The God of Controls' One-Coin Clear
Taeyang stood alone in the empty hall after sending every last player down to the underground dungeon. He had to unlock a minimum number of rooms to complete the achievement.
The trials, originally designed for two or three players working together, were crushed under the weight of his overwhelming power.
MANA CIRCUIT DESTROYED. SYSTEM OFFLINE.
“That makes six. Easier than I thought.”
—Your farming status is way beyond broken, you know that?
“Isn’t my actual skill even more broken?”
……
“Wow, you’re so stingy. Is giving me one compliment that hard?”
Hyeonhye didn’t answer.
Taeyang glanced at the chat window and shook his head with a sigh.
Not even a little bit grateful.
To get the achievement, he needed to unlock at least ten rooms before encountering the Mad Swordsman. There was an extra achievement for unlocking the most rooms among all players, but he had no choice but to give that one up.
Still, it’s not like I’m that sad about missing the achievement.
Taeyang thought of the Stormbringer card he’d obtained in the dungeon and smiled warmly.
Then—
“Kuaaaaaaaaagh!”
The swordsman’s roar echoed down from the ceiling. It still sounded far away, but compared to the first time he’d heard it, the distance had closed considerably.
“Not much time left. Better hurry.”
The Mad Swordsman’s screams were deliberately distorted to sound much farther away than they actually were. It was a psychological trick meant to confuse the players. Because of it, quite a few people had found the Clear Room only to get sliced apart by the Mad Swordsman anyway.
Taeyang quickly unlocked four more rooms. There was still no sign of Tobi’s group—whether they were unlocking other rooms or had already gone down to the underground dungeon, he couldn’t tell.
He headed toward the entrance of the underground dungeon. No players were visible near the entrance. That was only natural. They were all busy farming inside.
Taeyang leaned his back against the wall in a relaxed pose.
“About five minutes left, I’d say.”
The underground labyrinth would seal itself the moment the Mad Swordsman invaded the players’ territory. At the same time, it would spit out everyone who had been inside. The exact reason was unknown, but it was probably to prevent players from hiding in the dungeon to avoid the swordsman.
“Would be nice to have a cigarette right about now.”
—Wait, you used to smoke?
“Nah, never touched one. Just feels like the right moment for it, you know?”
“Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
BOOOOOOOOM!
Along with the sound of a wall collapsing, a system window appeared.
The Mad Swordsman has appeared.
The dungeon is now closing.
“What the—?”
“Dammit! There was an item right in front of me!”
“What the hell is going on?!”
“Ugh!”
The players were still trying to get their bearings. Even so, a few of them quickly assessed the situation. The muscular swordsman Tobi and the woman holding a fan stood out among them. It looked like they had eventually given up on clearing the dungeon and come down here after all.
“Who the hell are you?!”
“Stay back!”
And then there were the two swordsman players who immediately drew their blades. That was the correct move. When you couldn’t figure out what was happening, preparing to fight was the smart play.
Taeyang pushed off the wall.
“Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
The swordsman’s scream grew rapidly closer.
Rumble rumble rumble.
Fourth floor.
The sound was violent, as if he were smashing the stairs on his way down.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Third floor.
Crunch crunch crunch.
Second floor.
“Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
First floor.
By now even the stragglers had started to understand the situation. That scream really was ear-splitting when you heard it up close.
Soon, a swordsman clad in armor appeared. That was the Mad Swordsman. The oni mask and the blazing red aura swirling around his body left a strong impression.
“Kuaaaaaaaaagh!”
The swordsman drew his blade and charged at the players.
* * *
“Kuaaaaaaaaagh!”
“Healer! We need a healer!”
“I don’t have any mana to waste on you!”
“You son of a bitch! People are dying over here!”
“Please! My arm! My arm got cut off!”
Taeyang, who had already slipped out of the Mad Swordsman’s attack range, whistled.
“Whew. It really is a bloodbath.”
Just as Tobi had predicted, the Mad Swordsman was strong. Far too strong for the sixth-floor players to handle. Because Tobi, Ran, and the others were moving passively just like Taeyang, the number of player casualties was climbing fast.
“That is the correct choice.”
The Mad Swordsman was constantly surrounded by a layer of blood aura. It was tough enough to withstand even skill-enhanced or mana-infused attacks. So the question was how to strip that aura away.
The answer was to let the Mad Swordsman kill players.
Every time he killed three, the blood aura surrounding him would go into a frenzy. The frenzied aura would then seep into his body, accelerating his movements while stripping away its defensive properties. That was the moment to strike—the standard strategy for defeating the Mad Swordsman.
“Kuaaaaaagh!”
One player’s arm flew off from a single slash. Then his head. The first casualty had appeared.
“It’s about to get serious now.”
Having tasted blood, the swordsman charged at the players with even greater ferocity.
“Dodge!”
“He’s too fast!”
“It’s not like I can dodge just because I want to—ugh!”
The silver blade flashing through the crimson blood looked almost demonic. Once that silver blade had cut down seven players, it would turn a deep, blood-red color. That was the acquisition condition for the Blood-Drinking Katana.
Taeyang calmly observed the situation. The swordsman was rampaging like a lunatic. Unless Taeyang or Tobi stepped in, there was no one who could stop him.
“Kuaaaagh!”
The second victim appeared soon after. They had tried to coordinate this time, but it was hopeless. The swordsman was simply too fast and too powerful compared to normal players. Almost unreasonably so.
The situation deteriorated rapidly. The players’ loose but somewhat functional formation began to collapse at an alarming rate.
Thud.
“H-hey! Someone stop him!”
“Ran! Do something…!”
“Yoon Taeyang! You said you’d take him down!”
“Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
Splat.
“Guhk.”
The third victim had a sword driven straight through his heart. Taeyang still didn’t move.
Whoosh.
The bright red blood aura sank beneath the swordsman’s skin.
Grrrrrrrr.
Drool dripped from beneath the mask. The only visible part of his face—his two eyes—had turned so bloodshot they looked almost black.
The Mad Swordsman has entered his first berserk state.
“It’s berserk.”
“What time is it now?”
—Fifteen minutes. It should normally last between five to seven minutes.
Taeyang nodded at Hyeonhye’s words.
“Someone get in there and stop him!”
“This isn’t something you can beat just by farming in the dungeon!”
“Dammit. If I knew this would happen I would’ve just kept unlocking rooms.”
“Tobi, you were right…”
A few players were finally showing signs of regret. Their formation had already turned into complete chaos. Watching from the opposite side, Tobi snorted.
Well, of course. The ones who hadn’t listened to him in the first place were the very players over there.
“Hey! This is your responsibility!”
“This situation is all because of you!”
“You said you could beat him! Tell us how!”
The players had now turned their resentment toward Taeyang. He simply shrugged.
Well, obviously he couldn’t say it out loud to those pale, terrified faces.
‘Just let five or six more of you die and then I’ll step in.’
“Kuaaaaaagh!”
The swordsman charged at the nearest players again. His speed was clearly different from before.
“He got even faster?”
It took less than three minutes for three more victims to fall.
The viewers were starting to worry. The rate at which victims were falling had become far too rapid.
Taeyang casually glanced over at Tobi’s formation. Neither Tobi nor Ran showed any sign of moving.
“So that’s how you want to play it.”
It was basically a game of chicken. The first one to flinch and step forward would lose. Taeyang smiled leisurely.
“Let’s see how long you can hold out.”
In the meantime, the regular players’ side had turned into a literal bloodbath.
Thud.
The swordsman brought the pommel of his sword down on a player’s head. That single motion was enough to make the player’s skull explode like a watermelon. In the blink of an eye, seven players had died. The blade in the swordsman’s hand had changed color to match his blood-red eyes.
“S-save me…”
The inhuman masked swordsman paid no attention to the change in his weapon. Without the slightest hesitation, he swung his blade again.
Thud.
That made eight victims. Taeyang still hadn’t moved.
‘FightingGodTaeyang’ has donated 10,000 won!
Taeyang, if he hits 3rd phase berserk you won’t be able to handle it. There’s still 3 minutes left on the 1st phase duration.
Taeyang smirked when he saw the donation.
“Hey, don’t you trust me?”
At that moment, Ran swung her fan from the opposite side. At the same time, Tobi charged forward and shouted.
“We can’t let any more victims pile up! We’re taking him down now!”
He must have figured out the correlation between the increasing number of victims and the swordsman’s growing strength through berserk stacking. He had been glancing at Taeyang earlier, probably hoping Taeyang would make the first move, but it seemed he had finally given up.
Nangpung (Crashing Wave).
A wave-like gust of wind surged forward.
Whoosh.
The swordsman’s body was momentarily lifted into the air. It was probably the first clean hit anyone had landed on him since he appeared.
“Grrrrrrrr……”
The swordsman simply shook it off and stood back up as if nothing had happened.
—Three minutes have passed.
“So the first berserk phase lasts about four minutes?”
—And the second phase lasts about six minutes. Taeyang, you know the berserk stacking is multiplicative, right?
“Yeah. I remember.”
Taeyang answered while keeping his eyes fixed on the Mad Swordsman. Ran’s wind combined with Tobi’s solid defense wasn’t particularly high in damage output, but it was a tricky combination. Having experienced it firsthand, Taeyang had no doubt about that.
The question was whether that combination would work on the Mad Swordsman as well.
“Uaaaaaaaaah!”
Tobi drew his sword and charged at the swordsman. It was a massive greatsword, just as big as the one he had used before it broke. He must have found it in the dungeon during that short window of time.
“Uraaaaaaaaah!”
“Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
Tobi’s greatsword collided with the blood-drinking katana.
BOOOOOOM!
After seeing the result of the clash, Taeyang let out a dry laugh.
“……Looks like he managed to get a sturdy greatsword this time.”
The greatsword hadn’t broken. Tobi had simply been sent flying while still holding it. The sight of that massive, muscular body slamming pathetically into the wall and crumpling looked like something straight out of a cartoon.
“T-Tobi got knocked away in one hit!”
“This is insane……”
“Don’t break formation!”
Tobi shouted, but the already panicked players had already widened the gap between them. It was understandable. The man who was supposed to be their solid anchor had been sent flying by a single strike from the Mad Swordsman.
Of course, that was from the players’ perspective.
“Krrrrrrrrrrrragh!”
The Mad Swordsman exploited the opening and happily reaped the rewards of the players’ mistake.
“Dammit!”
“Puglishi!”
Splash!
He must have sliced the carotid artery perfectly—blood sprayed out like a fountain. Thanks to Ran’s support they managed to reform their formation once more, but it was already too late.
“Wow, they held out even worse than I expected?”
Nine victims.
3rd Phase Berserk begins in 20 minutes
1st Phase remaining: 2 minutes
2nd Phase remaining: 4 minutes
Along with Hyeonhye’s update, the chat window scrolled rapidly downward.
Watching Tobi’s group crumble far more easily than expected, Taeyang slowly rolled his shoulders.
“Man, these guys are really full of suspicion.”