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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: I Remember Now.
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A place he was visiting for the first time, yet it felt like he'd been here before.
Logically speaking, that made no sense whatsoever.
But Rimon didn't doubt his own judgment.
From all sorts of bizarre skills, to magic that defied the gods' will, psionics that transcended cognition, and spirit arts that commanded mecha beasts.
He knew from experience that there were plenty of mystical forces out there capable of making the impossible possible.
Of course, baseless faith could easily turn into blind devotion.
But Rimon had a way to verify it.
"Team leader? What are you doing?"
Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep.
A hindrance he would have sliced through instantly under normal circumstances.
Yuna Kyung watched in confusion as Rimon approached the thick metal door with steady steps.
Then, seeing him punch numbers into the keypad beside it, she grumbled in disbelief.
"Come on, what makes you think you know the code? It's not like randomly mashing buttons is gonna—"
Whirr!
"—open it... or is it?"
Yuna Kyung's jaw dropped.
She stared blankly as the door slowly began to slide open.
"Team leader? How the heck did you do that?"
"How? Like this."
Unlike her, who looked like she'd just witnessed back-to-back royal straight flushes at a casino, Rimon showed no surprise at all.
He just answered casually.
"Guessed it."
"You guessed a one-in-ten-billion chance on the first try?!"
"Worked, didn't it? What do you want me to say?"
"But... I mean... that's... therefore!"
Perhaps because it was all too absurd.
Rimon paid no mind even as Yuna Kyung glitched out, stuttering.
He simply gazed impassively at the scene unfolding through the slowly parting door.
"What? Why's the back door opening?"
"Didn't they say no entry until the job's done?"
"Hey, eyes front! Focus on the front!"
A vast space where an entire floor had been hollowed out from what was once a banquet hall.
Dozens of Liberation Brigade members filled it, armed to the teeth with armor and protective gear, staffs, bows, spears, and all sorts of other items.
The Brigade members, who had been murmuring at the sight of the slowly opening rear door, fell silent.
Their faces turned slack-jawed.
"Huh? Wh-what?"
"What's going on...?"
As if they'd spotted a mole flying through the sky.
Yuna Kyung's face twisted in shock as she saw them struggling to hide their bewilderment.
Even for a base, this was too much.
The sight of fully geared players huddled together like they were prepping for a dungeon raid was enough to make even a seasoned PAB agent freak out.
But Rimon remained unfazed.
He had known they were there even before opening the door.
So amid the chaos of everyone else's panic, he alone strode forward calmly.
One step to close the distance.
One step to slip into their midst.
One spinning step in place, sword whipping out.
Splat thud!
"Gaaah!"
"Wh-what the hell? What just happened?"
The Liberation Brigade members panicked.
They had all been watching Rimon.
Yet none of them had sensed his approach until he'd plunged into their ranks and battered four or five comrades.
To them, it felt like they'd been possessed by a ghost.
"What are you standing around for? Attack him! Now!!"
Perhaps because they were players after all.
At the shout of a man who seemed to be an officer, they snapped out of it and scrambled to attack Rimon.
But their attempts were doomed to fail from the start.
Whether swinging greatswords wreathed in flames.
Or loosing arrows that never missed their mark.
Or binding his feet with writhing shadows.
Rimon dodged, parried, and shattered every attack with a single step.
"What kind of monster...?!"
Liberation Brigade officer Kang Seok couldn't believe it.
Sure, the Brigade was dismissed by the world as psychos and criminals.
But that didn't mean they were weak.
Low-level players weren't even treated as errand boys.
Only mid-tier players at level 30 or above were recognized as full members.
And as a brigade worthy of the name, they excelled in group combat—especially PvP, where they prided themselves on surpassing most top guilds.
High-level players might be strong.
But ultimately, they were just miners who farmed monsters.
When it came to life-or-death fights between people, no organization could outmatch these killers with their rap sheets full of murders and crimes.
Thwack!
But Kang Seok's pride was sliced apart like paper by Rimon's blade.
'What the hell is this monster?!'
If attacks simply weren't landing, he might have accepted it.
There were plenty of high-level players with skills like Absolute Defense or Immortal Body that rendered attacks meaningless.
One-shotting foes could be overlooked too.
Balancing top-tier defense and offense was tough, but doable for elite players.
Yet what sent chills down Kang Seok's spine was one thing.
Rimon's eyes.
Eyes he'd never seen even among the criminals and psychos of the Liberation Brigade.
As he bashed heads with his sword, those golden irises remained unshaken—calmly sunken in infinite stillness.
They told him this:
Only the surface appearance was ordinary.
That thing was no ordinary human.
It was a genuine monster the Liberation Brigade couldn't even approach.
But that realization came far too late.
From the moment Rimon burst in, they had no chance to flee—willingly or not.
"Kill him! If you don't wanna die, kill him somehow!"
Like a cornered rat biting a cat.
Kang Seok screamed in desperation.
He charged at Rimon, wildly swinging his half-moon blade to activate his skill.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Blade Storm
Unleashes 36 slashes in an instant. Capable of shredding even metal lumps into dozens of pieces in the blink of an eye.
Blade Storm was the combat skill that had elevated Kang Seok to officer status in the Brigade.
It unleashed 36 slashes in one breath, a sure-kill technique that could turn a lump of metal into dozens of chunks before you could blink.
Ting!
But after activating Blade Storm.
Kang Seok could only bulge his eyes.
His half-moon blade, infused with the skill's power and poised to swing.
Rimon's sword overlapped its tip with exquisite precision, dispersing the force before it could even arc.
That was just the beginning.
Ting, ting ting, tiddly-diddly-ding...!
Uppward strike, downward chop, sweeping block, spinning parry, pulling riposte—36 consecutive strikes.
Each time, Rimon's sword clung to the blade's edge, cunningly dissipating the power.
By the time the skill ended, Kang Seok hadn't landed a single cut. His mouth gaped open.
"H-how?"
The explanation was long, but the 36 slashes took mere instants.
Less than 0.1 seconds.
No player, no matter how agile, could unleash dozens of attacks in that blink.
It was a hyperspeed barrage powered by the skill—something even Kang Seok couldn't control, just swing wildly.
Yet how had Rimon blocked the utterly random assault before it even fully extended?
To the dazed Kang Seok, Rimon replied calmly.
"You showed the same sword strokes twice. Only an idiot couldn't block that."
"...Twice? When did you see my skill before?"
"Just now, first time."
"What...?!"
Kang Seok was floored.
Not because he couldn't grasp the meaning of "saw it twice."
It was Rimon's attitude—treating a one-shot block of a hyperspeed barrage as obvious—that blew his mind.
Crack!
"Gurk!"
"You my apprentice or something? Quit yapping questions mid-fight."
Rimon smashed the sword hilt into the back of Kang Seok's head, knocking him out.
Then, as he laid out the remaining Brigade members—who looked doomed without their leader—he thought.
'It's coming back to me, bit by bit.'
Manually parrying every blade of Blade Storm?
Not something the old Rimon would bother with.
One slash would've ended it; no need to indulge all 36.
But he'd done it anyway. For one reason.
The moment he saw Kang Seok's Blade Storm, the trajectory of every swing naturally flashed in his mind.
As if recalling a forgotten memory.
It was the same with the other members.
Every clash revealed their next moves, and the fragments of memory grew clearer, awakening more.
"M-monster...!"
Crunch!
After felling the last one.
Rimon froze in place.
Not just because there were no more foes.
Defeating the entire Brigade flipped a switch.
The drifting memories in his head pieced together, forming a single scene.
A sight he'd never seen before, could never see, and never wanted to.
Yet one he could never forget.
The instant it surfaced.
Rimon murmured softly.
"...I remember now."
"Remember what?"
Maybe she got bored just watching.
The moment the Brigade went down, Yuna Kyung hopped over their bodies and approached.
Rimon answered flatly.
"Everything."
"What, you got amnesia or something? Forgot it all?"
She snorted as if it was the lamest joke ever.
Then pulled out her smartphone and scanned the faces of the fallen Brigade members one by one.
"Looks like all the key members gathered here. Sucks the boss isn't around, but this pretty much wipes out the Liberation Brigade, right?"
"Does it?"
"Yeah. Better call the director and another team for cleanup. Makes it easier to claim as PAB credit."
"Right, makes sense."
Rimon nodded soullessly.
Yuna Kyung puzzled over his strangely languid vibe for a moment.
Then muttered to herself, "Post-nut clarity?" and nodded in agreement, extending a hand to him.
"Alright, let's go."
"..."
"...Team leader? You gonna take my hand or what?"
"Do I have to?"
"Duh. Aren't we reporting to the director?"
He just stared at her hand.
No movement.
Yuna Kyung asked incredulously.
His response left her utterly dumbfounded, head still cocked sideways.
"Nah, not going."
"Huh? Why not?"
She tilted her head.
Couldn't fathom why he'd stick around.
But when Rimon explained.
She froze in that tilted pose.
"The second I grab your hand, I'll tumble into a trap loaded with tons of TNT. Why would I go knowing that?"