Chapter 107

I knew full well that none of this was real.

Yet, an unbearable sense of unpleasantness washed over me.

Perhaps this feeling stemmed from the moment Je Hyun-oh was locked away in solitary confinement cell No. 13.

He, who possessed the strongest and swiftest wings, had been forced to remain in a space where he couldn’t even spread them an inch.

I had barely managed to tolerate my subordinate being confined in such a cramped, stifling place—only to be confronted with this wretched training material.

All while acting as if they knew his weaknesses, how to subdue him, and everything else about him.

My heart pounded as a wave of heat surged toward my eyes.

Thump, thump—with every beat, it felt as though a ball of fire was racing through my veins.

The system window displaying the prison guard progress rate began to glitch.

The system window, flickering unsteadily as if about to shut down, emitted a static crackle and then completely changed.

I knew it instinctively.

If that new progress bar were to fill completely, Neo would vanish from within me.

Yet, I wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“…….”

I realized that my condition was slightly off.

Was it because of the rising fever?

I felt unable to remain calm, constantly slipping into an emotional state.

I tried to quell my agitation.

Creating a hologram like that using Je Hyun-oh was deeply unpleasant, but ultimately, it was nothing more than a fake.

I just needed to deal with it quickly and finish the training. I gazed ahead, striving to remain as calm as possible.

I knew exactly what was about to happen.

The holograms on the ring would vanish, and Creature No. 1 would appear first.

From that point on, I would have to face the holograms of the imprisoned creatures—numbered 1 through 12—one by one.

Only after battling twelve creatures would I finally encounter Creature No. 13.

The screen displaying the text suddenly froze.

Then, strange, garbled characters began to appear, as if a system error had occurred.

The text shuddered and distorted; then, with a sharp pop, the screen went dark before flickering back to life.

Clang, clang, clang! A clear, high-pitched metallic bell rang out.

At the sound of the round bell, all the other creatures vanished, leaving behind only a single hologram.

Bright lights illuminated the ring from every direction, leaving not a single shadow.

Yet, the black hologram seemed to devour the light simply by existing.

The space it occupied was a void of absolute darkness.

It was a hologram of Je Hyun-oh.

“To think they would commit such an act of insolence using a member of your following, Roasted Chestnut.”

Dominic’s voice sounded in my ear, graver than ever.

“You must lodge a protest with the master of this place, Roasted Chestnut.”

Listening to Dominic, I stared at the fake that bore a striking resemblance to Je Hyun-oh.

A counterfeit created by brazenly imitating a member of my following. With a sharp clatter, six metal wings unfurled.

I felt nothing at the sight.

Those were wings meant to move freely across the vast open sky.

Yet, what could they possibly do in a cramped space like this? At best, they would serve only to swing those metal blades.

My eyes still burned, and the heat surging from my heart seemed to race through my veins, setting my entire body ablaze.

For some reason, I welcomed that heat.

It made me feel even more exhilarated.

Stay calm.

I tried to steady myself.

Spinning the baton in my hand, I thought:

Je Hyun-oh is strong.

But the hologram failed to capture his true essence.

I knew it the moment I saw it.

It mimicked his appearance convincingly enough, but it replicated only a fraction of his actual abilities.

As expected, they hadn’t fully grasped the extent of Je Hyun-oh’s power.

Since I was still infected with ‘Neo,’ my physical enhancements hadn’t completely faded.

That was more than enough to deal with a fake.

The fake looked at me.

Its gaze, fixed through the goggles, landed on me, but I remained unmoved.

After a brief moment of sizing each other up…

The fake lunged at me. Its metal hand rushed forward with fierce momentum.

Crash!

My baton collided with the metal hand.

Thanks to my physical enhancements, blocking the attack wasn’t difficult.

Still, a stinging jolt traveled through my palm.

The hologram was so realistic—even replicating the sensation of impact—that it felt like far more than a mere illusion.

Yet, I knew for a fact that it was a ‘fake.’

The corners of my mouth curled upward.

How could I not tell? I know my own people all too well.

The metallic hand lashed out repeatedly.

Each time it narrowly missed me, it left deep gouges in the floor.

Facing a fake that couldn’t even manifest a black crescent blade felt like nothing more than playing with a beast.

I was driven back against the chains encircling the ring.

As the heavy iron chains rattled against my back, I nimbly twisted my body to the side.

The metallic hand struck the very chains I had been leaning against.

The violent impact sent sparks exploding in all directions.

Yet, all it achieved was severing the chains and slicing through the ring.

To someone who had experienced kind of power that could shatter the arena and cleave the very ground, this felt pathetic.

The severed chains slumped to the floor.

After easily dodging the metallic hand, I heard the metallic wings rattle.

However, the fake didn’t know how to detach its metallic feathers and use them as blades.

Consequently, its attack patterns were incredibly simple.

It was a basic variation: if a strike with the metallic hand failed, it would immediately follow up with a swing of its metallic wings.

For someone who had once been driven to the brink of death by Je Hyun-oh, these attacks were utterly tedious.

A sharp wing rushed horizontally toward my neck.

I dodged the attack by leaning my upper body backward.

At the same time, I twisted the baton in my right hand and struck the side of the passing metallic wing.

Knocked off course, the metallic wing sliced ​​uselessly through the air, and the fake staggered.

I glanced at the window.

The percentage was rising rapidly.

It would be best to finish this before Neo’s physical enhancement wore off.

Besides, the opponent was no longer worth the trouble.

I thought this as I dodged a metallic hand aiming to impale me.

To begin with, I didn’t know the specific method to subdue Je Hyun-oh.

But this thing was a shoddy imitation.

There had to be a weak point somewhere.

“Roasted Chestnut.”

Suddenly, I felt a soft touch against my cheek.

“You mustn’t view yourself as some insignificant creature.”

He whispered gently to me.

“Roasted Chestnut, you are a god. Do not forget your true nature.”

The moment I heard Dominic’s whisper, I realized what I had to do.

Crash!

The metallic hand swung toward me once more.

I held my baton horizontally and blocked the blow.

The baton groaned and bent under the strain.

Enduring the crushing force of the fake, I took a closer look.

Just before the baton bent to its breaking point…

I instantly relaxed my grip and dropped my body low.

Unable to react quickly, the fake lurched forward, carried by the momentum of its own downward pressure.

Seizing that split second of instability, I sidestepped and slipped away. I immediately positioned myself behind the fake.

Holding my baton vertically, I drove it down hard into the base of its wing.

With just that single blow, the wing feathers crumpled.

The fake shuddered, as if in agony.

I stared coldly at the sight.

The fake’s hologram vanished.

Text announcing my success appeared on the screen. Ignoring the obvious notification, I checked the progress bar.

Subduing the fake had filled the gauge completely.

The system window sent one final notification and disappeared. I could feel that Neo was completely gone from within me.

And yet… the heat coursing through my body did not fade.

I heard a grand fanfare, cheers, and applause.

The door to the next room opened, but I didn’t move.

The moment I saw the word “training,” a spark seemed to flare up in my heart.

I hurled the baton I was holding.

Crash! The baton embedded itself into the screen.

The flickering screen gave a sharp pop and went dark.

“……”

Even after getting rid of the eyesore, I still felt no sense of relief.

It felt as though lava, not blood, was flowing through my veins.

“You are a quick learner, Roasted Chestnut. It makes teaching you truly rewarding.”

I slowly lowered my gaze to look at Dominic. Dominic moved across my body at will, murmuring words I couldn’t quite fathom.

“Hmm… It certainly seems to have been a bit overwhelming for you. Still, this is something you need, Roasted Chestnut.”

As I blinked slowly, Dominic smiled.

“After all, Roasted Chestnut needs to become a bit more like…a God.”

His body shimmered.

Gleaming like a star, Dominic made a suggestion.

“How about dealing with that lowly creature over in the corner?”

He then pricked up his ears toward the vines outside the ring.

“It will help dissipate the heat building up inside you, Roasted Chestnut.”

I stared blankly at the vines.

The heat of ■■■■ still surged through me.
I felt an urge to burn everything to ash.

Even though I knew something was wrong with me, I couldn’t control it.

I tried to suppress the impulse, but…

“Goyo!”

A thunderous shout rang out.

I snapped out of my daze, startled as I had been staring intently at the climbing plants.

Someone roughly grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.

It took a few blinks before the person came clearly into view.

“Captain Kwak?”

Kwak Hanmuk had arrived much sooner than I had asked him to.

I smiled slightly, glad to see him, but he looked at me with a grim expression.

I hurriedly tried to let him know I was in my right mind.

“I didn’t become a prison guard.”

“No—fuck.”

Kwak Hanmuk spoke in a voice that trembled slightly.

“That’s not the problem right now.”

“…Huh?”

“What’s wrong with your eyes?”