[A summit between 47 countries took place. The biggest one since the Cataclysmic Day.]
[The Earth has united under one banner.]
[Unexpected results... Rather than the benefit of their own countries, the politicians choose world peace.]
[The countries formed an alliance with the USA at the center. The name of the world alliance is announced as 'Guardian.']
The news shook up the world.
An alliance of such magnitude hadn’t even been formed on the Cataclysmic Day, even though half of the countries had been lost at the claws of monsters.
The organization, which was made with voluntary support from each country, Guardian, had completed its grand launch.
Although it was called a world alliance, it wasn't like a real army, and players had joined as one.
It wasn't that they shared an economic, political, or religious system.
It was as if a massive, worldwide guild had been born.
Most of the armies around the world were organized with players at the center, so the birth of a giant guild with strong players was worthy of being called a 'world alliance.'
The officially announced leader of Guardian was Grace Mccarbin, and Dragon Sword Kim ShiHoon was announced as her right hand.
There was quite a commotion about the announcement of Dragon Sword.
Even if he were a rising star, people thought he wasn't someone famous whose strength was very well known like Cheon MooJin, Mahabach, Jason, or Emilia.
One of the US rankers, Jason, said he couldn't accept that result and challenged Kim ShiHoon to a duel.
But…
Poster (Tresha): Did you hear the news??? They say Dragon Sword beat the shit out of Jason!
ㄴ I thought Dragon Sword would lose, so I didn't turn on the stream, but is that true?? How did he win?
ㄴ The Pacer: I saw it. Jason just lost against him.
ㄴ Butterfly Valley: According to the rumors, not even Cheon MooJin can win against him.
ㄴ Dirt Spoon: What? It hasn't even been a year since Cheon MooJin took Dragon Sword as his apprentice. Right?
The fight between Kim ShiHoon and Jason was streamed worldwide.
Kim ShiHoon defeated Jason; the difference in strength was overwhelming.
It was understandable that the communities were in an uproar at the unexpected development of things.
Kim ShiHoon's name became almost as famous as Grace's and spread worldwide.
After Kim ShiHoon defeated Jason, everything went smoothly.
The players that were gathered under the name ‘Guardian’ were designated into teams depending on their attributes and qualities and started to do group training.
The secret organization hidden behind the mask that had been protecting the world in secret started to show itself formally to the world.
* * *
"A-amazing. The news is full of news about Guardian and Mr. ShiHoon," Han Seol-ah said in surprise while changing channels.
She'd formed a party with Kim ShiHoon since he was a newbie, so seeing him become famous worldwide felt unreal.
"It feels like Mr. ShiHoon has gotten far away."
"Seol-ah, you're also part of Guardian now."
"Ah, y-you're right."
Guardian had moved away from being a secret organization formed only by people with the title 'Guardian.' After they became public, they grew in size quickly.
A secret organization that protected the world sounded cool, but having more members was more comfortable, and it also increased the number of things they could do.
'It's hard to see the benefits of being a secret organization anymore.'
If a secret organization was to be successful, then its target, in their case, the Demon Cult, had to be unaware of its existence.
That way, they would be able to ambush them in secret or something.
'But now, we cannot do that.'
The members of the Demon Cult already knew about Guardian.
Even a small branch of 50 people had recognized Guardian, so there was no need to think about the other branches.
In such a scenario, keeping it as a secret organization was dumb.
The correct thing was to announce their name and evolve.
"They always talk about the same thing. I wish they would stop showing this."
Echidna, who was sitting on KangWoo's lap, pouted.
He smiled and stroked her hair.
"Why?"
"Because of this, Re:Zero's last episode was pushed away..."
Echidna wiggled her feet while complaining.
'Is that an anime she likes?'
Besides training dragon magic, Echidna spent a lot of time watching TV.
Among the things she watched, what she liked the most was anime.
Seeing her looking at the TV with shining eyes was one of the small things KangWoo liked to do.
'I should get rid of those bothersome guys as quickly as possible.'
His goal was to spend the days relaxing and watching TV.
As time went on, those days seemed to be getting farther and farther away.
'Ancient demonic monsters, archdukes, the heavens…'
On top of that, he had to think of the gods’ dimension where beings like Gaia and Tyrion lived.
'If things go on like this, maybe a martial arts world will appear, too.'
After Gaia, the Guardian that protected the dimensional wall disappeared, the world became messed up.
To be honest, he felt that he couldn’t be surprised anymore when it came to the types of worlds there were.
He felt that his desired peaceful life was moving further away with every new dimension that appeared.
"Hngh."
He shook his head.
It was pointless to think about things he couldn't solve.
His priority was to deal with what was in front of him.
"Ms. Gaia, you don't look good... is there something bothering you?"
Han Seol-ah walked toward Gaia, who was sitting on the sofa while making a worried expression.
"It… it's nothing."
Surprised, Gaia shook her head.
KangWoo looked at Gaia, who couldn't seem to calm down.
'I guess it's awkward.'
Gaia had begun living in KangWoo's house after Guardian was announced.
As Grace, the one who used to take care of her, became busier, she needed someone else who could take care of her.
Gaia was such an important person that they'd decided to use Grace as the representative instead, and she had to be taken care of by someone they could trust.
"Ms. Grace and Mr. ShiHoon are busy, so I'm not sure if it's okay for me to stay here comfortably..."
"It's okay. It's not like they've done that for our comfort."
After Guardian was announced, they'd purposely hidden KangWoo and Gaia's existence.
The reason why they'd hidden KangWoo was to hide the strongest member of Guardian from the enemies, and they'd decided to hide Gaia to hide Guardian’s weakest point.
They were hidden for different reasons, but it didn't change the fact that they both didn't have much to do at the moment compared to other people.
"Mr. KangWoo, did you investigate the Demon Cult branch in Tibet?"
"Yes. I went there a few days ago. As expected, the scale was quite large."
There was a chance of him being discovered, so he’d just looked at it through the Authority of Observation, but its scale couldn't be compared to the base in the middle-east.
More than five thousand of them lived within the repurposed mountain.
Considering that there were also numerous demons living inside it, that number was even bigger.
It was the biggest base they’d ever found.
"It really will become a war..."
"Yes."
He nodded.
* * *
Wars, where millions fought, didn't exist anymore.
Wars were centered on a small number of superhumans called players, so five thousand Demon Cult members couldn't be taken lightly.
"Mr. KangWoo... You won't participate this time, right?"
"I'm going to participate, but I'm not going to be in the forefront," He said in a firm voice.
Gaia's face darkened.
KangWoo kept talking.
"It's a necessary thing."
He wasn't going to compromise on that.
If KangWoo, Balrog, and Lilith fought, winning the war would be easier.
No. Unless there was an archduke, they could probably sweep away that Demon Cult branch.
But…
'I can't fight alone forever.'
Of course, in front of beings like an archduke, when numbers didn't matter, he would have to fight.
Still, he couldn't be in every single fight.
It would be egocentric to think that he could do everything alone.
'And…'
He remembered what the politicians said at the banquet hall.
They had no fear or nervousness of the Demon Cult.
That was also the case for the players that had just joined Guardian.
They didn't put much effort into practice.
As if they were making clear that they'd been forced to be there, all sorts of accidents kept happening.
They weren't scared of the Demon Cult, so they were going to use the name and prestige of Guardian as much as possible.
—That was what the players thought.
In reality, they'd found some cases of people accepting money and misusing that prestige.
'We've won too easily.'
KangWoo was too strong, so they'd been able to overcome dangerous situations too easily.
It wasn't something that could be solved by saying the Demon Cult members were dangerous.
'They must know it.'
If they were so confident about it, it was a matter of time before they self-destructed.
They must know how strong and scary the Demon Cult and demons were.
—Even if a lot of blood was shed because of it.
"Ms. Gaia, didn't you also feel it while talking with the politicians?"
"..."
"Do you think it's okay for things to go like this?"
There was a heavy silence.
Gaia bit her lips and slowly shook her head.
"No. I think that it's dangerous."
'I'm glad.'
It seemed like she wasn't dumb enough to force her ideals in that situation.
She also knew how serious the situation was.
"It isn't just to wake them up."
He kept talking.
If the goal was to wake the world up, he could've done other things, but he’d decided war was necessary for a different reason…
'We need to make the forces stronger.'
The phrase ‘what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger’ was nonsense in most cases, but for players, that wasn't the case.
Players became stronger through fighting, and in dangerous battles, they grew even more.
That didn't mean they became stronger just by gaining battle experience…0
'The level limit and experience.'
Most players usually overcame the level restriction by hunting a 'strong boss monster' or when they overcame a life-or-death situation.'
The battle against demons could satisfy both requirements.
Demons gave more experience than boss monsters, and since they were also stronger, they would feel their lives at risk.
Basically, thanks to the war, players would be able to obtain huge growth.
'There should be more than 30 world rankers at least.'
Thinking about the future battle with Lucifer, they should have at least that many world rankers.
After all, unless they were a world ranker, an average player wouldn't be able to deal significant damage.
"You said the blood we shed will become light and shine over the darkness."
"Yes," Gaia answered in a heavy voice.
KangWoo put his hand on her trembling shoulders.
"This war is going to prove that."
* * *
"All troops, ready!!"
Two months after Guardian was announced to the world…
The Guardian troops that had completed basic training arrived in Tibet.
Ten thousand players had gathered from all around the world.
They were all elite players that had completed the seventh Awakening.
"Advance!" Grace, who was at the forefront, shouted.
It wasn't that they were riding on a horse like in the middle ages, but the scene of so many players rushing forward was amazing.
The knight-class players at the front were running at a speed that made cars look pathetic.
"Hey! They said they'll pay 50 thousand USD per Demon Cult head!"
"Woah. They're going to pay so much for crazy cult believers?!"
There wasn't any sign of nervousness on the faces of the players.
They didn't respect the formations and just leaped forward to the place where the Demon Cult members were hiding.
BOOM-!!!
Along with a very loud explosion, a cloud of white smoke rose.
Demonic monsters, demons, and Demon Cult members walked out of the mountain.
"Damn! H-how did they know...?!"
"Stop them!"
[Hahaha! I was starting to get bored of being stuck inside the mountain for the entire day! So this is nice!]
[I, Malfurion, demon of the 7th hell, will face you!]
The battle between demons and players began.
There were screams, sounds of explosions, heat waves, and frost spreading in all directions.
"It started."
Gaia, who was looking at the battle from a safe space along with KangWoo, spoke.
KangWoo nodded.
"Yes, it has," KangWoo replied in a serious voice.
The members of Guardian were fighting desperately with all their might.
The sight of them fighting while bleeding made his heart hurt.
'I can't stand still and do nothing.'
He didn't intend to stand still while looking at everyone else fighting.
The black smoke that spread from KangWoo's hands covered the corpses of the demons that had died.
Ting-
[The attribute 'Reaper of Souls' has been activated.]
[The passageway that leads toward the 'deepest' part has slightly expanded.]
"Everyone is fighting," he said in a voice full of sadness while hearing the system's notification.
"The blood they shed won't be in vain."
[The attribute 'Reaper of Souls' has been activated.]
[The passageway that leads toward the 'deepest' part has slightly expanded.]
"By bleeding, Guardian will become stronger."
[The attribute 'Reaper of Souls' has been activated.]
[The passageway that leads toward the 'deepest' part has slightly expanded.]
The tips of his mouth naturally began going up.
"Humanity will move a step forward to protect the world's peace and for a better future."
'Oh, fuck.'
[The attribute 'Reaper of Souls' has been activated.]
[The passageway that leads toward the 'deepest' part has slightly expanded.]
He kept hearing the bell sound.
'I mustn't smile.'
Guardian was fighting against demons.
He felt his heart burn while looking at them.
[The attribute 'Reaper of Souls' has been activated.]
[The passageway that leads toward the 'deepest' part has slightly expanded.]
'Ah, I really mustn't smile.'
Even if it were necessary, it was true that he couldn't help but clench his fists while looking at them.
It was obvious that tears would drop from the Warrior of Light Oh KangWoo's eyes.
[The attribute 'Reaper of Souls' has been activated.]
[The passageway that leads toward the 'deepest' part has slightly expanded.]
'How weird. I'm definitely really sad.'
He didn't understand why, but his mouth kept trying to go up.
Did they say that the most delicious meal is the one you didn't pay for?
'Ah, how sad. My tears won't stop.'
He lowered his head while shedding tears as if he didn't dare to look into the battle.
He hid his smile
'Hahaha.'
