In the end, Beom In had no choice but to start shouting Sin’s name.

That killer might be ruthless, but at least he’s still human—made Beom In feel a little less like he’d been dumped into another world alone.

Besides, that guy had sharp senses. If Beom In called for him, he’d probably come out soon to kill him… and then he could just beg for mercy.

Beom In’s plan sounded great in his head, but reality couldn’t have been more different. From his initial cautious testing to eventually yelling at full volume across the campus, not a single person responded.

There were moments when Beom In honestly felt that if he turned around and saw that terrifying pale green mask, he might even feel a bit relieved.

But in reality, no one appeared…

Opponent, teammate, game, audience—it all felt like a dream now, no trace left behind, and he had no idea which way to go.

“Sin, you’re such a dmn bstard… Why’d you take my Exit Token…”

Beom In muttered under his breath, eyes darting around sneakily, as a terrifying thought surfaced in his mind.

......

In the alternate dimension.

Thirteenth Step.

Park Bu Seong was now on his fourth physical transformation. At this point, he had a dog’s head on a human body.

His previous demon forms either couldn’t handle the demonic backlash and collapsed, or were literally beaten to pieces by Lu Ce.

He turned his head slightly, eyeing the large hole next to him with a bit of dread.

There, a section of the staircase wall had collapsed, revealing a ten-meter-wide hole. Through it, you could see endless dark space.

Beyond the hole was a turbulent temporal storm. This was an alternate dimension after all—and it had been shattered by Lu Ce’s high-energy blast.

Park Bu Seong didn’t know what kind of weapon that was. It looked just a bit bigger than a handgun. “Sin” held it and shouted, “Fifty!”

Then, his previous body—along with a horde of abyss demons—were instantly wiped out.

The terrifying blaze still made his blood run cold just thinking about it.

Good thing this was his home turf. Otherwise, that one blast would’ve meant certain death.

What tier was that weapon? Another Legendary one?

Park Bu Seong’s thoughts were a mess. Suddenly, his legs gave out, and he plopped down on the ground.

His strength was fully drained. Even with the Legendary-tier boost from Song of Ice and Fire, he had nothing left in the tank.

And now, the horror mystery “Thirteenth Step” had reached its power peak—the strongest summonable demon had appeared: the Eighteen Soul-Hooking Ghosts.

Each had the head of a beast and the body of a human—griffins, lizards, and so on—and Park Bu Seong was now one of them too.

His mouth opened as if to taunt, but when the words reached his throat, he couldn’t say a thing.

—The gap was just too wide.

This stage wasn’t meant to be brute-forced. But “Sin” insisted on brute-forcing it, completely ignoring his own safety in the process.

Now, most of the major demons were already dead. And he was still standing.

Are there really players like this in the world?

This was far beyond human. Does the human race even deserve to have someone like this among them?

On Park Bu Seong’s dog face, fear and desire intertwined.

Fear—because the pitch-black hallway was now splashed with colors.

The red was dominant, accented by others. It was the blood of demons and the carnage of scattered brains and guts.

Over the past hour, Sin had been like a mad painter, using demon lives to color the entire space.

If dead demons weren’t absorbed by the alternate dimension, the place would’ve been piled sky-high with corpses.

No one understood Lu Ce’s strength better than Park Bu Seong. Not even the audience. Only he knew what kind of beast he’d been facing this past hour.

Lu Ce’s figure now looked like it might collapse at any moment. Park Bu Seong felt like victory was finally within reach—but he’d had that illusion a few times before.

Fighting, killing, taking damage—then gulping down a Healing Potion and continuing to fight.

Even just watching him was exhausting! Park Bu Seong didn’t even want to lift his head to cast another ice-fire spell.

Still, desire sparkled in his eyes—if he really won, the world would know what kind of monster he defeated!

Don’t ask how he won—just whether he did or not!

So, he didn’t dare make any extra moves. Just kept up the stalemate.

Inside the horror mystery, the scene looked bizarre. No one moved.

Each of the Eighteen Soul-Hooking Ghosts had an iron hook chain that pierced through Lu Ce’s body and latched onto one of his bones.

Lu Ce’s explosive power, combined with the constant buff from the Wrath Mask, had already pushed him past the game’s upper limit. Even eighteen demons couldn’t tear him apart.

Still, he couldn’t move recklessly now either.

Everyone was in a deadlock. Lu Ce’s Mysterious Cloak was no different than being soaked in a river of blood. The eighteen bones the chains latched onto were slowly bleeding.

He sat on the steps, feet relaxed—one on the step above, one below.

The wounds on his body were too many to count. The Mysterious Cloak, like the most caring lover, concealed all his wretchedness.

Even with eighteen chains impaled through him, he still carried that unmatched, king-of-the-world aura.

In this horror mystery, Lu Ce never saw himself as a challenger. Neither Park Bu Seong nor the demons dared see him that way anymore either.

He was the real problem here.

And now, Lu Ce, chained by eighteen iron hooks, was... reading a book!

Each chain pulled on his bones, weakened his body, and tainted his soul.

But as he read Confessions of the Disillusioned, the soul corruption vanished entirely.

To the Eighteen Soul-Hooking Ghosts, the person they’d hooked had a will like iron.

Unshaken.

His soul was even sturdier than his body.

Meanwhile, he was building up Rage Points.

【Player “Sin” has triggered an in-game achievement and received the Legendary Badge—Lord of Slaughter!】

For the first time, amid the wails of demons, the game system prompt rang out in Lu Ce’s ear, interrupting his thoughts. He immediately snapped:

“Can you shut the f*** up?”

【......】

With a tilt of his head, he decided to go big.

He chugged an Advanced Healing Potion, starting the frenzied healing of his wounds.

“Chosen of Agony, stat boost!”