Casino Commotion (1)
Fsssh….
With the explosives, the underground entrance collapsed.
Murmur, murmur!
Everyone panicked.
Baek Jinwoo, too, instinctively summoned his summons.
But.
[Players cannot use summons for combat purposes outside!]
They could not be used for combat purposes.
They could only provide a protective shield.
Lamba, HunGyo, Explosive Dragon, and the others did not speak carelessly since there were so many people around, and instead guarded their master, Baek Jinwoo, while surrounding him.
"What kind of situation is this?"
He wondered if Xenos might know, so he asked, but Xenos' face was stiff as well.
"I don't know either. I should go and check."
Dust was billowing around the entrance, and marble fragments were scattered everywhere nearby.
It seemed everyone inside the VIP room was flustered, as they were all gathering in the central hall.
"What happened here?"
"A bomb? Did a bomb just go off? The entrance is completely blocked?"
"Manager? Please come out! How are you managing the VIP room for an accident like this to happen?"
"We can go back up, right? The building isn't going to collapse or something, is it?"
Of all places, the elevator was where the explosion had happened.
And there was no staff member answering their commotion either.
'Hmm.'
Something was strange.
'No matter how I look at it, this doesn't seem like a simple accident.'
A bomb planted in the world's largest casino, in a place where obviously very important guests had gathered?
No matter who looked at it, wasn't this clearly terrorism?
It was then that Xenos, fearlessly walking forward with one summon already out, approached.
Just as he was about to assess the situation through the thick, rising dust—
Swish!
Someone suddenly burst out from the dust.
He was a huge man, enormously muscular, his skin covered in tattoos.
At that moment.
[Warning! Warning! Warning!]
[An unknown player uses the item, 'Shield Removal' (A-rank).]
[From now on, for 3 hours, the protective shields of players within a certain range will be forcibly removed!]
That message appeared in everyone's view.
"W-what?!"
"M-my shield disappeared!"
"What is this?! Which bastard did this?!"
…..Ssssss!
The golden aura covering their skin slowly began to disappear.
At the same time.
Thud!
The giant man brutally kicked Xenos in the stomach.
"Kgh!"
He was hit so hard that Xenos was lifted into the air, then sent tumbling across the floor.
'Crazy.'
Baek Jinwoo was shocked.
'The shield could disappear?'
He had never known that.
To begin with, the concept of a shield didn't even exist in 「Battle of Summoners」.
'So there was an item like that too.'
Anyway.
Seeing the imposing Xenos get sent rolling like a soccer ball, the situation seemed to be turning seriously bad.
Lowering his stance, Baek Jinwoo immediately moved toward where his guild members were.
The giant man who had revealed himself was a muscular black man who looked like he'd stuffed himself with steroids, and he wore a hood.
He was also holding a rifle.
'This is insane.'
Without shields...
If they carried out terrorism like this, could people really die without being able to do anything?
"Listen up."
An unfamiliar, rough voice spread throughout the hall.
"Everybody get down. Unless you want to die."
Clack-clack!
The armed giant wasn't alone.
From within the still-thick dust, more of them began to emerge one by one.
And that wasn't all.
Whether the guards had been breached or not, even the ones who had been standing watch above them threw off their clothes and put on hoods.
At the same time, they aimed their gun barrels at them.
'Wow.'
At this point, it was certain.
A planned terrorist attack!
Judging roughly by the numbers, there seemed to be about fifty of them.
"Didn't you hear what I said?"
Click!
The giant who seemed to be the boss aimed his gun at the ceiling.
Then—
Ratatatatatatat!
He switched the selector to full auto and started firing wildly.
Wow, damn.
Does this make any sense in the 21st century?
The public safety in Britain, supposedly a great summoning power, is a joke.
"Aaah!"
"G-get down!"
"Aaaaargh!"
In an instant, chaos broke out, and HunGyo immediately shoved Baek Jinwoo down.
Then he whispered.
—My lord, there is no way this time. I would like to subdue those bastards this instant and educate them with Tendon-Breaking Bone-Crushing, but I simply cannot act.
First of all.
There was one way to escape.
Open his phone and request a summon from Baek Ajin.
The skill, 'Desperate Call', had no distance limit.
'But I can't do that.'
He couldn't run away and abandon Yoo Jia and the guild members.
"W-what do we do?"
Yoo Jia asked.
"Just a moment."
First, a wall!
They might not be able to use summons for combat purposes, but wouldn't it still be possible to simply set them up as barriers?
Baek Jinwoo had quite a few decent tanks.
'Jaggeo, Dampir, and Titanium Golem.'
But.
There was someone who moved before Baek Jinwoo did—Xenos.
Even while grimacing in pain, he stretched out his arm and called forth a summon.
'That's...'
Baek Jinwoo's eyes widened.
The little fellow with the short, stocky body, a huge hat, and a cylinder was none other than a Synthesis Alchemist (A-rank).
'So he got that.'
He remembered it being pretty broken.
Unlike a Combat Alchemist (A-rank), it could transform, combine, and dismantle metals, and he thought it could even create chimeras…..
"To dare kick me. You've got some nerve."
Wooooong!
The Synthesis Alchemist's cylinder glowed.
At the same time.
Kwagagagagaga!
The guns the giant men were holding all began sticking above the alchemist's head at once, like magnets.
"Urgh!"
"W-what is this?!"
"Why are the guns—?!"
The force was so powerful that the terrorists had no choice but to let go of their weapons if they didn't want to be dragged along with them.
Crunch, craaack!
It didn't even take a full minute for the guns and bullets to gather together and be compressed into a small sphere.
'Wow.'
Baek Jinwoo was impressed.
Xenos really was one of the Five Emperors.
To dismantle the terrorists' weapons in such a short moment.
Since metal transformation was not for combat purposes, he had probably been able to use it just fine.
".....Xenos."
The giant recognized him.
And also—
"It's Xenos!"
"America's Xenos!"
"Wooooah!"
The people recognized him too.
They were relieved.
Because world rank 3 was here with them.
There were roughly 200 people in the VIP room, and 50 terrorists.
The two groups stood facing each other from opposite sides, tension sharp in the air.
"Right."
The giant who appeared to be the terrorists' leader nodded.
"Turning the guns into scrap metal was definitely impressive. But whatever. Without guns, what are you going to do?"
Thump!
He smacked his fist into his palm.
It seemed like only a light hit, yet the sound echoed loudly.
Just how strong was he?
"As long as your summons are useless, you're all pathetic."
The giant smirked and swept his gaze around.
Step.
Xenos walked out in front of him.
Even in pain, his back remained perfectly straight.
Right.
A man with the pride of one of the Five Emperors couldn't exactly grovel here just because he was hurt.
"What is it that you want?"
He asked on behalf of them all.
Every act of terror has a reason.
Those brutes had even fired their guns at the ceiling instead of shooting people right away.
Which meant what?
That they wanted something.
Unfortunately, for the moment, what they were saying was true.
On Peace Day, summons became useless, and in terms of raw force, they were far superior.
They had even removed the protective shields.
If things went wrong, lives could be in danger.
"Heh-heh, you're pretty smart. Yeah, there's room for negotiation, right?"
"I'll hear you out first."
"It's simple."
The giant man's eyes narrowed like a snake's.
"You—and all the representatives of the Five Emperors' summons that entered this place—hand over fifteen summons each to me. Then I'll at least spare these people's lives."
"What?"
Xenos frowned.
This was the worst possible situation.
Their target had turned out to be the Five Emperors of all people.
'We came in secretly, too.'
The other members of the Five Emperors besides him were currently lying low in the VVIP room.
The VIP room was one floor below this place, and even now they could come down if they wanted.
'Damn it.'
Normally, on Peace Day, the Five Emperors did not gather carelessly.
From before the matches began until the very end, they remained under national protection and security.
But this time was different.
The moment word spread that Baek Jinwoo—who might be God Ji-nu—had stopped by the casino's VIP room, they had gathered immediately.
Whoever it was, that information must have reached these terrorists' ears.
"Don't try any funny business."
The giant man said with a grin.
"We already know all the Five Emperors are here. If you don't hand over the summons, what choice do we have? We'll kill everyone….. Or, even if we can't kill you all in time, we can make sure you don't get to participate in the league."
At that, the terrorists' objective became clear.
To hinder the Five Emperors somehow, no matter what!
Either take their summons, or keep them trapped here until the time for league participation passed!
'This is insane.'
'Who the hell are these people?'
'At this level, isn't this basically state-sponsored terrorism? The information, the planning—it's way too precise.'
Even the onlookers could only click their tongues at the situation.
Even Xenos, of all people, seemed unable to come up with a proper response, and remained silent.
"You have exactly one minute."
But the giant had no patience.
"If you can't decide within one minute, I'll beat every last one of you to death. The lives of everyone here are riding on your summons."
Had things really escalated this far?
Rrrrrk.
A hidden wall tucked away in one corner of the basement rotated open.
The four players who emerged from there were—
"T-there! It's the Five Emperors!"
The strongest beings currently on Earth.
People began murmuring.
"Wow, Rachel….."
"Hikaru from Japan and Veskov from Russia were here too."
Aleksandr Veskov.
That was Moscowman's real name.
And finally, the old man in his sixties walking out with a hearty laugh was—
"Hahaha! Well now, this is quite a hopeless situation!"
Nickname: Baekcheon!
He was Zhuo Longtai of the Republic of China.
'Wow.'
Even Baek Jinwoo looked on in fascination.
It was his first time seeing their faces from this close in person.
Step, step.
They walked forward proudly.
Rachel, at the very front, glanced once at Baek Jinwoo, then gave a slight nod.
Then she passed by and stood before the giant.
Even though she was a woman, her presence was so overwhelming that even the giant flinched slightly.
"Fine. Let's say we hand over our summons."
"..."
"How are we supposed to trust that you'll let them all live and send them back up?"
"Hold on."
When the giant shifted his gaze slightly, one of his subordinates dragged someone out.
Judging by the clothes, he seemed to be a manager in charge of the VIP room.
"How many people are here in total?"
"T-two hundred and twelve!"
Terrified, the manager handed over the roster and spilled everything at once.
"Two hundred twelve?"
The giant smiled and looked at Rachel.
"Forty people for each Emperor. I'll send them back upstairs. Will that do?"
The giant didn't back down either.
'Hmm.'
There was one thing Baek Jinwoo was curious about.
Unlike other players, he had always considered exercise and physical training important.
Because of that, his physical abilities—strength, stamina, and so on—had already surpassed human limits.
'Could I beat them?'
If they had guns, then of course he would lose, but right now there were no guns.
"HunGyo."
—Yes, my lord.
HunGyo whispered back.
"Do you think I could beat them?"
"W-what are you talking about…..!"
Yoo Jia clutched his arm tightly.
In other words, stop entertaining weird thoughts and stay put.
"Mr. Jinwoo, you've only done physical training and breathing exercises. It's not like you ever learned martial arts or anything."
"That's true, but..."
"Then just stay still. No matter how good someone's hands are, how could a person cook if they have no recipe and no cooking experience?"
"Hmm."
Was that so?
She had a point.
Still, it was frustrating to just get pushed around like this for no reason.
That may not necessarily be true.
It was then that HunGyo answered.
"Hm?"
—Even if someone has no recipe and no experience cooking, would it not be different if they had watched others cook until they were sick of it?
"Really?"
Even a dog at a village school can recite poetry after three years.
Was it that kind of idea?
—Especially if it is a genius of a different caliber like my lord….. There may very well be enough possibility.
Oh.
Really?
Why was that?
Hearing his words made him feel much more at ease.
HunGyo's insight was extraordinary. He wouldn't say something wrong.
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