D.I.O

“Hey, Yongno. It seems the growth-type artificial spiritual pathway you planted is starting to operate, but I haven’t even reached Level 1 with it yet.”

“It doesn’t matter. You can still manifest.”

When a user manifested, their body in DIO, which was essentially seen as a biological weapon on Earth, would [overlap] with their real body.

For this reason, Master level users could recover from incurable diseases, heal their injuries, and even remove any innate disabilities with just one manifestation. So, as long as an individual could manifest, their physical body would become healthy, regardless of their current status or pre-existing conditions.

Hence, when a user manifested with a [seed] planted in their body, that action would cause the seed to grow rapidly.

Thus, it was possible to grow and instantly obtain at least half of one’s manifested spiritual power. In other words, over half the power of an individual’s DIO character could be obtained through manifestation.

“Um, but I don’t have any gem points to manifest.”

Anyone could tell that Dongsoo either didn’t want to or couldn’t manifest, but Yongno pointed the tip of his chin toward Sungmuk.

“Isn’t it strange that there’s an orc here? Even though we’re in reality?”

Everyone in the room paused. In truth, they were all curious about this discrepancy. Users manifesting in reality was a [function] that had existed for a while and was widely known, but no one had been able to materialize and summon DIO NPCs or tamed monsters into reality.

Did it make sense that an orc, classified as a monster, was roaming around in real life?

“… Lancelot Du Lac.”

Crackle!

Visible static crackles, like the static noise from an old television, spread over Dongsoo’s body. For an instant, he became blurry, but afterward, a new figure appeared over Dongsoo’s frame. The coat Dongsoo had been wearing, which was neat and formal, disappeared. Soon, Dongsoo was covered with silver-colored armor, specifically made to minimize any interference with his range of movement.

“As you may have already guessed, this building, my Magic Tower, is an [extension] of DIO’s territory. Essentially, you are all standing within DIO.”

The Magic Tower was a masterpiece made by Yongno, and its construction consumed a lot of his time, effort, manpower, and money. He had operational control over DIO, and he expanded the service so that DIO and Earth overlapped in this specific area.

“This is how NPCs can exist and live here at all times. In turn, this means that, while a user is on the premises, they can manifest indefinitely and utilize their items from DIO. Of course, a user can’t move their items or maintain their manifestation outside the Magic Tower. There’s nothing I can do about that.”

As Yongno calmly explained, he waved his hands lightly, and the dining table and food atop it was pushed back. Those in attendance were seated and consequently got moved as well.

Lancelot and Sungmuk now faced each other in the center of the dining room.

“Gear 1.”

Eventually, Lancelot took out a black spear, Dark Spirit, which he had obtained after defeating a high-level demon warrior who appeared as the main enemy in his Level 19 test. He didn’t like this weapon much due to the demonic qi it naturally possessed, but, at the moment, it was the best weapon he had.

Whoosh!

A light wind spread outward from Lancelot.

He didn’t swing his spear or emit any aura power.

The wind blew just from his act of [holding his spear].

“…”

“This is….”

“Oh, my god… look at his posture….”

For a moment, everyone paused with bated breath. In Boram’s case, she’d reached Level 9 as an aura power and internal energy user, and she felt a sense of suffocation when examining Lancelot’s posture.

His posture seemed absolutely flawless.

By just standing there, he made an observer feel like they were short of breath and stifled.

Lancelot, standing still as if he was a photograph, didn’t even telegraph any anticipated movement or even signs of life, for that matter. However, his presence could not be ignored.

“… I apologize for looking down on you. I’ll prepare accordingly.”

Sungmuk soon corrected his posture, having previously placed his Divine Red Sparrow sword on his shoulder with the feeling that he was being used as a test dummy. Based on Sungmuk’s sparkling eyes, Yongno could tell that he was relishing the upcoming fight.

“He’s strong.”

Even Eunhye muttered involuntarily, and she’d been standing silently up till now.

Though Lancelot hadn’t done anything yet, everyone in the room felt and understood a great deal from his posture.

“It’s amazing. It’s highly unlikely, but it’s as if he’s repeated that posture hundreds of billions of times.”

Lancelot lowered his spear and stared straight ahead; it appeared as if he didn’t sense the surprised gazes around him.

In truth, Lancelot wanted to fight Sungmuk.

‘Of course, I’ll probably lose.’

After chuckling inwardly, Sungmuk held his sword upward towards his midsection while facing Lancelot.

“I’ll let you make the first move.”

“I’ll gladly oblige.”

Lancelot answered lightly and took a deep breath. He focused his mind and stepped forward, still maintaining that intense level of focus. Even though he was slowly advancing, his legs were planted firmly on the ground as if they were rooted, and his upper body maintained a stable posture without even a hint of shaking.

However, Lancelot soon broke that posture and turned.

Ripple.

His muscles tightened, and he burst out with explosive power. His extremely elevated spirit radiated aura power, and the emanated aura power covered his entire body.

Soon, his tightened muscles were released, and he rotated, starting from his lower body, then transmitting to his arms through his knees, waist, and shoulder. For an instant, the tip of his spear blurred.

Ping!

Since the spearhead broke through the speed of sound, his spear shot out without making any noise. Even though he was only using his body to stab, the speed of his attack was far faster than a bullet!

However, Sungmuk’s Divine Red Sparrow deflected the tip of Lancelot’s spear.

‘Aha… I knew it! However!’

Sungmuk had completely blocked Lancelot’s strike, but without panicking, Lancelot withdrew his spear. He concentrated his attention and moved his arms while maintaining a high level of focus.

Ping!

Lancelot’s attack was blocked once more. He pulled his spear back and stabbed again.

Ping!

Another attack was blocked. Another stab was launched.

Ping!

Another attack was blocked. Another stab was launched.

Ping!

Another attack was blocked. Lancelot stabbed again, and again, and again.

Whoosh!

Clang!

When Lancelot stopped moving, complete silence fell in the relatively vast dining room. Everyone was staring at the center of the room with shocked expressions.

“That… such a crazy….”

Sungmuk groaned, having been pushed back more than ten meters. He could no longer hold his Divine Red Sparrow with his right hand, so he shifted it to his left hand.

“H-how many times did he stab just now? I think I saw about a dozen….”

“I think it was over 50 times.”

As a result of Lancelot’s speed, almost everyone only saw a buzz of movement, like a bee flapping its wings. Lancelot’s spear movement slowly faded away, and a tremendous roar soon followed it as Sungmuk flew dozens of meters backward.

“Ugh, what the hell. What is this? He’s just ignorantly stabbing, right? He’s just stabbing non-stop, no?”

Cruze had manifested after seeing Lancelot’s unexpected Level 19 appearance, and she groaned aloud. Yongno looked toward Eunhye.

“How many times did he stab?”

“Hundreds of times… I think… I’m not sure.”

“Eight hundred thirty-two times, to be exact.”

Lancelot had launched close to a thousand stabs in an instant.

His attack was so great that even Sungmuk had lost mobility in one of his arms, and the latter could take on submachine gun bullets without batting an eye.

However, Snowflake Flower shook her head.

“That user is done for.”

Yongno nodded after hearing her comment.

“That’s right. It’s an amazing feat… but he has no chance of winning.”

“Eh? What are you two talking about? Didn’t that orc get hurt just now?”

Of course, Miho tilted her head with a confused expression, as she wasn’t well-versed in martial arts. In the span of one breath, Lancelot had put Sungmuk on the defensive, so how could he have no chance of winning? While Miho was still in a state of puzzlement, Sungmuk’s counterattack began.

Bam!

Plum blossom leaves flew out as he swung his sword. The scene was gorgeous and beautiful, but Sungmuk’s attack was a killing technique that could slice through the toughest composite material just by brushing against it!

Whoosh!

Clang!

Lancelot’s spear seemed to blur once more, and soon, all the plum blossom leaves rushing toward him were deflected.

Whoosh!

“Ugh!”

Though Lancelot had deflected against all the plum blossoms, solid red lines appeared all over his body. He had undoubtedly blocked all the attacks, but he had still sustained injury.

Bam!

And at that moment, Sungmuk’s body disappeared and reappeared at Lancelot’s side.

This was an almost pinnacle-level Nine Palace Steps and its resulting Sudden Body Movement! It was an ultra-high-speed rush move that was no different from teleportation.

“…!”

However, Sungmuk’s face soon distorted. The tip of Lancelot’s spear was right before his nose.

Clang!

Sungmuk’s Divine Red Sparrow collided with Lancelot’s spear. Lancelot’s spear tip moved so fast that even Sungmuk couldn’t make any headway without running into the spear.

There didn’t seem to be a way for Sungmuk to deflect the spear tip and get closer to Lancelot.

If the sword and spear touched each other even once…

Clang!

Lancelot would launch hundreds of attacks in just a moment. His spear tip, which looked like a rushing tidal wave to Sungmuk, continued to strike out.