The Hero Has Appeared
An awkward tension hung thick in the air.
There was an Easterner whose thoughts were utterly unreadable, a spearman who looked profoundly irritated by the mere act of existing, and, shining bright even amidst this suffocating atmosphere, an astonishingly handsome young man.
"Since fate brought us together like this, how about sharing a meal—"
"Piss off. I know damn well what filthy tricks you're scheming."
"What in the..."
Crash—!
Kicking her chair backward with a loud clatter, she turned on her heel and strode out of the guild hall without a second glance.
What on earth was her deal? Who did that delusional lunatic think she was? It wasn't as if she possessed some otherworldly, celestial beauty or anything... well, objectively speaking, she was undeniably gorgeous. But still.
For a split second, I felt a surging urge to plant a fist right into her jaw. Swallowing the impulse, I turned toward the young man who was still smiling pleasantly beside me.
"Would you care to join me for a bite to eat? We could brainstorm tactics, talk things over, and trade some information."
"Oh, I would love to!"
"Then let's head out. I know a great little place nearby."
His answer could not have been more polar opposite to hers.
We headed over to a diner I had visited recently and ordered a few light dishes. Though clearing the upcoming exam was an absolute foregone conclusion, I still asked about his specialties and combat style to build at least some basic synergy between us.
"Ah, I don't particularly favor one weapon over another," he said.
"No preference at all?"
"Haha. I suppose showing you would be quicker."
He unslung the bundle tied across his back and unwrapped it. Inside lay practically every weapon imaginable, neatly strapped and packaged: swords, spears, bows, whips, and more.
It was such an unexpected and novel arsenal for someone with his refined, noble appearance that I could not help asking out of sheer curiosity.
"To be frank, with looks like yours, you could easily pass for high nobility. Why choose such a brutal, gritty line of work...?"
"........."
His smile faded, replaced by quiet, heavy solemnity. When he spoke again, his tone was dead serious.
"There is someone I must kill."
"Someone you must kill...?"
"Yes. At present, it feels entirely hopeless—the odds are virtually zero—yet kill them I must."
"........."
Well, hey. I suppose vengeance could be as valid a reason to live as any.
Catching the chilling murderous intent pooling in the depths of his eyes, an electric intuition jolted through my gut. I immediately opened his status window.
Details: A young man born to a fate so ordinary he was destined to be nothing more than a humble farmer. He had expected to spend his life tilling the soil and passing tranquil days with his companions. Yet was fate merely cruel? In a single instant, his village was reduced to ashes. His childhood friends, companions, family, and kin were all incinerated to death. Standing alone amidst the ruins, the sole survivor swore a solemn oath: he would burn the architect of his tragedy to ash just the same.
※ Blessed by the Lord God.
"........."
A Hero...? Well damn, I never in my wildest dreams imagined this game actually had a Hero class.
No matter how many times I rubbed my eyes, that golden 7-Star rating hovering before me refused to disappear.
Haha.
Hahaha.
Hahahahaha.
The impossibly handsome guy sitting right across from me was a genuine, bona fide 7-Star character. And not just any 7-Star, but a chosen Hero whose growth cap had shattered straight from 1-Star to 7-Star thanks to the divine blessing of a deity.
Damn it all, why the hell did you never show up on my gacha account back then...?!
A wave of visceral, agonizing regret battered my soul. If only he had dropped into my account during my playthroughs, I would have carried him through all the bloody vengeance his heart desired!
"Is something the matter?" Ray asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Ah, no... it's nothing."
"That is a relief, then. It truly was a pleasure meeting you today."
Offering a polite, respectful bow, he casually slipped away and disappeared from view.
To tell the truth, I had wanted to recruit him on the spot. But right now, we possessed neither the raw power, the actionable intelligence, nor the resources to help him achieve his grim ambition.
"I am recruiting him later. No matter what."
"Dost that youth take thy fancy, disciple?"
"Yeah. Insanely so."
Even though Yeong So-so beside me was also a 7-Star, there remained an astronomical divide between an individual blessed by a God and one who was not.
"I'm definitely recruiting him."
Recruitment was the only correct path.
The following morning.
As scheduled, the four of us gathered deep within the forest for the promotion exam. Being the most sociable and knowledgeable about the system, I naturally stepped up into the role of squad leader.
Ah, of course, that didn't sit well with everyone.
"If you screw up leading us, I'll slit your throat first."
One person clearly despised having me in charge, but as long as she had no desire to die young, I doubted she would actively rebel or disregard orders once combat started. Still, her personality was utterly rotten to the core.
A naturally foul temper? An edgy persona? Or some deep-seated trauma?
A dozen theories flashed through my mind, but asking her directly would probably earn me a spear through the windpipe, so I dropped the thought entirely.
"Selena."
"What?"
"You should at least know who you're working with. That's my name."
Well, at least she gave her name without throwing another tantrum. Contrary to her prickly demeanor, she didn't seem inclined to let petty emotions jeopardize life-and-death operations.
After wrapping up our brief preparations, we spent an hour marching toward the lake.
Quuu—!
Fortune favored us. A pack of mutant orcs, noticeably smaller than the average breed, prowled into sight.
Normally, I would have charged in headfirst to gobble up the experience points, but in order to gauge the capabilities of our new companions, I adopted a defensive posture to initiate the standoff.
Glancing back, I saw So-so give a small nod, having caught onto my intentions. True to her belligerent nature, Selena was the first to lunge forward, her heavy spear spinning into motion.
Selena has activated Single-Point Pierce (C+).
While not a catastrophic martial art like Yeong So-so's techniques, her spear unleashed with astonishing fluidity, skewering an orc straight through its knee joint.
Quuu—?!
Crippled in one leg, the orc's balance completely collapsed. Standard doctrine dictated finishing off an off-balance monster from a safe distance with a thrust to its vitals, but Selena took an entirely different approach.
"Kyahaha—!"
She burst into wild, manic laughter. Even a sub-species of orc possessed enough crushing grip strength to shatter a human skull like a melon, yet she looked downright ecstatic, leaping straight into its reach to hack the beast into mincemeat.
Slash—!
Chop—!
The orc was butchered in real time. The creature flailed desperately, thrusting out a massive arm to shove Selena away, but she merely snarled back.
"Hah?! A filthy pig of an orc dares fight back against me—?!"
Slash—!
A blinding blur of spear strikes, and the reaching arm was reduced to ribbons of raw meat. Arm, leg, chest, torso, and finally the head—every last trace of the orc's anatomy was pulverized into gore.
"Phew—! Now that's what I call living!"
She must have picked up some form of cleansing magic, because the viscera coating her entire body vanished in the blink of an eye. What in the world was that? Even accounting for her being Level 20, that level of butchery was overwhelmingly lopsided. Suspecting she had something hidden up her sleeve as well, I pulled up her status window.
Details: An entity born beneath the grim destiny of slaughter. Her innate martial talent is meager, yet through the blessing of death, she possesses a constitution that grows exponentially stronger by taking the lives of other beings. She holds no true affinity for weapons; she craves slaughter purely through primal, feral instinct.
The Heavenly Murder Star...
Well, that explained everything. Anyone who hadn't played the game might gasp and wonder, 'Isn't the Heavenly Murder Star insanely rare?' but in reality, quite a few characters possessed this trait. How many had I pulled in my gacha career? Around three?
Two of them had succumbed to uncontrollable bloodlust and suffered violent seizures, forcing me to execute them. The remaining one, however, grew powerful enough to claim a seat at the Round Table.
Still, Rank C... While evolving ordinary unique skills was near impossible, the Heavenly Murder Star upgraded its rank the more slaughter it bathed in.
"Kyahaha—! Hahaha—!"
Selena continued spinning her spear like a windmill of death, butchering orc after orc. Back in the game, it had felt like an average, run-of-the-mill skill, but witnessing it in the flesh, the sheer bloodthirsty pressure was something else entirely.
"The Heavenly Murder Star, hm..."
"Oh? You recognized it?" I asked.
"Naturally. At her meager level of martial skill, only one cursed by the Heavenly Murder Star could radiate such dreadful murderous intent."
"I see. Wait, hey—why are you drawing your sword?"
"Hm? Is it not common sense to slay one bearing the Heavenly Murder Star on sight?"
So-so drew her blade as casually as if she were stepping out to weed a garden.
Holy crap. Even in the Murim martial world, they treated it with that level of prejudice? Was the Heavenly Murder Star truly that notorious?
I reached out and shoved So-so's sword back into its scabbard, reasoning with her in a hurry.
"How many members does our guild have right now?"
"There are only the two of us, art thou not aware?"
"Correct. So what is our top priority right now?"
".........Lunatic."
So-so fixed me with a piercing glare. Her expression practically screamed: Thou art truly planning to bring that madwoman into our fold?!
Honestly, I barely suppressed the urge to extend an invitation right then and there. Tearing my eyes away, I turned to observe the remaining recruit's prowess.
Ray, the young man blessed by the Lord God.
Contrary to my expectation that a Hero would unleash bombastic, earth-shattering skills, he did not trigger a single ability. Instead, unlike Selena's feral butchery, he dismantled his foes with cold, surgical tactics.
Boom—!
An orc slammed its massive fist into the dirt, missing him entirely. Utilizing the resulting recoil and opening, Ray glided forward.
Slash—!
With an impassive expression, he severed the monster's neck cleanly in a single stroke. If I had to describe it, it looked as though an optimized game AI had possessed his flesh—pure, wasted-motion-free perfection.
The grin I had been trying to suppress threatened to split my face in two.
"Ah, I can't hold back anymore. This is too good."
Bursting into a laugh of my own, I charged headlong into the fray toward the monsters.
Watching all of this madness unfold, Yeong So-so muttered under her breath:
"Not even within the Cult were there madmen of this caliber... Truly, the end of days hath arrived. A wretched era indeed."
Above our heads, the sky stretched out in unbroken, tranquil blue.