Earlier, at the edge of the Kingdom of the Dead, in the endless desert…
Formless smoke and a red human shadow moved at very high speed. The battle between the two was fast, dangerous, and sharp, and every move could be the last. Another bang… another collision of two forces.
K3’s figure slowed down, and he retreated several steps. For the first time, there was a severe expression on his face. The red glow on his right arm exploded and grew. In that moment, a dragon’s roar seemed to echo across the desert, and an explosion of energy burst forward like a giant red dragon.
Wailu, who was floating through the air, materialized into a human shape. His purplish face was filled with shock. He crossed his hands and curled the power of the dead around his whole body, using that as a shield, wishing to block this scary blow.
They had been battling for a long time. As the battle continued, the speed increased, and the skill became more deadly. K3’s advantage became more obvious, and Wailu was gradually losing in strength. This last move might be the attack that decided the battle.
Red Dragon Fist swallowed everything in its path, burning everything up in flames. Wailu’s defense was like a dying tree in a storm. Any moment now, he would be yanked into the air and thrown about by the wind.
“It’s already praiseworthy that you’ve managed to survive for so long.” Even though he had not finished the move, K3 had already decided to stop. In his eyes, this battle was over. “But it is time for this to end.”
Wailu did not leave behind any dying words and failed to surprise K3 in any way. He failed to survive the extremely damaging hit, and his body exploded under the punch of the red energy. He dissipated into a plume of black smoke before drying into a pile of sand, scattering and rolling to become a part of this endless desert.
K3 flung his arm coldly and suddenly opened his lips to talk to the emptiness before him. “You’ve been hiding there for so long already. Out of basic courtesy, shouldn’t you at least show yourself to say hello?”
In the sky, a layer of dark space slowly rippled. Like a woman’s veil being lifted, a giant skeletal face appeared, and a very dry and heaving voice came out from the fleshless lips. “If you think that is necessary… hello there.”
When he saw that face, K3 confirmed the thing’s identity. “So, it is the Leader of the Phantoms. No wonder you were able to arrive so soon.”
Under the leadership of the King of the Nether Abyss, there were nine units that were just one level lower than the four Pillars of Divinity. They were called the Nine Phantoms of the Dead Souls, and this skeleton before K3 was the leader of the group—Duo Ling.
“Hmm… You are so unfazed after seeing your kindred being killed?” K3 commented with a smile.
“He is not my kindred. You know that full well,” Duo Ling replied. “In fact, you and I have more in common.”
“You do have a point there. After all, we are all data with a strain of uniqueness,” K3 said. He scoffed and pointed at the black dust that was all that remained of Wailu. “And this idiot that doesn’t know the rules dared to kill one of my Level four kindred species.”
“I am sorry to hear,” Duo Ling said with sigh, “but Wailu did not do anything wrong. From his point of view, he merely did what he was programed to. Each of us have our responsibility and corresponding lifespan. Wailu was just a dying firework, and my master and I are candles that will eventually burn out. And you…
“You are an existence of a higher dimension than us. If you have enough power, you have the chance to enter the ’inner world’, and with the data there… your lifespan will become an unknown.”
“The inner world is not some kind of permanent land of peace,” K3 said.
“Compared to the data that is always looking toward the end of its lives, it is already much better,” Duo Ling said. “For us, ’unknown’ is the most precious. ’Life’ is something filled with uncertainty. The specificity of math, the uniformity and inevitability of the ’answers’ are a fate that we are unable to escape, and the saddest thing is… we are not even programed with the emotion of ’sadness’.”
“I think that is a good thing,” K3 argued. “Because of that, you are able to calmly witness what just happened and accept what had happened, what is happening, and what will happen in the future.”
“Hmm… Perhaps.” Duo Ling did not continue this topic. “Now you need to return to the other side, right? Let me open the space portal and send you on your way.”
“Then I shall thank you in advance, Head of the Phantoms.” K3 bowed.
…
On the other side, Feng Bujue’s group took less than ten minutes to reach the shrine at the top of the mountain. Without the illusion, they were merely trekking up the mountain, so they moved quickly. With their in-game buff, these six would have no problem running after a bullet train. For this kind of mountain, which was not even steep, ten minutes was good enough.
Sometimes, things were that coincidental. They were just passing through the altar outside the shrine when a red glow emanated from the bottom of the well, and an indescribable, incredibly-oppressive presence swept through them.
Including the GMs, everyone’s feet felt glued to the ground, and they could barely take one more step forward. This was not the effect of a skill or something that could be explained on a physical level.
This was an extra-sensory experience and something that had not been experienced in any kind of game before. The six in the game, as human beings, managed to sense the sharpness and danger of a skilled murderer inside this virtual reality game.
K3-Red Iron leaped out of the well and stood at the rim. He looked down at the gathered group who had different emotions in their eyes. The right arm under his sleeve had fully recovered. About two inches down the shoulder to the wrist was tattooed with a giant red dragon, and it was glowing softly. The presence around him was palpable, and it too was glowing red.
“Hmm?” K3 counted them and mumbled to himself, “The players haven’t been transported?”
“You should have waited for our main quest to progress before making your move.” Feng Bujue was the calmest of the six, and he responded to the question in a very collected tone.
“Oh, is that so?” K3 replied. “But… in any case, it doesn’t matter now.”
He leaped to the ground lightly.
“Huh… Even though I am limited on this side, you people… are so weak.” He glanced at his right arm. “And thanks to Wailu, I have more than warmed up.”
“Guys… the situation has changed. You will need to help us,” Galileo suddenly uttered nervously. He had obviously noticed that they were facing a level three Anomaly.
“Since you’ve said that, I have a perfect, foolproof plan,” Feng Bujue answered in a surprisingly confident voice. Before the rest could react, he stomped his feet into the ground, gripped his hands into fists, raised both of them up high, and exclaimed, “King of the Pirates! That’s going to be me!”
“Plot armor has been transferred. Current player with plot armor—Feng Bujue.”
Just as the system announced that, Feng Bujue added, “The rest of you can go now. I plan to take him on one-on-one.”