The Support Ate it All

A few more days passed in a blur as I learned new skills and kept honing them.

I checked the message that had just come in.

[Song Cheonhye:(rolling chestnut-burr emoji)]

[Song Cheonhye:(chestnut-burr hedgehog emoji)]

[Kim Ho:Looks like you’re doing a little better.]

On the very first day of PvP, she’d been seriously down in the dumps.

Not only had she gotten crushed by Hong Yeonhwa, her longtime rival, she’d also run headfirst into the wall that was S-rank [Elemental Resistance].

Still, the fact that she’d messaged me first meant she’d managed to pull herself together at least a little as time passed.

For some reason, I could almost picture Song Cheonhye letting out a sigh.

[Song Cheonhye:I can’t stay like that forever.]

[Kim Ho:Good.]

[Kim Ho:(cheering hedgehog emoji)]

[Song Cheonhye:What about you? The outside request.]

[Kim Ho:It’s over.]

[Kim Ho:Something else came up.]

[Song Cheonhye:You’re not off having too much fun, are you?]

[Song Cheonhye:(suspicious hedgehog emoji)]

[Kim Ho:I’m not skipping school just to play around.]

I could tell her later that I’d thrown down with the Blood Cult.

No point making her worry for no reason right now.

[Song Cheonhye:When are you coming back?]

[Song Cheonhye:Midterms are starting.]

[Kim Ho:Looks like I’ll be late.]

[Kim Ho:Tell me what’s on them.]

[Song Cheonhye:(looking-away hedgehog emoji)]

[Song Cheonhye:Maybe.]

[Kim Ho:Then forget it.]

[Song Cheonhye:Who said I didn’t want to?]

[Song Cheonhye:I said I’d see and let you know.]

Same as always. She grumbled the whole time, but she still did every favor I asked.

[Song Cheonhye:Anyway, come back soon.]

[Kim Ho:Yeah.]

[Kim Ho:See you when I get back.]

[Song Cheonhye:Be careful.]

Of course I will.

Thinking that, I stared straight ahead.

Martial artists in red robes were approaching from the distance.

Row by row, in disciplined formation.

At the center of their ranks was a four-man palanquin.

And seated inside it was a man drenched in blood-red from head to toe.

Blood Demon.

Just like the future Meteor Dragon had glimpsed through astrology, the Blood Cult Leader and the experts of the Protector Hall had finally appeared.

“......”

There was still a long distance between us, but it wasn’t hard to tell where he was looking.

At first his gaze was aimed toward Meteor Dragon and the guardians, but soon it shifted to me, and something changed in it.

Then it stayed fixed there without moving.

Even as that happened, the Blood Cult experts continued forward, and before long they were close enough for voices to carry between us.

Only then did the Cult Leader open his mouth.

“I do not particularly care for the word fate. But now that I have seen you, I understand. You are the one.”

There was a great deal packed into those words, the one.

The one who had repeatedly interfered with the Blood Cult’s affairs, including the retrieval of the Blood Wind Sword, and who had taken down countless elders, commanders, and masters.

How did he figure that out right away?

Looks like some kind of animal instinct kicked in.

As far as I was concerned, it saved me the trouble of doing my own PR, so it was a net gain.

Times like this call for a little swagger.

One of the core keywords of this plan was negotiation.

If I wanted to steer this smoothly, the best move was to sit down at the table as an equal from the very beginning.

If my real level got exposed, it would backfire, but the odds of that were close to zero.

[Sovereign] ranked up, after all.

Back when it was lower, S-ranks could vaguely see through me.

Now even the Chairman and the dragons didn’t seem able to read me clearly.

The Blood Demon would be the same.

So I decided to commit fully to the arrogant sovereign concept.

“You’ve got decent eyes. I am.”

“Today is truly a fortunate day. On this single day, at this single hour, I may not only fulfill a long-cherished desire, but also meet an old enemy.”

“By that ‘desire,’ do you mean stepping into a higher realm?”

“You ask a pointless question when you already know the answer.”

“Of course I know. I also know you’re wandering.”

I nodded and tossed out a light jab.

The truth was, everyone was wandering right now.

No one knew a clear method for reaching EX-rank.

But from the Blood Demon’s perspective, it would sound as if I were singling him out alone.

He was desperate enough to throw masters around without restraint, after all.

Just as expected, his face twitched for an instant.

“You speak as though you know the path.”

“I do. What do you think this is?”

What I pulled out as I answered was [Martial Soul(EX)].

The first EX-rank item Lucky Charm ever drew for me.

I still didn’t know its exact effect, but one thing was clear: it was closely tied to martial-type classes.

The Blood Cult Leader must have sensed something ominous from it too, because for the first time he lost his composure and stared with wide eyes.

“That is......!”

“You want it?”

“How could I not? I believed that if I had only the Blood Wind Sword, everything else would become superfluous, and yet......”

At his sigh, a middle-aged man standing nearby stepped forward.

He was the one who had commanded the sword formation and fought the dragons in the future Meteor Dragon showed me. Most likely the Chief Protector.

“Supreme One, give the order.”

“It is not something that can be taken by force.”

The Blood Cult Leader slowly shook his head.

To him, I would appear to be a being at least on his level.

Add the dragons, and that meant facing five S-ranks at once.

If the Chairman joined in, that made six.

In that situation, break through the other S-ranks and take [Martial Soul(EX)] from me?

The odds were vanishingly low.

It might honestly be easier to just crush everyone head-on.

Looking straight at me, the Blood Cult Leader continued.

“You must have had a reason for showing that to me.”

“Of course. I intend to grant you a single chance. A chance to pass the test and obtain what you desire.”

At that, one corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

“How truly interesting. To think there is still one left who dares judge me.”

“The shape may change, but tests never end. Not unless you transcend everything.”

I deliberately emphasized the word transcend and scratched at him again, just a little.

The Cult Leader’s face twitched again.

Honestly, I was starting to enjoy getting reactions out of him.

Soon the restrained blood-red aura around him slowly unraveled, and a heavy pressure began to settle over the entire area.

In that state, the Blood Demon spoke.

“You are not wrong. I will accept the challenge.”

“Good. Then what will you offer up?”

“......Offer up?”

I wanted to squeeze every possible advantage out of this and make sure I got hazard pay too, but obviously I couldn’t say that out loud.

So I maintained the arrogant sovereign concept and replied.

“It doesn’t matter what. Show me your desperation. Let that be what leads you to the test.”

“......”

The Blood Cult Leader fell into thought for a while.

No matter how massive the organization he ruled, he couldn’t ignore the value of items.

It would sting to burn something truly high-grade on a single test.

But if he offered something mediocre, he might get hit with something like, So this is all your desperation amounts to? And then he’d lose face right in front of his subordinates.

The best thing you’ve got... that’s what you’ll have to hand over, right?

Looks like the Blood Demon came to the same conclusion. He opened his inventory and pulled out a large wooden box.

Then he tossed it with a pushing motion, and the box floated toward me slowly through the air.

Feels like he packed internal energy into it too.

If I caught it without neutralizing that force, the damage would be serious.

He was clearly trying to gauge my level through how I handled it.

So I smiled as if it were laughable.

“A man in the Cult Leader’s seat, and you’re this petty.”

Then I cast [Transplanting Flowers, Grafting Trees] and received the wooden box.

The Blood Cult Leader and the Chief Protector’s faces hardened at once.

“......!”

“......!”

They clearly hadn’t expected me to handle it this casually.

But they quickly smoothed their expressions back into blankness, then gestured toward the box.

As if telling me to check what was inside.

“That should be more than enough sincerity from me.”

[Thousand-Year Evergreen(S+)]

Even among countless kinds of wood, it was one of the finest there was.

I’d planned to go get it myself someday, and here he was handing something this precious over without hesitation.

I nearly bowed to him on the spot.

But maintaining the concept was important, so I settled for giving a slight nod with my chin.

“It’ll do. You may prepare now.”

“How?”

The Chief Protector asked in the Cult Leader’s place, and I answered with a meaningful smile.

“The Cult Leader should fulfill the Cult Leader’s duty. You should fulfill yours.”

“My duty?”

The duty of the Protector Hall was obviously to keep the Cult Leader safe from danger.

And since demonic martial artists were always anxious about certain things, I decided to feed them one more keyword.

“The success or failure of a test is never certain. If, by some chance, he suffers a deviation, wouldn’t that be a serious problem?”

“......!”

At that, every Blood Cult master formed a battle formation around the Cult Leader.

It looked like one of the more stability-focused types, able to respond to threats from both outside and within, unlike the usual recklessness of demonic arts.

And I didn’t forget to add one more line.

“Have the force you sent to Hyeseong stand by as well.”

“And why is that?”

If I answered with Because innocent people will get hurt if blades start flying around!, that would be way too obvious.

So I gave the answer I’d prepared in advance.

“There’s nothing to gain from letting noise interfere with the test.”

“......”

“If that doesn’t matter to you, then do as you please.”

“......There’s no need to waste our strength needlessly.”

The Chief Protector let out a low murmur before answering like that.

In the first place, those troops had been sent to keep the Chairman in check.

If the act of keeping him in check was meaningless from the start, then why send precious masters marching into a deathtrap?

So far, so good.

Thinking that, I looked toward the Cult Leader.

He was now seated cross-legged at the center of the defensive formation the Protector Hall experts had built around him.

He sent me a fierce look, clearly signaling that he was ready, so I nodded and spoke.

“Then let’s begin.”

[Using ‘[Invitation]’.]

[Cooldown 9 days 23:59:58]

Right after that, the Cult Leader also fixed an intense stare on the empty air.

He must have been seeing some notification about The Sovereign’s Invitation.

Soon enough, he closed his eyes, as though he had selected Accept.

This was the heart of the plan I had prepared.

One way or another, he needed to be broken once.

With the Blood Demon’s personality, he would never stop before that.

And if that was the case, then it was far better to make him fight the heroes of my inner world than let him injure Meteor Dragon and the guardians.

The latter were people who could directly help me in this game world, and they were bonds I genuinely valued.

The fact that they were precious to Seo Ye-in was another huge reason.

The heroes in my inner world, on the other hand, numbered a full thousand, and honestly, I wasn’t even sure they could get hurt.

And more than anything else, they’d been starving for guests.

They’d probably educate the Blood Demon real well.

“......! ......!”

Sure enough, the Blood Demon’s closed eyelids kept trembling violently.

Looks like he was getting beaten with enthusiasm in there.

The Chief Protector grew restless at the sight, but there was nothing any of them could do except watch.

Still, he’s holding out pretty long.

That was a new record, even surpassing Father-in-law and Mother-in-law No. 3.

Of course, with the flow of time different between my inner world and this place, it still didn’t take very long.

Soon enough, the Blood Demon’s eyes flew open—

COUGH!

—and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The Protector Hall experts rushed in at once.

“Supreme One!”

“I am fine. Hold your positions.”

The Blood Demon lightly waved a hand, then stared at me, clearly about to say something.

But right then, a notification appeared in the air.

[[Déjà Vu(S)] activates.]

[[Invitation] activates.]

A buy-one-get-one event here?