The call did go through—he could hear the ringing—but no one answered.
Meanwhile, the vacant eyes of the pnkton-man kept tracking his every move, unblinking.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
Finally
“I—”
Zzztt...
“Sorry, could you repeat that—zzzt.”
Huh? “Hello! Hello!” Elias nearly screamed when he saw the human pnkton raise its hand.
That massive fist was now poised to smash through the window at any moment.
Then, Elias’s ears rang.
Loud. Piercing. Nauseating.
He dropped his phone without even realizing it.
As the ringing faded and his spinning vision settled, a strange voice echoed in his head.
[Welcome, beta pyer!]
A bizarre interface materialized before his eyes.
[You’ve entered the
[Please “Find a Weapon” to face the “Cyclops”]
Elias froze. What?
[The “Cyclops” will begin attacking in 10…]
[9…]
Wait, wait, wait.
Elias didn’t understand—or maybe he understood a little.
“Tutorial” clearly meant some kind of game. But “Cyclops” made it more specific.
Kingdom of Ash.
The strange voice had mentioned that too. The same game he’d been pying for the past seven years. The one that had become a global pop culture phenomenon with the rgest community in the world.
Was it… really happening in real life?
[4…]
Crap, that’s right! A weapon!
Elias looked around frantically.
But what could he use?
He’d never bothered to cook, so he didn’t even own a kitchen knife.
His scissors had gone missing st month.
No way I can use a pillow or a mattress as a weapon, right?
If there’s anything even remotely “logical” to be a weapon in this situation ...
His eyes nded on his ptop and phone, side by side.
No way—
[1!]
“Ahh! Screw it!”
Elias snatched up his phone.
[“Smartphone” has been added as your “Primary Weapon”]
[Adjusting ‘Primary Weapon” features…]
[Feature added: “Electronic Live Broadcast”]
Automatically starts a livestream on a random ptform and transmits whatever is seen through the phone’s camera
(+) Popurity Buff (Guaranteed 1 viewer every 30 minutes. Active skill. Duration: 3 hours. Cooldown: 24 hours)
(+) Donation King (Feature locked. Get your first donation to unlock!)
If Elias had to make a snap judgment: this thing was utter bullshit.
Crank!
The human pnkton—Cyclops—was now pounding on the window.
[
[“Defeat” the Cyclops!]
Elias instinctively backed away just as the gss shattered from the second blow. Luckily, the shards flew forward, so he wasn’t injured before the battle began.
Battle?
Even thinking that made him want to ugh.
The Cyclops crawled through the window like a bizarre insect before standing tall, its head brushing the ceiling.
What part of this looked like a fight?
This was going to be a sughter. Elias could already see his body torn to shreds on the floor.
The Cyclops lunged with a horizontal punch.
It missed, but the wind pressure forced Elias to squint and stumble back.
THUD!
His back hit the wall. Just one sloppy attack and he was already cornered.
I have to do somethi—
CRUSH!
The blow came like a bullet.
Elias gnced left—Cyclops had struck the wrong spot again.
Terrifying.
The wall caved in, leaving a hole as deep as the Cyclops’s arm.
Assuming the monster would try to pull its arm out first, Elias let his guard down.
The Cyclops’s free hand swept in horizontally.
The wind of death brushed past him, and Elias saw fshes of his life in a pitiful montage.
Is… this where I end?
THUD!
CRACK!
“GRAAKH!”
Elias headbutted the Cyclops square in the chest, just hard enough to throw it off bance and kill its momentum.
The monster toppled.
Elias clutched his phone tightly, shaking, seething. “AH… DAMN IT!”
He leapt on top of the Cyclops, smming the blunt edge of his phone into the creature’s soft temple.
It sank in like tofu. The phone plunged deep, and green fluid sprayed across his face.
He yanked the phone out and struck the other side of the Cyclops’s face. More green exploded out.
“No way I’m dying to some crap like this!”
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”
Smash. Squirt. Smash. Squirt.
Thunk!
Elias looked at his phone. Bent. Screen completely dead. “Of course.” He tossed it aside.
He turned back to the Cyclops.
The wounds he inflicted had already closed up.
If he weren’t a veteran gamer with years of power-leveling experience, he might’ve panicked again.
But Elias knew from the start—this ugly jerk was immortal.
Still, that didn’t mean it can’t be defeated.
He looked into the Cyclops’s drooping eyes. If it could speak, it might’ve begged for mercy.
But the developers never gave it a voice-over. That might be true here, too.
Which made this easier.
At least Elias wouldn’t have to hear it scream while he did this.
He gripped the Cyclops’s head, forcing them to face each other.
The Cyclops had three weak points: its nose and both eyes.
So Elias began punching what was supposed to be the ‘nose’.
Crack.
A crisp snap rang out.
He punched again. The hardened nose was softening, splitting from within.
But like every other wound—it healed.
Of course it did.
The game clearly outlined the Cyclops’s weaknesses. But it never told pyers that to activate those weaknesses, there was a trick.
Two hits to the nose…
Elias gnced into the Cyclops’s watery eyes and grinned.
He extended a finger and jammed it into one of them. He winced—it felt too real.
Or maybe it was real? Elias no longer cared.
The eyeball popped free—no bigger than a marble.
Right eye to plug the left nostril.
Before it regenerated, Elias pried out the left eye too.
Left eye to plug the right nostril.
And then…
He clenched his fist, preparing his strongest punch.
One st blow to the “nose.”
Crack.
Brass!
An even bigger spray of green spttered over him.
The Cyclops’s entire body began to melt into the same sticky liquid.
Disgusting.
Elias instinctively stood up and looked down at his filthy self, wincing.
As the Cyclops’s remains dematerialized, the strange ringing returned to his ears.
[You have completed the
[You’ve received a “Tutorial Reward” for completing the objectives: “Defeat the Cyclops” and “Find a Weapon”]
[Would you like to open it?]
Elias scoffed zily. “Well, duh.”
[You’ve received 1 Upgrade Point]
[You’ve received 1 Newbie Box]
[You’ve received 100 Diamond Points]
[1 Upgrade Point will be used to enhance your “Primary Weapon”…]
[Upgrade failed!]
[“Primary Weapon” was broken!]
Elias looked down at his wrecked phone and facepalmed. “Of course it did.”
[Would you like to “Repair” or “Exchange” it?]