A Greeting for Gabriel Darius

He had no scabbard, but the moment he took a drawing stance, Battojutsu activated all the same.

Ryu Hwi felled one of the Linzea Guild's gamers with a single strike.

"Gah?! In one blow……"

"Don't panic! You already know that bastard's attacks ignore defense!"

The Linzea gamers were stunned by Ryu Hwi's power — yet Ryu Hwi himself wore a faintly dissatisfied expression.

It simply didn't mesh with the Gunsword he was using now.

"Maybe ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'll swap weapons."

To test Battojutsu's true performance, he slid the Gunsword away and drew out the Soul Severing Blade, scabbard and all.

"Are you mocking us?"

Taking the weapon swap as a deliberate provocation, one of the gamers flew into a rage.

Ryu Hwi chained Flash Step into Battojutsu and launched himself at the man.

"Kgh—"

The attack was so fast the gamer couldn't even react before dissolving into particles.

"Not bad, but having to resheathe the blade before I can use it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠again is a hassle."

Should he use it as skill experience fodder?

Ryu Hwi mulled it over for a moment.

Combined with Flash Step, it might well produce something genuinely useful.

Ryu Hwi decided to put his other skills through their paces.

The instant the skill activated, the trajectories of incoming attacks etched themselves vividly into his vision.

Ryu Hwi aimed Parrying at the midpoint of one of those trajectories and batted the enemy's strike clean away.

At that, his reflexes sharpened in turn, and Hawkeye's synergy kicked in.

The very flow of time around him slowed to a crawl.

It was a singular sensation — as though he alone were moving. Within that frozen moment, he swung his blade for the enemy's throat.

"Kuaaagh!"

Critical hit.

He knew it from the feel of it in his hand.

"What the hell was that?! I didn't even see the attack coming!"

"Damn it, what are we supposed to do?! How is anyone supposed to fight that thing?!"

Linzea Guild counted a great many gamers among its ranks.

But the ones dispatched to keep watch over this dungeon were, at best, bottom-tier. Against Ryu Hwi, they posed no threat whatsoever.

"Eek!"

With his comrades all down, the lone survivor collapsed onto his rear in sheer terror.

Ryu Hwi had left that last one alive on purpose.

Because there was something he wanted to 'show' Linzea — starting now.

"Hey. Let me show you something fun."

He drew out the Gunsword again. It fit his hand far better than the Soul Severing Blade, after all.

Gripping the Gunsword in both hands, he activated the skill — and a swarm of light gathered upon its blade.

It was the glow of a meteor streaking across the night sky, growing blindingly brighter the longer he gathered it.

Any gamer in the Linzea Guild would recognize this skill on sight.

It was the signature move of their own ace.

Perhaps because it was only Lv1, the output didn't match the full charge time — even more impractical in actual combat than Battojutsu.

But that didn't matter.

For the purpose of showing off, it was perfect.

"Go pay Gabriel Darius your respects for me."

When he pulled the Gunsword's trigger, the meteor tore free in a brilliant arc of light and punched straight through the last man standing.

With that, every Linzea gamer surveilling the dungeon had been cut down.

Ryu Hwi cast a sidelong glance at the other gamers.

The moment their eyes met his, they flinched and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hunched in on themselves.

Gabriel Darius's and Linzea's smear campaign had worked all too well — many of them clearly recognized 'Ryu7017' as a dangerous individual.

Not that it was entirely wrong; he was, in fact, the dangerous man trying to bring down World of Phantasm.

Ryu Hwi flashed them a wide grin, then walked straight into the dungeon.

The remaining gamers slumped where they stood, heaving sighs of relief as though they'd just survived a natural disaster.

"Ryu7017……"

"That guy is genuinely insane."

Each of them had drawn a different impression, no doubt.

But every single one of them shared the same conclusion: that man is dangerous.

Asea.

Checking the dungeon's information, Ryu Hwi's brow furrowed.

Trash he would have to trample into the dirt one day, sooner or later. If she kept operating like this, Asea was bound to pull some scheme of her own.

But that was a problem for that day.

The moment she showed her face again, he would grind her down until she could never rise again.

For now, becoming Phantasma came first.

"Obviously. I already tested my skills outside the dungeon — so in here, I'm testing items. Including the new SSRs."

He couldn't carelessly use SSR skills in front of other gamers.

SSR was, at the end of the day, his trump card. Better to test them somewhere out of other gamers' sight — inside a dungeon.

Ryu Hwi reviewed the items he'd newly acquired.

Simply equipping the Shoes of Wind made his movements noticeably lighter.

The Divine Dragon's Banner was a nuisance — it had to be planted before its effects kicked in.

The real problem was the Powered Armor.

Out of the box had popped something even more worldview-shattering than the Gunsword.

When he test-equipped it, he ended up looking like a reinforced infantryman out of a spacefaring sci-fi shooter.

True to its name, the Powered Armor boosted every physical stat enormously — but its energy consumption was ferocious.

It burned 1 energy point per minute.

The Powered Armor V10 held 5 energy, meaning 5 minutes was its absolute limit.

Five minutes of use for fifteen hours of charging — the efficiency was abysmal.

Ryu Hwi stripped the armor off immediately, but it had already drained down to 4 energy remaining.

Until he pulled an 'Energy Pack' from a Random Box, this was equipment he'd struggle to put to proper use.

"And the last item is……"

"'Summoning' exists in World of Phantasm too, though."

Ryu Hwi used the item at once.

An alert flashed up, announcing an 'Achievement Unlocked'.

"A brand-new system, huh."

He navigated the UI and pulled up the Summon tab.

The summon window already listed the Rammut (Infancy) he'd just used.

The moment he clicked the entry, leaves whirled into the air before him as an intricate magic circle unfurled across the ground.

At last, a small dragon wrought of living shadow materialized in front of Ryu Hwi.

The summoned Rammut immediately began playing by itself, rubbing its face with its front paws — less a dragon than an oversized kitten.

Going by appearances alone, it was hardly a combat-ready summon. Still, on a whim, he ordered it to use Shadow Flame.

Part of Rammut's body shifted into the shape of a flame and drifted off toward the designated target.

At the wispy, leisurely drift of the shadow flame, Ryu Hwi let out a sigh.

Yeah, combat was out of the question for this……

That was the exact moment the black shadow-fire touched a tree — and erupted into a violent, swirling inferno.

Burning one enormous tree to ash took less than a minute.

Ryu Hwi was struck speechless by the sheer horror of the sight.

Clearly, looks could be deceiving.

The tiny shadow dragon rolled around on the spot and yawned.

"By the way, how does leveling up a summon work……"

"Supply and demand don't match up at all with you."

With that, every new SR had been catalogued. Decent enough acquisitions, all told — but none of them the decisive weapon he was after.

What remained were the SSRs.

SSR — Limit Break

SSR — Enchant Lv1

Testing the two SSRs was why Ryu Hwi stepped into the dungeon.

GYAAAAAAAH!

The dying shriek of Bloody Tree Spirit Reaganon, boss monster of the Verdant Illusion dungeon, echoed through the woods.

It had been an irritating boss fight, with the entire surrounding field turning hostile — but he'd committed the strategy to memory long ago, so it posed little real trouble.

Struggling in a place like this would have meant the Tower ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the Demon God was nothing but a pipe dream to begin with.

"Absurd abilities, exactly what you'd expect from SSRs."

Limit Break and Enchant — both had exceeded anything he could have imagined.

Of the two, Limit Break in particular stood on the same level as Delete: power capable of overturning the entire flow of a battle.

Verdant Illusion — cleared.

Clear time: 15 hours, slicing well past the previous first-place record.

Confirming his record, Ryu Hwi walked toward the exit. Beyond the dark forest, light appeared.

"I know."

He caught in an instant what YggON was trying to warn him about. Intuition was flaring warning after warning without pause.

Even Rammut, who had been trailing along behind him, seemed to sense something, sniffing at the air.

"Well, what a welcoming party."

What waited beyond the maze's exit was……

Gamers.

A banner bearing Linzea's emblem fluttered in sight.

Gamers here, gamers there.

Linzea's own gamers had surrounded the dungeon entrance.

Their number: roughly a thousand.

And at their head……

"Didn't you retire from gaming?"

There stood the legend.

"Gabriel Darius."