The Tower City Holds Its Breath
The Tower of the Demon God. A colossal structure standing at the very center of World of Phantasm. It was the heart of the game and the ultimate endgame content every gamer set their sights on. Phantasma. Gamers who had earned the right to challenge the Tower. Even at this very moment, they were climbing it — toward a summit no one had ever reached.
Tower City. Situated along the road leading to the Tower, this place served as the base camp and forward outpost for the Phantasma who sought to conquer it. On any ordinary day, the streets would have been bustling with gamers scrambling to secure supplies. Today, however, they were unnaturally quiet.
"So he's definitely coming today?"
"He said it himself on Yggtube. I'd say that's pretty certain."
The reason for the gamers' tension was something else entirely. They kept glancing restlessly in every direction, searching for someone.
"So we actually get to see that smug face in person, huh?"
"Well, the Linzea Guild folks are crawling all over the city, so it must be true."
The most powerful guild in World of Phantasm was on high alert over a single gamer. To the onlookers, the whole spectacle was downright hilarious.
"I heard even Gabriel took a hit from him."
"Linzea's pride is in tatters. They put out a wanted notice and got played instead."
"There's probably plenty of gamers who came here chasing that bounty, too."
The gamer currently setting the entire world abuzz. In his newly uploaded Yggtube video, Escape from the Unknown Deep Sea 8 — I Became a Phantasma, Ryu7017 had announced his promotion to Phantasma and declared the exact date he would arrive at Tower City. Today was that very day. That was why the nerves of the Linzea Guild and countless other gamers were stretched to the breaking point.
The current time: 11:57. Still, there was no sign of Ryu7017. Many gamers kept watch near each of the city's gates, but no word of his arrival had come. Just when was he planning to show up? The gamers gathered in the city held their breath and waited.
"Tch!"
Bisque, a gamer of the Linzea Guild, was thoroughly fed up with the situation. She was one of the upper-ranked Phantasma within Linzea, famous for being a woman who wielded a battleaxe heavier and larger than her own body as her main weapon. If she'd at least had a frame massive enough to match the axe, she might have drawn less attention — but she was, if anything, on the short side. The Mad Dog who swept across battlefields in dark crimson armor, swinging her colossal axe. In World of Phantasm, you could count on one hand the gamers who didn't know her name.
"What is all this circus even for? It's eating into the time I should be spending conquering the Tower."
Until now, Bisque had ignored whatever drama unfolded below and devoted herself entirely to the climb. When she'd heard that Linpel Darius had been taken down, she'd merely snorted and given it a second thought. Same when she'd first heard about Ryu7017. Bisque's interests began and ended with conquering the Tower. And yet this time, on Gabriel Darius's orders, she'd been forced to come down from it.
The woman seated across from her gave a wry smile. Unlike Bisque, she was tall enough to tower over most men. Where Bisque was violent enough to earn the name Mad Dog, this woman was gentle and soft-spoken.
"Maybe Gabriel-san is getting anxious?"
It was Noir, the gamer famous as Bisque's partner.
"Hilarious. You think that snake has a human bone in his body? Mark my words, he's scheming something again. Guy's a serpent through and through."
Bisque had clearly built up plenty of grievances, because the insults came pouring out.
"I only joined because Linzea is the biggest power in World of Phantasm, but if they're going to sabotage my climb like this, I'm going to have to rethink things."
"But isn't borrowing the Linzea Guild's strength the best option for conquering the Tower?"
"Hmph. We'll see."
Lately, Bisque had been restless. Her climb was stalled at Floor 47. When she'd barely cleared Floor 46 after nearly a year of being stuck there, she'd finally believed the path ahead was opening up. But here she was, bogged down at 47 all over again. The Linzea Guild was providing support for the conquest, but to Bisque, working on the front lines, it never looked satisfactory. Even with none other than Gabriel Darius himself handling rear support, the climb wasn't progressing. More than once, support arrived that made her wonder whether it was actually necessary at all. There had been times when mismatched information cost her dearly. Lately, she'd even begun to suspect that Linzea itself was obstructing the conquest. And this whole mess had erupted right when that distrust was already piling up. For Bisque, who was throwing everything she had at the Tower, it was an unbearably infuriating situation.
"Fine. Since it's come to this, I'll at least grace that bastard's face with my presence. But if he interferes with me one more time, I'm leaving the Linzea Guild."
"They're hardly going to let a top-tier Phantasma walk away that easily."
Noir gave a wry smile. Even if Bisque announced her intent to leave, getting out wouldn't be so simple.
"Let's set the quitting talk aside for now... He's a gamer who only just became a Phantasma, and yet he's incredibly famous. I was wondering what on earth was going on, so I looked into it myself."
"Ah, I couldn't care less, but Ragna filled me in."
Bisque scrunched up her face in annoyance at the thought of the guild's chatty analyst.
"Right, Ragna was oddly obsessed with Ryu7017. He is impressive, I'll admit. Whether it's cheats or bugs, I don't know, but if a gamer like that joined the assault team, things would get a lot easier."
"His ability is impressive, sure, but he comes off like a guy who's lost his mind wanting to show it off, and I don't like that. People like that are no help when it matters. Besides..."
Bisque played a video. The footage of the moment Linpel Darius — once the strongest of the Linzea Guild — had his character deleted.
"Data deletion. Could you really fight with your back to someone capable of that?"
"...That's fair."
Linpel Darius, his data wiped, had lost his account entirely. Partnering with someone who could erase an opponent's data at any moment was absurdly dangerous.
"Hm? If it isn't the shrimp?"
Just then, someone passing nearby spotted Bisque. She turned toward the voice and, without meaning to, scowled. A short man in armor so gaudy it hurt to look at. Strapped across his back were two greatswords each as tall as he was.
"Pokryeol Daedo."
His character name was Pokryeol Daedo. Like Bisque and Noir, he was a gamer of the Linzea Guild. The moment he laid eyes on Bisque, a mischievous grin spread across his face.
"Well, well, little shrimp. What's a shrimp like you doing in a place like this? Did Gabriel order you down here too?"
"Shut it, you insolent oaf."
Bisque glared at him and clicked her tongue. Both of them were assault-team members active on the front lines, but their relationship was bad enough to be called a sworn feud.
"I don't have time to bicker with you. Why on earth do I have to come down here and face that bastard's face, anyway?"
Bisque made no effort to hide her displeasure. At the sight of her in a fouler mood than usual, Pokryeol Daedo nodded as if he'd expected exactly this.
"You're angry too, huh. Well, of course you are. They dragged us down here for this nonsense. Gabriel must be pretty scared of that Ryu7017 himself."
"Of course I'm angry. My livelihood is on the line here! And don't come any closer!"
When Pokryeol Daedo stepped nearer, Bisque barked at him to keep his distance. The height gap between them was already enormous — up close, they'd look like a giant and a child.
Pokryeol Daedo ignored whatever she said and kept talking.
"How about it? Since it's come to this, why don't we settle things over this Ryu7017?"
"Settle things?"
"A contest to decide who deserves to be the next ace. Whoever takes down Ryu7017 — the one interfering with the Linzea Guild — first becomes the next ace. What do you say?"
"Childish."
Bisque scoffed at his proposal. Noir kept her mouth shut and quietly listened to the two of them, her heart in her throat, never knowing what might spark a fight.
"Your offer doesn't interest me one bit, but I suppose I should see that face for myself and find out just how great this guy really is."
Gritting her teeth, Bisque waited for Ryu7017 to appear.
"Same here."
Pokryeol Daedo agreed. Noir quietly breathed a sigh of relief that no fight had broken out. Several more hours passed, and still Ryu7017 never showed himself in central Tower City.
"Don't tell me he got scared and ran?"
One gamer sneered at Ryu7017.
"He showed up, saw how many gamers were watching him, and chickened out. Pathetic."
"But there's no way Ryu7017 would get cold feet over something like that, is there? Think about everything that man has done so far."
"Videos can be edited however you like."
"There's more than one or two witnesses, and you're still crying 'edited footage'? Give me a break."
Another gamer shot back that there was no way Ryu7017 would do such a thing.
"Maybe he snuck in disguised?"
"Then what was the point of all that grand advertising?"
"Or maybe he got the date wrong?"
Night fell, and Ryu7017 still hadn't appeared. Everyone who had gathered in the city to see him was disappointed without exception. Among them, the gamers who had been forced to halt their Tower conquest and come down on Gabriel's orders were especially livid.
"All talk, huh. Gabriel made us come down here for THIS guy? He didn't even show?"
"Gabriel-san aside, looking back at everything he's done, it really is strange, isn't it?"
Noir wore a puzzled expression. It just didn't seem like something Ryu7017 would do. And then—
Massive holographic screens flickered to life across every corner of central Tower City, announcing that new information had been updated. The sudden update caught everyone off guard. After all, since the successful conquest of Floor 46, this kind of announcement broadcast had never once appeared. What information could it possibly hold? The gamers fixed their attention on the broadcast.
Wolya. 5555. The being who bore those names and many others quietly watched what was about to unfold.
"What a bizarre curveball this one throws."
Right now, Ryu7017 was pouring everything into raising his own fame. Notoriety would do just fine. Either way, he was going all out to make a name for himself. To others, those actions might have looked vulgar. If Ryu7017 were simply a man desperate for attention, that read would be correct. But he was different. He had a purpose. His hunger for fame was all in service of that purpose.
"And everyone just swallowing Ryu7017's announcement at face value. From a man who'll crack you over the head without a second thought."
A new record appeared on the broadcast screen. And on that record, these words were written: