Chapter 104

Recognizing the massive gap in their raw power, Baek Jinwoo decided to unleash his full capability.

He closed the gap between himself and the hulking commander, launching a heavy strike.

This time around, he didn’t hold back at all.

The commander’s offenses were far more severe, after all.

Those who hold the reigns of authority must shoulder the heaviest burdens!

FWSHHHHH!

As soon as he set his lead foot down, a devastating uppercut tore through the air, aimed directly at the commander’s chin. The massive man clenched his teeth tight.

His vision narrowed to pinpricks as he locked his focus.

How could a single strike possess that much devastating force?

It made no sense.

Putting aside clashes involving summons, when it came to raw, physical brawling, he had never once been bested.

He had a background as a professional mixed martial artist, and his reputation on the streets was legendary. The commander braced his resolve.

There was absolutely no way he would fall to a clumsy swing that relied purely on brute strength!

TAP!

Survival reflexes kicked in. The commander retreated a step while simultaneously bending backward from the waist.

Every single fiber of his muscles tightened, and Baek Jinwoo’s fist sliced through the air, missing the tip of his nose by a mere millimeter.

He managed to evade it!

This marked the very first instance he had successfully dodged one of those lethal punches.

Was that really the best he could do?

The massive man kept his vision locked forward.

Blinking or shutting your eyes during a brawl was a rookie error!

He tracked the trajectory of Baek Jinwoo’s missing fist until the final moment and unleashed a right hook driven entirely by pure physical memory.

His devastating right hand.

Whenever this counter-punch connected with an opponent’s jaw, they dropped completely cold ten times out of ten.

FWSHHHH!

Yet, his knuckle never made contact with Baek Jinwoo’s jaw.

Remaining precisely in his stance, the man had merely tipped his head slightly, letting the strike slip past harmlessly.

What in the world.

The commander’s eyes stretched wide in utter disbelief.

How could someone execute a move like that?

There was no weaving side to side. No ducking down low.

He hadn’t even repositioned his feet, yet he evaded the blow so effortlessly?

No matter how masterful a combatant you claimed to be, dodging in that manner contradicted all combat logic.

This wasn’t a matter of predicting the trajectory. He was literally tracking the punch with his bare eyes and simply stepping out of its path……

Nevertheless, the massive man was a hardened criminal, an individual who had carved out a living in this dark trade.

His astonishment lasted for only a split second!

Harnessing the momentum from his deflected right hand, he shifted his weight into a left hook.

The objective: the midsection.

Even if the bastard could dodge a blow to the jaw, how could he possibly evade a body shot without altering his footing?

The torso presented a massive target.

No matter how skilled this opponent was, there was absolutely no way he could avoid—

Huh?

The commander’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

Where did he go?

The person who had been standing directly in front of him had completely vanished from his line of sight!

No. How could a human being move like that?!

His fist was already fully extended in the swing. Dread washed over him, and he frantically scrambled to locate his foe when—

An strike originating from an utterly impossible trajectory slammed directly under his jaw.

Was that the bottom of a foot?

The commander slammed his chin down by sheer instinct.

CRACK!

Baek Jinwoo’s sole smashed directly into the commander’s nose, breaking it upward.

The distinct echo of delicate bone fracturing filled the air. The massive man’s frame was propelled straight into the air.

Good lord.

He was actually being brought down by such a ridiculous, unorthodox move?

As his skull was whipped backward, a single realization echoed in the commander’s mind.

This individual is an absolute freak of nature.

An absurd, terrifying talent!

That sheer force and pinpoint accuracy completely invalidated any concept of weight categories.

With this kind of capability, he could easily rule the world’s premier fighting organizations as an undying God of Combat.

SPLAT!

The massive man slammed hard onto his spine, and the agonizing heat radiating from his shattered nose forced a desperate howl from his throat.

“GH— GAAAAAHHH!”

Pressing both palms against his ruined nose, he glared upward at Baek Jinwoo, who had still not dropped his extended leg.

And then absolute dread gripped his soul.

The gaze looking down at him was frighteningly emotionless. Sunken. Completely devoid of warmth.

Sh… Shit.

And then he witnessed it.

That same foot, coming down toward his face a second time.

Curse it all.

That thought marked the final moment of awareness the massive man ever experienced.

“The commander is finished. Who wants to be next?”

Baek Jinwoo, having completely broken the leader in that tiny window of time, scanned the surrounding battlefield.

Members of the guild and several armed terrorists were still locked in fierce skirmishes.

Oh?

A particular figure drew his attention.

Song Yeonhui?

She wasn’t necessarily overpowering the massive terrorist she was dealing with, but despite her petite stature, she was extending her strides, slipping past heavy swings, and delivering precise counters.

The fluidity of her movements was incredibly breathtaking, so flawless……

A special constitution truly earned its reputation for a reason.

The Heavenly Heart Constitution, along with the Limitless Constitution.

These weren’t the kinds of physical vessels that could be overwhelmed easily in a brawl.

“You miserable little brat!”

Frustrated that none of his swings were connecting, the furious terrorist flung both of his arms wide like an enraged bear and sprinted forward blindly.

And Song Yeonhui capitalized on that exact lapse in defense, leaping straight into the air and twisting her torso mid-flight.

Whiiirl!

A rapid spin.

A flawless 540-degree kick struck perfectly against his lower jaw.

The terrorist collapsed instantly, his awareness snuffed out by a strike that seemed like it was pulled straight from an action film!

“WHOOOOAAA!”

“No way!”

“What kind of monsters are those Asians?!”

Song Yeonhui was far from the only one putting on a show.

The guild associates, who had been conditioning their physical forms and mastering the unique respiration routines under Drill Sarge, could decipher their enemies’ trajectories as clear as daylight.

Their offensive maneuvers might have lacked professional refinement, but they weren’t being pushed around by those massive, muscular frames.

Furthermore.

With Baek Jinwoo stepping back into the fight, the remaining terrorists’ fighting spirit completely disintegrated.

Well over half… roughly seventy percent of their forces were already collapsed across the floor, either completely knocked out or groaning in deep physical pain.

The battle was finished.

There was no longer any reason to keep resisting. The terrorist operation had completely fallen apart.

At long last.

“……We give up!”

An individual dropped down to his knees, throwing his arms into the air.

Did that serve as the breaking point?

“P-please, have mercy!”

“Just don’t kill us!”

They all threw down their weapons and surrendered on their own accord, causing the captured hostages to burst into joyous shouting.

“Wow……”

Rachel, who had witnessed the entire sequence play out from start to finish, found herself completely speechless.

No rational human being could possibly comprehend the bizarre chain of occurrences that had just transpired right before her.

“How can any of this be reality……?”

The individuals from Asia.

Those representatives of the national squad, who were undeniably molded by JinuGod, exuded a presence that was entirely distinct from how they used to be.

He had elevated them to such heights in such a brief period?

Xenos stood with his jaw firmly locked. Sugoi remained completely paralyzed. MoscowMan seemed as though he had been transformed into solid stone.

The elderly Baekcheon was shouting happily right alongside the freed hostages.

Every single person present perfectly mirrored the exact mix of shock and awe that Rachel felt regarding this impossible turn of events.

However.

There was an entirely different detail that failed to make sense!

Aren’t these individuals supposed to be players?

Players were renowned for their proficiency in controlling summons…… What did this absurd degree of close-quarters physical combat even mean?

Looking at things now, it seemed less like they had been studying for the global tournament and more like they had spent all their time preparing for an underground martial arts championship.

Setting that aside.

One reality remained undeniable.

Baek Jinwoo is a true prodigy.

The sort of mastermind that ordinary humans couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

Historical geniuses like Einstein and von Neumann themselves would likely feel utter despair if they ever witnessed Baek Jinwoo performing in person.

It is an incredibly good thing that I secured that partnership.

Rachel took a sharp breath.

To be sure, she maintained absolute faith in her capabilities in Player vs Player scenarios…… but possessing that level of natural combat reflex and precision, it was merely a matter of time before he closed the distance.

I must ensure the absolute best terms of cooperation with South Korea. No matter what the cost.

The strategic direction she had stubbornly stuck to all this time had just become completely set in stone.

Meanwhile, Baek Jinwoo was acting in a rather ruthless manner.

He had violently stripped away every single mask from the commander and the captured terrorists, and had initiated a makeshift interrogation session alongside a woman named Yu Jia.

The tactics he employed, however, were exceptionally savage.

THWACK!

Baek Jinwoo’s knuckles slammed hard into a terrorist’s anatomical joint.

“GH— GAAAAAHHH!”

“Hmm, looks like that wasn’t the right nerve cluster either?”

He observed the physical reaction like a researcher monitoring a laboratory trial, then muttered under his breath once more.

“Bring the next one.”

The tortured terrorist dragged himself away sobbing, and the subsequent prisoner was hauled to the front.

And once again.

“GAAAAAHHH!”

Baek Jinwoo was currently attempting to replicate Drill Sarge’s unique technique designed for separating sinews and scraping bones.

Under normal circumstances, Drill Sarge took care of such matters, so he had assumed there was no real value in mastering it himself…… but with the active rules of the Day of Peace, possessing such a skill in his personal toolkit felt like a highly practical option.

“Hmm, I am fairly confident this is the precise location.”

He had struck the exact anatomical point Drill Sarge had instructed him on.

Yet, the only result he achieved was shattering the underlying bone structure. The tendons and muscle tissue weren’t twisting into that agonizing, painful contortion they were supposed to exhibit.

— My master.

Drill Sarge stepped closer and murmured quietly.

— Your accuracy in striking the structural pressure points is flawless. However, you are currently lacking the necessary internal vital energy.

“Oh, is that how it works?”

Did he need to dedicate more time to practicing the breathing methods?

— A specific amount of internal vital energy must be forcefully projected into the pressure point in order for the physical torment technique to properly trigger.

“……I understand. Hmm. Then what is my move here? I absolutely need to unearth the identity of the person pulling the strings behind these criminals……”

The terrorists proved to be incredibly stubborn.

Regardless of how many times he struck them, they merely ranted like brainwashed zealots, swearing that they would never expose that level of classified information……

From Baek Jinwoo’s perspective, these were precisely the sort of individuals who would spill every secret after a single minute under the proper application of the sinew-separating, bone-scraping method.

If a captive is attempting to withhold information, it simply indicates that the level of physical agony being inflicted is woefully inadequate.

That had consistently been his core belief.

But nonetheless.

Given that he lacked the ability to properly execute the technique at this moment, he would just have to employ an alternative strategy.

“Ms. Jia.”

“Yes, sir.”

Resting quietly on Yu Jia’s shoulders were a pair of Mindreader Eagles.

Exactly two opportunities.

Those magical raptors would separate reality from deception beautifully.

“Listen closely.”

Baek Jinwoo directed his cold stare down at the line of kneeling terrorists.

As fanatical as they appeared, it was impossible for every single one of them to possess absolute, unwavering devotion to their faction.

While their commander and their fellow fighters were watching with open eyes and ears, they naturally felt compelled to maintain their silence.

“Every one of you, shut your eyes.”

Ultimately, Baek Jinwoo turned to a psychological trick that educators frequently relied upon back during his school days.

“Keep them completely closed. Anyone caught trying to steal a glance will face a ten-minute beating from the entire assembly.”

Around their position, the more imposing players patrolled back and forth with terrifyingly sharp expressions, while another group was navigating through the vertical elevator shaft that Xenos had cleared out, seeking an escape route to the surface.

“The individual who cooperates will walk out of here alive. If you wish to speak, raise your hand without making a sound.”

They were already completely drained.

Mentally shattered, drowning in absolute hoplessness at the thought of the execution sentence that surely awaited them on the outside.

Present a small shred of hope in front of them, and a few were bound to take the bait.

“This offer operates on a first-come, first-served basis, just so you know.”

Rustle, rustle!

The players standing around purposefully shifted their gear to create noise.

A small cluster of terrorists, their mental fortresses completely shattered beyond repair, tentatively lifted their hands into the air.

Bingo.

Hooked them.

[London Casino Terror Crisis: Resolved! Every Hostage Successfully Extricated!]

[Terrorist Brain Identified: ‘Muhammad Zahir Shu,’ Leader of the Armed Faction of the Afghan Pashtun Tribes!]

[ The Mighty Asian Champions Who Led the Anti-Terror Operation! South Korean Players?]

The massive global emergency that had terrified the entire planet came to a swift resolution.

Every single hostage was safely rescued, and custody of the surviving terrorists was formally transferred over to the British central authorities.

The mastermind behind the plot was revealed to be an individual named Zahir Shu, the commander of the Afghan Pashtun tribal factions.

His grand strategy had been to exploit this high-profile act of terrorism to forcefully elevate his home nation’s players to the tier above, merge the territories of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and exploit their massive combined population pool to establish a dominant summoning empire.

That specific population count alone hovered around three hundred million citizens……

Utilizing an endless array of Player Zones as their cornerstone, they intended to launch a massive Muslim renaissance!

“The radical factions are always the ones stirring up chaos.”

“They certainly harbor a massive number of radical, violent factions.”

“Behaving as though their specific faith is the only one that holds any value!”

“Even if that’s true, subjugating that many innocent players? That is completely crossing a line!”

Predictably, the global community was completely enraged.

Great Britain and its core military alliance nations instantly dispatched combat forces and successfully captured Zahir Shu. The nation was immediately hit with an incredibly harsh penalty: total banishment from the competitive league.

And everyone understood that matters would not simply conclude there.

The specific day the Day of Peace officially came to an end.

The Pashtun militant organizations would almost certainly face an apocalyptic Ruination brought down by the highest-ranking players on earth.

“Seriously, there is never a peaceful moment. Truly.”

Baek Jinwoo and the remaining guild associates made their way back to the luxury VIP lodging.

Flop!

Yu Jia sank heavily into the cushions of the massive sofa inside the hotel suite, which extended across an area of well over three hundred square meters, holding her temples in exhaustion.

The legal issues regarding compensation from the anti-terror rescue operation. Matters concerning the official league. A never-ending barrage of incoming communications from state officials, corporate partners, and relatives.

The mountain of logistical tasks requiring her attention was seemingly infinite.

And the absolute worst dilemma of them all.

“……Who in the world managed to record this and upload it online?”

On the digital screen of the device she held, high-definition footage was actively streaming, showing Baek Jinwoo completely and single-handedly destroying an entire squad of armed terrorists.