The Player Who Can't Level Up

The battle finally began with Gi-Gyu’s roar.

The area of El’s attack was so wide that it disintegrated the monsters and Michael’s light spears. Michael approached her and stammered, “Saintess…”

Michael gazed at El as if he was about to cry, but she replied coldly, “I must obey my master’s command. I don’t have much time, so give me a wide berth if you want to help.”

Michael wanted to say something; in the end, he just nodded and answered, “All right.”

Both Michael and El flew at an incredible speed. They went in different directions and began fighting. It looked like they were just swinging their swords, but they massacred numerous weaker monsters with each slash. And, of course, Gi-Gyu’s other monsters were also keeping busy.

Rattle. 

The skeletons fought the chimeras and the low-level mantises.

“Kirrrk!” the enemy monsters shrieked in agony. The skeletons were doing a decent job keeping proper battle formations under Hart’s command. Despite being stronger than regular skeletons, Gi-Gyu’s skeletons were still low-level monsters at the end of the day. Consequently, the chimeras and the mantises easily destroyed them.

“Hehehehe!” Still riding the griffin king, Hart giggled ominously as he waved his hands toward the damaged skeletons.

Whoosh!

His dark magic enveloped the bones on the ground like a gentle wind.

Rattle!

Suddenly, the dead skeletons rose again. That was the scariest aspect of the undead army—you couldn’t kill the already dead.

Also…

“You guys too! Rise!” Hart commanded the mantises and chimeras the skeletons managed to kill. Slowly, these dead enemy monsters rose and began fighting Botis’ army. Every dead enemy was a potential ally now.

However, they were battling a demon army, and something like this was common in demon territories, so Gi-Gyu’s enemy didn’t panic.

“Kllllark!” A giant mantis that looked like a corps commander screeched. It had a burgundy outer crust and was sized like a mountain. It took a single step, but it looked like a mountain appeared out of nowhere to the players.

Kaboom!

Every step it took created a thundering vibration comparable to an earthquake skill from a ranker-level mage. Choi Chang-Yong and the Blue Dragon Guild members stormed toward this giant monster.

Choi Chang-Yong shouted, “We’ll take this one down ourselves!”

At this point, Choi Chang-Yong felt a little emotional. In desperation, he thought, ‘We need to kill at least one corps commander!’

Choi Chang-Yong didn’t say this out loud, but he was desperate to accomplish this goal. He gazed at the center of the battlefield, home to an impressive fight. There, Gi-Gyu was moving like a possessed swordsman. How could he be so powerful? Just what level was he? Was he as strong as… Lee Sun-Ho?

To an ordinary observer, it might even look like all Gi-Gyu was doing was swinging his sword and still taking down dozens of monsters with each swing. Also, three red creatures were fighting alongside him. They were neither humans nor monsters, but it was clear Gi-Gyu summoned them.

Choi Chang-Yong thought in awe, ‘A summoner and vicious fighter?! This can’t be real!’

Kim Gi-Gyu. Was there an end to his power? Now, Choi Chang-Yong had no choice but to accept reality.

Rushing forward, Choi Chang-Yong yelled desperately, “We need to kill at least one corps commander to save face! If we don’t, we’ll get no credit for closing this gate!”

Choi Chang-Yong led his men toward the corps commander that lost an arm from El’s attack earlier.

“Then I’ll take this one,” Tao Chen announced as he caressed his long, shiny beard. He ran opposite Choi Chang-Yong toward the other corps commander, wielding the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, a blade larger than him.

Whoosh!

With a simple twirl, Tao Chen created a gale so powerful that it killed all the approaching monsters. Like dead leaves, his enemies flew around before falling weakly.

The corps commander, a giant mantis, walked toward him. Although it was a little smaller than the one Choi Chang-Yong was tackling, it was faster. Tao Chen was spinning his Green Dragon Crescent Blade nervously when he heard someone murmur, “Don’t try to take it down alone.”

The unpleasant voice gave off ominous dark energy. When Tao Chen turned around, he saw Hal.

Hal announced, “You will have to answer to me if your arrogance ruins my grandmaster’s plan.”

Hal and his knight’s order stood beside Tao Chen, who replied, “Hmm… I suppose I should thank you for your help.”

Tao Chen showed his thanks with a fist-and-palm salute. It was believed that a single player couldn’t destroy a corps commander in most cases. Only the most powerful players like Lucifer could battle the corps commander alone. In a manner of speaking, only the high rankers of the high rankers could beat a corps commander alone; unfortunately, Tao Chen knew he wasn’t one.

“Now, shall we have some fun?!” Tao Chen murmured.

[The knight’s order is participating in the battle.]

[The morale of the entire army is increasing.]

[The attributes of the entire army are increasing.]

Tao Chen welcomed the unexpected but pleasant system announcements. Feeling his attributes increasing, he swung down his Green Dragon Crescent Blade.

***

“Have I already reached my limit?” When El murmured, Michael gazed at her in concern. Michael knew from the beginning that El’s current power was unstable. Her magic was repeatedly increasing and decreasing. It was as if she was exchanging her life force for that forbidden power.

“I need to join my master now. You can take on the corps commander by yourself, right?” El asked coldly. There was an unmistakable force in her voice, leaving Michael with only one option—to nod silently. The way El spoke to Michael was utterly different from how she talked to Gi-Gyu. Her whole demeanor changed when she was in front of Gi-Gyu.

“Kersetu! Block it!” Gi-Gyu screamed when a small opening appeared after he slew three mantises.

“Grrrrr!” Kersetu, much smaller than the corps commander, sprinted forward to bid Gi-Gyu’s order. It was then that El returned.

“Master!” El yelled, “I failed to finish my mission. The enemy is still…”

“You’ve done more than enough, El. Thank you for your hard work,” Gi-Gyu replied without stopping swinging his sword. Around him, Bi was running and shooting fireballs at the enemies. After killing the last of the monsters before him with Lou, Gi-Gyu continued, “El! Come back to me. My hands feel naked without you.”

When Gi-Gyu patted El’s head, she smiled happily.

“Ugh!” Watching this scene, Michael groaned with envy. A bright light enveloped El slowly, and time slowed down around Gi-Gyu and El again. El’s human form disappeared quickly, and she reappeared in Gi-Gyu’s hand in her sword form.

Finally, holding two swords, Gi-Gyu stated in satisfaction, “That’s more like it.”

When El returned to her holy sword form, Hamiel and the other two angels separated from her. When they reappeared, Gi-Gyu ordered, “Hamiel! Get your brother and sister and go help Michael.”

“Your wish is my command, Grandmaster,” Hamiel replied respectfully. The angels looked tired and shaky, but they could still provide support.

“Michael.” When Hamiel greeted, Michael answered in annoyance, “Fine! Annoying bastard.”

Michael harrumphed rudely. Hamiel narrowed his eyes, but he began fighting alongside Michael. Their mission was to take care of the corps commander. After Michael and the angels left, Gi-Gyu paused for a moment. Around him, Lou’s summoned beings, the skeletons, and Bi were protecting him.

“Hmm…” When Gi-Gyu wondered, Lou read his thoughts.

-Botis hasn’t appeared yet.

“Exactly. Didn’t you say that capturing the landlord was the most important task during a territory war?”

-It is, so you need to wait. I’m trying my best to locate him.

According to Lou, the whole purpose of the territory war was to capture the landlord. The war would be over once he killed Botis; unfortunately, the landlord was nowhere to be found.

“Ugh.” Suddenly, Gi-Gyu groaned in pain. The longer this battle went on, the more overactive Death became because of the overwhelming demonic energy here. He was slowly losing control over Death and his emotions, to say nothing of his increasing dizziness.

-Master.

When El called out to him, the pain disappeared. But Gi-Gyu knew it was only a matter of time before it returned. He announced, “Haa… Let’s finish this as quickly as possible. Time isn’t on our side in many ways.”

With the territory war going on at the moment, Gi-Gyu knew Suk-Woo wasn’t in immediate danger. But this didn’t mean he wasn’t worried about his friend.

However, he was still surrounded by monsters.

“Kirrrk!” The mantises screamed as a long branch of Death from Lou killed them.

“It’s good to be strong, but I don’t want it if I can’t control it,” mumbled Gi-Gyu. In this gate, Gi-Gyu’s attributes had increased by many folds. But if he couldn’t control his power, it would be useless.

-I found it.

When Lou declared, Gi-Gyu ordered, “Everyone, make me some room!”

His skeletons and summoned beings scurried, pushing away enemy monsters to create a safe perimeter around Gi-Gyu. The skeletons stood their ground even as their bodies were destroyed. Their loyalty was unmatched.

“Krrrrk!” The corps commander that Tao Chen and Hal were fighting screamed suddenly. It tried to move toward Gi-Gyu, but Tao Chen struggled to stop it.

Hal screamed, “Never! I won’t allow you to take a single step toward my grandmaster!”

Hal plunged his giant halberd into the corps commander’s shoulder, and Tao Chen pushed his blade into the other shoulder.

“Krrrrk!” The corps commander shrieked again. Surprisingly, it ignored the two weapons sticking out of its shoulders and tried to run toward Gi-Gyu again despite the vigorous movement aggravating its wounds. The other two corps commanders screamed as well.

“Krrrrrk!”

“Kerrrrk!”

It looked like all the corps commanders were trying to protect something by risking their own lives. They all tried to run toward Gi-Gyu.

“Grrrrr!"

"Kerrrr!"

"Kwerrrrk!” Suddenly, all the other enemy monsters began to lose control as well. Unlike Gi-Gyu’s monsters, which remained calm, the enemy monsters were enraged.

Choi Chang-Yong screamed, “What the hell is wrong with these things?!”

He and his guild were making decent progress against the one-armed corps commander, but the situation suddenly changed. When the corps commander fought back in rage, their casualties rose at an alarming rate.

“You need to stall it! If you let it come my way, it will be all over!” When Gi-Gyu shouted, Choi Chang-Yong yelled, “Ah, yes, Sir—I-I mean, I got it!”

The arrogant Choi Chang-Yong was panicking so badly that he almost saluted Gi-Gyu. But now, even he had to admit that Gi-Gyu was leading them.

Choi Chang-Yong had to decide on what strategy he should use. “Dammit! Get the wounded to the back and stall as best as possible!”

Now wasn’t a good time to play hero, so, as Gi-Gyu ordered, he decided to buy as much time as possible for Gi-Gyu. It was very unlike Choi Chang-Yong, but he had no other choice.

[Players are arriving at the neutral area.]

A sudden system announcement surprised everyone.

“W-what was that?” one Blue Dragon Guild member stammered. Not too far from the battlefield, the Cain Guild, the Gypsophila Guild, and Sung-Hoon appeared.

When Gi-Gyu saw the new arrival, he shouted toward Sung-Hoon, “Please help Tao Chen and the Blue Dragon Guild!”

Sung-Hoon looked confused, but he nodded quickly and replied, “Of course! Everyone, follow Ranker Kim Gi-Gyu’s order!”

“Got it!” Shin Yoo-Bin shouted.

“We’ll go help Tao Chen!” Lee Bum-Jun announced. All the players moved calmly, proving that they were true professionals. Thanks to the reinforcement, the situation didn’t fall into utter chaos. The new players fought well against the corps commanders and the enemy monsters.

-Kekeke! It has been so long since I saw that jerk Botis.

Lou sniggered creepily. He added,

-You better be thankful that I’m on your side, Master.

Lou rarely called Gi-Gyu “Master.” It was more of a mood thing—good mood, to be specific—than a respect thing. Ignoring Lou, Gi-Gyu roared, “Let’s go!”

Gi-Gyu raised his swords before plunging them into the ground covered in blood and flesh.

Crack!

Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun.

[Landlord Botis will appear.]

The whole world shook as if it was about to split.