LightReader

Chapter 1 - World Enemy: The Manifestation of Hatred

I am Samael Silas Vane. And today, I will burn the heaven of the gods.

​"Target locked. 150 players from the 'Holy Expedition' alliance have entered the slaughter zone on the 3rd floor," PanicTaco's cold voice echoed through the party voice channel. "Samael-san, you have the green light. Wipe them out before they have a chance to use teleportation items."

​I stood at the peak of an obsidian cliff, looking down. Below, a group of players in shimmering golden armor, those nauseating "Heroes of Justice", were attempting to storm our base. They thought numbers were everything in Honor of Legends.

​"With pleasure," I replied. I could feel a wicked laugh catching in my throat.

​I raised my right hand. The world-class item I wore began to emit a dense, violet glow. The air around my avatar vibrated, distorted by the massive consumption of mana.

​In the mechanics of Honor of Legends, there are skills known as trump cards. Mine was the worst of them all. I wasn't just attacking them; I was erasing their existence from the server.

​"You who hide behind the mask of morality... feel the suffering of those you trample in the real world!"

​I chanted a high-tier spell. Blades of code and black energy began to congregate, forming a giant vortex that blanketed the virtual sky of Helheim.

​ [ Singularity Collapse ]

​It wasn't just area-of-effect magic. It was a waste of mana so inefficient for a normal player, but for me, it was a declaration of war. A blinding white light exploded from the center of the enemy formation. Damage numbers skyrocketed on my screen. Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands—surpassing the maximum HP limit even for a level 100 Tanker.

​"What?! How can one person—"

"Damn it! This is Samael's AOE magic from Acropolis Commando!"

"Run! Don't let him—"

​The voices on the public channel were cut off instantly. The avatars shattered into light particles, leaving piles of dropped high-tier items scattered on the ground as loot. One hundred and fifty people vanished in a single breath.

​"Always overdoing it, aren't you?" A knight in shimmering silver armor landed beside me. HikariBlade. He always appeared exactly when the dust settled, like a hero arriving late.

​I snorted softly, staring at my hand which still smoked with black soot. "Just taking out the trash, Hikari-san. You know I hate seeing that fake golden shimmer. It reminds me of the corporate executives you defend in that other world."

​"It's just a game, Samael," he replied calmly, though I knew he disliked my brutal playstyle.

​"To you, maybe. To me? This is the only place where evil can win fairly." I turned away, ignoring the piles of top-tier loot. "Dreadora! Take that junk for the clan treasury. I need a mana recharge."

​I walked through the corridors of the magnificent Parthenon Palace, greeted by rows of NPCs bowing stiffly. In this world, I am king. In this world, I am an inevitable disaster. And as long as the Acropolis Commando Clan stands, no light shall be permitted to enter this place.

​This world is an error, and Honor of Legends is the place where I can fix it by burning it to ash.

​I stood in my private torture chamber in the basement, observing three players from the Righteous Wings alliance captured in the earlier ambush. They weren't dead (not yet) . I used a special item to lock their HP at 1, a "half-dead" condition that prevented them from logging out due to the in-combat status constantly triggered by my passive magic.

​"Please... let us go. This is just a game, right? Why are you doing this?" one of them, a female Priest, sobbed. Her voice trembled violently.

​I stepped closer. My heavy footsteps echoed on the cold stone floor. I didn't see humans in front of me; I only saw stacks of data that needed deconstructing.

​"Just a game?" I whispered, my voice low and sharp. "It's precisely because this is just a game that I can show who I truly am without needing to wear that nauseating social mask."

​I activated the skill [Corruption of the Soul]. A dense black light began to crawl from my feet, coiling around their bodies. This wasn't a standard offensive spell. This was magic designed to mess with their virtual pain sensors up to the maximum limit allowed by the system.

​"You call yourselves heroes because you help newbie players? No. You just need validation to feel better than everyone else," I laughed, a dry sound that resembled metal grinding. "Here, there are no heroes. There are only predators and prey. And today, I am hungry."

​PanicTaco sent a message through the voice channel: "Samael-san, their negotiator has reached the front gate. They brought a compensation of 500,000 gold coins for the release of the prisoners."

​I stared into the fear-filled eyes of the Priest.

​"Tell them, PanicTaco. I don't need their gold. I want them to send one more of their members to enter this place voluntarily, or I will permanently delete the accounts of these three using the Mystic Item I borrowed from Dreadora."

​"Isn't that a bit too cruel, Samael," Dreadora's voice interrupted, sounding hesitant but not forbidding.

​"Cruel? No, this is pure justice, Dreadora. I want to see how far that 'heroic' friendship lasts when one of them must be sacrificed."

​I looked back at my captives. I could have killed them in a second, but that would be too generous. I wanted them to feel what it's like to be betrayed by their own morality. This is what it means to be a World Enemy. This is the role I chose.

​I will be the monster that makes them wake up in cold sweats in the real world. I will make them think that death is the most beautiful freedom.

More Chapters