“....”

I searched for the right words to say to Chae Nayun. She looked like she didn’t understand what was going on at all.

The look on her face was quite funny and made me want to say something to her, but the situation wasn’t quite appropriate.

Tigris’s [Formless Tiger Punch] flew at me.

But I didn’t need to avoid it. Jin Sahyuk’s Reality Manipulation neutralized the punch.

“Snap out of it.” Jin Sahyuk muttered.

I nodded, picked up the Desert Eagle, and took out a pinnacle-grade potion from my pocket. It should be capable of quickly curing Chae Nayun’s wounds.

I opened the bottle, set it down on the ground beside Chae Nayun and looked around.

Park Hanho, who had been struck by the poisonous bullet, was groaning in agony as he healed himself. Tigris was glaring at me with bloodshot eyes.

“...Kim Hajin?”

It was then that I heard Yun Seung-Ah’s voice. She and Shin Jonghak were staring at me. But when I turned my gaze to them, Tigris started raving again, and I had to activate ‘Bullet Time’.

Though time slowed down, Tigris was still fast.

I chased him with my eyes and held up my gun.

In this gun was the [Basilisk’s Poisonous Bullet] made from over 100 poison crystals, enhanced with [Random Consolidation System] and [Constraints and Amplifications]. If I could somehow manage to get a clean hit, even Tigris wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face anymore....

I exchanged glances with the two comrades, and we moved systematically.

First, Shin Jonghak swung his spear at Park Hanho. Yun Seung-Ah blocked Tigris, Jin Sahyuk protected Chae Nayun while she put out the fire, and I aimed my gun at Tigris.

Click—

I calculated the direction and the speed of the bullet, the location and the movement of the target, and pulled the trigger at the most ‘correct’ timing.

Pang—!

There was a short and plain sound of a gun.

The bullet first traveled in a straight line but soon curved down, setting its course towards Tigris’s heel.

Curve Shots were now as easy as breathing to me.

Tigris tried to block my bullet, of course, but Yun Seung-Ah didn’t let him.

Her White Flower Sword split into many different branches like a blossoming flower and shackled Tigris.

—Kuaak!

As a result, the bullet struck Tigris in the heel. Tigris, now unable to move the lower half of his body, fell to the ground.

“...Whew.”

It was then that I deactivated [Constraints and Amplifications]. I had only fired two bullets but a part of my right arm had been damaged.

“Jin Sahyuk. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“....”

Jin Sahyuk first glanced at me then at Chae Nayun behind me before hesitantly making her way towards Tigris and Park Hanho.

Tiriring—

Suddenly, an unexpected sound of notification rang out. It came from my smartwatch.

—Lotus, where are you? We’re with your people.

The message was from Wicked.

By ‘your people’, she probably meant the Chameleon Troupe.

—Stay with them. I have a business to take care of right now. I’ll head over soon.

I activated [Buster Call] right after I sent the reply. I made up for the Stigma I was lacking with [Overclock].

Jiiing....

The magic power from my smartwatch penetrated the ceiling and reached the sky.

[...This is Horner from Genkelope. I’m responding to the master’s request!]

After I finished contacting the Vessel, I turned around.

My heart sank immediately.

A familiar figure was standing in front of me.

“...Hey.”

The clear, high-pitched voice I had heard countless times during my Cube days.

For a brief moment, I felt as if I had become a student at Cube again.

“What the hell is going on?” Chae Nayun asked, obviously confused.

I looked at Chae Nayun in silence.

“...What, you’re Extra7?” Chae Nayun asked again.

I nodded.

“...I can’t believe this. You even lied to me about your age? You’re really something.”

Chae Nayun ran a hand through her hair. She was already tearing up. In her eyes were countless emotions including embarrassment and sorrow.

“....”

Chae Nayun didn’t say anything else.. From her distraught expression, I could tell she was thinking of everything that happened between us in the past.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

So I spoke first.

“Have you been well?”

Chae Nayun’s face contorted to a frown.

I immediately regretted asking that question. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut if I had nothing to say. I always found it difficult to keep my composure in front of her.

“...Have I been well?”

Chae Nayun came closer and looked up at me.

“What do you think?”

She grabbed me by the shoulders in the same way she would grab me by the collar.

“...How could I have been well?”

Saying so, Chae Nayun rested her head on my chest. It was slightly heavy and very painful.

“How could I?”

She muttered.

Hundreds of words were condensed into that one sentence.

I didn’t need to hear anything else.

We stood still. We knew this wasn’t the right time or place, so we only looked at each other in silence and....

“Get a room.”

...getting a room... No, wait, that’s not right.

My head cooled down as if it had suddenly been pushed into a bucket of ice. Chae Nayun and I turned to where the voice had come from.

Jin Sahyuk, Yun Seung-Ah, and Shin Jonghak, who had taken care of the situation, were staring at us.

**

[Orden’s Palace]

“You won’t be able to escape.”

Meanwhile, Kim Suho, who had entered the Palace before anybody else, was locked up in Doloren’s barrier. It was ‘Doloren’s Concert Hall’, the same barrier that once trapped Black Lotus.

“I fixed it to perfection after the last breakout.”

“...It won’t matter if I win.”

Kim Suho glared at Doloren and clutched Misteltein. Doloren, however, only smiled.

“You can’t escape from here even if you win. But you won’t win anyway.”

“We’ll see...?”

It was then that zombies rose from the ground surrounding the concert hall.

Ssss....

The zombies emitted cold air.

But it didn’t take Kim Suho long to realize that they were just a front to conceal something more dangerous. His heightened sensation quickly discovered the ‘something’ hidden in the crowd.

An invisible humanoid monster.

The mutant combination of a ghost and a human.

It was ‘Xphil’, another one of Orden’s Four Generals.

“Don’t you think there’s just too many of you? It’s almost 1 against 300. Seems a little extreme.”

With a smile, Kim Suho raised his magic power. The magic power of the Sword Saint began to glow blue as it encompassed its owner.

“So what if it’s extreme? It’s my motto to always try my best.”

Kim Suho nodded.

“Actually, that doesn’t really matter. I’m not alone either.”

“...What?”

The moment Doloren frowned, Kim Suho took out the [Summon Ticket] he had acquired from the Tower of Wish.

This ticket allowed him to summon one of the Tower’s NPCs as his ally.

As soon as Kim Suho injected his magic power, the summon ticket turned to ashes.

“Wait, that’s cheating-”

The NPC Kim Suho wished to summon using this [Summon Ticket] was the witch who once served as the Demon King’s secretary. As someone who excelled in magic and spells, she would be the perfect opponent for Doloren.

Tzzzzt—!

The summon ticket emitted powerful magic power that traveled through time and space to call for a certain existence inside the Tower.

The existence answered the call immediately... and appeared on Earth.

Kwaaa—!

Kim Suho turned his gaze to the NPC who appeared inside the whirlwind of magic power.

Pale skin, dark hair. She gave off a dangerous, ominous vibe.

“...It’s been a while.”

She looked at Kim Suho and smiled.

Kim Suho nodded and said, “I can skip the explanation, right?”

The witch looked around the place she had been summoned to.

She was inside a strange barrier.

Having understood the situation, the witch turned her gaze to the humanoid monster who was the owner of this barrier.

Doloren flinched and the witch gave a distorted smile.

“...Yes. Rest assured, it’s my specialty to educate people like her.”

Vicious demonic energy started to gather around the witch’s hands.

**

[Outside the Palace in the fields]

“...I think we’re about done.”

Yoo Sihyuk and Yoo Jinwoong’s battle was coming to an end. The Master-rank monsters, including the Nine-tailed Fox, Croxus, and Ogre Troll, had already been defeated by the two Yoos. Not only were they weaker than Yoo Sihyuk and Yoo Jinwoong, but they were also much less experienced than the two Heroes who had lived through countless battles.

“Should we head to the throne room now?”

Yoo Jinwoong nodded at Yoo Sihyuk’s question. They knew Orden was not an easy target even for Heynckes and Chae Joochul. He was even stronger than ‘Jörmungandr’, who for a long time had been considered the strongest monster in history.

“But when will we get through that?”

Crack, crack—

Yoo Jinwoong mumbled as he loosened his neck joint.

Thousands of monsters were filling up the field in front of them.

“Hm.... Maybe a bomb will fall from the sky...?” Yoo Sihyuk muttered.

Perhaps, God heard his wishes.

Guoooo....

Suddenly, a portal appeared above. The giant ellipse covered half the area of the entire sky.

Yoo Sihyuk knew what it was. He had seen it before in the papers.

Its name was ‘Genkelope’s Battle Cruiser’.

Just as he had expected, from the portal came a battle cruiser that was even more powerful than before, accompanied by the roaring sound of engines and yells from people on board.

“It looks like... they’ll help us.”

The battlecruiser responded immediately to Yoo Sihyuk’s words.

Kwaaaaaaa

The bombardment continued as hundreds of combat planes departed from the deck. Thousands of ‘Genkelope soldiers’ descended from the ship.

Yoo Sihyuk watched them and chuckled.

“Let’s head to the throne room.”

“...”

Yoo Jinwoong nodded in silence.

The two men immediately turned into a wind that rushed towards the throne room.

**

[Orden’s Throne Room]

‘...Humans can be so different,’ Orden thought as he fought against the two humans.

One human came at Orden with all his strength while the other concealed it as much as possible.

The man in armor poured his soul into each swing of his sword, but the man in the martial arts uniform did not.

The former proudly displayed his convictions yet the latter operated solely on logic.

The contrasting qualities of the two humans amazed Orden.

Orden wanted to define the nature of humans.

Some humans were loyal, some were disloyal. Some agonized over what was righteous when others blindly chased after money and fame.

Humanoid monsters were different from humans in that regard. Monsters always acted according to their instincts. Genes were very important to humanoid monsters, for they determined everything about them.

For example, humanoid monsters created from the DNA of rattlesnakes and lizards were highly intelligent but tended to betray easily when their safety was at stake, and humanoid monsters created from the DNA of Mountain Tyrants were physically strong but always violent and oppressive.

It was clear that monsters could never become humans.

But Orden didn’t want to give up. He wanted to prove that humanoid monsters and humans were no different from each other.

However.

‘How can we be so different?’

Orden was overcome with profound grief.

At the same time, he remembered when he first realized his own intelligence, when he couldn’t be understood by both humans and monsters, when he suffered alone in endless solitude, cursing his own existence.

‘...Monsters can’t become humans, and humans are not monsters.’

Alas, what a tragic proposition it was.

In great sadness and vanity, Orden emitted his magic power. It was the first magic power to gain the attribute of ‘chaos’, one that Orden realized in the midst of his self-reflection.

Kwaaaa...

Just as Orden’s chaos was about to explode....

Krrr—!

....Eight wolves jumped at Orden and bit his limbs. Red electric currents enveloped his waist. The attack came from someone other than Chae Joochul and Heynckes.

But Orden was unaffected by it all. He nonchalantly shoved the wolves aside, crushed the electricity, then gathered magic power in his hands to explode everything.

Chwaaaaa....

This time, however, golden reinforced sword qi approached Orden. It wrecked everything in its course as it traveled forward. When it finally reached Orden’s magic power, it cut the abnormally dense ‘chaos’ in half.

“...”

The death of ‘chaos’ was unquestionably clear.

Orden had never been so shocked before.

He turned to where the reinforced sword qi had come from.

There— at the entrance of the throne room stood a man engulfed in golden energy.

It was from Kim Suho.

After defeating two of Orden’s Four Elite Soldiers—’Doloren’ and ‘Xphil’—Kim Suho and the witch finally arrived at the throne room.

However, Kim Suho wasn’t the only human who had come to see Orden.

Chweeek—!

A magic arrow flew in from somewhere and pierced Orden’s shoulder.

The arrow belonged to the Divine Archer.

There wasn’t just one. Thousands of arrows carrying the purest magic power fell from the sky. Even Orden couldn’t stay indifferent to an attack of such magnitude.

“———!”

Regardless, Orden dispelled all of them with a single cry.

At the same time, however, another cry rang out.

“Orden—!”

The roar shook the palace.

Orden slowly raised his head.

A giant man was descending from the ceiling.

“I, Cheok Jungyeong, have come—!”

With a self-absorbed cry, Cheok Jungyeong swung his fist at Orden.

KOOOONG—!

Cheok Jungyeong’s fist reached Orden’s forehead.

It was a direct hit.

A huge shockwave spread from the point of contact and Cheok Jungyeong burst into laughter.

“Uhahaha—! He’s a lot weaker than I thought...?”

Orden grabbed Cheok Jungyeong’s arm which was still clutching Orden’s face.

He then flipped and smashed Cheok Jungyeong into the ground in one swift motion, as if he was rolling a bowling ball.

KWAAANG—!

“Uwa....”

Cheok Jungyeong wasn’t even given the time to react.

The result was a strike.

Cheok Jungyeong, who descended from the ceiling, was thrown out of the room moments after he made his entrance.

“...”

Orden rose from the throne and looked around.

Only then did he recognize the Heroes.

Aileen, Yi Yongha, Kim Youngjin, Shin Jonghak, Chae Nayun, Yun Seung Ah....

He hadn’t noticed any of them before because he was too engrossed in his fight.

Dozens of Heroes who had infiltrated into his palace were now gathering in front of him.