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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Sword King Lee Hyuk-soo
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Before long, the world Park Chan-woo perceived had changed.
A massive eye floated in the full moon, gazing down at Earth as it shifted from side to side.
Cracks spiderwebbed perilously across buildings as if they might collapse at any moment, and vines and plants sprouted from the cement ground.
Parked cars were caked in thick layers of dust. Windows were shattered, tires had deflated completely—no vehicle remained intact.
If hell existed, it would feel something like this.
'An Abyss in remarkably good condition.'
But Park Chan-woo was purely impressed.
The Abyss's state was simply too pristine.
Among the "Night Abysses" he remembered, this was undoubtedly the best.
Probably because it was still only the first night.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ The Twelve Divine Generals have appeared across the Abyss. You must unite your strength and kill them all within 10 hours. Hidden quests, as well as weapons and tools to slay the Twelve Divine Generals, are concealed—search carefully. Additionally, 'Warps' exist that can take you to the other Twelve Divine Generals. If you steadily combine your power and take them down one by one, you can definitely succeed. Estimated survival rate: 1% Higher-grade 'Boxes' will be awarded upon Abyss clear based on survival rate. If you fail to kill all Twelve Divine Generals, all participants ranked 20,000th or lower in contribution will die.
...Are they kidding?
Definitely succeed?
But this Abyss was designed with failure in mind from the start.
An exact 1% estimated survival rate meant they were certain that failing to hunt the Twelve Divine Generals would kill 1.98 million people.
All the Creators who had bet on this Abyss thought so.
'It won't go the way you think.'
There were no exceptions. Miracles never happened.
...Or so the Creators seemed to believe.
Park Chan-woo intended to become a complete irregular.
Even if it meant making enemies of every Creator, he had no intention of letting things unfold as they planned.
Besides, if the worst happened, he could just use an Escape Coin.
This Night Abyss could be escaped with one, too.
In any case, the Dragon God General among the Twelve Divine Generals had appeared in Seoul.
The one that all 20,000 survivors of the "First Night Abyss" unanimously called the strongest general.
Of course, that included "Sword King Lee Hyuk-soo."
To kill the Dragon God General that had plunged everyone into despair, there was no time to sit idle.
'Farming first.'
Park Chan-woo burst out of the house.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Farming in the Night Abyss was surprisingly simple.
'Find things that shouldn't be in this Abyss. That's the key.'
What shouldn't be here?
The answer was straightforward.
Park Chan-woo first rummaged through the nearby parked cars.
Soon enough, he found a skeleton strapped into a seatbelt inside one, long dead.
Thud!
Screeech!
He immediately shattered the window with the World Tree Staff.
Reaching through, he unlocked the door.
Then he unbuckled the seatbelt at the skeleton's waist.
'Iron Shield (-98Lv, Rare)' discovered!
Poof!
Smoke billowed with the sound, and the skeleton transformed into an iron shield.
'No corpses remain in the Abyss.'
It had been sitting naturally in the car, but by the Abyss's rules, skeletons couldn't exist—let alone one buckled in.
These were the "anomalies" to hunt.
Things that couldn't exist in the Abyss, utterly alien to its ecology. Things that flat-out shouldn't be here.
The stronger the anomaly, the higher the grade of gear or tools it dropped.
After about 30 minutes of searching vehicles, Park Chan-woo emerged.
"Hoo..."
Fewer gains than expected.
Of course, he hadn't even started proper farming yet.
Even so, his body ached all over from just this much movement.
Stamina insufficient.Body feels heavy.Whole body heats up.Vision blurs.Muscle pain begins.Rest immediately. Overexertion may cause permanent physical damage.
His entire body felt drained.
Park Chan-woo slipped into an empty car, shut the door, and slumped in the seat.
"...My body's in complete trash condition."
Minus 98 level. This would repeat until he reached a normal level.
Every minute counted, but pushing further here meant death.
Rest when you can.
'Raising Strength and Stamina more will help a bit.'
Physical power scaled with Strength and Stamina.
If even light movement exhausted him, boost the stats to fix it.
His gear's "unique options" provided some stats, but it wasn't enough yet.
Unique options had clear limits.
Even the Eternal-grade World Tree Staff only boosted Magic Power by 10.
'If things go as I predict, I can overcome this.'
It was worth trying.
The infinite possibilities in his mind.
Actualizing just a few would easily surpass his body's limits.
The issue was surviving until then.
"S-Save me!"
About 15 minutes into his rest.
Nearby, a man clutching a sword screamed as he ran.
But his gait was awkward, stumbling along.
More like hobbling quickly with the scabbard as a crutch.
An arrow had pierced his right leg.
"Why are you doing this to me...!"
Shooo!
Pfsh!
Another arrow from behind pierced the man's throat.
He collapsed dead, tumbling across the ground.
...Soon, a man in a black muffler covering his mouth stood beside the corpse.
Peering only through his eyes, he gripped the dead man's scabbard.
Then...
Shhh!
The scabbard crumbled to dust and scattered.
"What? Can't steal gear from others, huh?"
The man tilted his head.
Glancing around, he quickly vanished.
'The Incarnations are already making moves.'
Park Chan-woo raised his lowered torso and stared in the direction the man fled.
...Had he rested outside, he'd be the one shot dead.
He lacked even the stamina to dodge.
And the shooter was definitely an Incarnation.
Park Chan-woo had several reasons to be sure.
'Black Lion Bow. Epic-grade with arrow guidance. If someone's wielding it already—something only Advanced Archer classes or higher can use—it has to be someone contracted with a Creator.'
Incarnations were puppets of their contracted Creators.
In short, enemies of humanity.
Even if not intended that way at first, they inevitably acted against humanity.
Like that guy just now.
Power corrupted them into trampling others.
So Park Chan-woo had no reason to view Incarnations favorably.
They hindered humanity's unity.
The higher you ranked, the more suspicion grew.
Team up with an Incarnation by mistake, and you never knew when a knife hit your back.
The problem: no way to detect them unless they revealed themselves.
'Damn Incarnations.'
Of course, Park Chan-woo knew some.
A few who caused massive incidents later.
For example... the first human to hit level 99.
Praised as a hero, leading humanity—no one imagined he was an Incarnation.
Park Chan-woo caught his breath and stepped out of the car.
To face scum like that, he needed solid farming.
'Found one. Anomaly.'
Exiting the car, he headed straight to the arrow-riddled corpse.
That body was the anomaly.
'No corpses remain in the Abyss.'
Normally, they vanished upon death.
Like the scabbard and sword—the human body should have too.
Yet it hadn't.
Standing right beside it, Park Chan-woo spoke.
"Stop playing dead, demon."
It wasn't dead, in fact.
Ceasing breath without dying meant it wasn't human.
Flash!
The moment Park Chan-woo finished speaking, the "dead" man opened his eyes.
They weren't human eyes.
Slit pupils like a lizard's.
Soon, the man spoke.
"...How did you know what I am?"
"You reeked too much."
Park Chan-woo pinched his nose as he replied.
Found it.
From the start, he'd been hunting demons in this Abyss.
Demons disguised as humans—an absolute anomaly that couldn't exist here.
Abyss demons never took human form.
The demon scowled.
"Damn...!"
Poof!
'Demonic Helmet (-98Lv, Epic)' acquired! 'Demonic Armor (-98Lv, Epic)' acquired! 'Demonic Boots (-98Lv, Epic)' acquired! 'Demonic Gauntlets (-98Lv, Epic)' acquired! Set effect 'Demonic Heart' applied.
Whew.
Park Chan-woo whistled softly.
The demon dropped a full set of gear.
Equipping it piece by piece, he checked his reflection in the car window and smirked.
'Looks just like a demon priest.'
With the staff in hand, he was the spitting image.
Anyone seeing him would freak out.
That was the moment.
"Come to 'Water's Good' Nightclub! "Find Manager 'Andariel'! "100% success rate booking!"
A blaring promo vehicle rolled past.
Park Chan-woo's ears perked up.
'...That's the spot.'
A massive anomaly.
Anyone could tell it absolutely shouldn't be in the Abyss.
That was it.
'The anomaly where the Mage's Stone was found.'
Just as he'd heard.
The nightclub surely held the Mage's Stone.
Maybe even class acquisition.
He hurried toward the noise.
After walking some distance, he spotted the garish neon glow of "Water's Good Night."
"What the hell are we supposed to do here?"
"Whoa, tons of people..."
The entrance buzzed with chaos.
Roughly two hundred gathered, by his estimate.
Even the muffler guy who'd shot the arrow was there, mouth covered.
Thanks to the body he'd left, Park Chan-woo pinpointed the demon—grateful, in a way.
But he wasn't alone.
'Why is Team Leader Kim Byung-han here?'
There was Kim Byung-han, armored with sword in hand.
Why would that coward crawl into the Abyss?
But his gaze didn't linger.
Someone far beyond Kim Byung-han caught his eye.
'...Sword King Lee Hyuk-soo.'
The genius among geniuses, third human to reach level 99, who had mastered the sword's pinnacle.
The man whose overwhelming sword talent had crushed him stood right before his eyes.