Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Title: But why would you go out of your way to kill other players?
Author: XX*
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There must be a clear benefit, right?
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There is a clear benefit. Killing one player as your first murder guarantees a level-up of 2.
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After that, the experience gained changes based on your level, just like hunting regular monsters.
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Pioneer) The rest are simply cases of killing to steal the opponent's items, or cases where they've lost their minds.
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There are also many who live ordinary lives, only to suddenly fall into a strange place called the Tower, where laws become useless, and they become pleasure killers who go around killing others.
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Archmage) Quite a few.
Han Yoo-seong recalled the contents of the discussion on the gallery before being summoned to the exchange event.
'Guaranteed level 2 increase.'
That was certainly enough motivation for a player who hadn't committed their first murder to commit such a crazy act.
Baek Jinyeong continued to point his sword at Han Yoo-seong.
"Put down the item you got as first place in the exchange event, and stand with your hands up."
Han Yoo-seong faced Baek Jinyeong and opened his mouth.
"Since when have you two been a team?"
Baek Jinyeong, with a smirk, readily answered.
"We met at the last exchange event and became friends. So we were summoned together this time."
Baek Jinyeong continued.
"If one of us didn't get first place, we agreed to kill the player who did and steal their items. That's what we decided for this exchange event. Oh, if you're planning to stall for time and return to the Tower you were in, forget it. If you inflict damage when that circular white light appears, the return is canceled."
Baek Jinyeong spoke of things Han Yoo-seong already knew from his seniors on the Transcendence Gallery.
Seeing Han Yoo-seong remain still even after hearing this, Baek Jinyeong tilted his head.
"Are you unable to react due to fear, or are you unwilling to easily give up the items you obtained?"
Baek Jinyeong's gaze shifted to Sun Haoran.
"Then we'll have to kill him and take it from his drop. Sun Haoran, kill him."
Sun Haoran smirked.
"I will."
Han Yoo-seong knew the reason why they saw him as so easy to deal with.
It was obvious.
< 3 >.
The number floating above his head.
That single number.
That must be the source of their confidence in approaching him without hesitation.
"I was aiming for the finishing blow. Why did you throw your spear and take it? The Kobold didn't even dodge and took a direct hit. Isn't that because I and the others had already drained its strength."
Baek Jinyeong clicked his tongue and continued.
"Laura, that woman. I don't know why she, on Hard Difficulty, doesn't live up to her difficulty. And she doesn't know I'm from the same Hard Difficulty. She just grovels, so her pride swells, tsk."
Baek Jinyeong didn't realize.
That Han Yoo-seong had made a decision based on the words he had just spoken.
Han Yoo-seong asked casually.
"You're from Hard, and that friend?"
Baek Jinyeong chuckled.
"That friend is from Normal. Still, he's a friend you can't possibly beat."
Whoosh-
Sun Haoran swung the spearhead before Han Yoo-seong's eyes.
"Consider yourself unlucky, Floor 3."
Sun Haoran said so and stepped forward with his right foot. The spear shot forward like an arrow.
Clang-!
The spear shaft shot up into the air.
"...Huh?"
Sun Haoran's stunned voice echoed.
Light flashed once more in his vision.
This time, he couldn't make a sound.
Blood was gushing from his neck.
"Gak... Gak!"
Sun Haoran dropped his spear and clutched his neck with both hands.
"Gaaak!"
But that didn't stop the bleeding.
Sun Haoran's body, which had collapsed on the floor, writhed like a worm. Soon, that writhing stopped completely.
He had breathed his last.
"......"
Baek Jinyeong swallowed hard, looking at the pool of blood created by the blood flowing from Sun Haoran's neck.
He felt utterly stupid.
As if his thoughts had stopped.
A resident of Floor 3.
A player who had just cleared Floor 2 had killed Sun Haoran, a resident of Floor 7.
Something that couldn't be understood within the bounds of common sense had happened.
Baek Jinyeong's mind was filled with confusion.
Baek Jinyeong looked at Han Yoo-seong.
Han Yoo-seong was now holding a sword in his hand.
[Great Enemy Sword Karnavalt].
It was the sword he had just received as a reward for first place in the exchange event.
Han Yoo-seong opened his mouth.
"I was lucky."
Looking at the number '8' floating above Baek Jinyeong's head.
"...What?"
"I was lucky to kill Sun Haoran."
Han Yoo-seong walked forward after saying that.
Baek Jinyeong stood in front of him.
It was strange.
How that guy had killed Sun Haoran in an instant.
But even so, he was only Floor 3.
The floor number above Han Yoo-seong's head and his origin from a Hard Difficulty Tower made Baek Jinyeong's body move.
'Kill him.'
Mana flowed from Baek Jinyeong's Mana Heart.
[Mana Body Reinforcement Lv.2 – Skill activated.]
Baek Jinyeong slashed upwards diagonally with his sword, a scimitar.
A white trajectory swept over Han Yoo-seong's upper body.
'I hit him...!'
Baek Jinyeong's certainty was immediately twisted.
The scimitar ended up cutting through empty air.
Thwack!
"Gak!"
Baek Jinyeong looked at his abdomen.
The hilt of Karnavalt, the sword Han Yoo-seong held, had struck his abdomen.
Thwack!
This time, his head snapped back.
Han Yoo-seong's fist had landed on his jaw.
Barely holding onto his fading consciousness, Baek Jinyeong quickly swung his sword horizontally.
Han Yoo-seong's eyes glinted as he tracked the trajectory.
He had recovered his stance immediately despite being hit.
And then, a lightning-fast attack. Baek Jinyeong's attack was sufficiently threatening.
Ting!
"Your combat sense itself doesn't seem bad."
Baek Jinyeong's scimitar shot up into the air.
Baek Jinyeong's right arm was raised high.
"Your strength is just too lacking."
Crack!
With a low kick, Han Yoo-seong made Baek Jinyeong's legs sink into the ground.
"Aaaargh!"
Grabbing his left leg and rolling on the ground, Baek Jinyeong was approached, and Han Yoo-seong twisted his right elbow upwards.
Crack! Snap-!
He broke the shoulder joint.
"Aaaargh!"
His right arm, bent at a grotesque angle, hung limply.
His shoulder had been completely dislocated.
Han Yoo-seong bent down, grabbed his right arm, and met the eyes of Baek Jinyeong, who was trembling all over.
"Can you see this?"
To Baek Jinyeong, it looked like Han Yoo-seong was just waving his hand in the air, so he shook his head.
Was the Transcendent Gallery visible to other Climbers?
That was the question he was asking.
Han Yoo-seong spoke again.
"Say it. Don't use actions."
Baek Jinyeong had no intention of defying Han Yoo-seong's words.
"It... it just looks like you're moving your hand in the air."
Too deep a fear had settled in a short amount of time.
"What's your level?"
Han Yoo-seong decided to ask the things he was curious about one by one.
Baek Jinyeong answered with a trembling voice.
"S-sixteen..."
Perhaps because he was from 21st-century Earth.
His level was quite high, as Han Yoo-seong had expected.
"Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Mana. Say them in order."
Baek Jinyeong's lips trembled.
"If I tell you... will you spare me?"
"It depends on what you do."
Baek Jinyeong bit his lip for a moment, then spat out his words again.
"Status window... Strength 38, Dexterity 36, Stamina 49, Mana 21."
Except for Stamina, they were all about half of Han Yoo-seong's stats.
Considering he had gained 2 levels by killing Sun Haoran just now, the gap between them was even wider.
"Did you also form a party of at least five or six people when clearing floors?"
"...Why are you asking something so obvious?"
Han Yoo-seong meticulously stored everything Baek Jinyeong said in his mind.
Lying on the ground, Baek Jinyeong was racking his brain.
'He has no intention of sparing me.'
The guy who didn't hesitate to kill Sun Haoran.
He was now staring at the empty space above, letting his guard down.
'I must kill him.'
The decision was put into action in an instant.
Whoosh!
Baek Jinyeong, who had only been writhing like a worm, rapidly sat up. In his left hand was the scimitar he had dropped on the ground.
Swish!
He stabbed.
Definitely at the Floor 3 kid.
But that belief was wrong again.
The Floor 3 resident, who had dodged his killing intent like a ghost, now held a dagger he had never seen before in his right hand.
Thump.
That dagger was aimed at his neck.
Baek Jinyeong's body collapsed onto the floor again.
Blood flowed.
He was dying.
During that process, Baek Jinyeong thought deeply.
Who the hell is this guy?
His defeat was clear.
< 3 >.
He had become too fixated on that damned number.
A Floor 3 resident who had just cleared Floor 2.
Yet, an incredibly strong person.
At this moment, when his life should have flashed before his eyes, ironically, a scoreboard appeared.
《 Floor 2 - Score Ranking 》
1st Place - Private : 1,532 points
The Floor 2 score ranking he had seen and laughed at just before entering the exchange event.
"...1532?"
The words Baek Jinyeong barely managed to utter reached Han Yoo-seong's ears.
"It's too late, it's meaningless in this situation."
At those words, Baek Jinyeong opened his mouth to say more, but couldn't utter the next word.
Baek Jinyeong's body, his breath cut off, slumped.
Tsk.
Han Yoo-seong clicked his tongue.
Title: What if a player tries to kill me? I should kill them, right?
Author: ㅇㅇ*
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Heavenly Demon) Why are you asking something so obvious?
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Sword of Light) Kill them.
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Archmage) Find out what you're curious about from your perspective, then kill them.
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Shrine Maiden) Kill!
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Ice Queen) Freeze them! Make sure there are no loose ends! Everything must be thorough!
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Dragon King) Beltui- Agreed. Kill them.
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Pioneer) Well... you have to kill them, I guess.
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Absolute Monarch) That is the Tower. That is the world. Abandon any thoughts of purity.
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Secret Room Theorist) Dude. It's nobility, you idiot - This world is made of secret rooms
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It's truly a worthless worry.
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Be more suspicious of players than NPCs. NPCs at least have some sincerity, you know.
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Look at them all saying to kill every single one, lololol.