The Devil?
"A devil?"
"A devil??"
"Who's the devil?"
"Is it an NPC?"
Cain had shouted it with murderous force, but the people there were only curious about who this so-called "devil" was.
It sounded like some kind of special NPC, after all.
Of course, the devil in question was Kim Tae-hyun.
When his terrifying threat failed to work and people started chattering again, Cain bellowed, "Shut up, you bastards! Keep quiet and watch what I do."
Cain reached for his greatsword.
One of the Red Zone guild members who saw him said, "Threats won't work, Cain!"
"What?"
"There's no way you can PK here. Look around!"
At the guild member's gesture, Cain glanced around.
Players were packed everywhere.
"If you PK in a place like this, you'll be the one getting attacked! Do you still think you're a guild master?!"
Cain didn't even have a guild left to back him up anymore.
If he started PKing recklessly, other players might jump him.
And Cain was a fairly well-known player too, so there was a chance someone would recognize him.
Knowing that, the guild members stayed relatively calm.
They had something to rely on.
"That might... be true," Cain said with a nod.
The guild members, seeing that, smiled in triumph.
"But it doesn't matter."
"...?"
"I don't care if people find out I'm Cain and I get jumped by a bunch of other guys."
Cain lifted his greatsword.
A red aura began to spread around him.
The guild members flinched in shock.
That was the effect that appeared right before one of Cain's skills activated.
"H-hey, if you PK here, you won't get out of this eithe—!"
"I said I don't give a damn, you bastards!!!!"
With a roar full of pent-up rage, Cain lunged forward.
"Let's all die together! Go ahead, say it! I'll tell everyone you bastards used to run around with me as Red Zone guild members too! Let's all get chased out together like one big happy family!"
Cain had already lost everything. All he had left was the desire for revenge.
To the guild members, he looked like some vicious drowning ghost dragging others down with him.
"Y-you...!"
"He's insane!"
Cain was demonstrating just how dangerous a man with nothing left to lose could be.
"You should suffer too! Right?! Go through what I went through! You can all roll around under that devil too!"
Cain swung his sword in deadly earnest.
The guild members clenched their teeth.
Running was no longer an option.
"Damn it!"
"This clingy little parasite, seriously!"
They were Red Zone guild members. Every one of them had plenty of PK experience.
They all drew their weapons at once.
But Cain was one step ahead.
They'd spent a long time running around together. They knew each other too well.
Cain charged straight at the mage.
Bang!
Rapid Strikes of Red Blood
"Aaaagh! Hey! Block him!"
The mage, who had been preparing a spell, screamed when the attack landed and his cast was canceled.
If you got hit while preparing magic, the spell would either be canceled or its cast time would increase.
Because they knew each other so well, Cain had gone for the mage first.
If he left him alone, he'd end up taking a proper hit.
Thud! Thud! Bam-bam-bam!
"Y-you idiots... block him already!"
"Got it! Stop whining!"
As the blue mana shield shattered almost instantly, the mage let out a shriek.
Using magic wasn't the important thing anymore.
If that shield broke, he was as good as dead.
He knew exactly how high Cain's attack power was.
As a mage, a few solid hits could put his life in real danger.
"Move!"
Only then did the guild members rush in.
Now that they'd finished preparing, they swarmed Cain and started attacking.
"What's with you, you damn grudge-ghost!"
"Yeah! If you'd ended up like that, you should've just crawled off quietly! What kind of place do you think this is?!"
Smack! Smack-smack-smack!
The guild members' attacks rained down on Cain's back.
But Cain didn't dodge.
He attacked only the mage.
Clang, clang, clack-clack-clang, crack!
"No!"
Your High-Speed Magic Shield has been destroyed.
Seeing the message window, the mage player cried out in panic.
Cain roared like a beast and swung his greatsword.
"Aaaagh!"
A critical strike has landed!
"Y-you bastard?!"
"Get off him! I said get off! You're not getting off?!"
The guild members behind him attacked Cain, but Cain simply took the blows and kept battering the mage.
He had originally been a tank-class fighter, so he was tough as hell.
And Cain's Rare class, Warrior of Red Blood, only grew stronger as his HP dropped.
Bang! Bang!
HP has fallen to 0. You will die.
In the end, the mage couldn't hold out and collapsed, turning gray.
In the meantime, Cain had also been beaten badly enough that his HP had fallen to 25%.
But he didn't retreat a single step.
He was possessed by a drowning ghost's determination—he would make those bastards suffer what he had suffered, no matter what.
You bastards are going to taste the humiliation I went through too.
"Ugh!"
"W-what the hell is with him?!"
The guild members stared at Cain in shock.
This wasn't the pathetic trash-like state he'd shown when the guild had fallen apart not long ago.
He was charging at them like a man possessed.
"What the hell happened to him in the meantime?!"
"How should I know?! Just stop that lunatic!"
The guild members had no idea what was going on, and that only made them panic more.
What on earth had he eaten to start rampaging like this?
But once Cain had made up his mind, he was strong.
A man with nothing left to lose was strong.
Cain thrashed at them with no regard for whether he lived or died, determined only to beat down these former guildmates.
"Die! Die! Kahaha! Just die!"
"He's crazy! He really is completely crazy!"
At first, the guild members had stood their ground.
But little by little, they started getting scared.
"T-this is bad, isn't it?"
"Right?"
Cain was going wild, but he'd taken a lot of damage at the start. If they kept fighting, they actually had a decent chance of winning.
But they didn't fight to the end.
No—they couldn't fight to the end.
"H-hiiik. Run! Let's run!"
These were the kind of people who usually only picked fights with the weak.
If the other side turned out stronger than expected, their will to fight vanished instantly.
"Where do you think you're running? You're all dying here today!"
At Cain's words, the guild members shouted back.
"You clingy bastard!"
"So you got your ass kicked somewhere else and now you're taking it out on us?!"
"No wonder the guild collapsed with you around!"
The guild members had completely forgotten they'd been trying to shake Cain down in the first place and instead started blaming him.
All it did was make Cain even angrier.
"Hey! Don't move!"
"??"
Cain turned his head.
One of the guild members was pointing a weapon at the blacksmiths.
Cain couldn't make sense of it for a moment.
What the hell was that idiot doing?
"...???"
"If you move, I'll attack these guys!"
The blacksmiths were just as dumbfounded.
Kim Ji-sahn addressed the guild member pointing the weapon at him.
"E-excuse me. We're not close with that guy."
"Cut the crap! You were together earlier!"
"Even so, we're not close... taking us hostage won't really do much...."
At Kim Ji-sahn's words, the guild member cried out in near desperation.
"No! Don't say that! Stop talking nonsense!"
If they didn't work as hostages, then he was dead.
That was why he was so desperate.
He'd already been hit by death penalties several times, and things were bad enough as it was.
"Ugh...."
"?!"
And then a miracle happened.
Cain hesitated, unable to charge in.
The blacksmiths were even more shocked than the guild member.
Why's that lunatic acting like this?
Did he eat something weird?
There was only one reason Cain was hesitating.
Kim Tae-hyun.
If I don't protect the blacksmiths and they die because of this, won't that bastard make me take responsibility?
It was absolutely something Tae-hyun would do.
After all, these blacksmiths had gotten dragged into the fight because of Cain.
Cain couldn't move either way and wavered in place.
The guild members, seeing that, regained their confidence.
"Haha! Knew it! This really was his weak point!"
"I said don't move. And don't come after us either! If you do, I'll attack those blacksmiths—gkhehhk!"
The shouting guild member was suddenly sent flying.
A party of players had appeared from behind them.
It was Choi Ha-jun and Choi Ha-yeong's party.
They looked at the guild members with icy eyes.
The guild members asked in confusion, "W-why?"
"You bastards really took us for suckers...."
Grinding his teeth, Choi Ha-jun spoke.
He was even angrier because he'd almost been fooled cleanly.
"You think we'd fall for tricks from trash who used to run with the Red Zone Guild?! We wouldn't have figured it out?!"
Something had seemed suspicious, so they'd looked into it—and the truth had popped right out.
The Red Zone guild members cursed inwardly.
We should've just kept our faces covered the whole time!
Damn it!
There was no way to talk their way out of this now.
One of them was holding blacksmiths hostage, and a fight had already broken out.
"It's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding! We just wanted to join the party!"
"If you wanted to join the party, you should've said that properly from the start. You lied about everything, from your levels on up. Did you think I wouldn't know why? Everyone! Get them! They're PK trash anyway, so they won't even care about penalties!"
Rumble—
"Damn it!"
As Choi Ha-jun and Choi Ha-yeong's party members rushed in, the guild members realized the situation had become a complete mess.
What they needed now was simple.
To drag someone else down with them.
"That guy!"
One of the guild members holding the blacksmiths hostage pointed at Cain.
Everyone turned to look, wondering what he was about to say.
"...?"
"That guy, that guy is actuall—kugh?!"
The Red Zone guild member couldn't finish his sentence.
A perfect sneak attack from behind has succeeded.
Additional damage received.
Kim Ji-sahn had raised his blacksmith's hammer and brought it down with all his strength.
Hit by an attack he had never expected in the slightest, the guild member staggered.
"Y-you crazy blacksmith bastard?!"
It felt like getting bitten by an ant while walking down the street.
Furious, the guild member immediately tried to attack Kim Ji-sahn.
At that moment, Park Seong-chan shouted to Cain.
"Quick! Now!"
"I know!"
Charge of Blood and Fury
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
In that opening, Cain charged in and blasted the Red Zone guild member away.
Seeing that, Choi Ha-jun shouted, "Attack!"
And the fight truly began.
Once the fight had started, the guild members couldn't explain anything anymore.
They'd be dead if they wasted time talking.
"Aaaagh! Run! Ru—urk!"
Curse of Reduced Movement Speed
Blindness Curse
Intermediate Rapid Fire Arrows of Flame
Target Designation
The difference in numbers was so overwhelming that the battle turned chaotic in an instant.
As multiple party members piled onto them, the Red Zone guild members couldn't even resist properly before collapsing one after another.
"Huff, huff...."
After stubbornly bringing down one Red Zone guild member, Cain exhaled and checked his HP.
Because he'd used his skills, it had dropped below 15%.
It had been a dangerous situation, but thanks to help he'd never expected, he'd managed to win.
"Um...."
"...?"
One of the blacksmiths, Park Seong-chan, spoke hesitantly.
Cain looked at these idiots like they were about to say something stupid.
"Sorry for misunderstanding you. You were trying to save us...."
"I wasn't doing that."
"I understand."
"What? What exactly do you understand?"
"You're embarrassed, so you're saying that."
"What kind of bullshit is that?! No, I'm not!"
Cain stared in disbelief at Park Seong-chan, who simply said whatever he wanted.
Embarrassed? What was there to be embarrassed about?
If not for Kim Tae-hyun, he would've abandoned them and kept fighting.
Ignoring Cain's protest, Park Seong-chan rubbed under his nose and said, "Anyway... because of this, I've realized I misunderstood you a little, Mr. Cain."
"...Think whatever you want."
"So from now on, I won't interfere with you traveling with us."
"What?"
"Let's keep traveling together from now on!"
Park Seong-chan held out his hand.
To Park Seong-chan and Kim Ji-sahn, it was a gesture of gratitude.
To Cain, it sounded almost like a curse.
"No, damn it! I'm leaving soon! You guys can stick with that bastard instead!"
"Haha. Saying what you don't mean. Look at you acting all shy."
"He's kind of like Mr. Tae-san, isn't he?"
Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan chattered among themselves, interpreting things however they pleased.
Cain grabbed the back of his neck again.
Then Woo Jeong-sik walked over and patted him on the shoulder.
For a moment, Cain felt a flicker of hope.
Right. This guy's older, so maybe he'll say something normal.
"Looks like I was mistaken too. If anyone talks crap about you, I'll help out. So let's keep traveling together."
"......"