The video ended there.
Leaving behind the buzz and cheers, Eurius returned to the cold arena.
And before he had a chance to think, a notification window suddenly popped up.
[Quest has started.]
“…!?”
Pop!
With a flash of dazzling light, Eurius found himself standing on one side of the circular arena.
And on the other side was…
“Your Majesty!”
Eurius widened his eyes.
A blond young man with a cheeky look!
It was none other than the young Emperor Sharnos, whom he had seen several times in the video.
“Emperor? That’s not my name.”
“…”
Eurius was speechless.
He had no idea what to say in this situation.
The young Emperor, who was staring at him blankly, suddenly smiled.
“Shall we begin then?”
“Huh?”
Clang!
“…!?”
Eurius barely blocked the Emperor’s sword, which he swung without warning.
“You’re good at defense, huh? Then I’ll go harder!”
“Huh?”
As he retreated in shock, a new notification window appeared in front of his eyes.
[Hidden Quest ‘Pro Gamer’ has started.]
[Objective: Defeat Player 2.]
And so began Eurius’s ordeal.
***
hours later.
Thud!
“Cough!”
Eurius was kicked by the Emperor and flew back. But he had no time to relax.
“Haha! Take this too!”
Whoosh!
The Emperor had moved above Eurius’s head and slashed down his sword.
Bang!
“Ugh…”
Eurius barely defended himself and was pushed back.
He was not weak by any means, but he was barely able to withstand the Emperor’s attacks. But he was also outraged by this.
‘Come on, at least give me some basic explanation for this quest!’
He tried to talk to the Emperor several times, but he did not answer properly and kept attacking him.
Puff!
“Cough!”
The Emperor’s sword pierced Eurius’s heart.
[Player 2 wins!]
‘Damn it…’
Eurius barely held back his anger at the cold sensation in his heart.
He knew what would happen next.
[Current record 0 wins 27 losses, elapsed time 1 day 0 hours 5 minutes 5 seconds]
Swoosh.
Surprisingly, his body, which had been bleeding from the sword wound, returned to normal in an instant.
And his body was pushed to one side of the arena again.
[The next round will start in 1 minute.]
The Emperor also calmly returned to his original position.
“Can you at least land one hit this time?”
“…”
A week later.
[Current record: 0 wins, 250 losses, elapsed time: 8 days, 0 minutes, 5 seconds]
‘This is dangerous. I’m running out of time.’
Eurius, whose head had just been smashed like a watermelon, had bigger problems than that.
‘It seems like he won’t let me out no matter what.’
From the third day onwards, Eurius had to try all kinds of methods to beat Emperor.
Pop!
Dozens of mind swords manifested and aimed at Emperor.
“Whoa!”
But Emperor reacted with astonishing speed.
He skillfully parried the swords that suddenly appeared in the air.
Zing!
He also dodged the coldness easily and cut off the ice chunks that were shot at him.
The Ego sword, which he pulled out as a last resort, seemed to work somewhat.
Kiiiing!
Bang!
The sword that flew at an amazing speed collided with Emperor and caused an explosion.
He was blown back and slammed into the wall.
‘Did it work?’
Eurius’s face brightened for a moment, but he frowned when he saw Emperor walking out unscathed.
“This is impressive. You’ve practiced a bit, haven’t you?”
“…!?”
“But it’s useless if you don’t hit me!”
The Emperor mocked him with flashy movements after that.
Eurius’s attacks didn’t even graze his clothes.
Crash!
“Ugh!”
This time, Eurius’s upper body flew off in one piece.
He twitched and returned to the beginning.
Emperor’s attacks were impossible to block with bare hands.
He would have been better off if he had the intangible armor, but it disappeared when he moved to this place.
And the biggest problem was…
‘I’ve been here for a week, but I don’t know how to fight him!’
He desperately tried to find Emperor’s weakness or a breakthrough.
But Emperor had one feature that made all this futile.
‘He does two or three things while I do one. There’s no way I can win like this.’
Emperor was not much better than Eurius in terms of speed or attack power, but he had one big advantage.
Zing!
“Argh!”
Eurius’s body swayed.
As soon as Emperor reached out his hand, the sword in his hand was pulled out. It was a new ability, but it seemed like he could attract metal.
He could have blocked this much, but…
Rumble!
Boom!
“Aaah!”
Lightning struck from the air.
Eurius, who was staggering, was hit by it without a chance to react and screamed.
Slash!
The finishing blow was a sword.
While Eurius was unable to respond after being struck by lightning, his neck was cut off.
This was Emperor’s favorite tactic.
He used his powerful magnetism to pull out the opponent’s weapon and dropped lightning to immobilize them, then cut their neck with a sword!
This series of actions happened almost without any time gap, and Eurius could only defend against one attack and be helpless against the other two.“…”
No wonder Eurius couldn’t find an answer no matter how hard he thought.
[30 seconds left until the next round.]
He looked at the notification window that popped up in front of him with a gloomy expression.
“Wait!”
[Player2 has requested a pause.]
“…!?”
Eurius stared wide-eyed at the Emperor in front of him.
He had been silent and focused on attacking no matter what questions Eurius asked. But what had changed his mind?
“Ah… This feels like cheating, I can’t do this!”
The Emperor grumbled to the air and then spat out a word to Eurius.
“You! Don’t you know anything about skills?”
“Skills?”
“Yeah, your fighting style is so frustrating that I asked for a time-out.”
“…!?”
Eurius quickly threw a question.
He didn’t understand well, but this was his chance to talk.
“What are they?”
“Huh?”
The Emperor looked at Eurius as if he had seen a strange creature and examined him from head to toe.
Then he slapped his knee as if he had remembered something.
“Oh! Are you by any chance from the superpower world?”
“Superpower world?”
“You know… those monsters who can shoot fire and cut buildings in half in reality, not in virtual reality. I heard they get burned if they do this.”
“…”
Eurius had never heard of such a thing either. But the Emperor continued his words as if he had made up his mind.
“Anyway, fighting in virtual reality is different from normal martial arts. The key is how many skills you have!”
“Skills?”
“This kind of thing.”
The Emperor stretched out one hand.
Zap!
A spark appeared in the air.
It was the lightning that the Emperor had used before.
“I don’t use magic much, but electric shock is a useful skill to bind the opponent’s feet.”
Zing!
This time, he used magnetism to pull the nearby iron scraps.
“This is also one of my favorite skills. It’s good for dealing with guys like you who only trust their swords!”
Swoosh.
Finally, he suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of Eurius.
Thwack!
“Ugh!”
The Emperor gave Eurius a walnut on his forehead.
“Blink is not possible to use continuously, but it’s a good skill to pierce the weak points like this.”
“Hmm…”
Eurius tilted his head as he saw the Emperor willingly reveal all his skills.
The Emperor smiled and opened his mouth again.
“Now, show me your skills.”
“…”
Eurius spun his head furiously.
‘Skills are not what I know, are they?’
The skill he had learned was Overheat, which temporarily amplified his strength. But what the Emperor was talking about seemed to be a different concept.
‘Lightning, pulling iron scraps, and lastly teleportation?’
“…!?”
Eurius recalled the Emperor’s abilities for a moment and then seemed to remember something.
‘Wait, lightning in the air?’
As far as he knew, there was only one way for a human to have such an ability.
‘The fourth stage!’
The fourth stage of Force was the realm where one could manifest their power in any image they wanted.
In the East, this was called differently as Visualization.
‘But one person can only have one ability, right?’
It was unheard of for one person to use multiple abilities at the same time.
“I can’t do that.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Emperor was twirling his finger around his head, as if he was incredulous.
“What about that ice then? You were using it just fine with your sword.”
“That’s the power of the artifact…”
Eurius was about to answer, but suddenly he stopped.
‘Come to think of it, is there any difference between using the artifact’s power and using my own skill?’
He realized that all the powers he had obtained through the artifact were exclusive to players.
He suddenly felt a curiosity to test something.
Whoosh!
He stretched out his hand in the air, and a hot flame appeared in front of his eyes.
He had forgotten about it, but he had absorbed the Vermilion Bird Artifact.
He had naturally acquired the ability to control the heat of the Vermilion Bird, in addition to the water and ice of the Black Tortoise.
“See! You’re using it just fine…”
Emperor shrugged his shoulders and looked at the scene.
His tone implied that it was not much different from his own ‘skill’.
Eurius tried to open both of his hands with a half-believing, half-doubting expression.
Then he made one hand produce coldness and the other hand produce heat.
Whoosh!
Ssssh!
‘It works?’
He didn’t know it himself, but he was able to use two powers at the same time.
From there, Eurius moved on to the next thought.
‘What if?’
He thrust his sword into the air.
Crackle!
A fierce spark erupted from his sword, and lightning sprang out.
“…!?”
Eurius was quite surprised by what he had done.
‘This is Namgung Ilcheon’s skill?’
As he said, it was the Thunderbolt, a skill used by Namgung Ilcheon, one of the superhumans of Jeongdomaeng.
‘Then?’
Flash!
This time, his sword was dyed with a dazzling white light.
He swung his sword down toward the ground.
Bang!
The metal floor caved in and sent sparks flying.
That white light was none other than Destruction, a skill of Nuada.
Eurius had suddenly become able to use multiple skills like Emperor.
The question was when did he get this ability?
“…”
But Emperor didn’t let him stay silent for long.
[The next round will start in 20 seconds.]
“You seem to have mastered the basics, so shall we start again?”
“Do all players have this kind of ability?”
“I don’t know.”
Emperor didn’t give him a proper answer to his question.
‘I want to ask more, but it seems useless.’
It seemed that what he did before was just a measure to remove the penalty. Emperor returned to his ruthless attitude of trying to beat him down.Eurius glanced at the notification window.
[Elapsed time: 9 days 5 hours 50 minutes 5 seconds]
‘Then clearing the quest is my priority.’
He had wasted too much time.
Everyone in Jeongdomaeng must be worried about him.
Soon, the duel resumed.
Zing!
Emperor used the same tactic as before.
He used magnetism at a precise timing to pull Eurius’s sword toward him.
Wobble!
He had been caught several times, so he only lost his balance slightly, but that was enough for Emperor.
Thud!
“…!?”
He blinked behind Eurius in an instant and swung his sword mercilessly.
Normally, this attack would have inflicted a serious injury or killed him on the spot, but…
Woong!
“Huh?”
His sword strangely twisted and missed Eurius’s body.
This was a spatial distortion! Eurius had used Jegal Unhyeon’s secret technique.
The sword that missed its target made him lose his balance in a flash.
Papak!
Eurius took advantage of that gap. Dozens of mind swords aimed at his whole body.
“Damn it!”
He bit his tongue and swung his sword as he retreated. But unlike before, he couldn’t block them all.
Peppepeng!
His clothes were torn and blood droplets formed. Eurius didn’t waste any time and poured out his fierce attacks.
He instinctively knew that this was the moment to decide the outcome.
‘I have to finish it now!’
In fact, he was still at a disadvantage compared to him.
Even though they both used multiple secret techniques, their skill and reaction speed were on different levels.
Pajijik!
But a lightning bolt was created right in front of Eurius’s nose, who was unleashing his fierce attacks.
“Ugh!”
He quickly dodged to the side, but that was only a feint for the next attack.
Ziing!
He staggered as he twisted his sword with magnetism.
This time too, he used two or three secret techniques at the same time to break him down. This difference could not be made up in a short time.
“I win again this time!”
He swung his sword at Eurius’s neck.
Thud!
But instead of a clean cutting sound, a dull noise echoed.
“…!?”
Surprisingly, his sword couldn’t cut through Eurius’s neck. It inflicted a deep wound, but not enough to kill him.
“What! Is it body enhancement?”
Eurius barely avoided the crisis by using Geumgangsin, a secret technique of Late Grand Duke.
His body became harder than steel and blocked the sword.
And this was the perfect opportunity.
Kiiiing!
A sword that moved with Igigum flew like an arrow.
He couldn’t avoid it in the nick of time as he widened the distance.
Pat!
But he had blink.
He disappeared as if he turned off and reappeared ten meters away.
The weakness of blink was that he couldn’t use it consecutively and that he was defenseless for a moment after using it.
‘But it’s very useful for escaping like this!’
But Eurius was already too injured to take advantage of the gap.
Knowing that, he showed a relaxed expression and enjoyed the drowsiness after blinking before opening his eyes. But at that moment!
“Gasp!”
Pat!
Eurius punched him in the chest with an unbelievable speed.
He closed over ten meters in the blink of an eye.
‘How?’
He briefly showed a shocked expression and then figured out the reason.
“A secret technique that increases speed!”
“Correct!”
Eurius answered briefly.
It was indeed Shinsok, Beatrice’s secret technique.
That’s why he could still generate enough speed even with his messed up body condition.
Kwaang!
Eurius pierced his chest with a fist that shone white.
“Kuuuuh…”
Emperor staggered back with a groan.
The power of Nuada’s fist, which used the skill, was so great that it pierced a large hole in his upper body.
“Argh!”
Emperor looked at Eurius with a furious face.
“You deliberately made a gap. You knew I didn’t know much about you and tricked me.”
“…”
Eurius gave a bitter smile. His words were true.
He was able to win because Emperor didn’t know much about his ability.
On the other hand, he knew Emperor’s ability very well. Because he had died countless times by him.
Snicker.
But Emperor soon relaxed his expression and laughed.
“Anyway, it was fun at the end. Let’s fight again if we have a chance.”
Zap!
With that sound, Emperor’s body disappeared.
Ding!
[You have cleared the hidden quest ‘Pro Gamer’.]
[Your achievements increase.]
“…”
[It took you a while, but you finally completed it, huh?]
As soon as he checked the notification, a small golden dragon appeared.
“Yellow Dragon?”
Yellow Dragon spoke in a calm tone.
[You must have a lot of questions for me?]
“…”
Eurius also had a serious expression.
At first, he thought it was just another quest similar to the previous ones. But there were more than one or two suspicious points.
First, why did he come to this place and watch a mysterious video when he only absorbed the skill?
Second, who was Emperor? What was virtual reality and what was a pro gamer?
Third, what was the mysterious ability he showed?
He had gained a new ability without knowing it.
[First of all, your ability is created by combining the skill.]
“Combining?”
[Didn’t I tell you before? You are lacking in conditions. The skill is there to supplement that. You can think of it as a way to get the ability you should have originally.]
“Hmm…”
According to Yellow Dragon’s words, Eurius was not a normal player after all. But Yellow Dragon also said that if he collected all the skills, he could unlock all his abilities.
[And I don’t know much about virtual reality either.]
“You don’t?”
[But I can help you judge it. That’s my role.]
“…!?”
As Yellow Dragon spoke, Eurius’s consciousness was flying somewhere again.
[You are viewing the video data ‘Memory 2’.]
Zap.
***