Hyper Luck

Lid Tel.

An anti-player group that was formed after the death of Lidornn, when the NPCs of <Circuit> erupted in anger towards some players' actions that absolutely crossed the line.

According to Khea’s explanation, the world of <Circuit> was like the Morail tree with many holes, where many races from different dimensions came to live and settle.

This game didn’t even have an official website, following the ideal factor of the RPG genre in which the player must explore and learn everything.

That was why I was able to know directly and vividly that the story Khea had told me was actually what happened in this world.

As she said, the new races that came to the world created a huge conflict with the existing races.

Wars broke out causing countless casualties.

She explained that this time, it was the new race called the players who appeared in this world.

We were considered the ‘outsiders’, like how Khea was used to being treated, since new races may appear in this world at any moment.

However, the problem was that this newly found being called the players owned the property of ‘immortality’.

Those who were born with power comparable to that of a god explored the world without hesitation and fearlessly, and grew stronger day by day.

In the meantime, some of the players who became arrogant began to commit acts that crossed the line, which led to the troll patch events such as the Prince of Rebellion happening everywhere, and the race itself was beginning to become hated by many others.

Frankly speaking, I was very indifferent to religious conflicts, racial hatred, and wars that happened due to those factors since I had only seen them on the news.

However, if there was one thing I learned playing this game of <Cricuit> was that discrimination arises from recognizing the other person, and that recognition spreads to everyone like a fire ignited in a lump of oil.

As a result, innocent people begin to be discriminated against, and it spreads out of control.

It was only today that I began to feel the terrifying power of discrimination with my whole body trembling.

Hatred toward the players spread like a wildfire on a windy day which created monsters such as the Lid Tel,

And now I must battle,

Against a monster swarmed with hatred.

* * *

Guinir’s leap was faster than I could ever imagine. The leap was powerful enough to leave a huge hole where he was standing, as he moved almost at the speed of teleportation.

The gray blade of his flew toward my waist in an instant, and I blocked that strike with my Attoria’s Stigma as hard as I could.

And at the same time, Guinir’s voice silently resounded through the area.

“Show everything you have.”

< You have 70% of your HP left. >

That was the phrase that appeared in front of my eyes, the moment I blocked his blade.

My two ears went numb.

I frowned at the severe tinnitus that came to find me after a while, as it was just like the time when I used the Bypass.

“Urgh!”

It wasn't until a cough broke out inside that my side started to hurt as if on fire.

I was knocked down on the floor after breaking down the wall of the building that was located way behind where I was standing.

A faint smell of blood came up from the depths of the nostrils.

I could see Khea and Zaire battling against the other two Sworders in the distance.

The power of Guinir's strike was beyond my imagination to the extent that this scene and the situation seemed surreal and unreal.

“Mose!”

As I was still shocked by Guinir’s strike, Khea shouted at me as loud as she could.

As soon as I heard her voice, I got up and leaped toward them as quickly as possible.

As I could see Khea and Zaire, and Azera and Larife more clearly, I shouted without hesitation as I was still in the middle of the leap toward them.

“Go’h!”

At that moment, the two swords that were ejected from both of my shoulders rushed at Azera and Larife, respectively.

“Sworder of Asparagan! Your skill is way under my expectation!”

Azera firmly grabbed his sword which looked like a scythe with a smirk on his face.

“Sword Technique the 1st form!!”

A resonant voice erupted from his mouth, and Khea flipped back a few times in an instant to escape from there.

“Zaire! Mose! Be mindful of his skill! That’s something only the Sworders of Lowsvan could use...!”

“Ha! I commend your senses!”

Azera, startled by her reaction speed, licked his lips and rushed to her once more.

“Go’h!”

I retrieved my blades again and let out a resounding shout from my mouth.

Immediately, the swords that appeared on either side of me were ejected.

“No matter how many times you try, flying blades won’t ever stand a chance against me!!”

Azera then swung around in the air, deflecting Khea's and Sharma’s strikes all at the same time.

However, that wasn’t the end of it.

Because this time, I sent both of the blades toward Azera.

Khea, who had recognized the Korma flying at Azera’s back of the head, jumped at him in a large movement as she swung her sword to pressure him from various directions.

Azera also managed to successfully block all those strikes, but it was only just a set up to successfully hit my blow.

Korma, which flew towards Azera's back in an instant,

Was immediately blocked by a thorn that suddenly appeared from the floor.

“Such trickery won’t work on me, player.”

Larife pulled out his blade that was pierced deep into the ground as he said with resolute voice.

At the same time, the huge thorn that had protected Azera's back disappeared as if sucked into the ground.

“I would’ve been fine by myself!”

Azera shouted out in a tempered voice in the meantime.

“Focus on the fight.”

Larife said glaring at Azera with burning eyes.

At that moment, the words on Larife's head had changed.

<Lv. 168 Larife of Thornblade>

The <Circuit>-style phase transition was made.

This was a familiar situation as I had already fought many NPCs in the past.

In a hurry, Khea and I rushed Azera with the Aspragan Sworder special swordsmanship.

“Urgh! You bastards!”

However, Azera, after forcefully blocking all our strikes with rough and wild physical movements, took a step back and held his sword firmly with both his hands.

“Sword Technique the 3rd form!!”

A loud resounding voice was heard at the same time as Khea's cry.

“Dodge!”

However, Azera, who had already finished all preparation, pointed the tip of the blade at me with a blue flash in his eyes.

“Aura Shoot!”

In an instant, blue flames began to roar from the handle of the sword he was holding and to the tip of the sword.

And all these series of sequences happened in one-hundredths of a second.

A ray of blue light that was shot from the edge of his blade pierced my right shoulder.

But I was barely able to dodge the serious strike by twisting my waist with all my might at the very last second.

I could feel a burning sensation in my shoulder just by allowing a slight brush.

This was the swordsmanship of the Sworders of Lowsvan that I’ve been hearing about!

This technique seemed like a skill that would be used by someone who had reached the absolute pinnacle of sword technique in something like a wuxia novel.

As I was still surprised by such foreign skill, Azera leaped at me with an explosion.

However, Khea had already appeared in between me and him with a movement like a cat, stuck to the floor like a tiger preparing to hunt its prey.

Soon, a cloud of white smoke started appearing around her, which I was sure was coming from her rapier.

However, Azera, who had already confirmed the location of Khea and me before the fog began to rise, charged without hesitation.

And in that instant, Khea’s rapier started shaking like a wave,

Then, as if dancing, she jumped off the floor and cut through the entire fog, leaving behind a huge flash of afterimage.

Azera, with his cheek slightly cut, appeared dashing from the fog with his bloodshot eyes.

“Gahahaha! This is quite fun, ain’t it? You bastards!”

After laughing like a madman, he immediately straightened up his sword and struck the floor with the tip of his blade looking like a sickle.

At that moment, the ground where Khea and I were standing began to shake violently, and then it started to fall out while creating a huge crater.

“Did you see that? The ‘Rune of Wreckage’ is embedded on the tip of this blade. Try getting hit, you will enjoy it, I assure you!”

“Azera! Calm down!”

Despite Larife’s deterrence, Azera's face was full of excitement.

His eyes were out of focus with his lips wetted in his drools.

“Die!”

Azera approached Khea with great speed in an instant and swung his sword.

The tip of his sword, swung with astonishing calculations, collided with Khea’s rapier, and at that moment, a great shockwave burst out through the air.

When the shockwave struck all over my body,

Shwack!

I had almost lost consciousness after the shock pounding my eardrums.

Khea was sent flying, and my heart started to burn to coal at the sight.

“You bastard...!”

Profanity exploded out of my mouth.

Then I approached Azera in an instant and swung my Attoria’s Stigma as hard as I could.

Azera, flustered at my speed, barely blocked my strike and was sent rolling back.

“Go’h!”

I didn’t stop there and ejected my Sharma and Korma.

And at the same time, I charged toward Azera at the same speed as my blades.

Azera got up in an instant and struck the Sharma first, and blocked my strike after.

Then, on the spot, he turned around and swung his sword to prevent Korma from coming after him.

But at that moment, I made Korma stop by putting strength in my eyes to the point that some veins in my eyes popped.

As a result, Azera, who had spun around in the air, panicked and didn’t manage to land on the ground with perfect balance.

At that moment, I ejected the Korma, which was stopped, and Sharma on the floor as I swung my greatsword at him.

Even though it was a one-on-one battle, the sound of the swords clashing with each other was resounding innumerable times at the same time.

This also meant that Azera was blocking all the strikes from my engraved swords and my greatsword.

They were different.

Being fully prepared, they were stronger than I could’ve ever imagined.

Azera slowly began to overwhelm me.

I started getting pushed back.

“C’mon, is that all you got?!”

Azera shouted with condescending laughter as he took a step back with a sword strike.

It was clearly a strike with a perfectly calculated distance.

‘Damn!’

I closed my eyes tight.

But at that moment,

At that very moment,

There was someone moving at an abnormal speed.

<Lv. 201 Zaire of Flashing Eyes>

***

Approaching with a movement that was hard to follow even with my own eyes, he pushed me away in an instant, squeezing in between him and me with his fists clenched.

His two eyes were wide open.

His eyes, which were covered with countless letters, were emitting all kinds of lights.

“Here comes a strong one. Clench your teeth hard, I’m not sure if you even have time for that though.”

Then, observing Azera's increasingly contorted expression, Zaire thrust a fist into his chin as hard as he could.

As I fell to the floor in the direction Zaire pushed me, I hurriedly took a look at what was forward.

After getting punched in the chin, Azera’s head lifted violently and flew behind with great force.

“What the...”

Without knowing what to say, I took a look at Zaire.

His eyes were closed again.

Then he carefully approached and pulled out his hand.

“I am a homunculus. I am a ‘puppet’ created by humans. Of course, I myself deny such a fact...”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

I asked him as I grabbed his hand to stand back on the ground.

Zaire awkwardly scratched his head and smiled.

“I’ve wandered around learning a lot of things in order to become a human. The speech I gave you about money was also something I heard from the people I’ve met so far.”

“You did have a point back there.”

“I’d like to become a person like Ms. Khea. What she had told me today was a new shock and something new to learn. I’d like to say that I’ve finally met someone who’s actually like a person.”

As we talked, I was naturally worried about Khea's well-being.

I was so distracted that I forgot the most important thing.

“Khea!”

I instantly ran toward the direction Khea was in.

She was already sitting on the floor with only a stream of blood from her mouth.

“The boys are having fun, I see?”

“We must get out of here and head to the Bypass quickly.”

“Where did Guinir go...?!”

At my last question, Khea and Zaire froze up for a moment and took a look around.

However, there was nobody left on the street except for Azera and Larife who were collapsed on the floor unconscious.

“This is our chance. We must get to the Bypass and get out of here!”

Zaire quickly assisted Khea to get up.

I stood behind them keeping guard and looking around.

However, the more I continued to walk, the more my anxiety became complete within me like a clear shadow.

Because there was no reason for such an incredibly strong person like Guinir to just like that.

And that doubt,

Had become reality.

At the huge fountain,

On the continuously moving tiles around the fountain,

There stood the dark shadow of the tall man by himself.