Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Guild Master Isn't Enough With Just the Game
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A tall, dark-skinned man dropped from the empty air as if tumbling down and looked at Helcannon.
“I’ve been looking for you.”
“…….”
“Helcannon.”
Helcannon’s eyes widened.
The overwhelming presence that had been pressing down on his entire body clearly belonged to this man.
Ding!
[The constellation ‘The One Who Guides Destruction’ offers you an incarnation contract.]
[If you accept this contract—]
Helcannon didn’t even finish reading the alert message in front of him before turning around and bolting away.
Tadadadak—!!
“!”
He skidded to a halt mid-run.
The black-haired man from behind appeared in front of him like smoke, swift and sudden.
“Why run? It’s not your first incarnation contract, is it? It’s similar to a hero contract. You’ll be able to use my power.”
“……I won’t do it.”
“Why not?”
“…….”
Helcannon gritted his teeth.
The immense aura crushing his entire body made it clear this opponent was no ordinary foe.
While Helcannon stood frozen, blocked by the mysterious man, the heroes who had recognized him came rushing up from behind and gathered around.
One of them, from a royal lineage, spoke up.
“Helcannon, contract with Asin-nim. This one’s on a whole different level from those fake-god bastards.”
“That’s right. The moment we signed, we broke through our limits and jumped to EX rank, beyond the highest grade. We can level up even more now!”
“If you contract with Asin-nim, you could beat Dart easily.”
Helcannon’s lips twitched, but he swallowed his words.
What he truly wanted wasn’t revenge anymore. It was simply to escape this hellish cycle of slaughter once and for all.
He’d kill SpaceKing’s gods if that’s what it took.
But voluntarily chaining himself to another yoke of subjugation just to beat SpaceKing? That was something he could never accept.
If he didn’t have younger siblings to be responsible for, he wouldn’t have bound himself to SpaceKing either.
“Look at us.”
“We’ve been doing great.”
The heroes were dressed in modern clothes.
One of them spoke to Helcannon with immense pride.
“Lord Helcannon deserves this kind of treatment too. You’re royalty, and the strongest among us, aren’t you?”
‘Us.’
Helcannon’s brow furrowed ever so slightly, but no one noticed.
In truth, when Avrilia submitted to SpaceKing, Helcannon had felt a deep sense of humiliation at being forced to mingle with these people.
He had no choice but to serve the same god and associate with them, but even though they seemed to share a rough warrior culture, the east and west of Midgard’s north were worlds apart.
The west plundered for survival; the east devoted itself for survival.
Western folk tales were tales of betrayal, killing and being killed.
Eastern ones were about dying again and again to save family and friends.
To Helcannon, who had devoted his life to the sword and seen it as his sole duty to perish on a monster-infested battlefield, these people were emotionally impossible to connect with.
The rogues kept yapping.
“It’s just like back home. You know from experience. You gotta pick the right side.”
“This time, we get to choose our god ourselves.”
“Of course there are classes even among the gods’ world, right? This one’s a god among gods—”
Helcannon slipped through the gaps between the careless heroes and burst right past them.
Tadadada—
His running footsteps came out ragged and breathless.
‘If you’re gonna serve another god, why betray SpaceKing at all?’
Bunch of scum.
Huddled under this shadowy mystery man, they were all heroes from the most notorious, ruthless nation in the northwest.
The monarchs of the northwest had always craved destructive power to conquer the inland.
SpaceKing’s gods had answered their desperate calls perfectly—cruel, merciless gods brimming with conquest lust.
Demons summoned by western scum.
And now they’d joined hands with the same kind of demon.
In contrast, Avrilia at the eastern edge of Midgard’s north, and the nations below it, shared no roots with those criminals.
Even though Avrilia and a few others had tried to betray Wirentia.
Even if it had been his father the king’s will, Helcannon’s heart still breathed with Avrilia’s pride.
He was done getting tangled up with those disgusting bastards under someone else.
A shadow fell over his head.
“!”
Helcannon jerked his head up, and there was the man, standing in midair, shadowing him like a ghost.
“Looks like the kids’ pranks gave you quite the scare.”
Chills raced across Helcannon’s skin.
The voice of the man labeled as a constellation in the alert pierced his ears precisely.
“I can grant you power and promise you the wealth and authority of this world. The freedom you’ve longed for so desperately. Incarnated constellations awakened to my level aren’t common in this land.”
Ding!
[The constellation ‘Darkness That Observes the End’ says it’s absolutely true and you’ll regret letting him go.]
[The constellation ‘The One Who Guides Destruction’ offers you an incarnation contract.]
The dark man said,
“You want revenge on that bastard.”
But the word “revenge” didn’t stir Helcannon much.
Those who survived on land periodically overrun by monsters simply lived their best, taking on the share of the dead as well.
Even if it meant beating their chests and wailing over the deaths of loved ones.
They had to keep living.
The man shadowing him smoothly like a ghost suddenly sensed something and looked up.
“……Pity.”
He vanished in an instant.
Even after the dark man disappeared, the heroes doggedly pursued Helcannon.
The moment he slipped into somewhere and the man’s shadow vanished along with that crushing pressure, the alley ended.
Ding!
[The constellation ‘Light Arbiter Who Promises Salvation’ breathes a sigh of relief.]
[They say they’ve been waiting for you to escape that demons’ turf, and from here on, those guys can’t use their powers directly, so you’re safe.]
However.
“Helcannon—!”
At the voice calling from behind, the heroes and hunters in front all turned their heads.
Everyone gasped.
Gasp. It’s Helcannon.
Before they could react to that, Helcannon leaped away to dodge the explosion.
Kwaaang!
The ones who’d cast the skill were the heroes chasing him from behind.
“What a shame, Helcannon. Orders came down to eliminate you. But it’s not too late. Change your mind even now…….”
The heroes emerging from the alley looked at Helcannon, then scanned their surroundings.
“……Well, well, who’s this?”
What spread before them was a scene of hunters and heroes clashing behind a building.
Even if their system bonds were released, the eyes of heroes still affiliated with SpaceKing clearly saw the SpaceKing guild members’ names.
Murderous intent filled the heroes’ eyes.
But then footsteps rang out, and more heroes brought by one hunter joined the scene.
“Reinforcements here! Wa…….”
Sensing something off, the hunter glanced nervously at the guild members.
It was none other than Pada, the 100th ranker who’d fattened up the heroes with cash support from the Rankers’ group chat.
As soon as Kaisha’s heroes from Fullminak appeared, the heroes stirred greatly.
What Pada had brought in droves were mainly bound heroes of Fullminak’s top executives: Kaisha, Kali, Maya, Hyunwoo, and so on.
To casually drag around executives’ bound heroes like that meant a rank of...
“No way, Kaisha?!”
“If Kaisha’s out, that means all the other gods are too!”
“No way they’re out already!”
“But Kaisha could’ve switched customs in the meantime!”
“Damn. If that’s really Kaisha, we’re done for.”
Especially the heroes who’d died to Kaisha’s electron cannon or been killed trembled.
The traitors had shared every detail of what happened in the gate, so even as the other gods weakened, they’d analyzed Kaisha’s forces as unchanged.
Of course, Fullminak’s heroes and guild members knew Pada wasn’t Kaisha, but they exchanged glances without saying a word.
True to rankers in a war game, everyone’s minds turned quickly.
[“Pada-nim, perfect. Just keep pretending to be Kaisha-nim like this.”]
Someone whispered in the always-on guild voice chat like during a siege, and Pada jolted in shock.
“?!”
His face screamed, Why me of all people?!
But under the guild members’ insistent stares, he forced his expression steady.
[“Stay put.”]
It was the voice of a close hyung of Pada’s.
“Kaisha-nim!”
When one guild member ran up calling Pada “Kaisha-nim,” the suspicious vibe turned to certainty.
The rebels flinched back.
“Damn! It’s real?!”
“Kaisha back already? Does that mean the other gods are too?”
“How the hell did they return when the gate’s closed? They said everyone died inside after it turned S-rank!”
“Someone said they could’ve survived.”
The rebels buzzed.
The heroes who’d rebelled against their bound awakeners were mostly from SpaceKing and Goldbunker.
They couldn’t see Kaisha’s name.
“Could be fake?”
“If real, we’re all dead.”
“Shut up and grab one of those Fullminak bastards. There was a traitor among them too.”
Helcannon, overhearing nearby, scowled at them.
Fullminak had a traitor too?
“…….”
Helcannon gripped his sword hilt tightly.
His red eyes, searching so desperately, wavered aimlessly before the man.
That guy’s Kaisha?
First time seeing a male-custom look, but the height matched roughly, and with Kaisha’s bound heroes covering him thoroughly, it didn’t seem impossible.
But why not even glance his way?
That’s what puzzled Helcannon.
No matter where they went, this one had always stared only at him, like courting, and even in the gate a couple times.
As if sensing his feelings, their eyes met.
But Kaisha, surrounded by heroes and guild members, flinched in panic at the eye contact and averted his gaze in horror.
“!”
Helcannon bit his lip hard from the inexplicable shock.
Because I’m a traitor?
One rebel glanced at nearby Helcannon and said,
“Hey, Helcannon. If Kaisha’s here, Dart’ll show up soon for sure. Wanna live? Choose wisely—”
In that instant, Helcannon’s aura—never outshone even in the gate—exploded violently.
Fwoooosh.
The rebel leader bellowed at the sight of those blazing scarlet eyes.
“Dodge—!!”
In Bipa’s Midgard, the hero duo was Helcannon and Messiah.
Unlike Messiah, who pulled devastating burst damage in group fights with ultimate support, Helcannon was a solo dealer with extreme lethality.
Helcannon’s close-range finisher.
[Midgard’s Guardian lv99]
Whoooong—
The sword, laden with ferocious aura, charged at tremendous speed, but couldn’t catch the heroes fleeing for their lives.
Then the aurablade spun wide, bursting in an AoE.
Kwang!
Helcannon, who’d sent the fleeing heroes flying and crippled them in one go, didn’t stop and charged straight toward Kaisha.