The Harsh One
A serious voice echoes through the audience chamber.
"So should we be happy about this, or sad?"
All eyes turn to Skal at his sudden remark.
"Are you clueless, or are you picking a fight?"
They had just come from meeting none other than Harcon Kingsguard. They'd heard that neither modern medicine nor magic could fully replace his lost legs. That meant Harcon could no longer stand on the battlefield.
Nam Taemin's eyebrow twitched.
"And what exactly are we supposed to be happy about?"
Hisagi Kazuma interjected amid the tense atmosphere.
"Even without any close ties, I trust Mr. Skal has no reason to welcome Sir Harcon's injury. You were simply lost in other thoughts, weren't you, Mr. Skal?"
"Hah."
Being the only one with other thoughts? Even that rubbed him the wrong way. But for now, Nam Taemin calmed his excitement and opened his ears.
And then.
"......Huh?"
He understood why Skal had said such a thing.
"The spoils left by Yunak Seus aren't just anything—they're a dragon heart, no less. As the Grand Commander said, it's more than enough to open a portal to the Arcana Continent. Soon, any player will be able to freely come and go from the Arcana Continent."
Skal got straight to the point.
"Once that happens, what about the bonus points we earned from the vanguard screening?"
"......!!!"
It was the vanguard bonus points they'd earned through a real deathmatch.
But if Hoyeol was right, those hard-won points would become meaningless.
Tch. Leoni Bellucci clenched her fist.
"No wonder it felt too easy getting praised like that."
"Hey, don't jinx it."
"Jinx my ass."
As far as Leoni knew, only they and Harcon had received the bonus points. Whether for the greater good he cherished so much or out of pride, it looked clean for them to bear the loss. He'd already run the simulations in his head countless times, it seemed.
Skal continued with a dejected face.
"I was planning to head straight to the Altar of the Dragon Knight if we made the vanguard...... But with players coming and going from the Arcana Continent freely? Doesn't that mean a ton more interlopers?"
"Who's interfering with you?"
"You wouldn't get it. What it's like at the top."
"......I'm the official ranking 1 right now?"
"What do you know from just one day? What it's like at the top."
"No, but."
Crack!
Nam Taemin clenched his fist. He'd known this guy was like this even when he wandered alone.
"If it weren't for the Holy War Alliance, you'd be."
Skal's self-centered thinking was truly something else. But thanks to it, the Giant Alliance guild masters realized their own ambiguous position—neither happy nor sad about it.
"Anyway, this guy with no pride......"
"What's pride, Nam Taemin?"
"Trying to explain pride is proof you have none."
"Can't argue back, so you dodge with pride talk again?"
"......But why are you suddenly picking on me? Blame Skal!"
Nam Taemin and Leoni were on the verge of kicking each other's shins.
Hisagi, who had been silent, finally spoke.
"Well, I see it a bit differently."
"Differently? You aren't gonna snitch like a coward......!"
"Would I need to?"
Hisagi's gaze, for some reason, drifted toward the window of the Golden Palace. He approached and opened it, and as if waiting.
"Wh-what is it?"
Flap flap!
Parchments flying through the sky. The parchments flew into each of their hands. Only after all four had one in hand did they settle obediently. It was pure magic.
From the Grand Commander
The sender was obvious without being stated. The gold leaf on the parchment was ridiculously ornate......
"......It's from the Grand Commander."
It was definitely a letter from Hoyeol. Naturally, color returned to the four faces. But as they read on, their expressions soon turned to shock.
It was good news, at any rate.
"This is thanks to the bonus points, right......?"
Yes. The vanguard bonus points weren't invalidated. Before the Mage Tower's portal to the Arcana Continent activated, those selected for the vanguard got first dibs on setting foot there.
The problem was the timing.
Leoni rubbed her eyes, wondering if she'd seen wrong. But nothing changed.
Leoni muttered in disbelief.
"Departure at 6 PM today from the Mage Tower's top floor?"
Checking the time: 5:45 PM now.
......That left just 15 minutes?!
Regaining their senses, they bolted out of the Golden Palace.
"What kind of schedule is this tight...... No, harsh?!"
*
Skilled mages and above get private rooms in the Mage Tower. Excluding Hoyeol, who started as chief, Jessie Haynes was the first player to reach skilled mage.
Thanks to that, Jessie could spend the time until the Tower Lord's memorial alone, undisturbed.
Or strictly speaking.
"So what do you think?"
She wasn't entirely alone.
Stroke stroke—like petting a cat. What Jessie was stroking was her pointed hat.
And the pointed hat spoke.
-I thought my fate was cursed.
In the Tower Lord's voice.
-A fate worse than a dragon's, unable to die even if I wanted to.
The Tower Lord had been certain of death for one reason. He'd taken multiple dragon breaths, depleting his mana—the second life force of a mage. Not just exhaustion, but total depletion, leaving him limp.
Forbidden magic. At the end, he lacked the power or will for soul separation.
He'd planned to meet his end humbly, unbefitting his arrogant mage nature.
But.
-I should have known when he did something he wouldn't.
This chief. He appeared. Fine, he appeared—that was good. There were words to leave.
-......No, was it my fault for uttering such a 'last will'?
That last will surely provoked his temperament. Out of nowhere, he removed his jacket, wrapped the chief's bloodied body tenderly, and said:
-"Your mission is not yet over."
At that moment, warmth from the jacket, then sudden unconsciousness—and now this.
His original body, lifespan spent, could never return. But unconsciously casting soul separation had restored his spirit fully to the pointed hat.
Watching his own funeral from the hat? A complex feeling.
-You always exceed my imagination, this chief.
Truly complicated. In Mage Tower history, he deserved the title of worst Tower Lord. But he'd wanted to avoid even that. Sacrificing his life for a final honor recovery—success, he thought.
-To survive like this.
I'm envious, Senios.
And not just that. His one disciple was still looking at him like a cat.
"Master, you're not groaning anymore."
-You're just like this chief.
"That's a compliment, right?"
-Please don't take after his shamelessness.
The Tower Lord thought as he watched Jessie giggle.
My mission is not yet over...... How do you know my mission, even I don't? This chief?
From the start, he wasn't a mage with such a sense of responsibility.
The Tower Lord muttered.
-......If it were a trivial wish, maybe.
Of course. No one knew his unspoken wish, so the chief couldn't either. Just coincidence.
So the Tower Lord grumbled with an unseen smile.
-You're full of sins, this chief.
"Huh? Master, did you just smile?"
-Do I look like a madman smiling at my funeral?
"No way, liar. Your voice changed a bit."
-You're learning all the wrong things.
No, correction. Beyond sinful.
You are utterly harsh.
*
It was harsh.
"You mean it was the wrong path?"
Lee Hoyeol. The price of walking the opposite path from him.
Ryu Ojuncheon felt none of it. His face, starved of food and sleep, had long been pale. His eyes, alternating between the monitor and the Goblet of Cruel Contracts, had lost focus and wandered.
"Wherever I go, it's all about you."
Ryu Ojuncheon murmured softly.
"......Well deserved."
Extreme Flame Dragon, Yunak Seus. Level 3,500. Confirmed via update notes.
Hoyeol had overwhelmed such a Yunak Seus. But Ryu knew himself well. His past self wouldn't have fully accepted it, no matter how many dragons Hoyeol slew.
"If I were you, I'd have killed you righteously. To spread my greatness, subordinates must die for their monarch."
Called the Black Dark Dragon, ruling over dragons—Hoyeol. If such a Hoyeol commanded death, dragons must die.
His past self would have called it petty trickery.
However.
"......"
Slosh slosh.
Through the Goblet of Cruel Contracts, he'd witnessed everything via his subordinate, pawn, and Heaven Unification guild member.
Hoyeol's all-out assault blanketing the Arcana Continent.
BS spews from the monitor. Hoyeol's estimated level is at least thousands. Something beyond levels. Already at player peak......
"What petty bullshit."
All-out? No, Hoyeol's full power wasn't even that. Knowing it kept Ryu from breaking when Yunak Seus fell.
He'd open a path to Arcana via Yunak Seus's dragon heart. That declaration shattered Ryu.
"Wasting the dragon heart like that?"
From a tyrant's view, incomprehensible.
"That massive spoil for mere......?"
Ryu knew Hoyeol had an access device to enter Arcana and, unlike him, a way back to reality.
So he never imagined.
"Wasting it on those worthless worms?"
Hoyeol. Using it for existences less than bugs compared to him.
Beyond his common sense, the shock was indescribable.
Swipe.
Ryu's gaze turned to the seven access devices. Before the portal to Arcana, they were worthless relics of a bygone era.
Ryu murmured softly.
"......Is that so. Was my judgment wrong?"
First admission.
Grind—no, not admission. Submission, forced before the strong.
Ryu bit his lip and continued.
"Daring to oppose you was my mistake."
Since the Great Evil, Seven Ultimate Jealousy incident. Him and Hoyeol. China and Korea were fully at odds.
Now, swapping the figurehead chairman and late-joining AAU wouldn't work with Hoyeol glaring fiercely.
The world no longer falls for shallow tricks.
That meant.
"Shining, Giant Alliance...... While trash worse than them head to Arcana en masse, I'm left staring at these relics......?"
The gap it would create was unimaginable. Player rankings flipped by Yunak Seus raid. His humiliating 3rd place could solidify or plummet to abyss.
"......I can't accept that even in death."
Grind!
Ryu gnashed his teeth. Then eyed the goblet.
It still showed the sole survivor, Yong Seong Rak's view.
Ryu intoned.
"Hoyeol, if just watching you brings despair."
Then don't watch.
Slosh—Ryu gripped the goblet. The sensation of eyeballs rolling at the bottom transmitted through his hand.
But Ryu ignored it. He brought the goblet to his lips.
Gulp.
Gurgle.
Gulp.
Ryu drained it clean. It was a declaration.
Having realized submission to others was more shameful than death.
No more cowering.
Bloodstained lips parted.
"Prepare the access devices. This seat shall enter the continent."
"......!!!"
"Also summon the Five Stars."
"The, the Five Stars?"
"Supernova's five stars. Gather my true limbs."
*
Garnet Hall.
"Ch-Chief Hoyeol......?"
Senior enchantment mage Kiko Armin's face asked why he'd come straight to Garnet Hall.
What else? To make a proposal.
"Is your evening schedule free?"
"......Y-yes? Me? My evening?"
"Yes."
"Yes, sir! I'm free!"
The skilled enchantment mages in Garnet Hall looked unsettled. Understandable. Anyone would think the line just now was shady.
But no way.
The culprit was Grandfell's speech style, always breeding misunderstandings. To prevent misunderstanding turning to rumor, I cut to the chase.
"Will you come to the Arcana Continent with me, Kiko?"
"......The Arcana Continent? Tonight, right now?"
"Yes."
Irreparable by modern medicine or magic.
Then seek a combination from another 'strange' source?
Yes. I planned to find prosthetic legs for Harcon using dwarf craftsmanship and Mage Tower magic forging.
And while at it.
Following the dragon heart, another legacy from Yunak Seus.
I needed to request forging for the dragon skin too.