Trouble (2)
One tank, two dealers, one healer. That was the makeup of the party that had approached Jin-soo. Worth a look, on the surface. Their entire damage line amounted to a single melee fighter and one archer. Firepower that thin won’t produce any real hunting efficiency.
They needed another dealer, and urgently — a mage above all else. Even a summoner would have done. A second healer never hurts, anyway. If anything, more than one healer made it easier to grow a party. Not a skilled party, though. If they were, they would have filled the empty seats long ago. Competent parties screened anyone who wanted to join with painstaking care, and with lives on the line, that was only natural.
The decisive point was the city itself. It was a kind of beginner village, a brief stop for Players who had only just reached Floor 100, before they adapted and built any real strength. Once their levels climbed and their skill rose with them, they moved on to the next city, where the monsters were stronger. Put simply, these people are almost certainly rookies who arrived on Floor 100 a few months ago at the latest. They were only playing at being veterans.
“Wouldn’t it be better if people who’ve been through the same pain joined forces?”
The hulking man, who had been rambling for quite some time, finally came to the point.
“We’re fine. The two of us are enough.”
Jin-soo rose as he spoke. They had just finished a late dinner.
“I’m fine too.”
Shin Sua stood and followed him.
“Arrogant little shits.”
The puppy-faced woman, quiet until then, muttered it under her breath. The other three didn’t look pleased either.
“Hey. You sure you won’t regret walking off like that?”
“Keep this up and you’ll die out there.”
“The hunting grounds on Floor 100 aren’t that safe. Monsters aren’t the only problem. Sometimes other Players turn on you.”
The hulking man, the woman who carried herself like a warrior, and the clean-cut man spat their lines one after another. Curses, warnings, ill wishes, threats. Jin-soo had been ready to let it pass, but when they came in a string he stopped and turned his head.
“And you? Are you sure you won’t regret saying that to me?”
The puppy-faced woman flared at once.
“A greenhorn who couldn’t even get into a guild, running his mouth!”
“Enough.”
The hulking man stopped her.
“Why get worked up over nonsense from some immature brat? We’re the experienced ones. We ought to be the ones who endure it.”
No. He was only pretending to restrain her while grinding Jin-soo under his heel.
“Well, they haven’t even properly faced Floor 100 monsters yet. This is exactly when confidence in your own skill starts overflowing.”
“They’ll die like that. Die.”
The clean-cut man and the warrior-like woman looked at Jin-soo as if he were pathetic.
A short laugh escaped him before he could stop it. They weren’t acting. They genuinely believed they had offered mercy, and that he and Shin Sua had arrogantly refused it — and the refusal had soured them.
“That bastard’s laughing?”
“Let it go. He’s just immature.”
The puppy-faced woman bristled, and the warrior-like woman held her back.
Jin-soo turned and headed up toward their lodging.
“Jin-soo. You’re really just going to let this go?”
Shin Sua followed at his back, her voice thick with anger.
“When children run their mouths, you let it in one ear and out the other. They’re nothing but moths diving into a flame. They’ll be dead before long anyway.”
Their voices carried straight to the four below.
“Children? Moths? Those little bastards, I’ll just—!”
“Leave them. Give it time, and we’ll see who the real moths are.”
“Right. Good thing we didn’t take them. People like that only sour the mood.”
“True enough.”
Jin-soo heard them and ignored them. Those four didn’t matter. What mattered was Kim Han-ul’s reaction.
He’s looking at us like we’re pathetic. Kim Han-ul seemed to share their view, watching Jin-soo and Shin Sua the way one watches foolish children. Not bad. There was no need to draw unnecessary attention. Better that Daehan Guild never recognized his skill and came clinging, begging him to join. That would only breed hassle he didn’t want.
Jin-soo had no intention of lingering on Floor 100 for anything close to ten years. His goal was simple: take everything the floor had to offer, then climb to Floor 101 as fast as possible.
The next morning, after breakfast, Jin-soo and Shin Sua left the city to hunt. The rescue stone, of course, went straight into his inventory.
“Nyaaaang!”
Leo called the monsters in.
Together with his Shadow Summons, Jin-soo cut them down with ease — a booming impact, a clean slash — raising his level and stacking achievements as he went.
I thought they might put a watcher on us. A good stretch of time had passed since the hunt began, and still no watcher appeared. Did they decide we weren’t worth the manpower? Or are they planning to watch us for a few more days? No watcher at all was simply convenient. Even if there was one, shaking a tail wouldn’t be particularly difficult. The only annoyance was that losing one might draw attention he didn’t want.
They must have decided I wasn’t a rookie worth noticing. Promising rookies always got a watcher. The guild wanted a proper read on their skill before pulling them in as members. If another guild snatched them, the officer in charge would be in a bad spot. A weak rookie, though, didn’t need one. Watching someone still costs people. And the vast majority of rookies advertised themselves on their own, showing off in hopes of joining a guild. On Floor 100, joining a guild is treated as a given.
Humans were social animals. They formed packs. The deadline to clear Floor 100’s mission was a full ten years, and the overwhelming majority of Players belonged to a guild. Most Players outside a guild are either weak or defective in character. There were rare cases of exceptional Players who remained unaffiliated, but they were a tiny minority. If they keep dismissing me as an immature greenhorn, that suits me just fine. From Jin-soo’s side of things, it would be very convenient.
“Nyaang! Nyam, nyam, nyam!”
Leo ate to his heart’s content. Some of the meat had dropped as items when the monsters died. Some Jin-soo pulled from his inventory.
I have no idea what kind of stomach that thing even has. The night before, after returning to their lodging, Jin-soo had bought a large quantity of various monster meats from the auction house. Dirt cheap. Most of it went for less than a point per kilogram. Goblin and orc meat sometimes sold at a point for ten kilograms. Only natural. Monster meat is the first thing people dump when their inventory fills.
Watching the system messages pop up — loyalty rising every time he fed Leo — was its own small pleasure. His appetite is enormous, but the meat still won’t cost much. Jin-soo tested him with several kinds. The conclusion was simple: whether it was goblin or drake, Leo ate it all happily. He does seem to prefer meat from higher-grade monsters, though. He ate everything, but kraken or drake meat raised his loyalty faster. I wonder how high it can go.
Jin-soo smiled and pulled more meat from his inventory to feed him. Watching that tiny body munch through a slab bigger than itself was cute, and genuinely strange. As long as he keeps herding monsters well, he’s more than earning his keep. Thanks to Leo, their hunting efficiency had shot up.
“Let’s push in deeper today.”
“Yeah. I think that’s better.”
Perhaps because of the haul they had already taken, the monster population itself felt sharply thinned. Jin-soo and Shin Sua moved farther from the city.
Once it gets to the point we need a real expedition, I should try a different gate. The city was square, with four gates in all. The one they had used yesterday and today was the south gate. First, sweep up every achievement and Hidden Piece this city has to offer.
Floor 100 was vast beyond measure, and so it was made up of multiple cities. In game terms, this place is a beginner village. Naturally, the monsters’ levels were low across the board. I won’t be coming back, so I can’t miss a single thing.
Once their rest was over, he planned a week-long expedition to enter the Undead Hidden Dungeon. Clear that, and they would move on to another city. They would never return here.
“Nyaaaang!”
After they had traveled a fair distance, Leo’s dainty roar rolled through the forest once more. Answering cries rose at once — a guttural bellow, a rasping growl — and monsters of every kind came swarming in.
At range, Jin-soo fought in a robe with a staff, casting offensive magic. In close combat he switched to armor and cut the monsters down with a pair of swords. The Shadow Summons fought just as fiercely, hunting alongside him.
Then word came from the Shadow Archer he had set to scout the surroundings, in case a watcher had been assigned. Players were approaching.
Did Daehan Guild send someone to gauge our skill? That was his first thought. He finished the monsters in a hurry and hid the Shadow Summons back inside his shadow.
“Where did all the monsters go?”
“I saw them heading this way. Track them and we should find them.”
The Players’ voices reached Jin-soo’s ears.
Not Daehan Guild. The language they spoke wasn’t Korean. It was French. Which country’s party is this? Quite a few nations used French as their native tongue. Jin-soo stored the loot in his inventory for now.
“Huh?”
The Players, closing in at speed, caught sight of Jin-soo and Shin Sua and stopped dead.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Jin-soo led Shin Sua away. On the hunting grounds, when you met an unfamiliar party, the unspoken rule was to pretend you hadn’t seen each other. On Floor 100, where guild influence ran deep, that rule held even more firmly. A quarrel that turned into a fight could swell into a war between guilds.
“Those two just got to Floor 100 a few days ago. Total rookies.”
“For real?”
“Yeah, I saw them. Daehan Guild was taking them in.”
“Then why are they out here?”
“How should I know?”
“Doesn’t look like there are any Daehan Guild people nearby.”
“I checked with a scouting skill. Nothing. Just the two of them and one stone golem.”
“Yeah? Then we only have to watch the stone golem.”
Eleven French-speaking Players closed in and surrounded Jin-soo and Shin Sua.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Jin-soo asked it with a frown.
“Hmm. What does it look like?”
“If you want to live, show a little sincerity.”
They leveled their weapons as they spoke.
Jin-soo let out a sigh thick with annoyance. People looking to farm points the easy way through PK really are everywhere. “Show a little sincerity” meant empty the inventory. Kill a Player, and skill books or job advancement tomes could drop. Equipped items and held points could be taken as well. But anything still in the inventory simply vanishes. That was why they threatened people into showing sincerity.
At Jin-soo’s words, the French-speaking Players looked as if they couldn’t believe their ears.
“Has that bastard lost his mind?!”
“Throwing a fit because he’s got one stone golem?”
“Kill them. Now!”
They charged. In that same instant a soft sliding rush broke the air, and the Shadow Summons concealed in Jin-soo’s shadow burst forth all at once.