The Clout of a Chimera
Jackal felt goosebumps break out across his skin. Where on earth had this monster come from?
Was there a guy like this among the assassin rankers? Judging by his terrifying Infamy stat, he must have slaughtered dozens of players.
Though Pan-On was a game where new rising rankers popped up every time one opened their eyes, players with true skill always stood out, no matter how hard they tried to hide it. Yet, no matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't think of a single assassin ranker who fit this guy's description!
Is he a secret weapon raised by some giant guild?!
While Jackal was lost in his wild delusions, Tae-hyun was also deep in thought.
Why is a guy from the same guild as Cain fighting so well?
This was a genuinely serious question. Tae-hyun knew all too well what kind of place Cain's former guild, the Red Zone Guild, had been. Hadn't he personally smashed it to pieces? Every single member of that guild had possessed utterly abysmal skills. Yet, this guy had the reflexes to dodge Tae-hyun's counter and slip to the side. Had there really been someone that capable in their ranks?
When Tae-hyun sent him a whisper, Cain replied with a chaotic racket. It seemed he was currently locked in a fierce battle inside a dungeon. The training regimen that Tae-hyun and Sabet had prepared for Cain was none other than solo dungeon clearing!
In Tae-hyun's mind, there was no training better suited for rapid growth than tackling a dungeon entirely on one's own. Fighting solo forced a player to improve their HP management, hone their ability to manage aggro while dealing damage, and adapt to all sorts of unexpected crises... And what if he died? Well, he just had to play well enough not to die!
Tae-hyun described Jackal's appearance. Cain shook his head as he listened.
Tae-hyun cut off the whisper and stared at Jackal. Under his piercing gaze, Jackal grew increasingly uneasy. What is it? What is he plotting? Is he trying to call in guild reinforcements? But the words that followed were even more shocking.
"I happen to know Cain personally. I just asked him, and he says he has no idea who you are. Who are you, really?"
"...!"
For the first time in his life, Jackal felt the world spin around him.
"W-what are you talking about? Cain and I were incredibly close. Our paths might have diverged now, but... it's true! I even have photos!"
He tried to bluff his way through, but even Jackal knew his words carried no weight. It would have been one thing if this stranger didn't know Cain, but since he did, such a blatant lie was completely useless.
"A fake, then."
"Let's compromise! Let's make a deal! What do you want? What do I have to give you to keep this a secret?"
"Huh?"
Tae-hyun was genuinely puzzled. He hadn't come here with any particular scheme in mind. If anything, this guy had been the one to pick a fight first, using Tae-hyun's high Infamy stat as an excuse...
"I don't really have any intention of exposing you. But I am curious. What's your goal in running around doing this?"
"What do you mean, what's my goal? For reputation, obviously."
"...Reputation?"
Tae-hyun doubted his own ears. But Jackal was dead serious.
"If you don't want to get pushed around by the rough crowds, you need some clout."
When plunderer players gathered, they usually bickered over who was stronger and who was more impressive. To avoid being looked down upon in those circles, one needed credentials that would shut everyone else up instantly.
"Some idiots claim they know Kim Tae-hyun or that they fought him, but I'm not that stupid. He's way too famous, so it's too easy to get caught."
"I-I see."
Tae-hyun was indeed too famous, making any lies involving him incredibly easy to debunk. Jackal, well aware of this, had aimed a bit lower and sold Cain's name instead. Claiming to have fought Tae-hyun sounded like an obvious lie, but claiming to have been in Cain's old guild sounded quite plausible.
"True. Walking that fine line is the key to a good lie."
"You get it! Exactly. That's why I did it."
"But did it actually work?"
Tae-hyun was genuinely curious. He doubted it would have much of an effect...
"It works incredibly well, which is why I keep doing it."
"What? Seriously?!"
Tae-hyun was genuinely shocked. It actually worked?
"Yeah. When a fight breaks out, just dropping his name can stop it. Even when we clash with other guilds, if I say I know Cain, they back off a bit. That's the power Cain wields."
"Wow..."
If Cain had been here to hear this, he would have wept tears of overwhelming emotion. To think such a thing was possible in this world!
With a voice that was half-filled with respect and half-filled with guilt toward Cain, Jackal said, "You said you know Cain, right? I'm sorry about this. He probably never dreamed in his wildest nightmares that someone would be using his name like this."
"Actually, he'd probably love it."
"What was that?"
"No, nothing."
Since the two of them were merely chatting instead of fighting, the other party members, who had been keeping their distance, began to creep closer.
"What's going on, Jackal?"
"We cleared up the misunderstanding! Turns out we're old acquaintances!" Jackal shouted, trying to salvage the situation. At that, a party member gasped and asked, "Wait, is he also from Cain's old guild?!"
"..."
Tae-hyun's face went completely blank. Who are you trying to associate with what kind of trash heap right now...?
"Y-you could say that, yeah."
"Whoa...!"
"He really is a big deal!"
"No wonder his skills are so insane. It all makes sense now."
The party members nodded in deep understanding. No wonder he's so incredibly strong!
"I'm planning to head into this dungeon."
Since he had ended up acquainted with Jackal's party anyway, Tae-hyun figured he might as well put them to use. They had arrived in this village quite a bit earlier, so they had to be familiar with the local geography.
"Ah, you mean the dungeon? I think it's best if you don't go in there right now."
"Why?"
"Some crazy bastards messed with something, and the inside of the dungeon has turned completely bizarre."
The dungeon near the village was an ordinary dungeon that had already been cleared several times. It was an intermediate-difficulty dungeon where newly formed parties often went to test their teamwork. But then, one day, the dungeon's terrain had suddenly been bizarrely destroyed. As if a massive explosion had erupted from deep underground, most of the passages had collapsed, and the paths were completely blocked...
Was it Hammerman?
The only suspects were Hammerman's party. Hadn't Hammerman's crew descended into the depths of this very dungeon, disarmed the magic traps, and retrieved the Archisus Assassin's Armor?
If I want to find traces of the assassin, I'll have to go down there.
"Huh? Where are you going? I told you, it's too difficult to get inside!" Jackal panicked as Tae-hyun began walking toward the dungeon entrance.
"If I were the type to give up just because something is difficult, I wouldn't have come all this way. I'll handle it, so you don't need to worry."
"Whoa... that's incredibly cool."
"As expected of someone from the same guild as Cain. They really are built different, aren't they?"
At Tae-hyun's words, the party members whispered among themselves. Indeed, those from prestigious guilds are on a completely different level!
"..."
Tae-hyun was a man whose mental fortitude wouldn't budge even if hundreds of players ambushed him at once, but their words were currently making his head spin.
"Hey. We'll help you."
"What? Why?"
"Well, we kind of owe you, and..." Jackal hesitated, muttering in a small voice, "Just... tell Cain I'm sorry later."
"Uh... s-sure."
It seemed Jackal was trying to ease his guilty conscience by offering his help. From Tae-hyun's perspective, it was utterly absurd, but...
Well, there's no reason to refuse.
"Look at that. As expected of people from Cain's old guild, their loyalty is rock-solid."
"Now that's true camaraderie."
Hearing their conversation from behind, Tae-hyun thought to himself: You guys have absolutely no idea how the Red Zone Guild collapsed, do you?
"Isn't this dungeon completely cleaned out of all its loot?"
"I thought so too. At least, until Hammerman's crew started hanging around here."
The Rudolf Guild. It was one of the guilds operating in the Espa Kingdom, and while it was technically a large guild, its reputation was terrible.
They didn't own any territory, but since that was true for countless other large guilds in Pan-On, that wasn't the issue... The real problem was the guild's character. Naturally, the more toxic players a guild harbored, the more its reputation would plummet.
All else being equal, normal classes were always held in much higher regard than plunderer-type classes! In truth, while plunderer players who lived however they pleased seemed to have it easy on the surface, their in-game lives were surprisingly tough. Because of their terrible public image, they couldn't get sponsorships, faced restrictions in villages and quests, and were bombarded with hate comments whenever they streamed...
Yet, despite these drawbacks, plunderer players possessed a fierce pride. The pride of living by the law of the jungle!
"The dungeon turned weird right after Hammerman's crew struck gold and left. What do you think that means?"
"!"
"I asked one of the village elders and got an investigation quest, and sure enough, there's another dungeon entrance hidden at the very bottom of this one."
A hidden dungeon. It wasn't particularly surprising for a new dungeon entrance to exist at the end of an existing one. Since Hammerman's group was a party of blacksmiths, they had clearly missed the entrance to the new dungeon.
"We're going in there first."
"Can I turn on the stream?"
A brand-new dungeon would surely draw in quite a few viewers. However, the party leader frowned.
"Last time we streamed, half the chat was hate comments and the other half was spam. We just embarrassed ourselves. And the time before that, our location got leaked, and we ended up hunted by players targeting us."
"B-but our guild still has a decent number of fans."
"Sigh... fine. Turn it on."
The party leader ultimately relented. He knew exactly why his guild members were so eager to stream.
"This area didn't used to have many people, but the population has surged lately."
"It's because the Auston Kingdom is a complete mess right now, so everyone is migrating here. Seriously, those psychos. How brutal was their war that even the bandits got chased out?"
"Shh. Keep your voice down and get your skills ready. We need to detect it immediately if anyone tries to tail us."
"Long time no see, viewers! Today, our guild is..."
"Save the streaming intro for later and get ready first!"
"Yes, sir!"
The ones targeting the Rudolf Guild weren't other mainstream guilds or bounty hunters. It was the neighboring plunderer players! Ironically, plunderer players killed each other far more often than bounty hunters did. There was no penalty for killing one another, and the rewards were much greater, so it was only natural.
Thus, with the sudden influx of plunderer players, the Rudolf Guild had no choice but to be on high alert.
"Leader! It's Jackal!"
"What? Why is that guy Jackal here?"
Several guild members recognized Jackal's name. His individual skill was formidable enough, but the fact that he was supposedly from the same guild as Cain made him truly threatening. He was a dangerous opponent who couldn't be easily dealt with!
"It looks like he's planning to enter the dungeon too...?"
"Damn it! I knew a good quest like this would always draw competition!"
Lucrative quests always attracted rivals. The party leader gnashed his teeth. As expected of someone from Cain's old guild, his nose for sniffing out opportunities is no joke.
"Let's see who wins this race. We find it first. If he tries to interfere or steal it from us, we crush him without mercy!"
"B-but he's from Cain's old guild..."
"Does that make him immortal? Don't wimp out! Everyone dies when their HP hits zero!"
While the guild members remained oblivious, the viewer count on their stream was multiplying by several times its usual average.
It was a conversation that instantly grabbed everyone's attention.