The Art of Survival and Shameless Treatment

In the past, Cain would have been terrified of Alcott's wrath. After all, wasn't Alcott a high-and-mighty ranker? On top of that, he was a highly renowned assassin ranker! But Cain was no longer the Cain of old.

"L-look at that! His attitude is completely unacceptable!"

"You've really been dying to do this, haven't you?" Choi Sang-yun said, staring at Cain. Judging by his delivery, this wasn't a routine he had practiced just once or twice. Cain had definitely watched some high-and-mighty, famous party screening and interviewing new recruits and thought, Whoa, I want to try that too!

As Alcott got swept up in Cain's pace and started babbling nonsense, Crawford stepped in. "Kim Tae-hyun. Alcott didn't come here to assassinate you. Don't misunderstand."

"Of course. I wouldn't dream of misunderstanding."

"Indeed. It would be strange to misunderstand. Looking at him, it's absolutely impossible to suspect such a thing." Tae-hyun and Crawford exchanged a highly meaningful look!

"?" Alcott wore a look of utter confusion. These bastards were... they were talking about something, and it felt incredibly insulting!

"We really just came here to clear a quest. We were in the middle of the Erance Kingdom royal quest. We came here after gathering information that the Count here contracted the same disease as the King."

"Hmm. I see." Tae-hyun nodded, pretending to listen. In truth, he already knew all of this because the demons had just spilled everything... but when someone was speaking so passionately, saying, Sorry, I heard that literally a minute ago, would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be a bit rude, wouldn't it?

"Hey. You guys should pretend to be interested too."

"Ah! I see! What an incredible story!"

"Wow! That is so thrilling!" Encouraged by the party's reactions, Crawford spoke up.

"Kim Tae-hyun! Why don't we join forces to clear this quest? Even though you've made it inside the Count's castle, it'll be difficult for you to grasp the situation immediately. Alcott here is a Baron of the Erance Kingdom, and he's already gathered all kinds of information regarding the quest. If we work together, we can find out which bastards in this fief are demons and what poisoned Count Ileni... Wait, who are they?" Mid-sentence, Crawford spotted the line of tied-up demons behind them and pointed. For some reason, they were highly distracting!

The demons avoided his gaze. Gusion answered in their stead. "They are the demons who infiltrated Ileni County."

"Wh-what? No, wait. Already?" How long have they even been here, and they've already captured them all? Crawford stammered at the absurd situation. Did this make any sense? Even if it was Kim Tae-hyun?

"This one spilled everything," Gusion said, pointing at Jukenen. Jukenen quickly looked away. The other demons glared at Jukenen as if they wanted to murder him.

"So... all of them?"

"Yeah. All of them."

"......"

"......" Crawford and Alcott fell silent. They stared at each other, then fell silent once more. Suddenly, Alcott lowered his head so fast it nearly touched the ground and shouted, "Please, just let us join you once!!!"

Th-this guy...! He completely threw away his pride!

"Sure. I'll let you join."

"!" Surprisingly, Tae-hyun readily agreed. Alcott was shocked.

"R-really?"

"Yeah."

"Really, truly?"

"I said yes."

"Really, tru—"

"Ask me one more time and I'll pull an Archisus on you."

"......" He wanted to ask what that meant, but he had an ominous feeling that if he did, he would actually get "Archisus-ed"! Alcott quietly shut his mouth. Then he thought, Why is this bastard being so nice? He had expected something along the lines of, If you want to join the party, go exchange your kidneys for gold!

"Hey. Why are you letting them join?"

"We need to give Alcott a little push." Alcott was one of the two highest-ranking spies within the Guild Alliance! The other was Zhang Shan, who had originally come as a spy from the Guild Alliance but climbed the ranks so fast he ended up switching sides to Tae-hyun's. Considering all the information Alcott had leaked so far, giving him a little boost like this was well worth the investment!

Cain nodded and said, "Every time I see Alcott, he looks more and more pathetic."

You're not one to talk... Choi Sang-yun thought to himself. If Cain's fans ever saw his true self, they would fall into utter chaos. The world's greatest tank, Cain! The tank who knew how to sacrifice himself for the team, Cain! The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rock who stood unshaken, supporting the team through any crisis... ...is a load of absolute garbage. It was rare to find a tank as hyperactive and frivolous as Cain!

*Shhhk!* Alcott and Crawford spread out the books and scrolls they had gathered and began their explanation. "First of all, regarding the disease the King is suspected of contracting, commonly known as the Black Plague, there are various rumors..."

Opinions were divided among the players. It's the work of demons! No, it's a necromancer! Wrong again, it's a secret cult! Could it be a dragon? and so on! However, Tae-hyun's party already knew the answer. It was the work of demons!

"If we visit all the places mentioned in the rumors and investigate, we should be able to find the demon who spread it..."

"...Excuse me, but we know the location."

"We also know how to meet them." The tied-up demons spoke up from behind in bewildered voices. They were the ones who were supposed to talk, so what were these two humans babbling about?

Embarrassed, Alcott shouted, "Shut up! It's because everyone tries to take the easy way out that the continent is in this state! I don't trust the words of demons!"

"Hey, you literally captured us to find out the location...!"

"If you're not going to believe us, then untie us!" the demons protested. Tae-hyun ignored them and spoke with Crawford.

"You've gathered quite a lot."

"We bought some from info sites, asked guilds we know, and did the rest of the legwork ourselves." Crawford and Alcott weren't rankers for nothing. Unless they were extreme solo players, rankers usually had decent networks.

These two jumped in as soon as the quest appeared, and since they're both rankers, wouldn't this put them at the very front of the pack? Countless players had set out to clear the King's quest. However, these two seemed to be leading the charge.

Huh? In that case, if we make a run for it now, can't we clear the quest immediately? Tae-hyun realized. Originally, he had only come to capture the demons and hadn't even thought about clearing the Erance King's quest. Too many players were participating, and Tae-hyun's group had joined late. But looking at the current situation... It's actually doable.

Crawford spoke up again. It seemed he was thinking along the same lines as Tae-hyun. "To be honest, I think we're at the forefront right now... and if those demons over there spill the beans properly, we can get this done even faster."

"We speak nothing but the truth!"

"We have never told a single lie in our entire lives!" The demons screamed in a panic, terrified of getting "Archisus-ed"!

"...What on earth did you do to them?" Crawford asked, looking bewildered. Usually, demons would resist to the bitter end or try to deceive you somehow... but these demons were as gentle as sheep.

"Haha. I guess I just happened to meet some good demons. Either way, isn't it a win-win? We can just make a run for it right now."

"There's just one problem."

"?"

"We're going to face interference. There are too many eyes in the Erance Kingdom."

"Even if we disguise ourselves?"

"Even if we disguise ourselves. The moment anything looks slightly out of the ordinary, a post goes up immediately." Whenever Tae-hyun had cleared major quests in the past, they were usually in remote areas far from cities. But this quest was in the Erance Kingdom, and it required traveling right through the middle of the capital and major cities! Even with a disguise, the players in Erance Kingdom would post things like, Huh? A party I've never seen before just showed up. What's going on? Do they have a quest? That was just how many players there were.

"Of course, those kinds of posts aren't just about us—plenty of other groups get posted too, so we won't face immediate interference. Still, we have to be careful."

"In what way?"

"...That's the problem. There's really no way to deal with it. Other than splitting up into smaller groups..." The moment a large party appeared, it naturally drew attention. Unless one traveled completely alone, the eyes of others were unavoidable!

"Hmm... I'll have to use Power Warrior."

"?" Tae-hyun made a request to Lee Da-bi. Lee Da-bi immediately issued an order.

"But can we actually wake Count Ileni up?" Before leaving, Tae-hyun's group headed to Count Ileni's bedroom. Having received everything they could, they now planned to cure Count Ileni as a final step and claim the last reward. The problem was whether they could actually cure him!

"We couldn't even cure the King."

"That's true..."

"Is there really no way?"

"Eek! We don't know either. We're sorry! We're so sorry!" The demons bowed their heads deeply and pleaded. They were terrified of making eye contact with Tae-hyun and suffering some horrible fate.

"Well, you see... we don't know much about alchemy..."

"Our specialty is magic..."

"My specialty is swordsmanship..." The demons made their excuses. Tae-hyun shook his head.

Click— As the door opened, a dreadful black energy poured out from within.

"Ugh." The others didn't even dare to step inside. That was how foul it was. Tae-hyun walked in alone.

Oh? Just standing in the room raised his stats! It was these little rewards that made playing Pan-On so satisfying. Tae-hyun grinned and stepped further inside.

"Ugggh... Arrrgh..."

"Whoa. This is a bit much." Tae-hyun grimaced. The Count lying on the bed had turned completely black and was shivering violently.

Don't worry. Even if it is contagious, I'll be perfectly fine. Tae-hyun had been the only one completely unaffected when the Plague Bomb swept across the continent! At this rate, his survival skills were so absurd that he would probably be the sole survivor even if the continent collapsed.

"Can't I use the Curse Transfer skill?"

"Hmm. Should I try combining my skills?"

*Flash!* The Count's expression eased slightly, but the disease itself did not disappear.

"Oh..." This Count was giving an incredible amount of skill experience! Tae-hyun's eyes sparkled. Seeing this, Carbanog felt a wave of anxiety.

"Alright! This time, I'm going with Sadiq's Flame!"

"Aaaargh...!"

"Oops. Was fire a bad idea?" The moment Sadiq's Flame touched him, the Count groaned in agony. The Black Plague was indeed disappearing, but at this rate, his entire body was going to disappear along with it!

—Salavian's Rampage!

Tae-hyun was trying out every single authority he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠possessed!

"Gasp, gasp... What happened...?"

"Oh. It actually worked?" Tae-hyun was the one who was surprised! When he used Salavian's authority, the Count snapped open his eyes as if regaining consciousness.

"Who... are you...?"

"I am the King of the Atali Kingdom. I have come to save you."

"To think...! Thank you! Just now, in my dream, some demon appeared and burned me with fire..."

"......"

Tae-hyun avoided his gaze. "What truly wicked demons! Don't worry, I've captured and defeated them all!"

"Th-thank you," the Count said, tears streaming down his face. "With this power, I feel like I can withstand even this dreadful disease..."

"Uh. That wears off after a while, though."

"...Aaaargh!" As the duration ended, the Count began to suffer once more. Tae-hyun quickly recast the skill.

"Count! Don't die on me!"

"Th-thank you...!"

"But if you really are going to die, at least give me my reward before you go!"

"......"