The day has broken.

“Yaaawn.”

Stretching his arms wide as he came out to the hotel restaurant, Fletcher spotted Sungshik.

“Ah! Hyung. Did you sleep well?”

He ran over to Sungshik and greeted him cheerfully.

“Yeah. I slept soundly. You still look half-asleep though.”

“Ugh, I stayed up late last night so I’m sleepy.”

“What kept you up? You should sleep early if you want to grow tall.”

“Eek, Hyung, you sound just like Jenny noona.”

“I’m telling you, it’s true.”

As Fletcher made a face at Sungshik’s words, a cheerful voice came from behind them.

“Did you sleep well? Are you feeling alright?”

Sungshik turned toward the voice and smiled brightly.

“Yeah, thanks to you I’m feeling much better.”

The one who interjected into their conversation was Jenny. She answered Sungshik’s gentle question with a shy expression.

“Wow! Noona, that expression you just made was so not you.”

“Why you—! Want a flick on the forehead?”

Fletcher teased Jenny upon seeing her slightly bashful expression, and she playfully raised her fist like she was about to scold him.

“Aaaah! Begone, demon hag!”

“You little brat! Come here!”

Watching the two bicker playfully from the morning, Sungshik had a gentle smile on his lips.

‘Looks like she’s doing better.’

—Those who have reached 7-star usually have strong mental fortitude.

What had happened before could’ve become a trauma from a woman’s perspective. But Jenny seemed to have brushed it off without much psychological damage.

—And…

Heaven-Splitter noticed something in the way Jenny was looking at Sungshik.

‘Hm? And what?’

—…Never mind. No need to say it aloud.

Heaven-Splitter almost told Sungshik what he noticed but stopped himself. He figured it would be better for the boy to realize and feel it on his own. For the dull types, it’s better to let them figure it out themselves.

—Go eat now.

“Jeez, so dry.”

Sungshik chuckled at Heaven-Splitter’s remark.

A space filled with darkness. Amidst the thick darkness, a pair of eyes gleamed.

“Is it complete?”

“Yes. Though we rushed, we’ve achieved over 95% of the original intended completion.”

“95%... Good. That’s more than enough.”

Hearing the report, Tidian released a gloomy energy.

‘The Nine Children.’

They were homunculi capable of containing the power of the “Fragments of the Black Moon” that Xiaoguang had been working on. The process was rushed faster than originally planned, but the result was satisfactory.

Despite the significant time reduction, achieving 95% completion showed how much effort Tidian’s subordinates had put in.

Tapping the armrest of his throne with his index finger, Tidian continued.

“Heo Sungshik, we cannot leave that bastard alone any longer.”

It was a premonition borne of experience accumulated over a long time. That had been the case in the Demon Realm. Leaving nuisances like Sungshik alone had often resulted in them becoming fatal daggers later.

“I believe he’s even more dangerous than the Martial Emperor or Sword Emperor.”

Originally, once the Nine Children were complete, they were going to eliminate the Martial Emperor or Sword Emperor first. But after observing Sungshik, the priority shifted.

‘That bastard must be eliminated this time.’

With the Nine Children, it would be possible. Created through Li Xiaoguang’s secret arts, they were vessels capable of housing more than two Fragments of the Black Moon.

‘Come to think of it, the Fragments of the Black Moon themselves were also created through Li Xiaoguang’s secret arts.’

The Fragments of the Black Moon. The Nine Children. These arts were discovered by Xiaoguang through the Lord of the Night during the Nights of Trial era.

‘Though it wasn’t his intention, this could be the key to breaking my shackles.’

When he fled the Demon Realm and crossed over to the current dimension, everything was sealed. He was just waiting to vanish. But now, finally, an opportunity had come.

‘This art… is not something obtainable from this realm. It’s closer to the kind of secret arts found in the Demon Realm.’

Tidian never fully understood how Li Xiaoguang came upon this technique. All he knew was that the man had been preparing for something. He could only guess that it was related.

‘If I had known he would vanish like that, I would’ve extracted the source of his knowledge earlier.’

He had thought of him as a goose that laid golden eggs. That’s why he had let him be. He never expected him to be extinguished by Sungshik’s hand.

Though he was incomplete, Xiaoguang had reached 7-star. If it hadn’t been for Sungshik, he wouldn’t have been eliminated like that.

Crack.

Thinking of Sungshik, rage surged. The number of grand schemes ruined by that bastard wasn’t small.

He lost Li Xiaoguang. Even the powerful Apostle of Heaven was turned to dust by that bastard’s hand.

And that wasn’t all. Even the Bulgasari implanted in the Korean Peninsula had been erased by Sungshik.

‘What’s more important is… he is eliminating the power of the Fragments of the Black Moon.’

This was why, even if it was a stretch, they had to eliminate Sungshik as soon as possible.

Fragments of the Black Moon.

‘With them, I can lay the foundation to break my restraints.’

That’s why he continued to create more Fragments of the Black Moon, even if it was reckless. Using them, he could spawn mutated Gates, and if those mutated Gates went berserk, it would be the best outcome.

It didn’t matter if the Gate was conquered before it went berserk. As long as the ‘Fragment of the Black Moon’ ended up in the hands of Superhumans, and they simply possessed it, the intended goal was essentially achieved.

‘No, if time passes with things in that state, it might actually be better.’

That’s why spreading the ‘Fragment of the Black Moon’ was emphasized so heavily.

But at some point, the power of some of the scattered ‘Fragments of the Black Moon’ disappeared. An impossible occurrence.

It wasn’t a large number. However, it was obvious that the more fragments vanished like this, the greater the blow to his plan would be.

‘It’s definitely related to Heo Sungshik.’

He realized this when the ‘Fragment of the Black Moon’ that Li Xiaoguang had, and the one implanted in the ‘Bulgasari’ on the Korean Peninsula, disappeared. Both incidents were connected to Heo Sungshik.

‘It’s definitely that bastard. Already, seven fragments have lost their power.’

It would be troublesome if the number of fragments losing their power increased further. That was why he had hastily completed the ‘Nine Children’, even if it meant overexerting himself.

The Nine Children each possessed power on the level of a 7-star Superhuman. Among them, their leader, ‘Ilma’, possessed the power of a 7-star+ level. With their coordinated assault, not even the Martial Emperor or the Sword Emperor would be able to withstand them alone.

‘Unless the Sword Emperor and Martial Emperor join forces, even just one of them would be no match.’

Light flashed in Tidian’s eyes.

“This time, we must succeed.”

Tidian’s cold and icy voice was directed at the man kneeling before him.

“I will do my utmost.”

The man bowed his head even lower, prostrating himself.

There were two reasons for dispatching a large number of Superhumans to Anchorage.

First, to conquer the rapidly increasing number of Gates. Second, to prevent the monsters released during Gate Outbursts from invading Anchorage.

Especially because of the second reason, Superhumans continued to be dispatched.

The reason Anchorage had not yet fallen to the monsters was simple. The monsters that were released were often hostile toward each other depending on their species. If that had not been the case and all the monsters had swarmed Anchorage together, it would have fallen long ago.

Fortunately, most monsters established their own territories and only acted within those areas.

“Is it Orcs again this time?”

“Yeah. This time it's the red-skinned tribe of Orcs.”

However, in the case of monster groups with social structures and group behavior, they periodically invaded Anchorage. Orcs, in particular, were notorious for this.

Orcs, who fundamentally formed clan-based societies, had extremely strong bonds with each other. Because of this, even higher-class monsters rarely dared to provoke large groups of Orcs. The saying “strength in numbers” applied perfectly to Orcs.

“These guys look stronger than the Black Tooth Orc tribe, don’t they?”

“Who knows. Last time, the Uruk tribe Orcs looked really strong too, but in reality, they were about the same as the rest.”

The appearance of Orcs varied greatly depending on their tribe. However, the basic strength of individual Orcs was more or less the same.

Orcs were Orcs. So in truth, as long as there were enough high-level Superhumans, no one was particularly afraid of an Orc army. Especially not this time.

“Honestly, since we have Lord Heavenly Sovereign and Elma with us this time, I’m not too worried even if an Orc army comes.”

“You too? Honestly, same here.”

In truth, with the power of Heavenly Sovereign and Jenny, they might even be able to handle the Orc army by themselves. This time, although the red-skinned Orc tribe was charging in for an invasion, their numbers only reached into the thousands.

Just in the last battle on the Chinese Peshang plains, Heavenly Sovereign and Elma each took down far more than a few thousand monsters. And those monsters had been stronger than Orcs.

“I really don’t feel nervous this time.”

“I didn’t expect having world-ranked individuals with us would be this reassuring.”

Because of the presence of those two, the level of tension among those preparing for the monster invasion dropped dramatically. Even with the lack of Red Cross forces, no one felt worried at all.

And just as they had expected, the battle unfolded in that direction. It was when the massive horde of red-skinned Orcs approached the walls of Anchorage.

Sungshik summoned the power of lightning atop the wall.

Bzzzzzt.

Sungshik’s entire body sparked with electricity.

Those who could sense mana swallowed nervously as they looked at Sungshik. The amount of mana gathering was enough to leave them speechless with shock.

Soon, that power was concentrated in both of Sungshik's hands. Sungshik extended his hands, wrapped in intense lightning, straight up toward the sky.

Crackle!

It was a sight similar to when Sungshik had previously created Mjölnir.

"Wow!"

"Is that Mjölnir?"

The Superhumans watching nearby stared at the scene with eyes full of awe and anticipation. The lightning that erupted from Sungshik's hands and surged toward the sky looked like a scene out of a movie.

The sky, which had been slightly overcast, was now joined by Sungshik's lightning.

Crackle.

The lightning seemed to dance through the clouds, gathering power. And then, with a deafening roar, countless bolts of lightning rained down from the sky to the ground.

Cra-rack! Flash!

A blinding flash filled the battlefield.

"Gweeeek—!"

Countless lightning bolts pouring from the sky struck down upon the thousands of orcs. The scene was worthy of being called a spectacle. The vast majority of the thousands of orcs were rendered combat-ineffective. It was overwhelming power.

No matter that each orc’s basic strength was about 3 to 4-star, and even the Orc Grand Warriors or Orc Fighters only reached 5-star. To sweep away thousands in a single strike was so extraordinary it felt surreal.

"Waa…."

"Crazy!"

Cheers erupted from the Superhumans on the ramparts. It wasn't Mjölnir, but just as they had hoped, the orcs were swept away in one fell swoop, prompting spontaneous cheers. In terms of spectacle, scattering hundreds, even thousands, of lightning bolts seemed even more impactful.

"Szz, sss…."

A few orcs who were lucky enough to avoid the lightning staggered with completely broken spirits and hurriedly turned around to flee the battlefield.

"Uwaaaah!"

"Heavenly Sovereign! Heavenly Sovereign!"

Everyone on the ramparts chanted Heavenly Sovereign’s name.

"Kuh! Hyung, that was seriously amazing! Uuugh! How the heck did you do that?"

Fletcher rushed over to Sungshik with sparkling eyes. As someone who also wielded the power of lightning, Fletcher knew better than anyone just how incredible the technique Sungshik had just demonstrated was.

"How can you control lightning so well like that, huh?!"

Fletcher clung to Sungshik's arm, shaking it as he pestered him.

Lightning had greater destructive power and speed than other elemental forces, but that also made it far more difficult to control. Knowing that better than anyone, Fletcher couldn’t help but be awestruck by Sungshik.

—You're getting quite good at handling Materialization Power now.

Materialization Power. The reason Sungshik could use lightning in such a versatile way was all thanks to the power of Materialization.

Fletcher also had latent Materialization Power, but he wasn’t specialized enough to wield it as efficiently as Sungshik. Since his understanding of Materialization Power was only instinctive, he was desperate to hear Sungshik’s secret to mastering the power of lightning so well.

"Wow, Sungshik! That was seriously awesome!!"

It wasn’t just Fletcher. Jenny approached with sparkling eyes.

As a 7-star Superhuman and a wielder of elemental power herself, Jenny could also grasp just how incredible Sungshik’s display was. Although she possessed a higher degree of innate Materialization Power than Fletcher, she still couldn’t compare to Sungshik.

'Seriously… Sungshik is amazing.'

Jenny’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Sungshik. Her face, which seemed more dolled up than usual today, looked even more beautiful than normal.

There were already many men sneaking glances at Jenny, but now, with her glowing expression, some were even left staring at her in a daze.

"What? I was just in good condition today, that’s all."

Sungshik replied modestly as he gazed at Jenny’s unusually radiant face, but he couldn’t help the corners of his mouth from curling up. What man wouldn’t feel happy when such a beauty showered him with praise? Sungshik was a man too, after all.

At that moment, there was a group watching the scene from afar.

"Impressive."

"At that level, he might truly be on par with the Sword Emperor or Martial Emperor."

"But not enough to withstand our combined assault. What say we just finish it today?"

"No, we stick to the original plan. We'll wait for when he’s isolated."

"That’s definitely the safer move."

"Then, just as Ilma said, we should target him when he sets out to subjugate a gate."

"Right. We’ll take care of him cleanly, with no loose ends."

They were convinced. The ones watching Sungshik from afar were certain—soon, he would meet his death at their hands.