The Player that Can't Level Up

‘So cozy…’ This was the only thought he had for a while. The warm sunlight and the comfortable softness stopped him from waking up. And then there was the refreshing scent of gypsophilas gently tickling his nose.

Gi-Gyu had taken breaks before, but he never could rest comfortably in them, as he couldn’t separate himself from the anxiety. So, he was really enjoying this long overdue rest.

A nap with no worries…

“This is so nice,” Gi-Gyu whispered. The happiness he felt from this sweet rest was incredible.

“Oppa.” Yoo-Bin caressed Gi-Gyu’s hair and looked down at him.

Gi-Gyu opened his eyes and looked up at Yoo-Bin, blissfully unaware of how much time had passed. He knew he had to do something but couldn’t remember what.

At the moment, he only wanted to stay like this.

“Oppa.”

“Yes?” Gi-Gyu responded.

“You’ll stay with me like this forever, right?” Shin Yoo-Bin asked. Her voice, the warm sun, and the flowery scent gave him great comfort.

“Oppa, please answer me.”

Gi-Gyu slowly opened his lips.

***

Swish.

It felt like a wind, but they were indoors. If it were a light breeze, it might have made some sense. However, that wind, or whatever it was, had inexplicable force.

“Ugh…” Old Man Hwang groaned.

Lou shouted, “Old Man! Just take that old woman and get the hell outta here!”

That wind had come from an astounding amount of magic, which made Old Man Hwang cringe. This magic energy was creating a giant storm inside the room.

“All right,” Old Man Hwang replied. With help from Baal, Old Man Hwang carried Lim Hye-Sook out of the room.

After he saw Old Man Hwang leave, Lou turned toward the source of all this trouble.

“El…” he mumbled.

A hurricane surrounded the powerful angel—a hurricane of her magic.

Lou added, “Is she fully corrupt now?”

The black wings now hugged her like a cocoon.

“Dammit… Do not kill her! We must suppress her and nothing else!” Lou shouted.

“You never told me she’s this powerful!” Soo-Jung screamed at Lou.

Did they underestimate El? Or was it because Lou couldn’t use his full power? But this was exactly why Lou had asked Soo-Jung and Baal for help.

Still…

Soo-Jung continued, “If we don’t do this right, we’ll all die! We won’t win unless we fight to kill her!”

The energy El was exuding was unreal. Based on what they felt, El’s power was…

“It’s beyond our wildest dreams,” Soo-Jung whispered.

Lou yelled in alarm, “But she can’t maintain this kind of power for a long time! That bitch is basically burning her life to create this magic! She’ll do the job for us by killing herself at this rate!”

Lou was desperate to keep El alive. She couldn’t die but not because he liked her. It was because of the overwhelming loyalty he felt deep inside. Although he seemed free, he was still Gi-Gyu’s Ego. Therefore, he wasn’t an exception to the unconditional loyalty all Egos experienced.

“We can’t let El die like this!” Lou roared. She needed to survive because he knew Gi-Gyu would be devastated if anything happened to her.

Suddenly, El stopped powering the storm. Lou studied the room and saw Gi-Gyu and Shin Yoo-Bin behind El, surrounded by her dark energy.

Lou ordered, “Don’t worry about Gi-Gyu. As a matter of fact, we must target him!”

Gi-Gyu was El’s weakness. The woman with immutable beauty looked at Lou and…

“Die!” She moved as her bloodthirst almost became corporeal.

***

“That’s…” Gi-Gyu couldn’t answer Shin Yoo-Bin’s question. He didn’t know what it was, but something made him hesitate.

Gi-Gyu wondered why he was here. ‘Why am I hesitating?’

“Oppa.”

He heard Shin Yoo-Bin’s voice again. The strong flowery scent invaded his nose.

Gi-Gyu tried to remember what he was thinking about a moment ago. However, he couldn’t despite trying very hard. He felt peaceful and wished for this moment to last forever. And this was all he could think of right now.

“Oppa.” Shin Yoo-Bin called out again. Gi-Gyu’s head was on her lap and eyes on her.

Never before had he truly noticed just how beautiful Shin Yoo-Bin was. He had always known she was a good-looking girl, but she looked unremarkable compared to his creatures.

Compared to El…

“El?” Gi-Gyu whispered. Suddenly, a terrible pain shot through his brain. He sat up as he felt he was about to remember something important.

Just then, Yoo-Bin planted her lips on Gi-Gyu’s. Then, she looked down at him prettily.

She looked beautiful, but…

“I want to see El.” Gi-Gyu’s brain had received a jump-start.

“Asmodeus. How dare a fucking moron like you who is nothing more than a remnant of his old self…” he muttered.

“Oppa, what are you…”

Suddenly, Gi-Gyu grabbed Yoo-Bin’s pale wrist and twisted it.

“O-Oppa…?!”

***

“There is no way for us to detain that bitch without killing her!” Soo-Jung yelled while blocking the black feathers with her black-flame sword.

“Baal!”

“Yes, I’m here!”

Baal used his magic to attack El, but it was futile.

Crackle.

A flame with unexplainable color burned away Baal’s attack.

El screamed, “Don’t disturb my Master and me!”

Kaboom!

El’s mysterious flame slapped Baal. His clothes began to burn, but he managed to escape.

“Just buy me some time!” Lou yelled.

Soo-Jung replied, “Dammit!”

Lou hadn’t actively participated in this fight so far. He had recently obtained a Satan piece, but he couldn’t fully absorb it. And that was exactly what he was trying to expedite currently. Expediting the absorption process meant he had to use as little power as possible to avoid damaging his new form.

Lou, who had been a child earlier, was now a fully grown adult.

Soo-Jung protested, “Can’t we just kill this crazy bitch? And what after we subdue her? Do you even have a plan for that?!”

“You can’t kill her!” Lou shouted. He explained, “If El dies, Gi-Gyu’s power will decrease significantly! Considering what is coming, we can’t let that happen…!”

“I know that! I wasn’t planning on killing her! I don’t want to, so just help already!”

Soo-Jung’s black flames engulfed El, making her flap her wings in pain.

The multiple layers of white wings, the symbol of an angel, were gone; instead, pitch black wings hung on El’s back.

“El! You bitch!” Lou jumped in, seeing that her wings were turning even darker.

Lou was now ready; surprisingly, his hair had turned white. He pushed Soo-Jung away and punched El in the face. He roared, “Snap out of it!”

Shockingly, the punch did nothing. With not a scratch on her face, El replied, “Lou, if you interfere in my relationship with the Master too, then”—her voice turned perfectly calm—“I will kill you.” She looked tranquil, but her thirst for blood was evident.

Lou backed away and swore, “Dammit.”

The room wasn’t too big or small, so the fight had turned it into a ruin. The damage would have been much worse if it weren’t for Old Man Hwang and Hwang Chae-Il.

Soo-Jung, Baal, and Lou stood on one side, while El remained on the other with Gi-Gyu and Shin Yoo-Bin. They were in a deadlock when Gi-Gyu and Shin Yoo-Bin suddenly began to shiver.

“Master!”

“Gi-Gyu!”

“Pupil!”

El, Lou, and Soo-Jung screamed simultaneously.

***

Gi-Gyu shouted, “Show yourself, Asmodeus. No, you aren’t even that anymore. You’re just a fragment of him!”

If he had more time or had realized what was happening earlier, things would have gone swimmingly. He wanted to pull all of his hair out and scream.

Why was he so weak?

The peace had intoxicated him so much that he forgot what was important. He didn’t fall for it for long, but it made him feel many emotions.

“Oppa…”

“I told you to shut up!” Gi-Gyu tightened his grip around Yoo-Bin’s neck. It appeared that he could use a certain amount of physical power even in this place.

“Hehehe.”

Finally, his enemy had shown himself.

“There you are, Asmodeus.”

Yoo-Bin’s face changed, and she gave him a seductive smile. Gi-Gyu was still holding her neck.

Yoo-Bin’s lips moved as she replied, “But didn’t I give you such a nice time? You can’t deny it. You were enjoying it so much that you made me feel… Kekeke.”

The veins in Gi-Gyu’s hand bulged visibly as his eyes became bloodshot. He didn’t want to hear about it anymore. It was as if he had shown his enemy how feeble he was.

“Let’s stop playing around,” Gi-Gyu announced.

Yoo-Bin disappeared from his grasp. Suddenly, she reappeared before him, but she seemed different.

Gi-Gyu quietly watched the new arrival. The face was still Yoo-Bin, but half of her hair was white while the other half stayed black.

Yoo-Bin replied, “We may be inside her shell, but I know I can’t defeat you. After all, I’m just a leftover. A lump of whatever desire I had.”

The voice, like before, was a mix of two different voices.

“But…” Half of Yoo-Bin’s mouth smiled while the other didn’t. Her grotesque appearance reminded Gi-Gyu Baron Asura, a cartoon character Sung-Hoon had told him about.

Yoo-Bin continued, “I have already possessed this child’s body. If you destroy me, this child will die with me. It’s too late for you to save her.”

The cold smile on her face deepened as she offered, “So let’s negotiate. There is no way you can have her back, but…”

“There is no time for that.” Gi-Gyu decisively explained, “Saving Yoo-Bin is important, but I can feel that something bad is happening to El right now. It makes sense because Lou and Soo-Jung have been acting strange. So I need to get this done quickly.”

Gi-Gyu had already noticed the strangeness in Lou, Soo-Jung, and El’s behavior. Something about her had put Lou and Soo-Jung on edge. Having him inside Yoo-Bin’s shell would allow them to execute whatever they had been planning for El.

“A mere fragment like you has no power to negotiate with me,” Gi-Gyu declared. He closed his eyes before opening them again. His eyes were gray now.

But it wasn’t Jupiter who had opened his eyes.

Gi-Gyu kicked the ground and muttered, “Let’s just finish this off, you piece of shit.”

The force he had created made the gypsophila flowers around him shudder.

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