Chapter 424: News Spreading Like Wildfire

A few weeks later, somewhere in the world.

“Are you recording, dude?”

A bright-eyed boy asked of his friend, who was carrying a handheld camera, and his friend gave a thumbs up.

“Hello, Internet. I am Wonder Boy Macklin. I have been born with superstrength, and I will show it to you today!”

Wonder Boy Macklin said with a smile on his face, and then he moved towards a destroyed car in the junkyard.

This junkyard was his father’s owned business, so he came here occasionally to play and hang out with his friends.

His friend pointed the camera at him.

Wonder Boy Macklin put his hands under the car’s bumper, and then with a bright grin on his face, he lifted the back of the car with ease.

It was like the car didn’t weigh anything!

“Haha, are you seeing this?!”

Wonder Boy Macklin asked with a giggle, sounding like a child at a candy store, as even he couldn’t believe his own strength.

“Y-Yeah, I can see it, Macklin!”

His friend gave a thumbs up with a nervous chuckle, as this felt like an origin story of a superhero or something along those lines!

…

[Unexplainable Strength Phenomenon!]

[A new pandemic has started to spread across the world. People with inhumane strength have appeared!]

[What is causing this? Stories about people with extraordinary abilities have started to surface, leaving many wondering if this is the beginning of a new era in human evolution]

News after news spread across the Internet like a wildfire.

Videos of people lifting cars, jumping across rooftops, and performing other seemingly impossible feats were shared and viewed millions of times.

…

World News Agency.

At the recording room, people were running and walking like headless chickens, almost bumping with each other.

“Alright, what will we go with? Does anyone have anything to report about the Unexplained Strength Phenomenon?!”

“We have more videos that we can show!”

“No, those videos have been seen by millions of people already. We are the front news agency in the world. We must report something new!”

“Boss!”

At that moment, a young man rushed into the room with a phone in hand, and the boss turned to look at him with a frown and asked. “What?!”

“You have to see this!”

The young man handed him the phone, and the boss saw that it was a text message, and he read it quickly inside his mind.

The glasses on top of his nose bridge almost fell.

“Is this real?”

The boss asked.

“My source from Black Online Company confirmed it. That lunatic Izan has gone out of his fucking mind!”

The young man cried.

“Okay… okay… We will go with this.”

The boss walked to the writer of the news—whispered something into her ear—and her eyes widened like saucers.

She then nodded and started writing the script, and it was done only a couple of minutes later—as she needed to be quick with it as the show was starting in a couple of minutes.

The script was then put into the teleprompter.

‘What will happen to the world now?’

The boss wondered with a frown, and then he pulled out his own phone and messaged his wife to get their children back from school.

A few minutes later, the two news reporters sat down behind the crescent table, and the red “Live” light went on.

Music sounded from the speakers. The intro of the news was going on. And then it shifted to them.

“Breaking news, world. A world had been shaken by the Unexplainable Strength Phenomenon, and many have been wondering whether it was a cause of something sinister or simply a next step in human evolution.

“We’ve received a word that Black Online Company has created a new device that has made all of that possible.

“Virtual Reality Pod X!

“It enhances one’s body—allowing you to get stronger, faster, and healthier—a true breakthrough in technology!

“However, is this a good thing or not? From what we’ve just found out, Black Online Company hadn’t been given permission to do something like this.

“The governments all around the world are furious at him. And apparently, Izan had disappeared from the face of the world.

“Where has he gone? Why did he do this? Follow us over at WorldNewsAgency.org to stay updated on the developing story.”

The reporter said.

Then the news ended.

…

In the dark room, Izan looked at the television with its lights bouncing off his tired-looking face.

“You don’t have any idea yet. You all think that I just wanted humans to get a little stronger? No, you all haven’t seen anything yet.”

Izan chuckled and leaned back against the chair, and he looked at a strange-looking helmet sitting on the chair next to him.

It was a new creation of his—Virtual Reality Helmet X.

Instead of having to lie down on the pod, he could just put this helmet on—anywhere he wanted, and it worked as well as the pod.

It also worked similarly with the Virtual Reality Pod X.

“I’ll let them get used to this new world… And then the second phase begins. The True World will emerge.”

Izan touched the helmet gently.

…

Black Online, 49th Floor, King Ramuses Chamber.

“You dirty, weak humans!”

King Ramuses screamed and threw his massive hammer across the room—it was flying like a Mjölnir from the ancient Norse legends.

“Dodge!”

Matthew shouted, and he rolled out of the way, and everyone else also dodged out of the way, and the hammer smashed into the back wall of the chamber.

“Come back, Rjorlnär!”

King Ramuses shouted, and the hammer flew back to his hand, and he lifted it high, and fire and lightning crackled around the hammer.

“Doom Break!”

He hammered it down to the ground, creating a massive shockwave that rippled through the chamber.

Everyone was knocked out of their feet and tossed against the wall.

“Hahahah!”

King Ramuses laughed loudly.

He was wearing all gold with expensive-looking gold jewelry dangling from his body—he was looking like Egyptian royalty—like a pharaoh.

In that moment, a man as fast as light itself moved through the air, and in the man’s hand, the black blade moved swiftly like a shadow.

“Widowmaker Descent!”

The black blade slashed across King Ramuses, causing a deep wound that was impossible to heal.

“Ugh… ugh…”

King Ramuses coughed blood.

[King Ramuses – HP: 3%]

Fang Raon pointed the Demon-Killing Shotgun towards him and pulled on the trigger—the pellets shot out, and the recoil of the shotgun also pushed Raon back.

The shotgun pellets shot into the face of King Ramuses, and it seemingly hurt him greatly, as he started screaming and squirming.

“Everyone, attack him!”

Gungan screamed.

Everyone launched their attacks with arrows, spells, and sword attacks flying at him all at once!

King Ramuses couldn’t defend himself at all. The hammer dropped to the ground next to him. And then lastly, he also dropped down to his knees.

“Ugghh… ugggh… ugghhh…”

He tried to speak, but there was too much blood in his mouth, so he couldn’t utter the words he wanted to say.

Then.

He dropped down dead.

“Yes, we did it!”

Poppy cheered loudly.

She was completely exhausted, as she had completely emptied her Mana Recovery potion reserves.

Everyone was also heavily injured and exhausted.

This fight took them three hours!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The doors were still banging. Mummies, who were King Ramuses’ army, tried to punch through the golden doors.

Unfortunately for them, it was magically protected, which was King Ramuses’ mistake in the first place.

If he wasn’t so concerned about his own safety, he might’ve survived if he had his mummies with him.

A treasure chest dropped from the ceiling.

“Whoo…”

Fang Raon sat down on the ground, breathing heavily.

“Good job.”

Gungan patted him in the shoulder, and then he sat next to him and said, “This was the last one, right?”

“Yeah.”

Fang Raon nodded.

He looked towards the stairs that led to the 50th floor—Della and other members of Rose Records’ First Line were waiting there for him.

He had been with Gungan’s party since the 36th floor, and it was a good time. They progressed insanely quickly through the floors.

It was big thanks to Fang Raon, for sure, but everyone did their part, and nobody was slowing others down.

“Thank you for everything. We would’ve never made it to the 50th floor this quickly without you.”

Gungan said, and they then shook hands.

“What are your plans from now on?”

Fang Raon asked.

He didn’t want to be rude, but Gungan and his party couldn’t complete the 50th floor without him—now the jump in floor difficulty would have a huge leap.

“I am thinking of settling down for a while. Recruit more people. Maybe I should just start a guild finally. That’s what others have been begging me to do.

“I like this small party stuff, but with just five of us… I think this is as far as we can get for now. Maybe it’s time to branch out and form a guild for more support.”

Gungan said with a smile.

“Good luck with that. You can always find help from Rose Records if you need.”

Fang Raon said, and Gungan smiled and said, “Thank you,” and then Raon stood up and headed for the door.

Everyone watched him leave. They said their goodbyes. And also wished him luck with his guild.

With a smile on his face, Fang Raon walked through the door.

50th floor—the halfway mark of the tower—he had finally arrived.