“Huff, huff...!?”

    The broadcast notification confirming the identity of the Demon King left the older man gasping as though he were about to choke, his head craned back to stare at the sky.

    A younger man nearby rushed over in alarm.

    “Whoa, hey! What’s wrong, sir?!”

    “T-That young man!?”

    “Oh, the Demon King? Amazing, right? He really feels like someone from another world, doesn’t he?”

    “No, that’s not it...”

    Of course, the older man already knew about the Demon King.

    He was an avid fan of Eternal World videos—how could he not know?

    He had even subscribed to the Rapid Guild’s channel.

    But to realize that the young man he had casually spoken to earlier was the Demon King?

    The realization made him feel like his breath had caught in his throat.

    And now, he recalled the words he had said to him.

    Hadn’t he offered to team up because he thought the young man was alone without a guild?

    What foolish nonsense he had uttered.

    And worse, had the Demon King heard him say that he might come back if he struggled on his own?

    “W-Will he take revenge!?”

    He had seen the Demon King’s unmasked face—a flawlessly handsome young man.

    There hadn’t been anything particularly menacing about his demeanor.

    But his title was the Demon King, after all.

    From the videos, he knew the Demon King fought monsters with a chilling, emotionless precision.

    That cold image overlapped with the memory of their interaction, making the older man tremble.

    How could anyone judge a person’s nature based solely on their appearance?

    “Ahh! Why did I have to stick my nose in where it didn’t belong!?”

    As he spiraled into his regrets, the rest of the crowd remained fixated on the Demon King, Seong.

    The black sun hung in the sky, spreading shadow over a vast area.@@@@

    Deadly black thorns had rained down, and the cursed flowers they birthed had stopped the onslaught of the Legion of Calamity in its tracks.

    Players and guild members alike, who had been preparing to start their live streams in conjunction with the event, were left stunned.

    No one had anticipated the Demon King’s appearance.

    Even within the Rapid Guild, it had been kept a closely guarded secret.

    No one expected that the Demon King had already reached the required level, let alone that he would unveil a new skill in such a spectacular fashion.

    “Is he really at the same level as us?”

    “He’s gotta be well over 120!”

    “To stop that many enemies, even briefly... incredible.”

    “Those black flames from the sun are burning through everything...”

    “This is insane...”

    “He really did clear the Fortress of the Past, didn’t he?”

    The players were dumbfounded, their expressions blank as they gawked.

    Meanwhile, a few guild representatives snapped back to their senses and looked up at the leaderboard displayed in the sky.

    At the top, a single name stood proudly, dominating the rankings.

    [Achievement Ranking]

    [1st Place: ‘Seong’ – 1,783 points]

    [2nd Place: None.]

    Seeing Seong’s name standing alone, the guild representatives erupted into frantic shouts.

    “What are you standing around for?! Move! Move now!”

    “Charge immediately!!!”

    “Fire your skills! Long-range attacks!”

    “Don’t forget to funnel achievement points to your guild!”

    As the guild members sprang into action, three figures reacted even before the shouting began:

    Junhyuk, Kurosawa Ren, and Mayrin.

    Junhyuk, wielding his massive greatsword, activated the elemental abilities of his class, Elemental Gladiator, enveloping himself in lightning and wind to maximize his speed.

    Kurosawa Ren, using his Storm Shadow class, merged with the shadows and wind, vanishing as he accelerated toward his target.

    Finally, Mayrin—true to her title as the Dawnlight Spearbearer—gripped the radiant spear of dawnlight, threw it into the air, and rode it as it soared across the sky toward the Legion of Calamity.

    Riding her radiant spear through the sky, she extended her arms wide. Behind her, a multitude of spears made of light formed in perfect alignment.

    As she swung her arms forward, the spears shot downward, piercing the Legion below.

    Seong decided to observe her attack in silence.

    “Wahaha! Let there be LIGHT!” Mayrin’s boisterous shout rang out, and the spears embedded in the ground began to tremble.

    The spears erupted with a blinding brilliance, engulfing the surroundings in a purifying light.

    BOOOOOM!

    The explosion consumed everything, and when the light finally condensed, Mayrin descended from the sky, gripping her glowing spear tightly.

    She landed away from the previous impact zone and drove her spear into the ground.

    CRAAACK!

    ZZZZAP!

    The light split the earth, and a radiant beam surged forth from the fissures.

    “Oh?”

    Seong raised an eyebrow, impressed by the seamless flow of Mayrin’s combo.

    The chain of her abilities was flawless—light spears, an explosion, and a follow-up impact that inflicted additional area damage.

    Even Seong had to admit it was an exemplary display of skill.

    Junhyuk and Kurosawa Ren, however, were far less impressed.

    “Damn it. She’s just getting stronger and stronger. This isn’t fair,” Junhyuk muttered.

    “Ugh, I thought I’d caught up, but no...” Kurosawa Ren grumbled, clearly frustrated.

    The two of them, both striving to compete with Mayrin, could only watch with grim expressions as her attack carved two massive gaps into the Legion’s formation.

    Despair crept into their eyes as they glanced up at the rankings.

    [Achievement Ranking]

    [1st Place: ‘Seong’ – 1,783 points]

    [2nd Place: ‘Mayrin’ – 1,264 points]

    [3rd Place: ‘Junhyuk’ – 827 points]

    [4th Place: ‘Kurosawa Ren’ – 814 points]

    Mayrin had closed the gap with Seong significantly, but even doubling their own points wouldn’t allow Junhyuk or Kurosawa Ren to catch up.

    Realizing this, they shifted their focus to battling for third place.

    Meanwhile, Seong also glanced at the rankings, noting Mayrin’s upward climb.

    Mayrin turned to him, pointing her finger and shouting with her trademark energetic voice:

    “Demon King! Did you see that!? Wahaha!”

    It was as if she were issuing a challenge, showing off her prowess in response to his earlier display.

    Seong chuckled under his mask.

    It felt like a formal invitation—a declaration of rivalry.

    “Well then...”

    Suddenly, the turquoise heart in Seong’s hand began to pulse.

    The Legion of Calamity, which Junhyuk, Kurosawa Ren, and Mayrin had been struggling to destroy, began to rise again.

    Enveloped in a sickly green mist and shrouded in darkness, the undead transformed into a new force: the Legion of Death.

    The air grew heavy as over 200 reanimated corpses took their places, emitting a dense, toxic mist that corroded anything it touched.

    “Gwoooaaarrr!”

    “Kyaaah!”

    “Graaaaah!”

    Their roars shook the battlefield. The overwhelming presence left even Mayrin momentarily speechless, her usual boisterous demeanor silenced as she stared in awe.

    As the undead Legion charged into the original Legion of Calamity, they began to glow faintly, preparing for something far greater.

    Seong, calm and composed, activated his skill.

    With a flick of his wrist, the Plague Burst and Corpse Detonation spells erupted simultaneously, triggered by his mastery of necrotic energy.

    BOOOOOOM!

    A massive explosion engulfed the battlefield, releasing a scorching wave of heat and a blinding light.

    The air was filled with the hues of turquoise, green, and ash, creating an apocalyptic scene.

    The delayed secondary explosion slammed into the ground.

    CRAAAAAASH!

    The earth trembled, leaving behind a colossal crater—a gash in the land so deep it resembled a canyon.

    -What was THAT?!

    -Did a nuke just go off?!

    -This is insane!!!

    -How is this even real?!

    -There’s no way he’s under level 120. This has to be level 220, at least!

    As the dust settled, the magnitude of the destruction became clear.

    The leaderboard updated again, reflecting the seismic shift.

    [Achievement Ranking]

    [1st Place: ‘Seong’ – 10,029 points]

    [2nd Place: ‘Mayrin’ – 1,264 points]

    [3rd Place: ‘Junhyuk’ – 827 points]

    [4th Place: ‘Kurosawa Ren’ – 814 points]

    The overwhelming display left Mayrin unable to muster even her signature boisterous laughter. She could only stare, speechless, at the impossible gap between herself and the Demon King.