Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Book 1 - 5 (3)
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In the meantime, Shiron glanced down at the two bowed overseers and spoke curtly.
"Good work. You've heard the meeting time, right?"
"Yes! We've been informed."
"Then we'll meet then."
Shiron exchanged no further words.
He simply brushed past the crowd,
and his footsteps headed toward Zone 3.
Labupan and Artyu didn't raise their heads until Shiron's figure had completely vanished.
Only once he was gone did the stagnant air seem to flow again.
Labupan let out a sigh of relief and lightly tapped Artyu's shoulder.
"Shiron's presence... it just keeps growing sharper with each passing day. He seems even stronger since reaching Fighter Level 20."
"Tell me about it..."
At that moment,
Daros calmed his trembling chest and thought to himself.
'So that's the pinnacle of this dimension. If I can just catch that man's eye, I could become an overseer like Artyu, right?'
But Daros's thoughts were soon shattered into pieces by the events that unfolded.
A few minutes after Shiron departed,
Labupan returned to his own lodging.
And just before leaving, he whispered something in Artyu's ear that we couldn't hear.
Afterward,
Artyu regrouped the relaxed new recruits.
"Alright, everyone, snap out of it. We're heading out to get your lodgings assigned. I've got duties here, so I have to stay behind..."
Artyu, and the new recruits listening intently,
at that instant,
sensed the atmosphere at the village entrance shift once more in a strange way.
This time, it wasn't a heavy pressure.
It was an eerie silence, as if every sound in the world had been cut off.
A single man was walking toward the village.
His gait looked utterly ordinary, and he wasn't clad in any flashy gear.
Yet the people along his path parted naturally, as if shoved aside by an invisible wall.
No one spoke to him, and no one dared meet his eyes.
This wasn't mere indifference.
It was instinctive avoidance born of utter terror—for survival.
Artyu spotted the man and his eyes widened.
His bulging gaze darted back and forth between the approaching man and the one person standing in his path.
Daros.
Daros, puzzled by Artyu's sudden pause, turned to look behind him.
And he saw the man walking straight toward where he stood.
'Who is he? An overseer? Or just...'
Daros realized the man was heading directly for his position.
The man didn't slow his pace.
He didn't veer off course.
He simply advanced indifferently, as if Daros were an invisible ghost who wasn't even there.
Daros instinctively knew he had to get out of the way.
He hurriedly turned to apologize.
"Ah, sorry..."
Thud!!!
A dull impact cut off Daros's apology.
Daros's body flew into the air before crashing to the ground.
"Argh!!..."
Blood filled his mouth with its metallic tang, his vision flashed white, and the world spun wildly.
Daros groaned in agony and barely managed to lift his head.
The one who struck him wasn't the approaching man.
Standing right before him was Artyu.
The friendly senior who had just been smiling and encouraging the new recruits was gone.
Artyu's face was etched with raw fury—and an even deeper terror.
He unleashed a barrage of kicks on the fallen Daros without mercy.
"You crazy bastard! Where the hell were your eyes?!"
Thud! Thud!
"You got a death wish or what?! Huh?!"
Artyu's shouts mingled with the sounds of impacts.
This went beyond discipline or punishment—it was outright brutality.
Daros could only curl up and take it, clueless as to why. Amid the bone-rattling, flesh-tearing pain, he couldn't even scream properly.
'Why... why is this happening? What did I do wrong...'
Tears of injustice and fear mingled with blood and streamed down his face.
The new recruits froze, not daring to intervene. They just watched with stiff expressions.
Even as Artyu trampled Daros, he kept glancing sideways at the man still approaching.
Sweat soaked the back of his shirt.
Artyu's mind was burning.
The moment that man halted because of Daros, this spot could become the starting point of a massacre.
Who was he?
The true master of Dimension 64: Oheon.
Artyu knew instinctively. If he didn't beat Daros half to death right now, not only Daros but everyone nearby—including himself—could die by Oheon's hand.
This wasn't violence.
It was a desperate cry for rescue, a defensive mechanism.
Oheon brushed past the writhing Daros and the wildly beating Artyu.
He spared them not a glance,
as if oblivious to the commotion at his feet—or uninterested in squabbling insects.
His impassive gaze fixed solely on the empty space ahead.
As Oheon passed by his side, Artyu felt his breath catch.
An overwhelming presence.
A prickling energy grazed his skin.
Yet Artyu had no choice but to follow Oheon.
It was his duty, after all.
Thus, Artyu cleared every obstacle all the way to Oheon's lodging,
and once he entered,
Artyu stood guard outside.
But he immediately grabbed another passing overseer.
"Hey, you. Hold down the fort here for a bit—urgent business."
Forcing a lower-ranking overseer to take his place, Artyu rushed back to the fallen Daros.
By the village entrance, Artyu's eyes fell on Daros, collapsed on the ground, barely clinging to life with bloody froth at his lips.
His face was swollen, and his leather armor was caked in dirt and blood.
The new recruits watched Artyu, and a long silence stretched out.
Artyu slowly approached him and opened his inventory with trembling hands.
He pulled out a Lowest-Grade Stamina Potion.
Then he knelt, propping up Daros's upper body.
He uncorked the potion and poured it between Daros's torn lips.
"...Drink."
Artyu's voice quivered faintly. The earlier rage had vanished, replaced by deep exhaustion and regret.
Daros choked from the pain but instinctively swallowed the potion. Healing energy spread through him, easing the excruciating agony bit by bit.
He forced open his swollen eyes and looked up at Artyu. His gaze brimmed with resentment.
"Artyu... why on earth..."
A raspy voice leaked out.
Artyu didn't avoid Daros's stare.
He looked at Daros,
but addressed the new recruits.
"Everyone, go wait over there. Don't eavesdrop."
Once the new recruits moved away, Artyu spoke lowly.
"Sorry. But... if I hadn't done that to you, you'd be dead right there."
Daros wore a baffled expression.
"What do you... Because of that guy earlier? He just looked ordinary..."
"Ordinary?"
Artyu let out a hollow laugh.
"Yeah, he looks ordinary. But that's only because your Agility stat is low."
Artyu glanced around warily once more, then whispered into Daros's ear.
"You saw Shiron earlier, right? That man—the one even Shiron kneels and submits to—is him."
Daros's pupils trembled.
The idea of the mighty Shiron submitting to anyone was unimaginable.
"Who... who the hell is he?"
Artyu fell silent for a moment. Just uttering the name felt like breaking a taboo, fear surging within.
But to prevent this newbie from repeating the mistake and endangering him too, he had to share a little.
"Don't even try to find out. Forget the name, the face. Just think of him as... this dimension's calamity."
Artyu's voice dropped even lower.
"If anything had gone even slightly wrong back there, not just you—we all here, including me, would've turned to dust."
Only then did chills crawl up Daros's spine, goosebumps rising.
The pain from Artyu's blows paled against the terror of death brushing past.
Artyu gripped Daros's shoulder tightly.
"Remember this. If Shiron's the law, that guy's a natural disaster. If you can't avoid it, flatten yourself and pray. Never catch his eye. That's how you survive here long-term."
The words echoed what Labupan had said.
Daros endured the pain and could only nod.
He would never forget the dimension's true absolute ruler.
Back in his lodging, Oheon.
The incident on his way back to the village hadn't even registered as a fleeting memory for him.
Back in my lodging, I thought about what tomorrow would bring.
Prior to this,
I'd seen in the ranking restriction announcement
that when Zone 5 opened, the village would expand into a city.
If the village underwent urbanization tomorrow, I wondered what would change.
It was just speculation,
but beyond enabling conversations with the fortune-teller NPC, probably more features would unlock.
The day passed like that,
just minutes before noon on Day 38.
To observe exactly how the village would expand into a city, I'd deliberately bought and entered the highest lodging available.
There were height restrictions in the village, so even superhuman abilities couldn't let you watch from rooftops.
But this lodging only cost 120 gold—not a big expense.
In the purchased lodging,
gazing out the window offered a full view of the village below.
Preparations complete.
And then,
the long-awaited system message appeared before my eyes.
At the same moment, the ground began to rumble.
Rumble rumble rumble—!
This was no mere earthquake. The terrain twisted and rose—a complete reshaping of heaven and earth.
I immediately fixed my gaze out the window.
Instead of the shabby little buildings collapsing, grand and refined stone structures erupted in their place.
The rickety wooden palisade encircling the village vanished, replaced by tall, sturdy walls.
Roads widened, and the plaza grew even larger.
In an instant, the humble village was transforming into a majestic city.
Everything in the village was growing...
bigger, grander.
Watching the spectacle, I thought to myself.
Now, the real start begins.