Chapter 5

Chapter 5
## Chapter 5: Slaughter

It was impossible that this was a hallucination. My consciousness wasn’t fractured enough to mistake a nightmare for the waking world.

This was reality. A predator from the world of Pangeniar had manifested in our physical dimension.

Crack! Crack!

Officers charged from the precinct directly across from me, discharging their service weapons. However, the lead did nothing but flatten against the creature’s skin. The bullets failed to leave a single scratch on its armored exoskeleton, and the officers quickly transitioned from defenders to victims in the shadow of the Giant Mantis.

“Somebody help— Gack!”

“Officer down! We need backup immediately!”

The police attempted to hold their ground while frantically shouting into their radios. Most bystanders were in a full sprint to escape, yet many remained paralyzed.

Some were trapped behind the glass of nearby storefronts, pacing in terror as they watched the carnage unfold. Others, incredibly, were holding up their phones to record the scene, seemingly unaware of the lethal danger they were in.

Whaaaaa-ooooon!

The civil defense sirens erupted, their mechanical wail filling the air.

Simultaneously, the silence of the street was broken by a chorus of digital chimes.

Emergency alerts flashed across every smartphone screen in the vicinity.

〔14:32. Unidentified hostile incursion reported. Impact zones: Seoul, Busan, Daegu, and throughout Gyeonggi Province.

*Seek immediate shelter in the nearest underground facility and await further instructions via emergency broadcast.〕

The crisis wasn’t localized. Simultaneous assaults were occurring across the entirety of South Korea, perpetrated by unknown biological entities.

But I recognized them instantly.

These were the field bosses one was forced to contend with while traversing the landscapes of Pangeniar.

A Level 4 Giant Mantis!

There was no mistaking those rhythmic antenna movements or the vibrant, floral-shaped growth blooming on its dorsal plates.

‘What is my move here?’

My pulse was drumming against my ribs. Within the game, I was a god-tier player capable of handling any crisis, but here in the real world, I was just another face in the crowd.

My head began to throb. My heart hammered with an unrelenting rhythm.

“Waaaah! Mommy! Where are you?!”

The shrill, terrified scream of a child acted like a bucket of ice water, snapping my focus back into place.

I jerked my head toward the sound.

I had successfully manifested my rewards from Pangeniar into this reality.

If the nightmares of the game could invade the physical world, then surely the arsenal I had built to defeat them could be summoned as well.

‘The Hydragon’s Soul!’

I tightened my grip on the ancient, rune-carved stone in my pocket.

The Hydragon was an apex predator that made a common field boss like the Mantis look like an insect. While I had farmed it easily by exploiting its mechanics, it was technically designed as a challenge for a twelve-man raiding party.

Rub, rub, rub!

“Why isn’t the trigger activating?”

I bit my lip, frustration mounting.

In the game interface, a simple double-click sufficed. The avatar would produce the stone, give it a quick polish, and the summon would manifest. I was rubbing the relic with all my strength, but it remained inert.

I looked back at my inventory.

‘The Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule.’

The bridge between the digital and the physical.

I snatched the golden-hued coin from my bag.

“Activate.”

In an heartbeat, one of the twin goddesses of Pangeniar appeared before my eyes—the same figures that graced the game’s loading screen. She leaned in, pressing a ghostly kiss to my cheek.

<<>>

<<>>

<<>>

The frantic pounding in my chest vanished.

The tremors in my limbs subsided, and the fog of panic in my mind evaporated into crystalline clarity.

I looked at my hand. My fingers were thicker, calloused, and powerful. I had fully transitioned into the form of Randolph.

I unsheathed Michella’s Sword. The massive, two-handed blade felt as light as a feather in my transformed grip.

Clutching the Hydragon’s Soul once more, I charged toward the window.

Crash!

I planted a boot on the frame and propelled myself into the open air.

I was leaping from the fifth story of an aging apartment complex. The fall would have been fatal for a normal human, but I didn’t give it a second thought.

As I hung suspended in the air, feeling the rush of wind against my face, I gave the Hydragon’s Soul a firm rub.

ROOOOOOAR!

A massive, fully-matured Hydragon materialized out of thin air on the boulevard below.

I landed perfectly on its broad back and commanded it to charge the Mantis.

—

‘This is it!’

Kim Hana, a junior reporter, immediately realized she was looking at the scoop of a lifetime the moment the monster struck.

A titan-sized insect was laying waste to the city center.

If she could document this, the Pulitzer was practically hers.

Click! Click!

She crept as close as she dared, her phone steady as she captured the horror.

“This is huge.”

This wasn’t some high-budget animatronic or a digital overlay—it was a terrifyingly tangible beast.

This was her ticket out of her grueling internship. Just as the thought crossed her mind, another sound broke through.

“Waaaah! Mommy! Mommyyy!”

Nearby, a small boy, perhaps five years old, was weeping in total despair.

Next to a scattered grocery basket, a woman lay pinned beneath a slab of concrete and twisted metal.

The Giant Mantis swiveled its multifaceted eyes toward them.

Hana felt a whirlwind of conflicting thoughts.

Was she supposed to just stand here and film the destruction of a family? Was this the “journalistic objectivity” her editors always preached about?

To hell with that. Hana kicked off her uncomfortable heels, gritted her teeth, and sprinted toward the rubble.

She had been on her way home from a disastrous blind date her friend had pestered her into—but there was no time for regrets.

Hana lunged forward, scooping the child into her arms in a desperate tackle.

“Are you okay? Talk to me!”

“M-Mommy…”

“Please… miss… save my boy…”

The woman trapped under the debris drifted back into consciousness long enough to gasp out a plea.

A mother’s final wish.

The living had to keep living.

However, Hana had underestimated one vital detail.

The predator’s antennae moved with a speed that defied physics.

She turned her head, saw the whip-like appendage whistling toward her, and used her last ounce of strength to shove the child out of the path of the blow.

‘Oh.’

Suddenly, she was airborne.

Seconds later, the grotesque mandibles of the Giant Mantis were mere inches from her face.

Her entire life began to play out like a slideshow.

So this was the end. She hadn’t even experienced a real relationship yet.

—The young director at our clinic. He practically begged me to introduce you. Just go once, Hana?

—He’s a total catch. Top of his class, gorgeous, tall… you’re crazy if you pass this up.

Maybe she should have taken that date more seriously.

He had been a decent guy, just as her friend promised, but she’d been too focused on her career to care, planning to just drink her coffee and leave.

‘Why does it have to end like this?’

Hana squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t bear to look at the rows of serrated teeth inside the monster’s mouth.

SHING!

In that heartbeat.

Her body was lifted once more, but this time she felt the solid warmth of a human touch.

She blinked her eyes open.

“Who are—”

“……”

A man stood there, radiating an aura of untamed power.

He moved her aside with a blunt efficiency, as if she were an obstacle in his path.

With a heavy thud, Hana realized she was now perched atop the scales of an entirely different beast.

‘W-What is happening?’

There was another one?

It looked like a dragon, but it possessed nine distinct, writhing heads. It was a titan among monsters, making the Giant Mantis look like a common housefly.

“Thump!”

“Stay low and hold on.”

Hana gripped the creature’s hide for dear life.

The man, wielding a sword the size of a person, vaulted into the fray.

Skreeeee!

The nine-headed Hydragon fell upon the Mantis with primal fury.

The insect let out a piercing, rhythmic shriek of agony.

The spectacle was something out of an ancient epic or a fever dream.

Hana watched, completely mesmerized.

Every arc of the man’s greatsword, which he swung as easily as a wooden stick, sprayed fountains of dark green ichor. Pinioned by nine separate jaws, the Mantis couldn’t even struggle.

This was pure violence. Hana had never seen such raw, unadulterated carnage. It made the action sequences in blockbuster movies look like a puppet show.

Was this what it looked like when a hero from myth stepped into the light?

She felt a surge of fierce, wild energy she had never known existed.

“Ah……”

Caught in the gravity of the moment, Hana began to shake. It wasn’t just terror; it was the visceral shock of witnessing something so far beyond human comprehension.

Boom!

Ultimately, the Giant Mantis collapsed, unable to mount a defense. Its scythe-like limbs were sheared off, its neck was severed, and the light faded from its eyes.

Then, the carcass disintegrated into fine ash, turning gray before vanishing into the wind.

The nine-headed dragon followed suit, dissolving into nothingness.

Hana found herself suddenly falling through the air.

“H-Help me…!”

She flailed her limbs in a panic until strong arms caught her mid-air.

It was the man who had ended the beast.

He caught her easily and touched down on the pavement with practiced grace.

“T-Thank you so much.”

“……”

Their gazes locked for a brief moment.

Without uttering a single syllable, the man turned his back and walked away.

Watching his receding figure, Hana instinctively raised her phone.

Click.

“Oh!”

She suddenly remembered her surroundings.

A crowd had formed, people working in unison to lift the heavy debris off the child’s mother.

Hana scrambled to her feet and rushed over to help them heave the stone away.

—

The world had descended into absolute pandemonium.

Creatures were emerging simultaneously across the globe, not just in Korea.

They were systematically hunting humans and dismantling the foundations of civilization.

Yet, monsters weren’t the only ones appearing.

Heroes had emerged, warriors who could cut through beasts that were immune to modern gunfire. Dressed in plate armor and brandishing swords, spears, and longbows, they were turning the tide.

“Stay calm! I will ensure your safety!”

“A new age of monsters is here. We have to band together!”

Some of these individuals spoke to the terrified crowds in their own languages, offering hope.

Even more startling was the revelation of their true identities.

These legendary warriors would eventually revert back into ordinary civilians after making their proclamations.

But not everyone was so public.

“An hour of sync time at the absolute most. They’re all trying to hoard their energy.”

A man sat in the shadows, his eyes scanning news feeds and viral clips.

These “warriors” were high-ranking players who possessed the ability to ‘log out.’

Progressing through the Main Quests allowed one to return to reality.

‘I need to be careful with my Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule duration.’

The artifact that synchronized the player’s character with their physical body was a limited resource. For some, it lasted only a minute; for the best, it barely reached sixty minutes.

Because of this, almost no one wasted it in the real world.

This man was no exception. South Korea currently had eight confirmed players capable of logging out.

Among that elite group, he was a titan, the owner of the high-rank character ‘Massacre.’

Massacre had chosen to remain on the sidelines for now to gauge the situation.

Revealing himself too early could expose his Pangeniar identity, putting him at risk in both worlds.

This was especially true given that Massacre was known globally as the ultimate “toxic” player.

‘And yet.’

Massacre rubbed his jaw thoughtfully.

‘I expected Phantom to make a move. But there’s no sign of anyone with that Ghostly presence.’

Phantom. Also known as Ghost.

The undisputed king of Pangeniar.

Since no one knew his real handle, those were the titles given to him.

Rumors suggested he controlled hundreds of characters and was the architect of the recent ‘Demon Realm Expedition.’

However, internal betrayal had sabotaged the mission, leading to Phantom’s death and the deletion of his primary character.

‘Is Phantom actually an administrator? Is he still in the game?’

Massacre was a hardcore gamer at heart.

Two years ago, his character ‘Massacre’ had died, which resulted in him being physically transported into the world of Pangeniar.

It was the same for the others.

Only Phantom—or whoever occupied that top spot—seemed to remain in control of the game itself.

Everyone was hunting Phantom to figure out his secret.

If anyone even looked like Phantom, they were targeted for sabotage or betrayal in an attempt to delete their character.

Because when a player’s character was deleted, they were forcibly summoned into Pangeniar.

‘No. He must have been summoned through that character. You’re pulled in when your strongest asset falls.’

An avatar equipped with eight unique-tier items, legendary treasures, and god-tier talents—a 5-star character.

Surpassing level 10 with five stars consumed made him an immovable object.

That had to be Phantom’s peak form.

He wasn’t an admin; he had definitely been summoned.

Being summoned to Pangeniar meant a total level reset, but you kept the innate talents of your highest-ranked character.

Your face changed, you became like an NPC, and you lost your social network, but the main quests provided a ladder back to the top.

‘…Randolph. Could this person be Phantom?’

Since his own arrival two years ago, Massacre had dominated the leaderboards.

Massacre was currently level 10, a top-tier ranker with hidden abilities, just like his peers.

But the stagnant rankings had recently been upended.

And it happened during the very first main quest, ‘Survival.’

‘220 points?’

Was that even mathematically possible?

Even with a two-year head start, Massacre doubted he could achieve that score.

If anyone could, it was Phantom.

The other top players would have noticed by now—a target had been painted on Randolph’s back.

The goal was to wipe out the competition. Killing Phantom would likely drop a mountain of ‘Fragments of the Broken Golden Rule.’

It was now confirmed that Pangeniar and reality were “merging.” The fight for fragments was going to turn bloody.

Eventually, the two worlds might fuse completely.

Pangeniar NPCs walking our streets… or the Demon King himself making an appearance.

He had to claim his throne now. The strongest, those with the most synchronization time, would inherit the world.

“…A Hydragon? Who the hell is this?”

Massacre’s internal monologue was interrupted by a video clip.

A Hydragon.

A creature that had never been officially released to the public—save for one specific instance—was seen fighting alongside a warrior.

This was definitely a new player on the board.

Massacre burned the warrior’s image into his memory.

He made a mental list of every other prominent Korean player.

They were all obstacles.

In the era of chaos that was coming, he intended to be the one holding the sword.

—

“You want me to grant you access to the sanctuary? Have you lost your mind?”

The Snake Princess, Isabella, let out a sharp gasp.

I had just made my demand.

The hidden sanctuary in the desert. Give me the key.

‘If the first main quest focused on survival…’

I had no choice but to enter that holy ground.

‘Then the second quest is all about securing a class.’

A Class. The main quests were the primary source of power, and I needed to follow that path.

But there was more to it than just a title.

“There is a star hidden within those walls.”

“What did you say…?”

Isabella’s eyes narrowed, a flicker of shock crossing her face.

A star. The path to receiving the ‘Star Blessing’ was located there. Her reaction was entirely justified.

I had overlooked it in previous runs, but my recent experiences had uncovered the truth.

A star resided in the desert sanctuary. It was the only way to break the queen’s ancient curse.

It was buried deep, however.

‘The lowliest of stars, yet one capable of outshining all others.’

And the specific class I was hunting for would be granted by that very star.