Assassins (2)
Wild Hunt has begun.
The Mark of the Hunt is imprinted on all hostile creatures within range.
The assailants couldn't hide their bewilderment at the sudden status window messages.
Mark of the Hunt? Was there a trait like that?
“What the hell is this? A conditional trait?”
“Don't freak out! He's just a LV.45 anyway.”
“Do you even know how many of us have already died to that LV.45 you're talking about?”
The highest-level player among the assailants growled. She was LV.75—a level that commanded respect anywhere, giving her authority to speak.
“He's a dead man walking anyway. Just push a little harder and we're done.”
Agreeing with her, the assailants closed in to finish off Hyunwoo, who lay collapsed on the ground.
“Ah, fuck! What the shit is this? Some mosquito...?”
“Mosquito? We're inside a barrier—how's that even here?”
“Huh, now that you mention it... Hey, you're bleeding.”
Ziiiiiing—
First, the Mark of the Hunt was imprinted on everyone. Proof that all within the barrier were prey.
“Ah! This is that thing. The ritual from Berzerk.”
“What's that supposed to be, you otaku?”
“The sacrifice gets branded like this, then a horde of monsters swarms in and rips everyone apart.”
Second, the space tore open, and they appeared.
“...Like that?”
“Uh, yeah... Exactly like that.”
A headless dullahan, gripping a cavalry lance, boldly spurred its horse forward and pierced a player's gut.
Intestines spilled from the hole. The impaled player screamed and tried to pull free, but with the lance hoisted high, it was impossible.
“So that's what the Mark of the Hunt meant.”
Chaos erupted starting with someone's stunned mutter.
Third, dullahan riders tore through space in a stampede.
Their average level exceeded LV.81, but the Death Riders had no special traits to speak of.
Just raw stats from their levels made a single lance swing shred players effortlessly.
“Fuck...! What the hell are all those?! Don't scatter! I'll kill anyone who breaks formation first!”
“Aaaargh!”
“Stick together, you idiots!”
Kuuuung—!
A charging wild boar shook the earth, only to be kicked skyward by a massive foot.
The beast, easily over 10 tons, smashed into a commercial building and crashed down, triggering an earthquake with absurd noise.
“Fuck...”
“What the hell is that? That size even possible?”
After that, the players heard a series of roars dwarfing the boar's fall.
Kuuuung—!
Even the Giant King would look like a five-year-old toddler next to the monster bursting from space.
It defied words like “big.” Immense, mountain-like... flowery prose barely scratched the surface.
If not for the barrier, Seoul citizens would've spotted the colossal pumpkin monster—like spotting Lotte Tower on a clear day from afar.
One player muttered curses upon seeing the number hovering overhead.
“Fuckin' formation my ass. You lost your mind?”
“Shut up! Healers, pour everything you've got into healing! I'll take point.”
“Bullshit. We haven't even seen half of it yet and we're already like this.”
Despair hit when they realized the “torso” was just a toe.
“Fuck, for real... I said we shouldn't do this, didn't I?”
“You done talking, you little shit?”
“Yeah, I'm done, asshole. Should've seen it coming when a forty-year-old started playing knight commander. You fuckin' schizophrenic prick!”
Amid the cursing, the knight commander bellowed.
“Even if that's true, I'm your senior and boss—does that make it okay to talk like that? Can't I go out with some dignity on my way out?”
“Avenging the dead by having thirty people gang up on a 150cm LV.45 guy—is that dignified?”
Objectively, it wasn't.
“Grow the fuck up already. Ex-housewife playing knight or whatever—quit strutting around.”
“You done, you little shit?”
“Not yet? Looks like you need more. Fine, I'll be generous. You motherfu—”
Kwaaaang—!
A massive foot slammed down on the clustered players.
The casual stomp triggered an earthquake and cracks in the ground.
Hunt Ended!
With the trait activator dead, the barrier collapsed. Paaat—! Severed heads, chunks of meat plummeted to the street.
“What the hell?”
“Bodies...? Movie shoot?”
“No, this looks real... Uegh!”
Pedestrians screamed in horror at the sudden pile of corpses. Hyunwoo smirked at the sound.
I guess I won.
The sweet taste of victory was fleeting—his vision blurred, eyes closing.
“You're awake.”
Sure enough, when I opened my eyes, I was in bed, with Master gazing down at me.
“Master...”
“Don't get up. You know you're poisoned, right? If I'd been a little later, it would've been bad.”
Right. But my fingers and toes were moving, so it wasn't too late.
Normal paralysis locks the limbs solid. Player physiology meant a few more days and I'd recover.
“Daddy!”
That's when a child's voice pierced my ear... sending chills down my spine. Daddy? No kids for me.
“Daddy! Daddy's awake!”
“Uh...”
“Yay! Is Daddy okay now?”
Oh god.
A tiny Master toddled to the bedside, schoolbag and uniform on like a kid.
What the...? Her secret child? Early thirties, possible if she had her young.
“Your daughter.”
“...My?”
“I made her while you slept. Sorry for mounting without consent. Couldn't hold back.”
“M-My god... What're you saying?”
“You've been out over ten years. Poison was nasty... New treatment let you wake.”
Ten years.
I'm thirty-one now?
“Then you're forty...”
“Not the point.”
“No, it is. Sex with a forty-year-old...?”
“...That's your priority?”
“More than that—Babel, how do I—”
Puhahaha! Laughter shattered the tension.
“This guy's such a moron. Forgot my face too?”
“Ah...?”
“Idiot. I'm your master's clone! Ryu Winter!”
Oh, right.
Brain wasn't fully online post-coma.
“Heh... Told you? He'd fall for it 100%.”
“Totally.”
“You two enjoy. Bye~”
Damn, what a ridiculous prank. Too far, even for her.
“Anyway, back to business. You've been out a week.”
A week. Not ten years, but still long.
“Probably those assassins. Same ones after me last time.”
“Seems like.”
“Those fucking bitches pull every trick.”
“Master, but I won.”
All dead, Wild Hunt prey.
“Busy times. You'll have to go to court soon.”
“Me...?”
“Tore them apart in broad daylight on the street. Hard to call self-defense.”
So die quietly? Absurd.
“Master, if I hadn't fought back, I'd be dead. Why?”
“Hm? Why justify?”
“No, you can't say it like that! Who taught you?”
“Why get mad? Meant you did nothing wrong, no need to explain.”
That made me feel guilty for no reason. But so unfair. What's wrong with this country's laws?
“Don't worry—you won't see a courtroom.”
“Master, a lawyer...”
“Lawyer? Players like me don't need 'em to sway trials. Rest easy.”
Proved next day.
Master grabbed a cop's collar—there for statement—and slammed him into the ceiling.