Chapter 510: Treasure hunt (3)
Mok Wooram was dazed by the strange being that appeared in the urgent situation he was in.
Despite disguises, Mok Wooram was confident in how he can measure people by eye and distinguish them by their physique.
However, the man in a crow mask didn’t match the physique of anyone Mok Wooram knew.
‘Who is it? Is it their colleague? Or am I mistaken?’
Mok Wooram didn’t see anything in vain.
He wasn’t the only one who sensed the man.
The two who were confronting Mok Wooram seemed to have noticed him too, and their attention was drawn to the crow mask.
“The Crow Demon God may have intervened.”
“We need to recalibrate.”
Though agitated, the men acted as if they were prepared in advance as if they knew the man in a crow mask would show up.
Things didn’t look good for Mok Wooram yet.
The man was gone, and the members of the OTK recalibrated themselves.
‘Should I take this opportunity to run out…? No, I don’t think I can. This theme park also serves players. This building’s foundations should be strong.’
In Mok Wooram’s hand was a combat axe provided by the school.
Back when he was being chased abroad, he fought using sloppy stone axes he made with stones, wood, and materials he collected from otherworlds.
As a result, Mok Wooram was in a lot of desperate situations, and he was able to simulate things quickly by comparing material strengths and using his capabilities.
Although the rarity of his weapon isn’t very high, he now has a proper item that could break down a wall.
He could escape by breaking the wall while the enemies were distracted, but Mok Wooram couldn’t go outside.
‘If I go out, the people outside will get involved…’
If he breaks the wall, the sound and the energy waves would attract attention.
Those in the indoor park may not know, but reinforcement for the two would definitely come.
They may have been prepared to kill more than just him seeing that they planned the assassination on the day of Mok Wooram’s picnic.
When he abandoned the thought of breaking the wall…
A voice almost like the sound of the wind was heard in his head
[Go up the stairs.]
Mok Wooram looked around, but only he and the attackers were there.
He couldn’t understand well because the tone was different, but somehow the voice seemed to be someone Mok Wooram knew.
But the owner of the voice was definitely not there.
‘This voice is… Saeum?’
No, he remembered the voice he just heard.
Mok Wooram felt like it was someone else’s voice mixed with Saeum of April’s.
‘…No, Vice President? Is this a messenger skill?’
A messenger skill transcends space to deliver someone’s voice.
Those kinds of skills are rare, but even among those who were born with them, only a few people hone them enough.
The need for messenger skills has bottomed out because of the development of communication technology and versatile item cards.
Mok Wooram, someone greatly interested in sound, was interested in skills that could spread his voice.
He investigated it, but he never actually acquired a skill like that.
Mok Wooram didn’t have time to think though.
A voice, unknown if it is Saeum of April or Jo Euishin, reached him.
[There’s no time, hurry!]
Mok Wooram flew away.
It was clear that someone was using a messenger skill for him.
Whether it was Jo Euishin or Saeum of April, both of them were trusted by Mok Wooram.
Saeum of April has been his friend since he entered the dormitory, and Jo Euishin already saved him once.
“You’re not getting away!”
Bang!
A modified musket was in the hand of the man wearing sunglasses.
The speed wasn’t that fast, but each shot was powerful and close, likely a barrel of sharp otherworld ore.
Mok Wooram felt chills when he saw the stairs he had been stepping on.
‘He’s shooting a gun… is there soundproofing in here?!’
Mok Wooram barely avoided having his leg shattered, but his crisis didn’t end there.
The men were slower, but their offensive continued.
Guns were directed at Mok Wooram, and the man with sunglasses was mumbling something over his mouth, his hand covered with energy waves.
[Keep going up!]
Bang! Shoot! Bang!
Shut!
As Mok Wooram raced upward, he heard the floor and the wall smash.
Debris from the wall poured over Mok Wooram.
He jumped just in time, looking just before running to check the location of men with guns.
He evaded their attacks in time, avoiding being directly hit by a bullet.
However, something as dangerous as a bullet appeared in front of him.
‘There’s something in here!’
In front of the stairs leading to the rooftop energy waves seemed to have been put on standby to prevent escape.
Mok Wooram didn’t step directly on it, but the trap activated as if it sensed him.
Creeeeek… screech…!
In front of him, a lump of mucus that hardly took the shape of a face and a body rose from the ground.
A non-human form, the eerie sense of hostility.
Mok Wooram recognized them immediately as enemies.
And they weren’t ordinary ones.
Those enemies were like the men in sunglasses.
Mok Wooram grasped what was happening.
‘Enemy taming is prohibited in Korea though…!’
Player laws vary somewhat by country.
There were various player regulation standards set in every country, but there were skills that some countries ban.
One of those is enemy taming.
Although it was allowed in some countries, Korea prohibits the use of enemy taming skills within their territory, saying that it poses a disturbance to satellites and a high security risk.
‘The satellite alert isn’t working. Did they block that?’
Mok Wooram’s device didn’t alarm him of any enemies nearby.
Perhaps the men with sunglasses spawned them on their own, completely hiding them from being detected by satellites.
They must be significantly great players for that to be possible.
High-rarity enemies in front, and players with muskets in the back.
It was a great dilemma, but there was only one thing Mok Wooram could do.
‘He said I should keep going up!’
Mok Wooram seized his battle axe as he recalled the voice.
For him to go up, he needs to go through the enemies.
If he gets into battle now, there will be a gap.
It would be like keeping his back wide open to the men behind, but Mok Wooram decided to believe in the voice.
‘I need to break through, not defeat these enemies.’
The moment Mok Wooram grabbed the axe and charged at the enemies…
A flash appeared from the bubbling enemy.
Kwaaaang!
The blade of his axe collided with the enemy’s body.
The enemy’s body, which was in mucus form just now, suddenly turned into sharp blades.
The blades flexibly rushed toward Mok Wooram.
Swiish!
Mok Wooram immediately raised himself, kicking the floor and jumping walls to avoid the blades.
The fast movements made it hard to believe that he was carrying a battle axe close to the size of his body.
Kwang! Shwa!
The sound of blades and sparks burst nonstop, but it couldn’t keep up with Mok Wooram’s agility.
Mok Wooram focused on evading the attacks, and soon he already reached the rooftop door.
‘I’m almost there…!’
Kwaang!
Mok Wooram ducked, having the enemies’ attacks destroy the door for him.
The cold wind poured out through the smashed door.
He successfully got outside, but the castle was built very high to overlook the whole park.
‘…There’s nothing here?’
He thought maybe the person using the messenger skill was on the rooftop.
However, the rooftop was empty.
There were only telescopes, unmanned vending machines selling snacks, and small rides for children under the age of five.
“Gotcha.”
He heard the voice of the man downstairs.
Looking back, the enemies and the men chasing him increased in number.
They did have a backup.
The reason why Mok Wooram shook them off easier than expected might be because they were calling for reinforcement.
No, perhaps more certainly, they seemed to have these preparations for the man wearing a crow mask.
“Did you find the crow mask?”
“Not yet. Let’s solve our priority first.”
Click.
Mok Wooram realized that he was at a dead end.
If he jumped off the roof, maybe he might survive.
But the probability of him surviving was small, and the safety of the other children made the choice impossible.
‘…They must be worried about me. No, maybe it’s okay.’
Mok Wooram thought of the other kids.
It would be better if these men settled things quietly.
If Mok Wooram was killed here, it was likely that he’d be regarded as missing instead of dead.
However, other lingering feelings prevented Mok Wooram from giving up.
‘No, I haven’t made one for her yet!’
He might’ve given up if this were a time before he met his muse, Kwon Lena.
But now, Mok Wooram couldn’t give up.
He picked up the combat axe to make a final burst of resistance, rushing at the men with muskets.
He dashed at a frightening speed and momentum comparable to a bullet.
However, no matter how fast he was, it was incomparable to a real bullet held by professional players.
Bang!
The trigger of the musket was pulled heartlessly.
Wind began to sound in Mok Wooram’s ears.
Swaaaa…!
Between the cold wind, a green light circled Mok Wooram as if it were protecting him.
The wall of wind protected him firmly, bouncing off the bullet fired by the men.
Mok Wooram recalled his classmates at the sight of the wind skill.
Saeum of April’s skill.
The color and the warmth of the energy waves were all reminiscent of Saeum of April.
‘Saeum…? No, it’s much stronger than Saeum’s!’
The men sensed a third party and immediately shouted.
“Who’s that!”
As if to answer, shadows began to sway where there was nothing.
Not even a presence was traced, which surprised everyone when someone appeared.
Someone wearing a crow mask.
“There’s a crow who intervened last time too… why are you helping him run away?”
The vigilante raiders spoke nervously.
Mok Wooram still couldn’t figure out who he was, but his pursuers seemed to know about the crow.
“I didn’t lead Mok Wooram here to run away.”
The man in a crow mask spoke calmly in a modulated voice.
He raised his hand.
The men were wary of the movement, but there was nothing in the masked man’s hand, not even a trace of energy waves.
“I lured you here so you can’t run away.”
Fwaaaa!
When the man whipped his finger, a golden boundary covered the castle.