Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: The Hunted Hunter
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[A party member has died.]
"...Hm?"
The first death came out of nowhere.
It had been ten minutes since they began surrounding the southern forest.
Jeras was taken aback by how quickly the first death occurred, but his confusion was brief.
"Did you get any whispers?"
"Nope."
"Me neither."
There were no messages from the player who had died.
If they had been killed by Arthur, they would have sent a message somehow.
They had already distributed a manual in preparation for such a situation.
Jeras came to a simple conclusion.
"Must've been an orc."
"An orc?"
"Is that even possible? Everyone's over level 100."
"Maybe he stepped on a bomb and they all swarmed him?"
"Ah... you think so?"
At the last player's words, everyone around nodded.
They certainly had the numbers, but most were regular players inexperienced in this sort of thing, so it wouldn't be strange for such a mistake to happen.
He had recruited a large number of players from the start to account for that, so it wasn't a major issue.
Jeras turned to the players he was leading and said,
"Just tell everyone to be more careful. Watch out for bombs, and have the high-HP players take the lead."
"Got it."
"And we don't know the monster levels around here, so tell them not to fight alone."
Jeras's response was quite commendable.
He minimized variables by placing high-HP players at the front, and his follow-up instructions were also sound.
Since the party was so large, he kept his requests as concise and essential as possible.
It was a clean order, possible only because he had experience participating in several large parties through his broadcasting connections.
However.
[A party member has died.]
[A party member has died.]
[A party member has died.]
[...]
"...What the!?!?"
Despite his instructions to be careful, death messages for party members appeared one after another!
Startled, Jeras turned to the player in charge of leading the extermination squad and asked,
"Didn't you pass on the warning?"
"What? I did."
"Then why are they dying? Are there that many orcs in there?"
"Well, the map is called the Orc Infested Area..."
But to think that, it was strange that there hadn't been a single report of spotting an orc horde.
While Jeras was lost in thought, one player offered an opinion.
"Maybe they were killed by a bomb?"
"...A bomb?"
"Yeah."
"They're low-grade bombs. Can those even kill someone?"
"Maybe only the outer perimeter has low-grade bombs. The inside could be different."
"...Hmm."
It wasn't entirely implausible.
Bombs powerful enough to instantly kill a level 100 player did exist.
But accepting that at face value didn't make sense from the opponent's perspective.
'He'd be taking a loss, wouldn't he?'
It was because of the price of the bombs.
He didn't know for sure, but a bomb powerful enough to instantly kill a level 100 player would have to be a very high grade.
Considering that the price of bombs increased exponentially with their grade, it was an unrealistic assumption.
On top of that.
'...Besides, if they were hit by a bomb like that, we would've heard it.'
Bombs were consumables whose noise level was proportional to their power.
But even as more than ten party members died, not a single explosion was heard.
That left only one possible cause.
If it wasn't orcs or bombs, then the opponent was killing them 'himself'.
"...Ha."
Jeras clicked his tongue in admiration.
This guy was certainly something else.
In a situation where he should be racking his brain for a way to sneak out, he was instead hunting the hundreds of players in the extermination squad.
But at the same time, he found it absurd.
'...This madman.'
Does he not even consider the possibility of his own death?
Of course, most predator-type players attempted PK with that mindset.
'...But there's a limit!'
Even taking that into account, this was too much.
What the opponent was doing wasn't just gutsy; it was pure insanity.
A style of play that screamed, 'Please, just kill me!'
Jeras's blood boiled.
He couldn't help but wonder just how little his opponent thought of them.
It might have been simple paranoia, but having been so one-sidedly beaten before, Jeras felt that his opponent was looking down on him.
"...Hoo."
He wanted to move himself right away, but Jeras suppressed his anger.
After spending all that money, there was nothing more foolish than acting rashly and letting the target escape.
With so many people left, he figured that as long as they didn't panic and simply tightened the encirclement, the opponent would inevitably be caught in their net.
The opportunity soon arrived.
[A party member has died.]
-...Gasp!? He's here! Requesting immediate back—!
[A party member has died.]
"...!!!"
It seemed he had ambushed a two-man party this time, as a message arrived from one player just as the other died.
Of course, he too was killed in an instant after only a few words, but it didn't matter.
'...Found him.'
Thanks to the message, his last known location was confirmed.
A triumphant smile spread across Jeras's lips.
Jeras shared Arthur's location with every player in the squad.
Soon, hundreds of players converged on a single point from all directions.
Even someone like Lee Shin couldn't evade the eyes of so many people.
Lee Shin was quickly spotted.
"Huh...? There!"
A few sharp-eyed players spotted Lee Shin in a tree and shouted.
"Found him!"
"...!!"
"He's in the tree!"
The forest was dark, and the tall trees made it good for hiding, but the sheer difference in numbers was too great.
The moment his position was revealed, Lee Shin leaped from the tree without hesitation.
The players' reaction was incredibly fast.
"...Get that bastard!"
"Archers, fire!"
-Rapid Shot!
-Wind Blade!
-Surging Spell Power!
Swissssh!
KABOOOOM!!
A barrage of hundreds of arrows and spells rained down on a single person.
The ground shook with a deafening roar, and a bright flash illuminated the dark forest.
* * *
As the noise and smoke cleared, a player muttered,
"Did we get him...?"
They hadn't.
Armed with good equipment (most of which he had stolen), Lee Shin wouldn't die so easily.
Tatatak!
Seeing something small and fast moving through the smoke, a few sharp-eyed players shouted.
"There! He's alive!"
"...! Get him!"
"...No, but why is he so fast?!"
Normally, taking heavy damage would restrict one's movement.
But Arthur's current state hardly seemed to reflect that.
His exterior was a bit scorched, but his movements were still agile.
This was purely a feat of Lee Shin's physical prowess.
He dodged most of the stray arrows on sight and took the area-of-effect attacks while curled into a ball as much as possible.
Thanks to that, the actual damage he took was minimal compared to the deafening explosions.
On top of that.
Legendary Dignity
• A legend does not break easily.
• Greatly increases resistance to status effects.
• The effect increases with the number of nearby enemies.
The effect of Legendary Dignity!
With the effect growing stronger the more enemies there were, Lee Shin was practically immune to status effects at this point.
This effect didn't just stop at preventing secondary damage from the explosions.
[Curse has failed.]
[Curse has failed.]
[Curse has failed.]
"...What!?"
The mages' weakening curses were failing one after another!
"Mages, what are you doing!? Aim properly!"
"I did hit him! But the curse isn't sticking!"
"...What kind of nonsense is that!"
When the weakening curses failed to land, contrary to their initial plan, Jeras immediately changed his orders.
"Don't let him get away! Surround him completely so he can't escape!"
He was being cautious, worried that such an agile opponent might break through the encirclement and flee.
However.
"Hm?"
It was a needless worry. Lee Shin had no intention of running from the start.
Lee Shin charged straight toward the players.
"He's coming this way?"
"...W-what!"
-Harden.
"Ugh!"
Using his tentacle, he attacked the leg of a player in the front line, then swung his sword at the staggering opponent.
[A critical hit has landed.]
[A critical hit has landed.]
[A critical hit has landed.]
After cramming in as many attacks as possible.
-Deep Cut.
[The attack connects.]
[Attack Power and Movement Speed increase for 3 seconds.]
He triggered the movement speed increase at the end and retreated.
Immediately after, the enemy's attacks poured onto the spot where Lee Shin had just been standing.
Lee Shin predicted the timing of the enemy's attack ending and re-engaged with a charge skill.
"What the...!"
Movements that seemed to completely toy with his opponent!
The targeted warrior twisted his body as much as possible to evade Lee Shin's attack, but...
Lee Shin even used paralyzing poison to secure the first kill.
[You have defeated an enemy.]
The warrior melted in an instant.
In the process, he had fully stacked his critical hits.
Lee Shin immediately detonated the critical hit stacks.
KABOOOOM!!
Sword energy erupted from Lee Shin's blade with a deafening roar.
But despite the loud noise, only one enemy was caught in the attack.
The moment the opposing players saw Lee Shin's sword glow red, they distanced themselves from each other to minimize the damage.
'...Makes sense.'
Critical Hit Stack and Detonation were common skills.
As long as you knew about the skills, they weren't difficult to counter.
Of course, he still managed to chase down his opponent with a charge skill and secure the kill.
'...I won't be able to trigger Chain Kill.'
The interval between kills was too long.
It was a shame, but he'd have to treat it as a skill he didn't have for now.
Lee Shin glanced around.
"He's over there!"
"Get him!"
The angry shouts of players echoed from all directions.
The thought that all these people had gathered just to catch him should have been terrifying, but Lee Shin felt strangely at ease.
He had experienced situations like this so often that this level of tension felt more familiar, even comfortable.
"...Hoo."
Grip!
With a short sigh, he tightened his grip on his sword.
Lee Shin charged once more to hunt the players.
* * *
Jeras and most of the extermination squad had thought the fight would be one-sided.
No, they had come for a one-sided 'hunt', not a 'battle'.
It wasn't that they underestimated their opponent's skill, but the difference in numbers was simply astronomical.
However, the opponent's resistance was far fiercer than they had anticipated.
In the moderately dark environment, with its abundant cover, Lee Shin began to run absolutely wild.
Kaboom!!
"Did it hit?"
"No, I think he hid behind a tree."
"Agh...!"
He dodged arrows on sight and minimized damage from undodgeable area-of-effect attacks by hiding behind trees.
But the moment their assault let up even slightly, he would dart out and instantly kill the frontline players who were cautiously approaching.
'What in the...!'
His physical abilities were beyond words!
And that wasn't all.
"...Get him!"
"He's running!"
Kaboom!!
"Argh!?"
"...Watch out for the stun! There are bombs here too!"
"Just how many did he plant?!"
"No, more importantly, how does he remember where they all are...?"
He would feign retreat, luring opponents onto bombs.
He also used his tentacles at opportune moments to divert their attention.
The result.
[You have defeated an enemy]
[You have defeated an enemy]
[You have defeated an enemy]
[You have...]
Players were dropping like flies.
But Lee Shin wasn't in great shape either.
[You have been exposed to toxic gas]
[You have been grazed by flames]
[The shockwave...]
'...I can't last much longer.'
With no means of self-healing, his health was gradually being chipped away by the enemy's area-of-effect attacks.
As Lee Shin had predicted, the end of the battle soon arrived.
* * *
"Hah, hah...!"
"Tie him up tight!"
It was after Lee Shin had cut down his 144th member of the extermination squad.
His mana and health completely depleted, the subdued Lee Shin was approached by Jeras.
"Hmph."
"......"
A triumphant expression.
An expression that seemed to ask, 'Now what are you going to do?'
Lee Shin answered without a hint of regret.
"Kill me."
"What?"
Dying once wasn't a significant loss anyway.
He just had to make up for it and more after reviving.
Lee Shin already had a plan in place.
"I said, kill me."
Jeras furrowed his brow at the almost impatient tone.
"...Tsk."
He swung his sword at Lee Shin with a bored expression.
And at that very moment, Lee Shin used the curse he had been saving.
-Mark of Malice.
A curse he had saved until the very last moment, used only after luring his target into an inescapable range.
Jeras, completely unsuspecting, couldn't avoid it.
[The Mark of Malice seeps in.]
[Experience gain and item drop rate have been...]
Of course, Lee Shin couldn't avoid the opponent's attack either, but it didn't matter.
Shunk!
[You have killed the opponent.]
[Item, obtained 7 Orc Hides.]
[Obtained 1800 Gold.]
"What the?!?!?!?"