The Player that Can’t Level Up

Gi-Gyu used Super Rush to reach the N Seoul Tower, but just when he was about to reach it, an invisible barrier stopped him in his tracks. Super Rush was still active, but the barrier forced him to move at a snail’s pace.

-We don’t have the time for this.

-Master.

Lou and El said in annoyance. Since their memories were back, their anger and frustration from way back when had also returned. Furious, Lou emanated dark energy to devour the barrier.

-Ah, this must be a high-level barrier because it’s helping me quite a bit.

The barrier acted like nutrition for Lou, relieving the fatigue from his previous vicious battle.

Gi-Gyu grinned in satisfaction before turning toward the top of the N Seoul Tower. There were two men there, and they were staring right back at him.

‘Why did they stop fighting?’ Gi-Gyu wondered. They were supposedly enemies, and Gi-Gyu knew they had fought a while back, so why were they currently standing together like allies?

‘This isn’t good.’ If Lee Sun-Ho and Kronos were no longer enemies and were negotiating with one another, the situation would be worse than Gi-Gyu had anticipated.

‘What if they are planning to deal with me first?’

Lee Sun-Ho and Kronos were powerful creatures, beasts in the truest sense, with the powers of God. If they attacked him together, things could get dicey, so he stood still and observed them. He needed to figure out the situation and decide what to do next.

Suddenly, Lee Sun-Ho and Kronos, who had been still like a statue, began moving, with Kronos making the first move.

“Kronos!” Gi-Gyu exclaimed, looking at the familiar face. The giant scythe on his back was irrefutable proof of his identity.

Kronos took out the scythe quickly. Gi-Gyu was moving toward him cautiously when Kronos swung his weapon and shouted, “Retrogression!”

A tremendous force, powerful enough to shove Gi-Gyu off, left the scythe. Next, he found himself trapped in some kind of net. And then, right before his eyes, the dead monsters from before woke up. The fire remained, and the players hollered with determination.

“The monsters!”

“Get into your positions!”

“We must stop them from damaging the city any further!”

Kronos hadn’t used necromantic skill to revive the monsters—he had actually reversed the flow of time for them. They had woken up without a single scratch on them and attacked the humans immediately.

Gi-Gyu saw Kronos grin at him. In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Kronos and declared, “I’ll take care of you first.”

The muscles on Gi-Gyu’s arms bulged as he swung Lou at an inhuman speed.

Clang!

The Scythe of Time and Lou clashed. The sound, loud enough to rip a non-player’s eardrum, was followed by a powerful shockwave. However, Kronos had seemingly placed a barrier around them because the shockwave didn’t travel far.

“We meet again.” Kronos smiled. “My son.”

Gi-Gyu also grinned and replied, “Fuck you.”

While Lou blocked the Scythe of Time, he thrust El into Kronos’ stomach. But the whole time, Gi-Gyu’s eyes were on Lee Sun-Ho.

Gi-Gyu asked him telepathically, ‘What are you going to do now?’

***

Sung-Hoon looked at the fight happening in the N Seoul Tower, wondering if calling it a fight would be even accurate. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time to get lost in thoughts, as he needed to focus on the monster swarms rushing toward him from all directions.

Dealing with the monsters would be no easy task; still, the situation was better than before, as they now had Eden’s elite creatures with them. These creatures were enough to boost the players’ morale.

Suddenly, a Breath attack instantly evaporated a large group of monsters. Watching it in awe, Sung-Hoon mumbled, “This is crazy…”

They intended to minimize the damage to the city, but their allies were actually causing even more destruction.

“But I suppose controlled destruction is better than rampant destruction. And it will be easier to restore everything if things are burnt to the ground like that,” Oh Tae-Shik said.

When Sung-Hoon heard Tae-Shik, he shivered. Sung-Hoon shakily called out, “General manager!”

“I’m not your general manager any longer since the KPA is no more,” Oh Tae-Shik smiled at Sung-Hoon and added, “After the KPA collapsed, I heard you took care of everything in its place.”

Tae-Shik placed a hand on Sung-Hoon’s shoulder and thanked him, “I want you to know how much I appreciate everything. You are worthy of being where you are. As the head of Eden, I have no doubt”—Tae-Shik’s smile broadened—“that you can make all the players in the world join forces.”

Sung-Hoon shivered. Was it because of Tae-Shik’s poignant words, or was the monsters’ bloodthirst to blame? He wasn’t sure.

Suddenly, Oh Tae-Gu walked up to them and chimed in, “I heard about that too. I guess I have no choice but to admit that you did well, Sung-Hoon. I have no power or authority at the moment, but I will acknowledge that you are worthy of leading the players.”

“No one cares about what you think, Old Man.” When Tae-Shik shouted in annoyance, Tae-Gu frowned teasingly.

“Thank you.” Sung-Hoon didn’t know what else to say. He shook his head, telling himself this wasn’t the time to be emotional. Looking around at the vicious monsters, he insisted, “But now isn’t the time to chat.”

Sung-Hoon then turned toward the N Seoul Tower. There was a barrier around it obscuring the tower and the activity inside. However, even the barrier couldn’t restrain the wild energies roaring inside.

“It has begun,” Oh Tae-Shik murmured. They all knew that Gi-Gyu was fighting inside this barrier.

Sung-Hoon stated, “There are too many monsters here.”

There seemed to be no end to them. Sung-Hoon felt it would be easier to handle an army of undead led by a necromancer. After all, their only real target would have been a necromancer then.

But this was a completely different situation.

“But we must stop them,” Sung-Hoon announced. “We need to protect Ranker Kim Gi-Gyu’s home.”

Sung-Hoon believed that this place, Gi-Gyu’s home, needed to remain unharmed. Stuff like this tethered Gi-Gyu to his humanity.

“...!” Suddenly, all three of them looked up at the sky. The gates the flame had previously closed were reopening.

Oh Tae-Gu muttered, “I think gates are opening in other places, too, this time.”

Because so many gates were opening, they didn’t need the gate sensor to detect them. Sung-Hoon quickly looked at Alberto and Tao Chen. These two players had been busy battling the monsters when they suddenly tensed.

“Tao Chen! Alberto!” Sung-Hoon called out to them hurriedly. They had come to Korea to help because they had believed it would keep their homes safe. But the situation was changing fast.

“I felt it too.”

“Me too.”

Tao Chen and Alberto quickly came to Sung-Hoon’s side and replied. Even though they had left their respective groups, the remnant members seemed fine on their own.

‘What should I do?’ Sung-Hoon wondered. He had summoned them to his side, but he had no idea how to proceed. He glanced at Tae-Shik and Tae-Gu but then realized they likely didn’t know about the recent changes on Earth. After all, they had been away, and the changes were political and international in nature.

‘I have to make the decision.’ Sung-Hoon had to consider all the factors and decide. Even if they lost Tao Chen and Alberto, they had Eden creatures to rely on, but Sung-Hoon doubted Eden creatures alone could deal with this situation.

‘And I also can’t let their countries be destroyed.’ They had only evacuated the Korean population to Eden, not all the people in the world.

Sung-Hoon tried to come up with a solution quickly, but it was an impossible situation.

Hwang Chae-Il, Mammon, and Michael arrived and offered, “We’ll help.”

Hwang Chae-Il explained, “We got permission from my father. And we are very aware of what is happening on Earth. We will also evacuate the other countries’ citizens into Eden.”

Turning toward Mammon and Michael, Hwang Chae-Il continued, “These two will help with that. My father has already planted the gates leading to Eden worldwide. If we move quickly, we can minimize the damage.”

Sung-Hoon’s face brightened. If everything worked out according to Hwang Chae-Il’s plan, the situation could remain under control.

Tao Chen and Alberto thanked Hwang Chae-Il, Mammon, and Michael. But Mammon and Michael shook their heads. “We are doing this to atone for our sins. And”—they turned toward the N Seoul Tower—“it is for our own master.”

Mammon and Michael had developed great loyalty toward Gi-Gyu. Also, leaving your fight to help others was no easy task, so it showed they truly wanted to atone.

“All right.” Sung-Hoon agreed. “I’m counting on you. Please save as many people as possible.”

“Of course.” Hwang Chae-Il, Mammon, and Michael nodded. Hwang Chae-Il raised his hand, and the blue gate appeared behind them. Inside, Sung-Hoon saw thousands of angels and demons waiting to help.

***

Gi-Gyu’s double swords were cornering Kronos. He was covered in wounds—wounds festered with Death.

Despite his horrific wounds and situation, Kronos asked in excitement, “Aren’t you having fun?”

Even though Gi-Gyu was winning overwhelmingly, he had an unhappy frown on his face.

Kronos asked again, “I know you resent me, so aren’t you pleased you get to hurt me?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Gi-Gyu’s frown deepened as he yelled. “Why aren’t you fighting for real?”

When Gi-Gyu took a step back, Kronos healed immediately.

‘I knew it.’ As Gi-Gyu had suspected, he wasn’t really winning. Kronos was just not using his full power. With the ability to control time, Kronos could turn back time and heal all his injuries, but he chose not to do this.

And there was another reason Gi-Gyu was unhappy: Lee Sun-Ho. He was just watching their fight like a statue. Gi-Gyu paused intentionally to give him a chance to jump in, but it didn’t work.

-This is nuts.

Lou muttered.

“The end is near, so I thought I should give you some time to vent,” Kronos explained. Instead of attacking Kronos again, Gi-Gyu threw Lou toward Lee Sun-Ho instead. In his sword form, Lou shot out like lightning, yet Lee Sun-Ho refused to budge.

Clang!

“So that’s how it is,” Gi-Gyu muttered. Kronos had blocked the sword instead of Lee Sun-Ho.

“...” Kronos looked at Gi-Gyu rigidly for the first time since the battle had begun.

Gi-Gyu asked, “What happened with Lee Sun-Ho?”