The Apocalypse Has Been Downloaded – Chapter 42

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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“Wow. Ah-ram’s class is insane.”

Demon Slayer. The name itself sounded incredibly cool.

Compared to her, I was just some Cultist who looked like a heretic…

Putting aside its actual power, Ah-ram’s class name and concept were the coolest among us.

First, [Demonic Energy Sense] allowed her to use ‘Demonic Energy,’ and [Demonic Energy Gathering] allowed her to accumulate Demonic Energy in her body. These two were the foundation for replenishing the Demonic Energy consumed by the Demon Slayer class. They could be considered essential skills.

Then, [Dark Vision], like my Altered Vision and Eun-ji’s Peering Gaze, allowed her to see in the dark. It seemed like every class had a skill of this type.

‘Increased Vitality is a self-healing skill…’

She could increase her survivability with [Mana Block], which negated projectile-type skills like magic, and [Black Armor], which created a protective barrier on her skin like black armor. She would be good as a tank.

‘Especially Demon Crush, which she must have acquired first, is quite good.’

Demon Crush was a skill that dealt amplified damage to undead-type monsters. It was a high-level skill that could one-shot almost all the special zombies that had appeared so far.

‘This would crush the skulls of War Boys and Zombie Centipedes alike.’

She probably survived last night thanks to this skill. With Black Armor and Demon Crush, she could kill most special zombies.

And [Engraved Curse] was a unique buff skill that enhanced other physical abilities by shutting down one of the five senses. She could shut down her sense of smell, taste, or pain and boost her Strength or reflexes.

‘Sense of taste is useless in battle anyway. As long as she has enough Magic, she can enhance her physical abilities without significant penalties… Nice.’

In addition, [Cursed Blessing] was a unique skill that allowed her to become a half-demon as long as her Magic allowed it. Since it consumed Magic in real time, she wouldn’t be able to maintain it for long. It should be considered an ultimate skill.

Ah-ram, like Ha-rin, had a variety of self-buffing skills.

‘A class with a clear concept of manipulating Demonic Energy. Considering that she already has skills like Mana Block, she seems like she would be quite strong against mages and similar classes.’

I wondered if she would be able to kill actual demons as she grew stronger.

However, since her opponent was Ha-rin, the Barbarian Warrior, she must have been overwhelmed in close combat against her, who was empowered by her skills.

Once she lost momentum, she would have had no choice but to be beaten.

Anyway, Ah-ram had also leveled up once from killing the Killer Robber with us. She had to choose a skill.

“I’ll choose Coiling Black Flames.”

“Okay… Do as you please.”

I chose Coiling Black Flames, one of the four options, while fondling Ah-ram’s ass.

It was a skill that consumed Magic to envelop her body or weapons in black flames.

The flames’ effect was to slow and weigh down the target. And of course, they were only hot to enemies.

‘What about Ah-reum?’

As a Sword Dancer, all her skills were related to sword dances.

[Light Footwork] and [Flowing Motion] were skills specialized in evasion. Thanks to these two skills, she was able to fight Eun-ji and Ha-young simultaneously.

In addition, [Blessing of the Blade] enhanced her handling of bladed weapons, and the combination of [A Weapon in Each Hand] and [Perfect Balance] allowed her to dual wield like a true dual wielder.

Her Agility stat was also quite high for a level 9. She had the potential to become a true dancer. The epitome of an evasion-based damage dealer.

If Ah-ram fought by taking hits and countering, Ah-reum was a class that dodged everything and relentlessly attacked vital points.

‘Dance of the Wind, Flurry of Blades, Spinning Slash…’

If Ah-reum had been wielding swords, especially dual wielding…

If she had moved around freely with Dance of the Wind, and mixed in Flurry of Blades and Spinning Slash… Eun-ji and Ha-young might have been severely beaten, or even seriously injured if they were unlucky.

Of course, she wouldn’t have died since I was watching, but I might have had to see Eun-ji’s face contorted in pain as her wounds healed.

Anyway, Eun-ji’s Magic had been quite low during her fight with Ah-reum, and Kang Ha-young’s level was much lower too. It was fortunate that Ah-reum had been using a strange weapon at the time.

“Hey, why were you using a chain-sickle? It doesn’t match your skills at all.”

“Huh?”

“Well, all of your skills are related to sword dances… so I was wondering why you were using a chain-sickle.”

“Oh. I used to carry two kitchen knives… but their range was too short, and I almost got bitten a few times. Then I found a chain-sickle, so I started using it. Oppa insisted on taking the big sword…”

According to her, Ah-reum had switched to the chain-sickle just a few hours before encountering us. The reason she could handle it so well was because of the Blessing of the Blade skill, which seemed to apply to the chain-sickle since it had a blade.

‘Han Tae-yang and Ah-ram must have found it difficult to handle the chain-sickle, so she was using it since she was the only one who could among them.’

It was a skill with generous criteria. Would it even apply to a hammer with a box cutter attached to it? It probably wasn’t that generous.

“Eun-ji, you and Ah-reum should switch weapons.”

“Short swords and the chain-sickle?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

If I gave her two short swords, Ah-reum would take off like a bird with wings.

And the chain-sickle somehow suited Eun-ji, who could blend into the shadows.

She looked like a female ninja. Her slender figure and her ability to manipulate shadows were a perfect match.

Eun-ji even threw shadow shurikens.

Of course, Eun-ji, who didn’t have ‘Blessing of the Blade’, wouldn’t be able to handle the chain-sickle well, so we did some experiments.

“So, if we do this… Wait a moment.”

The method was as follows.

Attach a shadow dagger created with Shadow Weaving to the metal ball of the chain-sickle.

Then, increase its accuracy with Throwing Blade Mastery and control it with Shadow Control.

It was theoretically possible.

“Done.”

Eun-ji inserted the metal ball into the shadows and pulled it out. The crude metal ball now had a shadow dagger attached to it.

“Like this…”

Eun-ji spun the chain a few times and then threw it at a target.

Thud!

The shadow throwing blade attached to the metal ball accurately hit a wooden plank, which was even hidden around a corner. It was much more effective than when Ah-reum used it.

The wooden plank shattered from the impact, and the shadow throwing blade, having reached its durability limit, broke, allowing Eun-ji to retrieve the metal ball.

“Using it like this greatly increases the impact.”

“Wow. Unnie, that’s amazing.”

Ha-rin, who was watching, gave Eun-ji a thumbs-up. Her chain-sickle throwing skills were impressive.

Satisfying.

“From now on, you’re a splendid ninja. Congratulations, Eun-ji. You’ve graduated.”

I ruffled Eun-ji’s hair. She leaned into my touch and giggled.

“Hehe… But a ninja? I don’t know much about ninjas.”

“Don’t worry about it too much. Just do what you usually do.”

“Okay!”

I hoped Eun-ji would level up quickly and become stronger.

A well-trained Shadow Walker could annihilate enemies like a ninja appearing out of nowhere.

Just then, I heard the sound of something cutting through the air.

Swish, swish. Swish. Swish, swish, swish.

“Huh… Fuck…”

Ah-reum, who had been excitedly swinging the two short swords, was smiling slightly, seemingly enjoying the feeling of the swords in her hands.

The short swords in her hands moved freely like living snakes.

Her subtly smiling face was somewhat scary.

“Uh, then let’s finish choosing our skills…”

Ah-reum, finally snapping out of her daze, lowered her swords. She looked a bit disappointed, as if her concentration had been broken.

I chose [Dance of Embers] for Ah-reum. While Dance of the Wind allowed her to move freely and attack enemies, Dance of Embers was described as a skill that increased her sword pressure as her fatigue accumulated.

And as the sword pressure increased, her attack range also expanded.

After choosing all the skills, we ate the meal the older women had prepared for us and went up to the rooftop.

Since another zombie wave might come tonight, like last night, we would take turns keeping watch, as we were the strongest combat force in the supermarket. The other slaves, like Hwang Soo-min and Ha Jin-seong, would take turns in pairs, and one of us five would also stand guard with them.

I decided to take the first watch. I would wake Ha-rin up in two hours, followed by Ah-ram, Ah-reum, and then Eun-ji.

After deciding the order, the four women immediately fell asleep. They had had a very eventful day.

“Yawn.”

I was exhausted, but the scenery made it bearable.

Perhaps because so many people had died and the world had become darker, the stars in the night sky were clearly visible.

“Huh? Hey. What took you so long?”

“Hee hee hee. Hee hee hee.”

Just then, Kang Ha-young came up to the rooftop with a bright smile and approached me.

“Were you sucking blood this whole time?”

“Yep! I’m full!”

“Huh… Did you kill him?”

“Uh… No, he’s still alive.”

She must have carefully controlled herself and sucked his blood little by little.

I hoped the young man survived until tomorrow so I could continue using him as her blood bag.

“Hey, what about your skills?”

“Huh? I don’t know. They were just chosen automatically.”

Kang Ha-young, her belly full of blood, kept smiling as she replied.

It was nice that she was happy and wasn’t pestering me for blood, and she was even answering all my questions clearly.

“Let’s see…”

“Huh…”

Not only had she reached level 8 in a single day, but her stats had also increased significantly.

‘Except for Will, all her stats increased by at least 4 per level. But her Will stat only increased by 1 per level.’

She seemed to have the best stats among those of the same level, but her Will stat was only 14. I was thinking that Will was related to Magic recovery, so with such a low Will…

‘But since she recovers some Magic by sucking blood, as long as there’s a source of blood during battle, she can keep fighting.’

She was a class that could fight endlessly as long as her opponents weren’t undead. An endless cycle of drawing blood, drinking it to recover, and then killing again to draw more blood.

‘Other skills…’

Skill selection was meaningless for Ha-young since she only had one option. She had simply acquired all of them. I checked her newly acquired skills.

[Predator’s Vision] was a unique skill that only detected humans. It was similar to Ha-rin’s Heartbeat Tracking, but it only targeted humans.

Other than that, [Blood Spray] was an insane skill that extracted blood from a captured target, and [Blood Manipulation] allowed her to control the extracted blood.

“Dripping Blood…”

This was a skill that sprayed the extracted blood into the air like rain, scattering it over a wide area. Just looking at this skill alone, I wondered what its purpose was. But its true value could only be seen from her next skill, [Blood Burst].

“Detonates the blood she has manipulated and spread…”

She could scatter blood over a wide area with Dripping Blood and then cause a large explosion.

‘Of course, the skills consume a lot of Magic, and I don’t know the scale of the explosion, but it’s still amazing. This would allow for mass slaughter.’

If she captured someone, extracted all their blood, scattered it, and then detonated it, it seemed like she could wipe out a horde of zombies. But if allies were within range of her skill, they would also be caught in the explosion.

“I’ve checked everything. Amazing.”

“Really? Hehe. Can I sleep now?”

“Aren’t you going to keep watch? Going straight to sleep after you’re full?”

“Uh… I get hungry when I’m awake…”

“No. Just sleep.”

After a brief greeting, Kang Ha-young laid down on the rooftop floor.

‘Isn’t she cold…?’

Was she immune to cold because she was a vampire, or was she just crazy?

She immediately fell asleep while snoring. It was simply amazing. It was still early February, and the night air was cold.

I brought a blanket and covered her with it. I didn’t know when I might need her, so she couldn’t get sick.

“Hmm…”

I spent the remaining time pacing around the rooftop, and observing the area around the supermarket. I waited for midnight.

As soon as it turned Tuesday, changes occurred throughout the streets.

Screech!!!

Kyaaa!!!

Zombies transforming into special zombies started rampaging again while screaming, just like last night.

“Ha… Crazy bastards…”

A few of them were running towards the supermarket.

Fortunately, it wasn’t like the insane horde from yesterday. I put on the Archmage’s Earrings I had received from Eun-ji and used my skills.

“Groooan!!!!”

“Be quiet. Everyone’s sleeping.”

I shot tentacles from a distance and summoned Abyssal Maw to kill the zombies.

Meanwhile, the Abyssal Roach signaled that it had engaged in combat, as if reporting to me.

I didn’t know the details, but I could sense a fragment of its emotions, indicating that it was fighting something.

Since I had instructed it to focus on detecting living, Awakened humans, I didn’t care how it fought against zombies.

Even though the Abyssal Roach was lower ranked than the Abyssal Weaver, it was still a monster from the Abyss, so it wouldn’t be easily killed by mere zombies, even if they were named.

Unlike the first day, the battles with special zombies tonight weren’t as tense.

The night passed in a somewhat relaxed atmosphere.

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Rustle…

“Did you hear something?”

Saint Maiden Kim Ye-won, sensing something ominous, looked around and asked.

“A sound? What sound?”

“Uh… Something… like insects crawling.”

“Insects? Isn’t it just flies buzzing around the corpses?”

“I didn’t hear anything else.”

“Really? Maybe I misheard…”

No. Kim Ye-won had heard it correctly.

She thought to herself.

‘Something’s following us, waiting for us to let our guard down.’

Her intuition, blessed by God, was sometimes accurate to the point of being almost prophetic.

But no one else had heard the sound. Pressing the issue would only increase their anxiety, so Kim Ye-won recited a prayer silently.

To prepare herself to use her skills at any moment.

“You sensed something.”

“Yes. I think there’s something targeting us. Probably.”

Lee Han-seok, the Holy Knight, trusted Kim Ye-won’s intuition. He had been helped by her intuition several times.

“Hmm… The closer we get to the supermarket, the more uneasy I feel.”

“Reverend, isn’t that menopause?”

“Hey! Don’t you feel it too?”

“Hmm… Well… Now that you mention it… I strangely don’t want to approach that supermarket.”

Priest Park Gi-hoon and Monk Kang Chan-seok, who were taking the lead, felt an inexplicable sense of unease and aversion as they got closer to the supermarket.

And the same was true for the others. All eight champions of the good god faction felt a strange atmosphere as they approached the supermarket.

“There really is something there.”

“Yeah…”

The other four, besides Kim Ye-won, Lee Han-seok, Park Gi-hoon, and Kang Chan-seok, who were specialized classes of the good god faction…

The Believers, the common classes of the good god faction, also felt something.

“Hmm…”

“It seems like a truly great evil awaits us.”

Everyone nodded at Park Gi-hoon’s words.

And then…

Rustle.

A faint tremor. A vibration in the air. The sound of insects crawling.

Kim Ye-won, who had been on high alert, reacted sharply.

But by the time she turned her head, it was already too late.

“Ugh… Gah… Ugh…”

Squirm… Squirm… Squirm…

One of the male Believers was already being held by a giant black insect, and it was injecting something into his mouth.

“Uh… Uh… What is that…?”

She had thought it was just a special zombie or a named monster following them.

But the creature before her eyes was a monster completely different from zombies.

She couldn’t move. Her body was frozen in shock from seeing the monster.

“Holy shit!!!!”

Lee Han-seok was the first to react.

He charged forward and swung his sword.

Instantly realizing that a slashing attack wouldn’t work against its hard chitin, he ignited his sword with holy flames to enhance the piercing power of his slash and thrust.

He judged that the Believer captured by the monster was already dead and intended to pierce through both of them without hesitation.

Flutter!

Thrust…!

But the Abyssal Roach flapped its wings and flew into the air, dodging Lee Han-seok’s attack.

Lee Han-seok’s sword pierced the heart of the man who had been injected with eggs, and as if on cue, the man’s stomach burst open, and dozens of black roaches crawled out.

“Damn it!!! Lee Han-seok! Fall back!!!”

“God!!! Grant us the protection of order!!!”

Kang Chan-seok and the other Believers quickly brushed off the roaches clinging to Lee Han-seok, and Park Gi-hoon deployed a holy barrier, pulling his teammates inside.

Lee Han-seok burned the insects crawling up his arms, tearing his clothes, and biting into his flesh with holy flames and quickly retreated inside the barrier.

“Holy shit… What the hell was that?”

The human-sized Abyssal Roach had disappeared into the rubble of a collapsed building.

Rustle. Rustle, rustle. Rustle, rustle, rustle.

Only the ominous sound of the insect’s footsteps echoed in the air.

“This is insane from the start…”

Kang Chan-seok clicked his tongue while looking at the baby roaches trying to break through the barrier. He stacked his physical enhancements and went outside the barrier, crushing the approaching insects.

The insects couldn’t penetrate Kang Chan-seok’s hardened skin and were crushed into puffs of black smoke.

Just then, one of the Believers pointed at a building.

“Huh? Th-there…”

“Oh no… Damn it…”

A swarm of insects was crawling towards them. A swarm of insects that had multiplied using zombies as hosts.

Countless Abyssal Roaches.

It was a disgusting sight. The sight of palm-sized insects swarming and crawling towards them was enough to induce a mental breakdown.

But those gathered here were followers of the good gods.

Those with strong minds who wouldn’t easily succumb to the evil beings that thrived in darkness.

“Light, illuminate us.”

Saint Maiden Kim Ye-won raised her mace high.

As soon as her short chant ended, a ray of light pierced through the clouds and illuminated her mace.

“Ha…!!!!”

Filled with exhilaration, she charged outside the barrier.

She swung her mace, throwing herself into the approaching wave of darkness.

Every swing of her light-infused mace parted the swarm of insects like the Red Sea, the holy light driving back the remnants of the Abyss.

“I… swear. I shall burn myself and become a beacon of hope.”

Lee Han-seok, standing beside her, swore an oath to the Goddess of Hope who had saved him and used his skill.

Holy flames ignited on his body, gradually growing stronger.

“Phew…”

He narrowed his eyes that was emanating intense heat.

He used Heretic Tracking to detect the Abyssal Roach lurking inside the building.

He was targeting only that one.

He charged forward, thinking only of beheading the giant monster, the source of this swarm of man-eating roaches.

He ignored the baby monsters crawling and attacking him.

“That crazy bastard! He’s going off on his own again!”

Kang Chan-seok immediately followed, clearing a path alongside him. With two level 15 Awakened individuals working together, a path was quickly created.

“God wills it!!!”

And finally, after a long chant, Park Gi-hoon’s area-of-effect buff skill activated.

His teammates’ physical abilities were enhanced to their limits.

It was a combination of three different buffs.

“Scuttle!!!!”

The roach was injecting corrosive fluid into zombies and laying eggs with its tail.

Lee Han-seok charged behind it. He swung his sword at the monster without hesitation.

Now that his body was enhanced, he should be able to pierce the monster’s carapace and kill it.

“Die.”

Slash!!!

The Abyssal Roach’s body was split in half, and the summon was canceled.

It turned into black smoke and disappeared.

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“Oh no. They’re already here…”

Jang Jo-joon, who had been asleep, opened his eyes. He heard the death throes of the Abyssal Roach. The roach had warned him of the approaching light.

“Wake up! Everyone, wake up quickly!”

Jang Jo-joon woke up everyone who was sleeping.

“The good gods’ champions are here…”

And he was furious.

At the villains who had invaded his home.

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T/N – Okay, this is exciting. Imminent fight next chapter! Though it seems like only 4 of the original 8 of the good god’s party were actually champions, the rest were just mooks. And one of the mooks already got taken out by the roach. They are going to get decimated by the spider. If the MC is smart enough to summon it early so it can set up traps.

If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.