Chapter 30 - Overload

Lee Cheon-gi gripped his sword so hard he nearly crushed it without realizing. It wasn't because of Limon's taunt, nor because he was confused. The moment he saw those cold eyes, instinct told him that something had changed. He couldn't say what. All he knew was that the chilling sensation of facing a wild beast freed from its cage had made him move on reflex.

“『Emergency Evasion』!”

SWISH!

The instant the skill activated and Lee vanished, a blue blade pierced the clone left behind. Had he reacted even a second later, that lethal strike would have cut through his neck as well, severing artery, windpipe, and esophagus in one stroke. The fact that he had evaded it was proof of his skill. But Lee couldn't celebrate. If anything, his face hardened.

'I didn't see it.'

For one thing, he had no idea how Limon's sword had passed through the place where his neck had been. And for another...

“What? Surprised 『Future Foresight』 didn't activate?”

“... What did you do?”

“Nothing special. It's a simple trick you pick up after killing more precognitive bastards than you can stomach.” Limon chuckled with a spiteful look on his face. Lee gritted his teeth.

Of the thousands of skills Lee possessed, 『Future Foresight』 was one of the most useful in combat. It was a major reason he had managed to keep his sword duel with Limon so close despite being the inferior swordsman. At the very least, he could see and avoid any future in which he suffered a fatal wound. Now that 『Future Foresight』 had been blocked, he could no longer ward off a killing blow. But something else disturbed him most.

“Are you saying you were deliberately going easy on me?”

That one strike told him enough. If Limon had wanted to cut him down, he could have killed him at any time.

“I wouldn't call it going easy. I was testing you. When you're up against a bastard who could have anything up his sleeve, you feel him out first. Common sense, isn't it?”

Limon answered without a care, then let a faint sneer curl his lips.

“What? Did you think you were the only one who could test an opponent?”

Lee said nothing. Limon was right. Against another player, perhaps, but testing an opponent with as many skills as Lee was nothing short of suicide. Even before becoming a Monarch, Lee had always watched opponents come at him with everything they had, checking whether they possessed any skills worth copying. He had rarely been the one tested.

And now someone had been testing him? An obsolete has-been like Limon? All while Lee had no idea the man could take his head whenever he pleased?

GRIND.

Lee felt something stir deep inside him. Too stifling and dark as night to be anger, too thick and clinging as a swamp to be defeat, too hot as fire to be shame. Once, he would not have known what it was. But after meeting that man, he had learned. The moment he realized humiliation was crushing him, he was already activating his skills.

“『Limit Break』, 『Transcendent Will』, 『Restriction Release』, 『Future Sacrifice』, 『Heroic Advent』.”

The limiters every human possessed came undone, releasing the restraints on body and mind. Part of his stats burned away to send all his abilities soaring for a time, while his potential was drawn to its utmost in pursuit of a single goal. It was a double-edged sword: skills that granted immense power briefly at the price of devastating aftereffects. Driven solely by his determination to surpass that man, he had combined skills like these hundreds of times until he finally perfected it. The one original power the man called the Infinite Monarch had obtained himself rather than copying from someone else.

【Overlord】

Immersed in that transcendent state, Lee charged Limon and swung his sword.

CLANG!

“Oh?”

Limon raised an eyebrow. It wasn't only the tremendous impact that left his hand tingling despite his having deflected the blow cleanly. He, too, sensed in Lee the same thing Lee had sensed in him—something no one could possess while fighting halfheartedly.

“Finally decided to fight for real?”

Lee didn't answer. He kept attacking Limon and activated more skills in rapid succession.

“『Hyperacceleration』, 『Lightning Speed』, 『Wind Step』, 『Thousand-Armed Guanyin』, 『Extra Action』.”

“Hmm. You're certainly better than before, but this still isn't...”

“『Lion's Heart』, 『Supernatural Might』, 『Muscle Rampage』, 『Incredible Strength』, 『Superhuman Strength』.”

“Still nowhere near...”

“『Elemental Fusion』, 『Lightning Imbuement』, 『Flame Imbuement』, 『Frost Imbuement』, 『Curse Imbuement』.”

“Enough...”

“『Weapon Manifestation』, 『Spirit Summoning』, 『Venomous Insect Summoning』, 『Monstrous Bird Summoning』, 『Earth Monster Summoning』.”

“... Hey, wait a second.”

“『Invisible Blade』, 『Fireball』, 『Wave Cannon』, 『Spatial Severance』, 『Gravity Manipulation』.”

“You crazy son of a bitch?!”

CLANG! CLANG, CLANG! CLANG-CLANG-CLANG! BOOM!

Swords merely collided, yet flames and lightning erupted, the earth crumpled, and storms raged. Summoned creatures poured out without end, attacking from every side, from the sky and even from underground. Offensive skills rained down with enough force to sweep the creatures away too. Limon could hardly believe it. He was used to relentless chains of skills. Lee was the Infinite Monarch, after all; unleashing skill after skill was how he fought. But the density of skills he was pouring out now was on an entirely different level. Hundreds of skills activated simultaneously! Frantically blocking, cutting down, and dodging skills falling thicker than raindrops, Limon yelled.

“Hey, you bastard! I told you to show me what you can really do, not put on a skill parade!”

“Putting on a parade takes skill too.”

“You call that an answer?!”

“Say whatever you like. I'll be the one who wins in the end,” Lee declared coldly.

Limon called it a parade, but what Lee had achieved was no small feat. Skills naturally grew stronger when stacked. In practice, though, few people stacked them. Quite apart from lacking enough skills to do so, using multiple skills at once placed a greater burden on the body. Even stacking two usually caused headaches, dizziness, and other aftereffects; keep it up long enough, and a person could pass out. That was why most players relied on just one or two main skills.

Lee was different. He had trained relentlessly and assembled equipment that let him use at least a dozen skills simultaneously. Having countless skills was like putting pearls on a pig if he couldn't use them properly. His efforts had been worthwhile. There was a world of difference between using one or two skills and using a dozen together. Limon himself had judged Lee, with ten skills active at all times, a more troublesome opponent than a thousand players who used only their main skills.

What, then, if he could keep hundreds of skills active at all times? What if he could unleash hundreds more in a single burst? Lee was certain that, as he was now, he could easily sweep away an army of thousands or even tens of thousands made up entirely of players. That was why he had named this state 【Overlord】. It was the power of a transcendent being, surpassing even the Monarchs called the absolute rulers of this age.

The cost, of course, was considerable. Pain like his skull was splitting apart was only the beginning. Veins bulged all over his body, and his muscles convulsed. Under the tremendous strain of the skills, Lee's mind and body could collapse at any moment. In another sense, his transcendent state was power that exceeded his limits—an overload.

But Lee didn't stop. As if determined to bring Limon down even if it left him a broken man, he used healing skills to repair his failing body in real time and kept pouring out attacks.

“... I see. At least I know you're serious now.” Limon spoke quietly as he met Lee's barrage with his sword. He could tell at a glance that Lee was fighting at the cost of his own lifespan.

“Still, let me ask one last time, just to be sure... Is there anything more?”

“Anything more of what?”

“I'm asking if this is everything you people can show me.”

“What does that...”

Lee frowned at the cryptic remark, then flinched. Limon was gazing steadily at him. Even after seeing the transcendent state called 【Overlord】, those pitch-black eyes remained flat and impassive, as though it bored him.

“All right. If there's nothing more, that's fine.” As if he knew the answer without hearing it, Limon nodded to himself. Then he gripped his sword with both hands and spoke in a languid voice.

“Let's end this.”

“...!”

At that moment, Lee's pupils contracted. It wasn't merely that Limon, who had wielded his sword one-handed until now, had gripped it with both hands for the first time. Nor was it only the chilling sense of a blade against his throat that came from watching Limon stand perfectly still, sword in hand. The instincts Lee had honed through countless trips into dungeons told him to flee this place immediately. He must not let that man swing his sword. If he did, everything would be over.

CRUNCH.

But Lee ignored his instincts' warning. No—he rejected it. His pride as a Monarch would never allow him to flee now. So he charged Limon, clenching his teeth until blood seeped from his gums, and activated his skills with everything he had.

『Demon-Cleaving Dragon-Slaying Sword』, 『Blade Storm』, 『Supreme Power Strike』, 『Asura Blood-Wave Slash』, 『Magic Sword』, 『Power Concentration』, 『Elemental Fusion』, 『Freezing Downpour』, 『Great Flame Formation』, 『Heavenly Thunder Hell』, 『Wave Cannon』, 『Spatial Severance』, 『Defense Penetration』, 『Destructive Power Enhancement』...

Swordsmanship skills, offensive skills, support skills. Going beyond even the limits of 【Overlord】, he activated them all at once, prepared to throw away his life. One thousand skills in total! The backlash alone burst blood vessels and tore muscles throughout his body. Blood from his ruptured organs surged up his throat, and his brain grew so hot it felt ready to melt. Countless skills raged around him, their mere aftershocks ripping, scorching, and freezing patches of his skin. Still he did not stop. He hurled all one thousand rampaging skills at Limon in a single burst.

It was a strike that could shake heaven and earth. A storm of annihilation that could split a mountain, reduce a city to ruins, or evaporate an entire sea. If Limon dodged it, the force of the missed attack alone would be more than enough to obliterate everything within a dozen or so kilometers.

Yet Limon did not budge before that storm of skills. With a languid expression, he simply moved his sword. It was not fast. It was not powerful. It was not dazzling. Rather, the single stroke was impossibly slow, gentle, tranquil, graceful, and beautiful, like one movement of a sword dance. And when that unhurried sword reached the end of its arc—

『Demon-Cleaving Dragon-Slaying Sword: Ultimate Technique

Demons fall like dew from the sword's tip』

The world split. One thousand skills shattered. And a single flash of light pierced Lee Cheon-gi.