“This is just taking advantage of others.”
“That’s right. But thanks to this, great fortune has befallen us.”
The players gazing at the castle knew they had a sure victory.
From the beginning, this was a fight they couldn’t lose.
“If we pass, will we go straight to Floor 80?”
“What kind of reward will we get?”
“Is the contribution also divided according to the siege strategy?”
“There’s only one enemy. How is the contribution calculated?”
“I don’t know. Just keep going, I guess.”
At that moment, as they were about to begin the trial.
The participating players were relaxed.
Of course, not everyone was like that.
“Something seems off.”
“Can it be this easy?”
“I can’t believe it.”
“The Administrators aren’t so careless.”
But this was a special trial without variables.
A battle of conquest.
Among the various existing trials, there was no trial as straightforward as this. They simply had to bring down the enemy defending the castle and take control of it.
“He’s appeared!”
“It’s Kim YuWon!”
“Is it starting already?”
YuWon appeared at the top of the castle wall.
There were already over ten thousand people here.
Strategy? Tactics?
They weren’t necessary with this many people. Just attempting to devise strategies and tactics with this number was futile.
“Let’s go.”
“Is it true that the floor we ascend to varies according to our contribution?”
“I’ll be the first to go.”
“Do as you please. I’m satisfied with climbing just one floor.”
“Even just leaving a good impression here will increase my value.”
The players gathered noisily, and YuWon simply walked through the castle ahead of the players.
Then…
“Something seems… off.”
“What’s wrong?”
Some players with a keen eye stopped. A strange sense of anxiety spread rapidly. The players who were rushing stopped for a moment.
“It doesn’t seem to be Kim YuWon.”
“What are you saying?”
“There’s only one opponent.”
“There can’t be another one besides Kim YuWon…”
The players who felt something off looked at the man standing blocking the castle gate.
It was strange.
As careless as they were, it was natural to know the information about the player designated as the opponent.
There was no one among the players participating in the trial who didn’t know Kim YuWon’s face.
But…
“Eh?”
“Is this for real?”
The opponent wasn’t actually Kim YuWon.
It was an unfamiliar face.
At that moment, when everyone was surprised, some faces turned pale.
“S-S-Su…”
“Susanoo.”
They were players who knew the story of the Three Precious Children.
Susanoo.
Being a former High-Ranker, his face had been forgotten over time, but his name remained vivid and deep in the Tower’s history.
“Susanoo? That guy?”
“Why is Susanoo here?”
“Who’s saying nonsense!”
“Isn’t it just someone who looks similar?”
Step~
Susanoo walked forward. The distance shortened, and his face became clear. A purple aura rose from his body.
Keiiii~
The sound of a sharp wind spread from outside the castle.
“No, it’s not just a resemblance…”
“He’s identical to the records…”
“I’ve seen him before! It’s Susanoo! It’s really Susanoo!”
Among the ten thousand players, there were some who were contemporaries of Susanoo. Although they couldn’t be nearly immortal like the Rankers, they had existed for a long time as players on the upper floors.
They remembered Susanoo’s face, and that memory was not forgotten at all.
——————
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“I surrender!”
“Curse it! Susanoo wasn’t supposed to be here! Didn’t that bastard die?”
“Wait a moment! This is a deception! That guy can’t really be Susanoo…”
Shwack-.
Kwaang!
A long line was drawn in the center of the place where the players had gathered. The earth was deeply excavated, and red blood splattered into the sky.
“Aaah!”
“M-My arm! My arm!”
“What kind of ability is this?”
“It’s a sword!”
“A sword?”
“Is this what a sword looks like?”
The players were stunned.
Susanoo’s sword quickly split the wide battlefield in half. According to their common knowledge, it was impossible to achieve something like this with just the movement of a sword, without special abilities.
Chulk-.
Susanoo continued advancing with two swords in his hands.
-My master has commanded me.
It was a voice that conveyed unease and great anger.
-No one can enter here.
Kihi-ii-ii-.
Sususus-.
A sharp intent spread from Susanoo. At the same time, some players noticed his pallor and the energy emanating from him.
“Undead…?”
“Then, does Kim YuWon control Susanoo?”
“Curse it.”
Somehow, the trial seemed too easy. The players who thought that silently reignited their determination.
“If it’s an Undead, there’s nothing to fear!”
“That guy isn’t the real Susanoo. Undead controlled by a Necromancer have their limitations.”
“Overcoming that guy is the true objective of this trial. Everyone, stay focused!”
The thousands of players began to fan the flames of war.
The battlefield, which was tempered, ignited in an instant. Susanoo finally smiled as he faced the crowd head-on.
-That’s right, this is what I want.
It wasn’t exactly the form he preferred, but at least he had finally returned. In the battlefield soaked in the smell of blood. On the stage of slaughter.
———————-
Inside the enormous castle.
From the sofa in the living room, where everything was unusually large, YuWon murmured in response to the vibrations he felt from outside.
“This is getting chaotic.”
Gwooooong-.
The castle trembled slightly.
It was evidence of the fierce battle happening outside. Although individually the players were not so impressive, the Arcane Power emitted simultaneously by ten thousand people was something that couldn’t be ignored.
Susanoo’s joy could be felt through his soul.
Being able to confront such a large army was probably the best thing that could have happened to him.
Of course, it wasn’t Susanoo’s decision to fight here.
“Hold them off a bit while fighting them.”
-Eh?
Susanoo froze at YuWon’s command.
His face, which had previously shown a smile, turned stiff. It seemed as if his cry of rebellion could be heard. But YuWon’s thoughts didn’t change.
“It’s an order.”
-…Understood.
Susanoo, who was excitedly swinging his sword away from the castle gate, turned around.
Soon, he firmly blocked the entrance of the grand castle gate and began to wield his sword only against the approaching players.
Most of his movements were more for subduing than killing his opponents.
Among the two swords, Susanoo had chosen to deliberately use a blunt sword.
-How boring.
Susanoo’s lament resonated in YuWon’s soul.
Susanoo enjoyed the thrill of balancing on the edge between blood and death. However, now he found himself fighting in a battle where he shouldn’t kill his opponent.
But he had already sworn loyalty to YuWon.
The day before, after losing in a fight against YuWon, Susanoo had made an oath of loyalty and became an undead completely submitted to YuWon’s dominion.
There was no way to refuse. If he kept rejecting YuWon’s orders, he would become an empty puppet without any consciousness.
“No matter how good this opportunity is, it’s not good to have too many casualties here.”
This was a trial in which YuWon would have to face ten thousand men alone.
He had to protect the castle from the enemies. But that didn’t mean he had to kill them all to pass the trial.
“Players on floor 65 and above. Given enough time, more than 10% of them could become Rankers.”
By simple math, that’s nearly a thousand people who could become Rankers. Each one could be something, but a thousand Rankers was a lot of power.
“I can’t kill them all here…”
That was the reason why YuWon gave that annoying order to Susanoo.
Over time, they would become full-fledged Rankers who would participate in the war against the Outer Gods.
Although it was bothersome, he had to bring them along. That was the promise YuWon had made to his companions when he returned to the past.
Whenever possible, he would take as many players as needed to climb the Tower.
Even in this trial, YuWon had no intention of breaking that promise.
Of course.
“It seems too boring to consider it simply as a Trial that can be overcome with the passage of time…”
This was a trial to evaluate YuWon’s skills, to showcase his power to the public, and an opportunity to promote Floor 65 to the world.
As such, it was designed to satisfy the eyes of the public.
YuWon didn’t believe that the Administrators had organized the trial in such a straightforward manner.
“Because it’s not too difficult for a High-Ranker Player to defend against tactical assaults from advancing players.”
Unless the trial was not designed by the current Administrator but by players who doubted YuWon’s abilities or well-frogs who couldn’t evaluate the power of a High Ranker, the trial seemed to have some deficiency in its design.
“If this is a spectacle, then I’ll accept it.”
That’s why YuWon was waiting. Until that void was filled.
“However, you will have to pay the price once I step onto the stage.”
***
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***
-You will have to pay the price once I step onto the stage.
YuWon lifted his head and spoke.
A group of Administrators gathered by the lake, observing YuWon’s reflection in it.
“It seems what they said was true.”
“Does he know that we’re watching?”
“If not, he wouldn’t be talking alone in such an empty place.”
The eyes of the Administrators gleamed.
YuWon’s words were not just a mere murmur. He was certain that the Administrators were watching him, and he spoke to them with that conviction.
It couldn’t be determined whether YuWon had noticed the gazes of the Administrators or if it was just an assumption.
Either way, there was one thing certain.
“As you said, it seems it’s not an ordinary gamble.”
“That’s right. Kuhuhuhu.”
The Tutorial Administrator stroked his beard as he laughed.
He, too, was interested in this trial and had come to witness it.
Besides him, several Administrators and superiors were paying attention to this trial as well.
“Anyway, it seems he has already figured it out. The difficulty level of the trial seems too low…”
The Floor 65 Administrator turned his head and looked at the other Administrators.
“What if we speed up the pace a bit compared to the plan?”
“I agree.”
“Otherwise, we won’t have anything interesting if we only present an Undead swinging his sword left and right.”
“Although I don’t mind it as it is right now. I agree.”
“Me too.”
Everyone agreed.
The Administrators wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to see YuWon’s current abilities. However, contrary to their expectations, due to the appearance of Susanoo as a variable factor, YuWon wasn’t even moving.
To overcome the boring part at the beginning, they had to accelerate a little.
“Well, I see everyone agrees.”
The Tutorial Administrator looked at YuWon’s face reflected in the lake with an excited expression.
The boy who had faced Surtra, the son of Surt, during the Tutorial.
He couldn’t help but wonder how much stronger he had become in the short span of a few years.
“Let’s proceed quickly.”
Dozens of Administrators.
The massive trial they had prepared.
“Let’s see how far this boy can go.”
