Having dealt with all the monsters in the sky, Taesan turned his attention to the ground below.

Monsters, seizing the moment Taesan had momentarily left his spot, swarmed into the safe zone.

Just as the panicked people started to hastily move to block the monsters.

[You have activated Landing.]

Taesan, who was high in the sky, landed on the ground at a speed that seemed to defy the laws of physics.

Taesan threw a punch.

Monsters were sent flying.

He then shot frost arrows into the air.

The flying monsters turned into skewers and vanished.

“Oh, wow!”

People exclaimed in astonishment as Taesan single-handedly covered the sky and an area of hundreds of meters.

It was an amazing ability, but its limit was clear.

Taesan alone couldn’t defend the entire safe zone. Monsters were already slowly infiltrating on the opposite side from where Taesan fought.

Grrr.

The monsters kept pushing with their bodies. Even those who initially fought eagerly began to falter due to the overwhelming numerical difference.

Eventually, a few monsters managed to squeeze into the safe zone.

Grrr.

The entire body of the monster twisted. Its tentacles swelled, and its body grew larger.

“Eek!”

“Block it!”

People swung their weapons earnestly, but the monster, mockingly, swung its enlarged tentacles.

People hit by the tentacles were swept away like dominos.

A huge hole was quickly made in the defensive wall. Kim Hwiyeon, who was blocking another spot from afar, clenched her teeth and tried to move people.

Swoosh.

Lee Taeyeon, who had been blocking another direction, quickly charged at the enlarged monsters.

Then, she thrust her sword toward the swirling tentacles.

[Lee Taeyeon activated Flow.]

The trajectory twisted, and the tentacle that cut through the air crashed into the ground. Lee Taeyeon quickly kicked off the ground and soared over the monster’s head.

[Lee Taeyeon activated Strong Blow.]

Boom!

The monster crashed to the ground.

Lee Taeyeon continued her assault, and thanks to the effects of the Ability Sword skill, the monster fell without much resistance.

“Phew.”

Lee Taeyeon, having caught her breath, moved again. With her joining in, the strengthened monsters quickly fell.

People regained their composure and began to rebuild the defensive wall.

This pattern continued afterward. Whenever a few monsters crossed the safe zone and attacked people, Taesan, Lee Taeyeon, and Kang Jun-hyeok dealt with them.

Despite the precarious situation, a delicate balance was maintained.

After a few hours, people finally succeeded in defending against the first wave.

“We won!”

“Hooray!”

People jubilantly celebrated the notification of quest success. Kim Hwiyeon and Choi Baram quickly checked the damage and rearranged personnel.

“So this is what it means to not let them into the safe zone.”

Originally, monsters that two or three Easy Mode players could have easily stopped became significantly stronger the moment they entered the safe zone. Choi Baram let out a groan.

The strengthened monsters were tough enough that even a Hard Mode player would struggle to handle them alone.

“Still, Lee Taeyeon and Kang Jun-hyeok, those two can handle them without a problem. They’re much stronger than what I’ve heard?”

“I’m a bit surprised, too.”

The strength of these two was well known.

But what they showed this time greatly exceeded Kim Hwiyeon’s expectations.

She vaguely guessed that their improvement was due to the swordsmanship taught by Taesan.

“With this, some adjustments are necessary.”

Only three could perfectly handle the strengthened monsters.

The next day, the personnel deployment changed. Kang Jun-hyeok, Lee Taeyeon, and Kang Taesan each took responsibility for three different directions.

Once the arrangement was complete, the second wave began.

Grrr.

The monsters appeared.

Their numbers were akin to the first wave, but they had grown stronger. The Easy Mode players could no longer effectively block the monsters.

The defensive wall began to fall apart.

Grrr.

The monsters that breached the safe zone mutated. People struck them with earnest attacks, but the monster, seemingly tickled, merely brushed off their assaults with a sweep of its arm.

“It’s hectic.”

Kang Jun-hyeok muttered and stamped his foot, fixing a serious gaze on the monster.

The monsters that infiltrated the safe zone and grew stronger were about D-grade by Taesan’s standards. The Kang Jun-hyeok of moments before would not have been able to dispatch them so quickly.

But now the situation has changed.

[Kang Jun-hyeok activated Strong Blow.]

Bang!

With precise timing, he countered the onslaught of attacks. He severed each of the monster’s arms and landed a heavy blow. The monster’s body reeled from the fierce impact.

Crack.

The monster could not endure the hits for long and disappeared.

Kang Jun-hyeok chuckled.

“This is really too good.”

Had he not learned Ability Sword, he wouldn’t have been able to defeat it so easily. It was truly an exceptional skill.

Furthermore, Kang Jun-hyeok realized another benefit that Taesan had overlooked.

Taesan had no concerns about mana consumption, but Kang Jun-hyeok did.

Using a skill even once demanded mana management. Yet, if timed correctly, Strong Blow from Ability Sword did not deplete mana after the initial activation.

This was a substantial advantage for him, who constantly experienced a shortage of mana.

“Good.”

Kang Jun-hyeok’s eyes gleamed as he tightened his grip on his sword.

Lee Taeyeon and Kang Jun-hyeok continued to advance, dispatching the enhanced monsters. Taesan, as always, single-handedly covered hundreds of meters on the ground and the sky.

Yet they still could not defend every direction. Eventually, the precarious equilibrium shattered.

“Block with your bodies!”

“Try to hold them off somehow!”

People sacrificed themselves in desperate attempts to withstand the onslaught as long as possible, and thus, casualties were inevitable.

Thanks to the arduous efforts of the Hard Mode players, they managed to survive the wave with relatively few casualties.

People celebrated their victory and rested.

The next day, the third wave began.

The monsters that appeared this time were stronger than those before. The Easy Mode players struggled to inflict any significant damage.

The defensive wall was quickly breached, resulting in greater destruction.

Many people perished.

But the people did not succumb to despair.

They grieved and offered each other comfort for the lost lives, yet they did not dwell on their sorrow. Everyone calmly prepared for the next challenge.

With the combined populations of Gyeonggi-do and Seoul at about twenty million, only eighty-five thousand remained.

They had witnessed the death of far too many.

Yet, they had persevered through these losses, fighting valiantly to reach this point. Their spirits would not break now.

And now, there was hope.

The hope that they could triumph, that they could survive to see the future.

At the center of this hope was Kang Taesan.

The one who had single-handedly defeated thousands of monsters.

To those who knew the true strength of the monsters, his feats were nothing short of miraculous.

Thanks to him, people calmly completed their preparations.

The fourth wave began.

Even more lives were lost.

There were moments when the defense completely crumbled, and without Taesan’s intervention, they would have faced annihilation.

But they emerged victorious.

They readied themselves once more for battle.

[The final wave is beginning.]

“This is the last one,”

Kim Hwiyeon murmured, her face contorted with distress. The thought of reducing their deaths to mere numbers for the sake of management pained her deeply. Choi Baram responded with a wry smile.

“It’s better to get used to it.”

“But I don’t want to get used to it,”

Kim Hwiyeon complained, lifting her head.

The defensive wall was thinner than before, yet their faces did not show despair, only hope that they could prevail.

“The situation is still in our favor.”

“I wonder how it is in other areas.”

Choi Baram clicked his tongue, finding it hard to imagine repelling such waves without Lee Taeyeon, Kang Jun-hyeok, and Kang Taesan.

“I hope they’re still alive… They must be having a rough time.”

As Choi Baram murmured, energy began to gather.

The space started to crack open with an unstable noise, and people tensed, readying themselves to confront the incoming monsters.

The breach widened, and monsters surged forth, catching everyone off guard.

“What’s with their form?”

Until then, the monsters had resembled giant humans or were mostly tentacled.

But this time, the monsters that emerged were shaped like round spheres.

People quickly understood why the monsters had assumed such a form.

The spheres began rolling toward them at a speed far greater than before.

“No way.”

Kim Hwiyeon’s face blanched.

“Use your bodies to block them!”

She commanded. The realization dawned on others too late.

The monsters had altered their shape to penetrate the safe zone by any means.

The defenders threw themselves at the spheres, attempting to slow them down by using their bodies, relying on their own defenses and stamina.

“They’re relentless, aren’t they?”

Taesan chuckled as he engaged the monsters, stomping his foot down.

[You have activated Earthquake.]

The rolling spheres were suddenly jolted. Seizing the moment, Taesan rapidly dispatched the now-stalled monsters.

[You have activated Decarabia's Twisted Vegetation.]

Kugugugung!

Roots burst from the ground, sprawling across the area and forming a dome overhead.

“Oh, wow…”

The people marveled at the sight of roots blanketing the sky.

However, the limitation was evident. All of Taesan’s magical power had been expended to conjure the roots, but the area that needed shielding was immense.

“Aaah!”

Inevitably, a significant number of monsters breached the safe zone.

The people watched, holding their breath, as they anticipated the monsters’ next mutation.

Grrk.

The spheres began to twist and rise, taking on a form vastly different from the typical monsters.

“…Insects?”

They bore a striking resemblance to praying mantises, albeit on a much larger scale, easily dwarfing an average human.

The mutated, mantis-like monsters charged at the people.

“Eek!”

“Block them!”

Those engaged in battle with the monsters soon realized something.

The mutated creatures were not as formidable as they had anticipated.

They were by no means weak; even players who were in Hard Mode had to maintain a strong defense.

However, when players accustomed to Hard Mode banded together, they found they could defeat the monsters with relative ease. It was a revelation to those who had braced for even more ferocious adversaries in the final wave.

The reason for this soon became clear.

Kang Jun-hyeok lunged forward to take down a monster, activating his Flow Skill and driving his sword forth.

The monster swung its foreleg down.

The Ability Sword’s Flow Skill was designed to alter the course of any attack that made contact with the blade.

Kang Jun-hyeok disregarded the creature’s foreleg and continued his assault, successfully warping the trajectory of the monster’s limb.

Boom!

Yet, despite the deflection, the twisted foreleg halted abruptly with a thunderous sound and then struck Kang Jun-hyeok from behind.

“Ugh!”

Kang Jun-hyeok groaned as he tumbled to the ground, grimacing in pain and scrambling to put distance between himself and the monster.

‘What?’

He was certain his Flow Skill had redirected the monster’s attack, yet he had been struck from behind.

Confusion washed over Kang Jun-hyeok. Lee Taeyeon found herself in a similar predicament. She attempted to leverage her Flow Skill and Strong Blow to gain the upper hand, but to no avail; her efforts were thwarted.

[Lee Taeyeon activated Flow Skill.]

She deftly redirected the monster’s strike and sought to counterattack.

But the monster’s arm, once diverted, abruptly stopped its motion and hurtled toward her. In the end, Lee Taeyeon was forced to defend herself and retreat.

‘This is…’

Taesan encountered a similar challenge. He unleashed a punch, colliding with the monster’s arm.

Clang!

A resonant sound echoed as the force of his blow repelled the creature.

Taesan’s interest was piqued.

Despite being hit by his strike, the monster didn’t fall.

“I see.”

Taesan raised his sword and activated Flow Skill. As it had with Lee Taeyeon and Kang Jun-hyeok, the monster quickly corrected its diverted arm and attacked.

He easily crushed it, but now it was clear.

A monster that countered the Ability Sword.

This monster was specifically designed to kill Taesan.

Monsters began to converge on one another. People were confused by the sudden grouping of the monsters during the battle.

“What’s this?”

Taesan didn’t just watch.

He grabbed each one, smashing and crushing them.

However, due to the sheer number of monsters, he couldn’t crush them all.

The monsters began to amalgamate. Their mantis forms merged, making gurgling sounds.

Eventually, a pitch-black mantis-like creature appeared.

[Monster 999 has appeared.]