With only a few days left, as the Labyrinth Break was only a few hours away, Kim Hyunwoo did what he could.

    And that was to request reinforcements from the surrounding territories.

    Lartania, the territory Kim Hyunwoo had to rebuild, was not in a self-sustaining state from the moment he returned.

    Fortunately, it seemed not all surrounding territories were in a non-self-sustaining state like his, so Kim Hyunwoo sent a message requesting reinforcements with a promise of generouspensation.

    Although there was no immediate reward to offer, he could secure amplepensation for the reinforcements if they arrived and managed to prevent the Labyrinth Break.

    [Time remaining until thebyrinth break: 00:02:42]

    However, since this situation also ultimately depended on the arrival of reinforcements, Kim Hyunwoo waited with a somewhat anxious expression.

    When only about 30 minutes remained until thebyrinth break.

    [My Lord, it seems that people areing from the east.]

    “…!”

    Upon hearing that from Loria, Kim Hyunwoo immediately turned his gaze eastward, where he could see soldiers walking towards the Lord’s castle, treading over the deste territory.

    [★★★ Hero 'Knight Alto' has entered the territory.]

    ※Note, a hero from another territory.

    As the soldiers approached to a certain extent, a notification popped up before his eyes.

    Seeing that, Kim Hyunwoo felt somewhat relieved but also thought about getting additional information from the reinforcements that hade all this way.

    After all, he was overallcking information about this world.

    So, he started thinking about what questions to ask to gain information once the reinforcements arrived, but that was only for a moment.

    “…?”

    Kim Hyunwoo realized one strange thing.

    ‘…Aren’t there too few soldiers?’

    Even at a nce, there were less than 50 soldiers dragging arge wagon, and after noticing something was off,

    with about 10 minutes remaining until the Labyrinth Break, to the knight who arrived with the soldiers, sporting a tantly arrogant expression.

    “I’m sorry, but we are not reinforcements.”

    “…What?”

    He was able to hear such words.

    “Let me say it once more, we are not reinforcements.”

    The knight introduced himself as a knight from ‘Hancia’, a territory to the north, and said so in response to Kim Hyunwoo’s question, who hade out of the Lord’s castle.

    Kim Hyunwoo frowned with a confused expression for a moment.

    However, the knight, despite seeing his expression, continued speaking without any shrinkage, not erasing his arrogant smile.

    “It seems you were indeed expecting us.”

    Seeing the knight smirk with a bit of derision, Kim Hyunwoo spoke with an incredulous expression.

    “If you are not reinforcements, then why have youe here?”

    “We’ve merelye to scavenge whatever remains after this territory disappears, as per our Lord’smand.”

    Upon hearing the knight’s words, Kim Hyunwoo furrowed his brow as if realizing something and replied.

    “…Don’t tell me, you’vee for the Territory Stone Fragments?”

    Seeing the knight smile without answering, Kim Hyunwoo let out a hollowugh.

    Territory Stone fragments.

    Those are, literally, items that appear naturally when a territory is left unattended for a very long time by a user who has quit the game, leading to its disappearance due to a Labyrinth Break.

    The number of Territory Stone Fragments that appear is determined by the territory’s level, and within the game’s economy, these fragments can rece the Red Stones, which are the only cash resources in Arteil.

    Hence, the knight before Kim Hyunwoo was saying this.

    He would quietly wait here, and once the Labyrinth Break urs, destroying the territory and killing Kim Hyunwoo, he would collect the Territory Fragments.

    “Have you ever seen such bastards?”

    Understanding that, Kim Hyunwoo naturally cursed, causing the knight to stop smirking and frown instead.

    “It would be wise to watch your mouth.”

    “You’re spouting nonsense.”

    Seeing the knight subtly show the sword at his waist, Kim Hyunwoo smirked.

    Of course, that’s not to say he wasn’t afraid of the sword.

    Even though he was aware that he was in a game, the ce where he lived was not one where threats of violence weremonly seen in reality.

    But now that things hade to this, the knight before him was no longer a figure of fear to Kim Hyunwoo.

    From Kim Hyunwoo’s perspective, whether he died from the knight’s sword or from the Territory Stone exploding in a Labyrinth Break, as per Arteil’s setting, it was all the same.

    Moreover, if the knight was after the Territory Stone Fragments, he wouldn’t be able to use his sword on Kim Hyunwoo anyway.

    ording to Arteil’s settings, territory stone fragments would only appear when a territory explodes due to a Labyrinth Break.

    In other words, even if someone invaded the territory and exploded the Territory Stone in the same manner, all they could obtain were Blue Stones, a resource iparable to the Territory Stone Fragments.

    Knowing this fact, the knight frowned.

    Crunch-!

    Roar-!

    Soon, with the monstrous roar and the massive vibrationing from afar, he sighed and opened his mouth with a small smile.

    “I know there’s no need for me to intervene. You’re going to explode and die anyway.”

    “……”

    The knight, having spoken with a twisted smile on his lips, began to distance himself from Kim Hyunwoo, followed by soldiers wearing simr smiles.

    Not too close, but not too far away.

    The knight stood at a distance where they could see each other’s faces, wearing a smirk.

    As if he intended to witness Kim Hyunwoo’s death right there.

    “Truly a motherfucker.”

    Seeing the knight’s behavior, Kim Hyunwoo also smirked and looked at the knight.

    The monstrous roar was growing closer!!!

    As the monstrous roars grew closer, Kim Hyunwoo turned his gaze.

    With no walls or barricades, he could easily see the horde of monsters screaming from beyond.

    “There are so damn many.”

    Kim Hyunwoo had already experienced the Labyrinth Break event dozens of times, but that was only within the game.

    “……”

    The horde of monsters rushing straight towards this ce, though still far away, imposed a sense of pressure on Kim Hyunwoo.

    As the horde of monsters gradually approached, Kim Hyunwoo’s smirk deepened.

    At the forefront were goblins clutching rusty weapons and charging in a frenzy typical of the Labyrinth Break setting, followed by orcs and wolves that had absorbed the Labyrinth’s magic.

    …And then, an ogre almost as tall as the nearly destroyed three-story Lord’s castle was running with a huge club.

    “It’ll be my first time seeing a person explode and die.”

    From afar, yet clearly within earshot, Kim Hyunwoo clenched his teeth upon hearing the knight’s voice mocking him.

    At a certain distance, Knight Alto, standing firm, watched the Lord looking at the approaching horde of monsters, thinking with a smirk full of satisfaction and mockery.

    ‘I would have liked to kill him myself, but watching this will also be quite enjoyable.’

    As Kim Hyunwoo expected, Alto’s reason for not killing him was because of the Territory Stone Fragments.

    If the knight killed the Lord, he wouldn’t be able to obtain the Territory Stone Fragments, and if things went wrong in such a way, he wouldn’t be able to avoid punishment from his own Lord.

    Therefore, although the knight felt a bit of dissatisfaction, he smiled at the thought of the rude Lord, who owned a territory that hardly seemed like one, dying before his eyes.

    “…?”

    The knight wore a puzzled expression.

    That was because the expression on Kim Hyunwoo’s face, which had been endlessly tense just moments ago, had changed.

    From an expression filled with negative emotions to one full of questions.

    And in addition…

    Seeing a slight smile form on Kim Hyunwoo’s lips, the knight wore a simrly puzzled expression.

    The distance between the monsters and the Lord’s castle had already closed to the point where it could be considered closepared to before.

    However, there seemed to be no reason for the Lord, cornered as he was, to smile like that.

    ‘Has he gone mad?’

    The knight thought so, but…

    Of course, Kim Hyunwoo had not gone mad.

    The reason he unknowingly smiled at the horde of monsters that had now approached very closely.

    That was because.

    [★★★★★☆ Hero 'Beast King' has entered the territory.]

    A notification like that had popped up before his eyes.

    At that moment.

    With a massive

    Roar-!

    From the forefront of the horde of monsters rushing towards the Lord’s castle, a huge exploding sound urred, and monsters were flung in all directions.

    A goblin clutching a rusty sword rolled on the ground with its head separated from its torso, wearing a confused expression.

    An orc split in half, spilling its entrails, drenching the destend with its blood.

    Wolves that had absorbed the Labyrinth’s magic were crushed and flung out of the dust pits.

    And,

    When all the dust had settled,

    Kim Hyunwoo could see…

    “…Merilda.”

    The wolf with red eyes.

    And then.

    Simultaneously, the knight also saw.

    “Who are you trying to kill?”

    “…!”

    Halting the advance of the monster horde, emitting a killing intent so intense it seemed to paralyze the body and stop the breath.

    “You dare, who?”

    Muttering clearly, ring as if about to rip Alto apart, now clearly showing emotion, ‘Red Eyes’.