035. The Crow Seat’s Karas (3)
Players were leading civilians toward the entrance of Rome World.
Their newly gained freedom seemed on the verge of dissipating like bubbles, and everyone was running desperately.
“We’re almost there! We’re about to escape this nightmare!” the leader, who could be considered as the captain, Myungwon, encouraged the people as he led the way.
Just as he said, they were close to leaving the amusement park.
‘There seem to be some casualties, but… that can’t be helped.’
After unlocking the last employee’s shackles, I looked around.
Combing the safari staff and the rescued, hundreds were in motion.
Fortunately, the newly rescued group did not include too many employees.
This was because most of the upper attractions were managed by monsters.
This saved us time that would have been wasted on unlocking more shackles.
“Big bro, is it really ending now?”
“Almost.”
Siwoo asked with a flushed face.
The whole situation felt dreamlike to him.
“We’re nearly there.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s thanks to you for helping catch Cheolwoong.”
“Hehe.”
I slowly patted Siwoo’s head, and he laughed shyly, as if embarrassed.
But, internally, I felt a pang of guilt.
‘…I might have pushed the kid too hard.’
When I was creating a weapon to kill Cheolwoong, Siwoo had been pushed hard for nearly a week.
But it was necessary to complete the weapon on time.
I decided to repay him by getting out of here.
I took Siwoo and moved towards Mina and Changwoo.
Feeling my approach, Changwoo quietly opened his mouth.
“It’s scary how things went too smoothly. It’s all over if we just get out now…”
Tension and excitement were palpable in his voice.
“If we get out now, yes.”
“Is it because of the crow?”
“Yes.”
The time was drawing near.
The game board had been overturned, and it wouldn’t be strange if Karas flew down from the sky at any moment.
“He is sure to come.”
As I finished saying that…
“Ugh!”
A heavy wind grazed by me.
A chill went down my spine, and cold sweat formed on my forehead.
The crow bastard had finally decided.
‘Now it’s a battle against time.’
We had finally reached the entrance.
It would take a full 30 minutes for everyone to escape.
“Let the civilians go first! Players prepare for a possible monster attack!”
Myungwon’s shout echoed in my ears.
We couldn’t risk the order collapsing in excitement, so we were strictly managing the crowd.
‘Thank goodness we have someone capable of control.’
I hadn’t known him for long, but Myungwon undoubtedly had leadership skills.
Considering he hadn’t become an avatar of a god despite his substantial skills, it was probably due to his age.
Gods typically preferred young avatars.
Some gods even favored appearance over skill.
“Then…”
I slowly warmed up my body.
The energy from afar was growing.
From a colossal building, where the villain must have nested, a vile energy began to leak.
From the giant toy castle known as Island Castle, a malevolent presence emerged.
“Bro, I might be imagining it, but this doesn’t feel good.”
Even Mina, with her keen senses, shuddered as she sensed something amiss.
“You’re right. He’s coming, so it makes sense.”
“Are you talking about that crow you mentioned?”
I slowly nodded while gazing at the sky.
No need to explain in words.
Because he was about to reveal himself.
“He’s coming.”
I felt numb.
This was different than Cheolwoong. Karas had a majesty that simple monsters could not possess.
Boom! Crash!
The atmosphere roared as something shattered.
It was probably the sound of Island Castle crumbling.
“Aaaah!”
A fierce windstorm tossed bodies around, including mine.
Even from a considerable distance, its force was staggering.
“Yeah, even weakened, a constellation is still a constellation.”
Whether Sentinel or monster, it didn’t matter. The real threat was Karas.
The one who had orchestrated this chaos.
Shwish! Boom!
The air split, and a pitch-black object collided with the ground at incredible speed.
Paving blocks shattered, and people were knocked over by the wind and flying feathers.
“I’ll commend you.”
The black crow raised its elongated head.
Karas had a size even larger than Cheolwoong.
At a glance, it might seem laughable compared to ferocious monsters—it must be cute, right?
But that was not the case.
True terror doesn’t come from appearance but from what flows from within.
“To think you would make me act.”
Gold eyes shone against the black feathers as they locked onto us.
People froze under Karas’s gaze, without exception.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve been this nervous.’
I was a bit tense with Orga but only slightly.
With Cheolwoong, I was anxious due to the suddenness of the situation, but not afraid.
Until now, I always fought with definite winning strategies.
In my past life, and even now.
But honestly, I was really nervous this time.
Not because I was afraid of Karas, but because of the tension of fighting in front of so many people.
‘In the past, I would’ve attacked exploiting an opening made by focusing on these people, or I would have fled.’
I wouldn’t have led to such a situation, but if things had gone that way, I could have sacrificed others without guilt.
At least, that was how it was in my past life.
“Everyone, run away quickly!”
I shouted loudly.
Upon hearing my shout, people came to their senses and shook in fear.
“I’ll hold him off here. So run!”
I said so and gestured towards Mina.
Mina’s face paled as if she wanted to say something to me, but soon, clenching her lower lip, she turned away.
“Hurry up! There is no time to play around now!”
“Ah-huh!”
People began to move as Mina pushed the person in front of her and shouted.
It seemed Mina’s yelling spurred them, even as just a young girl.
“You act as if I’ll just watch.”
Karas, who had been watching us with a face full of sneers, slowly spread its wings.
When it did, black feathers flew at the people like bullets.
‘Time for the final showdown.’
As I activated my skill, the incoming feathers seemed to move in slow motion.
“Ha!”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
From the inventory, I took out a spear and deflected the incoming feathers one by one.
I had to move as quickly as possible, as the skill’s rank was low, and it wouldn’t last long.
Karass’s scornful expression changed as the feathers fluttered to the ground.
“You deflected all of them?”
Karas seemed genuinely surprised that I managed to deflect all those feathers.
‘Why go for an area-of-effect attack straight away?’
Of course, I was inwardly terrified. If Karas decided to unleash feathers, I would be in a dire situation. While I would be unharmed, the fleeing people would surely die.
“Hey.”
“What? Did you just say hey to me?”
“Yeah.”
Attracting Karas’s attention was the priority.
He might have a cunning mind, but at the end of the day, he’s still bird-brained.
Even legends showed he wasn’t one for long-term plans.
“Ha, really. I must be losing my edge being ignored by mere humans.”
“Deservedly so. Look at you. You’ve come all this way just to catch a few humans.”
“You dare to speak so boldly for a human.”
For a constellation like Karas, direct involvement in the game came with high risks.
Even though his stats were lowered to those of a Sentinel, after this event, he wouldn’t be able to interfere with the game for a while.
“Come at me then.”
“Your skills are evident, but you really are arrogant. I’ll show you the end such people meet.”
Karas turned its body, fixing his gaze on me.
Good, now all I needed was to stall for time with his attention on me.
‘Not even a third has escaped yet.’
I needed to gain at least 30 minutes.
Could I?
No, I can. Everything prepared up to this moment was for this.
“I won’t kill you easily, even if you beg for it!”
Karas spread its wings widely.
The resulting air pressure became like blades, decimating the surroundings.
Boom! Crash!
It wasn’t even a special skill.
This was merely wing flapping.
But even this simple action had the power to shred an average player to pieces with just a touch.
‘Shadow Sprint.’
Silently.
Karas made a fine choice, but I possessed a way to surely evade the attack.
A skill attached to the coat I got from killing the Dark Archer.
==
Shadow Sprint (B+): Able to move to any shadow within a 10-meter radius. Recharges once every 5 minutes with a maximum of 3 charges.
==
Karas was slightly faster in agility than I was.
In other words, unlike with Cheolwoong, I couldn’t dodge all of his attacks.
Was I physically stronger than him?
Not even close. No matter how low their rank, a constellation like Karas was still inherently superior. A mere player, whose stats were less than E across the board, couldn’t possibly compete.
That’s why I prepared survival skills that didn’t rely on stats and skills that enhanced accuracy.
Boom! Crash!
Karass’s talons scraped the ground.
As far from the entrance as I could, I revealed myself and pulled out a weapon from my inventory.
I chose a long spear, more specifically, a javelin.
“Ha!”
With a burst of strength, I threw it towards Karas’s head.
The spear whizzed through the air and hit Karas right in the back of the head.
“Ouch!”
Despite the hit, the spear bounced off like straw, falling to the ground.
I couldn’t pierce through Karas’s hide or feathers.
However, my goal was to keep his attention, so there was no problem.
“You’re annoyingly good at dodging. You have some tiresome skills!”
Karas spread its wings and soared.
I retreated as much as possible, dodging his attacks.
His sharp talons and beak grazed my body several times but never quite hit the mark.
Boom! Bang!
Using the debris of his attacks, I concealed myself and kept moving.
My ‘Silent Movement’ skill let me reduce noise, allowing for this strategy.
Whenever Karas lost sight of me, I would attack sporadically, pulling his aggro.
“Damn, why won’t you just die? Why won’t you admit defeat?!”
I dodged as best as I could, but I started to accumulate wounds all over my body since ‘Shadow Sprint’ required time to recharge, and I was often in danger before it could.
However, I did not falter.
Actually, the more I was injured, the faster I became, thanks to the skill called ‘Deathly Zodiac’ that I shared with Jisoo.
The skill that improved stats upon receiving wounds and healed them was precious.
With ‘Regeneration’ too, I was confident in my endurance.
‘As long as I can kill some time like this…’
It seemed like almost everyone had escaped, so not much time was left.
Then, that moment came.
“How dare──!”
Karas’s rage-filled shout resounded, and the sky started to darken.
As the sun’s light was obscured, Karas’s black feathers began to glimmer silver.
“What is that?”
How could he use that skill?
“Consider it an honor. I’ll show you the power of a Constellation.”
As the darkness faded, the sky grew darker and Karas shone even more vividly.
No longer a mere crow in the sky, but now the messenger of a sun deity.
“This is insane.”
I hadn’t expected that his strength could be elevated to the limit.
I had anticipated a rise to some extent, but not to this magnitude.
“We’re doomed.”
There was no confidence in me to withstand that.
035. The Crow Seat’s Karas (3)
Players were leading civilians toward the entrance of Rome World.
Their newly gained freedom seemed on the verge of dissipating like bubbles, and everyone was running desperately.
“We’re almost there! We’re about to escape this nightmare!” the leader, who could be considered as the captain, Myungwon, encouraged the people as he led the way.
Just as he said, they were close to leaving the amusement park.
‘There seem to be some casualties, but… that can’t be helped.’
After unlocking the last employee’s shackles, I looked around.
Combing the safari staff and the rescued, hundreds were in motion.
Fortunately, the newly rescued group did not include too many employees.
This was because most of the upper attractions were managed by monsters.
This saved us time that would have been wasted on unlocking more shackles.
“Big bro, is it really ending now?”
“Almost.”
Siwoo asked with a flushed face.
The whole situation felt dreamlike to him.
“We’re nearly there.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s thanks to you for helping catch Cheolwoong.”
“Hehe.”
I slowly patted Siwoo’s head, and he laughed shyly, as if embarrassed.
But, internally, I felt a pang of guilt.
‘…I might have pushed the kid too hard.’
When I was creating a weapon to kill Cheolwoong, Siwoo had been pushed hard for nearly a week.
But it was necessary to complete the weapon on time.
I decided to repay him by getting out of here.
I took Siwoo and moved towards Mina and Changwoo.
Feeling my approach, Changwoo quietly opened his mouth.
“It’s scary how things went too smoothly. It’s all over if we just get out now…”
Tension and excitement were palpable in his voice.
“If we get out now, yes.”
“Is it because of the crow?”
“Yes.”
The time was drawing near.
The game board had been overturned, and it wouldn’t be strange if Karas flew down from the sky at any moment.
“He is sure to come.”
As I finished saying that…
“Ugh!”
A heavy wind grazed by me.
A chill went down my spine, and cold sweat formed on my forehead.
The crow bastard had finally decided.
‘Now it’s a battle against time.’
We had finally reached the entrance.
It would take a full 30 minutes for everyone to escape.
“Let the civilians go first! Players prepare for a possible monster attack!”
Myungwon’s shout echoed in my ears.
We couldn’t risk the order collapsing in excitement, so we were strictly managing the crowd.
‘Thank goodness we have someone capable of control.’
I hadn’t known him for long, but Myungwon undoubtedly had leadership skills.
Considering he hadn’t become an avatar of a god despite his substantial skills, it was probably due to his age.
Gods typically preferred young avatars.
Some gods even favored appearance over skill.
“Then…”
I slowly warmed up my body.
The energy from afar was growing.
From a colossal building, where the villain must have nested, a vile energy began to leak.
From the giant toy castle known as Island Castle, a malevolent presence emerged.
“Bro, I might be imagining it, but this doesn’t feel good.”
Even Mina, with her keen senses, shuddered as she sensed something amiss.
“You’re right. He’s coming, so it makes sense.”
“Are you talking about that crow you mentioned?”
I slowly nodded while gazing at the sky.
No need to explain in words.
Because he was about to reveal himself.
“He’s coming.”
I felt numb.
This was different than Cheolwoong. Karas had a majesty that simple monsters could not possess.
Boom! Crash!
The atmosphere roared as something shattered.
It was probably the sound of Island Castle crumbling.
“Aaaah!”
A fierce windstorm tossed bodies around, including mine.
Even from a considerable distance, its force was staggering.
“Yeah, even weakened, a constellation is still a constellation.”
Whether Sentinel or monster, it didn’t matter. The real threat was Karas.
The one who had orchestrated this chaos.
Shwish! Boom!
The air split, and a pitch-black object collided with the ground at incredible speed.
Paving blocks shattered, and people were knocked over by the wind and flying feathers.
“I’ll commend you.”
The black crow raised its elongated head.
Karas had a size even larger than Cheolwoong.
At a glance, it might seem laughable compared to ferocious monsters—it must be cute, right?
But that was not the case.
True terror doesn’t come from appearance but from what flows from within.
“To think you would make me act.”
Gold eyes shone against the black feathers as they locked onto us.
People froze under Karas’s gaze, without exception.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve been this nervous.’
I was a bit tense with Orga but only slightly.
With Cheolwoong, I was anxious due to the suddenness of the situation, but not afraid.
Until now, I always fought with definite winning strategies.
In my past life, and even now.
But honestly, I was really nervous this time.
Not because I was afraid of Karas, but because of the tension of fighting in front of so many people.
‘In the past, I would’ve attacked exploiting an opening made by focusing on these people, or I would have fled.’
I wouldn’t have led to such a situation, but if things had gone that way, I could have sacrificed others without guilt.
At least, that was how it was in my past life.
“Everyone, run away quickly!”
I shouted loudly.
Upon hearing my shout, people came to their senses and shook in fear.
“I’ll hold him off here. So run!”
I said so and gestured towards Mina.
Mina’s face paled as if she wanted to say something to me, but soon, clenching her lower lip, she turned away.
“Hurry up! There is no time to play around now!”
“Ah-huh!”
People began to move as Mina pushed the person in front of her and shouted.
It seemed Mina’s yelling spurred them, even as just a young girl.
“You act as if I’ll just watch.”
Karas, who had been watching us with a face full of sneers, slowly spread its wings.
When it did, black feathers flew at the people like bullets.
‘Time for the final showdown.’
As I activated my skill, the incoming feathers seemed to move in slow motion.
“Ha!”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
From the inventory, I took out a spear and deflected the incoming feathers one by one.
I had to move as quickly as possible, as the skill’s rank was low, and it wouldn’t last long.
Karass’s scornful expression changed as the feathers fluttered to the ground.
“You deflected all of them?”
Karas seemed genuinely surprised that I managed to deflect all those feathers.
‘Why go for an area-of-effect attack straight away?’
Of course, I was inwardly terrified. If Karas decided to unleash feathers, I would be in a dire situation. While I would be unharmed, the fleeing people would surely die.
“Hey.”
“What? Did you just say hey to me?”
“Yeah.”
Attracting Karas’s attention was the priority.
He might have a cunning mind, but at the end of the day, he’s still bird-brained.
Even legends showed he wasn’t one for long-term plans.
“Ha, really. I must be losing my edge being ignored by mere humans.”
“Deservedly so. Look at you. You’ve come all this way just to catch a few humans.”
“You dare to speak so boldly for a human.”
For a constellation like Karas, direct involvement in the game came with high risks.
Even though his stats were lowered to those of a Sentinel, after this event, he wouldn’t be able to interfere with the game for a while.
“Come at me then.”
“Your skills are evident, but you really are arrogant. I’ll show you the end such people meet.”
Karas turned its body, fixing his gaze on me.
Good, now all I needed was to stall for time with his attention on me.
‘Not even a third has escaped yet.’
I needed to gain at least 30 minutes.
Could I?
No, I can. Everything prepared up to this moment was for this.
“I won’t kill you easily, even if you beg for it!”
Karas spread its wings widely.
The resulting air pressure became like blades, decimating the surroundings.
Boom! Crash!
It wasn’t even a special skill.
This was merely wing flapping.
But even this simple action had the power to shred an average player to pieces with just a touch.
‘Shadow Sprint.’
Silently.
Karas made a fine choice, but I possessed a way to surely evade the attack.
A skill attached to the coat I got from killing the Dark Archer.
==
Shadow Sprint (B+): Able to move to any shadow within a 10-meter radius. Recharges once every 5 minutes with a maximum of 3 charges.
==
Karas was slightly faster in agility than I was.
In other words, unlike with Cheolwoong, I couldn’t dodge all of his attacks.
Was I physically stronger than him?
Not even close. No matter how low their rank, a constellation like Karas was still inherently superior. A mere player, whose stats were less than E across the board, couldn’t possibly compete.
That’s why I prepared survival skills that didn’t rely on stats and skills that enhanced accuracy.
Boom! Crash!
Karass’s talons scraped the ground.
As far from the entrance as I could, I revealed myself and pulled out a weapon from my inventory.
I chose a long spear, more specifically, a javelin.
“Ha!”
With a burst of strength, I threw it towards Karas’s head.
The spear whizzed through the air and hit Karas right in the back of the head.
“Ouch!”
Despite the hit, the spear bounced off like straw, falling to the ground.
I couldn’t pierce through Karas’s hide or feathers.
However, my goal was to keep his attention, so there was no problem.
“You’re annoyingly good at dodging. You have some tiresome skills!”
Karas spread its wings and soared.
I retreated as much as possible, dodging his attacks.
His sharp talons and beak grazed my body several times but never quite hit the mark.
Boom! Bang!
Using the debris of his attacks, I concealed myself and kept moving.
My ‘Silent Movement’ skill let me reduce noise, allowing for this strategy.
Whenever Karas lost sight of me, I would attack sporadically, pulling his aggro.
“Damn, why won’t you just die? Why won’t you admit defeat?!”
I dodged as best as I could, but I started to accumulate wounds all over my body since ‘Shadow Sprint’ required time to recharge, and I was often in danger before it could.
However, I did not falter.
Actually, the more I was injured, the faster I became, thanks to the skill called ‘Deathly Zodiac’ that I shared with Jisoo.
The skill that improved stats upon receiving wounds and healed them was precious.
With ‘Regeneration’ too, I was confident in my endurance.
‘As long as I can kill some time like this…’
It seemed like almost everyone had escaped, so not much time was left.
Then, that moment came.
“How dare──!”
Karas’s rage-filled shout resounded, and the sky started to darken.
As the sun’s light was obscured, Karas’s black feathers began to glimmer silver.
“What is that?”
How could he use that skill?
“Consider it an honor. I’ll show you the power of a Constellation.”
As the darkness faded, the sky grew darker and Karas shone even more vividly.
No longer a mere crow in the sky, but now the messenger of a sun deity.
“This is insane.”
I hadn’t expected that his strength could be elevated to the limit.
I had anticipated a rise to some extent, but not to this magnitude.
“We’re doomed.”
There was no confidence in me to withstand that.
