Chapter 240. Round 14 Results Tally
[Title – The One Against Evil]
-Acquisition Condition: Obtained upon first killing a Grand Duke-class demon (incarnations also apply).
-Effect: When facing demon-type enemies, all stats increase by 2x.
‘Oh? There was something like this?’
He was quite satisfied with the first title he’d ever received.
Previously, the stat increase had applied only against holy-type angels, but now it would apply to demons as well.
‘It doesn’t show up just by killing ordinary demons, but kill a Grand Duke-class and you get something like this.’
If he hadn’t killed the incarnation, he might never have known.
‘Well, would it have mattered if I didn’t know? I won’t be fighting demons that often anyway.’
It didn’t matter much whether it existed or not, but still—wasn’t it better to have it than not?
“B-Black Scythe killed a demon.”
“Maybe it was because it tried to attack with a whip.”
“But what did they talk about? Hey, did anyone hear anything?”
“They talked?”
Because the demon had spoken quietly, the Players hadn’t been able to hear the conversation.
They didn’t know that Ryu Min had killed archangels.
‘It probably spoke quietly because it thought we were allies, but no chance.’
Most likely, Plunictos felt like it had been stabbed in the back by the Black Scythe it trusted.
It was a choice Ryu Min had no choice but to make to save the other Players.
‘And I didn’t only save Players.’
Ryu Min’s gaze turned to the angel hovering in the sky.
If he hadn’t stepped in, that angel really would’ve had her wings torn off and died.
The angel, calming her pounding heart, descended to the ground.
Once she entered the 30-meter range, her thoughts reached him.
- I-I lived. I almost got killed by Plunictos. It’s all thanks to Black Scythe…
The angel, who had come down to offer thanks, had no choice but to avert her gaze and rise back into the sky.
Because Ryu Min was glaring at her with terrifying eyes.
It was the natural reaction.
She was the one who had sent Sosohan Mukbang up to the Heavenly Realm.
‘Damn angel bitch. Now I finally get why you disappeared before the Round even started.’
He could’ve spread his wings, flown up, grabbed her by the head, and dragged her down right now—but he didn’t, considering the eyes around him.
He couldn’t ruin the heroic image he’d built.
Besides, he still needed the guide to tally the results.
‘Consider yourself lucky.’
Not even realizing her life had been saved one more time, the angel cleared her throat and shouted.
[Khmm. There was a bit of a disturbance, but it has ended well.]
“Angel-nim! What was that just now? It looked like a demon!”
“Was that a new sub quest?”
[It was not a quest. It was merely an unexpected outsider intruding, so please do not concern yourselves… th-then, shall we look at the Round results?]
The angel, wearing an awkward expression, brought up a message window.
★ Round 14 Results Tally ★
[Integrated Zone CA-EA001]
└1st. Black Scythe (Lv92 Reaper) Contribution 392,291 points
└2nd. Democracy (Lv62 Buffer) Contribution 149,201 points
└3rd. Crisy (Lv62 Priest) Contribution 135,329 points
As expected, Black Scythe was in 1st place.
It seemed he got a huge score for killing the final Devouring Parasite.
Aside from that, Min Juri—who had cast buffs on countless people—and Christine—who had been using wide-area heals—took high contribution as well.
[More people survived than expected? But rules are rules. Regrettably, only up to rank 2,304 will live, and everyone below will be erased.]
After going through the now-familiar, almost taken-for-granted time of erasure, only a little over two thousand Players survived.
‘Good. Everyone in the Reaper Cult survived.’
As Ryu Min checked the headcount one by one with his own eyes and formed a satisfied smile—
the Round rewards came in.
[Experience and gold will be granted by converting the contribution obtained as a clear reward.]
[Experience +370.3%]
[Gold +1,961,455]
[Level has increased!]
[Level has increased!]
[Level has increased!]
‘Damn. My level jumped by three?’
Now level 95, Ryu Min let out a bitter smile.
Because he didn’t want to become max level yet.
[Congratulations! You have achieved the quest as the 1st place in this zone!]
[Currently, ‘Black Scythe’-nim’s ranking is 1st in this zone.]
[As the zone ranking 1st reward, ‘Potion Bundle Selection Box’ is awarded!]
[As the zone ranking 1st reward, ‘Special Reward Selection Box’ is awarded!]
After receiving the items, Ryu Min used the Potion Bundle Selection Box first.
[Please touch the potion you want from the following.]
└ 1. 5 Supreme Healing Potions
└ 2. 5 Supreme Defense Potions
└ 3. 5 Supreme Speed Potions
└ 4. 5 Supreme Invisibility Potions
‘So they’re giving these potions because of Round 15.’
The potions had something in common.
They were all defense-oriented.
There were no offensive potions.
Because in Round 15, there was no need to attack anything.
Which meant Ryu Min’s overwhelming damage would be useless in Round 15.
‘Super Regeneration isn’t on the list. Then there isn’t really a potion I “need”…’
While debating what to pick, Ryu Min chose the Supreme Invisibility Potions.
It would be best to give them to her, who would take on an important role in Round 15.
Then he used the Special Reward Selection Box, and options appeared.
[You may choose one of the following special rewards.]
[Please touch the reward you want.]
└ 1. Stat +50% buff (Round 15 only)
└ 2. Temporary Skill – Heal (Round 15 only)
└ 3. Information about Round 15
One choice stood out.
‘Heal… That’s basically advertising that it’s dangerously difficult.’
Even in the earlier selection, only defensive potions were available, and now they were offering Heal as a temporary skill.
It meant the next Round 15 would be that dangerous.
‘Then I pick it. Number 2, Temporary Skill Heal.’
He did have the First Aid skill, but he chose a stronger heal.
He didn’t particularly need the stat increase.
‘It might be needed if an archangel shows up, but…’
If they didn’t appear, it would become a useless choice.
‘Better to play it safe with heal than gamble.’
The reason he needed stronger recovery than before was because there was someone he had to protect.
If she—who would take on an important role in Round 15—collapsed, it would be a problem.
◀ ROUND 14 END ▶
[Integrated Zone CA-EA001]
└Survivors: 2,304
[Soon, your soul will be transferred to your body in the original dimension.]
[Round 15 will begin at midnight on March 1st, 2023. Then we’ll see you in the next Round. Congratulations on your survival.]
An abandoned warehouse somewhere in Florida, USA.
Normally, no one went near it, but on days when a Round ended, people would gather.
They were all Players of the Despair Cult.
But—
“Is this all…?”
Today, the place wasn’t crowded.
“Count heads!”
“Yes! Berber-nim.”
At the cardinal Berber’s order, followers began counting one by one.
“Excluding the cardinal-nim, there are 20 people.”
“Mother fuk…”
Berber bit his lip, over and over.
When had their 200 followers dwindled to this?
‘Even in Round 11, when we attacked the Saintess, we still had quite a lot. And now…’
He was irritated, but irritation wouldn’t bring back dead followers.
Regaining his composure, Berber gathered the executive-level followers and opened an emergency meeting.
“We need to replenish followers immediately. How many Players are left in the U.S.?”
“I saw an article last Round estimating around 200. But after this Round ended, it probably halved, so maybe around 100 are left.”
“Good. At least there are about 100. We need to draw all of them into the Despair Cult.”
“That won’t be easy.”
At the negative response, Berber’s eyebrow twitched.
“Why?”
“Didn’t you hear? That most of America’s Players have joined the Reaper Cult.”
“Reaper Cult? What’s that?”
“A religious group that worships Black Scythe. I saw them promoting aggressively in Texas recently, and quite a lot of people gathered.”
“Reaper Cult. Sounds like a damned cult.”
He’d never even considered there might be a rival religion.
Of course, Black Scythe probably didn’t know about the Despair Cult’s existence either.
“So they’re invading our territory and stealing away our prospective followers?”
“Essentially. And I heard the Saintess is taking the lead as well. Naturally, Black Scythe is behind it.”
“Hah. The Saintess we failed to kill back then is tripping us up like this.”
In Round 11, they had, under John Delgado’s orders, ambushed the Saintess’s followers.
He remembered earning quite a nice amount of points by cutting down every follower except the Saintess.
“Back then, Black Scythe appeared, so the Cult Leader-nim had to retreat with his limbs cut off. There was nothing we could do.”
“And now? Shouldn’t we kill the Saintess now, and bring down the Reaper Cult?”
“But with Black Scythe holding the line, will that even be possible…?”
The executives’ reactions were pessimistic.
Black Scythe wasn’t someone they had any business facing in the first place.
It wasn’t something numbers could solve.
Would throwing twenty eggs at a boulder even leave a scratch?
“Don’t worry. The Cult Leader-nim has joined an international coalition organization called Messiah.”
“Messiah?”
“An international coalition?”
At the news they were hearing for the first time, the executives’ eyes widened.
“How do you know that, Berber-nim?”
“Is there anything I, a cardinal, wouldn’t know?”
In truth, he knew because Spaniard had come to Berber to ask about John Delgado’s whereabouts.
He didn’t know yet that Messiah had already been annihilated by Black Scythe.
“So there’s no need to worry at all—”
That was when—
Creeeak—CLANG!
The warehouse door opened, and the cult leader, John Delgado, entered.
“You’ve arrived?”
The followers greeted him politely, but Berber remained silent.
Because there was a guilty part of him.
“What were you doing here?”
“We were holding a meeting.”
“What kind of meeting?”
“We were discussing the best method to replenish followers.”
“Who told you to hold such a meeting on your own?”
“That was Berber-nim—”
John’s sharp gaze pinned itself on Berber.
“What are you doing, Berber? Were you trying to hold a meeting without me?”
“Of course not. I was going to tell you once you arrived, Cult Leader-nim.”
“You weren’t trying to decide on your own?”
“What are you saying? Of course the final decision-maker is you, Cult Leader-nim. It’s just that it was urgent, so I only started the meeting first.”
The answer came so smoothly, like he’d prepared it in advance, that even John couldn’t press further.
“So. What conclusion did you reach?”
“Do you know the Reaper Cult?”
At the abrupt question, John calmly nodded.
“I’ve heard of it.”
“Those damned bastards came into our country and took every Player they could get. So even if we want Despair Cult followers, we can’t secure any right now.”
“So what are you proposing?”
“That Saintess you let slip away before, you know? It looks like she’s shacking up with Black Scythe.”
“The Saintess?”
It sounded like a misunderstanding, but John pretended not to notice.
“Let’s target the Saintess one more time, like before. Then we’ll be able to control Black Scythe however we want. If it goes well, we can even absorb all the followers he has into our religion. What do you think? My plan.”
In short: if brute force wouldn’t work, kidnap the Saintess and threaten Black Scythe.
John stroked his chin, falling into thought.
Not because it was a hard decision, but because he wasn’t sure whether to reject it or delay it.
‘It’s not my decision. It’s my master’s.’
Having reached that conclusion, John spoke to Berber.
“I need time to think.”
“If you want followers, there’s no other way.”
“Fine. I’ll review it positively.”
Answering like that, John left the spot first.
‘I need to inform my master of this as soon as possible.’
Berber and the Despair Cult followers never would’ve imagined it in their dreams.
That their cult leader was colluding with Black Scythe.
Upon hearing the news of Round 14, the archangels were in the mood of a funeral house.
[To fail to stop it even when a Demon Grand Duke manifested…]
Among them, Gabriel’s face was the worst.
His earlier confidence was nowhere to be found—he looked utterly cowed.
Since it was his plan, the burden of failure inevitably fell on him as well.
[What happened, Gabriel? You claimed that if we used the Demon’s Resurrection Tome, we could make him a sacrifice no matter what—so we approved the plan.]
[I’m sorry. I never expected Black Scythe to see through it in advance…]
[Is that not why I asked you again and again? Whether you could truly succeed?]
[…I have no excuse, Michael-nim.]
Gabriel bowed his head, and Michael frowned like a tiger.
Though unlike his expression, he felt relieved inside.
‘Thank goodness Black Scythe didn’t die. What a stroke of fortune. But what now? To make up for this failure, we may have to send an archangel.’
Including himself, there were only three archangels remaining.
If all three deployed at once, even Black Scythe wouldn’t be able to keep his life.
‘I need to stall as long as possible so Black Scythe can grow. What excuse should I use? Should I say we’ll postpone this Round? Or should I yell that Gabriel should take responsibility alone?’
Just as Michael was about to speak after deciding—
[Huh?]
[Ah!]
A being shocking enough to make even archangels recoil split the air and appeared.