“This is being recorded.”

The moment they heard that, the Chinese users’ hearts dropped through the floor.

Pond.

Hyun’s Forge will be annihilated by our guild and our guild members. It’ll be far too easy. We’ll vent the rage of our furious countrymen.

Wei.

They call me one of the necromancers who got wiped out. After the server merge, I’ll show you a screenshot of user Hyunsoo on his knees in front of me.

Liu.

My hydra is the strongest. In the Continental War, thanks to the artifacts Hyunsoo used, the hydra ended up attacking our side—but this time will be different.

The Chinese users who’d decided to join them.

I’m happy to take part in this chance to wash away the humiliation of the Continental War. I’ll kill one more, stomp one more, and ease your grudge.

And then their real thoughts.

Pond, Liu, Wei, Yongwol.

The conversation they’d had before falling into the maze.

If we catch Master Blacksmith Hyun, how far does our standing rise?

I’m looking forward to this.

Everyone had looked at Yongwol.

What kind of artifact will a master craftsman drop?

Oh?

I hope he drops the Twin Dragon Sword.

Come to think of it, the artifacts on those guild members, and the soldiers and knights, would be even better.

Let’s do this. We kill every last NPC, then we keep chasing Hyun’s Forge. We execute them endlessly. Then Hyun and the guild members will drop all the artifacts they’re carrying.

Hoho. What a cruel idea.

So you don’t like it?

I welcome it.

Now, everything they’d said was about to change.

They could already see it—what would happen if the recording got out.

Four thousand Chinese users who’d been full of confidence, and Sword Duke Roman, who’d raised a rebellion—had walked the road to annihilation with their own hands.

The whole world would laugh.

The whole world would ridicule them.

The Chinese public would burn even hotter—and there was one more spark that would set it ablaze.

So you’re telling me they couldn’t kill even one of Hyun’s soldiers?

There aren’t bigger pieces of trash than those pieces of trash!

It’s a disgrace to China!

Get out of our server!

Staring at Hyunsoo, who wouldn’t even allow them a rat hole to hide in, they fell into fear.

He was different from them.

He commands four thousand soldiers?

Did you see that damage output? It’s insane. At that level, isn’t he the strongest count-tier force?

And the tactics were perfect. He made them fight each other, then wiped six thousand enemies without getting a speck of dust on himself.

Master Blacksmith Hyun, after all.

Master Blacksmith Hyun!

He’s the best user.

The one who’ll become the first king!

He would walk a road different from theirs.

And the name Hyun would rise higher still.

Hyun, risen that high, would stand somewhere they could no longer reach.

Pond looked around.

Artifacts and gold were piled like mountains.

They would become the funding that developed Hyunsoo’s territory yet again.

And then Hyunsoo, gripping the Twin Dragon Sword, said something that made their chests sink with a heavy THUD.

“This is the highlight.”

Every video had its highlight.

The best scene that made the protagonist shine.

This was the moment when the three—Wei, Liu, Pond—fell into nothing more than extras.

“HYUUUN!”

Pond’s eyes bulged as he moved violently.

Even if they were stuck in skill cooldowns—

They were three rankers who represented China.

The undead swarmed in front of Wei, trying to protect their master.

Then Hyunsoo kicked off the ground—and vanished.

“Ghost Step.”

The Twin Dragon Sword was a blade with damage that shattered common sense.

Unlike the others, Wei had taken almost no damage during the fighting.

His class meant the people around him had protected him.

And yet Wei was launched upward.

In the sky, he was cut—again and again—by the Twin Dragon Sword, which appeared and vanished like a ghost as it stepped on air, leaving afterimages behind.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Eleven times.

Fifteen times.

“G-GUAAAAAAH!”

SHHAAAAK—!

[You forced user Wei to log out.]

TSKAKAKAKAKAKAK—!

In the half second it took, all that reached Pond and Liu was the sound of flesh being shredded.

Between the two of them, who stood frozen without even managing to respond, Hyunsoo—still not finished—moved and struck them in turn.

“Ghk!”

“Kuhk!”

KRRRRAK—!

He stepped exactly nineteen Ghost Steps.

Hyunsoo now stood far higher than he had in the past.

The reason he’d called himself a sovereign—

Was to declare that he wasn’t who he used to be, that he was the father of tens of thousands of territory residents—

And that he possessed the power to protect them.

Staggering as he tried to respond, Liu whipped his spear forward.

Hyunsoo twisted aside and evaded—and he was already dragging the Twin Dragon Sword back, lowering his knee.

Braced on the ground with his lead foot, the Twin Dragon Sword let out a wail.

KIIIIING—!

It reflected in Liu’s pupils.

Dozens of blades—more than he could count—extended out from the single Twin Dragon Sword, sweeping over him—

And the Chinese users rushing in behind to help them.

KRRRRAK—!

They were already on the brink of collapse, and it was damage they couldn’t possibly endure.

The sight of Liu and hundreds of Chinese users scattering into a handful of ash was more than enough to serve as the second highlight.

[You forced user Liu to log out.]

Then—

KRAAASH—!

Hyunsoo’s back was carved open. He felt massive damage slam into him.

“I’ll kill you before I go.”

It was the activation of the Sword Emperor’s passive skill, Angry Bull.

[Angry Bull]

[Activates with a 9% probability.]

[Inflicts 378% additional attack power.]

[You are stunned for 0.7 seconds.]

[Once it activates, the probability increases exponentially to 25%, and all effects improve.]

Pond was a peak-class user in his own right.

Some people said a user’s strength was made up of:

20% level, 20% stats, 20% gear advantage, 20% active skills, and 20% passive skills.

And indeed, the passives users possessed were part of their strength.

Especially Angry Bull—once it procced, the probability climbed exponentially, and it got better every time it procced.

When Hyunsoo, cut across the back, staggered and started to turn forward—

KRAAASH—!

[Angry Bull]

Another Angry Bull activated.

“Ghk.”

[Activates with a 25% probability.]

[Inflicts 547% additional attack power.]

[You are stunned for 1.2 seconds.]

[On activation, the probability increases exponentially to 40%, and all effects improve.]

“Kuh... kuhahahahahaha!”

Pond laughed.

Their annihilation was certain.

But before they went, he could kill this bastard.

The stun triggered for 1.2 seconds.

The probability had surged exponentially to 40%.

If he hit him just two and a half more times, it would proc again—and Hyunsoo would fall into an infinite stun loop.

Seizing the momentum, Pond drew his sword back.

The very idea that Hyunsoo could wipe them out alone—

“Aren’t you looking behind you?”

“......!?”

Pond realized too late, and his head slowly tilted back.

CLICK—.

Fifty knights, wearing dragon helmets and Dragon Armor, had slotted in baby bolts and were aiming at him.

Pond let out a hollow laugh.

“H... haha....”

In the next instant—

KABABABABABABABABABAM—!

Fifty baby bolts punched through Pond’s body in countless places.

And Pond had a resurrection effect: when his HP dropped to 1%, it recovered up to 10%.

But his consciousness was already fading, and Hyunsoo—his stun released—was drawing his sword back.

Seeing the knights beside him and the massive army at his back, Pond felt fear.

It was the dignity of a sovereign, incarnate.

SHKAAAA—!

As Pond’s vision darkened, Hyunsoo’s voice reached him.

“You’ll never set foot here again. This is the karma your greed created.”

Pond had something he desperately wanted.

Please, please, please...

His wish shattered.

“Huh? Isn’t this the sword you had? Jackpot!”

For today, Pond had bought a sword of Legend Above Legend grade.

No matter how much Legendary gear had spread—

This, an upper-tier replacement for legend, still numbered fewer than twenty across all the world’s servers.

[You dropped Edron’s Sword.]

No—NOOOOO!

He’d dropped his most important artifact.

Truly—the finest among golden goblins.

*****

Sword Duke Roman and the knights were exhausted.

They’d been bombarded by Pond and the users’ wide-area skills, then forced to respond with their greatest strength—aura.

And they were overextended.

The proof was that just two volleys of dragon baby bolts from Atlas’s soldiers had erased three thousand out of six thousand.

Of course, the dragon baby bolts being overwhelmingly strong had played a part.

Most of the knights, like Roman, had only a fistful of aura left—and they were swept away like autumn leaves.

How... how...

What shocked Roman even more was the fact that Atlas’s army grew stronger the longer it fought.

Even if they were only taking the last hit, the soldiers of Atlas steadily leveled up by killing high-level knights.

And as time went on, the allies dwindled while the enemy grew stronger—so collapse came fast.

“H-HIIIK!”

“I... I want to live.”

“You bastards—where do you think you’re—!”

Knights fled the maze in droves.

And Sword Duke Roman, with multiple weapons lodged throughout his body, fell to his knees.

“It wasn’t a rebellion for the nation, so of course there was no one who truly wanted to protect it.”

Those were Hyunsoo’s words, after everything ended—with four thousand troops at his back.

In truth, Hyunsoo was certain.

If Roman had known Hyunsoo commanded this level of force, he wouldn’t have raised a rebellion in ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) the first place.

And Roman was an NPC.

Not just any NPC—one of the strongest NPCs in the kingdom, which was exactly why the quest had broken out.

“A fitting outcome. One your greed summoned.”

At Hyunsoo’s words, Roman—kneeling—let out a bitter laugh.

“You think this ends here? A stronger rebel army will appear, and more outstanding people will come for you. There will be no shortage of those who don’t want some smooth-slick outsider becoming king.”

Smooth-slick.

Hyunsoo understood what he meant.

Yes. Hyunsoo was smooth-slick.

But someone else wasn’t.

[Nell: His Majesty Barad ordered the extermination of three generations. So we had no choice but to act accordingly.]

Hyunsoo felt his chest sting.

But he also knew this, too, was a path toward becoming king.

“I exterminated three generations of your line.”

“......!?”

Roman’s eyes widened. The “smooth-slick” he’d spoken of choked in his throat.

W-What...?

Alongside unbearable mental agony, the belief that Hyunsoo was “smooth-slick” shattered into wreckage.

Roman stared at Hyunsoo with bloodshot eyes.

Hyunsoo severed his neck in a single stroke.

SHKAAAA—!

Thud.

Hyunsoo could feel it—he had to become harder.

Just like Roman had said.

The rebellion was only beginning, and stronger enemies would appear.

And there are even users.

All he’d done was block a single Chinese user group.

And today, Hyunsoo took one step forward.

A mental step—learning that to protect what was his, he had to make strong, unwavering decisions.

Only then could he keep what was his, without having it taken away.

Other things were right in front of him, too.

Come at me. I’ll get stronger.

The gold piled before his eyes, the insane quantity of junk items and artifacts.

And Hyunsoo knew it.

At my original level, winning against this rebellion wouldn’t have been easy.

But Hyunsoo had done it.

And he knew what it would bring—because the alerts proved it.

[Atlas’s forces are writing a new legend!]

The alerts proved it.

That this battle itself had been the best, unprecedented battle—

And that it would pay out rewards just as insane.

[King’s Path Quest: Rebels completed.]

[You have amassed a staggering achievement.]

The alerts went berserk.