During Redberry’s mental breakdown.
Somewhere in the underground of the Castle of the Black Moon, a man stared intently at the screen.
─”If you’re ready to die, there’s nothing you can’t do.”
“Wow, how can a person be so pretty?”
The protagonist, Taebaek, was the one who had interrupted the mock Siege War’s scrim match worth billions just a few days ago.
In the dark room, he munched on snacks scattered messily while continuously expressing admiration.
“I want to see it again. It’s prettier in person than on the screen.”
Of course, it was more about Deoen’s character model than the real thing, but to Taebaek, it felt just like reality.
“Redberry’s so lucky. Ah, I also want to take classes taught by Lady Lily. What a lousy chance I’ve got.”
To get a chance at ‘Condensed Stones’, you must donate more than 10,000 won to Lily or watch her for over 30 hours.
Those condensed stones can be exchanged for regular stones to participate in her classes.
Taebaek obviously qualified for both conditions, but there were far too many people who met the requirements.
With over 150,000 live viewers, it was a somewhat expected outcome.
“How come Black can’t get it?”
Clearly, Black had promised that if he gave it his all and won, he would somehow get him some condensed stones.
So why was he locked up instead of enjoying himself?
It was just incomprehensible.
“Gosh.”
“Ah. I’m all out.”
Two weeks until his confinement lifted.
He had brought a mountain of snacks, and how many days had it been? They were already gone.
Can’t you see the numbers?
‘It means don’t act up until the mock Siege War.’
Confinement time isn’t measured in real-life hours but in game playtime, so if he didn’t take it seriously, he would be locked here for life unless he left the guild.
Just try leaving.
He’d find a way to tempt him back.
“Hehehe… Hey! Bring me some snacks!”
“……”
“I know everything outside! Don’t you see I set up all this?!”
“I know, dumbass.”
“What? I lost my spot and you’re freaking out-”
Creeeeeak…
The door to the confinement room opened, and a large man entered.
The lord of this place donned black armor and carried a black greatsword reminiscent of the moon.
“B-Black? What are you doing here?”
“You brat, didn’t I tell you to stay quiet? Are the guild members your servants?”
“Ah. No! I can at least bring snacks─”
“Shut up. I barely managed to prevent the whole tournament from going down the drain because of you.”
I really want to kill him.
Black’s piercing black eyes glimmered coldly.
Taebaek swallowed hard.
Swallowed.
The reason why Taebaek has contributed the most despite being more than half of Black Moon.
‘Overwhelmingly strong.’
No matter how much mythical equipment is used and all efforts are made, there’s no way to win.
It’s no wonder they’re a single-digit ranker.
Blak let out a sigh and rubbed his head.
“Because of you, I have no peace with guilds, broadcasts, or competitions.”
“…But I can also have some love, right?”
“Stop talking nonsense. I barely convinced them again, so absolutely don’t contact Lady Lily.”
“What?! They’re back at it?”
Even after that chaos?
Blak nodded.
“I know it was chaotic. Right. I was surprised that they were acting as if nothing happened… Fortunately, the scrim will be held normally. Just not with Black Moon.”
“Then you really don’t dislike it, do you? Your body… But your heart is all—”
“……”
“Alright, alright. I just won’t be involved.”
That glare is fierce!
Taebaek poked the empty snack bowl for no reason.
Regardless, Blak twirled his greatsword.
“And you can’t have my position in the guild, either.”
“? That’s nonsense. That’s not happening.”
“It has nothing to do with my will. Your image is a disaster lately, so I can’t give it to you. If I give it back, Black Moon is done for.”
“Since when did you start caring about that?”
“Until you touched Lady Lily.”
Crazy guy. There are limits to what you can touch.
Blak shook his head and walked out the door.
“Where are you going like that? Fully armed.”
“Guild raid. There have been a lot of field boss raids lately.”
“What? Then I should join! I’m better than those guys…”
“Are you going to just cut off the internet too?”
“Sorry.”
Thud!
“…But seriously, can I have some snacks before you go?”
Tsk.
He picked up some crumbs and focused back on the broadcast.
■
Redberry received the condensed stone and sluggishly left her seat.
It seems she’ll need some time to recover mentally.
I finally turned on the donations after a while.
I hadn’t been able to receive any due to smooth broadcasting and recent sudden cut-offs, but now there was quite a bit of time.
[LilyLily has donated 100,000 won.]
-Wow, how long has it been since I’ve gotten a dono? Hahaha.
“Thank you for the 100,000, LilyLily. It’s been a while, right?”
[Wasn’t it almost a week?]
[It feels like so long.]
[Lolololol.]
[It feels like it’s been almost a month.]
[It feels like almost a month ago]
[Now, let’s grind!!!]
[To get the participation ticket for the next class, you gotta drop 10,000 won now, lol]
[They… are coming!]
[Donation bomb ON]
[It’s been so long since a donation]
Babababam boom!
[Blood Demon has donated 1,000,000 won]
– Are you going to scream?
“Thank you, Blood Demon! 1 million won! Yes, I will scream.”
I received a lengthy apology from Black.
Honestly, it didn’t really hit me.
It was only natural for Black, as the guild leader, to apologize for the mistake of his guild member Taebaek.
But I wasn’t really in the mood for an apology.
‘It’s stuff I’ve seen all the time. Why make a fuss about it?’
The desire others had towards me has been something I’ve consistently witnessed for a long time.
Every time, I’d get angry, but I wasn’t exactly feeling peaceful about it either.
Was there really a need to care?
[Oh]
[100,000 won ㄷㄷ]
[Generous donation, wow ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Are you going to scream?]
[Is he really doing that? ㅋㅋㅋ]
[As expected from Lily]
[Did Black beg until his hands and feet fell off? ㅋㅋ]
[Whoa]
[Honestly, Lily probably wouldn’t care at all]
[For real, lol]
[Why hasn’t Taebaek been muted?]
[I heard Taebaek is in a timeout]
After that, a stream of donations continued.
Everyone seemed to have some pent-up desire to donate, flooding in like a tidal wave.
In the end, I closed the donations again in less than 10 minutes, but it took over 3 hours just to read them.
■
The day of the scream came, and in less than 3 hours, the promised 5 games were all done.
The reason being, of course, my explosive growth.
Even though the balance was adjusted in the simulated siege war, reducing my specs more than when I fought Redberry, it wasn’t a problem.
Having gained the Holy attribute, I could use much more diverse and higher-level techniques than before.
The rankers within the top 1000 couldn’t stop me.
The other team members were above average as well.
[Lily is truly a disaster]
[The final round was really insane]
[Doing 1 vs. 8 alone, it was seriously wild]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Can this other team even stop this?]
[The solo play of Level 6 Raizaka in the third round was legendary; I thought it was just a regular monster ㅋㅋ]
[Wow]
[The second round 5-minute core cut was for real]
[Lily is a god! Lily is a god! Lily is a god!]
[This isn’t something you can just practice!]
[For real, lol]
[Everyone else is doing well, but Lily is just on another level]
“Uh… should we start wrapping this up?”
“Yeah, it’s better to keep power exposure to a minimum.”
I nodded at Black’s words while scratching my head.
There’s no point in practicing any further; it would only expose our power.
‘Not that I’ve shown much anyway.’
All I’ve written about is fighting with my body, some simple magic, and the spear technique I used briefly against Raizaka.
I haven’t brought out any new techniques or drawn out strength beyond my limits.
Especially in the last match, I faced them with pure physical abilities, without any magic, weapons, or anything special.
The gap was so vast that even the ally penalty was removed, and the eight of them gathered to catch me, who was isolated.
‘Hmm…’
And of course, I won.
In hindsight, that’s a given.
From the start, the blood running through me was abnormally strong, and that body becomes even sturdier and stronger under the influence of “Holy” power.
While feeling this strength, I suddenly thought about what it would have been like if I had met a Copycat after gaining divinity…
‘…That would’ve been horrifying.’
Me, who has awakened my divinity and uses “Sacred Transformation.”
With that level of power, just being hit once could lead to them disappearing without a trace.
No, they would definitely disappear.
The flame of Sacred Transformation synergizes horrifically well with divinity.
Of course, if I also used it, things would be different.
“Hey, that human. No, Lily…?”
“Yeah?”
Just as things were wrapping up slowly, the middle school syndrome little kid Devil timidly approached me.
“That… about the Mana we agreed to.”
“The condensed stone.”
“Uh, uh! If you give me that…”
Cough!
The Devil’s face turned bright red as they awkwardly averted their gaze.
Is that really something to be so embarrassed about?
[HAHAHAHAHA]
[The Devil is so cute]
[Devil…]
[This seems like the first time seeing the Devil like this]
[If the Devil had grown a bit more, they would’ve been treated like Taebaek]
[Devil’s about to cry]
[Whoa]
[That’s not it]
[So cute]
[Taebaek crossed the line though]
[We did agree on it]
[And we’ve already given the level]
“Hmm… That’s right.”
We did agree on it.
Not only the Devil, whose face looks like it’s going to explode, but also Black, who’s secretly looking forward to it.
Black doesn’t seem to have high expectations, probably because of Taebaek.
After pondering for a moment, I nodded.
“I’ll give it to you.”
But on one condition.
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