Solo. The Weight of the Heavenly Demon.
[You have acquired a pair of Ego Accessories: Blabbering Dolls.]
Seowoon tilted his head as he checked the magician's box and collected various items. The term Ego Accessory caught his attention.
[Blabbering Dolls. A pair in blue and red. When mounted on your shoulders, they cast appropriate spells in place of the user, ensuring efficient interaction. They can also recommend suitable magic depending on the situation.]
"These are… kind of like Hamit."
— Do not compare me to such low-grade accessories. —
Hamit snapped back, speaking for the first time in a while.
"You, them — you're all the same ego-type items."
— It's absurd to even compare me to those defective dolls. My presence alone silences those chatty things, doesn't it? —
Now that he thought about it, the two dolls — despite their loud-sounding name — hadn't said a single word. Seowoon picked them up.
— Lord Hamit speaks the truth. —
— We are insignificant accessories, not even worthy of proper names. We could never compare to Lord Hamit. —
Two different voices replied politely. Seowoon smirked.
"To a wizard, you two are probably far more useful than Hamit. No wonder that mage was casting so quickly."
Before his words were even finished, Seowoon shoved the two dolls into his subspace and stood up.
This wasn't just any other player. It was Namsagwang.
Twenty minutes had passed since he was taken.
The archer who took Namsagwang had some interesting gear, but even so, they couldn't have gone very far.
'But the fact that he hasn't returned yet means…'
Either he was in a situation where he couldn't return — or didn't want to. One of the two.
There weren't many people in the world who could overpower Namsagwang. Especially in this place, it would make more sense to kill him outright than to keep him alive.
'So in the end… he's not coming back.'
There was no way to use team voice communication either, which only added to the mystery. But for now, Seowoon had no choice but to trust him.
Gathering his thoughts, Seowoon looked up at the darkening sky outside the historical site.
A variable had appeared, but now was the time to move according to plan.
Waiting for Namsagwang here could put the whole plan at risk.
As night fully fell and darkness settled, Seowoon, now cloaked in invisibility, began to move.
The city night was so dark it was hard to believe it was a city at all. The pitch-black surroundings made Seowoon smile in satisfaction.
As he ran toward the literature tunnel, Seowoon suddenly stopped and scanned his surroundings.
'Two people?'
— I don't sense any gazes. —
Hamit's observation made sense. The presence they felt was clearly that of martial artists.
Aside from Carmen, Seowoon's cloak of concealment had hidden him perfectly until now.
Roughly fifty meters away, two auras kept each other in check — neither approaching nor backing off.
'Are they sizing each other up?'
Seowoon leapt onto a darkened streetlight and stared toward the two martial artists, seemingly on the verge of clashing.
Of course, in one hand, he held his bow — with Hamit, now transformed into an arrow, nocked and ready.
One stood behind a parked cargo truck in a parking lot — an old man. The other stood across the street — a woman. Slowly, they began moving toward each other.
'An old man and a woman?'
As the two finally charged, Seowoon quickly drew his bow.
The short old man wielded an absurdly large saber that didn't look the least bit practical.
Its wild, beast-like swings looked powerful even to Seowoon, who had his bow aimed and ready.
The woman, by contrast, swung a sword so thin it seemed like it couldn't possibly stand up to that saber. Her movements were smooth — a perfect contrast to the old man.
Not a word was exchanged as the two clashed.
Seowoon lowered his bow and focused on the fight.
There was no sound — despite their weapons clashing at such close range.
'Incredible.'
He was referring to the woman, who moved like reeds in the wind.
She slipped past the saber's tempestuous swings and struck precisely with her blade — a graceful yet deadly rhythm that impressed even Seowoon, who favored strong, aggressive attacks like the old man's.
The old man was also impressive, wielding a saber more suited to a knight — but Seowoon found his eyes drawn to the woman.
After a prolonged exchange, the first sharp sound finally rang out.
Clang!
The old man's face twisted as he blocked a thrust with his broad saber.
It wasn't hard for Seowoon to understand why.
The force had pushed the old man back.
'So it's not just grace — there's power, too.'
If Namsagwang had been here, this would've been the perfect moment to strike. Seowoon was also deeply intrigued by the woman's sword technique.
It was soft yet powerful — a technique Seowoon would love to learn.
Letting out a breath, Seowoon drew his bow again.
Once the old man began to falter, he focused entirely on defense — surprisingly so, given his initial onslaught — and was driven backward again and again.
It was no surprise. Someone who seemed to rely solely on brute force was now losing at their own game.
Clang!
At last, the woman's sword knocked the saber upward. Seowoon saw the old man's hands freeze.
He released his arrow.
Whoosh—BOOM!
Just as the old man deflected the arrow with his hand, it exploded — flames engulfing both fighters.
The woman emerged quickly from the fire — the old man did not.
As Seowoon retreated into the darkness, he didn't miss the blood staining the tip of the woman's sword.
'She stabbed him during that?'
To finish an opponent in the middle of an explosion and wall of flame — that wasn't something just anyone could do.
Ding!
[Buyo Spirit – Gang Muian (Kill by sword). 138/150]
'Smart. She gave up on the loot and prioritized survival.'
No one likes to have their prey stolen.
Even so, the woman withdrew without a moment's hesitation.
Seowoon stashed his bow back into subspace and cautiously approached the box that appeared as the flames faded.
[Gale Power Saber Technique. A secret saber art of Cheonji lightness Style.]
[Great Strength Palm. A secret palm technique from the Great Strength Second Form.]
[Forged Saber. A saber crafted with a significant amount of black iron.]
Other than consumables, those three were the only usable items.
"Tch. Not a single decent accessory dropped."
Even though he had been farming for over a day, the items were thoroughly underwhelming.
Finishing the looting, Seowoon once again ran toward the Munhak Tunnel.
Seeing the lights spilling out of the tunnel and illuminating the surrounding darkness, Seowoon came to a stop.
"Is there auxiliary power set up in there?"
Looking around the tunnel area with a disappointed expression, Seowoon shook his head.
The ideal situation would have been sneaking up under cover of darkness while enemies were attempting a buff monster and stealing the last hit for himself.
But with the tunnel so brightly lit, there was no way to enter wearing the Cloak of Concealment.
"Not like there's any guarantee someone's actually attacking a buff monster at night anyway."
With that thought, Seowoon spread out his energy sense to scout for enemies and began to move.
The night was just beginning.
Seowoon was extremely selective when it came to picking prey.
There had to be no enemies nearby, and ideally, the target had to be a mage rather than a martial artist.
A single mistake or an opponent he couldn't handle meant immediate game over—and the end of his life in Cloyd.
That's why he had no choice but to proceed with extreme caution.
It wasn't until after midnight that he finally found a target that met his criteria.
"Didn't expect to come all the way to Songdo."
Wearing a robe and emanating a sloppy martial energy, the target clearly had only a small grasp of martial arts. Seowoon quietly approached, his eyes coldly fixed on the man's back.
The guy, peeking over the rooftop ledge of an officetel building, scanning the ground below, was completely unaware of the death creeping up behind him.
With only five steps left to the target, energy condensed on Seowoon's fingertips—and in the blink of an eye, he vanished.
—CRASH! CLANG!
Using Blink, his extended right hand shattered the man's barrier into pieces.
Before the stunned man could even turn around, Seowoon's opposite hand crushed his skull.
—CRACK.
Looking down at the enemy who died without even fighting back, an alert popped up.
—Ding! Jin Seowoon – Coalminer (Killed with energy force). 137/150.
As with anything, repeated practice brings mastery.
Ambushing mages from behind, who were completely unprepared, was easier than expected.
That night alone, Seowoon killed five more players before returning reluctantly to the station where he'd last seen Namsagwang.
"If only I had more time…"
By the time he entered the station again, the sky was beginning to brighten.
As Seowoon stepped into the deep, dark subway tunnel, his brows furrowed.
"Still not back?"
That Namsagwang hadn't returned after all this time meant something was definitely wrong.
Seowoon had assumed the archer had aggroed him and delayed him until he killed the guy.
But too much time had passed for that to be the case.
"What the hell happened?"
The thought that something unexpected had occurred deepened the wrinkles in Seowoon's brow.
From then on, he didn't move during the day and only hunted at night in the dark subway tunnels.
During that time, Seowoon's player kill count surpassed nine.
Sometimes he missed mages who had alarm spells set up, and sometimes he abandoned the hunt immediately when the target proved too strong—so he didn't kill as many as he could have.
Thus passed the seventh day of this round—and still, there was no word from Namsagwang.
***
—BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Haa… Haa… Haa…"
Namsagwang, gripping his blade Sugang, pounded on the rounded barrier imprisoning him. But unlike a normal barrier, it only trembled—it showed no signs of breaking.
"It's useless. You're hanging in there, but you won't last much longer. This is Merthy's Seal. A sealing stone worth 200 coins. Just go to sleep peacefully."
The man who had been shooting arrows at him and carried a strange item on his back spoke, and Namsagwang's face twisted in rage.
"What kind of… trick is this!"
—BANG!
Even while bound, Namsagwang hurled Sugang as his eyelids grew heavy with sleep.
For some reason, the longer time passed, the heavier his body became, and a crushing fatigue made it hard to resist the sleep overtaking him.
"Merthy's Seal is a fascinating item. It transfers the sealed target's strength directly to the user. It takes some time, but in a year at most, all of your power will be mine."
The man kindly rolled up his sleeve, revealing a yellow stone embedded in his forearm—just like the one imprisoning Namsagwang.
"You… won't get away with this."
Withdrawing Sugang, Namsagwang sat in a lotus position and closed his eyes, resisting the seal.
He spoke as if confident, but he couldn't say how much longer he could hold on.
"Jin Seowoon… this is desperate. Find me."
At this point, Seowoon was the only person he could trust.
Watching Namsagwang resist the seal far longer than expected, the man with the bow—Zesk—scowled.
Ever since he obtained Merthy's Seal, he'd always followed the same strategy.
He played mainly squad games and would seal the strongest enemy—or ally—and never participate in the game again until he had fully absorbed their power.
Thanks to this, he had recently reached Crown rank. But then, he had been forcibly summoned into a ranked game.
"Actually, this worked out better than I thought. I got to meet someone like him."
***
Just as Seowoon was about to begin his nightly hunt, a system alert grabbed his attention.
—Ding! Cheonma – Nilcray (Killed with Origin Spirit). 109/150.
After that alert, Seowoon stood frozen in place for a long while.
"A kill… with Origin Spirit?"
Only nine players remained alive.
And now, Cheonma's location was completely unknown.
The word "Wonyoungshin" (Origin Spirit) felt far heavier than the name Cheonma, even though Cheonma was the current rank #1.
The vague thought that maybe he could team up with Namsagwang and ambush the enemy if Cheonma was in a fight—vanished completely in that moment.
Seowoon pulled out his one and only Teleportation Scroll from subspace and held it tightly in his hand.
Sweat had already begun to form in his palm.
Yet holding the scroll seemed to be the only thing that brought him a sliver of calm.
"If it's Wonyoungshin… couldn't he have just ascended peacefully? Why did he come all the way here, grinding through this game like the rest of us?"
Unanswerable questions filled his mind.
With Cheonma now a bomb whose whereabouts were completely unknown, Seowoon couldn't bring himself to go out hunting.
As if to mock his worries about survival, alerts continued to chime.
—Ding! Cheonma – Goiner (Killed with Origin Spirit). 108/150
—Ding! Cheonma…
…
…
99/150
The moment the string of notification sounds finally stopped, Seowoon collapsed to the floor.
He had once, even if only briefly, experienced the power of Wonyoungshin for himself.
The overwhelming force that tore through hordes of players like the protagonist of a game, slaughtering them one after another.
And that had only been a temporary, incomplete version of the power.
So then, what would complete control over a perfected Origin Spirit even look like?
The very thought sent his mind reeling.
"There's no way I can win against that."
Although he had always said and played with survival as his top priority, deep down, he had aimed for the upper ranks—maybe even the top spot.
But for the first time, a foe appeared that he genuinely wanted to avoid.
After sitting in silence for a long while, Seowoon finally got up, dusted himself off, and began to move again.
This time, the anxiety clinging to his face had disappeared.
"If I give up on a top rank this round, that's fine. I might even be able to absorb some of that celestial energy."
Having shifted his strategy from competing for the top to hunting Cheonma's Origin Spirit, Seowoon's eyes gleamed with renewed determination.
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