Chapter 113 – Level 60
Right around the time the players began pointing blades at each other, just as expected.
‘About time I moved.’
As if he’d been waiting for it, Ryu Min slipped away from his spot.
Then, after using invisibility, he changed his appearance without anyone noticing.
Into the form of a Lost Yak.
‘If I help the dwarves while looking like Black Scythe, it’ll be exposed that I betrayed the traitors.’
Staying invisible, Ryu Min watched the situation.
He was waiting.
For the moment the traitors attacked the dwarves.
‘Once the exposing starts, they’ll get impatient. Then, afraid their identities will be revealed, the traitors will try to kill the dwarves first.’
Unlike the other caravans, the dwarf caravan had fewer participants, so exposing traitors was extremely easy.
Because Ryu Min had repeated the past, he already knew this kind of “operation” would happen.
‘Usually they start talking about exposing them around wave 4 to 6, but this time it got delayed a bit.’
A variable like that was easy enough to account for, so it didn’t matter. For Ryu Min, all he had to do was stay hidden with invisibility and wait.
Until the prey bit the bait.
‘They’re finally moving.’
In Ryu Min’s eyes, he caught the traitors moving.
Since he already knew their faces and was reading their thoughts, it was easy to see through.
‘They’re targeting the dwarves’ leader, Heimer.’
There were four traitors aiming for Heimer.
Ryu Min gripped the ring-pommel saber he’d prepared in advance.
Naturally, he didn’t take out his scythe—there was a risk his identity would be exposed.
Since it wasn’t his main weapon, his skill would be a bit worse than usual, but—
‘Four guys who aren’t even level 30 yet wouldn’t even count as post-meal exercise.’
There was nothing to worry about in stopping the traitors’ raid.
Tap tap tap—
They moved.
Ryu Min, who had already waited by Heimer’s side while invisible, didn’t reveal himself yet.
‘Not yet. I need to step in at the dramatic timing. That’s how I can pull Heimer’s favor up as high as possible.’
The traitors rushed Heimer all at once.
“Warriors of the Otherworld! What is this, all of a sudden?!”
Heimer kept babbling, not even realizing he was the target.
Then, belatedly, he noticed blades aimed at him—but it was already too late.
No—right when he thought it was too late.
Clang—!
Ryu Min knocked the sword aside, and his invisibility broke.
“Are you all right?”
“Uh—uhh. You are…”
“Hide behind me. These bastards are targeting you, Heimer-nim.”
After delivering the right line to Heimer, Ryu Min flicked his gaze around.
Two in front, two behind.
Four traitors were surrounding Ryu Min and Heimer.
Radiating a fairly convincing killing intent.
“What the hell is that bastard? Where’d he come from?”
“Don’t get in the way and get lost. Unless you wanna die.”
If it had been Black Scythe’s face, these puppy punks would’ve tucked their tails long ago—but now they bared their teeth at Ryu Min.
“No, we don’t have time. You just die too.”
“Don’t blame us. You brought it on yourself, trying to save a dwarf.”
In an instant, as if they’d agreed in advance, all four charged at the same time.
If there weren’t four swords, it was an angle you couldn’t block.
And yet—
Clang clang clang clang—
Ryu Min somehow deflected every blade, then drove his sword into a traitor’s chest.
Shnk—
“Kuh—huhk!”
“I’m telling you.”
He yanked the ring-pommel saber free, immediately knocked aside the guy behind him, and slashed his shoulder.
Slash—
“Kyaaaagh!”
“I don’t show mercy to people who aim blades at me for real.”
With two taken down in an instant, the remaining traitors panicked.
But something even more panic-inducing was the sight of their own bodies at some point—
Bodies with their heads cut off, staggering, then collapsing.
Thud— thud—
Only after two heads hit the ground did Ryu Min finish his sentence.
“You brought it on yourselves, so don’t blame me.”
No answer came from the dead.
Nearby players, seeing Ryu Min’s workmanship, exclaimed in admiration.
“Whoa, what? Who is that guy?”
“His skill’s no joke.”
Because it was a Lost Yak’s face, no one even suspected he was Black Scythe.
On top of that, he was using a sword and wearing different armor.
“That’s insane. He saved the dwarf.”
“How did someone that skilled go unnoticed?”
“Huh? Now that you mention it…”
It didn’t take long for suspicion to turn into acceptance.
With over 200 people, it wouldn’t be strange even if you’d never seen him before.
In the middle of that, Ryu Min looked down. Dwarf Heimer was still calming his startled heart.
It seemed he’d never imagined he’d be attacked by an escort, not a monster.
“T-this… what is this?”
“There’s a traitor mixed in with our team.”
“T-traitor?”
“The scene earlier, where we tested by attacking each other, was to expose traitors.”
Only then did Heimer seem to understand. He nodded and stroked his beard.
“A traitor among the warriors of the Otherworld… We nearly faced a disaster.”
“Heimer-nim! We must protest to the temple at once!”
“That’s right! The ones meant to escort us turning into enemies—!”
“At this rate, reaching the destination…”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!!!”
At Heimer’s roar, the dwarves who had been protesting all shut up at once.
His voice was so loud that even the players who’d been stabbing each other stopped what they were doing and turned to look.
“Is now the time to argue about that? At this moment, aren’t the most confused the warriors of the Otherworld who found out traitors are hiding among them?!”
“……”
“……”
Heimer looked up at Ryu Min.
“Thanks to you, this wretched body of mine kept its life. I beg you—tell me the name of my benefactor.”
Heimer waited with eyes that sparkled in a way that didn’t match his appearance.
For Ryu Min, who had to hide his identity, he couldn’t just say “Black Scythe” outright.
Especially not with this much attention on him.
‘But if I lie and give a fake nickname, it’ll be hard to get benefits from the dwarves, too.’
An awkward situation.
‘But it’s not like there’s no way.’
Other people didn’t know it yet, but there was a system for times like this.
Titles.
Ryu Min selected one of the many titles he’d acquired so far and pressed “Unhide.”
[The Forerunner]
Instead of a nickname, a title floated above his head.
You could hide your nickname, but you couldn’t hide your title.
The players’ eyes widened at the sight.
“What? What’s that?”
“Why is his nickname showing?”
“We don’t have anything.”
Players who didn’t know what a title was raised questions, thinking it was a nickname.
‘Well, they’ve never gotten one, so it makes sense they wouldn’t know.’
Since titles were even harder to obtain than runes, Ryu Min understood the reaction.
Then Heimer made a shocked face.
“Huh? Y-you are… The Forerunner?”
It seemed showing the title made it visible to him as well.
‘But for Otherworlders, it has a different meaning.’
To players, it was just text that replaced a nickname.
‘To these guys, it feels like it means something.’
As if there was some internally set story, they reacted when a title was revealed.
“So you are The Forerunner.”
“Ohh, no wonder!”
“The Forerunner—your reputation is something we’ve long heard of.”
The moment he revealed the title, the atmosphere turned strangely preferential.
Since there was no downside for Ryu Min, he simply played along.
“Is that so? I don’t think I’m that famous.”
“Hoho, for The Forerunner to be modest…”
Heimer let out a hearty laugh, then turned serious and expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you for saving me, The Forerunner. If not for you, I would have become a skewer and been tossed carelessly onto the stone ground.
Just imagining it is truly dreadful.”
Watching Heimer shudder, Ryu Min asked just in case.
“Do I not need to tell you my name?”
“What meaning does a name have? You already bear the fame of The Forerunner.”
Ryu Min nodded.
‘As expected, I can substitute a title for a nickname.’
Now, even if he met dwarves other than Heimer, if he revealed this title, he would be able to win their favor.
As if to prove it, a message appeared at just that moment.
[The dwarves’ reputation toward ‘The Forerunner’ has risen from ‘Neutral’ -> ‘Friendly’.]
Just as he’d wanted, he’d drawn out the dwarves’ favor.
‘This is the positive function of a title.’
Even as Ryu Min smiled at the message, the traitor-exposing operation continued.
But—
“Screee— screee!”
“SCREEE!!”
An orc assault suddenly barged in, and the exposing operation halted for a moment.
This time too, Ryu Min protected the dwarves from the orcs in the form of a Lost Yak, not Black Scythe.
It was an action taken to solidify his favor even further.
Sure enough—
-The Forerunner being here really makes me feel secure.
-His skill is outstanding compared to the other warriors, too.
-If he would use a weapon I made… truly, it would be an honor.
The dwarves watching Ryu Min’s prowess were continuing their admiration inside their heads.
Ryu Min could only sigh at his slower hunting pace than usual.
‘The dwarves are watching, so I can’t even drop the transformation. No choice—this wave, I’ll have to hunt with the ring-pommel saber.’
To be honest, he complained about speed, but the difference wasn’t that huge.
With a scythe, he would’ve killed four at once; with the ring-pommel saber, it was just the annoyance of having to stab four times.
‘Still, if I can build favor with the dwarves and receive rewards.’
He figured they’d give him the reward he wanted once the escort ended, but just in case, he built even more reputation.
There was no downside to being certain.
Then, as Ryu Min was killing orcs, a welcome message appeared in front of him.
[Your level has increased!]
[Your rank has risen from ‘Expert’ to ‘Master’.]
[You can now use the Duel Request function.]
He hit level 60, and his rank rose to Master.
Along with that, a function called Duel Request appeared, and it was quite useful.
‘You can fight while staking each other’s items, or fight after receiving some kind of promise.’
Simply put, it was a one-on-one duel where each side put up collateral, and the winner took it—but it was a function more often used in reality than in the Otherworld.
[To commemorate your rank increase, the skill Seal of Death is strengthened!]
[Seal of Death’s additional damage is increased from 140% -> 160%.]
[To commemorate your rank increase, the skill Night of Death is strengthened!]
[Night of Death’s range is increased from 1,000m -> 1,500m.]
[To commemorate your rank increase, the skill Moonlight Slaughter (월광섬) is strengthened!]
[Moonlight Slaughter (월광섬)’s AoE damage is increased from 1,200% -> 1,800%.]
His existing skills were strengthened one after another.
It was a joyful thing, but Ryu Min’s eyes went to the new skill even more.
[Additionally, you have learned the Reaper-exclusive skill ‘Crimson Moon (赤月)’!]
[The next skill can be learned automatically when you reach level 99.]
[Exclusive Skill – Crimson Moon (赤月)]
-Effect: For 10 seconds, Moonlight Slaughter (월광섬)’s cooldown is reduced to 1 second. Crimson Moon can be used again only after a 24-hour cooldown has passed.