I Needed Prey Too
I could use some prey myself.
The Avis Kingdom, located on the western edge of the continent, was a small nation with neither vast territory nor fearsome renown.
Kingdoms far larger than Avis pressed against its western, northern, and southern borders, while to the east stood the Empire, the master of the continent.
Surrounded on all sides by powerful neighbors, Avis flung its gates wide open in order to survive among the great powers — and as a result, the kingdom became a thoroughfare for the trade routes of countless nations.
Kwaaang!
Maybe that was why.
"Ugh!"
"Whew~ looks like today's haul is gonna be good."
"Jackpot. What's with all the newbies lately, carrying around so much stuff?"
Avis Kingdom had been reduced to nothing more than a 'pass-through' country.
Everything outside the capital, where the merchant caravans passed, had fallen into ruin.
Sure, running a trade route brought in a lot of money — but this was a trade route forced open by the great powers under duress.
Avis received only enough to barely maintain the capital itself, and even that the kingdom's high officials squandered, so the national treasury never managed to hold anything at all.
As the common people wallowed in poverty, those living far from the capital naturally sank into a hotbed of crime.
"They should just travel through the middle of the capital. What's the point of skirting around it to save money?"
"For real, keke."
Two Plunderers from Jackal, the bandit guild that clung to Avis Kingdom like leeches, snickered as they taunted the player before them.
The hapless player, sprawled on the ground in a comically pathetic heap, gritted his teeth and swung the dagger he'd been clutching in his back pocket, but—
"Gahk!"
"Oh dear. Swing it like that and you couldn't kill a worm."
"Next time, take the proper trade route. Got it?"
"I-I'll report you for the bounty—"
"Go ahead, do it. Keke."
Before the dagger could even complete its arc, a machete punched through the newbie's heart, killing him and plundering his gold and items.
Resources that flowed in probabilistically thanks to the Plunderer system.
The two nodded in satisfaction, looked around the spot where the man had vanished, and soon moved on.
Only about 20 percent of Deoen's players engaged in PVP, thirty percent at the very most.
And of those, fewer than 5 percent fought professionally.
They were modern people who had never swung a weapon in their lives, so most players didn't enjoy combat at all — they played Deoen the way one might enjoy a healing, relaxing life.
The newbie from before was no different.
He hadn't the slightest interest in fighting; he simply loved touring the fantasy world, and had wandered into an unsafe zone because he was short on money, meeting his misfortune there.
If he had taken the designated trade route, he never would have run into them — but for an ordinary player, the tolls on that road were far too steep.
After all, in Deoen, you could only earn money through crafting professions or by running dungeons.
The two Plunderers headed deep into the slums.
Dark streets despite the broad daylight.
Quite a few people lived in the slums, and every time the Plunderers passed, they averted their eyes and stepped aside, careful not to draw any attention.
For Plunderers, plundering wasn't limited to players.
After walking for a long while, a clean building with a black sheen — entirely out of place in the slums — came into view.
Creeeak~
"Hey~ Boss! We're back."
"Sanggu, Cheol. You're back."
"Yes sir. Robbed some guy on the way."
"Anything worth taking?"
"Nothing special for gear. Had a bit of silver on him though."
"Show me."
When Jackal, guild master of Jackal, jerked his chin toward the wide table, one of the Plunderers dumped out the loot they'd brought back.
Normally, a bandit could only take one or two items from a kill — but their class was 'Plunderer'.
A class obtained through a class-advancement quest that only appeared under special conditions like those in Avis Kingdom, it allowed them to extract far more plunder than ordinary bandits.
"Let's see... oh. Low-grade mana stones, and mid-grade potions too. The sword's Rare-tier, but usable."
"That's gotta be worth at least 10 gold, right?"
"Don't kid yourself. You can't use the auction house, so you won't get anywhere near that. Sell it on the black market and maybe you'll see 6."
Bandits who were Plunderers couldn't use the auction house, which demanded honor and verified identity.
The only market available to them was the black market, which operated exclusively in the shadows.
The black market's prices ran high, but its fees were so brutal that they never took home much money.
Handing over the goods and collecting his personal cut, the Plunderer named Sanggu spoke up.
"Boss. More importantly, isn't it about time we started expanding our territory?"
"Territory?"
"Yes. Players barely go out and about these days because of the Empire's war."
The war between the Empire and the kingdoms, fought through siege warfare.
It had happened only a few months ago — a catastrophic event in which most of the continent's kingdoms, including Avis, the very ground they stood on, were trampled beneath the Empire's military boot.
And that catastrophe had been undone — returned to its original state — by a single player.
"It all went back to normal because of Lily."
"It did, but backlash against the Empire has been getting worse lately. The trade routes have shrunk. Our hauls are already down compared to before."
Troubling on every front.
"...Expanding our territory, huh. What, you want us to hit the guild next door?"
"What Sanggu means is that rather than hitting our fellow operators, we should extend our range of activity all the way to the border zones."
Jackal's hideout currently sat inside a 'danger zone' designated by Avis Kingdom.
Being a danger zone, players almost never came through — but by the same token, that meant Jackal himself was far less likely to be ambushed by anyone.
After all, the Jackal guild paid not a single coin in land value or taxes, squatting there entirely illegally.
"Out in the border zones, there'd still be a decent number of people. If we go alone we'd make ourselves targets, but if we ask the surrounding Plunderer guilds to join us, they'll definitely say yes."
Most of the kingdom outside the capital had been left to rot, but if things continued like this, they might all starve to death together.
Before that happened, they'd have to expand their territory — or move somewhere else entirely.
Jackal mulled over his guild members' proposal.
It would certainly increase the risks, but it was a sound suggestion.
'Yeah. If I could widen our influence here and end up like that bastard Grim Reaper...'
Grim Reaper, Rank 1 among Plunderers.
True, he had lost to Lily — but even without a Mythic-grade item, he remained strong.
Proof of it: he had seized a kingdom shaken loose by the aftermath of the war and established his own realm.
It had been the talk of the town for a while, and one of the large guilds that watched with distaste challenged him to a guild war — only to fail to breach his fortress, suffer losses, and retreat with their tails between their legs.
"Everyone agree?"
"I'm in."
"I vote yes, Boss."
"Me too."
"...Fine. Sitting around all day was getting on my nerves anyway."
The other Plunderers inside the guild building threw in their votes.
And so the Plunderer guild Jackal decided to expand its territory.
Shaaak!
"Gyaahk!"
"Y-you said this area was safe...!"
A short distance from the capital of Avis Kingdom.
A group of four — men and women, their backs weighed down with bulging packs — fled for their lives.
This was one of the 'border zones' designated by Avis Kingdom.
On the map, which ran from green marking the capital down to red at the kingdom's farthest reaches, this area was shaded a pale yellow — it wasn't supposed to be particularly dangerous at all.
The map plainly showed that Plunderers almost never appeared here, and yet—
'Almost never, my ass!'
They'd shown up the very moment we left the capital!
"Where do you think you're going!"
"Take our money and we'll let you live! We swear!"
"Ugh..."
"Just run! They're Bandits — they'll kill us no matter what!"
"They said they won't!"
"Shut up!"
Two enemies.
With four of us, we had the numbers advantage — but against their level and equipment, numbers meant nothing.
No, it would have meant nothing even if the conditions had been equal.
'How are we supposed to beat murderous lunatics?!'
The enemy were people who made a profession out of killing.
Our side, meanwhile, was entirely made up of specialists — a carpenter and an herbalist.
One of us had been a swordsman, once, but his level was low and he hated fighting, so he'd changed professions.
"Kyaa!"
"Hyunah!"
One of our group tripped over a jutting rock and went down.
The moment the woman called Hyunah fell, the Plunderers charged with renewed relish — and then abruptly stopped in their tracks.
"?"
"Huh?"
"...Who is that."
"Who the hell are you?"
Someone had appeared in their very midst.
'...An assassin?'
"I asked who you are?! Judging by the outfit, you're no bounty hunter. You a Bandit?"
"......"
"You don't know we're hunting here? I don't know which guild you're with, but we belong to Jackal."
A black robe, and beneath its gaps, a black assassin's suit that concealed the entire body.
Black hair hung long and tied back, and on one side of the black mask that covered half her face was a white, X-shaped scar worked into the cloth like a jagged wound.
Black hair and a black mask. And eyes of deepest black, as if they held darkness itself.
The only bright spot was the sliver of porcelain-white skin visible around her eyes.
Covered head to toe in black, she turned her head and glanced our way.
But that presence — it felt like someone...
"Heheh. Hunting, you say..."
'...No, it can't be?'
A husky voice.
It was quite an attractive voice — pleasant enough that even people who disliked husky tones would approve — but it was nothing at all like the person who'd just come to mind.
If that person was someone filled to the brim with white...
"Good timing. I happen to need some prey myself."
...then this person was one endlessly filled to the brim with black.
"So run along and do your hunting somewhere else. Keep this up and I'll have words with your guild master."
"No. The prey I'm hunting — I have to catch it right now."
"What?"
Sirrk...
Two daggers were born from the assassin's black-gloved hands, as if drawn forth by alchemy itself.
Daggers radiating a black aura, as though they had been standing in that spot from the very beginning.
"What are you—"
"Huh?"
He was cut down.
Before the Plunderer could even move — no, before he could even finish speaking — no, perhaps even before that...
'When on earth did she cut him?'
I blinked, and somewhere in that instant the Plunderer's throat had been severed, and he dissolved into blue motes of light and vanished.
[A Plunderer is being hunted — Rafina is conducting PK nearby!]
[A bounty quest has been triggered.]
[Defeat the Plunderer to claim the bounty.]
...A Plunderer?
"Hnh. Hahahah."