This is absurd.
Should I be using the word "nonsensical" here?
Or should I say, "a despair so deep it darkens my vision"?
Or maybe I should just stop trying to think at all.
I don't know.
Really, I don't know.
"......."
Kaaaaah!
Zephyros barely managed to open his eyes.
Wind surged madly from below. A storm strong enough to shake his entire body made it impossible to keep his balance. All he could do was desperately cling to the chair, which was piled with farming tools, and hang on.
"...Is this really okay?!"
He shouted.
But perhaps even that cry was swallowed by the howling wind.
Just above him, his Lord was plummeting alongside him, riding on a millstone, but gave no response.
"......."
This is insane.
Zephyros barely suppressed the sudden surge of emotions and looked around.
Scenery rushed past from below to above at lightning speed.
A sheer cliffside streaked past them.
It grew further and further away above them.
Which meant, they were falling even deeper.
It had already been a full minute.
'Is this really okay?'
He was starting to worry seriously.
The Lord, who had thrown himself off the cliff alongside him, remained calm and unbothered, which only heightened his unease.
'I don't understand.'
No matter how positively he tried to frame it, he just couldn't understand the Lord's current behavior. It was far too reckless. From beginning to end, everything just seemed reckless.
'If we jump like this… sure, we'll get there faster. The Swamp of Decay, the territory of the 2nd Star Master, is right below this cliff. The Demon King's Castle is far vertically, but it's actually very close horizontally. Still… can we really survive this kind of descent?'
He had serious doubts.
A sudden, all-out dive like this?
Sure, it would get them there faster.
Even if it ended with them as corpses, technically, they'd have arrived.
'Even if the swamp is below… most of it isn't even knee-deep.'
Worse, most parts of the Swamp of Decay were poisonous. Some areas were so toxic they could melt your entire body on contact.
And yet they had jumped from a ridiculous height with no plan or precautions.
"....."
Does he even think?
Even if, by some miracle, they landed without injury—
'What then?'
He recalled what the messenger from the 2nd Star Legion had reported.
The 3rd Star Legion had already taken control of most of the swamp. The 2nd Star Master and the remnants of the 2nd Star Legion were barely holding out, holed up in their stronghold, the Thorn Tree Fortress.
Which meant, right now, the swamp below must be crawling with 3rd Star Legion soldiers.
'How is he planning to handle that alone?'
Even if his Lord was absurdly powerful.
Even if he was the Demon King.
Could he really survive this?
"Hey! Why are you thinking so hard?!"
"......"
His Lord, falling alongside him, shouted cheerfully. Despite the fact that in about a minute they could die. He seemed utterly carefree, not a trace of worry on his face.
"Scared?!"
"Yes."
Scared of your recklessness.
But he couldn't say the rest.
"It's fine! We're not gonna die!"
"......."
"Just hold on tight to the chair!"
"........"
"We're gonna fall into the deepest part!"
"....."
The deepest part?
In the swamp?
Zephyros was briefly confused.
The answer revealed itself soon after.
"We're here! Hold on! Curl up!"
"......!"
At the Lord's shout, Zephyros looked down.
Something dark loomed below.
And it was rapidly—no, explosively—growing larger.
At first, he didn't know what it was.
Then he realized.
".......!"
Water.
Water so deep it looked pitch black.
The moment he realized it, a tremendous impact slammed into his entire body.
Kwaaaang—!
...Was that what falling into water sounds like?
Something seemed wrong.
Even as his senses faded, Zephyros struggled not to lose consciousness. And thanks to that effort, he saw it.
Fragments of the shattered chair scattered in all directions. Waves churned violently around him. His hand, flailing helplessly in the current.
And his Lord, cutting through the water, reaching out toward him.
Fwoosh!
"…....!"
His face broke through the surface.
Fresh air rushed into his throat.
"Kh… Kugh! Koff!"
"I knew you wouldn't die! Good, good!"
"Kuhuk, khak!"
With his Lord's help, he made it to the shore. His body had no strength left. And yet his Lord looked supremely satisfied.
"I've jumped here a few times before. I knew the calculations were solid."
"......"
You've… jumped before?
"Told you, right? This pond's the deepest part of the Swamp of Decay. That means the poison's weaker too."
"........"
Since when?
The Lord he knew—Demon King Credos—had always taken the inner cliff path, walking three days to reach the swamp. He had never once done something this reckless—no, this insane.
But there was no time to voice that question.
Just as Zephyros's coughing began to subside, the Lord stood and said:
"Now we run. Don't fall behind. Watch carefully and do exactly as I do."
"…What?"
"It's a speedrun."
"What do you—"
He barely managed to ask when—
Fwoosh!
The Lord took off.
He sprinted, following the shallow channel leading from the pond.
Zephyros instinctively ran after him.
And from that moment, he began to witness it.
The Lord's path.
And how every threat lying ahead was cleared away in the most ridiculous ways.
'What… is that…'
He ran.
They sprinted forward.
Down the shallow channel.
Kicked off a rotten tree stump.
"Kaah!"
A venomous frog, hiding in the stump's shadow, opened its mouth to devour the Lord.
But it failed.
Somehow, the Lord had already torn a branch from the stump. And stabbed downward.
With the sharp tip of the branch—
Crack!
A silent scream from the frog.
Blood spattered into the air as the Lord leapt forward.
He landed in a pool of deadly poison.
But his body remained untouched.
He had landed perfectly atop a small rock.
He kicked off the stone.
His stride unbroken.
Every time his Lord's feet landed, a rock—previously hidden beneath the murky swamp waters—was revealed and stepped on. Like stepping stones. As if they had been prepared in advance. Or, impossibly, as if the Lord knew every single pebble in this place.
Fwoosh!
Kim Jangcheol leapt again.
And he quickly calculated in his head.
'Okay. Jumped from the sixth stepping stone… right here!'
Vivid memories surfaced.
A game he'd played through nineteen times.
Each time, obsessively, he had explored every corner of the map.
And every time, without fail, he'd done that ten times per run.
Which meant, he had scoured this place 190 times.
He had been a madman.
'…And I praise that madman!'
Slick—
As he jumped, Kim Jangcheol stretched out his foot to the side.
Like nudging the fridge door shut with your foot at home because using your hand is just too much trouble—an incredibly lazy movement.
And yet, it was efficient.
A veteran's step, with zero wasted motion.
With that one step—snap—a spider's web in midair snapped.
"...Keeeek?"
A venomous swamp spider, lying in wait with a trap set on the stepping stones, panicked. Its eight legs flailed wildly.
But it was already too late.
Splash!
The two-meter spider fell into the swamp.
And that alone made for a fine stepping stone.
Crack!
He stepped on the spider's head.
And leapt again.
The spider passed out from the impact, limp and motionless.
Kim Jangcheol landed on a floating bundle of aquatic plants and started running again.
"This way!"
"...!"
Zephyros, chasing behind him, was already out of breath. But he couldn't slow down. If he did, he'd fall behind, and then it would be difficult to safely follow his Lord's actions.
'What the hell… is going on?'
He was confused.
He recalled the past.
Back when his Lord had only recently ascended to the throne of Demon King, they had once descended to this swamp together.
Back then, his Lord wasn't like this.
He had only gone through the safe paths, guided by the 2nd Star Master.
At the very least, he hadn't acted like some lunatic streaking naked through his own backyard.
Even now, Kim Jangcheol's sprint continued.
"Hup! Huff! Hop!"
He ran, rolled, stepped, turned.
He crossed poisonous zones.
He used ambushing monsters against each other.
He scoffed at multi-layered, wicked traps.
Twisting his body, coming to a sharp stop, dashing again, breaking through.
Before they knew it, the poisonous zone had ended.
A slightly less toxic part of the swamp stretched ahead.
That's where the 3rd Star Legion soldiers started to appear.
"An intruder!"
"Block him!"
"W-wait! That intruder is…"
"Cre… dos?!"
They were soldiers of the 3rd Star Legion, stationed to siege the fortress of the 2nd Star Master. The outermost ones were the first to encounter Kim Jangcheol. At first, they thought he was just some intruder, but then they recognized him.
And they were horrified.
And then—he broke through them.
"Out of the way! Zephyros, stay close behind me from here on!"
"...!"
Crack!
Kim Jangcheol's firm hand gesture.
The place he encountered the 3rd Star Legion soldiers was different from the game. Originally, these guys would only show up in the volcanic zone belonging to the 3rd Star Master.
But Kim Jangcheol didn't care. He had already beaten these guys thousands of times.
Their patterns?
So familiar.
No, beyond familiar—almost friendly.
Thanks to that, he could break through them more easily than slicing through a school cafeteria pork cutlet.
Crash! Crack! Smash!
The armor of the 3rd Star Legion soldiers, forged in lava zones, meant nothing.
Their massive pincers, capable of tearing apart any foe, were useless.
He dodged, struck.
Parried, kicked.
Pinned down, and leapt.
He blazed ahead with the bare minimum of movement.
With an expression that said it was all nothing. With eyes devoid of emotion—no, devoid of even sensation. With movements so skilled, they almost felt half-hearted.
And yet he was incredibly fast, unstoppable.
Not a single soldier could hold Kim Jangcheol for even 0.5 seconds. All of them were blown past. The 3rd Star Legion's encirclement cracked from the outer rim inward. Toward the center. Unrelenting. Unstoppable. In a straight line. At the end of that piercing path—
Stood the 3rd Star Master.
"Huff! Huff! You're the 3rd Star Master, right? You look better than on screen. Anyway, huff, nice to meet you in person."
"…"
The 3rd Star Master, Raster, was speechless.
And understandably so.
'…Why is Credos here?'
To meet the Demon King in person, here of all places?
From his perspective, it was utterly random.
A situation too absurd to even imagine in dreams.
No, it would be illogical to imagine such a thing at all.
The 3rd Star Master gathered his composure and asked,
"Surely, you came alone?"
"Yup. Things just kinda ended up like this."
"You… broke through my legion on your own?"
"Yeah. I'm kind of busy."
"You came here to die?"
"Do I look like I have a death wish?"
"I don't know what kind of face has a death wish, but you definitely look insane."
"You're the crazy one, you lunatic. I'm just trying to grow some crops so we can all live better, and you start a damn civil war? Huh? I wasn't expecting your cooperation, but you go this far?"
"A civil war, you say. I merely intend to continue the great cause of invading the human world—a cause you abandoned out of fear."
"Great cause, my ass."
"......."
"Well, it doesn't look like I'll be convincing you anytime soon. And I don't have all day either. Let's wrap this up. Bring it."
"Are you confident?"
The 3rd Star Master took a stance toward Kim Jangcheol.
His entire body, encased in carapace like a knight's armor, glinted with a cold light. His two massive pincers, shaped like a mix between a flail and a pair of scissors, opened menacingly.
A smirk crept across Kim Jangcheol's lips.
"I don't need confidence to deal with a damn lobster."
His smirk deepened.
"To take down trash like you, I don't even need my hands. I'll use my feet."
"With only your feet? Are you mocking me? Even if you are the Demon King, you're far too arrogant."
"Why don't you find out whether it's just talk or not?"
"....."
The 3rd Star Master, Raster, fell silent.
And internally, he became certain.
The Demon King Credos was definitely insane.
'My pride is slightly wounded, but the demon goddess of victory must be smiling on me today.'
Credos was already worn out after breaking through the legion alone. And now he was going to fight Raster using only his feet?
That was the height of arrogance.
A truly absurd boast.
"...Fine. I accept your condition."
In that case, I shall take your arrogant head as my trophy.
Clang!
The 3rd Star Master tightened his stance with blazing resolve.
At that moment, Kim Jangcheol kicked off the ground.
Fwoosh!
"......!"
The 3rd Star Master's eyes sparkled.
The Demon King, charging straight at him.
Raster focused on Credos' two feet.
'Let's see how you'll strike, Credos!'
He said he wouldn't use his hands.
Only his feet.
So if he watched the lower half, he could read the first attack—
…or so he thought.
"Front paw punch!"
Crack!
With a juicy impact, Kim Jangcheol's fist slammed into the 3rd Star Master's face.
[T/L: Read more chapters here: https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]