Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Ambush Backfires
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His strength was enough to clash with a warrior, and his agility let him block every attack from a thief like me.
'This guy's a Gunner!'
He shouldn't have had any spare points to invest in other stats while pumping up strength and dexterity.
Yuseong's sword kept targeting the two of them relentlessly. Moonlight Starlight and the Heavy Armored Warrior were definitely skilled. They managed to hold out against Yuseong's relentless barrage by cooperating with each other.
Unlike Yuseong, who was just swinging fast and hard, they benefited from system assists via sword skills and shield skills.
However, it didn't seem like they could hold out much longer.
"What the hell are you doing? Just standing there like an idiot!"
Moonlight Starlight yelled at the mage.
"It's because of you guys that I can't get a clear shot!"
The mage had tried to target Yuseong several times too. But every time he tried to cast a spell, whether by chance or intent, Yuseong moved behind Moonlight Starlight or the Heavy Armored Warrior.
If he cast the spell now, he might hit his own allies instead of Yuseong.
'Is he doing it on purpose?'
Using a sword that wasn't even his main weapon, while facing both a warrior and a thief at the same time?
If so, then the opponent's skill far exceeded their expectations.
'Damn it! He's the guy who took down two extra bosses, and we underestimated him!'
But regrets always come too late, no matter how quickly you have them.
'This isn't the time to worry about methods.'
He couldn't upload this situation to the internet anyway.
What they wanted was a scene mocking a hotshot player getting owned, not one where a guy who couldn't use his main weapon struggled against a similar-level party.
For now, priority was thrashing around as desperately as possible, no matter how ugly.
"Air Boom!"
Boom!
An air explosion erupted where Yuseong stood. It affected not just Yuseong, but also Moonlight Starlight and the Heavy Armored Warrior nearby.
"Ugh!"
"What the hell!"
The two cursed at the mage. But he didn't flinch. It was unavoidable for victory.
And especially toward Moonlight Starlight, he didn't feel even the tiniest bit of remorse.
This whole mess was entirely his fault for misjudging the enemy's abilities.
'What do you mean his ammo ran out, so he's not dangerous!'
If he got flak for this later, he planned to pay it back tenfold.
He'd used the spell even at the risk of involving his allies, but Yuseong didn't die. The mage clicked his tongue.
'His HP can't be that high....'
Considering the abilities he'd shown so far, he probably hadn't invested much in stamina.
'His durability's like paper. No armor either.'
A few solid hits would take him down. Maybe even one more.
But he couldn't use Air Boom right away. Unlike Wind Arrow, which he could spam, Air Boom had a cooldown. The mage prayed Yuseong would attack his allies first.
A vain hope.
Thud!
Yuseong charged straight at the mage. The mage hurriedly shouted.
"Air Boom!"
As expected, nothing happened.
The mage glanced at his allies. They were scrambling after Yuseong. They knew that if even the mage fell, their slim chance of victory would vanish.
However, the Heavy Armored Warrior inevitably couldn't keep up, and Moonlight Starlight didn't seem able to catch Yuseong in time either.
"Wind Arrow!"
In a pinch, he fired a different spell at Yuseong. But there was no way a wind arrow would hit amid that fierce battle when previous ones had missed.
As expected, Yuseong dodged it effortlessly. His charge didn't slow.
Fortunately, Air Boom's cooldown was up.
"Air Boom!"
Boom!
The air exploded in front of Yuseong once more.
'Die already!'
The mage prayed fervently.
But his hopes were dashed again.
He staggered a bit but quickly regained his balance, and Yuseong closed in on the mage in an instant.
A few more Wind Arrows flew, but Yuseong evaded them all with flashy moves. Then he swung his sword. The mage instinctively raised his staff.
Thwack!
The staff flew away pathetically. As the mage reeled, Yuseong swung again.
Stab!
The sword pierced the mage's eye precisely.
"Damn it."
With those final words, the mage's body collapsed limply.
"You bastard!"
An enraged voice came from behind. The Heavy Armored Warrior's. But the real danger was closer.
Clang!
He deflected a short sword stabbing at his side. Moonlight Starlight, having caught up, had aimed for Yuseong's back.
But once again, the unexpected counterattack threw Moonlight Starlight's stance off instead.
Yuseong glanced at Moonlight Starlight and the Heavy Armored Warrior scrambling after him.
'Two left.'
He gripped his sword tightly.
* * *
It didn't take long for the remaining two to fall. The Heavy Armored Warrior, who had desperately tried to block Yuseong's attacks, went down first, followed by Moonlight Starlight getting slashed by Yuseong's sword.
At the end, Moonlight Starlight glared at Yuseong with hatred-filled eyes, but Yuseong paid it no mind. Compared to the beast-like greed in those eyes earlier, this glare even felt mild.
In the now-silent space, Yuseong moved to where the enemies had died. Like game monsters, they left bundles behind and vanished.
The items from the others were just money and junk, but Moonlight Starlight dropped the sword he'd been using.
'Is it good?'
But even if it was good, it was meaningless. His main weapon was a gun anyway.
Sure, he'd swept through Moonlight Starlight and his crew with just this one sword, but he doubted it would work forever.
In fact, he'd clearly felt the limits in that last fight. There were definite moments when he got caught in the Heavy Armored Warrior's shield tech or Moonlight Starlight's dagger skills.
Of course, if he'd applied his designated stats, which he always kept ready to activate, it might've been different—but he didn't plan to rely solely on that.
'Probably worse as levels go up.'
In the end, he needed to wield his gun.
'Still, I should get decent money out of this, right?'
First, he needed to reload the dropped bullets.
'From now on, carry more ammo.'
Yuseong started walking out of the lair.
Though he'd fallen into a trap, no anger showed on his face.
Holding grudges or rage against programmed NPCs was pointless. Besides, Yuseong wasn't the emotional type.
Moonlight Starlight and his crew were already erased from his mind. He pulled a black bread from his inventory, ate it, and kept walking.
* * *
Yuseong dismissed it as just a game event and tuned it out, but someone else was fuming with excitement—no, rage.
"Damn it!"
A guy logged out of his Virtual Reality Device, flew into a rage, and kicked the machine.
It was an expensive unit, but that fact didn't register in his head right now.
He kicked the Virtual Reality Device a few more times, but still not satisfied, he kept huffing.
He was the one who'd used the alias Moonlight Starlight to lure Yuseong into the trap.
In other games too, he'd dragged allies into screwing over other players, mocked them, and even broadcast mosaic-ed videos of it—pure malicious play.
Starting Ark, the most popular game, was inevitable for them. If anything, they'd been late to the party.
They'd played straight at first, but their nature hadn't changed. They were gearing up to have their fun in Ark too.
But their plan got utterly shattered by Yuseong's absurd skills.
After stewing in anger for a while, he flopped into a nearby chair.
'What kind of freak is he?'
His plan hadn't been bad at all. And it had succeeded.
But who could've guessed a gun user would swing a sword like that?
Even seeing his unnatural movements against the extra boss, Yuseong's prowess was way beyond expectations.
'Whatever. It's over. Don't stress.'
They'd all worn helmets or robes hiding their faces, so as long as they didn't cross paths again, it'd just be a bad memory.
Suppressing his rising fury, he dove into bed to sleep. Time would cool the anger.
But the next day, he was engulfed in rage once more.
"This...!"
He'd woken up, booted his computer, and was skimming Ark info when he saw Yuseong mentioned again on the community boards.
Frowning as he scrolled, his face soon turned beet red. He frantically clicked the link in the post.
A page loaded: a video platform. The same one where he uploaded his malicious play videos, so he knew it well.
If his plan to mock Yuseong had worked, that's where he'd have posted it.
But the uploaded video now was 180 degrees from what he'd imagined.
《Implementing Justice on the Despicable Guys I Met in Ark》
The video started with the familiar sight of Yuseong. But he wasn't the only figure.
There was also the guy using the fake nickname Moonlight Starlight at the time.
The video followed exactly what he'd experienced.
It looked like teaming up to clear a dungeon as allies, but at the end, he betrayed by bringing in his crew, only to get brutally wrecked by Yuseong in turn.
The story was one people loved, plus expert editing and Yuseong's impressive skills—the reactions were explosive.
But the guy in the video couldn't share the hype at all.
Face like it might explode any second, he scrolled the comments.
└ LOL soda pop burst
└ This is justice implemented
└ Reverse tourism hits hard
The first ones were cheers for the satisfying turnaround. Then came mocks aimed right at him and his crew.
└ Planned it all and it flopped? Three of you got wrecked by a sword Gunner?
└ "Teaching fearless geniuses the bitter taste of the world and humility" LOL when does their chuunibyou end?
└ Pretty sure it's those guys? The ones infamous for dirty play in Magic Fantasia
└ Yeah, warrior, thief, mage trio matches. They jumped to Ark
└ And got caught by Yuseong right away? Some unlucky bastards
└ What can ya do when that's all the skill they got? LOL
Blood vessels bulged in his eyes. Grinding his teeth, he scrolled more.
└ But Yuseong's insane. How's a Gunner swording a three-man party?
└ Duh, guy who soloed extra bosses back-to-back
└ His physicals are straight-up broken
└ But isn't it a bit weird? Even with godlike physicals, that good? Stats seem higher than low-level too? Hack maybe?
└ Probably found hidden dungeons early. Rare, but happens. Hack in Ark? LOL
└ Yeah, Utopia blocks everything
Praise for Yuseong everywhere. As the guy who'd gotten royally screwed by him, it twisted his guts—but one word caught his eye.
'Hack?'
He'd already doubted Yuseong's skills. Naturally, that word grabbed his focus.
'Right! He was hacking.'
Unconsciously, he'd thought hacks didn't work in Ark, but seeing the word, his mind fixated.
'Utopia bastards! How the hell do they handle security!'
But it also sparked thoughts of revenge. If the opponent hacked, so could he.
He was a skilled hacker too. He dove right in.
But the confident expression, thinking he could make a stronger character than Yuseong instantly, soon twisted.
Lights from outside flickered off and on.
He ignored messages from allies asking why he wasn't logging in.
But his efforts went unrewarded.
"Damn it!"
He slammed the desk. Delivery containers piled up shook. His bloodshot eyes glared at the monitor.
Every attempt the past few days had been blocked. He couldn't even infiltrate, let alone edit stats.
He knew why. Utopia's supercomputer, said to control all of Ark.
'Thinks it's almighty like its name or something!'
No giving up now. He tried infiltrating again. Same result.
His teeth-grinding grew louder. He didn't quit. As he tried hacking once more—
Flick!
The screen went black. His panicked face reflected on it.
"What, what?"
Power outage? But other appliances worked fine.
"Ah, shit!"
As he stood to check the PC tower—
Boom!
"Aaagh!"
A sudden explosion made him scream.
Smoke billowed from the PC tower. Acrid burnt smell hit his nose. Anyone could see the tower was toast—his face went pale.
"Wh-what the...!"
He yanked the cord and pried open the lid. Smoke surged, smell intensified. He waved it away. Staring at the wrecked insides, his face went blank.
"...Fucking hell...."
That quiet mutter was all he could manage now.