Level 0 Master

Chapter 22: Vol.1 – Episode 22

At team red’s base, Riad held her proud magical sword high and shouted.

“The ruler of blood, the conqueror of fear, destroyer of enemies to reach the eternal power by making your enemies the prey of your power!”

Bloody mist covered the surrounding.

The ground melted.

The sunlight couldn’t reach the ground.

The darkness spread bone-chilling despair while the ghostly sound filled up the air.

[Leave us alone. End this pain.]

The ghosts that became the sacrifice of the blood ruler when they were and the slave after killed

Riad beat all the petition down and stood up to show her power to the world.

“Vitium Successio!-Vlad Tepes et Overpower!”

If one had massive power, that was a hero.

Good and evil didn’t matter in this world.

Both good and evil spirits could achieve that power.

Succeeding the tyranny under the name of blood, the blood ruler sucked up all the bloody mist around her.

[Ughhhh.]

Screaming ghosts sucked into her.

A tyrant.

Because no one could fight against her.

Because no one could disobey her.

With her power, she ruled everyone.

The one who was standing there was a blood queen with her destructive beauty.

The magical sword showed an even bloodier color.

“Hunt down the disloyal! Then you will enjoy the glory of the victory.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

The three knights got the order. The victory was upon their king.

The blood ruler headed to the upper path. The three knights discussed how to make their moves.

“The forest is important but that doesn’t make sense to abandon the paths. I’m sure the princess had separated her team to cover each path.”

They were the experienced knights. They already figured out Sungjin’s lineup.

“The extra wouldn’t just watch, he would at least head to the forest to collect some crystals to try to get one or two items.”

“We need to decide if two of us would head to the forest or send two to the lower path.”

“Let’s make it safe. We don’t want the anger of the blood ruler again by making mistake like last time.”

“Sure, if we are being safe, winning is not a problem. We can let them have some crystals in the forest.”

“Then two of us should head to the lower path. Then, we can avoid 2:1 fight even if they suddenly attack the lower path from the forest.”

On the other hand, even if they had to face Rittier and the extra for a 2:1 fight, level 6 can dominate the fight against the joint attack of a level 5 and a level 0.

“Then if they disappear from the paths, we should contact enough using wind spirit stone.”

That was also order from The blood ruler.

“Yes. We shouldn’t take any suspicion lightly.”

There was a saying that the side who has superior military strength shouldn’t try to use tactics but should simply follow the rule calmly. Trying to have a bigger or better victory can show the opponent their weakness, so they should keep their strategy safe and press the weak opponent to defeat.

The three knights decided to take the worst possible strategy for Sungjin, who had absolutely inferior military power.

The three knights might be intellectually inferior to Sungjin, but they accepted the fact and try not to show any weakness rather than being arrogant to make it more difficult for Sunjin.

Sungjin said they could win if the enemy threw the victory. But what if they didn’t throw the victory?

“Let’s not jump into the turret even if they try to lure us.”

“Yes. The blood ruler told us to earn some time to activate her magical sword. So let’s be really really careful.”

We wouldn’t be tricked by him again.

They promised themselves.

The audience watching the battlefield was sure who would win this battle. How could anyone defeat an opponent with absolute superior military strength while they also trying to be careful and safe? A great strategy to turn over the situation was something that was only applicable to a rushing and careless opponent. It was clear that the blood ruler was going to win.

While hunting monsters In the forest, Angrasil found Sungjin wondering around.

The extra. Is he looking for some crystal that should be generated soon?

Even a level 0 extra could pick up crystals on the ground to get an item.

It should be a tiny achievement if I catch that level 0.

Moreover, the blood ruler thought the extra was important regardless of his level. Maybe it wouldn’t be counted as his credit but he was sure there would be a separate reward for this.

Angrasil stopped with anxiety, before attacking him.

No. Let me think to be safe.

He has been tricked before and got into trouble.

So there’s Jenna on the lower path and the princess on the upper path, so there’s only Rittier in the forest.

Even in a 1:1 fight, Rittier was not a problem.

Ok. Even if he tries to ambush, it should be fine.

But let’s be 100% sure. Let’s set up a solid principle

Moreover, even if he tried to trick me into it, I would never jump into the turret.

Angrasil repeatedly told himself on the agreed principles before attacking Sungjin.

“Huh?”

Sungjin started to run fast as soon as he heard the step of Angrasil.

[Rittier! Where are you!]

[I’m hunting triants on the upper end of the forest.]

Unfortunately, that was the furthest position from Sungjin.

[Help me! I was spotted by a knight! I’m running toward the lower path.]

Angrasil was able to hear Sungjin for help through the wind spirit stone.

I will get you before saved.

The manhunt has begun.

Sungjin was fast from his martial art training. It was beyond the abilities of high school students and nearly the limit of human.

But Angrasil was much faster.

The level 6’s skill to adjust their physical ability was beyond the limit of human. Sungjin had no chance.

Sungjin started to calculate to fight against the situation.

Bushes, branches, roots, rocks and the condition of the ground.

He was calculating all the geographical factors and objects to find the optimal route to retrieve. And that made the effectiveness of his movement to the next level.

If he had the similar physical ability, it would have been easy for him to lose Angrasil. But Angrasil’s ability was way above Sungjin’s effectiveness. Angrasil came closer and closer slowly.

But Angrasil was surprised that it took so much time.

He is not just a regular extra.

Angrasil understood the carefulness of the blood ruler.

But then, that’s just one more reason to catch him.

Angraril dropped his arrogance came with his level.

Angrasil used the wind spirit stone to call two knights.

[Firgrine. Nart. Drop the lower path for a second and come up. If you come up now, you would block the extra that I’m chasing now. Let’s siege him from three sides..]

[Ho? You are asking us to drop a path to catch one extra?]

[Do it.]

The blood ruler cut in.

[Hat. Yes. Your Highness. We will follow your order.]

Two knights stopped arguing.

Angrasil smiled. He was happy that he came up with an idea that the blood ruler liked.

I knew that the blood ruler thought highly of him.

And The blood ruler had the princess Ereka. Even if Rittier tried to ambush or Jenna chased Nart while he was chasing Sungjin.

If we don’t walk into the turret, there’s no reason we three level 6 knights can’t defeat two level 5 enemies. We finish him here.

It was not decided but Angrasil would get the best credit if he would eliminate Sungjin. Since the commander princess team was Sungjin, they would become helpless without Sungjin.

When Sungjin arrived at an empty lot, the bush in front of him moved. As soon as he saw few leaves flying, suddenly a strong wind started to bend and break its branches. The knight of the wind appeared with broken trees by swirling wind.

“Haha.”

Rittier was not there yet, while the spear of ice was chasing him and the double sword of the wind stopped him. Sungjin had to stop when he tried to run to the last remaining path on the left.

A burning heat made him realized that it was not a path for life.

“Haha, you are not tricked. You little rat.”

Firgrine walked out with burning chains with flame.

A perfect siege by three sides.

Sungjin quickly calculated and came up with his conclusion.

There was no way out.

Well, the three knights had already come out with the same conclusion a while ago.

Without throwing the victory, being careful, they were clearly the best and the most experienced knights of the kingdom.

“Now, die!”

The only way out for Sungjin was to be saved by Jenna and Rittier. But the three knights knew that so they didn’t waste any time and was closing in from all sides.

Sungjin calculated the remaining time for the arrival of Jenna and Rittier. It was unclear but considering their less than clear report, 19 seconds+-5 seconds. Give or take.

Did he have enough time to wait?

9.8 seconds left. That was the time for him.

0 second had passed. The three knights came closer and ran into him.

Sungjin tried to run across the three, but the three knights didn’t give him a chance.

4.1 seconds had passed.

Sungjin tried to go through Nart using paints.

“Nice try!”

Nart laughed at him and swung the double swords.

The wind surrounded Sungjin’s body.

The sword started to slice tumbling Sungjin.

5.3 seconds had passed.

Sungjin made it out of the first attack, but the second blow cut his left arm from his shoulder.

The pain that was cutting flash, cutting the blood vessel, crushing the bone.

Sungjin ended up on the ground screaming. His blood spurted and covered the ground.

“Hahaha. You look like a warm wiggling.”

Nart laughed sadistically and slowed down. That gave Sungjin 0.5 more seconds..

“Wait. I will take the final blow!”

Angrasil attacked him with his spear of ice.

8.5 seconds had passed.

Sungjin rolled on the empty lot to avoid the attack, but that was not enough, he didn’t manage to roll one more time and lost the 0.5 seconds he got from Nart’s attack.

Firgrine threw the flame to Sungin. The three knights had one thing in mind.

I will catch him!

I will catch him!

I will catch him!

An extra was an extra regardless of his intelligence. An extra was just like a warm when facing heroes on a sword fight.

“Wind cutting!”

“Ice flower.”

“Flame punishment.”

They all threw their skills and were certain of their victory.

We got him!

It was exactly after 9.8 seconds later.

That moment, suddenly something surrounded Sungjin.

It was not Ereka.

Neither Jenna.

Nor Rittier.

It was a giant spider.

“Kiaaaahhhhhh!”

The giant spider stroke by a kill screamed.

The name of the giant spider was the Daughter of Arachne.

It was the second strongest monster in the forest.

The spider attack back with rage. The magical spider web tied up the three knights. And the poisonous spit dropped their defense and immune abilities.

“Where did it come from!!!”

The three knights couldn’t understand this irrational turn over. It was an empty lot until a few seconds ago. Where did this random spider come from to stand between them?

“Ahh. That was the perfect timing for its revival.”

Sungjin kindly explained while standing up. He made it clear that he let them cut his own arm by picking it up calmly.

Sun Tzu mentioned using nature and geography. But Sungjin knew better. In this world, neutral monster was also a part of nature.

Usually, monsters were used to attack the enemy while the enemy was chasing the monster, but Sungjin understood the principle enough to apply it according to the situation.

How to win an enemy who wouldn’t throw while they are much stronger?

Make them throw.

Six Secret Teaching and Three Strategies of Huang Shigong said [make a careful enemy become arrogant, and a thorough enemy becomes tired.]

“What? What are you talking about….”

The three knights were confused.

Did he lure us?

Did he lure us to attack the spider?

No way.

If the spider was already revived, they should have been more careful. If the spider was revived a little late, Sungjin would have been dead. A plan depending on a miraculous coincidence was not a strategy. That was just an empty dream.

And then, Jenna walked into the empty lot with Rittier.

“Sungjin oppa! We are here as you told us yesterday!”

“We came following your order. Is everything ok?”

“Ah. Yeah, it was within the timing. Good enough.”

Sungjin greeted them with a grin on his face. Not everyone was a genius like him. It wouldn’t be impossible for them to move by seconds.

A good commander shouldn’t blame the soldiers who couldn’t conduct the perfect operation perfectly. A good commander should have the ability to understand the capacity of the soldiers to plan his operation accordingly.

“Huh? Sungjin oppa, you lost your arm? Oh my god! That must hurt.”

Jenna had tears in her eyes holding Sungjin’s arm.

“It was a necessary pain.”

Sungjin smiled and told her not to worry.

Actually, he was sweating with pain and shock, but he was standing still thinking that the dead children suffered more and he didn’t want to worry your Jenna.

“The siege timing was 0.6 seconds later than planned, so I had to be caught slightly earlier.”

“W… w… what?”

For a second, the three knights were so shocked and forgot that they had to attack the spider.

The crazy idea of using the spider was out of the box thinking but not realistic. It was impossible to calculate the revival timing and make the enemy use their skill at the exact moment of the reappearance of the monster at the exact spot.

But what if someone did?

What if it was not a coincidence…

What if the extra lured them counting every second and even less amount of them to make them act as he planned?

What crazy coincidence was not a miracle of God…

But a trick of a devil.

That was it.

The 9.8 seconds Sungjin calculated was not how long he could hold up with the attack, but the revival time of the spider. And naturally, he called Jenna and Rittier on his planned time.

The feeling the three knights felt was beyond shock, it was fear itself.

This… this is not an extra!

Neither a human being.

It was a devil.

A devil that had everything on the battlefield on his hand to play with it.

“Ok. Finish them.”

“Ok, Sungjin oppa!”

Jenna stiffed her tail sword and threw a blow with her hammer.

Three layered magic square was spinning under her feet. The scream with the rage of Thor tore the sky.

It was the ultimate spell that destroyed the three knights once before, Mjolnir.

White lightning rained covering up their sight, sentencing their end.

In a normal situation, they could have stopped it or avoided it since it was an ultimate magic spell with a long casting time.

But now they were tricked by Sungjin and stuck in the spider web. The poisonous spit destroyed their immune power, just staying alive was a challenge.

Moreover.

“A joint attack is part of a fight. We didn’t promise a duel, so here we go.”

Rittier explained before attacking them with his gigantic sword and he was right. His joint attack was a clear final blow.

Varoom.

Thunder shook the air and the hammer of Thor crushed the ground. Lightning burned everything up while the gigantic sword of Rittier slew the three knights.

“Good job.”

When Sungjin complimented her work, Jenna jumped like a puppy.

“Wow. Sungjin oppa, you were right! Wow. They really attacked the spider on the perfect timing!”

“I had my doubts on counting time by 0.1 seconds, yesterday…”

Rittier lowered his head to Sungjin.

“I realized again that you are above my judgment.”

Rittier was astonished by the unreal situation.

Without him, he had no chance against the three knights. But under the pressure of the blood ruler, we won without any bloodshed. This is surreal and shocking.

[Sungjin. Thank you. I see that we really have hope.]

Ereka sent her message of gratitude from far with the wind spirit stone.

“Sungjin oppa, you are really really the best!”

Jenna flapped her tail sword dancingly.

“Hut. It is not over yet. I will take that when I get the blood ruler.”

“Ok. Sungjin oppa.”

“Now, we all return to the base and gather. There’s only the blood ruler let. Follow the position for the joint attack as practiced.”

“Yes!”

“Yes, sir.”

[I will leave the path to return to the base.]

Sungjin activated the return stone and clenched his right fist. The victory was on his hand.

* * *

Outside of the temple, the extras were cheering.

Although they couldn’t do anything that affects the battlefield, they were all looking at the screen to learn what happened.

For them, it was not just a glorious moment of defeating the three knights.

It was a moment where they saw a glimpse of hope for their lives.

The moment where the darkness of tyranny ended to see the dawn of hope.

Now there’s only the blood ruler to kill!

Defeat the blood ruler, the princess wins!

Then that was the end of tyranny.

“Hurahhhh!”

The crowd went wild not only because of the impressive fine play but also for the savior who was saving their lives.

That’s why they were cheering for them more than in any sports game on the Earth.

Defeat.

Please defeat.

Take this momentum and defeat the blood ruler.

It was an enthusiastic and desperate cheering that none of the pro-gamer has got on the Earth.

Chapter 15

A moment later, Sungjin was cured by Valkyrie back in their base.

[God. Bless this hero and let him fight again.]

After her prayer, Sungjin’s arm recovered without any trace.

“Ok. Perfect.”

Sungjin moved his arm to check and confirmed.

Now I can fight without any issue against the blood ruler.

Next to him, Jenna, Rittier and Ereka were rearranging their items following his order.

“You all remember the position to fight against the blood ruler?”

“Yes. By heart!”

Jenna shouted with her flapping tail sword to make sure that Sungjin could trust her. Her cheerfulness lifted up the heavy air before the final battle.

Sungjin had already explained everything.

[The blood ruler is clearly strong. The power from her ultimate skill that destroyed a whole mountain is almost shocking. But we can defeat her if we make it a 4:1 fight.]

[4:1 fight? Can we eliminate the three knights without getting damage ourselves?]

[Yeah. I will explain that later, just focus on how to fight against the blood ruler. The blood ruler’s ultimate skill is strong enough to slay the three knights at once but we have a counter. Ereka, you probably need to sacrifice yourself while the other two deal with the blood ruler.]

[I was thinking about that. But other skills from the level 8 are massive…]

[That also has a solution. Listen.]

To win, they had to catch the three knights without any damage to them. And then endure the skills of the blood ruler without getting damaged. When she uses her ultimate skill, sacrifice Ereka and the other two kill the blood ruler.

They already practiced the scenario many times. Their victory was 99.9% sure.

“Ok. Let’s do this.”

Sungjin and his team were confident.

On the other hand, the heroes supporting the blood ruler were in panic in the waiting room. Were they in a nightmare? How come the three knights couldn’t do anything and dead.?

Is this… really….

Is the princess doing to win…?

The blood ruler was strong. She was strong enough to defeat all the three knights alone. But the team who defeated the three knights so easily, maybe the blood ruler was not strong enough to defeat them

Were we supporting the wrong team? What is… what is this situation where the stronger team was careful just to be defeated? What should we do?

They thought they could see their grim future.

Sungjin and his team marched to the upper path.

The blood ruler Riad was standing there like a king. She was holding the bloody the magical sword with a bloody cloud surrounding her like a bad omen.

“Finally, you are here!”

She only looked at Sungjin, didn’t even care about the other three.

“Yeah, I cleaned up those three. Now it’s just you.”

The fight started at 4:4 but now it became 4:1 siege.

“Haha. Those three. They were useless anyway.”

Riad answered with laughter.

“All I need is this sword!”

She lost the three knights, but during that time, she collected enough crystals to activate her magical sword.

“Your tactic is enough to get three dogs with the princess rabble.”

The magical sword roared.

The air vibrated.

Bloody mist filled up the area and the scream of ghosts echoed all around.

“But that is useless to me! Bee Despaired in front of my power!”

“She’s coming. Get ready.”

Sungjin felt her murderous temper and had no intention to argue.

Her ultimate skill right away? Even better.

Anyway, he didn’t want to return her skills, it was way too much work. It was time to destroy her level 8 power gained by numerous victims with his military intelligence.

“Bloody Reign!”

Blood spurted from the bloody magical sword.