Time of Judgment
“Eh, fuck! I can’t do this shit.”
A man hurled his shield aside and broke ranks from the government coalition's formation. That sparked a flood of deserters pouring out one after another.
“Being lumped in with these assholes? I'd rather die.”
“Do I really need to risk my life for scum like this?”
The procession of defectors swelled into a massive crowd surging like a wave.
Kang Min-cheol shouted with panicked eyes.
“What the hell are you doing?! Fleeing with Sertina right in front of us? You trying to get us all killed?!”
“You'll be the ones dying—you and your fanatics. I'm out.”
“If we can't stop Sertina, Korea's done for! We're already short-handed—splitting up now is suicide!”
“She saved people before. No guarantee she'll wipe us out.”
“I'd rather see your head roll first than worry about Sertina.”
Clang. Metal gear thudded onto the asphalt, dissolving into blue light as it returned to inventories.
Chae Hwa-yeon whipped her head around in frantic confusion, yelling,
“H-Hey, guys? Where are you going?! We have to stop Sertina first!”
“Sorry, this just doesn't feel right no matter how I look at it.”
“We were expendable anyway, right?”
Guildmates she'd trusted turned their backs and walked away.
“Ah...”
Chae Hwa-yeon grabbed the wrist of her closest guildmate, pleading desperately.
“Ye-eun, you're staying with me, right? Yeah? We'll save the country together?”
But Ye-eun's face, when she turned, was ice-cold. A harsh tone Chae Hwa-yeon had never heard from her spat out.
“Knowing you're like this, I never should've teamed up with you, you bitch.”
Thud. Her wrist was shaken off mercilessly. Stunned, Chae Hwa-yeon stared blankly at her retreating back.
Lee Cheol-woong's side fared no better.
“Don't waver! Rally up! We're taking down that world boss together!”
“Fuckin' prick thinks we're buddies just 'cause we played along with his setup?”
“You were gonna kill her anyway—now you want to team up? Bullshit.”
Thud, thud. The disarmed crowd flowed past me toward Choi Ah-rin's lines.
Bow. Someone led by bowing their head in passing. Soon, players were dipping their heads to Choi Ah-rin and Yoo Ji-hoon, murmuring apologies.
···But I had no intention of acknowledging any of them.
“We'll investigate later and execute every collaborator who shows up.”
A few steps faltered instantly. Their fear prickled my skin.
“···Choose wisely.”
A slim chance to subjugate me here and survive? Or get caught later and meet a gruesome end?
A few players' faces darkened unmistakably. But they schooled their expressions and joined Choi Ah-rin's ranks.
·····I remembered every one.
Thus, the remnants on the government coalition side: roughly 3,000 players. Ostensibly here to take me down, but really collaborators in the anti-faction assassinations.
I leveled Blood Eater at them.
I'd given them a chance, but they had no hope anyway.
If you're so confident, prove your right to live by killing me.
This was my final mercy to them.
A judgment.
·····I quietly drew up my mana.
Blood Coagulation
Blood Restoration
*
“Fire!”
Boom boom boom! Under Kang Min-cheol's command, mages' multicolored skills streaked in straight lines. Overhead, the Elemental Master's Apocalypse Meteor rained down.
Kaboom!
I dodged most with minimal movement. A few hits didn't matter. World bosses weren't world bosses for nothing—my HP dwarfed theirs.
···Time to test them a bit?
Blood Coagulation
Blood Restoration
The combo I'd used most against raid teams. Over a hundred bodies stiffened rigid, then melted into blood from head to toe.
“Gaaah!”
“Healers! Purge the frozen ones!”
Kang Min-cheol barked quick orders. If it'd been under 100, they'd be goners—but there were too many now.
“Hah! S-Survived!”
“World boss raids cap at 1,000! Even Sertina can't handle 3,000!”
Emboldened by breaking free and getting heals, they surged with morale. I'd figured it wouldn't stick, but their response was swift. Top-tier players, intimately familiar with world boss Sertina.
But they overlooked one thing.
I wasn't the Astrius Online world boss Sertina they knew. I was far freer, unbound by scripted skills—a higher existence.
···I focused on the mana pulsing within.
I had a few unpublicized skills too. Their descriptions hinted at massive power. But I wanted to save them—no point revealing info early.
So why not use what I'd learned here?
I raised one finger skyward. Recalling a skill's structure I'd analyzed.
-Mana deployment. Cloak refined mana over the blueprint, manifesting the form from my fingertip. Build the spell array, link the circuits. Project thought transcends the intangible, materializing in reality.
-Multi-spell construct. Arrays unfurl like text crammed on a scroll, each embedding positional coordinates. Thus born: soccer-ball-sized fireballs. Basic mage attack skill.
Fireball.
·····Except.
Whoosh! There were thousands. All in an instant.
“What the fuck?!”
“Am I seeing this right?”
“Sertina casting Fireball?!”
Thousands of blazing orbs scorched the landscape eerily, like a wall of flame.
Brain-calculated: 3,000 players' positions, space geometry, wind direction, speed. All variables factored—guided missiles with fixed coords, trajectory, and force assigned.
“···Think you can handle it?”
I lowered my skyward finger, pointing at the coalition.
“Then block this too.”
Thousands of fireballs pelted like a storm. Earth drowned in blaze and screams.
Kaboom kaboom kaboom!
Seeming random, but homing on predicted paths.
“Grah! Hot!”
“M-My arm...!”
“Heal me! Hurry!”
Tank defenses crumbled under sheer volume. Air ignited. Unfiltered burn agony sent players thrashing limbs wildly.
“···Don't let your guard down yet.”
Toward the inferno ground, hundreds of blood blades rained.
Krsh!
HP decreases continuously over time. (Lasts 30 seconds, stacks)
“Hrraaagh!”
“Fuck, it hurts! Hurts so bad!”
Burning-vein pain twisted limbs. Meanwhile, my unique skill healed me for their bleeding HP loss.
The One Who Mocks Death
Sertina recovers HP equal to the enemy's HP lost to Bleeding debuff.
This confirmed it. They were top players, who'd challenged world boss Sertina dozens, hundreds of times. They'd learned the patterns.
But rote learning lacks flexibility. One unexpected wrinkle, and they misjudge.
They could endure scripted Sertina.
But me, armed with endless variables?
We'll see how long your struggles last.
What kind of monster is that?
Kang Min-cheol wiped cold sweat, face ashen. They'd unleashed ground-sweeping skill barrages—enough to dent any Sertina.
···But that wasn't the issue.
She dodged almost everything. Nothing like the game version. Real Sertina mocked omnidirectional fire with graceful, fluid motion—like an elegant swan or precision war machine.
As if foreseeing every attack's range and path.
Overwhelming firepower? Pointless if it never lands.
Assassins stealthed? Brawlers flanked? She saw. Sliced them apart effortlessly.
“Gaaah!”
Dozens of elites crumbled like snowmen. In seconds.
Kang Min-cheol felt sanity slipping again.
“Ahh.”
Korea conquest was within reach. Now crumbling to nothing.
If they lost here too... I would...
Horrid visions unfolded in his mind. His tragic end, painted in oil.
Crunch. He gripped his sword hilt.
One path to salvation. She'd given the chance: prove worth by beating the world boss.
Goddamn rotten luck. Why Korea, of all places?
Boom! Ground cracked under his leap. Max speed, full power for the ultimate strike!
That instant, Sertina's blood-red gaze locked on his as she carved through players.
Whoosh! Air split—death at his nose.
Ah. It's over.
In that blink, he accepted it. One step showed the gap: utterly transcendent.
But Sertina blew past him.
A whisper on the wind:
“Not your turn yet.”
That chilling voice addled his mind.
From the start.
She'd never offered us a chance.