Chapter 53 — Chapter 52

Episode 11 – Night of the Prophets (4)

A red aura appeared around the meteorite and glowing lights shot all over the platform.

“Ohh! Finally!”

A prophet screamed.

Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung quickly approached me.

“Run away? What...”

It was too late. The red aura spread across the platform and a faint veil surrounded the station. Now none of the prophets would be able to leave Anguk Station.

[The constellations protest against the excessive filtering.]

[Many constellations’ eyes are shining at the ‘omen.’]

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ is watching the situation with curious eyes.]

[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ is expecting your brilliant strategy.]

The constellations were excited and sent me indirect messages.

The most dangerous situation in the world of Ways of Survival was one where the constellations were partying.

I asked the nervous Jung Minseob, “Was No. 1124 the one who suggested that you gather here today?”

“Huh? I don’t know. We all agreed together...”

I felt clogged up, like someone had fed me ten sweet potatoes. I couldn’t believe things had gone this far.

–Everybody move behind me.

I paid attention the meteorite while protecting them.

–Aren’t we running away?

–We can’t go.If you look behind, you can see a ward.

–Huh?What ward?

I didn’t answer as I stared at the meteorite in the centre of the platform.

[Meteorite] was the main event in the fifth scenario. The danger sleeping inside the meteorite would differ depending on the colour, brightness, size and type. However, the meteorite I was looking at now was one that should never hatch.

They seemed confused because the meteorite that gave the star relic in the third regression was ‘bright red’...

“I wonder what star relic will appear?”

“That...”

Some prophets hadn’t noticed yet and touched the meteorite.

[An omen of the fifth main scenario has appeared.]

Then the message popped up.

“Eh? What is this?”

“Why suddenly the main scenario...”

The surface of the meteorite cracked and a red light poured out. The first thing the light touched was the prophet staring at the meteorite with wonder.

The body of the prophet who lost his head slowly fell to the ground like a broken doll.

“What is going on?!”

The prophets screamed and retreated, but they were already unable to escape the crisis.

I took the party with me as I retreated to the edge and observed the situation. I remembered seeing this type of meteorite in Ways of Survival but it was tricky to know what would come out.

Please, don’t let it be that ‘disaster.’ The meteorite cracked and red lava poured out.

The surrounding platform burned and released a bad smell. Then the temperature of the air rose rapidly and breathing became painful.

The surrounding environment was changing. This... a lava zone? It meant...

[The 5th grade fire dragon species, ‘Lesser Dragon Igneel’ has appeared!]

“Fuck! What? The star relic...?”

Several confused prophets belatedly used skills. However, the meteorite stretched out a long tail and caught a few escaping prophets.

“Kuaaack!”

The body of the prophet that caught by the tail suddenly burned up. Some prophets used skills to attack the tail but their weapons started to melt.

“T-This monster...”

The meteorite was at most two metres in length, but the monster crawling out from the gap was over five metres long.

Jung Heewon asked.

–What the hell is this?

–It is a disaster.

–Disaster?

The remainder of the meteorite split apart and a dragon species entered this dimension.

Kuoooooh!

A violent dragon that was just born. Despite being a deteriorated version of a hatchling, a dragon still reigned at the apex of all monsters.

A 6th grade monster could wipe out all the prophets here and this was a 5th grade fire dragon.

“Yoo Jonghyuk-nim!”

Some of the prophets called out to me and all attention was still focused this way.

I frowned. The incident was caused by them yet they wanted me to solve it?

“Get back to the edges.”

Like an obedient puppy, everyone moved to a corner of the platform. The guys who were quick were already running upstairs from the platform. But.

“Shit, there’s a ward!”

The lesser dragon was a ‘disaster.’ In a situation where a disaster appeared, the size of the despair was different. At least, this was the pattern I knew.

Among Yoo Jonghyuk’s numerous regressions, he had definitely faced this guy.

I looked at the party members.

–A hidden scenario will soon start.

–Hidden scenario?

–This is a guy who shouldn’t have come out in the fourth scenario.It has an unusual difficulty so there will soon be an intervention.

In order to respond to this disaster, various benefits were needed in the fifth scenario. For example, if the blue meteorite came out...

But now we had nothing. Yes, something had to be given to balance us.

[Some constellations are complaining about the unusual scenario difficulty.]

Indeed. The next moment, sparks flew in the air and a small child-like presence appearance.

It wasn’t a low grade dokkaebi like Bihyung. He wore a tidy suit with two little horns on his head. He was an impressive guy with a small lump protruding from his side pocket.

I didn’t know his name but I knew what he was. He was an intermediate dokkaebi.

[Hrmm. This is difficult. How did you guys get this ‘root’? It was only installed recently...]

Once his voice rang out, the movements of the lesser dragon stopped. Indeed, it was possible for an intermediate dokkaebi to intervene in the scenario to this level.

[A disaster woke up in the fourth scenario?]

The emergence of an intermediate dokkaebi meant that the ‘early scenarios’ had almost come to an end.

As long as he took notice of this place, I would barely be able to see the contract benefits with Bihyung.

[Some constellations are poisonous so I can’t spare you... it is also hard to downgrade the difficulty...]

His gaze focused on me.

“But this isn’t right! We haven’t cleared the fourth scenario!” One prophet shouted.

I could see the prophets around him quickly covering his mouth. There was nothing good about yelling at a dokkaebi right now.

[I have decided. I won’t downgrade the difficulty.]

The prophets glared at the dokkaebi. There was only the sound of breathing. They had read Ways of Survival so they would know.

The dokkaebi couldn’t overturn the laws. But they also knew this.

[Still... it won’t be interesting if you all die this way. I will use my discretion to change the scenario content.]

The dokkaebi was more talkative than I thought.

[The hidden scenario has arrived!]

The lesser dragon started moving again. The red leather-covered paws hit the floor of the platform. I avoided the scattered debris and looked at the scenario that arrived.

+

[Hidden Scenario – United You Die, Scattered You Die]

Category: Hidden

Difficulty: A

Clear Conditions: Within the time limit, hunt down the ‘lesser dragon Igneel’ or survive his attacks.

Time Limit: 20 minutes.

Compensation: 3,000 coins

Failure: Death

Hidden pieces are hidden in this mission.

+

A 20 minute survival mission. From the title to the contents, it was ridiculous.

Lee Hyunsung asked.

–Do we have to hunt him?

–No, don’t even dream about it.

This disaster is a disaster for a reason. Even the real Yoo Jonghyuk couldn’t catch a 5th grade fire dragon. I looked at the situation on the platform. Flowing flames started pouring out.

Kwa kwa kwa kwa!

“Kuaaack!”

The prophets caught in the flames turned to ashes. The walls burned by the flames melted and distorted terribly. He was slowly moving to this side.

“Everyone run counterclockwise!”

I opened my mouth and ran ahead of the rotation direction.

Fortunately, Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung followed me well. Jung Minseob and Lee Sungkook were a bit behind but they still seemed okay.

This time, we avoided it because I knew the pattern. The problem was that this type of attack wouldn’t always occur.

[The 5th grade fire dragon species, ‘Lesser Dragon Igneel’ is preparing the ‘Flames of Destruction’.]

...It had started. We somehow avoided the general attack but the crisis came now.

“Look for a foothold.”

“Yes?”

“Number 5... or 2 and 3! Anyway, just quickly find something that adds up to 5!”

[A hidden piece is activated.]

[Numerical footholds are activated.]

[Once the appropriate number of people enters the foothold, ‘Absolute Shield’ can be activated in 10 seconds.]

[Absolute Shield won’t activate when the number on the foothold is exceeded.]

The prophets all heard this system message. At the same time, footholds the size of two pyeong appeared all over the station.

“Footholds? Ah, right!”

“There is a hidden piece!”

I looked at the moving prophets and bit my lips. The giggling constellations reflected in my eyes. Why did many constellations protest against the difficulty of the scenario?

It was simple. There was no fun in a story with ‘only death.’ They didn’t want ants being trampled by a giant. These guys wanted the ants to fight back to survive. In order to live, the ants would even bit at their kin.

[Many constellations are watching the situation with excited eyes.]

Damn constellation scum.

“Shit, go!”

“Kuheeok!”

The prophets, who had called each other’s numbers in a friendly manner, now wielded their weapons against each other to fight over the footholds with the number ‘1.’ Some prophets collapsed bleeding as they approached a foothold.

The swift prophets were already stepping on the footholds, strengthening their alertness.

I kept an eye on them. Someone had clearly planned this trap. Maybe they were the apostles.

They knew the prophets would gather her and decided to use this opportunity to wipe out those who stopped reading early.

It was a good idea. No matter how trivial the information, the fewer who knew the future, the better.

Usually, the apostles would be laughing at the prophets from far away. If they were ‘ordinary’ people.

Those who read more than 50 chapters of a boring novel weren’t normal. They called themselves apostles and were greedy enough to control information.

‘If they were intelligent enough to use the red meteor as a trap, wouldn’t they know how to overcome the disaster?

If I was like this...

–Representative-nim!There is no foothold.

–There is nothing here!

Jung Heewon and Jung Minseob cried out urgently. There were no footholds in the place where out party was located.

–Oh, there is one here!But...

The foothold that was barely found had an ominous number. Four. In other words, only four people could survive on that foothold. But our party had five people.

[The 5th grade fire dragon species, ‘Lesser Dragon Igneel’ is using the ‘Flames of Destruction’.]

A huge spark started from the centre of the platform and started to spread throughout the station.

It was a lesser dragon’s full attack skill. The heat was enough to burn my skin despite being so far away. If the shield wasn’t activated now, my party would be destroyed.

“R-Representative-nim?”

Lee Sungkook and Jung Minseob trembled as they met my gaze. I grasped the handle of Unbroken Faith.

At that moment.

“Yoo Jonghyuk-nim!”

I looked back and saw one prophet. The number ‘2’ was written on his foothold. Despite the urgent situation, this man still looked relaxed.

“Come this way!”

This guy...? A few memories passed by quickly. I ran towards him while shouting at the people behind him.

“Activate the shield!”

[Absolute Shield is activated!]

Kuoooooh!

Then the flames burned everything on the platform. If it had touched me just a little bit then I would’ve melted.

“Sigh... I’m glad.”

The man who triggered the shield at breathtaking timing sighed with relief. I asked him, “Who are you?”

The man laughed lightly. “I’m disappointed. Have you already forgotten? I am No. 1168. About Asmodeus...”

I remembered. He was the one who spoke to me about Demon King Asmodeus.

“That isn’t my question.”

The eyes of No. 1168 shook.

I hadn’t thought about it before.

The scene of the confrontation between Demon King Asmodeus and Yoo Jonghyuk. To be precise, the second regression Yoo Jonghyuk was one-sidedly beaten by the demon king.

It was a scene I remembered because I really liked it. However... this recollection didn’t appear before chapter 50. I could say it with certainty as the full reader of Ways of Survival.

I pulled out my blade and opened my mouth.

“I will ask you again. Who are you?”

[Due to the effect of your exclusive attribute, the memory effect of some scenes have increased.]

The story of Demon King Asmodeus appeared exactly in chapter 57 of Ways of Survival.

A crack started to spread in this man’s relaxed expression.