Sungmuk was the first formidable foe that Merlin faced since entering DIO. Though he had met the Mermaid Hero and the overwhelmingly strong Seadragon Zygmunt, Merlin had only glimpsed the Mermaid Hero for ten seconds, and Zygmunt was so overwhelmingly powerful that Merlin couldn’t have even considered it a foe, let alone tried to fight it. Sungmuk possessed an unimaginable lightness skill and elegant swordsmanship, and he was the only one who had been able to kill Merlin in the past.

“I wonder… how would I stack up against him now?”

Despite saying this, Merlin knew he did not stand a chance against Sungmuk. Though Merlin had undeniably become stronger over the past six months, his internal energy and magic power levels had plateaued. Moreover, Merlin had been able to reach greater depths of understanding in magic and martial arts through constant battle and reflection, but he had not broken through to the next level. However, he still had one advantage.

Crack.

The three jewels clacked against each other as Merlin took them out. There was a yellow-light emitting Topaz, a red-light emitting Ruby, and a green-light emitting Emerald, each only the size of one’s thumb. They were incredibly valuable items, but in Merlin’s hands, these items were closer to weapons than jewels.

“I crafted and worked on them as I was traveling, so I was only able to complete three. Well, I’m not an enchanting machine, so I suppose that even just three could be considered an achievement.”

Each jewel contained more magic power than the maximum level that Merlin could produce on his own. However, what made the jewels even more terrifying wasn’t the magic power contained in them, but the runes and organization of the magic power within. Merlin had used a jewel like this in the past, when he froze the battlefield between the Kraken and Dead Man’s ship.

“Master? You know that Sungmuk guy?”

“You could say that. Ack, what should I do? Shall I go? But there are so many users here, I might not even get a turn…”

Merlin’s words trailed off. Though Sungmuk was unimaginably powerful, if he had come to Starting alone, he’d inevitably be killed. The number of users in Starting numbered in the tens of millions if not more. Even on the low end, there’d be at least hundreds of thousands of users. Though high-level users weren’t common, with so many users gathered together, there’d inevitably be a few experts and high rankers.

In the not-too-distant past, Sungmuk had been killed by a small group of users, less than ten in number. Even if Merlin rushed over, there’d be a high chance that Sungmuk would have already been dealt with. No, Merlin thought it was guaranteed.

[City Defense

Time Limit: None

Defend the Guardian Tower!

An unexpected event has occurred! A monster has initiated an attack on Starting!

Sungmuk is leading an attack without any other monsters. The only enemy is Sungmuk. However, he is the strongest among orcs and is a Freedom Class Sword Sovereign! If he isn’t countered, it will be a massacre.

Reminders:

1. If the Guardian Tower at the center of the city is destroyed, regardless of how the destruction occurred, DIO will be shut down for a period of 24 real-time hours.

2. If the monster touches the Guardian Stone within the Guardian Tower, the DIO shutdown time will be extended. The projected time is 168 real-time hours. In other words, DIO will be down for one week, real-time.

3. Outside of this instance, DIO will be forcefully shut down if the Guardian Tower is ever destroyed; however, users are not able to destroy the Guardian Tower.]

Merlin’s eyes grew round as he read the quest description.

“What the hell? The description is written like it assumes that Sungmuk will be able to get through all the users. Does the system not know how many users are in Starting?”

“No, read carefully, Master. That Sungmuk guy… he’s a Freedom Class monster.”

“What’s a Freedom Class monster? Is it higher than Hero?”

Of course, Merlin didn’t know anything about the monster classification system. Since he didn’t pay attention to anything that he wasn’t interested in, any other user would have scoffed and hawed at Merlin’s aloofness; however, having spent quite some time with Merlin, Quiet Heaven patiently took the time to explain the classification system to Merlin. Moreover, Quiet Heaven was currently in a shocked state, so it didn’t have the wherewithal to criticize Merlin.

Merlin did not know anything about the monster classification system, as he had a habit of not paying attention to anything he wasn’t interested in. Other users would have scoffed at his aloofness; but Quiet Heaven, having now spent quite some time with Merlin, patiently explained the classification system. Quiet Heaven was in shock, and did not have the wherewithal to criticize Merlin anyway.

“So, a Freedom Class entity is a being that has transcended the limits of its species. A monster that attains Freedom Class will be given a Divine Weapon and new physical body, regardless of its species-specific original sin or characteristics. A Freedom Class being could even change its title and position if it so wanted. And if the Freedom Class being can reach Transcendence… if that happens…”

If a monster was able to reach Transcendence, that monster would become free from the reincarnating wheel of fate and be able to escape from this created world. This was the dream of all the past-life beings that were tied into the world of DIO… to possess freedom once more.

“My god. To think there is already a being that has reached the Freedom Class…”

“Huh? So that means he’s strong?”

“Very, very strong. He probably reached the Freedom Class because he’s part of the orc species, which has a relatively low species level rating… but it would be foolish to consider him weak because of that. Even though you met him in the past, you’ll have to consider this Sungmuk to be a completely different beast right now.”

Merlin had a blank expression as he listened to Quiet Heaven’s serious explanation. Merlin himself didn’t take the situation too seriously because, in the end, Sungmuk was already stronger than Merlin. And no matter how strong Sungmuk was, he would still have to make it through the many, potentially higher level users in Starting.

“So, you’re saying that you don’t think Sungmuk will die anytime soon, right?”

“Not only will he not die soon, but…”

“Alright then, let’s go over there and have a look.”

With that, Merlin started to run. Fortunately, he didn’t have very far to run. Based on the general location of Sungmuk indicated on his Beholder, he could see that Sungmuk had already arrived near the city square at the center of the city.

“But isn’t this too dangerous? The Guardian Tower is located right in the middle of the city square.”

The city square was quite large: one kilometer in diameter, allowing a five-hundred meter radius surrounding the Guardian Tower. However, with Sungmuk’s lightness movement skills, five-hundred meters didn’t pose much of a challenge to him. Case in point, when Merlin had first faced off against Sungmuk, he had launched his long-ranged attacks from two kilometers away, Sungmuk had crossed that distance in just twenty seconds. Since this Freedom Class version of Sungmuk wouldn’t be slower than in the past, it would probably take less than five seconds for Sungmuk to traverse five-hundred meters and reach the Guardian Tower.

“Based on the atmosphere, it seems he’s being held down by the users… ah, it must be over there.”

Once Merlin reached the general vicinity, he was easily able to identify where the battle was ensuing. A sense of fighting spirit aura, which shouldn’t have been present within the city, could be felt. Moreover, thousands of users had created a wide circle around a specific area to observe the battle. Based on the atmosphere, it seemed the battle was being conducted one-on-one, but the size of the user circle was so big…

Thump.

Merlin had felt good ever since the morning. He had logged out of the game and eaten delicious food, something he had not done in a long time, and he had found a way to return to the city and do some shopping after having spent so much time around monsters during his travels. It wasn’t that he disliked traveling and adventuring, but having traveled for six months, he had started to get a bit sick of it all. Today was a refreshing and fun respite.

Thump.

And that good feeling continued, even now.

Bam!

Merlin looked ahead with a blank expression. Like Merlin, all the other gathered users watched the ensuing one-on-one fight with bated breath. However, Merlin was looking at something different.

Thump.

It was a sword. A beautiful sword. It had a slightly thin-profiled silver blade, and its handle was encrusted with a colorless jewel and wrapped in an unknown but modern looking blue leather-like material.

It looked like a sword out of a legend. It’s appearance was more like an art piece than a weapon. It possessed an innate beauty, but also a mind-blowingly powerful force within it, as though it had been wielded by a powerful warrior.

- Dragon Killing Sword. Ascalon.

It was the sword that Merlin had seen long ago, deep underwater.

“What does this mean? No way… he got it?”

Merlin shook his head in disbelief, but in a way, he understood. If anyone were to obtain that sword, it would be Arthur. Arthur was the one who had single-handedly defeated the Red Dragon, Igniz.

Clang!

With a loud noise that echoed across the city square, Arthur and Sungmuk, who had been right up against each other, separated. Arthur held Ascalon in one hand while his other sword, Dustin, floated around in the air and attacked any openings in Sungmuk’s defense.

“This sword art… it’s very different from the Dispersing Light Sword Technique.”

“You even know of the Dispersing Light Sword Technique… in any case, yes, you’re right. The Dispersing Light Sword Technique is an excellent sword technique, but, how should I say this… right, it’s too structured, too rigid. So, I’ve been evolving the technique.”

“Hahaha. Too rigid? The Dispersing Light Sword Technique?”

Sungmuk thought that there was no way Arthur was telling the truth. Every martial arts technique that existed in DIO was complete and perfect. However… their completeness and perfection was based on their use [within human parameters]; Arthur, an Irregular that existed outside human parameters, didn’t find completeness and perfection within the technique.

“That’s why I created a new sword art. Well, it’s not completely new, I just altered the Dispersing Light Sword Technique to fit me better.”

Ping!

Suddenly, a burst of light shot out of Ascalon, followed by a thin light ray which formed a line that seemed to divide the world. Nearly instantaneously, Sungmuk moved backwards as he swung his Divine Red Sparrow sword to parry the ray of light, but he was unable to deflect it. In fact, the ray of light had already gone straight through his body before he had even started moving his sword.

Whoosh!

Blood spilled, but only a little. The wound was only about a centimeter in size. However, what this wound represented was significant. It was the first attack that had entered Sungmuk’s Absolute Territory and inflicted damage on his body.

“This…”

“I call it Bursting Sword Light. Originally, I planned to use this technique with just my left hand, but after creating the sword art technique, I found that it was so extensive that I needed two hands to use it. Well… I guess I’ll have to keep training until I can use it with one hand.”

Arthur spoke with an untroubled tone of voice. However, after seeing the ray of light, Merlin couldn’t help but become confused.

“What… was that?”

Since he was young, Merlin had been able to understand things just by looking at them. By just watching another child’s flying paper airplane, Merlin had understood the aerodynamics of the wings, and how flight worked. Also, by watching dancing b-boys, their body movements, bone movements and muscle usage, Merlin was able to get the gist of their dance moves and perfectly repeat them himself.

Merlin was able to understand the essence of anything through his observational insight skill. Since birth, Merlin could understand anything in the world that entered his eyes. This had always been true.

- However, Merlin didn’t understand what he just saw.

“What… was that?”

It was something beyond his comprehension. It wasn’t that the ray of light was too fast. Though the tip of Arthur’s sword had become a ray of light, the sword art technique had been deployed from Arthur’s body movements. Astonishingly, Merlin was still able to observe, process, and interpret some of Arthur’s bone and muscle movements. Though he could not perfectly understand the process, he could see that Arthur was utilizing his inner qi. This was all Merlin could comprehend. In the past, when Merlin first met Arthur, he had felt happy to find a being just like him. Now though, it seemed that Arthur had surpassed him.

Scrunch.

“Huh? Ugh…”

Merlin felt a sudden pain. The ‘Heaven’ mark that Mari had placed on his head burned as if it was on fire. The reason was simple: Arthur’s sublime martial arts move had stimulated the power of Qi Heaven, which was sealed within Merlin’s body.