Chapter 9: Blizzard Group

"Well... the city being taken over is something I didn't expect to happen within the span of a day, but how does this affect everyone here?" King asked. "I understand that people are anxious about there being a new ruler and all, but what's with the buying and selling craze? Are people really that anxious to leave the city that they'll sell everything for money?"

"I don't think that's the problem, the problem should be them demanding tributes or something, right?" Garou guessed.

"Exactly. The new guild's been asking for tributes, to commemorate them taking over the city." Latimer said. "They said that a minimum of 10 gold coins was needed per person, but the richer, more powerful, and more influential the individual, the bigger the expected tribute."

"I see. And they expect it in gold?"

"No, anything is acceptable, as long as it has practical value." Latimer explained. "And if the tribute paid was large enough, the Guild Master herself would personally reward them with a place in her guild, or by giving them protection of her guild. And to be protected by the guild that took over the city... everyone's been scrambling to amass a large enough sum to impress the Guild Master."

"I see... and what is this guild called?" King asked. It caught his intrigue that a guild managed to take over an entire city by force, and in the span of a few hours, no less! Still, chances were that they were an NPC guild, and this was just an event to gain noble titles and such for players. After all, the chances of it being a player guild was pretty slim-

"If I'm not mistaken, they called themselves... the Blizzard Group."

...He took that back.

Was there something with heroes that he didn't know about in the game, or what? First the construction team he hired was made of two A-Class heroes and 1 B-Class, and now a famous B-Class group was taking over the starter city? What was happening!?

If he didn't know better, he'd assume the heroes were on a mission to take over the city- and the Blizzard Group succeeded. But King knew better. The world just hated him. Every attempt to enjoy the game- or to enjoy anything, really, was always, ALWAYS thwarted in some way by heroes, either by his own fame, or other heroes.

"Blizzard Group? Ain't that a B-Class group or something?" Garou asked. "I've heard of them. Their leader's the little sister of Tornado Of Terror."

"Yeah, Tatsumaki's little sister. Fubuki or something." King noted. "I'm met her that one time."

That one time when he went to take his game back from Saitama, he saw her with Saitama at the time. It was either she was there to recruit him, rookie-crush him, or something. He couldn't remember.

Afterwards, they tried to recruit Saitama through other methods, like that contract. It was a good thing he was there, otherwise Saitama, Silver Fang and Demon Cyborg would've been forced to work for the Blizzard Group.

(AN: Garou didn't make his debut yet in this world, so that's a small change. Everything else progresses as per normal.)

"You've met her?" Latimer asked. "And you didn't know she was the Guild Master of the Blizzard Group?"

"Um... no. I've met her previously, before she... took over the city." King said.

"Well, if you're on good terms with her, you'd shoot up in status immediately. If you were her enemy, however?" Latimer chuckled. "I can help you book a private carriage out of the city, free of charge, as thanks for all the artifacts you sold us before, and for helping us seal a large deal."

"It's alright. I'm not on bad terms with her, and I can't say I'm on very good terms with her, either." King said, remembering her face of despair when he turned around a 30 versus 1 match single-handedly. Now that he thought about it, she might come seek revenge...

Well, he was confident he could handle them. If they took two hours to take down a level 43 person, whom was regarded as the 'War God' of the city, not to mention that he had defeated him before with ease...

Yep, King wasn't worried about them fighting back. If anything, the only thing he'd be worried about is them spreading the news of him playing the game out of spite. But they wouldn't know about his dislike towards fans, so he'd still be safe in that regard...

Well, it was currently none of his business, so unless they came looking for trouble with him, he had no fear.

Chances were that they were currently level 30 or so, if their entire group had to work together to fight against one level 43 NPC. However, if it was just one person, then they might be level 40 as well.

Thinking about it, King grimaced. He had two characters, and both characters were higher-leveled that the highest-leveled player that wasn't him. At least, he assumed. There was a 'leaderboard' for levels of players, and to get on said leaderboard, one simply had to allow one's level to be displayed on the leaderboard.

On the leaderboard, the highest was someone named 'Great Philosopher' at level 41, two levels below that Reginald fellow. Thinking back, wasn't that a hero name as well!?

"Good terms or bad, I'd suggest treading carefully around her. It's said that when they defeated 'War God' Reginald, they only had one of them take him on. And it's said that it wasn't their strongest member, either."

"Only one person took down that guy? And he wasn't their strongest? Now that's an interesting one..." Garou grinned, getting pumped up.

"Well, we can talk more about that later. About the items..." King said, steering the conversation back about their items.

"Oh, right! The artifacts!" Latimer said. "Sorry about that, follow me, I'll take you directly to the workshop."

[5 minutes later...]

"Well then, this is where everything gets processed. All the [Junior Appraisers] and [Appraisers] are hard at work as usual." Latimer said.

"Right. So where do we put everything?" King asked.

"Over there, by that team of five [Appraisers] and twenty [Junior Appraisers]." Latimer pointed to a large group of people. "Just set it down by that large plank over there."

King, Garou and Latimer approached the team, whom thanked Latimer for giving them this opportunity today.

Both King and Garou emptied their inventories of useless items and equipment they didn't need.

"That's a guardsman's armor from 250 years ago, worth around 1,000 gold coins."

"Wow, an intact piece of chest armor from an Empty Knight! These can usually go up to 50,000 gold coins for summoners that don't want to use their mana to create their own."

"A Greater Troll's club! The material is pure Orichalcum! The wood is also the core of a Heartwood Spriggan! Collectors might pay up to 20 noble coins for this!"

As the [Appraisers] and [Junior Appraisers] were hard at work, Latimer was duly impressed at the large pile of valuables that King and his friend Garou had!

"Looks like your exploits have only gotten bigger since I last saw you." Latimer chuckled. "Any other incredibly valuable materials we can buy off you? I might just overtake Hughes in terms of status."

"Well..." King said, looking around. "There's too many people here. Do you have a more quiet space?"

"Wait, you do?" Latimer said, intrigued. "There's more than just that amount of items over there?"

'Well, that's all that I and Garou have, aside from one thing." King said. "It's just a... we should really get a room."

Latimer nodded, and brought both King and Garou to another room.

"This is my personal office, and there should be no one here that can possibly listen in to us." Latimer said. "So what is it? This absurdly expensive item that cannot be seen by others?" Latimer said, excitedly rubbing his hands. If it was something so valuable and sought-after like that set or armor last time...

"This." King took out the Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby, and placed it in front of Latimer.

"...Well, well, King. You've surprised me yet again." Latimer sighed. "Do you know, you've just set down one of the most sought-after items in the city right now?"

"Wait, what?" King asked, confused.

"You really must not have been around for long, huh?" Latimer said. "This is a Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby. One of the finest specimens, as well."

"Recently, the Guild Master of the Blizzard Group has put up a bounty for a Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby." Latimer explained. "She's looking to undergo a Lordsbane Infusion, and she seeks the highest quality Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby in order to increase her chances of getting a high grade Lordsbane Infusion."

"Hmm, I know what this ruby is, but what's a Lordsbane Infusion?" King asked.

"It's a spell. Well, I say spell, but really, it's more of process. One only casts a spell at the very last second." Latimer explained. "As for how it works..."

Latimer then took out a book, flipped a few pages, and started reading.

"A Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby is placed into a solution of Soulwind Dreamgrass and mana crystals. The grade doesn't matter, as long as there's enough mana in the solution. Either ten million F-Class mana crystals, ten thousand E-Class mana crystals, or ten D-Class mana crystals." Latimer explained. "That is the minimum amount needed to start the process, but the more mana crystals placed, the faster the procedure progresses."

"One can also use potions instead, but one would need to add finely ground Metamorphic Lapis Lazuli.

"That's a lot of mana crystals... what's the point of so many?" Garou asked.

"Well, its the amount of mana needed to activate the Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby." Latimer explained. "Next, when the Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby absorbs the solution, it'll expand and go soft. While it's soft, you need to soak it in Titan Bone Marrow. Once the Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby absorbs the marrow, it'll exude a crystal clear liquid. The person undergoing the infusion needs to strip naked and soak themselves in the clear liquid."

"Once one has soaked in the liquid for a whole hour, the liquid will turn gold in color, and one needs to place entire barrel-fulls of wine and rubies until the liquid starts to condense into a purplish-red-gold mixture, and the person undergoing the process must soak in the liquid for another three hours."

"When the three hours are up-" Latimer wanted to continue reading, but King interrupted him. "I'll just read it myself, no need for you to trouble yourself."

"Ah, okay. To be honest, my mouth was getting tired." Latimer said, massaging his chin. "Anyhow, I'd actually suggest gifting this to the Guild Master yourself. I may be a merchant that loves money more than anything, but I'd rather you gain something from it instead."

"Huh, that's nice. I didn't expect merchants to be this kind." Garou mocked, clearly knowing that Latimer had ulterior motives. His eyes said so.

"Hmph, 'nice'? In the world of merchants, profit is the biggest concern!" Latimer pridefully said. "I'm not doing this out of niceties. I'm only hoping that you gain good connections to her, and in turn, improve your standing and ability to obtain more valuable relics!"

"You already have a faint connection with her already, and that's valuable enough to me. You know how many nobles have to bow and scrape just to see her for a few moments? Keep building up that relationship, King. And when you get into her good graces..." Latimer smiled. "I hope you don't forget this humble merchant."

"Don't you worry. Unless you betray me, I treat the people I know fairly nicely." King smiled back. "And to thank you for this information, I'll collect only 90% of the payment this time, you keep the other 10%."

"Heh, you sure are nice, King." Latimer chuckled. "Well, although Hughes is out for his test to rank up to [Senior Appraiser] and should be back any day now, he'll probably take a bit longer to choose a nice gift for the Guild Master of the Blizzard Group. Next time you want to sell anything, just look for me at my workplace directly. It'll be much easier." Latimer said.

"Okay. So, how much do we get this time?" King asked Latimer.

"Oh, right. The reports should be coming in about now..." Latimer said, and at that moment, an employee came in, looking fearful. "Excuse me, Sir Latimer, but we have a problem at the moment, we can't give you an accurate price."

"Hmm? Why?" Latimer asked.

"Well... you see... Sir Bawbell wants to negotiate buying the items." The employee said.

Latimer looked shocked for a second, before sighing. "Of all the days... why today?" Latimer complained, placing a hand on his forehead.

"I'm sorry about this, I'll reimburse you afterwards." Latimer looked apologetic, as he walked out of the room.

"Hmm? What's that about?" Garou sat up, suspicious.

"That doesn't seem right... let's go see what's happening." King got up and activated his [Tracking] skill to see where Latimer had went.

"Huh, that [Tracking] sure comes in handy, eh, King?" Garou joked, following behind King.

"Yep. Hmm, he seems to be heading back to his workshop." King said. "I wonder who that 'Sir Bawbell' is."

"Probably some jerk that wants Latimer's stuff. I've seen this kinda stuff before." Garou said.

"You do know that movies aren't always the most accurate depictions of reality, right?" King said, guessing where Garou got his point of view from.

"Well, this is a game, right?"

"You got me there." King shrugged, following Latimer's tracks. How it worked, King didn't know. Latimer technically wouldn't leave any tracks, he was wearing shoes and walking on stone floors, where would these 'tracks' come from?

But hey, skills were skills, so as long as it worked, King didn't really care.

...Aside from the power-scaling in the game. It still didn't make sense, which irritated King a little bit.

Arriving at the workshop, King and Garou looked for where they left their loot, and saw... some fat man with a weird bowl haircut with a few bodyguards, talking with Latimer, whom was bowing at a 90 degree angle without moving.

"...Told you." Garou smirked.

"Eh, shut up." King said nonchalantly, as they walked towards Latimer and the fat balding man.

"So we agree? I'll pay you later for these- hmm? Who're you?" The fat man, whom King could assume was that 'Sir Bawbell' noticed him and Garou walking towards them.

"Me? No one in particular. I was just here to ask how much my items would be worth." King said.

"What? King? Garou? What're you two doing here?" Latimer asked, surprised.

"Ah, you're the one that's selling these valuables? I have to say, they're good finds." The fat man chuckled. "I'm Bawbell, a noble under Lord Adarus, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I see." King said nonchalantly, which slightly irked the fatty. A thin, lankier man than even Latimer beside Bawbell piped up, shouting rudely; "How dare you not greet Lord Bawbell properly! He's a noble, beyond just you petty commoners! He greeted you nicely, how dare you just brush him off?!"

"Shut it, runt." Garou laughed. "King's talking to your boss, I don't recall you being allowed to speak up in front of him?"

"No worries, Mordeus. He was just here to collect the money for his items, if I'm not mistaken." Bawbell said, hiding traces of his displeasure. "Well then, Latimer. You know where to send those items, don't you?"

"Of course, Sir Bawbell." Latimer bowed towards him again, and turned to King. "Anyway, about the price of those items, I can give you 117 royal coins for them all. If you could-"

"Actually, I changed my mind, Latimer." King waved his hand. "I'll sell them some other time."

Bawbell's expression stiffened at that statement, and his guard's faces darkened.

"What do you mean by that?! You've already sold your items to Sir Latimer, how can you just refuse to sell the items to him?!" The thin man, Mordeus piped up once more.

"Your voice is getting real annoying there bud~ Careful I don't smash it in." Garou threatened, a vein growing on his forehead.

"Stop that, Garou. Anyway, these are my items, and I have not sold them yet. Therefore, these are still my items. I'll decide whenever I want to sell them." King said.

Upon noticing Bawbell's expression darkening, King tried something new.

"...Do you have a problem with that?" With that sentence, King held nothing back as he did something he didn't think he needed to do.

Attempt to actually intimidate someone on purpose. It never occurred to him, until he remembered he had the [Intimidation] skill. With no idea if it could work if he wanted it to, King decided to turn this into a test- a test whether it actually worked whenever he wanted it to, and not just an annoying passive skill that worked on mobs.

Yet for some reason, the moment he uttered those words, the guards, the lanky side-character, Bawbell himself, they suddenly turned paper white, and the surroundings employees stopped working, as well.

"...Damn, King. You trying to shock them straight to the afterlife?" Garou said, a small bead of sweat forming on his forehead. If he hadn't experienced such heavy killing intent in the underworld before, he too would've been momentarily shocked.

Still, that aura King was giving off... Even in a game, King truly deserved the title of 'The World's Strongest Man'. Such an aura was probably enough to knock out average soldiers at level 25.

"Y-y-y-y-you d-dare t-to g-go a-against L-Lord Bawbell?!" The thin side-character said shakily, so much so that it took King some effort to stifle his laughter. It was as if he was an apex predator staring down a measly rat. He didn't even attempt to intimidate him too much, yet he was already quaking in his boots.

Needless to say, the [Intimidation] skill worked well. Too well, in fact.

...A bit like real life, if he had to say. He tried to use phrases which alluded to the fact that he wasn't strong, yet somehow, everyone got the impression that he was threatening them, and that he was incredibly strong. What did Garou mean by; 'Such powerful bloodlust' in the background? He was just trying to intimidate someone, not murder them!

"What's taking so long?!" Suddenly, a group of players entered the workshop, each of them wearing high-end looking armor.

"Are you trying to con us about those items?! If so, I won't be forgiving towards anyone that wastes Miss- I mean Guild Master Blizzard's time!" A young woman wearing black leather armor and a lily in her hair said angrily. She seemed be the leader of the group.

As if meeting his saviors, Bawbell's expression quickly turned into one of fawning and subservience, as he pointed towards King; "Lady Lily of the Blizzard Group, this person refuses to sell the items they promised! I can't gift them to you if he refuses to sell them!"

"Hmm? Who would-" Lily turned to see whom was so arrogant to cancel a deal that would be beneficial to Miss Blizzard-

"...King?"

"Fuck." King swore inwardly. And to make matters worse...

dub.. dub... dub... dub... Dub! Dub! Dub! Dub! DUB!

"No! Stop! Why does it start up whenever there's heroes nearby?!" King mentally screamed for his heart to stop being so loud, a stoic exterior maintained outwardly. Always, at the worst time, his stupid 'King Engine' would always act up! Screw that 'King Engine', it was just a heart that beat louder than others!

"A-A-A-A-Ah! M-Mr King! We didn't know you were here today!" Lily bowed at a 90 degree angle, the other members of the Blizzard Group following her actions. "King?! THE King?! What's he doing, playing this game?!" Lily thought. Any thoughts of him being a fake was immediately dropped once the famous 'King Engine' started revving up. This was the real King, and he was ready for a fight!

One comfort would be that he wouldn't be as strong as his real life counter-part, but even so, his current level...

Level 54 was 13 levels ahead of 'Great Philosopher', the highest-leveled player on the leaderboards! There were indeed players that were higher-leveled that aren't on the leaderboard, like Miss Blizzard and their 'secret weapon'...

But King was already ahead of them! Miss Blizzard had the entire group- no, guild backing her up, and their 'secret weapon' was always by Miss Blizzard's side when they were grinding, so how... how was King so far ahead already?!

...No, it was to be expected. As expected of 'The World's Strongest Man'!

"Hmm. I didn't think I'd see members of Blizzard's group here, as well. Or should I say, her 'guild' now?" King asked. "So, what are you doing here? You said that this man was here to gift you some equipment?"

"Y-yes, he said that he was about to procure a large amount of artifacts for us and called us here immediately. Wait, don't tell me-" The color flushed from Lily's face as she realized that the person that sold those items... was in front of her right now.

"Y-you bastard! You tried to con Mr King?! How dare you?!" A member of the Blizzard group acted quickly and picked up Sir Bawbell by the scruff of his almost non-existent neck. His guards didn't even attempt to help him.

"U-um, I-Is this person a member of your group?! I'm sorry, I didn't know!" Bawbell apologized profusely. How was he to know that this was a member of the Blizzard Group?! He wasn't wearing their insignia!

"He's not a member of our group, but he's more important than that!" Lily said angrily, as she turned to King fearfully. "I'm terribly sorry about this, Mr King! This won't ever happen again!" Lily bowed to King once more.

"Hmm, it's not that he tried to con me, it's just that he was causing a friend of mine trouble." King said, pointing towards Latimer.

Members of the Blizzard group looked at Latimer, and suddenly bowed in sync towards him. "We apologize for the trouble!"

"Look, no need to apologize so much. You weren't the ones to cause him trouble, anyway." King waved his hand, as the members of the Blizzard Group meekly obeyed his orders.

Latimer, Bawbell, and the other employees were stunned. Were these truly members of the Blizzard Group? Those forceful adventurers that threatened other adventurers above the rank of Bronze to join their guild?

No, of course not. This was caused by that man with three scars on his left eye. Who was he, and how was he so important?!

"Wait, I recognize him! He's the Gold-Ranked Adventurer, King the Tyrannical!" An employee piped up, attracting the attention of everyone else. "He's risen through the ranks incredibly fast, and went from a measly Copper-Ranked Adventurer to the Gold-Ranked Adventurer he is now in just the span of half a day!"

"He's also incredibly efficient going through those Improvement Trials, always defeating the opponents within 30 seconds to at most a minute and 5 seconds! He's a legend that's spreading like wildfire among the adventurers, whose skill with the spear and shield is said to rival 'War God Reginald' himself! The Blizzard Group has also been recently looking for him!"

"So that 'King the Tyrannical' was actually S-Class Hero King himself?! No wonder he rose through the ranks so fast! I have to tell Miss Fubuki about this! We can't possibly recruit King into our guild, we already failed in real life, after tricking him into playing some video games against us! Even though he won single-handedly, he might hold a grudge against us for deceiving him!" Lily thought to herself.

"King, so you were that influential the whole time? Hmph, I guess I'm the joke now, I didn't even know about this yet!" Latimer said inwardly, a wry smile on his face. "Still, though Bawbell is an utter piece of shit of a man, I can't help but feel bad for him now, seeing as word's going out that he offended one of the three Gold-Ranked Adventurers. He's definitely finished as a merchant." The person in question has already collapsed into a trembling, unconscious mess. His life was basically over after this.

"Well, well. I suppose this would've happened. I wonder if this'll happen if me and Saitama go taking those 'Improvement Trials' or whatnot." Garou pondered. Though that extra EXP gain was nice, he didn't want to be popular as an adventurer. It would be like being popular as a hero, and he'd rather get beaten up by fucking Mumen Rider of all heroes than being a hero himself.

"...King the Tyrannical? I just wanted to get it over with as fast as possible... why is my title like that?!" The person in questioned showed nothing outwardly, but was slightly depressed about his adventurer title. True, he didn't care about how others viewed him at the time, but still...

"...Anyway, It's good that I met you here right now..." King said, turning to look at the members of the Blizzard Group. "Looks like my reputation as an S-Class hero works in the game world for other players, though I shouldn't be surprised..."

"Garou, you collect the payment for your items, and tell Saitama I'll be a little late. I need to take care of some business..." King said, staring down the members of the Blizzard Group.

"Eep! W-what do you mean by that, Mr King?!" Lily said, startled at King's sudden change. The atmosphere was getting heavier, the King Engine was beating with an even greater rhythm...

"Nothing much, it's just that..."

"I'd like to meet with Fubuki herself. Can that be arranged?"

[1 hour later...]

In the Imperial Palace of the city, King was waiting in a grand hall. The paintings on the wall were of royalty, King assumed. All of them were either wearing crowns, or had that generic red royal cape. The ones that didn't, King assumed were princes, princesses, dukes, duchesses, etc. They looked royal enough, and that was pretty much it.

When he first entered the Imperial Palace 45 minutes earlier, he was led to a large dining hall and treated to some high quality food. A full course meal, in fact. Appetizer, soup dish, fish dish, meat dish, main course, salad, dessert, and finally, some wine.

Well, he wasn't complaining, the food was delicious. Still, that was quite the treatment...

After finishing everything, he was then escorted to a theater of sorts where some princes and princesses were putting on a performance for him... alone. Honestly, he had to say; their skills at dancing were great, as to be expected from royalty... it was just awkward to be the only one watching the performance. Still, how did they coerce the former members of the royal family to put on a show? For one person, no less?

And for the last 10 minutes, he was currently in a large grand hall, admiring some paintings and artworks on display. There was even some massive statues in the middle of the hall, and in the center was a fountain made of solid gold.

Still, the Blizzard Group had really gone all-out, huh? The Imperial Palace for the royalty of the city was now the property of the Blizzard Group, the royal insignia was replaced with the Blizzard Group's insignia, and the biggest painting on the wall, directly above the massive marble double doors?

It was a massive 10 by 15 meter portrait of Fubuki, wearing a dark green dress and a white fur coat. Wait, it almost looked like her real life outfit...

Still, King had to wonder, what drove them to want to take over the city, anyway? He didn't see a point in it.

"Mr King, Miss Fubuki will see you now." Lily opened the door to the great hall, notifying King that Fubuki was ready to see him.

"Right." King said, getting up. Following Lily, King was eventually led to an even larger room. As Lily opened the door...

Chances were it was the throne room. It wasn't as big as the hall he was in previously, but it was at least ten times more grand.

Every member of the Blizzard Group (at least King assumed) was in the throne room. The members levels all ranged variously from level 5 to level 30, the highest levels in the room that he could see were two people. One of them was level 43, whom was currently sitting on the throne; Fubuki herself. Aside from that, there was also a level 48 person hidden among the crowd. He looked like a mage-type character, and his equipment looked high quality, too. In fact, everyone's equipment seemed really high quality. Even the level 5 characters were wearing fancy looking suits, similar to their real life appearance, with the exception that some wore actual armor instead of the suit.

The level 48 character seemed to be blending in perfectly with the crowd, and if not for King's heightened senses and the fact that he enabled level viewing, he would not have noticed there was a level 48 person hidden among the crowd of other members of the Blizzard Group. But thanks to King's [Sense Surroundings] skill, he could accurately see everything in the surroundings, as per the namesake of the skill.

"Well, King. I didn't expect to meet you here. The last time we met, you completely defeated my group in that video game. And to think we almost got away with having you in our group." Fubuki broke the silence by speaking first. "I hope you didn't take offense to that?" Fubuki smiled calmly.

"No, it wasn't anything. Not to mention, I didn't need to pay for lunch that day, so that was a bonus to me." King said. "Huh, she seems calmer than I expected. She was a little more anxious the first time we met, and even during that time they paid for lunch, she didn't want to make eye contact. Maybe she thinks it's because we're in a game, so there's no need to be all that formal?"

"Well, I don't mind. At least there's someone else aside from Saitama, Garou and other S-Class heroes that doesn't freak out upon learning my identity." King thought, slightly happy at the notion that there was someone that would act at least the slightest bit normal around him. Even the other heroes he saw earlier had freaked out upon learning that he was the real King.

[Flashback, 45 minutes ago...]

"King's coming to visit!" A panicked Blizzard Group member exclaimed to the other group members, whom were relaxing in a room, playing card games and board games.

"You mean that 'King The Tyrannical' guy? He's the Gold-Ranked Adventurer that was rising through the ranks incredibly fast, right? Why're you so panicked about it?" Fubuki asked, glancing up from her cards.

"W-well..." The Blizzard Group member wanted to continue, but Lily came into the room, panting.

"M-Miss Fubuki! 'King The Tyrannical'... is actually S-Class Hero King!"

...Silence. The room that was previously bustling with activity suddenly went silent.

"...Come again?" Fubuki got up, her face serious.

"It's true, Miss Fubuki! I met him myself, King The Tyrannical is S-Class Hero King!" Lily said through gasps. "A-and he's coming here!"

"Why?" Fubuki asked.

"H-he said that he wanted to meet you, Miss Fubuki..." Lily explained.

"So he found out that I was playing the game, huh... I suppose that makes sense. We did take over the city, after all. Still, what are his intentions of meeting me...?" Fubuki went into deep thought. "Also, this might be a chance. The game wasn't released that long ago, so he shouldn't be all that strong now..."

A smirk crept up onto Fubuki's face. "Maybe this time, we can get him to join our group... though it isn't in real life, we can always curry favors with him. If we help him level, and introduce him into our guild..."

"And if he doesn't... we can show him how it feels to be rookie-crushed."

"I-I don't think we can do that, Miss Fubuki." Lily said, her face going pale at the mention of attempting to rookie-crush The World's Strongest Man.

"Why not, Lily? You've met him yourself, does he already have a high level? That's no problem at all, if we move as soon as possible, we can corner him and force him into our guild if need be. After all, he won't be petty enough to attack us in real life because of what we did in a game, right?"

"T-that's the problem, Miss Fubuki, he's-" Lily started, but was interrupted by another member of the Blizzard Group.

"Hell yeah! That last time he beat all of us in a game so easily and single-handedly, I feel so pissed because of that! We can finally take revenge on him!"

"Exactly! We would never dream of defeating King in real life, but now in a game? Heh... We won't lose so easily!"

"Then it's settled! Move our forces and tell the former King to mobilize the army, as well. We'll be taking in King." Fubuki said decisively, her members cheering.

"T-That's just it, Miss Fubuki! King's already level 54!" Lily finally managed to get the words out.

...

...

...

"Call in all the princes and princesses! Tell them to be ready to put on a show!" Fubuki ordered, her face pale. "Someone call the chefs and prepare the highest quality meals!"

"Lily, you'll be personally guiding King through the palace! Make sure he's happy with the treatment!"

"H-huh? Oh, yes, Miss Fubuki, I won't let you down!" Lily saluted Fubuki, before rushing out the room.

"We need to have him in our guild... no matter what it takes!"

[End of Flashback...]

"Anyway, I'm here to make an offer to you." King said to Fubuki.

"Is that so? What a coincidence, we had an offer to extend to you, as well." Fubuki smiled.

"Hmm? Is that so?" King said. "Well, that doesn't matter. Anyway, I heard that your guild was searching high and low for a Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby?"

"Oh? Yes, we've put up a bounty for one. Do you have some to sell, King?" Fubuki asked. So far, no one had even tried to hand in any to them at all. There were some scammer-NPCs that tried to sell them to the newbies of the guild, though Fubuki ensured that those NPCs were taught a lesson. Even the smallest, tiniest piece would be worth hundreds of thousands of gold-

King took out the massive Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby directly from his inventory, holding up the huge gem with just one hand. It's crimson red glimmer and slightly bloody scent proved that it was the real deal. "I found this one in a dungeon. How much are you willing to pay for this?"

Once more, the room was filled with the deafening sound of silence.

"...You truly do break surpass all expectations, King. Such a massive one would be enough for all our purposes." Fubuki said, a hand over her forehead. Even though King didn't show any hostility or anything, it truly was nerve-wracking to even be in the same room as him. Every movement he made put them on edge, and everything he did was so outlandishly ridiculous. Where in the world did he obtain such a large and high-quality piece of Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby?

"So how much are you willing to give me for this?" King asked again.

"We'd pay about ten Imperial coins per kilogram of Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby. That large one would probably be worth at least a hundred, and its quality is nothing to scoff at, either. We're willing to part with 250 Imperial coins for the whole thing." Fubuki said.

"250 Imperial coins... The item said it was worth only 100 Imperial coins... I suppose values really are inflated whenever players are trading with each other." King thought. It was true, too. In other MMORPGs, anything sold to the NPC would probably be sold for tens of times higher when auctioned to other players, unless they were really easily accessible, in which some NPCs would be willing to pay higher than other players.

"Deal." King said, tossing the Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby towards Fubuki like nothing, whom caught it promptly.

"Huh, aren't you afraid we might renege on this deal, King?" Fubuki asked, surprised. Was King really that confident that he would be willing to just hand the gem over to her?

"If you plan on reneging this deal, I'll just take the Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby and sell it off elsewhere." King said nonchalantly. "I mean..."

"If you want to renege, that is."

In an instant, the temperature of the room dropped, and Fubuki was once again reminded that she was not facing off against some random hero that just joined the game- she was facing off King, The World's Strongest Man! Of course he would feel no threat against them. He was King, after all!

"N-no, we'll be fine with the deal." Fubuki stammered, caught off guard by King's sudden threat.

'If you think about backstabbing me... I'll show you a kind of pain that your frail bodies in real life cannot possibly convey.'

Naturally, this was just due to Fubuki's overactive imagination, and King had meant absolutely nothing from it whatsoever.

"Right. So that's 250 Imperial coins, yeah?" King asked once more to confirm.

"Indeed." Fubuki said, a pouch appearing in her hands, as she tossed it to King.

King promptly caught it, and checking the insides- yep, they were Imperial coins alright. All 250 of them were accounted for.

"Right." King placed the coins into his inventory. "So what was the offer that you wanted to propose to me?"

"Ah, right." Fubuki had a smile on her face. "We invite you to have a place in our guild. We can offer the best farming zones, equipment, and teams for efficient EXP gain."

"We can even directly appoint you as one of the vice-leaders of the guild, second only to me, the Guild Master. Anything the guild can do, we can offer to you. The only precondition is that-"

"Ah, if it's about a guild, no thanks. I'm already forming one with some friends." King interrupted Fubuki with a casual wave.

Fubuki froze in her seat, not expecting this. "King already has a guild formed? And with his 'friends'? Does that include some S-Class heroes, or some hidden masters that aren't members of the Heroes Association?"

"Or does he mean members of Saitama's group, like Genos and Bang? Or is Saitama himself in his guild, too?"

"I-Is that so? Then how about another offer, we can induct your guild as a sub-guild below our own and we will provide resources and funds for that guild. An extension of our own guild, so to speak. You will even be able to directly recruit some of our members into your sub-guild-"

"No thanks. I'll develop that guild on my own." King interrupted Fubuki again, and some members were getting annoyed. "I don't mind having relations, though. We can help each other out when we need it."

"Ah, finally, progress!" Fubuki cheered internally, there was finally some progress with creating connections with King. In the real world, the only actual 'connections' they had with him was that he defeat all 30 of the members that were present during that 'showdown' with Saitama's group. Aside from that, Fubuki only saw King every now and then with Saitama, playing video-games with each other.

"Oh, we'll gladly accept that offer." Fubuki smiled. "What's the name of your guild? We'll extend an alliance request with the 'guild' function." Fubuki said, pulling up a window to request an alliance with King's guild.

"Ah. It's listed as 'King's Guild'. We hadn't decided on a proper name yet." King said.

"So you're the Guild Master of that guild? It's to be expected from you, I suppose." Fubuki said, unsurprised. "Ah, I've found it."

King soon saw an alliance request pop up in front of him.

[Blizzard Group] has extended an alliance request to [King's Guild]! Accept?

Accepting the request button, King could suddenly see a Blizzard Group logo on every member of the Blizzard Group in the room, and there was a tag right above their names, which was [Allied Guild Member], displayed in bold letters. The same thing happened when King created the guild, both Saitama and Garou now had [Guild Member] in bold above their name tags.

Above Fubuki's name tag was the title [Allied Guild Master].

"Well then, thank you for accepting our alliance request, King." Fubuki said. "We'll be seeing each other more often now."

"Okay then." King then remembered a certain something. "I also wanted to ask; what is it with taking over the city, by the way?"

"Ah, we were planning for this since some time ago." Fubuki smiled proudly. "It took us some subterfuge and hellish training to raise our levels, but we managed to overpower the city guards, elite guards, and even the strongest person in the city."

"If I'm not mistaken, he's 'Lord Reginald', right? The 'War-God' of the city." King asked for conformation.

"Yes, that's him. Do you know him?" Fubuki asked, surprised.

"I do, actually. I met him while I was farming in the dungeon." King said. "I also met the [Third Prince] of the city while I was there."

"Ah, although he lost to us, he did mention something about 'not harming the [Third Prince]' being a non-negotiable term for his surrender." Fubuki looked up in remembrance. "He was rather stubborn about us agreeing to that single term. He never had a problem about us taking his life, though."

"Wait, you killed him?"

"Of course not. He would be a useful pawn for controlling the other NPC-citizens in the city."

"I see... well, I'd like to see him, but that can wait at a later date." King said. "If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."

"Of course, King." Fubuki then took out a small box. "This is a badge that proves that you are a member of the Blizzard Group, or at least under our protection. This would make things easier for you."

"Oh, thanks." King accepted the badge, and prepared to leave.

"Wait." A voice called out from within the crowd. Turning to look at the source, King saw that it was the level 48 mage that was hiding in the crowd earlier.

"Piko, what are you doing?" Fubuki stood up from her throne. "Don't disrespect King!"

"This isn't disrespect at all, Miss Fubuki. All I want to do is suggest something." The mage, Piko said with a grin on his face. "After all, we're allies, so we should help each other out, shouldn't we?"

"What is it?" King looked at Piko, intrigued. He wondered what he might suggest. Actually, taking a closer look, this fellow seemed familiar...

"I want to suggest a spar."

"Piko!"

"Don't worry, Miss Fubuki. I'm only wondering if the great King himself would be able to help train us in the game." Piko's glasses had a glint in them. "After all, even though this is just a game, King's already at level 54. But it's still not too high that we cannot hold a candle to him. Before he grows too fast, I was hoping he could train us in combat. After all, this may be just a game, but our real-life combat capabilities stay with us."

"If we could learn a thing or two from King, it would be immensely beneficial to us, and in real life, as well." Piko said confidently. "Also, wouldn't this make a proper experience sparring with an S-Class hero? It's a rare opportunity that barely appears. Don't you want us to get stronger, Miss Fubuki?"

Fubuki suddenly had a conflicted expression on her face, as if weighing her options. After a while, she sighed and looked at King with a determined look on her face. "I suppose we could. Learning from an S-Class hero would provide us with exemplary results."

"...If he could make us stronger, even by a little bit, I'll do anything to surpass my sister." King heard Fubuki mumble under her breath.

"But that is, if King himself agrees to the sparring." Fubuki then looked at King with an expectant gaze.

dub.. dub... dub... dub... Dub! Dub! Dub! Dub! DUB!

That was no mistake! The King Engine was rumbling! King was ready for a battle!

"As expected from King. Don't worry, we'll go to a safe spot to spar. All members of the Blizzard Group must participate!" Fubuki waved her hand regally, commanding her group members whom responded with a resounding "Yes, Miss Fubuki!"

"Spar with them?! I didn't agree to this at all! What if I end up hurting one of them?! I mean, it's just a game so they'd respawn, but they'd lose EXP! Not to mention, all of them looked at me with expecting gazes and I got a little nervous! Just because you hear that stupid 'King Engine' doesn't mean I agree to the spar!" King's mind raced. This development was one he didn't expect at all.

After everyone left the room without even telling King where they were going to spar, King heaved a sigh. "Well, it's just a game, I suppose. The only worry I have is to not use excessive force."

"What's done is done, I suppose." King said, following the trail of the Blizzard Group members. He could worry no longer, and just go with the flow. After all, what could possibly go wrong...?

[15 minutes later, a large courtyard in the Imperial Palace...}

...This didn't seem like a very 'fair' fight.

King was surrounded on all side by possibly every single member of the Blizzard Group, and some other members, as well. Some were other heroes that weren't originally from the Blizzard Group, some were possibly civilian players, but they all had one thing in common-

All of them had their weapons pointed directly at King.

He expected a nice one-on-one fight where he would just point out the opponent's flaws while he defeated them or something.

...He did not expect an immediate 50 versus 1 fight.

"It's really King..."

"What's he doing, playing this game?"

"I need to get an autograph from him..."

Those were among some of the chatter King overheard from the members of the Blizzard Group.

"Alright, King. To make this a fair fight, all of us will be attacking you at the same time! Is that okay with you?" Fubuki said, flying in the sky. Wait, how did she do that? According to his knowledge, [Flight] was a spell that wasn't sold in the beginner city. If he wasn't mistaken, only some of the bigger branches of the Mages Guild had access to the [Flight] spell!

"You can fly?" King asked.

"Ah, yes. Our guild managed to procure a large amount of rare spells after we completed a quest for the Mages Guild to destroy a shadowy organization that was terrorizing and monopolizing some rural kingdoms." Fubuki said. "One of them was this [Flight] spell. It's expensive to keep up, but thanks to these [Mana-Battery Rings], I can sustain quite some time of flight without dipping into my actual mana reserves." Fubuki flashed a few rings on her hand. "Of course, I can use them to power my own offensive spells."

"Huh, so there are mana-battery type items in the game. I'd say that doesn't seem very well-balanced, but whatever. Money can buy you anything, I suppose." King thought.

"Anyway, are you ready, King?" Fubuki smiled, holding her hand up.

Sighing, King took out his spear. "Go ahead."

The moment Fubuki gave the signal, every single member rushed towards him. A 50-on-1 fight that seemed almost hopeless.

But the one thing to say; was that King was level 54. The highest-leveled player against him was level 36.

Needless to say, it was a figurative bloodbath. Almost all the members that rushed him were immediately struck down by his spear, and some of the stronger ones that withstood one hit... were immediately downed by a follow-up hit that was ten times stronger than the first hit.

In less than a minute, King had already completely defeated the mob of players that tried to rush him.

Fubuki and that level 48 mage were still hanging back, not attacking.

"A-as expected from King. That attack earlier didn't faze you in the least." Fubuki praised.

"Will you and that other mage be fighting?" King asked.

"Of course, King. I'll go on the offensive, now." Fubuki then prepared a spell, while flying.

In the dungeon, this wouldn't be a problem, as the height of the ceiling limited the effectiveness of the [Flight] spell. But in an open courtyard like this, Fubuki was more than out of King's range. Not only that, but Fubuki could go higher and higher if she wanted to, it would just cost her more mana.

Still, King had a plan for encounters like this.

Taking out a level 30 spear from the pile of loot he withheld from selling, King used [Weapon Throw] on the spear, hurtling it towards Fubuki at a speed she couldn't respond. But as it reached within centimetres of her body, it was suddenly repelled by a blue glow.

"W-what was that-" Fubuki barely managed to register the fact that King threw another spear at her... before a rain of weapons came flying towards her.

The first few weapons bounced off her the same way the spear did the first time, but she flew away from the rest of the weapons, dodging a few but was eventually hit by some other weapons.

Collecting the weapons that fell onto the ground, King looked up at Fubuki whom seemed completely fine, despite being pelted by weapons earlier.

"Huh, I guess that didn't work." King said aloud. "Hmm, I wonder..."

Fubuki was interrupted by the volley of weapons earlier, so the spell she was casting was cancelled. Regaining her composure, Fubuki prepared another spell, but then-

"Ah, it worked." Suddenly appearing before Fubuki, King slammed the pole of the level 50 spear like a quarterstaff into Fubuki's gut, breaking through the blue glow and sending her downward.

Free-falling to the ground, King saw the level 48 mage pick Fubuki up and started healing her. Despite being a game, all sensations of pain were realistic to a degree, and though one could dull the pain sensitivity in the settings, Fubuki obviously didn't. Her face was pale and she seemed like she was about to throw up.

"W-what was that, King?" Fubuki asked through gasps. Though the blow was mostly softened by the spell that repelled the weapons thrown at her earlier, she felt as if she was run through with a spear... despite King not having used the sharp end once throughout the entire battle.

"I threw my spear at you with my [Weapon Throw] skill, and grabbed the end of it before it left my hand, which allowed me to fly with the spear." King explained. Though it sounded ridiculous, this was a game, so he could forgive the developers for putting in a ridiculous mechanic like that.

Was something like that even physically possible? He didn't know. Did he want to know? Not really, no. Would he care enough?

...As a game developer on the side, a small bit, yes. But he'd rather use it to his benefit before the developers eventually patch it.

"Impressive, King. Most impressive." The level 48 mage stepped forth, a healing spell embracing Fubuki and the other Blizzard Group members on the ground.

"Ah, you know healing spells?" King asked.

"Of course, every mage knows at least a few rudimentary healing spells. I also have this chain-mail under me that increases my healing spells two-fold, so I'm also the main healer." The level 48 mage parted his robes in the middle, revealing a silver-colored chain-mail underneath his robes, with the emblem of a gold shield patterned in the middle.

"Hmm. So do you want to fight, too?" King asked, his spear slung over his shoulder.

"Oh, of course. This activity includes all of the Blizzard Group. Just let me finish healing everyone else, first." The level 48 mage smiled, continuing to heal everyone. After a few minutes, everyone seemed to have healed enough to move around a little, with the exception of Fubuki. Then again, King hit Fubuki the hardest, as she was protected by some magic shield spell, but as she was a mage-type character, she probably wasn't very well-equipped to deal with physical attacks.

Actually, just thinking about it... was there a supposed difference to a player's stats? Or did they come from armor and weapons most of the time? His level 90 character seemed to have perfectly balanced stats throughout every level up despite his play-style of a literal glass cannon. He didn't use spells until he was level 80, and even then his STR, VIT, INT, DEX, and LCK were all equally distributed. Maybe there was a mechanic he was forgetting?

Perks one could choose during level-ups, special skills, secret quests to obtain special artifacts, job classes, skill trees...

The job classes. He completely forgot about JOB CLASSES.

"Fuck..." King swore inwardly, as he realized that much like the existence of an adventurer's guild that increased EXP gain and a dungeon that spawned in enemies so conveniently... he discovered about them way too late.

His first character was already level 90 and slaughtering hordes of daemons at the moment with his bare hands, and his second character was already level 50... yet he didn't even discover what the job classes did.

The charm of a job class was that one could spec into specific play-styles and weapons one would prefer to use throughout the game, boosting the effectiveness of said weapons and skills used, yet he, like when he foolishly power-leveled to level 42 with guns and nukes in an empty plain beside the STARTER CITY, before discovering the Adventurer's Guild's passive EXP gain boost and dungeon with practically infinite monsters ... he never even thought about looking into the job classes until his first character was level 90 and his second character was level 50.

A part of him died a little when he realized that a good bit of the special skills and bonuses that came with a job class was never discovered through the entire time he was farming like crazy in his first character.

His first character was only where it was now due to overly power-leveling for literal hours on end and using skills that would probably need to be patched sooner or later.

Inexhaustible stamina, triple damage after fifteen minutes of straight fighting, less ST expended for every move, a 100% speed boost after ten minutes of straight fighting, an additional 90% speed boost stacked on top of it... King would think of lodging a complaint about how completely imbalanced the skills were if he wasn't the one with the overpowered skills.

"Sigh..." He had no clue how long those skills would remain overpowered, but after he logged out of this character, he was definitely going to abuse the broken skills for as long as possible before the developers patched it. The best time to play an MMORPG was the first few months, since when the game is fairly new and fresh, broken skills and/or exploits were rife and everywhere before the first patch.

His original aim was reaching level 100 since those in-game capabilities were somehow brought into the real world, but now his new aim was to level as far as possible before they patched the overpowered skills.

"King, I've finished with healing everyone, now." Looking up, King saw that the level 48 mage had already finished healing everyone up to normal, including Fubuki.

"Right. Shall we start?" King asked.

"Of course." Walking to the other side of the platform, the level 48 mage turned to face King.

"Whenever you're ready." King said to Piko, the spear still resting on his shoulders.

"Wait, Piko's gonna face King alone?"

"That's impossible! Even for him, going against King, even now would be futile!"

"But it's Piko... Piko's been creating miracles every time he did something, right? Can he find a way to match King in combat?"

"This is a game, it's basically Piko's territory! He should be fine!"

"But the last time Piko played against King with a controller, he was defeated! Just like all of us!"

Listening to the chatter of the other Blizzard Group members, King found out that this person was the gamer that he faced during that one time Saitama was tricked into facing off against them in a video game showdown. If he wasn't there, chances were Saitama and his group would have been under the Blizzard Group's command.

"Oh, don't worry about them. Let's fight, shall we?" Piko said, pulling out a staff. Actually, hold on, how did he get a level 60 staff-

"[Firestorm]!" Vocally casting the spell, King pulled out a shield in the nick of time to block the majority of the fire from Piko's spell. After the major gout of fire, the temperature of the surroundings was still pretty high. Hold on, was the shield... melting?

He pulled out a random level 30 shield, sure, but still, that was one strong spell.

"Damn, what a waste." King said, looking at the melted level 30 shield. Pulling out his level 50 shield, King faced Piko with shield and spear in hand.

Piko then cast another fire spell, which seemed to have no effect on the shield whatsoever.

"That seems about right. If this shield started melting over a level 40-50 spell, it would be a shitty level 50 shield." King noted that his shield was perfectly fine, unlike the melted slag on the ground that was the random level 30 shield he pulled out earlier.

"Well, I wanted to test out some spells on you, to see how well you could take damage, King. But you immediately pulled out a shield to block my fire spells..." Piko said aloud. "That must mean you don't have a lot of magical resistance, right..."

"...King?!"

Suddenly, Piko cast another spell, this time a billow of cold air freezing the ground and shield that he was holding.

"I don't really have resistances in general, though..." King thought. He didn't even spec into a job class yet, so he didn't know about resistances or whatnot. If anything, his [Apathetic Sentinel] skill just increased his DEF stat. That was probably just a general damage resistance value.

Hold on, his shield was trembling now. This was a level 50 shield, why was it trembling from the attacks of a level 48 mage? Maybe the level 60 staff he was using boosted the damage of the spell, but tower shields weren't that brittle, were they?

"Wait a minute..." King quickly kept his shield in his inventory.

"That's a smart move, King. If you kept it up any longer, your shield might've shattered." Piko said. "A blast of fire followed by an immediate freezing spell works wonders at shattering shields and armor!"

"That... doesn't make sense. The rapid heating and cooling of substances shatter brittle substances like glass, but my shield was made of metal... how would that shatter the damn thing?!" King questioned inwardly. Maybe it was the material the shield was made of? Who knew. He didn't have time to check and see what were the base materials of his shield and what were their physical properties. Even he wasn't THAT hardworking.

"But with your shield gone... how will you endure this, King?!" Piko then fired a rapid stream of spells. Fire, Ice, Earth, Wind, etc... King was dodging them all with ease.

"Tsk, my DEF bonus is gone..." Due to moving around a lot and dodging attacks, his DEF bonus from his [Apathetic Sentinel] skill disappeared. Still, dodging experience from his first character came in handy towards dodging all those spells.

"Heh, I can keep this volley of spells up, King. My twelve [Mana Battery Rings] can allow me to casts plenty of spells before I even dip into my character's actual MP reserves. From your extreme movements earlier, your ST should be suffering, right?" Piko deduced.

"Come to think of it, this character doesn't have the skills necessary to dodge for long periods of time, I wonder how this is affecting my- oh, a fifth of my ST bar is gone." King noticed his ST expenditure wasn't all that much, to be honest. He spent basically none on the fight before this with the 50 members of the Blizzard Group, and he spent around a third of his ST to defeat Fubuki, though the ST regenerated while waiting for Piko to heal up the other Blizzard Group members.

"And your MP shouldn't be full after healing those Blizzard Group members." King remarked. "You probably should've used some time to regenerate MP. You weren't in your peak state yourself."

"A keen observation indeed, King. But this is clearly an unfair fight." Piko said. "You're obviously playing a physical-based character with little or no magical resistance, and I had ample time to prepare my spell chains, and I have six [Mana Battery Rings]. An ordinary mage should have run out of MP by now."

"I suppose you're right. But you don't need to worry about the fairness of the fight..." King said, before suddenly appearing before Piko again.

Jumping back in the nick of time, Piko dulled the impact of the blow by riding the flow of energy, and despite that, it managed to break through that magic shielding spell that was on Fubuki earlier, and Piko spat out some blood from the impact.

"I'm still 6 levels ahead of you." King used the earlier technique of 'riding' along with his spear when he used his [Weapon Throw] skill on it, which allowed him to appear before Piko without him noticing.

"Cough, I-Impressive, King. You truly deserve your title as 'The World's Strongest Man'." Piko said, still reeling from the blow. "But I..."

A green glow suddenly flashed on Piko's character, and then he suddenly took to the skies. "Still have plenty more to show you!"

"A pre-cast spell?" King said to himself, seeing how Piko managed to recover from the blow that he thought would have been enough to end the fight.

"Close, but not quite. I didn't mention this, but the chain-mail I was wearing, [Pale Respite] has an ability to heal the wearer's HP to 75% if the wearer is at half health or lower. But the effect has a 30 minute cool-down time, unless refilled with MP." Piko explained.

"I see. Hiding one's trump cards is a proper strategy, after all. Well then... go ahead and show me everything you have."

"Gladly!" Piko raised his staff above his head with both arms, then a large amount of magic circles appeared behind him, glowing white spears protruding from the openings in the magic circles.

"Wha- Piko! Stop! You'll destroy the courtyard, if not worse!" Fubuki commanded her subordinate to stop.

"Don't worry, Miss Fubuki. [Judgement]'s power can be controlled. If I let it loose, it'll destroy the entire Imperial Palace and some more. But if I aim it all at King..." The magic circles then turned to face King, the glowing white spears were all pointed towards his character. "It'll harm King and only King! Only if he dies will the excess power destroy the surroundings. But I'm confident that King can take the brunt of the damage before it destroys the surroundings!"

"Piko! Stop this at once-"

"It's too late, Miss Fubuki. [Judgement] can't be taken back once it's cast. I can only fire it now!" Piko said, the staff aimed at King. "Are you ready for this, King?!"

dub.. dub... dub... dub... Dub! Dub! Dub! Dub! DUB! DUB! DUB! DUB! DUB! DUB!

The King Engine was roaring! King was getting serious!

"...I'm honored that I can get you to be serious, King. This might just be the biggest achievement I've ever accomplished throughout my history as both a gamer and a hero." Piko smiled. "Now then! I'll fire the spell!"

"Hey, wait! What do you mean 'the brunt of the damage'?! My DEF bonus already went down after dodging all those stupid spells! No, don't fire it!" King mentally screamed, though he obviously couldn't say that aloud. "And stop taking my 'King Engine' rumbling as a sign of agreement! If I die, I'll lose all this EXP!" Coincidentally, he was four-fifths the way to leveling up. He could farm that back up, sure. But first and foremost, he's never actually died in-game before! In both his main character and this character, he has not died, even once! Though he'd usually won't mind, but it's a point of pride, now. He did not want to die, dammit!

The spears grew larger and larger before they launched out of the magic circles, all of them flying towards King at a speed that even he, at level 54 would find hard to dodge. So King did the only sensible thing:

Keeping his spear in his inventory, King immediately ran in the opposite direction of the flying light spears.

"As expected of King, you noticed that these spells can seek you out, but gradually lose power over time if they don't hit! But can you really avoid all of them long enough for you to survive them, King?!" Piko said, floating down to the ground, all his MP spent.

"What do you mean, notice that?! I'm just running from your damn spell! And it loses power the longer I run, good! I just need to keep this up!" King thought. Though he was level 54, he wasn't sure if he could survive this spell! Actually, wait! He couldn't use his shield last time because of Piko's strategy of using consecutively a fire spell and then an ice spell would slowly damage his shield, but now that it was some light spear thing, maybe he could use his shield now!

After running away from the light spears and having incredibly close dodges for 20 more seconds, King jumped to gain that extra bit of speed, turned around and took out his level 50 shield.

It was barely a second since King used his [Shield Wall] skill, and not a moment too soon, either. The literal moment he used the skill, King could feel a dozen explosions ring from the other side of his shield.

"What the- King just took out his shield to meet the [Judgement] head on after running for a short while! Did he think that's all he needed to lower the power enough?!" A Blizzard Group member said.

"I-I guess not even King can outrun [Judgement] for so long! He had to stop and take out his shield, or else he would've been hit by it without his shield out! King deduced that and immediately prepared his shield when the time was right!"

"W-what the hell are they doing, commentating?!" King was about to cry. He was spamming his [Shield Wall] for as long as possible to absorb as much damage from the attack as possible, but his ST bar was about to break, and so was his shield. What kind of broken spell was that?! Was that some kind of special once-per-day abilities that one would save for bosses?! This kind of firepower for a spell wasn't reasonable at level 50! It was like level 60 or higher!

Actually, the staff Piko was using was level 60, and he did say he had multiple [Mana Battery Rings], so maybe the spell was also level 60? One thing was for sure- it sure as hell felt like a level 60 spell! It's cast time also wasn't all that long, so it could either be a nuke-type spell that took up a lot of MP to cast... or it was a one-use-a-day trump card.

King's ST bar was close to gone, and he only had about 6 more seconds of [Shield Wall] active. Taking out a [Greater Vigor Potion] he saved for emergencies like this, King drank the entire contents of the potion, and as it nearly filled King's ST bar, King continued activating [Shield Wall] to absorb the damage from the [Judgement] spell.

"Alright, I can keep this up for about 30 more seconds. That should be long enough, right?" King thought to himself.

[30 seconds later...]

He was wrong. That stupid spell was still hammering away at his shield! Even the Blizzard Group members were getting slightly bored! He also didn't have a second one on hand, as [Greater Vigor Potions] were almost ten times more expensive than normal mana potions and twice as expensive as health potions! He also assumed that with that one potion, he would have enough ST to escape! He didn't think he'd be using it to chip away at the [Judgement] spell!

...3 more seconds. King's ST bar was as empty as Saitama's wallet after a sale. He only had 2 more seconds of [Shield Wall] to count on.

A single silver lining was that going against all that damage, King's [Shield Wall] ability increased from [Shield Wall V] to [Shield Wall VI]. Aside from that, since he didn't move for a full 30 seconds, at least his DEF bonus from [Apathetic Sentinel] came back, and it even upgraded from [Apathetic Sentinel III] to [Apathetic Sentinel IV]. Even so, he couldn't support [Shield Wall] any longer, and he doubted that the extra DEF from [Apathetic Sentinel IV] would make that big a difference.

Now? Now it fully depended on King's shield. If it broke, well... King really hoped his HP bar was big enough to deal with the remaining damage.

The second [Shield Wall] was deactivated, King could feel the shield crying, it's metal screeching against the sheer force it was going against. HOW STRONG WAS THIS STUPID [Judgement] SPELL?! His shield sounded like it would break after another 10 seconds!

"Ah, it looks like King's shield can't take any more!" A Blizzard Group member noticed that King's shield was starting to break against Piko's [Judgement] spell when it didn't budge for the past 30 seconds.

"Is King finally unable to take the [Judgement] spell? It's supposed to be able to kill even level 50 bosses in one go!"

"Stop commentating and help me, dammit! And did I hear right? 'Kill level 50 bosses in one go'?! Why the hell did he use that spell against me, then?! Do I look like a damn boss mob?!" King was getting slightly pissed at the members of the Blizzard Group watching what was going on like some sort of show. He got that this was a game in the end and it wasn't really all that important, but come on! What part of this looked like a 'spar'?!

They definitely know that this would usually kill level 50 bosses, and if he didn't coincidentally play as a tank/DPS hybrid for this character, he would probably die in the first 10 seconds!

If he had some sort of spell where he could reinforce his own shield, that'd be great!

...Screw it, he was desperate enough to try anyway. Infusing his shield with mana like how he would prepare a potion, King saw a faint glimmer of hope as his shield was suddenly covered by a blue light, his own MP guzzling away at the same rate as his ST was earlier.

And at that moment, King learnt a new spell. [Magic Reinforcement] did exactly what it said. Strengthen the item with MP proportional to the amount of MP spent. Whether it made a sword sharper or a shield tougher, it was the lucky break he needed right now! Still, he didn't know he could learn spells like skills, he thought all spells had to be learnt from spell books from the Mages Guild!

...Come to think of it, if he could learn spells like skills just by using said spell, was there a place where he could learn skills like he did spells?

"...King's shield is glowing blue. Does King know how to use magic?" A Blizzard Group member said.

"King really does have a backup plan for everything, huh. It's amazing that King's lasted this long against Piko's [Judgement], but still, this is getting a little boring..."

Despite using his all to block the damage from that [Judgement] spell, King felt a vein emerge from his forehead. If these people could waste time commentating everything he was doing, do something else, dammit!

"If you have time to talk about what King's doing, then you have time to do something useful!" Fubuki popped up from behind. "Mages, quickly cast a barrier around King! If he dies, we need to mitigate the excess damage from the remainder of the [Judgement] spell! That goes for you too, Piko! You cast it, you help minimize the damage!"

"My [Mana Battery Rings] are completely empty after casting [Judgement], and so is my MP bar, Miss Fubuki. I can't cast a barrier at my state." Piko smiled wryly. "Though for King to have survived this long, it's impressive..."

"That's true..."

"As expected from King..."

"I need to get an autograph..."

"Quit wasting time talking and everyone prepare a barrier around King! We can't have the Imperial Palace destroyed after we just got it!" Fubuki commanded her underlings.

The mages started casting barrier spells, lead by Piko whom had his [Mana Battery Rings] replaced with Fubuki's. Every other Blizzard Group member was supporting the mages somehow, a stream of mana emerging form their bodies and into the mages.

Soon, a large barrier was formed around King and the [Judgement] spell, supported by tens of mages on the side.

"At least they're doing something, but still... support me, instead! I'm gonna die!" King yelled inwardly. Instead of expending MP to build a barrier around him, just provide him MP to keep up the [Magic Reinforcement] spell!

...It wasn't long before his MP bar too met the fate of his ST bar, and his [Magic Reinforcement] was fading. His shield started to ring once more, as he could feel the sheer vibrations shake his shield apart.

HOW LONG WAS THE STUPID [Judgement] SPELL GOING TO LAST, DAMMIT?!

After a while, King's shield started to show indentations on his side, and it was probably going to get destroyed if he didn't keep it soon.

"Screw it, I'll block as much damage as possible!" Close to no options left, King had one more idea born from desperation.

King slammed his first shield into the ground to prevent it form moving, took out a second shield and placed it behind the first shield, and then another behind the second shield, and another, and another, until all of the shields in his inventory were stacked in one comical stack behind the first, already devastated shield.

"What's King doing?"

"It looks like a desperate struggle. It seems like not even King can survive the [Judgement] spell below level 60!"

"Of course! [Judgement]'s a rare level 75 spell, after all! No one, not even King should be able to survive it if he isn't yet level 60!"

"Hmph! Obviously King realized that [Judgement] was a spell that lasts very long but the firepower is low for its level. So King's trying to buy time for the [Judgement] spell to finally wear off. It's just a pity King noticed it too late." Piko said. "[Judgement] should last for 2 minutes in total, so there's only 20 seconds left."

"Focus on casting the barrier, Piko! If the spell ends up destroying more than just this courtyard, I'm cutting your contributions in half!" Fubuki scolded.

"That's harsh, Miss Fubuki..." Piko complained, but kept the barrier up nonetheless.

"20 more seconds... I can do this!" King overheard the peanut gallery talking about [Judgement], and if [Judgement] was actually a level 75 spell, then he wasn't surprised about the firepower. Now? Now he was just surprised at one thing... why the hell did he decide to launch it at him again?

Still, there was at least some good news for now. There was only 20 seconds left to this stupid spell. He could probably survive for 20 seconds. His layers upon layers of shields were getting pierced as some of them were only level 30, but there were some that were level 40 which lasted for a few seconds.

15 seconds, the first layers of shitty level 30 shields were destroyed beyond recognition.

10 seconds, the level 40 shields were getting battered and destroyed.

5 seconds... there was only one shield left, the level 50 one he was holding right now.

With every last bit of the ST that regenerated naturally, King prepared one last [Shield Wall] to block the last vestiges of [Judgement], and put up [Magic Reinforcement] with the last bits of MP he had as well.

Soon, the [Judgement] spell wore off, the explosions were getting lesser and lesser, and soon... nothing. King peeked his head out from one side of his last shield to see a line of thrashed shields beyond repair, destroyed ground... and nothing more. That stupid [Judgement] spell was finally gone.

"Phew..." King audibly heaved a sigh of relief as he kept his final shield in his inventory. If he didn't create that shield line, who knew how he would've ended up.

"T-to think King could survive even [Judgement]. It's a level 75 spell! King's just level 54, and though it's 6 levels higher than Piko's level, Piko had tens of [Mana Battery Rings] on him! He could scarcely afford using the spell every six hours, but even then, King survived it!"

"It's King, after all. Even in a game, he's invincible..."

Ignoring the peanut gallery's chatter about how he managed to survive the spell, King simply walked up to Fubuki. "I can go now, right?"

"O-of course, King. You sure showed us how superior you were to us, and your battle tactics were amazing." Fubuki stammered, still reeling from how King survived a sure-kill move that was supposed to one-shot most level 50 bosses.

"I didn't really use any tactics, though. The only thing I did was smack everyone with the pole of my spear, and abuse the [Shield Wall] ability for as long as possible." King said in his mind.

"If you could help train us next time-"

"If I am to train you, I expect compensation for that." King said, raising a hand. "I'd rather level up and do some other quests, so screw that. This should get rid of any intentions of training with me-"

"Of course we won't take your precious time without compensating you, King. How's 50 Imperial Coins for every session you train us? If that's not enough, we'll welcome you with a feast and performance after the training like we did earlier!"

...Well, how long would every session possibly be, anyway? And in the future, he would probably have a plan for that [Judgement] spell. When he gets to level 60, he was definitely going to be able to tank the [Judgement] spell on his own. King wasn't one to deny free money. Also, those funds could more than make up for the destroyed shields he expended to survive the attack of the [Judgement] spell he faced earlier.

"We can talk about that next time. I have to go, now." King simply walked away. He already knew the directions to leave the palace, as he didn't really go to a lot of places while he was here. Just retracing his steps would be enough to get him to the exit.

That, and he was running pretty late with meeting Saitama and Garou.

[15 minutes later, an inconspicuous tavern...}

Entering the busy tavern, King looked around for any signs of them both-

*clamor*

King regretted turning to look at the source of the loud sounds. Garou was wolfing down a steak, Saitama was drinking soup out of a pot...

They were just attracting a whole lot of attention in general. Well, at least as luck would have it, there were actually no players in the tavern aside from himself, Saitama and Garou. Everyone else were just NPCs, as far as he could tell.

"Hey, King!" Saitama noticed King out of the corner of his eye, waving towards King.

"King! Took you long enough. We got tired of waiting so we got some food ourselves." Garou said, swallowing the steak in his mouth in one go.

"...Did you guys really need to attract all this attention?" King facepalmed, pulling out a chair to take a seat. The table was filled to the brim with all kinds of food, and there was even a serving cart that was piled with empty dishes. Only they knew just how much they ate.

"What, the food's good! Not to mention, there's food bonuses that come with the dishes!" Saitama said, putting aside the large pot, now devoid of anything inside it and started eating a large comical-looking meat on a bone. (Just google Manga Meat)

"I know about that. I just had some food earlier. The Blizzard Group's treat." King said. "I'll just have a drink." Calling a waiter, King ordered a drink. Moments later, the waiter returned with King's drink.

"Those guys? Why'd they treat you? Is it due to the Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby you sold them?" Garou asked.

"No, it's because our guild is allied with theirs." King said, sipping the drink he just received.

"Oh- wait, what?" Garou asked, gulping down some water.

"We're allied to their guild. After they bought the Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby with 250 Imperial Coins, they extended an alliance invitation to us." King said. "I thought it was the least I could do, after they treated me to such high-quality food."

"High quality food? No fair, King! We even spent 15 minutes waiting for you before we decided to eat!" Saitama complained, gulping down a mugful of beer.

"Hey, they were the ones that offered it to me. I just accepted it. Also, don't talk with your mouth full." King reprimanded.

"I see, so we're allied to the Blizzard Group now..." Garou said, a hand resting on his chin in thought. "Tornado Of Terror's little sister. Though they're just B-Class riff-raff, her sister, Blizzard Of Hell is A-Class material, if not for her staying as B-Class Rank 1 to gain followers and rookie-crush anyone else that doesn't agree."

"Though I don't plan on hunting her, it won't hurt to gather some information. Who knows, I might even be able to learn some of Tornado Of Terror's weaknesses through her little sister."

"That's nice- wait, 250 Imperial Coins?!" Saitama said, almost choking on the meat he was eating due to the increased price.

"Yep. They put up a bounty for it, and because the Crimsonvein Dragon Ruby I brought was a large, high-quality one, they decided to pay a higher price for it, as it was exactly the amount they needed for their purposes." King explained.

"Ah, speaking of which, while I was there, what was that [Lordsbane Infusion] that Latimer fellow was talking about?" Garou asked.

"Well..." King took out a book he bought from Latimer while he was there. "It explains everything here. Read through it if you'd like."

"Nah, maybe later." Garou declined, continuing to eat his meal.

"Sigh... what's the bill you two wracked up?" King sighed, asking for the bill. If doing this would get them to stop gorging themselves on virtual food, he may as well.

"Talk to them. *burp* We'll be done after we finish these dishes." Saitama said, nonchalantly continuing to eat his manga-meat.

Walking to the barkeep, King immediately paid for Saitama and Garou's absurd tab before walking out of the tavern.

"That was embarrassing... though there were only NPCs in the tavern at the moment, sitting next to two people gorging themselves out is..."

King stretched his body. "Well, whatever. It's only a game, after all."

Preview Of Next Chapter:

Logging out, King decided to take a look at how his level 90 character was faring. Through the screen showing his character's every move, King could tell that he was in the middle of slaughtering some High Daemons.

"Huh, I wonder how far I've gotten with dealing with those daemon armies?" King wondered aloud, as he entered his level 90 character.

Regaining control of his character, King dealt the final blows to the remaining High Daemons himself.

"Man, I've been playing with my alternate character for some time, but coming back to this character and I'm already familiar with all this strength." King thought. To think that he was struggling with a level 75 spell earlier... and now he had killed a few High Daemons in one strike, mobs that were level 80 and above.

Looking around, those were probably just some stragglers from an army he decimated earlier while in his [Unconscious Combat Mode]. Looking around, King saw that it was indeed as he suspected.

Dead bodies everywhere, forming rivers of blood and mountains of corpses. He would be sick to his stomach... if he didn't know that he did all that. Not to mention, this was a game so mass slaughter didn't seem like that big a deal when he thought about it. It was all artificial anyway, according to his employer. Daemons were made of pure magic or something so they were essentially the same as robots. He'd have some distaste for killing anything that had sentience- whether it was a game or not. But it was a very small distaste that would immediately disappear if there were enough benefits attached to them.

Hearing a rumbling noise in the distance, King saw a massive flying army approaching his current location. Casting a normal [Flight] spell, King nonchalantly flew towards their location. Looking at the massive army of High Daemons lead by over a dozen Arch Daemons, even King was impressed.

"I've been busy, huh." King thought as he stared down the army facing him. Honestly, he didn't feel all that pressured by them. Looking at them, all of them were still level 90 and such. None of them were even level 91, which disappointed him. Still, from when he spent hours on end farming the waves upon waves of daemons from the armies of the other demons besides his employer, 'Saphy', to need to amass an army this big to deal with him, he was probably a great threat to the other demons, to force them to ally with each other in a contest where everyone else was their enemies.

But seeing as he managed to one-punch a base Arch Daemon from one of the armies of the demons, no matter how many of them there were, King wasn't threatened by them one bit. It was like going against a hundred starving kittens. None of them would be able to threaten you, no matter how much they struggled.

-Okay, maybe that wasn't a great comparison.

"Cease your progression this instant! We, the alliance of the armies of the Third Prince, Second Prince, and Eldest Prince of the demons, the Legion Of Devastation will stop you now! If you surrender, we may spare your life on account of you being connected with Lady Sapphire of the Slaughter!"

"...Who?"

End Of Preview.