abcnovels
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
* * *
Kuwoong!
A massive monster as big as a mountain collapsed.
One by one, all the nations on Earth had fallen.
The apocalyptic monster summoned in the United States, one of the last remaining ten nations, was finally subdued.
“…Good.”
A blonde Caucasian man watching that spectacle smiled with satisfaction.
He was Barren, ‘American First’ guildmaster, which was the biggest guild in the world, and he was also ranked 1st in the whole world.
Thud-
And then.
Beside the fallen monster, a dark-haired man fell down.
His left arm severed, his body charred and burnt.
The mighty Martial Saint, ranked 7th, Seong Jihan.
Barren threw a short word.
“Well done.”
“…”
Seong Jihan was a pawn for him.
To Barren, Seong Jihan from ‘Korea’ was a useful hunting dog.
And today, the hunting dog had fulfilled its mission excellently.
Though he was greatly injured.
“Regeneration!”
Ranked 3rd, the priestess dashed forward in a hurry, spreading healing magic.
But as time passed, her expression stiffened.
“No…!”
Normally, with her power, she could instantly heal burns and the like, but the burns sustained while facing the apocalyptic monster were unusually severe.
“Jihan! Just a bit, hold on. Please… Great Heal! Great…”
Tears streamed down the priestess’s face as she spread healing magic.
Seeing her pour all her energy and life into it, Barren frowned for a moment, then turned his gaze to the monster’s corpse.
The apocalyptic monster, Behemoth.
From its body, a sinister aura oozed out, enough to send shivers down one’s spine.
“It’s difficult to endure even from here, I wonder how he endured it up close.”
Once again amazed at Seong Jihan’s strength from a distance, Barren’s eyes lit up for a moment.
Whoosh-
From the fallen Behemoth’s remains, a bright white light surged.
“That’s… the boss battle reward!”
“Rare Treasure Chest from the Boss Monster.
Whenever it appeared, the bright white light would burst forth from the center of the monster.
“Everyone, step back!”
“Yes.”
As Barren raised his hand, dozens of American First guild members stepped back, guarding the surroundings.
A special reward from Behemoth, the monster known as the apocalypse.
Though they might have been tempted by it, they couldn’t defy the stern command of Barren, ranked 1st in the world.
And as Barren surveyed his guild members, he chose those who would receive the reward: the priestess, along with the 4th and 5th ranked members of American First.
“…What about Jihan?”
“He’s not an American. He’s just a hunting dog.”
Seong Jihan, who played the biggest role in bringing down Behemoth, was naturally excluded from the conversation as if it were a matter of course.
“But he’s also an American now! He sought asylum here!”
“You know very well what I mean by ‘American’.”
“But the apocalypse monster is…”
“Argh…”
Listening silently to the conversation, Seong Jihan smirked.
Such rewards weren’t expected from Barren.
Slowly, Seong Jihan spoke up.
“Just go. It’s alright.”
“…Sorry. I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay.”
As the priestess got up, Barren seemed relieved.
The Korean hunting dog.
Yet he knows the subject.
“Go, Barren.”
“Of course. Fly!”
Through Barren’s flight magic, the three flew over Behemoth.
Seong Jihan watched their departure with cloudy eyes. He lost his country and became an exile.
And the three players of the superpower, the United States. Though the difference in rank wasn’t great, their positions in the guild were worlds apart.
“What reward will come from Behemoth?”
Looking at the corpse of the monster he had brought down with his own hands, Seong Jihan pondered.
Even if it was a monster from a demotion match, it was still the final boss, so it was sure to be something good.”
“…It’s fine. It wasn’t mine to begin with. I should focus on regenerating my lost left arm.”
In that moment of calmly facing reality and adjusting himself, the ground suddenly shook, and a message window appeared before everyone’s eyes.
[Space League – Bronze League Demotion Match Results Announcement.]
A sense of foreboding hung in the air.
[Game Category – Defense.]
[USA – Success.]
[China – Success.]
[Russia – Failure.]
[Japan – Failure.]
…
While the USA and China succeeded, From Russia and below, all had failed.
Seong Jihan’s face stiffened when he heard that out of the final 10 countries, only two succeeded.
‘This is…’
[NO. 4212 ‘Humanity’ has failed the demotion match.]
[With NO. 4773 ‘Orc’, will participate in the final demotion match.]
[The battle will take place immediately.]
Zing-
The message window expanded, displaying a single screen.
Within it, a grand stage was unveiled.
“Gu-Guildmaster…”
And there.
On the screen stood Barren and his team who had gone to claim Behemoth’s reward, their expressions stern.
‘And a player from China is there. A total of five.’
Five players ranked higher than Seong Jihan.
With them, no more players were summoned.
On the other side of the stage, Five members of the Orc race, with green skin and features resembling pigs, stood.
[The battle begins.]
A 5 vs 5 battle.
The losing side here would face demotion.
“Please…”
A guild member clasped their hands together to pray.
“Of all opponents, it had to be the Orcs!”
“Jihan should’ve been summoned too!”
Some lamented while glancing towards Seong Jihan.
Despite selecting five members, Jihan, ranked 7th, couldn’t be summoned due to his lower rank.
But the guild members knew.
Seong Jihan was truly the powerhouse of American First… no, the world’s strongest player.
Even if he had lost an arm, they would have felt more reassured if he had been summoned.
– Hahaha! What a joke. ‘That monster’ isn’t here!
Orc, who was at the forefront, looked around at the Earthlings and burst into mocking laughter.
Seong Jihan was well acquainted with that Orc.
‘That’s the one who ran away in the previous battle.’
He used to be a fearsome warrior who trembled before Seong Jihan, but now that he had realized his absence, he was all arrogant.
– We must avoid demotion! Kill them all!
The five Orcs charged at an astonishing speed.
Barren urgently used magic to engage them, but…
Seong Jihan’s face, as he watched the battle, had already stiffened.
The composition of the Orc party was a perfect hard counter against humanity.
[Block… I said block! Argh!]
The outcome was clear.
‘It’s over.’
* * *
Thud.
Barren’s head fell to the ground, His face contorted in terror and despair.
Simultaneously, a system message appeared.
[NO. 4212 ‘Humanity’, lost.]
[Humanity has been demoted from the Bronze League.]
It was an expected result, and it was a result that Jihan wanted to avoid at all costs.
Seong Jihan, along with humanity, could only watch as the five ranked players were ruthlessly defeated by the Orcs.
“Oh, my god…”
“Now, what’s going to happen?”
When the American First guild members were in a state of panic, a new message appeared.
[There are no lower leagues remaining.]
[Humanity has been expelled from the Space League.]
[NO.4212. Humanity has been classified as worthless. Deletion process initiated.]
Deletion?
Reading the system message, never had their spine chilled so intensely.
And as this message disappeared…
“Wha- What’s happening…?”
Guild members, one by one, began to be engulfed by darkness.
“Sa… Save us…”
No one was spared.
From the lowest-ranking guild members in American First to the most formidable rankers in the guild.
All were submerged in the darkness emerging from their own bodies and quite literally deleted from the world.
‘…’
Not even five minutes passed before all the American First guild members were annihilated.
Except for Seong Jihan, for some strange reason, his body didn’t erase entirely.
His arms and legs were swallowed by the darkness, but his head and torso were still resisting that power.
‘The power of Nameless Divine Arts is resisting even this.’
The skill that had raised Seong Jihan to 7th rank, Nameless Divine Arts. Despite being a nameless martial skill, it was ranked as SSS, and he had never expected it to resist the system’s deletion.
Regrets welled up.
‘If I had revealed the true name of this martial art, it could have been an even greater skill…’
The upgrade condition for Nameless Divine Arts was to find its true name. If he had discovered the true essence of this martial art, such a miserable situation might not have occurred.
Or, in the first place, obtaining this power had been too late.If he could have mastered this power just a little earlier…
A wave of remorse surged.
‘If only… our country hadn’t fallen.’
It hadn’t been long since Seong Jihan had obtained Nameless Divine Arts when Korea fell.
If he could have regained his senses even an hour earlier and gained this strength, perhaps his homeland wouldn’t have vanished so tragically.
His reckless past felt profoundly lamentable.
“Argh…”
The power of Nameless Divine Arts was strong but had its limits. Seong Jihan’s remaining body was slowly being consumed by darkness.
His body had already been devoured up to his shoulders.
Even this ‘deletion’ was progressing fully.
And not long after…
[All of humanity has been deleted.]
[You are the last survivor.]
In Seong Jihan’s hazy vision, a brief message appeared.
The last survivor.
Did it mean that in that short moment, all of humanity had vanished?
‘Now, I will follow suit.’
Yes.
There was no point in being left alone.
There was no meaning to endure, no reason.
It was just as Seong Jihan was about to relinquish control over the use of Nameless Divine Arts.
[Fascinating.]
[NO.4212. Humanity was a worthless species.]
[To think someone could resist system deletion.]
The system messages appeared chaotically in Seong Jihan’s vision.
These messages felt different from the emotionless ones he had received until now.
Even the background color of the message window was different.
‘It used to be a translucent blue color before…’
The current message window contained white, black, red, and other colors, a mix of shades.
[There is a slight yet promising existence.]
[Indeed. We must not overlook any possibilities.]
[Let’s give him a chance for a rematch.]
[I agree.]
[I disagree. It’s a waste of power.]
[I agree.]
[I agree.]
3 votes are in favor.
1 vote is against.
‘What kind of scheme is this…?’
Seong Jihan stared at the message window, which allowed voting regardless of his intentions, and his eyes widened.
[The decision has been made.]
[Player ‘Seong Jihan’ will return to the league’s initial entry stage.]
‘The league’s initial entry stage…’
After that message, Seong Jihan’s vision darkened.