The four female archers attacked first, countless dazzling air arrows shooting in every direction.
Explosions rang out all around them, one after another. Not a single zombie struck by the air arrows remained intact.
With more than a dozen volleys of air arrows every second, they nearly filled the space. The four archers alone held back every zombie.
But such a ferocious assault certainly could not last long. The Life Essence Qi they absorbed was not enough to replenish their expenditure.
"Stop shooting and recover your stamina. Melee fighters, prepare to attack." Seok-woo raised his shield, readying the longsword in his right hand.
The other warriors did the same.
They had experienced countless battles like this lately, and everyone had elected Seok-woo captain for his cool head and excellent grasp of the bigger picture.
"So much experience! One elite mob is worth a hundred normal mobs. This wave is juicy," Jin-hee said excitedly.
"Hurry and recover your stamina. There might be a boss after this. We'll probably need you to kite it," Seok-woo said.
Watching from the side, Ling Yi found it rather funny. At some point, this bunch had started using gaming terms for all their battle commands.
Anyone who did not know better would have thought they were playing a game and running a dungeon.
Strictly speaking, though, it really did not seem any different from running a dungeon. It was all farming mobs and fighting bosses.
Seok-woo had managed to work out that there was a boss. That really was impressive. He was a promising talent.
Soon, the advanced zombies met Seok-woo and the others in close combat.
Combat skills erupted, light flashed, and shouts rang out without cease... The zombies came in waves and fell in waves, seemingly endless and inexhaustible.
Yet Seok-woo and the others showed no fear at all. They had encountered several large-scale battles like this before, but because they could devour Life Essence Qi, they suffered virtually no losses, no matter how many monsters appeared.
It merely cost them a little time.
The battle lasted from morning until night, then from night until morning.
They had been fighting for a full day and night, but the final Law Fragment still had not dropped.
Ling Yi was in no hurry. It was only a matter of time. All he needed to do was wait quietly.
By this point, Seok-woo and the others also sensed something was wrong. They had already farmed at least a hundred thousand elite zombies, yet the zombies still kept coming.
Everyone had grown somewhat numb. After all, although this constant fighting did not deplete their stamina, it took a severe toll on them mentally.
"Stay sharp. New monsters have spawned." Keeping an eye on the whole battlefield, Seok-woo soon spotted new monsters mixed in among the zombies.
They were mutant beasts, including mutant dogs and mutant cats.
These mutant beasts were faster and stronger. Mixed into the zombie horde, they could land a hit with the slightest lapse in attention. Fortunately, they still could not break through the group's defenses.
At first, everyone was a little flustered, but once they figured out the mutant beasts' attack patterns, it only took a single sword strike.
"Jin-hee, Su-an, Seong-kyeong, Pu Ying, watch the air."
"Sang-hwa, watch your position. You're too far forward. You'll leave a gap in our defenses."
"Pu Junnan, your rhythm, your rhythm! How many times have I told you? Slow down your attacks. Don't throw the defensive circle off balance."
"Pay attention. The zombies are starting to thin out. The monsters have no more reinforcements. All the more reason not to get sloppy now."
At last, no more elite zombies or mutant beasts appeared. They had weathered this wave of elite zombies.
Looking at the mountains of corpses piled around them, everyone felt a little weary.
Their initial enthusiasm was gone. After all, no matter how exciting something was, constant repetition would leave people numb, or even disgusted.
Boom, boom, boom...
The ground suddenly began to shake, and an enormous dark shape emerged from around the corner of a distant building.
"Hiss..."
"Ah, shibal..."
Everyone could not help crying out.
What kind of creature was that?
It stood over twenty meters tall, its entire body covered in thick scales. Although humanoid, its upper and lower body proportions differed enormously from a human's.
Its arms hung past its knees, horns grew from its head, its eyes were scarlet, and its fangs jutted out.
It looked like a gorilla covered in lizard scales.
As it walked, it kept stuffing something into its mouth. Looking closely, they discovered that it was actually eating zombies.
"Shibal, is that the boss?" Sang-hwa muttered.
Seok-woo was also a little dumbfounded. How were they supposed to fight this thing?
"Spread out. Attack from its blind spots and find its weaknesses." With that, Seok-woo leaped forward first.
Seok-woo moved extremely fast, bounding between buildings and reaching the monster in the blink of an eye.
With a quick flicker, he reached the monster's flank, accelerated as he doubled back, and slashed his longsword straight at its ankle joint.
Clang, clang, clatter!
"Ankle joint ineffective. Scaled. Basic attacks can't break its defense." Seok-woo called out the data as he attacked.
Boom, clang, clang!
"Knee joint ineffective. Scaled. Basic attacks can't break its defense."
Clang, clang, clang... Awooo!
"Butthole effective. It's a weak point."
Sang-hwa and the others watched, dumbstruck. "Captain's a real beast."
"Captain, I'm coming for the butthole!" Sang-hwa shouted as he charged in too.
Seong-kyeong and the others covered their foreheads. This guy was beyond saving.
Seok-woo stumbled too, nearly falling over. "Sang-hwa, once this is over, I'm definitely going to spar with you."
"Not good! This boss has high agility. It actually dodged my butthole strike."
"Archers, concentrated fire! See if you can stagger it!"
Boom! Hundreds of air arrows converged on a single point, shooting straight at the monster's chest.
"Awooo!" The tremendous force sent the monster stumbling several steps backward.
"We didn't break its defense, but it worked. Sang-hwa, keep your eyes on your butthole."
"That's your butthole."
Ling Yi watched from the side, still without intervening. He had gradually grown to like these people, especially Sang-hwa. He was simply too entertaining.
This boss... Ling Yi had a feeling that the final Law Fragment was on it.
Under Seok-woo's command, everyone farmed the boss in an orderly fashion. As long as this monster lacked intelligence, it was bound to lose.
The battle lasted nine hours before the monster finally crashed to the ground.
Boom! An enormous surge of Life Essence Qi split into thirty portions, each merging into one of their bodies.
Everyone "leveled up" together, gaining several levels in a row.
At the same time, the law analysis progress for the Train to Busan World on the system panel finally reached 100%.
In that instant, Ling Yi formed an inexplicable connection with this world.
A seven-colored orb of light rose from Ling Yi's forehead. This was the true form of the Ling Realm.
The Ling Realm rose straight into the sky and began imprinting this world.
A moment later, the seven-colored orb returned, sinking back into Ling Yi's forehead.
"What was that just now?" Seok-woo asked curiously.
Ling Yi slowly rose into the air, smiling at them. "Congratulations. You've saved this world. From now on, I'll leave this world in your care."
As Ling Yi's words faded, his figure had already vanished from this world.
Sang-hwa and the others were utterly bewildered, but they felt that something about this world seemed different.
"Look!" Su-an shouted, pointing at the mountain of zombie corpses.
Everyone looked over and discovered that the corpses seemed to be weathering away, turning into wisps of smoke and vanishing in the blink of an eye.
With a few leaps, Seok-woo reached the roof of a building. Looking around, he saw thin smoke drifting everywhere. It seemed the entire world was being purified.
"All the zombies seem to have disappeared."
"That nauseating stench is gone. I've never breathed air that felt this good."
Jin-hee took a deep breath as though intoxicated and spoke with a smile.
"Where did Ling Yi oppa go?" Su-an asked.
Seok-woo ruffled Su-an's hair and said, "Maybe he never belonged to our world in the first place. Since disaster struck our world, perhaps he was a god who came to save us. He's probably gone back to the divine realm now."
Meanwhile, Ling Yi had already arrived in a new world.
The Train to Busan World had been devoured by the Ling Realm, leaving him no choice but to transmigrate into a new world.
In every world, Ling Yi was a passing traveler. Every world was Ling Yi's next stopping place.