Chapter 26 - Infinite Monarch

BOOM! BOOM, BOOM! KABOOOOM!

The fireballs circling overhead fell one after another, sending pillars of flame shooting up everywhere. Each tower of fire could have burned a building or two to the ground, and in an instant blue flames engulfed the area. It was a blazing hellscape—a place where even a man made entirely of iron would be reduced to ash in moments.

Yet not a hair on Limon’s head was singed. He had already darted clear of the flames before the fireballs landed. Of course he had. No matter how powerful the attack, Limon was hardly going to stand there and let something so obvious hit him.

But Lee Cheon-gi’s attack was not over. No—it had not even begun. As if to prove it, he casually snapped his fingers again and murmured, “『Torrent of Flame』.”

FWOOSH!

Did you believe fire was alive? Even the staunchest skeptic would have become a believer if they had been there. The flames covering the ground writhed of their own accord, then surged back across it like a river to engulf Limon. They looked like living things.

“Didn’t your mother tell you playing with fire makes you wet the bed?” Limon did not so much as twitch an eyebrow. With a faint snort, he drove his sword deep into the ground and flicked it upward. Ordinarily, the motion would have scattered a little dirt. In the hands of a Sword Master, that simple act turned him into a human catapult.

BOOM!

A huge hole opened where he had planted the sword. A mass of earth the size of a house flew out like a cannonball, punched through the river of flame, and bore down on Lee Cheon-gi. Wrapped in fire, it fell like a meteor. Crude compared with modern weapons, perhaps, but all the more savage for its primitive force.

“『Weapon Manifestation』.”

KABOOM!

Fortunately, civilization had not advanced for nothing. A self-propelled howitzer rose behind Lee Cheon-gi and fired, shattering the primitive projectile back into a heap of dirt. Firepower devotees, worshippers of science, and military enthusiasts alike would have cheered the feat. Lee Cheon-gi went a step further.

SNAP!

At the snap of his fingers, weapons appeared: tank guns, cannons, missiles, heavy machine guns, and more. With enough firepower at his back to surpass an army, the great Monarch murmured, “『Accuracy Correction』, 『Cursed Bullet』, 『Defense Penetration』, 『Destructive Power Enhancement』, 『Projectile Acceleration』.”

Each word brought a glow to the weapons. Before the arms now shining with layer upon layer of light like a rainbow, Lee Cheon-gi swept one hand down as elegantly as a conductor leading an orchestra. “『Concentrated Fire』.”

KABOOOOOM!

An artful barrage began. Countless advanced weapons, each with different specifications, supported one another as though they were one, pouring fire onto their target without the slightest deviation. Even the Aegis system could have learned from that precision! And strengthened by all manner of skills, every shot far surpassed the power of an ordinary modern weapon.

“Hmm.” Limon did not retreat before that baptism of death. Instead, he took in the incoming shells, bullets, and missiles at a glance, as if studying them. Once he had finished observing, he made just three cuts.

He set the tip of his sword against the leading bullets like a slide, then swept the blade in a circle, multiplying their force and speed as he sent them back.

TING, TING, TING!

It was a praying mantis standing against a cart: three bullets making a reckless charge against a countless barrage. But people misunderstood that saying. It was not meant to mock foolhardiness. The tale told of a mantis whose courage in challenging a cart moved Duke Zhuang of Qi to steer around it.

And now, three bullets struck a single missile at once, working that miracle anew.

BOOM! KABOOOOM!

The firepower amplified by skills. The astonishingly precise, densely packed barrage. What should have been strengths became liabilities when a missile at the very center of the bombardment exploded. Just as a single misaligned screw can disable a precision machine, the chain reaction that began with that missile drew in the rest of the barrage and painted the sky with fire.

The instant a gap opened in the barrage, Limon sprang through it. Though most of the shots had detonated against one another, half the bombardment still remained. There was no hesitation or fear in his golden eyes—only the tenacity of a predator charging its prey.

Lee Cheon-gi did not look away from those eyes. He snapped his fingers again.

“『Gravity Manipulation』.” Tens of tons of weight pressed down.

“『Freezing Downpour』.” Rain that froze everything poured forth.

“『Dream Labyrinth』.” A curse unfolded, swallowing all things into a dream.

“『Octagonal Barrier』.” Eight layers of barriers rose, tougher than a bunker.

Each was a top-tier skill worthy of being a high-level player’s mainstay. Unleashing them all in a single breath was beyond astonishing. It was a terrifyingly flawless chain of skills no one else could hope to imitate—possible only because he was Lee Cheon-gi, the Infinite Monarch.

Still, Limon was unshaken. He merely took three more steps toward Lee Cheon-gi. When it was almost too late to turn and flee, striding straight ahead seemed the height of folly. But the result was astounding.

One step: he evaded the gravity and the downpour. Two steps: he cleared the barriers. Three steps: he thrust his sword at Lee Cheon-gi.

It was a sight that defied reason, even for someone watching it happen. Had Lee Cheon-gi not known it was coming and prepared for it, the lethal thrust would have pierced him.

“『Spatial Transfer』, 『Free Flight』.”

But Limon’s sword struck only empty air. As though he had expected exactly this, Lee Cheon-gi had cut through space and vanished before Limon even took his third step. He reappeared high overhead, far beyond the sword’s reach, and spoke calmly as Limon clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“Remarkable. How can you do that without using a skill?”

“Secret, asshole.”

Limon had not moved with extraordinary speed. He had not stopped time or crossed space. So how had he passed through every skill and reached Lee Cheon-gi in just three steps? Limon snapped back at the calm question, then asked one of his own. “How did you see it coming? Most people can’t dodge that the first time they see it.”

“I’ve already been hit by it.”

It was hardly an answer, but Limon understood. “Hah. 『Future Foresight』.” Among the many prophecy-type skills, it was one of the most useful in battle—and one of the rarest and most demanding. Watching the man who had foreseen a future in which Limon stabbed him and evaded it, Limon asked with a sneer, “How many skills do you have, anyway?”

Lee Cheon-gi had used more than a dozen in this fight alone. Many were powerful enough that learning just one could make someone a high-level player. Wielding dozens of such skills at will was plainly abnormal even by high-level player standards.

“I’m not sure myself.” Lee Cheon-gi took the jab in stride. Meeting Limon’s gaze, he answered in a voice so composed it was almost cold, revealing the unique skill that was his alone—and the reason he was said to be the most unfathomable of the ten great Monarchs. “Once I’d learned over three thousand skills with 『Skill Duplication』, I stopped counting.”

* * *

People often said that a Common Skill was a useful power, a Rare Skill was a power beyond reality, and a Unique Skill was a miraculous power. Of course, it was not an absolute rule. Better skills tended to be rarer, but a rare skill was not necessarily powerful.

When it came to the ten Monarchs, however, no one doubted the rule. Even other players with unique skills had a special name for the Monarchs’ skills: Absolute Skills. Or Cheat Skills. The Monarchs’ powers were so extraordinary that calling them miracles was not enough. They were cheats.

And of all ten Monarchs, the most outrageous cheat was the Infinite Monarch’s unique skill, 『Skill Duplication』. In fact, when Lee Cheon-gi first became a player, people had rated him rather poorly. Back then, 『Skill Duplication』 could copy only Common Skills, and only once every ten days. Many mocked him for contracting with a monarch-class constellation only to receive such a dud of a skill.

But Lee Cheon-gi did not give up. He copied skills, ventured into dungeons, and gradually raised his level. When he had learned more than ten skills, he began to stand out. Once he had more than fifty, no one laughed at him anymore. When the number passed one hundred and 『Skill Duplication』 lost its cooldown, he founded the Infinity Guild. And when he passed one thousand and could copy even Rare Skills, people began calling him a Monarch.

That was how absurdly powerful 『Skill Duplication』 was. By now, not even Lee Cheon-gi knew how many skills he had learned. People said that the day he became able to copy Unique Skills, the ten Monarchs would cease to exist and a single absolute ruler would be born. That was why he was the Infinite Monarch: the strongest player, said to have the greatest potential of any Monarch because he commanded an endless array of skills.

And at that moment, Lee Cheon-gi was displaying the full extent of that boundless potential against Limon.

“『Binding Chains』, 『Wave Cannon』, 『Venomous Insect Summoning』, 『Spatial Severance』.”

Limon cut through chains that had suddenly appeared around his ankles, only for an invisible wave to fly at him. As he dodged a seething mass of venomous insects, space itself split apart.

After evading every skill by a hair’s breadth, Limon shouted, “Hey, take a breath between skills! Don’t you ever get winded?”

“Didn’t you know? If you use 『Skin Respiration』 and 『Oxygen Generation』 together, you don’t really need to breathe.”

“How the hell would I know that, asshole?”

Limon clicked his tongue inwardly. As a PAB agent, he had encountered all kinds of skills. Yet in these few moments, he had seen more than in the rest of his life.

‘How many skills is this bastard using at once?’

And that was not just counting attack skills. There were thought-based skills such as 『Parallel Thinking』 and 『Accelerated Thinking』, prophecy-type skills such as 『Future Foresight』, and support skills including 『Free Flight』. Limon was certain Lee Cheon-gi had more than a dozen skills active. He was keeping all of those running constantly while throwing out attack skills too. Even Limon, who considered himself well outside the bounds of ordinary humanity, had to wonder whether the bastard was human at all.