Chapter 581: Soldier

One-on-one PvP.

The Throne Match.

It had fully lived up to the expectations of the world.

Its viewer ratings were higher than any other event, and whenever rankers the viewers had been waiting for clashed, the ratings soared.

Experts praised it as a match event worthy of decorating the finale, and in the first bracket, three matches drew attention.

The first match.

Valhalla vs. Resil.

Everyone had predicted Valhalla’s overwhelming victory, but Resil had revealed the power of the Dragon Monarch, unrivaled even among Legendary classes, and sent a thrill through the entire world.

Hyunsoo vs. Lorander.

A match between Fighting God Lorander, the supreme ruler of PvP and a man who had run forward chasing only one man, and Master Blacksmith Hyun, whom people jokingly called “a roider?”—expectations for it had simply been high.

And Hyunsoo, unchanged as ever, one-killed him, causing a tremendous shockwave.

And the final match.

Wei, the world’s No. 1 necromancer ranker, participated.

His opponent was Musashi of Japan.

-China’s No. 1 necromancer ranker Wei has gone insane! He has summoned fifty Skeleton Warriors!!

Skeleton Warriors.

If Death Knights were undead made from legendary knights, Skeleton Warriors were merely beings on the level of ordinary knights.

However, summoning fifty such Skeleton Warriors was something no current necromancer could accomplish.

The number of Skeleton Warriors high-level users could command was eight.

Wei overwhelmingly exceeded that.

The sight of the fifty knights, wearing old leather armor and holding rusted longswords, overwhelmed the public.

On top of that.

“Summon, Death Knight Ambaka.”

-......!

-......!

-......!

A legendary being, now dead, appeared as a single Death Knight and threw the audience into an uproar.

The Death Knight, which stood three meters tall, wore golden armor and held a massive axe.

The fact that a mere single user could command a Level 530 Death Knight made many necromancers envious.

Step—!

The sight of Death Knight Ambaka standing before the Warriors, its old and worn cloak fluttering, was awe-inspiring. It seemed to pronounce “the end” upon Musashi, who was called Japan’s strongest ranker.

Then.

Musashi simply gripped his Japanese sword.

As if it had been forged by a Japanese master swordsmith.

A black grip, and a blade glittering as it reflected the light.

Even facing fifty Skeleton Warriors and one Death Knight alone, the way he did not shrink back set the Japanese archipelago ablaze.

At the same time.

Baaaaang—!!!

A brilliant light burst from Musashi’s sword and filled the entire arena.

“Of course he’s from the land of anime... Is that Solar Flare or what?”

The light stole even the vision of the viewers watching the match, as if a flashbang had exploded.

Piiiiiii—

The spreading sound was enough to make the users in the audience cover their ears and grimace.

The sound gradually subsided, and through the fading white flash, another sound rang out.

Slash—!!!

Slaaash—!

Slash, slash, slaaash—!

“Wh-what is this!”

Wei’s panicked voice woke the viewers.

Within the flash that had spread for only two or three seconds.

Musashi’s figure came into view amid the fifty Skeleton Warriors, his Japanese sword hanging low in both hands.

Before anyone knew it, he had sent thirteen Warriors rolling across the ground, and like a Japanese warrior, he performed a motion with sharp discipline.

Shiiing—!!!

Without even looking back at the Skeleton Warrior attacking from behind, he thrust his Japanese sword straight into it and struck upward, shattering it.

Crack—!

He lowered one knee against the Warrior approaching from the front, drew his Japanese sword in, and cut it twice with a quick-draw technique.

Slash, slash!!!

At the same time, attacks came stabbing down from every direction, and after he rolled once across the ground.

Slaaash—!

He drew the Japanese sword he had returned to its sheath and cut down the Warriors’ lower bodies in a single stroke.

The Warriors writhed on the ground after losing their legs.

Using the small dagger he drew from his clothes.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud—!!!

He smashed their foreheads and collapsed them at three times the speed with which he had swung his Japanese sword.

In that state.

Craaaack—!!!

Still seated, he cut down the approaching Skeleton Warriors one, two, three, four, five at a time.

“Graaaaaah!”

He looked sharply at the single Death Knight that rushed out at light speed, despite its size.

Whooooosh—!

The Death Knight’s specialty.

A huge aura gathered force, and the moment it struck down, a concentrated mass of energy split into dozens of pieces and began stretching toward Musashi.

Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack-crack—!

At that moment, Musashi, who was still crouched, took on a lithe posture.

“Cat Dance.”

Baaaaang—!!!!

He instantly saw through the dozens of split concentrated masses, and like an agile cat.

Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pang—!!

Musashi moved fifteen times in an instant and appeared—

“Eek......!!!”

Right behind Wei, the world’s No. 1 necromancer ranker.

Musashi appeared behind him, and his Japanese sword was already at Wei’s neck.

“Graaaaaah!”

The Death Knight and remaining Skeleton Warriors rushing over to save him were useless.

Slaaash—!!

The moment Musashi cut Wei’s neck with an indifferent expression.

Whoooooosh—

The Death Knight and Warriors all scattered, and Wei vanished while looking at Musashi with horrified eyes, signaling the end of the match.

It had happened in barely one minute after the match began.

China’s strongest had fallen to Japan’s Musashi.

The entire world was amazed, and the Japanese archipelago burned hot.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

“Waaaaaaaahhhh!!!”

Shiiing—

He placed his Japanese sword into its sheath, caught his breath, and logged out.

He truly looked like a Japanese warrior, and Japan rejoiced at the potential Musashi had shown. It was enough to call it one of the highlight matches of the first round.

With that, the first bracket ended, and the participants were divided into losers and winners.

The losers packed their bags and went home, while the winners began preparing to climb to the next river.

Once again, the branch heads of each country stood before the world and began arranging the bracket by numbers.

[Valhalla vs. Dmitri.]

Valhalla, who was receiving the greatest attention, drew a Russian player who was neither particularly special nor particularly flawed, leaving behind a bit of disappointment.

[Hyeji vs. Lund.]

The match between a great mage and a world-famous Olympic star left fairly high expectations.

[Mio vs. Tai.]

Thailand’s No. 1 overall ranker. The assassin Tai.

And Mio, who did not rank highly in Vietnam but was Vietnam’s hero, drew him, creating both anticipation and concern.

Because to an archer, an assassin boasted the worst possible matchup.

As the match bracket was filled in one by one like that, finally, only the last two balls remained.

[Hyunsoo vs. Musashi.]

The moment those two names appeared, Koreans and Japanese people heated up.

-It’s Korea vs. Japan!!!

-By coincidence, it seems we’ll be able to see the Korea-Japan match we’ve all been waiting for in the second bracket!

-It looks like we’ll be able to see a match between Hyunsoo, the Master Blacksmith representing Korea, and Musashi, representing Japan!

-Waaaaaaaah!

While everyone was looking forward to the new match, Musashi was not fearful or afraid now that the moment he had been waiting for had arrived.

He, too, had participated in order to become the strongest in PvP, and he had enough confidence.

Musashi simply intended to wait for their turn.

But then.

“Guild master, I think you need to hurry and log into Ares.”

“......?”

It would take about a day before their match order arrived.

To Musashi, who looked puzzled, a guild member spoke.

“An envoy from the Parion Empire has arrived.”

“......?”

Musashi had no choice but to hurriedly log into Ares.

Musashi was the lord who led the largest territory in Japan.

The number of his citizens reached approximately 160,000, and his soldiers numbered close to 15,000.

Of course, Hyunsoo, who had once waged the Great Atlas War, had accomplished this long ago, and considering a year and a half had passed since then, Musashi might look slow.

But Musashi was not slow.

Hyunsoo had simply been fast.

In any case, his territory had been born from the guild “Warrior,” and it was prospering under their protection.

After logging in, Musashi faced one man.

Freng.

The man, holding a Flamberge, a sword shaped as if sharks were rippling through water, was quite young.

He looked to be in his early thirties, and made Musashi realize he was not some mere “envoy” sent only to deliver a “letter.”

Also, even if this was the Parion Empire.

The fact that he had trespassed alone into someone else’s territory showed his audacity.

Furthermore.

[The aura of the Imperial Heart is squeezing off your breath.]

[You have been afflicted with the status ailment Submission.]

[No power can display its spirit before the Imperial Heart, and all status ailment skills you can activate are nullified.]

Legendary class, Warrior.

Just as Master Blacksmith Hyun had risen to one of the Ten Great Legends, this was the Legendary class Musashi had reached.

That class possessed a power called the Warrior’s Eyes.

It was the power to send a gaze that overwhelmed an enemy in an instant.

But far from casting it, all his power was overwhelmed, and strength drained from his body.

“Could it be?”

Musashi was quick-witted, and the man introduced himself.

“I am Freng, the one who has taken Duke Lukael’s vacant place.”

Freng.

He was the former commander of the 1st Knight Order, who had led the entire knight order of the Parion Empire.

After Duke Lukael died.

To fill that vacancy, Bolond had seated him in that position.

To begin with, a duke and a knight commander could wield different levels of power.

In terms of martial force, Freng was higher, and once he took the position of duke, Parion’s order was being established even more clearly.

“I am Musashi, lord of the Verd Territory. May I ask what brings you here?”

At Musashi’s question, though he already felt helpless from Freng’s aura alone, Freng’s sharp eyes gleamed.

“Why did Sir Musashi not answer the request?”

“......”

Request.

It had clearly been delivered even to powerful people who had ill-fated connections with Hyun, and Musashi’s eyebrow twitched.

“A request is only a commission. Was it not my freedom whether to accept it or not?”

As a warrior, Musashi wanted to face Hyun fair and square.

He had thought the stage for that would be the World Championship.

He had also judged that there was no compulsion. However, that was Musashi’s misconception.

“Has Sir Musashi not received aid from the Parion Empire before? Yet to fail to answer His Majesty’s call in this way seems rather ungrateful.”

Calmly—

He spoke gently in a low voice, but Musashi was dumbfounded.

They had never received help from Parion.

Moreover, according to the rumors he had heard, the nation of Hyun had somehow easily blocked all the request killers.

It was probably not just a rumor.

“The fact that Hyun was in the arena is proof.”

Even before logging in, Musashi had seen Hyunsoo pass by in the arena.

“I judged that I lacked the ability to assassinate Hyun, so I did not answer. I hope you will understand with generosity.”

Musashi was not foolish either, so he offered lip service, and Freng brought up the main point.

“In that case, our Parion Empire will give you aid. In two days, swear loyalty to His Majesty.”

“......What... did you say?”

Musashi was flustered.

Three years.

That was the time it had taken to grow this territory to this point.

“This territory will now become the possession of our Parion Empire, and His Majesty Bolond will show mercy by allowing you to retain ownership of this territory that will belong to the Parion Empire. Also, the soldiers raised under the name ‘Warrior’ will be reborn as great soldiers of the Parion Empire.”

The Parion Empire was saying it would absorb everything without lifting a finger.

And also.

“Every year, you will have to offer approximately 40% of the taxes generated to His Majesty, who has made your territory stronger.”

If it was 40% of the taxes, that meant they would barely be kept breathing.

They would have to endure insane labor, eat only three meals a day, and hand over their money.

In other words.

“Modern slaves...?”

No, Ares-style slaves.

The towering degree of freedom would reduce even “users” to slaves.

“In three days, I will visit so we can celebrate your inauguration ceremony with your soldiers.”

“......”

Tremble, tremble—

Three days later.

He could tell those words meant that if he did not accept, they would kill everything in this territory.

“......”

Watching Duke Freng move away, Musashi could not curse or attack him.

He could only despair at what had befallen him and his guild members.

Meanwhile.

“Mrowww?”

A cat named Pretty, who had been watching this sight, stretched.

Whoooooosh—

The place where Pretty appeared again after vanishing like a shadow.

It was where Chancellor Nell was.

Nell had heard the news that the Parion Empire was even devouring users.

Because the users it devoured could become a threat to the nation of Hyun, she had been looking in on them like this.

“How should I prepare?”

The absorbed users would aim at the nation of Hyun, and they were a tremendous danger.

At that moment.

A clever thought flashed through her mind.

She formed a new plan.

Scratch, scratch—

The completed plan she wrote contained these words.

[Plan to Found a New Corps in the Nation of Hyun.]

[Corps Commander Name: Musashi.]

[2nd Corps Name: Warrior.]