BOOM!

A monster as big as a mountain collapsed.

All of the countries on Earth had fallen, one after the other.

The Behemoth of the Apocalypse that had been summoned in the USA, one of the 10 countries still standing, was finally subdued.

"Good…" A blond-haired, Caucasian man smiled as he looked over the scene.

His name was Baron, and he was the 'America First' guild leader, which was the biggest guild in the world, and he was also ranked 1st.

Paf-

A black-haired man collapsed next to the monster, his left arm cut and his body burned.

He was ranked 7th, Martial Saint Sung JiHan.

"Good job," Baron said shortly.

"…"

To Baron, JiHan was just a useful hunting dog who was originally from Korea, and that hunting dog had once again done its job well.

He'd been hurt badly, though.

"Regeneration!" The Saintess, ranked 3rd, ran toward him and began casting healing magic.

As time went on, her expression darkened.

"Noo…!"

She should've easily been able to heal burn wounds, but the burns that the Behemoth of the Apocalypse caused were more severe than others.

"JiHan! Please endure for a bit. Please… Great Heal! Great…"

The Saintess used healing magic, tears welling up in her eyes.

Baron frowned when he saw how hard she was trying, but he quickly turned around and looked at the monster's corpse.

The Behemoth of the Apocalypse…

There was still an evil energy emanating from its body.

'It's already hard to endure it from here. How did he manage to withstand it from such a short distance?'

Again, Baron found himself impressed by JiHan, and then his eyes began to shine.

Fwoosh-

A white light shone from Behemoth's back.

'That's… a boss battle reward!'

It was a special reward box that rarely came out of boss monsters and was indicated by the same white light he was seeing.

"Everyone, back off!"

"Yes."

As Baron raised his hand, the America First members moved back while looking at their surroundings.

There was no way they weren't coveting the special reward from the so-called Behemoth of the Apocalypse, but they couldn't go against Baron's orders.

He glanced around at his guild members and picked the Saintess and the ranked 4th and 5th to receive the reward with him.

"What about JiHan…?"

"He isn't American. He's just a hunting dog."

Despite having contributed the most in hunting Behemoth, he was cast aside when it came time to receive the reward.

"He's also American! He was exiled!"

"You should understand what type of American I'm talking about."

"But JiHan is the one who defeated the Behemoth of the Apocalypse…"

"Ugh…" JiHan, who'd been silently listening, smirked.

He had never expected Baron to share any of the rewards with him in the first place.

He opened his mouth. "Go. I'm okay now."

"I'm sorry… I'll be back soon."

"Okay."

Baron seemed relieved when the Saintess got up.

The Korean hunting dog… at least he knew who his master was.

"Let's go, Baron."

"Okay. Fly!"

The four used Baron's magic to fly onto Behemoth's corpse.

JiHan watched them through his blurry vision.

His country had disappeared, and he'd been forced into exile.

Those people were all Americans, and although there wasn't much of a difference between their rankings, the difference within the guild was huge.

'I wonder what the reward from Behemoth will be.'

JiHan fell into thought while looking at the monster he'd just defeated.

Although it was a monster that appeared in a demotion match, it was still the Behemoth of the Apocalypse, so the reward would probably be good.

'It isn't mine anyway… so I'd rather focus on healing my left arm.'

He had accepted reality when…

WHOOM-!

The ground began shaking, and a message window popped out in front of everyone.

[Space League - Bronze League Demotion Match Result Announcement.]

He felt uneasy.

[Game Category - Defense]

[USA - Pass.]

[China - Pass.]

[Russia - Fail.]

[Japan - Fail.]

…

The USA and China had succeeded… but every country beneath them had failed.

JiHan's expression hardened when he saw that only two of the final 10 countries had succeeded.

'This…'

[NO. 4212: 'Humanity' has failed the demotion match.]

[A final demotion match against NO. 4773: 'Urk' will be held.]

[The match will take place immediately.]

Whir-

As the message window widened, a screen appeared with a massive stage shown on it.

"G-guild leader…"

The screen showed Baron's group that had gone to obtain the reward, all looking serious.

'Including the Chinese player, there are five in total.'

All five had higher rankings than JiHan, and no other players were summoned.

At the other end of the stage stood five urks, beings with green skin that looked like pigs.

[The match will start momentarily.]

It was a five-on-five battle, and the side that lost would be demoted.

"Please…" A guild member began praying.

"To think the opponents would be the urks!"

"JiHan should have been summoned!"

A few were disappointed, and others were praying while looking toward JiHan.

Since JiHan was ranked 7th, he wasn't summoned.

Despite that, the others in the guild knew that JiHan was America First's… no, the world's strongest player.

Even if he was missing an arm, his presence there would have given them relief.

- Haha! How lucky. That monster isn't here!

The urk standing in front of the others burst into laughter.

JiHan knew him very well.

'It's the guy who escaped last time.'

He was a great warrior who was afraid of JiHan, but when he didn't see him there, he gained confidence.

- We must avoid being demoted! Kill them all!

The five urks rushed toward the human group at incredible speed.

Baron quickly used magic, but…

JiHan's expression hardened.

The urk party was a perfect counter to humanity.

[Defend… Defend! AGH!]

The result was clear.

'It's over.'

Tap.

Baron's head fell to the ground; there was fear and despair on his face.

At the same time, a system message appeared.

[NO. 4212: 'Humanity' - Fail.]

[Humanity has been demoted from Bronze League.]

It was an expected result, and it was a result that JiHan had wanted to avoid at all costs.

JiHan and the remaining people were forced to see how the five rankers were defeated at the hands of the urks.

"Oh, my God…"

"What's going to happen to us?"

The America First members started to panic, and a new message window appeared.

[There are no lower leagues remaining.]

[Humanity has been kicked out of the Space League.]

[NO. 4212: 'Humanity' has been deemed useless. Beginning deletion.]

Deletion?

A system message had never given him such chills before.

As that message disappeared…

"Huh…?" Darkness started to cover a guild member's body. "S-save me…"

There were no exceptions. From the top-ranking members of the guild to the lowest-ranking ones, everyone was covered in darkness and deleted from the world.

'…'

Every member of America First was deleted in just five minutes, and for some strange reason, JiHan was the last one remaining.

Though his arms and legs were devoured by darkness, his body and head remained untouched.

'To think Nameless Divine Arts would be able to resist this.'

Nameless Divine Arts was the skill that had carried him to rank 7. Though it was a nameless skill, its rank of 'SSS' was deemed quite high, and he didn't know the skill could let him resist system deletion.

It was too bad.

'If I had uncovered its name, it would have become an even greater skill…'

The upgrade condition for Nameless Divine Arts was to find its true name, and if he'd discovered its name, the situation he was facing wouldn't have occurred.

He'd obtained it a bit too late, but if he had gotten it sooner….

He began feeling regret.

'I would've been able to stop Korea from collapsing if I had gotten it sooner.'

Korea had collapsed soon after he'd obtained Nameless Divine Arts.

If he'd gotten himself together sooner, his country wouldn't have collapsed in such a way.

"Ugh…"

The effect of Nameless Divine Arts was strong, but there was a limit.

JiHan's body started getting devoured.

The darkness reached his shoulders, but it wasn't proceeding smoothly.

A few moments later, a short message appeared before JiHan.

[All of 'Humanity' has been erased.]

[You're the last survivor.]

The last survivor…

All of humanity had vanished in such a short time?

'I'll be following them soon.'

Yes…

Rather than being left alone…

Was there a need to hold out if he was alone?

JiHan was about to stop using Nameless Divine Arts when…

[How surprising.]

[NO.4212: 'Humanity' should've been a worthless race.]

[To think someone would be able to resist being erased.]

System messages appeared before JiHan.

The messages appearing were different from the typical, emotionless ones; the background color of the message window was different as well.

'The usual ones are half-transparent and blue…'

The windows he was seeing had a lot of colors mixed in, like white, black, and red, among others.

[It's low, but this being has a chance.]

[Yes, no possibility can be overlooked.]

[Let's give him an opportunity to re-challenge.]

[I agree.]

[I disagree. It's a waste of strength.]

[I agree.]

[I agree.]

There were three votes for it and one against it.

'What are they talking about…?'

JiHan watched them vote without even taking his thoughts into consideration when his eyes widened.

[A decision has been made.]

[Player 'Sung JiHan' is returning to the time of initial entry in the League.]

'The time of initial entry in the League…'

After he read that message, JiHan's vision darkened.