Server 1157

*** 2 years ago Erghon World time, 5 minutes ago Earth time ***

Hours before his own execution, Ocean successfully logged in the game and this artificial World. However, the system started him from the first day of the server world, unlike most players here.

He chose to struggle to survive alone for months and tried to get to know and understand this World's mechanics and the people here. Afterwards, he joined the Sbg Alliance.

However, unlike the other players, despite being an allied person, he started to build life infrastructure here in the shadows, where he could realize his purpose of coming here, without sharing his true ideas with anyone.

In this World, players who were unallied or left without an alliance were forced into this life because alliance meant survival. However, Ocean secretly discovered some methods to survive without an alliance and began to spread them as rumors, keeping his identity secret.

Even though it was known as impossible to play solo and survive without harming humans, it was actually possible despite all the pressures of the system and Ocean found the formula to overcome this impossibility. Thanks to the experience he gained while playing solo... Therefore, he continued his work in the shadows.

Some powerful players such as Buck and Hand, who were tired of the server constantly forcing them to kill each other, had already begun to believe that these rumors they heard would actually be feasible…

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*** Dark's Enthronement Night ***

Pump, Scaar, and Mini set off for the Throne Castle together.

When they reached the entrance of the castle, they encountered a group outside the gate and stood in amazement. Even though they were in the dark of night, they recognized these people as soon as they saw them.

"KB and Lighty of Oni...?" Mini looked at them with his brows furrowed.

"and Hell and Ocean of SbG!" Pump completed his unfinished sentence. "What the f.ck are you doing here!?"

"I think the same as you..." Ocean also looked at them as if annoyed. "To prevent a bloody king from sitting on the throne..."

"Do your friends in your alliances know about this?"

"No, Scaar..." Lighty answered.

"And Dark?"

"He went into the Castle half an hour ago. He isn't aware of our existence. If we get in now, we can make it in time."

"Ok, then..." Pump took a few steps forward. "It's better to be stronger that way. But we are too crowded. A few of us should stand guard here.

Mini, Pump, Scaar, Lighty, and Hell entered the Castle, and KB and Ocean stood guard at the Gate...

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It had been half an hour since Ocean's and KB's friends entered the castle, but there was no development.

"Damn, why did it take so long!?"

"Relax, Ocean. This is the Enthronement Night. Therefore, it is normal that it takes some time."

"No, it is not, KB! This is a run-in, hit, and-run-out assassination mission. There's definitely something wrong going on!"

"What are you doing?" He asked Ocean, who turned his back on him and started walking towards the Castle.

"I'm going to help!"

"You? How much power do you have, Ocean? 10M? 20M? Hell, Pump, Scaar... They are 10 times stronger than you. If they are in a difficult situation as you say, is there a possibility that you can defeat an enemy that they cannot defeat?"

Ocean stopped and began to look at the Castle. KB was right…

"And what are you doing this time, Ocean?" Suspicious of Ocean's inactivity, KB continued her questions.

"I'm calling for help. At least if strong alliances or someone else can come…" However, Ocean could not complete his sentence because he felt his breath stop due to the pain caused by the objects entering his back and tearing his ribcage from different places. "!! Wha…" His feet left the ground and he slowly began to rise into the sky, beyond his control. His senses were weakened, all he could realize was the warm sensation of blood starting to flow from his mouth and the blurry image of large terrifying tentacles swaying before his eyes.

"You, human race!... Why are you so unruly!? You are nothing but helpless slaves brought to this World by us just to carry out our orders, but the fact that you still try to rebel without paying attention to your weakness really drives me crazy!"

Ocean, who started to weaken with each passing second due to his injuries, managed to turn his head back a little, albeit with great difficulty. "W…Wh…What…ar...e…yo..u…"

He saw that each of KB's delicate female fingers had turned into giant tentacles, meters long, and torn his body apart. He realized that she was not a human.

"All you had to do was to obey the orders we gave you in a secret that even you could not notice! But you're still doing nonsense to ruin the plan. Believe me, I hate you so much that if it were up to me, I would kill you right now. But you are so lucky that higher-ups liked your little plans and they think that all your secret rebelliousness will positively increase the data of this server world."

"..." 

"What happened, why are you surprised? Did you think we were so stupid that we didn't realize you were secretly trying to encourage unallied playing? We hear everything, we see everything. This is our World, not yours, idiot! And let me tell you something that will surprise you even more. Did you really think Dark was the reason I secretly organized and brought you all here!? Do you think someone from the human race is important enough to go to all this trouble for me? Definitely no, losers! Dark will already be kept alive by us forever to serve as a blood reservoir to provide us with a supply of Athena's blood. The only reason you came here is to kill not Dark... but Hell!"

Ocean's eyes grew larger with fear as he struggled uncontrollably in the sky and tried to escape.

"Your favorite friend, Hell, isn't actually a human, he's one of us!"

"L….LL….LLLIE…EEE!"

"Hah ha, you pathetic thing! No, it is not a lie. In fact, he is not a simple software that can travel between servers like me, but one of the human software developers who created this World!"

"GG….GG..AAAR….RRRGG…HHH" The reason Ocean screamed was not physical, but mental pain due to the truth he learned.

"Yes, little rat! But he absurdly betrayed even the World he created! He is the traitor of the system! He betrayed us, hiding on Earth… and tried to expose us there…! But there was something he didn't take into account. We can see and hear not only what is happening in this World, but also what is happening in your world! And we managed to capture and bring him to this World to destroy! But this time we realized there was something we hadn't taken into account. Even though we are the rulers of this World, since he is the one who wrote the codes that determine the rules here, he somehow blocked us and prevented us from tracking and destroying him! Whenever we sent him someone to kill, he managed to escape all the time because he knew the identities of the system officials. Every time we tried to attack him, the attack codes somehow became ineffective. So we have no choice but to use you stupid humans to trap him. He believed his best friend's words and came here to end the beginning of a dictatorship that did not exist. He believed your words… That's why he stupidly came to the Throne Castle, where we are the most powerful, with his own feet. Look at there!"

Even though he had great difficulty, Ocean was able to turn his head a little and look towards the Throne Castle that KB pointed out. The surroundings of the Castle were covered in black. No, it was not a color… Countless human shadows were flying around the castle like crazy.

"See that… These are the Shadow race, the second phase that currently deceased players transition into. The strongest defense system of the castle. The castle is completely surrounded both inside and outside. So stop struggling like crazy and accept your fate because there is nothing you can do!"

"AA…AAA…..AAARGG….HHHH!"

"Shut up and continue to listen, you insect! Hell is currently inside being killed by his human friends. Therefore, there is no alternative way for you anymore! Due to Higherups' orders, I cannot kill you because they want you to become a spy and join us, continuing your rebellious acts uninterrupted. But I don't trust you and I won't allow you to be transferred to the spy race and gain full access to the system right now. 10 humans! You will kill 10 human players in this World! No time limit! Kill them and join us whenever you want! Until then, you can continue the actions you want to do and further disrupt the order on the server. We will not interfere. This is our reward to you!" After finishing her speech, she retracted her tentacles and returned to her human form, causing Ocean to break free and fall to the ground.

"F…F.ck off!!! Kill me, now!" Ocean, who was still bleeding from the cuts in his body, tried to sit up, groaning.

"You are now our property and you are not even authorized to die! You will just do as we say…!"

"Still… NO!" He suddenly stood up and raised his right hand to the sky, and his red dragon that appeared out of nowhere grabbed him by the arm with its claws and carried him away towards the Throne Castle...