The Player Who Can't Level Up

Gi-Gyu’s return was a turning point for Eden. Now that their connection to him was back, all the very many enemies didn’t seem like a problem.

Hal’s eyes burned brightly. He jumped from his steed, dashed, and roared, “Kill them all!”

Every time he swung his halberd, dozens of enemies evaporated. The enemy's incredible recovery ability didn’t matter because Gi-Gyu’s creatures were now energetic enough to kill them over and over again.

“Destroy!” Hal screamed again. Every single one of Eden’s beings had seemingly tapped into an infinite power supply. They no longer felt fatigued and could use their strongest moves repeatedly.

And there was more.

Crack.

An enemy spear got stuck into Hal’s chest.

“Ugh,” Hal groaned, but he pulled it out pronto. Slowly, his wound began healing—their enemies weren’t the only ones with regenerative power now.

Hart, riding Griffin King, shot black energy and screamed, “We are immortals! Kill the enemies! We must bring victory to our grandmaster!”

The broken skeleton army rose again to fight. They refused to fall again.

At some distance from the fight, Choi Chang-Yong and several players were resting.

“Guild Master…” one of the players panted. They were having a hard time recovering. They had jumped into the fight with determination and bravery and lost themselves in the fight. All they had focused on was slaying their enemies, but…

A guild member pointed at a creature and asked Choi Chang-Yong, “What kind of monster is that?”

“Grrrr!” In the middle of the enemy army was a wolf destroying everything in its way. But the size of this beast indicated that it was no wolf.

Choi Chang-Yong stayed quiet.

“Guild Master… Should we really be participating in this battle?” the same member asked again, but he again received no answer.

Instead, Choi Chang-Yong whispered, “Our army was dying…”

Eden’s army had been close to failing; suddenly, it had stormed toward its enemies again. They had stopped fearing death. They lost their limbs repeatedly, but it didn’t matter. The creatures would keep at it, and what they had lost would grow back.

Was this a normal battle?

“I…” Choi Chang-Yong mumbled.

“Pardon?” the guild member asked in confusion.

“I said I don’t know either!” Choi Chang-Yong finally yelled. He knew just as much about this situation as the other guild members, so he was also bewildered.

“What the hell is that…?” Choi Chang-Yong mumbled again. He knew Kim Gi-Gyu wasn’t like anyone he had met before. The way this battle had begun was also unusual.

However, their current situation was even more extraordinary. It was like he was watching a scene from a mythical battle. Monsters fought monsters while a wolf, the size of a building, hopped around.

“Dammit! I’ve been an active player since the gate and the Tower appeared, but this… I’ve never seen something like this before.” Choi Chang-Yong was in disbelief.

‘But I think I picked the right side.’ Choi Chang-Yong told himself. This wasn’t the time to worry about his ego or pride. He raised his sword and took a step forward.

“Guild Master?” The guild members called out. “Guild Master! Where are you going?!”

Choi Chang-Yong stopped and turned around to look at the hundreds of players standing in confusion.

Choi Chang-Yong screamed at them, “I’m going to make sure I am seen fighting in this battle! I need to show them I am on their side. And I think you should try your best to do the same.”

With a smirk, he added, “This is our chance to make something of ourselves in the new world. Don’t you agree?”

Choi Chang-Yong couldn’t believe he was doing this. He shook his head, and electric arcs began dancing on his sword again.

“Haa…” he sighed. He felt the players behind him following him.

With Choi Chang-Yong at the front, a player—the one who kept asking questions—raised his hand and cheered, “Let’s do this! Let’s go!”

Their anxiety was gone, and the fear of failure was also disappearing. Ahead of them was only victory, and they wanted to be a part of it.

***

The counterattack was at its peak outside the wall Brunheart had built. The situation inside the wall was improving as well, but not as dramatically. In a way, it was perhaps worse than before.

“Dammit,” Soo-Jung swore.

Clunkkkk!

An intense flame burned as the weapons clashed with each other. Ha Song-Su had changed.

Whoosh!

Ripping through the air, he attacked. Except for Soo-Jung, all the other women had recovered. But they still couldn’t handle Ha Song-Su, who was in full attack mode.

Slash! Their surprise ally Tao Chen’s growth was surprising, but his appearance wasn’t enough to turn the situation around. As a matter of fact, they weren’t making any progress at all against Ha Song-Su.

The only reason they could last this long was El.

“Holy barrier,” El whispered. A bright light covered the other three women, and Ha Song-Su stopped in front of it.

Kaboom!

Her barrier, filled with Life, exploded and attacked Ha Song-Su.

“Tsk,” Ha Song-Su clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Soo-Jung quickly turned to look at El, who was up in the air. Among all of Gi-Gyu’s creatures, El had experienced the greatest change. She acted like she had reawakened or evolved, and she used her incredible powers to protect her allies. They would have all died at Ha Song-Su’s hands if it wasn't for her.

‘I guess I should be grateful?’ Soo-Jung thought. She knew that if El weren’t here, she would have had no choice but to show all of her power.

So far, they were barely holding on. It was partly because Gi-Gyu’s return had also helped Yoo-Bin and the rest become stronger. They were stronger than they had ever been in their life.

It was all because of their connection to Gi-Gyu. Just this one little thing had brought such a huge change.

‘Maybe I should sync with him too?’ Soo-Jung wondered with a smirk.

-Step aside!

Brunheart had also benefited from Gi-Gyu’s return.

Boom!

The giant wall twitched and moved. Thick, hard tree branches rained down on Ha Song-Su to bind him. He tried to dodge it, but El utilized Life to corner him.

Kaboom!

Thanks to the sync, Brunheart could actively get involved in the battle.

“Haa…” Soo-Jung sighed deeply. ‘So far, this has worked, but…’

‘At this rate, nothing will change.’ 

Things weren’t going their way. Nothing had changed; they were still waiting for Gi-Gyu’s return.

“Ugh.” Soo-Jung bit her lips from the feeling of helplessness.

-Soon.

A voice rang in Soo-Jung and the Eden creatures’ ears. The message wasn’t from Brunheart but from Baal.

-The barrier will be deactivated. He created a crack, so I can deactivate it now.

That meant…

Soo-Jung asked.

-My pupil will be here?

The answer didn’t come quickly. After a short pause, Baal replied,

-I don’t know. The barrier will be deactivated, but I can’t feel his presence. I sensed his energy through the crack, but it disappeared suddenly.

Soo-Jung frowned in disappointment.

-Soo-Jung.

This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

This time, Baal’s voice rang only in Soo-Jung’s ears. He was speaking to her privately.

-You can’t unleash it. That power…

-I won’t.

Soo-Jung interrupted Baal.

-I have no plans of doing such a thing, so don’t worry.

-...

Baal didn’t respond. Soo-Jung ended their conversation and began moving again. While she was speaking with Baal, Ha Song-Su cornered the other women.

“Dammit,” Soo-Jung swore again. She hoped for Gi-Gyu’s speedy return.

***

Gi-Gyu, who had exited his shell, finally opened his eyes.

“Ugh…!” He felt like he was being ripped apart, so it was no wonder he had lost consciousness. He looked around only to find that the world was still filled with darkness.

But…

Fwoosh.

There was a tiny hole in the barrier from the damage he had caused earlier.

“Thank goodness.” It seemed that the barrier didn’t close completely. This hole was probably why the sync had returned. He trusted that the situation inside Eden had improved from it.

“Ugh.” Gi-Gyu swallowed the pain and picked up Lou. Lou’s mind was still inside Gi-Gyu’s shell, but his physical body existed outside.

‘Lou.’ Gi-Gyu thought about his Ego. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe Lou stayed behind for no reason. He understood Lou had stayed because he had to resolve something.

“So I better work hard too.” Gi-Gyu shook his head. Much of his pain had disappeared, proof that the crack in the barrier was thinning the sorcerous energy.

‘El? Anyone? Can anyone hear me?’ Gi-Gyu tried to communicate, but he heard no answer. Their energies appeared to travel back and forth through the crack, but they still couldn’t communicate.

“Haa…” Gi-Gyu sighed. The only way to fix this was to turn this crack into a crevasse and go inside. Since there was already a hole, it should be easy.

Gi-Gyu summoned his magic, aggravating the lessening pain. A storm appeared around Lou in his giant sword form. A darkness swarthier than the pitch black around gathered inside Lou.

‘I just have enough energy to do it once more.’ 

Gi-Gyu wasn’t doing so well. This wasn’t something he could do multiple times over. He had one more chance; if he failed, he didn’t know when he'd get another chance.

Throb.

The area near his heart ached. It was probably related to what Lou was doing inside his shell world. Gi-Gyu tried not to be distracted. There was no time to waste anymore.

The storm inside the sword screamed as he gathered a truly massive amount of power.

Slash.

Gi-Gyu cut the barrier; this time, it felt different.

Fwoosh.

“...!” The barrier began to disappear, but it wasn’t Gi-Gyu’s doing. All he had done was widen the existing crack, not make the barrier disappear.

-Can you hear me?

Gi-Gyu heard someone’s voice in his ears.