"Leader, something's wrong! I'm already at half health, but the healers aren't doing anything!" a panicked Berserker shouted mid-fight.
"Damn it, what are you healers doing?!" the Everhold Dominion's swordsman bellowed furiously. "Do you want to get kicked from the guild?!"
But before he could voice another command, an icy chill crept down his spine.
Instinctively, he rolled to the side.
Shing—shing—shing!
Three silver slashes carved through the space he had just occupied, swift and lethal.
The two players beside him weren't so lucky.
Twin blades pierced clean through their backs—no warning, no time to react. Both fell to the ground like puppets with their strings cut, eyes frozen wide in disbelief as death claimed them.
As the last man standing between his teammates, the swordsman leader suddenly felt cold to his core.
Who the hell was this?
Not only had this figure killed two of his comrades in the blink of an eye—but he hadn't even used a single skill. Just raw, overwhelming force.
The team leader's voice cracked with panic as he shouted, "Who are you?! Why are you targeting us?! Do you even know who we are?! We're Everhold Dominion! Back off now, and I might let you live!"
Kaito remained silent.
His face still concealed beneath the Veil of Echoes's hood, he took one step forward.
Then came the whisper—cold, low, and final.
"The ones I came to kill... are you from the Everhold Dominion."
The swordsman leader turned—
Too late.
Kaito had already vanished and reappeared behind him, a ghost among shadows.
SLASH!
The Solstice Blade, black as night, drove straight through his chest.
–762!
His HP instantly dropped to zero.
Eyes wide with disbelief, the team leader collapsed without a sound.
Pairing Windveil Steps with Cut, Kaito had ended the level 14 swordsman leader's life in one precise, devastating blow.
.....
Meanwhile, from a short distance away, Nyx Blade stood frozen in place—utterly dumbfounded.
That mysterious figure had just instantly killed the Everhold Dominion swordsman leader… the very same man she had been struggling to hold off moments ago.
Was that… really a player?
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
No… he couldn't be. Could he be a ghost born from Glory itself?
After their team leader's death, panic swept through the remaining Everhold Dominion members like a plague. One by one, they faltered.
Kaito's inhuman speed, combined with his devastating damage, shook them to their core.
"He's… not a player, right?"
"Is that thing a monster?!"
The same thought echoed through their minds as fear took root.
Some stumbled back. Others forgot to activate skills. Their coordination crumbled.
Even Nyx Blade—renowned for her calm precision and quick reflexes—found herself hesitating.
Her fingers tensed around her dagger.
But she didn't dare move recklessly.
Not now.
Unknowingly, a cold bead of sweat slid down her cheek.
Her instincts screamed at her.
The cloaked player standing before them… he wasn't someone she could cross.
If he wanted to kill her, there would be only one outcome—
Death.
Barely five seconds had passed—
Yet in those fleeting moments, each time the mysterious figure reappeared, another player collapsed in a pool of blood.
It was like watching the Grim Reaper himself descend upon the battlefield.
Kaito moved like a phantom, unpredictable and precise. One strike, one kill. No wasted motion. No hesitation.
Clad in a pitch-black hooded cape that shrouded his face, he cut a figure both terrifying and unreal. Over his face, he wore the Black Market-issued mask, concealing his name, level, and identity. Only a single HP bar hovered faintly above him—no other information visible.
To onlookers, he might as well have been a boss-level monster.
If not for the one moment she heard his voice—
that calm, low whisper directed at the swordsman leader—
Nyx Blade would've believed the same.
But knowing he wasn't a monster didn't make it easier.
In fact, it made it worse.
He's a player…?
The realization sent chills down her spine.
A player who moved like a ghost, struck like a blade of divine punishment, and erased elite opponents without leaving a trace.
It defied common sense.
This was no assassin skill, no known technique.
It was pure dominance.
Just how high are his attributes…?
Nyx Blade stood frozen, the question echoing in her mind as she watched the massacre unfold.
Meanwhile, Kaito felt nothing remarkable about his performance.
In his eyes, it was expected.
The players from Everhold Dominion didn't even possess half of his total stats.
That was the brutal truth of virtual reality games.
Level differences might seem small in numbers—but once attribute gaps stacked up, the difference became insurmountable.
…..
"R-run!"
"That's not a player—it's a monster!"
"I-I'm not fighting anymore! I want out!"
The six remaining Everhold Dominion players panicked.
Their leader—the strongest among them—hadn't even managed to lift his sword before dying.
That wasn't a fight.
That was an execution.
Fear seized their hearts as they turned and ran, hoping to regroup with the reinforcements en route.
But—
"It's too late to escape."
Kaito's voice was a whisper carried on the wind.
Windveil Steps—Activated.
In the next instant, he was gone from sight—
And then, like a black arrow fired from the bowstring of death, he shot forward.
The nearest assassin sensed him too late.
He whirled, desperately trying to block.
But Kaito's speed was beyond what his eyes could follow.
Solstice Blade: Slash, Slash, Slash—
Three sword images flashed across the assassin's vital points.
–498!
–552!
–603!
The assassin dropped dead before he could even raise a blade.
The others looked back—
Only to see their comrade's body hit the ground without resistance.
A chill washed over them.
If even an assassin, famed for agility, couldn't dodge a single blow…
Then what chance did they have?
Terror surged through their bodies.
They poured every last bit of energy into escape. But it didn't matter.
Kaito was faster.
The distance between them shrank rapidly.
And the Solstice Blade gleamed behind them like the Grim Reaper's scythe—hovering, waiting.
One by one—
Throat, back, heart, spine—
Dead.
Within seconds, the last five members of Everhold Dominion were wiped out.
….
Silence fell upon the forest clearing.
Kaito sheathed his blade and glanced around at the carnage.
He moved quickly, collecting the loot from the fallen players.
Despite their lack of skill, their equipment wasn't bad.
Most of them wore full Bronze-grade sets, with a few sporting Mysterious Iron pieces. The gear ranged from Level 10 to Level 12—valuable in this early stage of the game.
And more importantly—
Each player had dropped at least one item.
Eighteen bodies. Eighteen pieces of Bronze equipment.
If sold, it would fetch a decent profit.
If kept—for his future guild—it would become the starting gear for an elite force.
Kaito smiled faintly beneath his hood.
This wasn't just vengeance.
It was also an investment.
…..
While Kaito quietly gathered the dropped equipment, Nyx Blade stood at a distance, her delicate hand pressed against her wildly pounding heart.
She took a deep breath, calming the storm of emotions swirling inside her.
Then, summoning her courage, she slowly stepped forward.
"I'm called Nyx Blade," she said softly, her voice tinged with lingering disbelief. "Thank you… for saving us."
Just moments ago, she had prepared herself for death—
There had been no hope, no escape.
She never imagined someone would suddenly appear—
Much less someone capable of massacring an entire squad of Everhold Dominion elites.
Everything that had happened felt surreal—like a dream she hadn't yet woken from.
Of course, a part of her still harbored a sliver of fear.
This mysterious man had moved like a phantom, and his strength was terrifying.
What if he turned on us next?
What if we were next to be looted?
But deep down, she knew.
If he had intended to kill her or her teammates—
He would've done so already.
Just like he had done to the Swordsman of Everhold Dominion… without mercy.
As Nyx Blade stared at the blood-soaked battlefield, Kaito finally broke the silence.
"You don't need to thank me," he said calmly, crouching down to collect the scattered loot. "These players were never here for you. They set this trap for me."
His voice was quiet—flat, yet steady.
"You should leave," he added, without looking up. "This area is dangerous now. The rest of Everhold Dominion will arrive soon."
To him, saving Nyx Blade and her remaining teammates had merely been incidental.
Still, he didn't mind lending a hand—
After all, she'd worked hard herself, eliminating plenty of Dominion members before he arrived.