Chen felt like he was floating in the sky. The hateful and frightening Alley Leader had revealed his defenseless back to Chen.

‘Hihi! I’ll deal you a finishing blow, Alley Leader!’ Chen had been eager for this moment to come. He had dreamed of it since the day Alley Leader killed him. There was only one thing Chen could see now. “Eat this!”

Alley Leader’s back was empty and unprotected. He stabbed his sword toward it like a bolt of lightning. Chen definitely felt it—the sensation of his sword stabbing flesh. His senses, trained from playing Arena for years, cried out to him that it was a success. It was perfect.

“Kuaack!” Screams erupted.

“Eh?”

The scream came from a familiar voice. It sounded like Wei's voice. Then Chen heard Alley Leader’s voice from behind him, “You stabbed your friend, not me. Stupid bastard.”

That’s right. Chen’s sword stabbed Wei instead of Hyeonu. Hyeonu had moved his body cleverly at the last moment, and Chen’s sword moved below his armpits. Chen hadn’t noticed because he had been too excited by the thought of dealing Hyeonu a blow and just stabbed deeply. Wei was impaled by Chen’s sword and couldn’t move, allowing Hyeonu to cut Wei’s neck.

“Wei!!” Chen screamed when he saw it.

“Is it now three people?” Hyeonu laughed. Now there were only half the people left—Jiang, Chen, and Tian Hu.

***

‘What the hell is this guy? Does this make sense?!’ Tian Hu had been in shock since the duel began.

Something blurry appeared around Alley Leader’s single-edged sword. Xiao realized it at the moment of death, and by this point, Wei had died. This wasn’t the skill of a human. The stats difference might be too great, but in terms of level, the difference would only be one or two levels at best. That was a small difference. It wasn’t a difference where those who were optimized for Arena could be torn apart like paper.

“Monster...”

‘Did I touch a monster? Then does that mean I’m going to lose? If I lose here, will I have to delete his character?’

Tian Hu’s thoughts became complicated. They were very different from his thoughts just 10 minutes ago.

‘It can’t happen. This is a scam!’

Finally, Tian Hu said something he shouldn’t have. “This is a bug! A bug!! This can’t be possible for a level-one character!”

At Tian Hu’s cry, everyone stopped what they were doing. Then they laughed.

“What? A bug?” It started with Hyeonu, the person involved.

“Hey, Alley Leader is a bug.”

“Are you crazy? How can there be a bug in Arena?”

“Kukuk, he’s crazy. The owner of a workshop is truly different.”

It was the same for the spectators watching their duel.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Now that he’s losing, he says it is a bug.

-His personality has come out—the personality of a businessman.

-It is truly a huge personality.

-It is deplorable. He lacks skill and humanity.

It was the same with the viewers of Hyeonu’s live stream. No one listened to Tian Hu. It wasn’t worth it.

There were bugs when virtual reality games had just been developed. However, there hadn’t been a single bug in any game in the last decade. Any malicious bugs had long disappeared due to advances in technology. In other words, Tian Hu’s words just now were bullshit.

“Don’t be noisy. Or is your personality that bad?” Hyeonu placed his single-edged sword against his shoulder. “In the first place, you shouldn’t have touched me. Don’t you know why I’m here? You lost your sponsorship because you lack skills. If you were as good as me in Arena, how could you have lost a good sponsorship? If you know this, you should think about improving your skills. Why did you snipe at another person’s stream?”

Alley Leader detonated the bomb. The reason for this character deletion bet was quickly revealed.

“What? Is that the reason for the PK?”

“I thought he was trash, but he can’t even be recycled.”

-The sponsor dropped him for Alley Leader.

-Is it Alley Leader’s fault that he can’t play the game? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-He is undoubtedly the owner of a workshop.

-The original cause of this was Tian Hu.

Now everyone knew about the bad relationship between Alley Leader and Tian Hu.

‘It’s over.’ Hyeonu thought it was time to finish things. This was done perfectly. Tian Hu would never return again. Even if he continued to play Arena, he would only be a regular player. If so, Hyeonu didn’t have to worry about Tian Hu now. By the time Tian Hu recovered, Hyeonu’s rank would be so high that he wouldn’t even need to look at Tian Hu.

“Then let’s end it,” Hyeonu said and moved his body like lightning. Hyeonu swung his sword like it was an axe. Chen raised his sword and blocked it. However, his reaction was too slow. He didn’t hold his sword well, and his posture was completely unbalanced. The defenseless Chen was crushed by Hyeonu’s single-edged sword. Blood burst out like a fountain in the area where Hyeonu’s single-edged sword passed by.

Hyeonu ran again without stopping. His goal was Jiang, but Jiang had already lost his temper and didn’t even bother to avoid Hyeonu’s strike.

‘Ah...’ Jiang was just staring as Hyeonu approached him. ‘Avoid...’

Jiang regained his spirit, but it was already too late. Hyeonu’s sword had already reached Jiang and sliced through his body. Blood flowed crazily from Jiang’s wounds.

“Jiang!” Tian Hu shouted when he saw Jiang fall.

‘Last one!’ Hyeonu thought. There was only one person left. It was Tian Hu. Hyeonu walked toward Tian Hu at a pace that was neither slow or fast, while Tian Hu aimed his sword at Hyeonu.

Tian Hu was a streamer who made Arena his main content. Furthermore, his ranking was high, crossing the boundary between gold and silver medals. He was a streamer who relied on items and skills. Although he was inferior to Hyeonu, he was still above normal standards. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have a gold medal in sight. Not every person with the same items as Tian Hu could gain a gold medal. He naturally had the strength to qualify for a gold medal.

Tian Hu raised his sword and pointed it at Hyeonu’s head, striking quickly. Of course, Hyeonu moved to block the sword. At this moment, the trajectory of Tian Hu’s sword changed. This attack was a deception.

‘Good!’ Tian Hu was delighted to have escaped Hyeonu’s sword and stabbed him.

Then Tian Hu spoke in an incredulous tone, “Eh? What is this?”

He hadn’t heard any sound. In fact, he couldn’t hear the sound of his weapon hitting anything. Hyeonu wondered out loud, “Has anyone been hit by such low-quality technology? It is the level of an elementary school student.”

Hearing Hyeonu’s provocation, Tian Hu’s expression changed. His face flushed red, and his eyes were filled with a poisonous gaze.

“What? Low quality? Then take this as well.” Tian Hu’s sword moved flamboyantly. He wasn’t an Arena streamer for nothing after all.

“You still don’t know? This is a petty trick.” However, Hyeonu wasn’t pushed, and he met all of Tian Hu’s blows. This was despite his single-edged sword being half a blade longer than Tian Hu’s sword. It was common sense that the longer the weapon, the slower it was. This was no different in Arena, a virtual reality game.

Furthermore, Hyeonu’s stats weren’t high enough to offset the difference. Under the level-one rule, he only had 20 points for each stat at most. This was the same with the buffs. In Tian Hu’s case, all his stats were around 14–15. However, Alley Leader used strange movements to overcome the sword speed difference. They were sometimes long, sometimes short. He freely moved.

“This is why you can’t win a gold medal. You won’t even be able to get a bronze medal in the future.”

Now it was Hyeonu’s turn. Hyeonu changed his mind about using his sword energy to finish the battle at once. He was going to show it—the difference between him and the others. Indeed, he would show why the winner was him and not them.

Hyeonu’s single-edged sword swung quickly. It was a movement that was nothing special. Naturally, that was blocked. Tian Hu’s sword blocked Hyeonu’s sword easily. Then Hyeonu’s sword moved once again. It was a similar trajectory. He didn’t use any magic power. It was blocked once again.

Tian Hu regained his composure and threw a taunt at Hyeonu, “Only this much? Alley Leader isn’t a big deal.”

Tian Hu spoke like he had forgotten the battle just now. Hyeonu didn’t respond to such provocations. He ignored them thoroughly as he swung his single-edged sword again and again. This time, it was different. Hyeonu’s single-edged sword moved like a snake. It charged smoothly and rapidly from side to side. Tian Hu’s sword couldn’t follow it.

“Ugh!”

Hyeonu’s sword cut at Tian Hu’s chest. It wasn’t a deep wound. The pain was in a limited area, and Tian Hu was still able to move as usual.

“Now, come again.” Hyeonu’s voice was cold.

Those eyes...

Visible behind his mask, Hyeonu’s eyes were extremely cold. At first glance, Hyeonu seemed like an animal, not a human. A predator...

These were the eyes of a predator biting its prey.

“Kuah!” Tian Hu screamed and rushed toward Hyeonu. Unlike before, there were no flashy movements. His body just moved with rage. In contrast, Hyeonu was relaxed. He showed smooth movements as he faced Tian Hu’s onslaught. The moment he saw a gap, he shot forward and stabbed Tian Hu in the abdomen.

“Urgh.” Tian Hu grabbed his abdomen and collapsed.

Hyeonu approached Tian Hu and provoked, “Again, come again.”

The moment Hyeonu finished speaking, Tian Hu gripped his sword and rushed again. “Die!”

‘You! Alley Leader! I’ll kill you!’ Now he had completely lost his temper.

[Player ‘Tian Hu’ is in a ‘berserk’ state.]

There seemed to be a fire blazing in Tian Hu’s eyes as he rushed toward Hyeonu.

‘His mind is completely gone. It is just like that guy.’ Hyeonu was reminded of Park Junu.

He was one of the people who had a bad relationship with Hyeonu. His end had been the same—burning like a berserker. If Tian Hu wasn’t insane with anger, he would be terrified.

“Uwaaah!”

There was no distribution of strength control or finesse on Tian Hu’s movements—only strength. He poured all his energy into everything, burning it all. However, Hyeonu was an iron wall. He silently blocked Tian Hu’s strength. It took less than 30 seconds for Tian Hu’s attacks to weaken.

Hyeonu wielded his single-edged sword like he had been waiting for this moment. It was instantaneous. Tian Hu’s head was separated from his body. Now there was only one person, Hyeonu, standing in the stadium. At this moment, screams erupted.

-Wow!!!

-Alley Leader won!!!

[You have won the duel.]

Hyeonu had won.