Great Teacher in a Defense Game

#7 5.946 Billion

The slum is quiet by nature.

All that can be heard are lamentations and sorrows.

It can’t be helped.

Most of the people who drifted here had heavy stories.

Furthermore, they were all stories too difficult to share with others.

Because of this, they tacitly kept their mouths shut.

Since whatever they said would just end in complaint.

They all agreed that it was better not to open their mouths at all.

However, the slum was rather peculiar today.

In a remote place even deeper than the slum, which was built on the outskirts.

A car was parked there, and then people wearing black clothes gathered and suddenly a fight broke out.

– What in the world is going on?

“Should we call the guard?”

The slum’s residents, hidden away, chattered amongst themselves.

Far off, a colossal serpent and giants were assaulting people.

Even without knowing the specifics, something perilous was surely unfolding.

The residents present thought with one mind.

It was decided that informing the guard was the right course of action.

And yet, a chance remark reversed that course in an instant.

“Wait, isn’t that… Master Enoch?”

“What? What drivel… is it really him?”

“He hasn’t been seen lately. Seems he’s tangled in some sort of commotion.”

Enoch’s name held considerable renown within the slum.

A daddy-long-legs who secretly came to leave food and necessities.

Without his acts of kindness, the residents of the slum might not have survived the harsh winter past.

Perhaps it was for this reason. The residents’ thoughts shifted the instant Enoch’s name was spoken.

Their thinking turned toward protecting their benefactor, Enoch.

Black-clad figures? What did that matter?

Either dead or dying. One of the two.

“If Master Enoch stepped in… perhaps it’s alright?”

“Surely he’s better acquainted with the guard than we are. If he hasn’t informed them, there must be a reason, no?”

“Ah, someone just died over there. Or did they? Are they still alive?”

“Someone go and drag the corpse over here. Let’s take what we can and quietly dispose of it, so there’s no loose talk.”

The residents stealthily moved and dragged the fallen black-clad figure over. Surprisingly, they were still breathing.

“Sa… save…”

-Thwack!

The residents, wielding broken blades, stabbed wildly at the fallen black-clad figure.

Short screams and intermittent convulsions followed for a brief while.

It was a familiar sight in the slum.

@

The steel serpent lashed its tail.

A black-clad figure was swept up in the white tail and crushed, just like that.

-Ugh, ugh-ack!

-CRASH!!

The serpent’s tail bloomed crimson.

Another figure clad in black, stepping upon the tail, launched himself towards Enoch.

-Shriik

“Die!”

-Clang!

The charge was thwarted.

A ruby knight nearby had intercepted the assault with his shield.

The knight was an entity born from Enoch’s jeweled ring.

-Crack!

The shield spider-webbed with fractures.

A grinding noise echoed.

The knight thrust his sword forward.

-Clang!

The figure in black, having parried the blade, swiftly retreated.

Discarding the ruined sword, he drew a dagger and hurled it towards Enoch.

The dagger flew true, but was intercepted mid-flight.

As the serpent writhed, Enoch was instantly shielded from view.

“Damn it, how to-“

-THOOM!!

The steel giant delivered a crushing blow.

The figure in black shattered into fragments.

His last words were a pathetic curse.

‘Acceptable.’

Enoch, sheltered by the serpent’s protection, observed the situation.

Five constructs currently summoned.

The enemy’s main strength consisted of three of Scroll-rank, and one Overseer-class mage as their leader.

The rest were less than warriors, not even worthy of being called clowns.

Of course, it seemed they had undergone some training, in their own way.

But that was only by common man’s standards.

Certainly not the sort to call themselves warriors, or assassins.

And this world wasn’t a place where one could simply barge through on brawn alone.

– *Kkaang!*

The ambush began anew.

A figure in black breached the perimeter.

He flung a Langseňak dagger, then pressed a button on his wrist, activating a hidden switchblade.

– *Sreung*

– *Kkaang!*

The blade was intercepted mid-strike.

The attack was blocked by a stiletto, long and slender.

Enoch had summoned his blade and struck it away in a single motion.

‘Where did *he* come from?’

“Where did I come from? Why, from here, of course.”

Enoch pointed to his own finger.

This was no lie, but truth.

Just as he’d used an object from reality as a catalyst for his summoning skill moments before, he’d now applied the equipment-setting function to swiftly swap the positions of his ring and his weapon.

‘I cannot control every hero, micro-managing as in a game. But one… one such as I is surely enough.’

Enoch lunged with his stiletto.

– *Kaang!*

The man in black parried the blade with the gauntlet on his wrist, retreating.

In that instant, Enoch’s stiletto vanished, quick as a blink.

The tense figure instinctively braced himself, defence hardening.

What now? A sword? A dagger?

“Nay. A pistol.”

– *Taang!*

A single spark of fire tore through his chest.

The man in black crumpled, unable to comprehend what had transpired.

Enoch brushed away the smoke with his hand, and stowed the pistol.

Hardly a scroll, barely even jester-level.

For killing such ordinary folk, a single MM-1 Lightshot bullet, etched with Magic Missiles, was more than enough.

‘Seems to be winding down… no, with that much confidence, they must have one last trick up their sleeves.’

Enoch, gun raised, scanned the tide of battle.

Most had already fallen; only five remained.

-CRASH!

Another gone, crushed by the giant’s blow.

Four left now.

Three scroll-level and one dominion-level, from what he could discern.

‘Been wondering what they were up to; preparing magic, I see.’

-BANG! BANG-BANG!! BANG!!!

The pistol spat fire once more.

The shots shattered a shield, and one of the black-clad figures crumpled backwards.

“Ugh!”

-Thud!

“…Chief! It’s ready!”

“Execute it, now!”

The remaining scroll-level blackcoats urged, voices overlapping.

The chief nodded curtly.

“Understood.”

He extended his left hand forward.

A faint magical aura coiled around his fingers. And then, he spoke.

“Be broken.”

-CRACK!

With that low utterance, the magic took hold.

All five fingers of his outstretched left hand snapped simultaneously.

This was the price of the magic.

Grotesque giants surrounding them, fueled by the caster’s sacrifice.

Giant, serpent, and knight.

The bodies of them all twisted at once, shattered in a chaotic, grinding mess.

– *Kakang! Kang!*

– *Kung!*

– *Warrrr…*

The giants’ bodies crumbled, one after the other.

Simultaneously, Scroll-level black-robed figures spewed blood and collapsed.

– *Keh, uh-uh… urk…*

“So. Word-Spirit Magic, is it? A mage hailing not from the Magic Tower, but from the lineage transmission.”

Enoch watched the scene unfold, a flicker of something akin to intrigue in his eyes.

Not the Ivory Tower of Knowledge, the Magic Tower, but those who sought out reclusive mages, receiving direct tutelage.

The leader of the black-robed men was, without a doubt, a lineage mage.

“Unexpectedly skilled, it seems. Though the risks involved seem… considerable.”

“…”

Enoch chuckled softly, his gaze fixed on the black-robed figure.

He clutched his broken hand, enduring the pain.

It wasn’t merely the broken hand that caused such agony.

The fact that his Scroll-level mage subordinates had fallen too… there was, undoubtedly, a substantial risk Enoch wasn’t privy to.

“…This is hardly a moment for merriment, wouldn’t you say?”

The black-robed man sluggishly rose to his feet.

“With this, all your magic has been countered. You cannot possibly unleash magic of such magnitude multiple times.”

“It’s not magic. It’s a skill.”

“Silence.”

The black-robed man swiftly drew a gun from within his robes.

A pistol-type magical tool, much like the ones Enoch wielded, firing bullets imbued with magic.

“I have no desire to listen to your drivel any longer. Die quietly.”

“Are you certain? You’ll regret this.”

“Silence.”

The black-robed man cut him off.

With a snarl, he fired the gun.

– *BANG!!*

“…Eh?”

The man in black belatedly came to his senses.

He was the one who had attacked, or so he thought.

Yet, for some reason, it wasn’t Enoch, but himself, groaning as he sprawled on the ground.

‘What… what in the world-‘

With a herculean effort, the man in black pushed himself up.

His left arm and one leg had already vanished somewhere.

Clawing at the earth with his remaining right hand, he managed to stand, only for a grating voice to pierce his ears.

“Your magic was quite impressive. A significant risk, to be sure, but the sheer power was undeniably brutal.”

“…You.”

“But that’s about all it is. From what I can see, it requires an even greater risk when used against living targets. Which is why you targeted the machines first, rather than me. Am I wrong?”

‘Not that it would have worked in the first place.’

Enoch drew closer.

Only then did the man in black belatedly understand what had attacked him.

A snake, of all things.

The snow-white mechanical serpent he had pulverized only moments before was now restored to its original state.

-Gurrllll…

“…How is this possible? I saw it get destroyed with my own eyes…”

Enoch chuckled, pulling out a watch.

It was the same type of watch he had thrown into the foliage earlier.

The only peculiar thing was, there wasn’t just one, but several watches that manifested.

Enoch’s ability was magic, and yet, not magic.

Merely a sort of result born from combining various skills, traits, and passives.

Perhaps that was why. A rather gamble-like risk remained: that its performance would change depending on the medium.

But there was no way he could explain all that.

Explaining the concept of skills to people from another world was troublesome enough.

So, Enoch nonchalantly swung the watch back and forth and answered vaguely.

“I can use magic as much as I want as long as I have a medium. Just know that much.”

The man in black glared daggers at the watch shimmering before his eyes.

After a moment, he squeezed out, “No, that’s impossible. No human has infinite mana. Not unless they’re at least a master of the Magic Tower-“

“Seems like you’re under a certain misapprehension.”

Enoch cut him off mid-sentence.

He gestured to himself, adding with a flourish.

“I don’t exactly *use* magic.”

“…What?”

“Just what you heard. I don’t possess any magic, to begin with.”

Players inside Eo-In primarily use resources other than magic when using skills.

For example, a system of limited uses per turn or cooldowns.

But Enoch wasn’t satisfied with that.

So he bent the rules a little.

Instead of simply sitting still, waiting for cooldowns, he massively increased the number of skill slots themselves.

‘It wasn’t easy. But it didn’t seem impossible either.’

The function to enhance a hero’s equipment.

The engraving function to imbue magic.

And the player’s skills.

Enoch combined them all into one.

Using the engraving function, he imprinted player summoning skills onto specific objects, effectively turning them into magic itself.

The experiment ultimately succeeded.

The Status Window, of all things, recognized each medium as a distinct skill.

Meaning, the global cooldown wasn’t shared at all.

‘I can’t exactly explain all this, can I?’

Enoch chuckled, shaking his head.

Then, he tossed the clock he was holding behind him.

Soon after, two mechanical serpents newly roused themselves.

-Uwooo…!

“Do you believe me now?”

“……”

The man in black remained silent.

Raising his head again, his eyes shone with a baleful light.

“…Dangerous. You’re dangerous.”

“What words are those?”

“It is you. I felt I absolutely had to kill you in this place.”

-Crack!

The black-clad man’s finger snapped again.

Snakes coiled tighter, as if to shield him.

Then, with a crumbling, rending sound, one of the snake’s heads was neatly severed.

“…I must eliminate you. For the sake of future endeavors, absolutely…!”

“How touching. You hardly have two fingers left. What’s next? Are you planning to offer your toes, perhaps?”

“If necessary, then as many as needed.”

The black-clad man answered resolutely. Enoch gave a short, sardonic laugh.

“I doubt all your fingers and toes combined would suffice.”

“What?”

The black-clad man’s eyes twitched slightly. Enoch gestured to himself again with an exaggerated flourish.

“There’s one thing you don’t seem to know; I have money. A great deal of it. Whatever amount you imagine, it’s probably far, far more.”

Enoch said this, rummaging inside his coat.

From the inventory of the open status window within the coat, countless accessories tumbled out in a cascade.

-Rumble, rumble…

“The minimum cost to create a single snake. That’s the price of this watch right here. The price… was it 370,000 Kro, perhaps?”

Enoch lifted one of the watches, then clenched it in his fist.

Magic inscription, and skill.

Combining the two, he fashioned yet another new medium.

“Congratulations. You have successfully picked my pocket.”

“……”

“What are you doing? You should continue with the momentum you had a moment ago. You only need to kill me roughly 5.946 billion more times.”

Enoch shook the watch mockingly.