Chapter 249. The Third Mission
The undead—shambling forward like zombies—died pointlessly to simple stabs.
And every time it happened, the Reaper Church believers had to stare in shock at the “passed” message.
Ryu Min, who had already expected it, didn’t look particularly surprised.
“So killing the undead with a real human essence is recognized as murder. Just like I thought.”
Even though they were killing summons, the system judged it as murder.
It had been the same when he killed angel corpses that had been turned undead before.
“Back then, I was surprised because an extra reward came in.”
Just like Ryu Min at the time, the Reaper Church believers were wearing stunned expressions now.
They never imagined that catching undead would put them among the passers.
“I didn’t know either. I didn’t think it would actually work.”
He’d only believed it would, because it applied to angels—so it should apply this time too.
That was why he came up with this strategy.
“Originally, I was going to let them kill each other without even calling it a ‘strategy,’ but……”
Because he had the card called “necromancer,” he could think of a method like this.
No matter how you looked at it, wasn’t it better to kill undead than to kill people?
Puk—! Pu-uk!
“Keureuk!”
“Ke-ek!”
Hundreds of summons created by John Delgado vanished under the Reaper Church’s attacks.
Ryu Min looked on with satisfaction, but he didn’t know.
That Christine was staring at him from behind with strange eyes.
“Why are John Delgado’s summons letting themselves die?”
When she first saw the mass of summons approaching, Christine had steeled herself for battle.
Because she thought John Delgado had come to kill her again.
But the undead didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking.
Even she—who had no combat ability—had been stabbed to death by them before.
That was why she was even more shocked.
“Why? Why are they coming up and letting themselves be killed? John Delgado must have ordered them to hit the Reaper Church—so why?”
Christine wasn’t the only one with questions.
“What the hell is that idiot doing?!”
It was Berber.
“He’s throwing away those precious summons?”
He couldn’t understand John Delgado’s actions.
It was already infuriating that the Despair Church believers had been wiped out, but now the so-called leader raised corpses—and then rams them in meaninglessly.
“Damn it. At this point, I can’t just sit still.”
Berber moved in secret.
“I’ll kill the leader in this opening, and I’ll become the leader of the Despair Church.”
Sure, he’d lost all the believers and would have to start over from scratch—but so what?
Believers were something you could gather again, little by little.
Sneaking up behind John while aiming for his back, Berber raised his axe high.
“Die.”
But before he could bring it down, something fell with a soft—
Thuk—
“Huh?”
It was his own arms.
Both of them, the arms holding the axe.
In his shock—forgetting even to scream—he saw it.
A winged spirit-undead holding a curved blade.
Sariel—the summon John Delgado bragged was the strongest.
“AAAAAAAH!”
Whether he screamed from pain or from shock at seeing an archangel, it didn’t matter.
Because for John Delgado, the most important thing, no matter what, was punishing a traitor.
“You thought I wouldn’t know you were aiming for the leader’s seat?”
“Y-you bastard—!”
John Delgado, openly sneering, gave a cold command.
“Kill him. Sariel.”
The moment the words ended, the curved blade passed through Berber’s neck.
Thuk—
John Delgado looked down indifferently at the fallen head, and anew he felt grateful to his master.
If it weren’t for Black Scythe’s hint, the head that fell wouldn’t have been Berber’s—it would have been his.
Watching John survive from a distance, Ryu Min let a faint smile slip.
“That makes it official—the Despair Church is wiped out. And I cut off a variable, too.”
The remaining variable was the archangels’ strike, and since he didn’t know when it would come, he still couldn’t relax.
Puk—!
With the sound of a blade sinking in, the last remaining summon collapsed.
Once all the undead had vanished, Ryu Min asked the Reaper Church believers,
“Anyone here who didn’t pass?”
Not a single believer answered yes; they all shook their heads.
All four hundred members of the Reaper Church had entered the survivor list.
“Lucky. Who knew killing undead would count.”
Since he even acted like he didn’t know, no one would suspect it.
That this had all been Ryu Min’s strategy.
Just as things were starting to settle, someone shouted,
“Let’s stop fighting now! The count is full!”
Everyone’s gaze snapped to the progress window.
[Current survivors: 1,152]
[Current passers: 1,152/1,152]
Survivors and passers matched.
Meaning further killing was meaningless.
People who hadn’t intended to kill more than one or two in the first place lowered their weapons and retreated.
“Now there’s only one thing left.”
Just endure until the time limit ends.
He couldn’t let his guard down—someone might suddenly charge in screaming about killing again—but still.
In the tense silence, Christine couldn’t shake her doubts.
“What happened? John Delgado’s summons had no intention of attacking. It was like they were telling us, ‘Kill us and survive.’”
Black Scythe had said to watch the situation, and just then the summons conveniently rolled in.
And those summons showed no will to attack.
Could this really be a coincidence?
Christine shook her head as if to toss the suspicion away.
“No. It can’t be. The idea that Black Scythe-nim orchestrated this is impossible. It’d be more believable to say he foresaw the future.”
As she erased the pointless thoughts from her head, the time limit ended.
[The time limit has ended.]
[You have succeeded in the second mission.]
[Survivors: 1,152. Deaths: 1,151.]
[Congratulations! The third mission will begin shortly.]
After reading the message, Ryu Min looked for Christine first.
“You know, right? That your role is important in this third one.”
“Yes…… I know.”
Christine nodded, but Ryu Min didn’t miss the worry that flashed across her face for a split second.
“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. Just focus on making sure your skill doesn’t break. A thousand lives hang on your skill.”
“O-okay. Black Scythe-nim. I won’t disappoint you.”
Only then did Christine’s eyes harden with resolve.
The Reaper Church believers who had heard about the mission in advance swallowed hard and steeled themselves as well.
Because they’d heard, until it rang in their ears, that the third was a dangerous and difficult mission.
Of course, people who weren’t in the Reaper Church simply waited for the next message without much concern.
That was when—
“Huh? What’s that?”
Across the shared floor, countless green lines suddenly appeared.
Short dashed lines, about shoulder-width long, stretched horizontally in rows.
As people stared in confusion, the message they’d been waiting for appeared.
[Before revealing the third mission, please move to one of the green marked lines on the floor.]
[There are 1,152 marked lines, prepared to match the number of survivors.]
“Marked lines?”
“Looks like we’re supposed to move over there?”
People followed the instruction without complaint.
“Do we stand one person per line?”
“Huh? When I step on the line, it turns red.”
“It feels like those parking guidance lights.”
When someone stood on a marked line, it changed to red.
The countless green lines glowing across the floor gradually turned red.
Some people ran around in a fluster, searching for an empty spot.
As they stood there, people realized something.
That they were all lined up in one long horizontal row.
When the last person stepped on a line, a message appeared as if it had been waiting.
[The third mission will begin.] <Third Mission>
└Endure pain.
└If you do not die for the 30-minute time limit, you pass.
[Every 2 seconds, a projectile that deals fixed damage will be fired from the front.]
[The projectiles are configured to fire one shot per Player.]
[As time passes, the damage of the projectiles will gradually increase.]
[Upon success, you may receive the Round reward.]
[Current survivors: 1,152]
[Time remaining until the Round ends: 00:29:59]
“What is this? Endure pain?”
“You’re telling us to endure pain for thirty minutes?”
Their bewilderment barely lasted.
As if it wouldn’t even give them time to ask questions, projectiles flew in from the front.
Tupapapapapapapapak—!
Like bullets, they slammed into people’s chests.
Every single person—without exception—perfectly accurately.
“Kgh—w-what was that just now?”
“Black bullets?”
Tupapapapapapapa—!
When they looked to see where they were coming from, they were being fired at steady intervals from the far end of the shared space.
Like a barrage every two seconds.
Tupapapapapapapa—!
“Kgh, we have to keep taking this for thirty minutes?”
“It doesn’t hurt that much, but it feels disgusting.”
Every two seconds, the bullets flew and struck their chests.
It felt like being lined up and executed.
It felt awful, but it wasn’t unbearable.
Like getting hit by plastic BB pellets—just a stinging pinch?
For high-defense tankers, it barely registered at all.
“This is nothing.”
“We can do this.”
“Don’t relax. That’s how it gets you.”
“Right. Didn’t you hear the explanation? The damage increases as time passes.”
“Come on. If the damage is only this much at the start, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“I’m a tanker anyway, so I’m not worried.”
Worried people. Reassured people. Overconfident people.
All sorts of reactions—but there was one thing they didn’t understand.
That enduring pain is harder than you think.
“They call it ‘endure pain,’ but in other words, it’s ‘endure torture.’”
Right now, the damage was low, so many people felt confident—but after ten minutes, their expressions would change.
“They won’t be able to say a word. After twenty minutes, they’ll be screaming, begging to be spared.”
Imagine needle-like pain stabbing you every two seconds.
You can’t endure that for more than five minutes.
“After just five minutes, it’s basically the same as being stabbed 150 times. That’s why by around twenty-five minutes, it’s almost a total wipeout.”
Of course, that was the case for people with ordinary armor.
Tankers might endure longer—but even then, thirty minutes would be difficult.
“Before that, people will start leaving their spots because it hurts.”
It was quiet now, but give it ten minutes.
People would start hiding behind someone else’s back.
Then instead of taking one shot, the person in front takes two.
Unintentionally becoming a human shield.
“And then trouble naturally breaks out between the two, and in a storm of bullets, they’ll start fighting like maniacs, trying to kill each other. And then more and more people will copy them, hiding just to survive.”
It becomes a furnace of chaos.
In just ten minutes.
“There’s a reason it’s called the extreme Round 15. There’s a reason fewer than fifty people survived.”
Heo Tae-seok, Russell, Jo Yong-ho—none of them made it past Round 15.
Christine was the same.
“In the past, back in Round 11, I happened to save her from John Delgado, but unfortunately, she died here while trying to help others. Because if you cast a wide-area DoT heal, the caster becomes defenseless.”
The moment Christine—healing everyone—died, hundreds of people failed to endure and died.
All at once, like a dam collapsing.
After that, as people used their teammates as shields to survive, the number of victims grew.
Only Ma Kyung-rok and An Sang-cheol—who had defensive skills—along with other tankers and the grand archmage, endured.
“Without healing, you can basically say it’s impossible to clear.”
That was why Christine was important in this mission.
“This time, the result will be different from last time. Because I’m going to keep Christine alive no matter what.”
Had it been about five minutes?
As the damage started to become irritating, people used First Aid on themselves.
“Using First Aid makes it feel a bit better.”
“Let’s endure together!”
“But can you dodge this?”
“I tried, but it’s too fast—I can’t dodge it.”
It was faster than bullets, so dodging was impossible.
You could block it by using someone else as a shield, though.
Tupapapapapapapak—!
When it passed eight minutes, the damage grew stronger again.
People’s expressions visibly twisted.
Not even ten minutes had passed, and they already felt it was becoming hard to endure.
That was when Christine’s wide-area heal began.
Shaaah—!
A light like green sprouts wrapped warmly around their bodies.
It was the large-scale wide-area DoT heal skill [Sanctuary], which healed all Players within a 500-meter radius.
“Th-this is……”
“The pain is fading.”
“It’s a priest skill!”
The radius was so wide that all 1,152 Players were inside its range.
The fact that Christine had deliberately positioned herself in the center also helped.
“Everyone, don’t leave your spots—stay still! I’ll heal you!”
Because it was a DoT heal, they recovered every second.
The pain vanished as if washed away.
The healing amount itself—of course—but compared to First Aid, it was on an entirely different level.
People calmed down, but the caster, Christine, looked worse and worse.
Because she wasn’t included in the heal’s range.
“Ugh… it hurts……”
“Don’t worry.”
A warm light wrapped around Christine’s wounds.
“You’re under my protection.”
Ryu Min’s hand, beside her, touched her back.
The heal he’d received as a temporary skill rapidly mended her injuries.
The pain was gone, but Christine didn’t have the luxury to care about that.
“W-what do I do……”
Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might burst.