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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Who's Next?
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"I declare."
"...!"
Kang Jeongsu swallowed involuntarily.
It wasn't because of the low, resonant voice that echoed in his ears like the tolling of a great bell, despite its subdued tone.
"Those who challenge me, abandon all hope."
"Those who fight me, prepare for death."
"Those who seek my life, stake your own."
"Those without the resolve, kneel now and beg for mercy."
He recited it like a passage from a national language textbook he'd read—and memorized—a hundred times over.
Rimon's warning came in a voice so impassive it bordered on monotonous.
"This is my final act of mercy."
His golden eyes, calm and serene.
Within them gleamed a purity that sent chills down the spine.
And because of that purity, a radiance so pristine it was utterly terrifying.
It instinctively forced Kang Jeongsu to take a step back.
"Remember: those who stand after hearing this warning will never survive."
It was less a warning and more a threat.
A death sentence issued by a lone man armed with nothing but a single sword, against two hundred foes bristling with heavy firearms and items.
In any other circumstance, it would have been laughed off as a joke not even worthy of mockery.
...Gulp.
But at least in this moment,
not a soul among the two hundred gathered here dared mock those words.
The dry saliva pooling in their mouths unbidden, the knees threatening to buckle, the gooseflesh prickling their napes.
They all told the men one thing.
'This is no bluff.'
'Kneel now.'
'This is your only chance.'
It was the whisper of instinct.
A premonition from the body, before the mind could even process it.
Had they been ordinary civilians, that pressure of death would have crushed them instantly.
There were two unfortunate truths.
First, everyone here was an elite, equipped with the skill and arrogance to overcome such mortal dread.
Second, their leader had overestimated his own judgment.
He ignored the instincts' warning and issued orders to steady their wavering morale.
"Why are you just standing there listening to his nonsense?! Attack him now!"
Right or wrong aside,
Kang Jeongsu's decision proved effective.
The men, torn between instinct and reason, hardened their resolve the instant they received the order—without a single exception—committing to battle Rimon.
With remarkable unity, no less.
And those most accustomed to obeying orders signaled the start of the fight.
"All units, open fire!"
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
The 909 Unit.
In terms of raw levels alone, they were actually among the weakest gathered here.
As soldiers by trade, it was inevitable their average levels lagged behind players who lived and breathed dungeon raids.
But when it came to combat prowess, no group here could match them.
The secret lay in their gear.
Exoskeleton KIM-S009.
Crafted by the National Defense Science Institute from materials like Knight's bones, Living Armor plating, Metal Golem shards, Shadow Hunter arrowheads, and more—all sourced from level 70+ high-rank monsters—fused with cutting-edge tech.
Infamous for costing more per unit than a fighter jet due to the exorbitant materials, the KIM-S009's performance was equally legendary.
It allowed a mid-tier level 30 player to hold their own against a level 60.
Especially its standard weapon, the Shadow Gun's ether bullets, which ignored defenses and struck fear even into high-level players.
A simultaneous volley from fifty 909 Unit soldiers equipped with KIM-S009s?
A death sentence.
No high-level player, no matter how skilled—and without a special skill like Absolute Defense—could block the hundreds of ether bullets pouring down.
"...What the hell?"
That was why
Stardust Guild Master Mira could only stare in dumbfounded shock.
"What just happened?"
Mira couldn't comprehend it.
How Rimon, after taking a direct volley from the 909 Unit, was still standing unscathed.
And why, right after opening fire,
all fifty 909 soldiers had collapsed in unison.
The scene was so inexplicable that for a moment, she wondered if it was some elaborate feint.
Roll...
But the shattered skulls,
the eyeballs rolling across the floor,
and above all, the hot blood splattered on her cheek,
made the truth inescapably clear—no room for illusion.
'Wiped out? The 909 Unit?'
The 909 Unit weren't your average grunts.
Each member a match for high-level players; five of them could dismantle most guilds.
Even she, a level 93 Grand Duke-rank player, would struggle against ten or more of these combat specialists.
For them to be annihilated in less than a second after firing?
Unbelievable, even with her own eyes.
And naturally, she wasn't the only one stunned by the scene.
"...My, God."
"Andong-kwon?"
"Insane... How the hell did he..."
"How? What skill did that guy just use?"
Cheonjong Guild Master, face pale as a corpse.
Andong-kwon—the only one here who'd actually seen what Rimon did, thanks to his unique skill—forced the words out through gritted teeth.
"No."
"Huh?"
"It wasn't a skill."
"...What kind of bullshit is that?"
Mira felt incredulous.
She'd assumed Rimon had used a skill, naturally.
Of course, that would require him to be both a Sword Master and a Grand Duke-rank player.
Still, that's what she believed.
Her common sense dictated nothing short of Time Stop or Word of Command could produce such an impossibility.
But Andong-kwon shattered that worldview with a scream like tearing flesh.
"That monster deflected the incoming bullets back at the 909 soldiers—with his sword!!!"
For a brief moment,
Mira failed to process the words.
Once she did, her face twisted in utter absurdity.
"Deflected...? Fifty ether bullets fired near-simultaneously at hypersonic speeds—right back at the shooters, without a single miss?"
"Yeah."
"No skill. Just... pure swordsmanship?"
"...Probably."
"Does that even make sense?!"
Andong-kwon offered no reply to Mira's wide-eyed outburst.
Whether she accepted it or not,
reality remained unchanged.
"No way... That's impossible even for a player who's mastered swordsmanship skills..."
She bit her nails to calm her nerves, mumbling,
then abruptly fell silent.
Remembering who—or what—she was dealing with.
'Rimon Asfelder.'
A relic from a bygone era, versed only in the blade.
A symbol of the obsolete past, fallen with the times.
She'd thought removing one such fossil would earn her favors from the PAB Director and even the Infinite Monarch—a profitable venture.
Rimon had been hailed a guardian deity only because players didn't exist back then.
Samurai thrived in olden days,
but fell with the rise of guns.
In this modern age, who needed a sword wielder?
Dealing with a mere 'civilian' who was just good with a knife? Easy.
...But was that judgment sound?
'Why?'
Mira,
Stardust Guild Master.
One of fewer than a hundred Grand Duke-rank players in the world.
Proud of her superior knowledge, she finally sensed a massive disconnect.
'Why did I assume a Sword Master would be weaker than me?'
Compared to players wielding powerful skills that brought wealth and progress to the world, a Sword Master knew only sword strikes.
Hence, treated as outdated.
But flip that around?
It also meant they excelled at sword strikes.
A successful businessman earns respect, but that doesn't make him stronger than a soldier or martial artist.
Players' fame and fortune didn't guarantee victory over a Sword Master.
Yet she'd never doubted it until now.
No rich man fears soldiers,
just because he wields cash instead of a gun.
But was that swordplay truly 'just' anything?
Did he reign supreme solely because players hadn't appeared yet?
About Rimon Asfelder himself...
No—had they all been deluded by 'common sense' into some ridiculous misconception?
Like a fool rich man bludgeoned by a soldier's rifle, smugly thinking his wealth shields him?
Or...
A marionette, oblivious to its strings, dancing into flames at its puppeteer's whim?
"So."
As if he hadn't even needed to lower his guard.
Still cradling a woman's corpse in one arm.
Wielding his sword with the other to annihilate the 909 Unit.
"Who's next to die?"
The absolute being who'd saved the world countless times, safeguarding humanity's peace for centuries.
Staring into the icy eyes of humanity's last Sword Master, Mira shuddered uncontrollably.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"...This."
Dazed and rigid for a long while,
as if gripped by an invisible hand around his throat, barely breathing—Kang Jeongsu finally moved his lips.
"How... how is this even possible..."
When he'd witnessed the 909 Unit wiped out in an instant,
Kang Jeongsu had kept his cool.
Expensive gear boosted their power, but they were mid-tier players at heart. A moment's carelessness could end them anticlimactically.
When the criminal players and killers charging after were butchered in the blink of an eye,
he was surprised, but it made sense.
Untrained thugs rushing in disorganized, sealing their own doom.
Up to then, he'd believed.
That the remaining 120 high-level players, if they shone,
and especially the Grand Dukes Mira and Andong-kwon—lured with massive incentives—stepped up, the tide would turn.
...Until just minutes ago.
"You fucking idiot."
"Gasp!"
Kang Jeongsu recoiled in terror, tripped, and fell.
He scrambled to turn and crawl away, only to freeze again in horror.
A severed head, eyes burst from their sockets, lay right before his nose.
And it wasn't the only one.
Mercenaries split in half,
PAB agents with gaping chest wounds,
Players with pulverized skulls, and more.
Around him towered a grotesque mountain of corpses unfit for human eyes.
"You really thought you could take me down with these 200 small-fry?"
"...W-what have you done!"
Facing the white-haired youth—who bore not a drop of blood amid the carnage—Kang Jeongsu screamed in desperation.
"Do you know who these people were?! They were our nation's future! The pillars who would've upheld the country for the next half-century!"
No exaggeration.
30 elite PAB agents.
50 fully armed 909 Unit soldiers.
38 raiders from Stardust and Cheonjong guilds.
Plus 50 S-rank Black Wolf mercenaries and 30-odd criminals and killers.
Setting aside the last two, 118 national players lay dead here.
68 of them high-level.
In this era, each high-level player was a one-man corporation and asymmetric asset.
68 wiped out at once? Unprecedented since the Iron Age began.
If this got out?
The nation would reel.
"So what? What do you want me to do about it?"
Rimon met Kang Jeongsu's anguished cry with cold mockery.
"If the nation's future meant that much, you shouldn't have sicced them on me."