Before he passed out with his Stamina at zero, Hyunsoo had been thinking about the Atlas invasion prohibition pact that would soon be lifted.

When he thought about it, he could not even faint in peace.

What he felt was not worry.

It was a sense of injustice.

What did I ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) even do wrong?

There was a saying that when someone became ambiguously, uniquely outstanding, he became everyone’s enemy.

Because of that vague sort of exceptionalism, Hyunsoo had done nothing wrong, yet he had still become the world’s “public enemy” and was stuck worrying about a territory war.

And when he woke with that concern still on his mind—

“Didn’t I tell you to leave the rear to us?”

“???”

The Story King smiled in satisfaction, and Hyunsoo was able to see the story unfolding one piece after another.

First, Sword Duke Raisen arrived.

[Aldron Territory, Bolaon Territory, and Graan Territory are now under your rule.]

[Total added population: 143,131.]

THOOOOM—!

Sword Duke Raisen.

An old man who had become the idol of an entire nation knelt and swore eternal loyalty.

[Raisen is one of fewer than 300 people on the entire continent who have reached the rank of Sword Duke.]

[Sword Duke Raisen Lv.486]

And also—

[Kabel: I embellished it a little. Said you were the one who ordered it.]

“???”

Pirate King Akao appeared aboard hundreds of Turtle Ships.

The truth was, Hyunsoo had already understood everything about him before the battle.

After that, he had delegated everything that followed to Kabel, but he had never told him to spend money from the spoils.

Why are you spending money however you want...?

But then—

“So you wanted to win my heart that badly?”

“???”

“Of course. Even in the middle of battle, you were the kind of man who cared about the hearts of my pirates, who had been taken prisoner, and even those poor souls the Parion Empire had reduced to disposable cannon fodder. Even now, I can feel it from you. You may not show it, but you truly want us to live happily, don’t you? Free from the empire’s oppression at last.”

...I do?

Pirate King Akao was a huge man, nearly 6'3", gripping a rusted greatsword like some barbarian chieftain.

And after muttering to himself for a while—

“Then I will serve you. From now on, I will guard your seas. And all of you as well—live now for this man. He is now our lord, and he is our sea.”

“Loyalty!!!!!”

“Y-you’re giving me your loyalty?”

“...The meaning of reaching out your hand to shake mine like this. It means that even though I’ve entered your service, you mean to value me and respect me.”

CRUSH—!

[You have gained a retainer who will lead the age.]

[The skill Ship Operation rises by 2 levels and is upgraded to Intermediate.]

[The skill Navigation rises by 2 levels and is upgraded to Intermediate.]

[All abilities at sea increase by 12%, and all attack power and all defense increase by an additional 10%.]

[Akao is moved by you!]

[He will protect you with his life.]

[You have recruited Akao as your retainer.]

Jackpot?

And then—

“Either way, we’re all people who have decided to serve a new lord now, aren’t we? Hand over everything you’ve got and start your new lives.”

For the sake of the new lord, Akao slowly lifted his rusted greatsword and pulled off a full-on shakedown.

[The newly migrated Parion Empire prisoner families offer up everything they have.]

[The total amount of gold acquired is now calculated.]

[You obtain 1,113,103 gold.]

That was 1.1 billion won.

My endless thanks...?

As Hyunsoo stood there with question marks multiplying endlessly in his head, a whisper came from Nell.

She asked him to say something.

Hyunsoo truly could not understand it.

Why is she telling me to say something like this?

And so, summoning his courage, Hyunsoo awkwardly said it.

“Korean users, wake up?”

“He says wake up!”

“Wake up!”

“We’re awake!!!”

“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

[146,313 users migrate to Atlas.]

[Hyun’s Forge’s finances increase by 64%.]

[Hyun’s Forge’s national power increases by 156%.]

Only then did Hyunsoo finally grasp reality as he looked at them.

In the end, all of this had come from his own fingertips.

Hyunsoo raised high the sword that had been born from one old man’s heart.

“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

On one side of the blade was engraved:

For the New King.

And his Charisma stat, which had risen sky-high before he knew it—more than enough to overwhelm even Bahala and Kabel among the users—

In other words, because he possessed the stat Overwhelm, the people there were being captivated by him.

Hyunsoo understood it then.

That nothing would be able to oppress them any longer.

No—rather—

Now they’re the ones who’ll become our prey.

The proof came immediately.

It came from Lord, who had arrived leading an army of one hundred thousand.

“Want to fight?”

SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE—!

The sight of Lord turning around and fleeing with his army in response to those words made Hyunsoo realize it.

He had taken a much greater step toward founding the nation of Hyun.

*****

Lord, who had fled like a madman as if he had seen a ghost, finally relaxed.

“...We lived!”

“Whew...!”

His troops had also figured out the general situation.

At that moment, the commander of the knights said:

“...Then why aren’t they chasing us?”

Lord gave a bitter smile.

“Because we’re not even worth killing.”

Lord said that, then immediately revised his own thought.

Then why? It was a chance to strengthen his artifacts and his army.

Just then—

[Hyunsoo: ...To think you abandoned Heir to the Sword King and still managed to grow into a Monarch in just one year. That’s impressive.]

“...?”

Lord learned the truth then.

Hyunsoo remembered him.

And he had spared him in this war.

Lord glanced at the troops around him for a moment.

They were AI, yes.

But they were also the hundred thousand troops he had gathered through a year of bloody effort.

Hyunsoo continued.

[Hyunsoo: In hard times, thanks to you, I was able to pay my father’s hospital bills.]

[Lord: .......]

Lord had not known it, but it was true.

There had been a time when too much of the hospital bill had gone unpaid, and they had been on the verge of being thrown out of the hospital.

At that time, Lord had bought the sword-cleaving sword.

Of course, Lord knew that.

I just paid the fair price for it...

But Hyunsoo kept speaking.

[Hyunsoo: Please understand that I never did anything to deserve being hated.]

That was certainly true.

The fact that Sword King Barad had chosen him.

The fact that the whole world was targeting him.

None of that had been what he wanted.

[Hyunsoo: Don’t covet Atlas anymore. We’ll leave it at that.]

That was how he left.

“......”

He was completely different from Lord, who had been full of nothing but vengeance and stubborn pride.

And that cool, stylish exit made even Lord feel drawn to him.

Then—

[Hyunsoo: ...Come to think of it, since I let all of you live, you’ll help us out at least once later, right?]

“Or not?”

Lord let out a hollow laugh. Before crossing back over the continent, he turned around and looked once more in the direction where Atlas lay.

At that time, neither of them knew it yet.

That later, because of this very incident, Monarch Lord would end up saving Hyunsoo.

*****

Valon.

The Tyrant’s proxy, and the unofficial world Necromancer rank #2.

Valon met Tyrant Jebar every day.

Because he liked him?

No.

It was because Valon was the Tyrant’s proxy, and there were endless things Tyrant Jebar could give him.

And there was one more thing.

Tyrant Jebar did not know it, but behind Valon stood the best dark-gamer group in the world.

Dark gamers.

People who used games to make money.

And from the old RPG days onward, making money through games had always been the privilege of a chosen few users.

That meant most dark gamers were excellent.

And the group Valon belonged to was better than the rest.

Hiding that overwhelming background, Valon went once again today to meet the madman called Tyrant Jebar.

I wonder if the maid’s still alive today.

Valon smiled bitterly, then went in to see him—and was startled.

“......”

A ragged robe.

A golden throne carved with a skull emblem.

Long, unkempt hair.

And a pair of bright, intelligent eyes staring straight at Valon.

Valon was flustered by it.

“Khh... Where have you been wandering off to?”

But then he relaxed.

What he had just felt—

It had been the gaze of someone standing in a much higher place, looking down on worthless vermin.

Was I imagining it after all?

The Tyrant was always half out of his mind.

And that madness was probably the source of his power.

Then Tyrant Jebar spoke.

“Something I’ve been waiting for has finally appeared, Valon.”

Valon was startled for the second time that day.

“You mean something you’ve been waiting for?”

“...There were exactly two things I searched for every single day of my life. But both vanished without a trace, so in the end I could never find either one.”

Jebar was known to be as strong as the Overlord.

And there was something even he had been unable to find?

“What was it?”

“The heart of a dragon.”

A heart.

For a moment, Valon wondered if Jebar meant to send him looking for an actual dragon’s heart, but Jebar shook his head.

“Not a real dragon’s heart. It means a mineral that contains special power.”

“A-a mineral?”

At once, something flashed through Valon’s mind.

Not long ago—

One of the few legendary mines in this land had appeared.

It was information circulating in secret.

“...You’re thinking of the right place, Valon. The dragon’s heart is most likely sleeping there. So you must find the key to obtaining it.”

Valon understood what that meant.

Up to now, Tyrant Jebar had been stopping him from eating, calling Hyun “a meal not yet fully set on the table.”

But this was different.

This was explicit permission to steal what belonged to Hyun from Dragon’s Mine, and even to fight him for it.

Yet what drew Valon’s attention even more than that thrill was something else entirely.

“...What kind of power does it have, for you to have searched for it for so long, Lord Jebar?”

Jebar had everything.

Artifacts so exceptional one could almost call them divine.

An army of the dead numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

And even a lich, the highest undead mankind could not yet create.

Jebar was a man who possessed all of that.

So why was he interested in something as trivial as a mineral?

At that, Jebar let out a long, creepy giggle.

“That mineral...”

Within the same smile that always sent a chill down Valon’s spine, Jebar’s eyes gleamed.

“It has the power to evolve any being.”

What...?

To evolve any being.

It might not be able to evolve a god.

But perhaps it could do things like this.

Evolve a being with the potential to become a god.

Or evolve a Legendary-grade monster into a Transcendent one.

It really was an incredible item, and Valon could now understand why Jebar wanted it.

To one who commanded the dead, the evolution of something was no different from a holy grail.

“I accept the order.”

Valon turned and withdrew in haste.

Then a thought struck him.

Wait a second.

He looked back toward where Tyrant Jebar remained.

Because Jebar had clearly said he had spent his whole life searching for two things.

“Then what was the other one?”

It was something Valon would never learn.

After he left—

The smile vanished from Tyrant Jebar’s face.

“...How exhausting.”

Was Jebar insane?

Half yes, half no.

Sometimes he had to be insane, and sometimes he had to be sane.

Why?

Because it was convenient.

Just like now.

“...I wonder how much power is backing you.”

He had already noticed the force standing behind Valon.

And Jebar smiled bitterly.

He had always been searching for that dragon mineral.

And the reason was tied to the second thing he had been searching for.

The Dragon of Ruin, Balladra.

Or rather—

The Bone Dragon that destroyed Atlas... was that bastard really destroyed after all...?

Resting his chin on his hand, he smirked.

If not, where is it hiding?

*****

“I’m... Golem...”

Pet Storage.

Golemmy came back in a slump.

The reason was the fifty Black Hawks the Myriad Mile Bird had captured this time.

Golemmy had ambitiously declared that he would train them personally as the new youngest members.

And then he had gotten jumped by all fifty of them.

But Golemmy could see that the dependable eldest brother,

the dumb but kind third brother,

and the fourth sister who only ever acted aloof,

were all absent.

The only one left in Pet Storage was KyooKyoo, sitting there arrogantly with one leg crossed over the other.

“...Golem.”

Golemmy grew even gloomier.

The truth was, Golemmy had never expected anything from the second older brother, KyooKyoo.

Then—

“Kyoo—”

KyooKyoo produced a cape from who-knew-where, flicked it dramatically, and draped it over his shoulders before rising from his seat.

He looked exactly like a hero rising in an age of chaos.

“Golem?”

Still not even properly wearing the cape, just hanging it over his shoulders, KyooKyoo headed toward the huge Pet Storage enclosure where the fifty Black Hawks were being held.

Then, after striking a cool expression, KyooKyoo opened the door and said:

“Kyoo...”

You stay outside, runt.

THOOOOOM—!

The door shut behind him.

A moment later—

KABOOOOOM—!

SKREEEEEEEE—!

SCREEEECH!

FLAPFLAPFLAPFLAP—!

KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKABOOOM—!

CRACK, CRRRUNCH, CRRRACK!

After about ten minutes had passed, Golemmy went into Pet Storage and gasped in admiration.

Because all fifty of those unruly Black Hawks were standing at rigid attention.

“Kyoo—”

KyooKyoo held up two fingers and asked:

How many is this?

“SKREEEE!”

“SKREEEEEE!”

Two!

But KyooKyoo shook his head.

“...Kyoo.”

If I say it’s one, then it’s one.

“Kyoo...!”

How many is it?

One!!!”

“Go-Golem...?”

Golemmy was overwhelmed.

This was truly perfect brainwashing.

And as second older brother KyooKyoo passed by Golemmy, he coolly said:

“Kyoo—”

Don’t go around getting beat up.

That day—

[50 Black Hawks are successfully bound as pets!]

Thanks to KyooKyoo, it was the moment all fifty Black Hawks had been successfully tamed.

“Golem... Golem...!”

And in Golemmy’s heart, second older brother KyooKyoo was engraved forever as an idol.