D.I.O

“They’re all leaving. It seems impolite to just let them go like that… maybe I should send them off with some parting shots- huh?”

Merlin then noticed that one monster stayed behind. The monster carried a sword on his back and looked like a six-foot young man. He wore metallic armor, which seemed a bit strange for a member of his species, but his appearance was definitely that of an orc.

“Huh? Several dinosaurs succumbed to my attack, but a single orc is staying behind to fight me?”

Though he thought the orc’s line of thinking was a bit preposterous, Merlin drew his bowstring back. However, at that moment, the orc stamped on the ground and jumped into the reservoir’s water. It was a simple yet elegant move.

“Stepping into his own death; I guess I should be thankful….”

Rush!

“What?!”

Stepping on the surface of the water, Sungmuk started rushing toward Merlin like an arrow. Sungmuk had reached the pinnacle of air control, so it seemed as though he was walking on water.

Pat!

“Ugh?!”

Once Merlin turned on his booster and moved, he saw that the water where he was standing just moments ago had been distinctly divided in half. The cutting edge and destructiveness of the passing air were so thoroughly brutal that Merlin couldn’t help but break out into a cold sweat.

Ping!

“Damn it!”

Despite operating his booster at full power and reaching speeds of 330 kilometers per hour, Merlin was only barely avoiding the orc’s attacks. Although Merlin had not been hit directly by any of the attacks, his body was starting to bleed profusely from the many cuts and slashes that he’d indirectly sustained.

Ring!

“Ugh!”

When confronted with an unavoidable attack, Merlin utilized Great Strength Vajra Hand to deflect it away from him; however, he soon found that he’d been injured internally from doing this. Luckily for him, DIO’s pain control system was operating. If it weren’t for this, Merlin would have momentarily hesitated from the pain, which would have opened him up to a critical attack.

“Quite agile, but….”

Sungmuk praised Merlin’s quick movement ability, but that was all. No matter how rapidly Merlin moved or how complex his pathing was, he could only move as fast as an arrow. With a discerning eye and swordsmanship skills that allowed him to ignore range, matching Merlin’s speed while attacking was child’s play.

“This is the end, human. You shall die like the falling petals of a flower.”

Fourteen Handed Plum Blossom Swordsmanship.

An Immortal’s Solitary Plum.

For an instant, the sweet scent of plum blossoms and a single petal wafted through the air.

Poof.

Though Merlin sent out his Great Strength Vajra Hand to block the incoming attack, the plum blossom strike effortlessly landed on his chest. That was the end. Merlin’s body sank to the bottom of the reservoir while Sungmuk stood at the surface.

“It took me ten seconds. A bit longer than I anticipated.”

Then, Sungmuk turned around and moved to catch up with the monster corps.

‘Plum blossoms…’

Merlin, sinking deeper into the water, extended his hand towards the surface. His consciousness was fading. While Younghwi had stood before Sungmuk’s blow at the last moment, the spirit was only able to lessen the impact by a tenth before dispersing. It would take at least twelve hours before Younghwi could materialize once more.

‘Ah…’

Merlin tried casting a treatment spell on himself, but since his level was low, it didn’t have much of an effect. No, to be specific, it wasn’t that his level was too low. Sword Qi possessed an inherent quality of affecting one’s spirit, so even a spirit or ghost would receive damage from a Sword Qi strike, let alone a physical human. Thus, Merlin found it hard to recover from Sungmuk’s strike. Sungmuk knew that Merlin didn’t instantly die, yet, he had left because he was sure that Merlin would eventually perish.

Beep.

Merlin’s vision was blurring. And soon, he died.

***

“Hmm, young man, you’re pretty good.”

“Fuck! Isn’t this too difficult? Why is he so strong?”

The west boundary gate to the village was already in shambles. Most of the people located at the west gate had already perished. Of course, the users had mustered a defense, so many of the attacking monsters had died. However, there was still one that remained standing.

It was a Naga [Knight].

“My name is Kaltroc. It seems this system doesn’t properly display every monster’s name.”

“Hahaha. Do the monsters around here have that complaint?”

“You didn’t know? DIO is a freshly created system.”

Kaltroc carried a golden, jewel-encrusted long spear and spoke with a calm demeanor. On the other hand, the surviving six users wore defeated expressions. They knew that they were only alive because the monster in front of them was taking his time. If the monster wanted, he could have broken through the west gate much earlier.

“Are you alright, Adol?”

“How… can I be alright? Damn. Even if I deflect an attack, my defense can’t hold up anymore. What about you?”

“Four of my ribs are broken. I thought I was as sturdy as alloyed steel, but I’m crumbling like hard candy.”

While complaining, the two kept their eyes on Kaltroc. Though it seemed like Kaltroc was going easy on them, Kaltroc wasn’t the type of monster that would let them live. If Adol or Hanma showed an opening, they’d be dispatched quickly by Kaltroc.

“It’s quite the achievement. DIO hasn’t been open for too long, but you’ve all already developed this much.”

“Is that a compliment? Or are you praising yourself for killing us off?”

“I wonder.”

Boom!

Kaltroc struck downward with his long spear and created an aura that extended toward the users. It was clearly a wind-based aura. Standing on the frontline for his fellow users, Adol received the hit, forcibly swallowing the blood that came rushing up from his throat. The impact of the attack was immense. Adol felt as though he was standing in front of a runaway train with a shield.

‘I have no internal energy left. I think my shoulder has been shattered as well. Even if I’m determined to block the next strike with my life on the line, I’m not sure….’

However, while Adol was having such thoughts, after avoiding Kaltroc’s attack, Lancelot pulled out his metal long spear and rushed toward the monster.

Bam!

The long spear extended towards Kaltroc like a flying arrow. From Lancelot’s speed to his control over the heavy long spear and his aura, although they didn’t compare to Kaltroc, they were still balanced and neat. In an admiring tone, Kaltroc couldn’t help but comment, “Oho. It’s an excellent, traditional strike. However…”

After Lancelot attacked, Kaltroc’s golden long spear flew toward the user at a much faster rate of speed.

“Your attack pathing is too obvious.”

Pluck!

Like a baseball being struck by a bat, Lancelot flew through the air after getting hit by Kaltroc’s counterattack. Based on Kaltroc’s attack speed and destructive power, it wouldn’t have been surprising if Lancelot burst into pieces or was at least bisected at his waist. Yet, his defensive aura and the various artifacts that he carried allowed him to withstand the blow.

Bam.

“Ugh!”

“Oh~ You tried to shoot for an opening. You’re pretty skilled. Unluckily for you, you’re too slow.”

With the bottom part of his long spear, Kaltroc slammed Hanma squarely on the forehead, preventing him from getting any closer to the monster. Soon, Kaltroc pushed Hanma down onto the ground. The user tried to avoid Kaltroc’s successive attacks, but Kaltroc seemed unperturbed by the evasive maneuvers.

Bam!

However, Kaltroc had to take a step back to block an arrow that was rushing toward him. With little delay, around a hundred users stood before him.

“Wow! Have all those initial users been killed off? There were so many people that I thought I wouldn’t have the opportunity to participate.”

“Look at that monster. It’s already acquired a complete attribute-based aura. It must be at Level 10… a Master.”

“A Master… There aren’t any Masters among the user base, right?”

“I think I recall reading about someone on the information bulletin board.”

The new wave of users wasn’t weak. Since the game was still in closed beta, the players weren’t part of the run-of-the-mill general public; they had been ‘hand-picked’ by the company. This meant that most of the users were either near or at Level 5. And, no matter whether they were skilled and hand-picked or not, only a few would successfully reach the upper levels. Even so, just a handful of these upper echelon users could wield tremendous deadly power.

“Hmm. Seeing how every one of my underlings has died, I probably won’t be able to fend off all of you. Since my main purpose was to awaken you lot, I guess I can retreat for now.”

“You’re going to leave? Do you think we’ll just watch that happen?”

“Let’s see what a Master level monster drops!”

The users had surrounded Kaltroc, and one of them mocked Kaltroc’s words, but the monster remained calm.

“Two types of aura practitioners are often described. It is stated that an attribute-based aura practitioner is skilled and adept at well-balanced, sustained attacks while a tool-wielding aura practitioner is said to possess an overwhelming ultimate that is formidable in short-term combat.”

“What the hell are you going on about….”

Whoosh…

Soon, an intense wind started blowing. However, it wasn’t a standard type of wind. It was a wind that carried a sense of firm sharpness and cold foreboding. Kaltroc continued speaking.

“Yet, that description is for low-level beings. Once someone reaches the upper levels, none of that matters. Tool-based aura practitioners can fight sustained battles, while attribute-based aura practitioners can create a devastating ultimate. Moreover, attribute-based aura practitioners can learn to ‘materialize’ their aura into tools, and tool-based aura practitioners can learn to awaken and connect with ‘attributes.’”

“Shit! This is dangerous! I don’t know what the hell is going on, but someone needs to kill that guy off….”

It was too late. The surrounding air was already steeped in a foreign aura.

“Blow, Ancient Blast.”

Smiling, Kaltroc released the powers that he kept within his golden long spear. At the same time, his aura expanded outward and [Materialized] the wind under his [Control].

Whoosh!

A massive hurricane appeared in an instant. The hurricane was vast, so most of the users near Kaltroc were knocked around by the hurricane. Furthermore, the wind was something tangible, as Kaltroc had materialized it into a tool for his use.

“Block! I’m being ripped to shreds!”

Adol lowered the angle of his upright shield, grabbed the fallen Lancelot, and pulled him behind the shield. The quick-witted Hanma had already taken cover behind Adol’s shield.

“Is there something I can do to help?”

“Yeah! A defensive spell!”

“Ah, come on. You know I can’t cast spells.”

“You worthless bastard!”

“W-worthless bastard…”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Adol disregarded the sulking Hanma and focused on defending against the aura’s area of effect attack. Since Adol wasn’t at his peak, his arm turned gray as he forcefully raised his defenses.

Boom!

When the aura clashed against his shield, Adol felt his arms shaking. However, his arm wasn’t injured in any way.

“Okay. I’ll be able to defend for a minute.”

“Huh, really? Then keep it up while I attempt to log out.”

“Then where does that leave me?”

Despite his constant complaints, Hanma slowly got up and put his back against the opening that his shield could not cover. Though he spoke in a rough and unrefined manner, Hanma was the type of person who would sacrifice himself and die rather than retreat.

“Ah, fuck. This is expensive.”

Seeing Hanma covering the opening with his back, Adol reached into his clothes and took out a Return Stone. It was an item that he’d purchased in case of an emergency. He had used almost all his money to buy the item.

Whoosh.

Yet, at the moment when Adol was about to use the Return Stone, the wind stopped blowing.

“Huh?”

“What’s going on?”

The gathered users looked around in confusion. Of course, the injuries they’d taken were severe. Around a third of the hundred people who comprised the second wave were killed off by the aura attack. If the aura attack went on for another ten minutes, it would have wiped out everyone, so why did it suddenly stop? The confused players soon noticed large letters engraved on a giant boulder nearby. The following sentence was written on the boulder:

Be prepared. I’ll be back. – Kaltroc.