Black Online

Black Online, 6th floor, the Spawn Location.

Swoosh~!

Fang Raon appeared in a flash of light. He was dressed lightly with pulled-back hair and sunglasses perched on his head.

"Halt there!"

In that moment, three spears came for his throat but stopped before taking away his life, held by three nervous-looking players.

On the rooftops, there were several archers ready to shoot. They all looked on the edge.

"Hello...?"

Fang Raon raised his hands in surrender with an awkward smile, as he didn’t expect this kind of greeting.

"What’s your name?"

A guard asked with a hostile tone.

"...Fang Raon."

He said.

"...Your guild?"

The guard asked with a frown.

"Rose Records."

Fang Raon said.

One of the guards pulled out a chat window and started sending a message to someone.

"I hope you understand why there is a necessity for such actions. We cannot be sure that you aren’t one of those filthy hackers."

The guard said.

"I completely understand."

Fang Raon said.

A while later, the guard, who had just sent the message, received a response from the certain someone.

He checked out the message.

"He is good!"

The guard shouted.

As soon as he said that, the archers lowered their bows, and the guards also lowered their spears.

"Welcome to the rebellion’s headquarters."

The guard said.

’Rebellion? That’s what they call themselves?’

Fang Raon wondered, and he nodded and walked off while taking in the view of the city that had changed in the past year.

It was mostly players here. Basically, the whole remaining player community had gathered here, as it was currently the safest place to be at.

There weren’t many locals, as they had relocated elsewhere, somewhere safe, as the hackers had also been killing them.

While walking, Raon received several flirty looks from girls—both young and old—as, during his time in the training, he had matured into a nice-looking lad.

He walked with no destination in mind.

In that moment, he arrived at the beach and took in the salty breeze of the endlessly stretching ocean.

"I do feel like going for a little fishing trip."

Fang Raon said with a smile, but then he turned his head around with a grin on his face, looking at the rooftops.

"Wanna come with me?!"

He shouted.

Nobody answered, but there was soon movement in the rooftops, as several players peeked their heads.

They jumped down from the rooftops and approached him, but they didn’t seem to be in a friendly mood.

"I remember you."

Fang Raon said with a smile as he looked at the blond-haired man.

"I was wondering when you would show your face."

Kennedy said angrily.

He was with several other members of the Bastard Men, who all held animosity towards Raon and wanted to make him suffer.

The men that Raon killed back then at the 27th floor were good friends of theirs, so they had been waiting for a chance to get revenge.

"I guess that guard back then contacted you, yeah?"

Fang Raon asked.

"He is part of the Bastard Men, but he is also a part of the city guard, and I only told him to message me if a person with a name of Fang Raon pops up."

Kennedy said coldly.

"I sensed something weird with that person’s emotions. I knew he was up to no good."

Fang Raon chuckled.

Then, the players surrounded him from all sides.

Kennedy reached out to take out the Risk Zone Orb and crushed it in his hand.

Suddenly, a dome fell over the beach, making it a Risk Zone where everything was allowed, including murder.

"You wasted such a precious artifact just for me?"

Fang Raon said with a smile.

"I have more."

Kennedy said with a smirk.

In that moment, the three archers from the group pulled their bows and fired their arrows at Fang Raon.

The tips of their arrows were coated with a deadly poison.

Fang Raon slipped his hands inside his pockets and didn’t move another muscle, but then, near-invisible energy oozed out of his body.

The energy looked like gas, almost, and when the arrows came in contact with it, they stopped moving altogether.

They were just hovering in the air, stuck in place.

"W-what?"

The archers were in complete disbelief.

"You manifested your aura to create a forcefield around your body?"

Kennedy asked with a look of surprise.

It required high mastery of Reach to be able to do something like that, and Fang Raon did it like it was nothing!

"That’s not all."

Fang Raon said, and then he waved his hand, and the arrows were sent back where they came from.

The arrows moved faster than ever before, and they pierced through the heads of the archers, killing them instantly!

The poison didn’t even get to do anything as they died from the impact!

"Bastard!"

Kennedy retrieved his high-quality bow from his inventory, placed one of his strongest arrows on the string, and fired it right away.

Fang Raon caught the arrow effortlessly from the air, but then he noticed that Kennedy’s lips curled into a smile.

"A foolish mistake!"

Kennedy laughed, and then he squeezed his right hand into a fist and screamed, "Explosion!" from the top of his lungs.

The arrow that Fang Raon caught started glowing with crimson light, and smoke started pouring out of it.

Fang Raon looked at the arrow with a surprise.

"Oh—"

BOOM~!

The arrow exploded, and the players were swept by the explosion, and were sent flying towards the ocean.

SPLASH~!

They all landed in the water with a loud splash.

The beach sand around the explosion was scattered everywhere with a large crater in the middle of it all.

"That did it."

Kennedy said with a smirk.

"Did you get him?"

In that moment, a voice came right behind him, and as Kennedy turned his head around, he saw Fang Raon looking innocently at him.

"W-what?!"

Kennedy quickly jumped back in shock.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. How was Fang Raon so fast? He was definitely hit by the explosion, as he couldn’t have possibly dodged it!

Yet.

He was completely unharmed!

"Guys, come out of the water already!"

Kennedy screamed and looked over at the water, but he saw several corpses floating facedown in the water.

It was his friends.

"What?!"

Kennedy cried out.

The explosion couldn’t have possibly killed them, but then he noticed that their throats had been cut, as there was a lot of blood in the water.

"What the hell... happened to them?"

"I cut their throats."

Fang Raon said with a smile and showed his blood-stained right hand, but it definitely wasn’t his blood.

’Impossible... While running away from the explosion, he also found time to kill all of my friends at the same time?

’What a monster...’

Kennedy thought with a dark look.

His gaze hardened, and he put his bow back in his inventory and pulled out his secondary weapon—a sword.

"Take out your sword, Raon. I know I am outmatched, but I won’t give up without a fight. I want a proper duel."

Kennedy said.

"...Well, the thing is, I don’t have a weapon."

Fang Raon raised his hands.

"What the hell do you mean you don’t have a weapon?"

Kennedy asked with confusion.

"I did have a weapon, but they don’t really suit my new fighting style, and I never found a need for a weapon until now."

Fang Raon said with a chuckle.

While he was in the training camp, he only used whatever weapon Rock and Maquella gave him that day.

He hadn’t been using King’s Shortsword in a very long time, so he actually didn’t have any weapon with him right now.

However.

It didn’t matter to him.

"Tch..."

Kennedy clicked his tongue.

"Why don’t we stop here? I don’t really want to kill you. I don’t think we have animosity that requires such drastic measures."

Fang Raon said.

"You already killed all of them!"

Kennedy roared angrily and looked at all his dead friends lying in the sand and floating in the water!

"I used Read to understand their personalities, and it would’ve never worked if I tried to spare them. They would’ve tried to find a way to backstab me.

"You, on the other hand, are a smart individual, at least I hope so. You reached the status of the Vice Guild Master of Bastard Men for a reason."

Fang Raon said.

"..."

Kennedy turned quiet, and he knew that if he tried fighting Raon, he wouldn’t stand a chance in hell.

’Raikou told me to do this. I don’t want to die for his idiotic vendetta that he has for his brother.’

Kennedy thought, and then he lowered his sword and bowed his head.

"I apologize for my actions today. Please spare me."

He asked.

"Of course, but just tell me this... did my brother tell you to do this?"

Fang Raon asked.

"...Yes."

Kennedy said with a conflicted look.

He knew that lying wouldn’t help him at all and might just cause him to die in the end, and he knew that with Raon’s level of Read, he would find the truth.

"Thought so. I didn’t need Read for that. My brother is a little silly, you see. He really doesn’t think about the consequences.

"He just acts on his emotions, but you should know that, don’t you, Kennedy?"

Fang Raon asked.

"...Yeah."

Kennedy sighed.

"You know where Rose Records is staying at?"

Fang Raon asked.

"...I think they’re staying at the Rust Sharehouse."

Kennedy said.

"Thanks."

Fang Raon said with a smile before turning away and walking in the direction of Rust Sharehouse.

Kennedy watched him go.

’I’ve been following the wrong brother.’

He thought with a heavy sigh.