Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 65
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Player of the Ruined World – Episode 065
Whisper’s Skill: Hallucination.
A skill with a 4-hour cooldown, but capable of controlling an enemy for 30 minutes.
Park Sanghun swallowed hard as he gazed at the Water Demon, then murmured in a low voice.
“Hallucination.”
[You activate the skill Hallucination.]
[You control your target for 30 minutes.]
The moment Sanghun activated Hallucination, his right eye shifted to a violet hue.
As if synchronized with the Water Demon, Sanghun’s expression became vacant and hollow.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
When I shook Sanghun’s shoulder, he turned his head and spoke.
“Damn, this is incredibly dizzy.”
“Huh?”
“I’m seeing two worlds.”
Whisper’s Skill: Hallucination.
It wasn’t merely controlling an enemy—it was a skill that allowed you to see the world through the eyes of your controlled target.
In the game, there was a vision-blocking function so you could only see the controlled target’s perspective on screen.
How could I replicate that in reality?
“Can you check the System Message?”
“I see my own vision on the left side.”
“Try saying ‘vision block’ there.”
“Vision block?”
Then both of Sanghun’s eyes shifted to violet.
“Whoa?!”
“What? Doesn’t it work?”
“No, this… feels strange.”
“…”
“My body doesn’t feel like my body anymore.”
“That’s because you’re synchronized with the Water Demon now. Want to try moving?”
Sanghun’s upper body twitched, and his knuckles and fingers trembled slightly.
At the same time, the Water Demon lying on the hood began to slowly rise.
The Water Demon pulled at its matted hair, which was bound with iron chains.
No—Sanghun.
Crack, crack!
Sanghun’s Water Demon tore out its tangled hair and stood upright on the hood.
“What now?”
“Create a weapon.”
“A weapon?”
“The Water Demon’s weapon is its fingers. Think of it as drawing out blades.”
Screech—crackle, crackle!
The Water Demon’s finger bones elongated, transforming into the long, sharp awls we knew so well.
Sanghun seemed fascinated by the Water Demon’s body, moving both hands this way and that before leaping down from beneath the hood.
Moments later, I could see the Water Demon dancing atop the Seongsu Bridge.
“Puhaha! Man, this is insane. My body feels incredibly light.”
“If you can draw weapons, you should be able to use the Water Demon’s Skills as well.”
“Water Demons have Skills?”
“I told you—if you keep hearing its cry, you develop delusions.”
“So… if I cry, does it cry too?”
“Think you can do it?”
For a while, Sanghun and the Water Demon remained perfectly still.
The Water Demon seemed intensely focused, yet nothing changed.
“Sigh… Doyun, I can’t cry like that. I’m not an actor—I can’t just force myself to cry on command.”
“What about screaming?”
“Screaming?”
“The Water Demon has a technique where it opens its mouth wide and shrieks. If you take that head-on, your eardrums burst.”
“There’s a Skill like that?”
“Want to try it?”
The Water Demon pressed itself flat against the bridge, then assumed a posture like a roaring lion.
Followed by its lower jaw stretching open wide enough to fit a watermelon.
“Sangil’s Hyung, cover your ears.”
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
Sangil and I quickly covered our ears.
“SHRIEEEEEEEEEEK!!!”
A sound like a pig being slaughtered, yet far sharper and more piercing—a scream that seemed to tear the very air.
The windows of vehicles on the bridge shattered, and I felt an eerie sensation as if ultrasonic waves were visible to the eye.
Wait, wouldn’t Sanghun take damage from this?
“Sanghun, can you hear me?”
“I can hear you. Though I’m getting tinnitus.”
Fortunately, Whisper, who was using environmental audio, suffered no major damage.
But unlike in the game, this was reality, so some ringing seemed inevitable.
Sangil, who had been observing the situation, narrowed his eyes and spoke while staring ahead.
“Doyun, it looks like Zombies are swarming from that direction?”
“From the front? You mean the Apgujeong direction?”
“Yeah, the Water Demon screamed toward Apgujeong.”
Damn, was the sound too loud?
But since this part was worth testing too, I spoke to Sanghun.
“Sanghun, run.”
“Huh?”
“Run forward.”
“Just running is all I need to do?”
“You can kill the zombies.”
At the permission to hunt zombies, Park Sanghun’s lips curved upward into a grin.
Immediately after, the Water Demon under Park Sanghun’s control crouched its lower body before launching forward like a bullet fired from a gun barrel.
The Water Demon vanished from my sight in an instant.
Park Sangil relayed the unfolding situation to me in real time.
The zombies who spotted the Water Demon froze in their tracks and averted their gaze.
Regardless, the Water Demon under Park Sanghun’s control swung its blade at the zombies without the slightest hesitation.
“This is insane! The performance is incredible!”
Park Sanghun’s expression was brimming with excitement.
Normally, like me, his field of vision was limited to just 20 meters, but now he was sharing the Water Demon’s sight and gazing upon an expansive world for the first time in a while.
‘Wait. If this works, then maybe….’
With a hopeful thought, I activated the zombie point alarm.
[Zombie eliminated.]
[2 points awarded.]
[Zombie eliminated.]
[2 points awarded.]
[Zombie eliminated.]
…
….
Point notifications cascaded endlessly upward.
So this works too.
I spoke while watching my wrist watch.
“Sanghun, you have 10 minutes left on the Skill duration, so eliminate as many as you can.”
“Roger that!”
Park Sanghun jerked his upper body like someone playing virtual reality, grinning widely without pause.
* * *
As the auditory hallucination’s duration dwindled to thirty seconds remaining, Park Sanghun commanded the Water Demon to take its own life.
The Water Demon then clawed at its own throat with sharp fingers.
Though Park Sanghun felt no pain himself, he indirectly experienced the sensation of his neck being severed.
Even after the auditory hallucination’s duration wore off, Park Sanghun remained vacant-eyed for some time.
The tactile sensation of fingers shredding vocal cords and cervical vertebrae had been remarkably vivid.
Meanwhile, Park Sangil steadily pressed the accelerator, passing through Apgujeong toward the Customs Intersection.
Crash!! Thud- Bang!! Screech- Boom!!
Gangnam’s wide boulevard.
The road to the Customs Intersection was nothing short of a minefield.
“They haven’t even cleared the zombies from here?!”
Park Sangil wrenched the steering wheel sharply, his eyes darting ceaselessly.
Zombies everywhere.
So the Great Dominion controlled this area, yet they hadn’t touched a single zombie on the streets?
Of course, from our perspective they’re walking points, so I’m grateful, but….
Even so, isn’t this far too many?
Even with my limited visibility of merely twenty meters, I could sense just how densely the zombies infested the surrounding area.
The zombies’ moans echoed and reverberated, and when multiple zombies charged in unison to slam against the vehicle’s side, the wheels would lift slightly with each impact.
Screeeech-! Screech!
An ominous sound emanated from the car.
“Damn… it!”
Park Sangil gripped the steering wheel tightly, pressing the accelerator repeatedly.
But the vehicle no longer responded with its former power.
“What’s wrong? Is something broken?!”
Grabbing the front seat’s headrest and asking, Park Sangil furrowed his brow as he spoke.
“Something’s caught in the wheels!”
“What?!”
“The steering won’t turn!”
Damn it.
I should have brought Park Sangha along.
I never imagined there would be this many zombies.
“Hyung, can you get us into an alley anywhere at this point?”
“I’ll try—what choice do we have?”
Park Sangil forcibly twisted the steering wheel and pressed the accelerator.
The modified vehicle danced and bounced as if riding towering waves.
The car moved as though I were on a disco ride.
Gripping the ceiling and headrest with both hands, I fought back the rising nausea.
Vroom-! Bang- Bang! Vroom!
The RPM climbed abnormally, and the vehicle seemed ready to stall at any moment.
Just then, a narrow alley came into view.
As I forced the unresponsive steering wheel to turn and entered the alley, zombies too large to squeeze through the narrow gap began hurling themselves at the vehicle’s rear.
“Everyone stay inside. I’ll get out first and clear some space.”
“You can’t do this alone! There are way too many of them!”
As Park Sangil reached to open his inventory, I grabbed his hand and spoke.
“My epidermis stat is high enough. I’ll be fine.”
“….”
“Even if they bite me, I won’t die. Just wait in the car for now.”
Leaving Park Sangil and Park Sanghun in the vehicle, I frantically seized the door handle.
Crash!!
As I wrenched the door open with all my strength, the zombie standing before it was crushed against the wall, its chest caving in.
“Gack! Gaaaaack!!”
Zombies rushed through the narrow gap.
I quickly opened my inventory and drew out the curved blade.
Slash—!
After dispatching the rushing zombie, I climbed atop the vehicle to assess their numbers.
“Wow….”
My jaw dropped at the sheer count.
There were far too many.
Across the ten-lane road, nothing but zombie heads were visible as far as the eye could see.
A half-hearted fight would only drain my stamina while barely reducing their numbers.
So from the start.
I needed to thin their ranks explosively.
“Balhwa.”
Hisssss—!
My muscles began contracting and expanding in rapid succession.
Blood flow accelerated, and scorching heat spread throughout my body.
Smoke rose from my entire frame, and thick veins bulged across the backs of my hands.
[For 10 minutes, your stamina, strength, and agility stats increase by 2x, and your movement speed increases by 1.5x.]
Without stopping, I opened my inventory once more.
I stowed the curved blade I’d been holding and drew a weapon better suited for engaging multiple enemies in open space.
[You equip the Dual Straight Swords +2.]
[The Dual Straight Swords are currently enhanced twice.]
[Upon equipping the Dual Straight Swords, your strength increases by 1.2x.]
A two-handed exclusive straight greatsword.
A weapon whose blade alone stretched nearly two meters in length.
Whoosh!
As I leaped from the vehicle wielding the dual swords, the ravenous gazes of the zombies below fixed upon me.
Crash!
I landed on the ground, trampling faces beneath my feet, and swept the heavy dual swords in a wide arc.
Whoosh—Slash slash slash slash!
The blade’s size and weight caused the air to split with a sharp crack each time I swung it with full force.
Moreover, the blade was so keen that flesh and bone were severed from the zombies with a single strike.
When I had shown the twin swords to Park Sangha, the blade’s edge had been chipped, but now even through the mist, the sharpness of the blade was starkly visible.
Whoosh—!! Crack! Whirrr—! Slash!
Zombie heads falling away with each step.
Crimson blood spraying into the mist with every swing of the blade.
It was a scene of slaughter.
* * *
Park Sangil, watching the situation through the side mirror and rear-view mirror, clicked his tongue repeatedly with exclamations of awe.
“Hyung, why—is Doyun in danger?”
When Park Sanghun reached into his inventory to pull out a weapon, Park Sangil grabbed his arm and spoke.
“Stay put. Being here is how we help.”
“…What?”
“Wow… he’s really insane.”
“Why, what is it?”
Park Sanghun’s visibility was already compromised.
The streets teeming with zombies and the downpour made it impossible to see the battle clearly.
Park Sangil swallowed hard, then laughed hollowly.
“You know Jangpangyo, right.”
“Jangpangyo? Equipment?”
“I wonder if it looked like this.”
“Isn’t it more like Yeobo than equipment? It’s a place completely open on all sides.”
“….”
Park Sangil stared at Park Sanghun with narrowed eyes, and Park Sanghun shrugged with an expression that said, what do you want me to do?
Whether it was equipment or Yeobo, it didn’t matter.
Right now, Baek Doyun was ceaselessly severing zombie heads in the downpour, drenched in blood.
Like a demon descended upon the earth.
Like a berserker thirsting for slaughter.
Park Sangil moistened his parched lips and spoke.
“Really… I’m grateful he’s on our side.”
* * *
“Gasp… huff.”
I caught my breath in ragged gasps, surveying the surroundings.
Where rainwater had flowed, crimson stains now spread across the pavement.
A little over ten minutes had elapsed.
In that brief span, hundreds of zombies had vanished entirely, leaving only cold corpses to fill the boulevard.
Every single zombie lay with its head and upper body severed.
Balhwa’s duration had already expired, and I no longer possessed the strength to wield the twin blades.
As I collapsed in place, gasping for breath, I spotted Park Sanghun approaching through the mist.
“Doyun! Where are you, Baek Doyun!”
I raised my hand slightly, and Park Sanghun rushed over to support me.
Now I regretted not bringing Park Sangha, and I regretted not bringing Do Sohee.
With Park Sanghun’s support, I climbed into the vehicle and glared at the man still gagged, speaking coldly.
“You bastard. You said The Great Dominion had cleared Gangnam.”
“Mmph? Mmmph! Mmph…”
Even if the world had fallen to ruin, surely the dictionary definition of ‘cleared’ hadn’t changed, had it?
Park Sanghun beside me stared at me with a dazed expression.
“Wow… Doyun.”
“What.”
“You’re cursing now too. And quite viciously at that.”
Feeling oddly embarrassed, I answered with a false cough instead.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————