Max: "Haha! What're you gonna do about it if you don't like me?"
Max: "Got any proof? You're all high and mighty in the game, but in the real world, you're nothing to me. Go ahead, come at me—idiot."
Private message notifications kept popping up.
Orson took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm.
In Infinite Dimensions, there were plenty of Silver Dragon Knights,
but only one Silver Dragon King—
a key piece in Orson's long-term plans.
There was no way he'd die so easily.
He couldn't have fallen to some two-bit punk like Max.
"You get one chance. Tell me where he is. If he's safe, we go our separate ways."
Max: "Well, well, aren't you a tough guy, Mr. City Lord? In real life, you're nothing but a dog to me. I dare you—kill me! Dumbass."
Orson's face darkened.
A moment later, Max blocked him.
"How dare you defy lightning's divine judgment!"
The two Purple-Gold Dragon Riders finally snapped out of their shock. Their master had been obliterated right in front of them. Their honor demanded revenge.
They raised their dragon lances and charged.
But to Orson, they were nothing more than flies.
Without even turning, he drew a line in the air.
A cold-faced death god emerged from a void rift.
"And you think that's divine wrath?"
The Crimson Lizard King's crimson eyes burned with killing intent.
She waved her hand. Black death mist sent both Dragon Riders flying.
Her bone sword was brutal beyond measure—
in just seconds, both enemies were sliced into meaty ribbons.
"Dragon Knights of the Purple-Gold family… are dead!"
"We're screwed! If these nobles die here, the Empire's gonna purge this place!"
The NPC merchants in the black market panicked, scrambling to flee.
"Anyone who tries to leave—I'll help you out personally."
Orson's tone was cold.
Crimson Lizard King stood at the exit, her King-tier dragon pressure spreading across the room.
The faces of NPCs and players went pale.
"I can't see her health bar… Holy crap, that's a shapeshifted Dragon King!"
"Is this guy insane!? He's gonna wipe out the entire black market!"
"He just butchered two Dragon Knights in seconds—that beast is busted!"
No one dared move.
Orson and his dragon looked like incarnations of death.
Even the Elite-level guards didn't stand a chance.
"Where's Vittor?"
Orson asked a trembling elf craftsman, his voice low but absolute.
The elf looked toward the black market enforcers.
A deer-bodied beastman glared at him, clearly signaling: Shut up if you want to live.
"V-Vittor, sir...? I… I don't know..."
"Then you can die."
Orson's tone was flat—like a death god reading a name from his list.
Crimson Lizard King roared and drove her sword through the elf's throat, flicking his head clean off.
Orson knew the black market had been created by an elusive NPC named Vittor.
He needed to trade the Titan's Magic Eye for the Chaos Fragment (Middle) with him.
But the guy was notoriously hard to find. Sometimes, force was the only solution.
"Kill all the enforcers. After that, one merchant dies every ten seconds."
Originally, Orson had planned to lure Vittor out by auctioning off a divine relic.
But with Drunken Dream's fate unknown, he didn't have time to wait.
There were only two ways to bait Vittor—priceless treasure or overwhelming violence.
Screams echoed through the black market.
Crimson Lizard King's blade tore through everything in her path.
Titles like Lord or Domain Master meant nothing to a Dragon King of death.
All the enforcers were slaughtered.
The remaining NPCs—over a hundred—dropped to their knees, terrified.
"Damn, this guy's pissed. I just came to shop, now I'm in hell!"
"This guy makes Orgod look like a damn saint!"
The massacre left players stunned.
These NPCs weren't weak—each had hundreds of thousands of HP at least.
But they dropped like flies under the dragon's wrath.
Nobody moved. Nobody dared.
Then—
"Ah! Baron, sir! My apologies—I was… in the restroom."
Eight NPCs dead.
Finally, Vittor panicked and emerged from a mansion, visibly flustered.
Orson immediately handed over the Titan's Magic Eye.
"You've submitted an item for the Chaos Overlord hidden class quest."
"But due to an unknown factor, Vittor is unable to give you the Chaos Fragment (Middle)!"
The system prompt flashed.
Orson frowned.
"What's the meaning of this?"
"Please calm down, Baron! It's a little awkward…"
"Although Flame Fosset did pawn it to me, the Dark Spirit Tribe princess came four hours ago with another Titan's Magic Eye, so…"
Vittor gave a sheepish grin.
"I'm willing to offer you an S-tier spellbook as compensation!"
Orson couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.
Even NPCs were competing for quest items now?
Still, he figured this was a scripted side route in the class awakening quest.
He could likely still get the Chaos Fragment later.
"Quest updated!"
"Go to the Light Dragon Empire palace and confront Dark Spirit Princess Longlia to reclaim the Chaos Fragment (Middle)!"
"Warning: Hell-tier difficulty. The palace is heavily guarded. Form a six-man elite party."
"Note: Too many players attempting this mission may trigger an Imperial Guard raid!"
Just as expected, the quest had morphed.
A red icon appeared on his minimap, marking the new target.
Orson's eyes gleamed.
This was clearly a stealth mission—screwing it up would spike the difficulty.
Wait...
He smirked.
If he finished this mission, wouldn't that leave him with an extra Titan's Magic Eye?
The divine item could trigger hidden quests on its own.
One more piece in his arsenal.
Just then, a black magic book materialized in front of him.
The cover pulsed with dark energy—a textbook example of shadow magic.
[Dark Surge Execution]
Grade: S-tier
Effect: Consumes 6000 MP to generate a cursed battlefield. All enemies entering suffer "Piercing of Ten Thousand Spears."
Targets take -50% movement speed, -30% attack speed, -20% attack power, and bleed for 5% of the caster's HP per second.
"This... is good stuff."
Orson was impressed.
Vittor may be a sleazy liar, but his compensation was top-tier.
This was a classic debuff AoE spell—great for large-scale PvP.
But what really stood out was the bleed damage.
Most shadow mages were squishy, so 5% HP loss per second wasn't a big deal.
But for Orson—with over 7 million HP?
That bleed was devastating.
With the book in hand, he turned and left.
The surviving NPCs and players finally exhaled in relief and packed up to flee.
Above the capital, sparks flew in the sky—two Lightning Dragons roared as they searched for their missing riders.
Orson glanced at them, uninterested.
He swapped into his imperial robe and logged off from the same spot.
In the real world.
Orson climbed out of the pod and went straight to Sienna's room.
He knocked and woke up Blank, who was still in-game.
"Huh? What're you doing?"
Blank opened her eyes and immediately blushed, tugging her shirt to cover herself.
"I need you to look into someone."
"…What?"
She'd assumed he was just creeping around again, but the look on Orson's face shut her up.
He was pale, shaken.
She stood and grabbed a sun jacket. "Who? Got a name, gender?"
"Everyone in the Upton Family. Connections, conflicts, all of it."
"And track down Yuri. Also—bring me his half-brother, Max."
Orson lit a cigarette and stood by the door.
"You think I'm a kidnapper now? The Upton Family's no mega-corp, but they're still influential. You think it's that easy to drag someone here?"
She frowned in irritation.
But then Orson turned to her, his eyes bloodshot.
"Emma. You're not gonna disappoint me again… are you?"
Blank opened her mouth but said nothing.
For a moment, this guy—barely in his twenties—looked ancient, like a war-torn man carrying the weight of a thousand regrets.
Her heart tightened unexpectedly.
Why did she feel bad for him?
"I'll take care of it," she said softly. "Wait for my message."
As she walked past him, she paused and turned around.
Her cool, proud face softened slightly.
"Orson… you're not that much stronger than me. Are you?"