Chapter 33
Defying the number of 3,000 that was supposed to be their last mercy, the blood-red calamity massacred everything in its path. Swordsmen who charged in boldly offered their necks before swordsmanship that cleaved space itself. Brawlers yielded before fists that ripped even the ground apart in circular shockwaves.
"Gahk!"
Mages and archers were no exceptions. Skills manifested on a scale dozens or hundreds of times greater overturned the earth along with blasts of flame.
Flame Guild Master Chae Hwa-yeon's limbs trembled uncontrollably.
What the hell? What is that thing?!
Sertina wielded every player skill with perfect precision, deploying exactly the right one in exactly the right situation. This required near-perfect comprehension.
Learning players' skills? A mere monster doing that? Unheard of. It shouldn't be possible. That was the definition of a calamity.
Especially if the source was Sertina. It was no different from the Apocalypse descending upon the world.
"···Blood Sword."
Blood Sword
Kwajajajak!
The blade of blood surged like a wave, swallowing players whole. A flawless design without a millimeter of error. Seamless linkage of player skills and her innate abilities, flowing as naturally as water. The crimson blades whipped through the air, tracing elegant arcs of blood.
Unlike in the game, Chae Hwa-yeon finally understood why Sertina could dodge most player attacks.
She's reading the entire battlefield with overwhelming skill comprehension!
Sertina's combat style shifted moment to moment. When players unveiled new patterns, countermeasures appeared immediately. When formations changed, so did her approach. She grew stronger as time passed—like an AI learning human faces.
Despair clouded Chae Hwa-yeon's eyes amid the thickening air of defeat. But one thing still eluded her.
Is that really Sertina...?
No world boss could use more than its fixed skills. That was the rule. Every one that had appeared so far obeyed it. So why? Why was Sertina the sole exception, defying the laws alone?
"It's over."
"Hieeek!"
I swung Blood Eater, butchering the group of players cowering behind a car, trembling. Chwaaak! Long streaks of blood etched across the white chassis and walls.
Kang Min-cheol collapsed to his knees, face blank with disbelief.
"Th-this can't be happening. It's impossible!"
The vast army had dwindled long ago. When about a hundred remained, I'd linked [Blood Coagulation] and [Blood Reversion] to cut off their escape before they could flee.
Blood Coagulation
Blood Reversion
Now, amid the field of corpses, only the culprits remained. Kang Min-cheol. Chae Hwa-yeon. Lee Cheol-woong.
Chae Hwa-yeon's arms shook as she raised her staff with both hands.
"I-I have to stop it... that monster, aaagh!"
Just before her magic could activate, I surged forward like lightning, shattering the staff and snapping her wrist. Wooduk.
I grabbed her mangled wrist and dragged her to eye level.
"Confess."
Ppeok!
"Ugh!"
"Right here, right now."
Struck in the gut, Chae Hwa-yeon wheezed in agony, slumping with her wrist still gripped. Lee Cheol-woong, forcing his head up from his prone position, shouted desperately.
"Stop! How can you attack someone who can't even resist?!"
Despite his bulk, he'd tried fleeing twice and now lay with both legs broken from my kick. I tilted my head with a bored expression.
"People...?"
Staring into his terrified eyes with half-lidded gaze.
"Have I ever attacked people?"
I released her wrist and drove a kick into her abdomen. Ppak!
"Kek!"
Chae Hwa-yeon tumbled beside Lee Cheol-woong, gasping. I walked over with emotionless eyes and stood before him.
"Wh-what are you—"
Kwang!
"Grahk!"
Stepping on his massive back sent shockwaves rippling through the ground. Debris jittered. Tuduk—something snapped beneath my foot. Probably a rib.
I pressed down slowly, adding pressure.
"Kuhk, huaaagh!"
The hulking mass writhed, but to me, it was just a bug's futile struggle. Looking down at Chae Hwa-yeon, Kang Min-cheol, and the pinned Lee Cheol-woong, I stated flatly.
"Confess every wrong you've committed."
"...I-if we talk, will you let us live?"
"If you prove worthy of forgiveness."
This was my final mercy to them. For a fleeting moment, hope flickered across their faces. But did they grasp the true meaning?
"I-I'll tell everything! Even who’s behind it all!"
Kang Min-cheol slammed his forehead into the dirt from his knees. Chae Hwa-yeon and Lee Cheol-woong nodded too, faces streaked with tears.
I lifted my foot from Lee Cheol-woong's back and glanced behind. Amid shocked faces, relieved ones, wary glares—smartphone lenses glinted sporadically, reflecting sunlight. This scene was likely being recorded live. Maybe broadcast worldwide.
"Speak truthfully."
I tossed the cold command. And so, the time of confession began.
"What in the world..."
"These crazy bastards...!"
As Kang Min-cheol's testimony ended, players recoiled in horror. Hands clamped over mouths, eyes wide like rabbits. Fists clenched, faces flushed with rage. Some staggered blankly, on the verge of collapse.
Even I was a bit surprised. Purging anti-government factions since before the update? And during their alliance with Silver Tree and Cheongseong guilds, they even killed their members.
Choi Ah-rin looked stunned upon hearing it. No wonder Seoul's reclamation dragged on so oddly.
"President Han Sung-ho, cabinet ministers, National Assembly members from both parties—all involved! To create a society where the elite feast eternally through permanent rule—"
Chae Hwa-yeon's words nearly made everyone clutch their necks.
"Monsters rampaging, and they were scheming that behind the scenes?!"
"Fuck, people dying left and right for permanent rule?!"
"You motherfuckers! Once this is over, you're dead!"
Amid the barrage of shouts, a female player fainted, hand to forehead. Chae Hwa-yeon glanced nervously at the players mid-sentence, then looked up at me with teary, pitiful eyes.
...Of course, I knew those weren't tears of remorse.
I nodded slightly, arms crossed.
"Tell the truth, and I'll forgive you."
Emboldened, she swallowed and continued. The final speaker was Lee Cheol-woong.
"After securing permanent rule, we planned to have our guilds handle monster subjugation. Korea has many skilled players relative to its size, so it was feasible—"
"So you planned to hang back popping popcorn?!"
"Culling player numbers to prevent rebellion as a bonus?"
Maybe because I didn't stop them? At first, people just gasped quietly, but now they raised fists in outrage.
Lee Cheol-woong flailed his hands in panic.
"B-but if a world boss appeared, we agreed to cooperate then...!"
"Obviously—you'd die too if we failed!"
"Full of shit."
I let the wave of fury flow. Their sins demanded it. This was their karma.
After twists and turns, even Lee Cheol-woong finished. The air was thick with menace. Chae Hwa-yeon, shrunken like a punished student, fidgeted her fingers and spoke timidly.
"S-so... you'll let us go now, right? We've spilled everything we know..."
"No."
My immediate reply. Chae Hwa-yeon's eyes bulged.
Kang Min-cheol lunged forward excitedly.
"Wh-what?! You said you'd forgive us if we told the truth...!"
"Right. And I have."
"Then honor the promise! You said you'd spare us if we proved worthy!"
I crossed my arms, tilting my head as if puzzled.
"I don't get it..."
"...What?"
"I never broke my word. I said I'd spare you if you earned forgiveness."
"Th-then let us go now—!"
Instead of answering, I quietly gazed at the players beyond the barricade. Their eyes followed. They'd forgotten the obvious.
"The ones you need forgiveness from... aren't just me."
Their faces crumbled as I kindly pointed it out. Where their gazes landed: thousands of players, eyes blazing with murder, radiating killing intent.