[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 393

“One year? How can one year make any sense?”

As soon as he accepted the quest, Irene poured out her frustration at Jeong-hoon.

Outside the prison, it was possible to look up a criminal’s record, including the sentence they had received.

After sending Ross off and collecting herself, she had come to the prison to check Lafaro’s record.

And the result—Lafaro’s sentence was a mere one year.

“Please, calm down.”

“You’re telling me to calm down after seeing this? Honestly… sob…”

Irene collapsed on the spot, sobbing uncontrollably.

Jeong-hoon patted her shoulder reassuringly and turned his gaze toward the prison gates.

From there, four security robots stared at them with cold, mechanical eyes.

“If execution isn’t an option… should I just remove him myself?”

“…Is that even possible?”

Ariel looked up at Jeong-hoon with tear-filled eyes.

Remove.

At that word, her gaze flickered faintly.

So eliminating Lafaro really is the answer.

No matter what happened, Lafaro would never be sentenced to death.

Loel had said so himself—so it was certain.

They claimed Lafaro had to continue existing as an NPC… but if Jeong-hoon removed him directly, wouldn’t that change the outcome?

After all, the quest objective itself was Elimination.

“Yes.”

For Jeong-hoon right now, it wasn’t just possible—it was trivial.

Frankly, he was confident he could level the entire prison without even carrying a weapon.

“Then… please. I can’t let this go as it is.”

With those words, Irene handed him a pendant.

“What’s this?”

Jeong-hoon tilted his head as he accepted the pendant.

“I don’t know. I just felt that I should give it to the person who’s helping me.”

“Is that so?”

This pendant was proof that the Divine Realm was involved in this sub-quest.

[Pendant of ???]

– ???

It seemed he couldn’t read its details.

Jeong-hoon kept the pendant and helped Irene back to her feet.

“I’ll take care of removing Lafaro. You should go back.”

“…No. I’ll wait here.”

She said she absolutely had to witness the moment Lafaro breathed his last.

Only then would she be able to send Ross off in peace.

Jeong-hoon didn’t try to persuade her further.

Instead, he left her there and walked toward the prison entrance.

“Then watch closely.”

As soon as Jeong-hoon stepped within range, the robots’ optical sensors flared red.

They had switched into attack mode to stop the intruder.

However, Jeong-hoon stepped forward with the Heavenly Demon Lord’s Dominion, leaping instantly to appear right in front of the robot on his right.

True Heavenly Demon Fist Arts — 4th Star.

His 6th Class.

After ascending to the Heavenly Martial Divine Emperor, the restrictions on using the Heavenly Demon Fist Arts were lifted.

Before, he could only advance to a higher “star” after meeting specific conditions—but now, he could unleash any star level he wished, up to the 4th, immediately.

Of course, from the 5th Star onward, he would still need to meet the proper conditions. But being able to leap straight from the 1st Star to the 4th in one move was already an enormous gain.

Boom!

His fist struck the security robot’s face, and its head couldn’t withstand the blow—exploding into pieces.

“Warning! Warning!”

“Warning! Warning! Intruder’s level is…”

Overwhelmed by Jeong-hoon’s sheer force, the robots hastily sent an alert inside.

Boom!

Before they could send additional signals, Jeong-hoon destroyed all their heads with the Heavenly Demon Fist Arts.

It took less than twenty seconds for the entrance to be breached.

“Wow…”

Irene, who had been watching, let out a short breath of admiration.

If it’s him… he can avenge our Ross.

* * *

[Warning! Warning! Intruder detected!]

Sirens blared throughout the prison.

At the very top floor, Krando, who had been working, tilted his head.

“What’s this? Who broke through the security robots?”

The security robots were Level 800.

And there were four of them.

With those four guarding the prison entrance, no one should have been able to break in.

Just what kind of fool would try to storm this prison?

“…Ah. Is this because of Lafaro?”

Krando opened the CCTV feed to identify the intruder.

Crash! Bzzzt!

The prison’s CCTV units, installed in every section, were being destroyed one after another in rapid succession.

Krando’s face filled with alarm.

“What the—?! How is he moving so fast…?!”

From the brief glimpse he caught on CCTV, the intruder was a young man wearing martial attire.

The old-fashioned style, out of place in Atlas, was proof that he was an outsider.

“Damn it… Why is an outsider here? Don’t tell me…”

At that moment, Lafaro’s face came to mind.

A genius capable of producing most of the robots in Atlas.

When Krando had heard the news that Lafaro’s greatest masterpiece—crafted even at the cost of committing murder—had been destroyed by an outsider, he had felt genuine regret.

No matter that Lafaro had killed someone; talent like that shouldn’t rot away in prison.

That was why Krando had arranged for the lightest possible sentence—so Lafaro could receive nominal punishment without losing his freedom entirely.

“Damn it! Who did he kill that would make someone chase him all the way here?!”

Krando hurried toward the system control unit.

The intruder wasn’t heading underground—he was going for the ground level.

It had to be the 7th floor where Lafaro was imprisoned.

There was no way he could allow such a once-in-a-generation genius to be lost to this man’s hands.

Bang!

In that instant, the door shattered, and the outsider in martial attire walked in slowly.

“W–What the…”

Krando couldn’t even string his words together.

How many layers of defensive barriers had been installed on that door?

It was built entirely from barriers strong enough to hold off even a swarm of high-level monsters—designed so that no one except Krando himself could enter from outside.

And yet this man had broken through them as if they were nothing?

Just who on earth was he?

===

[Player Information]

- Nickname: Hoon

- Level: 2,300

- Class: Heavenly Martial Divine Emperor– 6th Class

===

You’ve got to be kidding me…

Two thousand three hundred?

How is that even possible?

Outsiders who visited Atlas usually had levels in the 300–400 range.

That’s why they had never been much of a threat—but where had this monster come from?

“Were you the one who sentenced Lafaro to a single year?”

The outsider’s tone was icy as he asked.

Krando frantically shook his head.

“N–No, I don’t know anything about that.”

“Then who gave him one year?”

“T–That was done remotely…”

“And who controlled that remote system? No matter how advanced the AI is, it’s still a human who operates it, isn’t it?”

“…”

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

“D–Damn it…!”

Krando hurriedly slammed a red button.

Immediately, sirens blared throughout the entire prison.

At the sound, every robot patrolling the facility began converging on the 10th floor.

“This could’ve ended if you had just quietly handed over Lafaro…”

The outsider muttered softly.

“R–Really?”

A flicker of hope appeared in Krando’s eyes.

To his relief, the outsider nodded and gestured toward his own ear.

“First, do something about this noise.”

“Wait a moment.”

Krando pressed the button again, and the deafening sirens abruptly fell silent.

“All right. So… where is Lafaro right now?”

“Se–Seventh floor. He’s on the seventh floor.”

“Hmm. Then let me ask you just one thing.”

“If it’s something I can answer, I’ll tell you anything.”

Level 2,300.

Krando’s original plan had been to gather the robots in one place to create an opening and escape in the chaos.

But if this outsider was willing to spare him, there was no reason to gamble his life like that.

So he decided to go along with whatever kept the outsider in a good mood.

“Why do you value Lafaro so much?”

“It’s simple. He’s an indispensable talent for the evolution of Atlas.”

“A talent?”

“That’s right. Do you know who created all the high-level robots here? Every single one of them was made by Lafaro.”

“Ah, so that’s why you only gave him one year, even though he committed murder?”

“…That was wrong of me. But don’t you think locking up someone like Lafaro for even a year is an astronomical loss?”

“Oh? You sure you want to say that to me? I came here to kill Lafaro.”

“W–Well, it can’t be helped. He’s still a criminal who committed murder.”

“No backbone, huh? Well, that works out. I’ve been meaning to run a little experiment on you.”

“An… experiment?”

“Yeah.”

In the next instant, Jeong-hoon’s fist smashed into Krando’s face.

He had struck with the intent to kill, and Krando’s head twisted a full 180 degrees before he dropped dead on the spot.

[You have killed an NPC.]

[The role of NPC Krando has been removed.]

“So that’s how it works.”

Jeong-hoon glanced at the message that appeared before him and gave a short nod.

Now it was certain—since the authority had shifted to the Heavenly Realm, killing NPCs had been made possible.

It was probably another sign that, due to the Demon Realm’s remnants, such executions would be overlooked.

‘Master, Lafaro’s on the seventh floor.’

‘You should hurry before he tries to run.’

No rush.

He was imprisoned and wouldn’t be able to move anyway. There was no need to hurry.

* * *

At that moment—

Lafaro sat trembling in his cell on the seventh floor.

“This siren… Don’t tell me that outsider has broken in?”

His greatest creation—a 1,500-level robot—

He had even given it a name, Titan of Annihilation, but it had been destroyed the moment it was born, by the outsider’s hand.

To survive, he had confessed to his crime and let himself be taken in, but the warden here, Krando, had been on his side.

‘Hah… What could you possibly have been lacking that you resorted to murder?’

‘Thanks to that, I created my greatest masterpiece.’

“Your… masterpiece?”

“That’s right. Even though it was destroyed, I succeeded in building a 1,500-level Titan.”

“One thousand five hundred?!”

‘Just let me out after a little while. Then I can mass-produce these Titans.’

‘…Alright. Just trust me.’

Krando had manipulated the system to drastically reduce his sentence to one year.

One year—

It wasn’t exactly short, but it was long enough for things to quiet down.

It was suffocating, but he consoled himself with the thought that he’d have time to figure out how to mass-produce the Titans.

Then an explosion sounded from the entrance, and before long, the wail of sirens filled the entire prison.

There was no mistaking it—something serious was happening.

“There you are.”

And the worst possibility became reality.

Beyond the iron bars, the outsider stood grinning at him.

“Aaaargh!”

Lafaro screamed and stumbled backward.

The outsider grabbed the bars with his hands and tore them away.

The heavy iron door had been ripped out as if it were nothing.

He wanted to run, but the restraints binding his hands and feet made that impossible.

“Lafaro, if you’ve confessed to your crimes, you should take the punishment that comes with them.”

“I—I was taking it!”

Lafaro held up his bound hands and feet in protest.

“Really? That’s not what Krando told me…”

“That bastard! It’s all a setup!”

“Oh? Then what’s the truth?”

“He tempted me with a reduced sentence, saying he’d let me out early if I created my masterpiece!”

“Tempted you?”

“Yes! He said once a year passed and I was free, I should mass-produce that masterpiece for him!”

“So you agreed? And since I destroyed it, mass production would mean there’d have to be another victim, right?”

“…”

Lafaro fell silent like a man with his tongue cut out.

“I thought about it, and… I decided I didn’t want to stir up trouble for no reason.”

“…What?”

“Time for you to rest.”

With that, the outsider drew his sword.

“W–Wait! Twenty years! No—more than that! I won’t make any more robots either!”

If this kept up, he was going to die.

Lafaro slammed his forehead into the floor until it bled.

“That’s not going to work. There are more people holding grudges against you than you think.”

“Please…”

“No matter what you say, nothing’s going to change.”

Shhk!

With that chilling sound, Lafaro’s vision wavered—then faded into darkness.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]