“Oof, it’s a little chilly.”

“Even though it’s summer, it’s still night right now.”

Two guards walked around the city wall. They were assigned to Gilleon’s night patrol.

After about an hour, one of them spoke, “Tsk. Sometimes I wonder if there’s a point to our jobs.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Well, we rarely ever get attacked by monsters anymore. The Players clean them all up.”

“...Hm.”

When the Players appeared, they had certainly stopped worrying about monster invasions. The Players were obsessed with getting stronger, and they killed all the monsters for them. Moreover, there weren’t any other empires on the continent that could invade them.

“It’s a good thing. It means that the world has become more peaceful.”

“...Right? Well, I suppose we still have petty thieves rather than monsters.”

“Of course. I’m grateful for the peace.”

“Alright. In the spirit of that, I’m gonna recharge a bit. I’m gonna take a quick smoke.”

“That’s what you were aiming for the whole time, wasn’t it?”

“Hehehe.”

The guard leaned against the city wall with a cigarette between their teeth. White smoke puffed out of their mouth. The other guard kept their distance and turned away.

“Are you done?”

“...”

“I asked, are you done?”

“...”

There wasn’t a single word nor the slightest reaction. The guard turned around, sensing that something was wrong.

“...!”

Their comrade’s head had been severed from their body and was rolling across the citadel.

“Urp?!” The violent sight made them want to vomit. But a moment later, the alarms went off in their head.

‘W-we’re being attacked!’

They had to let the city’s citizens know. With only that one thought in mind, the guard ran to the bell on the wall and began to ring it like mad.

“I-It’s an attack! An attaaaaack!”

Ding- Dong-

The bell rang into the night, pulling Gilleon from the quiet throes of sleep.

***

The smell of burning buildings, people, and leather rose up all around the city with the smoke.

“Ahhhh!”

“P-please spare me! I’ll do anything!”

Some naive Players tried to negotiate as they were faced with death, but the Heavenly Demon killed them all as planned, his face expressionless.

Gilleon, which had once been praised as the Starting City, was captured by the Fiend Association in only an hour.

“Isaac.”

“Yes, Chairman.” Isaac brought both his hands together and bowed respectfully. The arm that he had severed himself had regenerated long ago.

“Has there been any contact with the outside?”

“We have already blocked them all off,” Isaac said with a smooth smile. Drinking a gremlin’s blood had allowed him to interrupt the flow of electromagnetic waves and magic energy in a fixed region.

In other words, Gilleon currently could not make contact with anyone outside the walls.

“However, I cannot do anything to stop all the Player brats from using Community,” he continued.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” the Heavenly Demon said, scanning the city. There wasn’t a single Player left in Gilleon.

He turned around, looking at the boy who was glaring like he wanted to kill him. However, the boy did not have the power to do so. All he could do was glare at the Heavenly Demon with bloodshot eyes as tears dripped down his face.

“What a shame.” The Heavenly Demon meant that a weakling’s anger was useless, but he sounded genuine. The boy shouted at that.

“...The likes of you… Once Skaya-nim and Player Seo Jun-Ho come…” His voice was mixed with resentment and fear, and he couldn’t even speak properly.

Isaac smiled softly and ordered a nearby fiend. “Cut off that arrogant boy’s tongue.”

“No, wait.” The Heavenly Demon held up a hand to stop them. He slowly approached the boy and crouched down. “What did you say just now?”

“...Eek!” Under his emotionless gaze, the boy couldn’t even open his mouth.

Suddenly, Baron Vashti and his wife hugged their son close to them.

“Skaya Killiland-nim and Player Seo Jun-Ho. They are great Players that the likes of you cannot even compare to.” When Baron Vashti stared straight at the Heavenly Demon, his eyes were full of unbridled fury. In a single night, his city had been destroyed, and his precious citizens had been brutally massacred. He couldn’t contain his rage.

“Mm.” The Heavenly Demon slowly nodded and gave an order. “Lock them up.”

“Yes, sir.” Isaac understood why the Heavenly Demon didn’t want to kill them right away.

‘He will show them.’ 

For these people, Skaya and Seo Jun-Ho were heroes from a fairy tale. There was no point in wasting time explaining things to these people over and over.

Showing them a hero struggling like an insect just a single time was enough.

“I’m going down.”

After seizing Gilleon, the Heavenly Demon left only the bare minimum of his forces behind before heading to the Dimensional Elevator.

“So this is the Dimensional Elevator.”

It was different from the raggedy, dirty elevator that the fiends had been riding the whole time. It was much larger and neatly maintained. He rode the Elevator down to Earth by himself.

“Welcome back to Earth…” Just as the Player Association employee bowed in greeting, their neck burst like a balloon. The other nearby Players couldn’t understand what just happened, so they just stood there, blinking.

“Peace has made you weak.”

If a comrade was injured, you had to draw your weapon and launch a counterattack. But these idiots couldn’t even do something so simple.

The Heavenly Demon gently waved his hand.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

He started to walk through the headless corpses, his face expressionless.

“Isaac.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

The Heavenly Demon turned around. There were dozens of elevators, and hundreds; no, thousands of fiends were coming down every second. “Use Teleport to attack cities across the world.”

“Yes, sir.” As he answered, shouts of glee came from behind them.

“Ahaha! It’s Earth! We’re back on Earth!”

“Heh… Even if you kill people in Frontier, there’s no thrill to it.”

“New York! Please send me to New York! I really want to attack the Statue of Liberty!”

The fiends’ evil desires started to pour out after being repressed for a long time.

Isaac looked a little concerned as he turned to the Heavenly Demon. “If we let them loose, we will not be able to rein them in.”

“It does not matter. There’s no need for us to do that.”

“...Where will you go, Chairman?”

“I don’t know. I shall find my own way there.” He added something else. “Dig out their roots and destroy their minds.”

“...I will heed your words” Isaac left, leading the fiends.

The Heavenly Demon took in a deep breath.

Haa…

‘...It is not very different.’ 

In his memory, Earth’s air had been warm and clean. But now that he was experiencing it in person, he realized that his memory had been romanticized. After all, the familiar smell of blood was still pricking his nose.

He waved his hand lightly. The dark red magic energy writhed and attacked the Dimensional Elevator.

Baaaaaang!

“...”

The Dimensional Elevator was more fragile than he had expected. However, if the Floor Administrator interfered, it would be repaired in no time.

‘I do not have much time.’ 

The Heavenly Demon clasped his hands behind his back and briefly considered where he should go.

The best Player training academy in the world, Nest? It would be nice to pull out their roots and kill the young talent. Going to the Pentagon in America and massacring politicians wasn’t a bad idea either.

‘No, that’s not it.’ 

He shook his thoughts away. None of those things would give him what he wanted.

‘Yes, that’s the only one.’

South Korea.

It was known as the land under Specter’s protection, and even stepping foot there made fiends nervous.

Splat. Splat. 

Having decided his destination, the Heavenly Demon stepped through the puddles of blood.

***

Twenty-three fiends entered Nest. They were Squadron members, so they were exceptionally powerful.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Everyone go to the main auditorium! Right now!”

The students couldn’t even say anything, and the only thing their teachers could do was endure the attacks.

Bam! 

The auditorium door shut tightly, and fear was quickly starting to spread through them.

“W-what was that? Those monsters.”

“Not even the teachers were a match for them.”

“Instructor Newt is dead…”

“Are we all gonna die?”

The teachers tried to go around and calm the students down, but it was no use.

“...Instructor Joya. What do you make of the current situation?” asked Elliot Nelson. The old woman was the director of Nest, as well as a retired Player.

“Scarlet eyes and black magic energy. Those are the traits of fiends,” Joya Vishuta answered.

“As expected…” She squeezed her eyes shut. She had hoped that her initial assumption was incorrect. “Do you think we can stop them ourselves?”

“We can’t. It’s not just one or two of them; there were more than twenty… It would be faster if we requested assistance.’

“...I already tried.” Elliot bit down on her lip. She looked at the scared students for a moment before she lowered her voice. “Listen to me. Nest is not the only place where this is happening.”

“...What do you mean?”

“Fiends are carrying out terrorist attacks all over the world. Help probably won’t come, but if it does, it’ll come later than usual.”

“That’s ridiculous! The children here are the future of humanity!” Joya’s eyes were ablaze. However, she knew that arguing with the director wouldn’t change anything.

Bang!

Just then, someone started knocking hard on the door. It was protected by powerful magic, but it was only a matter of time before it broke.

After discussing with each other, one of the teachers spoke.

“...So that means we need to hold out until help arrives.”

No one spoke. Their enemies were fiends, monsters who had given up their humanity for power. Moreover, these fiends were especially powerful and had viciously tore through Nest’s strong defenses.

“I will go first.” The director, Elliot, pulled out a claymore from her Inventory. She had long since put her sword down, but she was still a 1st-generation Player who had fought alongside Specter. “Even though I look like this, I killed quite a few fiend bastards back in my prime.”

“...I think you’ve told us that a hundred times by now.”

“Oh, and you fought alongside the 5 Heroes? Yeah, right.”

“Excuse me! It’s the truth!” Elliot scolded, pretending to be angry.

The teachers laughed weakly when they saw her ridiculous expression, which wasn’t quite suitable for the current situation.

“Then, I will go with you.”

“Me, too.”

“I can’t let you have all the glory, Director.”

Finding their confidence, the teachers supported her and rolled up their sleeves.

They were adults before they were Players. It was their duty to protect scared children.

“Instructor Joya, stay here and take care of the injured children.”

“Pardon? But if everyone’s going to fight, I can’t just…”

“...M-mom.” Joya's daughter shook her head and tightly gripped her sleeve. When Joya saw her expression, she couldn't anything else. Elliot gave a soft smile when she saw that.

“We won’t be able to fight to our fullest if we don’t leave at least one adult behind to protect the children.”

“Director…”

“Then, we shall move.’

The director had a resolute expression on her face as she led the teachers forward, each one with a weapon in hand.

The students silently bowed toward them as they passed.

Baaaang!

Right on cue, the auditorium door was shattered, and twenty fiends swaggered in.

The man at the lead scanned the auditorium before he spoke, “It’s good to see you.”

“I have nothing to say to a dirty fiend.”

“Really? That’s too bad.” He grinned.

He was immediately able to judge the skills of the Players blocking his way.

‘They’re all trash.’

His name was Lust, the Envy Squadron’s leader.

‘Not bad.’ 

He nodded slowly. The young students in the auditorium were fresh Players. They were young sprouts that had yet to bloom.

“It’ll be fun to trample them.” He grinned, showing teeth.

His subordinate stepped forward from behind him, also smiling. “Since this is a school, we should treat it like one. Now, raise your hand if you want to die first.”

The teachers grit their teeth as he radiated powerful demonic energy. If that was the power of the subordinate, just how strong was their leader?

Just as they were about to accept defeat, Elliot slammed her claymore into the auditorium ground with a loud sound. “This old woman will take you on!”

Though her body was old and frail, her heart was as passionate as a soldier’s. “You piss your pants whenever the 5 Heroes are mentioned. But I once hunted fiends with them.”

“...” Lust’s eyebrow twitched. The subject of the 5 Heroes was still a sore spot for fiends. “Old woman. You shouldn’t have said that if you wanted a peaceful death.”

“I will not go down quietly. I’ll play dirty and cave your skull in.”

Elliot got into a fighting stance.

‘This is it.’

She knew very well that she wouldn’t last a second against the fiend.

‘But time waits for no one.’

She suddenly recalled the old days. Those days alone were enough to set her heart ablaze. Those were the glory days when she had gone around catching fiends while following behind the valorant 5 Heroes. The memories and feelings from back then gave her courage.

“I am the Greatsword of Chicago! Elliot Nelsooooon!”

She dashed forward, and her claymore cut through the air. It was much faster than the fiends had expected, and their faces became filled with shock.

‘Now!’ 

Though her memories had become hazy with time, her body still remembered. Elliot forced her decrepit body to swing as hard as she could. Just once.

“...”

“...”

She stopped.

Everyone in the auditorium was silent.

“...I’m sorry. They’re too strong.”

The claymore had seemed like it was about to cut the fiends in half, but it fell weakly to the ground. Elliot looked down at the dagger buried into her solar plexus.

“You should just act your age.”

“Ugh…” Bright red blood spilled out of her lips as she fell to the ground.

Joya screamed and ran over as fast as she could to treat Elliot’s injuries. The faces of the students and teachers darkened.

‘Yeeesss, that’s it!’

That hopeless expression when the people of Earth were faced with someone stronger than them. These fiends couldn’t get the same thrill in Frontier.

The fiends trembled in excitement. They had been craving it for so long.

They wanted to kill more, more, more.

They wanted to see more of those despairing faces!

Just as they started to become filled with ecstasy, a heavy voice rang in the auditorium.

“Who dared to touch my old friend?”