“Koff…Koff”

“Hahhhh…”

As the black cloud dispersed, what appeared on the ground were the kneeling and panting rankers and the Saintess still preparing for the summon, and just some meters away from them, the NPC can be seen slowly walking towards them.

Only one ranker stood in front of them, facing the NPC alone.

Ding!

[Remaining player: 12]

Ding!

[Remaining time: 00:15:21]

“…Fuck!!”

‘What is with this bastard? How the hell is he coping with everything we threw at him?’

The Spear cursed the NPC. from the moment they all readied themselves for their ultimate to this moment, nothing good happened for them.

“Our ultimates don’t work on him!”

Even though the undead army was easy to handle…

The undead army of the NPC, which was cleared easily by the Ultimates of the rankers, sparked a bit of light in their hearts and minds as they annihilate the undead army.

‘Maybe we can defeat him now.’

That’s what everyone thought as they cleared the hoards of undead that were crawling towards them.

“But what the hell is with this bastard?”

The moment they came near him and launched their Ultimates, their Ultimates nullified. At first, they all thought that they didn’t concentrate too much, as they didn’t lose any experience too.

So they tried again, but again, nothing happened. While they pondered over the problem, they looked towards the NPC, who just stood there, laughing eerily, which gave them goose bumps all over their body.

The NPC then lifted his middle finger and motioned it towards the ground, and the moment it happened, the players who were near him crushed in an instant.

If it was not for them being rankers, their body would have exploded by now, but the power was too much for their avatar to handle. The 8 rankers were instantly logged out of the game.

The others rankers, including the Spear Master, were shocked to see something like that.

‘This type of thing was never heard of before in this game. How can he stop an ultimate of a player like that?’

The Spear Master, who from the start, remained calm because he was sure that their u

‘Ultimate’

A skill that can only be unlocked after a player reaches the legendary rank and gains the qualification to use it from the Supreme Goddess herself.

In ‘Apocalypse’, only 20 players have the access to use this move, i.e. the top 20 ranker. The Ultimate can have any name. It doesn’t affect its abilities, but most importantly, it represents the characteristics of the players.

It can represent the usual emotion of players, the true side of theirs they usually hide, the fears they try to run away from, or the righteousness of their heart. The emotions also affect the Ultimate one feels when he/she tries to use it.

The Ultimate can be called the representation of the player itself. There was a lot of debate about every ranker’s Ultimate because their ultimate is their weakness that can unveil their true selves to the world.

But the rankers, when they unlocked the ultimate for the first time to this moment, never used their Ultimate. They either never felt the need to activate it or they never want to reveal their true selves to the world.

“But they said the Ultimate is unavoidable...”

In an article released by the developers, they said that the Ultimate is an unavoidable attack, and that only the Supreme Beings can come unscathed if an Ultimate is used upon them.

‘But what the heck is this!!?’

This bastard can negate the Ultimate itself and can crush the rankers by such force, like he was squashing an ant. Even the supreme beings cannot do something like this.

While the Spear Master stood there and the rankers behind him healed themselves, the NPC then laughed loudly as he approached them.

“Hahahaha!! You might be thinking that why you cannot use that move of yours, right?”

“Well, let me elaborate on it for you.”

He then looked towards the place where he crushed the rankers.

“I have magic surrounding me all the time, embracing and protecting me. All mana here works on my command. Even though I do not have control over you skill, but the moment you deploy a skill and your mana takes a form outside of your body, that mana will come under my authority.”

“…!!”

‘What the… heck?’

Is that even possible? Controlling mana around him, even controlling a player's mana? How is this even possible?

The sudden revelation left the Spear Master aghast. He, who read every manual, tried every training, meet many NPCs who master the field they chose, but never till now he heard a bullshit like this.

He looked at the NPC with absurdness. This NPC, whose origin is unknown and doesn’t even have a name, was spouting something that was mentioned nowhere in the game.

“Do not look at me that way. I know that this sounds absurd, but it is the truth. If you have any complaints, do deliver them to those Supreme shits of yours.”

“Now, I have a little time with me so….”

The NPC then raised his right hand and then…

“Time magic: Rewind!!”

“…!!”

‘What… even time magic? Is there anything he cannot do?’

A giant clock appeared above our heads and then the NPC swirled his finger and the hands of the clock moved anti-clockwise.

Ding!

[Warning!]

[Skill: Rewind is used.]

[Remaining time: 00:30:59]

Everything within the vicinity moved, but in reverse, showing the fight that took place again but in reverese. But what didn’t change was the logged out players. Their avatars were also reversed to a certain time, but….

“Why did he do something like this? There was no need for him to rewind time.”

“Let me clarify it for you.”

The NPC then said to the Spear Master, who was left standing, with his mouth open.

“I reversed time only for my undead army, not for your 8 friends.”

“Do you know how much time it takes to actually gather this amount of soldiers? Thank you for sacrificing your bodies for me.”

“And as for thanking you all for this marvelous gift, let me show you something good.”

His lips rose from side as he then deployed another skill.

“Dark Magic: Summon Death Noble”

“Dragon Magic x Demon Magic: Transformation”

[A new type of undead is being registered in game library.]

[Name: Leon]

< Level>: 250

<Rank>: Legendary

<Race>: Undead

: Demonic Dragonoid

<Class>: Death Noble (Current)

: Bow Master (former)

[Loyalty: ???]

---

[Name: Eleine]

<Rank>: Legendary

< Level>: 250

<Rank>: Legendary

<Race>: Undead

: Demonic Dragonoid

<Class>: Death Noble (Current)

: Whip Master (former)

[Loyalty: ???]

---

...... and so on.

What the hell? Legendary rank player as an undead? What kind of cheat is this?

Wasn’t it mentioned by LonerNecro666 that only players below legendary rank can be converted into an undead by another player?

But what is unfolding before me says something else.

“It definitely has to be a bug!! There is no way an NPC can change the rules of the game?”

What is happening in front of them indeed is something that mere words can not explain. Even the Supreme Beings who are hailed as the Strongest of Grandia also could not do something like this.

“What should we do now? Even though they are logged out of game, their avatar still exists.”

When a player dies, they were logged out instantly. In certain classes, like necromancer, a player can resurrect him/her self if he/she has prepared things beforehand. But generally, the avatar left behind turns to dust and approx after 2 minutes, the avatar disappears.

When an avatar of a dead player becomes an undead of someone, the avatar will remain under the one who resurrected it for 15 minutes.

“He turned back time to restore the eroded avatars. This bug of a bastard!!”

It’s a relief that he can only keep them fo-

“You must be thinking that I will only be able to use them for 15 minutes, rights? Guess what, they will always be under my authority no matter what.”

“Fuck this shit!!”

The Spear Master fumed and kicked the ground out of anger. The illogical happening till now has affected him too much that it is becoming harder for him to keep his sanity and seriousness.

“Spear Master, it’s done.”

Out of nowhere, a shout of the Saintess was heard, telling the Spear Master about the completion of the preparation.

‘Finally...’

The Spear Master’s face lit up as he heard Cecilia. He then shouted to Cecilia.

“Summon them Cecilia. NOW!!”

The Saintess, at the order of Spear Master, injected her magic into the summoning pattern and chanted the spell, invoking the magic within the magic circle.

“Divine Magic: Mass summon!!”

Fwoosh

Mana left Cecilia’s body at a rapid rate and at the same time, a bright white portal appeared in sky.

Flap…Flap

Soon, bright, beautiful angels descended from the portal. They all spread their white delicate wings that it felt like they all will cover the entire world with their wings alone.

Following them, a majestic glow soon passed the portal and the lit the entire world.

Then some figures crossed over from the portal, while their majesty sparked a light of hope inside the hearts of the rankers.

They all rejoiced. Some even cried at the scene that was unfolding in front of their eyes.

“Ahh…”

“At last, some reinforcements arri-”

Suddenly-

“Dark Magic x Dragon Magic: Breath of darkness!!”

Out of nowhere, the NPC looked towards the angles and the Gods, while he used a skill on the entire army of gods.

From the NPCS’s hands, pitch black flames appeared with a slightly purple tint. The flame then flew towards the gods.

The gods and the angles, on the other hand, laughed.

“Look at that slave, trying to kill us with some embers, hahahha!!”

They all ridiculed him for using such a puny skill against them. Their eyes looked not like of a god, but rather that of a demon.

While they were ridiculing the NPC, the black flame reached an angel. The angel, who saw the flame, laughed more as he approached the flame.

“This puny flame has a grand name."

"Pfft.."

“My wings are enough to exit-”

The next moment, the flame erupted violently, engulfing everyone within its reach. From afar, it may feel like they were just surrounded, as the same thought came into ranker’ mind.

But the destruction caused by his attack wiped out almost all the angels and killed many gods in the process. Their bodies fell, while being covered in the flame.

This left the rankers with their mouths wide open.

“Even mythic rank too…!”

“What rank is he to have this much power?”

“Can’t we do another summon, Spear Master?”

“No, Cecilia’s mana is near empty. It’s impossible now.”

“Damn it.”

The rankers then clicked their tongues, seemingly disappointed.

Some rankers asked the Spear Master to again summon the Gods, but Spear Master refuted, more like he was forced to. The power it took out of the Saintess to summon them was too much and….

‘We will need her more for ‘that to use.’’

‘Do we really need to use ‘that’ to defeat him?’

While the Spear Master thought about his next plan, the screams of the Gods and angels who somehow didn’t come in the flame's range were heard.

“R-Run…. RUN AWAY!!”

“F-Fall back…”

“RETREAT!!”

The gods, who moments ago were flaunting their power and majesty, were now trying to run away in fright.

“Why are you all running away like puppies, you jackasses?”

The NPC had a huge smile on his face. He taunted the Gods, who ridiculed him earlier.

“Let me welcome you into my army.”

He then uses another skill towards the running gods.

“Demon Magic: Restraint of Hell!!”

“Dark Magic: Corruption!!”

“GHAAKKK…”

“S-save m-”

Long chains appeared out of nowhere and encircled the Gods and the angels. Soon, their bodies turned black and the divine aura of theirs turned dark.

The Gods, who still have their sanity left, cursed the NPC.

“How dare you slave of Supremes do thi-“

“Shut your damn mouth, asshole!!”

Without even letting him complete his sentence, the NPC appeared in front of the god and grabbed his neck.

Grab

“L-let go….”

“What did you just say, slave?”

“Me?”

“You think I am the slave of those rats who are hiding in their realm behind that bitch? How dare you!!”

The NPC then held the God’s head with his right hand and plucked it so easily that it felt like he just plucked a feather from a bird.

Pluck

Blood erupted from the headless body, while the NPC threw it towards the pile of the burnt bodies of the angels.

He then tossed the head of the God towards the rankers.

Thud…

The head rolled towards the rankers, with the lifeless eyes of the God showing an expression so frightening that it looked like he saw something that is beyond his comprehension.

“He pulled out the head of a Myth rank god?”

“Uhh…”

The rankers, on the other hand, looked frightened, as some threw up. The gruesome scene can make anyone empty their stomach. But…

“If he can kill a Myth rank God so easily, why didn’t he kill us at the start of the quest?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? Oh, I am sorry, I was so busy murdering your puny comrades I completely forgot to mention it.”

The NPC, who heard the rankers whispering among themselves, answered them.

“From your talks earlier, I understood that we ‘NPCs’ are just an experience pouch for you players, right?”

“You all are same for me, experience pouches. It’s just that I wanted to find the players that helped those Supremes to mess with me while also exterminating the annoying pest as I don’t want them to disturb me on my path to Supreme realm.”

“And about not killing you all earlier. I wanted to show you that you all can experience something like this, too. You, who killed many NPCs on your journey to become the strongest, should understand the pain one goes through while you butcher them for their loot.”

“I am not blaming you all. If I were to be a player, I would have done so too. It’s just that I wanted to have some fun too, watching you all die screaming, begging for your worthless lives. It is so exhilarating… you know.”

The words the NPC spoke, gave nauseous to the rankers. His justification for massacring the army of 90 million players to butchering the gods…. it felt like a hypocrite’s blabbering

“This psychopath….!!”

While the rankers cursed him for his mentality, the NPC laughed as he watched the rankers.

“Thank you for this bountiful ‘experience’.”

Suddenly, a white orb appeared out of thin air in the NPC’s hand. The experience of every player, angel, and gods combined together to form that orb. The rankers who looked at the orb were terrified.

He then gulped the orb, and soon, a dark aura erupted from his body.

“With this power, I will hunt those gods as well as you players to have my revenge.”

“Shit…”

The violent aura made the hearts of the rankers race. Only one thought then came into their minds.

‘When will this quest end for God’s sake?’

***