Considering my IceMan trait, Intellect in the late 40,000s, and other items, I can kill even strong tanks with one single strike, not to mention those who were not tanks.

So, I chose to acquire this skill without any hesitation.

You have acquired level 8 Ice Punishment.

‘Hahaha!’

I had no choice but to smile when I acquired Ice Punishment, the ultimate single-target skill, to my repertoire which included the ultimate AOE skills Level 9 Blizzard and Level 8 Ice Tornado. And I felt even more secure because I felt like I had achieved something once more.

But I could not afford to be complacent because I still had lots of work to do.

After acquiring the skill, I immediately moved to the Land of Titan, the level 1500 hunting ground.

In the meantime, a group of people who were gathered in Cape Town, South Africa, started talking about something.

“Really? We didn’t win first place even though our team had twenty members?”

“Well, that team had Asirante, or more precisely, Juyoung Hong.”

“But our team had twenty, not ten! Besides, our team didn’t go there empty-handed! But do you know what the real problem is?”

“What is it?”

“Somehow, I have a hunch that we’re going to tie for second place next time.”

“Well…”

This time, the small-statured man could not finish his words in response to the stout man who fumed at the defeat of his team, for he felt the same as well.

So, they prepared quite a bit. In particular, they made a team of twenty through a connection trait by summoning ten players who had been proceeding with the quest in a different place .

Despite that, they were tied for second place. Of course, it wasn’t a bad score.

Given that tens of thousands or maybe hundreds of thousands of teams challenged the quest, second place was not that bad.

But the fact that they received no reward for their second place deepened their sense of loss as well as anger. They were enraged because they were second place, in particular.

“Damn it! What the hell is that bastard’s secret weapon?”

“This quest was for a ten-member team. So, we can’t conclude we lost because of Asirante.”

“Do you mean we can’t blame Asirante?”

“…”

The small man mentioned that Asirante might not be to blame since the quest was challenged with a team of ten members. In other words, Asirante was just one of them in his eyes.

However, when asked who else should be blamed other than Asirante for their defeat, the small man had no choice but to keep silent because he didn’t know, either.

No matter how much he thought about it, the big man could not help but infer that it was Asirante who led the Myongjin team to win.

“Whew! The world is getting more and more chaotic, and a world where power is everything is approaching. It seems that the protagonist of this world has already been decided.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

When the stout man complained like that, the other people including the small man who were listening to him attentively did not refute.

Anyway, the meeting of the Jastron Guild, the alleged No.1 Guild in South Africa, continued for a long time.

In the Land of Titan.

“Ice Punishment!”

Bang!

Kuuuuuuuuuh!

A huge slab of ice fell from the sky instead of lightning. And it instantly killed the level 1500 monsters, the Titans, by inflicting a huge amount of damage.

“Hahaha.”

So, I had no choice but to laugh.

But at the same time, I had some regrets because its cooldown was even longer than that of AOE skills.

Of course, I could understand it. It would be a scam if this single-target skill had no cooldown or a shorter cooldown than AOE skills given its enormous power.

Anyway, after confirming the skill’s enormous power, I started herd hunting using Blink with zero cooldown.

The next day and the day after that, I started to feel that something was a little off.

As a matter of fact, there was nothing strange.

Nonetheless, I felt that something was off.

So I immediately messaged my sister.

Lumen: Hey, sis!

Super Beauty: What’s up?

Lumen: Can you log out now? Can I see you at the secret house of Rodon Castle?

Super Beauty: Huh? Why?

Lumen: Because I am there now.

Super Beauty: Got it. I’ll join you there immediately.

I asked my sister to come to the secret house of Rodon Castle.

As soon as she came, I logged out with her.

Inside the No. 1 Base of the Myongjin Shelter.

“Why? What’s going on?” my sister asked.

“I have to check something. Put down your VR device here.”

First, I placed the VR device in my older sister’s hand on the table next to the sofa.

Of course, I placed mine there, too.

Then I said softly, “Sis, we’re going to log in at the same time this time.”

“Uh?”

“So, let’s count 3, 2, 1 at once and log in at the same time. Then, we will meet at the safe house at the same time, right?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Let’s do it.”

My sister was a little startled by my unexpected suggestion, but she didn’t raise any questions. So, I immediately lay down on the living room sofa with my sister and put on the VR device.

“When I countdown from 3, we are going to log in at the same time. Got it?”

“Okay.”

“3, 2, 1. Access!”

“Access!”

So, we accessed Revival Legend at the same time.

At the Rodon Castle’s secret house within Revival Legend a little later.

“What the heck? Juyoung, why are you late?”

“…”

First of all, my sister was in front of me. But after hearing her words, I realized that what I thought was strange was real.

“I measured the time. Exactly 5 minutes and 30 seconds!”

“Did I log in 5 minutes and 30 seconds later?”

5 minutes and 30 seconds was long or short, depending on how one looked at it.

However, considering the time it took us to log in, it was indeed very long.

“You aren’t making fun of me, are you?” she demanded.

“…”

I wished this was a joke like she said because I didn’t do anything while accessing the game.

There was obviously an unknown delay in accessing the game.

Of course, I could ignore it as trivial.

5 minutes and 30 seconds was also permissible enough in terms of logging in.

But the problem was that Revival Legend was not just an ordinary game.

And there were also other problems.

I checked my logging time again after three hours, and it took me 7 minutes and 21 seconds. Then when I checked it for the third time after another three hours, it took me 9 minutes and 57 seconds

If it had been 5 minutes and 30 seconds constantly, I wouldn’t have been so anxious.

However, as time went on, the delay in accessing the game gradually increased noticeably.

Finally, Director Sok said, “After I heard about your access delay, I randomly selected 20,000 players of the Myongjin Guild to confirm it. But they didn’t experience any delay in accessing Revival Legend.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

20,000 players from the Myongjin Guild were selected for this test, but they didn’t have the same problem as me. Thus, it was reasonable to conclude that only I was experiencing such a delay. That’s why everyone in the small meeting room, including my father, brother, sister, and Director Sok, had a serious expression on their faces. Given that my relationship with the Myongjin Guild was inseparable, it was natural that they were gravely concerned.