The Meeting (2)
“Care to make a wager?”
After Dantalion spoke, a brief silence settled over the room.
Belial pondered for a moment before chiming in.
“Why not? It could be a pleasant diversion.”
Valac snorted derisively.
“Hah. You must really like that player, don’t you?”
“If we do this, what exactly are we wagering? We cannot place bets on this stage.”
Bets between Demon Kings served as a pretext to grant rewards to players. The system had originally been created to accelerate the growth of promising players. However, there was a problem.
A bet required multiple eligible players as targets. Stage bosses and legion commanders could not be subjects of a Demon King’s wager, and Ran had already been defeated by Taeyang, so a bet involving her would not hold.
Kimereis pointed this out directly.
“A game where killing a single monster mushroom grants dozens or hundreds of levels might be fun for an hour, but it grows tiresome quickly.”
Dantalion shrugged with a sly smile.
“That depends entirely on how we define the rules.”
Kimereis raised an eyebrow.
“Are you suggesting we break the rules?”
“There’s no need to be so rigid about it……”
“I will abstain.”
Kimereis rejected the proposal with the same upright posture and principled stance he always maintained. Valac followed suit.
“It’s an intriguing offer, but the fact that it came from you, Dantalion, is what bothers me. It feels like I’m being played. I refuse.”
Belial clicked her tongue softly at their reactions. She had planned to side with Dantalion if the other two bet against him.
Dantalion smiled faintly.
“A shame.”
Dantalion’s wager proposal ended as a minor incident. Soon, their attention returned to the screen.
Valac regarded the Taeyang on screen with renewed interest.
‘Why is he pushing this one so hard?’
On screen, Taeyang encountered the fallen angel soldiers. The well-trained troops pressed him with precise, economical movements. Taeyang slipped into their formation with fluid grace, creating openings and tearing them apart.
“His fundamentals are solid. He has internalized the concept of multi-combat as well.”
“His split-second situational judgment is remarkable.”
While the two Demon Kings voiced their admiration, Dantalion and Belial watched in silence. Valac narrowed his eyes.
Taeyang’s martial prowess was certainly impressive compared to other players on the same floor. But was it enough to warrant this level of interest from Dantalion, who was notorious for being cautious and reluctant to reveal his intentions?
Upon reflection, it did not seem so. Players of this caliber were uncommon, but they existed. Especially on the lower floors, many stood out.
‘What is it? What did he see?’
Taeyang continued to clear the stage with remarkable ingenuity, composure, and flawless combat execution. Along the way, he even acquired six achievements.
“He certainly knows how to squeeze every drop of value from his efforts.”
“Six already. I wonder how many more he will earn by the time he finishes the stage.”
“Indeed. He is from Earth, yet……”
“Earth?”
Valac frowned. The memory returned belatedly. Dantalion had gone to considerable lengths to integrate Earth’s humans into the Dimensional Labyrinth as players. Valac quickly grasped Dantalion’s intent.
‘Hah. He wants to prove that his efforts were not in vain?’
It made sense. The decision to grant special privileges exclusively to players from a specific dimension had been an unusual outcome in the Demon King assembly. To obtain nothing more than an unusually talented piece of trash from a dimension he had worked so hard to breach was disappointing enough. Moreover, the terrified behavior of the Earth players the moment the privilege period ended was utterly repulsive.
Dantalion, renowned as a capable schemer, must have been devastated by the players’ incompetence and failure, even if he never voiced it.
Kimereis struck his knee as if everything now made sense.
“No wonder his specs seemed excessively high.”
Valac began muttering irritably.
“I knew it. I disliked that proposal from the moment it came up.”
“Valac?”
“I opposed it from the start because I knew something like this would happen. I suspected these ambiguously exceptional players would start flaunting their privileges.”
Dantalion countered dismissively.
“What does it matter? Player Yoon Taeyang will become part of the human faction’s strength regardless. In the end, you are also on the human side……”
Thud.
The Dragon Lord’s presence crushed the surrounding space. At the same time, Valac’s pupils split vertically like a reptile’s.
“That is what I dislike.”
“……Are you looking for a fight?”
Dantalion tilted his head.
Crack-crack-crack.
As Valac and Dantalion’s auras collided, the space began to tremble as if it might shatter.
“I enjoy gambling, fighting, war—every form of competition. But there is one thing I despise. Do you know what it is?”
The atmosphere froze over in an instant. Belial rose to mediate, but Valac spoke first.
“Dishonest conduct. Not schemes, but petty betrayal and blackmail.”
Dantalion scoffed.
“How curious. The privileges granted to Earth players were approved with the consent of all Demon Kings.”
“Don’t change the subject. What you just attempted is exactly that sort of petty trickery.”
The attempt to favor a player under the guise of a “bet.” Even though Kimereis and Valac had refused, the fact that Dantalion had tried remained unchanged.
Dantalion said nothing. On the surface, Valac was correct about that point. In truth, there was much he could have said. The Demon Kings of the elf and orc factions frequently engaged in similar tacit favoritism.
‘Why is it that only the human side attracts such rigid Demon Kings?’
Dantalion sighed inwardly.
“Do you truly believe that Yoon Taeyang would have reached his current level without those privileges?”
“It is only natural to favor players who show potential.”
“Cheon-mun’s Heo Gong, Agripa’s Cain, and Yuri Maximov. There are many players who have demonstrated that level of ability without any privileges, Dantalion.”
Creak.
Valac stood up.
“I’ve lost interest. I’m leaving.”
Valac moved before anyone else could respond.
Bang!
The door slammed shut, mirroring the Dragon Lord’s fiery temperament.
Kimereis apologized to Belial.
“Belial. Please forgive his rudeness. His personality has always been rough.”
“Kimereis. You have no need to apologize. I am well aware of the violent nature typical of the demon dragon race.”
“No. I was the one who summoned Valac, who had no intention of coming. It is only right that I apologize. Ahem. I will go after him.”
“If that is what you wish.”
Belial nodded. Kimereis followed Valac out, and Dantalion apologized to Belial.
“My apologies. I spoke too hastily and ruined the mood.”
“No. If anything, I share some of the blame.”
Belial had also tacitly agreed with Dantalion’s wager proposal. After a brief exchange of apologies, the two turned their attention back to the screen as if nothing had happened.
In truth, it was nothing significant. Demonkind took fighting for granted and regarded duels as sacred. From birth, they were taught that everything must be seized, rivals trampled, and endurance was a humiliation reserved for the weak. They were fundamentally wild beings. The Demon Kings who stood at the apex of demonkind were no exception. An argument of this level was a common occurrence that could be easily overlooked. Considering Valac’s usual conduct, it was actually surprising that it had not escalated into combat.
Belial and Dantalion continued observing Taeyang. Taeyang appeared to be buying time by narrowly avoiding the legion commander when he suddenly received Ran’s assistance and killed the commander’s adjutant. Enraged, the fallen angel legion commander briefly fought him on equal terms.
The subsequent scenes were even more astonishing.
“We should have watched this part together.”
Dantalion muttered.
“……We will. The recording will be available for all Demon Kings to view anyway.”
“No. I meant Valac’s expression while watching this scene.”
It would have been entertaining if the bet had been accepted. Taeyang, having begun adapting to the legion commander’s movements, started driving him back instead.
“Heo Gong and Cain are certainly impressive. They even lead human players in reality. But in my opinion, this player’s potential is greater.”
“……Indeed. Dantalion, I think I understand what you saw in Player Yoon Taeyang.”
Belial was impressed.
He had fought the fallen angel legion commander on equal footing. But that was not the most important part. The true point was that he was utilizing his full power without waste.
Players, especially humans, were inherently frail. Earth players were even more so. Naturally, they were unaccustomed to wielding great power. The same applied to adapting to the rapid surges of strength granted while climbing the Dimensional Labyrinth. Their physical output changed with every floor ascended. A player with ten units of power typically controlled only seven or eight. In life-or-death situations, they might manage close to ten, but such cases were extremely rare.
What happened when a player who once possessed ten units of power suddenly gained twenty? According to the Demon Kings’ observations, most players could only output around twelve or thirteen units. The problem was that before they could adapt to twenty units, their power increased even further. What if their power reached thirty, forty, or fifty units?
As achievements accumulated and card slots filled, the amount of wasted power grew. The greater the scale of power, the more refined the control technique needed to become. Taeyang was flawless in this regard. To be precise, his self-control was absurdly high. If he obtained three achievements, he expanded his capabilities to match the new limit. If he obtained five, he adjusted his movements accordingly. The rapidly increasing achievements, the Greatest Machinery, the acceleration buffs, and even the descent of the Wind Spirit King Arasil through Stormbringer—he wielded them all as if they had always been his own abilities, despite growing at a far steeper rate than other players.
“Even predatory demonic beasts do not demonstrate this level of adaptability. How is this possible?”
“He is accustomed to it. Challenging his own limits is second nature to him.”
King of Fist was a different kind of game from Dantalion. To reach higher floors in Dantalion, one needed to satisfy at least one of several conditions: overwhelming martial prowess, exceptional understanding of stage and mission structures, strong affinity, powerful yet considerate allies, or simply good luck. While many players died before achieving any of these, that was the structure. King of Fist, however, was different. As a fighting game, it had no variables beyond the opponent. There was no room for escape or luck. Eight years of that. Though mana did not exist on Earth, monsters did. Isaac Akinfeev, a human theoretically evaluated as having reached the human limit, capable of reacting to every movement. Julia Turner, who could predict the next action with 98% accuracy in one-on-one combat. And above them stood Taeyang. He had perfectly embodied techniques the developers had concluded were the human limit. He had even developed parrying, a motion unsupported by the system. Beyond that, Taeyang had constantly challenged and overcome his limits. An impossible story for an ordinary person. Yet Taeyang had done it.
Dantalion grinned.
The Dimensional Labyrinth was solitude. Merciless, yet a place that endlessly expanded the limits of existence for those who survived.
“Is there any being more suited to the purpose of the Dimensional Labyrinth than this?”
BOOM!
On screen, Taeyang smashed the fallen angel legion commander’s skull.