God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 172: Episode 34_You’re the Mother (3)
4.
The fireballs that had been launched into the sky returned as a single, massive ball of flame.
A meteor.
No, a dragon that looked like a meteor.
’...What is that?’
Anyone who saw it would have had the same question. What the hell was falling out of a perfectly clear, cloudless sky? It was half-hidden by the dense trees, visible only in flashes, but one thing was obvious: the closer the enormous object came, the deeper the shadow it cast upon the ground where they stood.
“......!”
By the time they realized what it was, it was too late.
’Move!’
It hit before anyone could even shout.
KABOOM!
“Whew!”
An unlikely prince on a white steed dismounted from Squeaker’s back.
* * *
“......”
“......”
In the awkward silence, Han Simin glanced around.
“Huh?”
’What the?’
He saw players sprawled all over the ground.
“Who are these people?”
“Those bastards were about to do all kinds of horrible stuff to us!” Kang Yeseul cried, rushing over as if she had been waiting for her cue to report everything.
Han Simin’s eyes narrowed. “You mean that kind of stuff?”
“Yeah.”
“You motherfucking pieces of shit!”
“......”
’Is that really what he’s thinking?’ Jeong Seolah wondered, tilting her head.
But Kang Yeseul straightened her back and puffed out her chest, feeling completely safe. Just a few minutes ago, the mood had been so bleak she’d felt like crying, but with the simple addition of one Han Simin, twenty-odd players no longer seemed the least bit scary. It felt like he could blow them all away.
’So this is why everyone wants a dependable guy! A man who protects only me!’
How attractive was that? He had the minor flaw of being obsessed with money, but she had more than enough wealth to cover that.
’If Simin and I got married...’
Pointless fantasies were an inalienable right.
“How dare you lay a hand on my dear Ms. Seolah!”
“...Tch.”
Han Simin shattered that fantasy in an instant as he stepped forward.
“Anyone who messes with my client doesn’t walk away in one piece.”
“What the hell is that guy talking about?”
The NPCs who hadn’t been directly crushed by Squeaker’s meteor-like descent pushed through the dust, radiating murderous intent. The ones who had taken a direct hit were already dead. This was not something that could be resolved with a simple apology and a handshake.
“You dare!”
In 『Fantastic World』, turning the tables and playing the victim was practically a national sport. The NPCs reformed their lines and surrounded them again. The only difference was that before, their motives had been driven by personal lust; now, it was pure, unadulterated intent to kill.
There were no penalties for killing here. The moment you stopped feeling any burden about it, hell opened up.
Even Han Simin tensed up involuntarily. ’They look pretty tough.’
It seemed that every time he ran into the Specialists in a hunting ground, it was under circumstances like these. It would have been nice if, just once, he could have stylishly wiped everyone out by himself. Perhaps even the heavens were sick of the same old pattern.
Still, it didn’t feel like they would lose, so he decided to take this seriously.
’If it goes south, I can just die.’ He had a reliable last-resort insurance policy, after all.
The situation was on a knife-edge. Everyone swallowed hard, waiting for someone to pull the trigger.
“GRRRAAAAH!”
“......?”
“......?”
A third party snatched the moment away. But no one could complain. The newcomers had barged in with the sole purpose of killing everything on the battlefield that wasn’t one of them.
* * *
What was supposed to be a gentlemanly duel between humans had devolved into a complete shitshow. Chaos erupted. It was hard to even tell who the enemy was anymore, and in the middle of it all were actual dogs.
“Grrrr!”
“Hey! You damn mutts, get lost!”
“Woof! Woof!”
That wasn’t an insult. Actual dogs had charged in. Well, if you could call them dogs. They were the size of werewolves but looked like canines. If you had to name them, they were dog-men.
In any case, the dogs that rushed in attacked any human they saw, friend or foe. Of course, the humans weren’t easy prey. In terms of level, the Specialists were arguably the weakest ones present. They calmly held their formation and blocked the attacks.
At first, they managed. They had the numbers. But as time passed, the number of howls echoing through the mountains kept increasing. From ten to twenty. Twenty to thirty. Thirty to fifty. They just kept coming. They were killing them, but more were appearing than they could cut down, so the mood naturally grew darker.
As they kept holding out, their formation finally broke. The dogs began slipping through the gaps.
“Goddammit! If you idiots hadn’t picked a fight, these things wouldn’t even be here!” Han Simin shouted, smashing the skull of a snarling dog with his hammer as he shoved the blame onto the NPCs. It never once crossed his mind that the monsters’ arrival might have had something to do with Squeaker’s handy location-broadcasting service.
“......”
The NPCs bore the false accusation in silence, unable to defend themselves. Their comrades were dying. Who had time for a war of words in a situation like that?
“Retreat!” one of them yelled.
They chose to abandon a pointless fight and focus on getting at least one more survivor out. It was a wise decision, if you ignored the fact that the dogs had no intention of letting them go.
“......”
The number of dogs had already swelled to nearly a hundred, a perfect demonstration of how terrifying the Cliffs of Peril mountain range could be.
“Grrrrr...”
It was over.
With the outcome decided, there was a brief standoff. It felt less like a standoff and more like a victor savoring the moment before devouring the weak.
“Damn it.” One of the NPCs glanced over at the Specialists—immortal adventurers who did not fear death. “Hey, you damn otter! We’re all about to die here. Use that thing already!”
“Kku-eong! Kku-eong!”
“What thing?”
“It’s got something. Hey, if you don’t use it, I’m not enhancing for you anymore.”
“Kku-eong...”
’Of course. Even with death staring them in the face, these people are unbelievably carefree,’ the NPC thought with a bitter smile. He hated that kind of freedom. It was that same attitude that had made them pick a fight in such a dangerous hunting ground in the first place.
He didn’t regret it. The dead don’t get time to regret anything, anyway.
The dogs didn’t give them even a moment to savor that last bit of sentimentality.
“Grrrr!” they growled, charging in with satisfaction, delighted by the despair on the humans’ faces.
“Kku-eong!”
And in the middle of them, Sudal let out a disgruntled cry.
POP—
A brilliant light burst forth. Two different lights, in fact. Then they fused.
[You are under the effect of ‘Rune: Echo of Earthquake’ for 300 seconds.]
[On attack, all enemies within a 10-meter radius will take damage.]
[You are under the effect of ‘Rune: Hammer of Divine Punishment’ for 300 seconds.]
[During the effect, Attack Power is increased by 100%.]
[The two runes have fused. You are now under the effect of ‘Special Rune: Caution: Explosion’.]
* * *
He had already experienced Echo of Earthquake once before. The enhancement level of the ore Sudal held was night and day compared to back then, so it was only natural that the duration, range, and effect had all increased. The fact that two effects were being applied at once was impressive enough.
But a fusion? That was something he hadn’t even considered.
’What the hell?’
On top of that, there was no description of what it did. His curiosity doubled. When something worthless tried to be mysterious, it was just annoying. But this was different. The base effects alone were enough to send his confidence skyrocketing to the point he felt he could beat a dragon to death with his bare hands. And now there was a secret, higher-tier skill on top of that.
If a man wasn’t curious about this, he wasn’t a man.
But he didn’t ask. It wasn’t like the hologram would answer him, and he didn’t have time. It wasn’t because the charging dogs had all turned their attention to him.
297. 296. 295.
Every single second was too precious. He wanted to savor this uncontrollable strength for as long as he could.
The dogs had given Han Simin and the NPCs time to prepare for the end, but Han Simin would not return the favor. He wasn’t that kind of merciful human. He was the kind of person who believed his one second was longer than someone else’s one year.
Whoosh—
“Grrr?”
His body shot forward, closing the distance to the nearest dog, and he swung his hammer. His agility hadn’t increased, so he didn’t feel any faster than usual, but it didn’t matter. He just had to land the hit.
THUD!
“......?”
The ground within a ten-meter radius around him caved in, and every monster in that range took damage. Before the battered creatures could even feel relieved to still be alive, the special rune effect Han Simin had been so curious about finally triggered.
BOOM!
An explosion erupted from the point of impact. Short, sharp, and wide.
“Argh! Simin!”
It didn’t distinguish between friend and foe. Caught off guard by the sudden, unexpected damage, Kang Yeseul hurriedly cast a healing spell. Thankfully, no one died. That was only because Jeong Hyeonsu had instinctively raised his shield in that split second. Even so, when they saw how much of their HP had been shaved off, they were horrified.
The NPCs, too, were left speechless by the damage they had taken.
“This is insane,” one of them muttered. The words slipped out on their own. Of everything that had happened in the last thirty minutes, this was the craziest. This kind of destructive power from a single attack... if he could swing that around as much as he wanted?
’And do it while staying completely safe himself...’ Jeong Seolah thought, staring at Han Simin with awe in her eyes. Where did he keep finding these broken skills?
Her eyes, filled with reverence, suddenly trembled.
“Mr. Simin?”
“Cough, f— Hey, you damn otter, what the hell is this...?”
The Han Simin she saw was on the verge of death. He had taken the brunt of the blast at the center of the explosion.
“Kku-eong, kku-eong!” Sudal laughed at the sight of his sorry state.
“You’re laughing?” Han Simin’s hand, still gripping the hammer, shook with rage. ’Should I kill it or not?’
After a moment of wrestling down his anger, he simply hurled the hammer at the dog-men on the far side. 『Fantastic World』 was clearly a game designed to screw with players. Immense power came with immense backlash. Nothing ever came easy.
But he had enough cunning to overcome even that.
If you have no teeth, you fight with your gums. If the explosion hurt the caster too, then you just had to attack from outside the blast radius.
The hammer flew into the distance and struck a dog-man that had been trying to slink away, cowed by the overwhelming power.
KABOOM!
Another explosion went off, bigger than any firework.
“Khahahahaha!” Han Simin, who had temporarily acquired an AoE skill, burst out laughing. His hands were already full of rocks he had scooped up from the ground.
“Here we go!”
“Yipe!”
The rock-dodging game began—for the dogs, the Specialists, and the NPCs.
5.
Kardian was at a loss for words.
When she had ridden down on Squeaker’s back and seen the humans’ comrades in danger, she had been full of confidence. She had been ready to step in, help them, and show them what kind of being—no, what kind of dragon—she was, her shoulders squared with pride.
But before she could even show off, the situation was resolved.
From her perspective, Han Simin was weak. If she had enough mana, she could easily overpower him. She had been certain he would lose to the horde of monsters right in front of them. Then he received some bizarre buff and flipped the situation on its head.
Of course, even that kind of power was nothing compared to hers. It wasn’t exactly fair to compare a restricted version of herself to her true body, but she could at least console herself with the fact that there was still a clear gap in strength.
However, watching his madness, she shrank back.
’If a lunatic like that could revive endlessly and keep tormenting me...’
She had already been captured by him and bound by a slave contract. At this point, she was starting to think that might have actually been the right decision.
The stones he scattered in every direction triggered chain explosions, and he took damage in the middle of it all. Yet he kept laughing and throwing, as if he welcomed the endless stream of monsters drawn in by the sound of the blasts.
After he had been slaughtering them like that for quite some time, his expression suddenly hardened. At the same time, the light imbued in his weapon vanished.
He shouted immediately, “Squeaker! Transform!”
“Ppaeaek!”
Squeaker, who had been rubbing her head against Kardian’s chest, grew in size as if she had been waiting for the command. Sudal and the Specialists climbed onto her back. Han Simin sprinted over, scooping up whatever he could grab off the ground as he ran. The moment he climbed on, Squeaker shot up into the sky.
It was a retreat without a moment’s hesitation.
“Hey, Sudal. What’s the cooldown on that?”
Looking into his eyes, gleaming with naked greed, Kardian felt, for the first time in her life, a genuine, heartfelt regret.
’If I’d known he was this kind of human, I would’ve just given up on the Dragon Heart.’
Regret was always late, no matter when it came.
* * *
