"Kyaa!"

A thick cloud of smoke.

Burning buildings.

Screams could be heard throughout the city.

"M-mom..."

"C-come here!"

A middle-aged woman was holding her elementary school son's hand and running.

"Oof! Oof!"

"M-mom. I'm.. t-tired."

He was out of breath.

She could hear kids labored breathing.

She turned her head to the kid while grabbing his hands.

"Kiieekk!"

Crack-! Boom!

"AAGGHH!!"

Monsters with dark skin, sharp eyes, and claws were charging at people.

They charged toward a man that had fallen to the ground like hungry beasts and bit his neck.

A fountain of blood chot up, and the mans dying screams rang out.

The face of the middle-aged woman became blue.

"Y-you mustn't look."

"Mom?"

She turned her son's face away and began running again.

A scorched smell wafted into her nose, and her heart beat so fast that she felt that it was about to explode.

But she couldn't stop.

The moment she stopped, they would become food for the monsters.

'Why did something like this happen again?'

She remembered a desperate moment of the past.

The scene of people being killed by a monster.

It wasn't the first time it had happened.

Five years before, a gate had suddenly appeared on the Cataclysmic Day, and monsters had come out of it.

Back then, the same hellish scene had appeared. No, it felt much more horrifying than back then.

"H-how could something like this happen?"

A black energy flowed from somewhere.

The people that were touched by that energy began twisting their bodies and turned into monsters.

The man that had been killed was a young man that had been buying groceries in a mart.

"Oof. Oof. M-mom. I'm too tired. I can't run anymore."

The kids face had turned blue.

The middle-aged woman bit her lips and lifted the kid.

"I'm s-scared."

"Oof, oof. A little bit more. It's okay. Mom will protect you."

She kept running for her life.

Running by herself was already hard, but escaping from those monsters while holding her son on her back was impossible.

A few moments later, the monsters got quite close to her.

Tears dripped from her eyes.

"Y-you can run, right? Escape first."

"Mom...?"

"Run!"

The middle-aged woman picked up a few stones that were around her.

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She knew that she wouldn't be able to fight against monsters with this.

But if she didn't do anything, she wouldn't be able to earn some time so her son could escape.

'Dear God'

She was hoping for someone to help her.

She was waiting for someone that could save her. She didn't even want herself to be saved.

Her son She was hoping for her little son to be saved at least.

"Sniff! Moooom!!"

"Please, run!"

The woman shouted.

She kept throwing rocks toward the monster chasing them.

Paf-!

"Grrr!"

The monster's movement became dull after being hit with a rock.

But that only lasted for a few moments.

Soon, the monster leaped toward her while screeching.

The woman screamed while covering her body with her arms.

Slash-!

"Kiieekk!"

At that moment, with the sound of the wind, the monster was split into two.

A young man wielding a blue sword had killed the monster.

"Y-you..."

"Get out of this place," a handsome young man said in a low voice. The woman gulped and grabbed the kid.

The young man that had saved the woman, Kim ShiHoon, looked down Isu Station's road that had become hell.

There, he saw lots of people that had already turned into demonic monsters.

Kim ShiHoon's hands trembled.

Although they'd turned into demonic monsters, they had been humans until a few moments ago.

He wasn't sure if he could kill them so easily.

- Listen well

He remembered KangWoo's words.

* * *

- People that turn into demonic monsters can't return to being humanthey die the moment they get exposed to demonic energy. You can think of them as dead bodies moving around. Think of them as undead like zombies or skeletons.

Kim ShiHoon clenched his fists. He bit his lips so hard that blood swelled up.

- Don't hesitate. The moment you hesitate, the damage will get bigger. If you have time to hesitate, move. If you have time to get sad, swing your sword. Don't pose while trying to look sad. In that time, do as much as you can.

"Yes, Hyeongnim."

After replying to him, who wasn't there at that moment, he began moving.

Ting-

[Starting the Guardian's Special Quest.]

Quest Information: Kill the demonic monsters and eliminate the Fissure Fragments (1/2789).

Reward: Increase Experience. If you participate with party members, experience will be shared with them.

P.S.: Guardian, please stop a bigger disaster from happening.

'This...'

Kim ShiHoon frowned after reading the message window.

The first thing he saw was the huge number, 2789.

That meant that many people had turned to demonic monsters.

Considering that the fissure had opened in Isu Station, a place where a lot of people gathered, you could say that it was a low number.

But considering each life's weight, it wasn't something you could brush past easily.

'P.S.?'

Kim ShiHoon tilted his head while reading the lower part of the message window.

h ltt nd mt ulr nvl t lghtnvlubm

He had never seen that in the system message window, nor had he heard about it before from other players.

'This isn't time for that.'

He didn't have time to think.

Kim ShiHoon grabbed his sword.

While he was wasting time, the damage was getting bigger.

'Cloud Dragon's Beam.'

Qi concentrated on his feet.

A gentle mist came out of his body, and Kim ShiHoon shot forward.

Slash-!

"Kiieekk!"

He swung his sword.

The bodies of the monsters were destroyed with just one attack.

The demonic monsters weren't strongthey were at a similar level to D-rank orcs.

'There's too many.'

Weak as an orcthat was from his point of view.

For normal people, they were a disaster in itself.

'Faster.'

Kim ShiHoon's body moved through the streets.

He killed one demonic monster after the other.

Even killing them with just one attack wasn't enough.

'Faster!'

His body screamed in protest because of the excessive movement; he ignored it. The blood of demonic monsters poured out. He felt his blood was about to turn upside down because he'd surpassed his limits.

He didn't care.

Slash-!

"Kiieekk!!"

He killed again and again.

He couldn't even hear what the people he'd saved were saying.

He only concentrated on killing as many demonic monsters as possible.

It was as if only one sword and enemies existed.

Ting-

- You've reached Trance.

- You've obtained a special Attribute: Sword-Man Unity!

- You've fulfilled one of the conditions for Transformation!

He could hear the noisy sounds of bells in his ears.

"Oof, oof."

He breathed heavily. Kim ShiHoon turned his head around.

"Oh!"

"A h-hero!!"

"Thank you! Thank you!"

Suddenly, there were lots of people he'd saved behind him.

They subconsciously knew that the safest place was near Kim ShiHoon.

"Damn it..."

It seemed like they had no intention of going back.

Kim ShiHoon looked at the smoking buildings.

He could still hear shouts coming.

'As expected, I alone...'

He couldn't face thousands of demonic monsters alone.

"ShiHoon oppa!"

h ltt nd mt ulr nvl t lghtnvlubm

"ShiHoon hyeong! Are you ShiHoon hyeong?"

"Mr. TaeSoo...? EunBi?"

"I also came."

"Ms. Seol-ah too. How did you get so fast..."

He was wondering when suddenly a girl approached him.

Echidna At first glance, she looked like a pretty girl, but in reality, she was a dragon like those in myths and legends.

He soon realized how they were able to get there so fast.

It wasn't just TaeSoo, Seol-ah, and EunBi that were there.

Chae YeonJoo and Baek HwaYeon also appeared through the smoke.

"Where's KangWoo?" Chae YeonJoo asked in a sharp voice.

"KangWoo hyeongnim"

Kim ShiHoon looked at the giant fissure thatd appeared in the air.

There was black energy that was over a hundred meters around near the fissure, so he couldn't see anything.

"He went to the fissure."

* * *

He hit the floor.

The concrete was destroyed, and his body shot forward.

The scenery full of demonic energy quickly passed by.

The surroundings that were full of black energy made it look like Hell.

The Hell he'd spent ten thousand years in.

"Huh? Isn't this KangWoo brother? How did you get here?"

In the middle of the fissure

He saw a familiar face.

'Baek KangHyun.'

Korea's number one ranker.

They said that not even Chae YeonJoo or Jang HyunJae, leader of the Hwarang First Squad, could win against him.

KangWoo looked around while narrowing his eyes.

Around them, he saw the corpses of people he thought were players.

"It seems like KangWoo hyeong also came running to the fissure. It's dangerous around here, so escape. I, Baek KangHyun, will close the fissure."

He walked toward the fissure while smiling.

Without stopping running, KangWoo raised his right arm.

'Authority of Iron.'

Demonic energy gathered and formed a dark axe.

The Authority of Ice was added to that, and breathtakingly chilling energy came out of it.

"Leviathan."

After making a short chant, he swung his right fist.

The axe, surrounded by cold air, was swung toward Baek KangHyun.

Boom-!!

With a loud sound, Baek KangHyun's body was pushed back.

Behind the arms he used to block the attack, you couldn't see the good person smile anymore.

"How did you know...?" A sharp voice came out from him.

KangWoo raised his axe.

"Because there arent any corpses of demonic monsters around here."

"..."

"There are corpses of players, but there isn't the body of the thing that killed them. There's no way a single demonic monster killed this many players, so it was probably you."

"Woah."

Baek KangHyun looked at him with great interest.

KangWoo put the axe on his shoulder.

h ltt nd mt ulr nvl t lghtnvlubm

"Stop the bullshit and put on the mask, you bastard."