TRPM 10

CHAPTER 10

In the heart of Yeouido lay a massive park, and within it, a gigantic Gate had appeared.

“Damn… This isn’t some Awakener General Assembly, but I never thought I’d see all these people I normally don’t even run into.”

“I agree. To be honest, yours is a face I’d rather not have to look at.”

“… Are you done talking?”

All around the Gate, South Korea’s most renowned Awakeners—the strongest of the strong—had gathered, taking up positions.

“What did you say the monsters at the entrance were again?”

“Trolls and ogres.”

“Ha… trolls and ogres. One’s a pain to kill, and the other’s disgustingly strong….”

A troublesome combination.

That was what every Awakener present thought.

Most of those gathered here were veterans. Even the younger ones, though low in years, had already been famous since their days at high school or the Awakener academies.

But even for them, trolls and ogres were tricky opponents.

“The teams are roughly set, right?”

“Yeah. We’ve got about one promising rookie assigned to every three or four veterans. With that balance, splitting trolls and ogres apart and taking them down individually shouldn’t be too hard.”

“And the mages and spirit summoners to keep them separated?”

“They’re gathered over there preparing.”

Still—difficult was all it was.

Awakeners, who had grown accustomed to fighting a wide array of monsters, weren’t all that nervous.

“Hey, rookies! Don’t get too tense! If you make a small mistake, the big brothers and sisters next to you will cover it.”

“… Do you really want to be called ‘big brother’ or ‘big sister’ at your age?”

“What’s with the attitude all of a sudden….”

They joked like that, waiting at ease.

After all, the time to cross the Gate into the dungeon had already been set. Staying tense until then would only drain them mentally. Veterans knew this well, and so they sat down, telling the nervous rookies to do the same and rest.

“Sure, it’s a big Gate, but no need to worry too much. There’ve been larger ones before, and nothing went too badly then, right?”

“Well, I guess you’re right….”

Just as the rookies were about to sit down, reassured by the veterans’ words—

“Yeah, it’s only been three hours since this Gate appeared. Usually, a Gate doesn’t start spewing monsters until at least seventy-two hours have passed.”

Which meant nothing should be coming out yet.

… That should have been the case.

Boom…

“?!”
“?!”
“?!”

Veterans and rookies alike felt it—a strange pulse.

“… Hey, no way….”

“… Yeah, that’s….”

It was the kind of wave that came when a Gate began releasing monsters—or black mist.

“But it’s only been three hours since it appeared…?”

“… Just passed three hours and fourteen minutes….”

An anomaly.

An anomaly no one had predicted.

Luckily, every Awakener who sensed the pulse leapt to their feet immediately, but—

‘Damn… everyone’s scattered around resting.’

Because of that, no proper formation was in place. Veterans tried to quickly rally those near them into groups, but one squad might have only frontliners, another only rearguards. Formations were haphazard.

Uwoooohhh…!

Already, ogres and trolls were spilling out of the Gate.

It was too late to run to their assigned squads and form up properly.

Realizing that, one veteran shouted:

“Don’t panic! Ogres and trolls are big, which means they’re slow! Knights, carry the mages and summoners and you can dodge their—”

“Watch out!”

“!”

He couldn’t finish.

A flying axe came hurtling toward him.

Barely—just barely—he dodged, as befit a veteran, then turned to look where it had come from.

“… Orcs?”

“Kruek…!”

“Not just orcs!”

From the Gate poured not only ogres and trolls—

“Goblins, orcs, ogres, trolls….”

“Heh… basically every green-skinned thing in existence.”

Individually weak, but numerous and cunning—goblins.
Strong-bodied and armed with weapons—orc warriors.
Dim-witted but possessing strength enough to smash buildings in one blow—ogres.
And trolls—ordinarily docile, but gifted with incredible regeneration, hard to kill.

“… We’re screwed.”

If it had been only ogres and trolls, things would’ve been manageable.

They were slow. That alone made them beatable.

But goblins and orcs were different.

They were smart.

They wouldn’t allow Awakeners to simply sidestep ogre and troll attacks at will.

“… Uwooooohhh!”

As Awakeners broke into a cold sweat, realizing what they faced, the first ogre to cross the Gate roared.

And then—

“Kehehehe!”
“Pfwiiiit!”
“Ooooohhh….”

The horde of monsters charged.

The Yeouido Massacre

Also known as the Greenskin Wave, this incident was said to be both an ambush and an experiment by the Black Mist.

Previously, the Black Mist had put at most one or two monster types into a dungeon. But this time, it had crammed in multiple species, then forcibly bypassed the Awakener System that normally restricted it, spewing out monsters a mere three hours after the Gate’s birth.

‘And it didn’t just happen in Korea, either.’

Similar events erupted in major cities across the globe.

It wasn’t a Korean problem alone.

… Not that I could go abroad and help them.

Regardless, the ambush was a success.

Different monsters, complementing each other’s strengths and weaknesses, launched coordinated attacks. Even the strongest Awakeners failed to adapt, and many perished.

‘Of course, the Black Mist overextended itself for this.’

In fact, right after this incident, the amount of Black Mist spread across the seas dropped by about one-third.

For the next ten years, nothing like it happened again, and the number of new dungeons fell drastically.

With that in mind, I looked at the swarming green-skinned monsters pouring from the Gate.

Then I turned my gaze to my arm—
or rather, the doll’s arm.

“… Alright.”

From the doll’s mouth came my voice.

Not the voice of my elementary-school body, but my voice before regression.

By then I had already passed fifty, but thanks to my internal energy, aging slowed, and through repeated rebirth and refinement, I looked like someone in their late twenties.

Thus, the doll’s appearance was that of a man in his late twenties as well.

But that wasn’t important now.

I poured internal energy into the artifact attached to the doll’s arm.

Light flared from the artifact, shaping itself into a sword about the size of the doll’s own body.

“….”

The sword once wielded by the Orc Lord.

I grabbed it and gave it a light swing.

Its balance was poor—just a sturdy hunk of metal—but it was enough.

“Leap.”

With a spell of Word Magic, I vaulted onto a nearby rooftop.

Then—

“Target—Fall.”

Again, with Word Magic, I marked a target and plunged toward it.

Finally, as I closed in—

“Strike.”

My blade drove straight into its weak point.

Kraaashhh!

The troll was cleaved in two on the spot.

No matter how tough or regenerative trolls were, split clean in half like this, death was unavoidable.

Thud.

“….”
“….”
“….”

As the bisected troll crashed to the ground, silence followed, and all eyes turned to me.

Not just the Awakeners fighting the horde, but even the monsters themselves—those charging ahead, those circling behind—all looked at me.

“… Uwoooohhh!”

Then, roaring in rage, an ogre swung at me.

Different species or not, maybe it had some sense of kinship.

It bellowed as if determined to crush me.

“Danger…!”

Several Awakeners cried out, trying to rush to my aid—

Boom!

But its fist fell before they could move.

“This… can’t be!”
“Damn it…! Focus! Whoever that was, no matter how strong, this battlefield can take anyone in a second!”
“… Y-Yes…!”

… That’s irritating.

I thought so as I casually severed the ogre’s hand.

Slice—

“Uwoooohhh?!”

The ogre howled, thrashing in pain as its hand fell in pieces.

“No way…!”
“He’s alive! That man’s still alive!”

Of course I was.

More importantly—

‘Not even scratched.’

I looked at my body—or rather, the doll’s body—and thought so.

Bones of Eternal Cold Iron, muscles and flesh woven from the World Tree’s branches.

An ogre’s brute strength couldn’t so much as nick me.

Physically, I surpassed even my pre-regression self.

‘The Awakener System really gave me a fine gift.’

Thinking so, I looked at the one-handed ogre glaring at me in agony.

But it didn’t rush in recklessly.

“Familiar reaction.”

Yes.

Any monster standing before me ought to feel it.

To sense the gulf in lifeforms.

To tremble in fear.

“And to be so crushed by fear you can’t even meet my eyes.”

Saying that, I lightly swung my sword at its legs.

I was still a bit away, so the blade didn’t actually reach it—

Slice.

“Uwoooohhh?!”

Yet its legs were cleanly severed, and it toppled forward.

Its neck landed just at my side.

I swung once more.

Decapitation.

The ogre’s head rolled, its face frozen in pain.

“Now then, next….”

I turned toward the Gate.

It rippled—

“Uwoooohhh!”
“Uwaaaahhh!”

More ogres and trolls, enraged by their kin’s deaths, came flooding out.

Of course, there weren’t just one or two inside.

Records say there had been twelve ogres and seven trolls in total.

‘Eleven ogres and six trolls left.’

All of them spilling out.

I tightened both hands on my sword.

Lowering my stance, blade level.

‘Feels just like before regression.’

At the very end, after giving Serenity Lee Ha-eun a funeral, when the barrier collapsed and the monsters swarmed in—this was the same technique I’d used.

A light horizontal slash.

But—

Kraaaashhh!

The result was anything but light.

Every ogre and troll crossing through the Gate lost their upper halves to my swing.