CH 134

“What the heck? That guy is weird…”

“Is he a pervert…?”

“He appeared out of nowhere and tied someone up…”

“Isn’t that something you only see in hardcore x-rated movies?”

The Adventurers fighting the Blood Zombie were greatly taken aback by what Siegfried had done. They were happy that they tied up the annoying Sanagat, but the method he chose was quite… embarrassing and shameful.

“It all makes sense now. Kyu…” Hamchi muttered with a mischievous smile.

“W-What makes sense?” Siegfried nervously asked in response.

“I know what your preference is now~”

“My preference…?”

“You like to tie people up, don’t you?”

“NO! I’m just doing what the Martial God Church asked me to do!” Siegfried vehemently denied the allegations against him.

“Stop making excuses~ Kyu!”

“I said it’s not…”

“You are a hypocrite! You pretend not to be interested in women and sex, but you even knew how to tie people up like that! Shameful! Kyu!”

“Fine! Just think whatever the fuck you want…”

In the end, Siegfried decided to go along with it and became a pervert.

‘What kind of a religious organization does things like this? Are they crazy?’ Siegfried could not help but wonder if the Martial God Church was even a church in the first place.

“Hey! Release me! You crazy bastard! What the hell is this?! Tie me up normally if you want to tie me up!” Sanagat screamed while foaming in the mouth in anger.

“I want to tie you up normally, but it’s a quest, so… I’m sorry. Well, you wouldn’t be in this position if you didn’t abuse the system from the start, so…” Siegfried muttered, feeling apologetic.

‘This is too embarrassing…! Let’s hurry up and leave.’

Siegfried ripped a Return Scroll of the Martial God Church.

***

Two days later.

[Alert: You have completed the Quest – ‘Arrest the Blasphemers!’]

Siegfried successfully arrested all ten Abusers and completed this embarrassing quest, and he was promoted to Hero III just as the quest reward stated.

[Cansomeonebeatmeplease? (Ring Name)]

[Level: 170]

[Rank: Hero III]

[Match History: 100W 0D 0L (100%)]

Siegfried had a perfect record of one hundred wins in one hundred matches and a high rank of Hero III. In addition, he also leveled up quite a bit thanks to the experience points he gained from his matches.

Therefore, it was about time he ‘graduated’ from the Arena.

“Here you go,” High Priest Leonardo handed over a ring with a red jewel embedded in it.

[Ring of Hero]

[A souvenir given to the Adventurers who managed to reach the rank of ‘Hero’ at the Martial God Arena.]

[Type: Accessory (Ring)]

[Rating: Unique]

[Effect: Allows entry into ‘Dimensional Rifts’.]

The Ring of Hero acted like a license that would allow anyone to access the Dimensional Rifts.

“And these are the items that you may purchase with the Battle Coins you have accumulated. As you can see, these are highly valuable artifacts. I believe your undefeated record has increased the value of your Battle Coins by multiple folds…”

High Priest Leonardo guided Siegfried to an area where all sorts of accessories were displayed.

High Priest Leonardo mentioned the value of Siegfried’s Battle Coins because every Battle Coin held a different value. Battle Coins were magical money with a variable value depending on the win rate, consecutive victories, the difference in ability against opponents won, and more of the one who possessed the coins.

“I choose this,” Siegfried said after looking through the accessories and chose a ring with a purple jewel embedded in it at the far end.

[Tenacious Fighting Spirit]

[Explosively increases HP, Mana, and Stamina Regeneration of the user.]

[This ring is an Arena-exclusive item.]

[Type: Accessory (Ring)]

[Rating: Unique]

[Options: HP Regeneration per Minute +250, Mana Regeneration per Minute +250, Stamina Regeneration per Minute +250.]

The reason that Siegfried chose this item was simple...

‘I will be able to use the magic sword for a few seconds with this ring,’ he thought after checking the ring’s options.

He still hadn’t tried using the Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger, but he was certain that the ring was going to relieve him of some of the burdens from its side effects.

“Excellent choice, I must say. There’s nothing better than being able to fight without being exhausted,” said High Priest Leonardo with a nod of approval.

“Well… I’m not so sure about that. It’s like a bottomless pit…” Siegfried grumbled under his breath.

“Hmm? Did you say something just now?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Siegfried figured that nothing good was going to come from talking about a magic sword in front of a priest, especially when the magic sword came from a demon lord.

“Then, I will be leaving,” Siegfried bid goodbye and prepared to go back to Proatine.

“Alright, take care.”

Siegfried was able to see the punishment of the Abusers he personally caught on the way out of the Martial God Arena.

“Fuck this shit…!”

“Ah… Do I really have to do this for ninety days? This is going to drive me crazy…”

“What is this? Why did this happen to me?”

“I shouldn’t have abused the system…”

The Abusers were forced to do menial labor such as scrubbing the walls and floors of the Arena or pulling out the weed growing in the area.

They were afflicted with a status ailment called ‘Blasphemy’ and were forced into a ‘quest’ that made it mandatory for them to clean the whole place for a week up to ninety days.

However, they should have been glad that they didn’t outright get permanently banned, right?

‘Does this game even have something like a permanent ban?’ Siegfried wondered if the infamous slacker Hive would actually permanently ban people from playing their game.

***

“Ah~Today’s weather is great~”

Tae-Sung left his character at the Proatine Kingdom and spent the day leisurely rolling around in bed.

However, his bliss didn’t last for long.

‘I need to play the game… I need to get stronger as soon as possible to get back at those Genesis Guild bastards…’ his inner voice kept whispering as his eyes kept darting toward the VR capsule.

He was getting stronger at an astonishing speed compared to others, but he was still anxious about his progress. However, this didn’t mean that he could just keep playing the game without taking a rest. Tae-Sung was sure that if he kept on playing the game at this rate, he would definitely get sick and would end up retiring for a while.

In the end, he decided to rest from the game for a full day at least once every two weeks.

Bzzt!

Tae-Sung’s phone vibrated.

— Whoa! What happened to you? You actually answered your phone?

Cheon Woo-Jin sounded quite surprised on the other end of the line.

“It’s my day off,” Tae-Sung replied while buried under his blanket.

— Are you even resting properly?

“Just get to the point.”

— Let’s go for a drive if you have nothing better to do.

“Sure.”

— What the? Why did you agree so easily?

“What?”

— You will usually refuse two or three times before accepting, and it’s… no fun to see you agree so easily.

“Hey, you crazy bastard, are we flirting with each other or what? Why the fuck would I do that?”

— It’s kind of harsh for you to call me a crazy bastard…

“Ah, shut up. I will drive over to your place, so I’ll see you there.”

— Deal.

This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Tae-Sung decided to get changed and hurry out before he completely gave in and returned to his VR capsule.

He met up with Cheon Woo-Jin, and they drove over to Paldang Dam.[1] They enjoyed a nice cup of coffee at a café with a great view over the Han River.

This had been Tae-Sung’s repertoire whenever he wasn’t playing the game. He would either go on a drive or sit at a café and drink a cup of coffee. He thought that this was more than enough as a hobby even though he wasn’t really doing anything exciting.

‘A person should fully rest during their rest time. There’s no need to go looking for things to do.’

Cheon Woo-Jin suddenly asked, “Hey, Han Tae-Sung, do you want to try going on a blind date?”

“Where did that bullshit come from? A blind date? Me?” Tae-Sung asked in response while sipping on his hot cup of café latte.

“Life can be quite boring sometimes, right? You’ve made a lot of money, and you’re not that ugly, so why are you spending your off days drinking coffee with another dude?”

“You’re talking as if you’re drinking coffee with a woman right now…”

“Ah, I’m sick of women already. I have too many women.”

“Awesome. Bravo to you. Hurray…” Tae-Sung raised his middle finger and pushed it toward Cheon Woo-Jin’s face.

“Are you really not interested? I know someone really pretty. She is really~ pretty~. She has a great background as well, her personality is even better than her background.”

“Not interested.”

“Why?”

“I’m already busy with the game, so I don’t think I’ll have time to go on dates.”

“So it’s that damned game again…”

“I have to get revenge on those Genesis bastards. I’d rather level up than fool around with women. I’m currently Level 170, and I just got the rank of Hero III, so I plan to level up and gear up in the Dimensional Rifts for now.”

“What? You’re already Hero III?”

“They just gave it to me after I earned one hundred consecutive victories and cleared a quest.”

“That’s cheating…” Cheon Woo-Jin grumbled with a flabbergasted look.

‘This guy is getting even more amazing as the days go by…’ Cheon Woo-Jin thought.

He started to feel scared of Tae-Sung.

Bzzt!

All of a sudden, Tae-Sung’s phone vibrated.

‘Hmm? Is it mom?’ he wondered as he picked up his phone.

— Hyung-nim!

It was Seung-Gu.

“Huh? What’s up? I think I told you I’m not going to be playing today?”

— We’re fucked!

“What do you mean we’re fucked?”

— A Dimensional Rift appeared in the territory of our neighbor in the south, and…

Seung-Gu reported.

“Give me an hour. I’m going to head back and connect to the game.”

Tae-Sung looked grim once the call ended.

“What’s up?”

“A Dimensional Rift appeared at a small kingdom south of us, and the monsters from the rift are crossing over to our territory.”

“So? Do you have to personally go over? Can’t you just let your subordinates take care of it?”

“Will you be comfortable sipping coffee when someone is wreaking havoc in your house?”

“I guess you’re right…”

“A king can’t be absent in times like this,” Tae-Sung said before running over to his car.

Vrr… Vroooom!

Then, a red Ferrari let out a resonant hum as it zipped out of the parking lot.

***

“His Majesty, Siegfried van Proa!”

The head eunuch announced Siegfried’s arrival.

“Michele,” Siegfried looked for his Minister of State as soon as he arrived.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Michele responded.

“Report,” Siegfried said.

Michele immediately understood and started reporting on the current situation, “A large Dimensional Rift has appeared in our southern border this morning.”

“And?”

“The Dimensional Rift appeared on the Renoma Kingdom’s side of the border, but their knights lured the monster wave over to our side and—”

Grip!

Siegfried gripped his armrest so hard that he accidentally crushed it.

“…!”

The officials froze on the spot at the unprecedented sight.

“Alright~ Let’s call it a day~”

“…snore.”

“Okay, let’s go eat if we’re done. What? We’re not? Nah, just call it a day~”

Siegfried was usually quite carefree when it came to his kingdom’s affairs, and he loved passing his work to his subordinates. He often dozed off during meetings, and he always addressed his subordinates with respect, which was unique among the monarchs of the continent.

But right now, Siegfried looked nothing like the carefree king they knew him to be.

“Michele!”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Inform the Renoma Kingdom at once. Tell them to clean up their own shit or face the consequences.”

“As you command, Your Majesty.”

“Give me a report of the casualties on our end, along with the direction of the monster wave.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Listen up!” Siegfried looked at the officials and said, “We are not in wartime, but make sure that you carry out the tasks assigned to you and be alert around the clock from now on!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“I will go to the front lines and personally assess the situation.”

Siegfried commanded before leaving his throne room.

1. A real dam in Korea. More info here: ☜