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Chapter 137 – Subjugation Ends
“Shwiiik!”
“Kiiiiit!”
Screams of Lizardmen rang out from all around.
Seogeogeogeok-!
Seogeogeogeogeok-!
You could also hear the sound of something being sliced in massive quantities.
The players’ eyes all turned toward where that sound was coming from.
And without exception, their faces twisted into dumbfounded expressions.
“C-crazy. Isn’t that Black Scythe?”
“Black Scythe chose the Lizardman subjugation?”
“And what the hell is that weapon, anyway?”
“What is it—every time he swings once, like fifteen of them drop like scarecrows?”
It was a bizarre scythe.
Its length suddenly extended like a whip, then severed the waists of a dozen-plus Lizardmen before being reeled back in.
Its attack speed was so fast you couldn’t even see him swinging.
All you could see was the scene of lizards being chopped into pieces every time you blinked.
A true rake-hand.
Like a hand of death that carved monsters into chunks.
“But looking at the numbers, it seems like they came out matched to our headcount…”
“Black Scythe is sweeping them all up by himself…”
Monsters that were supposed to be one per person, and he was wiping them out alone?
Rather than anger, it was just absurd.
“……”
Even the NPCs seemed to feel the same, because they only watched in silence.
Min Juri, too, stared blankly at Black Scythe’s battle, then suddenly realized something.
‘Ah… now I understand why Black Scythe-nim said watching his fight wouldn’t help.’
He was basically carrying out a massacre—how could she possibly learn the Lizardmen’s attack patterns or traits from that?
It would be better to learn by watching another player’s fight instead.
Having decided that, Min Juri moved to a different spot.
The players were already desperately hunting lizards, afraid Black Scythe would steal even their share.
Whether they did or not, Ryu Min only focused on slaughtering Lizardmen.
‘Do I even need to use Moonlight Slaughter?’
He’d planned to go all-out and even use Moonlight Slaughter, but after seeing the damage, he didn’t need to.
‘I knew this scythe was good for mass slaughter, but I didn’t think it’d be this much.’
Maybe because of Min Juri’s buff, he felt faster and stronger.
“Kiiiik—!”
Only after killing the last Lizardman did Ryu Min turn around.
The players were staring at him with resentful eyes.
‘Did I kill too many?’
He’d been so absorbed that he’d swept up monsters like he was in his own world, so it wasn’t strange to be resented.
Ryu Min’s gaze drifted to the edge of his vision.
[Current Kill Count: 823/100]
‘When I came down from the tower, it was 402… so I killed 421?’
There were 602 people, so 602 monsters must’ve spawned.
Out of those, if he’d killed 421, that meant Ryu Min had taken about 70% for himself.
‘No wonder they’re looking at me like that.’
Ryu Min didn’t bother avoiding their gaze.
Flinching, the players were the first to look away.
It was frustrating, but as the weaker side, they couldn’t do anything about it.
‘If you’re salty, get strong like me.’
Getting strong was also a skill, and killing more was also a skill.
There was no reason to glare like it was unfair just because someone had better ability.
It was, after all, a result he’d achieved through his own effort.
Having lived in a competitive society, he couldn’t fail to understand that.
That was why no one could say a word to Black Scythe.
Of course, the bigger reason was that they feared what might happen if they mouthed off.
‘Good thing we’re not in a party.’
If they’d been in a party, knowing allies couldn’t attack each other, they might’ve dared to complain to Ryu Min.
‘No—forget might. They definitely would’ve complained. Telling me to hunt in moderation.’
Of course, Ryu Min had no intention of monopolizing Lizardmen forever.
He had to leave some for other players so there would be more survivors.
While he was thinking that, Min Juri walked over and gave him a thumbs-up.
“Waa… Black Scythe-nim. That was really amazing. I didn’t realize that weapon was that good. Ah, of course, it’s because Black Scythe-nim is skilled too.”
“It was hard to get. Of course it is.”
Even at the praise, Ryu Min only asked in an indifferent tone.
“Have you tried fighting Lizardmen?”
“Yes. I killed about two, and it was easier than I thought. Even more than when I killed my first orc.”
“I told you. You’ve gotten stronger.”
“Hehe… I guess I really have. If things go well, I might even hit Level 40 this Round?”
She said it brightly, but inside, Min Juri was worried.
-If Black Scythe-nim keeps monopolizing monsters like this, it’ll be hard… No, it’s not Level 40 that’s the issue—will I even be able to place in the rankings…?
Since her life was on the line, it was only natural to worry.
It was also the same worry most of the other players shared.
‘I know. Do you really think I’m going to wipe out all the other players just to get a little experience? Don’t worry.’
From the start, Ryu Min planned to stop hunting once he reached a thousand kills.
‘A thousand is enough to take first place in the entire zone.’
Even in the previous run, no one besides Ryu Min had reached a thousand kills.
‘Just a little more. Not much left.’
Since the monsters he killed in the Tower of Ordeals also counted, he only needed to kill around 200 more.
Then he’d pass safely.
“What level are you right now?”
“Me? I’m Level 38.”
“Two more levels and you’ll learn a skill.”
Saying that, Ryu Min went out to hunt without another word as the Lizardmen attacked again.
As he swept monsters up with the rake-like scythe once more, the players looked flustered—though only for a moment.
When Ryu Min hit his goal by killing 200 more and stopped hunting, the people’s eyes filled with confusion.
‘Why did he suddenly stop hunting?’
‘Is he going to rest now?’
‘Either way, this is our chance! We don’t know when he’ll start again!’
But after that, Ryu Min didn’t lay a finger on the Lizardmen.
The players were confused, but at the same time, relieved.
“Black Scythe-nim? Why aren’t you killing more?”
At Min Juri’s innocent question, Ryu Min answered like a magnanimous man.
“I’ve killed plenty. Even if I hunt these guys who give only a speck of experience, it’ll just be a nuisance to other players.”
“Ah… then you did it on purpose, for us?”
‘Us? If I have to narrow it down, it’s because of you.’
The words rose to his throat, but he forced them back down.
If he said that, Min Juri would blush again and start imagining weird things.
“There are plenty of monsters ahead. Hurry and reach Level 40. I’m curious what skill you’ll learn too.”
“Yes! Just wait a little!”
Min Juri answered energetically, and then, after killing 280 Lizardmen, she was able to reach Level 40.
“I finally became Expert grade!”
“Congratulations. The skill?”
“I’ll put it on you right away!”
Light flowed from Min Juri’s hand.
As if to prove she really was a buffer, the skill she learned this time was also a buff.
[The skill Safety Barrier has been applied.]
[You can be protected from one physical attack.]
[Duration: 00:29:59]
Safety Barrier.
An absolute shield that blocks one physical attack.
‘Normally, shields have a durability value, but this one doesn’t.’
The fact that it blocked any physical attack unconditionally made it an absurdly overpowered skill.
Meaning, it would block even a full-power strike from Ryu Min.
It was a great skill that could save your life even from an unexpected ambush.
“It looks like it blocks one physical attack, no matter what. It says I have to wait 30 minutes to reuse it on the same target.”
“That’s because it’s that good.”
Since it was an absolute barrier, it wasn’t strange that an individual cooldown applied.
‘Later, it blocks not only physical attacks, but magical attacks too.’
When the skill strengthened at Level 60, it would block both physical and magical attacks.
Anything beyond that, he didn’t know—because he’d never kept Min Juri alive past that point.
“Bless and Swift got upgraded too. Want to take them?”
“Go ahead.”
When he received Min Juri’s buff, all his stats, attack speed, and movement speed rose by 70%.
Because the two skills had been enhanced.
“It’s improved a lot. But you can’t be satisfied with Level 40. Keep hunting.”
“Yes!”
The subjugation continued.
He could hear other players cheering too—maybe some of them had reached Level 40 like Min Juri.
Only after three hours did the subjugation finally end.
Captain Kaltz looked over the players and smiled in satisfaction.
“Gentlemen, with this, the subjugation of the Marsh of Beasts is complete. You worked so hard that the Lizardmen have practically been wiped out. For a while, merchants of the nearby Braham Kingdom will be able to travel their trade routes safely. It’s all thanks to you! This is exactly why we hire warriors from another world!”
As Kaltz poured out praise, his gaze suddenly locked onto one person.
A man who, after his overwhelming performance early on, hadn’t killed a single monster afterward.
Kaltz looked at Black Scythe with eyes full of awe.
“Everyone, you’ve all worked hard. This concludes the subjugation. Dismissed!”
The moment Kaltz finished speaking, messages appeared.
[The Lizardman subjugation has ended.]
[As a subjugation reward, you will receive 100,000 gold.]
[Your performance has been recorded in the mercenary corps.]
[Your mercenary corps grade has risen from ‘Trainee’ to ‘Expert.’]
“Ooh, 100,000 gold?”
“Whoa, jackpot!”
“This damn system’s more generous than I thought?”
The players shouted in delight at the unexpected reward.
In contrast, Ryu Min felt nothing in particular about the gold.
Because he already had 1.5 million gold on hand.
‘Maybe because I earned a million gold in the Tower of Ordeals, but 100,000 doesn’t even register.’
While climbing the tower this time, he’d earned gold as rewards for each floor, in addition to the gold from killing monsters.
Altogether, he’d made a million gold in the tower alone.
Naturally, 100,000 wasn’t exciting.
‘Now that most players have reached Level 40, gold trading will become active.’
Now they could trade gold through the trading function.
After returning, more and more players would start using gold instead of cash.
And there would be more “merchants” who charged gold in exchange for using common skills.
‘Like cleaning up corpses with Trace Erasure, finding someone you want with Tracking, or using Repair to fix equipment durability for gold.’
The PP Market would be the same.
They’d want people to trade items using gold instead of cash.
Preparing for that, Ryu Min had already told Ma Kyung-rok to create a direct gold trading category in advance.
So once the Round ended, gold trading would activate—but Ryu Min already had more than enough gold.
‘Aside from buying Legendary material items on PP, I won’t really have much to spend gold on.’
So where would he use all this gold?
‘On NPCs, of course.’
Gold was a currency that worked even in the fantasy world.
Now that the trading function existed, gold trading with NPCs would be possible too.
‘It might feel like there aren’t many places to spend gold right now, but later on, there’ll be all sorts of things.’
When raising reputation with a temple, you’d have to pay gold as tithes, and you’d use it to obtain materials or items from blacksmiths.
‘You can even use it as bribes for important figures—there are plenty of uses.’
So even if it wasn’t useful now, later on, the more gold you had, the better.
[Ending the subjugation.]
[You will be moved to the starting point shortly.]
When he blinked, a colorless space appeared instead of the Marsh of Beasts.
It was the starting area.
Since the subjugation ended at the same time for everyone, players appeared here and there.
When thousands of people gathered again like in the beginning, an angel appeared.
[Did you do well on the subjugation? How was it? Just like we said, option one was the easiest, right?]
The players nodded.
After experiencing it, it really did seem like the difficulty followed the order.
[By the way, doesn’t it feel like there are fewer people than at the start?]
“Hmm… now that you mention it, maybe…”
[Unfortunately, the 571 people who chose option five didn’t have a single survivor.]
“Hhk…”
The subjugation monster for option five was a Minotaur.
If it really spawned one per person, it would’ve been hard to handle.
[Aside from that, there are a few humans who died in the other subjugations too, but don’t be sad. If anything, isn’t it a good thing since there are fewer competitors?]
“……”
To be honest, there wasn’t a single player who was sad.
In a time when even blood relatives could turn on each other with knives, who would grieve over strangers dying?
[Then let’s look at the results right away!]