The Player Who Can't Level Up

Gi-Gyu wanted to retain his humanity, but why? The ones living near his house, the non-players, were like the old him—weak and powerless. If he were still weak, or if he returned to being powerless, what could he have done if someone powerful had decided that he and his family were “acceptable sacrifices?”

This was why Gi-Gyu needed to make an effort to protect the non-players. He was a human, so he had to protect his fellow humans. Well, at least those who were innocent and deserved to be saved.

Gi-Gyu was deep in thought when Heo Sung-Hoon asked, “What are you thinking about so hard?”

“It’s nothing.” Gi-Gyu gave him an awkward smile.

Sung-Hoon smiled as well and then abruptly thanked him. “Thank you.”

“Pardon?” Gi-Gyu asked in confusion.

Sung-Hoon explained, “I’m talking about how you promised to protect other people. The truth is, none of us wanted to put the non-players at risk. But we had no other choice, as you’re the only one here who can make these decisions.”

Gi-Gyu looked at Sung-Hoon and reassured him, “Please don’t worry.”

Gi-Gyu didn’t explain further, but it was enough to put Sung-Hoon at ease.

They both walked out the door.

Gi-Gyu announced, “It’s finally starting.”

The moment Gi-Gyu stepped outside his home, giant sorcerous energy covered the sky like a dome.

***

“This is…” Gi-Gyu muttered as he reached out to touch the sticky energy.

Lou apathetically commented, “It’s not poison, which means it’s different from the first level barrier we saw.”

Gi-Gyu nodded in agreement. He knew as well that this wasn’t a simple sorcerous energy barrier. “This is more like a gate. Just as we suspected, either Andras can modify gates, or…”

Looking around, he added, “He can control them.”

The dome-like sorcerous energy could turn the encompassed space into something you would see inside a gate. The surrounding area began to change; soon, Gi-Gyu’s home—and every other house in the area—vanished from behind him. The Bukhan River was still there, but it was boiling like lava now.

Gi-Gyu wondered if it was just all an illusion.

Lou replied, “Nope. It’s not an illusion.”

“What?”

“The sorcerous energy and magic have melded to transform this space. Once the barrier is deactivated, it will probably all return to normal,” Lou answered.

Sung-Hoon asked, “Everything will return to normal once the barrier is deactivated? Does that mean we can do whatever…”

“Yes. You can do whatever you want here,” Lou replied.

Sung-Hoon seemed relieved. To lighten the mood, he joked, “Then we won’t have to pay for all the damages we’re about to do, Ranker Kim Gi-Gyu.”

Gi-Gyu smiled at the ridiculous joke.

Gi-Gyu commented, “By the way, something feels very familiar.”

Lou took a step and replied, “That makes sense…”

As if reminiscing, calm filled Lou’s eyes. “This is very much like hell.”

Hell was Lou’s home, so it appeared that he remembered his past life.

After unhurriedly gathering his magic, Gi-Gyu let it burst.

Fwoosh.

With a loud noise, his magic took a physical form and spread out.

“Tsk,” Lou clicked his tongue at Gi-Gyu. He muttered, “You won’t be able to detect anything. This barrier would most likely block that.”

Gi-Gyu planned to find this space’s leader and kill them quickly. This would surely minimize the loss on his side. Unfortunately, his enemy was better prepared than he had expected.

Kaboom!

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and then Gi-Gyu heard many players shouting.

“Emergency! It’s Kim Gi-Gyu! Everyone, remember your training!” a player ordered.

Gi-Gyu was about to make his move to eliminate these enemy players but stopped when he heard Sung-Hoon’s whisper.

“Ranker Kim Gi-Gyu.”

Gi-Gyu silently turned toward Sung-Hoon and noticed that, apart from Sung-Hoon, the Grigories were also looking at him.

Sung-Hoon requested, “Could you let us take care of them? We can’t remember the last time we battled. After all, we were created to—”

“Sung-Hoon,” Gi-Gyu interrupted.

Sung-Hoon had more to say; instead, he decided to listen.

“Go ahead.”

“Pardon?” Sung-Hoon asked.

“I said you can take them. I am well aware of why Grigories was created.” Gi-Gyu smiled and walked away from the location the players’ shouts came from.

Gi-Gyu continued, “To fight, right?”

Sung-Hoon and the rest bowed to show their appreciation.

Sung-Hoon replied, “Thank you for your understanding.”

Sung-Hoon never mentioned it, but the Grigories had been extremely stressed lately. They used to be the revered players of the KPA’s secret army; now, they were mere rebels on the run. Their situation had changed very abruptly.

Still, this wasn’t really the biggest problem. What troubled them the most was…

‘They never got the chance to avenge their teammates,’ Gi-Gyu thought.

Sung-Hoon hadn’t shared every detail of the battle in which Tae-Shik and Tae-Gu had participated. However, the Grigories had obviously suffered a huge loss. The members of this group were most likely all friends who had trained and fought side by side. They must have shared a lot of good and bad memories. Lamentably, they didn’t get an opportunity to avenge their friends until now. All they had been doing was sneaking around to collect information.

However, Grigory was created to battle, trained only and only for fighting.

Sung-Hoon shouted, “We’ve had some rough times! But it’s time to fight now! This is war!”

This wasn’t any regular fight for them—it was war.

Crackle!

All this time, the Grigories had never used their full powers. They had finally unleashed their magic, flooding the area with their dense energy.

“Wow,” Lou exclaimed. Lou was normally very stingy with compliments, so this said a lot about the Grigory players.

Clank!

The Grigories took out their weapons; surprisingly, they all used spears.

Lou whispered, “Not bad. They actually might come in handy.”

Meanwhile, the leader of the enemy players shouted, “They are over there! Battle formation. Now! We can’t lose Kim Gi-Gyu!”

The second the enemy players arrived, Sung-Hoon yelled, “Attack!”

The Grigories dashed forward with Sung-Hoon at the front.

***

While Sung-Hoon and the Grigories battled, Gi-Gyu walked by them. The enemies wanted to follow him, but they couldn’t. Sung-Hoon and the Grigories were powerful enough, but Lou took care of any enemy powerful enough to escape their net.

“This is boring,” Lou muttered as he jerked the blood off his hand that had transformed into a sword.

Gi-Gyu asked curiously, “So you can still fight in that form?”

“Well, I’ve been in worse situations before, and I could still fight then. I certainly don’t have my full power, but this is nothing,” Lou answered. He had just killed rankers and semi-rankers, calling them “nothing.” It was such an arrogant statement, but it suited Lou.

Gi-Gyu looked ahead. It was just Lou and himself now. He whispered, “This is not exactly how we planned it.”

It was an inevitable outcome, as they didn’t know much about the barriers. Go Hyung-Chul had given them some information about it, but it clearly wasn’t enough. Gi-Gyu had wanted to destroy the enemy’s camp in a blitz, but it didn’t turn out the way he had planned.

Gi-Gyu could feel they were surrounded by enemies; for some reason, they weren’t approaching Gi-Gyu and Lou.

“Should we indulge them?” Gi-Gyu suggested.

Lou grinned.

The enemies weren’t making their move, so Gi-Gyu looked around and mumbled, “Are they telling us to just go?”

Their enemies were lined around them in this sorcerous energy-transformed space. It was as if they were constructing a specific path for Gi-Gyu to follow.

“Are they trying to herd us?” Lou wondered aloud.

Gi-Gyu nodded and commented, “I think they consider us their prey.”

Their enemies were unmistakably trying to herd them into a trap. It was a typical hunting technique where a hunter would tire out their prey and then hunt it once it was too tired to move.

Lou laughed and said, “That sounds fun.”

The excitement and anticipation of the upcoming battle made Lou tremble. The magic and the sorcerous energy in the air were guiding them into a specific area. It had to be a trap, but…

“I know, right?” A smile appeared on Gi-Gyu’s face as well.

Gi-Gyu and Lou followed the path until they reached an area where the magic and the sorcerous energy had ended.

Gi-Gyu and Lou looked ahead to see boiling lava. Only a few hours ago, this used to be the Bukhan River filled with clear blue water; now, its terrible heat made the air burn.

Gi-Gyu watched the strange scene with interest. He had never seen a lava river before. He waited in silence, but nothing happened.

Gi-Gyu mumbled, “Are they telling us to go inside?”

Their enemies seemingly waited for Gi-Gyu and Lou to jump into the lava river. Were they taunting Gi-Gyu? Daring him to pass the lava to get to them?

As time passed, Gi-Gyu became more confident of this.

“Well, I guess we better accept their invitation, Lou.”

“Tsk.” Lou clicked his tongue and began to glow. He quickly turned into his accessory form and appeared on Gi-Gyu’s finger.

Gi-Gyu touched the necklace, Bi, around his neck and whispered, “Elemental… magma.”

Then, he quickly became one with the lava.

***

Elemental Magma.

After Gi-Gyu became an Ego master, Bi’s elemental skills also evolved. Elemental Fire had evolved into Elemental Magma.

Gi-Gyu liquified and entered the lava river.

‘It feels nice and warm!’ Gi-Gyu thought in pleasure. He was inside a boiling lava pool, but it felt like he was taking a nice warm bath.

Lou warned,

-I feel an enemy nearby.

Lou was right. Gi-Gyu could also feel powerful magic from close by.

‘Is it a monster?’ Gi-Gyu wondered. The magic pattern felt a little different from that of a player. He could also smell a magic scent from this unknown enemy, who had to be stronger than the players Sung-Hoon and the Grigories were fighting. This enemy had to be as strong as a gatekeeper of an A-Class gate.

And…

It appeared to be a dark creature from hell. Gi-Gyu could feel it getting closer, and he couldn’t help being excited as he prepared for the battle. He was finally going to meet an enemy he could destroy. He wondered how strong the creature would be. He felt both nervous and thrilled.

“Kwarrrrk!” Strangely, Gi-Gyu could hear the monster’s scream even through lava. Suddenly, a giant lava arm flew toward him. He dodged, making the surrounding lava jiggle. However, when this lava arm got close, he felt the intense heat for the first time.

Lou explained,

-It’s a magma golem.

‘A magma golem?’ Gi-Gyu asked in his head.

-It’s an uncommon monster even in hell, but the demons holding a Seat of Power often use them to guard their places. I guess our battle is finally beginning.

Even as Lou spoke, the magma golem continued to attack Gi-Gyu. The monster’s lava arms were powerful, but their attack pattern was simple.

Lou muttered,

-Magma golems are simpletons, so they usually aren’t very useful.

Gi-Gyu had learned enough about his enemy now.

‘Guess it’s my turn to attack.’ 

Gi-Gyu clenched his fists.