Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Elimination Protocol
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The Steel Wolf Guild's vicious tendencies had been infamous for a long time.
But their misdeeds went beyond ordinary crimes.
Their crimes only took place inside dungeons.
Dungeons were extraterritorial zones under imperial law.
So the empire mostly turned a blind eye to what happened inside them.
Incidents in dungeons were simply too murky to sort out the truth.
Of course, sometimes the truth did come out, and people got branded as criminals.
But it always took time for that to happen.
The Steel Wolf Guild had more than enough time during that window to cut off their tails.
"We didn't even know we had a guy like that with so many members."
"Sorry. We'll make it up to you in our own way."
They always muddled through like that.
Crimes committed only in dungeons.
And the Steel Wolf Guild's signature quick tail-cutting.
The Steel Wolf Guild's misdeeds only grew more brazen with each passing day.
On such a day today.
In a humid jungle thick with trees and foliage.
The clash between the Steel Wolf Guild members and the Ozul Party reached a temporary lull.
The reason was a certain man who had suddenly appeared.
Dark elf signature hair: black at the base, interwoven with blue inside.
But pale skin and an ugly face.
Ears peeking through the strands of hair.
The ugly one. A half dark elf.
His abrupt arrival halted the fight for just a moment.
But soon, the Steel Wolf Guild members exchanged glances.
The scene right now was blatantly the Steel Wolf Guild committing an outrage.
And they'd already killed two people.
What did that mean?
All witnesses had to be eliminated.
"...Hey."
At that moment, the blue-haired man on the Steel Wolf side spoke up.
Rafila's little brother.
The spoiled brat Liren.
He quietly signaled to the guild members behind him.
Go around back and strike.
The guild members nodded silently.
They clustered together naturally, blocking the line of sight.
In that gap, one man from the rear activated his stealth skill and vanished.
It was a practiced maneuver they'd pulled off countless times.
"Hey there, Pioneer. You alright?"
The heteromorphic man called out to Oberizel with feigned innocence.
Two people lay next to Oberizel, already as good as dead.
Yet he had the gall to talk to Oberizel.
What nerve.
Oberizel panicked but snapped himself out of it.
His face drained white as he shouted,
"You—this isn't the time! Run and warn everyone nearby about the danger!"
"This guy!"
As Oberizel yelled, the Steel Wolf Guild members lunged at him.
Oberizel desperately fought them off for his life.
"Hey, I said I'm grabbing that one?"
Liren griped in annoyance at the sight.
He'd been itching to personally finish off the last one in his death throes.
But this interloper had screwed everything up.
"Pensaldor. Deal with that."
Liren clicked his tongue and jerked his chin backward.
Pensaldor, assigned as escort by Rafila, stepped forward.
"You're not alone."
A gaunt man with sunken cheeks like a skull and a dour expression.
Pensaldor let his dagger hang loosely as he eyed Leyzon.
A chill wind stirred around his recessed eyes.
Leaves rustled uneasily in its wake.
Pensaldor was a ninth-Ascension pioneer.
A veteran who'd filled more than half his ninth-Ascension EXP bar.
Stats at 98.
Top of the line among mid-tier pioneers.
High-tier status was right around the corner.
He was originally slated to hit tenth Ascension and join the Steel Wolves' elite squad.
The Wild Wolves.
But Rafila had begged him to watch over her immature little brother.
So he'd been stuck babysitting Liren.
"Pointless meddling."
Pensaldor quietly released his killing intent.
The aura of someone on the verge of high-tier pioneer.
Not something Leyzon could shrug off.
Yet Leyzon stared back without a hint of fear.
It rubbed Pensaldor the wrong way.
Green energy flickered in Pensaldor's eyes.
The name made it sound like it just sharpened vision.
But that was far from the truth.
Eagle's Eye excelled at gauging an opponent's strength.
And at detecting presences.
'Definitely sixth Ascension.'
No matter how he sliced it, Leyzon was sixth.
And the other hidden one was sixth too.
'Two sixth-Ascensions with that kind of unfounded confidence.'
He must have some kind of plan.
'Then I'll smash it before he can pull it off.'
He subtly gripped a dagger concealed in his long sleeve.
Pensaldor spoke up to draw Leyzon's eyes.
"Don't you know a moment's greed always brings disaster?"
The listener instinctively puzzles out the intent behind such a question.
Proof: the instant Leyzon's face showed doubt.
Swish!
The Steel Wolf guild member who'd gone stealth reappeared behind Leyzon.
He swung his axe down at Leyzon.
Leyzon's eyes snapped back a beat too late at the sound.
Pensaldor's hand moved in sync.
The dagger slipped free and hurtled toward Leyzon's throat.
Leyzon looked every inch the mage.
He'd have a defensive spell or two, no doubt.
Enough to block a mid-tier pioneer's axe swing.
So Pensaldor timed the throw for when Leyzon's gaze shifted back.
Bloody-red energy cloaked the dagger.
The skill Pensaldor had imbued.
Instant Execution (S)
Ignores all magic/physical defense vs. lower-level targets
Pensaldor's sole S-rank skill.
Against lower-level foes, it ignored all magic and physical defenses for a guaranteed kill.
Once per day limit.
And it had to land clean.
A finicky skill.
But Pensaldor, the expert dagger master, wielded it with ease.
'If he's got a trick.'
I'll kill him with it.
Pensaldor's ace in the hole.
The Instant Execution dagger sank precisely into Leyzon's neck.
Just before his life slipped into eternal death.
Clang!
The dagger ricocheted away in a flash.
Crack!
"Th-that, uh, ah..."
It buried itself in the head of the hapless Steel Wolf guild member behind him.
The guild member, caught flat-footed, shuddered violently.
Thud—
He crumpled to the ground.
The dagger had pierced deep into his forehead, Instant Execution or not.
Death was inevitable.
But he wasn't the only one who died.
"Huh?"
The Steel Wolf guild member attacking Leyzon suddenly doubled over.
His upper body separated from his lower.
Thud!
Guts spilling, he hit the dirt.
Pensaldor gawked, eyes wide.
He'd definitely loaded the dagger with Instant Execution.
The skill that pierced all magic and physical defenses.
So why...
Why had Instant Execution bounced?
'...A red shadow definitely moved.'
Pensaldor's gaze drifted slowly downward to Leyzon.
It locked on Leyzon's shadow.
The instant the dagger and axe closed in on Leyzon.
That shadow had erupted from his feet and parried Pensaldor's blade.
And cleaved the Steel Wolf guild member behind Leyzon in two.
All in under a second.
Without Eagle's Eye, even Pensaldor wouldn't have caught it.
Chill!
Deep in Pensaldor's core.
A bad feeling bubbled up ominously.
This is bad.
Really bad.
He had the experience of someone on the cusp of high-tier.
So he knew.
This was the same chill from years ago, facing the guild leader for the first time.
Hero-tier pioneer.
The icy presence unique to those monsters.
Right then, the man glanced at the fallen Steel Wolf guild member behind him.
Then snapped his gaze forward again.
His ugly face, so cheerful moments ago, went blank.
Step!
Pensaldor recoiled on instinct.
Alarms blared in his head.
"You guys threw the first punch, right?"
With those words, he drew a staff.
Leyzon's lips curled into a slow grin.
The deep reddish-brown wood staff screamed luxury at a glance.
A mage's dream for efficiency.
The Staff of Abundance.
[World Exclusive][Unique]Ascension Limit:5
A staff that bestows abundance upon your magic power.
[Special Effect]
―Magic attacks trigger 'Abundance'.
[Abundance]
While active: ―Mana cost -50% ―Mana recovery +50% ―Magic attack power +50% Cooldown: 5 minutes
Leyzon's latest pickup from the black market auction.
"Fierce Poison Spread."
A virulent poison cloud erupted fiercely from Leyzon's staff.
"Liren, sir!"
Pensaldor, caught off guard, failed to stop Leyzon's cast.
He hurriedly wrapped his cloak around Liren.
Pensaldor's cloak blocked one magic attack.
But that meant...
It offered no protection to the other guild members.
"Grahk?!"
"Guh?!"
"P-poison! It's the mage!"
Cast right in their faces, low-tier Steel Wolf pioneers had no chance to block Fierce Poison Spread.
They clutched their throats and collapsed, poisoned in seconds.
But one was a mage.
He quickly whipped up a wind spell to blow the poison back.
Not bad improvisation.
"Th-this is..."
Then he recognized the spell's origin.
Crack!
But before he could shout it out.
A sound cracked from the side, and his body twisted sideways.
A boy with three black tails whipping about had popped up and smashed him with a shield.
"S-sorry!"
After caving in the man's skull, the boy apologized in a frail voice.
It was Hanok.
But Hanok's onslaught wasn't over.
He swung his one-handed spear without pause.
Stab!
The thrust pierced the mage's throat clean through.
"G-gah!"
The mage died screaming in an instant.
Hanok rolled into the underbrush and vanished.
"...Damn it!"
Pensaldor ground his teeth at the sight.
Losing the mage here was a blunder.
Magic countered magic—that was the rule.
"Pensaldor, what the hell are you doing?"
Just then, Liren's voice came from under Pensaldor's cloak.
Liren glared with utter fury.
"Didn't I tell you to handle it?"
This damn brat mouthing off when he knew nothing.
"...My apologies."
But Pensaldor had no choice but to apologize.
Liren was the guild leader's own brother.
For Rafila's sake alone, he couldn't rough him up.
"Hurry up and clean it."
Liren barked the order while drawing a hand axe from his belt.
His eyes tracked Hanok into the brush.
"I'll handle that one. You mop up the mage."
Liren hurled the hand axe, loaded with a skill.
Endless Pursuit (A)
Hunts target until damage is dealt
Liren's class was axe warrior, same as his brother Rafila.
Thanks to him, Liren was loaded with high-rank skills.
Endless Pursuit was one.
The axe streaked into the underbrush.
Clang!
A shield rang out.
Clang clang!
But the sounds kept coming.
An Endless Pursuit axe rebounds and loops back.
Hanok couldn't shake it off.
Meanwhile, Liren drew another axe.
Sparks crackled at his feet.
Boom!
Liren blasted through the brush, closing on Hanok in a flash.
Thunder Leap (A)
Instant gap closer
Thunder Leap. The skill to shrink distances in a blink.
Liren spotted Hanok parrying the hand axe.
He twisted and smashed his axe down at Hanok.
Claaang!
Hanok held it off with his shield.
But Liren's assault didn't stop there.
Liren's axe was the Axe of Fury.
Its unique effect, Fury, triggered.
Booooom!
Explosion and roar shook the air.
Hanok tumbled across the ground in the blast.
He'd blocked with his shield, but it still hurt.
Numbness shot through Hanok's arm.
"Ngh..."
Hanok groaned.
Liren smirked viciously at his fragile look.
To Liren's eyes, Hanok was a coward.
Clang!
The returning Endless Pursuit axe clashed with Hanok's shield again.
Hanok sucked in a short breath.
'High-rank skills and pricey gear.'
Hanok peered past his shield at Liren.
Liren twirled his axes with bloodthirsty glee.
This trust-fund axe brat was tougher than expected.
Clang!
Hanok smacked his shield with his one-handed spear as a focus shout.
His three tails swayed quietly.
Liren had no clue.
About the eyes filling with battle lust beyond the shield.
That the coward had turned hunter.