D.I.O

“Wow, am I seeing things?”

“Damn. It’s like a tsunami….”

When the Forest of Despair monster corps rolled in, the users within the village walls couldn’t help but exclaim in awe. Monsters densely occupied the entirety of the plains before them. Initially, the players had thought that a 10,000-monster army would ‘Probably be a fair amount,’ but when they saw the reality of such an army, they were amazed at the overwhelming sight.

Almost every user was in Starting. Of course, humans were selfish beings. To many players, it didn’t matter if other users died and lost the Siege Quest. They just wanted to have fun. However, a single clause on the Announcement Board page had made the users gather at the east gate en masse…

/Additional Information 3. If you fail to defend the Guardian Tower at the center of the village, the DIO service will automatically end, regardless of the date and time./

Though Merlin didn’t think much of this clause, all the other users were up in arms.

“Wait, what the hell! End of service! End of service, really?!”

Amongst the users, a popular saying was already circulating, “Humans can quit smoking, quit taking drugs, but they can’t pull themselves away from DIO.” Despite only playing DIO for a limited time, the players were already hooked. Moreover, time in DIO was slower than it was in reality, and the gameplay required knowledge, skills, and senses that were also used in real life, which made the game feel more authentic. In other words, the more someone played DIO, the greater their improvement as human beings! A simple game was able to do all this!

Yet, the clause read that the service would be terminated if they didn’t successfully defend the village’s central tower. No matter what, the users couldn’t allow this to happen.

“Still, there’s a tremendous amount of enemies, right?”

Since the closed beta had five waves, there were 2,500 total users. Of course, there were some users who couldn’t log on for one reason or another, so a little over 2,000 users were currently in the village. Therefore, out of 2,500 total testers, 2,000 were gathered. So, the current log-in rate was near 95%. This meant that the overwhelming majority of the beta testers were logged into the game, which perfectly displayed DIO’s outstanding popularity.

Rumble…

The Forest of Despair troops marched forward until they were 200 meters away from the village walls. At this distance, there were parties on both sides that could begin attacking each other, but because the battle was just starting, everyone remained quiet.

Step. Step.

Soon, a man appeared, wearing light, skin-tight metal armor from head to toe. With a mask covering the features below his nose, he walked into the wide-open space between the monsters and the village wall. Actually, it would be incorrect to call him a man, as he wasn’t human.

“… An orc? Why is an orc coming forward?”

“Haven’t you heard the rumors? That orc is a Hero Class being. He’s super powerful.”

“Still, an orc?”

In reality, after Level 5, users wouldn’t be facing orcs anymore, so the orc class became less visible for these players. The orc species was rated at Level 3, and the higher-rated orc individuals would be Level 4 or 5 at best. Most users found orcs reasonably easy to deal with. Furthermore, once users reached Level 6, they could use strategies like ‘Heat and Away’ to decimate large groups of orcs. Thus, the users were perplexed when they saw an orc leading the monster corps as its highest-ranked, most notable monster.

Of course, monsters that were the same species but possessed different levels had drastically different fighting abilities and combat power. It was the same for users. Could a Level 1 user be compared to a Level 10 user? Similarly, the level difference within a species also dictated their varied abilities and combat power. However, this was only true in theory and when considered logically. In actual gameplay, the situation was a bit different. Most users had experienced Warrior-class monsters, but they rarely faced Fighter or Knight-class monsters. Also, outside of a specific few, virtually no one had ever seen a Hero-class monster. As such, most users didn’t really understand the stark contrast between different members of a species.

The dinosaur species had bodies as wide as houses, ogres had the strength to easily crush iron, and trolls could get up even after losing their limbs or otherwise sustaining severe injuries. This wasn’t all, as goblins used all sorts of trickery, tools, and arts, and six-tailed foxes possessed exceptional charm skills.

Yet, despite their prowess, all these different monsters silently stood behind the orc.

“Many have gathered.”

Saying this, the orc took out his sword and raised it. With this signal, the monsters behind him got into a battle-ready stance. And then…

“Charge!”

The war had begun.

Bam!

A large explosion rang out as a vast fireball flew into the air before bursting apart, raining smaller fireballs onto the battlefield. Hundreds of arrows soared through the air, and many materialized spirits threw out fire and ice.

“These fuckers!”

A lizardman fighter was flung off the city wall as it attempted to climb up, getting sent crashing back down and landing on the monsters below. A user had punched it after winding up their arm like a pitcher throwing a baseball from the mound.

“Wow! These monsters can jump on top of the wall in one jump! Are the walls even useful?”

“It doesn’t seem like all of them can jump on the walls. That lizardman was a Level 8 Fighter-class monster. It was able to surprise us, so it was able to get further than the other monsters. Actually, come to think of it, that lizardman is at the same level as you.”

While saying this, the speaker raised his shield and started blocking some incoming fireballs. Behind the speaker was Jeros, dutifully chanting a spell. When the monsters started attacking, Jeros had asked the others to protect him while he finished his chanting.

“This guy, why is he taking so long to finish his spell’s chant? He’s totally defenseless as well.”

“That’s why he said he needed our help. He said he was a mage who only focused on attack.”

Jeros had already reached class 4. While class 4 wasn’t all that special in the grand scheme of things, Jeros had nearly ‘perfected’ his own unique magic system. Actually, Jeros was a genius even in real life. He was a part of Mensa, which was an organization that gathered people with a high IQ; they currently boasted having roughly 100,000 members from over 100 countries. Jeros was also recognized as having the highest IQ, with it being measured at 228. An IQ number of 200 already made one a genius among geniuses. With his intelligence and extensive knowledge, Jeros had created a magic system that mirrored a rigorous yet complex working system from his studies in real life.

Outside of DIO, Jeros understood and specialized in Imaginary Number Coordinates, which dealt with dimensions and coordinates that didn’t physically exist in the real world. He used this knowledge to pile on and overlap magic power, essentially heightening his magic power output. By doing so, he could increase the speed or destructive power of a spell at will. Of course, this mixture of magic power and spell casting necessitated more mental strength and a longer chant time.

“Fireball.”

Yet, the effects were definitely better than a normal Fireball spell.

Whoosh.

A head-sized fireball flew above the monsters’ heads. It wasn’t particularly fast. Actually, most humans would be able to avoid getting hit by it. However, before the fireball even reached the ground, Jeros had sent out another. The second fireball was much quicker and soon collided with the first one.

“Plus One.”

With a noise that sounded like an electric shock, a spark erupted as the two fireballs clashed against each other. Then, the explosion occurred.

Boom!!

“Woah?!”

“Oh my god?!”

It was as if a massive warhead missile had exploded. The blast left behind a fifty-meter crater in its wake. In addition, the initial detonation caused a chain reaction of smaller blasts to occur. The force of the explosions rippled outward, and the number of casualties was uncountable.

“Wow! What the hell was that?!”

“My god!”

Hanma and Adol looked at Jeros, who was breathing heavily. Unlike other users who could fight by themselves, Jeros had specialized purely in attack magic, so he needed to rely on others. He was essentially a living, moving glass cannon. He would instill confidence in his allies and terrify his enemies.

“Shit, we’re in trouble.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Make sure to secure the perimeter! An attack is incoming!”

Like what Adol said, the monsters had pinpointed the origin of the devastating attack, and they were mobilizing to neutralize Jeros. Unfortunately, the monster leading the charge was the leader of the bunch, Sungmuk.

Bam!

Although the village wall was ten meters tall, Sungmuk simply leaped over it as if it were just two steps on a staircase. Sungmuk had already nearly perfected his lightness skill, so the wall was nothing but an object to effortlessly step over. Like an arrow flying towards its intended target, Sungmuk headed directly toward Jeros.

“Scatter!”

Adol launched a Shield Charging attack using his internal energy-imbued shield. Both his feet were firmly planted on the ground, and he took a low stance. The internal energy-filled Shield Attack was significant, but Sungmuk bent his body in the air and easily avoided it. He had utilized his lightness skill technique, Golden Carp Crashing through a Thousand Waves.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Hanma stood between Sungmuk and Jeros, who was thoroughly exhausted and unable to move after casting his spell. His body had turned completely gray.

Bam!

With a plum blossom scent wafting through the air, a single plum blossom shot towards Hanma and ravaged his body. Yet, Sungmuk’s main target wasn’t Hanma, as the user was just in his way. His main target was Jeros. Unexpectedly, Hanma had blocked his plum blossom attack using just his internal energy.

“I see. You’re a life force practitioner, I presume.”

Whoosh!

Without waiting for a reply, Sungmuk pulled his sword back and released an even stronger scent of plum blossoms into the air. Seeing this, Hanma felt he was looking at the Sanzu River, the Styx in Greek mythology, or Vaitarna in Hinduism, the river that divided the earthly world with the afterlife. He instinctively knew that, no matter how tough his body was, he would soon be ripped to shreds under the oncoming attack. However…

Clang!

Sungmuk slightly altered his sword strike swing to deflect two oncoming bullets before being sent flying back about two meters from the recoil.

“Damn! He was attacking, but I guess he was still able to defend against a sneak attack.”

A young girl appeared. She had fair skin, an abundance of red hair, and wore gold-colored light armor. While she was only 160 centimeters tall, she effortlessly withstood the immense killing intent that Sungmuk was emanating toward her. Surprisingly, in her hand, she carried…

“Desert Eagle. Mark XIX.”

It was an unconventional and abnormal gun. It didn’t even seem like something that was produced to be a handgun, as it was bigger than any other and didn’t hold many bullets. Furthermore, it was pretty expensive to produce and had heavy recoil. To sum it up, it was a handgun that was full of drawbacks.

Regardless of these factors, the Desert Eagle was one of the most popular handguns in the market. This was because of its one selling point.

Destructive power.

In other words, it was popular because it was an overwhelmingly powerful handgun.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

Holding a Desert Eagle in each hand, the girl started firing round after round, making Sungmuk swing his sword to deflect all the bullets. Yet, these weren’t regular bullets. If they were, Sungmuk wouldn’t have given the assault any thought and simply allowed the bullets to bounce off his body. However, the Desert Eagle in front of him wasn’t a traditional gun, nor was it shooting traditional bullets. Instead, its ‘bullets’ were packets of aura, and while he wouldn’t be fatally injured if he were hit, he probably wouldn’t be standing either.

“A g-gun?! Where did she get a gun?!”

“Idiot. Take a closer look at that gun. Even if you’re a life force user, that doesn’t mean you can’t sense spiritual power.”

“What are you… huh? The gun is made of spiritual power?”

Realizing that the handgun in the red-haired girl’s hand was comprised entirely of spiritual power, Hanma was able to recognize the girl as the skilled aura user, Cruze. However, could a construction-based skill truly recreate a gun? The construction-based skill allowed users to make whatever they pleased, but the user had to thoroughly understand everything about their creation to [Draw] the object. This was why most users drew swords or, for more complex cases, bows. There wasn’t a user who could construct a set of light armor yet, but this little girl had developed a gun, which was several times more challenging than any known constructed object.

However, Hanma soon shook his head and cleared his mind. No matter what, she was a Master, so she must have broken through to the Master level one way or another. In addition, at the moment, he didn’t have time to think of anything else.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

With each shot, the girl made her way forward. Her shooting speed and Sungmuk’s sword deflections were incredibly fast. Each bullet from a Desert Eagle was known to pack a punch, but Sungmuk deflected all the oncoming bullets without allowing them to affect him.

Ping!

Taking advantage of a brief delay between Cruze’s shots, Sungmuk took a step forward to release a plum blossom attack. Cruze and Sungmuk were only 20-meters apart, so Sungmuk was sure he’d be able to launch a substantial barrage.

Ting!

“Hmm?”

While he was trying to create the plum blossom shadow, a bullet flew toward his hand. When he moved to block the attack, his recreation of the plum blossom shadow was forcefully stopped, causing what he had created to crumble away helplessly.

“… A long-ranged attack?”

“Hey, can you really afford to focus on other things?”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

After shooting three more rounds from both Desert Eagles, Cruze threw the guns behind her, as she had expended the last of the seven rounds that they both contained. Since she was wielding two of them, she had gone through fourteen rounds. Then, as the handguns flew up in the air, they started vanishing into particles of light.

“Install complete! Loading…!”

As she stated something under her breath, another gun started materializing in her hands. This one looked like a fully-automatic assault rifle: an FN P90.

Brr!

Though each bullet from this gun was weaker than the ones from the Desert Eagle, the FN P90 held 50 rounds in a single magazine. Also, this fully-automatic assault rifle had been in production for some time, but it was relatively new. It didn’t have too much recoil, so Cruze was able to shoot with higher stability.

“Wow! I recognize that gun! I’ve used it many times in plenty of FPS (first-person shooter) games!”

“Okay, whatever! Put Jeros on your back and get him out of here!”

“Okay.”

Hanma quickly lifted Jeros. While he could have placed Jeros on his back, if Hanma were attacked from the rear, Jeros would undoubtedly be injured or even die, as he was in a feeble state. Thus, Hanma decided to hunch over and envelop Jeros within his mid-section. Since they were both adult men, this type of position would usually be frowned upon or impossible to do physically, but since Jeros was relatively small and Hanma was on the larger side, it was feasible. It almost looked like Hanma was a running back carrying a football.

“Where do you think you’re going-”

“Focus on me!”

Brr!

Sungmuk was inundated with a barrage of bullets. None of the shots were misfired or strayed from their intended target, and despite Sungmuk’s efforts to deflect them with his sword, some inevitably got through his defenses and struck his body. Cruze didn’t just possess impressive construction-based skills; she was also an expert marksman.

“Such a bother.”

Sungmuk narrowed his eyes, and soon, his body wavered like a mirage. Cruze was surprised by this sudden change, but before she could respond, she sensed the orc in her immediate surroundings. Sungmuk was utilizing Flower Mountain’s representative technique: Nine Palace Step.

“Ugh!”

Brr!

Cruze swung her gun to where Sungmuk was now approaching her. However, he used his self-defense technique to absorb all the bullets while striking with his sword. Although he was affected by the aura bullets, Sungmuk could still endure them. If he could slice her head off right now, he’d become the victor! Yet…

Clang!

“Hmm?”

A white aura spiraled out of Cruze’s body and quickly enveloped her, protecting her entire body. Sungmuk’s sword strike bounced off her defenses, but Cruze was inevitably unable to avoid everything. A slight injury appeared on her neck, which was much less severe than having her head chopped off.

“You’re pretty good.”

“To leave a mark on a young lady’s body, you have no manners!”

Brr!

As Cruze loosed another barrage of bullets and almost emptied her magazine, the assault seemed to affect Sungmuk, as he was pushed back by about three meters. However, Sungmuk let his self-defense technique deal with the barrage of bullets while he prepared another sword strike. Three plum blossoms appeared and blossomed. Cruze could feel cold sweat running down the back of her neck, and she instinctively knew that her defensive aura field wouldn’t be able to defend against this next attack.

Clang!

Yet, at that moment, Adol stepped in front of her with his tower shield, blocking the three plum blossom attacks. The destructive power of each plum blossom petal was equal to that of a tank shell, but somehow, while using Shield Charging, Adol was able to hold his ground. Then, the user group went on the offensive!

“Thunder.”

Leaning against Hanma’s chest, Jeros pointed towards Sungmuk and uttered a word. Even though he couldn’t take care of his own body, he had finished another spell chant.