4.
The company dinner dragged on until quite late.
By the ti Seong and Yu Mina returned ho, it was already past 11 p.m.—a very late evening.
Even though it was late, their mother, Lee Na-gyeong, was still awake and waiting for them in the living room when she saw the two walk in.
“Back already~?”
“I told you to just go to bed.”
“Yeah. You should’ve gotten so sleep.”
“No~ The drama was too good~”
She said it playfully, but Seong and Yu Mina both knew she had waited up for them.
They’d been out pretty late enjoying themselves.
Both a bit exhausted, they each headed straight to their rooms after showering.
Normally, Seong would’ve dried his hair before lying down.
But he didn’t have the ntal strength for that today.
He just collapsed onto his bed, letting the fatigue soak out of him.
“Hoo...”
He was tired.
But it had been a lot of fun.
Even during his university days, it wasn’t common to have a dinner party with that many people.
He was simply grateful to the staff and the owner who had worked so hard that night.
Seong was thinking about that, trying to fall asleep, when he suddenly rembered what An Yu-bin had said toward the end of the evening.
“Can we hang out again soti?”
Of course, she had awkwardly added afterward that it was to hang out as a team.
But co on.
He was twenty-two years old.
There was no way he could misunderstand what she ant.
Seong had always been good-looking since childhood—minus the rumors about seeing ghosts—so he was no stranger to that kind of attention.
It was obvious when soone ca at him so directly.
Though he hadn’t decided what “hanging out” would entail yet...
Guess I can set a date soti soon.
For now, he’d leave it be.
If he let it distract him, he wouldn’t be able to get anything else done.
There were lots of things to do in the morning.
New developnts were unfolding in Badia, too.
With that odd mix of excitent and nervous anticipation, Seong slowly drifted off to sleep.
He stirred a little in his sleep a while later.
But he had been so tired that he fell right back into deep slumber.
And so, the next morning arrived.
Seong got up as usual, feeling refreshed, and went about his morning routine just like any other day.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
And when he logged into Eternal World,
The mont he connected, he spotted a mo urgently scribbled on his ssage board.
『To the plaza.
Weasel -』
“...?”
What happened?
Seong imdiately headed for the plaza.
0.
Not long after a massive palm-shaped imprint had appeared on the plains between the city of Badia and the Wiron territory,
That news reached even the capital of the Kingdom of Rieskan.
It ca at a ti when the tides of war—which had long been stagnant—were starting to shift.
Naturally, it was a serious issue.
But it was developing with far deeper weight than expected.
The Sword Saint—who shouldn’t have been involved—declared his participation and appeared late at night at the national council chamber once more.
The council was in chaos.
Understandably so.
“Has our strategy been compromised?”
“Are we really proceeding with the operation as planned tomorrow!??”
“If the enemy’s discovered our strategy, the losses will be catastrophic.”
Watching the people shouting and chattering,
The Sword Saint’s irritation flared.
They had ticulously hidden their forces near Badia to continue the war in earnest,
But then, two days ago, that palm-shaped imprint had appeared.
And now this ergency eting was taking place.
Of course /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ the Sword Saint was angry.
The disaster had appeared as if stamped down by a divine palm.
And massive casualties had followed.
But that wasn’t the source of his irritation.
The corpses and the blood... all gone...
That part had only been reported to him.
A powerful force had razed the battlefield?
That didn’t matter.
As long as they could recover the bodies and blood.
That was all that mattered.
But now, even that wasn’t possible.
Of course he was furious.
Where had all those corpses and blood gone?
So idiots claid they were crushed and obliterated, but that wasn’t the issue.
And so, the Sword Saint was struck by a creeping concern.
If the corpses vanish again during tomorrow’s battle...
That would be an enormous loss.
He wore a grim expression, burdened by the thought.
Then, shaking his head slightly, he muttered to himself.
Whoever the culprit was—
It didn’t matter.
“I’ll deploy the Marod Knights.”
The Marod Knights.
One of the elite knight orders directly under the Sword Saint’s command.
They were exceptionally powerful.
However, due to their brutal and savage nature,
They were rarely deployed outside of special missions.
In that sense, they were the perfect force for this kind of war.
So when the others heard this, they were understandably alard.
“The Marod Knights!??!”
“Wh-what?! If you’re sending them, isn’t this practically all-out war!?”
“The Varlan Empire won’t stand for this...”
“Even the Demon Lords might rise up in response...”
They voiced their concerns.
But none of it reached the Sword Saint’s ears.
He scoffed at them all, calling them cowards.
“If the Demon Lords rise up, I’ll rise to et them.”
Hearing the Sword Saint arrogantly declare that,
The council mbers felt the collective migraine settle in.
War wasn’t sothing that could be won by strength alone.
It created all kinds of economic and logistical problems, starting with supplies.
And yet, what he was saying was—
He would fight, and they could clean up the ss.
Of course there was resistance.
But in the end, everyone had no choice but to follow him.
It can’t be helped.
If the Sword Saint has drawn his sword...
This ancient war needs to end eventually.
The losses are already glaring.
They exchanged glances, their eyes saying everything.
But nothing could be done.
Once the Sword Saint had made his decision, there was no stopping him.
They could only do their best to contain the damage.
As they fell into worried contemplation,
The Sword Saint grinned and muttered inwardly.
If I send the Marod Knights made up of demons, I won’t have to worry about the corpses and blood disappearing.
They could be sent straight to the Demon Realm.
There would be no problem forging weapons imbued with demonic energy.
With that, the Sword Saint eagerly awaited the coming day.
The real war.
And the destruction of Wiron, which had made no preparations.
“We proceed with the operation as scheduled.”
With that, he departed.
One of the officials watching him leave grimaced and quickly sent a ssage sowhere.
There were no mages present to detect it.
That ssage eventually soared toward the Cerulean Magic Tower of Septem Arcana.
And at the very top of the spire, the newly nad Weasel frowned deeply.
The encoded note contained a date and ti.
“The Sword Saint’s gone mad. I need to report this quickly.”
Muttering urgently, Weasel scribbled a mo and pinned it to the notice board in Wiron.
1.
In the Wiron territory of the Varlan Empire, things had been lively these past few days.
It was no surprise—three days ago, they’d scored a massive victory in the war.
“Ha ha ha! This wine tastes excellent!”
“Of course it does! Nothing tastes better than victory!”
“You’re damn right!”
Even the NPCs were enjoying drinks from noon with cheerful hearts.
And the players weren’t any different.
“Whoa, that’s the palm imprint?”
“Holy shit, you can’t even see the whole thing from the wall...”
“The depth is insane...”
“Getting hit by that would be instant death.”
It had beco a tourist attraction, and the players were reveling in it.
Of course, just like Wiron was packed with players,
You’d expect Badia to be drawing crowds too.
And yet—
So players were gossiping about it.
“Apparently, the soldiers in Badia are rejecting rcenaries now?”
“All of a sudden? Weren’t they always eager to take anyone before?”
“Exactly. They say it started after they lost that last war.”
“Maybe there won’t be a war this week?”
“Hm, maybe?”
“Man, I ca here to watch the fighting. I guess I’ll just join Wiron’s side as a rc.”
“Yeah, that’s probably the move. Ha ha.”
It seed that ever since their loss, Badia had stopped accepting rcenaries.
The players were disappointed,
But since they could just side with Wiron,
They weren’t too upset.
On top of that, word of a major event approaching had drawn in a huge number of players.
The whole city of Wiron was buzzing.
With so many people packed in,
All sorts of rumors and news were spreading.
Even the Wiron NPC soldiers were hearing it.
But the NPC soldiers found it strange.
They couldn’t believe that war-hungry Badia would turn away rcenaries.
“They’re rejecting rcenaries now?”
“What kind of ga are they playing?”
“They were always the type to just charge in head-on. This is weird.”
“Refusing rcenaries...”
Naturally, word made its way up the chain of command.
But no significant intelligence could be extracted.
Even though the higher-ups sensed sothing was off and could have ordered an investigation,
They didn’t.
Because this was just more of the usual WWE.
They dismissed it.
The war had been going on for a thousand years.
It’d be stranger to expect it to change overnight.
And so, nothing was done.
At that mont,
Soldiers stationed atop Wiron’s fortress wall could see sothing odd on the horizon—from the direction of Badia.
Troops were pouring out of Badia’s gates.
And from beyond the walls, knights erged in waves.
“Destroy Wiron!!!”
“Destroy Wiron!!!”
“For the Kingdom of Rieskan!!!”
“Kill them all!!!”
Shouting as they charged forward on horseback.
The Wiron soldiers saw this and quickly rang the alarm.
BWOONG—! BWOOOONG——!
“It’s an ambush!!!”
“Badia is attacking!!!”
They shouted as they scanned the approaching troops—and so of them turned pale.
“The Marod Knights!?”
“Those lunatics are here!?”
“D-dammit, stop them!!!”
“Close the gates!!! If they get inside, we’re finished!!!”
Everyone’s faces turned deathly pale.
The Marod Knights were infamous even in neighboring Varlan.
They weren’t just brutal—they were worse than bandits.
Despite their efforts to stop them,
The hastily gathered troops couldn’t withstand the knights’ charge.
In desperation—
“O-outsiders! Please help!!!”
“M-rcenaries! Join us!!!”
“Please!!!”
They called for the many players who had applied to join as rcenaries.
The players, hearing the urgent calls, rushed outside the fortress to face the charging knights.
But—
FWOOOSH——!!!
CRAAAASH———!!!
No one could stop the charge of the Marod Knights at the front.
As if to prove why they were knights, not just in na,
The players trembled at the sight.
“S-so strong!!!”
“S-stop them!!!”
“Khahahaha!!! Look at the little brats walk right into death!!!”
“Slaughter them! Slaughter!!!”
Roaring with laughter, the Marod Knights swung their swords with unhinged brutality, cutting down players like weeds.
And then—
KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII———!!!
A shriek like the world splitting apart ripped through the sky.
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