Farming Efficiently (4)

It wasn't as though I'd built any particularly deep bond with Wild Bird.

Even adding it all up, the time we'd spent together barely amounted to a few hours. I'd half expected something like this might happen, and a character's death was hardly anything new. Wild Bird would probably treat it like slipping on the road and log back in four hours later. The party had already broken up — odds were we'd never cross paths again.

And yet something about it left a bad taste in my mouth.

The face that had made such a fuss about being my fan kept floating up. Irritation rose for no good reason… and the blood in my veins started to boil hot.

The image of that hulking character slamming a tiny halfling into the ground. By the time I heard something about a "bug cut," my dagger was already lunging toward the enemy mage.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Wh-what the hell is that? Stop her!"

With their support dead, the hunt had been disrupted enough. Justification secured. From here on, whether I fought or ran was entirely up to me.

While all eyes were on me, our sniper would have gone to ground. The grappler would join once the gear swap was done. No need to push too aggressively right now. I'd already killed the mage, so leveraging the sniper's long range was the sensible call.

Generally speaking, that is.

Field combat like this — small-scale brawls in particular — was my specialty.

Killing the priest right away was impossible. Dongmitam was a Grappler — a derivative class of Fighter. From what I'd glimpsed on stream, he ran a defense-focused build, so unless I stabbed a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠vital like the head or neck, he wouldn't go down in one hit.

Which meant it was better to kill the assassins charging in without a clue first.

The moment I slipped past the dagger of the one who'd arrived first, a flash of priest-light flared in the distance.

What a pointless move. What were they going to do with a nickname?

Well, their intent was obvious enough. Remember the name, then threaten to hunt me down and kill me later. But wouldn't it have been better not to look?

"Holy shit! Ga-wol?!"

"What about me? Miss me?"

Generally speaking, notoriety was closer to a liability. Allies were hard to gather, enemies easy to make. But once a fight started, it surprisingly helped more often than not. You'd see people freeze up for no reason — folding like the loss was already decided, never even grabbing the chance to land a hit. If they'd at least gambled on something, it might have gone differently. Instead they played too defensively and self-destructed.

Hopefully these ones wouldn't do the same. For the major incident of my number-one fan dying, that would be a pretty underwhelming ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠conclusion.

I reversed my grip on the dagger and drove off the ground with my right foot. I carved a wide arc of steel toward the enemy assassin, but I couldn't sever the windpipe in one go. I had to settle for stabbing through the forearm — a shame.

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

"What do you mean, why. I need to hunt too if I want to level up and gear out. Weird question."

"We didn't know you were here. If you're a party member, we'll assign a priest from our side, so—"

"What kind of bullshit is that. How am I supposed to trust people who just took a swing at me and party up?"

I kicked that ugly face away and deflected another assassin's attack. I hadn't even dodged that hard, yet the distance between my face and the blade was a mere seven centimeters. That meant their attack precision was garbage — and the one I'd just hit had opened the gap way too wide.

As their senior, I figured I ought to give these friends some advice that would stick to their bones.

"You two are pretty trash, honestly. Both of you should drop Assassin and change classes. No talent."

Inaccurate attacks meant weakness in a sharp blade-tip duel. The moment I pressed hard and targeted extremities — arms, hands — they dropped their weapons easily. This game aimed for realism before health bars, after all. Get a severing judgment on a finger, or have a tendon cut, and you couldn't hold a weapon.

I snatched up the dagger he'd dropped and threw it straight into his face, stealing half his vision.

"Can't even guard your hands. What now? Even Fighter's going to be rough like this. Maybe think about Mage, something less physical? I'll brainstorm with you."

"You fucking—"

"Fucking what? Keep going. I'm curious. Or should I hear the rest next time?"

"…"

Too early for the finish?

The one who'd rejoined closed the distance with a skill already active. The black shimmer dancing along the blade tip was an Assassin's mainstay I knew well myself. Take a hit from that and the whole situation could flip in an instant.

But the trajectory was way too obvious.

I slammed his dagger down from above and twisted the path. Guided the clashing blades upward. Flicked his steel skyward and left a gouge across his fingers.

Normally I should have stepped back at this point. His panic handed me another opening instead.

"Seriously no talent. Just do whatever you want. You're never going to be good, so at least have fun."

When you get hit, you don't check the wound — you set up the counter. And if even that fails, you at least know how to fall back. Fumbling around preparing some big skill left gaps everywhere.

I gifted the dagger in my left hand to his thigh and clamped down on his wrist. Both of us down one arm. But people are born with two hands.

Except this guy just lost his fingers, so he's down to one?

I drove the blade into the unguarded neck. Trying to block with an empty hand was meaningless. Just offer up the neck and be done — no need to turn your palm into shredded meat too.

One down, the other finished just as fast. The moment I killed the one who still hadn't rearmed, gunshots started ringing out. Our sniper had finished prepping and was finally joining the fight for real.

But wasn't this already over? Slower than I expected. Honestly, what a letdown. At this rate, that Fighter who claimed to be from a siege guild hadn't helped at all.

"Hearing you call them good makes me think you also… nah. Never mind. Let me finish up first."

Maybe they'd sensed how strangely the situation had turned. Dongmitam and the priest spun around and started running.

As for me… first, I wanted to see Dongmitam's stream chat.

I checked the chat without ever stopping the chase. Confirmed Dongmitam's escape direction through the stream, then quickly left the hunting grounds myself.

Out of the Ancient Weapons Hangar and up into the forest on the surface. In an instant I vaulted into the old trees, stepping branch to branch as I moved.

My most familiar weapon was, of course, the longsword. Length within 120 cm. Weight of 510 g or more. The standard bamboo-sword range was the domain I handled most skillfully. But instead of Swordsman — the class that would best leverage that strength — I'd chosen Assassin.

For one reason only.

Assassin was the fastest class in Infinity Black.

People aren't idiots. If they sense a power gap, they avoid engagement. If they feel targeted, they choose flight. For me, chasing down a fleeing enemy mattered more than fighting one head-on. Put another way: in this game, very few people could outrun me.

Unfortunately for him, Dongmitam did not belong to that rare few.

"What the fuck, that crazy bitch! Why is she so fast?!"

Dongmitam twisted around and shouted in a panic. We were close enough now that I could hear his voice. Since the audio was overlapping, I killed the stream — and canceled the alerts too, since I wouldn't be watching again.

Then I overtook him.

I grabbed a suitable branch and spun my direction. A floating sensation as my body lifted, and I came down on top of the hulking man.

"Hey."

"Uwaaagh…! Huh?"

I'd mounted him reverse-style, like riding a horse backward, and Dongmitam's face was pure bewilderment. Damn, his character was enormous. Being a Grappler specialized in grabs, he'd maxed out height and build. If I could have, I'd have set mine closer to my old body too.

My height didn't even reach the Korean female average, so the size difference with Dongmitam hit especially hard. But right now I'd jumped from high up with maximum force behind me. I locked his face between my legs and used the momentum to flip that massive body over.

In that same motion, drive the dagger into a vital — and naturally a massive wound opens into a critical hit. In this game, the neck, head, and heart are the vitals among vitals, where damage multiplies several times over. Give those up and even the sturdiest Grappler can't hold.

Dongmitam was no exception. The giant body collapsed as the system message rose.

Was that it?

I still needed to chase down and kill the priest, but that one was naturally slow on foot — wouldn't be hard. I went to send a whisper to Annihilation's Torch and found several messages had already come through while I wasn't looking.