Chapter 293: The Fading Time

Pop, pop, pop!

[Critical Hit activated!]

Blood sprayed from Mursiellio’s forehead as a storm of gunfire rained down, the precision effect of ‘Super-Fine Shooting’ hitting the same spot repeatedly.

“Aargh!”

Overwhelmed with rage and pain, Mursiellio screamed. Never had he imagined he would be humiliated like this, a commander who had led numerous swarms at the behest of the queen. This was an affront to his honor.

“Why are you flying around so openly instead of hiding behind your bugs? It’s like you’re asking to be shot down.”

Jinhyuk clicked his tongue. Perhaps this was what they meant when they said, ‘Moths and fools rush towards high places.’

“Human scum… I will not let this go!”

[Mursiellio employs ‘Yellow Dust’!]

Particles, each like the flap of a butterfly’s wings, spread around as a fine yellow powder danced in the air. To allies, it was miraculous dust that instilled wisdom, but for enemies, it was devilish powder inducing loss of sanity and madness.

The cloud of dust fanned out, encircling Jinhyuk.

“It’s dust laced heavily with hallucinogens. I’ll thoroughly brainwash you with it and then play with you every night. Beg as you might for more dust, I won’t easily comply. Hehe.”

Hmm. That sounds quite dangerous.

Moreover…

“That slow speed won’t do the job.”

No matter how powerful the attack, it’s useless if it can be evaded.

Jinhyuk nimbly maneuvered through the gaps in the dust.

Then…

“Who said I was slow?”

Buzz!

The incoming dust accelerated, obstructing any retreat and closing in without leaving any gaps.

But just as the dust was about to reach Jinhyuk…

He unleashed a torrential barrage of gunfire at the incoming cloud.

Bang, bang, bang!

“What do you think you can do with that pathetic gun? Are you really trying to shoot all that dust? No matter how foolish…”

“What? Huh? Oh?”

Confusion dripped from Mursiellio’s voice during his taunt.

No matter how big the particles of dust, at their core, they are still just dust. And to have all of it neutralized…

“What sort of monster can… Uh… ah…”

Mursiellio stuttered.

“Didn’t I tell you? You’re slow.”

“Fool! Kill him! What are you waiting for, kill him!”

“Screeech!”

“Screech!”

At Mursiellio’s command, bugs joined the fray.

Giant centipedes burrowed into the sand and disappeared from view, while dozens of wasps charged with their venomous stingers thrust forward. Giant rhinoceros beetles and various carnivorous plants also formed a dense wall, exerting pressure.

“Since skill isn’t enough, you resort to quantity… Typical insect thought process.”

Swish, swish, swish!

Seemingly in a flash, the four-bladed swords dispersed blades that spread out in all directions.

A sword technique uniquely developed when he climbed the Tower in the past.

Or perhaps ‘technique’ was too grand a word since there were no inherent forms—it was a mere set of optimized motions for the effective use of the four-bladed swords.

It could almost be likened to a dance, designed primarily to irritate the opponent.

But…

The one thing it did excel at was finding and exploiting weak spots.

[Unique ability ‘Grave of Swords’ unlocked!]

With added ki energy, the technique’s potency was unimaginable.

“Screeech!”

“Arrrgh!”

Pieces of bugs scattered across the ground.

Slice!

Slash!

His sword pierced through sand as if alive.

Then…

“Groooar!”

“Kwaargh!”

Centipedes hiding in the sand and waiting for openings sprung out only to twist and wriggle helplessly as they were skewered by the four-bladed swords.

Crunch!

With a swift swing of his blade, Jinhyuk silenced their screams.

“Why don’t you come at me yourself instead of hiding behind bugs and playing with your precious minions? You’re like a crumpled Tinkerbell.”

“A crumpled… Tinkerbell?”

“In our world’s fairy tale, there’s this fairy… After getting hit by a car once… No, let me start over. Maybe after getting hit by a 10-ton truck… Nope, that won’t suffice. Maybe after about ten hits, you might look somewhat similar.”

He had tried to wrap his mockery in the gentlest packaging he could, so as not to wound too deeply. Truth be told, aside from gender, they had little in common.

“How dare you mock me, a noble of the great Insect Tribe? I’ll personally put my full power into crushing you.”

[Mursiellio attempts ‘Cocooning’!]

[All injuries will heal.]

[If the cocooning completes and envelops the entire body, defense will increase by 3800%.]

White threads began to wrap around the giant butterfly’s body.

Cocooning.

This reflected the insects’ trait of growing through transformations.

“The moment you witness my true form will be your end… huh?”

But…

Mursiellio tilted his head in confusion as the person who should be attentively listening was nowhere to be seen.

His antennae wriggled.

He tried to sense his enemy throughout his body.

And there he appeared, out of nowhere, right above Mursiellio.

The layer of ‘Wind Domain’ stacked with ‘Sword Demon Heavenly Steps’ allowed him to make movements nearly akin to short-distance spatial teleportation.

Thud.

Jinhyuk landed atop the cocoon, his gun aimed directly at Mursiellio’s head.

“Who said I would wait?”

This was no child’s anime where one applauds the transformation.

“I, wait…”

Desperation filled Mursiellio’s voice, but the gun’s muzzle was already glowing red with condensed magic power.

If ‘Cocooning’ fully activated, there’d be no chance, but just before the completion, movement was restricted and weaknesses fully exposed.

It only lasted a few seconds.

This was the prime moment to kill the butterfly creature.

“Don’t feel too bad. There’s no monster that can resist my taunts.”

“Please, nooo…!”

Bang, bang, bang!

The red magic bullets shattered the cocoon’s exterior and pierced straight through the brain.

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have acquired Mursiellio’s Wings (Material).]

[You have obtained 500mg of ‘Yellow Dust’.]

“Kiieee!”

“Kiii!”

The bugs began to rampage then.

Normally, with the loss of their commander, they would go berserk, biting each other or scattering, but their abnormal behavior suggested something else was at work.

Rumble, rumble!

Vibrations passed through the ground.

“Saved me the trouble of seeking it out.”

The boss of the 16th floor, maimed and missing an arm, took action.

Boom!

The ground overturned, and a giant insect with a black exoskeleton emerged.

About 5 meters in size, it resembled a Hercules beetle but tried to stand high above its insect peers.

This was the queen and the climax of this raid.

“My children…”

The queen looked over the corpses strewn across the ground.

Her gaze held defeat, anger, and emotions beyond that.

“If you anger a greater being above, you should die quietly. Even if you struggle here, your fate won’t change.”

“…Really? You’re aware of what’s happening outside of the Tower?”

“Underestimate the entity that rules this floor at your peril. I possess far greater knowledge and information than your meager scraps.”

The queen’s gaze fixed on Jinhyuk.

“It seems you plan to kill me and acquire an artifact to oppose them. But it’s a futile effort. While you spend hours here, the psyches outside the Tower will reduce your world to ash.”

“Wow, you even have it all calculated out. Smarter than I thought, for a bug.”

Jinhyuk let out a wry chuckle.

But… do you realize?

“Even if I’m not there, it doesn’t mean that world lacks the strong.”

If Shub Niggurath himself were to appear, that’d be a different story.

But his underlings could be handled by those strong enough in that world, prepared for such an eventuality with a Plan B and various contingencies.

And…

“Why do you think I’m going to spend hours here?”

[Activating ‘Memory of the World.’]

Jinhyuk waved his hand through the air, and the library of countless stored skills materialized behind him.

[Activating ‘Sanctuary of the Sun!’]

Flip, flip, flip!

Pages turned as the stage of Egyptian deities manifested, erasing the world once ruled by the queen of the swarm.

Desert, Sphinx, great pyramids—an area with these attributes appeared, with golden beams supporting a barrier from the heavens.

“Where… is this?”

Surprise and fascination tinted the queen’s eyes.

‘Daylight’ shone brightly on the gun in his left hand, and ‘Blood Magic Energy’ pulsed within the sword in his right.

There was no need to drag this out for hours.

“I’ll end this in three minutes.”

The smirk disappeared from Jinhyuk’s face.

＊＊＊

Following the gate’s opening, darkness fell upon major cities worldwide.

Burned buildings and abandoned cars marked the empty urban centers.

Amid the apocalyptic scenes, survivors who couldn’t escape the hell trembled in fear.

“Mom, I’m scared…”

A child’s whines echoed through an underground parking lot.

“We’ll be safe here, won’t we?”

A woman who appeared to be the child’s mother spoke cautiously.

“I’ve surrounded us with a flame that disrupts magical detection, they shouldn’t find us easily.”

“The chess pieces are set as bait. We can’t hope to fight, but they’ll buy us time to escape.”

Min Jungwoo and Lee Yoori reassured the people.

After distributing whatever food and water they had, they finally found a moment to breathe.

“Sigh. It’s more serious than I thought. We’re completely isolated, aren’t we?”

“Heh, what can we do? With things like this, our only choice is to survive.”

“You’re too relaxed. If that Gang Jinhyuk guy doesn’t show up soon, we’re all doomed.”

“Hmm, it seems more like inviting a tiger to chase away a wolf to me.”

“The goats are the wolves outside, and the tiger must be Gang Jinhyuk, right?”

“The other way around would be improbable, wouldn’t it?”

“Well, that’s… true.”

The two recalled their fateful meeting with Jinhyuk at the National Museum and shuddered at the memory.

Yoori, in particular, had memories of making chess pieces all night to the rhythm of work songs.

“Do you two also know Player Gang Jinhyuk personally?”

Kim Gitaek of the Ssaoulabi Guild reacted at the mention of Jinhyuk’s name.

He too had been isolated here since coming to Daejeon as part of the vanguard.

“Oh, you know him too?”

“Yes, I’ve worked with him a few times.”

“Because of that accursed guy, things got twisted from the start. We could have had a serious advantage. Every time I think of it, my head still throbs.”

“I was quite taken aback when he burned the National Treasures map. I was completely fooled too.”

“I burnt a… national treasure… Well, I have been duped by that man several times too. Haha.”

A peculiar camaraderie formed among the three.

Though it was almost always bittersweet.

Still.

There was one certainty.

“He will come.”

“Of course, he shall. That fella might use people, but he’s not inherently bad-hearted.”

“That’s correct. Player Gang Jinhyuk will definitely come up with something.”

The trio believed.

They believed that Jinhyuk wouldn’t abandon everyone.

And that no matter how hellish things seemed now, if Jinhyuk arrived, it could change everything.

That’s when it happened.

Boom!

A loud shockwave roared through their ears, and dust cascaded down from the ceiling.

“What on earth… Yoori, don’t tell me they’ve found us?”

“Th-the chess pieces… Damn it. Not just the decoys, but all the ones I placed to cover our escape are destroyed!”

Yoori screamed, her face as pale as a ghost.