Chapter 39

Solo Clear – Chapter 39: Stage Five #8

I said it bluntly because they suddenly appeared out of nowhere and I missed my chance in cutting off the priest’s head .

“You guys really can’t leave me alone for a second . ”
“As a Manager, I can’t even figure out your actions . ”

The Great Priest used this time to quickly step back and used his magic to hide himself .
I knew that he used transparency magic to hide himself, but I couldn’t chase after him .
The Manager looked like they were going to stop me if I went after him because they continued staring at me .

“I didn’t think it would turn out like this . ”

The Manager that was watching the fight from behind had a shocked expression .
A human getting close to killing one of the leaders was something that never happened within this stage .
No matter how much stronger one has become, they can’t go against the priest or the clan leader .

I was just going to pass through this stage by quickly completing the task that I was given .
It’s only natural to avoid battles with strong opponents and everyone tried to do just that .
Sometimes, idiotic humans would try to form a group and fight, but they end up getting killed .

“I don’t remember there being a rule about not killing the Great Priest . ”
“Yes . You’re right . ”

Like they mentioned, the Manager wasn’t supposed to intercept in this battle .
They broke the rules and instead of standing by and watching, they jumped into the battle .

“If my rights were taken here, how could I trust you guys and step into the stage?”

I wasn’t wrong and the Manager couldn’t answer .

“Disappearing is probably not the best solution . ”

Once I find an opening, I was planning on attacking them .
Even if it meant death .

“What do you want? You want to know why I intercepted? You’re just a human that’s swimming through the system that we created . ”

The Manager was boasting and was hoping that I would give up first, but it was no use .
What he said only got me more fired up, which caused me to tighten my grip on my sword .

‘I’m being humiliated…by a human . ’

He was angered by several things, but he didn’t have the right to kill me .
If he did, then the other Managers wouldn’t just stand idly by .

“How about this? I’ll attack you just once . Depending on the result, you can tell me or not . ”

“Hm?”

It was definitely a surprising offer .


Even if he did become stronger, there’s no way he could injure a Manager .

“Ack . ”

Despite that, the Manager couldn’t accept it because of my confident expression .
The Manager knew that I wasn’t just going to injure him, but would try to kill him if I had the chance .

“Okay, I agree . ”

He contemplated for a short moment and hoped that nothing bad would actually happen .
This wasn’t the first time that a Manager and a human fought against each other, but in the end, the Manager always won .
It would be the same this time too .

“Mr . Krosus!!”

Kalax, who got injured by the Great Priest, stood up .
Not thinking about the injury that he had, he quickly kneeled and worshiped him .
The clan leaders around him and the surviving Orcs were standing around and then bowed their heads .

“You’re doing well, Kalax . I bid you good luck . ”
“…Thank you . ”
“We’ll see each other again . ”

And just like that, Krosus teleported me and the Manager to an area that was far from the temple .

“Did you hear how Kalax’s voice trembled? It could be because he witnessed me saving the Great Priest . ”
“I’m not sure the dull Orcs are able to think that far . ”
“They’re smarter than you think . I wonder how they will react once they find out that the God that they’ve worshiping has been balancing both sides and instigating the war . ”

The Manager had a mean smile on his face .

“It doesn’t matter if they know about that truth . They’ve already come too far so there’s no way they would make a diplomatic decision like that . Both sides have shed too much blood already . ”

In that moment, my body was filled with so much anger that I almost lost my chance .

“What’s the religion? There’s a temple where they worship you and followers that follow them . A Manager’s perverted taste? Are you wanting them to worship you because you created them?”
“I didn’t create them . They’ve been living here for a long time . ”

The energy to manage a stage depended on a Manager’s power .
A lot of ingredients were required in order to create the monsters, atmosphere, system and everything else that completed the stage .
Because of that, the Managers liked stages that have already been created .
They just had to tweak a couple of things before using it .

“There are a lot of stages where we borrow the geographical lands to create the stages . There are humans that are completing for other stages that have similar features to this one . ”

While listening to his explanation, I slowly took out that sword from the inventory .
The thunder stuck to the ground and just like before, it was releasing its energy .

“What’s that lance?”


“I obtained it from this stage . ”
“…You obtained it here?”

Krosus’s had a wide field of vision that he was able to see all areas of the stage .
The fact that he didn’t see the lance once didn’t make sense .
On top of that, it seemed like the lance wasn’t created by the Managers .
“Where did you find it?”
“There’s a plateau where the spirits live . The lance was located at the cliff and that’s where I got it from . ”

Krosus also knew of the plateau very well .
And the fact that there was a cliff behind it .
However, he didn’t see the lance .

‘In that case, does that mean that lance has a mind of its own and was hiding itself from me? There’s no way that can happen . ’

That’s when he started to feel anxious .
Humans experience fear whenever they experience something that went against common knowledge and this was commonly used by the Managers as well .

“Just stand right there . ”

I told him not to move .
Piercing them with the lance was the best method, but I had a feeling that I would be the first one to pass out after using the lance .
Throwing the lance instead might be better .
Once the lance leaves my hand, I was sure that it’ll take care of everything afterwards .

“Hm?”

The Manager was busy building several layers of shields to create a strong defense .
They were probably thinking about getting hit by my attack instead of dodging it .

“Let’s not waste more time . ”

The Manager didn’t answer at all and focused on finishing the shield .
The way they were hurriedly creating the shield made them look pretty clumsy, so I couldn’t help but smirk .

That’s when I pulled out the lance .
I didn’t think about the best way to throw it and instead, twisted my body and threw it .
Within that short period of time, the lance devoured half of my mana, but it wasn’t as bad as last time .

Zaaaaaaap!!
Just like their name, the sound of thunder roaring filled the entire area .
My eardrums were damaged and blood started rolling down, but I didn’t have the time to feel the pain .
There was someone else that was in more pain than I am and was rolling around .

“Gahhhhhhh!!”

The Manager started yelling .
Just like a human .


Their upper body was cut off and their lower half was cut into pieces .
The light transformed into liquid and white blood started flowing out .

“Ack!!”

This was probably their first time feeling pain, because they kept on rolling around on the ground .
I thought that their body would regenerate and they would act like nothing happened, but that didn’t happen .

‘If I threw it better, I could’ve really killed them . ’

If only the lance didn’t consume my mana and make me lose my concentration .
I could’ve threw it towards their heart and killed them .

“You bastard, I’ll kill you . ”

They must’ve forgotten the promise we made earlier because their eyes were filled with nothing but revenge as they glared at me .
In the end, it wasn’t just me that made it possible since the lance did most of the work in killing them .
If I had to go against them, I definitely would’ve lost my life .

However, there was no reason to fight .

And then, the 13th Manager appeared right on time .

“I wondered where you went, but you don’t look so great . ”

Even as a Manager, she looked down on their actions .

“That bastard tried to kill me . Gah . ”
“You’re the one that agreed, so you’re responsible for losing . ”
“You…damn it!!”

The 13th Manager was about to take them to where the other Managers were .
But I intercepted and stopped them from disappearing .

“I still didn’t tell you my request . ”
“…Okay . What do you want? Should I make a nice item like last time?”
“That kind of issue is something I can handle by myself . There’s something else . Next time, it’s best not to interfere with whatever I’m doing . Whether it’s the difficulty level, the stage, or other things . ”

The 13th Manager glared at Krosus instead of at me .

“We’ll grant your request and us Managers will no longer intercept with whatever Kang Jin Woo is doing . ”
“You guys put me in a bad spot ever since the third stage, so how can I trust you guys?”
“…I promise . Really . ”

For some reason, her last comment sounded a bit sad so I couldn’t really say anything back .

“There’s no need to take another base . Like we’ve promised before, we’ll return you to the real world . ”

“Congratulations on completing the fifth stage . We’re planning on sending you back to the real world in one hour . ”

Once I saw that message, I felt dispirited .
In order to take back the lance, I walked into the forest .
The lance returned to its branch form .

“I wonder how much mana they’ll have to consume in order to use the same amount of strength…well, I did end up using it once, so I do feel satisfied . ”

***

Even though Krosus didn’t fully recover, he had to attend the meeting the Managers had .
After hearing that a Manager got injured, the other Managers had to stop what they were doing and attend the meeting .

“You’re a mess . That guy . He’s amazing . ”
Instead of worrying about their colleague, a Manager complimented the human that injured the Manager .
They wanted to clap for the human, but didn’t because of the heavy atmosphere .

“12th Manager Krosus, why did you intercept in that human’s battle?”

The First Manager that was in the center asked .

“In the fifth stage, there isn’t a being alive that’s strong enough to take on the Great Priest . In order to keep maintaining the stage, we desperately needed their strength . ”
“In other words, you’re saying that you didn’t want to lose the stage that I was managing . ”
“I’ve informed you when the fifth stage was being made that we can utilize the fifth stage in many different ways . We can’t lose that stage . ”
“All I’m hearing are excuses . The 12th Manager was always obsessed with that place . ”

Depending on how much one manages the stage and the quality of their management, it can greatly affect their rank .
Among the Managers, there are those that put all their time and energy in maintaining the stage .
There were also a handful of them that had a strong desire that they start becoming obsessed .

“The fifth stage is the stage that the 12th Manager maintains by himself . It’s also the stage where the 12th Manager assigned it to the new Managers . ”
“Another issue that we have is that we can no longer interfere with him . ”
“Since the 13th Manager has been doing well, they were probably pressured by that . ”

Everyone was looking down on Krosus, who was currently sitting in the center .
Because of the issue regarding balance, the Fourth Manager backed them up before, but now, there remained quiet .
Recently, the conflict amongst the Managers deepened .
At first, they worked well together in order to reach their goal, but their teamwork was slowly falling apart .

“We’ll deal with the 12th Manager’s punishment later . First, I want all the survivors that are currently supporting the Elves to be returned to the real world . ”

The Managers listened to First Manager’s decision before, but they didn’t think he would actually enforce it .

“There might be skilled survivors among them . ”
“It’s been four years since we opened the first stage . All the skilled survivors are already in the 15th stage . We don’t have the time to take care of each and every survivor that enters after them . And the time it takes for them to come back has become faster . ”

The bad news caused the Managers to frown .

“This time, I hope to find a human that can get rid of them in our place . Seeing the human race collapse several times is painful . ”