The God of Control's One-Coin Clear: Street of Murder (3)
Taeyang immediately opened the pouch he had received.
◈ Increases vision and agility
◈ Increases strength and endurance
◈ Makes the body significantly lighter
◈ Improves flexibility
“Whoa! Ophelia’s Chocolate!”
Taeyang tilted his head after reading the description.
“Is it any good?”
Improved flexibility. It was better than nothing, but it didn’t seem like it would help much in a direct fight.
“Yeah! It’s a combination item. And a super rare one at that!”
“Oh. A combination item.”
Taeyang nodded, finally understanding.
Combination items.
Elixirs could grant special abilities on their own, but they could also be mixed together. Depending on how you combined them, you could end up wasting the elixir completely… or create something far more powerful.
“Artemis’s Leaf is pretty common on its own, but when you mix it with Ophelia’s Chocolate, you can make a high-tier elixir called ‘Goddess’s Prank.’”
Its effect was non-aggression from monsters inside the stage, along with a massive boost to agility.
The vision and flexibility bonuses would basically vanish, but trading those for a huge agility increase was still a solid win. Plus, Artemis’s Leaf was relatively easy to find, so he could always hunt for more later.
“Non-aggression from stage monsters… is that really useful?”
“It’s an incredibly valuable option if you enter a hidden stage.”
Taeyang called out to Yuric.
“Hey. Got any water?”
“W-water?”
Yuric understood the situation perfectly. He knew that if Taeyang changed his mind, he was as good as dead.
Yuric quickly patted his waist. He still had the canteen he usually carried.
“Dissolve Ophelia’s Chocolate in the water and shake it. You have to shake it a lot—like, until it’s completely dissolved.”
“This is gonna take a while.”
Taeyang took the canteen and shook it while asking Yuric another question.
“Did you loot this entire building?”
“Yes. There wasn’t much gear. I already gave you all the elixirs. For recovery items, I had some bandages…”
Taeyang glanced at Yuric’s feet. They were tightly wrapped in bandages.
“So basically, I don’t have any more business with you.”
“Haha. Guess not. Well then… shall we go our separate ways?”
No.
Before Yuric could even finish speaking, Taeyang lunged at him.
Thud.
Why? Because the bastard had been preparing something.
He couldn’t be certain, but some kind of mana flow around the man had been faintly brushing against Taeyang’s mana detection senses.
“You son of a bitch! I knew it!”
Short-Range Random Teleport
The moment Taeyang threw his punch, Yuric vanished like a ghost.
“A teleport elixir. No wonder. I knew something felt off.”
What his mana detection had picked up was the mana flow created when the elixir activated. He must have kept it ready for emergencies.
Losing the guy was a little disappointing, but he hadn’t actually lost anything substantial.
Taeyang kept shaking the canteen as he searched a few more nearby apartments.
“Hmm. Nothing here either.”
“Shoes? These feel decent enough already.”
“Heavy armor’s too bulky for me.”
“Oh. Found a surcoat. Hmm. A bit heavy, but better than going without, right?”
After raiding several buildings with mediocre results, he finally hit the jackpot.
◈ Blood becomes lethal venom
◈ Users call this one of the ultimate “miracle drugs”
The doping item turned the user’s own blood into poison. Apophis’s Venom Gland was considered one of the highest-grade doping items players called “miracle drugs.” The powerful venom generated inside the body had more uses than anyone could imagine.
Just cut your palm and swing at an enemy—the blood alone could melt skin. It was an incredibly strong harassment tool.
“This is nice…”
Taeyang’s expression grew complicated.
It was good. Really good. But he couldn’t drink it right now.
“If I just had a poison resistance elixir… this stage would basically be free farming.”
Apophis’s Venom Gland had such intense toxicity that without poison resistance, even the player who drank it would get poisoned.
“Alright. Let’s hold onto it for now. I’ll keep searching while I’m at it.”
“What were the poison resistance elixirs again? Hades’s Tongue and… Hydra’s bodily fluids, I think?”
“I could just spray it on enemies too.”
“That works too.”
“Anyway, is the canteen mixed enough yet?”
“Let me see.”
Taeyang opened the canteen. The water had turned into a thick brown sludge as Ophelia’s Chocolate fully dissolved.
“Good. Now add Artemis’s Leaf and shake it more.”
Taeyang, who had been checking the chat, asked Hyeonhye.
“Can I trust this?”
“Hmm.”
Hyeonhye couldn’t answer right away. This was the first time she had heard this information.
‘It’s hard to just believe it blindly…’
The situation was different from when they were looking for the snake den. Even if the information was wrong, they could correct course immediately back then. But an elixir was gone the moment it was wasted.
At that moment, another donation exploded.
“Is this really KK?”
KK was famous for being quiet and cautious. He was also practically a celebrity with massive public recognition.
‘If that’s the case, the story changes.’
If Taeyang died because of his lie, KK would receive an enormous amount of backlash. There was no reason for him to willingly invite that kind of hate.
As Taeyang seemed lost in thought, another donation hit.
“…Taeyang. The whole reason we made the stream public was for moments like this, remember?”
The collective intelligence of the viewers.
Or advice from veteran Dantalion players like KK or Vana.
“…Should I trust it?”
“I think it might be worth believing just this once?”
Hyeonhye gave her advice in a slightly trembling voice. Of course, the final decision was Taeyang’s. No matter what anyone said, he was the one playing the game.
Taeyang squeezed his eyes shut.
And a moment later.
“Alright. Let’s trust it this time.”
Taeyang dropped Artemis’s Leaf into the canteen, then added the Whirling Breeze as well.
“Fucking liar! I told him everything he wanted to know!”
Yuric cursed as he walked, then eventually leaned against a wall. The pain in his ankle had gotten so bad he couldn’t go any farther.
Yuric bit his lip.
‘This really is the worst fucking day.’
Everyone had days like this. Days where you fell forward and broke your nose, or chewed gum and lost a tooth. Today was that day for Yuric.
How many disasters had already happened in a single day?
His ankle got wrecked while running from some shaman, he had to burn his precious spare-life teleport elixir, he used up every spell he had memorized, and his mana was running on empty.
‘At this point even running into a cat would put my life in danger.’
Yuric prayed inwardly.
Please, just let it end here.
But the world was cruel. Just when he thought he had reached his limit, it demanded he take one more step.
Crunch.
“Found you.”
The wall Yuric had been leaning against crumbled into sand.
A hand burst through the sand and grabbed him. It was a muscular arm covered in tattoos.
“You little rat. You dare ignore the bald guy?”
It was the tattooed shaman.
Yuric closed his eyes.
‘This really… is the worst fucking day.’
At that moment, a man appeared from the opposite alley.
“Hey. Found two of them over here.”
A massive figure over two meters tall, covered in thick fur that no normal human could possess.
“B-beastman?”
It was a wolf beastman.
“Oh my. So the ones hiding so desperately were right here all along.”
A fox beastman appeared right after.
“W-what the hell?”
“What do you mean, what?”
Yuric let out a hollow laugh.
Then, from behind the tattooed man, a tiger beastman stepped forward.
“Alright. Let’s take this nice and slow, shall we?”
“What the—!”
Ssssssh.
Sand tried to coil around the tiger beastman’s ankle, but he seemed to already know and lightly lifted his foot to dodge it.
Crunch!
“Guhk!”
The tiger beastman’s casual punch completely shattered the tattooed shaman’s left shoulder.
“Hey, tattoo guy. I’m going to ask slowly.”
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
“So you’d better answer quickly.”
Crunch.
The tiger beastman twisted the hand he had buried in the shaman’s shoulder.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
“I’m asking. Ready to answer?”
His low, suppressed voice carried the fierce aura unique to predators.
The tattooed shaman nodded frantically.
“Location and time of the most recent player you saw—”
“Huh?”
One question.
Irritation flashed across the tiger beastman’s face.
“I said answer quickly.”
Crunch.
The tattooed man’s left shoulder tore completely away from his body. Along with his arm, of course.
“My ears hurt. Scream again and I’ll kill you.”
“Grrrrk…”
The tattooed man desperately swallowed his screams.
The tiger beastman turned to Yuric next.
“Your turn. You’ve got a chance, little friend. Location and time of the most recent player you saw.”
“10-5A block!”
“Oh?”
“I saw him! The player who just entered! He was one of the new ones this round!”
“Aha? Then why didn’t you kill him?”
“Because I’m blue right now! I also know exactly where he was heading!”
A quick, precise answer—completely different from the tattooed shaman.
The tiger beastman glanced back at the tattooed man.
“See? That’s how you do it.”
He asked the tattooed man again.
“Alright then, tattoo friend, I’ll ask you once more…”
“M-me too! The last one I saw was him! I swear!”
The tattooed man screamed desperately.
The wolf beastman clicked his tongue as he watched.
The tiger beastman tilted his head at an angle.
“Too bad. You should’ve thought of a different player. Stupid head means the body suffers.”
Bang.
The tiger beastman drove his fist straight into the shaman’s skull.