Chapter 40: Ruined Kingdom, Stream Snipers

Solomon gasped for breath while leaning his entire weight against the S-Rank greatsword. He forced his head up to look at the floating owl and asked the chat for the final timer count.

The response scrolled across the screen in an instant. He had exactly nine seconds remaining before hitting the ten-hour mark.

A tired grin spread across his bruised face. He slowly raised a trembling hand and offered the camera a thumbs-up. "Challenge completed."

The stream interface immediately erupted into absolute chaos. Congratulatory messages blurred together as a massive wave of system notifications hijacked the screen. Viewers who had lurked in complete silence for hours suddenly began dropping high-tier gifts to celebrate the impossible speedrun.

[System: BloodKnight has fulfilled their challenge! Gifted 10 Diamond Crowns (50,000 Points).] Message: "flawless. Rest now."

[System: LazyCat has gifted 5 Platinum Shields (5,000 Points)!] Message: "Speedrun lore solidified! You are a legend, Solo Man!"

[System: GoonLord has gifted 3 Golden Thrones (6,000 Points)!] Message: "I TOLD YOU NOT TO DIE AND YOU ACTUALLY LISTENED! NOW GO TO SLEEP!"

[System: SilentWatcher99 has gifted 1 Silver Sword (500 Points)!]

Solomon entirely missed the fact that his concurrent viewer count had quietly climbed to seven thousand. He stared at his own hands, feeling a strange, rushing sensation coursing through his veins.

"I think I actually unlocked Aura," Solomon muttered to the chat, clenching his fist weakly. "I can feel the energy pathways fully opening up inside my muscles. The physical limit finally broke."

He grabbed the hilt of Eden’s Penance with both hands and used the massive blade as a makeshift crutch. He hobbled forward like an old man, dragging his feet across the floor until he reached the glowing transit gate.

He bypassed the lower dungeon floor options entirely and selected the direct coordinates for the Kingdom Grounds.

The portal shifted into a brilliant gold and swallowed him.

Solomon stumbled out the other side and dropped to his knees onto a bed of cold rocks. He found himself inside an open-air mountain cave.

Looking out past the cave entrance, he saw the sprawling ruins of the royal palace sitting in the distance, bathed in the artificial sunlight of the dimensional fragment.

A weak chuckle escaped his lips. His vision tunneled rapidly, and the adrenaline completely abandoned his system.

He looked up at the mechanical owl hovering faithfully by his shoulder. "Make sure you guys look after my body for a sec—"

Before he could even finish the sentence, his eyes rolled back. Solomon collapsed onto the rocky cavern floor and fell completely unconscious.

The mechanical owl hovered diligently over Solomon’s motionless body. It adjusted its camera lens, broadcasting the peaceful mountain cave and the distant palace ruins to the remaining audience.

The chat immediately flooded with a flurry of amused reactions. The viewers quickly realized he was simply asleep from absolute exhaustion, and the initial panic vanished completely.

[LazyCat: HE ACTUALLY PASSED OUT LOL. Rest well, Solo Man.]

[GamerGuy: Bro fought for 10 hours straight. He earned this nap.]

[User12: Well, the action is over. Time to go.]

Consequently, the casual audience began to log off in massive waves. The viewers were primarily there for the adrenaline and high-stakes combat.

Now that the spectacle had ended, watching a teenager sleep on a rocky floor held zero entertainment value. The concurrent viewer count plummeted from seven thousand down to a few hundred within a matter of minutes.

[LazyCat: I literally have not moved from my chair in ten hours. I need to go eat something before I starve.]

[NewbHunter: Yeah, I have daily guild quests I need to finish. See you guys later.]

[GamerGuy: I am going to bed. Catch you on the VOD.]

As the original viewers filed out, the number at the top of the stream interface rapidly dwindled to less than a hundred. A few moments later, it dropped into the single digits.

[BloodKnight: I have my own duties to attend to. Excellent work today, Solo Man. As a knight myself, seeing you fight and push yourself motivated me to train even more. I will be back to check on your progress in a few hours.]

With BloodKnight’s departure, the view count dropped once again. The stream grew entirely quiet, leaving only a handful of silent lurkers and the gentle breeze sweeping through the cavern.

A final message popped up on the glowing interface.

[GoonLord: I REALLY HAVE TO SLEEP BUT SOMEONE NEEDS TO WATCH OVER YOUR UNCONSCIOUS BODY! I WILL TRY TO KEEP AN EYE ON YOU UNTIL I COMPLETELY DOZE OFF!]

The owl simply blinked its eyes and continued its silent vigil over the sleeping boy.

Sometime later, the glowing transit portal shifted once again. Five figures stepped directly onto the rocky floor of the mountain cave. Bypassing the ten dungeon floors to enter the Kingdom Grounds meant they held at least an A-Rank adventurer license.

They wore matching black cloaks and featureless iron masks. They kept every inch of their bodies completely covered to remain entirely unrecognizable.

One of the masked intruders giggled. Another laughed out loud and shoved his companion’s shoulder. "I told you the academy broadcast feeds run on a time delay."

"We do not care," a third figure interrupted impatiently. "Let us just do what we came here for and be done with it before he wakes up."

A fourth intruder pointed a gloved finger at the bronze owl hovering over Solomon’s sleeping body. "What should we do with the camera? It is actively watching us."

"Leave it be," the second figure answered dismissively. "It cannot do anything to stop us. Since he is a first-year student, that owl lacks any unlocked defensive functions."

The group quickly circled Solomon. Their masked faces locked entirely onto the pristine executioner’s sword resting against the rocks.

"I cannot believe we are actually looking at a genuine S-Rank weapon," the first intruder whispered greedily. "Selling this on the black market will make us incredibly rich."

"It is a holy relic wielded by an undefeated paladin," the second added. "This kid was ridiculously lucky. He never would have won if the boss was placed outside that restricted labyrinth."

However, what they didn’t know was that Solomon had won against the paladin in his peak form a hundred times, granted the paladin wasn’t using the latter forms of imperial sword arts, nor did he use aura, mana, the will or the world.

The fourth figure placed a hand on his belt. "Should we kill him first?"

"There is absolutely no need to murder a student," the third argued quickly. "We could get into serious trouble with the authorities."

The fourth scoffed. "How will they ever find us? We are completely unidentifiable."

The fifth figure finally raised a hand and hushed the entire group. "Just get the sword and leave before someone else arrives or the academy sends an extraction team over."

The first intruder crouched beside Solomon and grabbed the hilt of the greatsword. He yanked upward. The weapon remained completely pinned to the ground. Solomon was still gripping the hilt with both hands despite being entirely unconscious.

"He is holding it way too tight," the thief complained, straining his back to pull the relic.

The second figure stepped in to help. He grabbed Solomon’s hands and aggressively tried to pry his fingers open. After several seconds of physical struggle, he cursed out loud and stepped back in frustration.

The leader sighed in annoyance. "There is no other choice."

He reached under his cloak and pulled out a basic, unmarked iron longsword to ensure the weapon could never be traced back to his guild. He stepped directly over the sleeping boy and raised the blade high overhead.

The sickening sound of metal violently severing flesh and bone echoed loudly throughout the quiet mountain cave.