181
Kwa-boom—!
In the forest northeast of Temoshá.
Two vanguards were locked in battle atop a completely shattered stretch of ground.
More accurately, a man with a ferocious face was delivering a one-sided beating.
Crack—!
“Guugh!”
Adventurer A, punched in the gut, went flying through a tree.
Tat—!
Kenji closed the distance in an instant.
He leapt a beat ahead and reached above Adventurer A, who was still airborne.
And then—
Thud—!
He drove both hands clasped together down with full force.
Kwa-boom—!
“What the hell!”
Adventurer A, slammed into the ground, let out a stream of curses.
He frantically grabbed a potion from the belt at his waist and drank it, scrambling back to his feet.
Rustle—
As he activated Ashen Form, the shape of the blade changed.
Tat—!
Just then, Kenji kicked off again and closed in.
Adventurer A, barely managing to respond to the speed, gripped the hilt in both hands and swung wide.
Whoosh—!
A shockwave that sent grey fog scattering in every direction.
It lashed everything in its radius and spread outward.
Kra-krrr—!
The skill, launched at tremendous force, washed over the charging Kenji’s body.
But—
Kiiiing—!
The blue barrier enveloping his body blocked the attack.
Equipment and magical devices worn across his entire body.
Each piece a price tag of hundreds of millions, some in the billions.
The result of holding nothing back in his investment to find his daughter.
“Tch!”
Clicking his tongue, Adventurer A swung his sword wide once more.
And as the grey fog in the air began condensing into sharp spikes—
Whoosh—!
Kenji’s fist appeared right before his face.
Crack—!
Ka-boom—!
The blow that drove into his nose hit with tremendous damage and a burst of red light.
Fwish—!
Sent flying backward from the impact once again, Adventurer A desperately scrabbled at his waist.
He realized there were no more potions left.
“Damn it!”
Flustered, Adventurer A rummaged through his inventory in a panic.
But that small sliver of time was not permitted to him.
Thud—!
Kwa-kwa-kwa—!
Kenji’s fist caught up with him and came flying relentlessly into his face.
The wildly shaking field of vision stirred his stomach on its own.
“Blurgh… krak!”
Even the nausea surging upward was cut off by the incoming fist.
Attacks that just kept pouring in while he was still airborne.
Crack—!
Clatter—!
Even his last line of defense — his armor and magical devices — was destroyed entirely.
“This madman——!”
Sensing the end had arrived, Adventurer A went wide-eyed.
And then an especially large-looking fist filled his entire vision.
Crack—!
Adventurer A’s body, punched in the face, flew high into the air.
Crumble—
His body, having reached its limit, turned to dust and scattered.
Through the entirety of the one-sided fight, not a single word had been exchanged.
It was a death met with chilling coldness.
Ding—
[Experience points increased by 2,500,000.]
Seeing the message, Kenji’s fury still hadn’t settled.
The crime of exploiting his desperation and Momo’s tragedy was lodged deep in his chest.
Adventurer A would likely throw himself into revenge rather than any kind of reflection.
For the sake of Black Dragon’s and his daughter’s safety, it seemed necessary to take action in the real world as well.
“Phew.”
Barely managing to compose himself, Kenji shifted his gaze to the screen he had open beside him.
Black Dragon, walking along the ceiling above the underground passage alongside Momo.
Step—
Even during the battle, he had been quietly tracking the route. He began moving without hesitation.
‘To think it was such a dangerous situation…. ‘
The information extracted from the assassin Black Dragon had captured was being compiled in real time and sent through by the secretary general.
Momo, who had been living under Holy Nation persecution.
So uneasy that she even suspected Black Dragon’s acting, the one who had saved her.
His chest felt ready to split — but the fact that she had been found, even now, was something to be grateful for.
『Stay close. Since the assassin hasn’t returned, they’ll figure something out over there.』
Black Dragon, pressing forward, had spotted the Holy Nation knights and devotees.
And thirty knights and soldiers were dealt with in a single sweep by Black Dragon and his companions.
‘Remarkable.’
He, a mid-tier vanguard, genuinely exhaled in admiration.
Setting aside a simple matter of stats, those movements looked like something drawn from real accumulated experience.
Just what kind of experiences had that person been through?
『I’ll act like none of this happened! If you just talk things out with us, even lowly humans like you could find a place in the Holy Nation——!』
『Shhk—!』
The three senior devotees who had been babbling desperately were the last to meet their deaths.
『Step—』
Black Dragon moved his feet once more.
About five minutes of movement like that.
He came to a stop, then suddenly drove his scabbard downward into the floor.
『Kwa-boom—!』
The semi-transparent floor broke open and Black Dragon’s party dropped down.
Ahead were soldiers in northern-style armor and those called Warriors.
Easily a hundred in number by rough estimate.
『What…!』
『Enemy!』
The enemies, spotting Black Dragon’s group dropping from the ceiling, went wide-eyed.
『Don’t kill the person in the hat.』
Black Dragon pointed to the woman standing in the center, then drew his sword and kicked off.
When the rest of the party charged in after him, battle began once more.
Watching the scene, Kenji kept his guard up as he moved.
* * *
Slash—!
Crackle—!
The battle against the northern forces progressed at a rapid pace.
Not only Hanbit, but the other party members as well were making full use of the growth they had gained in the Tower of Vortex.
-They’ve gotten strong
-The Tower of Vortex is completely broken.
-Can we go too?
-Beat Balder first and then ask.
“Protect Lord Glenn!”
“Form up and——kggh!”
The Warriors tried to command the chaotic battlefield.
But the attackers were far too powerful.
Shhk—!
Hanbit cutting through enemies and pressing forward with fluid grace.
Once again, the unnamed devotee had tucked herself away at a distance and was watching with the spirits.
“Kill — kill that one!”
A middle-aged man using his escorts as a shield raised his finger and his voice.
Boom—!
A large man stepped to block the path.
The color of the red armor marked him as a Warrior.
“I’ll hold.”
The man walked forward.
Then he swung a massive axe at Hanbit, who came charging straight at him.
Whoosh—!
A quick movement that didn’t suit his large frame.
Hanbit charged right at him head-on and swung his sword wide.
Clang—!
The blade crashing into the descending axe sent strong shockwaves through both.
“Gugh!”
The Warrior who had boldly stepped up was taken aback.
He had momentarily lost his grip on the axe hilt in both hands.
His reaction was slow because he hadn’t anticipated being outmatched in raw power at all.
Fwish—
In that gap, the pale blue blade came slicing sharply toward his throat.
The Warrior, sensing his fate, had no choice but to accept death with resignation.
Shhk—!
Having cut the enemy down, Hanbit quickly dealt with the remaining escorts.
“Eek!”
The middle-aged man, trembling in the middle, shrank into himself.
‘All done here.’
Looking around, the rest of the area had been wrapped up as well.
The unnamed devotee, too, was peeking her head out and watching the situation.
“Th — this is impossible….”
What remained were the middle-aged man and a woman in a hat.
Subordinates of the exiled royalty.
“Zenith! What do we do now!”
He looked at the woman beside him and asked desperately.
[Zenith]
-Zenith hi
-She shows up in the sub-quest
-Isn’t it over once she’s killed?
Zenith, who in the original Episode 5 had gathered the scattered criminals.
With both charisma and ability of exceptional caliber, the exiled royalty would already have drawn her into the anti-government forces.
“Accept death. That is loyalty.”
Zenith kept her eyes quietly closed and spoke in a low voice.
“Loyalty be damned! Is dying like a dog in a place like this loyalty? I refuse to accept it!”
The man leapt to his feet and turned his gaze to Hanbit.
In those blazing eyes was the desperate desire to survive.
“Let’s make a deal. I’ll give you the information you want. So just spare my——”
Thud—!
Just then, a dagger was driven into the man’s side before he could finish.
The work of Zenith, who had suddenly risen.
-Huh?
-Betrayal?
-???:Kill each other from here.
-First strike wins.
“You woman——!”
The man went wide-eyed, his eyes flooding red.
Slash—
Zenith pulled out the dagger and stepped back a few cold-faced paces.
Gurgle—
Red blood began pouring from the wound.
The panicked man flailed, trying to cover the gash with both hands.
“N — no… not like this…!”
The blood slipping through his fingers rapidly reached a lethal amount.
His vision darkening, the man reached a hand toward Hanbit.
“Save…”
Slide—
The man collapsed to the floor before the word could be finished.
Hanbit turned his gaze to Zenith, who had killed him.
“Kill me. I have no intention of easing your crime by letting you take your own life.”
She met his eyes with a face that held no fear.
Hanbit lowered his sword and, gesturing toward the dead man, said:
“Why did you kill him?”
“For a greater cause. The sin of killing him is mine — you need not concern yourself with it.”
The voice that held no detectable emotion drove itself coldly into the ear.
Zenith, recognized by players as the leader of the anti-government forces.
But she had only ever been used as a proxy for a hidden backer.
Because she was an outsider who would be cast aside pitilessly once the exiled royalty truly seized the throne.
Whether she knew that future and was risking her life anyway — no one would know.
“If it’s for a greater cause — are you trying to install even someone like the exiled royalty as the new king?”
“I have no information to give.”
Zenith refused the question with her eyes closed.
At this point in time, she was moving with considerable blind devotion.
‘Understandable enough.’
A family killed pitilessly through the Royal Guard’s misjudgment.
Even after that fact had come to light, the commander escaped punishment on the grounds of belonging to the ‘Artua family’ — heroes of the realm’s founding.
A king at the very top who had looked away and allowed it.
The anger and hatred condensed from all of it was far too deep.
Enough to stake her life on nothing but revenge, with no loyalty to speak of.
Slide—
Hanbit raised his sword and leveled it at Zenith’s throat.
The wind circling faintly around it added a cold edge.
He held her gaze, then lowered the sword and opened:
“There is a man known as the Incompetent Sword.”
“…?”
The abrupt remark made Zenith open her eyes.
The commander who had caused her family’s deaths was that man.
His crimes hadn’t ended with simply bungling the investigation of Mayor William.
“Why are you bringing that name up?”
“Because a friend of mine lost their father because of that man.”
“And knowing that, you still stand on the side of the Raven Kingdom?”
Emotion entered Zenith’s voice for the first time.
She seemed quite angry.
Hanbit decided to tell her one truth.
“The royalty you follow — the former crown prince of the Raven Kingdom, Emeter, had a betrothed. And that person was from the Artua family.”
“…A betrothed?”
Zenith reacted with puzzlement at the story she had never heard.
Hanbit continued.
“Even after Emeter was exiled, the two kept in contact. Holding onto a future in which they would one day become king and queen. In all likelihood, when the anti-government forces invade, the Artua family will move to support him. As for how much more that family will flourish once the throne actually changes hands… I don’t need to spell it out.”
-What
-There was a storyline like that?
-I thought catching Zenith was the end of it.
-That’s exactly why you people fail.
-Incompetent Sword, this guy just keeps incompetently delivering
-Zenith… we’re sorry.
-Adventurer Z, is it you again.
-Get out and go to your grave, JOAT.
The flood of information left the viewers taken aback.
Zenith, whom they had worked hard to capture as an enemy.
None of them would have known she was a victim who had lost her family.
“…”
Zenith herself was no less confused.
But she wasn’t the kind of person who would stay that way.
“How am I supposed to believe what you’re saying?”
“It’s simple. I’ll arrange for you to meet the king in person. You’ll be able to hear the answers to whatever you want to ask.”
“..What did you say?”
Too absurd for words casually tossed out.
She immediately set aside any thought of it being a trap.
The sword in the hand of the adventurer before her eyes, and the bodies scattered throughout — it was all too vivid.
If he had intended to kill her, there was no reason to propose something like that and have a conversation.
On top of that, if this man’s friend was genuinely a victim of the Incompetent Sword — she wanted to understand what kind of thinking lay behind it.
Having sorted her thoughts, Zenith met his gaze.
“Very well. I’ll follow you. There were also things I absolutely needed to ask the king.”
The dry, cold atmosphere gained a heat of conviction.
Hanbit extended a hand.
“Adventurer Black Dragon.”
“Zenith.”
A light handshake and introduction of names.
At the same instant, an alert rang in his ear.
Ding—
[Sub-Quest #4 has been completed.]
[Sub-quest settlement will proceed alongside episode resolution.]
