◈ Episode 277. Starting from Zero (1)
My shame was fully charged.
Babbling about investigating the Strange, I ended up watching [Dragon Lord, Black Dark Dragon Lee Hoyeol. Roars at the World]
from start to finish.
‘That isn’t me.’
It isn’t me.
It must not be me.
Was it thanks to my endless muttering?
I regained my reason and was able to evaluate my interview from another person’s perspective.
‘You really gilded your own face to the extreme……!’
Even hearing it again, there was nothing technically wrong.
It was just absolutely overflowing with room for misunderstanding.
Perhaps especially thanks to my declaration that the Black Dark Dragon was only a part of me.
-Don’t tell me he’s still hiding something??
-lololol Come to think of it, he still hasn’t revealed his class either
-Isn’t there a Dragon Lord class above Dragon Knight??
-fr lol
Starting with my class, all sorts of speculation were running rampant across the community.
As I looked at the posts.
Somehow, it felt like I had gone back to the very beginning.
Back to the days when I had awakened as a player and immediately killed Count Ascura.
I thought I had improved quite a bit, but.
The level of overestimation pouring down on me hadn’t changed in the slightest.
“One must not forget one’s original mindset, no matter what position one stands in.”
The way of speaking was also back to the beginning.
The level of packaging was also exactly as it had been in the beginning, Grandfell.
But the interview.
No, quite a bit of time had been spent on that damned investigation of the Strange, hadn’t it?
I hurriedly opened a portal to the Zero Mountains.
The portal’s coordinates were the Zero Mountains, Great Alliance encampment.
“!!!”
A portal appeared out of nowhere.
And when I revealed myself from within that cluster of portal light.
The players of the Great Alliance could not help but be surprised.
Widened pupils, open mouths, frozen movements.
The only thing that could be heard in that momentary silence was.
-Dragon Lord, Black Dark Dragon Lee Hoyeol. A name that will go down in history!……
Only the stories about me playing from the players’ smartphones.
I had expected it, but it was still painful.
However, as always, I could not show it.
So I shamelessly opened my mouth.
“It appears the preparations are complete.”
“……
Ah!”
As soon as my words fell.
A voice came back.
Nam Cheolmin pushed up his glasses and hurried over.
‘Is it because I resolved to regain my original mindset?’
Nam Cheolmin, whom I had come to know in the first Rift.
Facing him again made me feel as if my original mindset was coming back to life.
By the way, had he said he was quitting smoking?
His complexion certainly looked much better than it had back then.
“We’ve been waiting for you, Commander-in-Chief!”
Honestly, that damned Commander-in-Chief…….
‘Wouldn’t Mr. Hoyeol be nice and simple?’
I had wanted our forms of address to go back to how they were then, too.
But unlike back then, I was carrying far too much on my shoulders now.
In truth, compared to Black Dark Dragon, Commander-in-Chief was perfectly respectable. Seriously.
Taking it with gratitude, I asked.
“What is the status of the Zero Mountains’ conquest?”
“Thanks to your concern, Commander-in-Chief, we’ve been speeding up our conquest of the mountains! Of course, the Zero Mountains are so vast that…….”
“I understand. It is a land recommended to no one.”
That was not empty comfort.
There might be an appropriate level that was recommended to no one, but no conquest percentage existed for the Zero Mountains. However, there was a standard by which it could be roughly estimated.
One hundred thousand caves, the Hundred Thousand Caves.
The number of caves the Great Alliance had discovered so far was eight.
Including the [Sea of Lava]
that I had discovered, that still meant fewer than ten. Well, even if the caves discovered by other guilds, including Cheonha Tongil and Shining, were generously counted at fifty…….
‘Fifty out of one hundred thousand means…….’
The conquest rate was only 0.05 percent.
Of course, I had conquered what could be called the final content of the Zero Mountains, the dragon, but……. That conquest had been a conquest in a different direction. Nam Cheolmin scratched his head and continued.
“Thank you for understanding! Taemin and the other two should be waiting with the advance party. In the meantime, I’ve been racking my brain in my own way over how we might operate your combat power as efficiently as possible, Commander-in-Chief……!”
Indeed, human talent came in all kinds.
‘He really was clumsy back then.’
As a player, Nam Cheolmin had not stood out much.
But after becoming an analyst, he was looking at situations from a variety of perspectives.
Of course, situations did not always flow as expected.
As we drew closer to the advance party, I sensed an unusual atmosphere.
“One moment, Commander-in-Chief.”
It was not as if some tremendous existence was radiating its presence.
‘This is tense.’
It was simply something I had noticed from the players’ expressions.
In any case, it seemed the situation was definitely serious.
How bad was it for them not to notice even the tapping sound of my footsteps?
‘What on earth happened?’
The question lasted only a moment.
I understood soon enough.
They certainly had not seemed to have the attention to spare for anything else.
Red banners.
The players of Cheonha Tongil were confronting Nam Taemin, Hisagi, Leoni,
and the masters of the Great Alliance.
Cheonha Tongil, huh. I had thought I had already caught one of my three birds with one stone.
Soon, the guild members of Cheonha Tongil turned around.
“What the hell are those bastards?”
At Nam Taemin’s mutter, Nam Cheolmin hurried forward.
“Taemin, what’s going on?”
“Oh, hyung. It’s nothing else……. No, Mr. Hoyeol?!”
“My goodness. To have kept the Commander-in-Chief waiting, I have no excuse.”
“……
Sigh.”
Nam Taemin, Hisagi, and Leoni.
Their varied reactions poured out only briefly.
Nam Taemin explained the circumstances of the incident.
“Cheonha Tongil, those guys usually don’t even exchange words with us.”
I had heard about Cheonha Tongil’s closed nature.
But I had not thought it was to the point where they would not even speak with other guilds.
Nam Taemin tilted his head.
“They say they’re the center of the world or something? Their noses are ridiculously high in the air, you know. So we were baffled too. They barged into our area out of nowhere and suddenly asked if we’d seen them. We were looking right at them, so what kind of bullshit was that?”
Nam Cheolmin, who had been listening, adjusted his glasses and said.
“If they think of themselves as Cheonha Tongil……. They wouldn’t ask whether we had seen them or not in reference to the meeting just now. It seems something happened inside Cheonha Tongil. Something serious enough that they had to hurriedly search for the culprit within.”
“A rift inside Cheonha Tongil……?”
“Huh? Hyung, how do you know that?”
Hisagi and Nam Taemin asked back.
I felt the same way.
To be able to infer that much from a single line.
As expected, he was not an analyst for nothing.
Nam Cheolmin laid out the basis for his judgment.
“The Cheonha Tongil players had a movement speed buff cast on them. Since maintaining the effect consumes a considerable amount of mana, it’s a skill they avoid using during combat if possible. Their purpose was purely to speak with us, the Great Alliance.”
I nodded quietly.
‘If you keep your mouth shut, you make it halfway.’
A player’s psychology was something not even the great Grandfell could read.
Of course, I, Lee Hoyeol, had no confidence in that field either.
High-level monsters, including demons.
And Arcanians—I had experience rubbing shoulders with them to an extent no one could envy, but.
My experience directly clashing with players was…….
‘Certainly rare.’
In that sense, it was reassuring.
Behind me stood the Great Alliance of Gaon, Inazuma, and Berserker.
Of course, depending on someone else’s experience was against my pride.
So I opened my mouth.
“There is no need to worry when I am here.”
Yes, this time, the timing had just barely failed to match, so I had let them go.
But it would be best not to expect to return so easily next time, Cheonha Tongil.
‘Now that I have made you one of the targets for one stone and three birds.’
No matter what, I would obtain results and return—both I and Grandfell.
By the way, at my words, Nam Cheolmin let out a small laugh.
‘The analyst’s sharp senses…….’
Seen through those eyes.
I thought perhaps he had laughed at my shamelessness.
But Nam Cheolmin looked at me and continued.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that I feel like I heard something similar from you when I first met you, Commander-in-Chief. It feels somehow nostalgic……. It made me think that even now, you have not lost your original mindset!”
Indeed, with this damned mouth of mine.
It would have said something similar back then and more.
At that, Hisagi narrowed his slit-like eyes and murmured.
“The Commander-in-Chief’s original mindset, which I do not know…….”
Then Nam Taemin and Leoni reacted.
“I don’t know either. Do you?”
“Who knows. Still, I probably know better than you.”
……
I wondered what the three of them were talking about.
But when I saw Leoni subtly shrug her shoulders, I was certain.
‘Somehow, their faces are brighter in the order they came to know me……?’
Nam Cheolmin, whom I had met during the first Rift conquest.
Then Leoni.
And after that, I had met Nam Taemin and Hisagi……?
I lamented inwardly.
‘In the end, pride is the problem.’
How childish, all of you!
Grandfell.
Because you infected others with your chuunibyou pride.
Everyone is competing in a childish direction as if they’ve become middle schoolers, aren’t they?
‘You have committed many sins, truly.’
Not content with the Arcana Continent, you even infected reality with chuunibyou……. No, with pride. To pay the price for that sin, I would have no choice but to move diligently after all.
“As I told the Commander-in-Chief in advance, in order to maximize his combat power. We, the Great Alliance, will conquer three caves at the same time.”
In that sense, it was an excellent plan.
‘If I suffer three times as much, I won’t have time to be tormented by idle thoughts.’
I recalled the appropriate levels of the Hundred Thousand Caves.
[Appropriate Level: 800]
[Appropriate Level: 750]
[Appropriate Level: 850]
One would be one thing, but three at the same time.
No matter who I was, it was a difficulty where I could not afford to let my guard down.
No, thinking calmly, it even seemed a little overwhelming.
And for good reason.
‘The mana consumption won’t be ordinary.’
A full three caves.
The greatest reason we could conquer them.
At the same time.
What was it?
“If it’s you, Commander-in-Chief, you’ll be able to manifest portals leading from one cave to another! If we use those portals, we’ll be able to continue the conquest efficiently without splitting our forces!”
That was right.
It was thanks to my magical manifestation ability, having entered the realm of [『The Strange』].
However, judging from experience, the mana consumption would be no joke. Just because [Blessing of the First World Tree]
was active did not mean my maximum mana increased as well.
‘In effect, I’ll be opening portals from one Rift to another.’
Depending on the situation, the players of the Great Alliance would also use the portals.
‘Just thinking about it makes me feel like my legs are shaking from mana exhaustion.’
However.
This kind of overestimation.
Was something Grandfell was more familiar with than anyone.
“A flawless plan.”
Contrary to those arrogant words.
From now on, in order to make that overestimation a reality.
The time had come to paddle diligently beneath the calm surface of the water.
*
Cheonha Tongil.
Gulp—
What he drank like water was an [Intermediate Mana Recovery Potion].
Its value was comparable to most equipment items, but it could not be helped. After the movement speed increase skill, [Swift Footwork],
he had to manifest [Stealth]
as well.
[Skill, ‘Stealth,’ has been activated.]
The Great Alliance.
They had said they knew nothing about their whereabouts.
But that was an unbelievable story.
‘There is no way they went into hiding without any reason.’
Not just one party, but ten (一十) had disobeyed the lord’s order to assemble.
It could not be rebellion.
Because there was no way the lord would have failed to notice if not one, but ten parties had been conspiring.
‘It is surely the work of an outside force.’
Cheonha Tongil had declared its hegemony.
Those who would look upon such a Cheonha Tongil unfavorably?
The Zero Mountains overflowed with them.
Among them, the Great Alliance.
‘Especially the beast and the snake whelp.’
Since the days of Gaon and Inazuma.
Nam Taemin and Hisagi, who had been suppressed by Cheonha Tongil, must have harbored ill will toward Cheonha Tongil. There was more than enough possibility that they had taken this opportunity to reveal their true colors.
Had they not even confirmed it during the confrontation a little while ago?
That the Great Alliance had gathered a considerable force.
Of course.
‘There were no signs of battle.’
Those who had gone out of contact?
They were not quite on the level of himself, a Five Star, but even within Cheonha Tongil, they were renowned as powerful figures. The Great Alliance looked far too intact to have fought a desperate battle against them.
‘However, more of everything is better.’
Especially information.
Even if it ended as a mere happening, information on the Great Alliance would be useful to the lord. Therefore, the players of Cheonha Tongil concealed themselves and waited for the Great Alliance to move.
And then they faced it.
“……?”
Tap—
The unexpected.
No, the existence beyond all standards.
He opened his mouth.
“A rat eavesdropping on words spoken in daylight, is it.”
……
Do not waver.
“If you cannot distinguish between day and night.”
There is no way he could see through Stealth at this distance…….
“Then granting you eternal night would not be so bad.”
No.
Granting us eternal night.
The fact that he uttered such words with such certainty meant.
“……!!!”
He, Lee Hoyeol, had undoubtedly seen through our Stealth……!!