Ch1
NEYMAR
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Episode 01
“I’m gonna delete my character.”
Thud.
At my words, my buddy dropped the chicken leg he was tearing into.
“...Hold on, you don’t mean DePan, do you?”
“Yeah, I do. My swordsman character.”
[Devil Fantasy].
We were talking about the game I’d been playing for over a decade.
“Dude, are you insane? Why would you delete it?” my friend demanded. Having played the game for about three years himself, he knew exactly what my words implied.
“Why all of a sudden? Didn’t you say you got a Mythic-grade Trait not long ago?”
“Not long ago? That was over a year ago.”
“What’s your rank right now?”
“Number one.”
“Huh...?”
My friend let out a hollow laugh, chugged his beer, and then continued.
“So you’re finally thinking of quitting that damn game. If so, you should sell the account. Just think how much you’d get. You could buy a foreign car with that.”
He was right. If I sold the account, I’d make at least a regular office worker’s annual salary. No, it could be even more than that. In [Devil Fantasy], an account’s value wasn’t just determined by character specs.
The reputation you built, the achievements you cleared, your affinity levels with major NPCs—everything had a price. And if you added the title of the Rank 1 character on top of that...
...I could probably live comfortably for several years.
Even if [Devil Fantasy] wasn’t as popular as it used to be, the possibility was certainly there. Someone would definitely recognize my character’s true value. They’d probably scramble to buy it the second they saw it.
But I had made up my mind long ago.
“No, I’m going to delete it.”
“But why?”
“Because I’m not quitting.”
When I was stuck at the final boss’s doorstep, I did genuinely want to quit. But I couldn’t bring myself to abandon a game I had played, for better or worse, for over ten years. How could I throw away all that attachment?
So, I came to a different conclusion.
“I’m going to start over. As a mage this time.”
“...You crazy bastard. You’re going to go through all that hell again?”
I understood his reaction. Starting a character from scratch in [Devil Fantasy] was no ordinary feat. And it was even worse if that character was a ‘mage.’
But what choice did I have? My current character was a lost cause, and you could only have one character per account. To raise a new character in [Devil Fantasy], you had to delete the existing one.
Starting on a brand-new account was an option, but then I wouldn't receive the legacy rewards. Given how high-spec my character was, the rewards I’d get would be enormous. It was a waste, but deleting it was the only way.
“You’re starting over just to kill that guy, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I’ve already planned out the entire build. Took me a year just to map it out.”
“...Well, you seem pretty set on it, so I won’t stop you. But… is it even possible to kill him?”
The ‘guy’ my friend was talking about was Baal, the final boss and Demon Corps Commander of [Devil Fantasy]. And it was Baal who had made me hit a wall.
Even after hitting the max level and obtaining a Mythic-grade Trait, I just couldn’t kill him. Of course, the same could be said from his perspective.
The Immortal Warrior.
[Immortal Warrior], the Mythic-grade Trait my swordsman had acquired, was a specialty that exponentially increased resistance and regeneration stats. Physical resistance, magic resistance, natural regeneration, elemental resistance, and so on. The result was a zombie swordsman who could never die, no matter the situation.
Even the final boss, Baal, couldn't kill my character.
However…
...It was a slightly disappointing Trait.
That’s all it did. With the defense-oriented [Immortal Warrior] Trait, I could never pierce Baal’s hide. We were locked in a bizarre stalemate where neither of us could kill the other. As a player, that was a completely unsatisfying outcome.
That’s why I decided to create a new character and spent a long time researching a new build. A ‘mage’ build, hyper-specialized for offense. A full year had passed since I started.
Now, I could answer with certainty.
“I’ll kill him, no question.”
Late in the dead of night, I returned home and immediately brought up the character deletion window.
[Are you sure you want to delete this character?]
[Yes / No]
“...”
Even though I had steeled my resolve, and even with the help of alcohol… I couldn’t bring myself to click it easily. It was understandable, given that a single click would erase five years of time I’d invested in this character.
But it had to be done.
“...Thanks for everything. It was fun.”
Click!
[Character has been deleted.]
The levels I’d grinded so hard for, the reputation I’d built, my NPC affinity, cleared achievements, equipped gear, the Rank 1 title... Everything was gone. With just one click.
A deep sense of loss mixed with emptiness washed over me.
“...I can just do it again. I can do this.”
The best thing to do in times like these is to get back to work. I forced myself to shake it off and quickly pressed the character creation button.
[Legacy rewards will be provided for creating a new character.]
[※Legacy rewards are distributed based on the achievements of the previous character.]
The legacy system was one of the few systems in the unforgiving [Devil Fantasy] that catered to veterans. When you deleted a character, it gave you rewards based on its value to help your next character grow faster—things like Traits, equipment, or skills.
Among them, what I wanted was, without a doubt, a Trait. The difficulty of obtaining a Trait was on another level entirely. Anything Heroic-grade or above was priceless.
I hope I get something useful.
However, there was no way of knowing what would come out of the legacy system. There was very little information about it. It made sense. In a game where your character is permanently lost upon death, how many users would willingly delete their own character to aim for legacy rewards? Especially since the rewards weren't known to be that great.
[Calculating achievements...]
“Hm.”
While waiting, I opened the notebook that was propped up in front of me. It was worn and tattered from overuse. It contained the build I had obsessively researched for the past year.
Flip, flip!
I checked the contents, page by page. There were no problems. It was all in my head already.
If I just follow this...
I can kill Baal.
Just as I came to that conclusion...
Ting!
The calculation results appeared.
[Achievement Calculation Results]
Level: 100 (Max)
Ranking: 1st
Quest Progression: 99%
Achievements Unlocked: 162/172
Titles Acquired: 101/144
Demons Vanquished: 665/666
Traits Possessed: Immortal Warrior (Mythic), Aura (Legendary), Weapon Master (Heroic), Single Point Focus (Heroic)
The system window displayed a compressed summary of my character's information and progress. It was embarrassing to say it myself, but it was truly impressive. Especially the number of demons vanquished. The fact that I had hunted every single demon out of 666 species except for Baal was a phenomenal record.
But…
“...That’s what makes it all the more frustrating.”
Just one more. My failure to kill that last one had left a lingering regret, made all the more bitter by the knowledge that my zombie swordsman could never defeat it, no matter what I did.
“This time will be different.”
[Distributing rewards.]
Thump! Thump! Thump...!
My heart pounded with overwhelming anticipation. A character I had raised for five years. The legacy rewards for deleting it. The Pandora's box whose contents were a mystery was finally opening.
[A new spirit is imprinted onto the character's soul.]
[Imprinted Spirit: Former Master of the Sword Saint]
[A ‘Trait Selection Ticket (Mythic)’ has been granted.]
[A ‘Call of Destiny (Unknown)’ has been granted.]
There were three rewards in total.
The soul imprint was expected. You were guaranteed a soul imprint if your deleted character was in the top 100 rankings. Among them, [Former Master of the Sword Saint] was the highest-tier imprint you could get for deleting a swordsman. With this, one of a mage’s main demerits—close-quarters combat—was more or less solved.
The problem was what came next.
“A Trait Selection Ticket?”
A Trait Selection Ticket. It was a reward that dropped on extremely rare occasions after defeating a Demon Corps Commander. You could pick any Trait you wanted, as long as it matched the ticket’s grade. It was an incredibly precious item.
But…
“...A Mythic-grade one?”
This was the first time I had ever seen a Mythic-grade Trait Selection Ticket. I had never seen one on the auction house or in any community forums.
I was dumbfounded.
“So... this means I can take any Mythic-grade Trait I want?”
Getting the perfect Mythic-grade Trait for my build right from the start was a massive advantage. And if that build was for a mage boasting explosive power? A mage who had already solved his close-combat weakness with a soul imprint...? What kind of monster character would be born?
A smile crept onto my face unconsciously.
A Mythic-grade Trait Selection Ticket as a legacy reward... If this gets out, things are going to get crazy.
I was certain of it. A storm of rerolling would sweep through [Devil Fantasy]. The item was that valuable.
“Calm down.”
I quieted my mind. It was great, but getting this worked up wouldn't help. I had to stay calm.
I immediately checked the next reward.
“Call of Destiny. What’s this?”
I could understand the selection ticket, but this was an item I'd never seen before. In fact, I'd never even seen the ‘Unknown’ grade before. To think there was still something I didn’t know, even after playing for over ten years.
The name alone doesn't give me much of a clue.
Was it a key that unlocked a hidden quest? Or maybe a growth item to help me level up? I had no idea.
“I’ll figure it out as I go.”
Convinced it was no ordinary item, I scanned the reward list one more time. A soul imprint, a selection ticket, and an Unknown-grade item. Honestly, I hadn't had high expectations, since the legacy system was known for being horribly inefficient. But this was a reward I could accept. No, it was more than perfect.
“I guess I didn’t waste those five years for nothing.”
I didn’t let myself get carried away with joy. This was the reward for five years of time and effort invested in a single character. While these items would let me skip the grueling parts of early-game leveling, my time and effort weren't cheap, either.
“Hoo...”
And now, it was time to see the fruits of that labor. By killing Baal, the one I could never defeat, and seeing the main quest through to its end.
“Let’s go.”
Click!
I pressed the game start button, and the familiar introduction message appeared.
[Welcome to Devil Fantasy.]
The text was written in an eerie, crimson font.
Thump! Thump! Thump...!
I’d been playing for over ten years, but this moment still made my heart race.
It was then.
[The conditions for using ‘Call of Destiny’ have been met.]
[‘Call of Destiny’ is now activating.]
“Huh?”
Along with the unfamiliar message that had never appeared before...
[Oh, God!]
A deep, powerful voice pierced through my mind.
And that was it.
My vision, which had somehow spun 180 degrees, instantly went black, and my consciousness drifted far… far away.
And when I opened my eyes again…
“...Where am I?”
I was inside the game.
No, I was in a world teeming with 666 species of demons.
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