The God of Controls' One-Coin Clear
The castle had a distinctly damp atmosphere.
Damp, gloomy, the kind of place that belonged in a horror movie.
“So this stage is a castle?”
“Damn, the vibe is awful.”
The players muttered among themselves.
They kept twisting their heads this way and that, warily scanning their surroundings.
It was the classic reaction most players showed upon first entering a new stage.
“At least this stage isn’t an open-world one like the Street of Murder.”
Yeah. This kind of stage actually feels more comfortable.
Open-world stages were massive, usually built around an entire city.
A huge map with lots of players meant an endless number of variables.
Of course there were plenty of chances to obtain gear and rewards, but too many variables always spelled trouble.
“Still… a castle, huh.”
The first thing that comes to mind is Sword’s Castle or Princess Raid. Judging by the number of players around us, it doesn’t look like Defense & Offense.
While Taeyang and Hyeonhye were still debating what kind of stage this might be, something appeared in the air.
“Whoa! Up there in the air!”
“What is that?”
Starting with the player who spotted it first, everyone looked up.
“Hello everyone! I am Bernstein, the Demon King’s errand boy, here to make my grand entrance!”
A being with the appearance of a child and tiny bat wings.
A lesser demon.
“Why am I here, you ask? Why, to explain this stage, of course!”
As the lesser demon Bernstein spoke, a system window appeared in front of Taeyang.
[2-3 Sword’s Castle: Escape the castle.]
“Oh, I was right.”
Heh, of course I was.
Hyeonhye’s smug tone had a certain quality that never failed to get on people’s nerves.
It wasn’t exactly anger—it was more like the urge to tease her.
He really wanted to mess with her a little.
“There she goes bragging again.”
Hey! You think it’s easy to figure out a stage just from the background?
“Too bad. If you’d stopped at ‘heh’ it would’ve actually been cool, but you had to ruin it with that extra nonsense…”
With the viewers piling on, Hyeonhye was clearly getting worked up.
Taeyang chuckled at her reaction.
In the meantime, Bernstein continued his explanation.
“On the highest floor of this castle lives a mad swordsman. How mad, you ask? He’s absolutely terrifying, has a garbage personality, and the moment he spots anything alive he swings his sword immediately. Or wait—does he swing it the moment anything moves?”
A powerful, hostile entity toward players.
The Mad Swordsman.
As time passed, the swordsman’s range of activity would gradually expand.
In simple terms, he would come down from the upper floors.
Conversely, the players were currently at the bottom of the castle and needed to climb upward.
“All the rooms inside the castle are currently locked. So you players will need to overcome the trials and unlock them to proceed to the next area. Once you make your way through and enter a certain room around the middle of the castle, the stage is cleared! Pretty easy, right?”
The explanation sounded simple enough.
Then one player raised a hand and asked.
“What happens if the swordsman reaches the middle first?”
At the player’s question, the lesser demon grinned.
It was the innocent, childlike smile typical of a kid.
“As long as you reach the room, you pass. Though the swordsman uncle will probably be guarding the door. Talking things out with the swordsman uncle is one possible method, you know.”
His eyes sparkled with clear anticipation.
What this lesser demon was probably hoping for was the moment the swordsman and the players crossed paths.
More precisely, the sight of blood spraying and screams of agony.
“Oh, right! If you go down to the castle basement, you’ll find a dungeon entrance! If clearing the trials to unlock rooms gets too difficult, head to the underground dungeon and focus on growing stronger.”
In the underground dungeon, players could obtain equipment, artifacts, or even cards.
Of course, high-grade cards or top-tier artifacts required going deep inside and having a fair amount of luck, but still.
Players now had two choices: clear the stage by unlocking rooms through trials, or temporarily postpone clearing and enter the underground dungeon to power up.
“As a tip, there are tons of rewards in the dungeon. Instead of unlocking rooms, it might be smarter to fully gear up in the dungeon before facing the swordsman uncle.”
Taeyang clicked his tongue.
The Sword’s Castle stage had a slightly different feel from the Dimensional Labyrinth stages he had experienced so far.
Excluding the tutorial, the stages Taeyang had gone through were two: the Orb Hunt and the Street of Murder.
Both of those stages blatantly encouraged competition between players.
In the Orb Hunt, the point was to collect more orbs faster than anyone else.
The Street of Murder had the explicit mission of killing other players.
Sword’s Castle, however, was a stage that required cooperation rather than competition among players.
And the worst part was how that cooperation was structured.
Roughly thirty players had gathered for this stage.
If everyone worked diligently to unlock the rooms, clearing the stage would be far easier than expected.
In theory, at least.
Obviously, things rarely went that smoothly.
At first everyone would try hard.
And then one by one they’d slip into the underground dungeon and never come back out.
Right then—
KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
A spine-chilling scream echoed through the castle.
The Mad Swordsman’s roar.
The mana-infused cry crushed the players’ very souls.
Taeyang frowned.
The other players reacted to the roar as well.
“W-what the hell.”
“Is that the Mad Swordsman?”
A few of the more timid players turned deathly pale just from hearing the sound.
Even those who weren’t as shaken renewed their sense of caution.
The scream alone was enough to convey just how powerful the Mad Swordsman was.
Even the players who had been momentarily tempted by Bernstein’s explanation immediately changed their minds.
Good gear and growth were nice.
But nothing was more important than staying alive.
Bernstein pouted.
“Ugh. How boring.”
The cute little demon vanished as abruptly as he had appeared.
“W-well then…”
The players began eyeing each other nervously.
At that moment, a muscular man slammed his greatsword into the floor.
BOOM!
A crater formed in the stone castle floor.
“W-what the—”
“Crazy bastard!”
Was it natural talent or had he stacked the right achievements?
Taeyang unconsciously clenched and unclenched his fist.
Could I do that too?
He wasn’t sure since he hadn’t tried, but it felt like he could.
Taeyang suddenly became curious about the limits of his own body.
From the early floors of the Tower where achievements were hard to get, he had been maintaining an unprecedented pace of four achievements per floor. Yet he still hadn’t properly tested the limits of his physical ability.
Hmm. He’d have to check that properly later.
Knowing exactly how far he could move was a fairly important factor.
Anyway, the muscular man’s show of force had frozen the atmosphere solid.
The muscular man spoke.
“From now on, everyone is going to unlock rooms. Any objections?”
From behind, one player muttered.
“W-wait, is that guy Tobi?”
“Tobi?”
“You know, the Tobi who destroyed three castle walls by himself in the Flag Stealing stage?”
At the player’s words, some of the others began murmuring.
Taeyang hadn’t met him before, but it seemed the man had been quite active in the previous stage.
“I… ahem. Don’t you know me?”
Taeyang cleared his throat awkwardly and glanced around.
It didn’t seem like anyone recognized him.
Taeyang awkwardly rubbed the underside of his nose.
“Then let’s all move together.”
When no one spoke up in protest even after a short wait, the muscular man—Tobi—began leading the players.
Taeyang unconsciously started following them as well.
Taeyang, what are you doing?
“Huh?”
This stage is the one with the Blood-devouring Katana.
Oh, that was this stage?
At Hyeonhye’s words, Taeyang suddenly stopped walking.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
The players moving with him looked at Taeyang with puzzled eyes.
Suddenly, Taeyang declared.
“I’m not going.”
“What?”
“I need to head down to the dungeon and power up a bit. Tobi or whatever his name is already seems to have collected some cards, but I haven’t.”
Taeyang’s voice was clear.
Loud enough for every player around to hear.
Tobi, who had been walking at the front, stopped dead in his tracks.
Taeyang turned around without caring about the reaction.
“I’m heading to the dungeon.”
“Stop.”
Tobi’s deep voice pressed down like it was crushing the ground.
Of course, Taeyang didn’t stop walking.
The players who sensed the dangerous atmosphere quickly stepped aside.
Srrrng.
Tobi, who had turned around, drew his greatsword.
“I told you to stop twice. There won’t be a third.”
“Yeah. Fuck off.”
At Taeyang’s casual remark, some players who could already foresee what was about to happen swallowed nervously.
Whoosh.
The moment Tobi swung his sword—
Tat!
Taeyang launched himself forward.
BOOM!
The greatsword Tobi had thrown grazed past Taeyang’s back.
The blade left a massive scar on the innocent corridor wall.
“Catch him!”
Nope, not getting caught.
Tobi charged after him.
His massive frame moved with surprising agility, making it feel like the entire space was being filled.
Taeyang dodged Tobi with movements that looked like he was barely escaping, dancing just out of reach.
Soon Taeyang entered the dungeon entrance, and Tobi followed right behind him.
The remaining players looked at each other.
“S-should we go in too?”
“Tobi went in. Maybe we should…”
BOOM!
Tobi walked out of the entrance with his face flushed red with rage.
The players silently turned away.
The moment Tobi had heard Bernstein’s explanation, he had understood the outline of this stage.
The dungeon was a trap. The important thing was unity.
He had wanted to clear it easily.
That was why he had stepped up and taken the lead.
He had even used force to rally the players.
He had willingly taken on the heavy burden and risk that came with a single player stepping forward.
It might even have been a heroic act.
And that heroic act lost all its luster the moment one man broke away.
I thought it would be easy.
Tobi bit his lip.
He could feel the players behind him glancing back repeatedly.
Fucking bastard.
If things continued like this, it was only a matter of time before the players started deserting.