“Form ranks.”

He stepped in between Raon and India’s two hundred high-rankers.

Clack, clack-clack, clack-!

Somewhere out of sight.

That strong, commanding voice rang out again.

“Form ranks.”

“Form ranks!”

“Form ranks.”

“Form ranks!”

That deep, powerful voice.

Any high-ranker who played at least ten to twelve hours a day would have recognized that phrase.

The teaser for Continental War: World Championship that had shaken the whole world not long ago.

At the very end, when all the high-rankers had gathered, Hyunsoo had spoken.

“Form ranks.”

Now that same heavy voice thundered across the battlefield.

In the dense thicket.

Arte had °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° suddenly appeared, and the two hundred Indian rankers had been so completely pinned down they could not move at all.

Under that overwhelming force, Kumar and the other rankers still could not budge, as if they had been bound from head to toe in chains.

What made it even more shocking was the fact that they were all between levels 490 and 500.

Their status ailment resistance ranked among the highest in India.

And yet Sage Arte was suppressing all two hundred of them with telekinesis.

From within the thicket—

KWARURURURUK-!

Dozens of Aegisal Arrows came raining down.

Their targets were everyone who had been trying to kill the disciples of the Grand Thief.

KWA-RUK, KWA-RUK, KWARURUK, KWA-RUK-!

The ones struck head-on by the Aegisal Arrows were hurled into the air.

Their armor caved in, and dry cracking sounds rang out like gunfire.

Then the figures who had emerged came into view, and Raon’s eyes trembled.

“I heard you’re Hyunsoo’s friend. Anyone who’s Hyunsoo’s friend is our friend.”

It was Ian, the Korean ranker.

Behind Ian came Bark and Resil.

“Oh, so Grand Thief Raon is a friend? Wonderful!”

“Hahaha, Raon, is it? We should go tour Indian real estate together sometime.”

As he watched them reveal themselves, Raon felt an unfamiliar pounding in his chest.

Because they recognized him as a friend.

And the cry of “Form ranks” was not coming from only one side.

“Form ranks.”

“Form ranks!”

“Form ranks.”

“Form ranks!”

Luxiu.

He had heard the story.

The story of someone called Grand Thief Raon.

At first, he had wondered why anyone kept talking about some thief and had been wary of him in private.

But that suspicion had disappeared when he saw Raon trying to offer an enormous amount of gold to His Majesty not long ago.

And now—

“It is an honor to meet a friend of Your Majesty.”

He treated Grand Thief Raon with respect.

Bella, Borne, Akao, and the other highest figures of the nation of Hyun were all looking at the still-young Raon with warm eyes.

“Why...?”

Raon had been foolish. He had believed he could do everything alone.

But had Raon really been a fool?

From the beginning, he had simply been someone accustomed to being alone.

A pitiful creature who had never received anyone’s help.

Just as Kumar, still dazed from being hit by the Aegisal Arrows, had said, Raon had been fated to live on his own.

That made their gazes and their affection unfamiliar to him.

But unbearably sweet.

And there was something else.

I’m lacking, and I’m still young, and there’s a lot I can’t do, and I’m arrogant...

But maybe...

maybe that was all right.

Hwaaaaaak—

With a single wave of Arte’s hand, the mist filling the forest was swept away, and Hyunsoo appeared with ten thousand troops aligned in formation.

Raon and Hyunsoo met each other’s eyes and smiled.

Then Arte’s telekinesis rescued the disciples of the Grand Thief, who had been hovering between life and death only moments earlier.

The disciples of the Grand Thief stared in shock.

Especially the young boy, Paya, who was brutally honest.

“Hieeek...? That’s an insane force, isn’t it?”

“Hoho... Grand Thief, who are these people?”

“Grand Thief! Why didn’t you tell us you were hiding an army like this!?”

Hyunsoo looked at them and said with a faint smile,

“I came running because my friend was in danger.”

“Ooooh!!!”

“Ooooooooh!”

“Then are all of these people friends of the Grand Thief too!?”

“That’s right.”

Once they learned that, the disciples of the Grand Thief stepped up beside the strong figures of the nation of Hyun, while Hyunsoo and Grand Thief Raon stood at the very front, shoulder to shoulder.

And astonishingly enough, this entire scene was being broadcast around the world.

It has now been confirmed that two hundred Indian rankers came to steal everything from the nation of Hyun.This is the moment the Grand Thief is revealed to be a user, and it is no less shocking to learn that he is also Master Blacksmith Hyun’s friend.This is insane. The people of the nation of Hyun and the Grand Thief’s people have completely surrounded the two hundred Indian rankers.Experts and viewers all over the world could only stare in awe.

The two of them are friends? What even is this...?Then Hyunsoo, still standing shoulder to shoulder with Raon, said,

“We’ll kill them all.”

Raon answered in his usual playful tone.

“Raon, slave among slaves, Grand Slave, Slave King. I’ll steal everything.”

But that playful line sent a shockwave so great it seemed ready to overturn the entire world.

...Slave!?Then does that mean Grand Thief Raon is Master Blacksmith Hyun’s slave!?Of course, it was true that the two of them had once had a master-slave relationship. But now they were closer to friends.

Still, Raon found it more comfortable to call himself a slave, and the world was thrown into an uproar by the remark.

The entire world was in a panic.

But only for a moment.

[They resist.]

As time passed, the Indian users managed to resist Arte’s telekinesis completely.

Though Kumar had been shaken, he was regaining his composure with the speed expected of a high-ranker.

[Ranno: Kumar, sir, our images are being broadcast worldwide right now.]

Kumar was astonished by Hyunsoo’s thoroughness.

This was justification.

He had brought in the broadcasters so the nation of Hyun and Grand Thief Raon would have public justification to strip the two hundred Indian rankers clean.

And yet Kumar found himself delighted instead.

“Indian rankers have crouched low all this time. If we wipe out everything the nation of Hyun has, we’ll prove that we were a beast only waiting to spring.”

Kumar’s words were not arrogance.

India has a larger population than China, and the number of Ares users in India is 230 million.That’s more than the entire population of our country, and the people standing here are the highest-level and most exceptional among them.No matter how powerful the nation of Hyun is as a state, the strongest fighters of an entire nation were never going to be easy opponents.The confident Kumar and the Indian rankers began to move.

PUP, PUPUPUPUPUNG, PUPUPUPUPUPUNG-!

The skills of the Indian rankers began to rain down, bombarding the battlefield from all directions.

And they were incredibly fast.

Cassandra, one of India’s rankers.

An assassin ranker, she led ten people straight at the woman named Bella.

That bitch hasn’t even become Legendary yet!

She judged that Bella could never possibly stand against them.

But then something strange happened.

What is this?

CHAE, CHAECHAECHAECHAENG, CHAECHAECHAECHAECHAENG!

The ten Indian rankers could not hide their confusion.

They had the numerical advantage. And Bella had not yet reached Legendary. Even taking that into account, they were attacking at great speed, yet not a single blow was getting through.

Cassandra wondered if she was dreaming.

Then Bella casually glanced to the side.

“Sir Luxiu, what are you doing?”

Cassandra turned her head as well.

More than thirty people were on Luxiu alone.

And yet he was weaving through all of them, avoiding everything.

Cassandra was horrified.

What is that...? He’s a monster.

Then Bella said,

“Lend me the Twin Dragon Sword.”

“Very well.”

At the same moment, Luxiu threw the Twin Dragon Sword to her.

Then—

“Awaken.”

PUOOOOOOOOONG-!

[You temporarily reach Legendary!!]

“...!?”

Cassandra panicked. The ten rankers attacking in a storm—one, two, three, four—

Each time Bella’s sword struck, her silver hair scattering under the immense power pouring out of the Twin Dragon Sword—

KWARURURURUK—

KWAJAAAAAAAK-!

PUOOOOOOOOONG-!

The HP of the Indian rankers was shaved away by thirty percent at a time.

Cassandra was thrown into shock.

And that shock came from Hyun.

Listening to the stories about him, Cassandra had always dismissed them as exaggerations—stories fabricated to create a star.

It was the same feeling as watching professional soccer players kick a ball and thinking, I could do that too.

That was the arrogance of someone who had never once stood against those at the summit of the world.

And now, before those same Indian rankers, the strength of the nation of Hyun—strength that had survived until now—was being laid bare.

Then Cassandra turned her head.

“...You’re still too soft, Bella.”

“...Tch!”

Luxiu had already put down nine rankers.

Bella had only brought down four.

The Indian rankers can’t do anything against them.Were Luxiu and Bella always this strong?They always were. It only looked otherwise because the enemies they faced until now were absurdly powerful. Luxiu is the undefeated knight, the idol of all knights, and Bella is the youngest rising star closing in on becoming a legend of the sword. And when the Twin Dragon Sword’s Awaken is added on top of that, she reaches the level of Sword King Barad.The only thing she still lacks is the skill to match Luxiu.Huh? What are the disciples of the Grand Thief doing?Then Cassandra saw one user die.

Tragically, that Indian user dropped a large amount of gold and several precious artifacts.

But then...

“Khehehehehe.”

“???”

Paya, disciple of the Grand Thief, walked over to the user who had just lost everything precious.

Then he rummaged through the corpse and stole the gold and miscellaneous items.

...!?...!?...!?“...!?”

“...!?”

Everyone there stared in disbelief.

It was a principle like Raon’s Soul Theft—or rather, Corpse Plunder.

And shockingly enough, just as Raon had inherited it from Dakuan, every one of the disciples of the Grand Thief possessed that same power.

Viewers around the world let out groans.

I’m actually tearing up... ㅠNo, holy shit... isn’t that too much? You die, you get the level-drop penalty, you drop your artifacts and gold, and then they loot you on top of that? lolSo this is what “sucking out every last drop” actually looks like?“Khehehehehe!”

As Paya cackled madly and shook what he had stolen from the corpse in his hand, the faces of the Indian rankers turned pale.

Wasn’t that something Pando treasured...?

How much gold did he steal?

They could tell instinctively that at least half of what they owned had been taken.

We can’t die.

And so, in the midst of the escalating crisis, one assassin-type user lunged at Hyunsoo.

In the end, battles like this are over the moment Hyunsoo goes down! He’s just a blacksmith, after all.

He rushed in and drove a dagger into Hyunsoo’s abdomen with all his strength.

PUUUUK-!

The moment he struck the Overlord’s Armor—

[HP falls below 95%.]

“...?”

“???”

“...?”

“???”

Hyunsoo tilted his head, then casually tapped him on the head.

KWAJAAAK!

[HP falls below 52%.]

“...Kgh!”

That user was an assassin who had dumped everything into HP and defense among the assassin builds.

Sensing that something was terribly wrong, he stabbed again.

That skill definitely activated just now!

KKA-RANG!

But then...

[HP falls below 90%.]

“...?”

“???”

“...?”

“???”

The exact same thing happened again, and Hyunsoo brought Unparalleled down on him one more time.

KWAJAAAAAAK—

[HP falls below 4%.]

How is this possible?

The assassin user had traded blows with Hyunsoo twice.

And yet the difference in their damage output defied all common sense.

Even more chilling was—

“Ehehehehehe!”

“Hohohohohoho!”

“Hohohohohoho!”

“Dehet dehet, ehehehehehe.”

“...?”

“...?”

...?...?The disciples of the Grand Thief were swarming over a single corpse like a horde of zombies, stripping it bare.

An immense terror was beginning to spread through the Indian rankers.

Hiiiiiik!

If we die, they’ll take everything!

What the hell is wrong with those bastards’ eyes!?

But then Kumar smiled confidently.

Standing off to one side, he was drawing in the mana of ten Indian rankers.

Kumar.

His class was Sun Knight.

“Now I’ll show you who I really am!”

[All mana is consumed!]

[The Sun God’s knight unleashes an ultimate skill!]

The ultimate skill of the High Class user, the Sun Knight.

The benevolence of the Sun God descended from the sky and became a sword of light that enveloped the roughly two hundred Indian users.

PAAAAAT-!

[The Sun God’s Benevolence]

[HP and MP recovery speed increases by 400%.]

[Skill cooldown is reduced by 60%.]

[All allies’ Attack Power increases by 35%.]

[All allies’ Defense increases by 35%.]

[Duration: 1 minute.]

It was an overwhelming increase in combat power.

Enough to shatter the nation of Hyun in one stroke.

A heat as fierce as the sun surged from the bodies of the Indian rankers.

Then—

Hyunsoo’s voice rang out to the arrogant users.

“I take everything from you.”

[Command of Unparalleled]

[All effects are canceled for 1 minute, and the use of all items, including Return Scrolls and potions, is restricted.]

[The Sun God’s Benevolence is canceled for 1 minute.]

In an instant, the blazing heat that had risen from the Indian rankers went cold, and every buff effect vanished.

Looking at Kumar, Hyunsoo said,

“Looks like you’ll have to show me who you are next time...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

Kumar—and the entire world—could only stare in shock.