The Player Hides His Past - Chapter 277: Starting from Zero (1)

A full charge of shame.

After talking about the exploration of oddity, I ended up watching [Dragon Lord, Dark Dragon Lee Hoyeol. Shout to the World] from start to finish.

‘That’s not me.’

It wasn’t me.

It couldn’t be me.

Perhaps because I muttered endlessly.

I was able to regain my senses and evaluate my interview from someone else’s perspective.

‘I just framed it all with gold…!’

Even listening to it again, there was nothing wrong with what I said.

However, there was a lot of potential for misunderstanding.

Especially because of the declaration that the Dark Dragon was only part of me.

– Could it be that he’s still hiding something??

– ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋCome to think of it, we haven’t even started on his class yet

– Isn’t there a dragon lord class above the dragon knight??

– ㄹㅇㅋㅋ

Starting with my class, there were various speculations in the community.

Looking at that post.

Somehow I felt like I was back to the beginning.

Back to the time when I defeated Count Ascura as soon as I awakened as a player.

Still, I thought I had improved a lot.

The level of overestimation that came to me had not changed at all.

“No matter what position I am in, I should never forget my original intention.”

The speaking style, too.

The way you frame things is the same as it was in the beginning, Grandfel.

But, the interview.

No, I meant the exploration of oddity, I had wasted a lot of time on this.

I hurriedly manifested the portal to Zero Mountain.

The coordinates of the portal were the Great Alliance camp.

“!!!”

A sudden portal.

I emerged from the portal’s cluster of light.

The players in the Great Alliance must be surprised.

Widened eyes, gaping mouth, frozen actions.

The only thing that I could hear in the momentary silence was.

– Dragon Lord Dark Dragon Lee Hoyeol. It’s a name that will go down in history!

…Just a talk of me playing on players’ smartphones.

I had expected it, but it was still painful.

But as always, I couldn’t show it.

I opened my mouth shamelessly.

“It looks like preparations are complete.”

“…Ahh!”

As soon as I said that.

A voice responded.

Nam Cheolmin pushed up his glasses and hurriedly approached.

‘Is it because I decided to go back to my original intention?’

Nam Cheolmin, whom I met at my first rupture.

I felt like my original intentions were being revived as we met face-to-face again.

By the way, he said he quit smoking, didn’t he?

His complexion definitely looked a lot better than before.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Commander!”

That damn commander title….

‘I like the simple and neat Hoyeol-ssi.’

I wanted to go back to the way we called each other back then.

But unlike back then, I had taken on so many burdens.

Actually, compared to the Dark Dragon, the Commander-in-Chief was a great title.

I asked, thinking it was a fortunate thing.

“What is the status of the attack on the Zero Mountain?”

“Thanks to the Commander’s attention, we are speeding up our attack on the mountain range! Of course, Zero Mountain is so vast…”

“I understand. It is a land not recommended to anyone.”

These were not empty words meant to comfort them.

There might be the recommended level that was not recommended for anyone, but there were also no walkthrough guides existing for Zero Mountain. However, you could make a rough estimate.

One hundred thousand caves, Hundred Thousand Caves.

So far, the number of caves discovered by the Great Alliance had been eight.

It meant that even if you included the [Sea of Lava] I discovered, it didn’t count. Well, even if we count the number of caves discovered by other guilds, including Union and Shining, at fifty…

‘If it’s 50 out of 100,000…’

The attack rate was only 0.05%.

Of course, I did conquer the dragons, which could be said to be the final content of Zero Mountain… That strategy was from a different direction. Nam Cheolmin scratched his head and continued.

“Thank you for your understanding! Taemin and the other two will be waiting at the advance team. I’ve been trying to figure out how to use the Commander-in-Chief’s power as efficiently as possible…!”

Certainly, people’s talents were diverse.

‘It was really sloppy back then.’

Although Nam Cheolmin didn’t really stand out as a player.

As an analyst, he looked at the situation from various perspectives.

Of course, things didn’t go as expected.

As I got closer to the advance team, I felt an unusual atmosphere.

“Wait a moment, Commander.”

It was not that there was a great being radiating its presence or something.

‘It’s aggressive.’

It was simply a sign that I noticed by looking at the players’ complexion.

Anyway, it looked like a serious situation.

They hadn’t noticed the sound of my footsteps.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Let’s ask questions for a second.

I was convinced.

They clearly didn’t have the presence of mind to pay attention to other things.

Red insignia.

There was a conflict between the players of Union and the masters of the Great Alliance, Nam Taemin, Hisagi, and Leonie.

When it came to Union, I thought I had already killed two birds with one stone.

Soon, the members of Union Guild turned around.

“What’s wrong with these bastards?”

Nam Cheolmin rushed away as Nam Taemin muttered to himself.

“Taemin, what’s going on?”

“Uh, hyung. It’s no big deal… No, Hoyeol-ssi?!”

“Oh. I am ashamed to make the Commander-in-Chief wait.”

“…Ugh.”

Nam Taemin, Hisagi, Leoni.

There was a lot of different reactions.

Nam Taemin told the details of the incident.

“Union members usually don’t even talk with us.”

I heard about the closed nature of Union.

But I didn’t know that they didn’t even bother to talk with other guilds.

Nam Taemin tilted his head.

“They think they’re the center of the world. They must be so stuck-up. So we were dumbfounded. They came to our area and suddenly found themselves there. What kind of nonsense is this now?”

Nam Cheolmin, who was listening, adjusted his glasses and said.

“If you think about it in Union’s shoes… There’s no way they would ask if we’ve encountered their members or not. It seems an incident has occurred within Union. They even rushed to find the culprit of the incident from within.”

“There is a crack inside Union…?”

“Huh? How does hyung know that?”

Hisagi and Nam Taemin asked back.

I felt the same way.

How could he guess such information from a single explanation?

As expected, it was not for no reason that he was an analyst.

Nam Cheolmin laid out the basis for his judgment.

“Union players had a movement speed buff. It is a skill that should not be used during battle because it consumes a significant amount of mana to maintain the effect. But their goal was purely to have a conversation with us and the Great Alliance.”

I nodded gently.

‘Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent.’

The player’s psychology was something that not even Grandfel could read.

Of course, I–Lee Hoyeol–also didn’t have confidence in that area.

I could deal with high-level monsters, including demons.

And I had an unenviable experience of dealing with Arcanains.

But the experience of directly colliding with a player…

‘It’s certainly rare.’

In that regard, I felt reassured.

Because behind me was the Great Alliance of Gaon, Inazuma, and Berserker.

Of course, relying on someone else’s experience was against my pride.

I opened my mouth.

“There’s nothing to worry about because I’m here.”

Yeah, since the timing wasn’t right, I’d just let them go. Union better not expect they could go back next time.

‘Because I’ve set a goal of killing three birds with one stone.’

We would get results one way or the other, Grandfel and I.

By the way, Nam Cheolmin let out a small laugh at my words.

‘An analyst’s sharp sense…’

When you looked at it from that perspective.

I thought he was laughing at my shamelessness.

Nam Cheolmin looked at me and continued.

“I am sorry. I feel like I heard something similar to that when I first met the Commander. It feels refreshing… I feel like the Commander still hasn’t lost his original intention!”

Definitely, if it was this guy’s mouth.

I could have said something similar to that.

At those words, Hisagi closed his eyes and muttered.

“The Commander’s beginning that I don’t know…”

Nam Taemin and Leonie reacted.

“I don’t know either. Do you?”

“Well. I know better than you.”

…I was wondering what the three of them were talking about.

I became convinced when I saw Leonie strangely shrug her shoulders.

‘Somehow, their faces brighten in the order they became acquainted with me…?’

Nam Cheolmin, whom I met during my first rupture attack.

Then Leonie.

Next, I met Nam Taemin and Hisagi…?

I lamented to myself.

‘In the end, the pride is the problem.’

It’s so childish, you guys!

Grandfel.

Because you spread the pride of middle school second-year disease to other people.

Now they’re all competing in a childish way as if they were middle school students.

‘I am so guilty of a lot of things.’

Not only in the Arcana Continent, but also in the reality… In order to pay for the crime of infecting middle school second-year disease, no, the crime of infecting pride to other people. I naturally had no choice but to work diligently.

“As I told you in advance, I want to maximize your power. Our Great Alliance will attack three caves at the same time.”

In that regard, it was a very good plan.

‘If I go through three times as much trouble, I won’t have time to worry about random thoughts.’

I thought about the recommended level of 100,000 caves.

[Recommended level: 800]

[Recommended level: 750]

[Recommended level: 850]

Not one, but three at the same time.

Even for me, it was a level of difficulty where I couldn’t let my guard down.

No, it might be a little overwhelming.

Of course.

‘The mana consumption won’t be ordinary.’

As many as three caves.

We attacked them at the same time.

What was the biggest reason?

“If it’s you, Commander, you will be able to create a portal from one cave to another! If you use the portal, we will be able to continue the attack efficiently without dispersing our power!”

Yes.

It was thanks to my ability to manifest magic that had entered the realm of [『oddity』].

However, speaking from experience, the mana consumption would be no laughing matter. Just because I had the [Blessing of the First World Tree], that didn’t mean that it would increase my maximum mana.

‘Basically, I have to open a portal from rupture to rupture.’

Depending on the situation, players from Great Alliance would also use the portal.

‘Just thinking about it, I feel like my legs are already shaking from mana exhaustion.’

But.

Such an overestimation.

It was something that Grandfel was most familiar with.

“It’s an impeccable plan.”

Contrary to the arrogant words.

From now on, to make that overestimation come true.

The time had come to struggle diligently beneath the calm surface.

*

Union.

Gulp─

What he drank was [Intermediate Magic Recovery Potion].

The value was similar to that of most equipment items, but it could not be helped. He had to activate the movement speed increase skill, [Swift Footwork], followed by [Stealth].

[Skill, ‘Stealth’ is activated.]

Great Alliance.

They said they didn’t know anything about the members’ whereabouts.

But it was a ridiculous story.

‘There is no way they would disappear without any reason.’

It was not just one party that disobeyed Master’s assembly order, but there were ten of them. It was not a rebellion. It didn’t just happen to a single party, and there was no way Master could not have sensed it while it was plotted.

‘It is clearly the work of an external force.’

Union declared its supremacy.

Those who looked at Union with unfavorable gazes.

Zero Mountain was overflowing with those kinds of people.

Among them, the Great Alliance.

‘Especially the beast and the snake bastards.’

From the days of Gaon and Inazuma.

Nam Taemin and Hisagi, who had been knocked down by Union, must have harbored ill feelings toward Union. There was a high possibility that they would use this opportunity to show their true colors.

Hadn’t he confirmed it while meeting face-to-face with them a little while ago?

The Great Alliance had gathered a significant number of troops.

Naturally.

‘There was no sign of battle.’

The members who had lost contact.

They were not as strong as Five Stars but they were also well-known within Union. The Great Alliance looked too fine to say that they had fought to the death.

‘But, I have to make the best out of everything.’

Especially information.

Even if it ended up being a simple incident, information about the Great Alliance would be helpful to Master. Therefore, the players of Union hid themselves and waited for the Great Alliance to make a move.

And then they faced each other.

“…?”

Tap tap–

Unexpected.

No, a non-standard existence.

He opened his mouth.

“Are you a rat eavesdropping on conversations?”

…Don’t be agitated.

“If you can’t tell the difference between day and night.”

There’s no way he could detect stealth from this distance…

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to give you eternal night.”

No.

I will give you an eternal night.

For him to say such confident words.

“…!!!”

That man, Lee Hoyeol, must have seen through their hiding…!!