Level 0 Master

* * *

The two crows came to Sungjin again. "Welcome to the sacred area."

"Such a foolish human, coming to find your destiny."

"You didn't know how to stop, and challenged the forbidden area."

"Pff. Stop the nonsense and tell me the rules of engagement and who my opponent is."

When Sungjin answered, one of the crows started to spin and explain. "Then this is your answer. Your opponent is the Kaiser of another Valhalla."

When a crow said this, Sungjin and his teammates looked at the other side again. "Another Valhalla?"

"Yes. Valhalla is a battlefield made by gods, but they didn't create just one. Your world is Valhalla as much as the other world is Valhalla. There are two."

"Our opponent is another Kaiser…" Ereka murmured. Everyone was a bit relieved. They had been worried that an omnipotent god would come out, but their opponent was better than what they thought it might be.

The Kaiser of another world was somehow a counterpart to Sungjin with similar power, and Sungjin had already defeated two other Kaisers from his side.

Eustasia started to question things. "But that's strange that we have to fight against another Kaiser. We already fought against Kaisers to win this position. Would it be enough to just defeat another Kaiser to become an Arc Master?"

"Good point, general Eustasia." The two crows praised her for pointing out the crucial matter.

"Be scared."

"He is the Kaiser of Darkness."

"He conquered a Valhalla a long time ago to eat up everything in the world to make the world a part of himself."

"Do not presume that the other two Kaisers would have had a close fight against him."

"You are doomed to be destroyed."

When the two crows warned him, Sungjin simply laughed. "I don't need your cheap prophecy. Just tell me the rules."

"You will have three chances."

"Three chances. You can challenge him three times."

"If you can't win in three fights, that will be the end of the battle between the two Valhallas."

"The battle between two Valhallas?"

"Yes. If you win, you will become an Arc Master and the only god of Valhalla. Other gods will give this world to you and leave."

"But if you lose, the ruler of Dark Valhalla will become the only god and will take over your world as well."

"Either way, the long battle will be over. Two Valhallas will become one, and one god will rule both."

"Hmm." Sungjin felt there was something strange in that logic.

That means my opponent defeated two challengers from this Valhalla.

But if Sungjin won, he could become an Arc Master by defeating a Kaiser once.

That was not a fair rule for everyone.

Is this a survival game where the last man who stands after three fights wins? Well, I will find out later, anyways.

"You have one year of preparation between fights."

"But that doesn't mean much."

"Because even if you have a thousand years, you are doomed to be defeated."

"I will decide my own fate. Your job is to tell me the rest of the rules."

"The battlefield is the intersecting point of this space. The rule is simple. You and your six wings have to fight against him. He will bring an equal number of wings."

"And then?"

"Each landscape has its own monster. Those monsters will attack whatever suits them, regardless of the person's side."

"That is a variable that we can use to our advantage."

While Sungjin looked around, something appeared from the final gate. It was impossible to see what it was because a heavy and dark fog covered it up, but the blurred silhouette looked like a man.

"Finally." The voice was strange, as if the fog was also distorting its voice.

"So you are the Kaiser of Dark Valhalla."

"Yes. I've been waiting for you for a long time." The figure still covered in darkness stood in front of Sungjin. Although his voice was distorted, he sounded quite happy. "So you will be my last sacrifice to becoming the only god."

"We don't know who will be the sacrifice yet," Sungjin snapped back.

"Haha. That's the spirit. I hope you have some abilities as well."

The Kaiser of Darkness snapped his fingers. A dark fog started coming out from the ground as if he had summoned something. "Before the real fight, let me test you to see if you are capable of anything. Death Calling."

Fog spread, and a horrible echo came out from the fog as if the gates of hell were about to open, and the fog brought unexpected people out.

"They are…"

Sungjin's first opponent: Blood Ruler Riad. The Mad king Seizo. And the Holy Pope Pedrian and Wise King Kapitle. The four deadly opponents Sungjin had fought.

"How is it possible…" Ereka was confused.

"Start analyzing."

Pandora's eyes started to sparkle. She was the only one to see 3D images and numbers and different colors in front of her. She shared the analysis with the team. "Verification completed. They are puppets reborn by a controlling power that brought them back."

"Controlling the dead…"

"They don't have the will or the ego they had when they were alive, but they still have the same abilities. The Summoner is the one who is controlling them fully…"

Everyone in Sungjin's team looked at the Summoner hiding behind the darkness. Necromancy was an evil, dark magic that controlled the dead, but in order to control many dead people, the necromancer needed extremely strong power, especially when controlling many strong dead people like now, which meant the necromancer was much stronger than all the dead people's power combined…

A necromancer who can control all four of them… who is… How strong is our opponent…

Ereka realized that her hands were shaking with anxiety. Because she had fought every single one of them, she knew their strength, and that made her scared.

"Don't be afraid. You guys are much stronger now!"

But Sungjin told her not to be scared, and she found her confidence again. Yes, you are right, Sungjin.

The dead were strong. They were all awakened heroes over level 8. But Ereka soon realized that they were also awakened heroes over level 8, and even though she didn't have a power like Sungjin or other Kaisers, she could fight against the summoned dead with her team. Unlike when she had to face them the first time, she now had a chance with her new power and abilities.

"Pff. That's the spirit," said the Kaiser of Darkness. "But it is not appropriate for us to have a dogfight with those things, so let's separate ourselves for our own battle. Dark Colosseum," said the Kaiser of Darkness, and created a wall of darkness that came from the ground to reach the sky. And the wall separated Sungjin and the Kaiser of Darkness into a different space from the others.

"Sungjin!"

"Don't panic. It's just a test, so I'm giving you better conditions." The voice of the Kaiser of Darkness echoed all around the space. "All you guys have to do is compete with those puppets. You pass the test if you defeat them. The battlefield has to be…" The Kaiser of Darkness rolled dice. "Good. The battlefield will be a desert."

Sungjin's team and the revived puppets were placed in a desert while Sungjin was placed in a separate space where he could watch the battle through a screen.

The ability of the Kaiser of Darkness was quite impressive. He was able to separate space and time to place a group of people in different places in a second.

Then the Kaiser of Darkness looked at Sungjin. "Since this is our very first encounter, let's play a game of intelligence rather than an intense physical fight."

A table floated between Sungjin and the Kaiser of Darkness, and a 3D image was projected on the table.

The 3D image was… an AoS game that Sungjin used to play back on earth.

"Pff. I didn't expect to see this here."

"Let's play the game you used to play on earth. But we will be controlling five characters simultaneously."

Five computers were placed in front of Sungjin. There was no human who could control five characters simultaneously, but when Sunjin became a Kaiser, he had gotten the ability to control things with his thoughts, so it was not an impossible task for Sungjin, although it was an impossible task to monitor and control five of them at once with a normal human brain.

"Okay." Sungjin sat down, saying to the Kaiser of Darkness that he would take the challenge with pleasure.

"Even if your team loses their fight, if you defeat me, I will take it as that you guys passed the test."

"Pff. You are being arrogant." Sungjin smiled and said, "I will take this challenge."

* * *

While Sungjin's team was having an intense fight against the puppets, Sungjin was having an intense fight against the Kaiser of Darkness.

He is not an easy opponent. That was Sungjin's thought while controlling five different characters simultaneously to fight against the Kaiser of Darkness.

Sungjin was confident in his gaming skills. He used to be an invincible gamer on Earth. But now he was facing an opponent of another level.

This is the first time. It was the first time Sungjin had an opponent who was able to have a tight match against him.

In the meantime, Sungjin's team was struggling to fight against the puppets who had come back to life from the Kaiser of Darkness. The problem wasn't a difference in level or power.

The problem is the difference in refinement of movement.

Looking at the situation in the desert, Sungjin had to sigh.

It was not his team's fault. His girls were doing their best, but the Kaiser of Darkness was controlling his puppets so perfectly. The Kaiser of Darkness was also controlling five characters in an AoS game to fight against Sungjin while controlling his puppets to perfection.

That's exactly how I would control them.

Sungjin knew that his team couldn't fight against such refined movements. They were able to last a little bit because they had been through a lot of battles and trainings.

But that wouldn't last much longer.

That was something he couldn't blame his team for. They were fighting against almost impossible opponents.

Then I should defeat the Kaiser of Darkness. That will be the only solution.

But it was not an easy fight for Sungjin, either. The Kaiser of Darkness didn't give Sungjin any opportunities to win, although Sungjin didn't give him any either, so there was only one way to finish this game.

If he's not giving me a chance, I should make one.

Sungjin used a technique called "shaking," but he didn't try to make a huge chance, because the bigger the chance, the bigger the risk. Sungjin used a careful "shaking" to get his chance. He tried to hunt a monster that could give him power and was close to his base camp.

It was not a strong monster. He was able to hunt it with one character, and if he brought a few characters, it would take only a second to hunt it down.

But, if the opponent let Sunjin keep hunting the monsters, Sungjin would be able to accumulate his power to finally defeat the Kaiser of Darkness.

What would be the Kaiser of Darkness's reaction…

Three seconds…

Two seconds…

One second…

A half second before the monster was killed, the Kaiser of Darkness started to attack Sungjin's character.

That's what I've been waiting for.

Sungjin knew that his opponent wouldn't let him have the monster.

It will be a tight match, but I will take the monster to win this game.

But…

What is he doing?

It was a difficult battle where Sungjin had to control five characters and try to hunt down a monster, so Sungjin was controlling all his five characters by 0.01 second, which was the minimum control time for the game. It couldn't be controlled in a shorter amount of time, but Sungjin's opponent managed to control his characters with the same precision to end the game…

The only difference between the two was the minor stamina that Sungjin had to spend to hunt down the monster. That made the difference. It was a minor difference that defined the winner in such a perfect match. The Kaiser managed to use such a tiny difference to his advantage. It was perfect. Even Sungjin would have done exactly the same thing if he was in his opponent's shoes.

Sungjin's team was annihilated, and Sungjin's base camp was destroyed. Sungjin's team lost.

"Foolish. You couldn't even pass such a simple test. Come back next time with better preparation."

The Kaiser of Darkness waved his hand, and everything around him disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

After they lost, they were bounced back to the waiting room.

Did I just… lose in an AoS game?

Sungjin felt an electric feeling from head to toe. "Pff, pfff, hahahaha! This just happened!"

Although he lost the battle, Sungjin was laughing.

This is getting interesting.