'Boss Election… Space 4 is definitely something different.'
The Space Area.
This league allowed not only Earthlings but also players from other races in the Space League to participate in the game. It was known for its higher difficulty compared to the regional areas, as only the most outstanding individuals from each race were selected. However, the rewards in terms of experience points and GP were substantial enough to offset the difficulty.
'In my past life, the Space 12 I belonged to had double the basic rewards… but Space 4 will probably give even more.'
With this, even at the Diamond level, the leveling speed wouldn't slow down.
As Seong Jihan contemplated this, he carefully read the description of the Boss Election map.
[Boss Election]
[You have been selected as the mid-boss of the Hell Demon Palace.]
[Achieve the most outstanding performance among the 11 mid-bosses!]
[The player with the highest score will become the dungeon boss of the month.]
[If selected as the boss, an NPC imitating the player will become the hidden boss in the Diamond Dungeon map for a month.]
[Each time the hidden boss defeats a player, GP and experience point rewards will automatically be received.]
'Ho-oh.' Seong Jihan's eyes lit up as he read the map description.
Normally, when playing a dungeon map, you naturally stood on the side attacking the dungeon. However, this special game had the mid-bosses of the dungeon facing the incoming players.
'GP is now practically useless, but experience points are different.'
After obtaining the Void, Seong Jihan found that additional stats and leveling up were more critical than before. If he won the Boss Election and became the hidden boss, an NPC imitating him would automatically earn experience points, making winning this game crucial.
"I will participate."
As Seong Jihan decided to participate,
[Player Seong Jihan will participate in the Boss Election…]
[The mid-boss room of the Hell Demon Palace is already full. You need to challenge and take the spot from an existing mid-boss.]
[Would you like to challenge the 11th mid-boss?]
Perhaps due to deciding to participate in mid-February, the message already indicated that the room was full. However, consistent with BattleNet's style, he could fight to take over an occupied spot.
About to press 'Yes,' Seong Jihan asked the system,
"Can't I challenge the 1st place?"
[You can only challenge the lowest-ranked mid-boss.]
"Alright. Then let's do it."
[Challenging the 11th mid-boss, 'Agnar's Mid-Boss Room.]
Swooosh…
In an instant, the environment changed.
Swoosh…
The 11th-ranked mid-boss room was surrounded by a sea of flames.
Flames surged from all directions, and the floor was a stream of lava, leaving no room to stand.
And in the middle of this world,
A massive flame giant looked down upon Seong Jihan.
"Agnar?"
[Are you the challenger?]
"Yes."
Boom!
Flames erupted from all around.
[To think such a pathetic race would challenge me… Disgusting!]
The flame giant Agnar stretched out a colossal palm.
His presence didn't match his rank at the bottom of the mid-bosses – it was overpoweringly intense.
However, Seong Jihan,
"Hey, wait a second."
With a casual expression, he raised his hand.
[Haha! You challenged me and now, are you begging for mercy because you're scared?]
"No, Let me turn on BattleTube first."
[What…!]
The flame giant paused amid his incredulous reaction when,
"Hello, subscribers."
Seong Jihan turned on BattleTube after a long hiatus.
"It's been a while since my last stream."
He slightly bowed to the viewers.
* * *
-No way! What's going on!
-I thought the notification was a mistake!
-He turned on the broadcast after a million years, seriously ㅠㅠ
Alerts rang out in Seong Jihan's channel, which had been closed for quite some time and all the subscribers poured in.
"Oh, training took longer than expected. So, I just turned on BattleNet now."
-He trained for that long… Is it because of Vladimir?
-Vladimir revealed in an interview that he became so powerful because his Constellation descended, right?
-He was so tough in our match but didn't seem all that strong against China lol. Vladimir became incredibly powerful due to his constellation.
Russia may have lost to Korea, but the interviews all focused on him.
[The reason I demonstrated a transformed ability is… because the Constellation I serve has descended upon me.]
During the interview at that time.
He revealed about the advent with Longinus' permission.
Since then, the interest in Seong Jihan has skyrocketed.
-Doesn't Seong Jihan have a Constellation?
-Of course, he does. How can you beat the Constellation without the Constellation?
"A Constellation? I do have one. It's behaving strangely, though."
Seong Jihan, reminded of Brahma, answered the viewers' questions.
-But where are you right now?
-It looks like a fiery pit of hell lol
-Are there maps like this in diamond?
"Seems like I got put into a special dungeon map because I'm assigned to Space 4."
-??
-Space 4??
-Sword King just got assigned to Space 15…
-Isn't there a 1 missing in front?
-That's insane lolololol
By mid-February.
Viewers who roughly knew about Space Area were shocked to hear that Seong Jihan was assigned to Space 4.
The current highest record for humanity is in Space Area 15, where the Sword King belongs.
But how many levels had Seong Jihan jumped on his own?
"I ended up here somehow."
As Seong Jihan casually proceeded with BattleTub
[Innom…!]
The flame giant, who had momentarily stopped moving, let out a roar.
[Keep filming as it is! I will crush you right where you are!]
Swoosh!
Flames soared from every corner.
The inferno seemed to roar even fiercer in response to the giant's rage.
-What's this, seriously;
-Straight to the final boss?
-The scale of this fire giant is insane…
-It looks like ten people can fit in the palm of his hand
The viewers were shocked at the size of the fire giant that appeared as soon as the game started.
"Oh, wait a moment. I'll deal with this guy and be right back."
Seong Jihan glanced at the giant and casually grasped his phoenix spear.
The crimson lightning gathered at the tip of the spear.
Within it, a violet spark flashed briefly.
Nameless divine art, Fusion of Divine thunder and phoenix – Crimson Thunder cannon
A streak of crimson lightning shot forward from the spear tip, piercing right through the giant's hand.
[Ho, to counter me with fire…!]
Initially, the flame giant scoffed at the sensation of fire energy within the crimson lightning, but then…
Zzzzt…
The crimson lightning that penetrated his palm quickly spread throughout his body.
[What…?]
Only then did he realize the turn of events wasn't in his favor.
And then,
Swoosh…
A violet flame rose from the crimson thunder, floating above the crimson cannon.
It engulfed the body of the flame giant as it was.
In an instant, it was incinerated.
-Can't be… Is it over?
-Did he die in one hit?
-No… The fire lord's grand entrance looked amazing; why is he so weak ㅋㅋ
-Seong Jihan is freaking strong ㅋㅋㅋ
-The crimson lightning seems stronger now D:
The flame giant vanished in one shot.
[You have subdued Agnar, ranked 11th mid-boss.]
[You have captured the mid-boss room.]
[Player Seong Jihan moves up to the 11th rank.]
Along with that, all the flames disappeared.
And the mid-boss room, which was like a hell of fire, turned into an open space with a solid earth floor.
'The completed crimson thunder is truly powerful.'
Seong Jihan looked around.
Mid-boss room.
It was a vast space, large enough for hundreds or thousands of people to enter and still have room.
The reason this place was turned into a hell of fire was because of the powerful ability of the fire giant Agnar but the Crimson Thunder Cannon had managed to subdue such an opponent with fire.
'The destructive power of the void's flame is off the charts.'
Even though Seong Jihan had not yet fully analyzed the Extinction Code, the performance was impressive.
He smiled satisfactorily.
-Does this mean the broadcast is over today?
-Enemy boss was defeated as soon as the stream started…
-No ㅠㅠ It's been so long ㅠㅠ
-This must be the fastest battle ever, right?
Meanwhile, the viewers worried, wondering if the broadcast was about to end since Agnar was taken down in one shot.
"No. Actually, today's broadcast is likely to take quite a while. I'll be the mid-boss here for now."
-Eh? Mid-boss?
-Seong Jihan becomes a boss? lolol
-Is there such a game?
"It's a special map, that's why."
Seong Jihan explained the 'Boss Election' special map, dispelling viewers' concerns.
And not long after,
Ziiiiing…
[You have become the 11th in the hierarchy of the Hell Demon Palace.]
[Do you wish to use GP to summon monsters to defend the mid-boss room?]
A window to summon supporting monsters for the mid-boss room appeared.
'Monsters… Do I really need to summon them?'
Although the mid-boss room was spacious.'
At this level, it was more than enough to cover alone.
While Seong Jihan was contemplating whether it was necessary to spend GP to summon a monster, an Epic Quest appeared.
[Epic Quest]
-Solo, guard the corridor to the end with BattleTube ON, and rise to rank 1.
-Reward – 10,000,000 achievement points
-Treasure Chest of the Hell Demon Palace
An epic quest appeared after a long while.
* * *
'This makes the decision easier.'
Seong Jihan never seriously considered summoning monsters.
The epic quest affirmed his initial thoughts.
What emerges from the Treasure Chest of the Hell Demon Palace might be unknown,
but ten million in achievement points alone was enough reward.
'But BattleTube ON… just keep streaming like now?'
He tilted his head at the epic quest's prerequisite.
BattleTube ON.
What's that about?
Right on cue, a system message provided insight.
[Will you open the mid-boss room to the public?]
[If you do, more challengers will direct their invasion towards this passage.]
[All power gets disclosed, making it easier for opponents to counter.]
'That must be it.'
Seong Jihan looked around.
An empty field was now under barely glowing lights from above— a stark change from Agnar's fiery pit.
Whether disclosed or not, it seemed like it wouldn't make it any easier for adversaries to counter.
But still,
'The monster summoning window offers various options. There's trap installation and map transformations like changing it to a fiery hell.'
Using the mid-boss manager options to transform the map could become a significant variable if information was disclosed.
However, for Seong Jihan looking to complete the epic quest, those manager options were like a pie in the sky.
"Open it."
He unhesitatingly chose to disclose the mid-boss room.
Then,
– Uh… what's this?
-There's a new view option in BattleTube?
-Oh… when you press it, the mid-boss room appears in top-down view lol
-Did BattleTube always have this feature?
BattleTube viewers experienced the change for the first time.
And,
-Race name… 'Human'?
Among the viewers, instead of a national flag icon,
Some started to carry a star symbol next to their ID.
-What's that planet icon? There's another symbol apart from the flag?
-That's cool. A newly added premium purchase? How much is it?
-What premium purchase, there's no such thing lolol
-How did you do it, Archon?
While viewers marveled at the new symbols belonging to the incoming visitors,
-The rating of the 'human' race is quite low. How did they compete in Space 4?
-Declaring the dungeon open is so ignorant of this race.
-The dungeon space is unrenovated. Compared to the previous number 11 dungeon, this one's easier to conquer.
-Is this individual, selected as the mid-boss, using Hideout to conceal their look?
Those with the star symbol quickly analyzed Seong Jihan's mid-boss room.
-He didn't summon even a single monster. This race is ignorant about this map.
-The optimal route to conquer…
-The coordinates have been sent.
They began sending out strange chats.
And not long after,
Rumble…
[Here it is!]
[The scouting panel was right.]
[There's no preparation at all!]
In Seong Jihan's corridor many 'guests' began to arrive.