard that fortunately, everyone was safe.
"If they called it the 1st wave, that means there will be a 2nd and 3rd...."
Ms. Hyeri said, seeming anxious.
The government announced that according to investigation results, the monsters that had appeared this time were at the level of 3- to 5-star dungeon monsters.
"As expected, stronger monsters will probably appear in the 2nd and 3rd waves."
"The dungeon ranks kept rising during the Overflow too, so there's a chance it'll be the same this time."
It was Oh Seoyeon who answered Ms. Hyeri's words.
I turned around and looked at the sky outside the window.
The sky was blue. After all the monsters in Seoul were cleared, the clock that had risen in the sky stopped and soon disappeared.
Right after that, the sky returned to its original color.
"By the way, did you hear? They said more dungeons disappeared."
I nodded at the old man's words.
"I heard even more dungeons disappeared this time than last time. They say the disappeared dungeons make up 30% of the total...."
We also exchanged information about Raise Points and how the monsters had targeted densely populated areas.
After the conversation was more or less wrapped up, I looked around the guild hall.
The atmosphere in the hall was extremely chaotic.
Everyone must be thinking that whatever happens next, it will definitely not be a good thing.
Then my phone rang. It was a call from Jinhee.
"Hello?"
[Brother! Turn on the TV quickly!]
"Huh?"
[Something terrible happened! Hurry!]
At Jinhee's urgent voice, I asked Ms. Hyeri to turn on the DMB. As soon as she turned it on, breaking news came out.
"...This is pretty serious."
Seeing the breaking news, I thought the world had gone completely mad.
The screen showed a desolate wasteland where nothing was visible.
The vast plain, which looked like tar had covered the ground, couldn't fit inside the camera frame, making it look like a black sea.
The large text displayed beneath the news indicated that this black sea was one of the cities annihilated by monsters.
"...Shit. Hwajin!"
Belatedly noticing someone calling, I turned to see the Vice Guild Leader standing there.
He looked urgent.
"Ah, yes."
When I went to the Guild Leader's room with the Vice Guild Leader, the Guild Leader immediately seated me on the sofa.
"An urgent request has come from the government."
"Is it related to the cities that disappeared entirely?"
The Guild Leader nodded.
"They say it's impossible to enter those cities now. It seems as if a transparent barrier is blocking them. All communications have been severed, and the people who remained have all gone missing."
The more I heard, the more absurd and horrifying it was.
"The government is treating this matter as a national crisis and has requested help from each guild."
The Guild Leader explained the government's plan to me.
It was to gather refugees and Hunters in Seoul and the other metropolitan cities and defend them.
The government had judged that they didn't have the forces to protect every city.
"They asked that you cooperate in defending Seoul, the capital. There's probably no Hunter in Korea right now with power surpassing yours. The government must know that too, which is why they brought it up."
"The government seems worried that you might leave Korea."
The Vice Guild Leader continued the Guild Leader's words.
In other words, the government wanted to prevent me from withdrawing my strength.
We might even end up in a situation where 7-star monsters are swarming all over Korea.
No matter how many Hunters are in Seoul, the number of Hunters capable of facing 7-star monsters is extremely small.
"There's nowhere to run to anyway."
I said with a smile.
The Overflow happening worldwide is the same as what's happening in Korea. That means this will happen wherever humans live, no matter where you go.
When running away is useless, all you can do is fight.
"Tell them not to worry, and to prepare a solid reward for when this is all over."
The Guild Leader nodded upon hearing my words.