Chapter 206
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‘The problem is this guy is too strong. To be honest, I’m not even sure how strong he really is.’
The strongest users, the three users who were often referred to as the Outer Gods or Heaven above the Heavens, were well known for their strength and power, which was classes above other users. In particular, Arthur, who was known to be the strongest among the Heaven above the Heavens, made himself known to the whole world by defeating Sungmuk, an Orc Hero who overpowered Starting by himself. In addition, archmage Merlin was so overwhelmingly powerful that he made tens of thousands of users at the recent event helplessly look on as he made quick work of thousands of gem fish. By publicly showcasing his magic ability, Merlin showed a strength that seemed impossible to deal with, even if several other users attacked him all at once.
‘If Arthur or Merlin tries to kill the US President, how many Masters will it take to stop them?’
Reaching such a thought, Ilyia realized the seriousness of the situation. She realized that, if any of the Heaven above the Heavens sought to do something evil, an unspeakable crisis would unfold. Of course, there was a time limit if they manifested, so that was one reason they may hesitate to take such action, but if an organization protected and backed them, nothing would be able to stop them during the hour they manifested.
“Can I ask you something?”
Hearing Eunhye’s unexpected voice, Sasha turned her head.
“What?”
“Did you make this offer to Arthur and Cruze?”
Sasha groaned after hearing Eunhye’s question. However, she soon replied with an expression that seemed to state, ‘there’s no use in hiding it’.
“Arthur refused. His patriotism and commitment to protect his country were too strong. I told him if he ever changed his mind, to let me know. And in the case of Cruze, no one knows where she lives.”
Cruze’s unknown whereabouts was an amazing feat. The intelligence power of the United States was so great that it knew most of the deepest and darkest secrets that other countries desperately wanted to hide. However, DIO didn’t have a [sign up] process, and thus no paper trail, so to find a user, there was no choice but to compare the appearance of someone’s in-game avatar to a person’s looks in real life.
“Are you saying she belongs to a secret society or lives in a restricted area or something?”
“She might be someone who’s suffered serious injuries beyond visible recognition.”
However, the fact was that Cruze was just a shut in who lived in the corner of a room, so no one had the chance to see her, but there was no way for them to know that.
“Hmm, do I have to give an answer right away?”
“No. We’re not threatening you or anything of the sort. If you make a decision, you can contact me through this. Well, I’ve taken quite a bit of your time, haven’t I? I’ll take off before I become a nuisance, so please call me and notify me of your decision when you can.”
Saying so, Ilyia handed Yongno a smartphone. The design was like a normal smartphone, but it was so thin that it looked more like a bookmark.
Click.
After Sasha left, Yongno fell into thought. The situation was rapidly changing. If things continued in the current direction, it would become impossible for him to develop himself and make his magic tools, as he had been doing before.
“I wanted to make a gate somehow.”
Making a gate wasn’t as easy as one might think. Lacking the requisite magic power and internal energy was one part of the problem, but Yongno’s main issue was the fact that Earth was completely cut off from the outside world because of its complete lack of spiritual pathways. Yongno didn’t face any trouble in simply creating a few sparks or using his martial arts, but problems arose when he tried to bring things from the [outside]. In fact, this was the reason why evil spirits and Youngmin appeared.
“Ah, come to think of it, what is Youngmin doing?”
“DIO. He logged on this morning and still hasn’t logged out.”
“Well, the first time anyone plays DIO, one does tend to lose one’s sense of time.”
Muttering this, Yongno put away the smartphone Sasha had given him. He wanted to keep his options open, just in case.
Arthur, or Seyoung, refused the US president’s request due to his patriotism, but Yongno was different. Beyond being simply individualistic, Yongno held a grudge against nation-states. He had been abducted by a state-run secret service and subjected to brutal torture-like experiments on his physical body, just because he was different from other people.
‘Whether it is an entire country or an organization, I must use them to my advantage. If it’s difficult to hide my existence, I must proactively deal with that reality.’
Yongno reaffirmed his commitment and rechecked his plan. He started to mentally organize the work he needed to do, but unfortunately, it didn’t seem that his enemies intended to give him any time to think.
Whirl.
An intense spiritual wave, which Yongno had felt before, swept across Earth. It was the X-Belt he experienced on Ayan.
“… Really? Isn’t infection on Earth impossible?
The moment Yongno groaned, a spiritual voice echoed out.
“Follow us! We are… great!”
Yongno was safe from the transmitted wave, and Eunhye didn’t seem affected either. Actually, this result was to be expected. The X-Belt, which was also called a [spiritual infection], only infected hosts that possessed spiritual pathways. At the very least, there needed to be an inactive spiritual pathway for one to become infected, but there was no such spiritual pathway anywhere or on anyone in present Earth.
A powerful voice resounded, but only Yongno could hear it. If he had been awake, Youngmin would have heard it, but even so, that was the end; Youngmin wouldn’t have been affected. What is the use of an X-Belt, which contained enormous spiritual power, when there was no one to be infected in the first place?
“But they’re not fools either, so there’s no way they’d do something so stupid without a reason.”
“Yongno?”
“I think there’ll be a problem soon. How many times can you manifest?”
“Only twice.”
In other words, Eunhye was stating that she had 20,000 gem points, which was relatively a considerable amount. The missions allowed them to collect gem points, as they required combat more than anything else, so there was no particular reason to consume any accrued gem points.
Boom.
At that moment, Yongno felt a strong shockwave approach them from a distance, as if an earthquake had occurred. The distance was fairly far away, but the ground still vibrated and undulated as if an earthquake had occurred.
“Hmm…”
Yongno felt conflicted.
‘What should I do? Should I go and save people? Morally, that would be the correct action… but that decision wouldn’t be rational. If I move recklessly, I will constantly be sought and used by national organizations from here on out.’
It was said that with great power came great responsibility. Heroes in comics and movies used their superpowers for the sake of others and defeated enemies who hindered others’ happiness. They risked their lives for a greater cause.
But why?
Yongno didn’t understand that way of thinking. Helping others was, of course, a good thing. But why should one sacrifice oneself for another? Even if one does a service and sacrifices, there’s no guarantee that the other, who was saved, would appreciate it. In today’s stark and rigid modern society, individuals with such hero-mentality were prime targets to be used as tools by others.
Service and sacrifice were, of course, great concepts, but service was always a choice, not something that could be coerced.
“What are you going to do?”
“It would be better to go… and at least figure out what the situation is. It doesn’t seem too far away.”
The moment Yongno finished speaking…
The distant mighty aura suddenly disappeared.
“Huh?”
It was not that the being was hiding; it was literally gone. A more intelligible explanation would be that it was killed off.
“… Ha! I was concerning myself for no reason. Have I become stupid?”
Yongno let out a dejected laugh. He wasn’t a hero. He was naturally distrusting of humans and was even more averse to serving others.
However, there was a hero residing in Korea. He was a sincere, good-natured person who knew how to sacrifice himself for others with a greater cause in mind.
“Seyoung hyung…”
People called him the great swordsman, Arthur Pendragon.
***
“Ah, why isn’t this asshole listening to what I’m saying? Do I look like a pushover to you? Huh?”
A student was beating another student on the veranda of Ivory Tower Educational Enrichment Academy, which mainly catered to middle and high school students. School violence was not a new concept that started recently, and bullying wasn’t an act necessarily limited to school grounds. Not all perpetrators of school violence were bullies from broken families; there were quite a few bullies who possessed fairly high grades. In the first place, one’s level of intelligence had nothing to do with whether one was good or evil.
“Be patient. He’s just dumb. Hey, what do you think you’re doing? Why aren’t you begging for forgiveness?”
Hearing the chatter from a small-framed guy who was standing next to him, Mingi felt like he was about to go crazy. How did things turn like this? He wasn’t only subjected to bullying at school but also in his educational enrichment academy. Kyungwon, who attended the same school as Mingi, always followed Mingi around and harassed him for money. Mingi was initially relieved when he found that he and Kyungwon wouldn’t be in the same classroom for the new school year, but now, Mingi found that they were attending the same academy. Mingi hoped to quit the academy, but his parents weren’t hearing any of it.
“You don’t want to study, so you’re starting to spout all sorts of nonsense. If you don’t want to attend the academy, then get good grades! Do you know how much the academy costs? Mom is having a hard time too!”
Mingi felt as though he was being driven to the brink. His mind was at its wit’s end. Continued beatings and bullying. He felt useless, as he couldn’t do anything about it. The loneliness and despair of having no one by his side…
Right then, a thunderous roar shook his mind.
“Follow us! We are… great!”
Earthlings without spiritual pathways were basically immune to the X-Belt. The X-Belt, which was basically a spiritual-type infection, was imperceptible to humans on Earth, just as how flashbangs are useless against a blind man.
However, humans on this Earth possessed souls, and among earthlings, there were some with minds that were particularly well suited to the Grotesque. If an extremely concentrated X-Belt wave was injected into a human who was tainted with negative emotions, such as anger, hatred, fear, pain, or despair, that human would directly become a 4th Stage Infected. In other words, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Stage would be skipped over.
“… Stop it.”
“What? Hahaha! What the fuck is this bastard…”
Crack!
The right fist of the bullied student went through the chest of the bullying student. All the surrounding students, as well as the student who now had a hole in his chest, stood dumbfounded, unable to process what had just happened.
“… Huh?”
No one could process the surreal sight. Could anyone have imagined a bullied student punching a hole through the chest of a student who was bullying him? The whole scene was surreal.
Crack!
In an instant, the appearance of the bullied student, that is, the Infected, changed rapidly. As if his body was a piece of rubber being stretched out, the Infected’s body grew rapidly in size and essentially ripped away the bullied student’s physical body. Belatedly, screams erupt from all over the place.
“Ack?!”
“What the hell? What is this… Ah!”
The academy students screamed and tried to scatter in all directions, but the tentacles that extended from the Infected’s body shot out all over the place. The Grotesque’s tentacles crushed students’ bones and flesh and pierced through their bodies.
Whoosh.
The corpses that had been pierced started to glow red after being affected by a special power. It was similar to a magic corpse explosion spell commonly used by dark magic mages, but its effect exceeded that of a modern large bomb.
Bam!!
A whole floor of the academy was destroyed, and the building, which couldn’t withstand the impact of the various explosions, began to collapse. Due to the nature of the academy’s classroom setup, the students, who had been crammed into several narrow classrooms, were crushed by fragments of the collapsing building, resulting in a catastrophic event.
“Disgusting! Dirty! Pathetic! Stupid!!!!”
The Infected, who had already lost his temper, screamed and smashed his surroundings before opening his body wide and swallowing the surrounding corpses whole. Those who saw the shocking scene were terrified and froze like a deer caught in headlights.
It was then that a Sword Light appeared in the air, vertically cutting through the body of the Infected.
Swipe!
With a sharp sound, the Infected’s body was dismembered. It was not an attack that simply cut through the enemy’s body, but a manifestation of internal energy that destroyed the spiritual structure of the being, so the Infected fell to the ground without the ability to recover.
“Oh my god. Even though I rushed over here as fast as I could…”
Standing atop the collapsed pile of building fragments was a flying dragon with glossy black scales and a man wearing magic imbued martial arts gear, which looked like modern clothing, holding a relatively thick-bladed Draconic Sword. His name was Arthur Pendragon. There was no way a 4th Stage Infected, not even a Slayer, could contend against Arthur. In the 4th Stage, even the most mature Infected was commensurate with a Level 9 existence, so how could such a being block Arthur’s attack?
However, the problem was not the enemy’s combat power.
“What’s this? What are you? What the hell is this?!”
“Huh? Oh no, I’m here to help you all…”
“Help us? What help?! Are you going to bring all these dead people back to life?”
The middle-aged man approached as if he were about to strike Arthur. It was unknown if he understood that, if Arthur had arrived a little later, he would have died, as well as everyone else in the vicinity.
“Grr!”
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“Huh?”
However, when Toothless growled, the middle-aged man collapsed on the ground in fright. Unlike Arthur, Toothless didn’t waste its energy in trying to save others.
“Ugh! Why did this monster appear here?!”
“Gwangsoo…!”
The reaction of the people gathered around Arthur was aggressive. In the Republic of Korea, where security was well maintained, people often lost their minds and reasoning ability due to excessive stress if they ever experienced a terrorist-like massacre.
“Let’s go, master. If you stay any longer, you’ll only see the dirty side of humanity.”
“But…”
Arthur looked around. Suddenly, more people rushed in to see the collapsed academy and him standing atop of it. Some of them were even taking pictures of him with their smartphones.
Woong~!
Hearing the distant sounds of sirens blaring, Arthur climbed onto Toothless’ neck. Since there were still 40 minutes left in his manifested time, Arthur felt it was necessary to check if there were any attacks elsewhere.
Poof!
With the shaking of space, Arthur’s figure disappeared.
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‘The problem is this guy is too strong. To be honest, I’m not even sure how strong he really is.’
The strongest users, the three users who were often referred to as the Outer Gods or Heaven above the Heavens, were well known for their strength and power, which was classes above other users. In particular, Arthur, who was known to be the strongest among the Heaven above the Heavens, made himself known to the whole world by defeating Sungmuk, an Orc Hero who overpowered Starting by himself. In addition, archmage Merlin was so overwhelmingly powerful that he made tens of thousands of users at the recent event helplessly look on as he made quick work of thousands of gem fish. By publicly showcasing his magic ability, Merlin showed a strength that seemed impossible to deal with, even if several other users attacked him all at once.
‘If Arthur or Merlin tries to kill the US President, how many Masters will it take to stop them?’
Reaching such a thought, Ilyia realized the seriousness of the situation. She realized that, if any of the Heaven above the Heavens sought to do something evil, an unspeakable crisis would unfold. Of course, there was a time limit if they manifested, so that was one reason they may hesitate to take such action, but if an organization protected and backed them, nothing would be able to stop them during the hour they manifested.
“Can I ask you something?”
Hearing Eunhye’s unexpected voice, Sasha turned her head.
“What?”
“Did you make this offer to Arthur and Cruze?”
Sasha groaned after hearing Eunhye’s question. However, she soon replied with an expression that seemed to state, ‘there’s no use in hiding it’.
“Arthur refused. His patriotism and commitment to protect his country were too strong. I told him if he ever changed his mind, to let me know. And in the case of Cruze, no one knows where she lives.”
Cruze’s unknown whereabouts was an amazing feat. The intelligence power of the United States was so great that it knew most of the deepest and darkest secrets that other countries desperately wanted to hide. However, DIO didn’t have a [sign up] process, and thus no paper trail, so to find a user, there was no choice but to compare the appearance of someone’s in-game avatar to a person’s looks in real life.
“Are you saying she belongs to a secret society or lives in a restricted area or something?”
“She might be someone who’s suffered serious injuries beyond visible recognition.”
However, the fact was that Cruze was just a shut in who lived in the corner of a room, so no one had the chance to see her, but there was no way for them to know that.
“Hmm, do I have to give an answer right away?”
“No. We’re not threatening you or anything of the sort. If you make a decision, you can contact me through this. Well, I’ve taken quite a bit of your time, haven’t I? I’ll take off before I become a nuisance, so please call me and notify me of your decision when you can.”
Saying so, Ilyia handed Yongno a smartphone. The design was like a normal smartphone, but it was so thin that it looked more like a bookmark.
Click.
After Sasha left, Yongno fell into thought. The situation was rapidly changing. If things continued in the current direction, it would become impossible for him to develop himself and make his magic tools, as he had been doing before.
“I wanted to make a gate somehow.”
Making a gate wasn’t as easy as one might think. Lacking the requisite magic power and internal energy was one part of the problem, but Yongno’s main issue was the fact that Earth was completely cut off from the outside world because of its complete lack of spiritual pathways. Yongno didn’t face any trouble in simply creating a few sparks or using his martial arts, but problems arose when he tried to bring things from the [outside]. In fact, this was the reason why evil spirits and Youngmin appeared.
“Ah, come to think of it, what is Youngmin doing?”
“DIO. He logged on this morning and still hasn’t logged out.”
“Well, the first time anyone plays DIO, one does tend to lose one’s sense of time.”
Muttering this, Yongno put away the smartphone Sasha had given him. He wanted to keep his options open, just in case.
Arthur, or Seyoung, refused the US president’s request due to his patriotism, but Yongno was different. Beyond being simply individualistic, Yongno held a grudge against nation-states. He had been abducted by a state-run secret service and subjected to brutal torture-like experiments on his physical body, just because he was different from other people.
‘Whether it is an entire country or an organization, I must use them to my advantage. If it’s difficult to hide my existence, I must proactively deal with that reality.’
Yongno reaffirmed his commitment and rechecked his plan. He started to mentally organize the work he needed to do, but unfortunately, it didn’t seem that his enemies intended to give him any time to think.
Whirl.
An intense spiritual wave, which Yongno had felt before, swept across Earth. It was the X-Belt he experienced on Ayan.
“… Really? Isn’t infection on Earth impossible?
The moment Yongno groaned, a spiritual voice echoed out.
“Follow us! We are… great!”
Yongno was safe from the transmitted wave, and Eunhye didn’t seem affected either. Actually, this result was to be expected. The X-Belt, which was also called a [spiritual infection], only infected hosts that possessed spiritual pathways. At the very least, there needed to be an inactive spiritual pathway for one to become infected, but there was no such spiritual pathway anywhere or on anyone in present Earth.
A powerful voice resounded, but only Yongno could hear it. If he had been awake, Youngmin would have heard it, but even so, that was the end; Youngmin wouldn’t have been affected. What is the use of an X-Belt, which contained enormous spiritual power, when there was no one to be infected in the first place?
“But they’re not fools either, so there’s no way they’d do something so stupid without a reason.”
“Yongno?”
“I think there’ll be a problem soon. How many times can you manifest?”
“Only twice.”
In other words, Eunhye was stating that she had 20,000 gem points, which was relatively a considerable amount. The missions allowed them to collect gem points, as they required combat more than anything else, so there was no particular reason to consume any accrued gem points.
Boom.
At that moment, Yongno felt a strong shockwave approach them from a distance, as if an earthquake had occurred. The distance was fairly far away, but the ground still vibrated and undulated as if an earthquake had occurred.
“Hmm…”
Yongno felt conflicted.
‘What should I do? Should I go and save people? Morally, that would be the correct action… but that decision wouldn’t be rational. If I move recklessly, I will constantly be sought and used by national organizations from here on out.’
It was said that with great power came great responsibility. Heroes in comics and movies used their superpowers for the sake of others and defeated enemies who hindered others’ happiness. They risked their lives for a greater cause.
But why?
Yongno didn’t understand that way of thinking. Helping others was, of course, a good thing. But why should one sacrifice oneself for another? Even if one does a service and sacrifices, there’s no guarantee that the other, who was saved, would appreciate it. In today’s stark and rigid modern society, individuals with such hero-mentality were prime targets to be used as tools by others.
Service and sacrifice were, of course, great concepts, but service was always a choice, not something that could be coerced.
“What are you going to do?”
“It would be better to go… and at least figure out what the situation is. It doesn’t seem too far away.”
The moment Yongno finished speaking…
The distant mighty aura suddenly disappeared.
“Huh?”
It was not that the being was hiding; it was literally gone. A more intelligible explanation would be that it was killed off.
“… Ha! I was concerning myself for no reason. Have I become stupid?”
Yongno let out a dejected laugh. He wasn’t a hero. He was naturally distrusting of humans and was even more averse to serving others.
However, there was a hero residing in Korea. He was a sincere, good-natured person who knew how to sacrifice himself for others with a greater cause in mind.
“Seyoung hyung…”
People called him the great swordsman, Arthur Pendragon.
***
“Ah, why isn’t this asshole listening to what I’m saying? Do I look like a pushover to you? Huh?”
A student was beating another student on the veranda of Ivory Tower Educational Enrichment Academy, which mainly catered to middle and high school students. School violence was not a new concept that started recently, and bullying wasn’t an act necessarily limited to school grounds. Not all perpetrators of school violence were bullies from broken families; there were quite a few bullies who possessed fairly high grades. In the first place, one’s level of intelligence had nothing to do with whether one was good or evil.
“Be patient. He’s just dumb. Hey, what do you think you’re doing? Why aren’t you begging for forgiveness?”
Hearing the chatter from a small-framed guy who was standing next to him, Mingi felt like he was about to go crazy. How did things turn like this? He wasn’t only subjected to bullying at school but also in his educational enrichment academy. Kyungwon, who attended the same school as Mingi, always followed Mingi around and harassed him for money. Mingi was initially relieved when he found that he and Kyungwon wouldn’t be in the same classroom for the new school year, but now, Mingi found that they were attending the same academy. Mingi hoped to quit the academy, but his parents weren’t hearing any of it.
“You don’t want to study, so you’re starting to spout all sorts of nonsense. If you don’t want to attend the academy, then get good grades! Do you know how much the academy costs? Mom is having a hard time too!”
Mingi felt as though he was being driven to the brink. His mind was at its wit’s end. Continued beatings and bullying. He felt useless, as he couldn’t do anything about it. The loneliness and despair of having no one by his side…
Right then, a thunderous roar shook his mind.
“Follow us! We are… great!”
Earthlings without spiritual pathways were basically immune to the X-Belt. The X-Belt, which was basically a spiritual-type infection, was imperceptible to humans on Earth, just as how flashbangs are useless against a blind man.
However, humans on this Earth possessed souls, and among earthlings, there were some with minds that were particularly well suited to the Grotesque. If an extremely concentrated X-Belt wave was injected into a human who was tainted with negative emotions, such as anger, hatred, fear, pain, or despair, that human would directly become a 4th Stage Infected. In other words, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Stage would be skipped over.
“… Stop it.”
“What? Hahaha! What the fuck is this bastard…”
Crack!
The right fist of the bullied student went through the chest of the bullying student. All the surrounding students, as well as the student who now had a hole in his chest, stood dumbfounded, unable to process what had just happened.
“… Huh?”
No one could process the surreal sight. Could anyone have imagined a bullied student punching a hole through the chest of a student who was bullying him? The whole scene was surreal.
Crack!
In an instant, the appearance of the bullied student, that is, the Infected, changed rapidly. As if his body was a piece of rubber being stretched out, the Infected’s body grew rapidly in size and essentially ripped away the bullied student’s physical body. Belatedly, screams erupt from all over the place.
“Ack?!”
“What the hell? What is this… Ah!”
The academy students screamed and tried to scatter in all directions, but the tentacles that extended from the Infected’s body shot out all over the place. The Grotesque’s tentacles crushed students’ bones and flesh and pierced through their bodies.
Whoosh.
The corpses that had been pierced started to glow red after being affected by a special power. It was similar to a magic corpse explosion spell commonly used by dark magic mages, but its effect exceeded that of a modern large bomb.
Bam!!
A whole floor of the academy was destroyed, and the building, which couldn’t withstand the impact of the various explosions, began to collapse. Due to the nature of the academy’s classroom setup, the students, who had been crammed into several narrow classrooms, were crushed by fragments of the collapsing building, resulting in a catastrophic event.
“Disgusting! Dirty! Pathetic! Stupid!!!!”
The Infected, who had already lost his temper, screamed and smashed his surroundings before opening his body wide and swallowing the surrounding corpses whole. Those who saw the shocking scene were terrified and froze like a deer caught in headlights.
It was then that a Sword Light appeared in the air, vertically cutting through the body of the Infected.
Swipe!
With a sharp sound, the Infected’s body was dismembered. It was not an attack that simply cut through the enemy’s body, but a manifestation of internal energy that destroyed the spiritual structure of the being, so the Infected fell to the ground without the ability to recover.
“Oh my god. Even though I rushed over here as fast as I could…”
Standing atop the collapsed pile of building fragments was a flying dragon with glossy black scales and a man wearing magic imbued martial arts gear, which looked like modern clothing, holding a relatively thick-bladed Draconic Sword. His name was Arthur Pendragon. There was no way a 4th Stage Infected, not even a Slayer, could contend against Arthur. In the 4th Stage, even the most mature Infected was commensurate with a Level 9 existence, so how could such a being block Arthur’s attack?
However, the problem was not the enemy’s combat power.
“What’s this? What are you? What the hell is this?!”
“Huh? Oh no, I’m here to help you all…”
“Help us? What help?! Are you going to bring all these dead people back to life?”
The middle-aged man approached as if he were about to strike Arthur. It was unknown if he understood that, if Arthur had arrived a little later, he would have died, as well as everyone else in the vicinity.
“Grr!”
We are bit.ly/3iBfjkV, find us on google.
“Huh?”
However, when Toothless growled, the middle-aged man collapsed on the ground in fright. Unlike Arthur, Toothless didn’t waste its energy in trying to save others.
“Ugh! Why did this monster appear here?!”
“Gwangsoo…!”
The reaction of the people gathered around Arthur was aggressive. In the Republic of Korea, where security was well maintained, people often lost their minds and reasoning ability due to excessive stress if they ever experienced a terrorist-like massacre.
“Let’s go, master. If you stay any longer, you’ll only see the dirty side of humanity.”
“But…”
Arthur looked around. Suddenly, more people rushed in to see the collapsed academy and him standing atop of it. Some of them were even taking pictures of him with their smartphones.
Woong~!
Hearing the distant sounds of sirens blaring, Arthur climbed onto Toothless’ neck. Since there were still 40 minutes left in his manifested time, Arthur felt it was necessary to check if there were any attacks elsewhere.
Poof!
With the shaking of space, Arthur’s figure disappeared.
The problem is this guy is too strong. To be honest, I'm not even sure how strong he really is.'The strongest users, the three users who were often referred to as the Outer Gods or Heaven above the Heavens, were well known for their strength and power, which was classes above other users. In particular, Arthur, who was known to be the strongest among the Heaven above the Heavens, made himself known to the whole world by defeating Sungmuk, an Orc Hero who overpowered Starting by himself. In addition, archmage Merlin was so overwhelmingly powerful that he made tens of thousands of users at the recent event helplessly look on as he made quick work of thousands of gem fish. By publicly showcasing his magic ability, Merlin showed a strength that seemed impossible to deal with, even if several other users attacked him all at once.If Arthur or Merlin tries to kill the US President, how many Masters will it take to stop them?'Reaching such a thought, Ilyia realized the seriousness of the situation. She realized that, if any of the Heaven above the Heavens sought to do something evil, an unspeakable crisis would unfold. Of course, there was a time limit if they manifested, so that was one reason they may hesitate to take such action, but if an organization protected and backed them, nothing would be able to stop them during the hour they manifested.Can I ask you something?Hearing Eunhye's unexpected voice, Sasha turned her head.What?Did you make this offer to Arthur and Cruze?Sasha groaned after hearing Eunhye's question. However, she soon replied with an expression that seemed to state, there's no use in hiding it'.Arthur refused. His patriotism and commitment to protect his country were too strong. I told him if he ever changed his mind, to let me know. And in the case of Cruze, no one knows where she lives.Cruze's unknown whereabouts was an amazing feat. The intelligence power of the United States was so great that it knew most of the deepest and darkest secrets that other countries desperately wanted to hide. However, DIO didn't have a sign up process, and thus no paper trail, so to find a user, there was no choice but to compare the appearance of someone's in-game avatar to a person's looks in real life.Are you saying she belongs to a secret society or lives in a restricted area or something?She might be someone who's suffered serious injuries beyond visible recognition.However, the fact was that Cruze was just a shut in who lived in the corner of a room, so no one had the chance to see her, but there was no way for them to know that.Hmm, do I have to give an answer right away?No. We're not threatening you or anything of the sort. If you make a decision, you can contact me through this. Well, I've taken quite a bit of your time, haven't I? I'll take off before I become a nuisance, so please call me and notify me of your decision when you can.Saying so, Ilyia handed Yongno a smartphone. The design was like a normal smartphone, but it was so thin that it looked more like a bookmark.Click.After Sasha left, Yongno fell into thought. The situation was rapidly changing. If things continued in the current direction, it would become impossible for him to develop himself and make his magic tools, as he had been doing before.I wanted to make a gate somehow.Making a gate wasn't as easy as one might think. Lacking the requisite magic power and internal energy was one part of the problem, but Yongno's main issue was the fact that Earth was completely cut off from the outside world because of its complete lack of spiritual pathways. Yongno didn't face any trouble in simply creating a few sparks or using his martial arts, but problems arose when he tried to bring things from the outside. In fact, this was the reason why evil spirits and Youngmin appeared.Ah, come to think of it, what is Youngmin doing?DIO. He logged on this morning and still hasn't logged out.Well, the first time anyone plays DIO, one does tend to lose one's sense of time.Muttering this, Yongno put away the smartphone Sasha had given him. He wanted to keep his options open, just in case.Arthur, or Seyoung, refused the US president's request due to his patriotism, but Yongno was different. Beyond being simply individualistic, Yongno held a grudge against nation-states. He had been abducted by a state-run secret service and subjected to brutal torture-like experiments on his physical body, just because he was different from other people.Whether it is an entire country or an organization, I must use them to my advantage. If it's difficult to hide my existence, I must proactively deal with that reality.'Yongno reaffirmed his commitment and rechecked his plan. He started to mentally organize the work he needed to do, but unfortunately, it didn't seem that his enemies intended to give him any time to think.Whirl.An intense spiritual wave, which Yongno had felt before, swept across Earth. It was the X-Belt he experienced on Ayan. Really? Isn't infection on Earth impossible?The moment Yongno groaned, a spiritual voice echoed out.Follow us! We are great!Yongno was safe from the transmitted wave, and Eunhye didn't seem affected either. Actually, this result was to be expected. The X-Belt, which was also called a spiritual infection, only infected hosts that possessed spiritual pathways. At the very least, there needed to be an inactive spiritual pathway for one to become infected, but there was no such spiritual pathway anywhere or on anyone in present Earth.A powerful voice resounded, but only Yongno could hear it. If he had been awake, Youngmin would have heard it, but even so, that was the end; Youngmin wouldn't have been affected. What is the use of an X-Belt, which contained enormous spiritual power, when there was no one to be infected in the first place?But they're not fools either, so there's no way they'd do something so stupid without a reason.Yongno?I think there'll be a problem soon. How many times can you manifest?Only twice.In other words, Eunhye was stating that she had 20,000 gem points, which was relatively a considerable amount. The missions allowed them to collect gem points, as they required combat more than anything else, so there was no particular reason to consume any accrued gem points.Boom.At that moment, Yongno felt a strong shockwave approach them from a distance, as if an earthquake had occurred. The distance was fairly far away, but the ground still vibrated and undulated as if an earthquake had occurred.HmmYongno felt conflicted.What should I do? Should I go and save people? Morally, that would be the correct action but that decision wouldn't be rational. If I move recklessly, I will constantly be sought and used by national organizations from here on out.'It was said that with great power came great responsibility. Heroes in comics and movies used their superpowers for the sake of others and defeated enemies who hindered others' happiness. They risked their lives for a greater cause.But why?Yongno didn't understand that way of thinking. Helping others was, of course, a good thing. But why should one sacrifice oneself for another? Even if one does a service and sacrifices, there's no guarantee that the other, who was saved, would appreciate it. In today's stark and rigid modern society, individuals with such hero-mentality were prime targets to be used as tools by others.Service and sacrifice were, of course, great concepts, but service was always a choice, not something that could be coerced.What are you going to do?It would be better to go and at least figure out what the situation is. It doesn't seem too far away.The moment Yongno finished speakingThe distant mighty aura suddenly disappeared.Huh?It was not that the being was hiding; it was literally gone. A more intelligible explanation would be that it was killed off. Ha! I was concerning myself for no reason. Have I become stupid?Yongno let out a dejected laugh. He wasn't a hero. He was naturally distrusting of humans and was even more averse to serving others.However, there was a hero residing in Korea. He was a sincere, good-natured person who knew how to sacrifice himself for others with a greater cause in mind.Seyoung hyungPeople called him the great swordsman, Arthur Pendragon.***Ah, why isn't this asshole listening to what I'm saying? Do I look like a pushover to you? Huh?A student was beating another student on the veranda of Ivory Tower Educational Enrichment Academy, which mainly catered to middle and high school students. School violence was not a new concept that started recently, and bullying wasn't an act necessarily limited to school grounds. Not all perpetrators of school violence were bullies from broken families; there were quite a few bullies who possessed fairly high grades. In the first place, one's level of intelligence had nothing to do with whether one was good or evil.Be patient. He's just dumb. Hey, what do you think you're doing? Why aren't you begging for forgiveness?Hearing the chatter from a small-framed guy who was standing next to him, Mingi felt like he was about to go crazy. How did things turn like this? He wasn't only subjected to bullying at school but also in his educational enrichment academy. Kyungwon, who attended the same school as Mingi, always followed Mingi around and harassed him for money. Mingi was initially relieved when he found that he and Kyungwon wouldn't be in the same classroom for the new school year, but now, Mingi found that they were attending the same academy. Mingi hoped to quit the academy, but his parents weren't hearing any of it.You don't want to study, so you're starting to spout all sorts of nonsense. If you don't want to attend the academy, then get good grades! Do you know how much the academy costs? Mom is having a hard time too!Mingi felt as though he was being driven to the brink. His mind was at its wit's end. Continued beatings and bullying. He felt useless, as he couldn't do anything about it. The loneliness and despair of having no one by his sideRight then, a thunderous roar shook his mind.Follow us! We are great!Earthlings without spiritual pathways were basically immune to the X-Belt. The X-Belt, which was basically a spiritual-type infection, was imperceptible to humans on Earth, just as how flashbangs are useless against a blind man.However, humans on this Earth possessed souls, and among earthlings, there were some with minds that were particularly well suited to the Grotesque. If an extremely concentrated X-Belt wave was injected into a human who was tainted with negative emotions, such as anger, hatred, fear, pain, or despair, that human would directly become a 4th Stage Infected. In other words, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Stage would be skipped over. Stop it.What? Hahaha! What the fuck is this bastardCrack!The right fist of the bullied student went through the chest of the bullying student. All the surrounding students, as well as the student who now had a hole in his chest, stood dumbfounded, unable to process what had just happened. Huh?No one could process the surreal sight. Could anyone have imagined a bullied student punching a hole through the chest of a student who was bullying him? The whole scene was surreal.Crack!In an instant, the appearance of the bullied student, that is, the Infected, changed rapidly. As if his body was a piece of rubber being stretched out, the Infected's body grew rapidly in size and essentially ripped away the bullied student's physical body. Belatedly, screams erupt from all over the place.Ack?!What the hell? What is this Ah!The academy students screamed and tried to scatter in all directions, but the tentacles that extended from the Infected's body shot out all over the place. The Grotesque's tentacles crushed students' bones and flesh and pierced through their bodies.Whoosh.The corpses that had been pierced started to glow red after being affected by a special power. It was similar to a magic corpse explosion spell commonly used by dark magic mages, but its effect exceeded that of a modern large bomb.Bam!!A whole floor of the academy was destroyed, and the building, which couldn't withstand the impact of the various explosions, began to collapse. Due to the nature of the academy's classroom setup, the students, who had been crammed into several narrow classrooms, were crushed by fragments of the collapsing building, resulting in a catastrophic event.Disgusting! Dirty! Pathetic! Stupid!!!!The Infected, who had already lost his temper, screamed and smashed his surroundings before opening his body wide and swallowing the surrounding corpses whole. Those who saw the shocking scene were terrified and froze like a deer caught in headlights.It was then that a Sword Light appeared in the air, vertically cutting through the body of the Infected.Swipe!With a sharp sound, the Infected's body was dismembered. It was not an attack that simply cut through the enemy's body, but a manifestation of internal energy that destroyed the spiritual structure of the being, so the Infected fell to the ground without the ability to recover.Oh my god. Even though I rushed over here as fast as I couldStanding atop the collapsed pile of building fragments was a flying dragon with glossy black scales and a man wearing magic imbued martial arts gear, which looked like modern clothing, holding a relatively thick-bladed Draconic Sword. His name was Arthur Pendragon. There was no way a 4th Stage Infected, not even a Slayer, could contend against Arthur. In the 4th Stage, even the most mature Infected was commensurate with a Level 9 existence, so how could such a being block Arthur's attack?However, the problem was not the enemy's combat power.What's this? What are you? What the hell is this?!Huh? Oh no, I'm here to help you allHelp us? What help?! Are you going to bring all these dead people back to life?The middle-aged man approached as if he were about to strike Arthur. It was unknown if he understood that, if Arthur had arrived a little later, he would have died, as well as everyone else in the vicinity.Grr!We are bit.ly/3iBfjkV, find us on google.Huh?However, when Toothless growled, the middle-aged man collapsed on the ground in fright. Unlike Arthur, Toothless didn't waste its energy in trying to save others.Ugh! Why did this monster appear here?!Gwangsoo!The reaction of the people gathered around Arthur was aggressive. In the Republic of Korea, where security was well maintained, people often lost their minds and reasoning ability due to excessive stress if they ever experienced a terrorist-like massacre.Let's go, master. If you stay any longer, you'll only see the dirty side of humanity.ButArthur looked around. Suddenly, more people rushed in to see the collapsed academy and him standing atop of it. Some of them were even taking pictures of him with their smartphones.Woong~!Hearing the distant sounds of sirens blaring, Arthur climbed onto Toothless' neck. Since there were still 40 minutes left in his manifested time, Arthur felt it was necessary to check if there were any attacks elsewhere.Poof!With the shaking of space, Arthur's figure disappeared.
