Chapter 117
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Proper Hospitality
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“Cheonhwa Department Store, Black Dragon Noodles, Xiao Market—still no contact!”
“Rescue requests from the Four Flowers Pavilion!”
“Urgent report: the Black Night Squad dispatched to Black Dragon Bank has clashed with the beasts!”
A simultaneous assault on all affiliates.
Even in the dead of night, the urgent news spread instantly.
There were simply too many sites under attack, and the emergency alert networks of the affiliates subscribed to the Guardian system had activated.
Thanks to that, Hotel Leviathan was buzzing with activity despite the late hour.
It was the command center overseeing the Black Dragon Clan scattered across the world, the forward base responsible for supplies and military might.
“Give us your orders!”
“Where should we send reinforcements?”
Yet the Black Dragon Clan members were merely scrambling about.
They couldn't mount a proper response.
It wasn't just because they had no idea how to counter this absurd situation where all attackers were duke-class players—and the same person, no less.
At the heart of this command center.
The brain of Leviathan, the head manager, was maintaining silence.
“Head Manager!”
Unable to bear the frustration, perhaps.
One warrior called out to him urgently.
Considering the strict hierarchy of the Seven Dragon Society, it was insolence that could warrant summary execution for insubordination.
Even knowing that, the warrior risked his life to beg for orders because the situations at the affiliates were so precarious.
But Youin neither raged nor issued commands.
He simply spoke softly.
“Everyone, stand by.”
“In this situation?”
“Yes. No reinforcements. Relay to the Dark Dragon Squad and all other staff: maintain full readiness, but do not move without orders.”
“Why?!”
Youin calmly countered the warrior's incredulous question.
“Must I explain the reason?”
“……My apologies.”
The warrior finally shut his mouth and withdrew.
Not just because he realized questioning the orders undermined the chain of command entirely, like a soldier demanding explanations from a general before every directive.
It was the overwhelming pressure bearing down on his shoulders.
Having silenced the warrior, Youin smiled wryly where others couldn't see.
Tricky.
The warrior had no idea.
Why Youin had even mobilized his psychonic power to shut him up.
It wasn't merely to preserve his dignity as head manager.
Youin himself didn't know the precise reason he had to do it.
Charitably, it was negligence.
Exaggerated, it bordered on intentional negligence or even betrayal.
Princess, you're putting this old man in a real bind.
Yet there was one reason for it.
It was the order Li Chingwei had given when he urgently informed her of the simultaneous attacks on the affiliates.
Of course, that wouldn't hold as an excuse.
Not in the old days, perhaps.
But now, with the princess's position greatly weakened.
If the other clan members learned he'd abandoned the attacked affiliates, no one would absolve him, even if it was on her orders.
But Youin didn't change his decision.
He was a warrior of the Seven Dragon Society before being Leviathan's head manager.
His duty was to prioritize the princess's will above all else.
Of course, I know there's deep intent behind it...
Moreover, Youin was one of the few who knew how shrewd and thorough Li Chingwei was—a seasoned veteran who had survived countless crises.
Naturally, he knew she wouldn't issue such an order without reason.
He could guess what it meant.
What she was aiming for.
Even so, ignoring the flood of urgent reports and pleas for help from the affiliates wasn't comfortable.
To feel this anxious at my age... My training is lacking.
Sighing inwardly, Youin kept his back straight as he listened to the nonstop reports.
“Dark Dragon Squad, all on standby!”
“Rescue request from the guards who escaped Cheonhwa Department Store...”
“Urgent report from the Shanghai Wang Family's forces...”
“From the Secret Ink Squad...”
It was amid these ceaseless, vital, and urgent reports.
Boom!
A single vibration shook everywhere.
Weeeeeng!
The emergency bell, silent amid the chaos, began to ring.
“What is this...?!”
“No way!”
“Check the situation—now!”
As the Black Dragon Clan members, faces pale with shock and disbelief unlike the previous frenzy, started to panic.
Youin spoke softly.
“Dark Dragon Squad, assemble in the lobby.”
A calm, low voice.
Yet it pierced their ears, halting everyone mid-motion as they turned to him. Youin said coldly,
“Prepare to welcome the guest.”
Tap, tap.
A lone figure strolled leisurely down the dark street.
A baggy hoodie pulled over her head.
Jeans with one thigh exposed.
A guitar slung on her back.
Anyone would peg her as a typical street musician—a blonde woman who looked the part.
Eugene was pondering.
What to do?
Her current commander, the ponytail guy, had ordered her to rampage spectacularly without getting in the way.
It was one of the simplest missions she'd liked recently.
So her dilemma was singular.
Where and how to rampage.
Depending on how you looked at it, it was surprisingly complex.
She didn't have Ryoo Gangcheol's talent for hitting multiple spots solo, so Eugene could only rampage at one place.
In other words, it might be hard to meet the "spectacularly" criterion like he did.
“Yeah, this place it is.”
Eugene decided simply.
Might as well pick somewhere she could go big.
And even she, who only knew songs, knew the Black Dragon Clan's biggest affiliate.
That was why.
At this late hour.
She appeared at one building.
“Too bad, poor guest service.”
Perhaps due to the emergency lockdown.
The building's thick steel doors were sealed shut.
Standing before the entrance, Eugene reached back.
She unslung her guitar from her back, gripped it like a hammer with both hands, and hoisted it high.
“Open Sesame!”
Her cheerful shout echoed through the air.
And the guitar—heavier than it looked, enough to make even Sword Master Rimon feel its weight—smashed into the steel door.
Kabooom!
The thick door crumpled.
Hotel Leviathan shuddered.
“What the hell...!”
The warriors guarding the lobby were aghast.
Their duty was to prepare for contingencies, but they never dreamed an actual "what if" would happen.
The sealing doors of Leviathan were 330mm-thick dungeon ore alloy.
Designed to withstand a direct missile hit without a scratch—practically an indestructible object.
Bang, bang, kaboom!
So at this moment.
The doors crumpling, denting, and flattening before their eyes made their jaws drop.
It was the pinnacle of the unreal.
A dreamlike sight.
But what followed dragged them back to harsh reality, no escape.
Kabooooom!
“WOW... tougher than I thought? Made in Seven Dragons, after all.”
The blonde woman kicked the mangled door flying inward and strode in.
Eugene slung her guitar over her shoulder.
And tilted her head.
“Why only two guards here? Shouldn't there be more?”
A fair question.
Even at night, with full emergency lockdown, two guards at the entrance seemed too few.
But naturally, the two warriors didn't answer her doubt.
They just bared their teeth and drew their swords.
“Die, you fiend!”
“For daring to invade Leviathan, your life will—”
Splat!
It happened in an instant.
The two warriors charging bravely at Eugene became bloody pulp plastered to the wall.
They weren't weak.
Both were masters in their own right, capable of fierce battles against decent high-level players.
The problem was one thing.
Eugene was too strong.
Just one guitar swing ignored their techniques, shattered their swords, and crushed their bodies whole.
“Huh? Dead in one hit?”
But Eugene blinked at the scene she'd wrought.
She tilted her head and muttered.
“Aren't Seven Dragon Society masters tougher? Don't they usually charge even when smashed?”
Half surprise at the unexpected.
Half disappointment.
Her mixed soliloquy would have made the dead warriors vomit blood if they'd heard.
Especially since it wasn't sarcasm—just her honest impression.
And though no vengeful spirits lingered, someone here could offer a rebuttal.
“No matter the master, a human can't fight with limbs, organs, and entrails all pulverized.”
“Who?”
“I am Youin, head manager of this hotel.”
The elderly man in a suit.
Youin introduced himself calmly.
And regarded Eugene with steady, sunken eyes.
“If it's not too much trouble, might I have your name, honored guest?”
“Nah, top secret.”
“A pity.”
As if he'd expected as much.
Youin accepted her refusal evenly and continued softly.
“I merely wished to know the name of the strategist who fooled our clan with feints, diversions, and the ploy of hiding in plain sight.”
“WHAT???”
“...As expected, the strategist is someone else.”
“We don't have a strategist? Just a commander.”
“Anyone who succeeds in attacking our affiliates to weaken Leviathan's forces qualifies as one.”
Youin said with a sigh.
Over a month-plus, the beasts' steady raids on affiliates.
This confirmed it was a ploy to distract and draw out warriors before hitting Leviathan.
And their scheme had worked.
Leviathan should have had three combat squads and countless warriors on constant standby.
Now, only one squad and dozens remained.
Even this was thanks to Guardian's fierce defense minimizing affiliate damage.
Without Rimon's predictions to shore them up, even this force would have been dispatched.
But Youin neither blamed himself for failing to prepare nor sighed in relief at having some defense.
He simply raised one hand lightly.
“Dark Dragon Squad.”
Swish swish swish.
From corners of the lobby emerged a group.
Thirty-two warriors in dark dragon cloaks emblazoned with dragons, white masks covering half their faces, each radiating blade-sharp auras.
“It seems our doormen fell short in hospitality, so this time, allow us to provide proper service.”
Rrrrrumble.
Auras clashed.
Psychonics mingled.
The power of thirty-two duke-level masters fused into one via intricate formation.
The lobby shook from the aftermath alone, space warping in the psychonic flow. Youin fixed Eugene with cold eyes.
“Experience the might of the Black Dragon Clan's strongest combat squad.”