Clatter, clatter-clatter!
The door rattled wildly as it slammed against the far wall.
Through the wide gap, a wave of hot air surged in.
Outside the door, there was no one.
Only the door itself creaked intermittently as it swayed.
What on earth was going on?
Kim Su-hyun’s expression suddenly darkened as he stared blankly.
His heightened senses were picking up troubling signals flowing through him like a current.
The pounding noises, someone’s screams, an overwhelming magical power, and a faint scent of blood…
His predictions had been wrong.
This wasn’t just the hint of war—it was already in full swing.
The moment he realized this, the shackles that had bound his entire body shattered and crumbled away.
Stretching lightly, Kim Su-hyun then dashed out of the fortress at full speed.
Just as he had expected.
Not a single person, not even an ant, was visible in his city.
He only began to see users when he entered the southern city—one of the four outer cities.
The epicenter of the sensory onslaught was just beyond the southern city’s walls.
Users sprinted, their clothes billowing in the wind, all converging on a single point.
More precisely, the spot where the fortress wall had collapsed.
The already dilapidated wall had been blasted open as if struck by some massive force.
In fact, the entire wall was trembling.
What in the world was happening?
“Hold the line! Hold it—!”
“Uaaah! Uaaah!”
Desperate shouts and screams echoed from all directions.
“Requesting support from Istantel Row and Hamil!”
“What? Support was just—!”
“I don’t know! Contact’s been lost! And the mercenaries are surrounded by enemy forces…! One of the Seven Great Demons has appeared!”
“Then what about here?! If this defense line breaks, it’s all over!”
Kim Su-hyun caught a strange phrase mid-sentence but didn’t dwell on it. He sprinted lightly toward the fortress wall.
Given the urgency, no one stopped him, and he arrived in an instant.
Landing atop the wall, Kim Su-hyun was left speechless.
The land was ablaze.
Black smoke billowed up in thick clouds from all around.
Outside the fortress was a brutal battlefield.
But what shocked him most was the swarm of troops pouring through the broken wall like a colony of ants.
A deep suspicion crept into Kim Su-hyun’s usually calm face.
They were definitely demons.
A massive horde of demons charged forward, howling ferociously.
The users were desperately defending, risking everything, but the line was on the verge of collapse.
It was a familiar scene.
Kim Su-hyun had faced such desperate battles before.
After enduring countless hardships, he had succeeded in the Atlanta expedition, only to be stabbed in the back by the allied forces, forcing a tearful retreat.
They had tried their best to hold the line, but facing a fully prepared enemy right after a conquest was impossible.
Yes, he had expected this from the start.
The problem was that the enemy wasn’t human users—it was demons.
Kim Su-hyun had suspected back then that demons were scheming behind the allied forces.
But that was only a theory, and the demons had never taken the front lines.
At least, not until now.
Because the attackers on Atlanta now were unmistakably demonic creatures.
“Damn it! Hold the line! Support comes after we hold!”
The desperate cries struck Kim Su-hyun’s ears like lightning.
Istantel Row and Hamil’s support requests.
The mercenaries’ encirclement.
Whatever had happened, one thing was clear.
There was no time to waste.
Boldly, Kim Su-hyun leapt off the fortress wall.
Then, like a streak of light, he tore across the battlefield at terrifying speed.
Only the wind brushed past; no user sensed anything unusual.
Not even the demons noticed.
The new continent, Atlanta.
About five kilometers outside the fortress, a fierce battle raged exactly as Kim Su-hyun had imagined.
Those trying to break through, and those trying to hold them back.
The surrounded group pushed desperately to carve a path through, while the encircling forces blocked any escape.
The situation was clearly unfavorable for those trapped.
The numerical gap was overwhelming.
A handful of users flashed here and there, performing incredible feats, but no one knew how long their strength would last.
Meanwhile, the demons, relying on sheer numbers, threw their lives into the fight, thickening the layers of the siege with every passing moment.
Kim Su-hyun arrived just then.
He might have taken longer to find the spot, but he detected the activation of a lightning spell from afar and pinpointed the location.
Standing a short distance away, he observed the chaotic clash of blades and magic within the encirclement.
Within a second, he grasped the situation perfectly.
This group was qualitatively different from the ones attacking the fortress wall.
The number of demons was at least double, and many were mid-level or higher demons swooping down from the air with wings spread wide.
There were even a few high-level, or rather, top-tier demons.
Most strikingly, a towering giant nearly touching the sky was rampaging at the heart of the battle.
Kim Su-hyun, watching quietly, let out a low groan.
“Asmodeus…”
How could he forget?
One of the hated Seven Great Demons.
The giant form of Asmodeus stood nearly ten meters tall.
A clear sign of Metamorphosis.
In Kim Su-hyun’s own world, Asmodeus had used the same ability.
But back then, he was barely three meters tall.
This vast difference meant only one thing.
Asmodeus in this world had regained much of his power.
“Huh? Who are you?”
At that moment, one of the demons behind noticed Kim Su-hyun and turned around.
Its wings, towering stature, and the magical energy gathered in its hands marked it as a top-tier demon.
“Support already arrived!? No way…?”
Its startled eyes suddenly twisted into a sneer.
Frantically scanning the surroundings, its gaze fixed on the lone man who had appeared.
The demon’s expression was one of disbelief.
“You… what are you?”
It was understandable.
They had expected reinforcements but saw only one man.
And he looked shabby.
No weapons, not even partial armor.
On this battlefield, he might as well have been insane.
“Ha, what a surprise. Well then, die.”
The demon snorted and casually extended its left arm.
A black orb of magic formed in its palm and shot toward Kim Su-hyun like an arrow.
But the spell vanished without a trace before it even touched him.
The demon’s eyes, which had been certain of death, widened in astonishment.
More than surprise, it was curiosity.
After all, no sane person would come to a battlefield dressed like that.
“Ah, that’s more like it. You’ve got some skill.”
The demon smiled broadly, genuinely amused, then let the orb in its right hand dissipate.
Instead, its fingernails grew long and sharp.
Judging by the magic resistance, it assumed Kim Su-hyun was a mage.
“Good, good. I was getting bored just shooting spells from the back… Let’s have some fun!”
The demon snarled, baring sharp teeth, and charged fiercely.
The distance closed in an instant.
Five clawed fingers sliced through the air like the scythe of death.
At the same moment, Kim Su-hyun extended his right hand with an indifferent expression.
His clenched fist struck the demon’s chest squarely.
Booooooom!
A deafening roar shattered the air.
It was like a massive balloon filled with gas exploding all at once.
The sound was so loud that both the users desperately breaking through and the demons stubbornly blocking them instinctively turned their heads.
The cacophony of the battlefield fell into a sudden lull.
Asmodeus, who had been rampaging with excitement, let out a deflated sound.
No wonder—the man’s punch had sent flesh and blood flying in all directions.
Like droplets of water sprayed from a mist, dancing and scattering into the air.
A top-tier demon wiped out with a single punch?
Impossible.
Yet it had happened.
“W-who is that guy?!”
All eyes fixed on the man as Asmodeus bellowed in rage.
A cliché question, but a natural one.
Kim Su-hyun tilted his chin slightly.
When Asmodeus met his emotionless gaze, he instinctively took a step back.
But then, anger flared as he realized he was retreating.
His pride, arrogant and unyielding, outweighed any unknown fear.
Stomping forward, the massive demon twisted his body sharply to the right.
Then, with a powerful motion, he swung his right arm down like a falling missile.
Straight at Kim Su-hyun.
The fierce sound of the strike was sharp but the vibration was minimal.
Only the swirling wind kicked up a cloud of dust.
Not long after the dust settled, gasps echoed from all around.
The man who seemed like he would collapse at any moment was still standing firm, unyielding.
And with just one hand.
No, with only a single index finger, he was holding back a fist that should have been dozens of times stronger.
Of course, the one most shocked was Asmodeus.
“Grrrrr… grrrrrrgh!”
No matter how hard he tried, his fist wouldn’t advance.
In fact, it even felt like it was being pushed back, little by little.
What drove him crazier was that the man showed barely a flicker of expression.
It was as if he were toying with a child’s wrist.
“Grrrrrrrrr!”
In the next moment, Asmodeus’s wings spread wide.
With a fierce flap, he shot up into the air in the blink of an eye.
Even amid his confusion, Asmodeus gasped desperately for breath as he ascended.
He didn’t fully understand why himself.
Only an unrelenting anxiety echoed in his mind—that he had to take this man down as soon as possible.
Moments later, the bloated, pig-like Asmodeus looked down with his mouth agape.
“!?”
The man was gone.
Vanished without a trace.
Or so he thought—Asmodeus distinctly felt the rush of wind tickling the crown of his head.
A sharp presence behind him.
He spun around in a hurry, and the last thing he saw was—
“Farewell.”
Kim Suhyun’s fist, already at the very top of his head, came crashing down.
“Wha—!”
Before he could even finish speaking, a tremendous explosion echoed once more.
Asmodeus’s massive body wavered midair and then plummeted helplessly to the ground.
With a size exceeding ten meters, the earth trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
But what happened next was truly astonishing.
Asmodeus’s shattered corpse slowly began to turn to dust, scattering like powder.
In other words, two lives had just been wiped out with a single blow.
“This can’t be… wha, what?”
Amid the unbelievable scene, a woman’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Countless demons surrounding her suddenly lost their strength and collapsed one after another.
Like Asmodeus, they too turned to dust, scattering like a spray of water.
With the creator gone, it was only natural that the creations would vanish as well.
Only the fourteen demon lords under Asmodeus remained.
Kim Suhyun, having landed calmly on the ground, took a quiet breath and surveyed his surroundings.
A small sigh of relief escaped him.
That was the end of the battle that day.
News of Asmodeus’s death, the demise of his subordinate lords, and the disappearance of their forces spread quickly throughout the entire region.
By the time the three clans, alerted to the danger in Atlanta, hastily retreated, the demons besieging the fortress were already in full retreat.
The dire situation had turned on its head with just two punches from one man.
Though the overall odds remained unfavorable, at least there was now a moment to breathe.
Users celebrating their safe return began repair work on the fortress walls under the command of Istantel Row and the Hamil Clan.
Meanwhile, the heavily damaged Mercenary Clan moved to their city to rest.
Of course, Kim Suhyun was summoned there as well.
His status had skyrocketed overnight—from a suspicious figure to an enigmatic savior.
Finally facing the mercenaries of this world, Kim Suhyun smiled bitterly to himself.
The room, hardly worthy of being called a conference hall, held about thirty people seated, all staring intently at him.
Among the grateful gazes, a few eyes flashed with sharp suspicion.
‘So this is why they’re so exclusive,’ he thought dismissively.
Carefully observing each person, Kim Suhyun’s eyes sparkled.
He recognized most of them, but there were quite a few he didn’t.
Some faces were unfamiliar.
For example, the An siblings were from the original world, but Go Yeonju and Jegal Haesol were absent.
There was also a pale-haired beauty with glasses whom he had never seen before.
When their eyes met, she blushed deeply and lowered her head, seeming quite shy.
“Who are you?”
After a brief silence, Jeong Ha-yeon stood up and fired a direct question.
Though a bit rude given the circumstances, Kim Suhyun, knowing her personality, tried to take it in stride.
If only he hadn’t been at a loss for words.
“Uh… I’m the Mercenary Lord.”
“What?”
Jeong Ha-yeon frowned at his hesitant answer.
“That can’t be… I’ve never heard of a clan with the same name. It’s not even allowed.”
At that moment, a small white hand suddenly appeared from behind the chair at the head of the table.
With a subtle wave, Jeong Ha-yeon closed her mouth and sat back down.
Kim Suhyun looked at the turned chair with growing curiosity.
Who was this person who wasn’t surprised to see him?
If it were another user, where exactly was this world’s Kim Suhyun?
Why was the Zero Code so disliked?
Questions piled up in his mind.
Between the fingers of the hand resting outside the chair, a lit cigarette was now wedged.
The sound of a finger tapping lightly on the armrest echoed.
After a moment of silence, the chair creaked as it slowly turned.
It stopped abruptly, facing Kim Suhyun.
His brows furrowed deeply.
“Wh-what… who are you?”
“…You want to know who I am?”
A slightly low voice answered.
It was soft and smooth, with a hint of haughtiness—but not unpleasant to hear.
“That’s… actually what I want to ask you.”
A slender, delicate hand gripped the long, silky black hair tightly.
At the ends of the jet-black strands, bright red blood formed droplets that fell one by one.
“Anyway—since you saved me, fine. I’ll introduce myself first.”
The blood-stained palm pulled the cigarette from her lips.
Pale smoke billowed from her red lips.
The woman’s features blurred momentarily in the rising smoke.
After a moment, her beautiful black eyes, tinged with a hint of irritation, fixed on Kim Suhyun.
Resting her chin lightly on the back of her left hand, she spoke in a languid voice.
“I’m Kim Su-yeon, a seventh-year user. I’m the Mercenary Clan Lord.”
---------------------------= Author’s Note ---------------------------=
I made up for the content I couldn’t include yesterday by adding a bit more today.
Also, I’ll be taking a break on Sunday, March 13th.
There’s something I need to take care of over the weekend.
Thank you all for your understanding.
Well then, I’ll be off now.
Long live Kim Su-yeon!