━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━


  Big Joe used to dream of being a hero of justice defeating evil. But he quickly realized that there was no such thing in this world.

  Winning over the opponent and getting the adoration of the masses? Nope! People were entitled AF! There was only one thing that mattered: money. Get enough credits, and you become a Saint. It's super easy to sway public opinion when you're loaded.

  Then again, it was different in games. One could literally become superhuman and be revered as such. Right now was the best opportunity: killing one guy would give a chance to obtain a merit medal! This gave a freaking legendary class!

  He turned toward the sixty players assembled: they were taking down the Demon King today! Morale was extremely high as they had plenty of reasons to fight:

  – Get that medal of merit

  – Leave behind a killing legacy

  – Get the NPC bounty on the man's head

  – Get the IRL bounty (from the Mighty Dragons)

  – Get rid of a powerful competitor who played the game only by his rules

  – Undermine D.L. so that players could finally partake in PK without worry.

  Big Joe stood at the very front doing one last speech:

  "Remember everyone. This isn't a fight but a raid! (Almost) Our target is close to unbeatable at melee range. You've all seen him resist the village chief. We'll be using long-ranged attacks to chip his health away slowly."

  One nervously raised his hand:

  "What about potions? He should have used plenty earlier, but what if he has some more?"

  Big Joe gave a grin as he heard this:

  "Easy, target the potions before the man! One well-placed magic missile will shatter it completely, leaving the liquid to spill in his hands. Understood?" They all nodded, but there was still one issue.

  "What about Demonic Legion? Won't they rush to save him?"

  "Hehe, I have this covered, don't worry. Anything else?" Big Joe giggled.

  "The fiery explosion that happened earlier. Shouldn't we be worried about that?"

  "According to the village chief, it was all a trick to undermine his authority. We just have to be careful of oil barrels hidden on the battlefield. Alright, if that's all, let's move out!"

  With Big Joe's shout, they all decisively left. Their group was able to rock the tutorial, their average level being 6. At this moment, the spotlight was on them as every player gazed at them.

  "Hehe, look at them all being impressed and shit!"

  "Bro, they're all D.L. members. They're following to kill us."

  "Hey, aren't there a bit too many of them?! Goddammit, these guys are a plague!"

  A fight could break out at any time, with the people watching them clenching their weapons solidly. Hell, some of the most fanatic were being restrained by their friends, or they would have jumped at them already.

  "It's fine if they attack us. We'll only commit to the fight when the conditions are right. We can afford to die a few times, but HE cannot, not as long as he's red-named anyway." Big Joe chuckled.

  The Demon King would have to hide. As long as they lowered his leveling speed, Big Joe would actually get paid. As for the consequences of angering the guy? Meh, whatever, he'd have money in his pocket by then.

  It seemed like they would be gutted any second now, but then panic set in D.L. ranks as their leaders began shouting at them, and they all left hurriedly.

  "W-what?! How?!"

  "They're all leaving, hahaha!"

  "Are you the one that did that?!"

  They all glanced at Big Joe with eyes full of wonder. How the hell had he managed to scare them away so easily?! The man gave them a victorious grin:

  "Right now, the village chief is inspecting the training grounds, making sure the D.L. instructors are qualified to teach. Each of their students should have received a quest to show up to defend their teachers' honor!"

  Laughter erupted all around. Their very organization would be their downfall! How funny!

  But they turned serious as they entered wolf territory, making sure not to kill too many of the creatures. They knew better than to provoke a beast tide or go near the Wolf Progenitor by now!

  Thus they slowly prowled, getting closer and closer to their target. They had a good feeling about this….

  ━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━


  How had it all come to this?!

  How?! Just how?! What the fuck?!

  Big Joe glanced around, his eyes bulging at the nightmarish scene.

  The blistering heat was cooking them alive, human torches ran all over the place screaming, and that goddamn laugh kept echoing as if a ghost!

  "Hahaha, you wanted to kill the Demon King? Here I am!"

  "Hahaha, are you really running away from one wolf!"

  "Hahaha, this is the best! Fun barbecue time!"

  "Hahaha, come back. We're just starting!"

  The madman and his sadistic pet kept cackling without any regard for human life.

  The inferno kept raging, consuming all: the wood, the humans, and their hopes. The fire was just a small trick? That's what the chief had said! Bullshit! If this fire was a SMALL trick, then Joe wanted a SMALL dick! Fucking Hell! (Literally was!)

  New Leaf forest had been turned into On-Fire Leaf forest and would soon be Only Ashes forest!

  Their whole raid was built upon the belief that the guy didn't have any ranged attacks. They were proved so goddamn wrong!

  With a wave of his hands, he had sent fire ablaze everywhere. The man was a fucking human flamethrower! He would forever remember how the fight had begun:

  – Hero Party: Let's defeat the Demon King and bring peace to our wallets!

  – Demon King: This is a nice backline. It would be a shame if it turned to ashes, am I right?

  Two seconds afterward, their cloth-wearing mages had been turned into moving fire beacons. They all threw themselves on the ground, trying to extinguish it all.

  But this was a mistake.

  Mages 0

  Forest 0

  Fire 1+1+1+1+1+1

  The entire place turned into a sea of fire. That's when that fucking wolf appeared in their midst! Their brains failed to comprehend what they were seeing. What kind of wolf breathed fire?! Also, were those fire chickens raining from the sky?!

  What should have been an organized raid, with everything under control, soon devolved into the biggest shitshow of the century.

  Big Joe felt so damn cheated!

  There was no mistaking it: the Demon King was a mage. The Demon King was a motherfucking mage! He could throw infernos!

  Why the fuck had a mage been fighting melee all this time?! Was he just trolling them?! What kind of man hid so deep?! Also, why the heck had he suddenly shown his trump cards now?!

  He suddenly felt so damn silly. Why had he believed the village chief? The explosion was 100% the Demon King's doing! He had been such a fool to challenge this monster!

  Big Joe was giving a self-deprecating smile, but it soon froze on his face.

  "What the actual fuck?!" He uttered in shock.

  [New Leaf Forest Burns With the Hottest Flames!]

  [A New Field Boss Has Appeared! ]

  [ Mad Pyromaniac Level 12 ???]

  [Will You Protect the Forest?]

  Coming out of the hellfire was a man looking incredibly puzzled as he glanced at the new title above his head.

  "What's up with that? Level 12? I'm only level 10, though. Also, this system sure is getting creative…." The new field Boss Jack'O mumbled to himself.

  "?!?" This was insanity! Joe felt like crying.

  That's when the monster turned toward him, butcher knife in hand and a salivating wolf nearby. Oh god….

  ━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━


  In the training camp, the tension was as high as the annoyance. The various D.L. members were lowly complaining:

  "Why the hell do we have to be here."

  "Officially, we're here to prove that our instructors are competent."

  "Unofficially, that fucking village chief is buying time for them to attack our god!"

  They felt so damn bad. While they had pointless exhibition fights, their leader fought for his life! What kind of shitty subordinates hid behind their boss' back?!

  The village chief was strutting around, nodding from time to time. Did the old coot even know a thing about weapon handling? He was always pummeling people with his fists while half-naked!

  That's when the leader of the Mighty Wolves asked, annoyed:

  "We've already proved that we're able to train plenty of people. Is this all really necessary?"

  "Of course! It only takes one bad apple to doom an entire village's reputation. I have to make sure the braves are receiving top-notch teachings!" The chief self-righteously declared.

  This was such bullshit! Why the hell was he playing the good guy? They all knew what was going on. Was there a need to fake it so much?!

  "I will have to check absolutely everyone's progress." The old man added, smiling as he saw the D.L. members grimace.

  "This is the fucking worst!"

  "This asshole sure knows how to buy time!"

  "Tch— our god should have made the entire village explode!"

  "Igor is on our side, right? Why destroy his house? I'm confused."

  "Shit happens when training. Oh, what I wouldn't give to see our god train!"

  They all nodded in agreement. This secretive training seemed so mysterious and OP! They wanted nothing more than to rush at his side, witness his might and be his shield!— Well, a human one. But they were stuck playing with the goddamn chief!

  That's when it happened:

  [A New Field Boss Has Appeared! ]

  [ Mad Pyromaniac Level 12 ???]

  [Will You Protect the Forest?]

  They all looked at one another, confused.

  "A new field boss?!"

  "It sounds powerful!"

  "Wait, it's in the forest?!"

  "That's where our leader is fighting, right?!"

  "This could be bad. What if he gets flanked?!"

  They were just beginning to worry when CPR dude, a man named by the Demon King himself, started cackling.

  "Hahahahaha! A field boss?! He's a goddamn field boss now?! As expected of him! Mad Pyromaniac sure is fitting for the Demon King!" His hearty laughter echoed in the training grounds.

  "Wait…what?!"

  "The new field boss is our boss?!"

  "How the heck is that even possible?!"

  "He's already level 12?! Isn't that too fast?!"

  "He's ascended from being a player, hahaha!"

  "There are already rumors that our leader is a sentient NPC!"

  That's when they turned toward New Leaf forest. They could already distinguish smoke rising from it as they saw a scene of destruction in the distance. How incredible! He had single-handedly done this?!

  In their hearts, they felt pride from being in his faction. So what if the entire world turned against them? How many could brag about their leader being a motherfucking raid boss?!

  On the side, the Village Chief showed an expression worthy of roadkill. He couldn't see the system announcements, but even he knew that something was very wrong….

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  [A/N] How would you guys feel facing a tank that suddenly starts blasting magic everywhere?

  Fun fact Jack'O's INT is now higher than his STR thanks to mass investment + gear. Let it burn! ??