These words that were updated in real-time were slowly counting down and soon, the mission was announced.
______
{Sovereign Mission}
Dimensional transmission in progress. Starting now, partic.i.p.ants of the mission may enter the dimensionally isolated area. You will only obtain the code after annihilating the pursuing monsters. Once you activate the code, dimensional isolation will be released. If you fail, the dimension will explode.
_______
Choi Hyuk, who had finished reading the mission briefing, nodded his head.
“So, basically, I just need to annihilate them?”
Then, there was no need to waste any more time.
“Enter! Wipe them out!”
At his command, 12,000 Berserkers leaped into the opaque wall at once.
The Berserkers moved in troops. Troops of a thousand Berserkers moved systematically as they alternated between infiltration, attack, and support. With cognitive abilities beyond that of humans’, they comprehended the situation and communicated with each other. Charging without the slightest hesitation was the base of the Berserkers’ tactics. However-
“What the- Why are you stopping?”
The moment they pa.s.sed through the dimensionally isolated wall and stepped into Seongbuk District, the Berserkers unknowingly stopped. Those who jumped in after and hit the person in front of them grumbled, but they stopped in their place as well.
The scene in front of them was simply shocking.
“… It’s not Earth?”
This place wasn’t Seongbuk District. No, it didn’t seem like it was Earth at all.
Their first impression of the place was that it resembled more of a garbage landfill than a ruin. Countless broken machines were piled up into a mountain.
“Wh-what do we do?”
The Berserkers, who originated from Seongbuk District, were even more shocked. They vividly remembered escaping this place two years ago, yet, no matter how they looked at it, there were no similarities between Seongbuk District and this place.
Although they did felt it was strange that the opaque wall was called the ‘dimensionally isolated wall’… They never thought that it was a completely different dimension. Then where did Seongbuk District go?
While a quiet confusion took hold of the Berserkers, Choi Hyuk silently clipped up the mountain of broken machines. He had already activated Mind’s Eye to its greatest potential. His whole body was emitting a blue hue. He was calm. From the beginning, whether this place was Earth or not was outside his concerns. He was only interested in what kind of monsters were here.
The edges of his senses felt a savage power. He ran up to the summit and searched for the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds that were shaking his senses.
No, he didn’t need to look for them. He could see clearly see them.
At a glance, they looked like humans. One head and a pair of arms and legs. However, their waists were long like ferrets, and they had long, sharp claws. They were approximately triple the size of a human. Their heads were long on both ends, and fangs filled their large, open mouths. White, long tissue, that looked to be either a bandage or their flesh, covered their eyes. The moment Choi Hyuk’s eyes landed on them, the name ‘eyeless observers’ came to mind. He didn’t know why, but it seemed that this was the name of these monsters he was seeing for the first time.
The eyeless observers surrounded a white building that looked to be a fortress, and crooks, mountain orcs, bladed starving ghosts, and other monsters he had seen plenty of in Kangdong District were surrounding them like clouds as if escorting them.
When Choi Hyuk spotted them, they too spotted him.
{Keeeeh!}
Amongst the eyeless observers, the largest one with the most savage karma roared in Choi Hyuk’s direction. The air reverberated.
{Kueeeehhh!!}
As if stimulated by its roar, hundreds of thousands of monsters cried out at the same time. A few hundred thousand pairs of eyes all looked towards Choi Hyuk.
Rumble!
Hundreds of thousands of monsters ran on the ground. The vibrations even reached where Choi Hyuk was standing, and mountains of broken devices trembled as some rolled down.
The monsters dashed forward. And Choi Hyuk’s eyes fixated on the ‘Flaming Devil’ instead of the ‘eyeless observers’ that were controlling the monsters. The monster that caused his mother to die, the Flaming Devil. It was a ‘Wyvern of Destruction’ level monster in Seongbuk District.
‘Let’s see.’
It had a horn and a tail. The Flaming Devil had flames akin to a lion’s mane beginning from its horn. Whether looking at its appearance or spirit, it was the Flaming Devil. A fierce smile hung on Choi Hyuk’s lips.
Screech! Clank!
Karma filled the Predator’s Blade like a storm. The body of the Predator’s Blade distorted intensely as it was unsheathed. An ear-piercing metallic sound resounded as the sheath and the blade, both filled with karma, slid against each other.
It was Choi Hyuk’s unique battle cry that initiated combat. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a cry, but rather the grandiose sound of him unsheathing his sword… Either way, the Berserkers knew the meaning behind this sound better than anyone.
“Woaah!!”
The battle cry of the Berserkers followed behind Choi Hyuk’s.
“Let’s go.”
There was no need for detailed tactical commands for the Berserkers. Each troop chose their target and judged where to evade, and if a larger scale cooperation was needed, they would follow the tactics of the captain-ranked troops. If an even greater strength was needed, they would follow the tactics of the director-ranked troops.
Because Berserkers used actions rather than words to command, the commanders always took the lead. Only those who won tens of these crazy battles were divided into the elites and top elites, and they could become captains and directors.
The Berserkers stepped on the broken machines and began their charge. Questions about where this place was or where Seongbuk District went had already been clearly wiped from their minds.
Only thoughts of fighting remained.
{Kiiiieek!}
Crunch!
The moment the Berserkers dived between the monsters, black blood began to fall like heavy rain. It was the Berserker’s one-sided slaughter. The results were obvious considering the Berserkers possessed 2, 3-star stats while the monsters normally had 1-star stats and mid-bosses had 2-star stats, same as before.
Choi Hyuk was forging a highway between the monsters. Only slashing sideways. Left to right, right to left, he didn’t need any technique. He simply extended his Karma Blade and, like a car windshield wiper wiping away raindrops, he erased the monsters. Choi Hyuk’s speed was too fast for the monsters to react.
He only thought of one thing as he ran.
‘Flaming Devil… How should I kill it?’
In his heart, he wanted to first start by ripping it apart. However, if he ripped it apart, wouldn’t it simply die like that? It was quite the dilemma.
Also, when the Flaming Devil saw Choi Hyuk running crazily towards him, it revealed its flaming fangs and-
Started to run away.
‘Huh?’
Choi Hyuk was momentarily stunned to the point of forgetting to run. A monster fled? Monsters normally considered intelligent beings as being their absolute enemies and showed endless hostility towards them. A monster like that fled? Before fighting? He had never imagined something like this.
‘A monster? Fled?’
That moment, the counterattack of the monsters began.
“Huh?”
A Berserker, who was charging vigorously, suddenly blankly turned around. This was unbelievable. No matter how outstanding their skills were, they couldn’t drop their guard for even 0.1 seconds when fighting against monsters. But for him to blankly turn around during a battle?
Screech!
It was unsurprising for a crook’s claw to rip his cheek. Fortunately, its opponent had an overwhelming Endurance stat and was able to avoid a fatal blow, although there was nothing that could be done about the bleeding from the wound on his cheek. However, it seemed that he didn’t care. He absentmindedly said,
“Yoonseo?”
It was his dead daughter’s name.
These events were happening everywhere. Some foolishly stopped, while others went into a greater frenzy and jumped into the horde of monsters. The smallest team of Berserkers, the ‘troops’, were starting to collapse.
The unhesitant charge of the Berserkers slowed and instead, the spirited monsters intently pressed forward.
Even Choi Hyuk heard a very unpleasant sound.
{Aaaack!!}
His mother’s screams.
“… So it’s like that.”
Choi Hyuk was able to instantly realize this was all a hallucination. His ‘Mind’s Eye’ allowed him to look into the truth. His gaze turned towards the ‘eyeless observers’ that were spectating the fight. They possessed the ability to manipulate minds. From the start, he was able to know that they were called ‘eyeless observers’ because they had personally told him.
Their tactic was simple. Reading their opponents’ minds as they pleased, and then showing them auditory or visual hallucinations that left the greatest emotional impact on them. They made their enemies waver while the monsters became more organized.
‘Flare-Rain said it. That they were going to test my control and commanding abilities.”
Only now did he somewhat understand what those words meant. Weren’t the Berserkers fighting a dogfight, having lost their charging formation?
‘Well… They can fight their own battles.’
However, Choi Hyuk didn’t care. Baek Seoin or Ryu Hyunsung would resolve these problems on their own.
It was always like this. Choi Hyuk paid no attention to the Berserkers’ tactics. He simply fought at the very front. He only requested one thing from the Berserkers. The ability to survive any brutal battle. If they were Berserkers, they would survive.
As a sovereign, he promised them endless victories, not their survival. Choi Hyuk walked his own path. Those who could follow without being left behind were Berserkers.
Choi Hyuk once again concentrated on himself. He slowly turned his gaze and looked at the Flaming Devil. It fleeing was probably the eyeless observers’ trap. They planned to draw Choi Hyuk, who looked the strongest, deeper so that they could finish him in an instant. As he speculated all of this, Choi Hyuk gazed at the Flaming Devil.
{Aack!}
His ears continued to ring with his mother’s desperate screams, and the mouth of the Flaming Devil, the villain that killed his mother, distorted strangely as it looked at Choi Hyuk. It was definitely mocking him.
Choi Hyuk saw this and his firm mouth gave way.
Screech!
The Predator’s Blade shook. It screeched as it scratched the ground.
Even though he knew the monsters’ intentions, it changed nothing. A heat that seemed to burst his heart and melt his head surged from his body.
‘You used my mom?’
Rage surged throughout his body. This was more provoking than his hearing being manipulated.
“Okay. Try to stop me.”
Crack.
The sound of a sword being crushed sounded out from Choi Hyuk’s hand.
Thud!
Choi Hyuk kicked off the ground. He shot forward in a straight line. Towards the Flaming Devil that was mocking him. That moment, Choi Hyuk decided how he would kill it.
‘I’ll first burn your face.’
When Choi Hyuk chased it further in, the monsters, as if waiting, jumped him at once.
Screech!
Choi Hyuk’s Karma Heart pulsated like an engine. His Karma Blade, which was as dark as the depths of the ocean, extended a few meters and sliced the monsters.
Black rain fell.
{Aaahck!}
The more he advanced, the more his mother’s screams stung his ears. Even though he knew it was a hallucination, his heart thumped crazily.
At a certain point, while the Flaming Devil was fleeing for its life, and monsters blocked his path, something flew and stabbed towards Choi Hyuk.
Bang!
Choi Hyuk’s body was pushed back for the first time.
“What… are these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds?”
They were four-legged monsters with long, flexible bodies. When they opened their mouths, their spine would shoot out like a spear from within their bodies and strike Choi Hyuk’s body.
Clang! Clash!
Like bees and their stingers, this was a technique they could only use once in their life. At some point, these monsters surrounded Choi Hyuk and were crazily shooting their spines at him.
Crash! Clash!
Their spines, filled with their life, were fast and strong so it was hard to block them with his Karma Blade. If he blocked two or three, the rest would fly and stab into his body. His Karma Barrier swayed as if it would break at any moment. The spines battered away, giving him no time to come to his senses.
{Kueek!}
{Keuuk!}
The sounds of them vomiting their spines covered his surroundings like a waterfall.
Danger? Yet, it wasn’t to the point of being dangerous. It would take some time, but if he handled it calmly, he would be able to end it without overworking himself. However-
“Kurararah Keuk!”
Choi Hyuk saw the Flaming Devil that had stopped fleeing and was mocking him.
Choi Hyuk’s lips opened. He definitely needed to burn it to death. Choi Hyuk activated the second strongest skill among the three most powerful skills he possessed. It was so difficult that he wasn’t able to copy it now, even with his 4-star stats. It was one of the skills he had where he had no choice but to ‘activate it automatically’ while consuming a lot of karma.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
What was interesting was that these skills were all closely related to the ‘Flaming Wing Tribe’s Karma Heart’. The instant he wished to activate the skill, his Karma Heart beat explosively. Its pressure was strong enough that, if he didn’t train to make his Karma Heart stronger every day, it may have actually burst his Karma Heart. At a certain moment, after Choi Hyuk’s karma had been forcefully drawn into his Karma Heart and compressed again and again,
Blaze!
Flames erupted upwards.
These flames, that were hotter and more intense than those who chose the ‘Blaze’ karma trait, scattered from Choi Hyuk’s body like feathers.
“Flaming Wing Dance!”
The moment he said the skill name.
Blaze!
The whole world was covered in flames. Like flowers blooming, the feathers sprouted, and like wings spreading, the skin of the spine-throwing monsters surrounding him and the monsters that blocked his path all burst into flames.
The flames that sprouted everywhere returned Choi Hyuk again. The flames covered Choi Hyuk’s body and, along with his breathing, melted, fogging up his sword.
______
{Flaming Wing Dance}
The battle technique of the Flaming Wing Tribe. Using the ‘Flaming Wing Tribe’s Karma Heart’, you change the nature of your karma into an intense blaze. On activation, it creates a powerful flaming storm in your surroundings. It will improve your physical abilities for a limited time and will allow you to use techniques utilizing the blaze karma. Suitable for area attacks, and Stamina consumption is great.
It was originally a top-level skill only those at the 5-star level could use. Someone supplied a deteriorated version so that those at the lower levels could use it.
_______
Choi Hyuk’s body disappeared instantly, only to appear in front of the Flaming Devil with a blaze.
The Flaming Devil seemed to be suffering from the heat surrounding it. Choi Hyuk grabbed its throat with his left hand. Sizzle. The sound of meat cooking was heard. The devil writhed its body in pain.
Choi Hyuk smiled. It was a pleasant moment.
“You’ve… never been burned before, have you?”
He smiled innocently as he sliced off its toes with the red-hot Predator’s Blade.
Blaze!
A transparent, clear flame sprouted from each of its sliced toes. It was different from the thick, dark flames that covered the Flaming Devil. A high-level technique that even Choi Hyuk, with his 4-star stats, couldn’t control himself. The flames of a 3-star rank monster were helpless against it. Fire swallowed fire.
{Kuaaah!}
The devil let out a desperate cry.
“I’m curious. Will there even be ashes left?”
As he said this, Choi Hyuk reached out and grabbed the Flaming Devil’s face.