Episode 13. Fire at the King (5)
The moment the status window popped up, an unknown power of unfathomable origin surged forth from Ted’s body.
‘Wh-what in the world…?’
That intense mana made
Lucas felt an indescribable, immense pressure.
If a massive mountain moved toward him, would he feel such fear?
If a bug gazed upon a human, would it feel such pressure?
Lucas felt as though he had become an existence akin to such a bug.
‘Huh? Huh?’
Ted, too, was startled and gritted his teeth.
He felt changes occurring in his body.
Soon, his ordinary skin gradually turned pale. And strange, tattoo-like patterns were engraved upon it.
And though Ted didn’t know it, his eyes were gradually dyed red.
Finally, a horn sprouted from Ted’s forehead. Not the bloody antennae that had emerged when he previously underwent demonic transformation, but a horn sharp and refined like a famed blade.
‘So this is Shamshion’s power.’
Intense energy was erupting from Ted’s own body, including his musket.
Accordingly, several status windows floated up.
‘What’s this?’
Having first confirmed that the remaining connection time was 10 seconds, Ted quickly analyzed the status windows that had popped up.
The first thing that caught his eye was the line indicating he received a
‘Okay. Next.’
The next thing that stood out was the status window stating that the scale of skills in the skill tree would expand.
‘The scale of the Six-Wish Constellation skill tree expands by 1/100th of my level? What does this status window mean by scale?’
Seeing is believing.
“
Ted summoned the goblins.
Keee! Keee! Kieee!!!
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Immediately, twelve goblins burst forth from the air.
‘This… is a truly intuitive state.’
“Goblins! Engage in combat indiscriminately. Execute!”
Kieeeek!
The goblins began rampaging.
Having quickly finished his judgment and orders, Ted began running at that very moment.
“Stop!
Lucas hurriedly fired his powerful skills.
Powerful ropes coiled around Ted’s body and soon constricted.
However, Ted was in a state with a
“What are you, Otherworlder! Let’s see if you can escape this too!
Finally, Lucas used his Territory Proclamation skill.
Chains radiating pure white light began wrapping around the vast space encompassing the
A powerful barrier from which no criminal could escape!
‘Tch.’
Ted hurriedly hid his body on the first floor of the
Bang! Ping—!
Lucas deflected the bullet with his club by a hair’s breadth.
However, the hand holding the club trembled violently.
‘Keuk! How is this musket’s damage so high?’
The club itself was nearly half-shattered.
Yet despite his surprise, he showed no sign of it and continued running.
“Hey, you went in there to avoid the large-scale attack… but that doesn’t seem like a very good choice!”
He shouted at Ted, who continued heading deeper into the first floor.
In a narrow space, a criminal could not block or dodge the continuous skills of a security officer.
As Lucas quickly closed the distance behind Ted, he soon saw Ted’s back fleeing through an inner door on the first floor.
‘Running away. But you’re still in the palm of my hand. Either way, if you go that way, the
He too began running quickly to capture Ted.
Strangely, Ted had as many as three movement skills, so despite the considerable difference in speed, he couldn’t be caught quickly.
However, the distance was steadily closing.
‘Wait, but why does he keep trying to run deeper inside? There’s nothing there but the pillar… don’t tell me!’
Lucas, who had been trying to read Ted’s intentions, suddenly gasped.
“Damn it, this insane Otherworlder…!”
* * *
‘I’ve made it!’
By then, Ted had reached his target, maintaining a distance of roughly ten meters.
What Ted had aimed for was precisely the
A temporary 10-story building erected less than ten days after conquest.
And the
‘I have three seconds left.’
Ted hurriedly raised his musket to the sky and cast
‘With this, I can definitely die!’
Ted knew the systems of Face Chronicle at nearly a developer’s level.
Inside the game, even if you wanted to die, direct
Only indirect suicide was possible, such as approaching a monster and offering up one’s body.
If not that, jumping from a high place or deliberately drinking fatal poison was also a method.
‘But there are no monsters here, falling to death is difficult, and poison is also difficult.’
Another method of suicide that such Ted had thought of.
It was being crushed to death.
‘
Ted used
From bottom to top. As if splitting a bamboo stalk along its grain from below, the lightning bolt containing immense power shattered the mana-filled body of the
Kwa-kwa-kwang—!!
It was the beginning of a tremendous collapse.
‘Hoo. It’s over.’
The horn attached to Ted’s forehead crumbled and vanished.
Soon, the building that could no longer support itself came crashing down upon him.
* * *
“Huh? Look at that.”
“Hm? What’s going on?”
Users and NPCs walking down the street in the Count’s territory looked on in puzzlement at the
Just moments ago, a massive bolt of lightning had pierced through the highest floor of the headquarters, the
But shortly after, as if having been struck by a terrorist attack, the
“Kyaaah!”
“Wh-what’s that! Why is the temporary headquarters…?”
The Integrated Pixie Temporary Central Headquarters soon began to collapse into itself.
Like a hollow Jenga tower tumbling down with a crash.
The building, having lost its center, collapsed with devastating fragility.
Soon, dust billowed up from the building that had fallen to the ground and spread in all directions.
* * *
Not long ago.
Tesamo had received shocking news.
“What?”
An email from Rudisa TV.
It said that Ted was starting his personal broadcast again.
“I can’t believe it……”
“Isn’t it an impersonator?”
“Hmm, shall we check?”
Uyuri, Nam Yunho, and other executives of Tesamo rechecked the Rudisa TV email address.
It was not an impersonation.
“How can this be……”
From that day, they waited half in doubt, half in hope, for the day the live broadcast would begin.
And that day was today. The day Ted’s live broadcast began.
“Huh, huh? Huh?”
“Huh? It’s Ted-nim! Ted-nim!”
“Ahh! It’s really Ted-nim!”
Their jaws dropped.
The face revealed on the cam. No double eyelids, but firm, strong-looking eyebrows and eyes. An Asian male with generally deep features.
It was Ted, their idol.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Ted.”
—Hello, everyone. I’m Ted.
Nam Yunho repeated Ted’s opening line out of doubt. But wasn’t the Ted on Rudisa TV saying the exact same thing?
They were certain. That the real Ted had started broadcasting.
Those watching the broadcast were not just Tesamo.
“Huh? What’s this guy doing?”
Users who had seen Rudisa TV’s massive promotion online and came to see the streamer Ted after a long time.
“Ooh? What is this video?”
“What kind of video is this?”
And foreign users who happened to see Ted’s video exposed on Rudisa TV’s
Countless people came to Ted’s personal broadcast station and began watching the video in real time.
“Hm?”
“What the heck. I can’t see anything.”
But they soon lost interest.
Because the broadcast had been in standby mode for several minutes, so nothing was visible.
“Ugh, what’s this? If you’re gonna do something, do it. If you’re gonna talk, talk.”
“This is no fun.”
The moment the disappointed viewers were about to close the broadcast, a small change occurred.
Soon, curiosity began to rise in their eyes.
—I’m currently at the Pixie Kingdom’s proclamation ceremony. From now on, I will snipe Denno. Please watch.
“Huhhh? The broadcast started? But what kind of content is this?”
“What, is this live? He’s gonna shoot Denno?”
“Is this staged?”
No one properly understood the meaning of the line Ted had uttered. Because it was an unbelievable statement, almost absurd.
They were merely puzzled by the current situation.
But soon, an unbelievable scene began to unfold before their eyes.
—!
What they were seeing was the back of a man’s head.
Soon, a majestic voice, as if tearing through the air, resounded throughout the vast hall.
At that voice, the countless people nearby flinched and trembled.
“Oh my? What’s that streamer doing now?”
“Huhhhh? Huh? Hey!!”
Soon, those watching the broadcast began to panic.
The man seen from behind raised a gun and shot Denno, the new king who was receiving the
As if processed with CG, the bullet flew forth, shattering several transparent protective magic barriers.
And lodged precisely in Denno’s head.
Soon, Denno sprayed blood onto the golden throne and died.
“Hey! What the hell is this? Is this really live?”
“This is crazy! What am I watching right now?”
The video ended around there.
A short broadcast of merely one minute.
However, that broadcast received an explosive reaction.
A video where
—Saving this! Everyone needs to see this.
—Sharing this. Reserving the holy site!!!
Numerous viewers began taking the recorded video and moving it to various sites.
The
They analyzed this short one-minute video in various ways.
‘This is real.’
‘He really shot Denno dead at the proclamation ceremony!’
The bulletin board users felt a rising thrill.
It didn’t end there.
In this day and age, a single day is enough for a rumor without legs to travel a thousand li.
Soon, leaving the community, search terms like
If in the past Ted’s videos had spread throughout the world centered on YouTube, this time Ted’s name began exploding intensively on Korean portals.
“Wow, I’m watching the video with my own eyes right now. But I still can’t believe it, really.”
“Ted. If it’s Ted, isn’t he that user who went into hiding a few months ago?”
Soon, it became a situation where no Korean user could be unaware of Ted’s name.
There were approximately 11 million Korean accounts registered in Face Chronicle.
In other words, one-fifth of Koreans had started talking about Ted.
“What? Is that statement true?”
“Otherworlder, is that true? Truly, truly, do we have such a person in our Caron Kingdom?”
It is only natural that NPCs hear what Otherworlders talk about.
News of Ted spread from various users and soon began reaching the NPCs of the Caron Kingdom as well.
“Hah, so an Otherworlder affiliated with our nation shot and killed the leaders of Pixie!”
“Ted…… is that the name of the one who fights for us?”
Those who had been working for Caron’s independence underground in the Caron Kingdom remembered Ted’s name.
Thus, Ted’s name spread throughout Caron, which had lost its life.
It instilled strength in the hearts of many NPCs and Otherworlders.
An Otherworlder had staked his life to assassinate the king of Pixie for us.
We can do it too!
With our own hands, we shall reclaim Caron!
—Now, an opportunity has come to us.
—We must not miss this moment and move.
Soon, a small spark was lit from within Caron.
A small, but very hot spark.