“What the hell is this?”

The National Competition Operations Team in the S.A. Group was in a state of emergency.

The National Competition’s server was operated separately from Satisfy’s server. It was impossible for a dragon that existed in Satisfy to appear in the National Competition. However, a dragon appeared in the most important closing event. It was a situation they couldn’t understand and it was serious.

“Figure out what’s going on right now!”

“Yes!”

After receiving the orders of the team leader, the employees started to investigate all variables. The National Competition Operations Team was composed of the elites of the S.A. Group. Thus, reports immediately poured in.

"Bunhelier has disappeared from this server!”

“What...? Then that’s the body?”

"No, how did this happen?”

“I’ve found the cause! It’s the weapon used by Kraugel. The +9 White Fang has an option to summon Bunhelier.”

“What?”

The National Competition’s server was separate from Satisfy’s server. However, the data of the players brought into the National Competition’s server was the same. The option of ‘summoning Helier’ was present in the imported data. It wasn’t impossible to exclude the summoning probability from the National Competition’s server.

“This is crazy! A user has an item that summons a dragon?”

"It’s a drop item from the ‘Weakened Great Demon Drasion’ that Kraugel raided alone!”

According to the information that came up on the central monitor, White Fang was originally an item with its real power and function sealed. Yet Kraugel had completely released the seal on the item. That’s why the Bunhelier’s curse option was opened.

"How did he break the seal of a legendary grade weapon? Did he proceed with the hidden quest?”

“There’s no history of the quest being unlocked.”

"The greatest probability is that it was due to the involvement of Pagma's Successor Grid...”

“Again...! It’s Grid once again!”

The head of the National Competition Operations Team was Mr. Nicol Cage, the server audit director of the S.A. Group. He was responsible for preventing errors and bugs from appearing in the server in real time. Therefore, Grid’s existence was very troublesome for him. Every time Grid created a variable that was beyond a player’s category, he would have to work overtime.

Now it was the National Competition...what was this mess?

“That nasty child!”

Kwang!

Nicol Cage couldn’t control his boiling rage and hit the table. His face was green and he was gritting his teeth.

“This situation is very interesting.

“Chairman...!”

An elder gentleman had entered the office of the operations team. He was the father of Supercomputer Morpheus and the creator of Satisfy. The founder and chairman of the S.A. Group, Lim Cheolho. After a simple greeting and encouraging the employees to go back to work, he sat down in front of Nicol Cage.

“I-I’m sorry.”

This incident wasn’t Nicol Cage’s fault. It was the fault of the management team responsible for verifying the data of the players. But he still apologized. Nicol Cage was the head of the National Competition Operations Team. He didn’t give any excuses and apologized for ruining the closing ceremony.

Lim Cheolho grinned at him.

“I don’t think this is a situation where you need to apologize.”

“...?"

Nicol Cage was confused. This situation had ruined the closing ceremony. He couldn’t understand how Chairman Lim Cheolho could be so relaxed right now.

Chairman Lim Cheolho said, "Hasn’t the water already been spilt? There’s something else that should be noted.”

“What is it?”

"Did you know what Bunhelier just woke up from his seal?”

There was a village called Trempet. It was a village where the descendants of the Taylor Kingdom, that was destroyed by the Saharan Empire, lived. There was a verse in the folk song of the locals, stating that ‘Evil dragon, a hero sealed it 500 years ago.’

The evil dragon was Bunhelier. The players who visited Trempet would know that Bunhelier was sealed. The S.A. Group executives who knew the world view of Satisfy knew that Bunhelier’s seal had recently been released.

"The evil dragon Bunhelier is one of the reasons for Nevartan going crazy. Once he sensed the unlocking of Bunhelier’s seal, the insane Nevartan regained his mind for a moment.”

From here, an episode that would transform Satisfy’s world view would proceed.

In order to get revenge on Bunhelier, Nevartan would travel all over the world and reunite in the Saharan Empire of the West Continent. The West Continent would become a global stage. The two dragons would have a long battle that would last for several months. As a result, most of the West Continent would be destroyed. The number of humans who controlled the West Continent was destined to greatly decrease.

“The species that will replace humanity will appear on the continent and either fight or ally with players.”

Yet Bunhelier disappeared from the server at this time.

"Nevartan can’t sense Bunhelier’s energy and can’t maintain the lease on his reason. He’s become insane again and hidden somewhere. The originally scheduled battle between the two dragons has been cancelled.”

"In other words...”

"Grid and Kraugel have caused the planned disaster and transformation to disappear.”

“I-Isn’t this a big deal?”

Two players twisted the world view of the game that billions of people were playing. It was a serious problem. It must be restored. These were Nicol Cage’s thoughts. However, Chairman Lim Cheolho thought the opposite.

“No, it can’t be reversed. Have you forgotten that our policy is to absolutely not intervene in Satisfy?”

The management team shouldn’t intervene in Satisfy. The reason for this rule was to avoid losing the ‘another reality’ setting of Satisfy. If the management team intervened in the flow of Satisfy and its users, could it really be called another reality?

In Satisfy, users must be guaranteed the same degree of freedom as reality. The moment that the company intervened, the users might become aware of the fact that Satisfy was a game and lose their immersion. It would violate the reason why Chairman Lim Cheolho created Satisfy.

"We can’t intervene to restore the situation or the changed fate.”

“But this is a special situation... No. It’s nothing.”

Nicol Cage objected only to shake his head. It was a basic policy that management couldn’t intervene in Satisfy and he had to follow this if he wanted to be kept by the board of directors. In addition, there was no real impact on Satisfy’s development if an episode designed by Morpheus didn’t proceed normally.

Morpheus’ role was to encourage players to have fun in a pleasant environment. Morpheus provided new fun by inducing players to create more diverse forces, not just the current kingdom forces. This episode was intended to give players the fun of choosing different species, but the players would eventually pioneer the way themselves. Grid was the one who showed the possibility of destroying an existing kingdom and creating a new one.

'Rejecting even the fate of God (Morpheus)...’

On the monitor, Grid and Kraugel were facing a giant grey dragon. Lim Cheolho’s eyes were very fond every time he looked at the miraculous beings who defied Morpheus’ predictions. Chairman Lim Cheolho thought they were similar to himself and the employees who broke all expectations and built a virtual reality world.

“Now it’s time to reveal Bunhelier’s information.”

“Huh? Reveal it to the public?”

“Yes. We’ll make the appearance of the dragon an event.”

A dragon was a godlike presence in Satisfy. The majority of players might never encounter a dragon. According to the information collected by Morpheus, only 17 players had ever seen a dragon from a distance.

"Wouldn’t it be exciting to experience the existence of another world?”

A crisis was an opportunity. If the public perceived the appearance of the dragon as a ‘special event’ rather than ‘ruining the competition,’ it could lead to a positive result.

"But it doesn’t make sense to restart the finals. People will notice that it’s a mistake, not a prepared event.”

"Why should it proceed again from the beginning?”

“Huh...?

“Once Grid and Kraugel die to Bunhelier, don’t log them out and have them resurrect in Bunhelier’s nest. We’ll package their death as the process for releasing a new stage.”

The National Competition’s server was separate from Satisfy’s server, but all maps were implemented. Bunhelier’s nest was naturally included. The operations team wasn’t involved in Satisfy, but they were constantly involved in the National Competition. An example was the changes in the rules every year.

“This isn’t a problem. The appearance of Bunhelier will be finished with a dramatic directing that brings joy to the public.”

This year’s PvP finals would be more popular than ever. Nicol Cage was impressed by Chairman Lim Cheolho’s resourcefulness and creativity.

***

『 D-Dragon... 』

[The evil dragon Bunhelier has appeared!]

This message appeared the moment that the sky was covered. The commentators and viewers were overwhelmed by the grandeur and were speechless. The question ‘No, why is a dragon appearing in the National Competition?’ was covered up by the presence of the dragon itself.

Kurarararara!

Bunhelier opened his huge mouth and shot out a breath. The momentum was like the whole sea being summoned. The range of the blue breath swept over the Lion’s Castle. It was different from a wyvern’s breath that only burned a few meters. This was a huge attack that was impossible to avoid.

Kurururung!

Was it true that this place existed a while ago? The Lion’s Castle disappeared so quickly that people questioned it.

“...”

The crowd and viewers all closed their mouths. A dragon. Players recognized them as the final boss, a legendary presence that overwhelmed even the 1st Great Demon Baal. It was enough to make the silent world feel fear.

At this time.

[You have suffered catastrophic damage!]

[A legend doesn’t die easily. Your life force is fixed to a minimum. You resist all attacks for 5 seconds.]

Grid was hit by Bunhelier’s breath and entered the immortal state, while Kraugel avoided the breath using Freely Move and rose to Bunhelier’s head. The height was 30 meters above sea level. He avoided the non-targeted skill and flew by using the effect of Freely Move to reach the target.

“Condemnation Sword!”

Pajik! Paijijik!

It was the Sword Saint’s ultimate attack that was originally for Grid. The +9 White Fang was surrounded by silver and struck Bunhelier.

[The information of the evil dragon Bunhelier is released.]

[Bunhelier]

Level: ????

Species: Dragon

Strength: 99,999 Stamina: 99,999

Agility: 12,000 Intelligence: 25,000

Skills: Breath (SSSS). ????, ????,????, ????, ????, ????, ????, ????, ????, ????, ????, ????.

A transcendent dragon. He could destroy the world if he wanted. Only a similar transcendent presence could threaten the dragon.

“What...?”

The crowd was astonished at Bunhelier’s ridiculous status window.

Puk!

Kraugel’s sword flew against the fierce momentum and penetrated Bunhelier. The pupil size alone was bigger than Kraugel’s body. White Fang was just like a toothpick.

Then.

[Sword Saint Kraugel has done 1 damage to Bunhelier.]

This notification window appeared on the center of the monitor.

“Ah... Ahhh...”

People realized. The sky above the sky, who they so envied, was a mere speck of dust in front of the dragon.

『 That’s the world’s strongest creature...! 』

『 Dragon... It’s more amazing than I can imagine. Perhaps it can be raided in 10 years, 20 years? 』

『 Named bosses grow with the players. It’s impossible to raid a dragon. In the first place, dragons weren’t created for players to raid. 』

The commentators were right. Dragons weren’t targets for raids. This was clearly stated in Satisfy’s default setting. The moment that everyone was in shock.

“...?"

“What?”

The camera suddenly focused on Grid. The purple fighting energy around Grid was burning.

"100,000 Army.”

“...Eh?”

People thought of the ‘Grid is a chuuni’ video. Overgeared King Grid. He was acting like a chuuni in an emergency like this?

“Was this a joke?”

"No, what’s he doing alone in this urgent situation?”

“Crazy. Crazy.”

They didn’t know where this joke came from. Some people criticized Grid while others thought it was ridiculous.

Then Grid.

“Massacre Sword.”

The Undefeated King’s power was unveiled.

Peng!

Pepepepeok!

The Enlightenment Sword was swung 30 times per second. Black red energy blades filled the air and headed towards Bunhelier.

Kuwaaaaaang!

As soon as Grid fired the 100,000 Army Massacre Sword at Bunhelier, the following notification windows appeared.

[The target is a dragon.]

[The Hero King title effect is activated.]

[The fighting energy of the Hero King has risen to the rank of a transcendent and threatens the dragon. The Absolute Defense of Bunhelier is disabled.]

[You have dealt 1,500 damage to the target!]

[You have dealt 1,430 damage to the target!]

[You have dealt 1,610...]

[You have dealt 1,290...]

......

......

Kurarararara!

A storm of energy blades struck Bunhelier! The scratches on the dragon scales that couldn’t even be damaged by the Sword Saint’s ultimate attack caused massive shock to the public.

“Hiccup!”

People on the stands started hiccuping.