Chapter 281: Earth (4)

The level 67 swordsman, Sudo Kenichi.

He did not like the dimensional jump project that the Japanese government had been pushing recently.

After the Park Sihoo incident, the world changed drastically.

The Park Sihoo who returned each possessed superhuman power, and even the weak level 20 Park Sihoo who couldn’t endure the battle against Marie Dunaleff and died were treated as valuable assets by their countries.

Well, even a level 20 player surpassed any average special forces unit.

But unlike the fight against Marie Dunaleff, where one only had to withstand a boss phase, the Iron Boar King charging with murderous intent and real violence, and the battle against Hwaran, the strongest of the knight class—those were on a completely different level.

By that point in the game, you’d reach roughly level 40 to 60. It was the stage where, with game knowledge, you would already have obtained the Golden Mandrake and Silver Mandrake, as well as some Hidden Pieces.

The Park Sihoo who returned did not have those Hidden Pieces from the game, but their bodies and their mana had been completely preserved.

The explanation is long, but in summary, Sudo Kenichi was someone strong enough to withstand Hwaran, the Heavenly Raksha, before dying.

At that level, he was a national asset.

If it had ended there, there would be no issue. Sudo Kenichi—an ordinary Japanese high schooler, a hikikomori and a gamer—would have spent his entire life hearing “Sugoooi, Sudo-kun suuugoi desu!” while enjoying glory.

But then the Demon God, Park Sirin, appeared.

The Great Leader who suddenly unified the Joseon peninsula and founded the Korean Magical Empire.

She split Lord Yamamoto in two, killing him; crushed Luo Yuhao, a strong level 80 backed by the Communist Party; and tore apart Huan Chong, a level 70 powerhouse.

She turned the congress members who had organized a coup into will-less machines, forcing them into 24/7 labor. A ruthless dictator.

Her estimated level was 99, perhaps even higher—the Demon God extended her hand toward the development of dimensional portals.

And when she finally completed a portal and disappeared a year ago, the great world powers were fully stimulated.

If another world could be connected, couldn’t they cultivate a “100th” and “200th” Park Sihoo?

Japan, which had the third highest number of Park Sihoo after Korea and China, also accelerated portal development, and once the possibility of success became clear, Sudo Kenichi fell into deep unease.

His reasoning was simple.

The world already had 99 Park Sihoo. It didn’t need even one more.

If superhumans like him were cultivated in the other world, his position would be in danger.

That’s why, when he heard that Alisha Arden had appeared from the Japanese portal, destroyed it, and escaped, he screamed with joy.

— Sudo-kun! Please track her down!

Alisha Arden was also famous in this world. Although she had disappeared for now, she was one of the “Three Heroines” of Arhan Heroic Legend.

Sudo had even spent time with her in the other world.

“Ah, A-Alisha-san… d-do you… want to… practice swordsmanship with me…?”

“I’m busy.”

Ah, precious memories. Surely she liked him too. After all, they were both swordsmen.

— Please, Sudo-kun! I trust only you!

The desperate plea of the high command filled him with pride. Sudo followed the direction in which Alisha had disappeared and activated a tracking skill.

In the U.S., they measured in real time the energy output—including aura and mana—of all Park Sihoo to locate them, but Japan did not have that technology, so he had to do it manually.

But he soon located Alisha, who seemed to be arguing with some yakuzas.

“Don’t fight with weapons that dangerous. With things like this, you can’t even kill properly—you’ll just get hurt.”

“M-m-monster…”

One of the yakuzas fired his gun. Sudo observed the movement calmly.

Showing that you could cut bullets with iaijutsu was already a typical TV trick.

Even a level 10 Park Sihoo could do it if trained. And in reality, Alisha didn’t cut the bullet—she caught it with her fingers.

“…”

“…”

“Huh…?”

The yakuzas fell silent. Thus is the reaction of simple mortals.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

“Impressive, Alisha Arden. You’re quite strong.”

He entered with a relaxed air, and the yakuzas immediately recognized him.

“T-the swordsman Sudo Kenichi!”

“It’s the real Sudo Kenichi!”

The famous “Master Swordsman.” Among the 77 surviving Park Sihoo, he was a rank 26 powerhouse.

Basking in admiration, he approached her confidently.

“Alisha Arden. You’ll have to come with me.”

Naturally, he intended to treat her with the utmost courtesy. He didn’t know why she had destroyed the portal, but Sudo had his own plans.

He wanted to approach the innocent heroine, show her the wonderful modern world, and naturally win her heart.

Impossible in the game—but in Japan, with his current status, it was possible.

“Uh… who are you?”

“Sudo Kenichi.”

“Ah, I see. But I’m a bit busy.”

“Hey, hey…”

Sudo blocked her path with his sheathed sword.

“I can’t let you leave like this—you destroyed a valuable government artifact.”

“You know me?”

“Of course. Maybe you don’t remember, but we share a deep bond.”

“That’s not me.”

“Huh?”

He suddenly felt a bothered gaze, but it must have been his imagination. Alisha was too sweet for that.

“If you won’t come willingly, I’ll have to take you by force.”

Sudo placed his hand on his sword. Just that was enough to make most people wet themselves in fear.

‘Alisha’s True Sword is the greatest of all, but this one isn’t lacking.’

Among the Park Sihoo, one had taken the blacksmith route.

A high-level 70 blacksmith. It was said the Japanese government spent billions of yen to commission Sudo’s sword.

“By force, you say?”

She grasped her sword instinctively. Sudo smiled.

“You’re different from that trash.”

Thousands of yakuzas could surround him and he could decapitate them. He was completely confident.

“You’re weaker than Lunia Arden, of course. But I even fought against Hwaran.”

He was one of those who had survived more than five minutes against Hwaran, the Heavenly Raksha.

Though four of those minutes were spent while his companions were being torn apart—a detail Sudo preferred not to mention.

“Maybe I should hold back, since you’re a girl. But don’t fall from this—”

I’ll show you my original technique-that-does-not-exist, the “Zero Thrust.”

Ultimate Technique, Yamata-no-Orochi.

Sudo Kenichi’s ultimate move—nine ultra-fast slashes. No one on Earth had ever blocked that attack!

──────────

Domain Cut

An instant. Sudo didn’t understand what had happened.

“Huh?”

He only managed to recognize his sword cut cleanly in two inside the scabbard, and the blade of Alisha’s True Sword stained black as if scorched at extremely high temperature.

An instant. It wasn’t even correct to call it “time” it was a stopped world.

Sudo could understand nothing.

“W-what… what was that…?”

“It’s Domain Cut. If you call yourself a Master Swordsman, shouldn’t you at least be able to use a fake version?”

“D-Domain… Cut?”

The ultimate technique? The strongest ability of Alisha Arden?

He didn’t know.

A single step into the domain of the sword.

The martial mystery reached only by those at the summit of the art.

Something that could never be achieved by someone who merely “learned skills” and pushed buttons to use attacks in the game.

“Hmm, I thought you’d be strong if you call yourself a Master Swordsman, but… I don’t really see the difference between you and those men over there.”

Like an elephant that cannot distinguish between an ant and a beetle beneath the gaze of something far superior, Sudo was petrified.

The innocent Alisha was sincerely asking why he was so weak. And his pride crumbled to dust.

“W-what… what is this…? I’ve… never seen anything like this…”

While he was completely in shock, Alisha mounted a horse that no one knew where it had come from and whispered a piece of advice.

“Umm… do all people here talk like you? It sounds a bit like forced dialogue from a novel…”

If you talk like that normally, wouldn’t you have no friends?

There was no malice. It was a genuine doubt.

Sudo could not respond at all.

***

Virginia, Arlington, United States.

There stood one of the most iconic buildings of the United States military, once called the Earth Defense Force.

The Pentagon.

This peculiar pentagon-shaped building was the central installation of the U.S. military and the headquarters of the Department of Defense, from where they projected and directed their military power across the world.

Until the rise of the new superpower of the 21st century—the Unified Magical Empire of Korea, which threatened Japan, annexed North Korea, and destroyed China—the military position of the United States had been absolute.

The appearance of superhumans after the Park Sihoo incident complicated things, but they found their own solution.

The energy meter.

By upgrading the satellites scattered across the planet, they managed to measure aura and mana, tracking every Park Sihoo in the world in real time.

The categories ranged from E to S, and then the out-of-standard category EX. In reality, that rank was created for one single person.

Among the Pentagon staff, there was a recurring joke.

“If an EX appears in front of the Pentagon, that’s the day the United States ends.”

And right now, they were observing an EX level right in front of them.

“Hmm… ah, thank you. These french fries are delicious. Wow, you made all this just with potatoes. I definitely need to learn the recipe~”

“It’s an honor, Miss Dunaleff. If you need anything, just say the word.”

In only 13 minutes since detecting the EX, the Pentagon had gathered the calmest and kindest-looking officers to attend to her.

The presence before them, comparable even to Park Sirin herself, was responding obediently.

Marie Dunaleff, the final boss of Act 1 according to multiple testimonies of Park Sihoo, was truly “a kind girl.”

“Excuse me, Miss Dunaleff, could you lift that?”

“Ah~ you mentioned you work evaluating strength, right? Sure. Wow, it’s huge. I’ve never seen such a big dumbbell.”

And she lifted the compressed-alloy 10-ton dumbbell used to measure the Park Sihoo without any effort.

The final measurement estimated her physical strength at nearly 60 tons.

— What the hell? Is she some kind of human Hulk?

— They said she was a mage, didn’t they?

The data on “Marie Dunaleff, Act 1 final boss” did not match reality at all.

Considering her condition as a “vampire,” they deduced her strength might increase proportionally with that transformation.

“Miss Dunaleff, if you don’t mind, could you show us a bit of magic?”

“Here? Hmm, I’m worried the building might collapse.”

“Don’t worry. This is the largest experimental facility of the Department of Defense. It can withstand even a bunker buster.”

Snow of Petals.

— Alert! Alert!

— Temperature rapidly dropping! Activate biological protocol level 1!

— Immediate evacuation!

There was chaos for a moment, but the situation calmed down once Marie withdrew her mana.

— How is this possible? Marie Dunaleff was supposed to always be sealed in Act 1.

— Could the timeline be different? No, even so this is too strong. Her energy level crushes even members of the “Top 3.”

— This is Park Sirin level… she’s not human.

After the Park Sihoo incident, the game Legend of the Hero Arhan was investigated.

Although the records seemed erased from history, millions of players and the 99 Park Sihoo made it possible to reconstruct its lore.

Marie Dunaleff was the so-called “newbie graveyard”.

Not as brutal as the Act 3 final boss, Heavenly Raksha Hwaran, but still nearly half of the 99 Park Sihoo fell to her.

The method to defeat her was simply to endure until phase 3 while her humanity collapsed on its own.

But that was in the game.

In the real world, most players could not endure even phase 1 of real combat.

— In any case, Marie Dunaleff is much stronger than we thought.

— I’d like to test her vampiric abilities.

— The millionaires must be excited—they say vampires can keep youth forever.

Marie appearing in front of their dimensional portal was an unexpected stroke of luck.

Ever since the founding of the Magical Empire of Korea under Park Sirin, the United States had been living under constant threat.

Even with a powerful level 93 like Norman Stansfield, he was useless against Park Sirin.

If they could recruit this EX.

They could counter the existential threat of the Magical Empire of Korea.

“By the way… why have you been calling me Miss Dunaleff this whole time?”

“Huh? Sorry?”

“I’m married. Well, we haven’t had the ceremony yet, but still.”

She said it with a radiant smile.

The analysts wrote it down, but froze at what she said next.

“I want a plane ticket to Korea, please. Ah, but before that, I have to do something.”

“S-something?”

At that moment, something emerged from her shadow.

A huge creature, a bipedal wolf with blood-red fur.

“Duggu, you must’ve been bored waiting.”

“Grrr!”

The Beast of the End of the World.

A living catastrophe.

An entity with energy above S rank.

Everyone froze in place.

Marie, still wearing her same gentle smile, delivered her verdict.

“Ah, I’ll destroy the dimensional portal before I leave. It’s dangerous to leave it like this.”

Duggu, bite it.

The U.S. portal was destroyed in an instant.

There was not even time to scream.