The God of Control's One-Coin Clear: Street of Murder (5)
In the factory district.
The wolf beastman Valkar pressed his nose to the ground.
Sniff. Sniff.
A chaotic mix of countless scents flooded his senses.
The city's distinctive lingering odor. The scents of players who had already passed through, of dead players, and of players still alive and hiding somewhere.
The entire city was saturated with the smells of numerous players.
Paradoxically, there were so many scents intermingled that he couldn't track other players using smell alone.
Valkar singled out one specific scent from the overwhelming mixture.
The scent of the player Yoon Taeyang.
"This way."
The process by which Valkar had obtained Yoon Taeyang's scent was simple.
The two players they had captured—the human mage Yurik and the tattoo-covered shaman.
Valkar had interrogated them, then compared the residual scents clinging to their bodies to isolate Taeyang's.
Of course, both players had died after giving up the information.
Following Taeyang's scent brought them to an empty factory.
"Another empty building."
"Prime time for farming."
The tiger beastman Mute spoke up.
"Arin. You have that thing?"
"The map, right?"
Mute's words had been imprecise, but Arin understood him perfectly.
With a rustle, Arin spread a large map across the table.
The map was also a supply item that appeared in the Street of Murder stage.
Arin's map was of a fairly high grade, depicting even the finest structural details.
Mute examined the map.
The buildings of the factory district.
The places they had visited while chasing Taeyang, and those they had not.
"Valkar. Where does the guy's scent lead from here?"
"Southeast from our current position."
"Southeast."
Mute's eyes deepened.
"This bastard is only hitting factories."
"Oh, now that you mention it, you're right."
Although the area was named the factory district, it obviously wasn't composed solely of factories.
"That guy hasn't been in this city long. How does he know to only visit factories?"
"Maybe he's just eyeballing the buildings?"
"There are no signs of backtracking. He moved with a clear objective."
"Who knows. He might have picked up a map while searching buildings."
Mute stared at the map.
He didn't know the actual circumstances, but the data was accurate.
"He entered Sector B from the city's central clock tower. In the initial Sector B, the first non-factory structure he entered was there. Next were three factories in Sector C. Then he moved straight into Sector D, and our current location is..."
"Three factories left in Sector D?"
Mute nodded at Arin's words.
The prey—Yoon Taeyang's next likely destinations—were three locations.
Valkar suggested.
"Let's split up and search."
"Hmm. Leaving it to luck?"
After all, there was only one enemy player.
Judging from his movements so far, the possibility that he had companions was zero.
The eyes of Valkar, Arin, and Mute flashed simultaneously.
According to Yurik, he seemed quite strong for a human.
That meant he was likely a hunt worth the effort.
Mute nodded as well.
"Not bad for some entertainment."
"Then I'll pick first. I'll take this one. Looks like he'd have gone straight up."
"Then I'll take the east."
With Arin and Valkar's quick choices, Mute shrugged.
"Wow, so I don't get to choose?"
"First come, first served, Mute."
"Valkar's right. A diligent hunter gets a satisfying dinner. You know that, right?"
The cheerful Arin and Valkar left first, followed by Mute.
Each headed toward their chosen factory.
Hoping Yoon Taeyang would be there.
Thud.
The sound of the door closing echoed through the empty factory.
It was a factory someone else had already ransacked.
Taeyang clicked his tongue.
He had checked every corner thoroughly, but unfortunately came up empty.
"Another bust. Where next?"
-Head southwest from here and you'll hit another big factory.
"Southwest. Southwest. This way? Ugh. How many factories are even left? This is getting exhausting."
-Don't get too down. You've already grabbed two. That's fast progress.
"Already? Already? I think your wording is off. Shouldn't it be 'finally' instead of 'already'?"
He had already cleared roughly ten factories from sectors B through D.
The alphabetical gap was only two letters, yet the effort Taeyang had poured in was enormous.
"Sigh. I'm the kind of guy who doesn't even know where the remote control is in his own house."
Facing a powerful enemy would have been better. Sneaking around doing this half-hearted farming was frustrating beyond belief.
Still, he couldn't give up on the artifact.
The artifact obtainable in the Street of Murder stage possessed performance too outstanding to pass up.
The pocket watch that could be obtained at the top of the clock tower.
The Greatest Machinery.
One of the top five artifacts a user could acquire in Dantalion.
The artifact's broken nature was clear from its built-in skills.
Two skills.
Rewind: Returns the body to optimal condition. (Cooldown 12 hours)
Fast Forward: Accelerates the body. (Cooldown 12 hours)
Even with the drawbacks of long cooldowns and the two skills sharing a cooldown, The Greatest Machinery stood at the pinnacle of artifacts.
Especially the 'Absolute Healing' effect of Rewind—something even professional healers above the 40th floor couldn't replicate—which only increased its value.
Since it was an artifact he absolutely could not abandon, Taeyang simply prayed toward the sky.
"Please. It's fine if I have to search every factory around here. It's fine if I run into beastmen or whatever. Just let me find it. Please."
Switching offense and defense.
Red light and blue light descend upon player Yoon Taeyang simultaneously.
Taeyang's expression turned puzzled.
"What? There are cases like this too?"
"I see."
After a brief moment of thought, Taeyang entered the next factory.
Honestly, what mattered to him right now wasn't the target but the key.
Click.
The factory he entered right after praying.
As expected, another player seemed to have already swept through it.
On the contrary, this made finding the key easier.
Every drawer and shelf was already open.
While searching the factory, life suddenly returned to Taeyang's face.
"Found it!"
He had found the third key.
The key had been inside a display cabinet in the corner of the factory.
With this, Taeyang could enter the hidden stage—the clock tower.
Taeyang's lips drew a smooth arc.
"Lucky me."
It was then.
Creak.
The factory entrance that had been closed swung open.
Taeyang swiftly hid behind a nearby desk with agile movements.
A large figure walked toward the center of the factory.
Paradoxically, despite that massive build, his footsteps made almost no sound.
Taeyang peeked over the desk to confirm the intruder.
It was the tiger beastman, Mute.
Taeyang, still hidden, quickly scanned his surroundings.
He had said there were two more.
They weren't visible right now.
It seemed he had come alone for the moment.
The red light that had flashed briefly while he was hiding.
The tiger beastman was definitely glowing red.
The tiger beastman Mute looked around.
Soon his gaze locked onto one particular table.
Mute smiled, his bright yellow vertical pupils narrowing.
"Lucky me."
A ripple of mana could be felt from behind the table.
"Yeah. Looks like I have to play a round. Given the situation."
Taeyang's expression was calm.
After hearing about the beastmen from Yurik, his mental preparation was already complete.
When you don't know what will happen, assuming the worst case is the most comfortable choice.
It was better than encountering all three beastmen at once.
Tap.
The moment Taeyang rolled forward, the desk shattered.
Having found his prey, Mute roared.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
His skin prickled.
Old Joseon records frequently mentioned people fainting after hearing a tiger's roar during night walks. Taeyang now understood why.
'If this were reality, I might have done the same.'
Shaking off the idle thought, Taeyang immediately stepped into Jin-gak.
Boom.
An unknown energy surged from the soles of his feet.
Taeyang felt the movement of mana—embodied by electromagnetism and divinity.
The force that began at his feet amplified at his knees.
'Don't dissipate. Follow through.'
Taeyang controlled his body while simultaneously directing the mana flow.
Delicate control that went beyond simply gathering energy.
The mana bent at the hip joint, rode his waist and spine, and coursed through his entire body.
It gathered for a moment at his sharply twisted shoulder, then sprang forward with elastic force.
Taeyang smiled brightly.
The sensation of magic power running through his body was more ecstatic than he had imagined.
Power surged from his feet and amplified through his body as mana flowed with perfect precision, twisting violently at the shoulder before exploding outward.
For an instant the surroundings flickered,
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaang!
The factory's furniture was obliterated.
From within the dust cloud, the tiger beastman's roar erupted.
Kuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Taeyang's expression twisted.
'It didn't hit.'
Using his own senses, Taeyang had succeeded in embedding mana between the movements.
It was only his second time operating mana, so he didn't know exactly what was correct, but the output had improved to an absurd degree compared to the first attempt.
However, by focusing too much on 'mana operation,' a problem had arisen.
The movements themselves had become excessively heavy and sluggish.
Missing was inevitable.
It wasn't that the tiger beastman was exceptional; no opponent would fall for such a clumsy attack.
"This is tricky."
The output had definitely increased, but there were too many things to focus on during the motion.
In reality, battles are decided in 0.1-second increments.
The mental energy spent between techniques was more than enough to destroy practicality.
While Taeyang clicked his tongue, Mute broke through the dust and swung his front paw down.
An instantaneous attack while his vision was blocked.
Taeyang reflexively raised his arm.
And immediately regretted it.
Boom.
What the— Did I just get hit by a dump truck?
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaang!
Struck by the paw, Taeyang was sent flying with his guard still up.