◈ Episode 477. The Quest of Anomaly – Presentation (1)
Inside the prototype rift.
“Shit. What’s this pattern again?”
“Gosh, this one’s a little tricky.”
“……Goddamn it, where did they go?”
Each was isolated.
At first, it was a crucible of chaos. Some players were calmly assessing the situation, while others were jumping in with threats.
“Ew, ouch! Surprise……!”
But luckily, the confusion didn’t last long.
“……iyaaak?”
Ringing.
News is delivered by ringing or vibrating.
It was an emergency disaster alert from AAU.
A question mark appeared on Leonie’s face.
“A signal is blowing up here?”
I was just on the Arcana continent.
It was unbelievable, but it was real.
And there was only one way out of this situation.
I shifted my viewpoint to the AAU in the real world.
“The players are connecting to the link!”
“Hisagi, Schreig, Lox, Leonie, even……. Rankers are also sharing screens one after another. Looks like we’re about to get started, Mr. Branch Chief!”
“Keuheum.”
Park Minjae, the Korean Branch Leader, cleared his throat.
He stood at the podium.
This is my first time facing players like this…….
‘Nervousness doesn’t suit me.’
Even in the past, when I didn’t know anything.
This was the same Park Minjae who had gone face-to-face with Raymon Sean.
Of course, the face was fake.
“Branch leader, this is Park Minjae. Let’s get to the point.”
Park Minjae’s demeanor was still unflinching.
Like the players, he accessed the link.
The AAUs from around the world stopped dead in their tracks.
“After all, Mr. Park is the only one who can take on this role, because even if the players are different, most people wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure.”
AAU London Branch Leader.
Baker expressed his honest feelings.
Of course, Baker was not weak.
Overly brave or crazy in a good way.
Park Minjae is just special.
“Senior, do you think this will go smoothly……?”
Sung Hyunjoon asked Yoon Soogyeom cautiously.
Shhh.
Yoon Soogyeom adjusted his glasses and replied.
“I hope so. Very earnestly.”
The current operation began with a single contact.
Nam Cheolmin, the analyst and brains of the Great Alliance.
A phone call from him.
“……Inside the Rift of the Arcana continent?”
At first glance, it sounded absurd.
But Park Minjae was a man of action, and he didn’t let Nam Cheolmin’s words go unheeded. He immediately understood the situation and quickly built an infrastructure based on Nam’s input.
Sung Hyunjoon stuck his tongue out.
“Honestly, I thought you had a position in a Great Alliance due to blood ties……. It’s not normal for you to make such a plan under such circumstances, Mr. Nam Cheolmin.”
Labyrinths, dungeons, wonders, etc……..
A normal player, not an [Explorer].
It’s impossible to clear the trials one after another.
But AAU, if they have their way.
“Yeah. I found the only way.”
It’s different when you utilize collective intelligence.
The AAU was looked down upon because they knew what they knew and didn’t know what they didn’t know. The prototype rift the players entered?
“We’ll provide support for the screens you send us!”
Fortunately, this was something that AAU knew.
-So, in this labyrinth, you’re supposed to climb the left wall, right?
-……Really? The trap doesn’t trigger because I’m crawling!
-Crazy, you guys are having a little fun.
Reality and the Arcana continent.
Players and the AAU.
The first and largest joint operation in history.
Needless to say, there was a lot of attention.
When he looked away, he saw the social media updates.
Sung swallowed dryly.
“……Senior, I’ve been called a salary lupin on the internet since I started working at Cosmo. This is the first time in my life I’ve actually heard a compliment.”
Yoon Soogyeom looked away for a moment to take in the reactions.
-Finally, AAU is starting to pay the bills hahahaha
-It’s nice to hear that hahaha
-You’re not going to go to the old GM Jjambap, are you? haha
I’m not exaggerating.
Armed with the information provided by the AAU, the players made their way through the labyrinth at a furious pace. The level gap didn’t matter much.
-Done……!
Nam Cheolmin’s vision shook at the first screen. Nam Cheolmin, a level 100 analyst, had cleared the labyrinth safely.
“If it’s over there, it’s all stagnant water, right?”
These were the players who had advanced to stop the Great Monster.
They were willing to risk their lives.
Which meant they had the skill to match.
“They could use more than our support.”
And they did.
Some of the players seemed to have relaxed.
In fact, some of them even brought news from the Arcana continent.
And one of them was.
“But Senior, is this really reliable?”
It was the Dragon Lord, Dark Dragon Lee Hoyeol.
A class that no one was sure of until now. From the way he handled the Akshan Wolf, some people had assumed he was a Demon Hunter, but they didn’t believe it.
Wasn’t this Dragon Lord a few drinks over the top?
“It was definitely weird.”
Sung Hyunjoon chimed in after Yoon Soogyeom’s words.
“That’s what you think too, isn’t it? Even if there are many hidden classes in the Arcana continent biographies that we don’t know about, a Dragon Lord, just hearing that name makes me think that there’s a crazy fraudulent class…….”
“No. It’s not that you’re weird, it’s that I just couldn’t understand the fact that the General Manager was a Demon Hunter.”
“……Yes?”
Yoon Soogyeom’s eyes showed that he finally understood.
“But it makes sense if he’s a Dragon Lord. From the enormous amount of magic power, to the skill utilization, and finally, the unexpected appearance of the Akshan Wolf!”
“An Akshan Wolf? What does that have to do with the Dragon Lord…….”
“If it’s a Dragon Tongue, it’s possible.”
“……Dragon Tongue?”
“Because the Dragon is the king of all things and makes everything submit.”
“Ah!”
Well, I hear and see.
“Then that’s why the Elder Dragon bowed his head……!”
Hoyeol had been showing a steady progression of behavior that would only make sense if his class was Dragon Lord. It was at this moment that Sung Hyunjoon nodded involuntarily.
-Wow, this is a big deal, isn’t it?
Nam Cheolmin’s voice cut through the chatter.
-It’s a dungeon. A dungeon with live monsters.
A dungeon.
Too scared to speak.
On-screen, Nam Cheolmin immediately raises his shield.
“More, if it’s a dungeon, all we can do is……!”
The structure of the dungeon.
Or maybe it’s just information about the terrain that might contain traps, which means the players will have to rely on their own abilities to overcome the monsters from now on.
Bang.
Nam Cheolmin blocks the ambush with his shield.
The scene sent a chill down the spine of everyone at AAU.
Damn, is this one of the lucky ones?
“At least it’s an instance dungeon, right, senior?”
A dungeon with monsters with variable levels instead of fixed levels.
In that case, there was no need to worry about Nam Cheolmin screaming to death right away.
There would be monsters around level 100 that would be suitable for his level.
However.
“……No, if this is the case, the problem lies with the rankers, right?”
His gaze shifted to the screen of Nam Cheolmin’s brother, Nam Taemin.
As expected, Yoon Soogyeom’s guess was correct.
The monsters Nam Taemin was facing were not friendly.
“Level 650, Red Draco horde……!”
Level 650 monsters formed a line.
They were pressuring Nam Taemin like they were hunting him.
Nam Taemin’s voice was heard.
-This isn’t going to be easy.
……Gulp.
They swallowed dryly at Nam Taemin’s words.
It was inevitable.
The unwavering pinnacle, Hoyeol.
And except for Oxidin, who suddenly appeared in the ranking.
Because those words came from the mouth of Nam Taemin, the number one ranked player.
Sung Hyunjoon was struck by an ominous thought.
‘Mr. Taemin might be able to break through. But…….’
The dungeon was only the second stage.
Even if it was just the stage mentioned in the prototype rift information, there were dozens of them. Moreover, didn’t they even include the [Wonders], which was supposed to be impregnable content?
Nam Taemin seems to be aware of that fact.
-From now on, please understand if we don’t communicate well.
Everyone listening could feel it.
[Frenzy]
At this moment, Nam Taemin really got into it.
He wasn’t the only one.
The infamy of the Arcana continent’s VR Dungeon, which he had forgotten for a while.
Someone muttered to himself.
“How many of you can clear the dungeon alive……!”
No, cheating. What am I talking about?
“Suck, sorry!”
I blurted out in hindsight.
Not a single person rebuked me for my rant.
Even if it was only an omen.
The severity of the threat players face.
It was because we felt it together.
-Kugh!
The tension is palpable.
And then, the battle.
No, the struggle to death has begun.
*
Nam Taemin thought.
‘My brother must be doing well.’
If I knew this would happen, I shouldn’t have encouraged him.
I should’ve taken the time to go around the rift with you.
I should have seen your fighting stance at least.
[Stat, ‘wildness’ is constricting your body.]
Barbarian Unique Skill, [Frenzy].
Slowly, the recoil is coming.
The reason was blurring.
“……Damn it.”
It’s an unavoidable limitation.
It’s not easy to use both Sword Aura and Frenzy at the same time. Otherwise, the Commander in Chief Mr. Hoyeol would have said that there was no need to be impatient.
But he did.
Kwakakwak.
Nam Taemin pushed himself further and further to the limit. He didn’t even look at the warning message. He pushed forward, blocking, parrying, and ignoring the barrage of attacks.
Someone.
No, someone who knew me better than anyone.
Even Cheolmin would say that.
Are you crazy because you want to die?
“……That’s right.”
That’s right.
“I was crazy because I wanted to die.”
Nam Taemin’s pushing himself was to literally cross the line of death. He was trying to hold on to his Sword Aura, which was getting thicker and thicker as he fought back and forth between the lines.
seugeog.
“……!”
A chilling sensation under his shoulder blades.
At that moment, Nam Taemin remembered.
Master, Harkon’s teaching.
-“The Sword Aura thickens in life-and-death battles. There is no exception to that, even Sir Hoyeol. No, even if you are the Commander-in-Chief, that is no exception.”
When I heard that, I had my doubts.
Because I think Hoyeol and life-and-death situations were words that did not go well together.
No matter what.
I’ve seen how he never lost his resolve.
‘……No one is exempt.’
But lately, that’s changed a bit.
I’ve seen it.
Or more accurately, I smelled it.
An unknown smell emanating from Hoyeol. Of course, I didn’t know if the owner of the scent was a direct threat to Hoyeol. We don’t even know what it was in the first place.
But one thing was clear.
To find out what it was.
To help Hoyeol, who might be in danger because of it.
ppadeug.
He had to break down the barriers that were holding him back.
Nam Taemin gritted his teeth and swung his greatsword.
His pupils slowly began to blur.
Flickering vision.
[※Warning: Your body will be eaten away by the wildness.]
The side effect of Frenzy is simple.
You literally become wild.
Back to the beginning of time, unreliant on weapons or equipment.
You’ll fight with your flesh consumed by the wild.
Even back when Arcana was just a game.
Even then, Nam Taemin had experienced the side effects time and time again.
But this moment was different.
Even if he had been overtaken by the wild.
kkug.
Nam Taemin’s hand was still gripping the greatsword.
The greatsword’s hilt was emitting a Sword Aura.
The form of such Sword Aura was like…….
Fazik.
With the enemy in front of him.
It was like the fur of a beast that rose and fell.
Wielding such a greatsword, Nam Taemin looked like a beast.
What it meant was simple.
Nam Taemin had become one with the greatsword.
Only then did he knock on the door of the Divine Body and Sword Unity.
.
.
.
Spacetime Social Hall.
A place where several transcendents reside.
A parchment fell from thin air.
“Transcendent qualification screening. Name is Nam Taemin. Are you an adventurer?”
But it wasn’t a piece of parchment.
A sheet from thin air.
Another one.
Even with that, the astonishment did not end.
“…… Huh? That’s two names, right? Now, wait, what about this long name?!”