PK Players

The Shadow Knight's blade took the head off the player leading the charge. The Shadow Warrior's greatsword split the man behind him clean in two, a Shadow Archer's arrow punched through the healer's brow, and the Shadow Assassin's dagger drove straight into the mage's heart.

"Eek! What the hell is this?"

"Run!"

The survivors flinched and bolted.

That was when Shin Sua cast.

It was a skill shared by healers and mages, one she had picked up on the chance it might help with hunting.

"Nngh!"

Crack. They had some skill after all. Mana surged, and Shin Sua's binding shattered almost at once.

Fire roared up anyway. Too late. The flames Jin-soo and the Shadow Mage had launched crashed into their bodies.

Sturdy enough.

The tank turned aside the magical assault from Jin-soo and the Shadow Mage, and the Shadow Archer's arrows rang off him in a sharp staccato as well. Then the Shadow Healer's magic settled over the enemy.

In that instant Jin-soo launched himself forward. The Blood-Sucking Sword, wrapped in a blood-red aura, and the gleaming longsword, sheathed in pure white, swept down on the tank together. Every stroke bit a deeper dent into the shield and warped it further out of shape.

While he pinned the tank in place, the Shadow Assassin, the Shadow Archer, and the Shadow Mage dropped the rest of the players in a heartbeat. The shield the tank had been desperately holding together tore like paper under the shining longsword, and the Blood-Sucking Sword slid through the gap and buried itself in his throat.

"Guhk!"

The last man still standing had his breath cut short.

Idiots.

They had dropped their guard completely, just because the pair were newcomers and there were only two of them. Watch the single Stone Golem and the rest would take care of itself. That was what they had thought. Not that staying sharp would have changed the outcome. They might at least have managed one real counterattack instead of collapsing so emptily, without ever landing a proper blow.

The points aren't bad.

As if to prove these were players who had climbed all the way to Floor 100, nearly twenty million points came in. Add the gear they had been wearing and the job advancement books and skill books they coughed up on death, and the haul would easily clear forty million.

This is why PK players run so rampant. Hunting other players paid rewards that monster hunting couldn't begin to match. And they would have figured the risk was far lower.

If they hadn't known Jin-soo and Shin Sua were newcomers, if the party had numbered ten instead of two, they would never have shown their true colors so easily. They would have failed to mark them as prey at all, or, even meaning to attack, they would have tested the waters first and only struck in the middle of a monster hunt.

Call it a good deed.

Ordinary players didn't look at other players as prey. If these ones hadn't died by Jin-soo's hand today, some other innocent climbers would have been the ones sacrificed.

"Let's go."

"Yeah."

Jin-soo and Shin Sua moved on, and the hunt continued.

About thirty minutes after they had gone, more than thirty players appeared at the site where the traces of battle still lingered. They swept the ground at once, reading what the fight had left behind.

"A fight definitely happened here."

"Yes. And it looks like they were beaten pretty one-sidedly. Judging by these deep, heavy footprints, there may have been a golem or some similar summon."

"You can track them, I assume?"

"Of course."

"Gutsy bastards. Murdering players of our Sabel Guild."

"Find them and kill them!"

"They need to pay for the arrogance of laying a hand on Sabel."

Thirty Sabel guild members, called out by the signal of a Rescue Stone, poured off killing intent and started the pursuit.

Thanks to Leo's roar, which dragged monsters in from every side, Jin-soo and Shin Sua had no trouble securing prey.

The more I look at him, the more he's a walking fortune.

Jin-soo had contracted with Leo on the terms of food and mana. So far, though, Leo had never once taken any of his mana. Cheap monster meat was all the payment required.

"Mrrrow!"

Leo hopped onto Jin-soo's shoulder and rubbed his head against his face. Maybe it was the endless supply of monster meat. He treated Jin-soo far more familiarly than he had at their first meeting, and Jin-soo stroked that small head in return. Cute, competent, and affectionate besides. There was no reason to dislike him.

They were still settling into that bond when a warning came from the Shadow Archer.

Thirty players approaching?

Jin-soo tucked the loot into his inventory and drew the shadow summons back into his shadow.

Don't tell me it's more PK players. Running into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠PK players was rare enough that ordinary climbers were the likelier bet. That many of them... a guild out on a hunt, maybe.

He finished cleaning up without any particular hurry and started walking. That was when the thirty players showed themselves.

"Screee!"

A brown-furred rat on the lead player's shoulder shrieked.

"It's definitely them."

The player carrying the rat pointed at Jin-soo and Shin Sua.

"That's too few. The tracks suggested seven or eight."

"I don't know the reason either. But Maro is reacting, and there's the Stone Golem. They definitely had a hand in wiping out Basil's party."

"If you say so, then that's that. You lot — what guild are you with, that you'd dare wipe out a Sabel party?"

At the question, Jin-soo's face tightened.

Pursuers. One of the PK players must have sent a rescue signal to his guild in the moment before he died.

"We don't belong to any guild."

"Ha! Guildless small fry, daring to attack Sabel!"

The admission only made the Sabel players swell with confidence.

"I only dealt with PK players who attacked first."

The flat answer put a faint crease in their faces.

They don't look surprised. Or rattled.

No guild by the name of Sabel existed in Jin-soo's memory. That meant it was either an unremarkable outfit, or one that had already been wiped out before he reached Floor 100 in the life before regression.

"Ha! Listen to this bastard spouting nonsense!"

"Got any proof?"

"You attacked first!"

"Insulting our dead guildmates! I'll kill you right now!"

Killing intent poured off them as they leveled their weapons.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Their nature's written all over them. Not a trace of anyone wronged. They already knew their people were PKing. And he could guess why the first question out of their mouths had been which guild he belonged to. They were testing the water. Checking whether killing him would leave any trouble behind. So this was a guild built by that sort from the start.

Players who had acquired a taste for PK sometimes banded together and played at being ordinary climbers. Day to day they behaved normally. Out on the hunting grounds they watched for an opening, then preyed on anyone with no backing, or anyone whose strength was obviously lacking.

Don't leave a single one alive.

Jin-soo gave the order to his shadow summons.

Steel flashed. Something tore. A body caved in, and another burst apart. The summons that had been hiding in his shadow surged into the open and struck first.

"Guhk!"

"What the— summons?"

"Hold the summons off somehow and kill those two!"

The sudden ambush threw the Sabel players into no small confusion. Even so, they were better than the last bunch. They had already been formed for battle, and their counter came fast. Tanks soaked the summons' attacks and threw out taunts to pin them in place. Mages hurled offensive spells, archers loosed arrows, and healers laid curses and bindings on Jin-soo and Shin Sua. Warriors and assassins slipped past the summons and closed on the two of them at speed.

Protect her.

Jin-soo set the Shadow Knight on Shin Sua and swung the Blood-Sucking Sword and the shining longsword.

A slash. "Guhk!" A cut. "Aaagh!"

The two assassins who had rushed him were dead in an instant.

The Shadow Knight and the Stone Golem turned aside the mages' and archers' attacks. Shin Sua poured herself into Dispel, Purification, and Protection, slipping in a recovery skill at the right moments to keep the fight supported. Jin-soo waded in with both blades — one drowned in blood-red aura, the other in pure white — and cut through the Sabel players the way a lion cuts through a flock.

"Koff!"

"Aaagh! My arm!"

"What? He's insanely strong!"

"R-run!"

More than half their number died in a breath. Panic took the rest, and the Sabel players scattered and fled.

Not one of them gets away. Vermin like these harmed other players. Vermin were to be exterminated the moment they were seen.

Jin-soo sealed the escape with an offensive spell, then launched himself after them and brought the swords down.

Shin Sua abandoned her focus on Dispel, Purification, and Protection and cast as well.

The Shadow Mage's attack magic detonated across the field.

"Aaaagh!"

Arrows followed, punching through the necks of the Sabel players who had turned their backs to run.

"Koff!"

"Ghk!"

"Eek! S-save me!"

The man who had been leading them begged for his life, face slack with terror.

Jin-soo took his head where he stood.

These were people who had grown strong through PK. How many players had died along the way? Some of them must have begged, desperately, to be spared. And these men would have mocked those pleas and killed them anyway. PK players who spent their days pretending to be ordinary climbers cared about one thing above all else: leaving no survivors, and erasing every trace. Mercy was never going to be on offer.

"Y-you think you can get away with this?!"

The only one left alive screamed it. He was the tracker, the player with the brown-furred rat on his shoulder.

"Sabel is a massive guild! We've got over three hundred members!"

"Oh? Is that so? Pretty big for a guild built by PK players. And the overall level?"

Asked in return, the screaming man's face went blank with disbelief.

"You lunatic! Don't tell me the two of you actually mean to go to war with Sabel!"

"The war's already on. You sent a rescue signal the moment things turned against you, didn't you?"

At that, the tracker went mute as a man with a mouth full of honey.

"Answer what I ask from here on, and you won't have to hurt."

The tracker shook like an aspen. He offered no resistance at all, and answered every question Jin-soo put to him.

Good. No need to torture him. Jin-soo happened to be quite accomplished at that as well. A quarrel with trash has to be pulled out by the root. Leave it, and it only became a nuisance that lingered.

Sabel was exactly what he had expected: a guild that had grown, and gathered power, through PK. The work was addictive. Enormous rewards for very little effort.

They moved with some cunning, I'll give them that.

Sabel was a young guild, without much history behind it. Its entire territory was the Starting City, little more than a novice village. Even so, PK rewards had driven its growth at a staggering pace. The cover-up had been thorough. To avoid the suspicion of larger guilds, they had made their main targets small guilds and parties that belonged to none. They had also killed players from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠guilds already on bad terms with one another at the same time, so the blame would fall elsewhere.

If they hadn't met me, they might have lasted quite a while. In the end they would still have fallen. A long tail always gets stepped on. I'll wipe them out clean.

Jin-soo was not the sort to show mercy to anyone who bore him hostility. A guild made entirely of PK players was better cleaned out as fast as possible, for everyone's sake. It wasn't charity, either. The reward for removing PK players was generously fat.

The points I'd burned dry making synthesis skills are back up to a hundred million. Convert the items on top of that, and two fights had earned him something like two hundred million points. Erase Sabel itself, and far more would come in.

Trash cleanup and a payday. Two birds.

Jin-soo began preparing a welcome for the Sabel guild members even now rushing toward this place.