Chapter 163
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 163
Chapter Title: End of the 10th Round
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“Someone who received an oracle?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
The players looked baffled at the angel’s question.
Not only did they not understand the intent behind it, but they also seemed completely unaware that anyone could even receive an oracle.
[Ahem. Never mind. If there’s no one, then forget it.]
The angel backpedaled as if it had asked unnecessarily, but Ryu Min felt certain watching the exchange.
‘Looks like even they don’t know who killed Remiel.’
Or maybe they thought it wasn’t killed but simply missing.
No bodies had been found—not Remiel’s, nor any of the other angels’.
‘But they must know it was a player who did it.’
They’d sent out distress signals, and a bunch of angels had mobilized, so word must have gotten around that a player had attacked them.
They just didn’t know who, and since the combat angels had mobilized at the oracle altar, that’s why they were asking like this.
‘Asking so outright, though. Did they really think the culprit would just raise their hand and confess?’
It was a foolish question, but the angel had to know that too.
Anyone capable of taking on combat angels would be a player of considerable power.
And the prime suspect would be none other than Black Scythe.
Sure enough.
He could feel the angel’s gaze sneaking glances his way.
It was too scared to stare openly.
‘Well, yeah. Having a player crazy enough to massacre angels would be terrifying.’
They always dismissed players as bugs, but these were lowliest of the lowly ninth-rank angels.
Strip away their ability to kill with a glance, and they had bodies as frail as any human’s.
That’s why even the angels knew better than to descend from the sky and keep their distance.
Deep down, they feared the players.
‘They might suspect me, but there’s no proof I did it. They couldn’t even imagine that one of their mighty archangels got taken out.’
Even if they called it a disappearance, it’d be a massive scandal for them.
An archangel had vanished, after all.
‘But no need to worry. Without evidence, I won’t face any consequences.’
It had been the same in previous regressions.
He’d used an oracle to summon combat angels and kill them, but suffered no penalties.
No evidence.
And mere suspicion wasn’t enough for them to act.
There were rules preventing angels from messing with players without cause.
‘Even in the early rounds, when it was about intimidation, after that, they needed just cause to use their instant-kill ability.’
They threatened to crush skulls on the spot, but in reality, they couldn’t.
Even with instant-kill, they couldn’t off players for trivial reasons.
It would ruin the game they’d so carefully set up.
That’s why Ryu Min felt at ease.
They might suspect him, but they couldn’t touch him right now.
‘The problem is, for the demon’s blessing and soul-binding quests, I need to keep killing angels...’
A long tail gets stepped on eventually; he might get caught.
‘I need to be even more careful from now on.’
As Ryu Min turned his gaze toward it, the angel whipped its head away and stammered.
[Th-then, shall we look at the tally results?]
It definitely suspected Black Scythe as the culprit.
★ 10th Round Results Tally ★
[All Zones]
└1st. Black Scythe (Lv89 Reaper) 10 completed 09:48:01
└2nd. Cheonma (Lv44 Dark Knight) 7 completed 09:37:39
└3rd. Dumb Idiots (Lv43 Shaman) 7 completed 09:49:01
[This Zone C3-ESKA001]
└1st. Black Scythe (Lv89 Reaper) 10 completed 09:48:01
└2nd. Cheonma (Lv44 Dark Knight) 7 completed 09:37:39
└3rd. Dumb Idiots (Lv43 Shaman) 7 completed 09:49:01
The results were as expected.
‘Sure enough, I’m first overall, and the rest are Ma Kyung-rok and Joo Seong-tak.’
They’d probably shaved time off by efficiently clearing monster subjugations over other quests.
In terms of combat prowess worldwide, those two were right behind Black Scythe.
‘Dark Knight’s that strong. And Shaman’s an overpowered class too.’
Plus, landing in the top three came with various rewards and perks.
Those rewards let them grow stronger and keep dominating the rankings.
That’s why those two had monopolized second and third place across all zones from the start.
[Everyone see your rankings? Only the top 690 survive; everyone else gets erased. Let’s see... yeah, mostly those with three or fewer quests cleared are gone?]
“Angel sir! I cleared three quests and still made the rankings!”
[That can happen. When quest counts tie, it’s ranked by completion time. You can sneak into the rankings with just three if you’re fast enough.]
“Phew, what a relief.”
“So four’s the safe zone, huh.”
“Aaah! Fuck, I should’ve cleared one more instead of messing around!”
“Nooo! I don’t wanna die, you fuckeeeers!”
[I can’t stop the system. Farewell to the eliminated.]
With the angel’s words, ash scattered—passt.
Three-quarters of the crowd vanished, leaving the bustling space feeling empty.
Ryu Min ignored it all, focused only on checking his reward messages.
[Congratulations! You’ve achieved 1st place in this zone!]
[Congratulations! You’ve achieved 1st place across all zones!]
[‘Black Scythe’s current ranking: 1st overall, 1st in this zone.]
[1st place reward for this zone: ‘Lucky Bundle’ granted!]
[1st place reward across all zones: ‘Special Reward Selection Box’ granted!]
Ryu Min used the Lucky Bundle first.
[Touch to select your desired reward.]
└ 1. Gold Bundle
└ 2. Rune Bundle
└ 3. Material Bundle
└ 4. Equipment Bundle
‘Fitting for the 10th round—the rewards are generous.’
Lucky Bundles weren’t handed out lightly.
As you can see, it was a free shot at runes.
‘Plenty of options, but nothing beats runes.’
He’d tried them all in past regressions just in case, but nothing matched a rune’s value.
[You selected 2. Rune Bundle.]
[Rune Bundle granted to inventory.]
[Rune Bundle]
- Type: Consumable
- Grade: Legendary
- Effect: Acquire a random rune.
- Use Restriction: Expert grade or higher
- Description: Item granting a random rune. Runes have no individual grades, so Luck stat has no effect.
‘No Luck influence, huh? Might as well open it now.’
Ryu Min held off on using it.
No rush, and pulling something bad right away would just sour his mood.
‘I’ll save this for later. Time to use the other one first.’
Ryu Min opened the Special Reward Selection Box.
[Select one of the following special rewards.]
[Touch to choose.]
└ 1. Temporary Skill - Clairvoyance (11th round only)
└ 2. 1.5x Point Gain Buff (11th round only)
└ 3. Info on the 11th round
Unlike past XP or stat buffs, these were new options.
Anyone clueless about the 11th round would’ve racked their brains over what was best.
‘But I don’t need to think twice.’
The 11th round was all about point farming.
Option 2 looked tempting, but Ryu Min picked 1.
‘Farming points is no issue. Controlling the situation is what matters.’
For that, a transcendent ability like Clairvoyance would be a huge help.
Plus, being round-limited, now was the only time to use it.
[I’ll grant clear rewards of experience to the 690 survivors. Distributed based on sub-quest completions, so keep that in mind.]
Moments later, messages confirmed the XP award, and cheers erupted from the players.
“Ooh, I leveled up three times.”
“Mine went up four.”
“Good thing I cleared so many quests!”
Some had jumped enough to hit level 50, but Ryu Min only gained one.
Didn’t matter.
He had stacks of stat points piled up.
‘With over three thousand points sitting there, level-up points barely make a dent.’
As he pondered distributing them evenly later, a message hit and consciousness faded.
◀ ROUND 10 END ▶
[All Zones]
└Survivors: 137,632
[This Zone C3-ESKA001]
└Survivors: 690
[Your soul will soon transfer back to your original body in the previous dimension.]
[11th round begins at midnight, November 1st, 2022. See you in the next round. Congratulations on surviving.]
* * *
A few days after returning home.
Ryu Min’s phone buzzed.
A push notification from a subscribed news outlet.
[CPF Vice-Captain Black Scythe confirmed to have wiped out IS...]
[FBI and Interpol verify: Figure in beheading video is indeed IS leader al-Baghdadi...]
[Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari: Grateful to Black Scythe for doing our job...]
[Airport staff confirm: Black Scythe did indeed depart for Nigeria?!]
[President Yoon expresses desire to award commendation to Black Scythe for crushing public enemy IS and elevating national prestige...]
Presidents worldwide expressed gratitude in print, but Ryu Min heard none directly.
He’d set Lost Ark’s phone to silent and left it alone.
‘Presidents, reporters, advertisers, squad members, police chief, etc. Probably calls from everywhere.’
He knew, but hadn’t checked—not out of laziness.
He was biding his time.
‘Not the right moment to step into the spotlight. Just look at these comments.’
Ryu Min checked the comments on one article.
[Black Scythe: Hero who saved a chaotic world? Or murderer of thousands?]
Beneath the grandiose headline, comments flooded in.
└Hero my ass. Just a serial killer.
└Korea treats you like a serial killer even for offing criminals! Elite class! Time to GTFO Hel Joseon. Ptoo!
└Don’t twist it, you moron. Why the obsession with human rights? What about presumption of innocence? Aren’t criminals human too?
└Nah, they’re not. Those shitheads are worse than livestock.
└Doesn’t justify murder.
└Spot on. Nothing scarier than murder getting a pass. If dogs and cats start killing, what’s the point of law? This make sense in a rule-of-law state?
└You clowns up top. Law already says players are fair game if dangerous. Never heard of the Anti-Player Act?
└You’re the ignorant one. Anti-Player Act’s only for real threats. Black Scythe hunted down and massacred stationary targets—same difference. And he killed civilians too?
└IS civilians? Buncha criminal terrorist shitheads.
└LMAOOOO first time seeing someone cap for IS.
└Agreed. Desperate shielding screams Muslim.
└Facts get you called a shielder. Delusional wins again. Morons. Black Scythe’s a murderer, period.
└Agree on murderer. Killing thousands—not one, thousands? Can’t call that human. Straight-up demon.
└President Yoon and Nigeria’s Prez said thanks. Case closed, no?
└Yep. Presidents basically endorsed it. Means they don’t see it as illegal.
└So Black Scythe did good?
└Didn’t he?
└IS is the worst terror group every country hates. Killing ’em seems right.
└Nah, crossed the line into murder.
└Lol, spotting the “war means no killing” whiners
└Shut up already. Quit keyboard warrior-ing and go wash your feet before bed.
The comments were on fire.
Endless hero-or-villain debates raged.
‘Shoot an ad, accept a presidential commendation, do interviews in this mess?’
Ryu Min shook his head.
‘Could backfire.’
Like pouring oil on a roaring fire.
That’d undermine his goal of elevating Black Scythe’s status.
So Ryu Min waited.
He wouldn’t touch Lost Ark’s phone until the flames died down.
But.
The fire cooled faster than expected.
An article putting the controversy to rest had just gone up.