Chapter 444

2.

Hissssss.

The latest top-of-the-line capsule opened, and a woman stepped out of it.

She’d worn clothes with good ventilation and sweat absorption when she went into the capsule, but even so, her clothes were damp and clinging.

You could tell, even at a glance, how hard she’d been playing.

Shaking her wet hair out lightly, the woman—An Yu-bin—showed her fatigue without filtering any of it, and with tired eyes, she wiped the sweat off using the towel she’d set beside the capsule in advance.

Her training still felt vivid.

“Haaahhh....”

She was so exhausted she felt like she might collapse.

And yet, a sense of pride and accomplishment was still welling up in one corner of her chest.

‘I got stronger.’

She could tell for sure that she’d gotten stronger.

Not only An Yu-bin—Kyou, Embris, even Reaper.

And.

‘Mr. Kim Che-geon’s skill level went up a lot too.’

Compared to before, he’d gotten strong enough that there was a clear gap.

Sure enough, the power of Kim Che-geon fighting by summoning mounts was considerable.

The way he used it was incredible too—it felt like she was looking at the sheer presence of an Almighty-grade, not a Legendary-grade.

Kim Che-geon’s own level of skill was about half a step higher than Kyou or Embris.

He basically had ability on par with Luna, so she couldn’t help being a little on edge.

And Reaper was the same way.

For now, if the very top in terms of skill was Luna, Kim Che-geon, and Reaper, then the next tier was Kyou and Embris.

Of course, even that “gap” was so slight it was almost negligible.

‘It wouldn’t be strange if it flipped at any time.’

With Luna—no, An Yu-bin—tensing up like that and resolving to train even more diligently tomorrow, her older sister, An Yoo-jin, greeted her as she saw her come out.

“Oh, Yu-bin, you’re out?”

“Yes, sis.”

“We should eat dinner. Mom and Dad went out too, so it’ll be just us. Let’s order delivery.”

Normally, instead of delivery, An Yu-bin would have offered to cook.

But she was so tired she didn’t seem to have the energy for that, and she nodded obediently.

In the first place, An Yoo-jin suggested it because An Yu-bin looked worn out.

After the two sisters picked something they wanted to eat and waited for the delivery food like that,

An Yoo-jin was looking at a message that had come in and grinning.

“...?”

Wondering why her sister was looking at a message and then smiling at her, An Yu-bin looked at An Yoo-jin.

An Yoo-jin said quietly,

“Oho. I hear Seong got his number asked for today?”

“W-What?!”

“He was working out at the gym, and some really pretty girl asked for his number, apparently.”

“W-Who said that?”

“Geon-dong did.”

At those words, An Yu-bin’s pupils shook violently.

No way.

‘S-So it wasn’t just the backup teams that I have to compete with!?’

Thinking that, An Yu-bin swallowed hard.

At her little sister’s cute reaction, An Yoo-jin grinned.

“H-He rejected her... right?”

“Yeah? Why?”

Acting like she didn’t know and asking like that,

An Yu-bin’s eyes were rolling so hard it felt like you could hear them.

Well, An Yoo-jin already knew perfectly well that An Yu-bin had feelings for Seong.

But she wanted to tease her a little, or something.

As An Yu-bin hesitated so carefully,

An Yoo-jin told her.

“He said he was busy and turned her down, supposedly.”

“Ah, r-really? Th-That’s a relief.”

“Hm? Why is it a relief?”

“Ah! S-Sis!”

When An Yu-bin realized her sister was teasing her and got sulky like that,

An Yoo-jin held back a little.

Still, if she liked him, shouldn’t she be a bit more proactive?

So she was just giving her a little push.

That was why An Yoo-jin didn’t tell her the truth about how Seong rejected her.

This much tension still had to exist to help An Yu-bin, didn’t it?

And honestly, she didn’t really know what Seong was thinking either.

She also wanted An Yu-bin to work up some courage soon.

‘That way, Seong will probably make a move too.’

Even though An Yoo-jin, who’d already decided to date Lee Geon-dong, wasn’t really in a position to say that.

Still, a woman had to be a little proactive too.

You couldn’t clap with only one hand.

That was what was going on at An Yoo-jin and An Yu-bin’s place as An Yoo-jin hoped her sister would gather some courage—then An Yoo-jin casually let Yu Mina in on it.

Right at that time, at Seong’s house—

“I haaave soooomeooone I’m seeeiiing, you knooowwww~”

Right in front of Seong, you could see Yu Mina teasing him with a smug, annoying expression.

Seong’s fist trembled, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

For now, he couldn’t exactly hit his older sister.

‘That Lee Geon-dong bastard.’

Seong decided that tomorrow, he’d make Lee Geon-dong do legs.

0.

It had already been ten whole days since Reaper joined Seong’s backup team.

Time had gone by faster than expected.

It was about time the viewers would be straining their necks waiting for something.

But just yesterday, a notice went up in the Rapid Guild.

『Hello, this is Seong, the player known as the Demon King.

Today, I’m writing this post to upload an announcement about tomorrow’s broadcast.

Tomorrow, we’ll be doing the hierarchy battle you’ve all been waiting for.

In addition, there will be a consecutive event after the hierarchy battle, so please look forward to it.

From Seong, a member of the Rapid Guild.』

That notice everyone had been waiting for.

People were thrilled, thinking, So the hierarchy battle is finally happening.

How badly had they been wanting to see it?

That was why posts started exploding online.

The firepower was so intense that if you hit refresh, the page count would change in an instant.

It was so fast you wondered if there had ever been this much firepower before.

[Title - Whoa, finally the Replacement Blood Feud!!!]

[Writer - BossMonopolyGuy]

『Whoa, the Demon King is finally doing the Replacement Blood Feud!!!!

I’ve been waiting for this, seriously;;;

Still, the training videos for the last ten days were fun too;;;;』

[PartyDisbandCulprit : The training streams were fun too, but he’s probably hiding his real power???]

└[AutoFarmBot : Sounds likely???]

└[DodgingFloorAoEs : We’ll have to see how he comes out, yeah]

With the fact that the hierarchy-cleanup battle called the Replacement Blood Feud was going to happen, countless people cheered.

Because it was finally tomorrow.

At times like this, time also refused to pass, so people suffered a lot.

Still, they hadn’t spent all that time just waiting.

Some of them turned their eyes to the content Seong would show next.

Because they couldn’t even imagine what else he could possibly show.

[Title - No, what even is the next content???]

[Writer - NoTank]

『Doesn’t the Demon King usually not have a “packed” broadcast style?

But there’s extra content too???

This is kinda rare;;;

What’s gonna come out?

I can’t even imagine it』

[HealsShort : Since it’s after the Replacement Blood Feud, is something totally different gonna come out?]

[DPSIsAGod : I don’t really know either, but something related might come out?]

[EnhancementAddict : Whatever it is, if it comes out at all, it’s gonna be huge lol]

└[SpecsTooLow : lmao true]

└[PartyLeech : lmaoooooo I just want it to be tomorrow already.]

And since tomorrow, the day of the broadcast, was a Sunday, it was expected that a lot of people would pile in.

On top of that, everyone was excited because of the additional notice that the Rapid Guild would make this broadcast paid.

They really wanted to buy it and get in no matter what.

So when the day finally dawned,

people quickly bought tickets and did everything they could to get in.

How could they possibly endure not watching the backup teams fight over the hierarchy?

A broadcast instantly flooded with viewers.

And a considerable number of rankers had gathered there too.

To check on Seong’s movements and his skill.

Even though Seong himself wouldn’t be fighting.

So when the broadcast turned on, the rankers who already knew some information widened their eyes.

The place that appeared behind Seong when he turned on the stream looked very similar to the terrain near that hidden dungeon the Eclipse Order had already found.

‘So the Demon King already figured out the location!’

Then the “content after the Replacement Blood Feud” would be clearing that hidden dungeon.

Expecting that, they spread the reason for this meet-up to everyone around them.

High-ranking ranker guilds and some single rankers, and some double rankers as well, were quietly moving toward that location one by one.

If Seong cleared the dungeon and came out, they would aim for the moment he was exhausted and rush him.

You could think that was a bold move they could only make because they didn’t know the rankers were targeting him, but

Scarlet—former single rank rank 5, and current single rank rank 6—who could be called the leader of this meeting, could tell Seong was smart.

‘If his power is going to be exposed anyway, he’s either planning to expose it as quickly as possible inside the dungeon and make us miss the chance to ambush him... or he’s deliberately aiming for a moment when our preparations are lacking.’

No matter what, Seong would have to have some idea that rankers were targeting him.

The Rapid Guild didn’t look careless.

If he knew that, then he would also know that dungeon was the one the Eclipse Order knew about.

In that case, it looked like he was setting a trap by opening a hierarchy battle like the Replacement Blood Feud, then clearing the dungeon and luring an ambush so he could strike back somehow.

That was why Scarlet quickly gave orders to the people at the meeting.

“There may be Rapid Guild members lying in wait around the Demon King and his backup team. Check.”

At Scarlet’s words, everyone searched the area thoroughly.

But—

-Nothing is showing up.

“...?”

That couldn’t be.

No matter how much they were in the same guild, summoning everyone on-site was only possible in special circumstances.

If they wanted to prepare for an ambush like this, they should have come in advance and laid low.

Scarlet was staring at Seong on the screen with a confused expression.

What on earth is he thinking?