Chapter 1 - Prologue

　　1.

　　The Demon World. At its heart stood the castle of its ruler, the Demon King, and his high-ranking vassals—a fortress that had never known the tread of a human foot. Now, it was being trampled mercilessly by a single man.

　　“Stop him!” a demon shrieked.

　　“Kill that human!” another roared.

　　Individually, they were beings a mortal wouldn’t dare to lock eyes with. But at this moment, they were nothing more than helpless creatures, struggling desperately to halt the one man ruthlessly desecrating their home.

　　The human was just that strong.

　　He displayed no spectacular abilities, yet demons collapsed before him in droves. It was the many against one. Despite a relentless barrage of spells and a storm of swords, the demons couldn’t stop the lone intruder for a single, simple reason.

　　“Commander! The human is too fast!”

　　“Then, stop him even if it costs your life!” the Commander bellowed.

　　Dodge and stab. Block and stab. They were utterly unable to break that simple, deadly rhythm he had maintained since first breaching the Demon World. He never unleashed a devastating skill or a wide-area attack. It was this terrifying efficiency that struck fear into the demons’ hearts.

　　“M-Monster!” one gasped.

　　“Hearing that from monsters with horns on their heads is a little strange,” quipped Kim Buja, the man slaughtering them.

　　He continued his steady advance, tossing out jokes as he went, never once breaking his stride.

　　For a day, then two, he pushed onward until he finally reached the highest floor of the Demon King’s castle and stood before the ruler on his throne.

　　“Human,” the Demon King’s voice resonated through the chamber. “You have finally made it this far.”

　　Buja nodded. “Finally, I’m here.”

　　Looking back, it had been a long and arduous road.

　　“I spent two years playing gopher for those damn warlocks just to get my hands on a gate to the Demon World,” he muttered. “It was a real pain.”

　　“Though you are human, I acknowledge your strength,” the Demon King declared. “Serve me, and I shall grant you the rank of second-in-command of the Demon World.”

　　He had come all this way, only to be told to turn back. Buja shook his head firmly.

　　“I’ve had enough of being someone’s number two,” he countered. “Now that I’m here, I might as well take down the Demon King.”

　　“I am different from those vermin.”

　　“I’m pretty strong myself,” Buja retorted, raising his sword.

　　There was no need for further discussion. A kaleidoscope of light erupted from his body.

　　[You have used a ‘Top-Grade Attack Buff Potion’.]

　　[You have used a ‘Top-Grade Defense Buff Potion’.]

　　[You have used a ‘Top-Grade Basil Herb’.]

　　“No, those things are…! You coward!” the Demon King roared, his voice laced with panic.

　　Heh. A smirk touched Buja’s lips.

　　He dodged the Demon King’s incoming attack and consumed the rest of his potions.

　　“Popping buffs is standard procedure for a boss raid.”

　　As he felt his depleted stamina and health surge back, he once again created distance between himself and the Demon King.

　　“You rat! Stop running and fight!”

　　“A rat is someone like you, who hid up here while his minions tried to wear me down,” Buja shot back.

　　The Demon King was clever. He hadn’t sent his underlings first out of pride or dignity; it was a sound strategy, one that leveraged every tactical advantage the Demon World offered. But Buja had utterly crushed every one of the Demon King’s plans, forcing the one-on-one confrontation the monarch had desperately sought to avoid.

　　Of course, the Demon King was powerful. He was the ruler of the Demon World, a position that could only be earned by one who possessed both cunning and the strength to enforce it. Buja had no guarantee that his buffed-up state alone would be enough to secure victory.

　　But he was confident. He had anticipated this exact scenario. Just as the Demon King had his own strategies for dealing with intruders, Buja had his own for reaching this throne room.

　　“Now it’s your turn to get a taste of it,” he said. He had single-handedly dealt with hundreds of thousands of demons for this very moment. “Summon.”

　　Flash!

　　His final trump card. A brilliant light flared, and in the vast, stadium-sized throne room, other beings began to materialize beside the Demon King and Buja.

　　"KRAAAAWR!"

　　“You treacherous human!”

　　The strongest creatures of the mortal plane: dragons. Three of them roared, their voices shaking the castle to its foundations. The Demon King instinctively took a step back. Seeing this, a corner of Buja’s mouth curled into a triumphant grin.

　　This is what I’m talking about. The pure, unadulterated thrill of raiding a boss no one else could conquer.

　　Flash!

　　His buffed body vanished in an instant. In the next, Buja reappeared at the Demon King’s side and plunged his sword home.

* * *

　　— Wow, that’s crazy. He not only went to the Demon World but raided the Demon King?

　　— And he did it solo. The guy’s not human.

　　— How did he even tame those dragons?

　　— Thanks to him, the game’s main quest is officially over.

　　— I was starting to wonder if this game even had an ending.

　　— Apparently, they were planning an ending with the Demon King’s invasion in a few years, or maybe the next main quest line.

　　— Buja is on another level.

　　The first-ever Demon King raid in The World. Reading the comments on the video he’d uploaded to his personal channel, Buja couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. The sense of accomplishment, the ad revenue that followed… this was what he had suffered through two years of hell in a game for. The nearly $15,000 he earned from defeating the boss washed away all his fatigue.

　　At least, it did until he read the rest of the comments.

　　— So what? It’s just a bunch of data in the end. He probably put some effort into the production value, but it’s not realistic. You can find tons of raid videos just like this on any dungeon-focused channel.

　　— His control is good, but since it’s just a game, I’m not really impressed. I doubt he’d be this good in a real dungeon.

　　"Haah.”

　　Five years ago, when dungeons and awakened players first appeared, the game streaming industry had slowly begun dying, but it hadn’t collapsed entirely. The chosen players made up only one percent of the global population. Many still turned to games to escape the anxieties of reality, but profits had been steadily declining.

　　He knew it was inevitable. Dungeons, once considered realms of certain death where only those who risked their lives could reap great rewards, had become more systematized over the past five years. Safer methods of conquest were now commonplace. Players grew stronger and, in turn, helped others grow.

　　As dungeons transformed from objects of terror into gold mines of resources not found on Earth, every industry had pivoted to capitalize on them.

　　Internet broadcasting was no exception. Live streams were impossible, but videos filmed inside dungeons were incomparably more realistic and thrilling than any game.

　　“Maybe it’s time to put this game to rest,” he pondered.

　　If he could, Buja would have entered a dungeon himself. He desperately wanted to prove that his game sense and precise control weren’t just byproducts of a game’s system.

　　Growl.

　　To quiet his protesting stomach, he grabbed a cup of instant noodles. His home was a cramped studio. In the space where a bed should have been sat the high-tech gaming capsule that was his entire livelihood.

　　“I want to make a lot of money, too,” he sighed.

　　If he’d been born just five, no, ten years earlier, he could have made a fortune in the gaming market and wouldn’t be struggling like this. Swallowing his bitterness along with the noodles, he settled back into the capsule.

　　“Now that I’ve seen the ending, I should sell off my items and find a new game.”

　　Closing his eyes, he offered one last prayer before drifting off to sleep.

　　Please, even a Normal Grade would be fine. Just let me awaken as a player.

　　It was a prayer he had repeated every single day for five long years. As exhaustion claimed him, his capsule began to emit a soft glow.

　　Flash!

　　[24:00:00]

　　It happened at the stroke of midnight.

　　2.

　　9 AM. For the first time in ages, Buja had slept without an alarm. The moment he woke, he saw it.

　　“Huh?”

　　[Congratulations! You have acquired the ‘Gold Maker’ Class!]

　　[Level has been activated.]

　　[Stats have been activated.]

　　The end of a five-year wait. The moment he had so desperately longed for had finally arrived.