Hyunsoo led the guild members to Araham Territory and accepted the fifty soldiers who had been waiting for him.

The reason he brought the guild members was because from now on, the soldiers and his guild members would be together.

And the guild members were all granted the rank of Junior Baron, becoming knights.

And Hyunsoo’s heart trembled as he headed for Vallas Territory.

‘Are they all doing well?’

On the day he left, all of them had looked at Hyunsoo with regret.

And ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) Hyunsoo couldn’t help laughing as a pleasant image came to mind.

‘Lord Belin is going to be really shocked.’

Back when Hyunsoo had visited Vallas Territory, he had been just one of countless insignificant, shabby users.

The only thing extraordinary about him had been his skill as a blacksmith.

Back then, Lord Belin had looked like someone truly high above.

It couldn’t be helped.

Even if it was a small border backwater, a lord who led a territory was undoubtedly someone great.

And now, that same Hyunsoo was returning as someone new.

His steps were light.

Before he knew it, Hyunsoo had reached Vallas Territory, and a notification sounded.

DING!

[Hidden Quest: Noble is changed.]

[Hidden Quest: One who returned as a noble]

Grade: S

Restriction: One to whom Belin conveyed intent.

Reward: You might be able to become a lord, a potion made by Belin.

Failure Penalty: Affinity with Belin drops to the lowest.

Description: Belin judged that she was not enough to protect the lord of Vallas alone. Because of that, she once told you, who left, that she would share territory shares with you. As if confirming that concern, Baron Ronso seized Vallas Territory. Wipe out that group.

Hyunsoo’s face twisted. Come to think of it, he felt like he’d heard something like this from Per.

‘I’m worried. I wonder if Baron Ronso, that greedy man, will really just let this be.’

And it looked like they had already finished seizing Vallas Territory.

He learned one more hidden fact.

‘Belin’s potion?’

Belin’s potion.

Meaning, a potion she made.

That was a field completely different from blacksmithing.

‘Belin had talent in alchemy?’

He didn’t know why she had hidden that fact.

For now, he pushed the thought aside.

Hyunsoo quickly told the guild members about this.

Baron Ronso’s subordinates blocking the entrance.

They seemed to be controlling outsiders’ entry.

First, he dealt with them quickly, then went straight up to the rooftop.

And he moved fast, without a sound.

The reason this covert movement was possible was because of a buff from Saint’s Child Belia.

[Silent Footsteps]

[It hides your presence and completely erases the sound of your footsteps.]

And from the rooftop, Hyunsoo’s face twisted as he witnessed a scene.

A young boy blacksmith, drenched.

And the knight in front of him was lighting a match.

Hyunsoo remembered that boy.

The boy named Karan had asked, back when Hyunsoo was teaching him.

‘I want to become an amazing blacksmith like you someday too, Sir Hyunsoo!’

Hyunsoo immediately activated Lord’s Command, stopping the match.

“...I’ll kill every last one of you.”

[The Viscount’s title effect shines.]

[A more special appearance notification, applied for 3 days, rings out.]

At the sudden appearance of a Viscount, the knights’ expressions were stained with confusion.

Knight Pon, who had just lit the match, was the most shocked.

‘A Viscount...?’

A Viscount.

One of the lofty nobles.

Pon hurriedly gauged their numbers.

Including the Viscount, four knights.

‘The most brilliant star... Could it be that negotiator we’ve been hearing about lately...?’

Pon was clearly flustered. But he quickly assessed the battlefield first.

Allies who had entered here totaled fifty.

The soldiers numbered two hundred.

On top of that, Baron Ronso was the king of this entire region.

In Baron Ronso’s territory, reinforcements could arrive at any time.

‘He became a Viscount in one jump as a national hero.’

Pon formed a snake-like smile.

‘Only four knights? One blacksmith, and four knights?’

The tension loosened.

He realized how ridiculous the words that Hyunsoo had just said—“I’ll kill every last one of you”—were.

So he spoke.

“So you are the one who will become the new master of Vallas Territory? Welcome. Viscount, and this is a good thing.”

Pon smiled brightly.

“Now, sit in the seat of Belin, who will become the ‘former’ lord, and rule the north together with Baron Ronso. Baron Ronso will bestow many things upon you, and you will be able to earn massive profits.”

That was true.

If he cooperated with Baron Ronso, he would have nothing to fear.

Pon flicked his eyes toward the knights.

“A fight with us will not be an easy thing for Viscount Hyunsoo.”

Because that was true, Hyunsoo, at least here and now, would obediently—

“Bullshit.”

“...?”

Pon was thrown off.

Hyunsoo gave an order.

“Don’t leave a single one. Kill them all.”

That order made Pon feel absurd instead.

If you looked only at the current forces, they were overwhelmingly superior.

Especially, Viscount Hyunsoo was the easiest to kill.

Wasn’t he just a blacksmith?

And Ger was full of worry as well.

‘There are too many enemies.’

He swallowed hard.

On top of that, Hyunsoo, a blacksmith, looked like someone who couldn’t bear it.

But then—

Something bizarre happened.

DRIP-

It felt like their hearing had been maximized at this moment.

The knights were pouring oil over dozens of blacksmiths.

The oil that soaked the blacksmiths’ bodies floated up into the air like tiny droplets.

“Wow...”

An exclamation slipped out of someone without them realizing it.

Thousands of tiny oil droplets suspended in midair.

The moment a knight, as if possessed, touched one of the droplets with the tip of his finger—

SPLAAAAASH—

Those oil droplets splashed back over the knights instead.

This time, Hyunsoo moved his left arm.

Dozens of blacksmiths were pushed to one side in unison, following the motion of his arm.

SHWAAAAASH—

Those pushed aside wore puzzled expressions, and then a knight standing on the rooftop fired an arrow.

KRAAAACK—

Pon saw the arrow strike squarely into the chest of the knight who had been standing beside him.

It was nothing more than an ordinary arrow.

But then—

FWOOSH—

Flames suddenly ignited from the arrow, and in an instant, they spread through that knight and covered the bodies of the knights in that area.

Pon recoiled in shock at the heat washing over his face.

But the people here were different from people in reality.

They had superhuman bodies unlike those in reality.

Of course, it would be a lie to say it wasn’t hot.

But it wasn’t enough to make them lose their minds.

“M-Mages!”

“Hurry and put the fire out!”

WHOOOOSH—

A water-related magic manifested by a mage rippled like a wave and suppressed the flames clinging to the knights’ bodies.

Only about twenty percent damage.

More than forty knights laughed at the rooftop knights.

The Radiance knights with the hammer-and-anvil crest on their backs.

Pon and the knights found it absurd.

[Knight Pon Lv.318]

[Knight Gale Lv.309]

‘How dare outsiders like this...’

NPCs were the owners of this land.

In reality, eighty percent of outsiders couldn’t match the existing NPCs’ level.

Sword King Barad’s level had already reached the 450s.

Yet even the official Rank #1 still hadn’t reached level 400.

The difference in power between outsider knights and NPC knights was that clear.

And if it was only four of them, it was even more laughable.

Then—

[Great Child.]

Two knights dropped down to the ground, and two knights continued guarding the rooftop.

And when a woman who looked like a priest raised a prayer, a gentle holy power flowed out from the bodies of the three.

[All stats increase by 18%.]

[Attack power and defense increase by 17%.]

[Skill damage increases by 20%.]

Bark and Ressel stood back-to-back.

The knights numbered more than forty in total.

In this situation, Bark spoke first.

“I’ll take fifteen.”

“Then I’ll take exactly fifteen as well.”

The two of them glanced at Ian standing on the rooftop.

“I’m new, so I’ll take twenty.”

Were they insane?

“You son of a—”

As they muttered at the same time—

“Wave of Frost.”

“Dragon-Infused Sword.”

“Inferno Fire Guided Shot.”

“...?”

Pon froze.

It all happened in three seconds.

Pon looked to the left. Seven knights had frozen solid in a surging wave.

He looked to the right.

A creature called a dragon—something he had never seen in his life—created explosive power that swallowed nine knights whole.

And then he looked around.

The ten knights who had surrounded them were turning into skeletons in sequence, then scattering until only bone dust remained.

“So Ian’s bow killed ten, for now?”

Soon, the knights who had frozen broke the status effect and emerged from the ice.

The knights caught in the explosion seemed to have suffered heavy injuries as well, but they approached again.

But after what they had just shown, Pon took a step back.

‘W-Where did monsters like these come from?’

Soon, they and the knights began to collide.

But the people of Radiance knew.

‘We can’t hold for long.’

‘If this turns into a long fight, we might lose.’

No matter how much they had power that surpassed these knights, there was always a limit.

‘And they’ll get reinforcements, too.’

Deliberately, when this situation happened, Hyunsoo had left the fifty soldiers from Araham Territory waiting elsewhere.

If they came here, the odds were high they’d be wiped out.

This fight had to be carried entirely by users.

‘If it doesn’t, the damage will be too big.’

An endless exchange of attacks.

They could clearly see that the knights’ skill surpassed the users’.

All damage, artifact abilities, levels—everything surpassed them.

But there was one thing they couldn’t surpass.

Skill.

They were people who had held swords their entire lives, while they were merely people who logged into a game.

Radiance, who had been pushing overwhelmingly at first, was being pushed back more and more as time passed.

‘What we need right now is for Hyunsoo to hurry and come back with Baron Ronso as a hostage.’

That was Radiance’s plan.

So Hyunsoo ran straight toward the castle.

But there was one thing they hadn’t expected.

******

The Special User Management Team. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Kim Taeseok watched the monitors while holding their breath.

Several monitors were each showing different individuals.

“...It’s too much. From the start, it was never easy for Radiance to endure territory-level forces. Especially with the Baron Ronso variable they didn’t anticipate.”

Associate Lee Jihee wore a regretful expression.

User Hyunsoo looked like he would be able to obtain Vallas Territory through his effort and results.

But if this continued, Vallas Territory would collapse completely.

And the variable they called Baron Ronso.

“Fourth Calamity Ronso.”

That was it.

Fourth Calamity Ronso was the Cult of Calamity’s source of funding.

On top of that, Baron Ronso had disguised himself in secrecy and hidden deep within the Kingdom of Goyard for a long time.

Between that variable and the territory’s forces, it was simply too much for Radiance to endure.

“...Once Ronso reveals his identity, he’ll kill everyone in Vallas Territory and disappear.”

“...Right.”

But because it still wasn’t over, Kim Taeseok said:

“Hyunsoo is a user who always created variables, isn’t he?”

Before they knew it, Associate Lee Jihee and Team Leader Kim Taeseok had become people rooting for Hyunsoo.

How should they put it.

Because Hyunsoo’s stories always made their hearts ache, it was hard not to root for him.

And a moment later.

At one variable unfolding before their eyes, Kim Taeseok and Lee Jihee let out an admiring breath.

That variable was something even they didn’t know what kind of power it would display.

CEO Lee Sejin had said:

‘That title is power that the supercomputer Ares itself gave him. It’s only his unique power, and even I don’t know what kind of power it will manifest.’

They watched the variable that had formed for Hyunsoo.

[Sentence-Type Title is completed.]