Level 1 Player (MT Novel) - Chapter 54

Chapter 54. The Water Snake (Part 2)

The Water Snake moved freely through North Korea. If it headed south, Korea would be in imminent danger, and if it headed north, China and Russia would be forced to declare a state of emergency. The speed of this creature is excessively high, the monster travels about a hundred kilometers a day and has already managed to incinerate the whole of North Korea.

North Korea’s army proved unable to resist the Water Snake.

The gates that opened in Pyongyang were never able to close. Monsters like Wyvern and Drake constantly emerged from them, the same ones from which the Water Snake appeared. These creatures, from another world, were uncontrollable. They quickly took out all humans they encountered.

This was only the beginning.

The military leadership and the Players, who couldn’t handle the flying monsters, decided to split up.

Honestly, since Pyongyang disappeared, the military had no chance to win, because even the top Rankers and High Level Players had fallen as one in the battle with the Water Snake. Without them, the military didn’t deal with such critters.

The problems did not bypass the dungeons either. Because of the Water Snake and the other dangerous monsters that came out of the spatial gate, hunting in the regular dungeons stopped, so the brood of regular monsters spawned a wave, flocking outward.

Since then, North Korea has been deserted; monsters now rule there. And all civilian and army survivors became refugees in South Korea.

***

The Association urgently mobilized all Players. The government assigned top Rankers and high level Players to the front lines to defend the borders, in case Water Snake headed south, along with the monsters from the dungeons that had broken free.

But Water Snake was in no hurry to head south, and time was running out, causing discontent to rise among the top Rankers and High Level Players.

– How much longer are we going to fight this little thing?

– You don’t say. We’ve been doing nothing for over a week now. It does more harm than good.

They were hunting monsters that hadn’t even reached level two hundred. It’s like a man with a gun that can slaughter a cow going after a chicken. The government gave them a stipend, but for top-rankers and high-level Players such sums were suitable only for pocket expenses.

With the increase in discontent in their ranks came another problem. The high-level dungeons located in South Korea began to show signs of a wave. Because of the mobilization, hunting in them ceased, and no one controlled the monster population.

As a result, after much deliberation, the High Level Players, based on their skills and levels, were divided by the government into two categories: the higher and the lower. The higher group stayed on the front line to keep the monsters out of South Korea, while the lower group moved around the country to sweep the dungeons.

The government even provided a helicopter for the lower group to move around. The higher group resented it, while the lower group rejoiced.

– At last it would be possible to really hunt!

– Goodbye, dead-end place!

But their joy was short-lived. Because of the second cataclysm the number of high level dungeons had greatly increased. There were too many for a dedicated group. And after the cataclysm, they did not even have time to rest, because they hunted all day and all night.

– We’d have been better off staying on the border…

– Yeah. They don’t let us breathe at all!

Despite the incessant dungeon sweeps, it wasn’t long before the waves made their presence felt.

And the Players were once again at the top of their lungs in outrage.

Understandably, the country was not in the best domestic and foreign situation right now and they were following the orders of the government, but the players had little patience left. In order to prevent a second cataclysm, they did everything in their power, not resting and forever wheeling from one dungeon to the next.

After the second cataclysm, the Players enjoyed the freedom they had been given, but once again they declared a mobilization. The higher group defending the frontier had no chance to level up, and were simply losing money. There were occasions when monsters defected from North Korea, but they were negligible. This happened very rarely, and all of them did not exceed a rare level. It is impossible to get any experience or items out of them. For the higher group, it was just a waste of time and money. And the lower group had no problem with it, Players got into dungeons of the appropriate level. The only thing they complained about was the lack of any kind of respite.

Someone even suggested reducing the highest group and increasing the lowest group at its expense. But the suggestion was immediately rejected when the question arose: what would the rest of the higher group do if the Water Snake attacked. No one knew the level of this creature, which had destroyed all of North Korea.

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By reducing the number of High-Level Players, the chance of repeating the fate of the North increases manifold.

In the meantime, the top Rankers and High-Level Players suffered losses.

– Aaah!

“He’s unbelievable!” – I participated in the hunt as part of the higher group on the frontier and frankly, I couldn’t contain my excitement.

– Gha-ah-arg! – A regular level monster came at me.

But I quickly drew my sword and dealt with the creature.

Waiting on the border.

I’m not complaining because I can get points and even some items from the monsters I kill here. I’ve already accumulated so many achievements that I can’t keep track of them. But that can be dealt with later.

Here on the front lines, I’ve been hunting monsters with the other Players in the Association. The state border line between South and North Korea is long, so naturally, only top Rankers and High Level Players couldn’t cover it all. Apart from them, the border was defended by Players directly under the Association.

I even met a few familiar faces and worked with them to clear the approaching monsters.

– Ahhhh!

Both Lee Soo Young and So Tae Chul were here.

I, on the other hand, was running around the front line, firing indiscriminately, thus sweeping away all the monsters. Because of the speed of what was going on, I was oblivious to both the dripping experience and the falling out items.

“How much longer am I going to do this?” – I muttered to myself as I scattered the monsters.

The fact that I wasn’t complaining much didn’t cancel out my dissatisfaction. Yes, I had gained a lot of achievements, but I had also lost my free time. I wasn’t able to distract myself by selling the items I received! Well, at least, thanks to my sister, I have a safe in the house near the front where I keep them.

“Can’t we attack first?”

Advance north.

Recapture the land of North Korea, and then capture the Water Snake. You could kill two birds with one stone. But the South Korean government is either too cautious or too afraid, so it limits itself to orders to sweep the borders.

***

A battle has broken out on the border between China and North Korea.

China’s territory is huge, so after the second cataclysm, many new spatial gates opened there. China was unable to seal them all, so it was decided to position a large army on the border with North Korea.

They planned to fill the lack of Players with soldiers. If the spatial gates are opened directly in the cities, you can’t do without the help of the Players. The best way to avoid casualties is to make dungeons out of the gates.

China could safely position its troops on the borders for a forced bombardment without fear of delaying the evacuation of civilians, since no one has lived there for a long time.

Despite numerous explosions, there were no destroyed buildings or casualties. A cannonball flew out, causing a deafening explosion. This happened before the normal monsters or monsters with a rare level attacked China.

Explosions erupted!

A red Drake ran towards the Chinese soldier, hearing the explosion he roared:

– Gha-a-arg!

Even wounded he rushed towards the Chinese, ignoring the mutilation.

At this time the Chinese top-rankers appeared, defending the place along with the military. The artillery fired a volley, and Drake’s body was covered by a wave of explosions. His whole body was covered with wounds, and he, unable to withstand it all, fell to the ground, writhing in agony. Modern weapons are much more powerful than people realize.

It was not used because of the geographical location, wanting to avoid casualties. If it weren’t for some kind of humanity, the power of modern weapons would have turned the Earth into a sea of fire long ago, and simply wiped the mountains into powder. In addition, there are several top-rankers on the border to defend against the Water Snake invasion.

China is determined. And even overconfident in its power. The government has decided that if the Water Snake attacks even now, they will be able to fight back.

A siren sounded.

– What happened? – Wu Wee Wan, the Chinese top-ranker, asked with a disgruntled expression.

– The Water Snake is coming this way at great speed.

– Really? – Wu Wee Wan’s face immediately brightened.

The Water Snake is a monster whose level cannot be measured, the one who simply wiped North Korea off the face of the earth.

But the Chinese government has already measured the level of the Water Snake, all thanks to some special Players.

There are dungeons of different levels, but now in one can meet monsters whose levels are very different.

Because of this, there were problems in the beginning. The sent Players just couldn’t cope with the monsters. And then it was these Players with special skills that made a big contribution: with their eyes, they scan the dungeon and can know its level, and can even see the name and level of the monster.

In normal life this may not be the most useful, but now such Players are worth their weight in gold. They are now under the direct authority of their country’s Association. Most of them were previously civil servants.

It was these people who tried to determine the level of the Water Snake. They never managed to find out the exact number, but the monster was placed at the Legendary level. The world had probably never seen a stronger monster before.

Wu Wee Wan had always waited deep down for such a chance. Because of this, he signed up for this boring job.

“If I hunt successfully, I will get the pioneer achievement.”

Wu Wee Wan has three achievements. All of the achievements raise characteristics, but the pioneer achievement increases their score many times over. Wu Wee Wan has the usual achievements, but he has always wanted more.

“I should definitely get it this time!” – The guy’s heart was filled with pleasant anticipation.

So did the other top rankers, though.

Chinese top-rankers sign up for jobs where you can’t level up and make money for only one reason: everyone wants the first-ranker achievement.