Chapter 176
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: People Chasing the Black Scythe
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After the 11th round began, Ma Kyung-rok looked around him.
More flustered than usual.
‘Damn it, we’ve all scattered?’
He’d assumed that since it was a team battle, they would stick together, but they had dispersed like in an individual match.
It was an unexpected situation he had never heard about from the Prophet, which made it all the more disconcerting.
‘What the hell happened? Did the Prophet forget to mention it? Or... no way...’
Ma Kyung-rok shook his head.
No way the Prophet had deliberately withheld the information.
There would be no benefit in it for him.
‘He probably didn’t know we’d scatter.’
Even the seemingly flawless Prophet occasionally overlooked crucial details like this.
‘Tch, at this rate, there’s no way to find Christine.’
Ma Kyung-rok intended to protect his fiancée, Christine.
He had to at least make a show of trying to rescue her, or they’d have something on him.
‘Honestly, I don’t love her. How could I develop real feelings for some foreigner after just a few months?’
A fiancée in name only.
That said, he didn’t want anything bad to happen to her.
No businessman in the world wanted a key business tie to fall apart.
‘I wanted to keep her safe... but scattered like this, I can’t even track her.’
He knew her nickname was Cris, but they had never met in the other world, so he had no idea what she looked like.
Without a matching condition, tracking was impossible.
He couldn’t see where to even start looking for Christine.
‘Maybe I should just grind quests and rack up points?’
No matter how he racked his brain, there was no way to help her.
The most he could do to help was accumulate points to keep the team alive.
‘No need to worry. The Prophet said a lifesaver who rescues Christine would appear.’
If things went according to prophecy, she wouldn’t die, so there was no need for him to step in.
Not that he could, even if he wanted to.
‘Let’s focus on farming points. Where should I go for quests?’
Conveniently, a well-paved road stretched ahead, wide enough for carriages.
At its end loomed a massive city ringed by walls.
‘A kingdom? Bound to be plenty of quests there.’
As he started walking, a sudden thought hit Ma Kyung-rok.
‘What if I run into other players?’
If they were Korean players, he could smile and greet them, but foreigners?
‘Teaming up with foreigners offers no upside under the rules.’
They lived in different places and weren’t on the same team.
No point sharing, no common language.
They were nothing but rivals to take down.
‘Killing other players gives points, right? And a ton of them.’
In that sense, foreigners made for perfect prey.
Walking point bundles, practically.
‘If I don’t kill them, they’ll come for me first. I’m not the only one thinking this.’
With that, Ma Kyung-rok made up his mind.
If he encountered a foreigner, he’d size up the situation and kill them.
It was unavoidable for survival.
‘Hold on. What if hunting foreigners is faster for points than grinding quests?’
He might even hit ranking one and snag zone representative.
‘No. Becoming zone rep is worthless. Black Scythe would just kill me and take it.’
High-level players were immune to zone control, so even as rep, he couldn’t stop Black Scythe.
‘Ranking two is the best play right now. One will be Black Scythe anyway.’
He’d clear one subquest first, then figure out which netted points faster—killing players or quests.
‘Let’s check the surroundings first?’
He activated his area scan skill to look for red dots.
‘Huh? Behind me...?’
Spotting a red dot closing in from behind, Ma Kyung-rok drew his sword and spun around.
“Who the hel... Manager Ahn?”
“Representative!”
Rushing up like a dog reunited with its owner was none other than Ahn Sang-chul.
“What happened? Did you track me down, Manager Ahn?”
“Of course. The moment we dropped into this weird place, I tracked you first. We’re on the same team—better to move together, right?”
Ma Kyung-rok nodded.
He had felt uneasy moving alone, but with his right-hand man at his side, it was reassuring.
“Want to go hunt some quests together?”
“Yes, Representative. But...”
“...?”
“Maybe it’d be better to move with a buffer’s help?”
“You mean Democracy?”
“Yes. I’m so used to her buffs that without them, it feels empty—like we’re missing out.”
It made sense.
A single buff boosted stats by 70 percent—the difference was huge.
Without it now, he even felt debuffed.
“You’re right. With that Bless buff, we’d be good for three hours straight.”
“Then let’s track Democracy.”
Ma Kyung-rok stopped Ahn Sang-chul as he moved to use his tracking skill.
“No, let’s head to Black Scythe instead.”
“Huh? Black Scythe?”
“Democracy’s sure to stick with Black Scythe. We’re not close to her—if we show up, we’ll just put her on guard. Better to tag along with Black Scythe, since we have some rapport. We’ll naturally get Democracy’s buffs that way, and we can watch how he farms points up close.”
“True. Black Scythe’s dominated every round so far. We’ll do it your way, Representative.”
The two shared a smile and changed course.
Their tracking target: none other than Black Scythe.
* * *
At the same time.
In other countries, plenty were thinking just like Ma Kyung-rok.
“The angel said it clearly, right? Killing other players gives points.”
“That’s right.”
The Chinese player [Shi Zicang] flashed a sinister grin.
A normal person might hesitate at murder, but not him.
He had clawed his way to triad executive by his late twenties on raw talent.
Killing was child’s play for him.
“Farming points is a fucking breeze. Just grab any bastards we see and kill ’em?”
“Exactly, boss. But no killing Chinese.”
“You think I don’t get that, you shit? Fuck!”
He reared back like he’d strike, and the subordinate apologized on the spot.
“I overstepped. Sorry.”
Even here in the other world, the guy played lackey without complaint.
Shi Zicang’s killing prowess commanded respect.
“If you don’t wanna die today, listen up. We gotta survive to the end and snag those exec seats. Tch!”
“Sorry!”
“We’ll follow only you, Shi Zicang!”
His nine subordinates bowed their heads, and Shi Zicang smiled in satisfaction.
“Obey me, and I’ll keep you all alive.”
A player-dominated world was coming.
Normals would end up as slaves, while only the survivors reigned as kings.
‘The triads will be the same. Survive the rounds, and I can crush all the rivals.’
The triads were already player-run.
The old non-player execs had been purged ages ago.
The ones gripping real power were all twenties players, and he was one of them—his skills had rocketed him up the ranks.
‘It’s not the strongest who takes the triads. It’s the one who outlasts the rounds.’
Shi Zicang dreamed of climbing higher.
For that dream, slaughtering foreign players was nothing.
Murder was the specialty of his berserker class anyway.
“From here on, we hunt players from other countries. Treat ’em like monsters. Kill without mercy the second we see them. That’s how we survive.”
“But Shi Zicang, how do we tell if they’re foreign? No nicknames visible, and appearances are customized.”
“Dumb fuck. Just talk to them. Language won’t match.”
“Oh.”
“Got it? Move out. Keep area scan on and kill every bastard we spot.”
“Keh, got it.”
Shi Zicang laughed with his crew and got to work.
Two red dots nearby, perfect.
“Let’s go!”
Charging with sword drawn, he closed the gap in seconds.
They looked like Western players.
“What the?”
The Westerner had sensed the approach with presence detection, but it was too late.
“Hey, you guys aren’t Chinese, right?”
“What...”
“Knew it. Chinks.”
Shi Zicang unleashed his skill without hesitation.
‘Bloodied Grasp.’
A massive red hand materialized from thin air and snatched one Westerner.
It yanked him right to Shi Zicang’s feet, where a red-glowing blade came crashing down on his head.
Slash-!
“Ho, holy shit!!!”
His buddy panicked at the sight and bolted without looking back.
Or tried to.
Shi Zicang’s subordinates stabbed him full of holes first.
Stab-! Stab-! Stab-!
“Gaaack...”
Shi Zicang eyed the skewered Westerner and asked his men.
“Who got the last hit?”
“Pretty sure it was me.”
“How many points?”
“290 points.”
“Yeah? I got 350. Weird.”
Regardless of high or low, why did points vary per person?
Shi Zicang pondered by the corpse.
He reached one conclusion.
‘No way... based on level?’
Lower levels give less, higher give more?
‘The higher the level, the more points?’
One name sprang to mind.
The unrivaled top-level player, former zone ranking one: Black Scythe.
‘His level’s 90, right?’
If he could kill Black Scythe, he might monopolize an unimaginable point haul.
‘Everyone knows he’s Korean. Take him out, and we rocket to number one. Zone rep’s just icing.’
A smirk tugged at his lips, but the issue was how to do it.
As he mulled it over, his gaze slid slyly to his subordinates.
‘Sacrifice these guys as bait? Plus, I know a bit of Korean.’
Pretend to be Korean, use them as shields to land a fatal blow—might work?
Seemed plausible.
‘Gotta keep it from the crew, though. Some idiot might chicken out just hearing Black Scythe.’
That was when.
One subordinate dragged over a lone Eastern-looking guy.
“Shi Zicang! Caught this runner nearby. Finish him yourself for the points.”
“W-why are you doing this? I don’t wanna fight! I was just passing by!”
“Hold up.”
Shi Zicang’s eyes gleamed as he caught the guy’s words.
“You Korean?”
“Huh? Y-you speak Korean?”
“A little.”
“Haha, thank god. T-tell these guys to let me go. Please...”
“One question first. You ever seen Black Scythe?”
“Black Scythe? Yeah, same zone as me.”
“Yeah?”
Shi Zicang grinned and pressed his knife to the Korean’s throat.
“Eek!”
“You got tracking skill or not?”
“Y-y-yes!”
“Then guide me to Black Scythe right now. Unless you wanna die.”