Ch.4949. The Third Scenario Begins Without Warning

“Jung Ui-seok, Ji Se-hwa, and Kang Yerin wearing the steel hero suits called Dillitter.

They entered combat against Epsilon, an executive of the Galaxy Empire Raniakain.

Compared to Pegasus or the Cancer battle, they’re significantly below the executive level.

But.

“Geo, look at them.”

Lu-a was watching the screen intently.

The Dragon King Sentai was continuing their battle against Epsilon in a fairly even match.

“Did they complete the Dillitter? Or is it just for show?”

“Dillitter?”

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

Dillitter is a mass-produced android that appears in the third scenario.

They were robots created by the US military to counter ability users, but fell into villains’ hands and went berserk.

I had planned to get my hands on them when the third scenario started and have some fun with them.

But they’ve become hero suits instead?

It’s certain that using Dillitter as a suit would provide a tremendous spec boost. It’s basically like pulling in an expansion pack patch.

But I saw in the last battle that it doesn’t work as expected.

However, even as time passes, there’s no sign of overheating like last time.

Then the Association President continued his announcement.

“Also, to clearly express our enhanced combat power, I’m announcing the new ranking system that the Association has established!”

A table with alphabetical rankings appeared on the screen.

—-

New Hero and Villain Rankings

* Basic Tier

E~A: Same (unified based on villain power)

S~SSS: Same (unified based on villain power)

* Over Tier

T1, T2, T3…: New

—-

I immediately understood what it meant.

“That stupid woman has finally done it.”

“From now on, heroes and villains will use the same ranking system based on the strength of their abilities! Also, as the number of ability users beyond SSS measurement has increased, the Over Tier has been established!”

“Geo, what does that mean?”

“For example, Lena is now stronger than when she received her SSS rank. But since there was no way to indicate this, they’ve added the Over Tier. Lena will now receive a T1 rank. If she gets stronger, she’ll be promoted to T2, and so on.”

“T…?”

“Yes. It measures purely the strength of abilities, not the threat level. Heroes use the same standard, so power comparisons between villains and heroes become more intuitive.”

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

“There are many problems.”

There’s a serious issue.

This is a patch to the game system.

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

They couldn’t keep labeling those stronger than SSS, like the Galaxy Empire executives and above, as SSS+ forever.

The problem is that this was supposed to be in-game content.

I had previously experimented with what would happen if I applied such ‘future patch content’ in advance.

At first, the results were positive.

The fact that I could become an S-class hero within 6 months after my possession was partly due to my mastery of game strategies and achievement bonuses, but also because I applied this workaround.

But the side effects were serious.

Causality, you could say.

Or the rules of the world.

Thinking about it, the result was obvious.

Technologies that appeared earlier than they were supposed to were also used earlier by villains.

It became uncontrollable, conflicts arose, and cleaning up the mess was difficult.

After confirming those side effects, I refrained from exploiting the system.

“What kind of problems will happen?”

“That’s…”

I couldn’t immediately answer Lu-a’s question.

I’m not certain about this either.

What’s certain is that variables will increase.

“According to our measurements, the rankings of heroes, the Galaxy Empire, and representative villains are as follows. You can trust the measurement standards. We’re using the same measurement method as that ‘year-end ranking’!”

—-

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

T1 – Blue Saber / Silver Mirrored / Absolute Seven / CEO E.lena / Gladiator Epsilon

T2 – Yellow Cloaker / Archbishop Cancer

T3 – Knight Commander Pegasus

T8 – Emperor Recter

—-

“Huh? I’m only SSS-class?”

Lu-a was irritated.

“Geo, they’re just cheating, right? How could that pathetic Dragon King Sentai be stronger than me?”

“Hmm.”

I also thought it was the Association President’s bluff.

I don’t know how she learned the measurement method, but I thought she was just imitating it. However, the rankings for Cancer, Pegasus, and Recter are accurate.

They match exactly with the original rankings I know.

“She must have gotten her hands on Nameless.”

Nameless, an unaffiliated ability user who can know the information of all heroes and villains.

If she has him, it makes sense.

I remember the Galaxy Empire’s rankings after the patch in the original work from the previous scenario.

For that reason, although I expressed Lu-a and Lena as SSS-class because there was no unit yet, they were much higher ranked when they appeared in the fourth scenario.

“Huh? But why isn’t Geo’s name there? Same with Red Dragon…”

Lu-a wondered.

I could guess the reason.

“I understand many of you may be anxious seeing these rankings. As you can see, the Galaxy Empire is strong.”

The Dragon King Sentai’s battle continues. After the rankings were announced, their firepower seemed to increase.

“But heroes don’t fight alone. They grow stronger through the bonds with their comrades! The Seoul Hero Association is mass-producing Dillitter to strengthen all affiliated heroes! Believe in us! We have the power to defeat the Galaxy Empire!”

She got me there.

The Dillitter suits and ranking reorganization.

Though the Association President probably didn’t intend it, she pulled forward enhancement patch elements from the third scenario that should have been months away, forcibly strengthening Seoul’s heroes.

I had mentioned Dillitter to Kang Yerin before, and I had organized ranking information on my PC.

I never expected it to come back like this.

Well, I’ll have to take advantage of the side effects.

“Geo, will it be okay?”

“No problem. The more powerful the heroes become, the more experience we get for defeating them. It’s an opportunity for us to grow too.”

Still, only stats will grow, and ability levels will be capped at 10.

The cap will be released after the third scenario begins.

To use this efficiently…

Huh?

A notification appeared in my system window.

[Notice: Scenario ‘Civil War: S-Sentai Tournament!’ has begun.]

[Notice: Scenario ‘Civil War: S-Sentai Tournament!’ causality destruction rate 34%]

[Status: Correction complete / Progression possible]

…What?

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The system was clearly announcing that the third scenario had begun at this very moment.

I didn’t know this was possible.

Two scenarios running simultaneously.

It must be a side effect.

With the new ranking system and the appearance of Dillitter, it started even before the Galaxy Empire was eliminated.

In reality, Washington and heroes from around the world must have started moving, feeling anxious after seeing the Seoul Hero Association.

“We need to move faster.”

I stood up.

“Geo, which operation are you initiating?”

I turned to Lu-a and answered.

“We’re going to raid the Association.”

◈ ◈ ◈

[NORZTORM!]

[MAX PERFORMANCE!]

“Clock Out!”

Kang Yerin rotated the top of her Switch to activate the time dragon’s ability. The sphere created around her engulfed the enemy, larger and more magnificent than before.

The gladiator Epsilon, with his bulging torso, completely stopped moving when caught by her.

“Blue, Silver!”

Following Kang Yerin’s signal, Ji Se-hwa and Shin Yukyong rushed in. The sword containing the blue dragon and the silver dragon’s combo strikes hit Epsilon.

“Time up.”

Time flowed again. The accumulated damage exploded all at once on Epsilon. The gladiator fell with a low scream, kneeling before exploding.

“We did it! We took him down!”

“Hmm. Excellent. We can finally try using the Galaxy Empire’s Switch.”

Shin Yukyong began searching Epsilon’s corpse. Kang Yerin ignored her.

The Dillitter suit.

This finally completed suit had dramatically increased the Dragon King Sentai’s combat power.

They had received a ranking that surpassed even E.lena from Nameless, who would only assign fair rankings no matter how much the Association President threatened him.

‘With this, we can win.’

They could win against both the Galaxy Empire and the Villain Alliance. Kang Yerin began to see hope.

“What? Why isn’t there a Switch?”

After searching Epsilon’s corpse for a while, Shin Yukyong called out. Kang Yerin called to her.

“Let’s stop and go back. Our goal was elimination.”

“Wait, the Switch is important too! You saw those villain bastards using Pegasus’s Switch.”

That damn Switch. Kang Yerin was sick of it.

Swoosh!

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

What appeared was another monster.

“Ho ho. Even after putting in so much magical power, this is all you amount to. Truly sad for an inferior species.”

A monster with a giant staff.

From the ominous aura she felt, Kang Yerin instinctively knew he was an executive.

“Be careful! This monster’s aura…!”

“No need to be so frightened. Today I’m just here to see the experimental results. I need to go back and write my paper.”

The next moment, the monster had teleported in front of Epsilon’s corpse.

“Ugh?!”

Shin Yukyong couldn’t react. The monster completely ignored her and levitated Epsilon’s damaged upper body with telekinesis.

“Hmm, hmm. Was the vessel poor? I’m sure the red warrior said he was a strong one… Was it not you folks?”

“You bastard, what are you mumbling about?!”

At Ji Se-hwa’s shout, the monster laughed casually.

“Ho ho. I am the Great Sage Dorado. As you can see, I gave your comrade the honor of fighting for the Empire, but it seems he failed completely.”

“Comrade…? What do you mean…?”

Dorado tilted his head and then began to laugh loudly.

“My goodness. You didn’t know throughout the entire fight? With such a low level. Asking the Archbishop for a vessel was a waste.”

Dorado waved his staff slightly. Epsilon’s corpse began to twist grotesquely and change shape.

It soon took human form. Kang Yerin recognized the face and was shocked.

“…Akshi?”

It was Akshi, the Dragon King Sentai’s new Red who was thought to have died in the Cancer battle.