Chapter 161

└ Legendary fake listing

└ Let them be—they never expected Seo Hyunwoo and Roy to wreck them like this

└ Yep. Where’s GodTech these days? ㅜㅜ

[Title: Roy’s Blue Gate]

(Screen capture from Blood Fiend Mountain.jpg)

I asked GPT about it—they estimate around 80,000. Eighty thousand berserk fiends, wow.

└ Maybe they’re salty and refusing to end it on purpose

└ Same, I’m regretting the time

[Title: Could Roy Really Be Fighting Alone Inside Blood Fiend Mountain..?]

Doesn’t the base of the mountain look like it’s shaking? The noise is insane too

└ Maybe they’re not leaving because they can’t get out

At that moment, Junseo was hurriedly conferring with the three guild leaders.

Because the cameras inside the Blood Fiend horde with Roy had failed under the heat, the producers had no way to assess the situation inside.

Having received the update, Bella silently stared at the guild member who was managing the virtual space.

Her gaze asked if something had gone wrong.

“Are you doubting me now? I’m offended... There’s absolutely no problem.”

“They say there isn’t,” Junseo replied.

Bella shrugged and turned her gaze back to Junseo.

Min-guk, who had been listening quietly, added his opinion.

“Let’s wait just a little longer.”

If there really was no issue with the virtual space, it meant Roy was still alive. Stopping it forcibly would be unfair.

“But....”

If anything happened to the participant, the show wouldn’t just end—it would be canceled.

Besides, if Roy really was S-rank, there shouldn’t be this much delay.

And look at that absurd spectacle.

“But do you really think... that’s normal? Not a glitch?”

“Huh!”

At Junseo’s continued doubts, Pluto’s guild member openly displayed displeasure.

Seeing that, Bella smirked, patted the guild member on the shoulder, and spoke up.

“PD, you know it automatically balances difficulty based on a participant’s rank.”

Of course, because it’s a test, they’d increased the difficulty. But it was never meant to be overwhelming.

After all, plenty of participants had boldly marched through the Blue Gate under their own power.

Yet the Blue Gate had unleashed this many Blood Fiends?

There’s only one explanation.

“Then really...?”

“I thought you already knew. You’re surprisingly clueless~”

Bella’s raised corner of her mouth confirmed Junseo’s suspicions, and his jaw dropped.

What he’d dismissed as impossible was actually happening.

Why would someone of such elite caliber join this shabby program...?

“So then you three knew from the start—”

“Well~ I did from the start, but I’m not sure about these two old geezers.”

“Why are you calling me an old geezer?”

Min-guk narrowed his brow and glared at Bella.

Eun-seong likewise frowned in discomfort and retorted.

“I found out before you did. I was the one treating him the day he awakened.”

“What? If that happened, you should’ve told me right away!”

Growling low at how hard he’d worked to find Roy, Bella sneered. Eun-seong pretended not to hear.

“Anyway, you don’t need to worry too much. But since there could be misunderstandings, you should at least inform them there’s nothing wrong—”

Just then, the assistant director rushed over and grabbed Junseo’s arm, pulling him toward the monitors.

Sensing something had occurred, Junseo and the guild leaders hurried after him.

What they saw was truly astonishing.

The Blood Fiends that had formed a massive mountain were now collapsing helplessly.

And at the summit, molten lava surged down as if a volcano had erupted.

“What... is that?”

“Light started leaking from inside, then lava burst out. Wh-what do we do, PD?”

Inside Blood Fiend Mountain was Roy.

The staff, including the assistant director, seemed convinced something had gone wrong with Roy—none could look away from the screen, all faces etched with shock.

But the guild leaders’ reactions were very different.

“Wow~ That’s hot! A real shame, though.”

“Beyond imagination.”

Having witnessed the full power of an S-rank elementalist, Bella and Min-guk genuinely admired Roy’s display.

Eun-seong, staring at the fearless star on screen, murmured quietly.

“...Is he in his right mind?”

✧

Of course he was perfectly lucid.

Roy had never been clearer-headed—he’d just unlocked his ultimate skill.

‘How long have I waited for this moment since falling into the wilderness?’

Forget everything you knew about Roy until now.

Today, he was truly reborn as an awakened of the wilderness.

으향향향!

Any daze from his brothers’ deaths vanished, Roy snapped back to focus.

A crooked grin lifted one corner of his mouth—no sign of fear or anxiety remained.

The terror the Blue Gate had shown him was worse than he’d {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} anticipated...but still.

‘It was all fake anyway.’

His brothers were alive, and the real fault lay with him alone.

It was a little sad that he couldn’t share his fate even in virtual space, but outside the Blue Gate was the wilderness guild.

With that thought, his fear dissolved.

“They’re all dead now.”

The first thing Roy wanted to test after unlocking his skills was the wide-area meteor rain skill, “Falling Flames.”

“Falling Flames” was his strongest attack.

Raising his hand to summon it, a sudden thought crossed his mind.

‘Seo Hyunwoo and the Pluto guild members never show their full strength on camera.’

Indeed, revealing all your cards without knowing who the Agent of Chaos is would be foolish.

But he didn’t want to end this with a mediocre performance, either.

He needed a display that would leave a blazing impression on the public and a clear warning to the Agent of Chaos.

So Roy reached for his alternate choice:

【Skill ‘Fire Tornado’ activated.】

A vortex of flame.

As Roy extended his hand over the lava, the molten flow at his feet began to churn rapidly.

Soon, a small whirl appeared in the lava.

Ssiik-

With a satisfied lift of his lip, Roy focused further.

The vortex grew, sucking in surrounding Blood Fiends and rapidly expanding its mass.

In the blink of an eye, the fiery column shot skyward, obliterating the summit of Blood Fiend Mountain and asserting its overwhelming presence.

“Kieeeek!”

The Blood Fiends caught in the raging fire pillar shrieked as though torn apart.

Once the mountain’s structure cracked, it swiftly collapsed, revealing gaps Roy seized without hesitation.

Pulling the lava-covered spear from the ground, he swung it wide through the air.

The spear’s tip traced a massive fiery arc, slicing through the horde in an instant.

Kwa-ga-ga-gang!

“Kieek!”

With the Blood Fiends’ screams, dozens were incinerated into ashes.

At that moment, multiple cameras tracking the participant’s biometrics and circling Blood Fiend Mountain all panned to Roy.

Only then did the giant screen resume showing Roy’s face, and the venue erupted in thunderous cheers.

Kyaaaa!

In the live chat, messages celebrating Roy’s feat flew by at lightning speed:

The fire pillar that had mercilessly consumed the Blood Fiend mountain now split into two columns.

It was utter pandemonium.

The Blood Fiends had nowhere to run.

The field, which had barely been a highway moments ago, lay submerged in lava, its meaning lost.

Only dead and dying Blood Fiends remained.

“.......”

Roy’s cold gaze swept over the battlefield, then he checked the timer floating overhead.

[9:30:07]

Not even ten minutes had passed.

The current Final Stage record on StarHero was 17 minutes by Anna.

At this pace, he’d finish well before 17 minutes—but after all, he was an S-rank, so how could he lag far behind an A-rank?

‘I’ll finish before ten minutes.’

Roy flicked the charred flesh of a Blood Fiend off his spear and turned his head.

He scanned for the area with the highest density of Blood Fiends.

Spotting the perfect target, he crooked his grin.

Without hesitation, he sprinted toward it.

“Kieek!”

He cut down any Blood Fiend that stood in his way.

Then, just before reaching his goal, he leaped high off a mound of Blood Fiend corpses.

At the apex of his jump, he hurled his spear with all his might.

Swa-aaek-

Flames scattered along its trajectory, and when the spear finally lodged into the midsection of Blood Fiend Mountain,

Kwaaaang!

The eruption of fire consumed the remaining mountain in an instant.

“Haah, haah...”

Landing heavily, Roy panted and turned to face the camera behind him.

Ding!

The notification sound signaled the end of the trial, and Roy found himself standing center stage.

[9:59:00]

Final time: 9 minutes 59 seconds.

With one second to spare, the Final champion emerged.

Korea’s first S-rank elemental Awakener, Roy, had made a spectacular debut.