From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 160: A New Power

The entire world.

All of the world’s mightiest Hunters.

They had all knelt before his power as they trembled.

He was the one with absolute power, and it was a power that could subdue any and everything.

The power of the Demon King.

His power had made such a deep and strong impression that even Eden was afraid.

This was a group that had been created by the strongest Hunters who had overcome the cataclysm and all other crises, surviving into the future. An organization created by those who called themselves gods with the power to rule over everything in the world.

But even they were afraid of his power. It was to the point where they would go and find any trace of the Demon King and erase them.

With the power of dragons and holding domain over flames, he was said to have been able to handle three of the twelve gods of Eden at once with only his own ability.

However, his power that made the world cry didn’t end there.

‘He also led his army.’

Although the Demon King also had his companions, his army was of a completely different nature.

Thousands–no, tens of thousands of beings that were like Familiars.

That was how he had the power to face the world on his own.

[My army, they lived and died with me.]

The other Hunters thought that they were Familiars, but in truth, they were of a different existence.

The Familiar of a Familiar.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had already experienced something similar with the Familiar he had created, the Familiars of a Familiar.

‘Hyeon-Mu’s soldiers.’

His Familiar Hyeon-Mu, and the skeleton soldiers that he could raise, seemed to be similar to what the Demon King could control.

However, there was something that made the Hunters’ tremble in fear even more than the army of skeletons.

‘An army of ghosts.’

There was a hidden figure among the Familiars of the Demon King.

A gloomy Familiar that always stayed hidden away.

That being’s strength, the Ghost Army, had been one of the Demon King’s legions that had made the world tremble and cry with their incomprehensible power.

Moreover, the Demon King had also used his Familiars to create new powers as well.

“Ghost Blaze.”

This was a power with an unusual, terrifying name.

“That’s…!”

That very power was the purple and blue flame that rose from Lee Jun-Kyeong’s hand.

[Achievement completed!]

[You have completed an incredible achievement!]

[You have acquired the skill, Ghost Blaze.]

A blue window briefly appeared in front of him.

[Ghost Blaze: Can manipulate the flames of the soul.]

It was a simple explanation, but Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t need much more than that as he already knew what the skill was.

-Kyaaaaaa!

Screams that seemed to tear through one’s mind echoed through Lee Jun-Kyeong’s head. They went directly to his brain, bypassing his ears, and screamed even more.

-Kyaaaaaa!

It was a deafening cry that might have made an ordinary human go mad, but Lee Jun-Kyeong simply endured it as kept his eyes wide open.

–Save me!

–Kill that bastard!

–Kill him! Kill!

The screams soon turned into voices, and their words were full of resentment and malice.

Lee Jun-Kyeong accepted them all and looked over at Elfame.

The bastard was clearly bewildered by the situation, but he had also noticed the change in Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“...”

Indigo sparks flickered on the tip of the Muspel’s Spear that was connected to Lee Jun-Kyeong’s hand. Although it took the form of a flame flickering in and out, it didn’t radiate a scorching heat.

Rather, it seemed to exhale a cold chill.

Shhhh.

The sparks were swaying as if they were about to shoot at Elfame at any moment.

Elfame slowly nocked an arrow on his bow and aimed it at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

Their two gazes met.

Twang!

As if he felt something ominous, Elfame shot the arrow. It tore through the air and barreled toward Lee Jun-Kyeong with great destructive power.

“...!”

However, it suddenly stopped right in front of him.

Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t lifted even a single finger, but the arrow spun furiously in place as it slowly began to turn around.

It was only then that he was able to see it.

“A flame…”

The indigo flame was like a will-o’-the-wisp. A single ember had attached to the arrow and redirected it.

Soon.

Pow!

The arrow had shot back through the air toward Elfame, and it was flying as fast as when Elfame had first released it.

Swick!

“Ugh…”

Elfame had been able to catch it, but soon, he groaned and dropped the arrow to the ground.

The indigo flame looked like it only exuded bleakness and chill.

‘It’s hot.’

It was too hot, more than any flame that Elfame had ever felt.

Watching him as he flustered, Lee Jun-Kyeong finally raised a hand.

Ssssk.

His appearance was bizarre.

The dragon scales had begun to encroach on his body again. Muspel’s Spear had seemingly fused into his hand earlier, forming one limb, but it grew into an even larger lance than before that also spewed indigo flames.

Flicker.

However, completely opposite to the flames on his weapon limb, crimson flames were exuding from the rest of his body.

It was an unforgettable, majestic sight.

In addition, he, who had been consumed by Madness, dragon blood, and even the demonic nature of Muspel’s Spear, was breathing slowly and keeping his sanity intact.

“Whew…”

The Madness and devilish aura that was trying to rule and dominate his very being wasn’t strong enough anymore.

-Kyaaaaaa!

The deafening voices that resounded in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s head kept bringing him back to his senses.

‘It’s clear.’

Despite his usage of Madness and dragon blood, he stay painfully sane.

Boom!

Lee Jun-Kyeong plummeted down, barrelling toward Elfame.

***

The battle had entered another phase again.

Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t been able to keep up with the strengthened Elfame before. Now he wasn’t being pushed back any further.

“Keughk! Keughk!!”

Rather, he was actually overpowering the king instead.

The flame was like fuel as Lee Jun-Kyeong sped up faster and faster with explosive power.

“Keughk!”

Elfame was still getting faster, but Lee Jun-Kyeong had already sped up to the point of overwhelming him.

He was the Monarch of Fire, and the flames he created brought both destructive power and speed at the same time.

Swick!

The indigo flame continued to block all of Elfame’s arrows, while the king continued to shoot more in order to somehow create a gap.

Swick!

An arrow halted near Lee Jun-Kyeong and then shot right back toward Elfame again.

“You dare!”

Elfame was filled with rage.

“To me, the king of Alfheimr!”

He seemed to think that what he had thought was his prey was suddenly rebelling against his authority.

“With just this paltry strength…!”

Elfame’s power was still soaring.

His speed increased, and his arrows became more powerful.

Even so, the wounds on the king increased.

Moreover, the wounds…

“My recovery…”

They wouldn’t recover.

He had been able to heal from every wound that Lee Jun-Kyeong had barely been able to make. Now, he was suddenly unable to recover whatsoever due to the effects of the indigo flame, Ghost Blaze.

Clang!

Lee Jun-Kyeong swung his spear. While Elfame blocked it with his bow, due to the gap in strength, the spear that had come barrelling over like a bullet struck the King. Elfame collapsed over in a way that was not befitting the dignity of a king.

“Gasp…”

He stood up again and bleakly laughed like he did earlier.

“KheheheheheheheheheheaaaaAAAAA!”

He screamed grotesquely.

Feeling the serious condition that Elfame was in, Lee Jun-Kyeong momentarily took a step back. Moreover, although he wasn’t showing any signs of it, he wasn’t in a good situation, either.

‘Ghost Blaze is running rampant through him.’

His newfound strength was found through his new Familiar, Hel, who was able to handle souls.

With its aid, he had been able to learn Ghost Blaze.

However, since it was a power he had acquired so suddenly in order to deal with such a powerful enemy, it was still too immature.

Even if he vaguely knew how to use this skill, actually using it was a different beast.

The most important concern was that it ran amok.

The souls that Hel dealt with weren’t formed out of nothing.

They were the souls filled with resentment that were piled around this area.

‘They are the souls who had been eaten by Elfame and murdered by his subordinates.’

That was why they were spewing out such a terrible grudge against the King and trying to eat away at Lee Jun-Kyeong’s consciousness.

They were able to push aside the devilish aura and Madness through their incredible strength, but that was also why and how they were able to try to swallow him whole too.

Lee Jun-Kyeong was manipulating a delicate tug-of-war between them.

As he tried to reign Ghost Blaze in once again, Elfame suddenly stopped his breathing.

“Gasp.”

At the same time, Incheon City Hall began to vibrate.

Rumble!!

It almost felt like the circulation of a mana stream. It was a huge flow of mana, and it was the mana that had dominated the Incheon City Hall. All of it gathered toward Elfame.

“Mr. Lee!” Jeong In-Chang shouted at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

Although Elfame’s sudden change betrayed his serious condition and seemed to indicate that he should attack him now, Lee Jun-Kyeong was adamant.

“No, not now.”

‘It’s dangerous.’

Jeong In-Chang didn’t seem to be able to see it because he wasn’t familiar with the mana stream, but Lee Jun-Kyeong knew.

‘If I attack him now…’

The mana in Incheon City Hall–no, the flow of mana that had been dominating all of Incheon would begin to run out of control.

It would cause a huge explosion and could be a disaster.

“The whole of Incheon could be in danger,” he explained.

That was why he had to wait and aim for right when that bastard had finished preparing.

The moment that the mana would be suppressed and not run out of control.

The moment when he would become the most vulnerable.

That was the moment he was waiting for.

Sssss.

The ground suddenly distorted, and something came out.

It looked to be covered with bark, but it seemed harder and more dangerous than any material on Earth.

Elfame picked it up off the ground.

The huge flow of mana seemed to have condensed and formed a single arrow.

“Kehehe…”

The moment he aimed he began to laugh bleakly again.

“Now!”

This was the opportunity.

Ghost Blaze was burning even more fiercely, his flames were raging even more furiously, and even his mana was lit aflame.

The Authority that would scorch everything and hold dominion over all things blazing,

[Monarch of Fire grows.]

Monarch of Fire, the Authority that had reached the master level, had grown further.

It was an ability that should never have grown.

However…

‘The master level is…’

It was just something that was limited to those who had been sponsored.

As a player, this was just another wall that could be broken.

[You have obtained ???]

Now, this wall had broken and turned into something else, something he still wasn’t able to know.

ROAR!

However, its effects were something he knew.

An explosion of great power erupted as the arrow shot by Elfame and the burning Lee Jun-Kyeong collided.

Flicker.

***

“Cough, cough.”

Blood flowed across the floor, drenching the shirt of the one who was vomiting continuously.

The quantity was so great that it had gone past lethal blood loss, to the point where the survival of the one vomiting lay in question.

“Cough…”

He vomited blood once again.

As he coughed more blood, he looked up ahead, and the opponents faced each other once more.

“I…am…the…king of… Alfheimr…” he said after swallowing blood and matching his opponent's gaze.

Elfame had a huge hole in his neck.

Shing.

Facing him was the arrow that he had shot that had been made from the enormous mana as it floated in the air.

The arrow had been shot, but it hadn’t reached its target.

The indigo flame, Ghost Blaze, had blocked the arrow.

It had been a condensation of the aura that had been large enough to dominate Incheon.

“It wasn’t enough to overcome the grudges of those you had killed.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong wasn’t wrong. In fact, he could also feel it now, the terrifying resentment that was held against Elfame.

The souls that had been summoned by Hel weren’t only those of Earth. After all, the people of Incheon alone wouldn’t have been able to block that arrow.

“It was all of those you’ve killed so far…”

It was an unfathomable amount of souls.

All of those beings that had been slain in the name of the king from the land of Alfheimr had joined together with the souls of Earth to block that arrow.

“In the end, you will die for your karma,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to the bastard as put away his spear.

The dragon scales and Madness receded.

Also.

–Thank you.

–Thank you very much.

–I’m so grateful.

The souls that had been only screaming in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s head were all disappearing after expressing their gratitude, so he was returning to his original state.

Thud.

Elfame fell to his knees, unable to overcome the bleeding.

Although he was the king, he had to look up at Lee Jun-Kyeong at this moment.

He coughed up blood again and said, "One day…they…had come…to find me…”