CHAPTER 248. SECOND MISSION
Fwoooosh—!
The space that had been nothing but darkness brightened in an instant.
The place where the people stood was a huge cavern that could hold about two thousand.
“Ugh, now I can finally see.”
“Now skills work properly too.”
“Anyway, what’s the second mission?”
“Wouldn’t Black Scythe know? The way he talked, it sounded like he knew the strategy.”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
“N-no. I’m not that curious. If you’re curious, you ask.”
“M-me neither. I’m not curious.”
They said that, but people stole glances at Ryu Min.
They were curious whether he knew about the second mission too.
But they couldn’t bring themselves to ask.
Ryu Min’s stiff expression and 분위기 felt ominous.
“His expression looks bad.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Is the second mission hard?”
People whispered, but Ryu Min wasn’t the only one with a hardened face.
The Reaper Church believers were also waiting for the next mission with worried expressions.
They already knew, because they’d heard it from him.
This mission would force them to kill and be killed.
After a moment, the message everyone had been waiting for appeared.
[We will begin the second mission.] <Second Mission>
└From now on, kill each other.
└Within the time limit of 30 minutes, if you kill even one person, you pass
[The number of passers is half of the participants: 1,152.]
[When the time limit ends, all participants who have not passed will be erased.]
[If you succeed, you may challenge the third mission.]
[Current number of survivors: 2,303]
[Time remaining until the next mission: 00:29:59]
The eyes of the people who saw the mission went wide.
“K-kill each other?”
“Like Round 4?”
A terrible memory surfaced in everyone’s mind.
Round 4—the round of death, where they killed and killed each other just to survive.
Gulp—
Swallowing, they looked at the person next to them.
Some already had killing intent glittering in their eyes.
They edged away, creating distance, watching each other warily.
‘Kill each other for thirty minutes…’
‘Now I get why Black Scythe’s expression was stiff.’
Honestly, unless you were a crazy psychopathic murderer, who wanted to kill?
What benefit was there in killing someone?
But now, there was a clear benefit.
The right to survive.
If you took someone’s life, you gained your own survival right.
Even so, no one acted immediately.
No matter what, it felt repulsive to point a blade at someone else.
‘At this point, they’re telling us to kill each other…’
‘What kind of dog X mission is this…’
Companions who had endured fourteen months became enemies in an instant.
Some hesitated, thinking it was morally and ethically wrong.
But others rationalized it.
‘Close your eyes and do it.’
‘For survival, there’s no choice, right?’
‘This world is about stepping on others to climb. This is just another kind of competition.’
While everyone lived with different thoughts in the same place, only reading the room, the Reaper Church believers pressed closer together.
Because of Black Scythe’s prior directive.
-Second mission is a mission where you kill each other. If anything, like in Round 4, a horrific slaughter will break out. Even so, do not get swept up and join the killing. Do not point a blade at each other. Just gather as the Reaper Church and observe the situation. If someone attacks first, you may kill them. But until then, watch the situation with me. Until I give the signal, do not step forward—never.
Even if slaughter breaks out, don’t step in.
If the other side attacks first, you can kill.
Trust each other as comrades and protect each other.
Until the signal, stay still.
To carry out those four directives from Black Scythe, the believers trusted one another and clumped together.
His order to watch first—because you never knew what might happen—was reasonable.
And they trusted Black Scythe.
On the other hand, everyone outside the Reaper Church grew more and more frantic.
“A-are you all just going to keep staring like this? Don’t we have to do something?”
At someone’s shout, a sharp retort flew back.
“What do you want us to do? Kill each other?”
“If we don’t kill, it says we’ll all be erased. We have no choice but to kill.”
“If each person kills just one, then it’ll work out perfectly and we all pass.”
“Look who thinks he’s a math professor.”
“Don’t be sarcastic. Do you have some great idea or something?”
“Me? I’ve got no ideas.”
“Hey, how about we do a tournament?”
“A tournament? You’re talking X nonsense.”
“Hey. Just because this is another world doesn’t mean you should talk that harshly.”
“Then say something that makes sense. Who’s going to set the bracket? And who’s going to get matched up with Black Scythe?”
“The idiot who suggested a tournament can fight Black Scythe.”
“Ah, sorry. I didn’t think it through. I’m dumb. Then why don’t you smart people tell me—any other good ideas?”
“Black Scythe-nim would know. He knew the strategy for the first mission.”
“Black Scythe-nim! Do you know the strategy for this mission too?”
“If you do, please tell us.”
All eyes gathered on Ryu Min, but there was nothing he could say.
There was no other way but killing.
After staying silent, Ryu Min tossed out flatly,
“We have to kill. There’s no other way.”
“……”
As if it wasn’t the answer they wanted, players quietly sighed.
The more they thought about it, the answer was still only one.
‘Do we really have no choice but to kill…?’
System-wise, they had no choice but to kill each other.
It took ten minutes for them to accept that.
“We don’t have time. Ten minutes already passed.”
“At this rate, we’ll all be erased. Shouldn’t at least half survive?”
“Then you kill first!”
“Th-that’s…”
The stalemate continued.
Even though they’d already experienced murder in Round 4, they still couldn’t stab each other easily.
If anything, because they’d lived through that hell, countless people hesitated.
In a way, they weren’t mere competitors.
They were comrades who’d survived life and death together for more than a year.
‘As expected, everyone’s hesitating.’
Ryu Min had expected this standoff.
Because Round 4 had been the same.
‘We need to open the floodgates.’
They did have to kill each other.
So Ryu Min decided to use the Despair Church.
His gaze reached John Delgado, far away.
‘Do it.’
At his glance, John Delgado gave a slight nod.
And not long after—
Squelch—!
“Guhhk!”
A sickening sound of steel biting into flesh rang out.
Thud—!
Everyone’s eyes turned to a man collapsing onto the ground.
The first victim appeared.
And it was a Despair Church believer.
And the one who killed him was also—
“M-murder!”
“Look! His nickname turned red!”
“What are you doing—killing your own believer?”
Nearby Despair Church believers panicked.
It was absurd—believer killing believer—but they didn’t know.
They didn’t know that behind it was their own pope, John Delgado.
Watching the murder scene from afar, Ryu Min twisted his lips.
‘Their believers listen to the necromancer’s words better than I expected.’
Ahead of time, John Delgado had met believers separately and made them one proposal.
When he gave the signal, kill one nearby believer.
And in return, he would give them not only the strategy for the next round, but also a cardinal-level position.
‘I figured some would fall for it, but they all fell for it?’
What was funny was that it wasn’t just one or two believers who accepted.
Squelch—! Squelch—!
“Kuhk!”
“Ughhk!”
Despair Church believers swung blades at their own side.
Trusting only their pope’s offer, they killed believers without hesitation.
“Puh-huh-huh, guheuhk!”
A believer who was laughing while killing another believer was stabbed and killed by another believer’s knife.
That believer then fell as a corpse to yet another believer, and—
Bloody slaughter was erupting among the Despair Church believers.
All of them were fanatics, blinded by John Delgado’s promise.
Squelch—! Squelch!
“Aaah!”
“Kill!”
When believers suddenly started killing each other, Berber had no choice but to panic.
“What are you doing?! Why—why all of a sudden?!”
Because he hadn’t even imagined there was backstage manipulation.
“Hey, you crazy bastards! What do you think you’re doing, attacking your own side?!”
To him, the would-be next pope, Despair Church believers were precious resources and manpower.
They couldn’t die like this for nothing.
But no matter how he tried to stop them, they were too busy slashing with knives.
Why were they fighting like this all of a sudden?
He’d planned to kill John Delgado and grow his faction—this was nothing but ridiculous.
But murder wasn’t happening only within the Despair Church.
“Kill them!”
“X발, you—come here!”
“Die! Die!”
Once the floodgates opened, people started slashing at each other without restraint.
Seeing Despair Church members fighting, they figured they needed to join in quickly too.
And as a bonus, they were busy rationalizing it as something unavoidable for survival.
‘Hmm.’
In the chaos, Ryu Min quietly observed the situation.
The Reaper Church believers also refrained from joining the killing, and simply watched.
They were following Ryu Min’s order not to move rashly until he gave the command.
Ryu Min watched the quest progress window and waited for the right moment.
[Current number of survivors: 2,102]
[Current number of passers: 201/1,152]
……………
[Current number of survivors: 2,050]
[Current number of passers: 253/1,152]
……………
[Current number of survivors: 1,991]
[Current number of passers: 312/1,152]
……………
As the number of survivors fell, the number of passers rose—yet Ryu Min kept waiting.
‘Not yet. More need to die.’
Ryu Min had leeway, but as the number of passers rose quickly, the Reaper Church believers grew anxious.
Were they supposed to hurry and join the killing too?
If they stayed like this, would there not be enough slots left?
But they trusted Black Scythe.
They waited desperately for his command, and then—
‘Now.’
The moment the passers crossed 400, Ryu Min gave an order with his eyes.
To John Delgado.
‘Summon them.’
John, who had been watching, nodded and cast the Corpse Resurrection skill.
“Rise.”
Light from the tip of his staff jumped to the corpses scattered everywhere.
And then—
“Grrrraaaaaah….”
Hundreds of corpses rose like zombies.
Even the people who’d been fighting mindlessly stopped slashing, shocked at the spectacle.
Clack— clack— clack—
The undead, moving in formation like an army, headed toward—
“W-what are those?!”
“They’re coming this way!”
The Reaper Church group.
It looked like they were about to attack the Reaper Church, where hundreds were gathered together.
‘In truth, they came to offer their lives.’
Contrary to appearances, the undead had no intention of attacking the Reaper Church.
They’d only come to be killed.
‘It’ll feel less guilty to kill corpses that were already dead than to kill living people.’
Ryu Min’s strategy was to exploit the fact that killing actual undead would count toward the number.
Clack— clack—
As John Delgado’s summons approached, Ryu Min shouted as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
“All Reaper Church members! Kill those undead! One per person!”
Carrying out the order wasn’t difficult.
Because they weren’t real people—just summons.
Squelch—! Squelch—!
And because they didn’t resist at all, simply letting themselves be killed.
“Huh? Why aren’t they resisting?”
They felt suspicious, but only for a moment.
The Reaper Church believers’ eyes widened one after another.
‘Huh? This message…?’
‘I killed an undead and this pops up?’
When Ryu Min also killed one undead nearby, he saw the same message as them.
[You have committed murder.]
[You have passed the second mission.]