◈ Episode 276. The Unmerciful (2)

Somewhere in the vast Zero Mountains.

What is going on is not a battle.

It’s a one-sided slaughter.

PVP (Player versus Player).

Before the Cataclysm and after.

The outcome of PVP was not dependent on absolute levels.

The most important thing in a PvP match is experience.

The biggest difference.

Players are not monsters.

Psychology may exist, but there are no patterns.

To gain an advantage, you must read your opponent’s mind.

The members of the Heavenly Unity Guild had considerable experience in PvP. From the moment they stepped into the game until now. That’s what it meant to survive as a member of the Heavenly Unity Guild.

But.

“Clumsy!”

That’s just the reality, the player’s standard.

The opponent is the Shadow Mercenaries.

Even a player with a history of bad behavior, even something like a supernova, is a grain of sand in the desert compared to the notoriety and PvP experience of the Shadow Mercenaries.

Seat 3, Henderson laughed heartily.

“When you’re killing people on the battlefield. You have to be more than sure, you have to be thorough. You can’t just stab him in the chest and expect him to die a grueling death. You have to turn his head completely around like this!”

Shhh!

Hammer swings.

Bang!

“Kuck!”

The head spins with a lone scream.

The neck was broken and turned 180 degrees.

The difference in power was so great that the number of people more than ten times that much was insignificant.

‘……dangerous.’

His arms and legs instinctively trembled.

But Yuzuo didn’t back down.

A thought echoed in his head.

‘If I back off,……!’

His lord will be in danger.

At this point, Wolfe, the deputy commander, said.

“It’s strange, At this point, I come to my senses.”

……What was he talking about?

Unlike Yuzuo, who was on his toes, Wolfe was relaxed.

It’s a good thing I took care of the crossbow beforehand.

I didn’t expect to be covered in blood so soon.

Wolfe muttered, then turned his gaze back to Yuzuo.

“An adventurer is an adventurer, but a lord is a lord.”

The level of requests from the Shadow Mercenaries goes beyond the imagination of criminals. Although it has been rare in recent years, in the past there was a constant stream of assassination requests for people with the authority of a monarch.

“I’m quite an expert on those requests.”

Each time, Wolfe volunteered for the job.

The reason was simple.

Because the monarch’s physical abilities were not outstanding.

If you shot at them from a distance, they would fall.

But.

“Your monarch is quite demanding.”

Liu Zunqun?

The Monarch of the One and Only Adventurers was something else.

Perhaps it was the fact that he rolled from the back of the Arcana Continent.

The reason seemed clear to Wolfe.

“Your Lord must have used his adventurer status to his advantage, because before the Cataclysm, adventurers had the Blessing of Resurrection, which allowed them to come back to life after death. As a monarch, he couldn’t be trampled on.”

“……!”

Yuzuo’s eyes widened.

He was momentarily flustered, but he wasn’t wrong.

Indeed, his lordship did not stand out from the rest of the Rankers when Arcana was just a game, but that was in the past.

Now…….

“Of course, even after the Cataclysm, you still have the advantage of being an adventurer. You utilize the weapons of this world to your advantage. Efficient, cool-headed, something other adventurers should learn.”

As he spoke, Wolfe looked at his shoulder.

A bullet wound, his forearm bleeding slightly.

He’d expected the speed of a magic arrow at best.

The bullet was much faster than that.

Fortunately, I learned it cheaply.

“It fucking stings, that thing!”

Rockid’s body was covered in bullet wounds.

Yuzuo was horrified.

How could he take a bullet like that and still be alive……?

“But the most amazing thing is that it’s so thorough.”

“……?”

“Enough to fool even his own subordinates.”

Tsk!

Yuzuo gripped his sword.

He could tolerate any amount of provocation that scratched his ego.

But insulting his lord was completely unacceptable.

Even if it cost him his own life, he would never allow it…….

As he flinched in anger, the voice continued.

“Is your loyalty really what you feel now?”

“What the……!”

“How many people do you think this is?”

“……?”

“How many do you think we’ve defeated?”

Pigs and wolves.

Maybe two out of five.

That was when Yuzuo had a thought.

“Excluding you, Rabbit Mask, it’s ten.”

“……what?”

“I don’t know how many more there are, but we’ve already reached five.”

For a moment, Yuzuo remembered the impersonators.

Stupid things.

Not being able to tell the difference between real and fake, and……!

“Well. I wonder who’s real and who’s fake.”

“You mean ……?”

“No. I mean, does it even exist in the first place?”

Wolfe shrugged.

“Well, that’s for your lord to know, I suppose.”

Poof.

In an instant, the masks fall from Wolfe’s hands.

At a glance, there are well over five of them.

‘……No way.’

Doubt sprouted in Yuzuo’s mind.

He wanted to refute it, but he couldn’t.

All he knew about the Five Stars was…….

That he was Five Star.

That was it.

‘All he said was……?’

Yuzuo thought back to his master’s behavior.

And his suspicions grew stronger.

A tiny crack in his loyalty.

Thud.

A violent migraine raced through his brain.

[Resisting Abnormal state, ‘brainwashing’].

“……!”

Class, [Monarch]’s unique skill effect disappeared.

Yuzuo’s lord.

No, his loyalty to Liu Zunqun had also disappeared like a bubble.

‘Which gap is it?’

Yuzuo was confused in his mind.

Since when was this abnormal status replacing his natural loyalty? Did his loyalty to Liu Zunqun even exist in the first place……?

Clack!

At that moment, the sound of a crossbow being loaded was heard once again.

Only now that the status abnormality has disappeared.

His entire body’s senses warned him.

I will die at this rate.

Whack!

Yuzuo threw off the damned rabbit mask and fell to his knees.

“H-Help me!”

No matter how desperate you are, saving your life comes first.

However, Yuzuo had a big mistake.

Of who he was up against.

The man who answered his desperate pleas.

A voice with a clear tone of welcome.

“Haha. That’s a line I haven’t heard in a while.”

Henderson, his face covered in blood, laughed in amusement.

Tut-tut-tut─

Rockid grunted as he flexed his muscles and pulled the bullet out of his flesh.

“That’s some fucking lame begging, damn it.”

“…….”

There’s not even a hint of agitation in the dry tone.

The Shadow Mercenaries, the dark side of the Arcana Continent.

Far from shaken by a simple plea for life.

What they’ve been through has been dirty and ugly.

Wolfe hadn’t forgotten that.

‘I don’t know what the leader was thinking.’

What was Kichi thinking?

Wolfe doesn’t know.

When a request is being carried out and when it is not. So the gap between Kichi when she was holding the dagger and Kichi when she was getting drunk at the Golden Crown Tavern……. Even myself, who had been watching her for a long time, felt unfamiliar.

But one thing was for sure, she didn’t want it.

Even if it meant dirtying her own hands.

She didn’t want blood on her members’ hands.

‘That’s why she did this.’

To take all the blame for the Shadow Mercenaries on herself.

Leaving behind a trail of nonsense.

Disappeared.

Of course, Wolfe had no intention of following his leader’s orders.

If not for the name, then for the position.

She shouldn’t have handed over 『the Shadow God’s Mark』.

Besides.

‘I don’t think we deserve it, just like you.’

Wolfe smirked.

‘That’s why we refused your help.’

A world of adventurers.

In a way, they were strangers.

Yet they could see it, hear it, feel it.

The influence of Lee Hoyeol, in this world.

Therefore, in order to find Kichi.

Even though he knew that Hoyeol’s help was desperately needed, he refused.

‘It would do you no good to become involved with us.’

It’s puzzling when you think about it.

Why did Hoyeol accept the Shadow Mercenaries?

One might ask.

The relationship between Hoyeol and the Shadow Mercenaries was more than just an employment relationship.

It’s not just give and take.

Well, that’s one thing one knows and the other doesn’t.

‘I can’t help you’.

Hoyeol doesn’t need anyone’s help.

Not as an individual, but as a faction.

The Empire’s Knights of the Lionheart are one thing, but he’s the one behind the Magic Tower. Not to mention the overwhelming support of the adventurers, and lately, the legendary dragons have been calling out for Hoyeol’s name.

Wolfe was convinced.

‘I guess it was just your way of being considerate.’

Consideration.

It was something he’d forgotten for a while.

And so Wolfe resolved.

The Shadow Mercenaries have been graced by you.

From now on, we will be even more thorough.

We will draw a line in the sand with you.

At Wolfe’s resolve, Yuzuo shouted urgently.

“Say what you want! Are you looking for inside information on the Heavenly Unity? If so, use me! I’m no longer Liu Zunqun’s puppet……!”

“What, have you come to your senses, you nuisance.”

“Hik, hiik!”

The voice from the other side.

Turning my head, I saw a yawning 9th seat, DeSheve.

Between each of his fingers was an iron needle.

“Vice leader, what do you want me to do?”

The iron needle glinted as if waiting for a command.

“Well.”

The goal was a magic tool called the Connector, which connects this world to the Arcana Continent. The reason they had infiltrated the Heavenly Unity was simply because word had spread that they had discovered the 3rd generation of the Connectors.

“You won’t find out if you just kill a few people.”

Unless, perhaps, they’re going to wipe out the entire country.

It would be difficult to find the whereabouts of the connectors.

“Their monarch is no ordinary bet.”

“Well, there’s no blood or tears in the way he stabs his subordinates in the back.”

“Rockid, is that the same for our leader?”

“Ha! If there’s blood and tears on the leader of the Shadow Mercenaries, that’s creepy in its own way! Where in the world would such a madman be?”

“I’ll be sure to tell the leader that.”

“……Wow, that was a mistake just now.”

Yuzou cringed at the conversation between Wolfe and Rockid.

‘……Maybe I can live with that.’

He felt like he had a use.

Damn you, Liu Zunqun.

It was a good thing he wasn’t a regular player.

For a split second, Yuzuo thought quickly.

‘Where should I stick it?’

He looked at the status message and realized.

Liu Zunqun was, and would always be, completely untrustworthy.

He looked at the Shadow Mercenaries.

‘……It’s right to cooperate for now.’

Even if it was an enemy who had stabbed his own men.

He had no choice now.

As Yuzuo swallowed hard, Wolfe spoke up.

“I have no choice. Let’s stick to the plan.”

The moment the words left his mouth.

Poof!

DeSheve’s iron needle pierced through Yuzuo’s mucus.

It was DeSheve’s way of doing things.

Instant death, but no trauma.

And then.

Jzzzz

Isabelle Marle, the 6th seat watching the situation, moved.

As she unleashed her magic, the crouching Yuzuo stood up once more.

Shhh─

Wolfe took off his raven mask and said.

“Liu Zunqun, it must be difficult to hide your true intentions in front of a monarch of that caliber. There’s a good chance you’ll be consumed by the monarch’s power again before you can pass on the inside information to us.”

But there are no insides in a corpse.

The Necromancer.

An undead Isabella brought back to life by her powers would be far more useful. There’s just one problem……. It’s an undead’s signature hollow focus.

7th seat, Alkari chuckled.

“But as you can see, the monarch’s nefarious intentions made his subordinates wear masks themselves! You never thought that this masquerade would come back as an arrow to you!”

That was why he was labeled as a bratty monarch.

Liu Zunqun.

He had forgotten the most important fact as a monarch.

“How do you not know that the eye of the storm is the safest?”

On the contrary.

“Quite the opposite of Hoyeol.”

Hoyeol had gone beyond the Eye of the Storm.

He had pushed himself to the very edge of his abilities.

Does it mean that he possesses the qualities of a monarch in addition to his vast talent?

It was a move that made him think.

Thanks to this, Hoyeol was not only safe, but also secure.

He was protecting two worlds, reality and the Arcana Continent.

Alkari nodded grimly.

“That is why the title of Dragon Lord is not an exaggeration.”

*

I always said it was more than I imagined.

You are truly remarkable, Grandfell.

How can you praise yourself without changing your face even once……?

I looked at my press conference playing on the screen.

-“The Dark Dragon. He is but a ‘part’ of me.”

Why, sometimes just hearing your own recorded voice gives me goosebumps.

It’s human nature to get goosebumps…….

Silver hair fluttering across the screen.

The jacket slung over his shoulder.

And the shameless iron skin.

It’s almost painful to watch.

‘…… This is not the time.’

To forget this shame.

I have to move my body as fast as possible.

It’s better to be physically exhausted than mentally exhausted.

I was about to manifest a portal to the Zero Mountains when I stopped.

Against my will.

My gaze never leaving the interview screen.

“No matter how urgent it is.”

A teacup that is tilted leisurely.

“One cannot neglect the exploration of the anomaly.”

So.

Are you really going to watch this whole horrible interview?!

You really don’t have the slightest mercy towards me, Grandfell……!