The Player Who Can't Level Up

“The ultimate weapon… The Ego item…” Gi-Gyu mumbled. This imaginary weapon of ultimate power seemed far-fetched, but Paimon had suggested that it existed as an Ego item.

After some thought, Gi-Gyu replied, “I guess it’s possible.”

He realized that perhaps it wasn’t such a ridiculous idea. After all, he was the one who benefited the most from Ego items, which seemed like a trade-off because he was the player who couldn’t level up. He opened his status screen, which now only included one line.

[Level 1]

Gi-Gyu was stuck on this level, but none who had seen him fight would dare to think he was a Level 1 player. This was all thanks to all of his Ego items and the sync ability.

Gi-Gyu now looked at Paimon a little differently.

“Ego items are mentioned in the ancient documents too,” Paimon explained. “They don’t refer to them as ‘Ego items’ or anything else in particular. However, as God’s weapons, these items supposedly had consciousness and were wielded by him to create and punish the world.”

Gi-Gyu’s eyes widened.

“And that’s what Ego items are.” Paimon finished his story.

Something clicked in Gi-Gyu’s mind.

The ancient document, God, and Ego.

The Seat of Power in hell.

The time period Paimon referred to as “ancient.”

The weapon God wielded.

“Could it be…” Gi-Gyu was about to offer a theory.

However, El beat him to it and asked, “These Ego items you found… Are you referring to the holy sword, Lord Paimon?”

Gi-Gyu turned to look at El. He agreed with her guess. It made perfect sense to him now.

Paimon replied, “That’s right. According to the document, there were two swords. I believe they were the angels’ holy swords from the legends.”

“Two swords…” Gi-Gyu mumbled. He began contemplating but didn’t get much time to think because Paimon continued quickly.

“I wanted to create a weapon as powerful as these two swords.” Paimon began speaking even faster. He could seemingly feel he didn’t have much time left.

Paimon continued to talk nonstop as if he were rewarding Gi-Gyu for giving him four days of peace.

***

In a deep underground area filled with darkness, a voice rang.

“The restriction has been broken. Paimon isn’t dead yet.”

Nothing could be seen in the darkness, but the voice continued, “Did he go to ‘him?’ So, as expected, he must have come up with a plan to escape the restriction.”

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Another voice asked, “Then what will happen now?” The voice cracked a little, suggesting that this creature hadn’t had a drop of water to drink in a long time.

“This was expected. He must have gotten more powerful since the last time. He wasn’t supposed to be able to sync even if he managed to undo the restriction… It’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped. It would have been better if Paimon had died or if ‘he’ synced with him the way we wanted him to. But… this isn’t bad either.”

“...”

“Are you worried?” The first voice sounded uninterested. “There is no need to be concerned. Everything is going according to plan. And we will carry out the epilogue of our plan soon.”

The creature sounded relaxed and unconcerned. It was almost as if the creature was laughing at its companion for worrying too much.

The dry voice asked, “When will… ‘he’ come?”

“When the time is right.” The other dry voice refused to give a clear answer. “Until then, just do whatever. Our big picture is still in place, and our plan will continue successfully. There is nothing you need to be concerned about. What is it that you want to do?”

Fwoosh!

Suddenly, the ceiling lit up with a flash, revealing the two speakers. The darkness was seemingly gone.

“I…”

In the now-bright space, one could see two metal columns. A metal chain connected the two pillars and restrained a man between them.

The man had a grotesque appearance. Like Frankenstein, none of his limbs matched. His torso was strangely dark, and his lower half resembled an insect's. He was in rough shape and looked like a chimera.

But his face…

“Kill him. Kill Lucifer. That is what I want,” the deformed figure, Ironshield, replied. He was once the most prominent American high ranker, considered one of the strongest players in the world. But now, he looked inhuman and was chained down like a dog.

“Yes, I suppose that is what you want. You don’t have to worry about anything. All you need to do is focus on what you want to do.”

“I will kill them… Kim Gi-Gyu… Lucifer…” Ironshield’s head slumped like that of a puppet. But even so, he continued to mumble, “Kill them… Kill them…”

“Hmm…” Andras said wickedly, “He’s not going to last much longer.”

“I can’t believe he survived this long even though he was born with no magic… Did his determination make it possible?” Andras snarled and continued, “I will admit that your resentment and will are the best I have ever seen.”

Andras walked toward Ironshield, who remained slumped. He didn’t seem to mind Ironshield’s extremely nausea-inducing appearance.

Andras tapped Ironshield’s gaunt face. “But it’s regrettable.”

Ironshield could no longer maintain any clear thoughts.

Andras mumbled with a sneer, “Sadly, you can’t accomplish anything you wanted to…”

He turned around and announced, “I need to make some adjustments.”

It would soon be time to use Ironshield. For that, Andras needed to do some work.

“I better do something about his gross body too,” Andras murmured before leaving. The giant door to the space closed firmly behind him.

“I’m going to kill… I’m going to kill…” Now alone, Ironshield continued to whisper. Suddenly, something changed. He raised his head, and his eyes shone sharply.

“Andras… I’m going to kill you too…”

Fwoosh!

The light vanished from the space, and the darkness returned. The only light remaining was the look of rage in Ironshield’s eyes.

***

Silence fell in the room. Thankfully, everyone present was a supernatural creature. They had been talking without any sleep for the past two days, but not one of them even yawned. It was probably because they didn’t feel fatigued easily or because they were discussing something deadly serious.

Gi-Gyu thought about what Paimon had told him.

Paimon’s legacy was his research on the Ego items and a couple of his successful results.

And…

‘I can’t believe he egofied himself…’ Gi-Gyu thought in disbelief.

Paimon’s Ego was a part of Paimon’s legacy. He had explained that while he was trying to create the perfect Ego, he had hit a roadblock. He had fixed the problem by finding a shell capable of holding an Ego, but then there was no Ego great enough for it.

What Paimon wanted was to create the ultimate weapon. Therefore, he needed an Ego befitting of his creation’s shell.

While Paimon had been busy with his search, a rebellion had occurred in hell. This was before Lou became the king. At the time, Satan was ruling hell, but soon, Lou defeated him to become the next king.

The first demon to swear loyalty to the new king was Paimon. In return, Paimon had requested Satan’s corpse so that he could turn him into an Ego.

Lou explained, “I had no idea. I thought he failed to egofy Satan.”

After Lou had defeated Satan, he gave different parts of Satan’s corpse to the hell kings for their absolute obedience. However, before that, Lou had done something else.

“I gave Satan, who was still alive, to Paimon,” Lou added.

Satan had been on his deathbed when Paimon got him, who wanted to use him to create the ultimate weapon. He wanted to use the corpse as the shell and egofy Satan’s consciousness.

However, Paimon had failed. Satan wasn’t egofied, and everyone believed that Satan’s consciousness was shattered beyond repair.

Of course, it had been proved false by the memory provided by the Tower, showing that Satan’s Ego was still alive.

Gi-Gyu narrowed his eyes at Paimon. Paimon had said that after he failed to egofy Satan, he ended up egofying himself.

Gi-Gyu continued to watch Paimon with uncertainty. Something was bothering him, and he ultimately asked, “Are you sure you egofied yourself directly after trying to egofy Satan?”

Everyone turned to Paimon for an answer, knowing what Gi-Gyu was asking.

Still, Gi-Gyu explained, “Inside the Tower, I saw many memories. But I didn’t see anything about Lou’s death after the hell kings betrayed him.”

Even Lou couldn’t remember his own death.

Gi-Gyu continued, “The only thing I saw was that Lou appeared in a sword form in the underground space where Chaos was asleep.”

It was clear what Gi-Gyu was accusing Paimon of.

“Can you honestly say that you didn’t turn Lou into the Emperor of Black Magic?” Gi-Gyu asked Paimon while looking at Lou, who remained silent.

“You’re right,” Paimon answered. “I turned my master into an evil sword. He was my only successful result. After realizing I could do this, I decided to egofy myself.”

“...!” Gi-Gyu glared at Paimon in shock.

Paimon continued, “I had no other choice. I needed to do this to save my family and my people…”

Paimon looked at Lou calmly and added, “I believe that what I did was the best way to show my respect to my master.”

Whack!

Lou slammed the table loudly. Old Man Hwang had created the room’s furniture, so everything was incredibly sturdy. Still, the table split into two helplessly.

“...” Lou was obviously enraged, but he still didn’t say a word.

There was no denying that Paimon was a madman. He was capable of giving up everything he had and more for his goal. So it made perfect sense that he did what he did.

Lou sat down again, probably because he wanted to hear the rest of the story. No one could tell what Lou might do after Paimon finished his story.

‘But Paimon will anyway…’ Gi-Gyu thought. But if this death occurred at Lou’s hands, then…

Paimon asked under his breath, “Isn’t anyone going to ask me why I egofied my master and consider it a show of respect?”

Gi-Gyu, Lou, El, and Soo-Jung all remained quiet.

No one needed to prod him. Paimon willingly answered his own question. “My master, Lucifer, was…”

It wasn't easy to read Paimon’s emotions through his voice. He continued, “He was an Ego item, to begin with. So I believed it was his fate to return to his original form.”

“What?” Both Lou and Gi-Gyu asked simultaneously.

“I was pressured to turn Lucifer into an evil sword, so I began studying him. I never thought to learn about him during all the time I served him.” Something unreadable appeared in Paimon’s eyes. “Then, I suddenly realized the truth. Lucifer was my master and the greatest hell king. He defeated Satan. He was the hero of hell, and…!”

Paimon screamed, “He was originally an Ego item! The two swords god wielded! The ones that were mentioned in the ancient documents! The ones that created and punished the world! I’m telling you that Lucifer was one of these swords! Khoff!”

Suddenly, Paimon vomited blood and collapsed.