Chapter 185
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: TOP 10
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The Prophet had said it.
In the 11th round, you must cling to the one who saves your life.
If you let them go, you won’t make it past the 15th round and will die.
‘Ah, no way. After everything I went through to survive.’
Christine quickly stepped forward to appeal to him.
“D-Do you know how useful I am? Haha, I can heal you if you get hurt, and I can buff you to defend against status ailments and debuffs, and…”
“None of that is anything I need.”
“Pardon?”
“No chance of getting hurt, so no need for heals, and my resistance to status ailments is already high. No reason to travel with a Priest.”
“……”
Priests were certainly top-tier supporters for survival.
Heals were on a whole different level from emergency treatments, and as rounds progressed, nothing was scarier than status ailments and debuffs.
Ryu Min acknowledged that healers were essential to that degree.
‘But only in the late game.’
Once you hit level 60, Priests learned Resurrection.
Only then did they become worth keeping around as insurance.
‘But right now, they’re useless. Dead weight.’
Christine seemed to acknowledge that fact too, hanging her head without a word.
No, reading her thoughts, it wasn’t defeat—it was desperation as she scrambled for another angle.
Because of Ryu Min’s prophecy that she had to stick with the Black Scythe.
‘Don’t worry, Christine. I’ve got no reason to ditch you.’
With boss fights of unknown difficulty ahead, a Priest who could resurrect once more was essential.
He just needed some distance right now, a convenient excuse.
“This round is a team battle where you get points for killing the enemy team. You and I are competitors from different zones and races. You think we can team up like that? What exactly are you trusting in me?”
“……You saved me.”
“If I save you twice, are we getting married?”
“……”
“You trust me that much? We just met.”
Truth be told, what Christine trusted was the prophecy.
She was latching onto the Black Scythe because it said her lifeline was a rope she had to grab.
But after hearing the Black Scythe’s advice, her thinking shifted.
‘This guy’s trustworthy.’
He’d understood her situation and struggles in a glance and given her advice.
A man with both power and insight.
He looked like a sturdy rope—why wouldn’t she cling?
“Yes…… I trust you. I trust you.”
‘Whew, this is insane.’
Ryu Min inwardly sighed as he watched Christine desperately trying to latch on.
‘Making a Priest an ally is great. Good…… but.’
She was unnecessary for now.
Ryu Min could clear most rounds solo.
Traveling alone was less hassle anyway.
‘Who knew the super-suspicious Christine would buy into the prophecy so hard.’
Part of it was him saving her life, but the main hook seemed to be the advice that won her over from the first impression.
The issue was he couldn’t use her until round 15.
“I’ve said it a million times: we’re in different zones, so cooperation’s impossible. No way to help each other rack up points. If you wanna help, survive this round first and think later.”
“So I can follow you starting next round?”
‘Persistent. So persistent.’
He was annoyed inwardly, but he got it—clinging for survival.
“Yeah. So survive this round first. You won’t make rankings unless you rack up points for the dead too, right?”
It made sense, and Christine nodded vigorously.
“Thanks for the advice. And for saving my life.”
“Then I’m off.”
Dismissing the thanks, Ryu Min turned and left first.
Leaving Christine’s lingering gaze behind.
* * *
‘Finally shook her off.’
Ryu Min let out a sigh of relief, like he’d ditched an obsessive ex.
He opened the quest progress window to check points and time left.
[Korea Team Points Earned: 733,270]
[Black Scythe Points Earned: 13,240]
[Time Until Round End: 22:21:59]
The team had over 700k points.
‘Roughly 700 people, so about 1,000 per head.’
Barely 1,000 points in nearly two hours.
‘A single one-hour basic quest nets 1,000 points……’
Team performance was underwhelming.
‘Eh, still 22 hours left.’
As far as Ryu Min knew, the survival cutoff for round 11 was 13 million.
Just 20k per person over 24 hours would do it.
Of course, Ryu Min had no intention of settling for mere survival.
‘13 million? Piece of cake.’
Top the team and personal rankings.
That was the goal for this round.
He was confident.
The late-game turnaround would kick in with one hour left.
‘Gotta grind points hard until then.’
No letting disruptors like Ma Kyung-rok or the Black Society show up.
To that end, Ryu Min equipped the Doppelganger Ring.
[Please state the nickname you wish to change to.]
[Existing nicknames cannot be used.]
[However, nicknames of the deceased can be used.]
Ryu Min picked one his acquaintances wouldn’t know.
‘Lost Ark.’
[Nickname changed from ‘Black Scythe’ to ‘Lost Ark.’]
Not just the nickname—he donned the Assassin’s Mask to alter his face too.
‘Someone might recognize me in passing.’
Nickname and looks changed.
He was fully Lost Ark now.
No one could track him now.
They’d have to think of Lost Ark’s appearance and name.
‘Tracking with Black Scythe in mind? It’ll say nonexistent.’
He’d be treated as dead, but whatever.
He could brush it off as some rune disrupting tracking.
‘No one’s chasing anyway. Time to grind points for real.’
He’d already mapped out the optimal quest routes in his head.
‘Amplify.’
Crackle-crackle—
Electricity coursed through his body, doubling his movement speed.
Boom—!
Ryu Min vanished in a flash of light.
* * *
“Haah, this is fucking exhausting.”
Previous rounds maxed at 10 hours.
Long enough to ignore sleep or hunger pangs.
But 24 hours in round 11 was pure hell to endure.
“How much time left?”
“4 hours.”
“Whoa…… still 4 hours to go?”
“I’m starving to death, seriously.”
“I’m so sleepy I’m losing it.”
Jo Yong-ho’s mercenaries were dying.
They’d been running everywhere for 20 hours straight to farm points—exhaustion was natural.
“We’re over level 45, why’s our stamina this bad?”
“Yeah, we’re superhumans beyond normal humans.”
“How should I know?”
Even superhumans smashing walls and dodging bullets crumbled before hunger and sleep.
It was inevitable for flesh-and-blood beings, though they’d forgotten amid their player powers.
“Boss! Can’t we rest a bit? We’re gonna drop dead.”
“Yeah, humanely, just 30 minutes to close our eyes.”
Jo Yong-ho yelled at the mercenaries’ whining.
“Survival’s on the line and you’re sleepy? Your real body’s already asleep—gonna sleep in another world too? You might never wake up.”
“Still, people need sleep.”
“4 hours. It’s almost over. Gotta go all out till the end for us and the team to survive.”
“We’ve done plenty, haven’t we?”
“We averaged 20k points each, right?”
Thanks to non-stop quests, Jo Yong-ho’s group had 20k per head in 20 hours.
Impressive, but no room for complacency.
“No benchmark to compare. No clue if we did good or bad.”
“I bet we’re first. We gave it everything.”
“Yeah, non-stop grinding—if we’re not first, something’s wrong.”
“No way to know. So we keep moving.”
His comrades sighed, but Jo Yong-ho figured they were mid-tier at least.
They’d worked hard.
30 mercenaries including him grinding non-stop.
“If only we knew mid-rankings……”
That’s when it happened.
Exactly at the 4-hour mark, a message appeared.
[4 hours remain until round end.]
[Current zone rankings and TOP 10 will now be revealed.]
[Points by Zone]
1st. C3-ECHNA003 China (28,031,020 points)
2nd. C3-EBRA004 Brazil (27,712,410 points)
3rd. C3-EMXA003 Mexico (27,444,030 points)
4th. C3-EINDA001 India (26,991,150 points)
5th. C3-ECHNA005 China (26,896,020 points)
………………
…………
10th. C3-EJPNA002 Japan (25,558,180 points)
Two Chinese teams in the TOP 10 was absurd, but something more shocking followed.
[Your team (C3-ESKA001 Korea) points: 11,219,170—92nd out of 190 zones overall.]
“What?”
“We’re only 92nd?”
Survival required top 95.
One slip and they’d miss the cutoff.
“This make sense? After all our hard work?”
Team points were shockingly low—like someone was slacking.
“Why are neighbors China and Japan so high?”
“Similar team sizes, around 700 each?”
“Fuck, they must’ve been killing other teams. Pays better.”
“Yeah, look at top China: 28 million means 40k per head. Insane.”
“Bet they ignored quests and massacred passersby.”
Killing beat questing for points.
The mercenaries felt their efforts wasted, deflated.
“Guys, at least we can survive. Let’s push a bit more. One wrong move and we’re out of cutoff.”
Jo Yong-ho soothed the fired-up team, stressing more effort was key.
‘Fail to farm points, and not just us—the Black Scythe dies too.’
No choice but to grind more. Jo Yong-ho and the mercenaries moved.
No time to waste for a final sprint.
* * *
“Cutting it close.”
Ryu Min muttered dissatisfaction at Korea’s ranking.
“Barely scraping by at best. What would they have done without me?”
Even with top Korean rankers, points were pathetically low.
‘Wasn’t this bad at first. We were mid-pack.’
But once Ryu Min stopped murders by Ma Kyung-rok and Joo Seong-tak, team points plummeted.
‘Knew it, but it stings. No kills means rankings tank.’
Legit quests only netted pocket change.
That’s why the angels probably loved watching humans butcher each other.
But points weren’t kill-only.
The turnaround remained.
‘One flip to rocket to first. Personal and team.’
That’s what Ryu Min was banking on.
The losers’ last shot: gambling.
‘And the way to win that gamble? Clairvoyance only.’
With one hour left, a message would pop.
Until then, he’d quest and stockpile points.
Lost in that grind, a message appeared before Ryu Min.
The moment had come.
[1 hour remains until round end.]
[Special Event: ‘Casino’ now open.]
[In the Casino, you can multiply your points up to 200x.]
[Note: Casino location is undisclosed.]