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CHAPTER 116 – A Staged Situation
“Eom Jun-seok?”
Ryu Min remembered the other man’s nickname.
Because he was the one who had drawn attention while they were taking down the High Orc.
Of course, it wasn’t like he’d intentionally drawn attention—he’d just been frozen stiff.
“Y-You remembered my nickname?”
“I only glanced at it, but I guess I was right.”
Either way, he was a contributor who had played a major role in setting that time attack record by one second.
How could Ryu Min possibly not remember him?
‘But why is this guy…?’
A guy who hadn’t exchanged even a single word with him was approaching first and striking up a conversation.
And with a timid, hesitant face, at that.
- T-That Black Scythe would remember me…! Good job talking to him!
Reading his thoughts, Ryu Min didn’t sense any hidden agenda.
It looked like he’d simply come over to greet him.
Even though he already knew, Ryu Min asked as if tossing the words out.
“What do you want with me?”
“Ah, um… back then, you saved me, but I couldn’t even properly thank you, and it kept bothering me.”
Eom Jun-seok bowed his head with a solemn, serious expression.
“Thank you. For saving my life.”
‘If anything, I should be the one thanking you. You pulled the High Orc’s aggro.’
Ryu Min swallowed those words and simply nodded.
“Got it. Now go.”
It was a dismissal, but Eom Jun-seok didn’t turn away.
When Ryu Min read his thoughts, he could tell the man looked regretful.
‘Ah. Wait. Don’t tell me…?’
Ryu Min glanced back and forth between Heo Tae-seok and Eom Jun-seok.
For some reason, the way both of them looked at him was oddly similar.
‘Feels like I just gained another follower…’
Eom Jun-seok forced himself to act as if he hadn’t heard Ryu Min and only said what he wanted to say.
“It’s an honor to be in a party with you, Black Scythe-nim. I’ll do my best.”
“Wait a moment. You said your name is Eom Jun-seok, right? What do you mean Black Scythe-nim saved you?”
“Ah, well….”
At Heo Tae-seok’s question, Eom Jun-seok explained in detail how dangerous the situation had been back then.
“Ah, so that was when Black Scythe-nim showed up.”
“Yes. It was really unbelievably lucky. But you are….”
“My introduction is late. I’m NopeinNoge-i. By any chance, are you interested in religion?”
“Pardon? Religion?”
“I’m recruiting new people this time, and….”
The two of them, having exchanged greetings, kept talking.
Leaving Ryu Min—the actual center of the whole thing—out of it.
‘As expected of someone who looks like the next cult leader. Even now, he’s recruiting believers.’
Heo Tae-seok, who Ryu Min had thought was only clumsy with words, suddenly spoke fluently in front of Eom Jun-seok.
When it came to anything involving Black Scythe, his expression turned deadly serious.
‘Do whatever you want. It’s not like having more followers is bad for me.’
It felt a bit like being left out while the two whispered among themselves, but so what?
As long as they didn’t get in the way, that was all that mattered.
Then, the elf Yugrito used a wind spirit to inform everyone.
“We will depart now. I look forward to working with you, warriors from another world.”
That was the signal, and the merchant caravan began to move.
Clop-clop— clop-clop—
A white horse pulled a carriage without wheels.
Following a procession of thirty carriages, roughly seven hundred players moved as well.
No one even had to say it—people naturally split to both sides and formed an escort around the carriages.
Since they didn’t know when monsters might appear, they walked while staying alert.
They looked rather serious.
These were players who had survived all the way to Round 7, after all.
The forest was beautiful, but none of them were foolish enough to get lost in admiring it.
Wasn’t this another world where anything could jump out at any moment?
But unlike the others, Ryu Min showed no signs of nervous tension.
If anything, he looked relaxed, like he’d just stepped out for a stroll.
Because he already knew when monsters would appear.
And how strong they’d be.
‘Harpies, lizardmen, werewolves. Those three will show up in rotation. Once every ten minutes.’
Just like the dwarf caravan, this one would also face thirty attacks.
The difference was that the monster count would be cut in half.
Because these were monsters twice as strong as orcs.
‘Each person should have to kill around ten. It won’t be easy for the players here, though.’
It was an intermediate-difficulty route, meaning a brutal journey awaited them—yet no one but Ryu Min knew that.
“Ki-hiiiik!”
“Kya-ha-hihihihi!”
With wings beating, harpies swooped out from the forest.
“Monsters! Everyone be careful!”
It was their first time fighting flying monsters, so the players panicked.
But only for a moment.
Slash—!
The moment they saw Ryu Min casually slice a harpy apart, the players realized something.
Even if it could fly, it still had to come down to attack.
‘They attack with beaks and claws anyway. Just cut them down when they come close.’
Maybe they were spurred on by the sight of Ryu Min splitting them in two with Death’s Side.
The players swung their weapons and activated skills, escorting the elves.
Heo Tae-seok and Eom Jun-seok weren’t just standing around either.
Shrrr-rattle—!
“Kiik?”
The instant black chains bound a harpy that had flown close—
Thud—!
A black arrow pierced straight through its head.
A harpy swooped down toward Heo Tae-seok while he waited for his cooldown.
Chop—!
After Eom Jun-seok’s sword severed the wing joint, he mercilessly stabbed the fallen bird through the heart.
“Thank you, Jun-seok-nim.”
“Be careful, Noge-i-nim.”
“By the way, you’ll think about the suggestion I made, right?”
“Let’s talk after we catch these first.”
The harpy hunt ended smoothly.
Maybe because they were birds, they were quite nimble, but they were manageable.
They gave more experience than orcs, while their durability was weaker.
Still, maybe because flying monsters had appeared so suddenly, players everywhere let out long breaths.
“Whew… flying monsters, seriously. That startled me.”
“But once you fight them, it’s nothing, right?”
“Still, the experience coming in is tiny.”
“With 740 people splitting it, what did you expect?”
Even so, people said that like a drizzle soaking clothes without you noticing, if they kept hunting like this, their levels would rise.
Among that chatter were comments about Black Scythe’s performance.
“Did you see Black Scythe fighting earlier?”
“He just split them clean in two with that scythe.”
“It’s the first time I’ve ever felt bad for a monster.”
They were noisy and excited, but Ryu Min already knew.
‘This relaxed mood will turn into sighs once time passes.’
A grueling march awaited them—so harsh that if a wish were granted right now, they’d say they wanted to stretch out both legs and rest.
‘They’ll realize it soon enough.’
Had it been about three minutes?
Lizardmen that had been hiding in the forest rushed in like a band of thieves.
After they fought once and took a brief rest—
“Awooooooo—!”
“W-What is it?”
“First it was lizards, now it’s werewolves?!”
The werewolves wouldn’t even let the players catch their breath.
“Huff… huff….”
After they finished them off and took only a few more steps, harpies flew in again—
“Why are there so damn many of these dog-like monsters?!”
—and then lizardmen attacked once more.
“Does this make any sense? You’re telling me monsters this big were just waiting in the forest to jump us?”
“Do you really think they’re waiting? They’re probably respawning like a game.”
Hunting was fine.
But shouldn’t they at least get time to rest?
They said monsters appeared every ten minutes, but once you subtracted fight time and travel time, there was no time left.
For five hours, they had to repeat killing monsters and moving—an endless forced march with no respite.
The players only realized that after the fifth wave ended.
“Huff, huff… Black Scythe-nim, a-are you… okay?”
“As you can see.”
Unlike his already-drained followers, Ryu Min—still full of energy—was calmly assigning stat points.
These weren’t stat points from leveling up.
They were stat points he’d gained through the Bead of Eternal Slumber.
‘One stat point per 100 kills. Is there any other scam item like this?’
Since you get 2 points per level-up, killing 200 monsters was basically the same as leveling once.
And considering that leveling slowed down more and more over time, it was an absurd item.
To the point where the stats he built through the bead could end up higher than what he gained through levels.
The tail wagging the dog, basically.
Either way, it was a situation that made Ryu Min want to laugh.
‘Monsters keep coming, and I can recover durability too… I’m going to be busy assigning stats at this rate.’
Right now, with the Rune of Balance in mind, Ryu Min was raising four stats evenly.
‘Even without the Rune of Balance, distributing stats evenly is better for overall balance.’
After repeating regressions and experimenting with countless combinations to get stronger, he’d reached one conclusion.
Nothing was stronger than well-balanced stats.
Just as Ryu Min finished distributing his stats, Yugrito urged them on.
“The road ahead is long, warriors from another world. It seems the monsters have been dealt with, so we will move again.”
“Ah, damn. They won’t give us a break.”
“In a few steps, another monster will show up anyway.”
Even while grumbling, the players got up and took their positions beside the carriages.
If they failed to protect the elf caravan, it was the players who would be erased.
They had no choice but to move.
And it wasn’t only the normal groups who were making moves.
‘The traitor group has started moving.’
Thinking that at this rate they might tire out and collapse first, the four traitors put their heads together.
Reading their thoughts, Ryu Min saw they planned to strike the elf caravan amid the chaos of monster attacks.
‘It won’t be easy. These aren’t ordinary elf merchants.’
The “merchants” driving the carriages were, in reality, knights escorting a princess.
And the carriage the princess rode in had two protective spells laid down by spirits.
‘If you touch the door handle, a wind blade activates—and there’s also a spell that flings you away with reverse gravity.’
If they broke through all that and successfully captured the princess—
‘Then the game is over.’
Even just threatening her with a blade, saying they’d kill her, would make the elf knights fall in line.
In other words, if they grabbed the princess, victory would decisively swing to the traitor group.
And then they could complete the traitor quest without any further bloodshed.
‘If they stall by threatening to kill the princess for the remaining time, they can stop the caravan from reaching its destination.’
From that angle, targeting the princess was clearly more efficient.
‘Of course, there’s no way the traitors would know there’s a princess inside.’
Reading their thoughts, they were simply suspicious because the carriage bore a luxurious crest, so they decided to target it.
They seemed to think there were valuables inside.
‘The princess is valuable, so in a way, they guessed right.’
Whether you went the right way or the wrong way, as long as you reached Seoul in the end—traitors agreed to target the carriage with the princess.
‘Come to think of it, the next monsters are werewolves, right?’
If he used a skill timed to the monsters’ appearance—
He could stage the situation he wanted.
And he could likely get the outcome he wanted as well.
‘No idea if they’ll succeed, but I should prepare.’
Ryu Min subtly shifted his position.
To somewhere out of others’ sight.
At that moment, shouts erupted from all around.
“Monsters!”
“It’s werewolves!”
Right on cue, werewolves appeared.
That instant, Ryu Min used a skill.
‘Night of Death.’
In an instant, darkness swallowed the forest.
The players panicked, but soon steadied themselves and faced the monsters.
Because they already knew it was Black Scythe’s skill.
‘Looks like Black Scythe used a skill, but whatever.’
‘Even if it’s dark, you can still see what you need to see.’
But there was something they overlooked.
At night, werewolves become 30% stronger.
“Awooooooo—!”
The werewolves’ eyes turned red, and their claws grew even sharper.
“Huh?”
As they moved with greater agility than before, the players were thrown into confusion.
On the other hand, to the traitor group, it was an opportunity.
‘Looks like Black Scythe used a skill so we can work in the dark.’
‘Thanks, Black Scythe!’
The four of them took it as their moment and sprinted for the carriage.
Just from the look of it, that luxurious crest screamed that it held valuables.
‘If we loot that and threaten the elves, we can somehow stop them!’
With that thought, they approached the carriage.
Maybe because it was dark, the elf “merchants” didn’t notice their movements.
The elves only realized the attack when one traitor put his hand on the carriage door handle.
Whoooosh— slash!
“Huh?”
His hand was severed by a wind blade.
“Aaaaargh!”
At the traitor’s scream, the elves’ ears perked up, and they all snapped their heads toward the princess’s carriage.
“What’s going on?”
“A warrior from another world dares to touch the carriage!”
Then another traitor tried to open the handle.
At once, a reverse spell activated, and the traitor’s body shot high into the air.
“W-Whaaa—?”
At a certain height, the spell released—
“AAAAAAARGH!”
—and the traitor plummeted.
Thoom—!
It was a horrific death, too gruesome to watch.
But the traitors still had two left.
Bang—!
When the carriage door opened, an elf stared back with rabbit-like eyes.
It was Princess Yupinelsia.
“I thought there’d be valuables inside, but….”
“There was something even better, wasn’t there? Heh heh heh.”
The traitors bared their teeth and laughed.
If they captured the princess, the game was over.
“The princess is in danger!”
Hearing the commotion from the carriage, Yugrito—the elf knight commander—hurriedly drew his sword and rushed over.
“What are you all doing?! Protect the prin—!”
Yugrito stopped mid-sentence.
The two traitors who had attacked the carriage were already sprawled on the ground.
“What in the…?”
The darkness had already lifted, and sunlight was pouring down on the carriage.
There, as if checking whether they were unconscious, a man was nudging the traitors with his foot.
It was none other than Black Scythe.