Ch-150
—
Master bowed his head, body trembling as he sobbed.
And thenâ
Sssssssk!
He drew a dagger from his breast and lunged toward me.
A sudden, unexpected ambush.
Eyes gleaming with triumphant arrogance.
Hoo.
I let out a small sigh inwardly.
How could he be so utterly predictable?
Shraaak!
Thud!
Both arms were severed cleanly and fell, rolling across the floor.
âAaaaghâŠ! M-my armsâŠ!â
The Master, his ambush failed, shrieked as he stared at his severed limbs.
But more than the pain, it seemed the will to live burned stronger in him.
With a desperate expression, he looked at me and spoke.
âIâI still havenât told you everything! If you keep me alive, I can still be of useâ!â
Thud.
RollâŠ
The Master never finished.
Because his severed head rolled along the floor beside his arms.
âŠTruly a wretched creature to the very end.
So foul I no longer wished to exchange another word with him.
Just hearing his voice felt like it rotted my ears.
And the moment his breath fully ceasedâ
ăYou have killed the player âMasterâ.ă
ăYou gain 100 points.ă
ăEvil Deeds increase by 60.ă
ăRetrieved âFragment of the Broken Golden Scale (127h)â.ă
ăExperience increases drastically.ă
ăYou obtain 120 SP.ă
ăTwo stars scatter across the continent.ă
ăAll of Masterâs equipment below Mythic grade evaporates.ă
ăUnique-grade materials are randomly registered in the Golden Scale Shop.ă
ăâMasterâ has been removed from the Hall of Fame.ă
ăAchievement âHigh-Ranker Slayerâ obtained.ă
ăThe Ruin City âRundellaâ is left without an heir.ă
ăYou meet the conditions to inherit the Ruin City âRundellaâ.ă
He gave generously, and then vanished.
Rundellaâthe ruin city that was the greatest pillar of the Masterâs power.
*He didnât even appoint a proper successor?*
It showed just how greedy he was.
Determined to keep everything for himself, he hadnât named even one heir.
Of course, thanks to that, Rundella had fallen into my hands.
All that remained was to go there myself and formally declare ownership.
âUuugh! Filthy! This guyâs blood is disgusting!
âWinterâ spoke.
It had been silent all this time, but the Masterâs blood finally made it open its mouth.
âBe careful! The âHeaven-Annihilatorâ is a troublesome one.
It even worried for me.
For some reason, Winter seemed to know something about this Heaven-Annihilator.
I turned my head.
ââŠThe Heaven-Annihilator has spoken. You are a dangerous one.â
Standing there was a paladin drowned in pitch-black.
The bug summoner and the toin warrior were nowhere to be seen.
While I dealt with the Master, that thing had devoured them.
More precisely, the âBlack Spotâ it created had.
The Black Spotâthe emblem of the Balrog Cultâabsorbed life itself.
âInteresting.â
I shrugged.
Heaven-Annihilator, or whateverâanother name Iâd never heard.
As time passed, more and more things Iâd never known kept surfacing.
Just as the Master had said, it felt as though âthings that had been frozen were now waking and moving again.â
I began to feel strongly that perhaps my knowledge of Pangaenia had only ever been scratching the surface.
*This isnât the end.*
Iâd thought Iâd reached the finish line. That there was nowhere higher to climb.
*Itâs only the beginning.*
So it turned outâthis was the start.
The beginning.
A strangely pleasant ring to that word.
Besides, MintChocoIsTasty wasnât just any ordinary player.
Just what was he?
Was he watching me from somewhere?
Noâno.
He still didnât truly know me.
If he did, he wouldnât have set the stage from behind like this.
No wonder I disliked that nickname from the start.
*Fine. Iâll find you first.*
A game of tag.
For reference, **I** am âit.â
*
*
ăHall of Fame rankings have changed.ă
At the same moment, countless players saw the message pop up before their eyes.
And chaos ensued.
âWhat the hell?
âAm I seeing things?
âDid Master⊠die? No way?
âHis name just vanished from the rankings.
âDid he fall into the Abyss?
âNah, he was climbing the Rift Tower. People saw him recruiting.
âDid he die climbing the tower?
âTo who?
Even âPlayer Talkâ erupted.
A sudden disappearance like thatâof course they panicked.
Even if his reputation had declined, Master was still a 2-Star Transcendent.
A man who clung to his life with desperation.
âDude has more enemies than he can count
âMaybe he died to a tower monster
âThen who gets Rundella?
âOh crap, right. Who was the heir?
âNo one? That greedy bastard
wouldnât choose an heir
âSo it becomes a vacant city?
âEven if there was an heir, unless itâs Master, it doesnât matter.
Someoneâll snatch it instantly
âRundellaâs a prime city. This is big
âAnother warâs coming
A city becoming vacant.
A city without an owner is always the seed of war.
Even if there *was* an heir, if it wasnât Master, it was meaningless.
Dozens of factions would rush for Rundellaâit was inevitable.
âSo if Masterâs dead, weâre down to six heroes?
âYeah. Maximâs dead, Masterâs dead, so six heroes left
âTake Wilhelm out and itâs basically five lol
âYou sure heâs really dead? Masterâs tougher than a cockroach
âHeâs stacked so much hatred someone was bound to get him
âIs someone hunting the Heroes?
âWhoâd bother doing that?
âPhantom?
âIf Phantomâs doing it, the remaining Heroes must be pissing themselves
Posts flooded endlessly.
ââŠThis is seriously bad.â
Among those watching, the Sixth Heroâ*Blackflame*âmurmured grimly.
And she wasnât the only one.
âAssembly. (Lucifer)
âYeah. Looks like we need a meeting. (Darkstar)
âWhere? (Banhee)
âThe usual place. (Lucifer)
âWhat about Gracia? Skipping again? (Banhee)
ââŠIâll come. (Gracia)
Tch.
Why was Gracia joining this time?
Had Masterâs death shaken even him?
If so, this was a meeting she absolutely could not skip.
*No oneâs contacting me.*
Naturally. No one sought Blackflame.
Of courseâsheâd always ridden Masterâs coattails.
Now she was nothing but a kite without a string.
And no one liked a bat like her.
She bit her lip and typed:
âIâll join too. (Blackflame)
âYou donât have to come. (Banhee)
âŠThat infuriating bitch.
Banhee *always* responded to her like that.
Was it jealousy? Some petty girl-to-girl hostility?
âOnly I know where Master kept his research logs and information. Still okay with me not coming? (Blackflame)
âJoin us, Blackflame. (Lucifer)
Blackflame wiped cold sweat and forced a smile back onto her face.
Master was the figurehead, Gracia had no real interest in the hero game.
Darkstar was a scatterbrain, and Banhee was an attention-seeking queen ruling her little domain.
Lucifer, meanwhile, was the âinvisible handââthe one who truly supported the Heroes.
The real leader.
If he allowed it, she could join.
*Good. Iâm safe.*
Heroes were dying one by one.
She could be next.
The only way to survive was to band together.
Blackflame clenched her fist tightly.
*
*
ăParty member âMasterâ has been killed by another partyâs â???â.ă
ăParty points decreased by 100.ă
Raktusha frowned.
Master.
The very one who brought them into the Rift Towerâdead.
Who killed him?
He was fairly capable, at least.
*Not that it matters.*
Only the lost 100 points were annoying.
If heâd known, he wouldâve left him behind.
Still, points could always be regained.
*
That was whenâ
Fwooooosh!
A sudden chill swept in, and snow began falling from the sky.
Dry, barren land.
A landscape entirely unfitting for snow.
*A blizzard?*
As though winter itself had descended.
â99.9%
The Heaven-Annihilatorâs Apostle.
The Black Paladin could not comprehend what he was seeing.
*I devoured every stackâso how?*
An infinite stacking buff via the Black Spot.
He could absorb the life force of those blessed by the Black Spot.
And so, while they were distracted, he had devoured both the bug summoner and the toin warrior entirely.
ăOverload 200%ă
ăYour body is reaching its limits.ă
One of the strongest Apostles had pushed his physical limits to the brink.
Abilities one would earn only after transcending several more stars.
The proof: the âEye of Dreadful Omenâ heâd used earlier had vanished completely.
*Then how?*
How was this man blocking his attacks?
And not just blockingâ
Redirecting, deflecting, dominating the very space around them.
*This isnât swordsmanship⊠no, this is not ordinary swordsmanship.*
As an Apostle of the Heaven-Annihilator, he had mastered all weapon arts, inheriting the power of a rival cult.
He was especially proud of being a master of weapon techniques.
He believed he knew every style that existed in this world.
But even he could tell that the swordsmanship this unknown man used was not normal.
*This is less swordsmanship and moreâŠ*
Whiiish!
Krrra-thooom!
He swung his hammer, black lightning crashing with it.
But it never hit.
Over ten exchanges alreadyâyet not a single strike landed.
âThereâs something dwelling in your swordsmanship. You⊠what are you?â
This went beyond technique.
This was not something that could be labeled merely as âswordsmanship.â
To dominate, twist, redirect spaceâhow could that be ordinary?
There was an *aura of rank* dwelling within the technique.
More preciselyâ
an **unfathomably exalted presence** had *become* the swordsmanship itself.
Naturally, it couldnât be imitated.
In this world, only one person could use such a technique.
And the frightening partâ
âThis isnât everything, is it? The third stage isnât the end. What lies beyond it?â
He hadnât shown everything yet.
Everything so far was merely preparation for the final stage.
There was still a step he had not revealedâor perhaps could not yet reveal.
The Black Paladin, one of the strongest Apostles of the Heaven-Annihilator, a being who had mastered all weapon arts in this world, could clearly senseâ
ââŠYou truly are an interesting one.â
A faint grin tugged at his lips.
As though this was the first time he had ever encountered a swordsmanship he could not unravel.
But thanks to that, he became sure.
*Transcendent, pristine swordsmanship. Yes⊠it only acknowledges pure stats. A style that ignores all buff-boosted or equipment-added stats entirely.*
Even with all his stats enhanced through stacked buffs, every strike continued to be blocked.
