Chapter 32: Chapter 25: Spokesperson (5)

I sat in a makeshift tent, looking at the map of the station and wanting to hold my head and cry from stress.

A blue coloured flag contraption was placed on the table.

We had taken over several stations whilst speed running, and luckily, in these few hours, three of the two stations we took over were ones who were newly added into the main scenario.

Indeed, rushing like this was a risky endeavor, and many of the actions were done on the fly, but there was a silver lining in the darkness.

It was the fact that I was one of the few people with the highest possible stats.

Well, it's a good thing I don't have to use wits for this sort of thing. I thought to myself.

"Hey, done looking at the map?" Mrs. Wang called on me. She came in without notice. Again. I was used to it though.

After coming this far, people were restocking on some of the items they needed, or taking a well-needed break after rushing for this long.

The stations were not converted into a force, per-se, as I let the people who were running it continue on as usual.

We didn't have the time to micro-manage them at the moment.

Of course, when I came across a situation where one of the stations was not chill with my decision and was trying to send a messenger to another allied station to take me down, I set up an example of them.

Needless to say, they didn't want to taste the punishment held by the representative any time soon.

Still, sighing, I replied to Mrs. Wang.

"As we don't have much time left in the day, we have to push straight through, or we won't make it. Therefore, we are going to have to go to plan B and split our forces. Team 'Stations' will need to follow Su Peng, and Team 'Conquer' is going with me straight to Jung Youngho."

It was a plan thought up mostly by Su Peng, and worked on by the other people in that small dingy closet.

Honestly, why am I the leader?  Su Peng would make a great leader. And besides, I'm not leader material. I'm more of a contributing member. 

Alas, I decided to accept the fact that I was more leader-in-name than anything.

"Are you sure leaving just Gravy behind (at Bonghwasan station) will be fine?" Mrs. Wang expressed her concern to me more than once during our rush.

It was clear she was concerned about her people.

"Do you not trust her?" I looked Mrs. Wang in the eye.

"I do. I just don't trust you." She replied back.

"Cool, didn't ask for your opinion about that." I waved it off, now that Mrs. Wang had said this for the nth time.

"Get everyone ready to set out." I commanded as if I was saying a suggestion in a passing, staying in my position in the make-shift tent I borrowed from the current station we were staying at.

"Oh, and, take this." I threw something over.

"What?" Mrs. Wang's eyes popped out when she recognized the object in her hands.

"You know what to do with it." I waved my hand, telling her she could go.

Mrs. Wang rolled her eyes, but did not dally.

The flutter of the tent flap, and Mrs. Wang was gone, leaving me behind by myself.

"...Am I doing the right thing?" I mused to myself, under my breath. A singular sentence as the only utterance I would allow, for I bottled up all other rants threatening to spill out of my lips.

Making sure I was fully ready, I parted the tent flap and exited from it.

"Leader." Su Peng nodded his head as he walked up after noticing I was out.

"Did Mrs. Wang inform you?" I asked.

"Yes." Su Peng answered, and gestured to the team members he was going to bring along with him.

I made my sound of affirmation. I understood what he meant, and parted ways by giving him a high five.

As I approached Mrs. Wang who had gathered team 'Conquer', she looked at me and spoke,

"Took you long enough."

"Mm, is everyone ready?" I answered with a question directed at everyone.

 Although they all answered me at various intervals, it was concluded that they all were finished preparing.

I took a breath in and said something that was on my mind.

"When all this fighting is over, and we have a moment of reprieve, I would like to hear your stories."

"Stories?" One of them curiously spoke out.

"Yes, what you guys were doing before the scenario. I don't know much about you all, and I would like to learn more." I smiled.

Everyone remained silent at my words.

Perhaps they weren't sure how to react to my words, of a promise that could only be fulfilled if they still stuck together with me, or even if they would survive to tomorrow.

Or the fact that they were hesitant to peek out of the shells they built around themselves after feeling the uncertain world around them.

Still, there were other reasons I didn't know holding them back from answering my question, and that was fine.

I wasn't expecting an answer anyway.

Walking past the people, I was the first to leap down to the abandoned subway tracks, the howling wind beckoning me into the dim corridor.

The rails beneath me crunched as the steps of the other members caught up, jumping down after me.

Mrs. Wang took the rear of the group, and we set off as noiselessly as possible.

No one lit up the place, or that would reveal our position. Still, people could now see better in the dark, or had their other senses enhanced as they integrated with the new world.

As we continued our journey, breaching the territory of the Tyrant King and the stations he had conquered, my palms grew more sweating.

I had to keep discreetly wiping them on my now new clothes, but the sticky sweat residue continued to linger on my palms, ensuring the fact that my hands would continue to be clammy.

Slowly moving back to tap the person behind me, and so on, everyone received the signal to change formation.

Using a durable but near-imperceptible thread connected between all us, we spread out further and lowered ourselves as we moved forward in the darkness.

Sending a certain frequency using a secret communication only we knew, we were able to use this string to our advantage.

Roughly, I was asking:

Scouts, have you detected any living forms, traps, or the fact we have been discovered?

And the simple answer I got was:

None so far.

Unfortunately, while it was better than being completely blind, scouts at this time were not powerful enough to detect everything.

Still, I could only trust them now as we continued.

At this stage, I was already late to buying a detection skill, due to having an inadequate amount of coins in the early days of the scenarios.

However...

My nerves were stretched taut as the burden of human lives slowly fell upon my shoulders at every second.

These people were ones I dragged into my conflict of my own accord, and so too fell the responsibility.

My heart beat loud and fast, and I was worried it would overtake my sense of hearing.

In the eerie silence and darkness, I felt like an isolated being, an easy picking to take out.

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Is it me, or is it too quiet?

We did spray on a scent undetectable to the human nose to be absolutely abhorrent to the magical beast dwellers, which reduced the risk of attracting those moles, snakes, rats and bats, but there should still be activity of them in the area.

But here...there was nothing.

Something's wrong.

I quickly thought deeply about this fact, as my suspicions only magnified my unease.

Realization at my late reaction blossomed.

We had already been ambushed.

In that case, there's no point in keeping silent anymore.

Judging by how they knew my route, it seemed one of my pretty-bad scenarios turned out to be true.

"Stop." My voice was unnervingly loud in the quiet.

The people connected by the strand followed my command.

"I know you are out there. There's no purpose to hide anymore." I spoke these words more loudly.

In-front of me, as if a mirage was being ripped away, the air rippled and twisted like a table-cloth would, and a palanquin was being carried by four bearers appeared in-front of our eyes.

The shimmer of carved gold dazzled from the fire source floating through the air.

Atop sat a lofty figure lazily strewn across the seat.

In his hand, he held a table-cloth that bent the image of reality.

[Item: Invisibility Cloak Replica]

Rating: A+

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It possessed an effect similar to Hades's helmet, but it could only cover one side, could not block physical nor magical attacks, and the bearer of the cloth had to be still.

"Oho, so you noticed?" An unruly light flickered across the eyes of the person who possessed the 'regal' voice.

He huffed as he rose from his position, the cape strewn over his shoulders shifting its rippling coverage.

He snapped his fingers, and the flame rushed at me.

I stood my ground, and the flame swerved its way around the faces of the group, returning to its owner's hand at last.

"You don't look that bad. Surrender peacefully, and be absorbed into my kingdom!" Saying such pompous words, I wanted to cringe so hard despite the situation I was in.

"Now," His voice climbed low, "Kill the rest."

The people laying in ambush jumped out, and the strings around me moved as some people in my group began to turn on each other.

These traitors had finally been lured out.

Mm, it was a good choice to buy this string.

I thought, as the people who were attacking, connected by my string, suddenly froze by a mysterious force.

The moment these strings were equipped, those whose intentions turned to hostility would be immobilized.

Gripping the strings laced with tension, I whipped the people frozen by the force at the incoming people, effectively causing them to become a meat shield.

Looking at them, I knew they weren't evil people. For some of them who were instantly cut up, they would never have a happy ending.

Still, this was my choice. It was something I resolved myself to do ever since we began trekking down this subway path.

Another tally of sins to add up.

As they fell to the ground and the string slackened as I recalled them, I forced down the tremors and nausea of having killed and forged ahead.

The people who weren't traitors in my group were unable to react to the overturning situation, but they couldn't think further as they resisted the wave of enemies.

In this suddenly chaotic situation, where I desperately blocked the attacks of the Tyrant King's underlings before they could land through the blind spots of my allies using my superior agility and strength, a person at the very rear shifted.

"Mrs. Wang?!" I called out, dodging out of the way of a club bearing down on my head with ease.

"Sorry, my life is in danger. I never intended to follow a brat like you anyways." Mrs. Wang's voice was heard in the distance as she slipped farther and farther away from the battle.

I wanted to give chase, but was forced to block more attacks.

The king upon his throne and four palanquin carriers made no move at the sudden drama, as when Jung Youngho hadn't deigned to actively participate in the ambush.

He only watched the proceedings in amusement, and chortled as Mrs. Wang disappeared.

A few of the underlings made way to block Mrs. Wang's way, but her gear made it so that she was too quick to be caught, and she soon carved a path out of the encirclement.

"Leave her. Sooner or later, she will have nowhere to run." Jung Youngho laughed, immersed in his play as his affinity with his sponsor grew.

Frustrated at Jung Youngho's cringey acting, I channeled that into my voice.

"Arrrrgh!" I screamed, and my attacks began to tilt onto the offensive in berserk.

This should be convincing enough, right? Besides, I really am angry.

"Mr-Mrs. Wang betrayed us?" A heart-retching cry was heard among one of the team members, who almost got fatally wounded at this in-attention.

At the sight of someone nearly being done in, I pushed down the dread rearing its head, and forced my body to move more quickly.

Becoming a flurry of a silhouette, I forced back the underlings just by myself.

It was a good thing the only powerful one was Jung Youngho, as he would never allow another powerful person among his ranks.

By the effort of a person who had the wide gulf of stats as an advantage, I was able to gradually push the other side into a disadvantageous position.

I made sure they had no chance to injure my current allies.

Alongside, I was chugging down stamina potions that I bought from the Dokkaebi store by using the coins of the people in the stations I conquered.

"Haha, well done! You have exceeded my expectations." 

A series of loud claps resounded, and like they received a prior command, the underlings backed away from their assault to create a tight-lid encirclement.

The four team members of mine who were not spies or traitors flinched and cowered momentarily at a new status bearing down at them.

Their faces painted despair in-front of the aura of a tyrannical king.

Although they attempted to remain strong, even the slight leakage of Jung Youngho's sponsor using his incarnation as a medium was overwhelming for the current state of incarnations.

Jung Youngho rose from his throne leisurely.

Below, the palanquin bearers tacitly lowered the palanquin and lowered their heads as Jung Youngho unhurriedly stepped off and strode in our direction.

I pushed my hair that had partially come undone in the fight back to clear my vision.

"This king is seeking a way to vent on a sufficient felon. You'll do nicely."

From now on, it would not only be a fight against Jung Youngho, but also time.

 

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