Chapter 181 – Douglas
“What?”
Ma Kyung-rok blurted it out loud without meaning to.
Because something absurd was happening.
‘The Dark Aura… isn’t consuming him?’
The Dark Aura that had pounced on Hwang Yong-min strangely didn’t cling to the surface of his skin.
No—more like it couldn’t cling.
As if it had been blocked by an invisible transparent barrier, it kept its distance.
‘What the hell is this? Does he have some kind of immunity to Dark Aura?’
No matter how he commanded it, the Aura couldn’t envelop Hwang Yong-min.
It couldn’t siphon his vitality.
Instead, every time Hwang Yong-min took a step, it faltered and retreated.
Ma Kyung-rok couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.
This was the first time he had ever seen a target Dark Aura couldn’t feed on.
‘Could it be because he’s undead, because he has no life?’
If it was someone already dead, it felt plausible.
‘Damn it—an opponent Dark Aura can’t consume.’
Embarrassment surfaced on Ma Kyung-rok’s face.
His sure-fire plan had been blocked, and the situation in front of him felt hopeless.
In the blink of an eye—like someone had leaped through space—the distance closed.
“Hk!”
Hwang Yong-min, now right in front of him, threw a straight punch.
Bam—!
The moment it hit his jaw, Ma Kyung-rok blacked out and tumbled over ten meters.
“B-Boss!”
An Sang-cheol, freed from the knight’s protection, urgently slashed his sword—
Ting—!
Hwang Yong-min casually batted it aside with his palm, then snapped An Sang-cheol’s jaw the same way, knocking him out.
“Whew.”
Ryu Min, who had neatly put both of them down, lightly brushed off his palms.
“Man, it’s a pain controlling my strength.”
In under a minute, he had subdued two people.
Subduing was several times harder than killing.
‘He was planning to siphon my vitality with Dark Aura, but not a chance. Reaper is an upper-tier class over Dark Knight.’
Just as light can be weak to darkness, there were matchups between Players’ jobs, too.
Sometimes a specific skill simply couldn’t exert any power against a specific job.
Just like now.
‘Dark Knight and Reaper look like they both handle “darkness,” but the type is different. If anything, a Reaper’s darkness is the higher concept.’
Same “darkness,” different rank.
That was why Dark Aura couldn’t even touch Ryu Min.
“You can come out now.”
When Ryu Min gave a small nod as a signal, Joo Seong-tak finally emerged from where he’d been hiding in the forest.
“Is it over, Master?”
“Yeah. These guys will be out cold for at least half a day.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just kill them?”
At Joo Seong-tak’s remark, Ryu Min stared at him for a moment.
“If that’s what I was going to do, I would’ve killed them a long time ago. Why would I knock them out?”
“S-sorry. I spoke out of turn.”
“They were the kind of bastards who’d kill innocent people for points. I know they deserve to die. But they still have value. I need to keep them alive, if only to secure Christine’s cooperation.”
No matter how little Christine might care about Ma Kyung-rok, if he died like this, the psychological shock would be huge.
‘Unless her feelings for Ma Kyung-rok have completely died out, anyway.’
For now, killing Ma Kyung-rok wasn’t part of the plan.
Because Ma Kyung-rok was a card he couldn’t easily throw away, tied as he was to the Priest—one of the main forces.
And An Sang-cheol was Ma Kyung-rok’s right-hand man, so he had to be taken as a set.
“First, tie them to a tree. Use that vine that looks thin and dark-colored. It’s a tough vine—most Players can’t break free easily.”
“Understood.”
Joo Seong-tak followed orders and bound the two unconscious men to a tree.
‘If we stall them even this much, it’ll take them a long time to get out of the labyrinth.’
If things went well, the Round could even end with them failing to earn a single point for the whole 24 hours.
‘Though it’s a team match, so they won’t be eliminated outright.’
Ryu Min was confident he could keep the Korea team alive in this game.
He still had a late-game reversal left—and he even had Clairvoyance to make it happen.
‘If everything goes according to plan, there’s no way we lose. First place across the entire zone will be in the bag, too.’
Now, everything he needed to do in the labyrinth forest was finished.
As planned, Ma Kyung-rok wouldn’t be killing a thousand people and obtaining the Massacrer title, either.
‘We stopped one tragedy. We still have to stop another.’
With Clairvoyance, he looked toward Christine.
The Despair Church faction had almost all gathered as well.
Like the calm before a storm, the signs made it feel as though something could erupt at any moment.
‘I need to hurry—if I’m not going to let Christine die.’
Ryu Min quickened his pace with Joo Seong-tak.
Leaving only Ma Kyung-rok and An Sang-cheol behind in the labyrinth forest.
Douglas counted the heads of the bustling crowd.
‘A total of 101… So everyone’s here.’
They were all followers who had come to find the one and only Saintess, the Priest.
‘In reality, they’re just a bunch of beggar bastards trying to stick a straw in and suck up benefits at her side.’
Even as he mocked his companions inside his head, he kept a smile on his face.
A Paladin who’d enjoyed the Saintess’s favor since Round 2 couldn’t afford to frown outwardly.
‘Until the very moment the Saintess dies, I can’t show my true colors. Yeah.’
He didn’t even know why the Despair Church wanted to kill Crissy.
But Douglas abandoned the Saintess and switched to the Despair Church.
The reason he chose betrayal was simple.
‘Because the Despair Church offers better benefits.’
Truthfully, most people here had latched onto Crissy less for free help and more for survival.
‘If you stick close to a Priest, your survival rate goes up—of course it does.’
Just look at Heal, the Priest’s basic skill.
Heal was a miraculous skill that restored almost any wound.
If an arm got severed, you could even press the cut surfaces together properly and Heal would reattach it so it moved again.
And with the buff called “Blessing of the Saintess,” your resistance to status ailments and debuffs increased by a full 50%.
A Priest could even use wide-area DoT healing once they passed level 40.
‘It’s a job optimized for keeping people alive.’
Of course, she must get something out of helping others—but if someone was offering treatment for free, who would dislike it?
That was why roughly a hundred beggar bastards gathered around the Saintess.
‘But I hate it. Being near Crissy does raise survival odds. But that’s all. There’s no internal growth at all.’
A Priest’s skills were focused purely on enduring.
And with only endurance, you couldn’t clear up to Round 20.
Just like people say the best defense is offense, becoming stronger and growing beyond where you are now increased your chances of survival going forward.
Douglas realized that early—and decided to betray Crissy.
Because unlike Crissy, the Despair Church was an organization focused on growth.
‘In the Despair Church, they provide lots of items that help you grow—potions and all sorts of other things. And once this is over, we agreed we’ll seize the looted items too and split them.’
But what about the Saintess’s follower faction?
They just stared longingly at the Saintess and only picked up scraps of healing, making no effort at all to grow.
They only endured, day after day.
‘At this rate, they’ll collapse before long. They’ve held on so far, but do they really think luck will keep following them forever?’
If that was the case, it was better to cut ties early.
Switching to a religion with higher survival odds was far more hopeful—and far wiser.
But that alone wasn’t enough to move Douglas’s heart.
The true reason he betrayed wasn’t about items.
The Despair Church had promised him something.
‘They said they’d let me play with her before killing Crissy.’
With a greasy grin, Douglas looked at Crissy.
A beautiful flower, shining proudly on her own.
He was intensely curious how thrilling it would feel to snap that flower.
‘I wanted her—over and over. A woman like you.’
He’d harbored filthy intentions at her side for a long time, but he’d never gotten a chance.
She looked like a woman with no interest in men at all.
That made her even more alluring.
Because people were drawn more to a brand-new product than a used one—more to a luxury no one else could have.
‘Love? Loyalty? I don’t need that crap. Pleasure is what matters most.’
That was why he didn’t care if Crissy died from this incident.
As long as he could satisfy his own lust.
Just then, Douglas saw Berber gesturing for him to come over.
“Berber-nim. You called for me?”
Berber was a spy the Despair Church had planted to monitor the Saintess.
He was also the one who had brought Douglas into the Despair Church.
And among the 101 people here, he was the only one truly on Douglas’s side.
“I just got word from the brothers. They said the preparations are complete.”
“Is everyone assembled?”
“Yeah. About 200 brothers are waiting just 500 meters away. We can strike right now.”
“Ah… Finally…”
Preparations were complete.
They were ready to wipe out all these beggar-like followers and abduct Crissy.
“As promised… you’ll give me a chance too, right?”
“A chance?”
“Well… you know. Heh.”
“Ah, that? If I say more, it’s just nagging. The Cult Leader recognized your contribution—betraying from the inside—and granted you a special thirty minutes.”
“Ooh, thirty whole minutes… Heh, thank you!”
That would be more than enough time to enjoy himself.
“What should I do now?”
“I’m going to go bring the brothers right away. In the meantime, distract Crissy. Keep talking to her so she doesn’t use any search skills or catch on in advance. And when things start, subdue her immediately.”
“I’ll do it.”
The corners of the Paladin’s mouth curled up into a slick smile.
Christine stared at the gathered people in awe.
‘So many people trust me and rely on me…’
She’d only waited an hour, yet over a hundred followers had assembled.
With this many, she felt safe no matter who tried to ambush them.
It was like having a thick human wall.
“Everyone?”
At Christine’s single word, the murmuring died down.
A quiet silence fell—so still you could even hear people swallowing.
“Thank you so much for trusting me and following me. I didn’t even tell anyone to gather, but you still came like this… I think there’s only one thing I can do for you.”
After letting the moment breathe, Christine opened her mouth with eyes filled with a sense of duty.
“I’ll protect you to the end and go together with you. That’s the only way I can repay you, isn’t it? Let’s survive together—up to Round 20.”
“Wooooaaah!!!”
“Crissy! Crissy!”
Players erupted, raising their fists toward the sky.
In some ways they looked like devout believers; in others, they resembled outright fanatics.
Clap clap clap—
Douglas approached, applauding as he did.
“Crissy-nim really is amazing. Every word you say feels dignified and trustworthy.”
“Oh, not at all. I’m just an ordinary woman in my twenties. Everyone is only seeing me kindly.”
“How could protecting people be called ordinary? The reason so many follow and trust Crissy-nim is because of Crissy-nim’s virtue.”
“Thank you for saying that. I must be lucky in people, too—having a good person like you by my side, Paladin-nim.”
Douglas smiled as he met Crissy’s gentle smile.
‘What a waste of a woman. It’s too wasteful to kill her like this.’
He almost wanted to lock her up for life and use her only as an object to vent his lust on.
Did Crissy have any idea he felt that way?
‘Heh. I can’t wait to see what you look like when you’re under me, screaming.’
He swallowed hard, then—according to plan—kept talking to Christine.
“Now that everyone’s gathered, will you go do quests?”
“Yes. We’re a little delayed, so we should gather points as quickly as possible, right?”
“Are there even quests that require a group this large?”
“I’m not sure, but I think it’s better if we move together for now. That’s what we’ve always done, isn’t it?”
“That’s true. But before we act, it might be better to make a plan first. I have a plan in mind—would you like to hear it?”
To hold her attention, Douglas spilled out the lines he’d prepared.
They were meant to distract her, but Christine only felt uneasy.
‘The Paladin-nim who usually doesn’t talk much… why is he talking so much today?’
He said it was a plan, but none of it really registered.
It was just long-winded, unnecessary talk, and it felt forced.
‘Something’s off. He’s not the type to suddenly do things he never does…’
Douglas was a Paladin who had been with them since Round 2.
There was no way she didn’t know his personality.
‘It’s strange. Really.’
Maybe because she’d gotten a warning from the Prophet, her sense of caution toward ambushes was extremely sharp.
So Christine habitually checked her search skill.
Even now.
“Huh?”
On the skill she’d activated by chance, she saw many red dots.
For a moment Douglas’s expression stiffened, but Christine didn’t see it.
Her gaze was locked on the red dots that were approaching precisely in their direction.
“L-look at this! There are people coming this way—”
She couldn’t even scream.
Douglas’s rough hand grabbed her and yanked her away, dragging her along.