[Good Morning, Hains of YTBC is presenting the Kailan for the evening news.]

[This is Lucia.]

[Lucia, what news has been coming in for today?]

[We have a lot of exciting topics for today, but the first thing that I would like to talk about is the Hidden Episode.]

[If it is about the Hidden Episode, are you talking about the ‘Episode of Darkness’ that was invoked for all the users who were level 200 in the human world?]

[Yes, right on point. Almost everyone will know about the LB’s ‘Scenario watching mode’ which had been introduced for the first time by the LB, but now the armies of darkness are beginning to emerge from around the continent. And many high-level users are forming a party against the dark corps.]

[That is so true. These armies of Darkness, what are the approximate level that they are composed of?]

[The level of the Undead seem to begin from 200 and move to the high level of 300, but it has been said to depend on the area that they appear.]

[Is it possible for you to explain it a bit more?]

[Definitely. Generally, the level of the Undead that appears on the open field is as low as 200, and the level of the Undead in certain dungeons or the instant fields are generally high.]

In the second grade of the Virtual Reality classroom at the Korean University…

In front of the TV that was on the corner of the classroom, the YTBC Kailan channel was being played which had a number of people gathered together.

Among those group was Semi, Young-hoon, and Minsu, who were included in the semester classes.

“yah, Semi-ah. Is it possible for you to tell me when the door opens…?”

At the question from Young-hoon, Semi responded swiftly,

“As soon as the door opens! That door has already opened, and in the classes where there is no ‘class’, I have no intention of seeing the news!”

“I can see it because it is the game news. When the professor comes in…”

“When the professor comes in? Will you watch it along with the professor?”

“…”

Semi and Young-Hoon were bickering.

But Minsu, who had fixed his gaze on the screen, told them to get off.

“You’re so noisy. Is that so important that you have to talk about it now?”

Young-hoon just rolled his eyes.

“Well, you always watch this news and the videos so much. If you used this time maybe you would’ve raised the level, maybe around 300 too.”

“Shut up…!”

In that moment of outburst.

When the news started to air once again, the noisy people had suddenly turned quiet.

All the other students who were busy doing their own things in the classroom came together to see it.

[And Heins, there is a really special scoop waiting for today.]

[Oh oh! You sure always keep something up your sleeve…!]

[Yes, well. Lucia has worked very hard and got an interview with the party that had found the fifth catacomb!]

[Wow, that’s so great! A party that has found the fifth catacomb?]

[As many of the viewers might have guessed, the fifth catacomb has been discovered by the expedition of the Titan Guild, in that place around ten Death Knights were keeping guard of it.]

[Oh oh! That’s really amazing. It was a hot news that still hasn’t been revealed in the official community yet!]

[But Heins, I still haven’t recovered from the shock.]

[Why? Don’t tell me, you have another bigger scoop?]

[Yes! Richie King Chalian’s pieces of soul have been found, but not in the catacombs but on the general open field!]

Minsu who watched the TV was taking a deep breath when he spoke something,

“OH…? The soul fragments of Chalian have come out into the fields?”

Young-hoon who was right next to him spoke to him.

“Oh sh*t, well. If that really is true… then shouldn’t we also try to use this?”

“Why?”

“The catacombs are surely crowded, at least our party can try for the field. Even if we manage to find just one piece of the Chalian’s soul fragment, we can get 100 million contributions…!”

As the scenario of the “Episode of Darkness” has been activated, all the human users above the level of 200 can receive any scenario related quest.

And each time a quest was performed to a scenario-related quest, the users’ contribution to the scenario would increase. And with the accumulation of the contribution can be exchanged for goods, titles or items in a store.

For example, a legendary equipment box that would present the bought user a random equipment could be purchased by paying 200,000 of contribution points.

However, the quest ‘Destroying the Soul Fragment of Chalian’ gave a million contributions, so it was natural for the users to turn their heads to that side.

“Then, what Young-hoon said is a bit true. The contribution that we got so far is around 70,000 after yesterday’s task… if we just find one fragment, it will take over fifteen days right?”

“Yeah, well it is still worth the try.”

While all the people in the classroom were talking to the others, the screen in the room changed.

The video of a Kailan play was being broadcasted.

And the video was followed by the voice of Lucia from the TV.

[Hayasis highlands has the death knights and the other legions of darkness! Let’s look at the video that Lucia had tried very hard to present.]

The attention of the students was completely focused on the TV that was broadcasting the video.

However, the very next moment, a voice came out of the mouth of Semi,

“That is Ian…!”

Both Young-hoon and Minsu couldn’t help but feel annoyed at that name.

“Kya, it’s Ian god once again.”

“Keu, right. I am really curious about something here, how much contribution do you think a user like Ian got?”

“Well, can’t be sure, but don’t you think he would have gathered around 5 million?”

“Hey, that can’t be. Even if all the soul fragments were found, Ian wouldn’t have less than 10 million…”

Semi nodded and added,

“Right, 5 million. What? It’ll probably be in tens of millions.”

“Phew. I feel so jealous.”

There were two students who were talking o the other.

But right then.

“By the way Young-hoon-ah. You see, Ian…”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you think that he resembles Jinsung senior? I couldn’t make it out because of the hairstyle, but when you compare with the picture of Ian that runs on the internet with, doesn’t Jinsung senior look like him?”

However, the answer for Minsu came out from another source which wasn’t Young-hoon.

“Eh…?! Minsu, don’t even spout those stuff for fun.”

“Why?! That’s a good thing. The crazy data that Jinsung senior has given us last semester also explains that he could be Ian. Besides, it has been said too many times that Ian is a student of our institute.”

However, Semi shook her head and dismissed every single word.

“Ah, whatever! That can never happen! No way!”

And seeing Semi almost burning hot with anger, Young-hoon couldn’t help but laugh.

“yah, are you saying that after knowing that Semi is a die-hard fan of Ian?”

“Why, what does that have to do with this?”

“What does it have to do with this?!”

Youg-hoon’s lips went up,

“You just broke of the fantasy that Semi had till now.”

“…”

* * *

“Remir noona! Shield please!”

“Kay!”

Hwoong-!

A red-colored shield was created around Ian who was on top of Halli.

The shied look like lava was flowing.

Ian, who had a shield of flames around him because of Remir, ran towards the boss monster in the field.

An Undead monster that looked a lot like the Death Knight.

However, the boss monster with a whole different level of power than the normal death knight was wielding the sword with a lot of power right in front of Ian.

[Arrogant human…!]

Kakang-!

Ian’s judgment of the Spirit King and the great words of the Knights’ Order were intertwined, causing weird sounds on the ground.

Kku-kkkukkk-!

Every time the two weapons came in contact, flames sprang up from them due to the effect of the flame barrier.

The effect of the flame barrier was to absorb 10% of the damage, as well as during the time of its duration.

Therefore, in order to maximize the effectiveness of the Flame Barrier, it was completely important to prevent the attacks from the enemy.

If the dodge was successful, then the damage absorbed will be around 30-90%, and with the Flame Barrier, a minimum of 10% of additional damage will be absorbed.

So, in fact, the Flame Barrier was the most preferred support technique for the Flame using Knight classes.

In the case of the Knights class, if they use the shield to block an attack, then it would absorb 80-90% of the damage.

So, if one was able to utilize the shield effectively, it was possible to prevent 100% of the damage by the effect of the Flame Barrier.

Surely, without using the shield, it was possible to dodge around 80% of the monstrous damage that comes in succession.

Kkang-!

It was then based on Ian’s performance now if he was able to minimize the impact.

Without receiving any damage, Ian would be able to defeat the Death Knight.

Right then…

[With the power of the Lord…!]

The death Knight began to cast out a spell with a low voice and raised his sword in the air.

Right then, something began to come out of the sword he was holding to—from the great sword, the energy of darkness was released!

Ian who noticed it moved back in the speed of light and swapped his equipment.

To be precise, rather than the swap, it was an ‘add-on’.

He grabbed the Judgment of Spirit King in his right hand, and in the left was the shield that was made from the shell of Bbookbbook.

With a defensive posture, Ian signaled Yu Shin, who was fighting the Undead on his right side.

“Yu Shin! Now!”

“Okay!”

All of a sudden a golden light broke out from the hands of Yu Shin and wrapped around the members of the party.

Because a decent amount of 15% of the vitality of the caster was regenerated, it was a skill that was one of the most favorites of Yu Shin.

“Nice…!”

Ian’s sharp eyes headed to the sword of the knight that was gathering energy.

It was the ultimate move of the Knights, a multi-level sword that gave out strong attack factor.

The casting for the paralyzing sword was 15 seconds.

However, it was a tricky skill that couldn’t get canceled while casting—even if attacked by the enemy, the caster turns invincible for the casting time.

But the way to deal with it was simple.

Dodge or get attacked.

One needs to survive just one strike of the paralyzing sword.

After using the skill, he would turn completely defenseless for the following 10 seconds.

But if one couldn’t get the target under the 10 seconds, then the vitality of the target will rise, but Ian’s party didn’t have to worry about it.

The Lotus Guild, which was not just Remir and Ian, had many numbers of top damage dealers in it.

If they managed to deal some damage for 10 seconds, it was safe to say that, the target had a very little chance of surviving.

‘This time will be the end…!’

Ian took the shield of the dragon and lifted his defense to the maximum.

The very moment,

Kukung- Kukung-!

The lonely grounds began to vibrate with huge sounds.

“This is the start!”

From the sword that the Knight was holding, all the energy moved to the tip of the sword and sprang up.