Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: The King of the Gnolls
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# 13
Players, Chapter 13
Aden, King of the Gnolls.
The ruler of the gnolls residing in the Labyrinthos dungeon.
Among the minions of the Labyrinthos's master, Demonic Beast Barbatos, he was one of the top five strongest.
He stood about four meters tall, with a build several times that of a typical gnoll. A warrior-type monster, his weapons were his immense strength and the characteristic agility of his kind. It was no exaggeration to say his physical abilities had already transcended the gnoll race.
Fortunately, he had no particular magical abilities. His magic resistance also seemed rather low.
This was just the brief introduction. Including the finer details, the amount of information on him was incomparable to the other monsters recorded in the strategy guide.
Beneath an illustration—presumed to be drawn by Leif himself, with a note stating it was a conjecture, unlike the other drawings—was a detailed strategy Leif had researched on his own.
‘But… it doesn’t seem like it’ll be much help.’
The weakness Leif had identified in Aden was magic. Therefore, the strategy he devised focused on delivering a finishing blow using magic.
But there were no mages in Kang-seok’s party.
Kang-seok himself was, if he had to be classified, a speed-type warrior.
Seong Yu-jin was a tank-type warrior. Park Han-yeong was difficult to judge, but she was a ninja, far from being a magic user.
Among the Bloody Uncles trio, two—An Jae-min and Kim Nam-yeong—were warriors, and their leader, Kim Kang-san, was a ‘Lord.’
The Lord was one of the classes in Blood, capable of creating a massive guild. In RPG terms, it was equivalent to a ‘Hero.’
Although it was a hybrid class that used both sword and magic, they couldn’t expect much from Kim Kang-san in this fight. His level was simply too low.
‘He said the most basic attack magic is learned at level 15… Considering Yu-jin’s leveling speed, I can’t afford to wait that long. And even if he did learn it, I doubt it would be very effective.’
He couldn’t expect any help from magic in the fight against Aden. All he could rely on was the strength of the warrior-types, including himself.
‘The Supreme Overlord’s Sword.’
An ultimate skill that Kang-seok himself could not yet use.
The command input was so complex it could only be described as such.
He had a rough grasp of how to use the command. It wasn't about inputting a set of buttons like in a game. It was about recreating the 'movements' that would correspond to pressing those commands.
His body had reacted when he learned the Flying Swallow Strike. He had seen a trajectory of light with his eyes.
He couldn't use a skill with a command as complex as the Supreme Overlord's Sword yet, but the principle should be more or less the same.
‘First, I need to perfectly master the commands I already know.’
The others could level up simply by hunting monsters, but Kang-seok was different.
The ultimate skill commands he saw when he obtained Durandal and Laevateinn.
The new techniques that occasionally came to mind during battle.
And the commands he acquired by seeing others’ skills, like Kim Kang-san’s Bash.
Steeling his resolve, Kang-seok looked up. His companions were scattered around their new base, sleeping in small groups.
The Bloody Uncles trio lay side by side in the left corner, while Seong Yu-jin tossed and turned in the right corner.
Park Han-yeong lay motionlessly beside Seong Yu-jin as if dead. The fact that she had naturally lain down next to Seong Yu-jin seemed to confirm she was indeed a woman.
Kang-seok was currently standing watch in the middle of the room. When it was just him and Seong Yu-jin, he had practically given up on keeping watch due to stamina issues, but now with six people, they could afford to post a guard.
The room was dark. A few glowing stones on the ceiling were the only source of light.
[Remaining Survival Time: 480 hours 12 minutes 1 second]
His watch was almost over. Kang-seok straightened up slightly and consciously stretched.
‘Should I just buy the time?’
He had only bought a couple of hours as an experiment. He had accumulated a considerable amount of Kron by now, so he could secure a lot of time if he bought it all at once.
There was only one reason Kang-seok hesitated to buy time: the possibility that Kron had other uses.
From a gaming perspective, Kron was cash.
It might be a comical way of putting it, but buying remaining survival time with Kron was analogous to topping up a subscription.
Things you could do with cash.
In *Tushin Online*, you could buy various items with cash, like items for character customization or reducing the number of matches needed for transcendence.
‘She’s sleeping well.’
Lost in thought, Kang-seok glanced to the side and chuckled.
Seong Yu-jin was quite a restless sleeper. Should he say she couldn't lie still and sleep, but rather rolled around?
It was normal for her to wake up with her hair in a mess, and she usually woke up in a completely different spot from where she had first fallen asleep.
Right now, she was hugging Park Han-yeong and smiling blissfully, smacking her lips as if she were dreaming of eating something.
He was bored anyway, so Kang-seok decided to sit down and watch her. But just then…
An Jae-min, one of the Bloody Uncles trio, suddenly sat up.
Instead of reacting immediately, Kang-seok just watched him. Oblivious to Kang-seok's gaze, An Jae-min got up, scratching his stomach. He left the room and returned a few minutes later, apparently having gone to relieve himself.
“Oh, um. Am I next?”
Now a little more awake, An Jae-min asked Kang-seok in a small voice.
“You still have about fifteen minutes.”
“It’s a bit awkward to go back to sleep now.”
An Jae-min grinned and walked over to Kang-seok, plopping down beside him.
“I’ll just start now, so you can go to sleep early.”
It was an offer Kang-seok had never once received during his two years of military service. He blinked.
An Jae-min smiled again.
“You saved my life today. I’m not saying this makes us even, but anyway, you don’t have to feel sorry.”
With his gaunt face and the dark circles under his eyes, An Jae-min had a rather gloomy impression, but his words and actions were gentle. A somewhat timid, good person, perhaps?
When Kang-seok didn't reply right away, An Jae-min said, as if to himself.
“It’s funny to talk about being fortunate in a situation like this… but I’m glad I came in here with Kang-san. And I’m really glad I met someone as powerful as you, Kang-seok. I couldn’t say it earlier, but you were really cool.”
Kang-seok was weak to direct compliments. Hearing An Jae-min, who was likely older than him, openly praise him as cool made him feel awkward.
An Jae-min glanced over at Seong Yu-jin and asked.
“Is Yu-jin your girlfriend?”
“No, I met her for the first time here.”
Had it even been ten days since they started traveling together?
Given the circumstances, he felt more familiar with her than with girls he had known for years, but the absolute amount of time was not long at all.
‘Come to think of it, I’m a pretty decent guy.’
In comics and movies, guys in extreme situations acted like animals in heat.
But thinking about it, the situation wasn't exactly the same.
Does a person suddenly change just because they’re in another world?
They abandon decades of built-up ethics and whatnot to rape and do whatever they want with women?
No matter the hormonal effects, it was too much of an exaggeration.
Of course, if the extreme situation continued, things might change. The reason Kang-seok could maintain his composure now was partly due to his innate personality, but also because he had the strength to fight back to some extent.
Praising himself inwardly, Kang-seok nodded with a pleased expression, like most men do when facing a bathroom mirror late at night.
Unaware of Kang-seok’s inner thoughts, An Jae-min spoke in a suggestive tone.
“You two look good together.”
“Ahem.”
At the almost reflexive cough, An Jae-min chuckled softly and patted Kang-seok’s shoulder.
“Anyway, go get some sleep. I’ll take the watch from here.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Kang-seok lay down a short distance from Seong Yu-jin, and An Jae-min stood up and moved to the center of the room.
‘Maybe the Bloody Uncles are all good people…’
Muttering to himself, Kang-seok closed his eyes. Sleep instantly claimed his consciousness.
* * *
The next day, the group left their base in separate parties.
The Bloody Uncles trio formed one party.
Kang-seok, Seong Yu-jin, and Park Han-yeong formed another.
Members within a party could share certain information, like remaining survival time and Kron earned.
The reason all six didn’t form one large party was because, according to the system of *Exa Online*, parties of four or more suffered a drastic drop in experience and Kron efficiency.
There wasn't a separate field where monsters spawned like in a game. Kang-seok and the others decided to go down one level and make a wide loop around the outer part of the 7th floor.
A few hours into their ‘hunt’…
“Alright! Leveled up again!”
An Jae-min raised his arms with a bright smile. Kim Nam-yeong had also leveled up, so all three of the Bloody Uncles were in high spirits.
Fighting a life-or-death battle against a human-sized monster was not something one could easily get used to, but they had already repeated it several times.
Moreover, they could see themselves getting stronger with each level up, so it was only natural that joy would suppress their fear.
Watching Seong Yu-jin and Park Han-yeong take down the last remaining gnoll, Kang-seok grinned and looked at the Bloody Uncles.
In the short term, hunting together like this was not beneficial for Kang-seok. Kron was a resource directly tied to survival time. It might have been more advantageous for his survival to monopolize the monsters and gather Kron by himself.
But in the long run, it was a different story.
To get to the 5th floor, they had to break through Aden, King of the Gnolls, one way or another.
Could Kang-seok defeat Aden by himself? Could he continue to survive on his own?
He needed someone to hold off the other gnolls while he fought Aden. He needed comrades to defeat Aden together.
And perhaps it was a naive thought, perhaps he was just ‘deluding’ himself into thinking he had room to spare, but Kang-seok didn't want to squabble with people over Kron.
“Oh, it’s just like the game! I got a skill at level 5!”
An Jae-min raised his voice excitedly. Equally excited, Kim Nam-yeong gestured at the air.
“Where, where.”
Kim Kang-san stood a step back, watching the two with a relaxed expression. Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin also wore small smiles.
An Jae-min looked up. He struck a rather cool pose and said.
“Mr. Kang-seok, look at th…”
*CRASH!*
With a deafening roar, An Jae-min vanished. He was slammed into the wall, unmoving.
A corner where the corridor bent at a right angle. A massive being had appeared, smashing An Jae-min into the wall.
Yellow eyes glowed from between strands of jet-black fur that resembled black flames. The hand that had pinned An Jae-min to the wall was dripping with blood that wasn't the monster’s own.
“Huh?”
Dumbfounded by the scene before him, Kim Nam-yeong let out a dazed sound. Instead of running, he stared blankly at An Jae-min’s corpse embedded in the wall.
“Get back!”
Kang-seok roared like a thunderclap. But it was too late.
The black monster—Aden, King of the Gnolls—swung the axe clutched in his right hand. It split Kim Nam-yeong’s frozen body vertically.
Blood splattered. Crimson filled their vision. Kim Nam-yeong’s body, impossibly split in two, collapsed.
Floor bosses in games didn't move. They always waited for the players in their designated spots.
But this wasn't a game. This was reality. It wasn't a world where such rules were followed.
“KRRRROOOOAR!”
Aden, King of the Gnolls, roared. He unleashed his fury upon the players who had slaughtered dozens of his kin.
He was terrifying. Just facing him was enough to make one’s legs give out and collapse.
But Kang-seok gripped Durandal. He roared back, as if refusing to be defeated.
In this moment, Kang-seok had only one choice.
To fight and win.