"This time, we'll finish everything."The masked man's distorted voice echoed coldly, cutting through the battlefield filled with thousands of players who had just flooded the facility's courtyard.A quiet laugh came from behind his mask. The man raised one hand into the air, then slowly flicked his fingers as though sliding an invisible window.Instantly, an immense wave of pressure slammed into the entire area. The space surrounding the masked man's body distorted violently, bending and cracking as golden lines of code formed before shattering and scattering through the air."External Authority," Nox rasped, the golden glow of his eyes sharpening beneath his hood.The masked man descended the black stairs one step at a time. The space around him distorted violently, bending and cracking as golden lines of code shattered through the air."Attack him together!" Valkaros roared.The Dragon Knight surged to the front, swinging his golden dragon spear with all his strength."Advance! Bre

BOOOM!The storm of energy unleashed by Self-Destruction Overdrive exploded like a pillar of apocalypse. Red External Authority radiation slammed into every corner of the battlefield, triggering a destructive shockwave that cracked the air itself."Hold formation!" screamed the top-ranked tankers as their shield lines shattered into pieces.Hundreds of players were violently thrown backward, crashing into stone ruins as their HP bars plummeted toward the critical threshold. The forces led by King Elrond were swept away by waves of poisonous wind, causing the Elven ranks to nearly lose their footing. Even Nox's Shadow Army suffered massive casualties, with dozens of shadow knights destroyed and dissolving into black mist.Yet amid the melting ruins, they did not retreat even a single step.Lumine leaped onto the swirling energy, raising her sacred staff high as it radiated the purest glow of light magic."Don't let him activate the Authority again!" Lumine shouted, her voice thundering

The golden light from the fragments of External Authority slowly dissipated, evaporating into millions of soft particles that swept across the sky. The red lightning storm that had previously gripped the skies above Allenia gradually transformed into a cool breeze. The thick black clouds split apart, allowing the artificial sunlight of Aurelis Online to bathe the devastated ground.DING!The deafening chime of the system bell echoed across every corner of the continent, followed by a series of gold-framed UI windows appearing in the field of view of every player and within the vision of the NPCs.[GLOBAL NOTIFICATION!]External Authority Intrusion Neutralized.Regional Stability Restored.Aurelis Online World Recovery Protocol Activated.Emergency Event: COMPLETED."L-Look! The monsters!"A Mage from the Coalition shouted as he pointed toward the edge of the forest.A group of crawling monsters that had previously moved with abnormal aggression suddenly stopped their assault. The bloo

"Huff... That was exhausting."Raka removed his sensory headset and slowly opened the cover of his VR capsule. He leaned stiffly against the foam pillow, allowing his body to sink into the silence of his room, illuminated only by the capsule's dim blue indicator light.For several seconds, Raka simply sat there in silence. His lungs expanded and contracted slowly as he tried to synchronize the rhythm of his real-world breathing with the lingering effects of dagger strikes and the circulation of Shadow Mana that had just drained his body inside Aurelis Online.However, the silence did not last long."We did it! Aurelis is safe!" shouted a young man from the floor below the apartment complex, followed by the loud bang of a table being slammed in celebration."Wooo! The server didn't get deleted!" another voice shouted from outside the window. "Long live the Aurelis Defense Coalition!"Toooooot! Beep! Tooooooot!The sounds of car horns on the main road blared back and forth without end,

"This week's rare-item transaction report from the Allenia Trade District is officially closed!" shouted a Merchant-class Player, slamming his fist onto his desk with a beaming expression. "Mana crystal prices have surged by thirty percent, but buyers from the mid-tier guilds are still lining up!""Of course they're lining up," replied an Assassin leaning casually against a stone pillar in the city square. "All high-level dungeons have been reopened simultaneously by the World Recovery Protocol. Who wouldn't want to push their level immediately after being trapped in yesterday's crisis?"The atmosphere across the Aurelis Continent had truly returned to normal. The sound of imperial horses galloping through the streets, the lively chatter of thousands of players, and the constant traffic of airships crossing the sky painted a picture of ordinary life restored.The aftermath of the World Collapse and the corruption caused by External Authority had been completely purged, leaving behind