* * *

“『Special Building Act, Enacted』.”

The moment Limon and Eugene began clashing sword against hammer, Bellows acted. While everyone’s attention was on their fight, he opened his statute book and quietly activated a skill.

Then the building began to change.

RUMBLE!

“Oh, no...!”

“He’s getting away!”

The floor split open and staircases suddenly appeared. Pillars shot up, walls sprang out, and the building warped into a jumble around Bellows. Hampered by 『High-Speed Movement Prohibited』 and 『Bipedal Walking Prohibited』, the Ink Dragon Unit lost sight of him as he rose atop a pillar and hurried to pursue him.

“No need to chase him. Hold your positions.”

Yo U-in stopped them, then looked up at Bellows, who had risen nearly to the lobby ceiling. “Someone else will deal with that guest.”

Unaware that the Ink Dragon Unit had stopped pursuing him, Bellows kept altering the building’s structure to carry himself swiftly toward the windows. He intended to punch a hole through one and escape.

“『Great Wall』. 『Spatial Severance』.”

But his plan failed. Before he could reach a window, a massive wall rose in his path. An instant later, a blade flew through the air and severed the pillar beneath him. Bellows caught a nearby railing to avoid falling, climbed onto it, and glared coldly at the man who had interfered.

“Stop interfering where you aren’t needed.”

“Unfortunately, I’m serving as a temporary guard here today. My contract obliges me to interfere, needed or not.”

At the calm reply from the monocled man, Lee Cheon-gi, Bellows looked dumbfounded.

“Ha! A fucking Monarch, playing lapdog for the Seven Dragons Society for a few coins? Have you lost your mind?”

Anyone else would have understood Bellows’s reaction. In this Iron Age, Monarchs were absolute beings. They stood at the pinnacle of all players, wielding enough power and influence to shake a nation with a single word.

For a Monarch to work as a guard was so absurd that no one would even take it as a joke. It was like using an aircraft carrier as a fishing boat.

“It isn’t a job I wanted, either. But I received an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“What, did they promise you all of Leviathan?”

“No. The offer was far more frightening than that.”

Rather than show any shame at Bellows’s taunt, Lee Cheon-gi answered with perfect composure, as though there was nothing shameful about accepting an offer he had no choice but to accept.

‘What could they have offered him?’

Bellows was puzzled. He had spoken sarcastically, but he didn’t truly believe Lee Cheon-gi had done it for money. The Golden Monarch might have, but other Monarchs could earn as much as they liked by clearing dungeons. They spent money like water.

‘A rare item? Or a peerless beauty?’

What offer could have been irresistible enough to make Lee Cheon-gi step in personally? Bellows studied him intently, the question welling up inside him. Then he snorted.

‘No. It doesn’t matter.’

Whatever Lee Cheon-gi wanted, only one thing mattered to Bellows: the man was now his enemy, and Bellows was carrying out a mission that took priority over everything else.

“On my superiors’ orders, I would have preferred not to fight you if possible... But if you insist, I’ll teach you your place.”

“You shouldn’t say things like that so lightly.”

“You think I can’t beat a lapdog of the Seven Dragons Society like you?”

“That’s advice, regardless of who wins.”

Bellows bristled with murderous intent, but Lee Cheon-gi went on calmly. “I recently learned that if you win, it doesn’t matter. But if you lose after saying something like that, the shame is unbearable.”

THROB.

Lee Cheon-gi meant every word. But coming from him, the advice sounded like mockery, and a vein bulged on Bellows’s forehead.

“You’d better take your own advice, you Seven Dragons Society lapdog!”

His shout rang out. Bellows raised his open statute book, and Lee Cheon-gi snapped his fingers.

“『Devoured by Insects, Sentenced』.”

“『Octagonal Barrier』. 『Minor Flame Formation』. 『Torrent of Flame』.”

BOOOOM!

Countless insects burst through the air, only to strike eight layers of barriers and burn in a blast of rising flame. And that was just the beginning.

“『Electric Utility Act, Enacted』. 『Electric Chair, Sentenced』.”

Sparks flew toward Lee Cheon-gi in an interwoven net, while a chair rose from the floor, its leather straps reaching for his arms and legs. It was an attack that turned the space around him into an execution chamber of lightning, with no route of escape.

“『Electrical Resistance』. 『Lightning Rod Field』. 『Capacitor Spear』. 『Projectile Acceleration』.”

The lightning bounced off a faint glow, ran along an invisible barrier, and gathered in a spear that appeared in midair. Once the charge condensed within it reached its limit, the spear flew at Bellows faster than lightning, blazing white with electricity.

“『Electrical Safety Act, Enacted』. 『Gas Chamber, Sentenced』.”

The instant Bellows blocked the lightning spear, he spread poisonous gas to attack Lee Cheon-gi.

If this fight had been broadcast, it would have drawn record-breaking ratings. Each combatant single-handedly used the attack, defense, support, and recovery skills that would normally be divided among at least a full party. They even changed elemental attributes to suit the situation. It was the sort of superhuman battle every player dreamed of—and all the more remarkable because someone who wasn’t a Monarch was fighting the Infinite Monarch on equal terms.

‘What is going on?’

Yet Bellows himself grew more anxious as the fight continued.

‘Why can’t I gain the upper hand?’

When the battle began, he had been certain he could overwhelm Lee Cheon-gi. 『Rule of Law』 was a cheat skill that had let the Court Archduke fight the Summoning Monarch to a draw. And now 『Constellation Descent』 had greatly strengthened all Bellows’s skills and given him stats surpassing even the Monarchs’. On paper, he ought to have been able to overpower a Monarch. The fact that he could only fight the Infinite Monarch on even terms bewildered him.

‘It can’t be a bad matchup between our skills.’

He dismissed the thought as soon as it occurred to him. With thousands of skills at his disposal, Lee Cheon-gi could gain a favorable matchup against anyone. But Bellows’s 『Rule of Law』 was no less versatile.

‘I was injured and drained, but that doesn’t matter now.’

His injuries from fighting Li Qingyu did make close combat difficult, forcing him to keep his distance. But even at full strength, he would have used the same strategy against a man who had overpowered Eugene at close quarters.

‘Why? How?’

He should have been winning. Bellows was shaken not only because the expected result refused to come, but because he couldn’t even understand why. Then Lee Cheon-gi suddenly asked, “Does it seem strange that you can’t beat me?”

“... Using 『Mind Reading』 in the middle of a fight? You must have plenty of attention to spare.”

“I didn’t read your mind. It’s just written all over your face that you can’t make sense of this.”

Stung, Bellows snapped back even as he used a skill to send countless needles shooting upward. Lee Cheon-gi dissolved them against a highly acidic barrier shaped like a bubble and continued in a low voice.

“To be honest, what surprises me is your confidence.”

“You mean I should know I can’t beat you because I’m not a Monarch?”

Bellows’s expression went cold. As one of the Liberation Brigade’s ghosts, blessed with great power, he could not tolerate being looked down upon—not even by a Monarch, one of this age’s absolute beings.

But Lee Cheon-gi had not meant to insult him. He was simply stating what he thought.

“No. I mean it’s remarkable that you can be so sure of victory when you use your skill like that.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m saying the way you use your skill is strange.”

“Don’t talk about my skill as if you understand it.”

“You’re right. I don’t know much about your skill. But I do know a fair amount about using skills stolen from other people.”

Bellows had no answer to that. Lee Cheon-gi was the Infinite Monarch, an unrivaled expert at using other people’s skills. Through the cheat skill 『Skill Duplication』, he had acquired thousands of them. That was why he could see what was strange about Bellows.

“The power and control you show with your skill are excellent. In some respects, you’re better than I am.”

Lee Cheon-gi readily acknowledged it. Bellows’s abilities had reached Monarch level: the power of his skill, the boost from his stats, and the combat instincts he had honed through countless fights against other people. In nearly every respect, he had already surpassed the bounds of an archduke.

“So why are your skill combinations and applications so basic?”

“...!”

That was the problem. Bellows lacked the ability to use his skill in varied ways. Even most mid- to high-level players could apply their skills in all sorts of ways; Bellows’s use of his was far too simple. And the reason was clear.

“『Rule of Law』 originally belonged to the Court Archduke, so I understand that you haven’t had much time to train with it...”

The Court Archduke had vanished only a few years ago. If Bellows had acquired 『Rule of Law』 then, it was natural that he would still be inexperienced with it. Even so, his use of the skill was so monotonous that Lee Cheon-gi voiced the suspicion it raised outright.

“Did you really acquire that skill by normal means?”

“...”

“Or did you obtain 『Rule of Law』 through some abnormal method, then fight only easy battles you could win with the skill and your level?”

Bellows said nothing. He only glared at Lee Cheon-gi, his face rigid. The answer was clearer than words. Lee Cheon-gi nodded slowly.

“I thought something felt off. So that’s what it was.”

“What business is it of yours how I use my skill? Don’t tell me you think every skill belongs to you.”

“Of course it has nothing to do with me.”

Perhaps Bellows was angry because Lee Cheon-gi had struck a nerve. Or perhaps it was the way he seemed to see right through him. Either way, Lee Cheon-gi calmly answered his cold retort.

“Except that looking at you reminds me of how shamefully smug I was when I relied on nothing but skills. It makes me want to smash something.”

“What are you—”

“So, for my own peace of mind, I’ll end this quickly.”

Bellows frowned, then flinched. Lee Cheon-gi had brushed back his hair as though trying to calm that impulse, exposing the hideous, unfocused eye normally hidden behind the hair covering half his face. But the sight of the eye alone was not what made Bellows shudder. The murderous intensity in its vacant gaze sent a chill down his spine.

Lee Cheon-gi fixed that cold eye on him and spoke quietly.

“【Overlord】.”