Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 50

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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 050
CRASH!!!
A Giant Zombie shattered a building pillar with a single blow.
“So Hee!”
Hwang Anbae rushed to Do Sohee’s side in panic, checking her condition.
Fortunately, she avoided the direct attack—only a few fragments from the crumbling pillar left shallow cuts across her cheek.
“Bind its legs, quickly!”
At Hwang Anbae’s shout, Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul pulled the rope with all their might.
Stakes were already driven through both of the Giant Zombie’s calves.
Once we pulled the rope taut, bound the Giant Zombie with it, and drove the opposite stake into its body, the plan would be complete.
“Ugh?!”
“Huff…!”
The problem was that pulling the rope required more strength than the Giant Zombie possessed.
As the Giant Zombie thrashed its legs, Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul fluttered helplessly, dangling from the rope.
Even combining their strength, they were being dragged toward the Giant Zombie.
I rushed up to the 2nd Floor railing, keeping my eyes fixed on the Giant Zombie’s trapezius muscle.
The Giant Zombie was too focused on the party members beneath its feet.
It had completely forgotten about my existence.
Now was my chance… I could aim for its head.
Whoosh!
Eyes wide open, I leaped toward the Giant Zombie’s trapezius muscle.
Thunk!
Though I aimed for the trapezius, the creature kept moving, so the best I could do was drive a stake into its back and cling to it.
“SCREEEEEEEEE!!!”
Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, the Giant Zombie shrieked and began flailing its arms wildly.
It struggled desperately to grab me, but its arms couldn’t reach its own back.
Like trying to scratch an itch you can’t reach, it could only thrash about, limited by its massive muscles and poor flexibility.
Left arm, right arm, left arm, right arm.
The Giant Zombie’s hands came slashing at me in alternating strikes.
Each time, I pressed myself closer and curled my body tighter.
“SCREEE!! SCREEEE!!”
The creature bounced around wildly, throwing a tantrum that didn’t match its massive frame.
If we had a bug crawling on our backs, we’d panic too—was this something similar?
Whoosh—
In that moment, I felt my entire body lift with a floating sensation.
‘What?’
This bastard couldn’t possibly….
Unable to reach me with its arms, the Giant Zombie jumped backward.
“Damn it…!”
I scrambled like a cockroach, squeezing out from between its armpits.
Boom!!
The ground trembled from the impact, and a massive spider-web fracture spread across the floor tiles.
Had I been even a moment slower, I would have been crushed between the Giant Zombie’s back and the ground.
Now was my chance.
I seized the opening and frantically pulled another stake from my bag.
I drove one stake beneath the creature’s knee as it lay sprawled, then scrambled up its torso.
“Graaahhh!!”
The creature swung its massive palm, desperate to grab me.
Whoosh!
My physical abilities were no longer those of an ordinary human.
I vaulted over its thick arm, wrapped rope around myself as I climbed its body, and drove another stake into its shoulder blade.
I embedded the stake directly into its shoulder.
The rope wound around its left arm and the stakes driven from shoulder blade to knee.
Possessing only brute strength with a feeble intellect, it never thought to rotate its arm and loosen the rope—instead it simply pulled with all its might.
Crrrunch-!
With each pull, the rope grew taut, and the wounds at its shoulder blade and knee tore wider.
“Don’t stand there dazed! Move!”
“Yes!”
Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul seized the moment, driving stakes through both the creature’s legs and pulling the ropes taut.
But they still struggled against its strength.
Even with Hwang Anbae and Do Sohee joining in, they couldn’t pull the rope.
Only after I added my strength could we finally pull the rope taut, and I drove another stake through its opposite leg to prevent further thrashing.
Without pause, I drove stake after stake, then planted stakes into the ground on both the left and right sides of the Giant Zombie.
Like Gulliver bound by the Lilliputians in Gulliver’s Travels.
Using every single stake the group had purchased, I completely immobilized it.
The creature could no longer move even a fraction.
Had we fought outdoors, this would have been far more difficult.
But we were indoors.
For a creature this massive, the confined space was actually a disadvantage.
Without hesitation, I drew my curved blade from its sheath.
I stood directly atop the Giant Zombie’s head and swung down toward its skull.
Slash!
Flesh was severed, but the bone would not break.
I rained down blow after blow, but only black and crimson blood sprayed forth—the skull refused to yield.
Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul also attacked relentlessly from the side, but to no avail.
It wasn’t because we were striking the relatively harder forehead.
We simply couldn’t shatter the bone.
“Brother! This thing is ridiculously hard!”
“Give me whatever stakes are left!”
Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul had no stakes remaining.
However, Hwang Anbae, who had supported Do Sohee as they approached, handed me a stake from his bag.
“Here!”
“Untie the rope! We’ll use them separately!”
Hwang Anbae sat Do Sohee down on the ground, then handed me two stakes.
I wasn’t sure if it would work, but there was only one way to find out.
I gripped the stakes and positioned myself in front of the Giant Zombie’s temple.
Its head was so massive I couldn’t even tell where its temple began and ended.
“Hah!”
With a shout, I drove the stake into the Giant Zombie’s temple.
“Screeeeeee!!”
The creature shrieked and writhed violently.
The ropes binding its entire body made an ominous creaking sound, as if they might snap at any moment.
I couldn’t afford to waste any more time.
I flew forward and delivered a powerful kick directly into the partially embedded stake.
Crack!!
“Ahhhhhhh!!”
As the stake drove deep into its temple, the creature let out a scream of agony.
The 25-centimeter stake had gone in completely, yet the thing still clung to life.
I rushed to the other side and drove the second stake into its opposite temple with equal force.
Thud!!
I just wanted it to die already.
But the creature continued to thrash about.
At this point, it felt like I was torturing the Giant Zombie.
Despite having two 25-centimeter stakes embedded in its temples, it still lived and resisted violently.
Its eyes were bloodshot crimson, and foam dripped from its mouth.
“B-Brother Doyun.”
“….”
“This thing… it seems to be suffering, doesn’t it?”
“….”
“Do zombies feel pain?”
I wondered the same thing.
Zombies shouldn’t be capable of feeling pain.
So why… was this Giant Zombie experiencing pain?
This really did feel like torture.
Please, just stop resisting and die peacefully!
At No Way Home, whenever we encountered a Giant Zombie, we either fled or hunted it down as a group.
Whether Giant Zombies felt pain or not was never something I was curious about, nor did it matter.
But this one I faced in reality… it was suffering just like a human would.
“Suhan, did you bring the pistol?”
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
Kim Suhan rummaged through his bag and handed me a Smith & Wesson M10 revolver along with six bullets.
I loaded the rounds while scanning my surroundings.
The building’s acoustics would carry the gunshot loudly, so I’d rather not fire here… but there’s no other option right now.
Even with my high Strength stat, smashing a skull as hard as rock with my bare fists was frankly too risky.
‘I need to ask Haneul to craft me a blunt weapon.’
The curved blade works well against ordinary zombies, but I’ll need a blunt weapon to handle Giant Zombies and Mimicry Species.
“Everyone, cover your ears!”
My party members clamped their hands over their ears.
I walked to the crown of the Giant Zombie’s head and pressed the muzzle flush against it.
And then.
Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!
Six gunshots rang out in rapid succession.
All concentrated on a single point, fired while the muzzle was completely pressed against the skull.
Smoke rose from the barrel, and the acrid smell of gunpowder stung my nostrils.
But… no message appeared confirming the Giant Zombie’s defeat.
When I pulled the gun away and examined the crown of its head, I could clearly see cracks spreading across the skull.
Six bullets concentrated on one spot, yet the skull still hadn’t pierced through.
Is this thing supposed to appear in the fifth episode but showed up in the second instead?
This is… practically a bug.
How am I supposed to kill this thing?
“Suhan! Do you have more bullets?”
“There should be more in my brother’s bag!”
Right, of course.
I’d distributed revolvers to the Shooters from each party, and one was left over, so I took it.
I hastily opened the bag and pulled out the remaining rounds.
Eight bullets.
I loaded six of them and aimed at the exact same spot.
Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!
After firing six more rounds, the Giant Zombie’s brain finally became visible.
Twelve bullets concentrated on a single point before the skull finally cracked open.
What is this, bulletproof glass?
With a hole this size…
It’s worth a try.
I drew the curved blade from its sheath and drove it straight into the creature’s brain.
Thud! Crack! Squelch!
Was the brain made of muscle?
The sensation of piercing through dense muscle fibers was unmistakable.
“Grraaahhhhh!!”
The creature thrashed violently, as if making one final desperate struggle.
Ping-! Screech, bang!
The rope began to snap.
Like wire bursting, each time the rope tore, a sound resembling a gunshot echoed through the air.
“Ugh!”
“Fall back!”
“What kind of gunfire is that…!”
The party members scrambled backward in alarm as the rope lashed the ground like a whip.
“Doyun!”
Kim Suhan, hiding behind the wall, was staring at me.
He was worried the snapping rope might strike me.
The sound of the whip’s end, the noise of rupture—it was the sound of breaking the sound barrier.
If a person were hit by that… flesh would naturally tear, and if unlucky, it could mean death.
Regardless, I focused on churning through the Giant Zombie’s brain.
I had to kill it before all the rope snapped.
If it still didn’t die… then we’d be in an impossible situation.
“Krraaaagh…! Krraaaaaaagh!!”
The creature shrieked its death cry while snapping the rope and raising its upper body.
The stakes driven into its knees and shoulder blades came loose along with chunks of its flesh.
Even if the stakes themselves didn’t come free, the flesh around them could tear away.
“Please… just die…!”
Like stirring a massive cauldron with an enormous ladle, I mercilessly churned through its brain.
Whoosh—
Then I felt my entire body lift upward.
The creature was raising its upper body.
Gripping the sword hilt with both hands, I stirred its brain even more violently, with every ounce of strength I possessed.
Crunch-crunch-crunch—
I could see with my own eyes the Giant Zombie’s right hand flying toward my head.
With no other choice, I leaped off the creature’s head before it was too late.
Boom!!
The Giant Zombie struck its own crown instead.
But…
At that very moment, its eyes rolled back.
As if electrocuted, its entire body convulsed, and it collapsed.
Ding—!
[You have eliminated the Giant Zombie!]
[1,000 points awarded.]
[You have hunted the Giant Zombie for the first time! First hunt bonus of 1,000 points additionally awarded.]
System messages appeared before my eyes.
It wouldn’t die no matter what, yet why now?
Could it be…
When I leaped from the Giant Zombie’s head, I hadn’t retrieved my curved blade.
The Giant Zombie struck its own crown with its right hand, driving the curved blade that had been lodged there deep into its skull.
This was practically… suicide.
Ding!
[You are enrolled in the Alliance. All League Members receive 1,000 points.]
In the past, points were only distributed to those who helped with the hunt, but after the Alliance was established, everyone could receive equal points.
I wondered if the others were doing alright.
Worried, I turned on the zombie point alarm that I’d kept disabled until now.
[Zombie eliminated.]
[Zombie eliminated.]
[Zombie eliminated.]
[Zombie eliminated.]
[2 points awarded.]
[2 points awarded.]
[2 points awarded.]
[2 points awarded.]
…
…
An endless stream of zombie elimination alerts and point messages.
I could tell that Party 2, Party 3, and Party 4 members were still locked in combat with zombies.
I turned off the point alarm again and looked at my Party 1 members, asking.
“Is everyone alright?”
Rather than answering my question, my companions rushed toward me in a single stride.
Whoosh!
Kim Suhan suddenly threw his arms around me and shouted.
“Doyun hyung! We did it. We actually did it!!”
“Don’t shake me. My head hurts.”
“Oh, sorry.”
As Kim Suhan stepped back with an embarrassed expression, Kang Haneul gazed at the fallen Giant Zombie and asked.
“How exactly are this creature’s cells structured?”
“I’m not curious and don’t want to know. More importantly, the others are still fighting zombies right now, so we should provide support…”
Ding!
Just as I was about to turn back toward where my companions were.
A System Message appeared once more with a mechanical chime.
[Calculating episode progress.]
[Based on current episode progress calculations, hunting a Giant Zombie at the current difficulty level is impossible.]
What kind of nonsensical message is this?

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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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