Chapter 131
Chapter 131
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement
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Save me now, and I'll save you later!
Lee Shin's bold declaration.
…Of course, coming from someone who was completely captured, it was an absurd thing to say.
To put it bluntly, if Grania were to spread the news of Lee Shin's return on the ranker community forums, he would find himself in a very difficult situation.
There were still plenty of rankers who hadn't forgotten their old grudges.
No, it might even be a blow severe enough to force him to quit the game.
Lee Shin wasn't yet at a level where he could withstand the pressure from rankers on his own, and those who held a grudge against him would never leave him be in his current state.
In other words, Lee Shin was in a position where he should have been begging for his life, yet he had made a counter-proposal instead.
Grania muttered, feigning disbelief.
“Are you insane?”
“You catch on quick.”
“……Then again, this is who you've always been.”
“Enough. So, what's it going to be?”
Normally, it would have been an absurd proposal.
But Lee Shin had an ace up his sleeve.
And that ace was his opponent: Grania.
*‘She always avoided me.’*
She was one of the few rankers who had always gone to extreme lengths to avoid any contact with him.
Her default stance had always been, ‘I never want to get involved with Lee Shin!’
Even if it meant giving up on quests, streams, or taking a loss on other things.
Whether it was out of fear or disgust, he didn't know, but that's how it felt to him.
In essence, Lee Shin's proposal was a veiled threat: ‘If you don't want to get disgustingly tangled up with me, then just let me go quietly.’
And Grania was sharp enough to grasp his underlying intention.
She dismissed the surrounding guild members before asking Lee Shin.
“You'll save me?”
“That's right.”
“So you can go on a ranker hunt later, like before?”
“I'm already player killing. Once my level reaches the ranker tier, what I'm doing now will become a ranker hunt.”
“……Right. That's who you've always been. But do you think it'll be that easy?”
Grania didn't nod so easily.
She had felt a wall between them before, but their situations were vastly different now.
“It seems like you haven't been playing for long.”
“That's right. Has it been two months now?”
“For a late... start, your level is high. But it's still much lower than ours. You know that, don't you?”
Lee Shin had started Avala Online half a year later than everyone else.
Half a year.
To casual players, it might not seem like a significant amount of time, but for rankers, it was.
In that half-year, the rankers had surged far ahead of Lee Shin in almost every aspect—level, titles, items—everything except class.
And it was a gap that would be difficult to close.
This was because as Avala Online 2's popularity skyrocketed, the growth environment for top-tier rankers had changed.
With a massive influx of external capital, rankers belonging to large guilds could now grow with immense financial support.
Conversely, this meant it had become incredibly difficult to reach the high-ranker tier through individual strength alone.
This was a factor that would inevitably work against Lee Shin, who always moved alone.
This was the point Grania was making.
Ranker hunting required one to have a growth advantage over other rankers, but for a solo player, just keeping up with everyone else's growth would be a struggle.
“Of course, you could just join a guild….”
“Not happening.”
“I figured. Then where is all this confidence coming from?”
“……”
“If I were to issue a kill-on-sight order for you right now, what could you possibly do besides die once every three days?”
Her words were true.
But Lee Shin answered without flinching.
“I can take you down with me.”
“What?”
Grania furrowed her brow at Lee Shin's cryptic words.
…What does he mean?
Does he have some kind of self-destruct skill hidden away?
Instead of answering, Lee Shin showed her with his actions.
“Huh? Over there!”
“What?”
Lee Shin pointed behind Grania with a sudden fuss.
Her gaze momentarily shifted behind her.
In that fleeting moment.
An opening was created—enough for Lee Shin to land his curse.
*‘Now!’*
Lee Shin immediately cast the Mark of Malice.
Momentarily distracted, Grania failed to dodge it.
[The Mark of Malice has struck the target.]
“Hah.”
She didn't seem particularly surprised, however.
She let out a disbelieving chuckle and glared at Lee Shin.
“……You've really lost your touch, Lee Shin. All that childish trickery, and the best you could come up with was a curse?”
She figured, he's not a Shadow Priest. How strong could a curse from a mere Thief-class player possibly be?
Indeed, despite being cursed, her health hadn't dropped by a single point.
*‘What kind of curse is this weak… huh?’*
But her expression froze in an instant.
The true power of this curse wasn't in its damage.
[A powerful malevolent energy has taken root!]
[While the effect persists, experience gain and item drop rates are reduced by 99%.]
“What?”
Grania asked back reflexively.
What… What is this?!
The effect was so unbelievable that it took her a long moment to process the short, two-sentence description.
And once she understood, her face turned pale.
*‘What is this…?!’*
Just like its caster, a truly malicious curse!
If that effect was real, it wouldn't just make the ranker competition difficult—she'd have to quit the game entirely….
*‘No, I can't!’*
For her, for whom the game was life itself, that was an unacceptable outcome.
*‘It's fine. I just have to dispel it!’*
She frantically rummaged through her inventory, found a Dispel Curse scroll, and used it.
An incredibly swift response!
But….
[Using 'Dispel Curse Scroll'.]
[Failed.]
[Using 'Dispel Curse Scroll'.]
[Failed.]
[Using 'Superior Dispel Curse Scroll'.]
[Failed.]
[Using 'Superior Dispel Curse Scroll Imbued with Ancient Mystical Power'.]
[The ancient power begins to purify the curse…]
*Fzzt!*
[...The powerful curse energy goes rampant!]
[Dispel failed!]
“Wha…?! What is this!!”
But every attempt ended in failure.
Even the most effective dispel scroll on the market, the 'Superior Dispel Curse Scroll Imbued with Ancient Mystical Power,' had no effect.
The implication was clear.
It meant the 'tier' of the skill Lee Shin had used was exceptionally high.
So high that it couldn't be removed with a consumable item like a dispel scroll.
That made it even stranger.
Looking at his gear, and his feat of infiltrating the mansion with a small party.
Lee Shin's class had to be a Thief-type, right?
*‘…But does this even make sense?’*
Thieves were a class that didn't invest in Mana or Intelligence.
As such, their stats related to magic or spells were generally rock bottom.
But his curse is this powerful?
Unless he's obtained at least a legendary class, this is just unfair….
“……Huh?”
***
“Let him go.”
Grania's decision was swift.
As one thought led to another, she unintentionally stumbled upon a fragment of the truth and immediately decided to release Lee Shin.
Of course, a guild member who was unaware of her calculations asked back, bewildered by her command.
“Who?”
“Him. Just let him go. Right now.”
“Why!?!?”
“I'll explain later. Just let him go, quickly.”
“But we went through all the trouble of catching him….”
“……I said, let him go!!”
“Yes!? Ah, yes…!”
Startled by Grania's hysterical shout, the guild member released Lee Shin.
As Lee Shin was safely released, the guild members began to whisper among themselves.
“……? What's going on?”
“Why did she let him go?”
“I have no idea.”
*Murmur, murmur.*
The guild members were in chaos.
Doil approached quietly and asked.
“You must have your reasons, right?”
“……I do.”
“Then that's fine. Tell me later.”
“No. I'll tell you now. But you have to be the only one who knows. Absolutely.”
“……? What is it?”
Doil lowered his voice even further.
Grania continued her explanation.
“He's the one. The person we were looking for.”
“You don't mean... the seventh one?”
“Yes. I'm certain.”
“……! Ah, so that's why you let him go? To make a recruitment offer later?”
*That would make sense.*
It was a shame to give up on a quest they had almost completed, but a legendary class user was just that rare.
Doil nodded in understanding, but Grania immediately refuted his assumption.
“No. I'm never making a recruitment offer. He wouldn't accept it anyway.”
“What? Then why did you let him go?”
“……Because he's dangerous.”
Lee Shin had always been dangerous.
A god-given talent for player killing.
His personality was one thing, but his drive to act was also exceptional.
Thanks to that, any ranker who had fallen victim to him even once didn't hesitate to call him a disaster.
But this time, it was on a whole different level.
*‘That lunatic got his hands on a legendary class…?’*
A Thief-type legendary class, at that?
If he can cast such a powerful curse when he's not even ranker-level yet, what's he going to be like when he grows stronger?
*‘…This is insane.’*
It was something she didn't even want to imagine, but she did.
At the same time, an indescribable level of fear washed over her.
That was why she had let Lee Shin go without a second thought.
…I must never get involved with him!
“I'm warning you just in case, but never, ever get involved with that person.”
“Who is he?”
“Lee Shin.”
“Lee Shin? Ah, *that* Lee Shin?”
Doil's eyes widened.
He hadn't played Avala Online 1, but he had heard the name Lee Shin often.
He didn't even need to look it up; there were plenty of rankers in the Union Guild who came from Avala Online 1.
And every single one of them described Lee Shin as 'a player you must never get involved with.'
Grania was no different.
“Remember this. No matter what unfair thing happens, just endure it and move on. Don't let him remember your name. Got it?”
“Why go that far….”
“Don't ask why, just do it. Please.”
“……”
Honestly, Doil couldn't understand why she was so worried.
No matter how strong he was in the past, the past is the past, isn't it?
Right now, he was just an ordinary high-level player.
There had to be dozens of ways to crush him now….
“……Understood. I'll be careful.”
Various thoughts crossed Doil's mind, but he soon nodded without further comment.
After all, she was the Guild Master of Union, and her intuition in these matters was usually spot-on.
Being told to avoid him unconditionally bruised his pride, but he decided it was best to trust her judgment for now.
“Good thinking.”
Grania nodded in relief.
Doil changed the subject.
“So, what's the plan now?”
“Hm?”
“This means we failed to catch the intruder. Won't all the contribution points we've accumulated be wiped out? Are you thinking of leaving the territory?”
Doil was speaking, assuming the worst-case scenario.
But Grania shook her head with a puzzled expression.
It was because of something Lee Shin had said, just loud enough for her to hear, before he left.
“……Hmm, I'm not so sure about that.”
“Hm?”
“I'm not sure what he meant either, but he told me not to worry, that the lord would be fine. He said he was just going to make him feel a little good?”
“……?”
“Anyway, let's just wait and see what happens. It doesn't seem like we need to worry about leaving just yet.”
“Understood.”