The Player Who Can't Level Up

The newcomer was Micheal, whose sudden appearance alone was enough to massacre the chimeras. While Gi-Gyu had a blank countenance, the others like Lee Bum-Jun, the rest of the Cain Guild members, and even Shin Yoo-Bin looked dazed as they stared up at the sky. 

“A-are those… wings?” one of the players whispered. The wings on Michael’s back made it impossible to tell if he was even human. 

Gi-Gyu was the first one to come to his senses. He explained, “He’s one of the foreign players sent to help us. He might not have the best personality, but I can guarantee he’s powerful; he’ll greatly help us.” 

After witnessing their brethren's swift massacre, even the monsters seemed hesitant, but they quickly recovered from the shock. The surviving chimeras were ready to attack again. 

This was clearly not the right time to chat idly. 

Schwing.

Two swords appeared in Gi-Gyu’s hands. He grasped them tightly, enjoying the feel of the powerful weapons in his hands.

‘This feels good,’ he thought. It had been long since he last hunted monsters, so holding Lou and El felt just right, and his body tensed in anticipation.

‘I can’t believe I’m excited by the prospect of fighting a powerful monster.’ Gi-Gyu grinned. Was it because he had confidence in his strength? Or was he just beginning to enjoy killing? 

Gi-Gyu tried to clear his head since he couldn’t let anything, not even confidence, cloud his mind right now. He needed to focus on this situation and remind himself of his ultimate goal: To rescue Suk-Woo. 

“Let’s go!” Gi-Gyu roared. His first task was taking care of the monsters before him. 

Clip, clop, clip, clop!

The monsters sprinted toward the players again. Michael didn’t attack this time and just continued to flap his wings to stay in the air. He probably couldn’t use the same skill in quick succession. 

“Please step aside.” When Gi-Gyu asked, Lee Bum-Jun looked confused, “...”

But without asking anything, Lee Bum-Jun nodded and took a step back. He split the battle formation into two separate groups and placed everyone behind Gi-Gyu. Now, the countless monsters had only one target: Gi-Gyu. 

-Kekeke.

Lou chuckled happily. Gi-Gyu lowered El for a moment and raised Lou straight toward the monsters. “Amplification. Elemental fire.”

Suddenly, Lou began to burn with a black-red flame. The other players’ eyes widened when they felt the massive magic storm stemming from Lou.  

“...!” 

The fire on Lou became thinker and hotter with each passing second; soon, it changed from blood-red to icy blue. His lips curling up, Gi-Gyu whispered, “White flame.” 

“O-oh my god!” several players exclaimed as the fire shot toward the monsters. The monsters burned in a sea of fire and screamed, “Kirrrk!”

When Gi-Gyu lowered Lou and raised El, Lee Bum-Jun stammered, “T-there is more?!” 

That question arose because El was already filling up with white light. With a pleased chuckle, Gi-Gyu raised El toward the sky and yelled, “Fire!”

A flash of white light shot from El; its energy was comparable to Micheal’s attack just now. 

The other players remained quiet, unable to hide their shock. Meanwhile, the monsters continued to scream, “Kirrrk!” 

That attack disintegrated a third of the monsters flying toward Gi-Gyu. The surviving monsters stopped and stared, their morale plummeting by the second. Gi-Gyu’s overwhelming power had successfully put the fear of God in them. 

“That bastard…” Michael murmured as he narrowed his eyes. Gi-Gyu’s attack just now using El resembled Michael’s move earlier.  

Gi-Gyu lowered both of his swords and turned toward the other players. “Why are you guys all just standing around?”

With a grin, Gi-Gyu roared, “Let’s go, everyone!” 

He activated Accelerate and Rush, and with his increased speed attribute, he was faster than a bullet. 

Realizing it was their turn to attack, Lee Bum-Jun roared, “We gotta go too! Everyone! Attack!” 

Not many chimeras were left now, so there was no point in maintaining the strict battle formation. The current best strategy was for everyone to attack together. 

Gi-Gyu was already well ahead of everyone as he sliced up the monsters quickly. Watching him, Lee Bum-Jun couldn’t hide the goosebumps on his arms. 

‘How…?’ he wondered. Just when did Kim Gi-Gyu become so powerful? Lee Bum-Jun knew Gi-Gyu was strong when he witnessed the Yeoksam battle, but he wasn’t this strong. 

Lee Bum-Jun was stupefied as he stared at Gi-Gyu when someone yelled at him, “Deputy Guild Master!” 

When Lee Bum-Jun looked around, everyone else around him was battling the monsters. 

“I guess birds of a feather do flock together,” murmured Lee Bum-Jun. He could see the resemblance between Kim Gi-Gyu and his guild master, Yoo Suk-Woo: They both had the ability to attract people, making everyone want to follow them. 

***

Gi-Gyu had been thinking a lot about the exceptional gates. Unlike the normal gates, he could sync with the exceptional ones. What was the reason behind this? 

Lou suspected that it was because someone still owned the exceptional gates. For example, the two gates Brunheart held were previously owned by Hart and the griffin king. He explained that the system perceived the battle to close an exceptional gate as a war for territory. So, whoever won would be considered the new landlord. 

One thing that confused Gi-Gyu was the lack of system announcement when he entered this particular gate. 

‘The system didn’t announce the sync possibility to me this time.’ 

Why? Since he wanted to sync with it without anyone noticing, he entered the gate last on purpose, but the system didn’t even ask him. 

Gi-Gyu wondered, ‘Was it because the other players entered before me? Or is there another reason…? Maybe it has something to do with why Suk-Woo has been unable to leave this place.’ 

For now, Gi-Gyu knew nothing except one thing: Sync or no sync, he had to close the gate. This was necessary to rescue Suk-Woo, who had to be inside this gate. 

‘I’m certain he isn’t dead.’ Gi-Gyu was confident about this. 

“You were pretty impressive earlier.” Michael approached Gi-Gyu, who was walking deep in his thoughts. The two foreign players dispatched for this gate were Michael and Tao Chen. Michael explained that Tao Chen was assigned to the Blue Dragon Guild while he was asked to join the Cain Guild. 

Everyone stared at Michael and Gi-Gyu. So far, Gi-Gyu’s group hadn’t suffered any fatality. Some players did suffer minor injuries, but healers could easily heal them. Considering this was a gate with a level higher than S-Class, this was a miraculous result. This was especially unexpected, considering the Blue Dragon Guild was much stronger than the Cain Guild. Based on what they witnessed when they first entered the gate, the Blue Dragon Guild obviously suffered much more serious damage. Everyone knew that this was all thanks to Gi-Gyu and Michael. 

Turning toward Michael, Gi-Gyu asked bluntly, “Of all the players, why were you assigned to my group?” 

“I volunteered, of course. Didn’t I tell you before? I need to stay near you.” When Michael replied, Gi-Gyu nodded in understanding. If someone powerful like Michael volunteered for a specific gate, there was no way the Korean Players Association could refuse him. 

Gi-Gyu thought in resignation, ‘Well, at least he’ll be helpful to my plan.’

His plan was to go to the center of the gate with a few volunteers once the group had reached a safe place. In the worst-case scenario, he alone would be going to the most dangerous part of the gate. This was a risky move, but it was the fastest way to reach the boss monster. 

But now, with Michael as a part of the group, Gi-Gyu felt like this plan had a better chance. 

‘While I’m tackling the boss monster and searching for Suk-Woo at the center, the rest of the group will search the outer edges for Suk-Woo.’ Gi-Gyu organized his plan silently. Because this was a giant gate, this would be the most efficient way. Moving as a large group meant trading speed for safety. So, breaking the large group into smaller ones with different goals could achieve both. One group could rush toward the center to kill the boss monster, while the others could carry out a wider search for Suk-Woo. 

Michael grinned and replied, “I hope we work together well!” 

When Michael walked away, several players approached Gi-Gyu with curiosity. 

“Do you know that man well?” Lee Bum-Jun asked in excitement.

“Oppa! How do you know that player? I can’t believe someone so powerful like him is unknown to the world,” Yoo-Bin exclaimed. 

“Ranker Kim Gi-Gyu, what just happened?” Sung-Hoon inquired in awe. 

There was no way the KPA would let just anyone enter this gate; therefore, every player here felt that the KPA had verified Micheal’s identity. Still, they had no idea who he was or where he came from. 

Gi-Gyu explained, “I heard he’s a secret soldier from the Vatican. I’m not friends with him or anything. I just met him before, that’s all.” 

“The Vatican? That ruined country?” Lee Bum-Jun’s eyes widened. 

“Yes, that one,” replied Gi-Gyu. The Vatican used to be a prominent religious place in the past, but after the Tower’s appearance, it received the worst brunt. To begin with, the Vatican wasn’t large, as big as a small city, so the arrival of the Tower and the gates spelled its disaster. How? When they first appeared, few people were aware of this whole gate closing business, so the Vatican failed to close its gates.

To make matters worse, an S-Class gate, the highest level at the time, appeared there. As one could expect, a gate break occurred and destroyed the Vatican and much surrounding area. If it weren’t for the very first high rankers that went to help, Italy would’ve been wiped off the map.

“It’s shocking enough that the Vatican is still standing, but they raised such a powerful player on top of that…” Lee Bum-Jun murmured as he glanced at Michael. Michael probably could hear their conversation, but he didn’t show any outward reaction.

Lee Bum-Jun added, “Anyway, I can see he will be a great help.”

“But,” Gi-Gyu murmured as he looked at Lee Bum-Jun. Because Lee Bum-Jun already knew Gi-Gyu’s plan, he immediately understood what Gi-Gyu was thinking, so he nodded in understanding.

One of the Cain guild members yelled, “More monsters are coming!” 

From a distance, they spotted a herd of chimeras coming toward them. 

Whoosh!

Michael’s wings fluttered, and he took to the sky at an incredible speed. Everyone was impressed again by how powerful Michael was. Gi-Gyu grinned as he watched Michael fly away. 

***

Gi-Gyu’s group arrived at the place they agreed upon with the Blue Dragon Guild. Since they didn’t have a map, they couldn’t be sure they were on the exact spot, but they knew it would be fine if they were in the approximate area. 

From now on, each group had to tackle the gate based on their comfort level. Gi-Gyu’s group decided to have a small rest. Until now, the players had been relaxed because of Michael and Gi-Gyu’s show of power. But now, tension and anxiety began to rise. The players looked nervous as Gi-Gyu made an announcement. 

“I have something I need to tell you all,” Gi-Gyu stated. Only Lee Bum-Jun knew of his plan so far, and there was a good reason for it: Gi-Gyu didn’t want to face all the objections he knew people would raise. 

Gi-Gyu continued, “From now on, I’m going to move alone.”

“Pardon? What do you mean?! You can’t, Ranker Kim Gi-Gyu!” Sung-Hoon shouted. 

Gi-Gyu explained quickly, “This gate is too big, so we must divide and conquer. Besides, you all know that a large group can’t move fast.” 

With a short pause, Gi-Gyu continued, “I know this will be risky. But we can’t just sit here idly, right? The most important aspect of a rescue mission is timing.” 

Gi-Gyu’s eyes darkened, making Sung-Hoon swallow his retort. Gi-Gyu's intense aura made sure no one else raised any objections. 

“I’m fine with this plan. I’ll go with you, Oppa,” Shin Yoo-Bin chimed in with a smile. 

“No, Yoo-Bin, you must stay with the Cain Guild.” Gi-Gyu was firm in his answer as he added, “Only those who can slay a chimera with one swing can follow me. Anyone else would just slow me down.” 

Yoo-Bin was shocked by Gi-Gyu’s cold words. Unfortunately, there was no time to sugarcoat his plan. Gi-Gyu continued, “Sung-Hoon, you’ll also go with the Cain Guild. Initially, I planned on going with a few volunteers, but the situation has changed.” 

Gi-Gyu turned toward Michael and added, “Since this guy is here, we’ll be going together.”

There was no room for objections.