Chapter 204 – Round 12 Results Tally
Rattle—rattle—
Debris fell from the half-collapsed cave wall.
Beneath it lay Sariel, split at the waist.
‘He looks like a corpse, but he’s not dead yet.’
Because he had planted Seal of Death, Ryu Min could see Sariel’s HP.
It was barely hanging on, but still.
‘Didn’t think it’d turn out like this from one Moonlight Slash.’
After trading blows with Sariel a few times, he’d already judged the level.
‘His strength and agility are stronger than Remiel’s, sure—but it’s basically the same in the end.’
For sixth place, he wasn’t all that impressive.
Though that bizarre wailing ability at the end was unexpected.
‘Reading his thoughts, it seems like it’s an ability called Wail of Souls… If it were anyone else, they would’ve been helpless.’
Ryu Min’s resistance to status effects was 90.2%.
There was no way he’d fall to a cheap trick like that.
And recently, he’d equipped two rings with 40% resistance each, making it even less likely.
‘This is exactly why I focused on raising resistance.’
Satisfied he’d raised resistance for moments like this, Ryu Min approached Sariel.
The bastard was basically a walking corpse, but his ears were still open.
“So you’re the Death Archangel… and now you really look like you’re about to die.”
[Keuugh…!]
“You’re sixth in the hierarchy? If that noisy ability is what got you there, I’m disappointed.”
Maybe he still had pride—because even while dying, Sariel glared with vicious eyes.
[Ki… kill me.]
“Before that, there’s something I want to ask.”
[As if… I’d answer you.]
“I’ll ask anyway. Are you archangels the hosts of this survival game that kidnaps humans? Or is the System running it on its own?”
[……]
“Who created the System?”
[……]
“Why are you doing this? What’s your goal?”
[……]
Sariel clamped his mouth shut in defiance, but there was no need for him to speak.
They were questions meant to read his thoughts.
-You stupid human bastard. You think a sixth-rank like me would know high-level information like that? Maybe Lord Raguel, the fifth, would. Not me.
Ryu Min grinned.
‘Raguel? So that bastard would know?’
He read a little more, hoping for something useful—
But it was nothing he didn’t already know.
Then Ryu Min’s 60-meter radar caught irregular breathing.
He turned his head. The necromancer was staring this way with an excited, hungry look.
‘Why is he staring so hard?’
Seeing that desire-filled gaze, Ryu Min approached to read his thoughts.
Once he entered the 30-meter range, John Delgado’s thoughts came through.
-If Black Scythe kills that angel, it might be my chance. I should try making it my vassal. Not sure it’ll work, but…
Only then did Ryu Min grasp his intention, and he gave a small, impressed nod.
‘Right. There’s a necromancer in the party.’
A necromancer either collected souls to command them as spirit undead, or raised bodies to fight like zombies.
‘Can you really collect an angel’s soul? I’m curious.’
Since the body was already cut in half, he was probably aiming for spirit undead.
‘Fine. Let’s see what happens.’
Smiling, Ryu Min approached Sariel again.
The bastard’s spirit hadn’t broken—he was still cursing nonstop in his head.
-It’ll be faster to kill me than to get answers, you dim-witted human.
“I was planning to, anyway.”
[What?]
Thud—!
Like a pickaxe, he brought the scythe down, splitting the head and upper body apart.
Instant death.
[You have killed one of the Seven Archangels, ‘Sariel’!]
[Stat Points +3,299]
[Gold +32,990,100]
[As a reward for killing Archangel Sariel, you have obtained ‘Condensed Aether’.]
[As a reward for killing Archangel Sariel, you have obtained ‘Rune of Darkness’.]
[The acquired Rune will be automatically engraved onto the player’s body!]
[Demon Faction reputation has increased slightly.] <Soul Bond Quest>
└Kill the Seven Archangels
└Number of archangels killed (2/7)
└On success ▶ ?????
With Demon’s Blessing active, killing an angel brought in a ridiculous reward.
‘More than when I killed Remiel.’
Yet Sariel had been easier than Remiel.
Probably because Ryu Min had become drastically stronger after killing Remiel.
‘And I got a Rune I’ve never seen before, plus a God-rank material.’
With Condensed Aether in hand, visiting the dwarves in Round 13 was now locked in.
To obtain other God-rank materials, he’d need the dwarves’ help.
Before checking the new Rune’s details, Ryu Min casually shifted his position.
He moved aside so John Delgado could step in more easily.
‘Let’s see what kind of Rune it is.’
[Rune of Darkness]
-Effect: You can freely wield darkness to produce three effects. However, it cannot be used in spaces with light.
└Emergency ▶ Wings of darkness form on your back.
└Barrier ▶ Raises a barrier of darkness. It can block projectiles, or hold them and then reflect them.
└Scattering ▶ You can scatter darkness like blades to attack. It deals mixed damage, half physical and half magical.
‘Oh. This is a pretty decent Rune?’
Looking at the Rune he got from Sariel, its usefulness was high.
‘I can fly, use it like a shield, or fling it like daggers for offense.’
He could truly manipulate darkness freely now.
The only issue was that he could only use it in dark places, but…
‘I’ve got the skill Night of Death.’
As long as he could create artificial darkness, he didn’t have to worry about being unable to use Rune of Darkness.
This time, Ryu Min distributed the stat points.
While he spread the 3,299 points evenly, Reaperization ended.
-Strength: 15,368, Intelligence: 16,088
-Agility: 16,160, Luck: 16,960
Maybe because Min Juri’s buffs were still active, the effect was enormous.
‘Earlier it was even higher than this. Even if he looked like that, Sariel was still a holy-type archangel.’
With a Title that doubled stats against holy-types, angels wouldn’t be able to match Ryu Min.
‘Hm. Is he moving now?’
Once the stat distribution was done, John Delgado finally started moving in earnest.
After creeping forward while watching Ryu Min’s mood, he soon reached Sariel’s body.
Then he hurriedly shouted an activation phrase at the corpse.
“Rise!”
Maybe it was the activation phrase for making a vassal—because the corpse reacted immediately.
Wooooooong—
As a purple light shimmered, Sariel’s soul could be seen leaving the corpse.
With an expression devoid of emotion, Sariel’s soul snapped the chains binding it to the body, then approached John and knelt.
It didn’t speak, but it was obvious.
Sariel’s soul had been successfully subordinated to the necromancer.
“S-success. It worked. It worked!”
John Delgado couldn’t hide his joy.
He didn’t even realize Ryu Min had come close.
“What worked?”
“Gah!”
Startled so hard he nearly screamed, John ended up revealing the secret weapon he’d wanted to hide.
“K-kill him! Kill that bastard!”
Pointing at Black Scythe, he ordered Sariel—now spirit undead—but of course, it didn’t listen.
Because Ryu Min was an ally it couldn’t attack.
“You forgot the party hasn’t disbanded yet.”
“Ah…”
Ryu Min sneered at the flustered John.
“You want me that badly? Enough to make an angel your vassal? But can that even work? The main body died without even being able to touch me.”
“……”
Of course, it couldn’t.
But John was in a situation where he had to borrow even an angel’s power.
Especially with the penalty crushing him.
“Well, do whatever you want—make an angel your vassal or don’t. Do whatever you want, but…”
Ryu Min stepped closer, threateningly.
“You should give up on trying to come at me. If you want to keep the life you barely managed to save.”
“……”
“Think carefully and choose. Next time, there won’t be any mercy.”
Ryu Min turned away like he didn’t care, but in truth, an interesting thought had crossed his mind.
‘If I kill an angel summon, will it count as killing an angel, or not?’
If it did, he could use a necromancer to stack Demon’s Blessing easily.
He wanted to test it right now by killing Sariel—but for now, summons were also recognized as allies.
If he was going to test it, the right time was after the Round ended and the party disbanded.
‘Until then, I’ll let you live.’
John stood there with a blank expression, not even realizing his life had been preserved thanks to obtaining an angel as a vassal.
[Is everyone gathered?]
In the colorless space where they’d started, countless people had already returned.
Not long after killing the angel, Ryu Min’s team was moved here as well.
[I’ll check how many teams survived. Oh dear… my, my.]
The angel let out a theatrical sigh.
[We started with 7,880 teams, but now only 2,389 teams remain.]
They might have been annihilated for lacking a tank, a mage, or a supporter—but most likely, they died because of the final Trial.
Because the fifth Trial was something you could never clear without a summoner.
[Originally, if more than half survived, we were going to line everyone up in order of fastest clear time and annihilate the rest. But it looks like we fell short.]
The surviving team quota was 3,940.
Only 2,389 teams passed, leaving 1,551 slots unfilled.
Since this was the first time a shortfall had ever happened, the players all widened their eyes in shock.
[Since we fell short, we’ll count all 2,389 teams as survivors. That makes 9,994 survivors—just under ten thousand.]
The survivor count didn’t fall neatly into a multiple of five, but the players quickly understood.
Very few teams had all five members survive.
During the Trials, people died to monsters, or were killed by votes and advanced—so it was only natural.
[Now we’ll tally the individual rankings. You’ll understand the criteria once you see the results. Shall we look right away?]
When the angel signaled with its wings, a results window appeared.
★ Round 12 Results Tally ★
[Integrated Zone CA-EA001]
└1st. Black Scythe (Lv91 Reaper) 200 kills
└2nd. Cheonma (Lv60 Dark Knight) 100 kills
└3rd. NoPainNoGain (Lv60 Black Mage) 100 kills
[The ranking criterion for individuals was monster kills!]
“What? Monster kills were the 기준?”
“By monsters, do they mean the golems from the second and third Trials?”
“Then this Round made it impossible for supporters to get 1st place?”
“Ahh! I should’ve killed just ten more golems!”
Lamentations spread among the players as the ranking criteria were revealed only now.
[For reference, if the kill counts were the same, we favored the human who achieved it first. Now then, shall we move on to rewards?]
Soon after, a familiar message appeared before Ryu Min’s eyes.