Chapter 120
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: 8th Round Result Aggregation
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The moment the title ‘Time Regressor’ appeared above my head, the Archbishop’s gaze changed.
His eyes hadn’t looked up, so he hadn’t seen the title itself.
He felt it instinctively.
‘Just as I thought, there’s a reaction.’
Is it really because he’s an NPC?
Whenever I change my title, the otherworlders seem to know instinctively.
What kind of person their opponent is, what reputation they hold.
It feels as if that information becomes a part of the world’s settings.
“Who… are you?”
“My name is not important. What is important is what I am called.”
“Have you truly… regressed through time?”
Ryu Min nodded.
What more needed to be said?
‘The Archbishop already sees me as a transcendent being who traverses time.’
There was no need to read his mind.
The change in his tone of voice made it obvious.
“Heh heh, to think a Time Regressor truly exists. It seems one must live a long life to see everything. Now I understand. How you possess such immense power.”
The Archbishop, nodding to himself, made his eyes gleam.
“In that case, are you an agent of Chronos?”
Ryu Min nodded.
There was no reason to deny it when he was making the assumption himself.
The Archbishop believed Ryu Min’s words without a shred of doubt.
The title ‘Time Regressor’ was as good as proof of his transcendence.
“Ah, Agent of Chronos. Meeting you is the greatest fortune of my entire life.”
“I’m sure it is.”
Ryu Min said, his expression somewhat blunt.
At that, the Archbishop’s mind raced.
‘Is he displeased about something?’
As an archbishop who serves a god, how should one act upon meeting a god’s agent?
Naturally, one should try to make a good impression, right?
Having come to that conclusion, the Archbishop gave a subtle smile.
“I have a tribute to offer you, Agent.”
The Archbishop took something out from within his robes.
The moment Ryu Min received it, a message appeared.
[You have received the ‘Rune Fragment of Foresight’ as a reward from the Holy Empire’s Archbishop, Laber.]
[Using the ‘Rune Fragment of Foresight’.]
[The acquired rune is automatically engraved onto the player’s body!]
A smile formed on Ryu Min’s lips as he obtained what he wanted.
“How is it? Is it not an item befitting an agent of a god?”
“Indeed. I am satisfied.”
A grin spread across Ryu Min’s face as an information window appeared before his eyes.
[Rune of Foresight]
-Effect: See 7 seconds into the target’s future. The future may change from moment to moment depending on the circumstances.
Ryu Min immediately looked into the Archbishop’s future.
Seven seconds later, the Archbishop was a cold corpse.
It was a necessary evil for Ryu Min to survive.
“How is it?”
“I am satisfied. Therefore, as a reward, I shall send you back to your god.”
“Truly?”
Ryu Min nodded to the delighted Archbishop and moved his hand.
He grabbed the Archbishop’s head and twisted.
*Crack—*
He died from a broken neck.
‘I hold no ill will.’
Whether he was a real otherworlder or a manufactured NPC, I didn’t know, but if I didn’t kill him, I would be the one eliminated.
Leaving the peacefully deceased Archbishop seated in the carriage, Ryu Min stepped outside.
“Did your conversation go well?”
At the guard captain’s question, Ryu Min nodded as he closed the carriage door.
“Yes. The Archbishop said he has things to think about and not to be disturbed.”
“The Archbishop said that?”
When he nodded, the guard captain replied that he understood and turned away without any particular suspicion.
After getting what he wanted, the 26th wave began.
While dispatching the monsters, Ryu Min occasionally glanced at the Archbishop’s carriage.
It was to make sure no one went inside.
‘I must not be found out for killing the Archbishop until the 30th wave.’
Ryu Min’s objective was to assassinate all the otherworlders in the carriages.
With one coachman per carriage, he had to kill a total of 50 people.
‘Plus the guard captain and the Archbishop, that makes 52.’
He had already killed the Archbishop, so now he had to kill the rest.
And he had to do it as quickly and cleanly as possible.
‘When the final 30th wave starts, that’s when I’ll move.’
He waited, and the 30th wave began.
“Minotaurs! Block them!”
“Tough bastards! They’re attacking again without getting tired.”
“Ten minutes left! Let’s push a little harder!”
Encouraging one another, the players squeezed out their last ounces of strength.
Their numbers, which had started at 1,202, had now dwindled to just around 1,000.
Given the difficulty, it wasn’t strange that there were casualties.
Leaving them to fight for their lives, Ryu Min began assassinating the coachmen.
*Crack—*
‘Five.’
*Crack—*
‘Twenty.’
*Crack—*
‘Forty-two.’
He moved from carriage to carriage, silently taking the lives of the coachmen.
Not only were his movements exceptionally stealthy, but the other players were too preoccupied with their life-or-death battle against the monsters to notice.
*Crack—*
‘Fifty.’
And finally, the last one remaining was the guard captain.
Ryu Min approached him stealthily from behind and twisted his neck.
*Crack!*
All the otherworlders were dead.
At that moment.
[The Holy Empire’s reputation towards the Last Time Regressor has dropped from ‘Neutral’ to ‘Hostile’.]
The temple’s reputation turned hostile.
But conversely, there was also welcome news.
[You have eliminated all otherworlders from the human merchant caravan.]
[Quest ‘Hinder the Caravan from Reaching its Destination’ has been completed.]
[Quest success rewards will be given during the result aggregation.]
[The stat reduction debuff has been lifted.]
[You will soon be returned to the waiting area.]
He had completed the traitor quest, just as he had planned.
What about the players in the normal group?
He turned his gaze and saw them still engaged in a bloody battle with the Minotaurs.
‘Just as I expected.’
The normal group’s quest was to escort the caravan to its destination.
In other words, if the carriages were at the destination when the time limit expired, they would succeed.
Conversely, the traitor group’s quest was to hinder the caravan from reaching its destination.
That is, they would succeed if the carriages were not at the destination when the time limit expired.
‘But the traitor group has another success condition.’
That is, when all the otherworlders are eliminated.
Just like now.
‘If all the otherworlders in the caravan are killed, the carriages are considered unable to move further. The system judges this as a success for the traitor group.’
The success message that popped up just now was proof of that.
So, did that mean the normal group had failed?
‘They haven’t failed yet.’
With about five minutes remaining, the system hadn’t registered it as a failure.
That meant there was still a chance.
‘If I can just get the carriages to the destination, the normal group can also succeed in their quest.’
In other words, even without the NPCs, simply bringing the carriages to the destination would meet the success condition.
‘Then the method is simple.’
Ryu Min created a clone and had it sit in the lead carriage.
Then, he had it drive the carriage toward the destination.
‘If the lead carriage moves, the other carriages will follow automatically, even without coachmen.’
He had already tested this in a previous regression, so there was no room for doubt.
This was the result of cleverly exploiting a system loophole.
‘This way, I win, and the normal group wins too.’
If his clone led the carriages to the destination, then the normal group could complete the quest even without him there.
A moment later.
[Moving to the waiting area.]
With the message, Ryu Min’s form vanished.
He blinked once and arrived in the gray space where the traitors had gathered.
[Oh, Black Scythe? Seeing you here means you succeeded in your quest, I presume?]
The angel Ariel’s lips curled into an unpleasant smile.
[Kekek, so in the end, you chose to save yourself and abandon the lives of 1,201 others? Well, nothing is more important than one’s own life. It’s a natural choice.]
It seemed the angel was unaware of the situation on the other side.
[Don’t feel guilty. It was a quest where one side had to die anyway.]
“…”
[And isn’t it more entertaining when the few defeat the many? You provided plenty of entertai—]
Suddenly, Ariel stopped mid-sentence, her expression twisting.
[What’s this? An error?]
“What is it?”
[I just received a notification that the normal group of the human merchant caravan succeeded in their quest. Something must be wrong. I need to check what happened.]
Saying so, Ariel stared into the empty air as if reading system messages and remained silent for a while.
It was only after a few minutes had passed that the angel broke her silence.
[Impossible. Black Scythe. What did you do?]
“What do you mean?”
[The recorded footage shows your clone moving the carriages. Even after all the otherworlders were dead. Because of that, the carriages reached the destination, and the normal group succeeded in their quest.]
“Is that so? That’s a relief.”
[A relief? Does that mean you deliberately used a clone to get the carriages to the destination? To save the normal group?]
“Yes. Isn’t it better for everyone to survive than for me to survive alone? It would be more entertaining that way, too.”
[…]
Ariel was at a loss for words.
‘He saved both groups? Is that even possible?’
Even she, the guide, hadn’t known such a method existed.
It would be impossible without a precise understanding and grasp of the system’s success and failure conditions.
“There’s no problem, is there? The system registered it as a success.”
[…No. There is no problem.]
Though flabbergasted, Ariel had no choice but to admit it.
Black Scythe had made both groups succeed in their quests.
[The quest is a success. I will send you back to your original position.]
No sooner had she finished speaking than Ryu Min was returned to the colorless space where he had first started.
Looking around, he saw many players blinking, waiting for the results.
Among them were Jo Yong-ho’s party and Ahn Sang-chul.
Min Ju-ri, Seo Ah-rin, Heo Tae-seok, and Eom Jun-seok were also there.
‘Everyone survived.’
Only a very small number had died; the thousands he had seen at the beginning were all gathered in one place.
If he hadn’t exploited the system loophole, half of them would have vanished.
Although, half would be eliminated shortly based on the aggregation results anyway.
‘I can’t prevent elimination based on contribution.’
Before long, the angel Ariel appeared before the crowd.
[This concludes the escort quest. Surprisingly, not many humans died. Thanks to someone.]
Ariel’s gaze briefly landed on Ryu Min.
[For your information, since a traitor remained, there are no sub-quest completers. Now, shall we look at the results?]
★ 8th Round Result Aggregation ★
[All Zones]
└1st. Black Scythe (Lv80 Reaper) Contribution 281,283
└2nd. Crissy (Lv40 Priest) Contribution 86,331
└3rd. Democracy (Lv38 Buffer) Contribution 82,113
[Current Zone C2-ESKA003]
└1st. Black Scythe (Lv80 Reaper) Contribution 281,283
└2nd. Democracy (Lv38 Buffer) Contribution 82,113
└3rd. Jo Yong-ho (Lv39 Mercenary King) Contribution 74,213
The results, quantified by contribution points.
Once again, Black Scythe had taken an overwhelming amount of contribution.
Unlike the other players, he had single-handedly swept through the monsters of three caravans, so it was only natural for his score to be high.
As he took first place again, the players clicked their tongues in amazement.
But what truly silenced them was the staggering number of level 80.
‘Crazy. How did he hit level 80 already?’
‘I haven’t even hit level 40 yet.’
‘Wow, I struggled like hell for five hours and I can’t even touch Black Scythe’s toes.’
‘I really want to know his secret to leveling up.’
Gazes mixed with envy, jealousy, and awe were directed at Ryu Min.
Regardless, Ryu Min was focused only on the reward that had appeared before him.
It was the success reward for the traitor quest, hidden by a question mark.