A Meteor Falls on the Plaza
«Ah, you're connected again.»
5555's voice rang out. The town plaza he'd stood in before being sucked into the bug space swam back into view.
Ryu Hwi scanned his surroundings in a hurry, but there was no sign of Asea anywhere.
«Your connection dropped out of nowhere, and then I detected data that was practically a 'bug.' What happened? You were gone for almost ten minutes.»
"Ten minutes?"
He'd only been trapped in the bug space for four or five minutes at most.
"Could it be based on game labyrinth time?"
«Probably?»
Apparently, that space ran on an in-between time scale—a multiplier that belonged to neither reality nor the game labyrinth.
Ryu Hwi checked the plaza once more, worried that someone might have stumbled into the traps he'd planted around the area. Fortunately, there was no sign that any of them had triggered.
After the commotion he'd caused, no one would be approaching the plaza anytime soon. Especially now that a 'bug' had surfaced there as well.
Cynthia... no, Asea.
There was far too much he didn't know about Asea of GA-ES.
The sudden reunion had sent ripples through Ryu Hwi's heart. To have his mortal enemy standing right in front of him and be able to do nothing at all—he felt like she'd completely stolen a march on him.
"Do you know anything about a gamer named Asea from GA-ES?"
«GA-ES? They're a guild that focuses on World of Phantasm, I think? Their name's come up on the rankings a few times.»
The information was far too thin. He'd need to gather more.
I'm the one who will end Linzea.
What on earth had she meant by that?
Unable to figure out Asea's true intentions, Ryu Hwi clicked his tongue, making no effort to hide his irritation.
'If you respond to my words, I'll buy you time so you can survive.'
'The meteor is right nearby.'
'Meteor?'
Ryu Hwi looked up at the sky.
It was daytime by game labyrinth standards; no meteor would be visible.
And besides, World of Phantasm didn't even have weather-anomaly events like falling meteors to begin with.
Was there some other meaning to the words?
Then it dawned on him—one particular gamer's nickname was Meteor.
A gamer who crushed his enemies by wielding a suite of unique skills modeled after meteors.
No way...!
Intuition.
Following the skill's warning, Ryu Hwi moved on pure reflex.
An absurd, overwhelming sense of dread.
He hadn't even felt this when fighting the Witch of Solitude, back when the bug occurred.
In that instant, a flash of light fell from the far edge of the sky, aimed precisely at Ryu Hwi.
"Ugh!"
Without the Intuition skill, he would have been struck down without ever knowing what hit him.
The flash that grazed Ryu Hwi streaked across the plaza and slammed into a tree. The trunk was obliterated in a single blow and came crashing down.
The attack didn't stop at one.
Think while it's coming, and you die.
Ryu Hwi moved on pure reflex, guided by Intuition alone. The flashes came down like driving rain, and every single one was absurdly lethal.
This skill is....
Ryu Hwi recognized what the skill was.
How could he not?
It was a technique he'd watched again and again and again on video.
One of the precious few skills in World of Phantasm capable of striking at range.
A top-tier skill that could only be acquired by mastering Spear Mastery all the way through.
"Meteor Storm!"
A skill whose effect was, quite literally, a barrage of falling meteors.
A short while later, the bombardment of stars ceased.
It was a mercy that the bug had left this place deserted. If anyone had been around, it would have been an outright catastrophe.
Ryu Hwi, who had barely survived the storm of meteors, pushed himself up out of the dust and dirt.
«A Meteor Storm... Someone incredible just showed up.»
5555's voice drifted through.
She, too, seemed to have guessed who had launched this surprise attack.
"Ha, haha..."
Ryu Hwi found himself laughing despite everything.
Beyond the point where the flashes had blazed, someone was slowly walking toward him.
Golden hair that fell to his shoulders looked like the mane of a beast. The blue third eye on his forehead glinted with an eerie light, like the eyes of a predator stalking its prey.
There wasn't a gamer in World of Phantasm who didn't know his name.
"Shut up."
The ace of Linzea Guild, Linpel Darius.
"All those love calls were so damn noisy I couldn't get a moment's rest."
He twirled his beloved Starlight Spear round and round, flaunting his presence.
"You bothered me, Linpel Darius. So I assume you're ready for what's coming?"
Given everything Linpel had shown so far, the odds were high he'd take Ryu Hwi's bait.
Ryu Hwi had provoked him with exactly that in mind—but Linpel Darius was the face of Linzea Guild.
Even as he acknowledged that Linpel might actually come, Ryu Hwi had assumed it would take a while longer before the man made a serious move.
YggON was chattering something, but the voice never reached Ryu Hwi.
Every nerve in Ryu Hwi's body was locked onto Linpel Darius.
A strange situation—deviating from his expectations and yet matching them at the same time.
Linpel came walking over with slow, unhurried steps.
"Ryu7017. Ryu Hwi, was it... I thought maybe seeing you in person would jog something loose, but nothing's coming to me at all."
Linpel studied Ryu Hwi for a moment, then clicked his tongue.
To have dragged a man's entire life down into the abyss and not even remember it.
"You trampled someone else's life into the dirt, and you don't remember a thing?"
"I trampled your life? You think you're the only one who whines to me about that? Hmm... let's see... Ryu Hwi... Ryu Hwi..."
Linpel pressed hard between his brows.
Then he shrugged, as if to say it wouldn't come to him.
"I feel like it should ring a bell, but it just doesn't. Well, whatever. Bottom line is, you're just another mob whining at me over nothing."
"You—!"
SSR — Intuition Lv. 1
The next instant, Linpel's spear tore through the empty air.
He'd thrust it straight for Ryu Hwi's skull—and it grazed past his forehead by a hair's breadth.
"You dodged that?"
Linpel frowned slightly and swung his spear two, three more times.
These were ordinary attacks, no skill involved, yet every single strike carried the force of an ultimate technique.
Without Intuition, he wouldn't have been able to dodge at all. Even finding the timing to parry them away would have been nearly impossible.
"Hm."
When Linpel paused his assault, Ryu Hwi immediately backed away to put distance between them.
"Shall I revise my assessment?"
"Assessment?"
"A little game of mine. Gamers are supposed to enjoy their games, after all. The old-school gamers used to play for the pure love of it, you know?"
Linpel spun his spear in lazy circles, the picture of composure.
"But these days the game has become this world's means of survival. A method of mining the energy that keeps the world running!"
Linpel attacked again.
A relentless chain of strikes that gave no room to breathe.
"Ugh?!"
"If I'm going to keep doing something this boring, I need ways to make it fun, right? So I'm always looking for excuses to go all-out every single day."
The more Linpel attacked, the faster he became.
"For example—a game where I size up whoever picks a fight with me and fight them at their level. In short..."
Linpel gripped the spear in both hands. In that instant, the weapon drank in light.
The telltale effect of a skill activation.
Meteor Strike
"It means you're my plaything!"
Overlaying his casually thrown spear-thrust came the image of a meteor plummeting from the heavens.
"Damn it!"
Less a spear strike than the impact of a colossal hammer swung at full force. Taking it head-on would be disastrous.
Fortunately, because it was such a powerful technique, the movement left a tiny sliver of an opening.
Ryu Hwi seized that instant and swung the Gunsword with everything he had.
The moment the Gunsword met the spear, the parry effect of the skill Sword Saint triggered.
"!"
Linpel's skill was forcibly canceled, and his attack was knocked aside.
A flicker of surprise crossed Linpel's face, but he resumed his assault almost immediately.
"Hah!"
The parry effect had sharpened his reflexes. Thanks to that, unlike before, he could now meet Linpel's attacks head-on.
Ryu Hwi deflected every last one of the flash-fast blows raining down on him.
His attacks are heavier than the Dark Knight's!
Linpel Darius was stronger than the Chaos Dark Knight. The 'ace' title of Linzea Guild hadn't been handed to him for nothing.
"Parrying? Now that's an interesting skill you've got there."
Even watching the effect of a skill that didn't exist in World of Phantasm, Linpel calmly pronounced it interesting.
"You force-cancel my attacks and your own speed goes up? Then let's see just how long you can hold out."
As if to say he hadn't been serious until now, Linpel's attacks grew even faster.
The break effect of Parry was clearly landing, and yet his transition to the next attack was absurdly quick.
"My Starlight Spear has an option that raises its speed with every consecutive attack. I'm nowhere near its top speed yet."
It was known that Linpel's weapon was Unique-grade, but its exact effect had never been made public.
Gritting his teeth against the terrifying power of the Starlight Spear, Ryu Hwi resisted with everything he had.
"You're holding up decently. Assessment revised."
Unlike the desperate Ryu Hwi, Linpel remained utterly at ease.
"If you can last another twenty seconds, I'll even praise you. Do give it your best."
He didn't even have the leeway to answer.
No matter how hard Intuition worked, his body simply couldn't keep up.
Linpel's ever-accelerating attacks finally surpassed Ryu Hwi's limits, and as though sucking him in, one of them drove deep into his shoulder.
"Tsk. And to think you still had five seconds left. In that case..."
Meteor Strike
This time, there would be no blocking it.
The meteor-laden blow crashed down over Ryu Hwi.
Swept away by the impact, Ryu Hwi went flying and landed far off in the distance.
"That gives me a rough idea of where your skills stand. Hmm—you're playable enough, I suppose... but still below expectations."
Linpel evaluated him with cold, dispassionate eyes.
If this hadn't been a PK Prohibited Zone, the shock alone would have killed him outright—and even alive, the unbearable agony left Ryu Hwi unable to hold his body together.
"With skills like that, you pick a fight with Linzea and with me? Where do you get the nerve?"
"Shut your—"
Ryu Hwi forced himself upright.
"Come to think of it, you're an Unknown, aren't you? Don't tell me—you got stripped down because of me, so now you want revenge? You couldn't have pulled all this off alone. Did someone hostile to Linzea put you up to it?"
Linpel had concluded that Ryu Hwi must have backers behind him. Otherwise, there was no way a mere Unknown could have gotten his hands on a 'game account.'
"Who are they? Tell me the truth and I might go easy on you. You finally made it to gamer—don't waste it chasing pointless grudges. Go enjoy the game labyrinth instead."
"Pointless?"
"You've never heard it in a book or a movie? Revenge is nothing but emptiness. I'm only telling you this for your own good."
Ryu Hwi's mind went numb.
What the hell is this bastard babbling about?
It was so absurd the words wouldn't come.
Cynthia—no, Asea—had been the same.
And so was Linpel.
The very people who had wrecked Ryu Hwi's life were now lecturing him to give up on revenge and just enjoy his life.
"So, who's backing you? Who set up this adorable little prank?"
"No one."
"Huh?"
"Other people using me? That's hilarious."
Ryu Hwi spat on the ground.
"Why the hell would I borrow someone else's power to crush you people?"
His grip tightened around the Gunsword, his voice hard as iron.
"Can't even remember who I am, can you? Doesn't matter. From here on out, you won't be able to forget."
Asea had laid the kindling, and Linpel had just poured oil over it. His rage ignited into an inferno beyond all control.
I'm the one who will tear Linzea apart!
For a single instant, the sheer force radiating from Ryu Hwi overwhelmed Linpel. His pride evidently wounded by the fact, Linpel's face twisted.
"So you won't talk... is that it?"
Linpel clicked his tongue and took the spear in both hands.
"I gave you your chance and you threw it away. Don't come crying later."
Intuition was screaming.
It cried danger without pause.
But Ryu Hwi did not retreat. He stood his ground and faced Linpel.
"I'll take you on at fifty percent, Linpel."
At those words, Linpel let out a savage roar.