D.I.O

Chapter 219

*** Emperor of Martial Arts, Regrants De Pecerion ***

After the Legion and Grotesque’s attacks on Earth began and the Noblesse revealed their true identity, the Star Temple’s importance grew. The Star Temple was where users applied for and received their missions, and it became so influential that even presidents were interested in the happenings there.

Any DIO user could enter the Star Temple. DIO provided basic missions on the garden grounds and the 1st floor, where a <Matching> system organized individual users into parties, but only Masters were allowed on the 2nd floor. It didn’t matter which spiritual power area a player specialized in as long as they reached Level 10.

As for going up to the 3rd floor, commonly called the Deep Place, one had to be a higher level than a basic Level 10 Master. The Deep Place was usually a relatively quiet space, as only a few users could enter, but today, a rare scene was unfolding. There were more than a hundred people seated in the area.

“Oh, how interesting. To see so many prominent figures gathered in one place….”

“Look over there. Arthur and Cruze are here… even Merlin. No one has seen him in DIO for a while now. I wonder what kind of special mission they have in store for us.”

“It seems like… a combat-type mission? Since the Level 13 Aidelin wasn’t asked to come, it seems like it’ll be a combat mission.”

Hanma, Adol, and Jeros whispered amongst each other. As they’d played together since the closed beta, their specialized fighting styles complemented each other, so they were always together as a fixed party. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say they were almost like brothers.

“Oh, do you see that person? That’s Aung Nina, the user who had rumors circulating throughout DIO like wildfire lately. It seems she has her hands full with the Chinese government these days.”

Jeros shook his head after hearing Adol’s comment.

“Shh!”

“Huh? Why? Didn’t you say that she-”

Startled, Jeros hurriedly covered Adol’s mouth.

“Quiet, idiot. I’m not the only Chinese user here. I already stated publicly that I don’t like the Communist Party, and now, I feel as if my life is in danger.”

Unsurprisingly, with more than 100 users present, there were quite a few Chinese users among the gathered Masters. In terms of population ratio, China had a lower Master-to-user ratio than other countries, including Korea. However, one couldn’t ignore China’s massive population; the country had a considerable number of Masters to its name.

Although Aung Nina’s words and actions had dented the Communist Party’s image, among the Masters in China, many still had a sense of pride and patriotism for their country.

Furthermore, China recently grew increasingly exclusive and nationalistic. This was due to the appearance of Masters who were against China’s communist government, the recent alien attacks, and the mass exodus of Chinese Masters to the United States or European countries. Amongst the Chinese population, more and more individuals were beginning to get their own ideas on the world. This was why China’s government decided to adopt a strong-line, nation-centered approach.

“Even just conversing with foreigners will bring out shouts of ‘That traitor!’ from many Chinese users… I would’ve thought that people would have a somewhat mature mind and no ignorance after becoming a Master, but that doesn’t seem to be the case….”

Though Hanma scoffed in exasperation after hearing Jeros’ comments, in truth, there was no guarantee that a person’s thoughts would develop in a certain way, even if they grew more knowledgeable or developed mentally. In fact, at that moment, one of the Chinese users was approaching the three with a cool expression on his face.

Hanma and Adol had whispered in a low voice so as not to start a fight. Yet, Jeros could be said to be China’s top Master, and the sight of him conversing with Hanma and Adol seemed to pinch a nerve.

“What are you guys talking about, dirty foreigners? Also, Jeros, they say that the ID you use is part of their culture… you’ve stooped so low as to play with a dirty Japanese and Korean user. Traitor.”

Adol’s eyebrows furrowed after hearing the sarcastic remark.

“I don’t know exactly what you mean, but it sounds like an insult towards me as well… are you serious? In this global age, is one a traitor for being friendly with foreigners? Besides, what did we do wrong for you to call us dirty?”

“Hahaha! Don’t you feel any shame! Indeed, the Japanese are a people who do not have or know remorse! Recently, your government denied that the Nanjing Massacre ever happened!”

At his words, the other Japanese Masters sitting nearby became furious. There were many Japanese Masters at the Deep Place.

“Ah, stop blaming the entire nation for a minority’s opinion! And I’m sick and tired of people asking us to take responsibility for what others did in the past!” one of the Japanese Masters shouted.

“W-what? That SOB governor of Tokyo wins the election every time he makes such absurd remarks. What do you mean he represents a minority opinion? All the unscrupulous people who voted for him support his beliefs, so it’s not wrong to state that his views are almost representative of Japan as a whole!”

“What? Unscrupulous?”

As he saw the groups of Masters growling and posturing, Bruce quietly spoke to Hanma.

“I’ve always felt that… you Asians get along well with whites, blacks, and other races, but when it comes to other Asian people, you guys really aren’t too amicable.”

“It might be thanks to the politicians who love nationalistic and conservative values. Even now, during election season, the anti-Japanese sentiment and voices are only getting louder. In Japan, whenever the election approaches, anti-Korean sentiments and slogans always become more prominent.”

Hanma smiled as he looked at the growling group of Masters. Although open conflict did not occur between Korea and Japan, public sentiment between the two countries was never on the positive side. This was because Korea demanded an apology for the wrongdoings which occurred during the Japanese occupation, while Japan didn’t acknowledge any misdeeds.

“The Koreans also conducted a massacre! Do you not know about the 8.20 Massacre?”

“Wow, you don’t know any history or have an ounce of shame, do you? You’re calling the 8.20 Liberation War Day a massacre? Don’t you know that far more Korean independence fighters died than occupation soldiers?”

“Ah! Not independence fighters; you mean terrorists, right?”

“What? Terrorists?!”

At some point, even a few Korean Masters intervened in the verbal skirmish. While Jeros and Adol had initially been the central figures of the argument, they had long since escaped the area.

“… What a shitshow. It’s not as if this is a place for keyboard warriors to battle like on the internet… Why are Masters acting like this?”

“It’s because there’s been a fierce war of nerves between countries due to the nationality issue of many ‘traveling’ Masters. According to information from various agencies, I heard that many Masters are undergoing nationalistic-type mental training and instruction.”

Merlin looked at the arguing Masters with a pitiful expression. He did not feel nor understand the feeling that was commonly called patriotism.

Since he’d been subjected to state-run biological experiments from an early age, Merlin hated collectivism, the idea of sacrificing a few for the sake of the whole. He had no affection for any country, let alone Korea. And Arc, or Eunhye, was also of the same opinion, having previously committed herself to a US secret organization to seek revenge for Merlin.

“Ah, so it’s different from that point.”

“Huh?”

Merlin had lost interest in the Masters’ quarrel and was busy carving magic circuits into a metal plate when he lifted his head. The one who muttered quietly was Youngmin, who had followed Merlin’s advice and reached the level of Master within DIO.

“What do you mean?”

As always, glossy black leather armor covered Arc’s entire body, her face still hidden. She looked back at Youngmin with more interest than Merlin. Arc knew he was from another dimension, and she had many questions about him, which she did not hold back from asking.

“I was commenting on the difference between my world and yours. Strangely, there are many similarities, but for some reason, many other aspects are different. In your world, the Korean people succeeded in liberating themselves. In mine, they didn’t. I guess this is a parallel universe….”

Merlin shrugged after hearing Youngmin’s muttered comment.

“I guess we’re in a parallel world that diverged at a set fork… Come to think of it, you mentioned North Korea before. If so, there must be South Korea, and if they failed to liberate themselves, did the United States and the Soviet Union free them? Based on the context, it seems the communist party still rules North Korea in your world.”

“You inferred all that with only what little I’ve mentioned here and there….”

“I don’t know everything; it’s just some basic stuff I deduced with reasoning.”

After finishing the magic circuit work, Merlin put away the metal plate. Since he repeatedly conducted experiments and produced items without rest once he connected to DIO, Merlin was always hard at work. Yet, before he could pull out the next crafting material, a message window popped up.

[Mission: Group Mission

Time Limit: None

Objective: Raid

Description: On the 91st Earth, the Emperor of Martial Arts resides at Hwayoung High School. You will be tasked with eliminating the Emperor of Martial Arts, a transcendent being who has reached the highest levels of martial arts.

Companion NPCs will be accompanying you.

Accompanying NPCs: The transcendents Thousand Scents, Leighann, Lionel, and Adalcha.]josei

“What? The Grand Masters will be our accompanying NPCs?”

“No, wait, aren’t those Grand Master NPCs the rulers of the seven Holy Lands? They’re using Unique NPCs that can’t be duplicated or recovered?”

“More than half of the seven Holy Lands’ Grand Masters will be participating!”

“No, more importantly, who the hell are we facing to require four Grand Masters as companions?”

The contents of the quest were concise yet general, causing the Masters who read the contents to fall into a state of confusion. The Asian Masters who were fiercely slandering each other were no exception; even they stopped fighting and focused on the quest’s mission description.

Unlike transcendent-level monsters that required one side to die when met, such as Zygmunt the Seadragon and Igniz the Red Dragon, the users were quite familiar with the Grand Masters of the seven Holy Lands. As the seven Grand Masters were all formidable and beautiful beings who each possessed their own unique charms, users opened and operated many of these Grand Masters’ fan clubs. On top of treating each Grand Master like a modern superstar, some of them had even gone as far as shooting commercials or sitting for magazine photoshoots.

Even though the Grand Masters were approachable, the Masters knew that they were transcendents who reached the pinnacle in their chosen fields and that each one was strong enough to destroy the entire Earth without breaking a sweat. Ordinary people did not truly understand the monstrous powers of transcendents, but those who became Masters had a much better understanding of a transcendent’s true power.