Paris

“Run! Don’t walk, run, you slowpokes!”

“Captain! The 3rd company is requesting support! They’re asking for even just one platoon to be sent immediately!”

“Ammunition! Bring ammunition!”

“Help! My daughter hurt her leg!”

“Chloe! Chloe!”

Officers screaming orders, soldiers moving busily with weapons, parents running while holding their children’s hands, young people calling out someone’s name.

The city that had been peaceful just dozens of hours ago had transformed into a battlefield filled with blood and screams.

No, to be more precise, calling it a battlefield wasn’t quite right – massacre site would be more appropriate.

After all, it was hard to call it a war when one side was being completely overwhelmed.

Ratatatata!

Boom!

The heavy sound of machine guns and rocket launcher explosions drowned out the street noise.

People’s faces turned deathly pale at the intense gunfire that was incomparable to anything before.

They knew from experience what this situation meant.

Crack!

The heavy armored vehicle that had been set up instead of a barricade was sliced in half, revealing the scene beyond.

A being wearing full plate mail and a helmet covering their entire face.

At first glance they looked like a knight-type Contractor, but everyone present knew that this being was not a Contractor, and furthermore, not even human.

The knight, trailing an ominous dark red energy while spewing red light from their eyes, pointed their lowered sword forward.

“Here they come!”

Concentrated fire poured toward the enemies appearing through the collapsed barricade.

The firepower of an entire company armed with modern weapons focused on a single point.

Bullets and grenades rained down like a storm as mortars spewed fire and anti-tank missiles cut through the air.

It was an attack that could take down even a medium-sized monster, but unfortunately the opponent was formidable.

Gruuk, gruuk.

Clack! Clatter!

Hehehe.

A corpse crawling with just its upper body remaining, making sounds like clearing phlegm.

A skeleton making sounds of teeth clashing while moving its jaw up and down.

A translucent ghost making spine-chilling cries.

The enemies were undead – beings that were dead yet moved.

“Fire! Don’t stop firing!”

The officers shouted until they nearly coughed blood.

If they were facing normal monsters, they could have held them back sufficiently, but as mentioned earlier, the opponent was formidable.

The mindless undead kept pressing forward even if their bodies were destroyed and turned to ashes.

An immortal army that knew no fear.

This alone was problematic, but there was an even bigger issue.

Whoosh.

Black smoke gathered as the ghosts that had lost their forms in the explosive storms revived.

Some soldiers fired their guns but they just passed through harmlessly – they couldn’t inflict any damage on ghost-type monsters that had the worst compatibility with modern weapons.

“H-help! Save me!”

“Aaaaah!”

As soldiers attacked by ghosts either fled in terror or opened fire on their comrades, the firepower noticeably decreased, and accordingly more and more undead began entering the road.

Though the situation was hopeless, no one could suggest retreating.

There was nowhere left to fall back to, and even if they tried to run, they would clearly be caught quickly.

“M-my arm! My arm…”

Thud!

The soldier who had been wailing while clutching his severed arm was kicked in the chest by a skeleton and rolled across the ground.

Seeing the skeleton raise its sword overhead, the soldier closed his eyes tight, resigned to death.

However, when no pain came even after time passed, the soldier slightly opened his eyes.

Through blurry vision, he saw the shattered skeleton and people running with melee weapons.

“Contractors!”

The soldier cried out in a voice filled with joy, forgetting even the pain in his arm.

Usually he had thought of them as just thugs who got lucky and gained power, but now he saw no greater heroes.

The ghosts that couldn’t be taken down by guns and bombs fell helplessly before melee weapons like swords, spears, and bows.

Though people cheered, the expressions of the Contractors weren’t very good.

This was already their fifteenth battle.

Though Contractors had superior stamina compared to normal people, there were clear limits.

The continuous battles without proper food, sleep, or rest were more than enough to drain the Contractors’ stamina.

Crunch!

“Hah… hah…”

The young man who crushed the charging zombie’s head with his bare fist breathed heavily.

Though he wanted to throw off all his sword and armor and lie down anywhere to sleep, he couldn’t.

Because his family and friends were behind him.

‘Hold on as long as possible.’

He was still better off than others.

Unlike his companions wearing equipment with no special abilities, he was fighting wearing cutting-edge armor produced in Korea.

The young man’s performance, aided by the armor’s assistance, clearly stood out.

While other Contractors dealt with two or three undead, he handled seven or eight.

Clang!

The young man who had been cutting down undead in a trance returned to reality at the sharp metallic sound and impact transmitted through his sword.

“Death Knight?”

The young man muttered in a dazed voice as he confirmed the being that had blocked his sword.

Code name Death Knight.

An elite monster possessing both overwhelming attack power that could slice through armored vehicles and tanks, and absurd defense that could withstand missiles.

‘Why is it here now when it usually stays in the back except when facing tank units or breaking defensive lines?’

The Death Knight’s voice reached the bewildered young man’s ears.

Though it was a language he had never heard before, somehow the young man could understand its meaning.

“You want a duel?”

“…”

“Because I look like a knight?”

The young man looked down at his own body.

Indeed, his armored appearance did look like a knight.

‘Well, the being I contracted with is also a knight, but…’

Fighting an elite monster was suicide.

Unless you were a hero called superhuman among superhumans, it would take dozens of normal Contractors gathered together to take down an elite monster.

But the young man couldn’t easily refuse.

Because the undead had stopped attacking from the moment the Death Knight stepped forward.

‘We’ll all die at this rate anyway. Might as well accept the duel.’

If he won that would be great, and even if he lost, it would buy time for the soldiers and Contractors to rest and regroup.

Having made his decision, the young man nodded.

“…”

“Joseph.”

After exchanging names, the young man took his sword and assumed a combat stance.

Before attack power that could slice through centimeters of military armor like paper, even cutting-edge armor wouldn’t stay intact.

But the young man had one trump card.

Woong!

Along with a faint resonance, blue energy enveloped the young man’s sword.

Weapons imbued with aura gained greatly increased attack power and durability.

Though it wouldn’t match the Death Knight’s, an aura-imbued sword should at least let him exchange dozens of blows.

“Hup!”

The young man attacked first.

Considering the difference in skill, it would be better to defend and look for counter-attacks, but he lacked the magic power for that.

While he might manage if he only used it for a decisive strike, maintaining aura like this meant he wouldn’t last even 3 minutes.

‘Must end this within 3 minutes.’

Though his mind was rushed, he showed none of that outwardly.

He couldn’t lose his composure on top of fighting someone stronger than himself.

Clang! Clang! Claaang!

3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds…

Though his limit steadily approached, there wasn’t the slightest opening in the Death Knight’s stance.

Only then did the young man realize the gap in skill between himself and the Death Knight was far greater than he had thought.

‘It’s not just a mindlessly strong monster. Its swordsmanship is top class!’

Whether because it simply wanted to compete in pure swordsmanship or not, the Death Knight was only matching his power and speed.

The problem was that the Death Knight’s swordsmanship was also far superior to his own.

‘Now!’

When the aura maintenance time dropped below 5 seconds, the young man staked everything on one move.

He ignored the sword flying toward his chest and went on the attack.

The powerful sword strike with his full strength descended toward the Death Knight’s crown.

At this distance, there was no way to block a sword swung like this.

‘With my own hands, an elite monster…’

Crunch!

“Kuhak!”

Just before the sword made contact, the young man was sent flying at terrifying speed and crashed into a nearby car.

Looking back and forth between the Death Knight standing arrogantly as if nothing had happened and the blood flowing from between his sliced armor, the young man let out a hollow laugh.

“…I lost.”

A miracle didn’t occur.

As everyone expected, the Death Knight won and the young man lost.

“Damn it! Joseph, I’ll…”

Boom!

With a sound like a bomb exploding, the asphalt road around the Death Knight cracked like a spider web.

It was a warning.

A warning that those who interfered with the duel wouldn’t be spared.

Feeling like the Death Knight’s sword would fly at them if they moved even slightly, the people in the street couldn’t even twitch.

The Death Knight nodded as if satisfied and approached the young man with sword raised.

Like the soldier who had faced the skeleton earlier, the young man closed his eyes resigned to death.

But no matter how much time passed, no pain came.

When he slightly opened his eyes, the young man saw the Death Knight looking somewhere.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

A heavy sound coming from somewhere.

And soon after, the owner of that sound revealed themselves.

Boom!

With a massive explosion, a mysterious figure landed in the middle of the road.

People’s questioning gazes, both human and undead, poured toward the man standing in what was known as a superhero landing pose.

“…Han Yuseong?”

“Han Yuseong? Who’s that?”

“You idiot! Don’t you know Shooting Star? Korea’s hero!”

“What? Is that real?!”

People who realized the man’s identity let out exclamations, forgetting the situation.

The appearance of one of less than 10 heroes in the world warranted such a reaction.

Thud!

As if displeased by the people regaining their spirits, the Death Knight stomped its foot again.

“Cute.”

Muttering incomprehensible words about what exactly was cute, Yuseong walked steadily toward the Death Knight.

Enraged by Yuseong’s leisurely attitude, the Death Knight charged forward with the red light under its helmet burning fiercely.

The sword swung toward Yuseong’s crown with power incomparable to when fighting the young man.

Clang!

Everyone present doubted their eyes.

The Death Knight’s sword that could even slice through tanks was caught in Yuseong’s hand.

While everyone was shocked, Yuseong reached out with his other hand and grabbed the Death Knight’s head.

“!!!”

A scream of agony erupted from the Death Knight’s mouth.

The helmet in Yuseong’s grip was being crushed.

If the Death Knight had let go of its sword and tried punching Yuseong’s body or face, it might have escaped the iron claw.

However, the Death Knight didn’t give up its sword until the very end, and with that the outcome was decided.

Crunch!

As the helmet crumpled like a can, the Death Knight’s movements stopped.

“…”

“…”

Neither humans nor undead could say anything.

They simply couldn’t believe that such a terrifying being, their leader, had been defeated so easily.

But no matter how much they denied it, reality wouldn’t change.

Boom!

Yuseong’s figure, using Shooting Star, shot toward the undead crowd.

After erasing the undead as easily as erasing scribbles with an eraser, Yuseong leaped across nearby buildings and cut through downtown at the voice coming through his earphones.

The city was vast and accordingly there were many undead that had invaded.

Though it was impossible to drive out all the undead, it would take at least a full night of work just to restore some stability.

“Sigh.”

Letting out a small sigh, Yuseong looked down from dozens of meters in the air.

Whether this should be called fortunate or unfortunate he wasn’t sure, but despite the monster invasion, the beautiful cityscape helped lift his gloomy mood somewhat.

As Yuseong fell to the ground after finishing his brief flight, the Eiffel Tower passed through his field of vision.