Chapter 166

Within Japan's Battle Net Center…

"Ugh…" The Japanese coach collapsed in place and trembled.

Swoosh! Swoosh-!

The Sword King's swords flew around him, devastating the surroundings and targeting the Battle Net connectors in particular.

BOOM-!

Smoke rose from the connectors after they shook from small explosions.

The coach tightly closed his eyes. 'Shizuru… didn't you say to leave it to you?! Why did things turn out like this…?!' He'd been feeling uneasy ever since the Sword King was forcibly logged out during the initial round.

Shizuru had run away, and the Sword King was completely out of control. The only consolation was that he hadn't killed anyone yet, but most of the staff had already fled, and the guards were unconscious. It didn't seem like the Sword King was intent on committing mass murder, but…

BZZT—!

When the coach saw the sparks flying from the connectors, he worried the players would get electrocuted to death if the swords didn't slice them apart.

"S-Sword King!" the coach pleaded. "Please, stop! If the connectors explode… The players might die!"

"If they die, they die."

"Th-that's…"

"Would you prefer I kill them myself? Haha. Now that I think about it, if everyone here dies, the Japanese team will collapse." The Sword King ran a hand over his ruined eyes and laughed.

"P-please spare us…!"

"Then bring Shizuru here immediately."

"How could we possibly bring Shizuru…?"

"That's something for you to figure out."

Swoosh-

The swords dismantled the Battle Net connectors and pulled the players out one by one. Though the Sword King was blind, he controlled the swords as if they were extensions of his body. Anyone watching would be able to see why he was the world's top Warrior.

"Sword Prison."

Blades of light stretched toward the players after they were forcibly logged out of the connectors.

"Ah… What…?!"

"Th-this…?!"

The blades were large enough to hold a person, and they soon imprisoned the players and brought them toward the Sword King.

"Some of you are useless."

"C-cough…!"

Thud-!

Some of the captured players fainted and fell to the ground as their sword prisons exploded.

"These guys… Yes. They should be good."

About 20 players remained trapped inside his swords.

"What's going on?!"

"P-please spare us…!"

"Stay calm."

"A-AAH…!"

Though they were strong enough to be on the team, the Sword King overpowered the remaining players in an instant and knocked them unconscious with a single technique.

The Japanese coach gulped. 'This monster…! Is he really blind? He captured only the top-ranked players!'

Sure enough, the imprisoned players were the top 20 players on the Japanese team. Despite his blindness, the Sword King had perfectly selected the most valuable hostages.

"I'll give you 12 hours. If you don't bring Shizuru by then, I'll publicly execute one person every 10 minutes."

"P-public execution? That's…?!"

"Call the press with my demand. Ah… Wait. I can't trust you." The Sword King ran his hand over his ruined eyes again before saying, "System, turn on Battle Tube."

The Sword King activated his Battle Tube for the first time since arriving in Japan.

Meanwhile, at Korea's Battle Net Center…

Dong-Woo and YunGi came out of the connectors with smiles.

"Our team… won."

"I still can't believe it."

The Japanese team fell apart after the Sword King logged out in the initial match. After that, the next match was a cakewalk, and the entire Japanese team was logged out for some reason in the final match.

Nobody knew what had happened, but the Korean players were in a cheerful mood after their overwhelming victory against Japan.

Of course…

"I wonder what happened in Japan…"

"They were forcibly logged out? I've never seen such a thing in a Battle Net match."

"Even if there was a power outage, the connectors should last for at least three hours."

"Connectors for national teams should run for six hours, right?"

The incident was unprecedented, so everyone's attention was focused there.

"Coach, have you heard anything?"

"Hmm… Not yet. Ah, I heard people are evacuating from the Japanese Battle Net Center." Coach YeongJun's eyes widened in surprise as he read the news from Japan.

"What? Evacuate?"

"What happened?" JiHan, who'd obtained the MVP in all three matches, approached Coach YeongJun with a serious look on his face before he saw the breaking news on the coach's monitor.

- The Japanese Battle Net Center's staff are urgently evacuating!

- According to testimonies, the Sword King has gone mad…! It seems that he's causing disturbances inside!

'Gone mad? He probably came back to his senses.' JiHan looked at Coach YeongJun. "It seems we still can't get information on the situation inside."

"Th-that's right… It looks like the Sword King tampered with the Battle Net connectors… I wonder how things will turn out…" The coach was watching the monitor with his arms crossed.

One of the staff members suddenly shouted, "C-Coach! The Sword King's streaming on Battle Tube!"

"What…?! Put it on screen!"

"Understood!"

Ziing-

On the Sword King's Battle Tube stream…

"Eek…!"

"H-his eyes…!"

The viewers were shocked from the start when they saw the Sword King's ruined eyes. With the bloodstains around his eye sockets as well, the Sword King looked terrifying.

[Hello,] the Sword King said in Korean, a language he hadn't spoken since leaving for Japan. [I apologize to the fans in Korea who have always supported me. I caused a lot of trouble due to my obsession with a certain woman.]

The Sword King gently touched the places his eyes had been. [Only after destroying my eyes… was I finally able to wake up from my illusion.]

"Ah… He returned to his senses! J-JiHan, was this your doing?"

"Yes… but judging by the state of his eyes, it seems like he still had to struggle."

Had Shizuru tried to Enchant him again? It was hard to believe he'd mutilated his own eyes.

'No. The eyes… can be healed. It's more important that he not fall for her Enchantment again.'

A lost body part could always be regenerated. Even though such effective healing was rare at the moment, Supports' healing effects would drastically improve in real life to be as effective as they were in the game once the Tutorial Season ended.

'As long as he's alive, that's enough.' JiHan coldly assessed the situation.

[I will solve this issue myself.]

He was listening to the voice of 'Yoon Sae-jin'.

[This is a warning to Japan's government… Bring Shizuru to me within 12 hours. If you don't…]

Swish. Swish-

Was it because he'd lost his sight? The Sword King struggled to sense how Battle Tube was capturing his image and moved the 20 people he'd captured into frame.

Coach YeongJun's eyes widened upon seeing the players swirling inside the sword prisons. "Huh… There's Sakura, and also Heiji… So he trapped players with SS-rank Gifts!"

"Aren't they among the top five players in Japan?"

"Yes… They were quite troublesome players, even when the Sword King was still in Korea, but to think he'd take them as hostages…"

[I'll kill one of these hostages every 10 minutes.]

Coach YeongJun frowned. "He's announcing murder…! That means he will get expelled from the International Battle Net Association…"

"What happens if he's expelled?"

"You can't join a country's international team, and you'll get banned from international games."

Well, that was a rule that could be applied only during the Tutorial Season. Such laws wouldn't matter in the barbaric world afterward. Despite the risk of being banned, though, it would be better to eliminate Shizuru as quickly as possible.

'I can't leave him like that for long.'

Even if the Sword King's strength was absolute, there was a limit in real life. Though he was showing his overwhelming power through the Hundred Swords, he would eventually run out of energy, which would probably lead to a fatal end.

Just when JiHan was about to call Manager Park…

"U-Uncle!" Sae-ah came running toward him. "Did you see the stream? It seems that Dad was freed of Enchantment! Uncle, it was thanks to you, right?"

"Yes."

"Ah… As expected! But Dad's eyes! What should we do? Ugh, seriously… Who would ruin their own eyes…?!" Sae-ah was speaking extremely quickly, and tears were brimming in her eyes.

Though she'd pretended to have no lingering feelings toward the dad who'd abandoned her, the situation was enough to reveal how she truly felt. She was obviously worried about her dad.

"First, I'll contact Manager Park and ask him to arrange a flight to Japan."

"A-are you going to Japan?"

"B-but… Isn't that…"

Everyone looked at JiHan in surprise. Deciding to go to Japan without observing the situation seemed too hasty.

"Brother-in-law lost both eyes, so he won't last long. I must make him eat the World Tree's leaf."

"Uh… B-but still… Won't it be dangerous?"

"Dangerous? For me?" JiHan chucked with absolute confidence. He could stop bullets with his Absolute Domain, after all. If he and the Sword King teamed up, then it would be nothing short of a disaster for their opponents.

"Uh… Still… You'll have a language barrier and not know the geography."

"I'll go with you." Akari, who'd been silently standing behind the worried Sae-ah, stepped forward. "I might not be of help in combat, but I can guide you around Japan."

"Then Sae-ah's the problem."

"Maybe I can—"

"No."

"O-okay. Then I'll stay quietly at home! Go with Akari!"

"Hmm…" JiHan pondered what Sae-ah said.

"I'll take care of Sae-ah." YeonJu, who'd been watching from nearby, stepped in. She was South Korea's highest-level player, so she was always heavily guarded, and she was the best person he could entrust Sae-ah to for the time being.

"Would that be okay…?" he asked.

"Of course. After all, I also wish for the Sword King to return safely to Korea."

"Then it's settled. Don't worry about me! I'll be with YeonJu!"

Sae-ah waved her hand to JiHan from YeonJu's side.

He smirked and grabbed his phone. "Manager Park, could you get me two seats on a plane toward Japan?"

[J-Japan…?]

"Yes, right now, please."

* * *

The Sword King's stream became a hot topic around the world, and a huge amount of viewers from both Korea and Japan flocked to the Sword King's channel until there were well over 10 million viewers.

- Sword King… ㅠㅠ I knew you'd return…

- His eyes…

- There must be a way to restore them through Battle Net… Let's start gathering funds!

- Woah, so the Sword King Fan Club still hasn't died, hahaha. There are so many.

- Woah… Is the hostage situation for real?

- Ugh… This is why Koreans shouldn't be trusted…! What's the team doing? How could so many get dominated by one person?!

- Hahaha, the Japanese guys are getting heated.

- I'm glad I didn't see this.

- They will fall to the bottom after they lose the Sword King.

The Japanese netizens had been mocking the Koreans after the Sword King left for Japan, so it was time for Korea to mock them in return.

- But won't he really end up killing a person?

- For real, I don't think Shizuru will go.

- What are the defense forces doing?? They should immediately suppress the Sword King!

- Hahaha, I think the hostages will die before they can subdue the Sword King.

- If they die, won't Japan become the absolute worst?

- Yes. There are three SS-ranked hostages.

Although Japan's Defense Forces had a special unit to suppress players, they couldn't rashly move against the Sword King. The hostages were the core of Japan's team, after all.

[Ito Ryuhei, release the hostages immediately!]

They could only surround the Battle Net Center from afar and use a loudspeaker to demand that the Sword King release the hostages.

"As expected. It seems like you don't intend to bring her."

BZZT…!

In addition to the 20 players that were trapped inside the swords…

BOOM-!

"Ugh…!"

He knocked out another player who was showing signs of recovering consciousness.

"Who should I execute first? Maybe I should start with the most troublesome one, Sakura." The Sword King casually spoke about murder in a livestream that over 10 million people were watching.

As time passed, the atmosphere grew increasingly heavy.

'He's really going to end up killing someone…!'

'What the hell is the government doing?!'

As the Japanese staff watching from a distance fell into despair…

Tap, tap-

"Ah…"

"That's…"

A woman entered the hostage situation.

"I'm here… Ryuhei." Shizuru had returned of her own accord, and upon hearing her voice…

"Okay, then die."

The Sword King launched his swords at her.