Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Now, Who's the Prey?
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As he pulled out a combat scroll, Regin thought it over once more.
‘This was truly thanks to Plexis Chairman's help. Without solid intel, I wouldn't have been able to act so decisively.’
Doubt is always like that.
Even with suspicious circumstances, certainty is hard without proper evidence.
But this time, the proof was ironclad.
The pendants hanging from their necks flashed through Regin's mind.
‘……How would I have known without you, Plexis Chairman.’
From the fact that Plexis, a figure from a century ago, had developed it to monitor his lover.
To how its efficiency would automatically drop in the presence of others nearby, causing visible changes.
Everything he'd confirmed through community posts had proven invaluable.
“……They're raiders, right? Those guys.”
“Yeah. The three-man party was a lie from the start.”
“…….”
Manannan hesitated as he gripped his wand.
“Prepping for PvP is a first for me.”
Tension flickered across Manannan's face.
“……Wouldn't running be better? They look like they're talking over there. If we slip out quietly now…….”
“Already forgotten the woman's class?”
“…….”
“An archer with those specs could hunt us down effortlessly. The guy's assassin-class too—pursuit's his specialty.”
Regin confirmed the mana shield enveloping them as he spoke.
“Of all things, both pursuit experts.”
“True.”
“Better to stand and fight than flee half-assed and get jumped.”
“…….”
“With the mana shield up, we can weather most hits.”
He'd considered running.
But Regin dismissed the idea right away.
They might escape for now, but the chase wouldn't end.
Regin recalled the countless ordeals from grinding DAT.
‘In this game, nothing stays avoided forever.’
Skip a scary monster, and you'd run into it eventually.
Dodge a war by switching factions, and a similar one would erupt anyway.
It wasn't just DAT, either.
“You can't postpone a fight forever, Manannan.”
His days as Park Jin-seong had been the same. Dodging for the moment always brought grudges back tenfold.
……He knew from endless repetition.
Turning a blind eye didn't make problems vanish.
He'd felt it constantly, in office drudgery and DAT alike.
Regin took a deep breath and continued.
“The upside is they're underestimating us.”
Hesitation was a luxury they couldn't afford.
Regin's gaze sharpened.
“We're fully prepped, though. Ready to pour everything into survival. This is the moment to strike.”
That was the path to living.
Handling threats head-on maximized survival odds in this world.
“Conversation dragging a bit?”
That was when Regin was wrapping up his thoughts with Manannan.
A breezily casual voice brushed his ear.
“Got curious what you two were chatting about for so long, so I came to check…….”
“…….”
“That thing around you…… a mana shield? Why put it up out of nowhere?”
“……Th-that's.”
Jin Clark—the man who'd led them here—approached with a smirk.
As Manannan fumbled for a reply in panic.
Rip—
Regin tore the scroll without a second thought.
Roar!!
“Gah……!”
A blaze of flame magic erupted toward Jin Clark's face.
Truth be told, Manannan still wasn't fully convinced they were raiders at that point.
“……You crazy fuck! Helena! They figured us out! Hit 'em!”
Not until Jin Clark shook off the flames and fixed them with blazing eyes.
Stunned by Regin's opener, Jin Clark gripped his dagger in reverse grip and lunged.
“Manannan! Light 'em up!”
“……Got it!”
Regin and Manannan's first fight against players.
It kicked off in their favor.
Jin Clark's cool had cracked under the preemptive strike, after all.
* * *
Those who climbed the Tower.
They steeled themselves for death countless times before stepping inside.
Jin Clark and his partner Helena were no different.
They'd hurled themselves in, convinced it was worth the risk.
……Right up until true peril struck.
— No way. Our skills really cap out here……?
— ……Face it, Helena. We can't clear this floor.
The 11th floor.
Where Jin Clark and Helena had clung to life, drenched in blood.
They'd resisted admitting it, but their limits were stark.
The Tower's conquest proved far harsher than anticipated, steadily eroding their resolve.
— ……Let's grind more experience downstairs first.
After agonizing, Jin Clark made the call.
It had been months since they dropped back below the 10th floor.
Slash!
— Kraaak……!!
Then one day.
A spat with an explorer on the 4th floor turned deadly—Clark killed him.
Shaken by dread for a full month, Clark realized something.
‘Whether I did it or the Tower claimed him…… no real way to tell, right?’
No one's caught, no crime.
And disguising a death? Easy in the Tower.
People dropped all the time—no one batted an eye.
‘Do we really need to risk our necks…… brawling high-floor mobs?’
Jin Clark's convictions wavered once more.
Clink—
The loot from low-floor explorers lit up his eyes.
Small sums, but effortless.
Easy money.
— Helena. Let's stick here and rake it in. Everything in sight—people, whatever.
— ……Hold on. You mean turn raider?
— Yeah. We've been taking the hard road.
That was the instant two Tower aspirants became common bandits.
Hunt the weak and easy marks.
A few repeats in, they refined their game, preying slyly on lowbies.
‘Picked those two this time……!’
Then came the moment Jin Clark's eyes wavered again.
Lying in wait for the usual soft targets, along came two obvious noobs—mages, by the look.
Easy pickings compared to the day's tallies.
Boom boom boom!
“Urgh!!”
His math was off.
Things unfolded differently.
“You goddamn prick!”
The mages' onslaught hammered Jin Clark.
Regin and Manannan.
The ones who should've been quick kills.
Rip—
Pew pew—!!
They unleashed skills nonstop, stonewalling his strikes.
Regin and Manannan had synced up battling mobs plenty.
Even an assassin—nimblest of classes—started struggling to weave.
“……Helena!!”
Barely evading, Jin Clark bellowed toward his pendant.
“Nock and loose at full draw!”
This hunt was proving thorny.
‘Still…… I hit the 11th floor. Can't fold to these scrubs.’
His reverse-gripped dagger clenched harder. Jin Clark snarled rage and streamlined his thoughts.
“I'll eat hits and punch through! Shatter that mana shield! Mages got no armor anyway!”
Slash—!!
Take the blows—just crack the shield.
Shift in mindset, and a path appeared.
“……Ha! Your skills? Barely tickle!”
He closed in, hammering the shield.
Unaware of Regin's faint smirk in that brief window.
* * *
‘……He's resilient, alright.’
At first, Jin Clark had floundered, dodging desperately.
Even lunging forward meant juking spells, stalling his approach.
But the second he started tanking grazes, dynamics shifted.
‘Figures as long as no direct hits land. Our skills aren't lethal to him anyway.’
Boom—!
“Guh!”
Glancing blows while closing distance—Jin Clark.
Regin eyed him steadily, ripping scrolls without pause.
He craved a decisive edge right then, but their base stats lagged.
Regin and Manannan's spells were Tier 1—good up to 5th floor in Tower terms.
Expecting them to drop a guy who'd touched Tier 3? Wishful at best.
Slash—!!
His strikes now connected. Shield durability plummeted.
Pew—!
The archer Helena grated too. Arrows lancing from afar grew irksome.
‘……60% durability.’
A check of the effect showed it'd dipped to 60 already.
The shield was crumbling quicker than expected.
‘Guess it's cuz these are store-bought scrolls.’
A wry smile escaped him.
A scrollmaker's perk: boosted performance on homemade ones.
His own would've held firmer.
“What's this?! All smug, now sweating?”
The guy had clocked the shield's rapid decay.
“Your shit can't even drop me…… I read you punks.”
Regin ignored the bait and called to Manannan.
“Manannan!”
“……Yeah!”
“Atrition plays against us! Archer's the real pain!”
Early archer skill trees split two ways, mainly.
One-shot reversal types packing everything into a single arrow.
Or sustained damage dealers, lower per-hit but marathon fighters.
Helena couldn't one-shot the shield, but damn if she wasn't sustained.
‘……While elemental sorcerers crater hard the longer fights drag.’
This trajectory, Manannan would burn mana first.
Regin assessed the shift swiftly, sharpening focus.
“……Manannan.”
“Yeah?”
“Blast the archer.”
What mattered most in combat?
Countless factors, but if pressed, Regin had an instant answer.
‘Experience.’
Navigating battle's myriad variables flexibly and right demanded it.
And Regin arguably held the world's deepest well of it.
“Hurl a massive fireball.”
“……Massive?”
“Damage doesn't matter—make it as big as possible!”
Manannan paused in confusion, then complied, flinging a giant fireball at the archer.
“Morons! Think that'll nick Helena?”
“…….”
Slash—!
Jin Clark sneered mid-shield assault.
‘He's right. Landing on Helena's pointless now. Sustained archers are tanky.’
Even aiming vitals, she'd evade clean.
Whoosh—!
But that fireball wasn't for damage from the jump.
— Clark! My bow……!
“What?”
Her voice crackled through the pendant.
— It's on fire! Shit. Mana's thin, was gonna tank physically……
“What? You idiot……! Ditch the bow! Rush here and regroup! These chumps are nothing once the shield pops!”
Jin Clark kept needling Regin.
“I get your angle. Won't save you.”
The archer arrived, flanking him and drawing a dagger.
“Helena's solid with blades too.”
No empty boast.
Their spells lacked killing bite.
Daggers out, dual assault made landing hits tougher.
Their blows chipped the shield relentlessly.
“……Archer lost her bow—should've bolted. Not rushed here.”
“……Helena, empty taunt. Don't bite.”
“I know.”
“Nah, not a taunt—straight facts. Bow gone? Run.”
“Leave my partner? No way.”
“Raiders preaching loyalty…… heartwarming bromance.”
They'd ambushed endless parties, yet played lovey-dovey now.
“If you're so eager to go down together…….”
Durability hovered at 20%.
Gauging the ever-cracking shield, Regin pressed on.
“……I'll oblige. Send you both off at once.”
“……Huh? Lost the plot? Shield drops, you're toast.”
Sure.
If they were standard mages, he'd be spot-on.
“Who said?”
Regin let out a hollow laugh, prepping his follow-up.
They weren't standard.
‘One shot to end it.’
A play only Regin—who'd glimpsed the world's end—could unleash.
“Thanks for assuming the shield's our last line.”
Down to 15% durability.
Rough math: three more strikes to breach. Prime timing, Regin judged.
He carefully drew a scroll from his waist pouch.
“Manannan!”
“Huh!?”
“Signal comes, hit the dirt! Big one's incoming! ……One blast shatters the shield!”
“W-what? Hey, hold up!”
Rip—!!
Regin's hand rent the new scroll.
— You really made that on purpose?
The scroll Klinna had questioned.
His emergency contingency—tucked in the pouch, not inventory.
Flame, wind, water, earth—every attribute skill crammed into one.
A custom bomb.
Flash—!!
It erupted in blinding white, detonating.
Jin Clark and the archer's stares filled his vision.
“You fools……!”
A bomb at this range? Near suicide.
‘Good thing for us…….’
Shield still held.
They'd eat the blast raw.
BOOM—!!