The Player Who Can't Level Up

"H-he’s a beast!” an enemy player yelled.

“This is crazy!” another whispered in awe.

These players were used to dealing with monsters and experiencing the impossible. So, their shock was a good enough indicator of Gi-Gyu’s ridiculous strength.

They were all rankers or higher with the experience of dozens of battles under their belts. These powerful individuals worked together in harmony and made their group strong beyond reason, but…

An enemy player screamed in despair, “We’re doomed!”

Nothing they did seemed to work against Kim Gi-Gyu.

Kaboom! Boom!

The players tirelessly used skills, physical attacks, and whatnot, but the attacks never reached Kim Gi-Gyu, succeeding in only creating loud explosions.

“Why?! Why can’t we get him?!” The players couldn’t hide their frustration. Their enemy was standing before them, and they had the number advantage, but they still couldn't touch a hair on his body.

“Please…” The players were desperate. No matter what kind of attack the players threw at him, Gi-Gyu would dodge it. Worse yet, he would purposefully not dodge the attack until the very last minute. It was as if he was teasing them, making them think they could defeat him if they tried just a little harder. Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to even graze Gi-Gyu yet.

“Six,” Gi-Gyu announced. A ripping sound spread in the area with that.

Kaboom!

“D-dammit!” another one of the enemy players found himself slammed into the wall. So far, they had lost six members. The Caravan Guild players deemed Gi-Gyu the devil. He was more of a demon than the demon they served.

Gi-Gyu continued to dodge all the attacks aimed at him while counting leisurely. He was only taking down players at the leadership level. It almost looked like he was dancing as he escaped their attacks while taking them down one by one.

Someone whispered desperately, “Where the hell is our reinforcement?!”

Sadly, only Gi-Gyu’s voice was heard. “Seven.”

***

“23,” Gi-Gyu counted again.

“N-no! P-please…!” The last enemy player stepped back in fear, but begging proved useless.

Boom!

With a quieter explosion this time, the last player was slammed into a wall.

“Disable Super Rush,” Gi-Gyu mumbled as he looked at the 23 players stuck on the wall. Hermes, which was glowing in a golden hue, returned to normal.

-I told you not to use it.

Lou said in annoyance.

Gi-Gyu dryly replied, “But I had to do a test run, don’t you think?”

Gaining the Ego master title had changed many things for Gi-Gyu and even Lou and El. The improvements they had experienced exceeded expectations and had actually modified all of Gi-Gyu’ Egos.

Gi-Gyu was beginning to think that these changes were more like evolutions. They weren’t exactly like Lou and El’s official evolutions, but they were still impressive. These changes involved appearances, skills, attributes, and everything else in between.

‘Like the Super Rush I used just now.’ Gi-Gyu thought about Hermes’ skill he had tried just now. Of all the changes his Egos had experienced, Gi-Gyu was most impressed with his shoes Hermes’ improvement. Amazingly, Hermes’ previous two skills, Accelerate and Rush, had combined to form a new skill—Super Rush.

Lou grumbled,

-Gosh, you never listen to me. You can't rely on your Egos if you want to learn my battle strategy. Especially the skill you just used…

Lou continued,

-It was incredible. But that also means it will take its toll on you. Have a look.

Lou was right. It might have felt much longer to the enemy players, but the battle lasted only 10 minutes. Gi-Gyu did this because he wanted to test how long he could use Hermes’ new skill.

‘My whole body is creaking in just 10 minutes,’ Gi-Gyu thought as his joints screamed in agony. It had been so long since he felt pain that it made him frown.

-It’s a crazy skill, not something you can handle with your current attributes. If you want to use Super Rush, you better train harder.

Gi-Gyu nodded in agreement. “Yeah… And it uses up so much magic too.”

Had he used the skill for more than 10 minutes, he would’ve wholly exhausted his magic reserves. Considering the massiveness of his magic reserves, it was shocking that this skill had drained half of it in just 10 minutes.

“But I still love it.” Gi-Gyu smiled in satisfaction. He couldn’t wait to try the new skills of his other Egos.

Lou warned,

-You gotta control yourself. If you’re serious about learning my battle strategy and efficiently using your powers, you need to hold off on using your Egos’ abilities. From now on, make an effort to only use your physical attributes in fights.

“All right,” Gi-Gyu answered. He didn’t use Super Rush just because he was curious—it was also a warning. He looked at the ceiling, which was unusually high. It was a warning to whoever was watching.

‘Did it not work?’ wondered Gi-Gyu. It was a trap to lure the mastermind behind this whole plan. Whoever thought of this scheme probably thought of themselves as a hunter. So, he tried to force them out by showing off his strength and destroying this hunter’s dogs.

But in the end, this “hunter” didn’t come out to play.

Lou seemed impressed.

-They have better control over their emotions than I expected. I’m now curious about their identity. They are even giving you, the prey, enough time to rest in between battles… Perfect. This is how one should hunt.

So far, Gi-Gyu had defeated the magma golem and an army of powerful players—formidable opponents, no doubt—in this unfamiliar place. And now, it appeared that Gi-Gyu was given a break. The hunter wanted Gi-Gyu to relax and let the fatigue from the battle take hold. They probably also wanted Gi-Gyu to let his guard down. After all, even the tiniest show of weakness could mean life or death in a situation like this.

Lou whispered,

-By the way, I still can’t get over Super Rush. And Foresight too…

Lou seemed genuinely impressed.

Botis’ Foresight.

Hermes’ Super Rush.

-I gotta say these are perfect combo skills. Keke.

Lou chortled.

Gi-Gyu nodded since Lou was right.

Soon, Gi-Gyu was tired of waiting. He now knew what his enemy was trying to do, so there was no need to waste more time. Gi-Gyu walked up to where the team leader of the enemy group was stuck, grabbed his head, and yanked him out of the wall. The cement pieces from the wall fell to the ground noisily.

“I know you’re awake, so get up,” Gi-Gyu ordered after throwing the leader on the floor. When the player didn’t move, Gi-Gyu grinned and grabbed the man’s wrist.

“Hmm, you want to play some more?” Gi-Gyu was about to break the player’s wrist when…

The leader begged, “P-please let me live…!”

***

“That’s all I know…! I swear!” The player sobbed.

Gi-Gyu watched him quietly. Then, he crouched before the man leaning against a wall.

The group leader panted as he met Gi-Gyu’s eyes.

“Do you really think I’ll buy that?” Gi-Gyu’s voice was low and ominous. It was void of all emotions, which made it sound even scarier. It seemed like the physical manifestation of Gi-Gyu’s emotions.

The leader flinched and begged, “I-I swear… Even if you beat me to death right now, There is nothing more I can tell you.”

This player truly believed that Gi-Gyu would beat him to death.

Lou whispered,

-Their reinforcement still hasn’t arrived.

‘I know,’ Gi-Gyu replied in his head. He had been intentionally wasting time questioning the leader. Fighting all available forces now was better than fighting them on every turn inside the building. He was waiting for the enemies’ reinforcement, but no one had arrived. Also, the leader claimed that he didn’t know anything about the surrounding barrier. He explained that he had only been following orders from above. It seemed that this man wasn’t high up in the guild.

The player trembled and asked, “A-are you going to kill me now?”

All his teammates were still unconscious, and it was now clear that nobody was coming to help them. And in front of him was the scariest monster of his life. It was a surprise that he wasn’t peeing in his pants right now.

“Why do you ask? I told you before…” Gi-Gyu grinned. With a shrug, he added, “I’ll let you all live.”

“T-thank you!” The leader misunderstood Gi-Gyu’s statement, feeling grateful.

Gi-Gyu asked, “I have one last question.”

“Of course! Whatever you want to ask, I’ll answer.”

Gi-Gyu looked straight into the player’s eyes. His eye color remained normal, but the ranker leader couldn’t return the stare. Gi-Gyu inquired, “Why did you join the Caravan Guild?”

“Pardon…?”

“I mean… Do you even know what the Caravan Guild does?”

This man wasn’t brainwashed. Gi-Gyu waited patiently for the answer.

The leader seemed hesitant as he mumbled, “W-what do you mean?”

“It’s nothing.” Gi-Gyu decided to stop questioning him. He didn’t need to hear the answer to know exactly what kind of man this was.

Gi-Gyu announced, “As I promised, I’ll let you live…”

The player’s face brightened.

Gi-Gyu added, “As long as you’re innocent. Open.”

“...?”

The player looked confused when Brunheart’s gate opened.

From inside, Old Man Hwang asked with a chuckle,

-More slaves for the canal?

***

This place felt like a gate because the building’s size and appearance were different from the inside and the outside. The interior was more expansive than he had anticipated and looked like a maze.

“Am I being tested?” Gi-Gyu wondered aloud. Crystals were littered all around him, as monsters of varying strength—none as strong as the magma golem, though—had been attacking him every step of the way. Also, it was just monsters, not human players.

-Yeah, this is probably a test.

Lou answered.

-Whoever is watching is probably trying to find your weakness. To see what kind of attacks you’re weak against and estimate your attributes.

Lou whispered,

-And they want to know if you would kill humans or just monsters. They’re trying to find out everything they can about you.

“Hmm…”

It was true that not much about Gi-Gyu was known to the public. He felt slightly annoyed that he had to pass a test just so his enemy could collect data on him.

-Above all, they will prepare themselves based on this data before fighting you.

“Then…” Gi-Gyu took another step forward as he asked, “What do you think my weakness is?”

Gi-Gyu wondered if his enemy found any weaknesses in him. And what about Lou? Did Lou know Gi-Gyu’s weaknesses?

-How should I know? And even if I did know, why would I tell you? I’m going to use them against you someday.

“You’re the worst, Lou.”

-Kekeke.

Gi-Gyu laughed, but he was a little disappointed by Lou’s answer. It would have been helpful to know his weaknesses, but he chuckled and continued walking. No more monsters attacked him. It was either because his enemy thought they had learned enough about him or because they had realized monsters were useless in this situation.

Gi-Gyu mumbled in frustration, “Gosh, this is exactly like a gate…”

He was now standing in front of a giant door. “This place even has a boss room.”

If this were a gate, the boss monster would’ve been behind the door.

-Great. It’s time to play for real. Killing those weaklings was getting boring anyway.

Creak.

Gi-Gyu opened the giant door to enter. Just as a real boss’ room would, the scenery changed completely.

“A forest?” Gi-Gyu looked around and whispered. He had been walking through a modern building; now, he found himself in an Amazon-like green forest. Tall trees filled the area, and the ground felt wet and sticky. Even the air felt different. It wasn’t as refreshing as one would expect. As a matter of fact, it felt thicker because of the denser sorcerous magic inside.

-Duck!

Gi-Gyu dashed when he heard Lou’s warning.

Whack.

He heard a heavy noise from where he had been standing. Gi-Gyu turned to look, thinking he would find something stuck in the ground, but…

“I don’t see anything,” Gi-Gyu whispered. The ground was gouged badly, but there was nothing else he could see.

-Dammit. It’s Haures.

“Haures?” asked Gi-Gyu as he looked around cautiously.

-It’s the real hunter! You gotta move now!

Whack.

Another noise was heard; this time, it was from Gi-Gyu’s left shoulder.