The Gamer's POV-Chapter 278: Battle of the Lords: Not Real People

Some minutes earlier...

——

Atop the cliff, all the lords had an expression of disbelief after suddenly seeing So-young get blasted into oblivion.

"H-how is this..." Jae-hee stammered, unable to understand what sort of attack had just bypassed his ultimate skill.

"That has to be an attack from the antagonist," Lee Lim said detachedly with his eyes fixed on where the cadets had been.

He saw Leon suddenly sit up, and he saw a silver haired lady run up to him.

At that moment, Jae-hee blurted out in a semblance of panic. "Is a grade two cadet supposed to be able to take out a grade four lord in one shot? What about all this nonsense talk of how causality protects those of higher grades from those of lower grades?!"

Lee Lim looked away to a hovering screen by his side.

"It seems he is no longer grade two, but grade three," he said calmly. Then he turned to face the other lords on the cliff. "And I believe I told you all about how big of an anomaly these antagonists are."

Min-hyuk then spat on the ground in both annoyance and disgust at the body lying near him. "Then what are we waiting for? Let’s all jump them. If we move together, we can wipe those bastards out in seconds."

The androgynous man sighed and pointed the bottle of water he was holding at Min-hyuk. "Have you never seen a war play out before? Did you not watch television or read history growing up? A war cannot be won with just brute strength. If you keep underestimating these guys just because they are children and lower than us in grade, then that mindset will doom you, you baboon."

"Did you just call me a baboon?" Min-hyuk grew offended and bared his teeth. "Say that again to my face, you pretty boy. I will break your nose before you can even..."

"Enough!" Lee Lim cut in.

He exhaled a heavy breath and rubbed his temple with his left hand. The movement revealed a heavy gold ring on his finger, carved into the shape of a heart with the letter S engraved right in the center of the metal.

Both Min-hyuk and Sammie tentatively shut their mouths and looked away from each other. Min-hyuk muttered something bitter under his breath, but he did not argue.

After a few seconds, Lee Lim looked over at Min-hyuk and Eun-ji. He was about to speak when something suddenly caught his attention on the battlefield below. He saw it out of the corner of his eye.

Snapping his gaze back to the beach, he narrowed his eyes and zoomed his vision in on a man among the cadets.

The man was dressed in a traditional kimono and looked a bit peculiar among the cadets. But what suddenly drew Lee Lim’s attention was the halo of spinning black flames manifesting in front of the man’s hands.

’Those flames look similar to the ones I saw from Cedric,’ Lee Lim thought. ’Are they the same? Who is that guy?’

Lee Lim quickly turned to the screen by his side. He ignored the bickering of his fellow lords who were now asking what the plan was or if they should go down and help the giant lord that was now under a constant barrage of attacks.

Quickly, he tried to pull up the stranger’s profile, but then, a frown creased his face when he saw the response from Administrative Privileges:

[Information Not Found]

’What?’ He turned to look back at the man on the beach. ’Is that not the notice I usually receive when I try to seek information regarding the other antagonist?’

His fists folded tightly at his sides. ’Did those scrap-metal bastards lie to me?’

At that moment, Eun-ji grabbed his hand and asked, "Is everything okay?"

Lee Lim gritted his teeth, his jaw tight with rage. After a moment, he finally exhaled and relaxed his fists. He turned to the other lords and said, "There is a new problem."

Everyone looked at him in a heavy silence, except for Ji-hoon, who was still staring at So-young’s corpse in horror.

Lee Lim added after the pause, "Unfortunately, it seems that we were lied to. The other protagonist was not killed. He is alive, and he is a part of them."

"What?"

"Huh?"

A few of them blurted simultaneously, and suddenly, a look of intense wariness crossed the faces of all the lords.

Lee Lim looked down and muttered to himself angrily. "I cannot believe I missed this. Of course. Those metallic sons of bitches are working with the cadets now. Why did I believe them when they said they had killed the antagonist?"

At that moment, Min-hyuk, who was now looking through the binoculars asked, "Which one of them is he?"

Lee Lim looked at him. Rather than answering the question, he looked at them one by one as he called their names. "Jae-hee, Eun-ji, Min-hyuk, and Sammie. You will step onto the field and wipe out every single one of those other bastards."

He looked at Hana and Ji-hoon for a few moments too long, then added, "Hana and Ji-hoon. Both of you will remain here."

Finally, he turned back to the battlefield and concluded.

"Leave the antagonists for me. I will kill them myself... once and for all."

It was silent for just a few seconds after that. Then, Sammie began to rise. As he did, he buttoned his shirt, and when he finished, his androgynous form suddenly began to change. His flat chest curved and his body shifted seamlessly until he had transformed into a beautiful woman who looked just like a mirror image of his male self.

Then she muttered, "I must say, I am not exactly thrilled to have the blood of little kids on my hands. But I want to go home. I am tired of this nightmare and cannot wait for it all to be over."

While Sammie spoke with a somber expression, Min-hyuk was the complete opposite. He looked eager, his eyes gleaming with the thrill of the hunt. Quickly, he began to strip off his gray suit jacket, followed by his dress shirt. The removal of the clothes revealed a tapestry of dark tattoos covering his entire torso and muscular arms.

Min-hyuk rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck, and grinned down at the beach below. "Speak for yourself, Sammie. I do not see those bastards as real people, and if you want things to be easier for you, you had better do the same."

At the same time, Eun-ji opened her inventory and pulled out a bottle of sleeping pills. She popped the cap and began downing the tablets by the handful without a second of hesitation.

Then she pulled out a bottle of water and began drinking, washing the massive pile of pills down her throat in heavy gulps.

While she was doing that, Lee Lim slowly reached to the side. A large, black rectangular box suddenly manifested out of thin air beside him. The box stood tall up to his waist before it clicked and hissed, opening up to reveal his weapon. It was a massive double-sided polearm, shaped like a naginata but with two heavy blades on each end. The blades were as thick and wide as a berserker’s greatsword, and the weapon was designed to be gripped right in the center of the shaft.

Lee Lim reached down and wrapped his fingers around the heavy grip. Then, he slowly raised it and aimed at a particular cadet in the very far distance wearing a kimono.