Zero turned his gaze that way.
Rumble rumble rumble—
Above the Red Arena, several pillars of light crashed down all at once.
Above the heads of those who descended, the same thing floated.
A yellow star.
It was a mark attached only to Admins.
Not just one or two, but more than ten.
The atmosphere of the camp flipped once again.
This time, it was towards relief.
- If the GMs are here, this will be sorted out.
- As expected of Pantheon. They are taking control of the event.
- Let's not fight over who gets the Last Hit and just watch the GMs handle it.
The GMs reached out their hands toward the two intruders.
Zero knew very well what that hand gesture meant.
'Forced Despawn!'
It was the final card that specified coordinates and completely deleted the entity on the spot.
Whether it was a boss or a monster, it would erase anything as long as the coordinates were locked.
Actually, it was an obvious measure for the Admins.
If this mess wasn't intended by the operation team, it was right to sort it out immediately, even in that way.
And so, the hand gesture fell.
However...
Neither the black-clothed man nor the crimson guy disappeared.
Red letters appeared above the GMs' heads.
Up to that point, it could be read by Zero's eyes as well.
[Cannot specify the target.]
[Cannot specify the target.]
[Cannot specify the target.]
The coordinates were definitely marked there.
Those two were definitely standing there.
But the System replied that there was nothing in that spot.
It wasn't that it couldn't find the coordinates to erase...
'The target to erase itself is not in the data!?'
It was confirmed by the situation just now.
That those two did not belong to this System.
Therefore, they couldn't even become the 'targets' of the System.
Naturally, you cannot erase what does not exist.
'What is this?'
Why is there something like that inside the game?
How could something like that exist?
And.
The intervention of the Admins seemed to have instead shaken the board one more time.
Throughout the Red Arena, perfectly fine textures began to shatter.
The pattern of the ground shifted out of place once and returned, and several tents in the distance lost their coordinates and flickered.
One corner of the sky folded and unfolded like a poorly drawn picture.
A mountain ridge in the distance completely lost its coordinates and belatedly snapped back into place.
The shadows cast at their feet lost their owners, stretched out in the wrong direction, and came back.
Perfectly fine colors smeared and mashed together in one spot.
Every time the Admin's authority was used recklessly, the world distorted once instead.
Step, step.
The black-clothed man lightly scanned a few of those phenomena and then moved his steps toward the GMs.
The GMs were not users.
They wrapped their bodies in invincible buffs and wore the Admin's mark above their heads.
They were the only beings in this game who did not die.
To the users, they were gods beyond the screen, and to the mobs, they were creators.
It would be the most accurate expression to say that GMs were the laws of this world walking around in the shape of humans.
"The removal isn't working! Target designation isn't catching them at all?"
"Put in more authority, start with isolation!"
"The coordinates keep appearing and disappearing. What is this?"
"Don't ask and just tie them down, damn it. We can report it to the higher-ups later!"
Those laws, those gods raised their hands all at once.
Red chains surged from beneath the man's feet, aiming for his ankles.
Immobilization.
Above his head, a gray veil fell down.
Action sealed.
From the left and right, transparent walls closed in.
Forced isolation.
Three, four Admin authorities were stacked layer upon layer on one person.
Even so, the number and intensity of those authorities continued to be added and slammed into him.
It was a full set of powers that would prevent a user from moving even a single finger, no, even a boss would freeze on the spot.
However...
The man did not even slow his steps.
The chains broke before they touched his ankles, the veil tore before it finished falling, and the walls got their coordinates crossed and scattered before they closed.
Everywhere the Admin's powers struck, the worldview warped, rendering everything useless.
- Hey, why isn't the bind working?
- What about invincibility? GMs are invincible, right??
- That's crazy, he's just walking over!!??
- What the hell is it? Those things?
Finally, he walked and reached them.
Slice.
"...!"
The light shattered.
Those who wore the yellow stars on their heads turned gray, stars and all.
There was no trace of the invincible buff blocking it, nor any trace of authority resisting it.
The Admins faded out with the exact same light as when a user faded out.
However, this time, the spot where the light faded did not just become empty.
The System could not handle the coordinates where the Admin disappeared.
Centered on that spot, the floor collapsed like missing teeth, and below it, a pitch-black hole with nothing drawn on it was revealed.
Even if there was a code to handle death, there was no code to handle when something that shouldn't die, died.
The System vomited out the absence of its manager as an error.
A red log poured endlessly on one side of Zero's vision.
The remaining GMs stepped back all at once and thrust their hands out.
Removal.
Removal.
Removal.
Red letters plastered over each of their heads.
[Cannot find the target.]
[Cannot find the target.]
[Cannot find the target.]
That which could not be erased walked among those who erase.
One star, then another.
The undying ones turned to dust exactly like the dying ones.
Slice.
"As expected, although it's been a while since I've seen it."
The last star went out.
The law of this world was erased from within this world.
"Places like this, things like this, have a terribly dull feel to them."
The chat window paused for a moment.
● ● ●
Slice.
Even when cut, blood did not spurt.
"..."
When the sword sliced through a person, gray dust loosened and scattered from the severed spot instead of something red.
There was no resistance of cutting through flesh, nor the heavy feeling of catching on bone.
The sword swung through the empty air once and stopped, and a few pieces of equipment tumbled to the ground where a person had stood.
Even the screams rang out at the exact same pitch, as if they were recorded.
There was no weight to the death.
Swish, Dong Bongsu lowered his sword.
He knew this sensation.
A long time ago, the day he first logged in inside the capsule.
When he cut down the trash mobs named Neighborhood Thugs, the heavy feeling that should have come to his hand didn't come.
Their blood merely mimicked the color; it was neither hot nor sticky.
On that day, Dong Bongsu sheathed his weapon and turned away without any lingering attachment.
Because the place he thought was a hunting ground was nothing more than a playground.
He didn't know exactly through what mechanism he had returned to this kind of virtual reality world, but he reached the same conclusion as back then.
A world like this is worthless.
If he could capture the System as a tool, it might be a different story, but if not, it didn't even have a single point of value.
The things wearing yellow stars on their heads reached out their hands once again.
Slice.
As the sword was drawn once, they scattered into gray dust while still wearing the stars.
He looked around.
He could see the fragments of souls that had connected to this virtual world, called players or users.
He could see them clamoring in panic.
- Is it a bug? A bug is erasing people lol
- Hey, a bug materialized like that and is just walking around? Isn't this an error?
- Looking at the message boards, word is going around that it's a new kind of virus?
- Haha, does a virus walk around holding a sword? It's just unreleased content.
- But what do we get if we kill that? It looks freaking strong.
- The rewards for the first kill of unreleased content would be insane lol. Achievements, titles, and even drops.
- Whether it's a bug or whatever, if I get the Last Hit, isn't it mine?
- Whether it's an error or a god, as long as it drops items, I'm good.
- Good my ass, it's go time, you idiot.
Right, those things were not humans.
Therefore, they were not hunting targets either.
They were a sort of air-like existence.
No matter how much you breathe, it does not quench your hunger.
Things that calculate the Last Hit and drops even in the face of death.
In a place like this, there wasn't a single beast that would bite back.
Only the numbers steadily increased.
The System diligently counted these things that left no corpses as people.
[Chain Attack] Count 1000.
The number had stopped there.
Because 1000 was the ceiling.
No matter how much he cut and cut again, the count remained stuck at 1000 and did not go up any further.
[1000 Chain Attack maintained. Duration is renewed.]
All stats increased by 100%.
That pinnacle endlessly reverted to the beginning, along with the two-hour time limit after the last Chain Attack.
He wasn't getting stronger.
He was just holding the end he had already reached, at the end.
That was all.
- Wow, this is a live viewing lol. Clip it, let's go.
- How many people got shredded? Look at the count going up, crazy.
- They respawn anyway, whatever lol. We're getting our money's worth for the view.
- Hey, who's going to eat his full drop pool? I'm already jealous of the bastard who gets it.
- The chance to be certified as the supreme of the first kill is looking sharp.
- Lolll let's just consider it the entrance fee and watch the live viewing.
Fakes were fakes.
Even that clamor was all too fake.
Fake madness.
Over there, in the Murim, it wasn't like this.
It couldn't be like this.
Because in that world, death was real.
A place where being cut once meant the end.
So, everyone dressed their greed in clothes.
Righteousness, justice, the great cause—they added a layer of plausible justification to hide their inner hunger.
And hiding it wasn't something you could take a break from; you had to cling to it every waking moment just to barely pass off as human.
Because the moment you looked away, the face of a beast would protrude out.
Martial Artists were, in essence, all hypocrites who had taken on that exhausting task for life.
A profession that barely functioned only if you dedicated your entire life to it.
Here, there was no such effort.
Since you didn't die even when killed, there was no reason to hide.
There was no reason to squeeze out a justification, nor any reason to smack your lips while pretending to be decent.
A place where even hypocrisy was cumbersome.
That was why their true nature threw off all its clothes and rolled around naked.
Husks left with only desires.
Well, it was nice that they were human-like, but in any case, they were air.
They couldn't be chewed even if put in the mouth, and they didn't make you full even if swallowed.
A taste that didn't even qualify as prey.
In this board, there was only one thing that bled real blood.
Swish, Dong Bongsu's gaze turned to one side.
Rumble, rumble—
Over there, the guy called the World-Ending Divine Lord, who had followed him in, was tearing through the crowd of users.
The prey that had been tracking Dong Bongsu's back from the real world over there, the Murim.
It was the only dish that had a weight to it when struck, and something boiling over when cut.
Once this cleanup was done, it would be its turn to be placed on the dining table.
Dong Bongsu turned his body toward him without sheathing his sword.
The crowd swarming the World-Ending Divine Lord, mixed together with the Admins wearing yellow stars, sank mushily as they were submerged in a dark red fog.
It was a method that rotted and collapsed whatever it touched.
It only differed in form from this side, which shattered them into gray dust without a single drop of blood, but emptying the board was the same.
The fakes were being cleared away at the same speed in both places.
That guy stopped his hand.
He tossed the half-melted user into the muck and turned his head exactly this way.
The corners of his mouth pulled up to the base of his ears.
"Hey. Everything here is bland, but you're the only one properly seasoned."
It was a light remark, as if spitting out something half-chewed.
His step, boiling the muck as he took a pace forward, carried excitement.
"I slashed, smashed, and ground everything up to drink, but I only got hungrier. You don't look like that, do you? Right?"
From Dong Bongsu's standpoint, it was the same.
The weight of cutting him would be different.
Unlike his light mouth, his killing intent was not light in the slightest.
Just that alone made it an inevitable delicacy.
Kekeke-.
Inside a different world, two predators began to growl.
The two, who had written each other down on their menus, stood facing each other with the same dining table between them.