Chapter 119

"The late emperor returned from the dead one day…" the soldier said.

JiHan had completed the map before, so he was already familiar with the story.

It was said that the Wind Empire's former emperor came back to life after being dead for a year, reclaimed the throne he'd passed onto his son, and launched an invasion of the Cloud Empire for a 'divine beast'.

"The emperor declared he'd find a divine beast to offer to the phoenix that resurrected him. As you know, the Cloud Empire is king when it comes to divine beasts. That's why he broke the non-aggression treaty with his large-scale invasion."

The soldier took a breath before continuing to speak.

"He emphasized that we had to capture the vermillion bird and the other phoenix at all costs and cast a spell over the Phoenix Troop. I somehow got lucky and escaped the spell, and when I saw the phoenix, I thought I was hallucinating…"

The NPC talked too much for someone who should have been pleading for his life and briefly revealing everything he knew.

- When is he going to be done speaking?

- He talks more than anyone else on this map, damn it!

- JiHan summoning a phoenix added even more dialogue…

- Just reveal the boss's weakness!

Most were already familiar with the NPC's dialogue since it was a map that was even used in Diamond. Although the story had a few extra lines due to JiHan's phoenix, it could be summarized as the emperor of the Wind Empire being resurrected and launching an invasion.

"Hmm… So Emperor Chojo was reincarnated by a phoenix…" Bijang murmured.

"I didn't know there was really another phoenix to be found," the soldier said.

"There's something I'm curious about… Why use a black phoenix flag instead of its true colors?"

"Because the phoenix that resurrected the emperor was black."

"The phoenix was black?!" Bijang exclaimed in shock.

"Yes. That's why the emperor commanded us to change the color of every flag. If we hadn't done so, the phoenix's offspring would've punished us. "

Then…

Fwoosh-!

Wingbeats echoed through the sky, and the soldier screamed, "Aah…! There they are!"

The final boss of the 'One Bridge' had appeared, the phoenix's offspring. Rather than a single creature, it was a horde of dozens of birds.

"Look at the size of them! Are you saying those are baby phoenixes?!" Bijang mumbled in disbelief as the birds flew toward them. They were each as big as he was.

"Yes… Those are the phoenix's babies…!"

"Wh-what sort of baby is that big?!"

Bijang and the soldier were shocked, but JiHan and his viewers had witnessed the scene before.

- To think he'd get this far in Gold…

- I'm not surprised anymore. hahaha.

- Will he be able to beat it?

- Hojo might be gone now, but it won't be easy.

- Yeah, but since Hojo isn't there, Bijang will help.

Just as the viewers said, the baby phoenixes weren't weak. It was just that Hojo was the main threat. With him gone, they believed the game was as good as cleared.

There was also another factor that helped JiHan…

"Those birds look pretty strong!" Bijang yelled.

"I… I know their weakness!" The soldier shouted, "The ones with blue beaks are the real ones!"

Although the baby birds looked nearly identical, they each had a beak that was one of five different colors. The soldier indicated which color to go for, and it changed with each game.

- So this time, the blue ones are the real ones.

- There are still five, right?

- Yes. There are 25 birds, divided into five colors.

If you focused your attacks on the real ones, the fakes would take damage and vanish as well. That's what made them easier to face than Hojo.

"The blue ones… How did you figure that out?" Bijang asked.

"Only the blue-beaked ones ate the bait we set. The rest became transparent."

"Hmm, alright. Let's focus on the ones with blue beaks."

Then, the soldier spoke to JiHan. "Oh, you should avoid fusing the Phoenix's Flag's power with your Heavenly Lightning…"

JiHan tilted his head in confusion. 'Heavenly Lightning? How does this NPC know about that?'

He was giving the soldier a puzzled look when the man's mouth stopped moving. More accurately, it was the entire world that stopped.

[An anomaly has been detected in the NPC's dialogue…]

[A constellation has illegally entered the game.]

[Initiating expulsion procedure.]

'What…?'

Though the world was still frozen, the soldier slowly brushed back his hair.

"Tsk. I was just trying to talk to the head for a bit," the soldier said.

'He referred to me as the 'head', is it the Dead Star again? Wasn't he forbidden from nearing Earth?'

"To think I'd get caught while briefly possessing an old servant."

[Initiating expulsion procedure in 5… 4…]

"O-okay. Head! Be careful of the birds! They're dangerous, so don't get caught! Don't use the phoenix's strength! There's a chance the 'tree' will detect you if you do!" The soldier's voice was filled with deep concern.

Then, he said his last goodbye to JiHan. "See you next time!"

The soldier waved and halted with the rest of the world again.

[Resuming game.]

"Huh… Why?" the soldier who'd told him not to use the power of the phoenix looked confused.

"What's going on? Why did you stop talking?" Bijang asked.

"It… it's nothing."

- What? What happened?

- Did Battle Net mess up while adding dialogue in real time?

- There's no way Battle Net would mess up like that. It's not some indie dev, hahaha.

- Battle Net has been weirder and weirder since that 'Top 100' match.

Even the viewers felt that the soldier was behaving weirdly, though they hadn't seen what happened during the pause.

'Isn't Battle Net being breached too easily…?'

Not even a week had passed since the 'Top 100' match, but there was already another breach. It was clear that the system had a vulnerability that could be exploited.

'Speaking of which, this soldier used to be one of the constellation's servants?'

It was weird that a soldier who'd been begging for his life then calmly explained the situation with the royal family and knew the boss's weakness. He'd thought it was just a convenient system-created NPC, but that didn't seem to be the case.

'Why is fusing the powers of Heavenly Lightning and the phoenix an issue?'

If the phoenix itself was the problem, he would've also been warned against using the Phoenix Flag's buff, but the constellation had only warned against fusing the two powers.

Was it related to how Hojo had been so easy to kill? As JiHan was pondering recent events…

[Master…] Ariel said as she approached from the start of the bridge, [Can't you use me to catch those birds?]

"Why would you want that?" he asked.

[They've received the World Tree's blessing and prey on our race.]

He remembered what the Dead Star had said about the 'tree' being able to detect him. Had he been talking about the World Tree?

'The World Tree Alliance and Kill the King worked together to destroy the Earth in my previous life. Were they not on good terms?'

When he thought about it, the two didn't seem to be directly connected. The World Tree Alliance caused Earth to plummet in the Space League's ranking, and Kill the King emerged from the dungeons to massacre everyone they could.

'It seems like they have a complex relationship,' he thought.

Ariel, thinking that he was hesitating, anxiously said, [If you capture those corrupted phoenixes with Eclipse, your Shadow Sword stat will increase.]

"Really?" He asked. "Then I guess that's what I have to do."

The World Tree Alliance? Kill the King? Increasing his stats took priority.

He reached out to Ariel.

Swish-!

Her body vanished, and Eclipse appeared in his left hand.

"What in the world…?" Bijang asked, his eyes widening in surprise when he saw Ariel transform into a sword.

"I'll take the lead," JiHan said, "Gatekeeper, could I ask you to protect the bridge?"

"Are you okay without my help?"

"Don't worry!" JiHan said as he even planted the Phoenix Flag again.

"Hmm… Won't it be difficult for you? As expected, I should…"

"It really is okay! Don't worry!"

Nameless Divine Arts Footwork Technique: Lightning Thunder Step.

He was worried that Bijang would try to help if he stayed on the ground, so he flew up into the sky as quickly as he could. His intent for extra stats was clear.

- Did he worry that Bijang would steal experience? Hahaha.

- He really was!

- Even Diamond players team up to fight the boss. Isn't this too reckless?

- Well, it's Sung JiHan.

- He even defeated Hojo~

Kiiik-!

The baby phoenixes flew at him as he soared into the sky, attacking one by one as if they'd concluded that it wouldn't take much to kill him.

But…

[This is my specialty.]

Swoosh-!

Eclipse started to suck a bird in as soon as it touched it.

Kiik! Kiiik!

The monster tried to escape, but it couldn't resist the sword's power and was soon completely absorbed.

"Oh," JiHan said, "They aren't able to resist at all."

[They're just shells with 'immortality' taken from the World Tree. All that remains of their former selves are their shadows,] Ariel confidently told him. [I'll keep absorbing them.]

Kiiiik-!

After she easily absorbed 10 of them…

[Shadow Sword has increased by 1.]

'It looks like things are going to be easy today.'

Meanwhile…

"Kiii…"

Unlike before, the birds hesitated at the sight of Eclipse.

[They're trying to flee. We need to catch them quickly!]

'Ah, I can't let them go.'

Nameless Divine Arts Shadow Secret Technique: Shadow Soul Vortex.

Eclipse swirled and grew in size as the birds were sucked into the technique one by one.

Kiik-!

One of the blue-beaked ones lasted a bit longer, but…

[Resistance is futile!] Just as Ariel said, it soon vanished without a trace. That was the end of the 24th bird.

As for the last remaining blue-beaked phoenix…

"Kiii…"

Even though its body was disintegrating, it managed to endure for quite a while. Still, it only managed to prolong its inevitable fate. There was no chance of escape.

Then…

Fwoosh!

The strange bird's eyes burned, and it stared directly at JiHan as if it were looking through him. Flames emerged from its eyes for a moment, and it uttered a few words.

[What?! We're worthless?!] The remark angered Ariel, and the Shadow Soul Vortex intensified.

The strange bird wasn't able to look at JiHan for long and quickly met its end.

[You little…!]

Even as it died, it continued to bother Ariel with its final words.

[Shadow Sword has increased by 2.]

[You can no longer absorb shadow power from this monster.]

'They're very strict about things like this. They should focus more on their security instead.'

He was pleased with the stat boost, but the additional message was a bit disappointing. At least it had increased by three.

'There's still one more thing left…'

He looked down at Bijang's Cloud Thunderbolt Spear.

It was time for him to claim his rewards for completing the epic quest.