Chapter 202.

[5F, Materialized Demon Realm]

I went back down to the Materialized Demon Realm . The demon castles were completely conquered by now, but there were still secret underground bases that no one knew about and NPCs that hadn’t been rescued .

“Is it here?”

But because the terrain was unfavorable for a sharpshooter, I brought the trustworthy comrade, Cheok Jungyeong, with me .

“Yep . ”

We were currently in a secret passageway on the outskirts of the Materialized Demon Realm . Standing in front of the passageway that was hidden behind a huge boulder, I glanced at Cheok Jungyeong’s face .

“It better not be boring . ”

Equipped with the armor I gave him, Cheok Jungyeong looked like a giant soldier from legends . Because of the special skill [Secret March], his body had gotten even bigger .

“It’ll be at least somewhat interesting . ”

According to my setting, the demons here were high-leveled, and there was even a drake that the demon tamed . As a side note, drake leather was a great material for crafting . I planned to secretly make myself a wrist protector with it .

“Let’s go . ”

“Sure . ”

We went into the passageway which looked like a manhole .

The underground passageway was naturally pitch-black . But my eyesight wasn’t hindered by darkness in the slightest as it quickly penetrated the walls and detected the presence of several heat sources .

There were at least 30 enemies in this underground base, and the NPCs I was trying to rescue were located on the bottom floor .

[Quest discovered!]

[Rank – High]

[Summary – The demon ‘Ryukai’ has hypnotized and enslaved many NPCs . The NPCs will only regain their sanity for three hours per day . ]

[Goal – Rescue all trapped NPCs and undo Ryukai’s mind control magic . ]

[Reward – Mystical Whetstone, Mandrake]

A quest popped up . Cheok Jungyeong seemed to have seen it too as he was squinting at the air .

“Mm… so what’s our plan?”

“Just follow me . ”

I led Cheok Jungyeong forward, but before I could even take many steps, the base’s defensive system activated .

Koong— Koong— Koong— Koong—

Large rumbling sounds rang out . Cheok Jungyeong glared at the epicenter of the noise and frowned .

“…What are those?”

“Obviously, they’re demons . ”

Cheok Jungyeong had frightening hardware specs of 2 . 16 meters and 140 kilograms .

However, the two giants that appeared in front of us were even bigger than Cheok Jungyeong .

[Lv . 10 Demon Giant]

“Leave this place—”

One of the giants spoke mechanically . His voice was loud and deep enough to cause the earth to rumble .

Crack, crack . Cheok Jungyeong stretched lightly before asking .

“Newbie, I’ve been wondering for a while, what’s the difference between Djinns and demons?”

“Huh?”

“I’m just curious . ”

Cheok Jungyeong thought about such things? Well, Cheok Jungyeong was a general in his past life, so he was technically a strategist as well .

“…Demons are born in the Demon Realm and Djinns are humans who borrow the Demon Realm’s power . ”

“Demon Realm? Is that something that really exists?”

“Who knows?”

I shrugged .

“But why wouldn’t it? The universe is vast . ”

The Demon Realm certainly existed . In fact, parts of Earth would soon be devoured by the Demon Realm . This was the core event that started the latter half of the story . In the first place, the goal of the Evil Gods, who commanded the Djinns, was to conquer Earth as part of the Demon Realm’s territory .

“I won’t repeat myself a second time—”

The demon giant spoke once again .

“Leave—”

“You better shut your trap, kiddo . ”

Cheok Jungyeong stepped forward . The sound of his footstep was far quieter than the giant in front of him, and his body looked far weaker .

“Take care of them however you want . I’m going ahead . ”

“Sure . ”

I left Cheok Jungyeong to deal with the demon giants and used Parkour to kick off the wall and stick to the ceiling like Spiderman . Of course, Parkour itself wasn’t enough to ignore the laws of physics, so I had to use a little bit of Stigma’s magic power .

In any case, I shot past the two giants blocking the passageway .

As I was about to peacefully get to the lower floor, a huge wind pressure swept out from behind my back .

KWANG—! Cheok Jungyeong’s punch resulted in an explosive shockwave, and a demon giant flew backwards and smashed into the wall .

I smiled in satisfaction as I went downstairs . A total of nine demons were on the second floor . After hearing the ruckus upstairs, they were quickly getting ready for a fight .

—Get your weapons!

—Intruders!

—Report to Count Ryukai!

I transformed Aether into a bow and took out five dark ore arrows . I could have used my Desert Eagle, but it was a waste to use bullets on these small fries . I fired the arrows simultaneously without hesitation .

Chwaaaa… .

Arrows that were darker than black shot forward .

It didn’t matter if my targets were hiding behind a wall . These arrows were unhindered by any obstacles since they would penetrate them equally .

With a simple move, the five arrows pierced the vital organs of the nine demons . Only a split second had passed since they even spotted me .

“You done?”

Cheok Jungyeong came down immediately afterwards . The black blood on his face told the result of the fight upstairs .

“Yes, follow me . ”

After confirming that our combination was undefeatable, we continued to crush our way down . In just five minutes, we found ourselves on the bottom floor of the underground base . There, we found a Dracula-like demon and a chubby drake .

[Lv . 12 Ryukai]

“Haha, foolish humans . You dare to come to my abode?”

A ferocious giant charged toward the elegantly murmuring Dracula . Cheok Jungyeong grabbed Ryukai’s neck in an instant and slammed him down on the ground .

“Auu… uuuk… ek… kek… . ”

Ryukai groaned in pain . He tried to resist Cheok Jungyeong’s physical strength, but it was futile . It was no different than a human trying to push an elephant .

The demon noble’s face turned blue as he flailed and tore apart his fancy suit .

“…Kuk . ”

Soon, Ryukai’s breathing stopped .

Crack—

Cheok Jungyeong twisted Ryukai’s neck and confirmed his death .

“The real trouble is there . ”

“I know . ”

Cheok Jungyeong glared at the drake, which was looking at its dead master, with joy .

I asked .

“You don’t need my help, right?”

“Of course . ”

Since he said so, I walked past them and headed to where the enslaved NPCs were kept . To my surprise, the place didn’t look like a prison . The entire bottom floor looked like a noble’s mansion, and the enslaved NPCs were doing physical labor in a stupor .

I walked up to them and took out the Mystic Key . I put the key in their heads and unlocked the spell that was controlling their minds .

When the NPCs snapped out of it, they panicked for a moment before choosing a young man as their spokesperson .

[Lv . 9 Yuken]

This handsome young man was also an NPC full of potential . As he was a master in city management as well as stronghold defense and offense, he was a needed talent for Prestige .

“Everyone, I’ve come from Prestige to rescue you . My name is… Kim Huijuin . Let us return to Prestige . ”

Hearing me, the NPCs hesitated .

Meanwhile, a fierce battle was in progress nearby . KWANG—! KOONG—! Thunderous roars rang out as Cheok Jungyeong’s fist crushed the drake’s bones and claws .

“…Is Ryukai dead?”

Yuken asked hesitantly .

“Yes . ”

“Then… we refuse . ”

Yuken shook his head . I had expected as much .

“If Ryukai is dead, it’ll be better for us to live here… . To us, Prestige is no different than hell . ”

According to my settings, they had left the 3rd floor to escape from Prestige . Although they were captured by demons and forced to become slaves, to them, being sent back to Prestige would be equivalent to moving from one hell to another .

“Don’t worry . ”

I shook my head .

“It’ll be okay . Prestige has changed a lot since you were there . ”

But that was all in the past . The current Prestige was… KOONG! KOONG! Cheok Jungyeong was KOONG! kind of noisy KWANG—!, but I used hypnotic suggestion regardless .

“A sun is currently being created in Prestige . Its citizens are working and living meaningful lives, and children can run around the streets with smiles . There is also no shortage of food and water . ”

My voice gently flowed into the NPCs’ ears .

“Moreover, Prestige needs your administrative talent . ”

**

With Demon’s Cunning Speech, I easily convinced Yuken and the 15 NPCs following him . I guided them back to Prestige .

“This… where… what…”

“Where are we…?”

“Is this really Prestige?”

Seeing the change Prestige underwent, the NPCs couldn’t hide their shock . Meanwhile, Prestige’s most famous named NPCs, ‘Henry’ and ‘Kiri’, appeared .

“Welcome, everyone~ Come here~”

Henry and Kiri took them away, and I sent them away with a smile . After staring at them until they disappeared from my view, I turned to Cheok Jungyeong .

“Cheok Jungyeong . ”

“Huh?”

I handed him a parchment .

“…What’s this?”

Cheok Jungyeong’s eyebrows perked up . I retorted .

“Locations where NPCs are trapped on the 5th floor . ”

“What? Why are you giving this to me?”

I smiled at Cheok Jungyeong, who looked confused .

“You see, I don’t have time to go around saving all of them . ”

“…You’re telling me to save them?”

Cheok Jungyeong shoved his intimidating face forward .

“Look at you, ordering me around now!”

Truth be told, it was really scary, but I had already prepared a reply .

“…Your shoes, clothes, and armor . ”

Each time I pointed at something he was wearing, Cheok Jungyeong flinched slightly .

“There isn’t a single one that didn’t come from me . ”

“… . ”

“I didn’t ask for anything when I gave them, did I?”

Cheok Jungyeong dodged my gaze and scratched his head . Now that he was somewhat convinced, I just had to give him a reason that wouldn’t hurt his pride .

“It’s Boss’ order . ”

“Huh? Oh, then just say so from the beginning~!”

Cheok Jungyeong laughed heartily and snatched the parchment out of my hand .

“It should be a piece of cake anyways… let’s see… ah~ there’s only five people . ”

“Five places . There should be around 100 NPCs in total . ”

“…Tsk . ”

His face quickly contorted as he put away the parchment .

“Fine, I’ll get it done within four days . ”

“Thanks . ”

It was then .

—Pieeeek

Spartan suddenly appeared in the sky and flew down onto my shoulder .

There was a group trying to challenge the World’s End Bridge .

“Where did this birdhead come from?”

Cheok Jungyeong stared at Spartan who appeared out of nowhere .

“I’ll be off now . Don’t lose that parchment!”

I took out the portable crystal stele . This was my third time using it, but the crystal stele was just as bright as when I got it . It was because I was recharging its use with the Orb of Regeneration .

To me, items with limited use were no different than permanent items .

Sssss—

When I infused Stigma’s magic power into the crystal stele, the ground I was standing on instantly changed from a brick pedestrian walkway to a wooden board .

This place was a temporary watchtower I built . From a height that could reach the clouds, I looked down at the ground .

Far away, a group… no, an ‘army’ was slowly marching towards the World’s End Bridge .

“…The Chinese Alliance . ”

I could tell at a glance given how many of them there were .

One, two, three, four… sixty-seven .

It seemed they were planning on using sheer numbers to break through my defense .

“Like that’ll work . ”

I muttered coldly .

The Aether bow and dark ore arrows were already in my hands .

As always, the first arrow was a warning . Since the 9th floor had to be opened as late as possible, I was telling them not to get closer .

Of course, like most other Players, they would ignore the warning .

Chwaaak—

I shot a single wooden arrow .

**

…The next day, 8-3F Crevon .

Day of the ‘Martial Tournament’ .

Drawn by the first-place prize, I applied for the Martial Tournament and was currently looking through the Community in my waiting room . Although I pushed myself a bit yesterday, I should be able to pass the preliminary round with ease .

===

[Another failed attempt to pass the bridge of death . ]

The Chinese Alliance challenged it this time, and Black Lotus absolutely destroyed them . Half of them died and the other half ran away .

—RIP Chinese Alliance ㅋㅋㅋ That’s what they get for always pushing people around with their numbers . I’m not even mad .

ㄴDon’t be racist ^^ You should be sad that people died . Their nationality shouldn’t matter, right?

—Wow… You really have to hand it to Black Lotus . He’s amazing . But isn’t he being a bit selfish? He’s saying he’s the only one who’s allowed to train on the 9th floor!

ㄴNo, we didn’t get an alert that a Player reached the 9th floor . He probably can’t go up either, so I think he’s blocking the way until he can .

[Black Lotus is going wild, but what’s the Divine Archer Jin Seyeon doing? Isn’t it common sense that a sharpshooter should deal with another sharpshooter?]

Since she’s in the Tower, she should really do something about it .

—Divine Archer’s in the middle of her training montage .

—Considering what Black Lotus has shown so far, I don’t think Divine Archer has a chance either… . She only came in recently, so her stats are restricted even more .

[The Hero Association told Black Lotus to stop . ]

Apparently, the Hero Association ‘advised’ Black Lotus to stop blocking the way . They used the word ‘advise’, but it seems more like a threat . This is the first time that the outside world interfered with matters inside the Tower . They must have realized that there was no one inside the Tower that could do anything about it, so they took action form the outside .

—But who the hell’s gonna listen to any warning from the outside world? Not even the Association Head has any power in here .

ㄴ I wouldn’t say that…

ㄴNo, he’s right . I can beat up Chae Joochul as long as he enters the Tower .

ㄴYou must have lost your mind… . You should look to get that treated .

===

The Community was practically on fire and because Black Lotus’ name was constantly on the news in the outside world, I had finally reached 5000 SP . I was able to cook up a good Gift now .

—Preliminary round 37! In the blue~ corner! The beautiful obsidian jewel, ‘Boshy’!

At that moment, the host of the Martial Tournament announced the 37th preliminary round battle .

Boshy was Boss’ alias .

—In the red~ corner! The chickenhead ‘Conrad’!

Conrad .

I didn’t know who that was, but I was up next .

When I was about to stretch…

Tiriring—

My messenger suddenly rang .

Nayunjajangman: 「Hyung-nim, what’s your main weapon?」

Nayunjajangman: 「Do you want to do a quest with me?」

Because I haven’t even opened her messages for three weeks, Nayunjajangman’s messages poured down like rain .

Nayunjajangman: 「Hyung-nim, why haven’t you been replying to me lately?」

Nayunjajangman: 「Did something happen? You’re not dead, are you?」

Nayunjajangman: 「Message me if you see this」

**

[8-3F, Crevon Mainland]

Crevon had a variety of stone buildings . Although Crevon’s buildings looked like they came from the Middle Ages, there were buildings that looked similar to shopping malls as well .

As such, the streets of Crevon looked like a strange mix of the Middle Ages and the modern era, giving Crevon a somewhat mystical and beautiful look .

Rachel was walking through Crevon’s main street like a tourist . Every view carried an element that was special enough to store in her memory .

“The scenery is indeed better than Prestige’s . ”

Rachel nodded at Vice Team Leader Davin’s words . About four days ago, Rachel and eight other elite members of the Royal Court guild charged through the Field of Trials with Rachel’s elementals’ help, then cleared several quests on 8-2F to reach Crevon Mainland .

Just like they’ve been hearing on the public forum, Crevon’s level of civilization was far above that of Prestige .

“It looks like a mix of London and the Middle Ages . I’m in awe no matter where I look . ”

However, Rachel didn’t feel that the investments she made to Prestige were wasted . She continued .

“But this place has beautiful scenery that wouldn’t lose to Prestige . ”

The Tower of Wish now had close to 60000 Players .

Only 3000 tickets were found for the first wave, which multiplied to 9000 on the second and 18000 on the third . Now, there were close to 30000 Players in the tutorial .

“I agree . ”

However, only one or two thousand had managed to reach the 8th floor . Many Players were still living in Prestige, unable to obtain enough performance points to climb up .

Furthermore, since ‘outsiders’ were unable to buy living space in Crevon, investing in Prestige turned out to be the right decision .

“Anyways, Vice Leader, I’ve noticed that you’re almost always wearing that armor . ”

“…Ah . ”

Rachel laughed shyly .

“…It’s a suit, not armor . ’

“Is it?”

The [Lv . 4 Black Suit] Rachel was wearing was acquired after a fierce battle of wits . As Rachel’s favorite armor, it had performed fantastically until now .

“Yes, I can’t recall how many times it saved my life . ”

“Haha… . Ah, by the way, have you heard the news? The alliance that was trying to cross the bridge was slaughtered . ”

“…Yes, I have . ”

Rachel’s smiling face quickly froze cold .

Yesterday, another group had challenged the ‘World’s End Bridge’ .

It was the 8th attempt, and this time all of the Chinese guilds had formed an alliance . A total of 67 people were excited at the prospect of showing off their nation’s greatness, yet they were cruelly massacred by Black Lotus’ arrows .

“As long as it isn’t too expensive, buy the footage of the battle when it comes out . ”

“Yes, understood . ”

Parties that challenged Black Lotus always filmed their attempt and sold it . If not, third parties filmed them and sold the video themselves .

The most famous video was the Djinn Alliance’s attempt . A single arrow had completely blasted the bridge like a tactical nuke, instilling catharsis and fear into the hearts of many .

“Ah, we’re here . ”

Davin muttered . They reached the place they’d been walking towards .

[Lv . 11 Phiunel’s Mansion]

This was the meeting spot for their mission .

Rachel talked to the guards in front of the entrance and was led into the mansion by the mansion owner’s servants .

“It’s here . ”

They arrived in front of a door with the sign [conference room] above it .

The servants soon took their leave, and Rachel slowly opened the door .

“Hello . ”

Before walking in, Rachel gracefully bowed . The people inside reacted uniquely to her greeting .

“Ah, nice to meet you, Elementalist Rachel . ”

“Hello . ”

“Hi!”

“It’s been a while, my old friend . ”

Rachel scanned the room .

Hunter of the Vast Expanse, ‘Kim Junwoo’ .

Desolate Moon’s ‘Shin Jonghak’ .

Essence of the Strait’s ‘Yi Jiyoon’ and ‘Miyamoto Yohei’ .

One of the recent rising Rankers, ‘Chae Nayun’, and Essence of the Strait’s Chief Officer ‘Kim Youngjin’ .

Rachel was faced with old acquaintances that soothed her heart as well as powerful veterans who made her tremble . Rachel walked up, trying her best to act calm, and sat down on a chair .

“Hiya . ”

“… . ”

When Rachel returned Chae Nayun’s greeting with a light bow, the door opened once again, and a gentle, white-haired old man walked in .

“Welcome, Outsiders . ”

The following name was shown above the old man’s head:

[Lv . ??? Phiunel]

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