The Healing Solaris Cleric

Chapter 289: Fuse (1)

Han Jung-Woo was spreading butter on a slice of toast for breakfast while looking at his tablet.

—Hello! This is Aris, bringing you the latest news from the game. You’ve all heard about the hottest incident lately, right? The NPC Disappearance Case has happened once again. This time, the entire population of the rural territory of Horan, located in the Kingdom of Aldebaran, has vanished. Where could they have gone?

"Hmm. That news keeps popping up lately."

Taking a sip of coffee, Han Jung-Woo shook off his drowsiness and took a big bite of his toast.

This phenomenon, commonly referred to as the NPC Disappearance Case, had occurred not just once or twice but multiple times, evolving into something of an urban legend.

"A bug-created ghost abducting villagers? That’s a ridiculous rumor."

Yet, surprisingly, many people believed in this absurd tale. And that was because there was some seemingly plausible evidence supporting the ghost theory.

First, the lack of traces. At the sites of these incidents, there was never a single trace left behind. If someone had forcefully killed or kidnapped the NPCs, there should have been signs of resistance. However, the NPCs vanished as if they had been abducted in their sleep—without leaving so much as a footprint. What was even more compelling was the witness accounts of players claiming to have seen an actual ghost near the incident locations.

As the old saying went, if three people said there was a tiger in town, people would believe it. Thus, when dozens of players started describing similar ghostly sightings, the rumor began to be accepted as fact.

As Han Jung-Woo ate his toast and watched Aris’s live stream, his gaze grew serious.

Rumors aren’t always reliable... but this does bother me. Especially since I’m running a territory myself.

In the end, he decided to investigate the truth behind the case once the Grand Blacksmith Tournament was over. With that in mind, he logged into the game.

The fairy workers in the mansion of Libertia’s lord were chattering.

"Oh, it's the lord!"

"Oh, it's Kai!”

Kai gave them a small greeting before stepping out onto the balcony, gazing at the vast trees below.

"The view here really is incredible."

From his mansion, he could see the massive tree that symbolized Libertia’s identity, along with the homes built upon its branches. He also had a full view of the many buildings scattered across the ground.

Kai, who could enjoy such a view that money couldn’t buy whenever he wished, turned to the fairies and asked, "What’s on the schedule today?"

"It’s the opening day of the tournament."

"It’s going to be really noisy today."

"You’ll hear hammers clanking nonstop."

"Kai is going to be busy today."

"... Yeah, looks like I’ll be busy."

The Grand Blacksmith Tournament. In the small territory of Libertia, there were currently 108 blacksmith workshops. It was an extremely inefficient setup, to say the least. That was why Kai had organized this tournament.

"I’ll leave only the workshop run by the winner and dispatch the rest off elsewhere."

He had already identified suitable territories where the losing blacksmiths could be relocated.

"In a week, the territory will be much quieter."

After all, the constant hammering that filled the air daily would finally fade away.

"Take care of the house while I’m gone."

"We always take care of the house."

"The problem is that the owner never comes home."

"You’re always staying out overnight, never coming back."

Ignoring the fairies' playful chatter, Kai left the mansion and stepped onto a large leaf. The enchanted leaf, imbued with merfolk magic, slowly descended—a fantasy world’s version of an elevator.

Once he reached the ground, he headed straight for the tournament venue. There, 108 dwarf blacksmiths were already preparing, their eyes burning with determination.

"You’ve arrived," Prince Cyrus of the merfolk, who had secured a seat in advance, greeted him with a smile.

"Yeah. When does it start?"

"In about twenty minutes."

"Right on time. There are more spectators than I expected."

"Indeed. I thought it would be less crowded on the first day, but..."

The week-long tournament followed a simple format. Each day, the 108 competing blacksmiths would craft weapons based on a specific theme.

At the end of day one, exactly fifty-four blacksmiths would advance. On day two, that number would drop to twenty-seven, then thirteen on day three, six on day four. And by the final day, only the top three master blacksmiths would remain, competing in a showdown to determine the ultimate champion.

Since the first day was mainly an elimination round, they had expected fewer spectators, but that assumption was completely wrong.

"How many people showed up?"

"We prepared exactly 10,000 seats, and they all sold out. Including those standing... at least 25,000 people are here."

"Did other territories send representatives?"

"Perhaps the wealthier territories sent at least one person."

Kai had sent letters in advance to fairly large territories to increase the tournament's awareness. He informed them that the workshops of the blacksmiths who lost in the competition would be dismantled in Libertia and that he planned to deploy them elsewhere.

Thanks to that, it seems numerous territories have sent scouts.

From their perspective, they would want to take a dwarf artisan who had achieved the highest possible ranking. However, they also had to keep in mind the competitors, whose numbers they did not know.

It’ll likely be a bit troublesome for them.

Taking a dwarf who was eliminated early felt somewhat unsatisfying. On the other hand, trying to recruit a high-ranking dwarf was intimidating due to the fierce competition.

Unlike the spectators who were purely there to admire the craftsmanship of the master blacksmiths, the scouts from other territories would find themselves engaged in a silent battle of wits.

"It should be an entertaining scene."

Kai leaned back against the plush seat with a relaxed expression.

***

At a place horrifying enough to be called a scene from hell, with a mountain of bones built from thousands of skulls, at its peak sat a man in a robe, gripping a woman’s throat.

"P-please, spare me..."

The man stayed silent.

"I won't tell anyone... anywhere... Sniff, I swear..."

Tears and snot streamed down the young woman’s face, her trembling eyes filled with utter terror.

Nevertheless, the grip of the man holding her delicate neck gradually tightened.

"You won’t be able to tell anyone if I kill you anyway. So why should I let you live?"

"Kugh... Please..."

"Your parents, your siblings, your friends—I killed them all. Follow them."

Despite her desperate pleas, the man strengthened his grip. Then, the sound of bones breaking echoed, and her neck went limp. At the same time, thick veins bulged across the back of the man’s hand, which had been clutching her throat.

"Argh..."

Whether from pain or something else, the man let out a brief groan and quickly suppressed the bulging veins.

The only thing that changed was that the young, beautiful woman he had been holding had disappeared, leaving only bones behind.

"Sigh, this village is done now too."

New bones piled onto the mountain, slightly raising its height.

Ding!

[You have absorbed 74 souls of the village residents.]

[You have slaughtered all living beings in the village.]

[The Demon King Angol Moa is pleased with your merciless slaughter.]

[+25 Malice.]

"Not bad."

As the man read the message, his lips curled into a smirk.

Just then, a visitor arrived.

"Building up your power well, Sting?" A man emerged from a crack in the air, stepping carelessly over the skulls as he spoke.

Had other players been present, they would have undoubtedly been horrified.

Sting. Once the greatest wizard of the Black Bee guild, one of the world's top ten guilds. Unfortunately, after turning Kai into an enemy, the guild was utterly destroyed, leaving not even a foundation behind. Still, he remained a figure whose presence was impossible for any MID Online player to ignore.

"I am. So well, in fact, that it's getting boring. My body is itching for action."

"It’s not time yet. He is still stronger than us."

"I told you not to give me orders, Goliath."

"I never ordered you, Sting."

The name Goliath followed after Sting’s. Another name that no player could be unfamiliar with. They had once been rivals who constantly kept each other in check, but now their relationship was closer than expected. Of course, that was only possible because they shared quite a few similarities.

For one, they had both been guild masters of the world’s top ten guilds, and both had Kai as their nemesis. Now, both of them possessed Mythic-class professions.

Goliath stared at Sting intently and said, "Have you been keeping up with news about Unknown?"

"Every day. To defeat an enemy, you must understand them."

The aura emanating from both men became increasingly ferocious.

"So, what’s the reason you came looking for me?"

At Sting’s question, Goliath wore a solemn expression and slowly said, "How strong are you now?”

"Is that why you came?"

"I'm curious."

At Goliath’s straightforward question, Sting held up three fingers. "I'm ranked within the top three in MID Online."

"I see," Hearing Sting’s response, Goliath nodded without a hint of doubt. "I came to make you an offer today."

"An offer?"

"That Unknown bastard. Lately, he’s been on an unstoppable winning streak, and it's starting to annoy me."

"You want to interfere with him? But if we’re careless, we might get caught."

"That’s why I want to borrow your strength. If I act directly, there will be traces left behind."

At Goliath’s words, Sting smirked. "You want to cause some real chaos?"

"I simply judged that shaking things up a little would be beneficial, and a perfect opportunity has come our way."

"You mean the Grand Blacksmith Tournament," Sting instantly saw through Goliath’s intent.

"That’s right. There will be tens of thousands of spectators watching the tournament. Even if the ambush is only partially successful, it will deal a serious blow to his pride."

"I like it. This is perfect timing. I was planning to get rid of this trash anyway," Sting muttered as he looked at the thousands of skulls piled beneath his feet.

***

"Everyone is incredibly skilled."

"Well, they’re all master craftsmen, after all."

Cyrus clenched both fists tightly as he focused on the competition, but Kai looked noticeably bored.

This isn’t as exciting as I expected.

Honestly speaking, how exciting could a competition where blacksmiths simply crafted weapons really be? It was just a repetitive cycle of hammering metal, cooling it, reheating it, and hammering it again. Watching such repetitive labor for hours was far more sleep-inducing than he had anticipated.

Maybe I should splash some water on my face to wake up.

Just as Kai yawned and was about to switch the game into standby mode...

Ding!

[Haveros Territory is under attack.]

[Defend your territory.]

An alert filled his vision, instantly driving away his drowsiness.

What? An attack? By who?

Kai’s expression hardened as he immediately stood up and turned to Cyrus. "Something urgent came up. I need to leave for a moment."

"Huh? Oh, sure. See you later."

By the time Cyrus finished his response, Kai had already used Shadow Shift and disappeared from Libertia.

At the same time...

"Huh? What’s that in the sky?"

"Looks like teleportation gates..."

"But why are they appearing there?"

Thousands of holes began opening in the sky above Libertia.