Blood White Sword Demon
Jin-soo returned to the Starting City and settled back into an ordinary routine. The aftermath of what he had set in motion, however, was anything but ordinary.
A single Player had brought the Sahyeol Gate branch in the Starting City crashing down, and the high-level Players the sect sent to punish him were annihilated in turn. Sahyeol Gate had stood among the very highest guilds on the Tower's 200th Floor, and now its honor and pride had been hurled into the dirt and ground underfoot.
The sect raged, spitting fury in every direction. Players of the great guilds, and even those of mid-sized guilds and mere parties, looked down on Sahyeol Gate and laughed. They called it a guild of empty boasts — all bulk and no substance, good for nothing but swarming in packs — and mockery of every kind ran wild.
"Damn it all! To think I'd suffer a humiliation like this!"
From the body of the enraged Sect Leader, Han Man-ok, unrefined dark-crimson qi erupted in savage flames.
"We find him at once and tear him to shreds!"
"If we don't take blood for blood, everyone will look down on Sahyeol Gate!"
"Let us show them all what Sahyeol Gate truly is!"
Han Man-ok was not the only one burning. Every officer of the sect had gone half-mad with rage over the disaster.
"But if we're going to retaliate, shouldn't we at least know who the culprit is?"
"Exactly. His identity is still a complete blank."
Sahyeol Gate's greatest problem was that they had no idea who had slaughtered their disciples and handed them such a humiliation. The only known clues were that he was a Player from Earth, that he wore black armor covering his entire body, and that he was likely a young man.
"What if we seal off the Starting City?"
"He may already have left. What good would a blockade do? We'd only waste manpower."
"Even so, we can't just sit here and do nothing."
"What about posting a bounty? Even a small clue might turn up."
"And what good would that do?"
The officers tossed out one idea after another, but there wasn't a scrap of practicality in any of them.
"Silence, all of you."
Han Man-ok, forcing his rage down, opened his mouth.
"We strike the Daehan Guild in the Starting City."
The officers looked baffled. A few even wondered whether their Sect Leader had lost his mind.
"Sect Leader, why the Daehan Guild of all things?"
"It's true that Players from Earth are weaker overall, but we can't provoke them carelessly."
"If they band together and turn hostile toward Sahyeol Gate, this will blow up."
"If you're giving that order just because he spoke Korean..."
It was no different from burning the whole house down to kill a single bedbug.
"That man stayed hidden until the Changseong Gate in the Starting City was in crisis, then revealed himself of his own accord. He probably wanted to stop Changseong Gate from being framed and harmed."
"Ah... I see."
"The culprit definitely shares the habits of those orthodox bastards."
"If the Daehan Guild falls into danger because of him, he'll show himself for certain."
Only then did the officers grasp what Han Man-ok meant. The plan was to use the Daehan Guild as bait and force the culprit to reveal himself.
"But... what if he doesn't appear?"
"That's right. If he realizes it's a trap and ignores us, we'll come back empty-handed. Sahyeol Gate's face will be ground into the dirt all over again."
At their words, Han Man-ok let out a short, cold laugh.
"Then we simply smash the Daehan Guild branch in the Starting City. We won't be coming back empty-handed."
The officers' faces hardened like stone.
"That's far too dangerous!"
"It could turn into an all-out war with the Players from Earth."
"If it comes to that, the orthodox bastards — Changseong Gate included — will be aiming for our backs."
"Geomsal Gate or Heukrim Hall might betray us as well."
Despite the fierce opposition, Han Man-ok's expression overflowed with ease.
"An all-out war with the Daehan Guild is one thing. An all-out war with every Player from Earth won't happen, so there's no need to worry overmuch."
"What do you mean?"
"I've already cut deals with some of the guild masters of the great guilds from Earth. So long as the attack doesn't go so far as to annihilate the Daehan Guild outright, they won't intervene."
Sealing those deals had cost Han Man-ok no small loss. He hadn't had a choice.
"If the true culprit of this incident never shows and stays in hiding, what do you think happens? Sahyeol Gate's standing will just keep being whittled away. If we have no enemy, we make one. Revenge must be taken, no matter what."
The true culprit had spoken Korean. Inflate the rumors enough, and they could easily paint the Daehan Guild as his accomplices.
If the Daehan Guild were strong, this would have been a reckless gamble.
But among the great guilds from Earth, the Daehan Guild had fewer numbers and weaker influence. They did have experts who were hard to ignore, but...
Peak Realm at best, and no more than five of them.
To Han Man-ok — Sect Leader of Sahyeol Gate, a Transcendent expert who commanded more than ten Peak Realm masters — a force like the Daehan Guild was nothing but insects he could crush whenever he pleased.
Use the Daehan Guild as bait and catch the culprit. If the plan fails, offer the Daehan Guild as a sacrifice and restore Sahyeol Gate's fallen standing.
That was Han Man-ok's plan. It was not a perfect one.
He had dealt with some of the guild masters of Earth's great guilds, not all of them, and so there was a risk the sparks would fly the wrong way and the war would spread.
Even so, there's nothing to lose.
In any case, Han Man-ok could remain on the Tower's 200th Floor for only about a year.
The bigger the war, the more there is to gain.
If things went badly wrong, Sahyeol Gate itself might fall...
Then I simply climb to the 201st floor.
Since the all-out war with Changseong Gate had gone sideways, he had to start a war some other way and turn a profit.
"If you understand, move at once."
"By your command!"
The officers scattered as one.
That evening, Sahyeol Gate's finest elites marched in grand formation toward the Starting City of the Tower's 200th Floor. Among them was the Sect Leader himself, Han Man-ok.
Jin-soo and Shin Sua ordered breakfast in the restaurant on the first floor of the inn. Once the order was placed, Jin-soo casually raised a mana barrier. It kept whatever the two of them said from leaking out.
The working blocked sound from within while letting sound from outside pass straight through — a demanding, high-difficulty application of mana. On the level of the 200th floor, few could display such skill. Thanks to it, Jin-soo and Shin Sua could talk at ease and still catch what other Players were saying, gathering outside information with little effort.
"To think Sahyeol Gate's Sect Leader, Han Man-ok, came to the Starting City in person."
"This is no ordinary matter."
"We'd better keep our heads down for a while."
"They've been going around saying Sahyeol Gate was nothing special. What do we do now?"
"They wouldn't draw blades over something like that, would they?"
"You know what kind of bastards Sahyeol Gate are. They're more than capable of it."
"Better to leave for the next city."
The Players of the Starting City were more than a little shaken by the appearance of Han Man-ok, Sect Leader of Sahyeol Gate and one of the strongest on the Tower's 200th Floor.
"He's here to catch the Blood White Sword Demon, isn't he?"
"Obviously. Why else would Sahyeol Gate's Sect Leader come to the Starting City himself?"
"True enough."
"The sparks might land on us for no reason."
"Or we might get a fine show. A life-or-death duel between Han Man-ok and the Blood White Sword Demon. Just watching might open our eyes enormously."
"But is the Blood White Sword Demon even still in the Starting City?"
"No way for us to know."
"So who do you think wins?"
"Sahyeol Gate, obviously. The Sect Leader brought every one of his elite martial artists."
"The Blood White Sword Demon isn't to be taken lightly either. He swept Sahyeol Gate's elites away, plain and simple."
"That was when Sect Leader Han Man-ok wasn't there. Now it's different."
Word of Sahyeol Gate and the Blood White Sword Demon had the Starting City of the 200th floor buzzing.
"Blood White Sword Demon... pfft! What is this, some middle-school edgelord phase?"
Shin Sua burst out laughing, and Jin-soo's face crumpled miserably.
"Ah! Sorry, Jin-soo."
She did her best to get her expression under control.
Do the Museong bastards have some dead ghost riding them that won't let them leave a title unstuck? Why are they being so childish?
After he brought down the Sahyeol Gate branch in the Starting City and dealt with the sect's elites, the alias Blood White Sword Demon had attached itself to Jin-soo. Players from the Museong Dimension started using it, and soon Players from Earth and Arius were calling him the same.
My name never got out, so maybe it was inevitable.
Hide one's identity thoroughly enough, and a ridiculous alias was what you got.
No. Even if they'd known my name, they would have called me by a title.
Players from the Museong Dimension loved pinning aliases on Players from other dimensions, and when they spoke of someone they preferred the alias to the name.
"Still, they came for you, didn't they?"
Shin Sua looked at Jin-soo as she asked.
"Probably."
Jin-soo frowned. Wiping out the branch in the Starting City was one thing, but they had also annihilated the elites dispatched from the Final City. That ought to have been enough to make them give up on revenge, and yet the bastards were stubborn beyond belief.
Face. What a thing to die for.
Not that he failed to understand it. If they abandoned revenge just because the enemy was strong, Sahyeol Gate's honor would be slammed into the dirt for all to see.
Let them wear themselves out whipping a stubborn mutt, then go home.
Sect Leader and elites alike could come to the Starting City all they liked. They had no way of uncovering Jin-soo's identity, so in the end they would leave empty-handed — and that would come back as an even greater disgrace.
"No need to worry about them. Eat up and let's go hunt."
"Yeah."
Neither Jin-soo nor Shin Sua spared the Sahyeol Gate forces pouring into the Starting City so much as a glance. The sect didn't know who Jin-soo was, and even if they found out, it wouldn't be a problem.
If dying is what they want that badly, I'll grant it.
Should Sahyeol Gate learn his identity and come for him, that day would be the funeral day of every disciple in the sect.
They came here convinced they were going to win, of course.
Among Players from the Museong Dimension, Sect Leader Han Man-ok was renowned as a Transcendent expert. The highest-ranking officers of Sahyeol Gate were Peak Realm masters as well, just like Son Sanghyeok, who had already died by Jin-soo's hand. One Transcendent and more than ten at the Peak Realm — by their common sense, it was no great stretch to delude themselves into thinking they could beat anyone.
I showed them an overwhelming display when I dealt with Son Sanghyeok and the rest of Sahyeol Gate's elites, and this is still how they are.
The possibility that someone stronger than a Transcendent might exist did not seem to occupy their heads at all.
And even among Transcendents, combat power varies wildly depending on class, skills, and level.
They weren't considering any of it.
This was not the Museong Dimension. This was the Tower. Here, Player level, class level, skill level, and stats meant a Transcendent expert could die even to a third-rate martial artist. It wasn't easy, of course. The odds of a Transcendent having lower levels and stats than a third-rate were not high. But unlike in the Museong Dimension, it was not impossible.
There had even been cases where a Player from Earth — not even third-rate as a martial artist — overwhelmed a Museong Player who had reached the Transcendent realm, purely through high levels, high stats, and a top-tier class and skills.
That was before the regression, and it didn't happen until around the middle floors of the Tower.
Still, it had happened.
In the end, what matters most in the Tower isn't the realm of one's martial arts. It's level.
Jin-soo meant to shut Sahyeol Gate's nonsense out of his mind and give his attention to breakfast.
"I heard the Blood White Sword Demon belongs to the Daehan Guild. You think that's true?"
"Might be. Same dimension, same country."
"True. Sahyeol Gate wouldn't be preparing an attack on the Daehan Guild for no reason."
He would have, too — right up until that utterly baseless rumor reached his ears.