The Player Who Can't Level Up

It was raining heavily, but only tension filled the area as numerous people surrounded two men. 

Gulp.

Even the man who suggested this meeting, the Hephaestus Guild master, gulped tensely. No one expected this meeting to be this strained. 

With unusual politeness, Tae-Gu asked, “What is the meaning of this, Guild Master Lee Sun-Ho?” His tone was smooth, but the fury in his voice was unmistakable. 

“I’m only exercising my right,” murmured a pale-faced man. Since everyone here was a top figure of the player word, they could all hear the barely audible conversation. Present in this tense environment were Lee Sun-Ho, several Angela Guild execs, guild masters of the other top ten Korean guilds, Oh Tae-Gu, and Oh Tae-Shik, and many high ranking association agents.

Oh Tae-Gu announced, “The association requested everyone’s cooperation, and everyone behind you agreed. I don’t see the problem here, Guild Master Lee Sun-Ho.” 

“But your request was unreasonable, and”—Lee Sun-Ho tilted his head rudely—“one of the guild masters, whose headquarter is inside the quarantined area, is very concerned. Why is the association refusing our help? We just want to help close the gate.”

Till now, Lee Sun-Ho had maintained a black voice and face; then, a small smile appeared on Lee Sun-Ho’s face as he asked, “Could it be… Are you committing something unlawful inside?”

Lee Sun-Ho’s smile widened slowly. Tae-Gu frowned in annoyance and replied, “This barrier’s sole purpose is to keep the gate break inside contained. Inside, countless brave players are risking their lives to fight the monsters, so any sudden introduction of unnecessary reinforcements would b—”

“Unnecessary reinforcements? Am I unnecessary reinforcement?” Lee Sun-Ho interrupted the association president. Such rude behavior drew anger from all the association agents around, increasing the tension to never seen before levels. 

“If I force my way in, will you stop me?” Lee Sun-Ho stopped skirting around the issue and asked directly. Oh Tae-Gu promptly replied, “Yes.”

The guild masters of the top ten guilds exclaimed in shock and outrage, “H-how dare you?!” 

“That’s blatant disrespect, President Oh!”

“President Oh Tae-Gu!”

“President…!”

Silently, Tae-Shik grasped the Behemoth’s thorn, making several guild masters take a few steps back. These players were well aware of Tae-Shik’s reputation as a ranker. 

Ignoring the ever-increasing tension levels, Lee Sun-Ho offered a compromise, “Then how about this”—he stared straight into Tae-Gu’s eyes—“I will enter alone. I won’t take anyone with me.”

The last line was followed by a massage only Oh Tae-Gu could hear:

-I won’t tell anyone about what I witnessed inside, Asura. In fact, I will stand with the association.

***

“Kwaaaah!” The durahan threw his head like a mace while swinging his dark sword. Unfortunately, Rogers dodged this attack easily and slashed at the durahan. 

“Curse!” Before the sword wound could even appear on the durahan, the lich shouted to heal it instantly. 

Rogers muttered in frustration, “Dammit. These persistent undead creatures…” Rogers couldn’t even take another breath before the lich shouted his various skills, “Curse! Binding! Dark ball! Dark spear! Dark arrow!”

When the array of magical attacks simultaneously targeted Rogers, he swung his sword and shouted, “Nine!” 

Nine glowed with green light and absorbed all the magical attacks. But while Rogers was occupied with his defense, the durahan attempted another attack. 

“Kwaaaah!” The durahan roared as he dashed forward. Rogers had Nine, but he could only use a part of the sword’s might.

“I can’t believe I’m having this much difficulty with the undead monsters!” Rogers grumbled in anger as he held Nine in the other hand. This holy sword always experienced a short delay after he used it. 

The lich laughed creepily and announced, “The grandmaster will love it.” All those crystals Brunheart ate strengthened not just the skeletons but also Hart and his faithful servant, the durahan. In fact, most of the crystals were absorbed by these two monsters. 

However, they still weren’t a match for Rogers. They could only last this long thanks to the enormous quantity of accumulated power from the crystals. 

‘But we don’t have much accumulated power left.’  

Rattle, rattle…

The skeleton soldiers were trying to tie up Rogers, but he killed dozens with a single swing of Nine. 

‘That sword is too destructive for our kind,’ the lich thought. As could be expected, the holy sword was the undead’s arch-nemesis. 

The lich swung his hands to summon more skills as he whispered, “Grandmaster… Please hurry…” He had to stall until Gi-Gyu was there; unfortunately, the lich didn’t have much fight left in him. 

***

The second Gi-Gyu learned Lee Sun-Ho was coming there, he summoned Bi and rushed toward Rogers. Locating him was easy since Gi-Gyu simply headed toward Hart and the durahan’s location.

“Dammit,” Gi-Gyu swore quietly. He resented that his fear of Lee Sun-Ho dictated his next move. Lee Sun-Ho was only one player, yet he wasn’t someone Gi-Gyu could even dare to fight. Moreover, Gi-Gyu didn’t know if he was an enemy or an ally, so his emotions were haywire. 

“Why is my strength never enough?” After the Maze of Heryond, Gi-Gyu’s strength had increased exponentially, resulting in him soloing some of the Iron Guild’s strongest. Yet, that wasn’t enough: There were still many in the world he couldn’t defeat. 

“Someday…” Gi-Gyu promised himself that he would be the strongest one day. Silently, he grasped Bi’s mane tightly; as if it read its master’s mind, the wolf began moving faster. It wasn’t long before they arrived at a small corner in Yeoksam city where Rogers was dealing with the monsters. 

“Hmm.” Gi-Gyu watched his enemy instead of immediately joining the fight. Quiet fury burned inside him, but this wasn’t the time to act rashly. He needed to study the situation and form a plan first. Gi-Gyu knew he needed to finish this battle as quickly as possible since he hadn’t much time. 

“Hart and the durahan are doing better than I expected,” Gi-Gyu murmured in surprise. Then again, they eat almost 40 billion won’s worth of crystals, so it made sense that the lich and the durahan were much stronger, but Gi-Gyu still felt very proud of them. 

Unfortunately, they weren’t going to last much longer, even with their increased strength. Gi-Gyu studied Rogers’ every movement carefully. 

“Yes…!” Gi-Gyu’s hands trembled in pleasure as he watched Rogers fight. Yes, killing the enemy who caused him so much agony was a definite possibility now.

Suddenly, Rogers took out a sword that gave off a green glow. Gi-Gyu could see that this sword increased all of Rogers’s stats by almost 50 percent with this weapon. 

“Hmm…” 

-Hmm.

Both Gi-Gyu and Lou moaned quietly as they watched with interest. Gi-Gyu moaned because he could see that Rogers was stronger than expected, but he didn’t understand why Lou moaned. 

Gi-Gyu asked, “What’s wrong?”

-That is an interesting sword.

-That’s…

El chimed in for once. After a short pause, El continued. 

-That’s a holy sword named Nine, Master.

“The holy sword Nine? So does that mean if you touch it, you’ll be able to absorb it, El?”

Since she could absorb Calleon, this one should be even simpler, right? Lou replied.

-It’s not that simple.

El explained.

-Calleon is from my lineage, so I could absorb it easily. However, Nine is kind of a distant relative. Its ability as a holy sword isn’t as great as Calleon, and I do not have as much influence on it.

-It’s not quite a holy sword. 

-Indeed, Master. I agree with Lou.

-In fact… Nine’s closer to my lineage than hers.

“Really?” Gi-Gyu asked with interest. This was a curious conversation; unfortunately, he didn’t have the time for it. 

“Whatever.” It truly didn’t matter since Rogers being an easy kill would be a bonus and a source of pride if he were a strong prey. Either way, Gi-Gyu was going to enjoy this. 

After all, who doesn’t like those little surprises life throws our way?

***

“Dammit! Dammit!” Rogers roared with every swing of his sword. His frustration had reached an all-time high thanks to those undead creatures. He imagined winning this battle easily with Nine’s help, but the two undead refused to die. 

“Where are the rest of the guild members?!” Rogers shouted angrily. One side effect he suffered after receiving Nine was that his senses had dulled significantly. The Iron guild’s elite teams were the best in the world, so they should’ve been here by now. 

‘Why the fuck are they still not here?!’ Everything annoyed and angered Rogers.

‘I want more strength! Give me more!!!’ Rogers’ greed for power was incessant, as he thought strength was the key to everything. He recalled the twitching, trembling Gi-Gyu, who survived despite everything he endured. Rogers felt both envious and annoyed by Gi-Gyu. 

‘I want to destroy him.’ Rogers’ wish to kill Gi-Gyu wasn’t just because the latter stabbed his neck. There was just something so dazzling about Gi-Gyu that Rogers knew he couldn’t have. So, he had to destroy it. 

“Rogers!” A sudden shout pulled him out of his fantasies and made him realize Nine’s side effects were worse than he anticipated. Someone familiar had jumped toward him from a high rise, but he failed to sense them despite their proximity. 

Feeling distracted, Rogers swung his sword again. The player who flew toward him was closing in.

Clang…!

Kaboom!

Gi-Gyu’s swords crashed into Nine, causing a loud explosion. Unable to stand the incredible force, Rogers took a few steps back. 

“Dammit! Dammit!” Rogers swore, shocked by the sudden appearance of such a powerful player. 

Gi-Gyu yelled leisurely, “Rogers. I’ve been waiting for this day, you bastard!” 

“Do you know me?” The man’s fury confused Rogers because he couldn’t remember the man for the life of him. Rogers continued to study Gi-Gyu when his gaze fell on the two swords.

“Two swords? You…? Ki-Kim Gi-Gyu?!” Rogers stammered in shock. 

With a vicious grin, Gi-Gyu asked, “Yup! How have you been?”

“Huh?”

“Hehehe.”

Rogers couldn’t hide his confusion. Kim Gi-Gyu, the player he had been dying to destroy, appeared so suddenly in front of him. For some reason, Rogers didn’t recognize Gi-Gyu’s face at all. The only thing that identified the player as Kim Gi-Gyu to Rogers were the two unique swords he was holding. 

The moment Gi-Gyu appeared, the durahan and the lich stopped attacking and stood still like statues. It seemed the whole world stopped except for Gi-Gyu and Rogers. 

“What the hell is going on here?!” Rogers knew he should be feeling anger, but his mind was all hazy. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was confused or if his brain stopped working. 

Gi-Gyu said to his monsters, “You did very well. I appreciate your hard work.”

“Every moment of this battle was our honor, Grandmaster,” Hart replied respectfully with a deep bow. When Gi-Gyu raised his hand toward the lich and durahan, they vanished into Gi-Gyu’s chest like a genie returning to its bottle. The skeletons also stepped back and began to head elsewhere. 

With a smile, Gi-Gyu positioned himself for a battle and announced, “Let’s get started, shall we?” Without giving Rogers time to reply, Gi-Gyu sprinted forward with both of his swords pointing toward Rogers. 

Rogers hurriedly raised Nine to block the attack. The sword’s green light shone brighter, trying to engulf Gi-Gyu, but Gi-Gyu pushed forward and absorbed it instead.

“W…what the?!” Rogers stuttered in confusion. Nine had the ability to absorb life from all living creatures; that was why it could eat up Hart’s skills.  

However, it was now Gi-Gyu doing all the absorbing. With a bright smile, Gi-Gyu explained, “It’s because I have the original.”

gomi's Thoughts

J.Andie: I digress, but can someone make a mukbang of Brunheart eating all those 40 billion won (and counting) worth of crystals?