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Chapter 31
Captain Na Sang-min thought that when Lieutenant Colonel Choi Sung-ho said that, he would still prioritize saving the civilians first.
Although disobeying orders would result in disciplinary action, it was better than letting the civilians be massacred by the skeletons. This thought allowed Captain Na Sang-min to let out a small sigh of relief.
However, at that moment…
Whooong—Kwaaang!!!
Lieutenant Colonel Choi Sung-ho thrust his fist toward the gathering of Skeleton Knights and Skeleton Wizards and activated his skill.
Immediately, the aggro of the Skeleton Knights, Skeleton Wizards, and all the skeleton monsters turned toward the 41st Psychic Battalion.
Captain Na Sang-min looked at Lieutenant Colonel Choi Sung-ho, shouting, “What the hell are you doing?!” and saw a sly smile forming on Choi’s lips, directed right at him.
“You crazy bastard!!!”
As Captain Na Sang-min drew his weapon, the deputy team leader behind him shouted:
“Captain! We need to suppress them first!”
With the deputy’s shout, Captain Na Sang-min clenched his fists and immediately issued orders to the suppression team leaders:
“Suppression Teams 1, 2, 3, and 4 will handle the incoming skeletons here and reduce their numbers. The remaining Teams 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 will spread out and rescue the civilians!”
“Yes, sir!!!”
The team leaders shouted back vigorously and immediately led their teams into the suppression operation.
Captain Na Sang-min gritted his teeth as he watched Lieutenant Colonel Choi Sung-ho cheerfully smashing skeletons’ skulls up ahead.
Some time later, near the bunker
Woo-hyun and Serin cleared the path at the front, while Sun-hye and Joo-yeon stayed close, supporting Woo-hee and Se-jun as they followed right behind.
Woo-hyun confirmed the bunker entrance, which only appeared above ground during emergencies, and glanced back at the family members. Thanks to Woo-hee and Se-jun supporting Sun-hye and Joo-yeon, fortunately, no one had fallen behind.
“We’re almost at the bunker entrance! Just a little more!” Woo-hyun shouted.
But almost immediately, Serin exclaimed in shock:
“The skeletons are suddenly rushing toward us!”
Woo-hyun quickly looked ahead and saw, just as Serin had said, a horde of skeletons charging in their direction.
Normally, when a Dungeon Break occurs, monsters spread out evenly from the epicenter. For them all to charge in one direction—especially on a single path—was highly abnormal.
Woo-hyun quickly realized the source of this abnormality: it was the 41st Psychic Battalion, who had come intending to save the civilians.
He had calculated whether it was safer to head toward the bunker or engage with the battalion, ultimately choosing the bunker because it was closer. But just then, the loud explosion from the battalion’s location confirmed that someone had drawn the monsters’ aggro recklessly.
‘That crazy bastard! I’ll make sure he pays!’
With the skeletons moving in one direction, Woo-hyun and Serin found it nearly impossible to clear the path.
Of course, as C-rank players, F-rank skeletons weren’t a problem. The real challenge was protecting the four family members.
In a sea of skeletons, moving while protecting the family was extremely difficult. When skeletons were spread out, they could push through slowly with firepower, but now, as the skeletons moved en masse in the opposite direction of the bunker, progress was impossible.
If moving previously felt like rowing through calm waters, now it was like breaking through a massive wave head-on.
Had the monsters been higher-rank but fewer in number, Woo-hyun and Serin could have handled them easily. But with overwhelming numbers of low-rank skeletons, they struggled.
Being human, there was a limit to how many monsters they could handle at once. If too many came at once, protecting the family became impossible.
“Erzebet!” Woo-hyun called the entity he had been concealing, and Erzebet materialized from his shoulder.
Pop!
“Protect my family!”
—Got it!—
At Woo-hyun’s shout, Erzebet immediately flew to the family’s location.
Almost immediately, a skeleton Woo-hyun and Serin had missed swung a rusty sword at Sun-hye. Erzebet timed it perfectly and blocked the attack.
<Blood Protection>
Kaang!!!
<Blood Slash>
Pakwa-gagang!!!
With a horizontal slash of her hand, Erzebet’s sword energy swept away the skeletons in front.
The overwhelming number of skeletons forced Woo-hyun and Serin to abandon clearing a path and instead form a triangular formation with Erzebet, focusing on protecting the family from the wave of skeletons.
Tatadadak!!! Paat—
At that moment, a skeleton broke through the triangle, rushing toward the four family members with a shabby shortsword.
“Damn it!”
“No!”
Woo-hyun and Serin retreated, but the skeleton had already reached the family. They bit their lips and closed their eyes, silently praying they wouldn’t get seriously hurt.
Then…
Kaaang!!!
A massive rose bloomed in front of Woo-hee, acting as a shield to block the skeleton’s sword.
Chorak—Pah!
Se-jun swung his hand, forming chains in the air that smashed the skeleton’s skull.
“Awakening…?” Woo-hyun muttered in shock.
“Oppa! Focus!” Woo-hee shouted.
Her words snapped Woo-hyun back to reality. Se-jun shouted to Serin:
“Don’t worry about us! Protect only the path!”
Now, the number of people able to defend outnumbered those needing protection. With Woo-hee and Se-jun’s awakening, the situation turned 180 degrees, allowing Woo-hyun and Serin to focus on clearing the path.
Some time later, bunker entrance
“Get inside!!”
Thanks to Woo-hee and Se-jun, Woo-hyun quickly cleared the path and got the four family members into the bunker.
“Oppa?!”
Woo-hyun and Serin hadn’t entered yet. Woo-hee shouted, and Woo-hyun replied:
“I need to save the others! Don’t worry, just go inside!”
“I want to come too!”
Woo-hee tried to follow, but Woo-hyun firmly replied:
“Then who protects Mom? And you’re not even an official player yet! Wait in the bunker!”
Woo-hee couldn’t argue against that.
Sun-hye hugged the frustrated Woo-hee and said to Woo-hyun:
“Son, if you come back injured, don’t expect dinner later.”
Woo-hyun smiled and replied:
“Don’t worry. I’m not weak enough to get hurt by a bunch of skeleton bones.”
With Sun-hye nodding, Woo-hyun pressed the button, and the elevator carrying Woo-hee, Sun-hye, Se-jun, and Joo-yeon descended to the underground bunker.
Thud—
With the family safely inside, Woo-hyun and Serin unleashed tremendous magical power.
Kwaga-gagaga!!!!!
Woo-hyun’s red magic and Serin’s blue magic were so powerful that they pressed down on the surrounding air. Their gaze turned to Lieutenant Colonel Choi Sung-ho, who was happily smashing Skeleton Knights and Wizards in the distance.
“Looks like that bastard, right?”
“Yeah. Definitely him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be handling monsters alone in this situation.”
Hwararararara!!!!
Jjeojeojeojeojeok!!!!
Flames erupted from Woo-hyun, and cold energy from Serin, freezing the surroundings rapidly.
“Let’s save the civilians first.”
“Right. That bastard can be dealt with later.”
Kwaaaaang!!!!!
Woo-hyun and Serin charged the skeletons, and the Dungeon Break was resolved almost instantly.
Some time later
“Hey! Na Sang-min! You bastard! Look! Everything got resolved without a single injury, just like I said!”
Lieutenant Colonel Choi Sung-ho shouted at Captain Na Sang-min, pocketing F+ rare monster magic stones he had defeated.
“Damn…”
As Choi leisurely hunted rare monsters alone, one of the subordinate team leaders, aware of Na Sang-min’s efforts running here and there, tried to intervene. Na Sang-min grabbed his shoulder:
“Stay put.”
“But Captain…!!”
“Leave him. That guy will soon be a half-corpse anyway.”
“…What…?”
After that, Woo-hyun and Serin, furious, flew at incredible speed toward the complacent Choi Sung-ho.
“You’re getting hit.”
“But I won’t kill you.”
Whooong—
Red and blue magic condensed to the extreme in their fists, and they struck at Choi at invisible speeds.
Kwaaang!!!!!!
Some time later, Dungeon Break site in Sejong City
Seo Hyun-gi, the Prime Minister of Sejong City, who had been working in the Prime Minister’s office, rushed to the scene when he heard that a Dungeon Break had occurred in the city center.
“R-…Respectfully!”
The second-highest official in the executive branch, when appearing at the site, received a hurried salute from a psychic soldier controlling access.
“Respectfully.”
After lightly acknowledging the salute, Seo Hyun-gi sought the commanding officer who had subdued the situation.
“I hear the 41st Psychic Battalion resolved this. Where is the battalion commander?”
“Th-…that is…”
Even though it was a simple question, the soldier struggled to answer. Seo Hyun-gi immediately sensed something was off.
Having spent years in politics, he didn’t waste time interrogating the soldier and went in to find the battalion commander himself.
