Everyone turned toward the two men who were walking in.
They wore outfits resembling the formal court attire of ancient nobles, except theirs were entirely black, embroidered with traditional Thai patterns. On their chests, a three-headed elephant was stitched in fine detail.
This was the uniform of the Ayara Unit—a government task force established to deal with Players who caused incidents in the human world. And of course, both men were Players themselves.
Although the Ayara Unit was known for its strength—only the very best survived the selection process—even so, just two officers seemed a bit too few for a situation like this. After all, Singkhon was a core member of one of the three great guilds.
One of the Ayara officers raised his hand toward the empty air. A spear appeared out of nowhere, summoned from his dimensional storage. Its shaft was made of a long, white metal, while the spearhead was black, gleaming like a cut gemstone.
The other Ayara officer summoned a long rope, several dozen meters in length.
Watching from his relatively safe distance, Nawa felt the pressure radiating from the two Ayara officers. Their aura was in no way inferior to Singkhon's. It might even surpass his.
"This has nothing to do with the Ayara Unit," Singkhon shouted, halting his assault to face them.
"This is a PK between Players. You people have no right to interfere."
His posture and tone suggested that despite his arrogance, he still held a certain fear—or at least caution—toward the Ayara officers.
"Don't play word games with us, boy," one of the Ayara officers barked.
"Surrender quietly, or else—"
He didn't finish the sentence. The rope in his hand shot forward like a living serpent, lashing out toward Singkhon.
Whoosh!
Singkhon's reaction speed was extraordinary.Even though he hadn't anticipated the attack, he evaded the lunging rope with impressive agility.
Once he had created enough distance between himself and the rope, he leapt into the air and hurled another handful of Enchanted Rice Grain at the Ayara officers.
The grains exploded from his hand like a blast from a shotgun.The Ayara officer didn't back down. His rope coiled into a circular shield, like an opened parasol, and met the storm of glowing grains head-on.
BANG! BANG!
After the clash, the rope's shape was slightly distorted, but not a single grain had made it through. They scattered in all directions instead.Those who had been standing too close were caught in the aftermath, wounded in an instant.Chaos erupted once more.
"If you dare interfere again," Singkhon roared,
"don't blame me for what happens next!"
The implication was clear: if the Ayara Unit continued to meddle, he would strike without concern for civilian casualties. Most people had already fled, but many still remained.
It seemed his threat worked.Both Ayara officers hesitated for a moment.
Singkhon seized the opening, charging at Tana once more while summoning a second dagger out of thin air. He gripped both blades in reverse, the tips angled downward, his gaze locked firmly onto Tana.
This time, he was serious.He knew that once the Ayara Unit appeared, he wouldn't have much time left.
Tana, however, still hadn't taken a proper fighting stance.He made no move to prepare an attack. He simply watched, then allowed a faint smile to curl at the corner of his lips.
Swish, swish, swish—
The air shuddered beneath the flurry of slashes Singkhon unleashed.Dozens of dagger strikes poured out with inhuman speed. From a distance, it looked as if every blow should have landed.
But none of them did.Just like before, not a single blade so much as grazed Tana.
No matter how Singkhon increased his speed or number of attacks, he still couldn't touch the Guildmaster.
"Give it up," Tana said calmly.
"A low-rank Player like you could never force me to act."
As he spoke, his eyes weren't on Singkhon at all.They were on the two Ayara officers standing some distance away.
The officers stiffened slightly, glancing at one another. But they said nothing in return.
"What the hell are you babbling about!?" Singkhon snapped. "Don't you dare look down on me like that! I refuse to believe you can't be forced to fight, not by me, Singkhon!"
He shouted loudly, as if trying to drown out some deeper insecurity.
Then his eyes flicked toward a young woman lying prone on the floor several dozen meters away.
A cruel smile appeared on his lips.Without a word, Singkhon hurled one of his daggers at her and simultaneously lunged toward Tana.
His intent couldn't have been clearer: If Tana wanted to save the woman, he would have to deal with Singkhon first.Tana's expression shifted—his gaze sharpened, his demeanor suddenly serious.
But just as he was about to act, something unexpected happened.
Nawa sprinted out from his hiding place and threw himself into the dagger's path.
THUD!
The sound rang out as the dagger struck Nawa square in the chest. His body was flung backward from the force, blood spraying from his mouth.
Even so, the blade didn't pierce through him.Looking more closely, he realized that the unconscious woman on the floor was the same reporter who had given him directions earlier.
Logically speaking, Nawa had no reason to risk his life for her. They weren't close, not even acquaintances.He himself thought so.But for some reason, his body had moved on its own.Luckily, he wasn't completely reckless.
He had gambled on the defensive power of the Dragon Scale Shirt he wore—an item he'd brought back with him from the Himmapan Forest. The armor's defense was high enough to stop the dagger from penetrating his chest.
But the impact alone was enough to crush his internal organs.Even if he survived, he should have been seriously injured.
Before his body could smash into the wall behind him, a powerful palm slammed into his back with perfect timing and precision.
The force redirected his momentum, stopping him from colliding with the wall and dissipating most of the dagger's destructive power.
At the same time, Nawa felt something warm and gentle flow through his body—a mysterious energy that healed and restored him from within.
He turned his head and saw the one who had intervened. It was Tana—The Guildmaster of The Future, who hadn't lifted a finger until now.
This time, he had acted to save Nawa.
Tana patted Nawa lightly on the shoulder and said,
"Do you realize how foolish that was?
If anything had gone wrong, not only would you have failed to save that woman—you would have died as well."
Nawa couldn't tell whether those words came from genuine concern or carried some hidden meaning.Either way, he now knew at least one thing that many people desperately wanted to know:
Tana possessed healing power.
But Nawa still struggled to accept it.
The way Tana carried himself, the way he moved—everything about him screamed front-line attacker, a combat specialist. Healing skills were typically exclusive to Healer-type Players.
Questions swirled inside Nawa's mind, but he forced himself to push them aside. Because at that very moment, he saw Singkhon rushing in from Tana's blind spot, his dagger raised for a killing blow.
"Watch out!"
Nawa shouted at the top of his lungs.But it seemed too late.Singkhon was already within striking distance.
Even at his peak back in the Himmapan Forest, Nawa doubted he could have dodged such a close-range attack.Yet before the dagger could land, Singkhon's entire body suddenly jerked to a halt—as if some invisible force had seized him.
"Wha—what is this!?"His face twisted with shock and confusion.
A split second later, the rope—like a serpent—struck, wrapping around his body again and again until he was completely bound, like a mummy. He couldn't move so much as a finger, let alone speak.
"You've gone too far," the Ayara officer with the rope snarled.
"You dare cause trouble inside The One Association itself? You clearly don't think much of us, the Ayara Unit. I don't care who's backing you—no one's saving you from what's coming. Get ready to rot in prison."
He gave the rope a light tug, and Singkhon's body rose off the ground as if he were a helium balloon.
"I'm sorry to have troubled you both,"
Tana said, narrowing his eyes slightly as he looked at the two Ayara officers.
"Please don't say that, sir," the rope-wielding officer replied respectfully.
"We're the ones who should apologize for letting things go this far. I hope you can forgive us."
The other officer, the one holding the spear, spoke up with a stern look.
"Do you have any idea who's behind this, Guildmaster? Doing something like this here is the same as spitting in the Ayara Unit's face.
No matter who they are, I, Officer In, swear I'll drag them out and make them pay."
Tana turned to look at him, a faint smile touching his lips.
"It's fine. This is just a minor incident.If you don't mind, I'd rather ask you to focus on taking care of the injured here—especially this brave young man."
He glanced back at Nawa as he spoke and gave him a small nod of gratitude before turning and walking away from the scene.
Not long after, emergency personnel arrived to secure the area and transport the injured to receive treatment. Everyone was surprised by how light Nawa's injuries were.
Aside from minor bruising, he was basically fine.
Nawa himself couldn't gauge the true extent of Tana's power.Even a High Rank Healer would have struggled to repair internal injuries that fast, yet Tana had done it in an instant.
Nawa was certain now—This man was no weaker than he himself had been back in the Himmapan Forest.
"You're useless,"
the rope-wielding Ayara officer muttered later, once they had movedaway from the crowd.
"You couldn't even force him to reveal his true strength."
Normally, no one should have been able to overhear that conversation.But Nawa did.
Because he had sent White Snake to secretly tail the group.By focusing his mind, Nawa could see and hear everything White Snake perceived—the images, the sounds, all of it. From what he gathered, the two Ayara officers were working with Singkhon.
They had even helped create the opportunity for him to attack.However, Nawa didn't want to risk letting White Snake stray too far from him.
When the officers entered the elevator, he cut off the surveillance.Because of that, he didn't know whether this was just the action of those two officers— or if the Ayara Unit as an organization was involved.
If it was the latter, then this wasn't just a clash between guilds anymore.
It would become a matter involving the entire country.The Ayara Unit was, after all, a government agency.
Nawa couldn't shake the feeling that this incident was only the beginning—
the trigger for a massive change that could decide the fate of the entire nation.