Chapter 155 …

“…If I become… a Legion Commander… can I… take… my soldiers… with me?”

That was the first thing Pain said.

“Jihad.”

“…Two might be possible. But anything more would be impossible.”

Jihad answered immediately, understanding what he meant without needing further explanation.

His level had increased, allowing him to create additional undead, but taking all of them along was impossible.

“…I… can no longer… leave them behind… and live… alone.”

Too many soldiers had sacrificed themselves until now.

He no longer wanted to prolong his life like this.

Back then, at least there had been a cause. But if he became a subordinate of that human, even that cause would likely disappear.

“…Your path… and ours… are different.”

“…We cannot… coexist… with humans…”

He had to give up.

Moreover, wasn’t that man a disciple of a god?

Pain’s race was already marked by the Underworld God Hades. If his people were to follow the disciple of a god, it was obvious what kind of future awaited them.

No matter how great the disciple was, he was still ultimately a servant of the gods.

“…At least… at this moment of death… I wish… to be with them.”

Just as he had made up his mind—

Dohyun suddenly interrupted, as if puzzled by what Pain meant.

“You seem to have a misunderstanding. I’m not a disciple.”

“…Are you… lying…? I have… seen… and heard… enough…”

“No, I am a disciple. But not a disciple of the gods. If anything, I’m their enemy.”

“…What… do you mean…?”

Pain, who had seemed resigned, showed interest for the first time.

So Dohyun briefly explained.

That he was a descendant of the ancient humans who had opposed the gods, and what the so-called gods that everyone revered truly were.

“Whether you believe it or not is up to you. I have no way to prove it right now.”

“…”

“But one thing is certain.”

“If you die here, your race ends here.”

“But if you follow me… someday, there might be an opportunity.”

After hearing that much, Pain couldn’t answer immediately.

He didn’t know whether the man’s words were true or not.

But considering what he had experienced with the gods and their agent, the First Sovereign, it wouldn’t be strange if it were true.

Perhaps…

Perhaps he was about to miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

That thought made him hesitate.

And the ones who answered in his place were the Outlaws.

“Your Majesty… please… follow that man…”

“We… will be fine…”

Their voices, kneeling with heads bowed, were filled with determination.

“We will… remain… in the underworld…”

“In the underworld… there is… that ‘man’s’… hideout…”

“With our numbers… reduced… it will be easier… to survive…”

“Your Majesty… please…”

It wasn’t just one voice.

From all around, the soldiers added their words, all sharing the same feeling.

Finally, one last soldier raised his head and looked at Pain.

He was the one who had survived the longest among the Outlaws besides Pain.

“We… do not… fear… death… but…”

“…”

“What we fear… is… becoming… a burden… to our king.”

After saying that, the soldier bowed his head deeply again.

“Please… do not… miss… this final chance.”

“Do not miss it!”

“Do not miss it!”

The other soldiers shouted as they bowed even deeper.

It was a spectacular sight.

In the moonlit forest, ghost soldiers knelt and cried out.

Even Jihad found himself rubbing his arms at the sight.

At that moment, the soft moonlight began to fade, and the darkness deepened.

[The power of the full moon is fading.]

[The Outlaws are departing.]

Time was running out, and they were beginning to disappear.

[Time remaining: 00:00:17]

And that applied to Dohyun as well.

“Make a decision. What will you do?”

Even at that moment, the Outlaws were fading and floating upward into the sky.

Yet they didn’t forget to speak.

“We… are… fine…”

“We will… wait… for the day… you return…”

“We believe… in you…”

Perhaps that was what made him decide.

“Serving… such an inadequate king… must have been… difficult…”

Pain gently stroked them once, then turned and bowed toward Dohyun.

“I… will… follow… you.”

“Okay, Jihad! Hurry!”

“Got it!”

Finally having convinced Pain, Dohyun urged Jihad in a hurry.

Three had already disappeared.

But fortunately, it wasn’t too late.

[Legion Commander Creation is used.]

[Conditions met: The leader of the Outlaws, ‘Pain,’ becomes a Legion Commander.]

[The vessel is too powerful compared to Guardian ‘Jihad Black’s’ stats.]

[Stats will be adjusted proportionally to Guardian ‘Jihad Black’s’ level. As ‘Jihad Black’ grows, the Legion Commander will grow as well.]

Pain had successfully become a Legion Commander.

And—

[Guardian ‘Jihad Black’ converts an Outlaw into an undead.]

[Guardian ‘Jihad Black’ converts an Outlaw into an undead.]

[Undead conversion successful.]

[Maximum number of undead reached.]

Two Outlaws had been turned into undead.

“Ah…”

One of the last departing Outlaws muttered quietly as he watched Pain and the others transform.

“Please… take… good care… of him…”

With those words, true night fell.

In the forest where darkness had grown stronger than the moonlight, the Outlaws and Pain bowed their heads toward Dohyun.

[Connection time limit has been reached.]

[Forced logout in 5 seconds. Please move to a safe location.]

[RCD recording has ended.]

Dohyun’s vision soon faded into black.

* * *

Psssh—

The capsule opened, and Dohyun stepped out with a relieved sigh.

“Phew.”

That had been nerve-wracking.

If he had been even five seconds later, he wouldn’t have been able to turn the Outlaws into undead. Bringing Pain to meet them had truly been a brilliant move.

It’s a shame the stats were adjusted, though…

But that was inevitable for balance.

He would have liked to test how much they had been adjusted and what level Jihad’s legion had reached with the new Legion Commander.

Well, I can do it tomorrow.

What mattered was that, for the first time in Zik’s history, an Outlaw had become a Legion Commander.

At least in this stage of the game, there probably wasn’t any undead legion stronger than Jihad’s.

Thud.

With a satisfied smile, Dohyun sat down in his computer chair.

It was time for what had become his routine: making videos.

I’d like to hire an editor, but… it feels risky.

Dohyun was walking a path different from everyone else.

He was the only one clearing the main quest, and he had many secrets to hide, like the Eye of Truth.

If he hired an editor, could he really be sure that information wouldn’t leak?

Part of him wanted to just ignore the uneasiness and hand everything off for convenience, but the gamer side of Dohyun refused to allow it.

“Sigh… I guess there’s no choice. I’ll keep grinding myself. At least today’s footage won’t need much editing.”

There were two videos to upload this time.

One was the Outlaw Challenge completion, and the other was the meeting with the Lord of Sargis.

Even though there were two, there wasn’t much editing to do.

The Outlaw Challenge could mostly be uploaded as is, and for the Sargis meeting he only needed to cut out conversations that might hint at the main quest.

[Uploading video.]

[Outlaw Challenge uploaded.]

[Uploading video.]

[Sargis Lord uploaded.]

“Done!”

In less than an hour, Dohyun finished the work and came out into the living room.

His stomach was protesting loudly.

There he saw Hyuna leaning back against the sofa, watching TV.

“You bought a sofa, so why do you always lean on it like that?”

Dohyun said casually as he sat at the table, barely even looking at her.

While pouring soybean stew over his rice and eating, Hyuna answered lazily.

“It’s comfortable like this.”

“Then why buy a sofa instead of a chair with a backrest?”

“Why are you picking a fight again? Just eat your food.”

As always, they bickered the moment they saw each other.

Then suddenly, while glancing at the TV, Dohyun let out a surprised sound.

“Huh?”

His eyes widened.

…That’s me.

He appeared on TV.

More precisely, Kaiser did.

Images and clips of Kaiser in dark armor appeared on the screen while the MCs talked excitedly.

“These days, he’s the hottest figure. Is there anyone who doesn’t know Kaiser now?”

“He once ruled as the legend of Demrock, and since returning he’s been writing myth after myth!”

“And this time, he even became the first to clear the Outlaw Challenge, reclaiming first place for the third time in a row—”

It’s already on TV…

He hadn’t realized since he rarely watched TV.

But considering how much chaos he had caused, it made sense.

Every move he made was far from normal.

From a broadcaster’s perspective, he was perfect content.

Back during his Demrock days, he had never appeared on TV like this.

Even though it was just a game character, seeing himself on television felt strangely surreal.

Bzzz—

[Kim Doohyeong: Hey hey, Kaiser is on GodLive broadcast.]

His friends had noticed too.

[Kwak Jaeyeol: I heard you also graduated Sargis in first place this time? That class is insane.]

[Yu Jonghyun: So are you coming to Pratel now? Wow… Kaiser hasn’t been playing long and he’s already overlapping with us. Is he even human?]

[Kim Hyunsoo: Nope, not human. He’s a god. Kaiser is a god! Kaiser is a god!]

[Kim Doohyeong: I want to see Kaiser in real life. His presence must be crazy.]

[Yu Jonghyun: But what’s Kang Dohyun doing? Didn’t he play Demrock for ages? Everyone’s talking about Kaiser but he’s quiet.]

[Kim Doohyeong: Leave him. He’s probably jealous. That game addict definitely started God of Se. At best he’s stuck in Raven.]

[Kwak Jaeyeol: LOL yeah, he should’ve gone to the army right at 20.]

The previously quiet group chat had suddenly come alive again.

Come to think of it… those guys are in Pratel too.

It felt strange thinking he might meet friends he hadn’t seen since leaving the military—inside a game.

What made it even stranger was that they had no idea he was Kaiser.

Seeing them praise him without knowing made him feel oddly uncomfortable.

It’s not like I hid it on purpose…

Being rank 1 in a “dead game” wasn’t exactly something to brag about.

He simply never bothered mentioning it.

But now, he wondered whether he should reveal it or not.

“Oppa, do you know Kaiser?”

“…Huh?”

Now even Hyuna was interested.

“You played Demrock a lot too, right? Was Kaiser famous there as well?”

“…Well, he was rank 1. Of course he was famous.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. I’m in Pratel too. I might actually see Kaiser in person. It feels like meeting a celebrity.”

Dohyun’s spoon froze.

Slowly, he turned his stiff neck and looked at Hyuna.

“…You too? Why?”

“What do you mean why? I’m level 71. That’s the graduation level for Pratel, so I’m still there.”

“…You didn’t graduate?”

“The graduation quest is annoying. My friends are still in Pratel too, so we’re planning to finish it together.”

“I… see…”

“If I see Kaiser in person, I’m definitely talking to him!”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Dohyun hurriedly tried to stop her, but Hyuna was already too excited to listen.

With sparkling eyes, she suddenly pulled out her phone.

“Whoa! A new video is up!”

“…What video?”

He had a bad feeling.

Hyuna turned the phone screen toward him.

Even though it was too small to see clearly, he didn’t need to.

“KaiserTV new video! Wow… the reactions are insane. He really fights well. He’s probably handsome, right? I bet he’s manly-handsome. And tall too.”

“…This is insane.”

Dohyun couldn’t hold back the chills and put down his spoon.

Feeling nauseous, he made a firm vow.

No matter what, he must never let his identity be discovered.