Chapter 112
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: Rooting Out the Traitors
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The regular group, unlike the traitor group, receives shared experience and gold from party hunting.
‘Excluding the traitors, there are 201 people, so it'll be split 201 ways.’
I didn't even need to do the math to know they were getting less than a pittance of experience.
‘Well, if some players die along the way, the remaining shares will increase, I suppose.’
But since the orcs were easy, it was unlikely anyone would be in real danger.
Anyway, if you divide the 4,600 orcs from the raids by 201?
‘The calculation comes out to getting the same experience as killing 20 orcs alone.’
That meant the amount of experience they gained wasn't very much.
After thirty waves to the destination, they'd have killed 600 orcs at most.
‘But once they reach the destination, everyone gets an experience reward. A pretty big one, too.’
The core of the escort quest lay in the final experience reward.
‘It gives you a bonus of double the experience you gained while escorting.’
In other words, they would receive additional experience equivalent to killing 1,200 orcs.
This was the reason Ryu Min had said before that some players would even hit level 40.
‘Of course, that's only possible if you perform well in the human caravan.’
Wasn't Ahn Sang-chul's desire to reach level 40 the reason he went to the human caravan?
Since he was currently level 34, it was entirely possible for him if he cleared the human caravan quest.
‘Anyway, at this rate, I'll easily surpass level 60.’
Even though only one wave had passed, Ryu Min had already reached level 55.
That was one level per wave.
‘If I fend off the remaining 29 raids, I'll easily pass level 60.’
It was inevitable, as Ryu Min had experience buffs.
A 3x buff limited to the 8th round and a 1.5x buff from his title.
With a total of 4.5x, he was bound to pull ahead of the others.
‘Besides, I'm not in a party.’
Since he was in the traitor group, which allowed for soloing, he received all the experience and gold for the 463 orcs he killed.
‘The other traitors are in the same boat, but they couldn't have killed as many as I did.’
At most, how many could they kill alone? Maybe 50?
No matter how easy the orcs were to deal with, they couldn't one-shot them, so it would be impossible to kill more than that.
‘Still, they have brains, so those traitors will be calculating their gains and losses.’
Unless they were idiots, they would have already realized how lucrative the experience from soloing was.
‘They'll be reluctant to complete the quest early.’
If they stopped the caravan and finished the quest, the experience would stop flowing, so they would feel it was a waste.
‘Especially since they'll want to level up a bit against these easy orcs.’
As he was thinking this, the dwarf shouted.
“Let's get moving again!”
The wagon started to move.
*Clop-clop-clop-*
But it was only for a moment.
Ten minutes must have passed, as the second wave began.
“These crazy pig bastards! Already?”
“We barely got any rest.”
The players complained, but they still fought the orcs for experience.
However, some players couldn't help but lose their motivation, and for a simple reason.
*Sh-sh-sh-shink-!*
Ryu Min's overwhelming skill.
Witnessing the majestic sight of him slicing through four orcs with a single swing of his scythe would make anyone feel discouraged.
It was even more so because his level was already high, and on top of that, he had Min Ju-ri's buffs.
“Wow… While I'm struggling to kill one, how many is Black Scythe killing?”
“Hah, this is seriously demoralizing.”
“At this rate, do we even need to hunt?”
“Right? We get experience even if we just stand here.”
“Should we try to get carried by Black Scythe?”
With such thoughts, a few players quietly backed away.
They stopped fighting, claiming it was too hard, even though they could have killed more.
Since experience was flowing in even if they did nothing, it was only natural for lazy thoughts to creep in.
Ryu Min, who was in the middle of hunting, saw this and the corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk.
‘In others' eyes, I must look like a party member. That's probably why they think they can get carried.’
The constant stream of experience messages made people mistakenly believe they were gaining experience even when Ryu Min was the one killing.
‘But they shouldn't be slacking off. The rankings are based on contribution.’
The ranking method for this round was the total amount of contribution.
Simply escorting wouldn't be enough to make it into the top half.
‘Successfully escorting is just the basic condition; the real ranking is determined by how much you contributed to killing monsters.’
That's why if they sat around lazily like that, this might be their last round.
Seo Ah-rin and Min Ju-ri also knew this, which was why they were hunting diligently.
‘Ah, Min Ju-ri is an exception. She'll gain enough contribution to pass even without fighting hard.’
Before the hunt, Min Ju-ri had gone around to each of the players.
The reason was simple.
It was to increase her contribution by casting buffs on them.
“Hello, my class is Buffer. Would you like to receive a buff?”
“Huh? A buff?”
Like a missionary, Min Ju-ri cast buffs on people for free.
To others, she might have looked like a snake oil salesman, but the actual response from those who received it was explosive.
“Whoa, my stats went up by 60%?”
“What? For real?”
“I'm telling you! You should get one too.”
“Where is she? This Buffer. Give me one too!”
“Whoaaa! All my stats really went up!”
“Me too! Give me a buff!”
“Over here! There's someone who hasn't gotten a buff yet!”
“Ye-Yes, I'm c-coming!”
It was only twenty minutes ago that a somewhat flustered Min Ju-ri had left to distribute buffs.
‘Seeing them clamor for buffs, it's clear that Bless really is a broken skill.’
Min Ju-ri was frantic, casting buffs on about 230 people.
Moreover, she was also casting Swift, but since its duration was only 30 minutes, she had to make her rounds several more times afterward.
“Ugh, this is surprisingly busy. Haha.”
Min Ju-ri had never imagined she would be this popular.
‘Later on, a saying even started to spread: "There may be those who have never received a Buffer's buff, but there are none who have received it only once." That says it all.’
The players who learned of the Buffer's existence would call for her whenever their buffs ran out.
Although being summoned here and there didn't look great, it was a profitable business for Min Ju-ri.
‘In fact, it's a huge gain. When a player she buffed kills a monster, Min Ju-ri also gets contribution points.’
Just imagine getting 1% of the contribution from 230 people.
She could meet the contribution quota just by doing nothing.
Therefore, Ryu Min wasn't worried about Min Ju-ri being eliminated from the round.
He wasn't worried about Seo Ah-rin either.
She was doing her part, using her summons to give allies shield buffs and even handling the tanking.
“Pant, pant.”
After fending off the seventh raid, while the players were exhausted, the dwarf Heimer pounded his chest and shouted.
“Have you killed them all? Let's get moving, warriors from another world!”
“Hey, old dwarf! You have to give us some time to rest!”
“Where is there time to rest? If we don't move now, the monsters will attack. If you want to rest, rest while you walk.”
At the sight of the dwarf driving the wagon as he spoke, the players got up irritably.
There was hardly any time to sit down.
‘I bet they're feeling the urge to kill that dwarf right about now.’
Even among the regular players, murderous intent would be brewing, so how much worse would it be for the traitors?
The difficulty itself wasn't high, but the lack of rest made it quite tiring.
Like a forced march, day and night without rest.
The energetic Ryu Min, however, wished the hunting would continue nonstop.
‘My level has already reached 59.’
Just one more level and I'll finally reach the Master grade.
Then, Master-grade Normal equipment would appear in the shop, and I could use the Unique materials I'd already bought to enhance all of it.
‘And I'll get new skills and functions, too.’
Both were efficient skills and functions, so he couldn't help but look forward to leveling up quickly.
‘By the way, when are they going to make their move?’
The people Ryu Min was referring to were not the traitor group.
Someone from the regular group would step up.
That is, if they had a decent head on their shoulders.
Sure enough.
“Everyone! Instead of just hunting like this, shouldn't we find the traitors first? At this rate, we'll all collapse before we even find them!”
At someone's shout, people nodded in agreement.
“That's right, we can't just keep killing monsters.”
“Yeah. We have to find those traitor bastards.”
“But how do we find them?”
“I have a way!”
The person who made the initial proposal continued.
“They said the traitors aren't in a party, right? That means they'll take damage if we stab them. So, let's attack each other to check. What do you think?”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
“We'll be able to find them easily then.”
“Let's do it!”
The players agreed to this truly simple method of rooting out the traitors.
On the other hand, the traitors, without exception, kept their mouths shut.
No doubt their minds were in turmoil, thinking that the inevitable had finally come.
“Aren't the people who are quiet right now the traitors?”
“Hehe, looks like it.”
“They're probably scared. Their identities are about to be exposed.”
The regular group laughed, while the traitor group was in a bind.
-*Shit, what do we do? We're going to get caught at this rate.*
-*Since it's come to this, we have to kill the damn dwarf quickly.*
Ryu Min, who was reading the traitors' thoughts, happened to make eye contact with them.
-*Sir Black Scythe. Please make the first move.*
-*Let's attack the dwarf together. It's now or never.*
They sent their thoughts through their gazes, but Ryu Min turned his head and deliberately ignored them.
‘Selfish bastards. Why don't you just announce to everyone that I'm a traitor?’
He had expected things to turn out this way.
Although it was a bit later than he thought.
“Those of you with AoE skills, please feel free to use them on the other players now.”
“Understood!”
“Then let's begin! Attack the person next to you!”
The players suddenly started stabbing each other.
*Ting- ting-!*
The clear sound of metal striking metal rang out from all over.
“Whoa, it really does no damage!”
“It's like hitting a lump of iron.”
“You're definitely in our party!”
But it wasn't just clear sounds that were heard.
*Thwack-*
“Aargh!”
“W-What? This guy's sword went through!”
“It's a traitor! That bastard's a traitor!”
Some traitors, caught in the middle of the crowd of players, were attacked before they could even react.
“Kill them! Kill the traitor bastards!”
*Stab- stab- stab-!*
“Keoheok!”
A traitor became a pincushion for the blades stabbing at him from all directions.
There was no way a single person could dodge attacks coming from all sides.
Besides, these were players who had already committed murder in the 4th round.
They had no hesitation in stabbing people.
“Alright! We've caught one traitor over here!”
“Over here too!”
“There was a traitor here as well!”
Traitors were being weeded out all over the place, and the remaining ones panicked.
“Shit! You sons of bitches!”
A few traitors attacked the players first before they could be exposed.
“Gah! Th-That bastard, he suddenly stabbed me.”
“He's definitely a traitor! Get him!”
The traitors dodged the players' attacks and ran somewhere.
In this situation, there was only one way for them to survive.
To kill the dwarfs and complete the quest.
By doing so, they could forcibly end the escort quest, escape this desperate situation, and save their own lives.
‘Heimer, kill Heimer.’
The traitors' swords, their eyes filled with killing intent, headed for the dwarf Heimer, who was driving the wagon.
Heimer, oblivious to this, shouted at the players.
“H-Hey there, warriors from another world! What is all this, suddenly?”
He was simply bewildered by the situation where the warriors from another world were turning their swords on each other.
He never imagined the stray sparks would fly his way.
Then he turned his head belatedly and saw it.
“You short little bastard, die!”
“Ah, ah!”
Just as the tip of the sword was about to reach the dwarf.
*Clang-!*
Ryu Min blocked the traitors.
In none other than his Lost Ark form.