CH 189

“What did you just say…?” Siegfried doubted his ears.

[Gringore de Noveldrawer]

[The Scribe of the Proatine Kingdom.]

[Graduated top of his batch at the Empire’s Academy of Arts.]

[He is highly skilled in singing, acting, dancing, and writing poems. He was born with beautiful features that would have launched him as one of the top celebrities in the empire, but he gave up his future to live and fulfill his childhood dreams of becoming a scribe.]

[He became the Phantom Singer after being appointed as a knight by the King of Proatine, King Siegfried van Proa.]

[Type: NPC]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 14]

[Position: Scribe, Knight]

[Rank: Viscount]

[Class: Phantom Singer]

[Titles: Masked King, Thousand Faces, Phantom Dance, Talented Actor, Salary Thief, Pro-Forex Earner, Typography Addict, Record Nerd.]

[Skills: He is currently empowered and may use all of his skills!]

There was no way that Gringore could fight against the Master monster, Gran Cabrio, and his army regardless of whether he was the Phantom Singer or not, as he was just a measly Level 14.

“Excuse me… I think you’re a bit out of it right now. Forget about annihilating them, you’re going to die in vain. Why don’t you just stay here and leave Gran Cabrio to Daode Tianzun Elder-nim?” Siegfried said with utmost concern.

“No, it is possible, Your Majesty,” Gringore shook his head and replied.

“Let’s use logic and facts for now…”

“I must do it. A woman’s voice keeps whispering in my head. She is asking me to exact vengeance and kill them all. She wants me to send them all to hell.”

“I think you’re really out of it.”

“I must go, Your Majesty.”

“I said, it’s impossible—”

Daode Tianzun interrupted. “It’s possible.”

“What?!” Siegfried was shocked. He retorted, “How on earth is it possible?!”

“The power he currently possesses is at the level of a god right now thanks to the empress’ hatred and desire for revenge that has accumulated over a long period of time. Her wrath has pierced the skies.”

“So…?”

“Her wrath has been accumulating for over two thousand and five hundred years, which means that it is an incredible amount of wrath and anger. In other words, he is currently empowered.”

“Aha!”

“On top of that, the object of the empress’ wrath is our current opponent. There’s no doubt that he can do what he said, but of course, what comes next is…” Daode Tianzun paused for a moment before continuing. “He’ll become extremely weak to the extent that an ordinary monster will be capable of killing him. However, he is currently empowered right now, and he is capable of wielding a power greater than a Master.”

“I see…”

“It’s going to be a sight to behold, so why don’t you sit back and watch?”

“I will do that.”

Siegfried accepted Daode Tianzun’s suggestion and decided to watch Gringore go up against Gran Cabrio’s army.

“Hey, owner punk! Take out the popcorn we bought a while ago!”

“Sure.”

Siegfried and Hamchi started munching on popcorn.

***

Gringore got ready to annihilate Gran Cabrio and his army. However, rather than walking toward them, Gringore floated ten centimeters off the ground before zooming off toward the army like a ghost.

Sseuuuuu!

[Dance of Ghosts]

[The Phantom Singer’s mobility and evasive skill.]

[This is the bread and butter of the Phantom Singer. The Phantom Singer’s survivability is horrendous, so this is the skill that will allow the Phantom Singer to protect himself from danger.]

The Phantom Singer truly lived up to its title as a hidden class judging by its not-so-normal skill.

Gringore reached the entrance of the Twin Sprout Village.

Gran Cabrio and his army weren’t that far away anymore.

Seuk…

He took out the item Super Megaphone and started singing using it.

[Song of Destruction]

[The Phantom Singer’s Ultimate Skill]

[A terrifying song that incites sound waves to vibrate to their limits to disintegrate all enemies.]

[*The Phantom Singer’s skills will deal 1,000% Additional Damage against Gran Cabrio and his army.]

The destructiveness of the Phantom Singer’s Ultimate Skill—the Song of Destruction—was jaw-dropping.

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Crack… Crack…

Gran Cabrio’s Level 180 stone soldiers crumbled into dust without being able to put up any resistance. In the blink of an eye, Gran Cabrio was left all alone. However, even the Master Gran Cabrio couldn’t withstand the Song of Destruction.

“M… My… bit…”

Gran Cabrio couldn’t utter even a single sentence.

Gringore also didn’t give him the chance to speak as he sang the Song of Destruction even harder.

Gran Cabrio let out a scream of agony, “Aaaacck! AAAAACCCCCCKK!”

Fwaaaaaa!

His scream quickly vanished as blood gushed out of Gran Cabrio’s ears, nose, eyes, and mouth.

Crack… Crack…!

The Mad Emperor who had come back to life in search of his empress crumbled into dust and was swept away like a cloud of dust.

Annihilation.

The tyrant who had come back to life after two thousand and five hundred years suffered an anti-climactic annihilation. It was definitely not a fitting end for an emperor of Gran Cabrio’s caliber.

This was the vengeance the empress wanted to exact against the Mad Emperor.

She wanted to make sure that he would die without accomplishing anything after coming back to life because accomplishing nothing would be crueler than any other punishment for the resurrected tyrant.

“Can you… smile now?” Gringore muttered under his breath.

[She will never be able to smile. Forever.]

“…”

[But she will no longer be in pain…]

“I hope you rest in peace.”

Thud!

When Gringore’s words fell, he collapsed to the ground.

The empowerment exhausted all his strength, leading to his collapse.

***

“Crazy… Most magicians wouldn’t be able to hold a candle against that AoE skill…” Siegfried was dumbfounded.

Gringore’s AoE skill was that powerful, and it left quite a big impression on Siegfried.

‘I should use him later once I start fighting the Genesis Guild for real,’ he thought.

Gringore was still a newborn Phantom Singer, so he wouldn’t be of much help right now, but Siegfried knew that Gringore would become vastly stronger than he was right now as long as he was given enough time to level up.

“What a terrifying might. The villagers could have been swept up by that power if I hadn’t cast a protective barrier over the village,” Daode Tianzun remarked.

Siegfried and the others remained safe from the Song of Destruction because Daode Tianzun had cast a powerful barrier that blocked the sound waves of the song.

“Look around. The trees and grass are dead.”

“Heok…?”

“What a fearsome ability. They say that a woman’s wrath could rain snow in the depths of hell, but it seems that two thousand and five hundred years worth of wrath is powerful enough to let a song cause absolute destruction.”

“I agree with you, elder-nim.”

“Anyway, where are you going?” Daode Tianzun asked Siegfried. Siegfried suddenly started walking away, so he couldn’t help but ask.

“I am going over to see if there is anything to loot,” Siegfried replied casually.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I am very good at picking up waste paper products[1]. My nickname is Vulture, a scavenging vulture.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but that nickname oddly suits you…”

“This old man is really testing me…” Siegfried grumbled under his breath.

He had to exert superhuman patience to push down the urge to smack the old man in the face for constantly making fun of him.

***

Fortunately, the Song of Destruction didn’t destroy items as opposed to what Siegfried feared.

[Alert: You have obtained the item Full Plate Mail of Madness!]

[Alert: You have obtained the item Greatsword of Madness!]

[Alert: You have obtained the item Tyrant’s Cape!]

Siegfried obtained three legendary items at the spot where Gran Cabrio died. He technically obtained eight legendary items because the armor he had obtained was a full plate mail consisting of six parts.

“Jackpot…” he muttered with a smirk.

He had given—no, he was forced to give the hidden class to Gringore, but he took solace in the fact that he obtained three legendary items in return.

“Hey, owner punk,” Hamchi said.

“Hmm?”

“Stop scavenging. You could get indigestion at this rate.”

“What’s the problem? Did you forget that I’m a scavenging vulture?”

“…”

“Ah, that doesn’t mean I’m going to turn bald if I keep scavenging. Bald people have nothing to do with scavenging, and that’s completely unrelated to why I’m a vulture, okay?”

“What the hell are you talking about right now, owner punk…?”

“I’m just saying…” Siegfried shrugged.

Dududududu!

Roughly a hundred knights on horseback appeared in the distance.

‘Who are they? Enemies?’ Siegfried thought as he gripped his hammer. However, the roughly one hundred knights weren’t enemies he could contend against.

‘How are they so strong? What’s up with their levels?’ Siegfried was taken aback when he found out that the knights were all Level 270.

In fact, even their mount—Purebred Warhorse—was Level 100!

The knight at the helm of the cavalry was named…

[Randoll de Valencia]

[Type: Named NPC]

[Level: 350]

[Class: Imperial Knight]

[Tier: Sword Master]

[Affiliation: Marchioni Empire Knights of Retribution]

[Position: Marquis]

[Rank: Army - Lt. General (★★★)]

[Position: Captain of the Knights of Retribution]

[Titles: Master Swordsman, Emperor’s Sword, Five Star Heavens ★]

It was another Master, Randoll de Valencia. He was famous as the Emperor’s Sword.

Randoll stopped in front of Siegfried and asked, “Are you an Adventurer?”

“Yes, what about it?” Siegfried replied.

“Identify yourself.”

“My name is Siegfried van Proa.”

“Ah, so you are King Proa,” Randoll said while looking down at Siegfried from his horse.

He didn’t bother dismounting despite learning that he was talking to a king.

However, this wasn’t something surprising at all. After all, a marquis of the great Marchioni Empire was powerful enough to treat the king of a backwater kingdom like an insect.

The fact that he had acknowledged Siegfried and had spoken formally to him was more than enough.

“I have heard of your exploits, King Proa. I can see that you possess quite the sturdy and well-developed body,” Randoll said.

“You are praising me too much,” Siegfried replied.

“Pardon the question, but we are here to subjugate the Mad Emperor and his army. They suddenly disappeared from our sight. Have you seen them? Where did they go?”

“My loyal subject annihilated them.”

“Hmm?”

“Well…” Siegfried explained.

“I see… so something like that happened. I understand, I will go and report this to His Majesty the Emperor and make sure that your merits will be recognized.”

“There is no reason for you to do that…”

“No, the Mad Emperor’s army razed numerous cities and villages of the empire, and you managed to stop them. How are we supposed to turn a blind eye to your contributions? I will definitely report the matter to His Majesty and see to it that you get rewarded. Well then,” Randoll led the Knights of Retribution and rode off into the distance.

‘Crazy… They sent only a hundred knights to subjugate Gran Cabrio and his army? Wow, I still have a long way to go…’  Siegfried thought while watching the knights disappear into the horizon.

He felt extremely small in front of the Knights of Retribution. However, this feeling was not something exclusive to him because every other Adventurer who had managed to come face-to-face with those knights felt the same.

Why?

It was all because it was impossible for the gamers to beat some NPCs in BNW, and this was also the reason that the Adventurers couldn’t freely do as they wished in the game.

‘I would have had to issue a kingdom-wide draft and prepare for a war against the Mad Emperor’s army if Gran Cabrio were targeting Proatine. I guess my kingdom is really nothing compared to the empire. Sigh… I have to become stronger. Proatine needs to become stronger as well…’ 

Siegfried sighed and steeled his resolve to further develop his kingdom.

***

“Thank you very much for everything. I will come to visit you again,” Siegfried said.

“Sure, take care on the way back, and feel free to come here whenever you get bored,” Daode Tianzun replied.

Siegfried went back to the Proatine Kingdom with Hamchi and Gringore. Then, he logged out from the game and headed to Here Coffee Lab in Cheongdamdong.

“So… that NPC used the class change scroll and became 009?”

“Yeah…”

“Wow… I guess all sorts of things can happen in life.”

Cheon Woo-Jin was flabbergasted.

“I could have imagined—even in my wildest dreams—that an NPC would become a hidden class holder…”

Seung-Gu was stupefied as well.

“Well, what can we do? Let’s just think that we have obtained a powerful ally.”

“Yeah, all’s well that ends well. I think that’s a better outcome since you’re going to be extremely busy from now on.”

“Huh? Busy? What are you talking about? I’m already busy enough,” said Tae-Sung with his head tilted in confusion.

“Tadah!”

Cheon Woo-Jin showed a few news articles to Tae-Sung.

[V Sports] D-7 ‘Genesis VS GT’

Who will emerge victorious from this clash of the titans?

The news articles contained news about the Genesis Guild’s war against the eighth largest guild of the Nürburg Continent—the GT Guild.

“What do you think? Don’t you feel like sprinkling chili powder all over them[2]?” Cheon Woo-Jin asked with a smirk.

1. Picking up waste paper products is what most scavengers in Korea make a living out of. ☜

2. Sprinkling chili powder is a term used in Korea for ‘messing things up’. Imagine you cooked a nice carbonara for your family then someone comes along with a handful of chili powder and dumps it on your masterpiece. Yes, you get the idea, right? ☜