Chapter 237 (Part 2)
Chapter 237: 10th Wave (Part 2)
‘Alright. I’ll move when there’s about 3 minutes left…’
That’s when it happened.
Four men suddenly clung to him like leeches.
“W-what the hell?! Let me go!”
With each limb grabbed by one of the men, he couldn’t move an inch.
He tried to check their nicknames to see if he recognized them.
‘Yang Chiwen, Zhang Sowei, Dark Soul, Spaniard…? I’ve never seen these guys before.’
It was bewildering to have strangers holding his arms and legs for no reason.
“Let me go! You bastards!”
“…”
The four men remained silent, their expressions blank like machines executing orders.
‘This is insane! I’m on the verge of carrying out a huge mission, and these lunatics…’
Because they were in the same party, he couldn’t deal any damage, leaving him helpless.
“Hey, come on. Why are you doing this? Do you even know me? Of course not. So why?”
No answer.
All he could do was struggle, but with four men pinning his limbs down, his body felt like a soaked rag, too heavy to move.
“What’s going on? Why are four guys clinging to him?”
“Is this some kind of weird stunt?”
“Gays nowadays… all the way in the otherworld?”
“Wow, that’s some commitment.”
Soso Mukbang, desperate to clear up the misunderstanding, shouted back.
“You’re wrong! It’s not what you think! I don’t even know these guys!”
“Yeah, right. They’re clinging to you pretty happily.”
“I’m telling you, let go! Let go, you leech bastards!”
He struggled, but there was no way to shake off the combined strength of four people.
Seeing no other option, he began shouting for help.
“Help me! I don’t know these people, and they’re holding me down! Please, get them off me!”
“You don’t know them?”
“Really?”
A few people seemed tempted to help, but then, the Messiah members, who had been silent, spoke up.
“I’ll do better from now on.”
“We used to be close, didn’t we?”
“Please, Mukbang, don’t leave me.”
“I love you, bro.”
That last line from Dark Soul was the final straw, causing the doubters to turn away with curled lips.
“That figures.”
“Can’t believe I doubted it.”
As the crowd dispersed, Soso Mukbang, panicking, cried out again.
“Hey, wait! I don’t know them! Please, help me!”
“No need to interfere in someone else’s love life.”
“Good luck with your relationship.”
Everyone walked away, thinking it was just a silly incident.
In the end, no one remained within 10 meters of him except the four men clinging to him like leeches.
—
Watching the helpless Soso Mukbang, who had been trapped by the Messiah members, Ryu Min smirked.
‘Even if I can’t kill him, I can stop him from moving.’
The order Ryu Min had given to the Messiah members was simple.
Each of them was to cling to one of Soso Mukbang’s limbs like a leech.
And if anyone seemed like they might help, they were to act like heartbroken lovers, spouting lines of affection.
It worked perfectly.
Not only could Soso Mukbang not get close, but all he could do was glare at Ryu Min from afar.
‘That takes care of the threat.’
A trash player had dared to plot against him from the shadows.
‘Though I can’t do anything since we’re in the same party, I’ll make sure to settle this when the round ends.’
Grinding his teeth, Ryu Min prepared for the 10th wave.
It was about to begin.
A chaotic wave.
‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1…’
As the timer hit zero, the final wave was revealed.
[10th Wave]
[Players: 4,608 vs One Predator Bug]
[There is no time limit for this round.]
[To clear the round, kill the Predator Bug!]
The players blinked, unable to believe what they were seeing.
“One enemy?”
“A Predator Bug? Is it a boss?”
They had fought thousands of monsters, sometimes hundreds of high orcs, but facing just one enemy was a first.
“It’s fine. With 5,000 players, we can handle anything, right?”
“Yeah, plus we’ve got Black Scythe.”
But the players’ confidence wavered when they saw the next message.
[To maintain balance, special rules will be applied.]
[The special rule for the 10th wave will not be disclosed.]
“Not disclosed?”
The opponent had been revealed, but the rule was hidden.
It was unsettling, but soon, the players regained their confidence.
No matter what the rule was, as long as Black Scythe was with them, they believed they would be fine.
Ryu Min himself had been confident.
Until he experienced it firsthand.
‘Was it the 44th round? I once died fighting a Predator Bug without knowing anything.’
Back then, he had been brimming with confidence due to his immense growth and skills.
Without taking time to understand the special rule, he rushed in and died.
‘Looking back now, I realize how foolish I was. I should’ve at least watched others and figured out the rule… But even then, would it have changed the outcome?’
The undisclosed special rule was simple:
Damage reflection.
Whether it was physical or magical, any damage dealt to the Predator Bug was reflected back at the attacker.
A staggering 90% of the damage.
‘So you have to endure 90% of the damage and defeat it with just 10%.’
But it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
Unless you were a tank, who could withstand their own damage?
For DPS players, the Predator Bug was like a natural counter.
‘Countless players threw themselves at it and died to their own damage. Thousands of them.’
Whether it was melee or ranged attacks, the damage reflection rule applied equally.
That’s why no matter how many players attacked, the Predator Bug couldn’t be defeated, and eventually, they were left scrambling to escape.
Once they realized attacking meant certain death.
‘But running doesn’t solve anything.’
As the message had stated, there was no time limit for the 10th wave.
Running wouldn’t change anything.
Even worse, a translucent barrier prevented anyone from escaping.
“Grooarrrk!”
From the front, a massive Predator Bug appeared.
It had a face like a toad, but its outer shell was as hard as an insect’s exoskeleton, and it waddled toward them with a body the size of a house.
Its appearance might have looked somewhat ridiculous, but…
‘It’s no laughing matter. That thing’s tongue moves faster than lightning.’
Its long tongue could snatch up players and swallow them whole.
There was no way to avoid it.
The only option was to kill it.
‘In the past, thousands of players sacrificed themselves before it was finally defeated. But now?’
There was no need for mass sacrifice.
Because Ryu Min was here.
“W-what’s with that giant toad thing?”
“Don’t be scared! We just need to rush it all together…”
“Everyone, stay back.”
Ryu Min stopped the overly confident players from charging in and stepped forward.
“I’ll handle it.”
Even with the 90% damage reflection, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Because Ryu Min had an unbeatable trump card.