The First Gift

Enemy 066. Through the consumable item [Will of the Dead] that Cha Uyoon had possessed, I was observing Park Gibeom. [Will of the Dead] allowed the user to briefly observe the surroundings if a summoned creature died within twenty-four hours of consumption. It was an essential item for Stage 5. Thanks to the department manager killing the Cha Uyoon zombie, the item had activated normally, and I was now surveying the area around him.

“He kills so easily.” Though I had deliberately provoked his anger, I hadn’t expected him to finish her off in an instant. I had prepared twelve different lines to get under his skin, yet he had ended it with the very first one. The word “bald” carried tremendous power.

“That aside, he really must have been skimming quite a bit.” The military strength Park Gibeom displayed was quite solid. He had already summoned two thousand puppets alone. Besides the spear-wielding soldiers, there were large shield bearers, crossbowmen, and others—his forces were well-balanced front to back. Even so, that level was something I could defeat right now if I charged in with my zombies. The department manager was still hiding his true strength. It seemed I would need to torment him a little more if I wanted to draw out his sincerity.

At least the first restriction had been successfully applied. I hadn’t pressed [Combat Start] to reenact my superior’s actions. It would be nice if they reduced his forces, but that had never been my expectation. The dark elves would become shackles for Park Gibeom. The principle was simple. They were the boss round of Stage 4, and the department manager knew it as well. In other words, if Park Gibeom annihilated them, I would naturally advance to Stage 5. From his perspective—someone who wanted to meet me immediately—that outcome was undesirable. Ultimately, the dark elves had become entities he had to protect. If he ignored the enemy and came after me, my detached force might clear the round instead.

“He must have realized it by now. I wonder what kind of face he’s making.” The restriction of having to protect enemies who were trying to kill him the moment they entered the battlefield. That was the first real gift I was giving my former boss.

The effect of [Will of the Dead] ended, and no further information from the dark elf fortresses came through. It didn’t matter. I was going to send my zombies to check whether the shackles had been properly fastened. I gave the signal to execute the operation. Soon, signal fires rose throughout the maze, and the detached force sortied toward the monkey habitat. Just as I had played along with him until now, it was time for him to play along with my game.

Inside the dark elves’ fortress. The Third Infantry Division Commander approached the throne where Park Gibeom sat and reported. Park Gibeom lowered his head and breathed heavily. He wasn’t tired. He had simply realized what absurd trap he had fallen into during the battle.

“Haa, that bastard dares…!” Park Gibeom drummed his fingers against the chair. He couldn’t contain his rage. He pondered how to vent this anger.

“I’ll slice off his fingers one by one, slowly. Yes, and then I’ll speak. I’ll tell him that if he admits he stole company assets, I’ll spare him. And I’ll make him write a blood oath with his severed fingers! That he’s a filthy criminal! Kekeke. And the moment he finishes the blood oath—slice! Perfect, that’s good. Excellent.”

After imagining tearing Baek Suhan to pieces in his mind, Park Gibeom finally calmed down. He then issued orders to the waiting puppets.

“The Third and Fourth Infantry Divisions will defend this place.” The puppets placed their hands over their hearts and shouted.

High-ranking puppets equipped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with premium gear throughout their bodies. They moved throughout the fortress to carry out their master’s orders. Park Gibeom stepped outside the fortress. Thinking about it, Baek Suhan’s desperate struggling was rather amusing.

“Right. In the end, dirty mind games are something only the weak do. A struggle befitting an insect.”

Collecting himself, he began running toward the red thread. There were no other variables now. All that remained was to find the bastard and administer the punishment he had prepared. Pababat— Park Gibeom, who had already surpassed his high-ranking puppets, raced swiftly through the monkey forest. He would soon meet Baek Suhan. After running for about ten minutes, reports began arriving from the fortress.

“I knew it.” Park Gibeom chuckled inwardly. In the end, the only option left for the bastard was to kill the remaining elves and flee to Stage 5. But Park Gibeom had already prepared countermeasures.

“I see right through you, you bastard!”

However, the progression of the incoming reports began to deviate from what Park Gibeom had expected.

“What…?” Park Gibeom couldn’t understand. Each infantry battalion consisted of seven hundred combat puppets. Even if they were inferior to the special battalions, they were by no means forces that could be overwhelmed by something like Stage 4. Even Stage 5 could be cleared with two infantry battalions.

“…” Park Gibeom had no choice but to turn around. If the prisoners all died at this rate, Baek Suhan would advance to Stage 5. He absolutely could not allow that to happen.

“This bastard! He’s thrown all his forces into a gamble.” If he gathered the resources of Stage 4 to their limit, he might have been able to deal with one or two infantry battalions. Park Gibeom thought he had underestimated his opponent’s desperation. While returning to the fortress, something flying in the distant sky came into view. Park Gibeom infused aura into his eyes and looked at the flying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠creatures. Then he fell into confusion.

“Wyverns…?”

Baek Suhan was a summoner who dealt with the dead. Probably zombies. So he had thought that no matter what creatures appeared as enemy soldiers, it wouldn’t be particularly strange. But had there been wyverns in Stage 4? And thirty of them at that? Countless questions rose in Park Gibeom’s mind, yet none of them could be explained within common sense.

“Stage 4 is… correct, right?” It was a foolish question. The surrounding scenery was clearly the monkey habitat of Stage 4. Park Gibeom decided to stop thinking and act. If he left things as they were, the prisoners would be taken. Sruk— sruruk— Park Gibeom summoned puppets with high mobility. They were puppet cavalry made from the parts of horse beastmen he had obtained by devouring Choi Giryang. The upper body was a knight, the lower body a horse.

“Charge!”

When Park Gibeom returned with his elite forces, the tide of battle immediately turned in his favor. These were zombies that could handle infantry battalions but couldn’t defeat cavalry. They were probably Baek Suhan’s most elite troops. At the very least, he had reached the average level of Stage 6. As the zombies showed signs of defeat, they began to turn and retreat. The wyverns that had taken to the air were already impossible to catch. Park Gibeom decided to annihilate the ground forces first.

“Pursue them!”

After all, if the ground forces were wiped out, even with a few flying units, capturing the prisoners underground would be impossible. Ultimately, to capture the dark elves, they would have to enter indoors, but the wyverns’ bodies were too large. The cavalry slammed into the zombies’ rear. At that moment, five hundred of the retreating thousand zombies turned and began clinging to the cavalry. Sacrificing the tail. Seeing this, Park Gibeom burst into loud laughter and shouted.

“What an idiot! Where in the world is there a fool who brings a thousand and uses five hundred as bait for retreat? Haha!”

If their numbers were halved, they wouldn’t dare attack the fortress again. Park Gibeom thought Baek Suhan had made a mistake. But as he watched the battle, Park Gibeom’s face gradually began to contort.

“What… they’re too weak?”

The zombies used as sacrifices were excessively weak. In other words, the high-ranking zombies that had killed the infantry battalions had all successfully retreated, and the abandoned ones were trash. To Park Gibeom, who wasn’t a Zombie Summoner, all zombies looked the same. So he had judged by numbers, and he had drawn a blank. Park Gibeom ground his teeth ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠again. Having been played by Baek Suhan repeatedly, Park Gibeom finally lost his reason.

“Aaaaaah! So you want to play, huh?! Huh?!”

Park Gibeom’s aura wildly lashed out at the surroundings. Rocks shattered, and deep scars were gouged into the ground. Kwaang kwaang— kwaang— “Aaaaaah!”

In a place he had come to for a light stroll before going to the server, things kept going wrong. Stress was accumulating ahead of an important matter. After venting his anger for a long while, Park Gibeom soon caught his breath ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and looked up at the sky. Then he closed his eyes and summoned puppets. The commanders of each unit rose from the ground one by one and paid their respects to their master.

“The Fifth and Sixth Infantry Divisions, the Third Artillery Division, and the entire Flame Knight Order… I will deploy them to this fortress.”

Park Gibeom decided to acknowledge Baek Suhan. That lowlife had grown enough during his time here to be called a rival. Of course, when it came to raw power, there was still an insurmountable gap between them. But he judged that continuing to ignore someone who had assembled this level of force in mere Stage 4 would be arrogance.

“Right. You’re better than those trash Stage 6 bastards.”

Recognizing Baek Suhan not as a plaything but as a hunting target and facing him as such. Park Gibeom decided to confront his former subordinate properly.

“Flame Knight Order Commander.”

The three-meter-tall puppet clad in crimson armor knelt and bowed his head. Crimson aura rippled throughout his body.

“You know what to do, right?”

“Loyalty. It shall be done as ordered.”

Thirty wyverns were surprising, and ground zombies capable of taking down infantry battalions were intriguing. But there were no more variables. The Flame Knight Order. A force evaluated as top-tier even within Stage 6 was stepping forward.

“I’ll show you why Stage 6 is Stage 6.”

Park Gibeom slowly moved in the direction of the red thread where Baek Suhan would be. There was no need to hurry. He would approach steadily and surely, so that the bastard could feel fear to his heart’s content.

***

I grinned as I received the report. The department manager had finally brought out one of his most powerful puppet forces.

“Now you’re feeling the tension, I see.”

From the information I had extracted from Cha Uyoon, there were two things Park Gibeom possessed that I needed to be wary of: the Attribute Knight Orders and Barosoft. And one of the three pillars of the knight orders, the Flame Knight Order, had been left behind to defend the fortress. In conclusion, my first operation had consumed one-sixth of his core forces. And I still had many gifts prepared for him. Because I intended to take not just some of his troops, but his very life.

“If you come barging into someone else’s house without permission, you have to pay the price, don’t you?”

Up to this point had been the entrance fee. Since he had set foot in my Stage 4, he wouldn’t be facing only me. This entire maze would become his enemy.

“I’ll devour you with everything I’ve built here.”