Satoru slowly woke up. The first thing he saw was still the ugly ceiling of the inn. Resisting the pull of falling asleep again, he gradually opened his eyes wider and stared up without emotion at the broken chandelier above him. Only after a long while did he finally move and sit up.
What time is it?
He quietly opened the window and glanced at it.
4:25 p.m.
He looked outside. The vivid crimson glow of dusk was no different from before he had gone to sleep, still pouring into this cheap inn room. Had he really slept through an entire cycle of sunrise and sunset?
He mocked his own laziness. Bored, he compared the sharp line of light cutting across the room with the image still left in his memory from before.
What a meaningless waste of brainpower.
He lowered his gaze to the plain carpet for a moment, then slid the window open with a clatter. Taking out a cigarette, he struck a match and lit it, letting the dry air before him fill once more with bluish smoke.
The familiar sense of satisfaction spread through his chest.
Then came the fake, dry urge to retch.
It's just a virtual body. Did they really need to simulate it this realistically?
He stood and walked to the table, picked up a glass of water, and gulped it down. The sensation of clear liquid flowing through his body refreshed him a little.
He sat beside the table, holding the glass, cigarette between his lips, and sank once more into a silence with no meaning.
Ding ding.
The message notification pulled his attention back. He casually opened it.
The next moment, the cigarette fell to the floor and shattered.
Satoru read the text with an indifferent gaze.
Then he stood up.
[Teleport.]
Without hesitation, he used the expensive crystal item from his inventory.
In the next second, his still slightly weary figure was swallowed by spreading blue-white light.
...
Deep within the dark labyrinth, before the gate at the end of the floor.
The skirmish had already ended. The members of Divine Dragon Alliance, including Sheeta and Argo, had all been struck with paralysis and forced to collapse. Surrounded by enemies, there was no chance of slowly curing themselves.
Before the now silent Floor Boss gate, the cloaked player closed his window and turned back pleasantly to look at the people on the ground whose eyes still refused to surrender.
"As expected of elite players. No matter how miserable you look, you've still got some backbone."
The shield swordsman glared coldly at him from the ground.
"You chose to treat my earlier words as lies. Which means you trusted that vice commander."
The cloaked player sighed.
"Fair enough. If a few words from me were enough to split you apart, I'd start wondering if something shady was going on too."
"But it doesn't matter. In the end, aside from that woman, you're just bystanders dragged into this. This beautiful performance needs that man, and it needs an audience. You were always meant to be the crowd below the stage, clapping on cue. So relax. I won't kill you so easily."
The cloaked player sounded very satisfied.
"PoH, our people inside Divine Dragon Alliance have already started sending messages. The top guild's guys will be here soon, right?"
XaXa said it openly, without the slightest concern for those lying on the ground.
No doubt the pleasure of making them suspicious with a single sentence far outweighed any danger facing his companions.
"Ohh, wonderful. I like efficiency," the cloaked player said. "Then where's our leading man?"
"He'll definitely come. We should thank our information broker for that. She's very good at reading the mood."
Argo gritted her teeth at those words. At last, she couldn't help glancing at the girl beside her, who looked utterly dejected.
From the moment she had been defeated, the girl had not said a single word.
Her gaze had remained fixed on only one person.
The man who defeated her.
Didos.
Though he was an ally of the cloaked player, he had never joined in with them. After crushing the enemy, he simply held his gun and leaned quietly against the thick carved gate. His heavy bangs hid his eyes, making it impossible to tell whether he was dozing or watching the road leading out of the labyrinth.
...
Johnny Black.
That was his name in this world.
He did not possess overwhelming strength, but he had raised Stealth, knife skills, and poison crafting to an absolute level. Or rather, he had poured all his resources into those areas, making himself a deadly assassin.
Against monsters with high HP, thick defense, and numbers on their side, he had little power.
But if the opponent was human.
One unexpected strike from a knife coated in all kinds of poison would turn them into meat on his chopping board, free for him to play with.
For such a strange man to meet friends who were "like-minded" was rare good fortune indeed.
Hidden in the shadows, waiting for his chance, he licked his lips, unable to contain himself.
Some people pursued overwhelming damage.
Some obsessed over collecting rare items.
He, however, was addicted to the thrill of landing a single perfect strike.
This colorful world offered so much freedom, yet so many people only wanted to return to that dull place full of rules.
Wasn't that the greatest waste of all?
Still, perhaps he should thank those righteous people trying to clear the game.
Because only when two incompatible sides existed would bloody, brutal conflict be inevitable.
But all this time, the schemes he had planned were only small games aimed at one person.
Now, a grand drama that would shake the clearing group was about to begin.
That thrilled him.
And the most exciting part of all was this.
Killing the heroic leading man before he ever stepped onto the stage.
Overturning everyone's expectations. The hero who should have charged into enemy ranks with sword in hand would instead appear battered, wretched, and pathetic as a dead dog.
How delightful!!
He had no intention of waiting for that man to calmly walk onto the stage.
Lurking at the turn of the only path forward, silent yet trembling with excitement, he finally saw the blue glow of teleportation.
"He's here... he's here."
He whispered in delight like a demon hunting prey in the night.
He raised the knife in his hand and aimed at the man.
That plain, ordinary man.
That expressionless man.
"Hehe..."
The one everyone watched. Kneel.
Then he saw it.
That slowly walking figure.
Those dim golden eyes.
Slash!
The knife left his hand.
At the same time.
So did his hand.
"Huh...?"
Johnny let out a confused sound and crashed to the ground.
"My hand...?"
He tried blankly to crawl away, only to realize he no longer had limbs to support himself.
"And... my feet?"
Pressed against the cold, hard floor, the assassin who rarely failed finally felt his confusion turn into terror.
The man he had considered prey crouched beside him, now reduced to a limbless torso, grabbed him by the head, and silently dragged him toward the destination like a corpse in the state of Absolute Dismemberment.
W-What happened?!
What just happened?!
Johnny's eyes bulged as he stared at the man.
"You should be useful as a bargaining chip."
The emotionless voice entered his ears.
"If not, then you have no value at all."
...
Didos, who had been quietly leaning against the gate the whole time, suddenly lifted his head and looked forward through the gap in his bangs.
Tap.
Tap tap.
In a place with no monster respawn system, silence was easily broken.
Just like those footsteps drawing closer one by one from afar.
XaXa and PoH both turned toward the sound.
Then the man hurled something at them with force, as casually as tossing garbage. It landed between them with a heavy crash.
A figure with no limbs, only a torso, writhed helplessly on the ground.
"I hate people this inefficient," PoH said quietly.
"Release them."
Satoru walked forward, drew the pale green, stone-textured Blade of the Fallen, and drove it deep into Johnny's helpless body.
"One person in exchange for so many? That's not enough."
XaXa looked at him, looked at that overwhelming strength, and smiled with satisfaction.
"He's not enough."
Satoru pulled out his straight sword and kicked Johnny aside like a dead dog.
He swept his gaze across the three of them one by one.
A cold smile appeared on his face.
"Then what if I add the three of you?"
"In that case."
Didos's low voice rang out.
"Come here."
The silent man reached behind him and pushed open.
The Floor Boss gate.
...
Yes.
A slaughter cage worthy of Dragon King and Dragon Horse.
Only.
Only Floor Bosses were worthy of such a place.
Somewhere, someone who could see the whole world nodded in satisfaction.