Shin Youngwoo immediately received an e-mail after logging out. It was a report that the Tower of Wisdom might be in danger. It was added that all the Overgeared Guild members had left to provide support.
Youngwoo wasn’t worried. ‘Hayate ahjussi will respond.’
The Dragon Slayer was the one who was most sensitive to changes in the dragons. It was Youngwoo’s belief that Hayate must’ve noticed the changes in the world with his instinctive senses. Hayate would’ve abandoned the tower where Bunhelier had come and gone like it was his own house.
‘Additionally, the Old Dragons were handed over to Chiyou. Even if the tower members can’t escape, they will be able to hold on if they all work together.’
No… they were no longer at the level of simply being able to hold on. They had to unconditionally hold on.
How long were they going to keep saying weak things when they were now armed with dragon weapons?
‘They need to pay for it soon.’
Too much time had passed since then for them to make the excuse that the opponent was too strong.
Youngwoo remembered how his colleagues had fought against King Sobyeol. Led by Kraugel, they were noticeably stronger.
He was afraid to say this since it might be misinterpreted as a curse, but he hoped they would experience more trials as soon as possible.
‘It will be more efficient if they keep dying and growing.’
His colleagues weren’t lacking when it came to damage. There was enough firepower to kill the opponent unless it was an Absolute.
Control? Senses? They were superior to him in such areas from the beginning. The only problem was that they had infinitely weaker bodies compared to their enemies… this was something that couldn’t be helped as long as they were a player, and it wasn’t a big problem in the first place.
It was important to have the firepower to kill the enemy.
They had to take advantage of the fact that the enemy’s level was higher. Even if they died, it was unconditionally beneficial to seriously injure or kill the enemy. The gains were much greater than the amount of experience lost.
This was the process that Youngwoo had gone through first. He had a low win rate when fighting enemies of the same status, but despite this, he endlessly became stronger.
‘…By the way, the timing when the e-mail arrived is ridiculous.’
Youngwoo was nervous about other things.
The e-mail from Lauel. It arrived at the exact time he logged out without a single second of error. The timing was too accurate to dismiss it as a mere coincidence.
‘It is hard for such a busy guy to even calculate my access time limit…’
Honestly, it was kind of scary.
‘I’m afraid he will go bald after overdoing it.’
Youngwoo did what he had to do.
He washed, ate, and trained himself. He started practicing the habits he had been adopting for seven years and the effects were immediate. His complicated mind became clear and his excited heart calmed down.
‘As expected, there is no contact from the S.A Group.’
Today, Youngwoo made a choice that could change Satisfy’s fate. He didn’t know if it was the right answer. He just wanted to do so and believed he should. He had no idea how to persuade people if they objected or criticized him.
In particular, he expected the S.A Group to make a fuss, but there was no response. There was also no message from Chairman Lim Cheolho, who contacted him and sent a gift every time Youngwoo solved a major incident.
‘Is he very upset…?’
Youngwoo remembered a few previous interviews with Chairman Lim Cheolho.
Satisfy was a world created to satisfy everyone. Lim Cheolho had hoped that people suffering from problems such as education, status, money, or disabilities in reality would have equal opportunities and be equally happy in Satisfy…
He also added these words at the end every time he was interviewed by various media outlets.
Therefore, Youngwoo sided with Rebecca. He knew that the moment Rebecca was ‘cured’ by Morpheus, Satisfy would become a world just for players. Of course, the person who must’ve felt the greatest sense of betrayal from his choice was Chairman Lim Cheolho.
‘He isn’t a communist. Equal happiness is nonsense… does he really believe that is possible?’
Could the chairman be an alien as rumored? Was this why he couldn’t fathom the essence of human beings?
Youngwoo was jokingly thinking about something absurd when he received a phone call. It was from Lauel’s employee.
-I contacted you because the boss told me to report to you, Grid.
“What’s going on?”
-I arrived in Innsbruck this morning and visited Agnus’ castle, but I didn’t see any signs of people. There are also no signs of him going out recently. I guess I will have to keep an eye on it while staying nearby.
“……”
At the end of the call, Youngwoo’s expression became a bit serious. He was anticipating how Agnus felt when he sacrificed himself to save Betty. He thought there was a high possibility that Agnus would just quit the game. He also hoped that this opportunity would free Agnus from all types of pain. He simply thought positively.
However, Lauel seemed to have a different idea when he sent someone to investigate. What’s more, there were no signs of people all day?
Youngwoo naturally imagined a bad situation.
‘…No, he is a guy who lives alone in that big castle. Unless he goes out, it is natural not to see any signs of people.’
Maybe Agnus didn’t quit the game. He might still be locked in a capsule.
‘Did he get a hidden question with a name change?’
The right to change the game name was real. It was proven when Youngwoo became an Only One God. The S.A Group forced people who used the same name as Grid to change their names and gave them the ‘name change ticket.’
‘Let’s sleep first.’
The moment the alarm went off, Youngwoo shook off his thoughts and lay down on the bed. Rest was essential for all preparations.
***
“Our response wasn’t slow…”
“It isn’t an exaggeration to say that they can cross the continent with a single flap of their wings.”
The expressions of the tower members were dark. As many as dozens of dragons surrounded them.
The desperate escape drama had come to an end. The result was the worst. It seemed that it would be difficult to escape annihilation.
“Sir Radwolf, is that thing still not working?” Biban glanced at Radwolf’s bracelet. It was a terminal connected to the warp gate of the towers that existed in various places. It was something recently developed but it didn’t work.
Radwolf nodded with a pale face. “At this point, I have no choice but to admit it. It looks like all the gates have been destroyed.”
“The locations of the towers have been discovered…”
Today, Hayate suddenly ordered the base to be moved immediately. The tower members decided to move out without even taking time to pack their belongings. However, Radwolf’s artifact didn’t work. The tower members were forced to use the magic machines and ended up allowing the enemies to pursue them.
There was only one reason: the towers that were prepared in various places in case of an emergency—they had all collapsed.
It was clear that the dragons were responsible.
“Are they saying they won’t even give us the slightest bit of hope…? Now that these scary guys are putting their heads together, the level of threat is on a whole different level.” Biban clicked his tongue and was faced with a choice. Should he break through the encirclement and let the other tower members escape, or should they work together to resist?
‘…I guess it is the latter.’
He felt sorry for Sir Hayate, who tied up the feet of the Old Dragons alone in order to let them escape, but the entire continent had become a land of death. There was no point in trying to break out of the encirclement. Their way of living was gone from the moment the dragons started to cooperate without preying on each other.
“Sir Abellio, create your territory.”
The 7th Seat nodded and adjusted his wide-brimmed hat with a pointed tip. Before anyone knew it, the brush he took out sprinkled colorful paint.
The legendary painter—he painted the stage of the great war that the tower members had been practicing for over the past hundreds of years. The blue sky that favored the winged beasts was transformed into a terrain familiar and advantageous to the tower members.
The response of the dragons was quick. Like masters of magic, they cast all types of magic to disrupt Abellio.
However, Abellio’s painting was in the realm of a power. He was unaffected by magic, so some aggressive dragons aimed directly for him.
The 6th Seat, Ken, took the lead. He performed a brilliant dance and made the dragon’s advance falter for a while. In a split second, both ears and his right arm were ripped off, but his expression didn’t change at all. He grabbed the tail of a passing dragon and consumed his Origin True Energy to throw the dragon away.
Then two Breaths shot from the rear aimed for his head and heart. For a moment, Ken’s eyes lost their light and went blank. There was an unusual atmosphere.
Suddenly, Biban grabbed him by the shoulder. “It is still too early for your dying flash.”
Baaaang!
The Broken Sword split apart the two Breaths. The Breath of a top dragon seemed insignificant to Sword God Biban. He shook off the remnants of the Breaths like he was dusting it off.
Then a huge, golden flash aimed for him. Biban’s vision was covered with shiny gold as he stood and blocked with his sword. It was the scales of a Gold Dragon. The top dragon Kubartos grabbed Biban’s sword with only one hand while his Breath spread across the battlefield.
[It is a pity that Hayate was taken away by two Old Dragons, but things turned out well. I will cruelly kill you and fulfill half of my past covenant.]
The Gold Dragon’s Breath was as cold as metal. Every time it touched the skin of the tower members, it turned them to gold. Even Abellio’s hand turned into gold as he was busy moving the brush. Finally, he couldn’t draw.
“A top dragon…!” The lamentation of the tower members followed.
Biban, who was exposed to Kubartos’s Breath from the front, was completely transformed into a golden statue.
Magic power concentrated in the mouths of several dragons that passed him. It was the harbinger to dozens of Breaths.
It was a time when the atmosphere was in turmoil.
Biban’s Broken Sword started expanding rapidly. He pushed away Kubartos, who was clinging to him, while striking the dragons from all directions.
It was a spectacular sight. It was the sight of dozens of huge dragons falling down at once.
It was over.
“Living Sword.”
Then a blue sword light poured from the huge airship that appeared on the battlefield. It slashed at the tower members, not the dragons. To be precise, it slashed at the gold that covered the skin of the tower members.
This was the ultimate skill created by Kraugel, the present day Sword Saint, for the sake of ‘team play.’ From some point on, he assumed that he wasn’t going to keep fighting alone, but instead together with people. This allowed him to create this swordsmanship.
“Sir Kraugel!”
Thanks to this, the tower members regained their freedom and started to scatter. They used the terrain features drawn by Abellio to find the best position.
[Do you know? Your foolish choice has made me very happy.] Kubartos curled up his wings to fend off the bombardment of the Tomb of the Gods. The top dragon, clad in golden scales, smiled. [I will slaughter you and have fun.]
“I won’t allow it.”
It happened the moment when Biban’s sword struck down at Kubartos…
[Humans can’t rebel against me.]
Duguen!
Biban swung his sword with blazing eyes, but it stopped right in front of Kubartos’ nose. The tower members and Overgeared members, who had been preparing for battle on the Tomb of the Gods, stiffened like stone statues.
Dragon Words—a top dragon’s usage of Dragon Words restricted the human species. Of course, Biban was an Absolute and he slowly resisted. In the first place, the more targets that were designated by Dragon Words, the less effective it became.
Bang!
Biban’s sword moved again and collided with Kubartos’ horn. The tower members and Overgeared members, including Kraugel, started to move again.
However, the very act of resisting Dragon Words caused a great loss. Resources such as stamina, health, and mana were reduced by more than half. Some skills entered cooldown time and their stats also fell.
The top dragon Kubartos—he was clever. Putting aside his arrogance, he used tricks. He deliberately weakened human power.
The tower members, who were already at a disadvantage, felt even more pressure than from the dozens of dragons.
‘I can’t believe it is like this even before we start fighting.’
It was the moment when the morale of the Overgeared members was infinitely lowered.
[Humans are strong.]
[This is the providence that I personally witnessed and it isn’t distorted.]
New Dragon Words dominated the battlefield. The silvery magic power spread like a tidal wave, infusing all types of beneficial energies into the tower members and the members of the Overgeared Guild.
Kubartos frowned. [You… what type of trick is this?]
Above the battlefield painted by Abellio, translucent silver scales shone in a cloudless blue sky. The being who soon revealed its full appearance was another high-ranking dragon that wasn’t inferior to Kubartos. It was the Cloaked Dragon, Cranbel.
[I am just doing what I believe is right.]