Chapter 44: The Fruit of Patience is Too Bitter to Bear (1)

Chapter 44

[Greetings to all viewers of Colosseum Survival from across the nation… no, from around the world! Hello!]

It was 8 AM. The caster, who had taken over the morning shift, began the broadcast with a cheerful voice.

[Today marks the fifth day of the first preliminary round of Season 12, Group A! Hello to all our viewers~!]

– Hi2

– Hello

– ColHi

– ColHiColHi~

[ColHi~ stands for Colosseum Hi! As always, joining me for the morning shift is commentator Kim Jincheol.]

[Hello, I’m Kim Jincheol, happy to greet you at this hour once again.]

[It’s already the fifth day! Time flies, doesn’t it? It feels like just yesterday when Player Kim Jinsung fought the Twin-Headed Ogre for over 20 minutes!]

[Haha… And now, Kim Jinsung is considered the most powerful participant in Group A of the preliminaries, right?]

[Indeed! Before we begin the broadcast, let’s review the current status of the survivors.]

The TV screen immediately displayed the status of the survivors.

Total participants: 672 (322 players, 350 defensive soldiers)

Defensive soldiers who passed: 100

Survivors as of Day 4: 102 (25 original players, 77 former defensive soldiers)

Survivors as of Day 5: 78 (21 original players, 57 former defensive soldiers)

The commentators continued their broadcast while looking at the status chart.

[Hmm… From 102 survivors yesterday to 78 today. That means 24 deaths occurred yesterday.]

[According to the production team, most of them died from suffocation due to the wildfire.]

[Ah! I see. It looks like the defensive soldiers had five times more casualties!]

[That’s because, unlike the defensive soldiers who had no survival gear, the players could easily find gas masks in the initial looting phase.]

[Exactly. Many players found gas masks in the buildings near the starting point on the first day of the preliminaries, and there was a reason for that.]

**Swoosh…**

[Ah! As we speak, a tremendous amount of water is pouring down over the entire forest!]

[It seems the production team is using it to extinguish the fire. The wildfire is being put out quickly.]

[That’s right! Although the entire island belongs to Colosseum, leaving a wildfire unattended for too long isn’t a good look for the production team!]

As the TV screen showed the rain-like water streams covering the entire island where the preliminaries were taking place, the commentators continued their broadcast.

—

“Whew~.”

At that moment, Hwang Yuntaek, who was hiding in a secluded spot on the mountainside, was also marveling at the water pouring down over the entire forest.

“Those drones up there are the ones pouring the water, right?”

Although it was hard to see due to the water streams, it was clear that the source of this massive amount of water was the numerous drones flying high in the sky.

“To pour out this much water, they must be using really high-quality magic stones… Colosseum is impressive.”

While Hwang Yuntaek marveled at Colosseum’s resources, the wildfire that had engulfed the forest all day was almost completely gone.

“Thankfully, they sensibly didn’t pour water on the mountain where the participants are… Yawn~!”

Hwang Yuntaek let out a big yawn, making sure not to make any noise that might be heard by others.

“Ah, I’m so sleepy. I’ve been up for two nights straight.”

Rubbing his tired eyes, Hwang Yuntaek lamented his lack of sleep. He hadn’t slept the previous night due to the losers’ revival round, and he couldn’t sleep today, fearing an ambush while he rested.

“Knowing that all the remaining participants are nearby, I can’t sleep peacefully…”

Upon arriving, he realized that the mountain wasn’t as large as he had thought. He had encountered almost ten survivors while moving to find a safe place yesterday. Hwang Yuntaek estimated that there must be at least one participant hiding within a 30-meter radius.

“Let’s stay put until I hear any signs of others. There’s still more than two days left.”

Judging by the distance, it seemed he could reach the mountain top, where the helicopter would land in three days, within an hour if he ran quickly. So he could stay hidden here until the helicopter arrived.

“The problem is food… I’m so hungry.”

It wasn’t until he reached the mountain using the ancient tree trunk he had luckily found yesterday that he realized he hadn’t eaten for almost two days. His stomach had been protesting since last night.

“Do I have to hunt someone before escaping…?”

It seemed impossible to endure another three days on an empty stomach.

—

[Ah, that’s Player Hwang Yuntaek. It looks like he’s in the same place I saw on TV last night. He hasn’t moved at all!]

[Most players are behaving similarly to Hwang Yuntaek. Since they can reach the mountain top quickly, they plan to stay hidden until then.]

[But is that really possible?]

As the caster’s ominous words ended, the TV screen captured the far horizon.

**Vroom-!**

There, a plane familiar to the viewers appeared, making a loud engine noise.

– Supply drop?

– It’s a supply plane!

– Perfect timing, lol

– Just when things were getting boring… Amazing, really, lol

As the viewers reacted enthusiastically, the caster raised his voice.

[Once again, we see the supply plane arriving! From today, the supply boxes will be dropped near the mountain, accompanied by red smoke and a delicious smell!]

[Many of the former defensive soldiers must be starving. Will they be able to resist those supply boxes filled with food?]

At that moment, the TV, which had been showing participants turning their heads towards the incoming plane, suddenly switched to another scene. The caster immediately recognized the location.

[At this moment, we see the only participant living in a different environment from the rest!]

[It’s Player Kim Jinsung. He’s still in the secret passage, isn’t he?]

—

**”Yawn~!”**

Unlike Hwang Yuntaek earlier, Kim Jinsung stretched openly with a loud yawn.

“It’s been a while since I slept so well.”

Indeed, his face looked refreshed, a stark contrast to Hwang Yuntaek’s exhausted expression from earlier.

“With only plant monsters in the cave, I could sleep without worrying about being attacked.”

The biggest weakness of plant monsters is that they are rooted in the ground and cannot move. This means that as long as he knew their locations and stayed as far away from them as possible, he wouldn’t be attacked while sleeping.

“Alright, my mana has fully recovered overnight. Let’s eat and then move.”

Kim Jinsung took a sealed lunch box from his large bag. It was a food item equipped with an auto-warmer system that would heat the meal inside when a button on the packaging was pressed.

“Mmm~! Eating something warm in this cold cave feels so good.”

Kim Jinsung leisurely enjoyed his meal, savoring the warmth of the food. After scraping every last grain of rice and drinking water, he stood up, ready to continue.

“Time to conquer the secret passage again.”

With renewed energy, Kim Jinsung began walking deeper into the cave, which he had postponed exploring due to fatigue the previous night. His steps were unusually lively today.

—

A short while later, Kim Jinsung found himself fighting plant monsters again after descending further underground.

**Slash!**

As he cut through the central stem of one plant monster, another plant monster, camouflaged like the surrounding rocks, sprayed petrification powder from its flower. At that moment, Kim Jinsung used his ‘Shadow Hiding’ skill to disappear into the cave floor.

“This way, I avoid the powder.”

This was one of the many tricks he had learned after defeating countless plant monsters the previous day. After perfectly dodging the powder, he reemerged and easily cut through the central stem of the plant monster. After defeating the two monsters, a notification appeared before him.

—

▶ You have already acquired the ‘Poison Powder’ skill from the defeated monster.

▶ You have already acquired the ‘Petrification Powder’ skill from the defeated monster.

—

Having unlocked two new skill slots the previous day, Kim Jinsung had filled the empty slots with ‘Poison Powder’ and ‘Petrification Powder.’

“Come to think of it, there were really a lot of monsters in this secret passage.”

Considering he received 30 Beast Karma points per plant monster, he had defeated at least 67 monsters. The actual number was much higher.

“If I hunt a bit more, I should be able to unlock another skill slot.”

Checking his remaining Beast Karma points, Kim Jinsung continued down the passage. As he moved forward, a green plant monster started to attack him. Kim Jinsung extended his palm towards it.

—

▶ Using the ‘Petrification Powder’ skill.

—

Gray powder sprayed from his palm, covering the green plant monster. However, nothing happened. Instead, the monster seemed angrier and swung its stem at Kim Jinsung. He sidestepped the attack and thought to himself.

“As expected, it doesn’t work.”

Strangely, the skills he had acquired didn’t work on the same type of plant monsters. Poison powder didn’t affect the ones that used petrification powder, and vice versa.

“It’s not a problem with the skills.”

Given that the skills had worked on him the previous day, the issue wasn’t with the skills themselves.

“Maybe they don’t work on the same type of plant monsters…”

Pondering this, Kim Jinsung mechanically swung his sword again. With a clean slash, the large flower bud, which was the head of the green plant monster, fell to the ground.

—

A short while later, Kim Jinsung stopped as he descended further down the passage. He encountered a sinkhole about 5 meters in diameter, with an unknown depth. There was no other way but to enter it.

“There’s something down there.”

Kim Jinsung peered into the sinkhole with certainty. Although nothing was visible, his senses, enhanced by the ‘Location Detection’ trait, picked up on it. About 10 meters down, something massive was writhing.

“It must be a boss monster.”

He had seen it on TV. At the end of these secret passages, there was always a powerful monster acting as a gatekeeper. The creature he sensed below was undoubtedly such a monster.

“Let’s use ‘Shadow Hiding’ to go down.”

‘Shadow Hiding’ was truly the best skill for situations like this. While others would have to risk their lives diving in, Kim Jinsung could move freely in the darkness. As he descended about 5 meters into the shadows, he suddenly heard a heavy whooshing sound cutting through the air.

“……!”

Kim Jinsung’s eyes widened. A plant stem, as thick as a Twin-Headed Ogre’s torso, was swinging directly towards his hiding spot! He quickly moved to the side.

**Crash!**

With a loud smashing sound, the stem struck the wall where Kim Jinsung had been hiding. The problem was that there wasn’t just one attacking stem.

“Yikes?!”

Seeing two more plant stems emerge from the darkness, Kim Jinsung was alarmed. The speed at which they were coming made it impossible to dodge both simultaneously. He had no choice but to deactivate his ‘Shadow Hiding’ skill and dive to the ground. It was the right decision. As he rolled to safety, debris from the shattered cave wall rained down where he had been.

“But I can’t see the bottom… Ah, there it is!”

Relieved to see the ground, Kim Jinsung activated his Magi. After safely rolling to a stop, he had to dodge another incoming plant stem by diving to the side. After rolling several times, he finally faced forward.

“……!!”

His mouth dropped open. The plant before him was enormous. It was larger than the famous skyscrapers in Seoul. The head, with petals like sharp fangs, was the size of a giant monster. Surrounding it were at least 100 writhing stems, vines, and flower buds.

“What… is this…?”

Staring up at the massive creature, Kim Jinsung wore an expression of disbelief.

—

“It’s finally here.”

Vice President Jang Seungwook, watching from the back of the monitoring room, muttered to himself.

“The strongest plant monster on Earth, Forghinae.”