Chapter 141

The Sword King Hyperion was the final boss of Blade & Magic, considered the best game on Earth-34 when it came to demonstrating psychic abilities.

Of course I know him.

Blade & Magic’s reputation allowed students designated playtime at school, making Hyperion incredibly famous. His backstory involved overcoming the curse of a demonic sword that could destroy one’s mind. He had reached unparalleled mastery through Heavenly Demon Divine Art, becoming an absolute powerhouse.

And then there’s Phantom Dragon Repli, too.

This creature even appeared in textbooks! It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it the most well-known dragon across all games worldwide.

However, Dark Messiah presented a different scenario.

What was the title again? Right, it was Dark Star.

According to Lia, the priest of the Game God, Dark Star was not available on Earth-34. Since the game itself wasn’t serviced here, it made sense that nobody knew about its boss, the Dark Messiah.

“Damn, what genre is this game?”

It didn’t matter which game the monster originated from, right? After all, we were fighting in reality, governed by physical laws rather than game rules.

‘I experienced this myself.’

In my status window, there were attributes like ‘Critical Hit Chance’ and ‘Hit Rate,’ but they might as well have been nonexistent. If an enemy evaded my attack despite having a 100% hit rate, it still connected. Conversely, even if an enemy blocked my sword, critical hits wouldn’t defy physics and penetrate their head.

However, now…

Dark Messiah was imposing its own rules.

‘Turn-based…and mobile… Could it be?’

I couldn’t help laughing at the absurdity.

‘Is this a turn-based collectible card game (CCG)?’

A Collectible Card Game, also known as CCG, is a type of game where players collect cards to build their decks. In turn-based CCGs, each player accumulates mana orbs with every turn. As the game progresses and more mana is gathered, powerful conditional spells or minions can be summoned. Moreover, bosses, unlike regular players, often possess cards with ludicrous effects that defy common sense.

In other words, if Dark Messiah successfully draws the right card by the tenth turn, it could potentially sacrifice itself to kill three Transcendents!

“No, this can’t be real!”

It was insane. Could an instant death card work on a Transcendent of High Dragon Rank, let alone any ordinary human?

‘However, it’s true that three dragons had their heads severed.’

The thought chilled my heart to its core. We needed to move before all our Transcendents were killed!

“Cheese!”

“Stop talking nonsense and get up!”

I shook awake my dazed party members. They couldn’t complain since they had already done enough growth.

“Ugh… Jae-yeon?”

“Yes. Are you back to your senses now? Let’s go to the flower carriage and sleep there. Before sleeping, make sure everyone eats one plate each.”

“Uh… Cheese… My back hurts…”

“You look slim now. Eat all of this before leaving.”

I handed over four plates of high-grade Songpyeon and more than 60 kg of wild boar legs. My heart ached at my dwindling charging power, but it wasn’t a situation where I could save money.

“What, what will you do?”

“The Five Dragons—no, Two Dragons now? Anyway, I have to help them.”

“What?! Are you crazy? You want to join the fight between Transcendents?” Sungjae was startled, yet I nodded.

“It has to be done. If you want to live.”

”…”

Sungjae had a blank expression for a moment before his face turned serious. Once he regained some composure, he realized how dire the current situation was.

“Are you okay without resting?”

“My best attribute is stamina.”

Theoretically, it was infinite.

”…Be careful.”

“Yes.”

Drdrdrekk!

A huge tree split open, and I emerged from the gap before it closed again. The tree lifted its roots.

Boom! Boom!

The massive tree moved slowly but steadily, distancing itself by dozens of meters. After watching for a moment, I turned around.

“Ardenia. Heavy Gate. Open.”

Then I summoned:

“Summon!”

[A Bluebird of Blessings Purpur (Rare) has been summoned!]

[Purpur is using Traveler’s Blessing!]

[All stats have increased by 20 points!]

[Buff duration time: 4:59.]

Out of nowhere, a small bird appeared and immediately started working.

Pulroong~

It began picking up items scattered all around.

‘Collect as much as possible. Items obtained in reality can be used on both Earth and Ardenia.’

With the blue bird, I swiftly moved to gather all the surrounding items.

[Your inventory weight has exceeded 75%!]

[Your movement speed is slowed due to the inventory weight exceeding 75%!]

[Your inventory weight has exceeded 100%!]

[Your movement speed is extremely slow, and your Stamina, Health, Mana will gradually decrease due to the inventory weight exceeding 100%!]

The inventory quickly filled up. Despite having only Hye-young’s ring from the Luck Set in reality, the Favor of the Goddess Stage 3 applied even to monsters from other games, resulting in an abundance of items overflowing my inventory.

“Log in.”

He seamlessly entered Ardenia.

“Flower.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” As usual, Flower calmly greeted him from her desk outside his study where she attended to administrative tasks. A pile of documents and notepads covered its surface.

”…Still so much work? I thought you had mostly disbanded the bureaucracy by now.”

“Just some routine report organization. By the way, what brings you here?”

“Prepare for surgery.”

With that, he took all the items from his inventory and arranged them by category. He particularly stacked weapons on the table for easy access.

“Surgery… Do we have any injured?”

“There will be soon. Log out.”

Back on Earth, jae-yeon diligently collected loot with Blue Bird’s help.

Fortunately, items dropped in reality don’t disappear over time, so I had quite a collection.

‘I have to make more trips than I thought.’

Items picked up on Earth naturally went into Ardenia’s inventory. My game inventory, which now held ninety slots, could only be used for extracting game items.

‘Even that is empty lately due to not being able to automate my hunting.’

As I lamented, I spotted a massive sword strike colliding with a conical pimple far away.

Kra-koom!

The shockwave from the explosion surged toward me.

“Whoa!” Unfazed, I swung my sword and sliced through it. The aftereffects alone wouldn’t overwhelm me since they weren’t direct attacks.

“Squeak!”

However, Bluebird, who was in a different situation, let out a single cry before being dismissed.

“Wooh!”

Then I heard warning sounds.

‘Ah, Cheeda still exists.’

Fortunately, the defense system was activated so it didn’t break but the continuous warnings sounded as if most of its internal mana had been used up. Despite this urgent situation, I decided to summon my pets first. Unfortunately, I couldn’t summon the blue bird.

‘It has been deactivated. I’ve heard about this happening in Ardenia, but this is the first time I’ve seen it.’

Unlike Revenge where pets couldn’t die or be targeted by attacks, pets could indeed perish in Ardenia. And once they died, their card would be deleted.

‘Since it will also disappear from the collection, I’ll have to acquire it again later.’

With that thought, I summoned another rare farming pet, the shadow magpie ‘Shashasha’. Throughout this process, Cheeda continued to wail incessantly.

“Woong! Woong!”

“Wow, I don’t want to hear it. It is hard to ignore and serves its purpose.”

I gently brushed Cheeda’s body before injecting my Inner Force. The conversion efficiency of Inner Force to mana wasn’t high but it should be enough for short-term activity.

“Cheeda. Over there at that base camp…”

“There is no need.” Dd-ddeok!

In an instant, Cheeda transformed amidst dirt and dust. Overall, he had a white body with grey ears, tail, muzzle, and legs—typical features of a Siamese cat.

Stunned, I asked, “Producer Han? Did you just hack my smart pet? Regardless of the emergency situation, isn’t this…”

“2.5 billion won.”

”…”

I immediately shut up and listened attentively. Taesuk PD explained with a truly compelling offer:

“You were planning to participate in the battle anyway, right? If you join me, I’ll provide a combat allowance of 25 billion won. Additionally, I may even assist you during the fight.”

This negotiation tactic showed he understood exactly what I desired, demonstrating his exceptional skills as Korea’s top star producer.

“It feels like just yesterday when you were trembling over 5 million won.”

“No way! Do you think I was shaking because I couldn’t afford it? It was due to having to pay that much as appearance fees for dozens of guests every week! Would Jae-yeon spend 1 million won on a cup of instant noodles if she had lots of money?”

He was absolutely right.

“In other words, this is now an emergency situation.”

“The variety show is important but this incident is a cosmic event. It must be recorded unconditionally.”

“Still, it would be good if we could do the variety show?”

“Of course!”

Crash!

While I was pondering, debris collapsed around me. I easily moved to avoid it and asked, “If I make a contribution later, will there be separate compensation?”

Taesuk replied, “Naturally, it is separate.”

“Deal.”

As soon as the negotiation ended, we started running. In the distance, two dragons and three transcendent monsters were fighting each other.

Kwakwa-Boom!

The central part of the island was completely ruined. The breaths emitted by dragons, magic spells bursting every second, sword light splitting heaven and earth, strange special effects from spells… I looked down and saw that there was already a pit dug tens of meters deep, filled with seawater.

“First…”

I took out a black longsword from my inventory and got into position.

“Login.”

Entering Ardenia, I first emptied my inventory.

“Your Majesty?”

“Ah, call three more healers.”

”…Yes, Your Majesty.”

After seeing Flower retreat, I formed a seal.

Light. Sage Door. Strike. Easy Door. Open.

Light Slash.

When fighting multiple dark attribute monsters, I used ice instead of light attributes due to their synergy. It wasn’t because I didn’t know that monsters were more susceptible to light attributes.

‘I focused on additional effects rather than damage.’

Light attributes had a one-time effect, while lowered temperatures remained in the atmosphere. The cold caused the undead’s bodies, devoid of warmth, to freeze solid. However, against this current opponent, aiming for such secondary effects was unnecessary.

“Here… Throw. Gatekeeper…”

I slowly formed hand seals with both hands. Simplification, crucial for chakra cultivators, held no relevance for me. With extreme calmness and precision, I completed the seal.

“Log out.”

Upon returning to Earth, I activated my Inner Force.

Crackkkk!

With Land Breaker firmly rooted, I strained every muscle in my body. The intense sound reverberated as they charged with power. And finally…

Sword Energy…

I attempted to infuse sword energy into the blade but found it too challenging. Using two chakra techniques simultaneously while activating Land Breaker and concentrating all my strength exceeded my capabilities.

However, there was another way.

[Sword Energy Manifestation (Hero).]

The skill forcibly extracted my Inner Force, allowing me to throw the sword imbued with sword energy.

There was no audible sound, but one thing was certain: at the moment of throwing, all five fingernails on my right hand exploded simultaneously. In fact, not just the nails, but the tips of my fingers were shattered. Finger bones were visible through the torn flesh.

“Log in.”

Calmly and with a murmur that no one could hear, I entered Ardenia.

“Your Majesty?!”

As Flower rushed towards me in shock, I extended my right hand while chewing on Songpyeon prepared beforehand.

[You have consumed Brilliant Rabbit’s Moonlight Songpyeon (Legendary)! For four hours, your recovery and mana recovery will increase by 300 points! Special resource recovery increases fivefold!]

[Once every 10 minutes, defend against an enemy attack!]

[Every 20 minutes, randomly remove an abnormal status!]

After just one throw, my battered body began to rapidly recover. With skilled precision, Flower immobilized my right arm and activated her skill.

“Great Heal!”

Flesh covered the exposed finger bones. Unfortunately, the nails didn’t grow back immediately, but it was for the best since they would likely burst again anyway.

“Sigh… Good. You truly are my best disciple.”

“Your Majesty!” Flower became irritable at my joke. I smiled bitterly at the worry contained in her reddened eyes.

“There is something I must do. It can’t be helped.”

”…I’m sorry. You have many thoughts.”

I took a short break. My right hand hadn’t fully recovered but it didn’t matter. This time, I would throw with my left hand. As before, I applied the Wild Strike and Throw skills to a long sword from my inventory.

“Log out.”

When I returned to Earth, the moment I resumed my posture, the thrown sword was about to slice through Dark Messiah’s body. Surprisingly… Repli reacted. The giant tail swung and knocked away the sword!

His reflexes were incredible, but he hadn’t anticipated the power contained within my sword.

Zeeeeng-!

The shockwave lifted Repli’s tail and bottom into the air, causing him to lose his balance. It was a perfect opportunity for Snow, the White Dragon facing him.

Crack!

Snow opened its mouth and bit down on Repli’s neck, releasing a burst of icy coldness from it. I aimed to throw my second sword at that moment, but…

Flash!

Out of nowhere, the man wielding the black sword charged towards me. His attack was so swift that I had no choice but to redirect my throw at him instead.

Swish!

However, just as I released the sword, his figure blurred effortlessly evading both the throw and closing the distance between us swiftly.

A continuous battle was predicted! The result…

‘N-No way! I’m dying…’

[Moonlight Defense!]

[9:59]

Kwong-clang!

The protective barrier appeared before my eyes and shattered, changing the divination of death. With a convulsive movement, I used all my strength and inner force to swing my spare sword. That wasn’t all.

“Vajra World!” I heard Boram’s scream-like shout.

“Bend!”

Taesuk, who was hanging on my back, yelled out.

Kwahhhk!

There was an explosion, and we were thrown away. My whole body hurt as if it would break, but at least I didn’t die.

“I wanted to kill you…but you are quite good.”

The black-haired man laughed lightly while twirling his black sword.

“Ah, shit.” Cursing came naturally from me.

[Level 22]

Sword King Hyperion—the final boss of Blade & Magic—was standing there.