‘According to my predictions, he should have arrived at least thirty minutes later.’
Kay let out a low groan.
By now, everyone knew that the Agency had been taken over.
It was certain that the Hunters who had finished their operations would come as reinforcements.
No matter how well-armed a Villain was, they couldn’t hold out for long against elite Hunters.
Kay checked their movement routes. He paid special attention to the route taken by the Hero. Right now, the other Hunters were distracted by the Monsters his comrades had released.
‘He just bypassed them and came straight here.’
The Hero had ignored every trap Kay had prepared and broken through alone, leaving the rest to his teammates.
The future had changed.
Kay rolled his tongue inside his mouth. It was a thrill. There was something that defied his predictions; the Hero was the first opponent to ever do this.
“Yeo-jin, take the team and…”
At that moment, Kay felt the future once again.
‘Annihilation?’
Kay had intended to put Kim Yeo-jin, the strongest of the pack, at the front to buy time against the Hero. However, his Future Sight revealed the answer derived from that process.
They would be annihilated by the Hero.
‘Is he really that strong?’
In terms of the Grades used here, Kim Yeo-jin was S++-rank. Her low tension was a flaw, but if she truly got worked up, a single S-rank couldn’t stop her.
The comrades around her were also beings who had been granted power by that person. And yet, they were no match for a single Hero.
-Oppa?
Kim Yeo-jin called out to him when Kay suddenly stopped speaking. Kay regained his composure and issued a new command.
“Mm, avoid a head-on confrontation. I’ll send Jay soon, so just endure until then. Do not engage him directly under any circumstances.”
The moment he spoke, the future shifted again. Future Sight was not an omnipotent power. Choosing one option led to further subdivided choices. Kay gave a bitter smile. Even though he was pulling out his strongest card already, the options were dismal. This was likely the best he could do.
‘But I’ll avoid the worst-case scenario.’
If the Hero was given even a small window of time, all his plans would vanish in an instant. The Future Sight he possessed continued to warn him.
Kim Yeo-jin and the Villains were somewhat puzzled by Kay’s passive instructions. They had already captured the S-rank Hunter Cutting Board. Therefore, they felt they could at least hold their own against Lee Hyunbin, who was the same S-rank Hunter. No Villain intended to retreat. In fact, they were snickering.
It was as if children were preparing to pluck the wings off a dragonfly. The future moved without a single error—except for the Hero.
“Jay, I need support.”
There was no answer. Kay spoke again.
“The Hero is here.”
-The Hero?
Only then did Jay respond. It was like a magic word.
“Stop the Hero.”
-You’re telling me… to stop the Hero?
A voice that sounded like a low laugh. Naturally, Jay wouldn’t move easily. He wasn’t a Villain to begin with, nor was he someone who desired to be one. He was a Knight far too noble and powerful for that.
“With this, your Cursed Covenant will end.”
-…I’ll be there in five minutes.
“No, that’s too late. You must arrive within three minutes and twenty-five seconds.”
-Fine.
How did it feel to reunite with an old master? Especially when one had to raise a sword against that master without any right to refuse. For a Knight who had lived for the Hero to now move to block him—it was practically a comedy. It was a waste to use the card named Jay here, but there was no other way.
If he was even a little late, they would be annihilated by the Hero. If that happened, everything he had prepared while living quietly in this disgusting modern society would crumble.
“Don’t worry too much. Even Cutting Board went down, so a mere Porter like that is nothing.”
At a comrade’s relaxed comment, Kay’s eyes flashed with annoyance.
“Mm. Do I look like I’m making a fuss over a mere Porter?”
“Honestly, a little?”
“On his First Awakening, he beat down an Office Worker.”
“The Office Worker must have been a loser.”
It was a famous story, the tale of the Delivery Man. The story of how, on the day he awakened, he fought and captured an Office Worker alone.
“What do you think about him taking down the Earth Dragon?”
“The Hunters and the Military were there, so wouldn’t he have won by ganging up on it?”
“He took it down alone.”
“…!”
“Right now, the only warrior who can match the level of the Earth Dragon is Jay.”
“You worry too much.”
At his comrade’s words, Kay scratched his head.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
Without hesitation, Kay shot his comrade in the head with a pistol. The hostages watching the scene shrieked. Kay raised a hand toward the hostages as if to apologize and spoke to his other comrades.
“Clean up the body. And the floor.”
“Ye-Yes, sir!”
the other comrades moved quickly. It couldn’t be helped. There was no point in leaving someone alive who was so blatantly hostile toward him.
“And send ten of the children outside.”
He knew it instinctively. His opponent was coming. No one in this land knew that a Villain organization like theirs existed. That secrecy was their greatest advantage. Thanks to that, they were able to deal a heavy blow to the defenseless Agency.
But there would be no second time. This was their only opportunity, and they could not afford to fail.
Through the camera, Kay watched his comrades being cut down.
Villains blocked the path leading to the Agency.
The corpses of Police and Hunters who had fallen and died were visible on the ground. Through the gloomy mist, a Drone equipped with a camera was filming the situation.
“I couldn’t find you guys whenever I looked before.”
The bastards who were nowhere to be found when I was actively trying to hunt them.
“Now you’re gathered here like a bunch of cockroaches.”
“Whoa, Oppa. That’s mean. Have you ever seen such a pretty cockroach?”
“Do you think drawing lines on a cockroach makes it a jewel beetle?”
“Wahahaha! Oppa, that dad joke is so lame.”
“What’s about to be lame is your face.”
“Wow, Oppa, you’ve got a silver tongue.”
“Yeah, and I’m about to take that tongue out of your face.”
The woman in the blood-stained dress laughed brightly while wringing out her long hair like laundry. There were ten Villains here now.
“We’re off to a good start today. Two S-ranks captured right at the launch of our organization.”
“Organization? Oh, you guys formed an organization?”
I pulled out my Number 1 Sword, the Longsword.
“Alright, finders keepers for whoever steps up first!”
The Villains rushed toward me as if they were playing a fun game. I closed my eyes briefly, maximizing my focus. These were people who viewed human lives as mere bugs. If I went easy on them, they would only swarm more.
I opened my eyes.
As Phantom Step activated, the movement paths and attack trajectories of the bastards rushing at me began to be marked with arrows. The density of my concentration increased.
Everything in the world slowed down instantly. In a state where only my consciousness was accelerated, the Longsword in my hand began to be slowly coated with the aura of Ethere.
“Me first!”
The one in the very front tried to strike down vertically. I kicked him in the stomach. The bastard, hit unexpectedly, flew back and tumbled across the ground, tangling with a comrade right behind him.
“You brat!”
While those two shared a mouthful of dust, a guy with a Knife rushed in, activating a Skill. Stepping half a pace to the side, I swung the Longsword down.
*Slash!*
The arm of the Villain holding the Knife was severed.
“Aaaagh!”
The Villain screamed, so I threw a Dagger to shut his mouth. Without checking the result of the Dagger, I swung my sword at the next Villain in line.
He managed to parry my blade. He flared his nostrils and tried to push back in a blade lock, so I simply let my sword slide past his and drove the Longsword into his neck.
*Squish.*
Dark blood poured out from the gap in the flesh created by the Longsword. He tried to clutch his throat, but soon his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground.
“What’s with this guy?!”
I snatched the sword his friend had been using and threw it at a Villain trying to ambush me from the side with an axe.
*Thud!*
The Villain blinked in disbelief as he stared at the sword embedded in his chest. He probably thought his HP Shield would protect him.
Watching the enemies rush in, I simply walked forward.
*Slash, thud!*
Every time the aura of Ethere I swung traced a trajectory in the air, Villains vanished while coughing up blood.
“You idiots, don’t just charge in blindly!”
A giant, at least two meters tall, shouted at his comrades. Did he finally feel a sense of alarm after seeing his comrades twitching intermittently while spilling blood?
The Police who had rushed here to protect civilians, overcoming their fear to aim their guns at the Villains, had been turned into lumps of meat.
Since they viewed those lives like bugs, I wondered what they thought of their own.
“Get into formation!”
The huge man came at me head-on, brandishing a Sledgehammer.
An HP Shield that looked solid enough to be seen with the naked eye shimmered.
To his left and right were Villains with spears and swords, and behind them was one repeatedly firing arrows.
*Whiz!*
Arrows imbued with Magic Power flew in. I swatted them away lightly with my sword. At the same time, I pulled a Dagger from my clothes and threw it.
*Clang!*
The Tank in front parried the Dagger I threw, sending it flying. They were coming.
“Yaaaah!”
A threatening hammer swing accompanied by a roar.
Of course, he didn’t expect this single blow to kill me or even hit me. It was just a distraction. In that interval, the spear and sword synchronized their attacks from both sides.
One step back. The opponents also took a step forward and attacked again.
When receiving multiple attacks at once, the solution is simple. You dive into their personal space.
“!”
I didn’t take the Tank’s hammer blow head-on but redirected it with my sword. Simultaneously, I slid my blade and cut the opponent’s wrist.
“Aaaagh!”
It wasn’t just any sword; it was a sword imbued with Ethere magic. It sliced through an HP Shield as if it were a joke. But he wasn’t a Tank for nothing. He was so sturdy that despite his wrist being cut, he tried to body-slam me. I thought only Pikachu did stuff like that.
“Gah!”
I spun half a turn and thrust my sword into the opponent’s torso. The Tank collapsed, spitting up blood. His allies were unable to attack me because his body was acting as a shield for me.
“This guy is out of weapons, so…!”
Wow, for a Tank, he’s really persistent.
He’s still holding on after taking that? I couldn’t forgive the Tank for spreading the secret that I was out of weapons, so I smacked his jaw with my palm. At the same time, I picked up the Tank’s Sledgehammer and gave it a test swing.
*Crack!*
With a satisfying sound, the Villain’s flight toward a home run began.
A sword-wielding Villain used a Skill from the side.
I kicked a spear lying on the ground into the air. Catching the spear as it reached my chest, I requested a weapon exchange with the swordsman.
*Thunk!*
Of course, I didn’t ask to swap hand-to-hand.
I was more used to swords than spears anyway, so I lodged the spear in his chest and snatched the sword from his hand. Since he wouldn’t be able to use it anymore anyway, it didn’t matter, right?
“Th-This is impossible…!”
In an instant, only two Villains remained. The archer and the long-haired woman.
“Wow, Oppa. You’re seriously, insanely strong.”
“I told you I’d take you out.”
The woman in the red dress stepped forward.
“Yeo-jin, Kay said we just need to endure…”
“Oppa, all our comrades are dead; are you really going to say that crap now?”
The woman in the red dress, called Yeo-jin, tied back her long hair.
“I have some pride!”
I thought she was just tying her hair, but she suddenly thrust her hand forward. Like a man dreaming of becoming a pirate, her arm stretched out like rubber. And her hand became massive, like a claw on a crane.
I dodged to the side and swung my sword at the same time.
*Thud!*
The woman’s arm wasn’t severed by the sword. Instead, she used the impact to bend it grotesquely, aiming for my neck. Naturally, I had no intention of letting her hit me. I discarded the shattered sword and reached into my Inventory.
“A sword won’t work on me!”
The arm of the confident woman moved like a whip.
“Huh?”
The woman’s pupils dilated significantly. The needle-like sword that appeared in my hand scattered white light as its width expanded.
A mono-molecular blade. The Dragon Slayer. Let’s hunt something other than a dragon today.
*Snip.*
With a clean cutting sensation, the woman’s arm was neatly severed. She clutched her stump and let out a piercing scream.
“I liked you, you jerk!”
Is there something wrong with her head? Well, if she were sane, she wouldn’t be committing this kind of slaughter in the first place.
“Damn it!”
The Villain with the bow fired an arrow. I sliced the arrow cleanly with the Dragon Slayer and charged. The Villain, terrified, notched another arrow and fired. It was aimed exactly between my eyes. I tilted my head slightly to the side.
*Zip.* I could feel the arrow whistling past. The Villain’s eyes widened, seemingly surprised that I had dodged it. I cut him down right then and there.
A death rattle echoed. Only one Villain remained.
“Ah, shit… This guy is way too strong…!”
The woman whose arm had been cut off sobbed as if her heart were breaking.
Should I let her live? No, there would be other Villains inside the Agency anyway. Just as I was about to cut her throat with the Dragon Slayer, a sound of slicing air erupted.
*Clang!*
The resonance of sword meeting sword. I parried a man who had launched a surprise charge at me.
Huh?
My Dragon Slayer blade snapped.
“Ugh, Jay. That Oppa cut off Yeo-jin’s arm.”
The woman sobbed as she held up her severed arm.
A man wearing a mask with a blank emoticon expression—the one called Jay—stood before me, holding a Two-Handed Sword.
Look at this? No matter how poor the durability of a mono-molecular blade is, he broke it in one go?
I reached into my Inventory and pulled out the Number 2 Sword, a Two-Handed Sword. I swung it to avenge the Dragon Slayer.
My opponent also met my blade.
*Screeeech!*
Twisting the sword, I scraped along the surface of his blade, aiming for a sliding cut. His sword also moved fluidly, parrying mine as he stepped back a couple of paces to reset his distance.
This guy. He uses Northern Swordsmanship. Just like me.
Let’s test this out.
I adjusted my grip.
The tip of my sword was raised above my head. I looked at the opponent. He was in the same stance.
I was the first to attack.
I moved as if to thrust the tip at him, then curved the arc to go for his neck. In that moment, the opponent disappeared. When I turned my gaze to the side, a spinning elbow struck me in the face.
*Smack!*
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt the sensation of being hit. My mouth was cut, and I tasted the metallic tang of blood.
The opponent was down on one knee, clutching his stomach. I had kicked him the moment he hit me, and it seemed I’d landed a lucky blow.
“Great, Jay. I’ll help you!”
“Didn’t you hear Kay’s orders? Retreat.”
“…?”
“We can’t hold out for long. Retreat.”
At Jay’s words, the woman’s face was dyed with bewilderment. Was she that confident in Jay’s combat strength? I could instinctively feel where this guy stood among the Villains.
But for some reason, his voice sounded familiar.
“Are you Sieg?”