At PCC's underground base, in the Parta Princ.i.p.ality...

Carlos opened his eyes and first encountered darkness. The first thing he felt since agreeing to do this d.a.m.n body modification was regret. It was because once it started, he received a system message that he couldn't log out. Carlos pa.s.sed out and woke up repeatedly without being able to log out for two days in reality. Maybe he would be very hungry when he left the capsule.

[The current body modification progress rate is 98%. The remaining time until completion is 5 minutes and 15 seconds.]

'...Now there are only five minutes left.'

He thought about what he would eat when he came out. In fact, he had already decided on a dish.

'I want to eat churrasco.

Churrasco was a famous dish in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was also Carlos' home. Brazilian families often enjoyed it as a special meal on weekends. If his mother hadn't pa.s.sed away, then Carlos would've eaten the churrasco that his mother made for him. Sometimes he would meet his mother in a dream and Carlos always urged his mother to make this.

[The current body modification progress rate is 99%. The remaining time until completion is 2 minutes and 47 seconds.]

“...Sigh.”

Carlos exhaled and examined his modified body. The reconstruction had been successfully completed. Willian smiled with satisfaction as he watched from the laboratory window a bit further away. He was talking with the robots next to him and NPCs who seemed like researchers while the PCC gang members stood behind him like bodyguards. It happened at this time...

He suddenly heard an explosion and a light earthquake occurred.

“What? What's going on?!”

The shocked Willian screamed as he looked around. Then the emergency sirens in the lab rang out urgently.

[Emergency! Emergency! An intruder has entered the laboratory! Intruder alert! The ident.i.ty is presumed to be the undead, not humans. I will announce it again. The intruder is an unidentified undead.... kuaaack!]

“......”

“......”

“......”

Sudden silence filled the lab. It wasn't just Willian and his PCC subordinates. The researchers and robot NPCs were busy responding to the emergency.

“Close the 3 door.”

“B-6 door is blocked.”

“Closed the C-9 door.”

“In response to the emergency, the combat androids will be sent out.”

The response was very good. All entrances to the laboratory here were blocked while androids emerged from the wall and below to surround Willian and his party. These androids contained the essence of magic engineering and their level was a huge 350. There were 50 of them so the laboratory seemed full. At this level, the undead would soon retreat with fear—at least, if they were ordinary undead.

The doors that were closed early became convex and there was an ominous sound as the door was being dented. The ominous sounds continued. Finally, the door shattered.

“......”

Willian gulped as he saw the enemy beyond the broken door. Who the h.e.l.l was attacking this place?

Step, step.

The enemy walked in through the dust and darkness, and spoke, “You are experimenting leisurely without knowing that the Parta Princ.i.p.ality has collapsed. It is completely peaceful.” 

It was Louis Ca.s.sel, the French black rose who appeared while raising the power of death. Carlos recognized Louis Ca.s.sel instantly. Louis Ca.s.sel also saw Carlos who was tied up.

“...Beast master? You've changed a bit.”

Louis Ca.s.sel laughed eerily. Behind him, the immortal undead were slowly creeping inside. It was like a horde of zombies was coming.

“Well, that isn't important. I heard there is a circuit here that connects to the main energy core? Who is Willian?”

* * *

Meanwhile, at this time...

The s.h.i.+p docked at the port in the west of the Parta Princ.i.p.ality, and Mido and her Icarus companions could set foot on land. However, it wasn't the port they previously knew.

“Unbelievable. The port...”

“It has completely become a land of death.”

“This is definitely the smell of the undead.”

The smell of death was hanging all over the place. A cloudy smell mixed with the unique and unpleasant scent of the undead. They heard about the collapse of the Parta Princ.i.p.ality three days ago via Arkstagram, but they never imagined it would be such a terrible sight. What happened during the three days on the s.h.i.+p?

“Everyone, listen to me—!”

Everyone's eyes focused at the shout of an outspoken man. He was looking down at the crowd from a small box.

“Ah, isn't that David of Britain?”

“Oh, the man who uses the power of the trees!”

“King Arthur!”

Buzz buzz.

The a.s.sembled crowd recognized David and exclaimed with wonder. David was a natural enemy of Torres of Spain in the World Compet.i.tion and his reputation had risen a lot.

“I am going to set up a guild from now on! Those who want to follow me to subdue the hordes of evil, please line up!” David lifted his sword toward the crowd and shouted in a majestic voice.

Mido looked at David and scoffed. “Right, he really thinks he is King Arthur. Is that s.h.i.+ny black sword supposed to be Excalibur?”

Despite Mido's scoffing, there was a crowd of around 150 people gathered. Everyone was heading there, except for the Icarus Guild members.

“...Wow. Isn't this crazy?”

“I think David is definitely very popular.”

“It can't be helped. We don't have any decent abilities.”

It was Park Taehyeon, Kim Hyeonu, and Eun Jeonghyeok who spoke respectively. Listening to Eun Jeonghyeok's words, Kim Hyeonu thought that, this time, he must definitely get a Star Fruit from the volcanic zone. Mido's grandfather said there was a Star Fruit there and it would definitely help.

“Aren't you joining up?” David looked this way with a smile. David knew there were several players from the Korean national team, but he pretended not to know. In fact, he did this on purpose because he didn't have a good relations.h.i.+p with Choi Chuntaek in the World Compet.i.tion.

“I'm not joining your guild! N-O, no!” Mido shouted at David. She was so loud that there was a bit of childishness. Mido blushed as eyes suddenly focused on her and she cleared her throat. “Cough cough.”

“Hmm. Then it can't be helped. I wanted to make you the vice-president of the Excalibur Guild I am founding. If you refuse...” David shrugged while the eyes of the people in front of him lit up. Then they used any means and method to look good in front of him. 

The sight was so absurd that Mido felt dumbfounded again. “I also have a Star Fruit ability...'

In fact, it was an ability, but it was questionable if it was a good ability. It was shortly after that previous incident happened. Monet, Mido's constellation, had fallen asleep during the training. There was no answer no matter how much she called.

'Sigh. I'm worried about what's happening...'

Mido was worried about Monet, but she didn't show it. It was because she met her grandfather a short time later and thought he would be worried.

“Oppas, we should go first. We have work to do.”

“Uh, yes. Let's go.”

“Yes. What are we doing standing here? Go quickly.”

“Let's go—!”

Thus, Mido, Kim Hyeonu, Eun Jeonghyeok, and Park Taehyeon prepared to lead the guild members to leave. Suddenly, an earthquake shook the ground and everyone, including Mido, started to stumble. It was the same with others.

“What?”

“What is it this time?”

Confusion amplified among the group as a dark glow appeared from the distant Parta Princ.i.p.ality. The sight reflected in everyone's retina like divine punishment announcing the end of the world. Next, there was a change in the surrounding land. The energy of death rushed like waves, devastating and changing everything. The land, gra.s.s, trees, and flowers—everything, except for humans, was dying.

However, it seemed that humans would soon have to die as well. The undead started to run wild around them.

“E-Everybody, prepare for battle!”

The fl.u.s.tered David raised the roots of a tree and summoned a wood dragon. His iconic wooden crown was worn on his head.

* * *

Deep in the PCC's underground base, at the Parta Princ.i.p.ality...

“Huhahaha—!” Insane laughter erupted from Louis Ca.s.sel. He was staring at the energy core in front of him. In other words, he watched with great satisfaction as the circuit leading to the core that formed the Parta Princ.i.p.ality was stained by Pandora's power of death.

Meanwhile, someone was standing behind him. 'He is a madman. Such a person is called the Black Rose of France.'

Willian managed to survive and showed a rotten smile. He also saw the World Compet.i.tion so he knew Louis Ca.s.sel well. However, the power that Louis Ca.s.sel showed at that time was completely different compared to the current Louis Ca.s.sel.

'My combat androids didn't work at all...'

They were combat androids he bought by investing all the profits from various illegal work. They were level 350 and used firearms as well as various lightsabers to exert great power. However, Louis Ca.s.sel handled them easily like they were bugs. It was a truly formidable power. The power of death that emanated from his staff eroded the android into a lump of unusable sc.r.a.p.

'Then the reason why the Parta Princ.i.p.ality perished...'

Willian had been focused on the body modification so he only learned after the attack that the Parta Princ.i.p.ality had perished. Fortunately, Louis Ca.s.sel didn't have any resentment against Carlos and didn't kill him. Rather, he made a sweet suggestion to Carlos to join hands with him to kill Choi Chuntaek. Carlos naturally agreed. He also advised Willain that Louis Ca.s.sel wasn't someone he could handle and it would be better to lower his head.

'Disgraceful...!'

Willian gritted his teeth. He was the boss of PCC, Brazil's largest mafia organization. if it hadn't been for the fact that he invested 80% of the organization's a.s.sets to build this laboratory and hideout, Willian would've quit right away. Just then—

“Hoh.”

Louis Ca.s.sel, who was facing the energy core tinged with death with an insane expression, narrowed his eyes and looked at Carlos next to him. Carlos was now in the form of a completely reconstructed cyborg.

“Carlos.”

“......?”

Carlos c.o.c.ked his head and Louis Ca.s.sel made a meaningful smile. “It seems Chuntaek's granddaughter is outside right now.”