Chapter 49: The Third Scenario that started by surprise.

The new steel hero suits, D-Listener, were worn by Shin Yoo-kyung, Ji Se-hwa, and Kang Ye-rin.

They entered the battle against the Galactic Empire’s executive, Epsilon.

If we think of the Pegasus and Cancer battles, the skill level of these heroes was far below that of the executive class.

However,

“Jeo, those guys…”

Ruaa watched the screen seriously.

The Dragon King Squadron was holding its ground against Epsilon in a surprisingly even battle.

“Did they complete D-Listener? Or is it just bluffing?”

“D-Listener?”

“That suit was originally meant to be an AI-powered weapon.”

D-Listener was a mass-produced android appearing in the third scenario.

It was created by the U.S. military to suppress the abilities of individuals, but fell into the hands of villains,

eventually becoming rogue robots.

I had planned to take control of them for my use once the third scenario began.

But now, it had turned into a hero suit?

Using D-Listener as a suit would certainly increase specs dramatically. It’s akin to installing an expansion pack. But,

as we saw in the previous battle, it doesn’t always work as expected.

However, unlike before, it didn’t seem like it was overheating.

At that moment, the Hero Association’s president continued the announcement.

“We have also developed a new ranking system to clearly express the enhanced power of heroes!”

A table with alphabetized rankings appeared on the screen.

New Hero and Villain Rankings:

Basic Tier

• E~A: Same (Unified with Villain Power)
• SSS: Same (Unified with Villain Power)

Over Tier

• T1, T2, T3…: New

I instantly understood what it meant.

“That foolish woman actually did it.”

“From now on, both heroes and villains will use the same ranks according to their power levels! With the increase in

heroes with powers that exceed SSS, we have added the Over Tier!”

“Jeo, what does this mean?”

“For example, now, Lena is stronger than when she was ranked SSS. But since there’s no way to indicate it, the Over

Tier has been added. Lena will now be ranked T1. If she gets stronger, she’ll be promoted to T2.”

“T…?”

“Right. The ranking system will now purely measure the strength of abilities, not the risk. This way, you can easily

compare the powers of heroes and villains.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? Is there a problem?”

“There are a lot of problems.”

There’s a serious issue here.

This system patch is like a game mechanic.

It was a ranking adjustment patch introduced at the start of the third scenario to regulate power inflation.

It was no longer feasible to list high-ranking Galactic Empire executives as SSS+.

The problem was, this was something from the game world.

I had previously experimented with what would happen if I applied “future patches” in advance.

At first, the results were positive.

The reason I became an S-Class hero within six months of reincarnation was partly due to my familiarity with the

game’s strategies and achievements, but also because I had applied this shortcut.

However, the side effects were severe.

Was it the law of causality?

Or the world’s rules?

It was an inevitable result when I thought about it.

Technologies that were meant to appear in the future were used by villains much sooner.

• Control became impossible, and conflicts arose, making it difficult to manage the situation.

After witnessing the side effects, I refrained from further exploiting the system.

“What kind of problem occurred?”

“Well…”

I couldn’t give an immediate answer to Ruaa’s question.

I wasn’t sure either.

But what was certain was that there would be more variables.

“We have measured the rankings of the heroes, Galactic Empire, and representative villains. You can trust the

criteria for these measurements.”

“Yes, exactly. It’s using the same measurement system as the ‘year-end ranking’!”

SSS – Dark Matter / Exile / Defector / Prism / and 54 others

T1 – Blue Sable / Silver Mirrored / Absolute Seven / CEO Elena / Gladiator Epsilon

T2 – Yellow Cloaker / Archbishop Cancer

T3 – Commander Pegasus

T8 – Emperor Ractor

“Huh? I’m only SSS-level?”

Ruaa was irritated.

“Jeo, aren’t they just pulling a fast one? Does it make sense for those pathetic Dragon King Squadron members to be

stronger than me?”

“Hm.”

I also thought this was just the Association President’s bluff.

I don’t know where he got the ranking system, but he seemed to have copied it. However, the rankings for Cancer,

Pegasus, and Ractor were listed.

They perfectly matched the rankings from the original story.

“Did he get his hands on Nameless?”

Nameless was an independent ability user who could access all hero and villain information.

If he had Nameless, it would make sense.

After the patch in the original story, the Galactic Empire’s rankings were sorted, and I remembered them.

For that reason, although Ruaa and Lena still didn’t have a proper rank, they were still referred to as SSS-level.

When the fourth scenario started, their ranks were much higher.

“Hmm? But why isn’t your name on there? Same goes for Red Dragon…”

Ruaa wondered aloud.

I had a feeling I knew the reason.

“Many of you may be feeling uneasy about this ranking system,” the voice from the screen continued. “As you can

see, the Galactic Empire is strong.”

The battle continued with the Dragon King Squadron. As soon as the rankings were announced, their firepower

seemed to grow even stronger.

“But heroes do not fight alone. It is through the bonds with their comrades that they become stronger! The Seoul

Hero Association is mass-producing D-Listener to enhance all affiliated heroes! Believe in us! We have the strength

to defeat the Galactic Empire!”

That was a hit.

The D-Listener suits and the new ranking system.

Although the Association President probably didn’t intend for it, he had brought forward elements from the third

scenario’s upcoming patch and forced Seoul’s heroes to become stronger in the process.

The D-Listener was something I had mentioned to Kang Ye-rin, and the ranking system had been recorded in the PC.

I never expected it to come back like this.

Now, it seemed I would have to use these side effects to my advantage.

“Jeo, do you think this is okay?”

“No problem. As the heroes get stronger, we’ll gain more experience when we take them down. This is an opportunity

for growth on our end as well.”

Though, the growth would likely be limited to stats. The ability level would be capped at 10.

The cap would be lifted after the third scenario started.

To use this efficiently…

Hmm?

An alert popped up in the system window.

[Notification: Scenario ‘Civil War: S Battle of the Heroes!’ has started.]

[Notification: Scenario ‘Civil War: S Battle of the Heroes!’ has an causality disruption rate of 34%]

[Status: Fixed / Ready to Proceed]

…What?

I rubbed my eyes in disbelief.

The system was clearly notifying me that the third scenario had begun right now.

Could this even happen?

Two scenarios happening simultaneously?

This must be a side effect.

With the new ranking system and the introduction of D-Listener, the Galactic Empire hadn’t been defeated yet, but

the scenario started nonetheless.

In reality, it seemed that heroes from Washington and around the world had started moving because they were

anxious after seeing the Seoul Hero Association.

“I need to move faster.”

I stood up from my seat.

“Jeo, which operation are we starting?”

I turned to Ruaa and answered.

“We’re going to raid the Association.”

[NORZTORM!]

[MAX PERFORMANCE!]

“Clock out!”

Kang Ye-rin twisted the upper part of the switch and activated the Time Dragon’s ability. The sphere formed around

her became larger and more magnificent than before, swallowing the enemies.

As she engulfed them, the gladiator, Epsilon, whose body was bulging, completely froze in place.

“Blue, Silver!”

At Kang Ye-rin’s signal, Ji Sehwa and Shin Yoo-kyung rushed forward. The sword with the blue dragon and the silver

dragon’s consecutive strikes hit Epsilon.

“Time up.”

Time flowed again. The accumulated damage on Epsilon exploded all at once. The gladiator let out a low scream as

he fell, kneeling, before exploding.

“Done, we’ve taken him down!”

“Hm. Excellent. Finally, we can use the Galactic Empire’s switch.”

Shin Yoo-kyung began rummaging through Epsilon’s corpse. Kang Ye-rin ignored her.

The D-Listener suit.

This suit, finally completed, had greatly increased the fighting power of the Dragon King Squadron.

Even if the Association President tried to threaten them, Nameless, who simply graded the heroes fairly, could give

someone a higher rank than Elena.

‘With this, we can win.’

She could defeat both the Galactic Empire and the Villain Alliance. Hope was beginning to form for Kang Ye-rin.

“Huh? But why isn’t there a switch?”

Shin Yoo-kyung, who had been searching Epsilon’s body for a while, called out.

Kang Ye-rin called her.

“Stop and let’s go back. The goal was to hunt them down.”

“Wait, the switch is important! Didn’t you see the Villains using Pegasus’s switch?”

That damn switch. Kang Ye-rin felt disgusted.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a pillar of light descended in front of them. The three of them tensed up.

A new monster appeared.

“Heh heh. Even with all that magical power, is this all you can do? It’s so pathetic. Inferior species really are sad.”

The huge monster wielded a giant staff.

From the ominous aura, Kang Ye-rin instantly sensed that this one was a high-ranking member.

“Be careful! This monster’s aura is…!”

“There’s no need to be so frightened. I’m just here to observe the results of my experiment. Afterward, I’ll go back

and write my paper.”

In the next instant, the monster teleported in front of Epsilon’s corpse.

“Ugh?!”

Shin Yoo-kyung didn’t react in time. The monster completely ignored her and used telekinesis to lift Epsilon’s

shattered upper body.

“Hmmm, hmmm. Was the host body in bad condition? I think they said the red warrior was the strong one… Was

that not you?”

“You bastard, what the hell are you mumbling about!”

Ji Sehwa shouted, but the monster just chuckled.

“Heh heh. I am the great sage Dorado. As you can see, I gave your companion the honor of fighting for the Empire,

but it seems it was all for nothing.”

“Hey.”

“Companion…? What the hell does that mean…?”

Dorado tilted his head, then burst into laughter.

“This is unbelievable. You didn’t even realize during the fight? With such a low level, asking the Archbishop for help

was a mistake in itself.”

Dorado casually waved his staff. Epsilon’s corpse twisted grotesquely and began to change.

It soon took on a human form. Kang Ye-rin’s face went pale as she recognized the face.

“…Aksi?”

He was the Red of the Dragon King Squadron, who was thought to have died during the Cancer Battle—Aksi.