Eungwang Global Stadium.
The defenders from various countries were engaged in intense battles on stage.
As the raid team’s progress slowed, the number of enemies increased, and the gap between dimensions continued to expand. As they got closer to the edge of the dimension, debuffs piled up.
Moreover, the defenders had been fighting the enemies for an extended period, causing fatigue to accumulate.
The defensive captains of each team began swapping players to manage their team’s condition, but there were still players who hadn’t been substituted even once.
"We can still hold on, but I’m getting hungry. How long have we been fighting?"
"It’s almost been nine hours."
Ahn Da-in answered when Mang Hyo-don asked, checking the time.
For the Korean team, Mang Hyo-don, Ju Su-hyeok, and Ahn Da-in had been fighting without any substitutions since the start.
Kim Hyun-gu, who swapped in for Cha Seok-won, wiped his sweat and spoke.
"What? People are starting to go home soon, huh? Even with extra time and penalty kicks, soccer games don’t last more than three hours."
"There’s a record of a pro baseball game lasting about eight and a half hours. I’m sure there are people waiting for us."
Ju Su-hyeok handed a sports drink to Kim Hyun-gu as he spoke.
With how long the raid had been dragging on, complaints might arise about what the raid team was doing, but none of the defenders voiced any complaints.
Everyone knew the raid team’s capabilities well, and if they hadn’t made progress, it was clear just how difficult the fight must be.
Ahn Da-in looked at the ever-widening gap in the dimension.
‘The raid team is fighting hard, so we can’t complain. It would be nice if we could at least know what’s going on inside.’
While some of the internal situation of the dimension was being broadcast, by rule, the defenders couldn’t see it.
This rule existed because, in reality, there were no internal broadcasts in the dimension.
Unless we could use abilities to view the inside or communicate directly with the raid team, the defenders had no choice but to fight without knowing anything.
"Japan is swapping players again."
Kim Hyun-gu commented indifferently while looking at the Japanese team.
Currently, the defenders from each country were split into three groups, each guarding a barrier, so they could easily see what was happening with the opposing team.
Thus, after defeating enemies like now, there was some leeway to observe the other teams’ situations.
The Japanese team had made multiple substitutions, managing their players’ conditions carefully.
However, the leader and captain of the Japanese team, Renzojin Karen, hadn’t taken a single break.
Looking at Renzojin Karen, Ahn Da-in had a question.
‘Is she continuing to fight by her own will?’
Ahn Da-in, Ju Su-hyeok, and Mang Hyo-don were standing here by their own choice.
They had the energy to continue, and because of this, the defensive captain, Heo Chae-a, had allowed them to keep fighting, but they were here because they wanted to.
They wanted to prove their strength to their benefactor and fight alongside them.
Ahn Da-in wondered if Renzojin Karen also had some goal, which was why she was fighting alone.
‘Ah.’
At that moment, Ahn Da-in’s and Renzojin Karen’s eyes met from a distance.
Renzojin Karen had a slightly surprised expression, and Ahn Da-in’s face was similar.
Rather than realizing that they had caught each other’s gaze, it seemed like they were both lost in thought when their eyes happened to meet.
The awkward moment didn’t last long.
Whoooosh...!
The quietly expanding gap in the dimension warped with a tremendous sound, drawing the attention of all the defenders, including Ahn Da-in and Renzojin Karen.
The defenders’ faces brightened as they saw the instability in the dimension’s gap.
The instability in the dimension meant the boss enemy was in danger.
In other words, someone was attacking the boss enemy.
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"The raid team will be back soon. Let’s not hold back and build up our contribution to the hunt!"
At Ju Su-hyeok’s words, the defenders became energized.
Not just the Korean team, but also the Japanese and Chinese teams, began unleashing their abilities without reservation, and the spectators, tired from the long battle, marveled.
The Hojo family’s VIP seats were no exception.
"We’re almost done with the raid. It’s time to prepare to welcome our benefactor. We’ll need to let them rest first, of course."
Huang Ho broke the silence.
Since learning about the omission of existence, the Hojo family had been reflecting on their past.
They desperately thought about whether there were any mistakes in their memories or anything missing.
But they couldn’t find an answer.
Having spent so long separated from their comrades for various reasons, they had grown tired of reminiscing.
Looking back now wouldn’t reveal anything new.
At least Eun Ho seemed to have some thoughts, but carefully held back from expressing his deductions.
"The dimension simulator just sent a new video. Let’s take a look."
"Already? That was fast."
Instead of talking about the omission of existence, Eun Ho brought up the newly arrived video.
The Hojo family checked the video to distract themselves, but it didn’t help.
The video ended with Jo Yi-shin’s group fighting the external forces while targeting the Hojo family’s greatest musician, encountering Baek Ho along the way.
The Hojo family all turned to look at Baek Ho.
"What would Baek Ho do in that situation?"
Before Baek Ho could answer, Jeok Ho spoke up abruptly.
"If it were the Baek Ho of those days, it’s obvious. If the opponent was troublesome but not a life-threatening enemy, he would leave them half-dead and think it over."
Jo Yi-shin’s group had fought against the external forces blocking their path when they encountered Baek Ho, but Baek Ho would quickly realize their intentions.
There was no way the Hojo’s top fighter, Baek Ho, wouldn’t sense the foreign enemies’ plot against his comrades.
Since there were descendants of the dragon tribe in their ranks, he wouldn’t kill them on the spot, but he would surely leave them alive just to keep them alive.
Furthermore, keeping them alive would only apply to those from the dragon tribe, while he wouldn’t hesitate to kill others.
"Of course, back then, Baek Ho had an even fiercer temper than Jeok Ho, though he didn’t talk much."
"More fierce? Baek Ho, in his youth, would beat his friends senseless under the pretext of sparring, without showing mercy."
"Wasn’t that something you deserved for what you did, Huang Ho?"
"It was. And you, Jeok Ho, took your fair share of hits."
Huang Ho and Jeok Ho tried to recall the times they had taken a beating from Baek Ho in their youth and almost tried to laugh, but no laughter came.
The memory of the young Baek Ho, with his intense temper, was now reappearing inside the simulator, carrying hostility as he stood in front of the benefactor.
When Eun Ho looked at Huang Ho and Jeok Ho without a smile, both fell silent.
As the two Hojo remained quiet, Eun Ho turned back to Baek Ho.
"These days, Baek Ho, you often don’t answer me. You haven’t answered my question yet."
"It’s not that I don’t want to answer. I just lost my chance to speak first."
"You’re blaming us for you being silent all the time?"
"Jeok Ho."
Baek Ho spoke, but Jeok Ho, who had accumulated a lot of emotions, was about to speak but was stopped by Eun Ho.
Eun Ho gave Jeok Ho a tea cup as a gesture to keep quiet and have tea, while he stared at Baek Ho.
Baek Ho spoke in a low voice.
"For the sake of my comrades, I’ll cut down anyone."
The "anyone" included all of the raid team members.
The Baek Ho of those days seemed ready to eliminate even descendants of the dragon tribe if necessary.
"He’ll probably deal with the most troublesome and dangerous ones first."
If you were to pick the most troublesome and dangerous member of the raid team, anyone would point to one person.
That person was Jo Yi-shin, who claimed to be a prophet.
Baek Ho’s strike, which wiped out the external forces around us, didn’t discriminate, and the raid team members had to avoid it with everything they had.
Other members managed to avoid it without breaking their battle stance, but Park Seung-hyun completely lost his posture, rolling on the ground and scrambling to get up.
Baek Ho gazed at us with cold eyes.
His white glare, unique to the Hojo, flickered from under his mask, and the killing intent shone from the great sword that could split clouds and lightning.
The ice storm summoned by the boss enemy no longer had the same force, but a chilling feeling swept through as if frost had suddenly appeared.
"You didn’t aim to annihilate the external forces. You were targeting what’s beyond them."
I thought we could pretend to defeat the external forces to help the boss enemy, but it seemed that deceiving Baek Ho was impossible.
It seemed that we were about to enter a direct battle with him.
As I was wondering what to do against Baek Ho, he spoke.
"I heard that the foreigner provided useful information. I’ll give you one chance to explain yourself."
It seemed that when Huang Ho spoke about the external forces that couldn’t communicate, he also mentioned us.
Thanks to Huang Ho’s half-threat, we got this opportunity.
But I knew we couldn’t fool Baek Ho with weak excuses or lies.
If we spoke incorrectly, we might incur Baek Ho’s wrath and face something far worse.
Yeom Jun-yeol, as the raid leader, seemed ready to take responsibility and speak, but before he could, I stepped in.
"I’ll answer."
"So, you’re the suspicious prophet. Speak."
I had never met him, so I didn’t know how he figured out I was the prophet.
Whether Huang Ho had conveyed enough information about me or if I just looked suspicious, I couldn’t tell, but now wasn’t the time to focus on that.
Baek Ho was the last line of defense for the boss enemy.
If we couldn’t get past him, we couldn’t defeat the boss enemy.
‘What explanation can I give to convince Baek Ho? Should I just start spouting a fake prophecy?’
Countless ideas raced through my mind, only to be discarded.
This was about the safety of my comrades, and I didn’t think a few words would convince Baek Ho to let us go.
I even doubted why Baek Ho had given me the opportunity to explain in the first place.
After feeling the killing intent emanating from Baek Ho, I realized something.
‘Baek Ho never intended to let us off from the start. The chance to explain was just to leave a trace that he hadn’t immediately killed us, to catch his breath and then defeat us.’
If that’s the case, there was no choice but to fight.
Baek Ho had fought fiercely to cut the sky, and just moments ago, he had expended great effort to eliminate the external forces.
It was the first time I had seen Baek Ho breathing heavily since the final battle in Flamago.
Baek Ho had exhausted a lot of his power, and now, giving us this chance to speak was likely just for him to catch his breath before swiftly eliminating us.
‘He fought fiercely to cut the sky. It’s doable.’
Baek Ho might be the top fighter of the Hojo, but he hadn’t yet received strength from the celestial deity.
The Hojo’s true bloodline only came after the creation of the heavens.
Baek Ho didn’t have the true name yet, but I did, and outside the simulator, the tigers were waiting for me.
‘For the sake of the tigers, I need to figure out the boss enemy’s identity. The unnecessary records will be erased by the tigers. Let’s fight with confidence.’
Baek Ho’s great sword, which he was now pointing at us, became even more charged with energy as he awaited my answer.
I gave him the answer he was waiting for.
"I’ll explain with my sword."
The moment I finished speaking, I sent a signal to the raid members, invisible to Baek Ho.
The signal was to run.
The raid members, recognizing my signal, ran toward Baek Ho, but he swung his great sword to stop them.
Before he could, I moved first.
〈Gwanglim, using ‘Player’s Trajectory’.〉
〈Targeting character’s Gwanglim, using ‘Poun Cham Rae (破雲斬雷)’ to summon Bai Ya (白牙).〉
Kaaang!
Baek Ho’s eyes filled with disbelief in an instant.
In his eyes, the image of the great sword, recreated through my Player’s Trajectory, blocking his own sword appeared.