Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 107

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Player of the Ruined World – Episode 107
An unexpected deafening blast.
Simultaneously, acidic solution sprayed in all directions.
I curled my upper body into a ball, using the Severing Cells as an umbrella.
The Liquefaction Type hadn’t attacked me.
Its head had burst from taking an attack, and now acidic solution was pouring down.
‘What the—’
In my confusion, I glanced around.
Beep beep beep—!! Honk!! Honk!!
Car horns reached my ears.
Could it be.
Vroom—!!
An engine roared louder and louder, and through the thick mist, I spotted a modified vehicle approaching with its high beams flashing.
Screech!
“Baek Doyun!!”
The vehicle stopped right in front of me, its door opened, and a woman stretched out her hand toward me.
It was Hong Yeonhui.
Without warning, my chest tightened with emotion.
Tears threatened to spill.
My companions appeared like saviors in this exhausting situation.
Grab!
As I took Hong Yeonhui’s hand, she pulled me into the vehicle with all her strength.
“Go!!”
Vroom!!
The Sandworm’s RPM surged again as it accelerated.
Rumble rumble rumble—
The Stage 5 Liquefaction Type’s body reformed, and it began tracking the vehicle I was in.
Park Sangil, gripping the steering wheel, checked the side mirror constantly as he asked.
“What is that thing?! Is that really a Liquefaction Type we know?!”
“It’s Stage 5.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine… Ugh!”
Just as I was about to say I was fine, I felt a strange sensation below my waist and swallowed a short groan.
When I lowered my head, Hong Yeonhui was spraying water relentlessly on my wounds.
Right, to wash away the acid, spraying water was the correct approach.
But the unexpected pain made me bite my lower lip hard as I gasped for breath.
“Bear with it, you’ll be fine soon.”
Once the acidic solution was washed away, my passive skills would handle the rest on their own.
Enduring until then was the key.
Screeeech—!!!
Park Sangil wrenched the steering wheel hard in response.
Sploooooosh!!!
By mere inches, I managed to evade the torrent of acidic liquid cascading onto the vehicle.
“That lunatic! How the hell are we supposed to catch that thing?!”
As Park Sangil fired questions while his eyes darted frantically, I glanced back and forth between him and Hong Yeonhui before asking.
“How many weapon reinforcements right now?”
“Four times. I poured every point I had into it.”
“The ammunition too?”
“Yeah.”
A rifle reinforced four times and ammunition to match.
So that’s how we managed to shock a Stage 5 Liquefaction Type.
As I slowly raised my upper body, Hong Yeonhui suddenly grabbed my forehead and pushed me back down into the seat.
“Don’t move.”
“…It’s fine.”
“Fine?! An ordinary person would need to wash for over thirty minutes under running water!”
“I’m not an ordinary person.”
“I haven’t even sprayed below your knees yet. Stay still.”
Her tone was rough, but her expression overflowed with concern.
An expression revealing so many emotions.
Eventually, I obeyed Hong Yeonhui’s words and lay back in the seat, continuing treatment as the vehicle swayed.
Crackle-
-Uncle Sangil! The Liquefaction Type is following you!
Kim Suhan’s voice came through the radio immediately after.
Did the second vehicle come here too?!
Park Sangil gripped the radio with one hand and shouted.
“It’s okay! The Liquefaction Type isn’t fast, so just get us out of here first…”
-Hyung! Above!
At the word “above,” Park Sangil pressed his face against the windshield and looked upward.
A Liquefaction Type plummeting down like a massive meteor shower.
“What?!”
Park Sangil yelped in shock, spinning the wheel and engaging the handbrake.
Screeeeeech-!!
The vehicle successfully changed direction, leaving a long skid mark behind.
Boom-!!!!
And the Liquefaction Type crashed down right in front of us.
Hong Yeonhui immediately grabbed the rifle resting on the passenger seat, opened the window, and aimed at the Liquefaction Type.
“Aimed shot, multi-hit, headshot. Explosive fire.”
She activated the skills in rapid succession, then pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!!
Boom-boom-boom!!! Crack!!! Bang!!!
In an instant, the Liquefaction Type hardened its body and blocked the bullets.
As if determined not to fall for the same trick twice, it reacted far more rapidly than before.
Squelch, slurp—slurp—
Then two arms erupted from beside the Liquefaction Type’s head.
Splat—splatter splatter! Splatter!
A mass of acidic liquid nearly six meters tall began approaching, spinning its two arms like a windmill.
Unbelievable speed.
“What the hell is that?! What kind of Liquefaction Type moves like that…!”
“Step on it, step on it!!”
The Liquefaction Type was faster than the vehicle.
Though the Sandworm couldn’t reach full speed in the narrow alley, the Liquefaction Type’s pursuit exceeded 100 kilometers per hour by a wide margin.
Rat-a-tat-tat!!! Rat-a-ta-tat!!!
Boom!!! Bang!! Crash!!
Yeon-hee fired relentlessly to slow its pace, but completely shaking off the Liquefaction Type that tore through the villas in the area while charging diagonally was beyond her capacity.
Its movements… resembled the black liquid monster from movies.
Except far larger and faster.
At that moment.
Bang—!! Crash!!
Bullets exploded from the back of the Liquefaction Type’s head.
Boom!!!!
Vehicle Number Two appeared from a diagonal direction and began firing at its body erratically.
The Liquefaction Type alternated its gaze between the two vehicles, then aimed both arms at us.
Seeing this, I shouted toward Sangil.
“Behind the wall!! We need to take cover!”
“What?!”
Whoosh—!
Thin, elongated streams of liquid sprayed from the Liquefaction Type’s hands.
The highly concentrated strong acid flew like arrows.
That liquid pierced through thick walls in an instant.
Sangil swallowed hard as he stared at the punctured wall and asked.
“Doyun, if that hits the Sandworm, would it dissolve too?”
“I’m not sure. In the game, the Sandworm’s effect was a protective barrier that could block it several times, but I have no certainty now.”
“How do we even catch that thing?!”
“There is a way.”
I climbed over to the passenger seat and grabbed the radio.
“Suhan, can you hear me?”
-Huh?! Doyun! Are you okay?!
“I’m fine, so listen carefully. Who’s the shooter next to you?”
-It’s Elder Chulmin!
“Tell Elder Chulmin to fire all thirty rounds in ten seconds.”
Ten seconds! Roger!
After finishing the radio communication, I spoke to Hong Yeonhui behind me.
“Yeon-hee, pour everything you have into it.”
“What are you planning?!”
“A Stage 5 Liquefaction Type can’t have its core destroyed while in liquid form. The core’s position keeps shifting.”
“You don’t mean….”
“It needs to harden so we can shatter it.”
The moment I finished speaking, I threw open the passenger door and leaped out.
Thanks to my passive skill, all healing was complete.
I still had 45 uses of One Strike remaining, and Whirlwind had about one minute and ten seconds left on its duration.
I had to eliminate the Liquefaction Type within that window.
Tap—! Thud!
As I bounded onto the rooftop of the five-story villa with feather-light grace, the Liquefaction Type came into view in the distance.
Gripping my curved blade, I leaped across the elongated rooftops, closing the distance to the creature.
‘Six, five, four….’
I counted down in my mind, calculating the moment the bullets would arrive.
As I reached the Liquefaction Type’s face, its massive eye fixed upon me.
And at that same instant.
Boom boom boom boom boom!!! Crash!!! Bang!!! Boom boom!!! Bang!!! Boom boom!!!
Relentless explosions of gunfire.
One of the Liquefaction Type’s eyes burst, and simultaneously its body began to harden.
I seized the moment, pushing off the rooftop railing to launch myself above its head.
Searing heat and the acrid stench of gunpowder assaulted my senses, while grayish-brown smoke obscured my vision.
Hiss—! Sizzle!
Some of the Liquefaction Type’s acidic fluid from the explosion grazed my cheeks, and a burning sensation seared across my face as if it were melting.
But I couldn’t stop.
Gritting through the pain, I tightened my grip on the blade’s hilt and fixed my gaze on the Liquefaction Type’s crown below me.
Crack—!!!!!
My blade plunged downward in a vertical strike.
I could see cracks forming across the hardened crown of the Liquefaction Type.
Crack!! Rip!!! Crunch—! Clang—!!!
Eyes wide open, I swung my curved blade in rapid succession.
“Screeeeeee—!!”
A grotesque shriek erupted from the Liquefaction Type’s mouth, and its hardened body began to transform.
The Liquefaction Type’s body became muddy and viscous.
Boom boom boom!!!! Bang!!! Crash!!! Boom boom!!! Bang!!! Boom!!
Then the reloaded barrage of gunfire came raining down again.
The Liquefaction Type had no choice but to harden its body.
If it transformed into acidic matter, the explosive gunfire would tear its entire body apart and expose the core; if it hardened, my blade would cleave through it.
Sizzle—! Hiss!
The shockwave from the explosion was hitting me too, of course.
But there was only one thing that mattered to me.
‘Kill it.’
Like a woodcutter splitting logs, I didn’t blink as I cleaved straight through its head.
I couldn’t give the Liquefaction Type time to think.
Before it could respond, while it was still floundering, I had to cut off its breath.
Crack—snap!
Then the Liquefaction Type’s core came into clear view.
As I raised my blade, its massive eye flipped 180 degrees to fix on me.
“Don’t look at me.”
Boom—!!!!!
I swung the curved sword down, and with the thunderous sound of massive marble splitting, the Liquefaction Type’s core was cleanly severed.
Ting—!
[You have eliminated a Stage 5 Liquefaction Type.]
[65,000 points awarded.]
As the point message appeared, the Liquefaction Type’s body, which had been hardened, began transforming like clay.
Before it got worse, I kicked off from inside its bisected corpse and escaped.
Whoooosh—!
The liquid transformed back into strong acid and poured onto the ground.
I ran into an alley in panic, dodging the tidal wave of acidic solution crashing toward me.
Screeeech—!!
As I sprinted through the alley to escape the cascading acid, I spotted Yeon-hee at the end of the alley, throwing open the vehicle door and shouting.
“Here!!”
I threw myself into the vehicle in a panic, and Sangil immediately slammed on the accelerator.
There was no time to close the door.
Beyond the rattling door frame came the tidal wave of acid.
“Step on it, step on it!!”
Was this what it felt like to flee from a tsunami?
If that liquid touched the tires… it would be catastrophic.
“Please! Go, go, go…!!”
Sangil gripped the steering wheel with both hands and stomped on the accelerator with all his might.
Vroooom—!!!
Thanks to that, we escaped the cascading liquid by the narrowest of margins and reached safety.
If we’d been even one second slower, the Sandworm would have been drenched in acid.
The Stage 5 Liquefaction Type—the one that awarded the most points among all Mutants.
It was the most troublesome of the Stage 5 Mutants, and it was too much to handle alone.
“Where is Hanna?”
At Sangil’s question while gripping the steering wheel, I checked the 3D terrain map.
We’d come quite far in that brief moment.
“You know that riverside apartment where we first discovered the Euitaejong? She’s there.”
“Kim Hanna alone?”
“Yes, since there’s been no response yet… it seems the Quest hasn’t been completed.”
“A Quest….”
Park Sangil had heard about it before and understood.
The Zombie King’s Quest—to consume one hundred brains from living humans.
Park Sangil frowned and glanced at the rearview mirror.
“Is it possible you intentionally triggered the Emergency Episode…?”
“….”
My lips wouldn’t part easily in response to Park Sangil’s question.
He’d struck a nerve.
I swallowed dryly and spoke.
“I forced her into it. Kim Hanna bears no fault. If there’s guilt, it lies with me.”
As I spoke calmly, Park Sangil offered no response.
He focused on driving with an impassive expression, and not long after, he asked in a somber voice.
“You have your reasons, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
Hong Yeonhui in the passenger seat, rather than reproaching me, simply closed her eyes gently.
Crackle—
A signal came through the radio, and Kim Suhan’s voice followed.
-Uncle Sangil! Where’s Doyun’s brother?
“He’s with me.”
-Ah… you should have told me sooner! I’ve been driving around looking for Doyun’s brother this whole time!
“Sorry. Where are you?”
-I… don’t know where I am.”
“Come to Gangbyeon Apartments for now.”
-What?! There again?!
“Kim Hanna is there.”
Park Sangil finished the radio call and turned back the way we came, asking.
“What’s the next plan?”
“I’ll eliminate the Severing Type’s true body and the Reinforcement Type.”
“But you said the Severing Type’s true body can’t be found.”
“I’ve found a way.”
I showed him the three red dots marked on the 3D terrain map.
Park Sangil glanced at the 3D terrain map to confirm, then raised his eyes sharply as he asked.
“The Emergency Episode opening suddenly, Kim Hanna’s Quest needing to be completed quickly. Was all of that because of this?”
“It was the best option available.”
Park Sangil knows the secret of the 3D terrain map.
When you receive an Episode related to a specific target, that target’s location is displayed on the 3D terrain map.
Park Sangil gazed toward Gangbyeon Apartments with a bitter expression, then murmured in a low voice.
“Once this situation ends… I’ll need to thank you properly.”
A group that neither blamed nor resented anyone.
My companions, who had always carried guilt in their hearts, finally began to steel themselves.
Instead of dwelling in self-reproach and apologies, they chose to express gratitude for each other’s efforts and sought ways to provide maximum support.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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