Chapter 122: Reunion

Anyone that met Imperial Sword Rumad would think of him as a giant. He was around two meters tall, with short and messy hair, and an intimidating aura. He wore a glaringly red armor and carried a greatsword. A child would definitely burst into tears at the mere sight of him. This very scary-looking man was one of the ‘Pinnacle Strong Men’ in the continent. Although he was considered to be the weakest out of the eight, he could still easily overwhelm and trample all of the current Rankers.

Rumad was looking at the distant scenery as loud sounds rang loudly from the direction that he was looking at.

Vwooooooong!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was the sound of trumpets and drums. It meant that the target enemy had been found. However, before Ares could make a move, the guild chat popped out with notifications.

[Guild Chat: Red has been forced to log out.]

[Guild Chat: Carman has been forced to log out.]

[Guild Chat: Coso has been forced to log out.]

The notifications that he never imagined to hear were heard!

'...What the hell?'

Ares was quite taken aback. There were five troops led by five players who were supported and backed by the empire in that search team. The average level of the troops was Level 300 and all of the players were between Level 300~600. Red was the leader of the search team. Yet somehow, all of the players sent there were forced to log-out? ?This meant that all of the troops had been taken down.

'What's this? Don't tell me...'?Ares thought with a frown. There had to be something unusual with the players that they had picked up from Raven Village. Right then, the guild members that had been forced to log out flooded their guild chat.

[Guild Chat | Red: GM, there's this guy who's cosplaying as the Frying Pan Killer. The guy's totally extraordinary. My Power Arrow bounced off of his armor!]

"The Power Arrow?" ?Ares asked aloud. He was quite surprised. The Power Arrow was a powerful skill that could insta-kill a Level 350 player if it hit their vital point. Yet, there was an armor that easily bounced off that Power Arrow? The surprise did not end there…

[Guild Chat | Ran: GM, we were beaten by a woman with a whip!]

[Guild Chat ?| Brae: GM, we couldn't even touch her! She's extremely strong. I don't think that she's normal, she's at the standards of a high ranker!]

Ares' expression turned solemn in a blink of an eye. Then, one of his guild members approached him and said, "GM, don't you think this player who bounced off the arrow is the same as the Frying Pan Killer from before?"

"Frying Pan Killer? It's just a high-leveled cosplayer," Ares said, his brows furrowing deeper in thought. He had seen countless videos about this Frying Pan Killer just recently. At that time, he believed that the Frying Pan Killer would become a powerhouse once he matured and grew. However, it was impossible for him to have obtained such strength in just a short amount of time.

'It just doesn't make sense for him to be over Level 200 so fast...'

However, the guild member dispelled his doubts and proved it to him, saying, "A screenshot of the Frying Pan Killer was posted a few days ago. It was ranked quite high on the official website. And, it was in the Salov's Land which was near Raven Village."

"...Goddamn crazy."

A player whose level was at most Level 200 easily bounced off Red's arrow. It was truly an impossible feat but at that moment, an absurd notion flashed through Ares' mind.

"Wait… A whip?!"

The Frying Pan Killer killed his guild members off together with Rovan. At that time, he assumed that he was a part of the Legend Guild. And then, there was the whip! Once he put two and two together, he could clearly tell that the woman was Genie. ?The woman that was seen together with the Frying Pan Killer was the Legend Guild's guild master!

'Finally...!'

The time had come for Ares to kill Genie! He had been waiting for this moment for quite a long time. Ares was also a top ranker, so he believed that he could take her down easily. At that moment, he would definitely post a video stomping on her and he would definitely trample on the Legend Guild.

"Rumad, let's go!"

"Boy. You look chipper, don't you?"

"Yes. There's game I want to hunt together with King Varen."

"Is that so? Keuhahahaha. Sounds fun. Interesting!" ?Rumad laughed crazily as they began to move towards the direction where the sound rang.

Then, a whisper came in…

[Kohei: We've found King Varen. He's currently running away with two players. An archer and someone wearing a horned helmet.]

***

Kohei was wearing a black armor with a bloody sword on his waist as he ran along. Since he hated being dragged down by plenty of people, only the minimum number of people were assigned to follow him. There were six people following behind him to support him.

As he ran along with his troops, they finally saw people running ahead of them. There was a tall man wearing bone armor and a frying pan on his back, and another man with a bow on his back. Varen was running together with them looking all tired and ragged with his dusty clothes. A small smile curled on his lips as he immediately informed Ares of the current situation.

[Kohei: We've found King Varen. He's currently running away with two players. An archer and someone wearing a horned helmet.]

[Ares: Please be careful. The player with the frying pan on his back is believed to be the player that’s the talk of the town just recently. It’s an unexpected surprise for us.]

“Ho?”

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Kohei grinned.

‘The Frying Pan Killer? Isn’t he the one that defeated Rovan, the player that was famous in Versal?’

Kohei’s interest was piqued. The fight that he thought to be just some boring chase suddenly became interesting.

Even so, while he believed that it had become interesting, the gap between his level and the Frying Pan Killer’s level was still too wide. In addition, he also had a god class.?Cursed Knight.?The Cursed Knight class was so powerful that it could let him narrow a 100-level gap with his enemies. Even if they blocked his attacks, their arms were bound to rot in an instant with his curse. In other words, just a brush from one of his attacks could easily reduce the power and strength of his opponents. His debuff abilities were beyond anyone’s imagination.

‘I’ll just play with him,’?Kohei thought, giggling. He liked watching other players flounder and get flustered with his debuffs. At that moment, a set of notifications rang…

[For the latest updates, a Live Broadcast will be broadcasted.]

[For players who do not want their face to be exposed, your face will be blurred out and mosaiced as soon as you refuse.]

[You can also choose to remove the mosaic if you wish to in the future.]

‘Ho?’

It unexpectedly became something fun. Kohei was someone who loved to hog all of the attention! He quickly accepted the notification as he narrowed the distance between him and the fleeing Varen. His bloody sword glowed red as an energy force was fired out from it. Red gas-like energy floated in the air which closely resembled blood. As quickly as it was cast, it exploded. The red energy struck the backs of Varen and his escorts.

[A Blind Man’s Despair.]

[The sight of those who got in contact with the blood of despair will be limited.]

Kohei’s magical attack was so high that it was very difficult for regular mages to reflect or debuff it. Just like he expected…

“Huh?”

…The archer who was running suddenly rolled around on the ground. Even King Varen fell down and tapped the ground with his hands.

“Wh…where are you? Root! I suddenly lost my sight!”

“Your Highness, it’s me! Where are you?”

‘Keuhahahaha! Look at that King and those uncivilized Koreans!’?Kohei though. He giggled at the sight of them blindly looking for each other.

“Hmm?”

Just as he was enjoying watching them floundering, Kohei suddenly tilted his head in confusion. The Frying Pan player was trembling as his eyes looked down. There was a soboro bread in his hands that was tainted by the Blind Man’s Despair.

‘What the hell?’

Kohei’s head remained tilted as he tried to figure out the man.

“Ugh. Waaaaah. My…my eyes! I can’t see.?Hwiiik!” The man moved in a hurry as he fell down. For Kohei, this sight was quite ridiculous and funny. He walked slowly towards them as he talked to the soldiers behind him.

“Kill the archer player and capture King Varen. I will kill that guy.”

Kohei gripped his sword tightly as he took one step closer towards the man. He lifted his sword as he prepared to strike down.

‘The Frying Pan Killer isn’t such a big deal. That frying pan looks good, I hope it drops,’?Kohei thought as he activated his attack skill.

[Powerful Blow.]

[Immediately inflicts a huge amount of damage to the enemy.]

Swooooooosh!

But then…

Claaaang!

…The Frying Pan Killer quickly lifted his sword and parried his strike. His eyes that looked like they lost focus earlier suddenly gained clarity as he glared fiercely at Kohei. He spat, “Does this look fun to you?”

Kohei could not understand the situation that he was in. He thought,?‘H…he was clearly… a moment ago…!’

Kohei was sure that the Frying Pan Killer was struck with his debuff earlier. So, how did he move and parry his strike? He did not even drink or eat anything. In other words…

‘He was never caught in the debuff! He was just acting!’

What was more surprising to him was the fact that someone below Level 200 could escape his debuff.

“You damn bastard! Who the hell are you?!” ?Kohei snarled fiercely.

***

Hyo-Nam came out of the capsule room in disappointment just as his friend, Hyun-Soo, came out of his capsule. Hyun-Soo said, “Hey, let’s skip college today!”

“Shit. I can’t! Last time, my mom almost chased me out of the house in just my underwear. I’ll be in huge trouble if I do it again.”

Hyo-Nam also wanted to have a lot of fun in?Athenae?but he had no choice. That was when they saw a crowd gathered in the capsule room’s rest area. Hyo-Nam tilted his head in confusion as he followed the flow of the crowd. The moment he entered the rest area, he saw a man projected on the huge TV screen. The man’s voice boomed loudly as the phrase that he just uttered appeared on the screen.

[Athenae. Northern Continent Update!]

“Oh?”

“Wow...”

The people around him were staring at the screen intently. When he turned his head around, he heard the owner of the capsule room saying, “I saw the live broadcast on the internet and I cast it on the TV right away.”

The owner looked quite cute as if he was asking for a ‘good job’ from the people in the rest area. Hyo-Nam turned his head back on the screen as subtitles appeared while the Northern Continent flashed on the screen.

[An Unknown Part of the World!]

[Two Conflicting Empires!]

[A Battle for Survival!]

[And...]

A man’s face appeared on the screen.

[The man who needs to survive. Varen, the King of the Northern Continent’s Valkyrie Kingdom!]

[And the chasers who are after him, trying their best to capture him!]

The attention of the people was focused on the word 'chasers' as the situation on the screen changed and another man’s face appeared. It was Kohei.

“Huh, that f*cking bastard!”

“That shitty head is a stinking punk!”

“Omg... Just looking at the video on the screen… he’s ugly! Even his pores are ugly!”

“Can’t they just cover his face or something?”

“Look over there. There’s a small text saying?‘We have asked for the player’s consent, the players can choose to mosaic their faces before the broadcast starts’?was what it said.”

The capsule room was suddenly filled with insults and criticisms. They had no choice but to just do it. Even Kohei himself said that he was an abomination. He even uploaded videos of players who were affected by his debuff abilities and giggled as he said ‘Bakaaa~’ in Japanese. Plenty of Korean netizens frowned at his actions. Even if he was considered a local player right now, he still did such atrocious behavior without any care in the world. However, there was one thing that they could not deny.

“Didn’t he kill Maestro not too long ago?”

Maestro was one of the players with the legendary class! He was at Level 400 when Kohei hunted him successfully. He even stood in front of him and said ‘Bakayaro!’ and laughed maniacally. Despite his abominable actions, they had no choice but to admit that he was strong. Soon, the video panned and showed another man’s face.

[And there are those that want to protect! This is a bloody battle between those who want to protect and those who want to take away!]

The screen changed again, it showed the forest in a third-person perspective. It showed Varen, an archer player, and a player with a frying pan on his back as Kohei chased them down. The archer player looked like he was mosaiced, while the player with the frying pan had his face covered with a helmet. On the contrary, since Varen was an NPC, his face was shown clearly. They did not need to get any approval or rejection from him after all. Then, they saw Kohei shoot a bloody?energy?towards the three of them.

Bang!

The glaringly red bloody energy exploded bringing confusion and panic among the king, the archer and the frying pan player.

“Ah...! No! No way!”

“That bastard! He’s smiling again! Awooo! I’m so angry!”

Everyone was left speechless at his atrocious actions. Even the players who did not belong to Eivelis Empire frowned at his actions. They believed that both the players would be forced to log out and King Varen would be taken away.

“Ah. I don’t want to watch anymore!”

Even though Athenae was just a game, it was still so vivid that it could give the people the chills. Hyo-Nam closed his eyes tightly to avoid such a gruesome scene. He did not want to watch Kohei play around with them as they struggled to survive. Then, a sound was heard loudly and clearly in the capsule room.

[Claaaang!]

It was definitely the sound of a sword being parried. When Hyo-Nam opened his eyes, he could see his friend Hyun-Soo shaking his fist as he shouted in excitement, “Waaah...!”

The man who blocked Kohei’s words said…

[Does this look fun to you?]

It was exactly what everyone in this room wanted to say! Kohei looked at him in surprise as he shouted.

[You damn bastard! Who the hell are you?!]

The man did not answer but just showed him through his actions.

[Spark, spark, spark!]

The man’s sword pushed against Kohei’s and created countless sparks. Tension suddenly sparked between the two of them. The tension was so great that it seemed like even the air and the dust were flying and vibrating tensely around them. Then, the man uttered coldly…

[Scattering Sword.]

1. ???? - Korean streusel bread. A sweet bread with a streusel like upper crust.

2. Stupid