Prologue - He Comes
“He's coming.”
Shing—!!!!
I drew my sword. The sharp silver blade flashed against the sky. My shoulders trembled with terror, but the sunlight streaming through the hall's windows was mockingly warm.
“Stand and fight.”
I looked up. The nine knights standing side by side in the center of the hall drew their weapons in unison at my command. I gazed at them for a moment, then closed my eyes and drew a deep breath.
“Grieve not for us. We have fulfilled our duty.”
The searing energy of war permeated every corner of my body.
“Let us fight, Guardians of the Empire.”
I opened my eyes slowly and addressed them—the ones called Glory's 9. Their eyes already burned with resolve.
“……Follow our lord!!”
The eldest knight at the forefront hoisted his massive, pillar-like assault spear onto his shoulders and bellowed with the resolve of one facing death. His thick voice echoed through the hall from beneath his helmet's visor.
Raaaaah—!!
Waaaaah—!!
The other eight knights roared in response, as if trying to shake off the fear binding them.
“Beneath our spears.”
The old knight led the chant, and the knights slammed their weapons to their chests and shouted back.
“Glory shall be ours.”
[Kyaaaaah—!!!]
[Grrrrrr—!!!]
Monstrous howls echoed from all directions. The warm sky ignited in an instant, scattering black ash, and the horrific screams of the citizens who had prayed for us reverberated beneath the capital.
Boom—!!
Kabooom—!!!
Kraka-ka-ka-boom—!!
Explosions erupted everywhere. The splendid castle crumbled into ruins in moments, transformed into a hellscape by the surging monsters. The knights' swords grew sticky with blood. Their spears grew heavier, and their once-keen blades dulled.
“Hah…… hah…… hah……”
How long had we fought? Gasping ragged breaths, I stared at the oncoming horde. The Glory's 9 who had breathed beside me had long since become cold corpses. Days and nights had blurred together—I couldn't recall.
[Grrrrrr……]
Grit— I ground my teeth as I glared at them. There were no regrets in my life. But one lingering wish haunted me. Despite devoting my entire existence to it, I could never kill him.
The Destroyer, called the Calamity.
“Such high praise.”
It was then. As if reading my thoughts, the monsters encircling me parted to either side. A voice answered.
Thud— Thud— Thud—
Footsteps approached. My shoulders shuddered involuntarily.
A man strode slowly toward me, followed by four knights. The first knight had a skull for a face. The second rode a horse engulfed in flames. The third dragged a massive scale laden with the corpses of countless soldiers. The last wielded a scythe like the Grim Reaper himself.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Each one a terrifyingly powerful calamity.
Yet the radiant-faced man at their center exuded an awe that surpassed their terror, evoking reverence as if facing a god.
“……”
A scene I'd witnessed countless times. But the moment he appeared before me, instinct told me once again: an insurmountable gap. And I realized.
This world would perish. By his hand.
“It's over.”
His sword slowly touched my throat. In that instant, my vision went black.
Complete darkness. Death.
That was when it happened.
[……Hey!! Snap out of it!!!]
Someone was calling me.
……?!
1
[Hey!! Kim Do-hyun!! Snap out of it!!!]
“……Huh?”
I opened my eyes. A steady beep-beep of machinery accompanied my blurring vision sharpening. The wind blowing in wasn't just warm—it was hot.
Waaaaah—!
Waaaaah—!!
Instead of ear-shattering monster roars, cheers filled the air.
I quickly scanned my surroundings.
Kaboom—!!
In that instant, a deafening roar hit my right shoulder with brutal force, flinging me backward like a ragdoll.
“Gah……!!”
[Where the hell are you spacing out, Kim Do-hyun……!!]
Choking on the searing pain, I exhaled sharply as someone charged toward me.
Fwoosh!!
A man in black leather armor accelerated in a burst, leaping off the ground at speeds too fast to track.
Slash—
Incredibly, the neck of the massive shield-bearing warrior who had just smashed me detached cleanly with a chill whisper of steel, hitting the ground.
“……”
Dazed, I stared as the black-armored man gripping dual swords hauled me to my feet.
[Hey, you out of your mind? Who the fuck falls asleep in the arena?! We're one step from death trying to keep your ass alive!!]
“……The arena?”
Only then did I realize why I stood frozen in the dust-choked Colosseum.
[Sigh, what's the point asking. Ever since logging into Dimension World, you've been like this. A ranker like you ain't hurting for cash to grind side gigs. You secretly playing some other game on us?]
“……Yeah, sorry.”
Memories flooded back like forgotten data syncing, and the situation clarified.
[Focus up. This is the last arena match before the expansion drops tomorrow. Gotta leave our mark till the end, right?]
“Our mark……”
The voice in my headset conjured familiar names unbidden.
Eltia Iron Kingdom, Guardian Spears Unit, Glory's 9……
That dream again……
Or hallucination? I couldn't tell. All I knew was that the maddening vision that had repeated endlessly had ended once more.
With death as the finale.
……Damn it all.
The sensation of dying lingered so vividly I rubbed my neck unconsciously. Pathetic as it was, with the dream's desperate life-or-death frenzy gone, relief washed over me, twisting my lips into a bitter smile.
Bam—!!
Kabooom—!!!
The war in my dream had ended, but the ear-splitting explosions continued unabated.
“……”
I looked up. As if the dream bled into reality, a chaotic melee of magic and swords filled my view.
“Aaaagh……! Uwaaaagh!!”
Screams echoed everywhere, but none carried the terror of before. This was Dimension World.
The ultra-massive VR game that swept the globe within three months of launch via third-gen nano networks and the pinnacle Neuron Interface processor.
Three left besides Jin-su and Chan-ho.
I shook off the daze and quickly assessed the remaining enemies in the arena.
The map was Flame Colosseum. True to its free-for-all name, twenty-one fighters—seven teams of three—battled for survival in one massive arena.
How long had I blacked out? Felt like decades in that dream world.
“Those guys……”
“You held up well.”
Despite their numbers disadvantage, the two had guarded my scarecrow ass unscathed. Having skilled allies meant security.
And vice versa—it meant I was skilled too.
Fwoosh—!!!
“Kim Do-hyun's moving!”
“What the hell were you doing all this time!!”
“Crush him!! Waaaaah—!!!!”
The crowd's frenzy sent chills racing down my spine.
Crackle……!!
I raised my hand overhead, and frost formed in my palm like freezing air itself.
“Kuh!”
One surviving thief lunged for my throat but spotted my hand and hurled a smoke bomb from his inventory.
Poof—!!
Gray smoke billowed. He vanished, and a dagger aimed for my nape.
Thief basic: Ambush.
But I'd anticipated it. I scattered the condensed frost behind me.
Tang! Tang!
The blade ricocheted with sharp clangs.
Supreme Ice Magic Defense – Nute
Like layers of thin paper stacking, glittering snowflakes formed a barrier around me.
“Smoke then flank. Textbook, sure—but why thief patterns never evolve beyond the basics.”
I muttered as his daggers—his ace in the hole—bounced harmlessly off the frost shield.
Skill combos were efficient: chaining minimized mana/stamina while maximizing damage. The formula worked.
But efficiency didn't mean invincible. Predictable patterns were easy to counter.
The shattered ice melted into droplets. I thrust my gripped staff into his chest with all my might.
“Don't get cocky! You're predictable too.”
He anticipated and dove deeper into my blind spot.
Supreme, third-tier hidden class for ice battle mage. Despite being mage-line, specialized for melee—my staff ended in a long, spear-like blade.
No AoE spells like other mages, but shone in PvP. Pure duelist class.
The Colosseum scoreboard flashed a red mark by my name. Symbol of the sole top ranker.
This is why PvP's fun.
Hummm……!
Whoom……!!
The melted droplets stretched into icicles, trailing my staff past the thief's swinging blade to impale his back.
“Gah?!”
Ice spikes pierced his fleeing legs. His dagger whiffed, grazing my cheek by a hair.
Walker common gut poison coated it—fatal graze for low-HP mages.
That was his kill shot. The chill made me smirk oddly as I pressed the attack.
Crackle……!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
From foot to shin to thigh—five spikes locked his leg. He screamed in agony.
Nute's special: slows foes.
“Guh…… guh……”
I reversed my grip and pierced his chest calmly as he crumpled.
VR realism wasn't mere photorealism. In fantasy, it meant hyper-fantasy.
Feeling the cold dissipate as spikes melted, I scanned around. Jin-su and Chan-ho's foes lay dead too.
“One step from death, my ass—you're full of energy.”
“Says you. Dimension World arena rank 1 lives up to it—sleep through and still one-shot Crude from Panton Guild. Mage diving dagger range? And that weapon? They blew a fortune on him to take you down.”
“Exactly why he's the monster. All that cash and still lost. No one's beating him now.”
The two dusted off, chuckling.
“Well, game's ending today anyway.”
My musing, like finishing old homework, sobered them.
“Server maintenance tomorrow, expansion the day after? Dropping a hit game for a sequel…… that confident?”
“Yeah. No opening trailer yet—who knows what they're dropping.”
“Eh, we'll dive right in when servers reopen. Wanna grab drinks tonight with the prize money?”
“Hell yeah!”
Unlike their victory high, unease gnawed at me. The reason was obvious.
“There's one.”
They turned, baffled.
“Huh? One what?”
“One you absolutely can't beat. No matter what.”
“……What? If you lost that many times, rankings would've shifted. Where'd you fight?”
I swallowed the answer, biting my lip.
In the dream.
No point saying it—they'd never believe.
Coincidence or my stubbornness, I kept dreaming the same thing on login. He was strong. Ending always the same.
Defeat.
Could I…… really beat him?
“You two drink without me. Need a break.”
Even brief, decades of battlefield fatigue crashed down.
“Eh?! Why?”
“Hey, hey! Where you going?!”
I waved off their gripes and pulled up the logout screen.
“……”
Before exiting, I scanned the arena one last time. Not from server shutdown regret.
Grit—
“Destroyer.”
Just once. Just once, if I could face him here—not in dreams.
In this world, I'd win.