“Hey, Han Tae-Sung,” Cheon Woo-Jin called out to Siegfried. Siegfried tilted his head in confusion and replied, “What’s up?” “What... the hell are you doing?” “Can’t you tell?” Siegfried replied. Then, he showed the deck he was shuffling and added, “I’m getting ready to play Hardstone.” “Are you out of your mind?! The rift is rampaging! If we don’t clear the dungeon in six hours, then–” “Just forget about that and put this on,” Siegfried cut him off and tossed a Ghost Veil Cloak at him. “Can’t you read? It’s a cloak that lets you cheat death. “Why do we have to go in there?” “What kind of question is that...?” “How long are we going to keep defending? Let that bastard crawl out. Once he’s out here, we will deal with him once and for all.” "That place is that bastard’s territory. Why should we go through hell just to clear it? We bust our butts to clear the dungeon, and then that guy shows up at the last second. It’s not once or twice he screwed us over that way, no?” Siegfried was not wrong, so Cheon Woo-Jin couldn’t retort. Going into the dungeon to suppress the great rift from rampaging was only a temporary fix. They had to take down the Blue Knight of Death, or the crisis would never truly end. “We don’t have to walk into the tiger’s den. If we have to fight the tiger, then we should just wait for it to come out.” “Okay, I get what you’re trying to say.” Cheon Woo-Jin nodded, finally understanding what Siegfried meant. “You said we had six hours left, right? Sit down. Let’s kill some time,” Siegfried said. “Okay,” Cheon Woo-Jin replied, taking a seat at the table. “You should join us too, Beowulf,” Siegfried added. “Sure,” Beowulf replied with a nod and sat at the table. “Kyuuu! Give it here, owner punk! Hamchi will shuffle the cards!” Siegfried handed the deck to Hamchi before taking out a bottle of Mint Chocolate Ade from his Inventory. Something dangling from Beowulf’s waist caught his eye; it was the foot of a white rabbit. ‘Is that the... Rabbit Foot of Regression?!’ The rabbit’s foot dangling from Beowulf’s waist looked identical to the Universal item, the Rabbit Foot of Regression, that was mentioned in the ancient texts Quandt showed him. Siegfried stiffened after realizing that the trinket might actually be the Rabbit Foot of Regression. ‘It looks exactly like that item no matter how I look at it...’ His mind started racing at full speed. ‘The Illuminati’s leader, the Master, is a Korean, right? And he is supposedly in possession of the Rabbit Foot of Regression, too? But Beowulf is in possession of something that looks exactly like that thing, so that can only mean...’ Hamchi’s voice pierced through his thoughts. “What are you doing?! Hurry up and check your hand! Kyuuu!” Siegfried picked up his cards and checked the hand he was dealt. And so, the game of Hardstone began. ‘If Beowulf is really the Master, then...’ Siegfried found it hard to focus on the game. ‘Hold on, is that why he helped Cheon Woo-Jin and the Guardians against the Church of Osric?’ Siegfried thought, piecing things together. Beowulf was an exceptionally skilled Adventurer recognized by most people. When Siegfried barely reached Level 200, Beowulf had already stepped into the realm of Masters. Now that Siegfried had stepped into the realm of Masters, Beowulf was already a Grandmaster. How come he became that strong so quickly? Even Siegfried, who possessed a Hidden Class, the Debuff Master, had taken two years just to reach the realm of Masters. ‘I’m sure Beowulf has to be a Hidden Class, too. Other than that, it makes no sense at all. At his level, someone that powerful should naturally stand out, but he has always avoided fame. No one even knows where he levels up.’ Siegfried’s suspicions slowly turned into certainty. ‘I’ll keep quiet for now.’ In the end, he decided to hide his doubts about Beowulf. It was all because if Beowulf was really the Illuminati’s leader, the Master, then Siegfried could use that knowledge to turn the tables on him. ‘If you really are the Master, then you’ve made a huge mistake. You never should’ve gotten near me. I bet you think I still have no idea about the Rabbit Foot of Regression, eh?’ Siegfried maintained a poker face while glancing at Beowulf. ‘Getting stabbed in the back once is more than enough,’ Siegfried thought. The leader of the Church of Osric, Acheron, infiltrated the Guardians from within. Siegfried was not going to let the same thing happen twice. Siegfried couldn’t shake off a sense of unease while waiting for the Blue Knight of Death to emerge from the Northern Great Rift. The more he suspected Beowulf of being the Master, the harder it became for him to focus on the card game they were playing. ‘I really want to steal it...’ Siegfried thought, his eyes fixated on the rabbit foot dangling from Beowulf’s waist. He would snatch it away—if he could. Unfortunately, it was impossible to steal an item that was already soulbound to the user. Even if he were to ambush and kill Beowulf, there was no guarantee that the Rabbit Foot of Regression would drop. An Adventurer of his calibre would possess plenty of valuable items, so attacking him would only be taking a risk without guaranteeing the intended reward. And so, Siegfried couldn’t do anything else aside from swallow the hard lump stuck in his throat—his greed. “Kyuuu! Do you have a good hand or what?!” Hamchi exclaimed. Funnily enough, Hamchi seemed to have misunderstood Siegfried’s body language. But Siegfried was not listening to him at all... ‘If Beowulf really used the Rabbit Foot of Regression... then what will happen to me? If the server rolls back, then that means everything will return to how it was before, right? And that would mean... I will lose everything.’ His thoughts raced, spinning like an intricate web of anxious uncertainties. However, there was no more time. Six hours had already passed, and the Northern Great Rift had already reached its limit. [Blue Knight of Death: Chronos] [The Incarnation of Death.] [Unlike the Four Apocalypses, Chronos is the embodiment of death, one of the universe’s absolute laws.] [Note 1: It is impossible to fight Chronos using ordinary methods.] [Note 2: Ordinary individuals will die instantly just by being near Chronos.] At long last, the most fearsome of the apocalypses, the Blue Knight of Death, was here. ‘Let’s deal with this one first.’ Siegfried forced himself to clear his mind of thoughts about Beowulf, the Master, the Illuminati, and the Rabbit Foot of Regression. Right now, he had to focus on the calamity before him. A thick fog of death seeped from the Blue Knight of Death, Chronos. However, no one died even after being exposed to the fog. Thanks to the Ghost Veil Cloak crafted by Quandt, they were immune to the powers of the Blue Knight of Death. “How foolish...” Chronos said in a low voice. “Do you truly believe that it’s possible for creatures to defy death...?” From the perspective of Chronos, who was the Incarnation of Death, Siegfried and his comrades looked laughably insignificant. “Hey, you. Were you expecting to enjoy some fresh air out here or something? You really should’ve just stayed locked up in your cage rather than crawling out here, y’know?” Siegfried stepped forward and said. “Haha... Locked up?” Chronos chuckled. The Blue Knight of Death resembled a skeleton, so he had no facial expressions, but he was without a doubt mocking Siegfried just now. “Do you really think I was imprisoned? Seriously?” “I merely remained there,” Chronos said nonchalantly. “You remained there? Why?” Siegfried asked, sounding baffled. “To kill the Creator of this world,” Chronos replied icily. “What bullshit is that? How do you kill the Creator?” “You know nothing, foolish human.” “The Creator of this world failed to eliminate me, the Incarnation of Death. This so-called god is nothing but an incompetent creator, far inferior to the beings who forged other worlds. Usually, when a Creator crafts a world, they first remove entities like me. But this one... couldn’t do that.” Siegfried could gather a few insights from Chronos' words. 1. This universe has multiple Creators. 2. The one who created this world was too inexperienced to eliminate death. ‘Is that why something like the Incarnation of Death is roaming around...?’ Siegfried wondered. “The Creator had the power to create a world, but not the ability to stabilize it.” “Enough small talk,” Chronos said. Then, he summoned a massive scythe and warned, “Get out of my way, humans.” The Blue Knight of Death swung the massive scythe. Since Siegfried’s party was being protected by the Ghost Veil Cloaks, which rendered them immune to the aura of death, Chronos seemed to have decided to use physical force against them. Siegfried’s party was caught off guard by the sudden attack. Chronos’ scythe cut through the air with terrifying force. The scythe looked so lethal that merely brushing against it could probably kill its victims instantly. No, merely brushing against it did kill its victims instantly. One high-level Adventurer rushed forward with his shield raised to block the scythe. His offensive capabilities were hopelessly low, but he was one of the toughest tanks in the game. Despite his weak attacks, his resilience and tenacity were near legendary among the Adventurers, but... As soon as the scythe struck him— The Adventurer’s body was cleaved cleanly in two. Chronos seemed to have barely put any effort into the attack, but the tank’s shield and body were severed in half. ‘W-What the hell was that?!’ Siegfried shrieked in horror after witnessing a Level 299 tank get sliced into two in a single attack. [The weapon used by the Incarnation of Death, Chronos.] [A scythe that severes anything with a 100% success rate and reaps the target’s life upon contact.] [Magic Attack Power: N/A] [Effects: 100% Cleave Probability (Ignores all defense), Instant death upon being cut.] “T-That’s so fucking broken!” Siegfried shrieked after reading the scythe’s details. The scythe used by the Blue Knight of Death was beyond simply broken, as the fact that it would cleave through anything was beyond absurd. Even the skills of the Grandmaster, Sword Emperor Betelgeuse—Quick Draw and Heaven Splitting Slash were already extremely powerful. However, even the skills of a Grandmaster had limits. For example, Heaven Splitting Slash required its user to have a higher level than their target to exert its full power. However, Chronos' scythe, the Death’s Scythe, didn't have those limitations. It could cut through anything, and once it did, the target would die instantly. If coupled with the fact that this was the scythe’s innate effect rather than an active effect, then it was truly a ridiculously broken weapon. ‘How is this even a thing?!’ Siegfried screamed inwardly. At this point, the sheer absurdity of it all made him not even want to fight anymore. But they couldn’t just sit back and wait for death to come... Siegfried immediately activated Embrace of Despair to inflict a debilitating slow debuff on Chronos. He had to do something before that absurdly broken weapon wiped out his entire party.