Supernova (4)
The Kingdom was in an uproar. It was all because of the sudden appearance of the Alvheim Central Knights.
“Dude, yesterday was insane. The Jeok-un guys couldn’t even move. How much did the people who bet on the underdog rake in?”
“Her name was Yoo Dahui, right? She’s human but ridiculously strong. At that level, wouldn’t she beat Hound?”
“Nah, that’s going too far. Hound’s one of the top five in the entire Kingdom. There’s no way he’d lose to some newbie who just climbed up. That doesn’t make sense.”
The players tore into the gossip like it was fresh meat. Like little kids, they bickered about who was stronger and who was weaker. Most who hadn’t seen the match in person dismissed Yoo Dahui, but those who had watched with their own eyes sided with her overwhelming dominance.
“Even when she fought Jeok-un, she wasn’t going all out, you know? She basically toyed with him and still won.”
In truth, Yoo Dahui hadn’t revealed her real strength. Thanks to the blessings she had gathered so far, she was several levels above Jeok-un’s NTR crew. Against any ‘male’ staying on the same floor, she literally could not lose even if she wanted to.
“Haa…”
I sat there like an idiot. Inside a random café in the Kingdom, I replayed everything that had happened yesterday.
What the hell is going on? Why is she mad at me?
To be precise, she hadn’t exactly gotten angry. She had simply shown a slightly cold-blooded side.
She wants to head to the fourth floor in a week?
Shouldn’t she at least hesitate a little because of the starting point? If she got stuck on the fourth floor, it would be an absolute disaster for Yoo Dahui. From a regressor’s perspective, you had to properly reestablish all your relationships before the starting point updated. Untangle any messy ties, get closer to anyone you wanted to be close to.
But Yoo Dahui didn’t seem to care about any of that. Her only thought was to climb to the fourth floor first. Considering how she had acted until now, it was an absolutely insane decision.
This is weird…
It was way too weird. This wasn’t the usual Yoo Dahui at all.
“Tsk…”
“Master.”
Titania appeared in the blink of an eye. Since she could move anywhere through the black veil, I didn’t bother getting surprised. After all, I was the one who had called her. Now that I had heard from Yoo Dahui that we were heading to the fourth floor, it was time to start gathering what we needed.
In Titania’s case, it would be best if she formed the Submission Oath.
“You’re calling me Master pretty smoothly now.”
“I-If I don’t call you that, you won’t give me your semen. If I don’t eat it, I’ll die. I’ll really die…”
Compared to the price of her life, her pride was cheap.
“How about you just form the Submission Oath?”
“……”
Titania stayed silent. The hesitation was clear on her face.
Of course she’d hesitate.
From Titania’s perspective, a half-assed regression was already in progress. For some reason, memories of sucking my dick were being transmitted to her. Every single detail—from losing her virginity to forming a master-servant bond.
She doesn’t have any other options anyway.
It was a problem with only one answer: my semen. It was simply a matter of timing. Titania submitting to me was already a foregone conclusion. There was no way she didn’t know that. Of course, once she formed the Submission Oath and the regression truly began, her attitude would probably change. She might even slam the ground in regret, wondering why she hadn’t done it sooner.
Titania glanced at me, carefully reading my expression before she spoke.
“…If I form the Submission Oath, will you take responsibility?”
“Responsibility?”
“You’ll feed me your semen until I’m full, right?”
“I can’t just let you die.”
The word ‘responsibility’ felt far too heavy to me. It was probably the single word I hated most in the world.
“…I’ll think about it for a bit.”
Apparently displeased with my lukewarm response, Titania answered curtly. As I said, she had no real choice. If I climbed to the fourth floor right now, Titania would simply starve to death on the third floor.
“Oh, by the way, I’m heading to the fourth floor in a week.”
“What?”
The moment the words left my mouth, Titania flinched hard. It was practically a death sentence for her. I could roughly understand why she was so shocked.
“That’s how it turned out.”
“What about me? What am I supposed to do?”
“You…? I don’t know. If you say you won’t come up, I’ll have no choice but to leave you behind.”
Even if I invited her, she probably wouldn’t come. Titania had built up quite a lot on the third-floor Kingdom. If she managed it well, she could live comfortably for the rest of her life.
“You’re abandoning me. Without your semen, I’ll die, you know?”
“Oh yeah?”
“Don’t just say ‘oh yeah’! I might actually die because of you!”
“Oho.”
“You son of a bitch!”
Titania grabbed a fistful of my hair. Just as she was about to yank it out, people around us started murmuring. It was a café, after all—we weren’t alone.
“Whoa, what’s this? A lovers’ quarrel?”
“Huh? Isn’t that succubus… Titania?”
“Titania? You mean Orde’s personal toilet?”
Someone said it, and Titania shrieked in outrage.
“I’m not Orde’s toilet!”
Then she grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the café. I quietly let her pull me along.
“So annoying. I’m not a toilet, so why does everyone keep calling me that…”
“You really don’t know? It’s because you’re a succubus.”
“…I know that too.”
She ran frantically before stopping to catch her breath in an alley. It wasn’t because her stats were low and she lacked stamina—she just wanted to rest for a moment.
“I know they look at me that way because I’m a succubus, but it still pisses me off.”
“You talk just fine when we’re having sex.”
“If I don’t talk like that, you won’t cum for me.”
Everything was for the sake of getting my semen. Calling me Master, acting cute and calling herself a toilet—every bit of it.
“Form the Submission Oath. Then I’ll give you semen for the rest of your life.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. As long as I’m not dead, my balls will keep producing it. If you don’t get too greedy and try to hog it all, there should be plenty.”
Titania’s mind was spinning furiously. She looked like she was carefully weighing countless options, but in reality, she had none. The only two choices given to Titania were to become my toilet or become a corpse.
“…Okay. I’ll form the Submission Oath.”
The moment she entered a subordinate relationship, Titania’s life was over. Having to cling to one man just to survive—how pathetic and difficult that must be.
Titania had no choice but to swear the Submission Oath.
However,
The Submission Oath has been rejected.
Contrary to her words, the Submission Oath didn’t take effect. It meant Titania was unconsciously resisting.
“…See you in a week.”
“Why is this happening? I agreed, so why won’t it work?”
“It’s because you haven’t starved enough yet. See you in a week.”
This damn Succubus Queen would agree to the Submission Oath on her own if she starved for about a week. I decided to wait until then.
After sending Titania away, I arrived at the Colosseum. Even without Yoo Dahui, I had to continue grinding my stats.
I’ll grow as much as possible.
On the fourth floor, ‘rooms’ were everything. ‘Rooms’ were power and authority. The size and number of rooms determined the buffs and debuffs you received.
And that wasn’t all. The moment you stepped onto the fourth floor, you had to play completely solo. Everyone started in different places instead of the same one.
I have to survive without Yoo Dahui.
I needed to match the average level of the fourth floor. At least level 60. If I couldn’t reach that, I’d end up crawling around as a slave on the fourth floor. After all, no one cared about players’ human rights there.
Originally, there weren’t many races that valued players’ freedom or rights anyway.
I headed toward the Colosseum reception desk. Today, I wasn’t planning to participate as the Alvheim Central Knights. I had a different identity in mind.
Mercenary. That was my role today.
As I approached the desk, a Colosseum employee looked at me. Then came the polite voice.
“How may I assist you?”
“I want to participate in a Territory War. As a mercenary.”
“Ah, you wish to join a Territory War as a mercenary? I’ll help you with the mercenary registration.”
Anyone could register as a mercenary. However, it was up to the guilds to decide whether to hire them.
“Player Kim Jinwu, I’ll check your record.”
“Sure.”
“Normal matches: 0-0-0. Ranked matches: 1 win, 0 losses.”
“That’s correct.”
An absolutely pathetic record. But it was fine. Even for someone like me, there were guilds desperate enough to take the risk.
Not 3v3 or 5v5, but 20v20. The majority of mercenary demand came from large-scale 20v20 Territory Wars.
“Oh, there’s already a guild requesting a dispatch. The ‘Jeok-un’ guild wants Player Kim Jinwu?”
“Excuse me?”
Jeok-un—a guild that hadn’t even appeared in the novel. I had no idea what kind of guild they were, but it wasn’t that strange for them to be camping at the Colosseum day and night. Some players earned coins through hunting, while others earned them through Territory Wars. Both were dangerous, but the latter could also earn fame.
From what I heard yesterday, it seems Jeok-un has some side businesses too.
AV distribution. On the third-floor Kingdom, there was a commercial economy where people made and sold items that couldn’t be bought from stores. The products were exactly what you’d expect, and AVs were one of them.
“This is a dispatch request for a large-scale Territory War. The ‘Jeok-un’ guild is looking for mercenaries. Will you accept?”
Should I accept or not? In a way, I was enemies with Jeok-un. Since I had stolen their stats, there was no way they would think favorably of me. In that sense, this dispatch request wasn’t exactly welcome.
Still, I’m insanely curious.
If we hadn’t met as enemies, we might have gone around committing gang rapes together and built some camaraderie.
…No, never mind.
I thought about it carefully. Would they openly request a dispatch and then attack me during or after the Territory War? It didn’t seem like they’d do something that stupid. It would depend on how much they valued their NTR crew, though.
My gut was telling me to accept this dispatch request right now.
I took a mask out of my inventory. A pure white mask. My second self. My own identity.
“I’ll accept.”
The Colosseum employee manipulated the system.
You have joined the Jeok-un guild.
I was now part of the Jeok-un guild.
“I’ll contact the Jeok-un side for you.”
Someone from Jeok-un would arrive soon. I could already see him—a player wearing a coat with a red cloud pattern was looking around as he walked toward me. I lightly raised my hand to call him over.
“…What’s with the mask?”
“It’s a concept.”
The other guy didn’t seem particularly bothered by my mask. In the Tower of Struggle, there were far stranger races than a masked lunatic. The Jeok-un guild member handed me a coat. He said that if I was a member of Jeok-un, I had to wear it. I put the coat on. It made me feel somewhat plausible, like I had become stronger.
“Shinra Tensei…!”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
Maybe I should have stuck a black metal rod through my face. I seriously considered it as I followed the man.
“This is your first large-scale Territory War, right?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not that different from normal Territory Wars.”
The man explained various things to me. Even though they had hired me as a mercenary, my record wasn’t exactly trustworthy. They were just using me to fill numbers because they were desperate.
Would any player even respond to Jeok-un’s request in the first place?
It was a half-ruined guild. From an ordinary player’s perspective, they couldn’t help but feel burdened by the possibility of defeat. If you participated as a mercenary and won, you profited, but if you lost, you had to hand over compensation for nothing. That was why even the nymph Ellie from the Red Hair Mercenary Group couldn’t gather any teammates. Unless victory was guaranteed, finding mercenaries was like picking stars from the sky.
“Do you know what’s most important in a large-scale Territory War?”
“Buffs.”
“Not territory, but buffs… Oh, you already know? Did you study up?”
In large-scale Territory Wars, buffs held enough power to completely flip the tide of battle. There was even a saying that the guild that secured the buffs would win, so no further explanation was needed.
Chatting with the man about this and that, we headed to the waiting room. For a 20v20 large-scale Territory War, the waiting room was enormous. It had to accommodate twenty people, so it was only natural. There were multiple separate rooms, and it wasn’t lacking for twenty people to live in.
However,
“Aang! Haang! Ahn!”
In Jeok-un guild’s waiting room, an obscene orgy was unfolding that was too embarrassing to watch. More than twenty people were moving back and forth.