63. The First Return. The Second Wave (4) No monsters could be seen outside. Since they were all attacking the city, the areas outside were actually clear.
And the monsters hadn't only invaded Anyang. There were countless cities in Korea, and all of them were under attack. Taesan headed to a nearby city.
With his extremely high Stats, it didn't take him long to arrive. That place, just like Anyang, was also under attack. The Ghost was slightly surprised to see them fighting so desperately.
[Oh. Are other cities like this too? Just how many are there?]
“It’s the whole world, so there must be well over several hundred thousand areas.”
[Several hundred thousand?]
The Ghost was appalled. Taesan raised his bow and shot at a monster swinging its massive arms.
Swish!
With a sound of tearing air, the arrow pierced the monster's head, but nothing happened. The monster, taking no Damage, continued to attack people.
“As I thought, it doesn't work.”
It was set up so he couldn't interfere with people from other cities. Since it was the First Return, he thought there might be a loophole, but they were thorough in this regard. Taesan moved to do what he had originally planned.
He returned to the vicinity of Anyang and, searching his memory, moved to an area he had discovered in his past life. And he found monsters.
Gurgle.
Low-class monsters of all shapes were clustered together as if protecting something. They were guarding a cracked, purple Rift. Monsters poured out from the giant Rift torn in the sky, but not all of them came from there.
As if to expand their forces, smaller Rifts occasionally opened on the ground, and monsters rushed out from them.
[Special Quest Started] [Destroy the vein of the Purple Swamp.]
[Rewards will be given in the Labyrinth based on your performance.]
If he destroyed that, fewer monsters would appear. It was a kind of domain purification.
Gurgle.
The monsters moved, aiming for Taesan. Taesan brandished his sword. He took them down one by one.
Dozens were gathered, but they were all low-class monsters. He was able to deal with all of them in just a few minutes. As the last monster fell, a beast's hand appeared from the Rift.
Gurgle.
[Monster No. 267511 has appeared.]
A six-digit D-Class monster. A black figure in the shape of a wolf. The Rifts on the ground had been discovered since the Second Return, but because of that monster, they were only barely able to be eliminated during the Third Return.
Taesan moved his sword.
Kagagak.
It scraped against the monster's claws. Being D-Class, it was quite strong. To face it alone, one would have to have cleared Normal Mode.
Taesan's current Stats hadn't reached that level yet. But he had his Skills and experience.
[78 Damage dealt to Monster No. 267511.]
[35 Damage dealt to Monster No. 267511.]
Vital Strike. Power Strike. Consecutive Attack.
He put all of them into a single blow. The monster counterattacked, but the result of the attack vanished.
[Your Absolute Nullification of the First Attack has been activated.]
Underneath the erased attack, he attacked again. His sword strike drew an afterimage as it slashed through the monster. The monster attacked once more.
[Your Absolute Nullification of the Second Attack has been activated.]
The attack was erased. Taesan continued to attack. The monster bared its fangs.
He deflected it and created distance, activating Frost Arrow. The monster's black fur froze over. The monster was certainly strong.
But Taesan had faced such monsters far too many times.
“Compared to a hundred million Health, this is nothing.”
He muttered and plunged his sword into the jaws of the lunging monster. He immediately activated Scorching Orb. An explosion erupted inside the monster's mouth.
[58 Damage dealt to Monster No. 267511.]
Fortitude and Attack Nullification. He used his Swordsmanship, everything he had, to bring down the enemy. After about an hour of fighting, he was able to claim victory.
“Hoo.”
Taesan caught his breath and stood before the Rift.
“No matter how many times I see it, it's unpleasant.”
A severance in space that shimmered with a purple light. It was extremely repulsive. Just being near it brought on a feeling of instinctual aversion.
“It's definitely different from the gods of the Labyrinth.”
Their power might have felt intimidating and heavy, but it never felt this unpleasant.
[This is...]
The Ghost was utterly shocked. Taesan plunged his sword into the Rift.
Kiiiiiiii!
With an unpleasant sound, the Rift disappeared. With that, his immediate task was finished. As far as Taesan could remember, there were no more Rifts nearby.
[Special Quest Succeeded] [Upon returning to the Labyrinth, rewards will be distributed accordingly.]
A success window announcing the destruction of the Rift. And then another one appeared.
[Special Quest Succeeded] [Upon returning to the Labyrinth, rewards will be distributed accordingly.]
It appeared twice, overlapping. The meaning was clear.
“Looks like they won.”
It meant the others had cleared the Second Wave.
Gurgle...
With a final cry, the monster collapsed. Kim Hwi-yeon, who had delivered the final blow, crumpled.
“Heok.”
She collapsed, sinking to the ground. Sweat poured from her entire body like a flood. They had won.
They had prevailed against that terrible monster, but she couldn't feel happy. All around were mountains of corpses. Her face contorted.
At first, people had fled desperately. They had pounded on the unyielding barrier and tried to escape toward the city beyond the monsters. But all of them were blocked by the monsters and died.
By the time hundreds had died, people realized there was no other way but to defeat the monsters. If they had disregarded their lives and attacked from the start, perhaps not so many would have died.
The monster that appeared in the Second Wave was certainly strong, but it also had the clear disadvantage of not being able to attack many people at once. But they had hoped someone else would step forward. Instead of stepping forward, they made the worst choice: to hide in the back and wait for death.
A few brave souls stepped up, but one or two of them could do nothing. She too did her best, but it wasn't a monster meant to be defeated by one person. The limit was clear.
Literally, after an countless number of people had died, they were able to achieve victory.
[Special Quest Succeeded] [Upon returning to the Labyrinth, rewards will be distributed accordingly.]
The quest success window appeared. The colorless barrier that had blocked their access to each other slowly disappeared. She quickly came to her senses.
“I have to go help.”
Taesan is alone. She knew he was strong, but she didn't think he could win against a monster like this. The barrier had disappeared because everyone had won, but not knowing that, she grabbed her trembling legs and headed in the direction Taesan had been guarding.
When she arrived, Hwi-yeon's eyes widened.
“You're here?”
Countless monster corpses. And on top of them, Taesan stood without a single scratch. Exhausted, she collapsed to the ground and let out an empty laugh.
“We literally fought with our lives on the line…”
“You should have fought with your lives on the line in the Labyrinth, too.”
As soon as Taesan finished speaking, a window appeared.
[Congratulations. You have survived. Rewards will be given based on your actions and results.]
[You will return to the Labyrinth in 48 hours.]
Hwi-yeon muttered blankly.
“It's over.”
“For now, yes.”
People had died. Things needed to be sorted out. Normally, the noisy lawmakers or those who held a position on Earth would have raised their voices, but they had all been killed by the monsters.
Naturally, attention focused on the people from Hard Mode and Alone Mode, and among them, Kim Hwi-yeon received the most support. She had proposed a rational plan to them before, and they had all seen her fight with her life on the line, so they followed her words without complaint.
It was only natural to place more trust in someone who had risked their life alongside you. Hwi-yeon was flustered by the blind support. From her perspective, Taesan should have been the one leading the people.
But Taesan refused.
“I'm not that kind of person.”
He wasn't someone who could lead others. He had learned that painfully in his past life.
“And they'll probably like you more than me.”
Someone too different is bound to be excluded from a group. Hwi-yeon, perhaps recognizing this to some extent, gave a bitter smile. Under her command, the situation was quickly brought under control.
“Out of a hundred thousand people… only thirty thousand survived.”
Hwi-yeon bit her lip, her face pained. Seventy percent had died. Considering that losing half your forces in a war is treated as annihilation, it was the worst possible survival rate.
“You did your best.”
Taesan said.
In the first place, they had returned without any information, and they hadn't been told what the Wave would be like. Moreover, the people's mindset was also immature. Considering that only twenty thousand had survived in his previous life, it was a decent survival rate.
“You can't save everyone.”
Taesan stated the cold, harsh reality.
“It's better to get used to death.”
Hwi-yeon bit her lip. The people, too, were surprisingly calm. Too many had died.
Those whose friends had died buried them with their own hands. Slowly, they began to realize. They had come to a world without civilization or order, where the person comforting you for a death today could be dead tomorrow.
The excitement they felt about returning to Earth had vanished without a trace. So, even when Hwi-yeon announced the number of casualties, there wasn't much of a commotion. Taesan approached Jung-geun.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, well. It's bearable.”
He was someone who could calmly assess what he could and couldn't do. Moreover, unlike before, this was a case where he couldn't have protected them from the start, so the mental shock seemed to be less. Lee Tae-yeon and Kang Jun-hyeok were not much different either.
As those who had survived in Alone Mode, where everyone died, they were desensitized to death. They were shocked to hear that a few people from Alone Mode had died, but they recovered quickly.
[...]
The Ghost, seemingly with something on its mind, had been silent ever since it saw the Rift. It was an issue they could discuss after entering the Labyrinth, so Taesan didn't press it. As time passed and it was time to return to the Labyrinth, Kim Hwi-yeon gathered everyone and spoke.
“Many people have died.”
Out of five hundred thousand citizens of Anyang, only thirty thousand survived. At the despairing number, Hwi-yeon continued speaking with a contorted face.
“This return won't be the last.”
There will surely be a second, and a third.
“We must survive. For the sake of those who died, and for the truth of all things.”
She said quietly. Everyone listened with serious faces.
“Let's return as strong as we can possibly be.”
Taesan listened to her speech from a distance. The First Return was a turning point of sorts, causing those who had been descending the Labyrinth somewhat leisurely until now to tackle it with a much more serious attitude. The next time they met, they would be even stronger.
“See you next time.”
“Yes, you too.”
“See you next time.”
As he said goodbye to Lee Tae-yeon and Kang Jun-hyeok, the time came. Just as when they had arrived, space split apart and swallowed them. Taesan closed and opened his eyes.
The humid air. The moss-covered bricks. In less than a week, he had returned to this place.
He quickly began to organize his thoughts. Before him now was the Boss Room of the 10th Floor. If he defeated the second Boss beyond it, the Ghost would leave and disappear.
And once he passed the 10th Floor, proper Equipment would appear in the Shop. As for Magic, if he learned Invisibility Magic, he would have learned all the magic Lilith possessed.
“Good.”
His assessment was complete. Taesan turned the System Window he had turned off back on. Every time he did something on Earth, there was a message saying rewards would be given accordingly upon returning to the Labyrinth.
Now that he was back, it was time to receive his rewards.
[Monster Suppression Bonus +443] [First Wave Bonus +124] [Second Wave Bonus +435] [Special Quest Bonus +845] [Subjugation Bonus +54] [Victory Bonus +75] [Settlement Complete] [482p will be awarded.]
482p.
In his previous life, he had received at most 10p during the First Return. The person who received the most at that time was Kim Hwi-yeon, and considering even she didn't exceed 50p, it was an enormous amount. And the Points had very many uses.
[The provided P can be used for anything. It can be converted to Gold or used to increase Stats. The Proficiency of Skills can also be increased.]
Perhaps because it was obtained outside the Labyrinth, he could even raise things that would require an enormous price to raise within the Labyrinth. Normally, one would only receive a very small amount of P and have to use it carefully, but the p he received reached nearly 500. Taesan cheerfully checked the skills he possessed. Leveling up through battle