Ban Eun-hyeol was just about to speak.
Suddenly, in front of the audience, a status window appeared, slightly larger than usual.
No, this wasn’t a status window.
Instead of blue letters written across a familiar window, what appeared was a scene streaming on a screen everyone knew all too well.
Ban Eun-hyeol furrowed his brows and stared at the two tiny figures on the screen.
“That’s…?!”
His head jerked up sharply.
Alternating between the arena beyond the status window and the screen before him, he abruptly shot to his feet.
“What is this?”
There was no answer to the muttered words, dripping with killing intent.
Everyone, just like Ban Eun-hyeol, stared in shock at the status window displaying the arena like a Screen.
At that moment, Kang Yedam and Hae Malgeum, sitting behind him, fussed restlessly and exchanged urgent whispers.
The moment their movements ceased, a cold silence descended.
Watching the others, Kang Yedam struggled to speak and finally delivered unbelievable news.
“I think… the whole country can see this?”
“Our Chat Window is going crazy right now.”
With Hae Malgeum’s words, the atmosphere instantly froze.
1
Just before the final Decision Duel between the former Dimensional Outsider and the Dimensional Invader.
The atmosphere of utter chaos outside had completely reversed.
All the monsters that had burst from the Gate to attack people and destroy buildings suddenly froze.
It was as if someone had stopped time flowing only for the monsters.
Those who had been running in terror now wept with gratitude at the sudden, unstable peace.
The monsters hadn’t disappeared, nor had the Gate closed, but for now, even a brief escape from certain death was more than enough.
No one knew how long this peace would last, but people gathered in small groups wherever they could find shelter.
At that moment, a Quest window appeared before their eyes.
It was the same Quest window seen by the Awakened within the rank 8 Gate.
Those who read the Quest reacted much the same as the Awakened inside the rank 5 Gate.
“How long ago did the Dimensional Outsider leave? Why put someone who’s not even here as a condition?!”
“Are they telling us all to just die?”
“We’re doomed… It’s over…”
Naturally, the faces of those who assumed the Outsider was gone quickly turned to despair.
Hope faded fast from the eyes of those who sank helplessly to the ground.
There seemed to be no way out of this situation.
Just as that hopeless mood spread rapidly, a new kind of status window appeared before their eyes.
It was slightly larger and rectangular compared to the usual status windows.
The status window, shaped much like a television screen, showed a distant view of a single place.
“Where is this…?”
Unable to identify the location, people narrowed their eyes and focused on the screen.
Once the Screen appeared and drew everyone’s attention, the high-angle shot gradually shifted.
As if zooming in, it started to focus on the two figures facing each other.
And when their faces became clear enough to recognize, people instantly realized who the tall woman was.
“Isn’t that Lee Dana from Blood Fragrance Guild?”
“Isn’t she that necromancer Awakened?”
With her unique power to command the dead, Lee Dana was well-known as an Awakened who mingled with the famous Four Heavenly Kings and the younger Awakened.
“Then who’s the person standing across from her?”
“Is she an Awakened too?”
Naturally, eyes that had followed Dana turned toward the small brown-haired schoolgirl standing opposite her.
Since she was with Dana, people simply assumed she was also an Awakened and focused on the two of them.
The sudden Screen, and the two schoolgirls displayed on it.
No one knew what they were about to do or why the Screen had appeared, but with the scene outside so horrific, it was easier to focus on the Screen.
Finding a welcome escape from the grim reality, everyone turned their attention to the Screen.
If the monsters had still been moving, people might not even have noticed the Screen—but now it had claimed countless viewers.
At that moment, a new status window appeared before their eyes.
[- Fate of the Circle will be decided | A Decision Duel is about to begin +! >0<]
People’s eyes widened as the Awakened’s Chat Window instantly exploded in activity.
Since cell phones hadn’t worked since the Gate opened and monsters appeared, the only ones discussing the situation hotly were the Awakened in their respective Chat Windows.
A Decision Duel to determine the Fate of the Circle.
“So, could that brown-haired girl be Nada…-?”
Somewhere among the people in a relatively undamaged subway station, someone blurted out the wrong guess.
Except for those who didn’t grasp the situation right away, most quickly realized the identities of Dana and the brown-haired girl.
“Wow, the necromancer was Nada?”
“The Dimensional Outsider is someone we all know?!”
“They said the Outsider returned to her own dimension, so how is she the Outsider?”
Dana’s carefully hidden identity was revealed to the world in an instant.
1
“What is this?”
After realizing she would have to fight Lee Dana for real, the tense standoff between us had been interrupted by the appearance of a strange status window.
The atmosphere grew bewildered for a moment due to the sudden Screen.
Maybe it’s just because too many unexpected things have happened today.
Looking at our figures reflected on the Screen, I tried to grasp what was happening.
“Wow, are they actually live-streaming our fight?”
“Wha…t?”
Dana, blinking her wide eyes, stared at the Screen in wonder.
The moment I heard her words, I whipped my head around and stared at the friends seated far away in the stands.
It wasn’t just appearing for us—everyone was nervously staring at the Screen hanging in the air.
My mind had never worked so quickly before.
Frozen in place, I tried to organize the situation in my head.
“I have to fight Dana one-on-one, but the Screen is showing this to everyone. Is this just visible inside the Gate? But if it’s not…?”
I forcefully rejected the chilling possibility that crossed my mind, shaking my head to drive away the uneasy thought.
If nothing else, every Awakened inside this Gate now knew I was Nada.
After the Quest window appeared and the person fighting Dana was me, it was obvious.
I’d asked Ban Eun-hyeol to explain everything, so he should have managed it.
But if not just a few people, but the entire nation now knew my true identity, I was in serious trouble.
No, more than just trouble.
To check how many people could actually see the Screen, I immediately opened the Chat Window.
[Nada (0): Can everyone see the Screen? Is this visible to everyone?]
Since everyone in the Chat Window already knew my identity, I spoke frankly.
As I kept glancing toward the Awakened’s seating area, Dana also turned her head to follow my gaze.
“Why, worried about your identity being exposed? This isn’t the time to be worrying about that, is it?”
[Focus (1): Seems like it.]
Just after Dana gave me her warning, a reply from Ban Eun-hyeol came through.
Thud
Suddenly, Dana launched an attack and I hurriedly dodged.
The spot where I had been standing caved in violently. Looking up, I saw Stone preparing to swing his huge fist at me again.
Dana charged at me almost simultaneously.
“How does it feel to be attacked by your precious summons?!”
While I was distracted by the Screen, she’d apparently planned with her summons in advance.
On Dana’s side, Sahin shot a barrage of black arrows, and both Sharp and Red’s Bresh came flying at me simultaneously.
All the attacks came hurtling toward me in nearly perfect timing.
KRAAANG—!
The combined onslaught of the summons sent up a deafening roar and a cloud of dust.
Through the haze, Dana, shielded, raced up to me and swung her long staff.
It looked like she wanted to end things in a single strike by unleashing all her attacks at once.
“Hah, as expected.”
But I wasn’t about to be taken down so easily by attacks I already knew so well.
Dana, realizing that her staff was slicing through empty air in the dust, gave a wry smile.
It was almost a laugh.
I was looking down from above the spot where all the attacks had been focused.
“Red.”
Red, in her true form, carried me on her back, and then hurled me straight toward the action, unleashing her Bresh.
I leaped off, landing in the very path of Red’s Bresh, activating my shield and blending right into the torrent.
[Skill, ‘Binding of Eorum’ has been cast.]
“What, what the—?!”
Startled, Dana shouted sharply and struggled against the effect.
To be so flustered by her own skill showed her inexperience.
For a split second, I wondered just how far I should go in attacking Dana.
Now, Dana was considered a monster—an invader to be subdued.
The Gate would only disappear if the monster was defeated, so I’d have to attack Dana just as I would any monster.
“Anyway, everything will be restored, and Dana will be forced back to her own dimension as the condition for victory.”
So even if I attacked hard enough to ‘kill’ her right now, she wouldn’t actually die.
Even so, killing a person—no matter if she was counted as a monster—felt fundamentally different, and I hesitated, if only briefly.
[Skill, ‘Cursed Blade’ has been cast.]
When I was right above Dana’s head, I gripped the Cursed Blade and plunged it downward.
Stab.
With the feeling of something piercing, Red’s Bresh slowly dissipated.
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