Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 461 PROLOGUE – PT2

“You too, huh?” I asked as Sung Jin-Woo walked over toward us. The once-weak Hunter nodded as he raised his hand, revealing a key. The key was exactly like Hancock's and my keys. We had received them for completing our daily workout quest soon after I received the quest notification. 

“What do you think it means?” Jin-woo asked. He was about my height at 6 feet two inches tall. Both of us having become taller to help accommodate our immense strength, we were a far cry from how we looked only a few months ago. We had been best friends once upon a time, and that friendship was rekindled as we both became Players. I had helped guide him more than a little, and we had assisted each other in dungeon after dungeon since then. 

“No idea,” I said. “Nothing good, I’m sure.” Along with the quest from the System that controlled my Challenges, we had received quests from the System of this world to go to the Carthanon Temple. The key had guided Hancock and me to a newly opened portal in the downtown district of Seoul. A portal we were standing in front of as members from the Hunter’s Association kept bystanders back. 

“Shall we?” Hancock asked. She was wearing a red dress with a front slit cut in it that was down to her belly button. Gold snake earrings; two more were stitched into her dress. One of the first things she did when we started making money was hire her own personal tailor to make dress after dress. Each following the same snake theme. 

“You just want to get back to the bedroom,” I said, rolling my eyes. Though I had kicked the girls out of my Capsule House once I went to work, they had continued their conversation about future plans at Hancock’s penthouse. 

“So?” Hancock asked unashamedly. Jin-Woo blushed deeply, having learned a while ago not to ask about our bedroom activities. My eyes locked onto the portal in front of us. About 10 feet tall it was made of pure mana. Like a black and blue cyclone continuously spinning in front of us it was a doorway to another world. I studied it and could feel a weak sense of mana escaping from it, but I knew that was a facade. There was a very thin hint of mana that spelled danger as well. 

“Are you sure you are needed, Commissioner?” One of my subordinates asked. “Surely this won’t require three S-Ranks.”

“It will,” I said. “Keep everyone back. Evacuate the entire block.” Frowning, I studied my status screens for a moment. 

My Solo Leveling status screen was a far cry from where it started. Having earned skills thanks to my use of chakra, I had also learned to use the power system of this world, which used mana as fuel. Though Earth didn’t have a huge amount of mana, most of the worlds we went to did. So the skills I had learned with my class would most likely be useless in other places, but for now they were nice to have. 

Since most of the Manhwa Rooms I had been to had their own status screens and skills, I was left to quests to get them on my cross-world status screen. Which caused quite the headache, as I jumped worlds. I hoped going deeper into Solo Leveling would allow more of my current skills to transfer, but for now I was happy with my gains so far. Once I cleared Solo Leveling, I would get more Challenger Slots for the really good skills I had; at least I hoped I would. 

I couldn’t exactly remember how Solo Leveling ended. I knew it had something to do with gods and reincarnation, but I also remembered the ending to the canon sucked. Quite a bit had changed for me between the canon and my real version of the world. Only time would tell what would happen, but for now I was enjoying the ride of being on the top of the world. 

“Shall we?” I asked Hancock, as I reached out my hand.

“Of course, my love,” she said, taking my hand. I reached out my hand to Jin-Woo but he rolled his eyes. Matching our steps, we walked into the dungeon portal together. 

On the other side we appeared inside of a large rocky hallway. The real amount of mana of the dungeon revealing itself as we stepped through, it was far more than even Jeju Island exuded. Growing excited, I looked around the hall as we continued forward. 

Torches lining the long hallway glowed blue. The floor at our feet was clean and tiled, and the wall and ceiling were cut from stone in the shape of an arch. Carved out of stone, it seemed we were underground on some other planet. 

“Fucking hell,” Jin-Woo said.

“What?” Hancock asked. 

“Just…reminds me of something,” he said. We turned to face him. “That dungeon where we became Players. It has that same feel.”

“Really? I can’t remember. I was summoned there naked,” Hancock said, frowning at me. 

“I forgot about that. The Hunter Guild really thought we kidnapped you, nudist,” I said, eyeing her. The previous Hancock had been an A-Rank Hunter in the Hunter Guild with Cha Hae-In. When we woke up from becoming Players they found Jinwoo, me, and a naked Hancock. It did not go over well, that was for sure. 

She stuck her tongue out at me, and I frowned, staring at the door. “Well, that’s not good.” The shadows growing darker as Jin-Woo’s zombie shadows coalesced around him. Able to raise the dead, he was a necromancer. Though he still hadn’t beaten me in a fight and was far below me in levels because he shared experience with his shadows, I knew he was actually strong. “Nothing we can do but see where it goes.” 

Without another word, I stepped down the hall. My two followers locked in step with me, and we made our way slowly. It wasn’t long until we came to a large door. About ten feet tall, it looked exactly like the door I had entered to save Jin-Woo and become a Player those months ago. I had swooped into the dungeon at the end of his trial, right before these exact doors closed. Recalling something about doing this dungeon again, I couldn’t remember if it was from the manhwa, or I was just remembering wrong. Either way, I raised my hand with the key.

The key began to glow, and as Hancock and Jin-woo raised their hands, the door opened. The interior was dark, but I stepped through first. Ready to step to any source of light, I was surprised to see other people walking through similar doors around the room. 

Inside the door was a massive dome-shaped enclosure. At least a thousand feet across and five hundred feet wide, there were about twenty other doors lining the walls. These doors were mirror images of the one we walked through. As I studied the other doors, they opened and more people began stepping inside. As they did, I noticed that only one person was walking through each door, unlike ours where three people were walking in. I began to coalesce the light around me and direct it all around, making it stronger so we could all see. 

“Fucking Weston!” One of the strangers yelled. Then I realized it wasn’t a stranger; it was that dickhole Luke from Miami. I had kicked his ass a few weeks ago when he tried to steal one of my dungeons. He brought his hands together for an attack and I stepped toward him. Appearing in a flash of light beside him, I already had my Lightsword at his throat. It wasn’t as menacing as my Demon King’s Sword, and was far quicker to draw.  

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demanded as his eyes widened on the sword at his throat. 

“Me?! What are you doing here? I’m in America,” he said. His hands made fists as flames appeared on his knuckles as he powered up. 

“We are in a dungeon, you idiot,” I said. Looking around, I realized I knew many of the other people there. All were Hunters I had either helped or hindered in the last few months as I conquered dungeons around the world. 

“Still making friends, I see,” Raquel said with a laugh. She was a dark red-haired woman that had begged me to cum inside her only a month ago. 

“You know it, darling,” I said as I released the mana holding the Lightsword together. It blinked out of existence as I did. I raised my hands as the other Hunters held their weapons in my direction. Each and every one of them a strong Hunter in their own right. I was getting a better sense of the area as my Observation Haki sensed everything. 

Surprisingly, I didn’t notice the giant statue sitting at the edge of the stone room. The statue was that of a giant man on a throne. Wearing a tall crown, it’s face had a creepy smile across it. Many others noticed it as I did. 

“Fuck, not again,” Luke said as he stepped back. Others did the same. 

“Fuck,” I said, putting it together. “Wait, did all of you face this guy before? Did you all become Players?” I had known there was a possibility of others, but not this many. I counted, and there were 21 of us total.

“You know what a Player is?” Someone asked, but my mind was putting it all together. 

Hancock and I had squeaked in at the last second to become Players. I had always assumed the man that made Players accidentally let us in. But as I looked around, I realized that each one of these people was a Player. Each one had gone through the same trial as Sung Jin-Woo had, and was given the opportunity to become impossibly strong. We three weren’t special. We were simply the only three that had become Players in the same dungeon. 

“What are your levels?!” I barked to each of them. 

“What?” “I’m not telling you that” “105” People said around me. 

“Shutup!” I said releasing some mana and allowing my Tremor Fruit out a little. Shaking the area around us. “Something triggered this event with all of us today. Is there a threshold? Is anyone below level 100?”

It took time as people looked around, but Jin-Woo raised his hand. “I reached level 101 yesterday.” He had been lagging mainly because his shadows took so much of his XP.

“Fuck,” I said. My haki told me that most everyone was around the same strength. We had each finally reached level 100, telling me that a special event was planned for us. Something that required all the potential Players in the world at one location. 

With the notification from the Solo Leveling System, it all turned black. 

—

I learned everything finally. I understood it all. All the bullshit of this stupid world had been replayed for me to see and decipher, but before I could put it all together, I was attacked. Not my physical body, I was a million miles away from that during the vision that assaulted me during this Awakening. No, my consciousness was attacked as it floated in the vast ether around me. 

-GIVE UP THE LIGHT- A voice roared in my head. 

-No! Fuck you!- I yelled back, unsure what the hell was going on and how the hell I was fighting back. This intruder’s consciousness was like a fist wrapped around my brain. The fist squeezed harder, and I nearly broke. As if everything that constituted who I was, wanted to buckle under the pressure of the onslaught of power, I held onto it. All the memories I had experienced, all the ones that I had taken with the Memory Meld over the years. All the lives and loved ones I had made would be lost forever if I let up for a moment. 

Grasping at the unknown, I steeled my mind to the intruder. -Mother fucking Monarch piece of shit! I don’t give up. This is just another Challenge, and I’m done giving up on those!- I raged as I felt the grip loosen slightly. My most recent memories and accomplishments passing through my mind, I knew this was the toughest fight I had ever been in. No physical body to punch outward, I was only left to my psyche. 

Not a physical fight, but a mental one; all I had to do was prove that my mind was far above whatever the Monarch could throw at me. I had jumped between world after world, taking the memories of every single Weston as my Memory Meld made us many, into one. I had this fucker outnumbered, and I sure as shit wasn’t going to let him take us down. 

I mentally roared and the grip on my mind loosened again. Gaining momentum, I kept pushing back. Never halting as the alien was pushed further from my mind. The Monarch redoubled his efforts, but I was acting on instinct. The visions of the past were done playing. I had to be back in my body. Which meant…Pushing chakra out, I manipulated the power to touch upon the presence. Instantly pulling it into my Makuramoto, we were thrown into my pillow room, giving my mind a reprieve. 

As I looked around, the new presence was easy to spot. Covered from head to toe in a shining white armor, he was much smaller than I imagined. More hobbit-like than Monarch, he felt strong, but now I had the homefield advantage. 

“Wh-” He said, but my chakra wrapped around him this time. Tying him up as the Makuramoto changed into my dungeon. Without saying anything, I stabbed a dozen jagged blades into the small being’s chest. He cried out in pain, and a steel plate was bolted to his mouth to stifle the scream. 

“Now, you fairy fuck,” I spat as I caught my breath in this figment of my imagination. “You’re going to tell me all of your little secrets. No more flying blind for me in this fucked-up world. I want all of it. Your history, wants, needs, and all the dark secrets of your pals.” I pulled my dark weapon from thin air. The sword that had belonged to the Demon King pulsed slightly, as if recognizing the strength of the Monarch. “Let’s start with your arm,” I said as I sliced down, cutting it off. 

A wild look in my eyes, I smiled as he tried to scream. These supposed gods had really pissed me off. Hancock was going through the exact same thing I was. I needed to be out there to help her, because if anyone hurt her, I would tear this world asunder. One Monarch at a time. 

It didn’t take long to get the answers I wanted. Finally understanding all of this bullshit story, the Monarch begged for death, and I granted him his wish. His mental attack on me ending when his head was lopped off, I came out of the Makuramoto to find the massive dungeon was in pretty bad shape. 

The concrete tiles cratered in, the dome ceiling had more than a few craters in it as well. Extending out my sensory of the Haki around me, I immediately noticed everyone else was gone. All 20 other potential Monarchs were no longer in the large dungeon. Frowning, I looked to where the stone statue had been. The physical representation of the Architect was no longer there. 

My body moved on instinct as the stone sword sliced toward me. Twisting around the Architect’s six-armed body, my body screamed at me. My mental fight with the Monarch seemed to have affected my physical body as well. . 

“How!? How did you do it?!” The Architect asked from the mouth of the stone statue. “How did you beat the Monarch?!” 

“You aren’t worth answering,” I said, and light coalesced in front of me. The ray of light sliced through the statue like light through a window. My own special power in this world, mana continued to build up around me. More light became physical, dicing up the statue into a million pieces. 

“Finally,” I said. Light’s Hope allowed me to control light, and was a skill I wanted in other worlds. 

“Weston!” A familiar voice yelled. I turned to see Cha Hae-In. The blonde S-class was beat to hell along with other members of her Hunter Guild. 

“Hae?” I asked, not understanding why she was there. My Observation Haki instantly sensing everything around me, I turned to see a knocked-out Jin-Woo in a crater. Instantly on him, I poured mana-infused light over his body, healing him in a matter of seconds.

He opened his eyes slowly, staring up at me. “Weston?” He asked.

“Don’t make my name sound so gay,” I said with a frown. “I hate it when you put so much love into it.”

“Oh,” he said as he tried not to laugh. Grabbing his side, he sat up with a frown. “I thought you were lost.”

“What happened?” I asked. 

“I saw it, the history of the world-”

“Me too, where are the others?” I asked.

“Gone,” he said. “All of them. They woke up as Monarchs and teleported out of here.”

“All of them?” I asked, through gritted teeth. My mind racing at the implications. I had seen it. All the death and destruction the Monarchs could cause, destroying armies with waves of their hands, each one held as much strength, if not more strength, than I did. 

“Yes,” he said, as I helped him up. 

“Why are you safe?” I asked. 

“I don’t know,” he said. “I think the true Shadow Monarch didn’t want to continue on anymore. Yours?” 

“I kicked his ass,” I said, although it was a real toss-up on who would have won that. Bringing up my status screen I noticed my Identity Theft Resistance hdt probably saved me, but my eyes locked onto Hancock’s name. It was still there, giving me hope. Closing my eyes, I breathed in through my mouth and pushed out mana to the room. Quite a few Hunters were there that had not been there when the Awakening happened. The stone guardian having beaten the hell out of them and Jin-Woo, I released my light, healing them instantly. 

“Prepare for another one,” I said. People stared down as their limbs regrew with my light. Without hesitation, I clicked Summon next to Hancock’s name. 

She appeared next to me. At least her body did. The spiritual energy around her was the inverse of Hancock’s. Where before, when she looked at me, she radiated love, this new woman exuded a deep hate that far surpassed any I felt before. Her bosom falling out of the new black dress she was wearing, she practically hissed at me as she attacked.