Artifact-Devouring Player Chapter 26

26
When a sudden rift occurs, all players have the right to join the fight regardless of the situation.

For example, if a crack occurs and you kill a lot of monsters and take their byproducts, it doesn’t matter.

There was no subsequent noise from the Players Association claiming ownership or causing disputes.

In fact, it was an obvious rule.

If you claim posthumous ownership or punish them for unauthorized intervention, no one will come forward.

It’s actually commendable that players step forward to protect civilians who have no combat capabilities.

‘Monopolization is important, but since we already know about it, we need to prevent accidents that could lead to loss of life.’

Sang-Hyeon thought so.

I have no interest in superheroes struggling to save everyone in the world, but I have no intention of standing by and watching the disaster unfold before my eyes.

‘If only I had known that my parents’ plane accident would happen… ‘

Suddenly, I thought of my parents who passed away when Sang-Hyeon was three years old.

The parents, who had left Sang-Hyeon in the care of his maternal grandmother, were involved in a car accident while on their way back from a business trip to Japan.

I became an orphan, and when I was ten years old, my maternal grandmother passed away. It was my last separation from my blood relatives.

Anyway, as I went through regression and became a being who knew the future, I felt the value of that knowledge deeply.

‘I know this is meaningless, but I will work harder and do my best to provide for my parents as well.’

Sang-Hyeon made a firm pledge.

I had made the same resolutions in my previous life, but I didn’t see much of the light of day compared to the effort I put in.

But this time it will be different. You will grow faster than anyone else, faster than others.

And after a while.

Sang-Hyeon arrived near Bupyeong Station and parked his car in a public parking lot. It was far from the expected disaster site.

And as soon as I got out of the car and took out the Greatsword of Fighting Spirit from the backseat, I started resetting the effect.

The task was to remove the [Lightening] effect from the existing crude greatsword and then reapply it to the unique-grade artifact, the Greatsword of Fighting Spirit.

In this case, there is a penalty.

This is a kind of downgrade, where a 1g weight reduction increases the standard to 10g.

‘Still, it’s better to use the Greatsword of Fighting Spirit. There’s no need to worry about calculating the pros and cons.’

[Do you want to remove the weight reduction effect from the greatsword? When recombined, the effect may be different from the original.]

It was released right away.

I’m going to let the great sword guy who has worked hard for me until now rest comfortably at home.

[Would you like to combine the lightening effect to a new target? Lightening can be applied to 10g.]

’10g is fine. 100g, 1kg are fine. Just don’t change it too often.’

Sang-Hyeon has been working on weight loss.

Then, the Great Sword of Fighting Spirit that I had been holding with both hands until just now became very light.

It felt like I was swinging a plastic sword that was meant to be a toy.

This is the charm of lightweight.

It’s about creating results that contradict physics through the system. So the system was a really mysterious structure.

Of course, only the weight you feel is adjusted, and there is no change in the power or destructive power it possesses.

This is the power of system correction.

* * *

Sang-Hyeon looked around as he walked slowly toward Exit 1 of Bupyeong Station.

It was a day when both yellow dust and fine dust arrived on the Korean Peninsula, so there were hardly any people on the streets.

In addition, the fact that guerrilla winds and hail were forecast also played a part. It was a fortunate day, in a way.

‘Silence. Airborne. Temporary blindness. Position fixation. Containment. Suppression… … .’

Sang-Hyeon muttered various status abnormality options that suddenly came to mind. He was becoming increasingly greedy.

The current status effects that are caused by skills or special effects are stiffness, freezing, and this time knockback.

There is nothing that is not needed, but the thing that I covet the most is silence.

‘Because if you are silenced, your skill usage is sealed for that period. It’s great for rock-paper-scissors fights.’

Opponents exposed to silence will have their skill activation mechanism temporarily disabled by the system.

So, for magic players who depend heavily on skills, silence was like rat poison.

Since his physical fighting ability was greatly reduced, if he was silenced, he would be no different from an ordinary person.

For that reason, the preference for silence was high. Naturally, the value of the artifacts involved skyrocketed.

‘Silent Ground Dungeon. If I could just go there, that would seem to be the most cost-effective way.’

Silent Ground. It is a land of silence. It is also a notorious place where all monsters eat silence as if it were their daily meal.

If you are not confident in evasion and defense, this is a place where you can say that your skills are sealed for 24 hours.

‘Let’s finish the Bupyeong Station building first.’

The focus was brought back to the starting point.

Constantly making plans for the future seemed to be an unavoidable occupational disease for a regressive being.

As I keep getting more and more greedy, once I get hooked on something, I can’t just let it go. To be honest, it’s a good worry.

Sang-Hyeon, standing in front of Exit 1 of Bupyeong Station, first displayed the Player Association number on the smartphone screen.

The emergency number is 181. When you call this number, a call will be made to the nearest association building.

Since it is a number used to report emergencies or special situations, it is assigned over short distances.

“Time… … .”

I looked up at the sky. The sun was slowly setting in the western sky, and a red glow was blazing.

Maybe it was because of the yellow dust and fine dust, but today the sunset looked like the bright red eyes of a devil about to devour the world.

“Now will do.”

According to the old records that Sang-Hyeon remembered, the first cracks began when the sun was halfway up the western sky.

Now was exactly that moment.

Toooo. Toooo.

“There is a gold-grade artifact near Exit 1 that the owner seems to have lost.”

“Yes. I think I need to take care of some work. You should send someone over quickly.”

I finished reporting.

By the time the association’s dispatched staff arrives, the crack will have just appeared. There will be no problem in fixing it.

The reason for reporting is made up, but it won’t be a problem since it will ultimately be a way to prepare for disaster in advance.

“Phew.”

Sang-Hyeon took a deep breath and stood near the predicted crack location, taking his position.

Certainly there weren’t many people. That was fortunate. It didn’t seem like there would be any innocent victims.

『Full charging』

They quickly began preparing to attack.

Full charging is a structure in which the longer you charge, the more power is accumulated.

Of course, there are limits, but you can gather power without limit to the extent that the system allows.

‘The equipment has also improved beyond comparison. I’m honestly looking forward to the first attack.’

Sang-Hyeon smiled broadly.

It was also because of the exhilarating feeling of seeing a group of kobolds emerge from the cracks without knowing anything.

at that time.

Wooooow!

There was a loud noise like the motor of a vacuum cleaner, and then suddenly the space became distorted.

A shape where space is shattered, like looking at a broken window. Players call it a crack.

Immediately a portal of blazing green light was created, creating a passage.

Now, a horde of kobolds appears from inside, connected to some other dimension.

Waku! Ukwaa!

A group of axe-wielding kobolds appeared. An advance party. A sacrificial lamb sent to investigate the completely unknown external environment.

From the Kobold King’s perspective, it is a sacrificial offering, but from the perspective of the humans who have encountered the crack, it is a crisis of life and death.

“… … .”

Sang-Hyeon held his breath.

There weren’t enough people to use the power gathered through full charging. Only seven people showed up. What a pity.

Waku! Waku!

As we waited quietly for the right moment, another group of kobolds appeared. Before we knew it, there were about twenty of them.

Each of them was curious about the scenery outside the crack, and they were looking for prey with their noses twitching.

“Eww! It’s a monster!”

At that moment, a passerby who happened to be passing by shouted in panic. It was a natural reaction to be panicked.

Then the Kobold advance party’s attention turned to the man, and a murderous glint appeared in their eyes.

‘Now is the time!’

Sang-Hyeon released all the strength he had been building up like a rubber band on the verge of snapping.

Kuwaaang!

Sang-Hyeon, Kobold, and the pedestrians nearby all heard it at the same time. It was a loud noise that sounded like a sonic boom.

Wakuu?

The moment a group of Kobolds, having discovered something shiny, looked in the direction where Sang-Hyeon had been.

Shhhhhhhhhh!

A sharp line was drawn along the waistline of the cobalts who were lined up in two rows.

Huh? Huh?

It happened in the blink of an eye, so Cobalt didn’t immediately realize what had happened to his body.

But the moment they saw the bodies of their fellow tribesmen collapsing in different directions, everyone felt it.

He died without moving, I thought.

Thud thud thud. Thud thud.

“Woooooo!”

“Wow! What is that?”

The expressions of the pedestrians who were shocked by the crack’s creation instantly changed 180 degrees at Sang-Hyeon’s actions.

What was left behind after Sang-Hyeon roughly cut through the area with his greatsword were the corpses of 20 kobolds torn in half.

Judging by the number of pieces, it is the corpse of the deceased Kobold that has been broken into exactly 40 pieces.

[I deeply admire your spirit and military power, which makes it seem like even a hundred men would not be afraid of the owner of the secret.]

[The fallen dimension cleaner says that he knows the taste of blood and that his search for you was not in vain.]

‘That psychopathic constellation is back again. He always does that when he kills multiple monsters at once.’

Sang-Hyeon pouted his lips. Of course, he was always happy to receive Mi-Yeom-Gong’s attention, so he was proud.

Sang-Hyeon took his place in front of the portal. The portal was wide enough for two Kobolds to come out while sticking together.

So it was the optimal place to deal with a large number of enemies with a small number of people.

The reason cracks are usually a problem is because monsters will rush out before you can occupy this location.

However, if you block the entrance in advance and secure a spot, it will be a headache for the person trying to push through.

‘Should we wait for support to arrive and suck some honey?’

If you enter the rift right away, you will not be able to stop the kobolds who may come out after a while.

So, Sang-Hyeon decided to move when he started seeing association staff or players around him.

There were no signs yet, so I was planning to guard the entrance earnestly and cut off the neck of the cobalt that was coming out with swagger.

Waku! Waku!

Two kobolds, completely unaware of the outside world, poke their heads out through the portal with sinister smiles.

Crunch!

Sang-Hyeon, who had been waiting, cleanly cut off the heads of the two Kobolds with his greatsword.

“No matter how great and arrogant you guys are, can you live without a neck?”

Of course, there could not have been a cobalt capable of such a thing.

From then on, the one-sided massacre of Kobolds by Sang-Hyeon began. It was an unfortunate future for the Kobold group that had their front portal spot absurdly taken away.