Do I Really Have to Share the EXP?
Even without this, the amount of EXP Tae-hyun needed was already enormous because of his absurdly high Luck stat.
That was why, while everyone else was shooting up in level, Tae-hyun had to crawl upward at a snail’s pace.
And if he split his EXP in a situation like this?
It was obvious his leveling would get even slower.
What do I do...?
Would it be better to restore the power of the Gold Dragon Yong-yong even if it meant leveling more slowly? Or should he just give up and focus on leveling?
He had to choose one or the other.
— Master, Master.
“What.”
— Enemy over there.
“Yong-yong, I told you, didn’t I? Just because someone’s standing by the road doesn’t mean they’re definitely an enemy. You have to look properly, think it through, and then decide.”
— Mmm, Master. Is that so?
“Yeah. That’s how it is.”
— Then even if they’re pointing bows at you and getting ready to fire magic, we still can’t say for sure they’re enemies?
“Yeah, that’s how it—wait, what?”
Startled by Yong-yong’s words, Tae-hyun jerked his head up.
There were several players on a low hill.
And their faces looked strangely familiar.
After fighting Tae-hyun, Guild Master Cain had gone through what could only be described as a tear-soaked period of suffering.
Dying to Tae-hyun had been humiliating beyond words, but even that had still been bearable.
He’d taken a death penalty because of it, but that too had been bearable.
He’d been flagged for PK, so the penalty had been even harsher, but that had still been bearable.
But once his guild members were dragged off to the fortress and trapped there with no way out, it stopped being bearable.
They had treated people brutally for so long that the instant they showed weakness, the counterattack came crashing down on them.
The infamy they’d built up over time was no joke.
Players who had once been extorted by Red Zone just for passing through their territory.
Players who wanted to take advantage of Red Zone’s weakened state and earn fame by attacking them.
And players who simply thought, They’re weak now, so if we loot them, they won’t be able to resist, right?
Every kind of player bared their teeth and came at them.
Among Red Zone’s members, there were plenty who had committed PK, which meant the damage they took when attacked was even worse.
And once momentum broke, it never lasted long.
Red Zone had always been a guild that had overextended itself trying to expand its territory.
So when the backlash hit, it collapsed in the blink of an eye.
In the end, aside from a few founding members, the guild disintegrated into thin air.
Cain had no choice but to flee with a handful of guildmates, swallowing tears of blood.
They even had to abandon Ogden Fortress, the stronghold they’d worked so hard to take, because there were simply too many people nearby who recognized him and his guild members.
“I’ll make them pay. No matter what.”
He ground his teeth, but no path to revenge presented itself.
So for now, he decided they should restore what they’d lost first.
Starting with Cain himself, all the remaining guild members had died at least once or twice and were carrying death penalties.
“What do we do?”
“We go to the Atali Kingdom.”
“!”
At Cain’s words, the guild members all turned to stare at him.
“Why the Atali Kingdom?”
“Think about it. Because of what happened on Katerand Island, a lot of players are heading to the Atali Kingdom right now. Players always gather where there’s a big quest.”
And sure enough, after the Katerand Island quest video had gone up on the forums, the number of players visiting the Atali Kingdom had shot up.
Most of them had come with thoughts like, Maybe something interesting will happen here, or If I hang around, I might stumble into a quest.
“So even if we move around there, no one’s likely to recognize us. It’s far enough away. First priority is hiding who we are.”
Around Ogden Fortress, the moment people saw their faces, dozens would come charging in screaming PK.
“Of course!”
“That’s a great idea!”
The guild members smacked their knees in admiration.
As expected, their guild master’s brain worked best at times like these.
“And the more players there are, the more opportunities there’ll be, right?”
Cain smiled nastily.
At heart, Red Zone was a guild that loved PK and looting.
Some guilds only attacked after being attacked first.
Red Zone was the exact opposite—a guild that struck first so it could profit.
“If there are tons of players wandering around the Atali Kingdom, that just makes them easier for us to target.”
“That’s genius...!”
With so many new players arriving, plenty would be roaming the field, and roughing a few of them up probably wouldn’t cause much trouble.
“Heh. Just trust me.”
“We do!”
The members who had stayed with him to the end believed in Cain.
Not because of his character. Not because of his personality.
If you’re going to PK, you need Cain.
If there were a contest for making other people miserable, Cain would’ve taken first place with ease.
Already addicted to the thrill of taking things through PK, they had no intention of starting over clean.
Lost something?
Then steal it back.
And if you wanted to steal it back, you needed power.
So they came to the Atali Kingdom.
And things unfolded almost exactly as Cain had predicted.
There really were plenty of new players in the Atali Kingdom, and they weren’t very suspicious.
Invite them to a party under the pretense of clearing a quest together, then threaten them and extort money.
Ambush parties hunting field bosses and strip them of their items.
Using all kinds of looting methods, they steadily built back up their stock of gear.
“Blood and Fury Charge!”
KWA-KWAAAANG!
Another party went down, and Cain and his guildmates exchanged an easy high-five.
“Well? Saw that?”
“Y-yeah...”
“What? What’s with that reaction? You talking to me like that?”
One of the guild members was stammering instead of admiring him, and Cain snapped irritably.
“T-th-there...”
“??”
Only then did Cain realize the guildmate was pointing behind him.
He turned around.
“!!!!!”
Far in the distance, someone was riding toward them on horseback.
The distance was still great, but Cain recognized him instantly.
Cain and the Red Zone guild members shouted as one.
“Kill him!!!!”
Shuuuuuk—
“Try dodging this!”
One of the guild mages finished casting, and a blazing mass of fire shot toward Tae-hyun.
Tracking Greater Fireball
Because Tae-hyun had been chatting with Yong-yong, the mage had been given more than enough time to complete the spell.
After firing the fireball, the mage wagged his middle finger at Tae-hyun.
He’d built up that much resentment.
“Dodge it! You bastard! Come on, dodge it!”
There was a reason he was shouting like that.
This wasn’t just an ordinary fireball. It had a tracking function attached.
A spell he’d bought at great expense and learned as a fire-element mage!
When Tae-hyun saw the fireball hurtling toward him from afar, he tapped Yong-yong.
“Can you dodge it?”
Flap-flap-flap—
— Of course, Master.
Yong-yong shot upward, circling in the air with rapid beats of his wings.
Tae-hyun watched, then drew his longsword.
“One, two, three...”
What he was aiming for was timing.
Not a tenth of a second too early, not a tenth too late.
If he missed it, the skill wouldn’t activate.
A realm beyond human limits.
But Tae-hyun’s monstrous reflexes and absurd Luck stat helped him bring the skill to life.
Circle of Counterattack
Skill activation successful.
Swordsmanship skill has increased.
Circle of Counterattack has improved.
Circle of Counterattack has leveled up. Current Level: 3.
Papa-papa-papa-pak!
A small whirl of air sprang up around Tae-hyun, wrapping itself around the incoming fireball.
Then the blazing projectile, which had been flying straight at him, abruptly wheeled around and started racing back the other way.
“?!?!”
“What the hell?!?!”
The Red Zone guild members, of course, nearly jumped out of their skins.
Why had a perfectly good spell turned around?
“Hey! What happened?!”
As everyone glared at the mage and demanded an explanation, he stammered in panic.
“R-reflecting magic? No, but that bastard isn’t even a mage?!”
Highly skilled mages could reflect incoming magic back at the caster.
It was an extremely powerful technique—but only truly exceptional mages could pull it off.
Tae-hyun was no mage.
“Block it! It’s coming back!”
“D-dammit!”
Instant Mana Shield
Grinding his teeth, the mage threw up a defensive spell.
At the same time, he tore open a scroll.
Mana Amplification
It was a scroll that strengthened the power of magic.
It pained him to use it, but he knew exactly how destructive that fireball was. He didn’t have a choice.
KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM!
“Hoo...”
Fortunately, he managed to block it.
The fireball exploded against the shield made of mana.
Shadow Dive
“?!”
Iron Body has been shattered.
All further incoming damage will now be taken with HP.
Status inflicted: Bleeding.
Status inflicted: Blindness.
Message windows popped up in an instant.
The mage saw that more than four-fifths of his HP had been ripped away and went pale.
He had Iron Body active—a spell that converted incoming damage into MP loss instead of HP loss.
And yet one blow had shattered it and torn this much HP away.
Where the hell did he come from?! He was way over there a second ago!
The mage tried to retreat.
But Tae-hyun had no intention of letting him go.
He stuck to him at once and drove in a follow-up strike.
Strong Strike
“N-no!”
The flurry of attacks came too quickly for the other guild members to help.
HP: 0
Death confirmed.
The mage vanished in an instant, turning gray as he died.
Several items clattered to the ground where he’d stood.
That was the penalty for repeated PK.
“Y-you bastard...!”
“How dare you kill Mayner!”
“We’ll kill you!”
The guild members gnashed their teeth and glared at Tae-hyun.
It had shocked them that the man who’d been so far away had closed the distance so fast, but there was no way they were letting him walk away.
Cain especially was grinding his teeth so hard they creaked, glaring at Tae-hyun with bloodshot eyes.
“Was that mage’s name Mayner? That wasn’t my fault.”
At Tae-hyun’s words, the guild members looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
“He died because you idiots didn’t protect him properly. If you had, would he have gone down that easily?”
“......”
It was the kind of provocation that sent a person’s blood pressure through the roof.
The truth was, there really hadn’t been much the Red Zone guild could have done.
Tae-hyun had reflected the fireball with Circle of Counterattack, and while the mage was panicking, he’d thrown on his cloak and used his skill to close the distance in a flash.
An attack no ordinary person could ever have reacted to.
But Tae-hyun remained shamelessly confident.
I could’ve reacted to it.
The arrogance of judging the world by his own standards.
Of course, the Red Zone guild wasn’t the sort to stand there and listen quietly.
“You little shit!”
One of the guild members, apparently unable to contain himself, came rushing at Tae-hyun with a dagger in each hand.
Papa-papa-papa-pak!
His attack speed was incredible.
In the time it would take a warrior to swing once, he seemed to have stabbed three or four times.
Let’s see you dodge this! the rogue-class player shouted inwardly at Tae-hyun.
If Tae-hyun stepped back to avoid this flurry, the follow-up skill would trigger immediately.
A kind of trap attack, one that piled on several times more damage afterward.
But Tae-hyun didn’t retreat.
Instead, he charged forward, taking the attacks head-on.
Evasion successful.
Evasion successful.
Evasion successful.
“......”