“Wait! We haven’t agreed yet!”

Seo Jang-san stood up and shouted. Taesan chuckled and pointed his finger.

“It’s simple. You are not the qualified players the system refers to.”

In the previous world, there had been no successful cases of changing the king despite numerous attempts. Easy, Normal, and Hard Mode players, including Lee Taeyeon, had failed, rendering the clause seemingly meaningless. That’s why Choi Jung-hyuk had used an Easy Mode player when he killed Seo Jang-san.

Only a player who qualifies can request a change of king. The labyrinth’s criteria for qualification were exceedingly high.

Only those who had cleared the Divine Trials and even those enhanced by the gods themselves qualified.

Neither Hard Mode players, Lee Taeyeon, nor Kang Jun-hyuk had the qualification. They might have passed the Divine Trials, but they hadn’t impressed the gods.

Only Taesan was qualified.

Taesan clapped his hands.

“Now, we can change the king. Makes things simple, right?”

He looked at Seo Jang-san with amused eyes.

A shiver ran down Seo Jang-san as he stood up abruptly.

At the same moment, Taesan moved. His chair shattered as he appeared right in front of Seo Jang-san.

“You!”

Seo Jang-san gasped and drew his weapon, but Taesan easily knocked it aside and grabbed him by the neck.

“Chk! Chk!”

Seo Jang-san slammed into the wall. The surrounding Hard Mode players hurriedly drew their weapons to attack Taesan.

[You have activated Counter.]

An intangible force struck them.

“Aargh!”

“Ugh!”

Those who rushed in were knocked to the ground and slammed against the walls like flies hit by a swatter.

In the devastated conference room, Taesan spoke leisurely.

“I could end this now… but where’s the fun in that?”

“Screech!”

Seo Jang-san slashed his weapon down.

Taesan caught it and threw it aside.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

In the midst of the chaos, Taesan stood alone, towering.

“So I’ll give you a chance. Try to struggle.”

“That’s rich.”

In the park by the city hall, Taesan whistled.

“Is this all?”

“Yes. This is all who follow me.”

Seo Jang-san declared proudly.

Behind him stood about a hundred players—all Hard Mode players.

“All of you…”

Kim Hwi-yeon bit her lip. Indeed, all Hard Mode players from Yongin were following Seo Jang-san, whether explicitly or implicitly.

“You’ll regret giving them a chance.”

Taesan told Seo Jang-san. Bring everything you have, all your power. Try hard to struggle.

Seo Jang-san took him at his word. Standing before Taesan, his expression was bright. With these numbers, he believed he had a good chance against even the mighty Taesan.

“Then let’s start right away. You remember the conditions?”

“Defense at zero, non-lethal one-on-one combat. I know.”

Almost all players from Yongin were watching their fight, and most expected Taesan to lose.

Hard Mode players were truly formidable. No matter how strong one was, it was believed impossible for a single individual to defeat a hundred.

“Hop!”

The first to move was a Hard Mode player.

He ran at Taesan with a shield.

‘The opponent’s attack power is 50!’

When Taesan attacked Hard Mode players in Yongin, he had shown a damage of 51. Seo Jang-san remembered that and told everyone.

Sure, it was high damage, but not insurmountable. The plan was to block his attack and then counter in sequence.

“Sorry to shatter your hope, but I didn’t give you a chance for that reason.”

Rather, it was to crush them.

Taesan aimed his sword at the approaching shield.

[You have activated Addition.]

Crack.

The opponent’s body flew like a baseball hit by a bat.

[Min-jung Kim has taken 453 damage.]

[Min-jung Kim has been incapacitated.]

“He flew quite far.”

Taesan commented as he watched the man crash on the edge of the city hall grounds.

The other Hard Mode players hesitated.

“……Uh?”

“If you won’t come, I’ll go.”

Taesan rolled forward. He charged at the nearest man, who, caught off guard, hastily raised his sword.

Calmly, Taesan struck him down with his sword.

Crack.

The man was smashed into the ground, raising a cloud of dust, and didn’t move as if knocked out.

[Gu-han Kim has taken 443 damage.]

[Gu-han Kim has been incapacitated.]

It was over in one strike. Seo Jang-san finally regained his senses and cried out.

“What’s with that damage! Don’t joke around!”

Seo Jang-san remembered that when Taesan attacked them, the damage had been 51.

Taesan responded to his shout.

“Had a bit of trouble adjusting.”

He had attacked with gauntlets instead of a sword, greatly reducing his strength and speed.

“Ah, ahh.”

Seo Jang-san belatedly realized.

He had unsuspectingly believed that the 51 damage was Taesan’s full power. It was already a very high damage compared to theirs; it was hard to imagine he had held back.

That’s why he believed he had a chance. With such damage, they could withstand a few hits, and if their defense was zero, any successful hit would still cause damage.

But the power Taesan now displayed shattered that assumption.

“Are we done cleaning up?”

Taesan moved. He smacked the neck of a dazed player next to him. With a sonic boom, the player crashed into a building.

He then swung his sword to the other side. A player with a spear tried to block, but he and his spear were flung away together.

Four had fallen in an instant.

“Don’t joke!”

Seo Jang-san finally came to his senses and roared.

“I am, we are Hard Mode players! We became strong by risking our lives!”

His words were filled with confidence and pride, the foundation of his identity.

“So what?”

Taesan dismissively crushed his outcry.

Seo Jang-san gritted his teeth.

“We’re Hard Mode players.”

They couldn’t lose so helplessly. They were the strong ones. It was impossible for a hundred to lose.

“Everyone, snap out of it!”

His fierce cry roused the Hard Mode players. They glared at Taesan with eyes full of fight.

‘No matter how strong!’

They were among the elite players who had ventured into the labyrinth, risking their lives.

Reinvigorated, they began to move aggressively, pressing Taesan.

“Hup!”

A man wielding dual shields charged with heavy thuds.

[Park Dae-in has activated Mitigation.]

Mitigation—a skill that reduces the ratio of damage taken, though inferior to Solidity but still quite useful.

Taesan struck down with his sword.

Along with the dual shields, the man was smashed into the ground.

[Dae-in Park has taken 394 damage.]

“I, I survived!”

The man on the ground shouted joyously. It was a close call, but he had lived.

“Survived what?”

Taesan kicked him dispassionately. With damage reaching the hundreds, Park Dae-in was incapacitated.

“……Don’t even try to take the hits!”

Seo Jang-san shouted as he watched the fight.

Park Dae-in had the highest health among them.

That he could only withstand two hits, even using Mitigation, meant that they were all essentially one-hit targets.

Taesan moved leisurely, shattering any who stood in his way, cleaning up one by one.

“Haap!”

A man with long hair let out a fierce battle cry as he lunged with his spear.

Taesan casually blocked and counterattacked.

“Got you!”

[Se-han Lee has activated Evasion.]

Evasion—a rare skill among Hard Mode players, and Se-han Lee was one of the few who possessed it.

He had won numerous battles using this. Confidently, he charged at Taesan’s sword.

Taesan’s sword halted.

He dodged the spear, flicked Se-han Lee’s forehead with his finger, removed Evasion, and swung his sword.

Crack.

[Se-han Lee has been incapacitated.]

“Uh, uh…”

Se-han Lee collapsed.

It was a fluid movement. To those watching from a distance, it seemed as if Se-han Lee had suicidally charged.

Taesan’s sword moved broadly. At the same time, those charging at him were crushed and flung aside.

Taesan didn’t stop.

He approached a man fumbling through his inventory. Seeing Taesan in front of him, the man turned pale and threw something.

Bang!

A purple powder exploded into the air. The man brightened and shouted.

“Done! Everyone attack!”

He had thrown Enchantment Powder, an item that scattered the minds of sentient monsters.

It cost 2000 gold, so the man had sold everything he owned to barely afford it.

[Taesan Kang is undergoing a confusion check…]

[Check unnecessary!]

“What are you doing that’s irritating my eyes?”

Taesan brushed the powder off his face with an annoyed look.

“Uh, uh?”

His sword pierced through the chest of the startled man.

The one-sided fight continued.

“Ah, ah…”

Seo Jang-san couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Hard Mode players were those who had survived a labyrinth with a 1% survival rate. Each had at least one hidden ace up their sleeve. The people now falling had not been easy to overcome; they had talent and strength.

But they were all falling with a single hit.

“We’re halfway through.”

Taesan said this with only annoyance visible on his face.

It was as if an adult was dealing with a child’s tantrum.

And the children were them.

“Strong, great, impressive Hard Mode players. How are you any different from the Easy Mode players you look down on?”

To him, Easy or Hard, it was all the same. No matter how many gathered, it made no difference to him.

Crack.

Another Hard Mode player fell.

The expressions of those determined to fight grew darker.

And those watching were astonished.

People from Anyang who knew somewhat were shocked, and those from Yongin who knew nothing were beyond words.

Hard Mode players were those who could easily handle monsters that were hard for them to handle, and even hundreds of them could not win against such foes.

That’s why they had silently followed oppression and violence.

To them, Hard Mode players were a kind of ruler.

But now, a hundred of such rulers were falling helplessly like them.

It was like a fantasy.

“Heh…”

“Wow.”

Lee Taeyeon blankly expressed her amazement. Kang Jun-hyuk chuckled.

He wasn’t weak. In a fight against Hard Mode players, he was confident he could win 1:1. He even thought he had a chance at 1:2.

But compared to Taesan, he felt utterly trivial.

As if he could fight the entire humanity and still stand a chance. He knew Taesan was strong, but he had never imagined this level.

‘…Can I ever reach that level?’

He and Taesan were players of the same mode. It wasn’t impossible.

But it seemed so far away, unimaginable even in his wildest dreams.

As everyone harbored their various thoughts, the battle continued.

And the end was nearing.

Taesan, standing among those he had incapacitated, hadn’t sweated a drop. His breathing hadn’t roughened, and not even a small scratch was visible on him.

It was a complete domination.

“You’re the last one, huh?”

Taesan said to Seo Jang-san, who was staring at him blankly.