Chapter 41

Chapter 41:

“Hey.”

Oh Jimyeong, who held the 9th rank, kicked a stray rock on the floor as he called out.

“What do you think you’re pulling here? Do you mistake this place for a vacation campground?”

The way Baek Jinwoo was behaving rubbed him entirely the wrong way.

Did this guy honestly believe the selections for the national team were some kind of joke?

It was frustrating enough when the elites ranked above him put on airs, but this person wasn’t even listed on the rankings. He was merely a player who had recently gathered some media attention, yet he was lounging around as if he ran the joint. The sight made his blood boil.

Wow, did he just say ‘hey’?

A broad smile spread across Baek Jinwoo’s face.

Look at these incredibly arrogant bastards.

They sure are coming on strong right from the start, aren’t they?

Well, it didn’t really matter.

Considering they were both his seniors in age, he decided to overlook the informal disrespect for now.

“Yeees, is there something bothering you?”

Grinning widely, Baek Jinwoo pushed himself up from the ground.

Why not have a bit of amusement with them?

Following months of brutal, exhausting conditioning under Drill Sarge, Baek Jinwoo’s physical state had progressed far past the limits of a normal human.

By comparison, the physical builds of these rankers appeared so fragile it was almost laughable.

Though, he could understand why.

A player fundamentally relied on having powerful summons. There wasn’t any strict rule demanding they keep themselves in peak physical shape.

Even so, the sheer aura emanating from a rigorously conditioned physique was incomparably more dominant than one that was neglected.

“……You arrogant piece of trash.”

Oh Jimyeong, feeling a bit pressured by that heavy aura, ground his teeth together tightly.

“Just because the news reports have been inflating your ego, you think you’re untouchable? Keep holding your head that high and you might fail to make the cut. Permanently.”

“……Oh? Is that so?”

Baek Jinwoo tilted his head to the side.

“Hmm, that’s odd. I was under the impression that the national team tryouts were based strictly on capability? Or is that not the case? Looking at how the two of you managed to get picked last year… I guess actual talent isn’t a requirement after all.”

“You absolute lunatic.”

Oh Jimyeong completely lost his temper, curses flying from his mouth.

“Why bother talking to him, Sunbae? Let’s just shred this bastard’s summons to pieces first. We can give him a lesson in manners afterward.”

Park Hoseop, holding the 10th rank, began deploying his summons into formation.

Baek Jinwoo observed the display with an entertained expression.

“Seriously, you guys are pathetic.”

“……”

“A pair of rankers teaming up to double-team someone, and you still possess the audacity to talk big? Why don’t you mind your own business and take a hike. Don’t you agree, Drill Sarge?”

• …….

Drill Sarge gave a silent nod.

His gaze had sharpened into a piercing, freezing stare.

He clearly desired nothing more than to execute the two players who had dared to disrupt his master’s tranquility.

“You really don’t know when to back down.”

Whoosh!

Oh Jimyeong swung his arm forward, and his summons rushed ahead in perfect synchronization.

True to his status as a high ranker, he possessed a diverse assortment of B-rank summons.

“Once this team confrontation concludes, you and I are going to have a private discussion. I’m going to teach you how to show proper respect.”

“Oh, is that a fact?”

Baek Jinwoo nodded, looking genuinely pleased by the prospect.

“Make absolutely sure you remember that commitment.”

In that exact split second.

FLASH!

Drill Sarge blurred into motion, slamming the flat of his blade directly into the jaw of one of Oh Jimyeong’s humanoid summons.

CRAAASH!

With a booming resonance, the summon was propelled straight up into the air, completely knocked unconscious.

The velocity was incredible, but the raw strength behind it was terrifying.

A B-rank summon, neutralized in a solitary strike.

“Alright, that’s one down.”

Drill Sarge flowed smoothly from the upward swing and propelled himself forward.

Shhhrrrk!

His agility existed on an entirely different plane.

While the opposing summons were still trying to react, Drill Sarge had already sliced with his sword, reset his stance, and lunged toward his next objective.

Fwish!

Three rapid cuts, each targeting the critical areas of the summons with flawless accuracy!

In reality, this style of team confrontation offered an immense advantage to the current Baek Jinwoo.

The only thing he needed to execute was to secure enough time for Ramba to accumulate stacks, rendering him practically unbeatable.

“Two, three… wait, four? Wow, he’s moving too fast to keep track.”

While Baek Jinwoo was thoroughly enjoying himself, Oh Jimyeong stood completely frozen in disbelief.

Five seconds?

No, not even four seconds had ticked by before the entire exchange concluded.

A massive BANG, followed by that tearing SHHHRK, and four of his summons had their health bars reduced to nothing.

Which left only the final one.

• GROOOOOOAAARR!

The Berserk Stone Golem (B-rank) bounded into the sky, pulling back a revolving fist to deliver a crushing downward blow, when—

Shrrrrk-shrrk-shrrk!

Drill Sarge had already scaled its form, darting across its stone body, executing a live demonstration of dismantling a golem with his sword.

He was flawlessly cleaving through the joints of the golem, which were reinforced with mana.

Th-this is impossible!

Oh Jimyeong’s mouth hung open in absolute panic.

Crack-crack-crack!

The central core—its vital heart—remained completely untouched.

Yet the stone golem fractured entirely, breaking apart into separate arms, legs, and a torso.

Spin!

Mid-flight, Drill Sarge performed a clean flip, then plunged his sword straight into the center of the golem’s detached torso. THUNK!

CRUNCH!

The golem vanished from the field, forcibly unsummoned on the spot.

“……!”

A heavy quiet settled over the area.

Park Hoseop, in particular, looked as though his eyeballs were about to burst right out of his head.

Was there truly a player in the entire nation capable of playing around with Oh Jimyeong Sunbae in such a manner?

[All summons belonging to player ‘Oh Jimyeong’ have been forced back to their cards.]

[Eliminated from the team battle.]

Vwoooom!

A brilliant glow erupted from beneath his feet, beginning to wrap around Oh Jimyeong’s form.

And right at that critical moment, the protective shield safeguarding Oh Jimyeong dissipated.

Baek Jinwoo, utilizing his acute perception, noticed the opening instantly and launched himself off the turf.

That fellow definitely earned a solid punch.

He could have commanded Drill Sarge to handle it, but that risked accidentally ending the man’s life.

Human disputes ought to be settled by human hands.

“Once the team battle wraps up, be sure to seek me out. I’ll properly return the favor for that attitude.”

Baek Jinwoo bolted across the distance, twisting his waist for maximum power, and buried his fist squarely into the left side of Oh Jimyeong’s midsection—precisely where the liver sits.

“G-GUHK?!”

The air was instantly knocked right out of Oh Jimyeong’s lungs.

That completely lawless piece of trash!

Actually striking another person during a Player vs Player contest?

He was filled with absolute rage, but he couldn’t even manage to utter a scream.

He had already been officially removed from the match.

“Are you the next one?”

Park Hoseop, who held the 10th rank, could do nothing but stare blankly at Baek Jinwoo’s mocking grin.

The official stream of the team battle was cycling across various camera feeds at a breathless pace.

Because numerous skirmishes were occurring all over the arena simultaneously, that rapid pacing was simply standard for team matches.

The overwhelming dominance displayed by the number 1 ranked player, a group of other contenders uniting to raid the number 2 rank as though they were tackling a dungeon raid boss, and similar events.

• Yes, the 3rd ranked competitor has repositioned to the outer boundaries and is currently maintaining a waiting stance!

• Clearly aiming to avoid entering into pointless skirmishes! What is the status of the 4th rank? Shall we transition the feed over?

Whoosh!

As the camera perspective continued to shift—

“Oh? Look, it’s Oppa!”

Baek Ajin called out loudly.

She had caught sight of a recognizable face on the display monitor.

• Yes, the 9th and 10th ranked players are currently operating as an alliance, correct? They confirmed during their media briefing that they would be partnering up again for this season.

• That is accurate. Wait? What exactly just transpired? It appears one of them has vanished from the arena?

• Oh! We are receiving immediate confirmation that one of them was just knocked out a moment ago. What in the world occurred over there?

• Shall we review the recorded feed?

This was the primary drawback—relatively minor encounters like this occasionally got overlooked during the live broadcast.

However, it wasn’t a major issue.

They could easily review the playback.

“Ah, damn it!”

Baek Ajin let out a frustrated sigh as she listened to the commentators speak.

“What’s the matter, dear?”

Hwang Myeonghui inquired, looking quite perplexed.

“My brother. His fortune is absolutely terrible. He ran straight into the 9th and 10th ranked players right away.”

“Oh goodness, what will happen to him?”

“Exactly. Ugh, those two belong to the main association and are notorious for always clinging together like cowards. The unwritten standard in these team matches is to hide out quietly and advance through sheer survival, but… bumping into high rankers right from the beginning! Unbelievable!”

“So does that mean our Jinwoo is bound to lose?”

“Wait a moment. Well, one of those rankers has already been taken out, so… wait?”

Right at that split second.

The monitor began displaying a highlighted segment that had been recorded on a separate camera.

It captured the exact sequence of Drill Sarge carving through all five of Oh Jimyeong’s summons in a mere ten seconds.

The trio of players appeared to trade a few words, and then Oh Jimyeong’s forces initiated the strike.

And right after that.

Drill Sarge vanished in a blur, systematically cutting down every single target in front of him.

His physical execution was so rapid and incredibly fluid that even when slowed down, it gave the illusion of occurring in real time.

• Wh-WHAT DID WE JUST WITNESS?!

• ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE! What am I even looking at right now?! A single summon! Just a SOLITARY summon under the control of player Baek Jinwoo completely OBLITERATED the entire squad of the country’s 9th ranked player! How is this even achievable?!

• I’ve reviewed the footage twice now and I still can’t process it!

WOOOAAAAH.

OOOOOHH!

Massive cheers resounded from outside the stadium walls.

The spectators outside were clearly looking at the exact same broadcast stream.

“Whoa, take a look at that!”

Baek Ajin leaped up from her seat, pointing her finger directly at the monitor.

Drill Sarge!

How could she possibly fail to recognize that completely overpowered summon?

The preposterous entity that had instantly overpowered her cherished Shadow Elf and subsequently grabbed her by the ankle!

“Whoa! That creature was TRULY that powerful?! Faced against a top ranker…?!”

“Did your brother manage to win?”

“Mom, this goes way beyond just winning! This is completely nuts! He totally CRUSHED them! And against our country’s number nine ranker, of all people! Wow. I’m getting literal goosebumps.”

Baek Ajin massaged her arms and shifted her gaze toward her father.

“D-Dad?”

Baek Jincheol’s mouth was hanging wide open, and he sat completely paralyzed in his chair.

Well, it made perfect sense.

Her father watched international league matches and high-level Player vs Player showdowns all the time.

He comprehended far better than her mother just how thoroughly unprecedented the current event actually was.

• What variety of summon IS that exactly? Co-host, have you ever encountered that specific unit before?

• No, I certainly haven’t. The nearest comparison would be the E-rank Training Director, though they share very few similarities. The Director utilizes a recording device, not a blade.

• Then what could it possibly be?

• It might potentially be an uncatalogued B-rank, or perhaps even an A-rank entity.

• Ohhh, so player Baek Jinwoo was concealing a major trump card!

• Ah, it seems that’s not the case!

• Pardon?

• According to data that was just passed along to us, it is actually an E-rank unit identified as the Drill Instructor.

• A Drill Instructor?

• Yes, apparently veterans of the game who have been around since the early days recognize it… but the bizarre detail is, it was never designed to possess this level of power. It was merely an ordinary, forgettable E-rank, from what they say! Furthermore, it was completely patched out of existence after roughly three years of service!

There were a good number of players who recollected the historical presence of the Drill Instructor.

Even so, not a single individual was aware that JinuGod had previously utilized it.

Not even the legendary Five Emperors.

The Drill Instructor was a specific summon that JinuGod had utilized and subsequently placed inside Quarantine long before he ever started seriously cross-pathing with the Five Emperors.

The exact same history applied to Ramba and Stormy.

The only known summons belonging to Ilcheon JinuGod that the Five Emperors were familiar with consisted of the Rune Dwarf, Aso, Demon Cat, Armageddon Dragon… and that was pretty much the extent of it.

• Has there been any official breakdown shared by player Baek Jinwoo’s representatives?

• Absolutely none! As a matter of fact, they have submitted a formal non-disclosure request concerning the statistics of that summon!

• Is that considered an advantageous move under these circumstances?

• It most definitely can be!

In reality, the upper management of the association preferred that the specific mechanics and skills of rankers’ summons remain hidden from the general populace.

Maintaining secrecy was actively backed.

This was a highly competitive environment, after all.

If details leaked out inside the domestic scene, international analysts would immediately begin dissecting the data.

That would result in their overall strategic power being laid completely bare to rivals.

Consequently, the broadcasting crew only discussed the surface details and kept away from deep mechanical breakdowns.

• In any case, this represents a completely SHOCKING outcome! And looking back at the live feed! Player Baek Jinwoo and player Park Hoseop are currently engaging!

• Oh, OH! The development is completely identical!

• Was Park Hoseop always this completely defenseless? He is being absolutely shredded by Baek Jinwoo!

• WOOOOAAAH! BAEK JINWOOOO! WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU?!

• Absolutely no one anticipated this development! Player Baek Jinwoo has completely WIPED OUT two top ten rankers!

No competitor could hope to halt Drill Sarge once his active stacks had been fully accumulated.

It made zero difference what specific summons Park Hoseop brought to the field.

A Ramba outfitted with a graduation rune was simply fundamentally broken.

After just a handful of quick passes from Drill Sarge’s sword, Park Hoseop’s summons were instantly dismissed right off the map.

“W-wait a minute.”

Just before dissolving out of the arena, Park Hoseop extended both of his hands with a look of sheer terror painted across his face.

However, Baek Jinwoo proved to be far more stubborn and vengeful than his outward appearance suggested.

“That lecture you promised to deliver to me after the match. Be absolutely certain you follow through on that.”

THWACK!

Baek Jinwoo flashed a smirk and drove his clenched fist straight into Park Hoseop’s gut.