Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Relentless Raiders
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No matter how much the viewers called them pathetic in the comments, the people gathered here couldn't see them. No, even if they had seen them, it likely wouldn't have changed their actions much.
One player crept stealthily toward Yuseong.
Yuseong let out a faint sigh at the now all-too-familiar sight. The viewers watching the broadcast felt much the same way.
[Another one]
[This is just boring now]
"What do you want?"
As the player blocked his path, Yuseong spoke. He already knew the answer that would come, but he still had to ask. Just in case, really, there might be some other business.
He didn't forget to rest his hand on the gun in its holster, ready to draw it at any moment.
And sure enough, it was the same this time.
"They say you have a copy of the Necronomicon."
[lmao the excuse this time is the Necro copy too]
[That's way too common. Can't they come up with something new?]
"I have nothing to say about that."
"Wait just a sec! I just want to see it once. If you show me, I'll definitely make it worth your while...!"
Bang!
The gunshot rang out across the swamp. The face of the man who'd approached Yuseong went rigid.
But the bullet hadn't hit him.
Thud!
Something collapsed behind Yuseong. Both he and the man blocking him turned toward the sound.
A player lay sprawled on the ground. A clear bullet hole marked the crown of his head, as if he'd taken a shot there. And what had caused it was the silver fang clutched in Yuseong's hand, drawn at some point no one had noticed.
From the circumstances, it looked like the fallen player had snuck up behind Yuseong while hunched over, and Yuseong had planted a bullet in his skull.
And that's exactly what had happened.
[One-turn kill!]
[One-shot this time]
[Kinda disappointing. A fragile guy who drops dead from one headshot tries to steal?]
"Is this guy with you?"
Yuseong asked the man blocking him.
"N-No!"
[Lmao No Way]
[Look at his eyes shaking]
He denied it in a hurry, but neither Yuseong nor the viewers bought it.
It was something they'd seen dozens of times by now.
The ploy of distracting Yuseong's attention elsewhere while an accomplice thief snuck behind to pilfer an item from his inventory.
Whether asking to see the Necronomicon copy, claiming to be a fan, or openly picking a fight, the methods varied widely.
The first time, he'd stupidly let an item get stolen. But stolen items were purely random, so he'd luckily avoided losing anything important.
That was just the general consensus, though—to Yuseong, there was something far more precious.
'How dare they touch my black bread...!'
The thief who'd risked it all to snag something as trivial as black bread must have felt incredibly hard done by. And on top of that, thanks to the strategy guide alerting him right away, Yuseong had turned him into Swiss cheese until he died.
Not to mention the EXP, money, and items lost upon death—though the thief had stashed most valuables elsewhere in anticipation of getting caught, so the actual drops were nothing special.
But value is subjective.
Even if it was just worth 1G, Yuseong could never forgive anyone who dared steal his black bread.
Yuseong had asked the strategy guide to notify him immediately if it spotted any signs of theft. Luckily, it had no trouble with that and agreed readily.
Since then, every thief who'd approached using this tactic had been caught, and they'd all had to swallow Yuseong's full fury over his stolen black bread.
After dealing with that many theft attempts, how could he not know? No matter how vehemently the guy denied it, he was definitely the dead thief's accomplice.
But Yuseong didn't bother pressing further.
"Then get lost."
"Y-Yes!"
The accomplice scrambled out of Yuseong's way.
Yuseong scooped up the items left by the player who'd died and vanished behind him—mostly junk—and resumed moving.
Some of the lingering players slunk after Yuseong. He kept his just-holstered gun ready to draw again at a moment's notice after shooting the thief.
Splash!
It happened as he stepped into the swamp's pooled water.
Whoosh!
A fireball hurtled toward him from behind.
Bang!
Yuseong spun immediately and fired at the fireball.
Boom!
The fireball detonated on impact with the bullet. Through the flames scattering in the air, Yuseong could see the player who'd launched it staring in stunned idiocy. The twin barrels Yuseong had drawn trained on his face.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-bang!
The gun barrels belched fire relentlessly, pummeling the fireball's caster.
"Eek!"
The player yelped. He flailed his arms in a frantic bid to dodge the bullet storm, but such clumsy moves weren't enough to throw off Yuseong's aim.
Thud!
The mage hit the ground and vanished after losing all his HP in seconds. But that wasn't the end of it.
"Fuck, smash him!"
"Waaaaah!"
Several players suddenly burst from behind the trees. Weapons in hand, they charged straight at Yuseong. Anyone could tell they were the dead mage's buddies.
'Almost all spears and shields.'
The only outlier was a heavy warrior wielding a two-handed axe.
Yuseong leveled his guns at them.
For a while, the swamp echoed with the attackers' war cries and Yuseong's gunfire. But it didn't last long.
Bang!
"Agh!"
A player took a bullet to the back of the head and splashed face-first into the water. With the tide turned, that fleeing straggler marked the attackers' total wipeout.
[Done!]
[Nice clean sweep today lmao]
The viewers jeered at the raiders. They more than deserved it for their pointless greed.
[Still sick of it though]
[Fr, talentless noobs with endless greed]
This was Yuseong's reality these days.
Ever since word got out that he'd obtained the rare Necronomicon copy, Stranded Swamp had seen a surge in visitors.
Most came gunning for the dungeon Yuseong had found or the haunts of fallen demons, but plenty targeted Yuseong himself.
There was no guarantee they'd enter the dungeon, let alone score a Necronomicon copy if they did—but it was a sure thing that Yuseong had one.
Those gunning for Yuseong usually went with one of two plays.
Like the thieves he'd bagged right after exiting the dungeon today, leveraging the Thief class for a steal—or like the ones ambushing him on his way out of the swamp, banding together for a group assault.
But none had succeeded.
Every thief got nabbed with a bullet to the brain, and every pack that rushed him ended up just like this one: sprawled on the soggy ground or sunk in the shallows.
[Pls just know your place]
[What do they even think Yuseong is to charge with that trash skill?]
[Guess they figure grouping closes the level gap]
Thieves came at all levels relative to Yuseong, higher and lower alike—but the raiders were mostly higher-leveled.
Thanks to Yuseong's reputation, lowbies had given up long ago.
That left only higher levels, and with pretty big gaps at that.
Sure, Yuseong had slain an extra boss, crushed Hers Guild in war, and even stiffed C.O.T.S—but they figured their level advantages gave them a shot.
"It's not entirely illogical."
Everyone who'd come at him so far sported level gaps of 10 or more without breaking a sweat. Facing the guy who'd smashed an extra boss, anyone with a smaller gap thought twice.
A pack with 10+ levels on him definitely wouldn't be a cakewalk.
"But that's only if they actually know how to fight."
[Lmao Fr]
[Stat-stuffed brawlers who can't do anything but swing blindly? No chance against Yuseong]
If they'd had even Hers Guild-level skill, Yuseong would've been in real trouble. But their fundamentals were utter garbage.
Well, not garbage—average for Ark. Yuseong's past foes like Hers Guild, Pattern, and their hired mercs had just been outliers in skill.
[All spears and shields? Nuff said]
Most new Ark players defaulted to the familiar sword. But give it a little time, and tons switched to spears and shields.
Could folks who'd never properly gripped so much as a dagger in real life wield a sword competently?
At best, they could hunt using a spear's reach to poke monsters and a shield to cover themselves.
And the latest raiders were textbook cases.
"Still, not the worst. The EXP's pretty generous."
Only natural from players 10+ levels higher. It was like the Hers Guild war all over again.
Unlike thieves who planned for getting caught, raiders needed to fight, so they couldn't ditch their main weapons.
Sure, they'd loaded up on junk items to minimize PK drops, but with drops being random, they sometimes coughed up their primaries anyway. Picking those up made for nice pocket change.
[Still kinda wild tho. Yuseong's independent and they're still swarming?]
[Stuff like this happens. Too many attackers for any guild retaliation, especially since lone wolves aren't big enough]
[Wish they'd get it's all for nothing]
Would he walk around with something as precious as the Necronomicon copy? Especially with attackers stacking up like a mountain.
Yuseong had stashed it in the bank ages ago. Meaning even if someone killed him now, the odds of dropping the Necronomicon copy were zero.
[They're banking on that off-chance. Not like it's pocket change]
[Anyone thinking straight wouldn't bother]
"At least it's only ones I can handle jumping me."
[Fr lol]
[High levels proper don't even budge anyway]
The Necronomicon copy was valuable, sure—but only to certain classes. Other jobs couldn't care less.
It'd fetch a hefty price, but top players could rake that in anytime. No reason to trek all the way to Silaremite for Yuseong.
His hunters were just randos dreaming of the payday from fencing it.
But if a real high-level who actually needed the Necronomicon copy showed up...
Even Yuseong wouldn't be confident then.