Chapter 5
Chapter 5. Barcode
"Hey!!! Wait a minute!!!"
My scream scattered into the empty air.
If something went wrong, it went horribly wrong.
My grand plan to park comfortably at Normal difficulty and suck honey was shattered from the start.
The first thing I felt when I opened my eyes was the wind.
A cold night breeze brushed against my face.
It was pitch-black night all around.
I could feel the texture of soft soil and grass beneath my feet,
And in the sky hung a blue moon, just like the name of my sword.
"No, the guide post said Goblins are summoned indoors!!"
Brother GPTA, are you doing this to me...?
But I shook my head immediately.
If there is a reason it's different, it's probably because of this.
[Difficulty: Legendary]
It must be because of this.
The scenery I see now is probably what someone summoned to another world would see.
The surroundings were silent.
A stillness where not even the sound of insects could be heard.
It was then.
"...Burning smell?"
An acrid smell pierced my nose, riding on the wind.
Instinctively turning my head, I saw red light flickering in the darkness far away.
—Ding~!
It was very different from the 1st Floor clear conditions I read in the guide post.
Protect the village?And alone?Leaving aside the Tower, I've never even been in a fight in my life?
But there was no time to complain.
—Boom!!
Because the red flames were getting fiercer.
"Ha... Sh*t... Let's just go first..."
I grabbed the Pale Moon Sword at my waist tightly and started running.
How many minutes did I run?
In a corner of the burning village square, village youths holding pitchforks and sickles were resisting desperately.
"Kugh! Don't get pushed back!!"
"Damn it, is Khan still far away? He said he'd bring mercenaries!"
"We have to hold out unconditionally until Khan comes!!"
But rusty sickles and farming tools were not enough to pierce Goblin leather, and it was only a matter of time before the defense line collapsed.
"Kieeeek!"
"Krr! Human! Kill!"
Ear-splitting screeches and screams of people heard in between.
Even at a glance, a pack of Goblins that looked to be at least 30 was ravaging the village.
In their hands were rusty daggers and clubs.
For a moment, my legs trembled.
The fear of facing monsters I had only seen through a screen in reality, and in a swarm at that.
That fear weighed heavily on me.
As the fear constricting me disappeared, breathing became easier.
But that didn't solve the current problem.
At that moment, one Goblin spotted me.
"Kiik! Over there! Human! Kill!"
With the bastard's shout, five closest to me rushed towards me.
Hideous green-skinned monsters running while drooling.
"Ugh... Uwaaak! Don't come!"
I squeezed my eyes shut and swung the sword.
No, I tried to swing it.
At that moment.
It felt like an invisible hand was twisting my joints into place.
My shrinking shoulders straightened, and strength entered my staggering legs.
Regardless of my will, both arms were raised high above my head.
"Huh...?"
—Slice.
Did I cut something? A sensation so eerily smooth I thought I was mistaken.
A feeling smoother than cutting tofu passed through my fingertips.
When I opened my eyes, the head of the Goblin that rushed at me was split in half, rolling on the ground.
"Ki... Kieek?"
The bastards flinched at their comrade's death.
But my body didn't stop.
This time, the sword drew a horizontal line from right to left.
—Slice!
"Kiek!"
"Kweck!"
The heads of two soared into the air simultaneously.
Blood spurted out like a fountain and soaked my leather armor, but strangely, it wasn't disgusting or scary.
Rather, a pleasant vibration was transmitted from the Pale Moon Sword held in my hand.
"This... works...?"
The sword was controlling me.
To be precise, the 'Low-Grade Swordsmanship' imbued in the sword was moving my body in an optimal state.
"Kiik! Die! Human!"
From behind, a Goblin shot an arrow at me.
Attacking can be handled by swordsmanship somehow, but dodging and defending were different issues.
"Ah... No way... I can't die without ever getting a girlfriend..."
The Goblin's arrow hit my chest area and bounced off.
—Thud
"......?"
It doesn't hurt.
Just a feeling like someone tapped me with a finger?
"Phew... You scared me. Thought I was gonna die."
I chuckled.
Attack with 'Low-Grade Swordsmanship', and for defense, trust the armor and fight.
I slowly cleaned up the Goblins one by one.
Then, a scream was heard from somewhere.
"Ah...! No!"
One side of the defense line was breached, and a Goblin dug into the gap.
Where the bastard's gaze headed was a young child crying while holding onto his mother's skirt.
The child's mother tried to throw her body, but the Goblin's leap was faster.
The desperate moment when the rusty dagger was plunging down, aiming for the child's head.
My body reacted before my thoughts.
My leg muscles tensed to the point of screaming, then kicked off the ground and shot out.
—Stab!
"Ki... ek?"
Just before the dagger touched the child's crown.
My Pale Moon Sword pierced the Goblin's nape precisely.
The tip of the sword protruded from the back of the bastard's neck.
I roughly threw the skewered Goblin to the side.
"What are you doing to a kid."
"...Uh?"
The eyes of the child, the mother, and the villagers who were desperately blocking widened.
Even while they were blanking out, the battle continued.
"Kiik! He killed a comrade!"
The remaining Goblins rushed at me all at once.
It was then.
The blade of the Pale Moon Sword began to shine blue.
A blue afterimage embroidered the night sky following the trajectory of the swing.
It was just a normal horizontal slash, but a wave similar to sword aura (Sword Ki) shot out from the tip of the sword and swept away the Goblins within 3 meters ahead.
—Boom!
"Kieeeeeek!"
With one swing, five died instantly.
The cut sections were smooth as if melted by moonlight.
"......!"
The battlefield was engulfed in silence for an instant.
Neither the Goblins nor the villagers could close their mouths at the unbelievable sight.
"Wha... What is that...?"
"Light... came out of the sword..."
"The mercenary has already arrived!!"
"Sword Ki...?"
But the most surprised one was me.
It was such a badass skill?!!
The astonished gazes of the villagers landed on me.
Those gazes weren't bad.
Receiving the attention I couldn't get on the gallery here, honestly speaking, was a bit thrilling.
I pretended to be relaxed and shook the blood off the sword into the air once.
Compliments make whales dance, and attention makes Kim Si-woo dance.
I sliced towards the remaining Goblins again as if dancing.
The pack of over 30 Goblins turned into fertilizer on the ground in less than 10 minutes.
The last remaining Goblin stepped back in fear.
"Mo... Monster..."
The bastard muttered looking at me.
I walked towards him, shaking off the Pale Moon Sword dripping with blood.
"Look who's talking."
—Slice.
The last Goblin's head fell.
In the middle of the burning village, I gasped for breath holding the bloody sword.
Just as the villagers were cautiously trying to approach me.
"Ugh...!"
Suddenly, pain rushed in as if all the muscles in my body were twisting.
It seemed to be because I used unused postures and muscles.
If my stats hadn't increased, my muscles might have torn.
I couldn't fall down now, embarrassingly.
Timely, a clear and pure notification sound rang out.
—Ding~!
Name...
I thought of 'SW' inscribed on the weapon, but I shook my head.
If I did that, I would have just exposed myself on the gallery.
What should I do?
Hide on bush?Everyone Under My Feet?
After pondering, I just entered what came to mind.
IIIIIIIIII
So-called Barcode.
If I'm going to hide my identity and go anonymous, there's nothing better than this.
[1st Floor Ranking]
[1st IIIIIIIIII 14,000 pts]
[2nd Celine 1,238 pts]
[3rd Lin Qiang 1,098 pts]
Ha... Should a gallery lurker endure this?I should endure it, right...?Since my identity shouldn't be revealed yet...?No, wouldn't just once be okay...?
I slapped my cheek to suppress the momentary impulse.
Phew... This is right, not now...
As I was steadying my mind, the system window tempted me with sweet words.
I really wanted to endure, but if you encourage me like this, I can't help it.
I pressed the accept button.
As I closed and opened my eyes with the exit message, I saw the quiet dawn street.
Just like before I entered, the Association employee was beatboxing with his snores, and thanks to that, I could enter my house quietly.
That day, the gallery and the world went into an uproar.
As soon as I arrived home, I went straight into the gallery.
[Title: Celine's record just got broken]
[Author: oo]
Isn't this the first time a 1st Floor guide video was uploaded since Celine?
But from what I know, isn't the clear contribution points by difficulty like this?
Normal 1 pt.
Rare 10 pts.
Epic 100 pts.
Unique 1000 pts.
The current 1st place is 14,000 pts? Is this a possible score?
"Celine...? That World Ranking No. 1...?"
Did I just steal that person's ranking...?
She won't hunt me down and say 'You need to die', right?
Pushing aside the worry, I scrolled down.
[Title: Anyone saw the 1st Floor video.]
[Author: oo]
Some blind old man was holding a sword and killing everyone, is this right...?
"So this is what anonymous meant?"
The effect is better than I thought.
[Title: This 1st Floor Record Breaking IIIIIIIIII Analysis Post]
[Author: oo]
Don't know what to call the name so I'll call him 'Barcode-Jwa' (Lord Barcode).
First, when the 1st Floor video was Celine.
Celine looked like the Celine we know.
But for Barcode-Jwa's video, we are all seeing different people.
This phenomenon is currently presumed to be due to Barcode-Jwa's item.
For class, seeing that he uses 'Low-Grade Swordsmanship', he seems to be a Swordsman type.
As you all know, Swordsman types can't use Illusion type skills, so the probability of it being an item is very high.
And the score.
I think someone left a post on the gallery, but the Tower gives different contribution points by difficulty.
Everyone knows the higher the contribution points, the higher the rewards, right.
But surpassing 10,000 points on the 1st Floor where no boss appears?
We can assume there is another difficulty besides Unique grade.
Looking at it, it wasn't even the 1st Floor background we knew.
And seeing that the guide started suddenly from the 1st Floor, we can know he is Level 1.
In my opinion, a climbing Hunter awakened a 4th Unique class,
And for some reason found another difficulty and appears to be climbing.
I wrote this in a hurry because it's dawn so understand if it's weird.
Something seems sharp yet not sharp?
I confirmed they are completely misunderstanding me as a Swordsman side.
Besides that, I could see various reactions.
When I easily bisected the Goblins.
When I was killing Goblins one by one slowly.
When I saved the child with blue Sword Ki and cleaned up the Goblins.
I stayed up all night with the countless regenerating posts on the gallery as snacks.
At that time, a certain huge mansion.
Outside the window, a sharp crescent moon hung as if to cut the dark blue night sky.
Moonlight crossed the window and settled on the finest velvet carpet.
Inside a room that looked beyond luxurious to extravagant.
There, a woman was sitting on a sofa with her legs crossed, staring into the void.
Golden bobbed hair falling neatly below her ears as if cut by a knife.
Below that, a white neckline was coolly exposed, and her eyes shone red as if carved from the purest ruby.
But right now, that beautiful face was frozen cold.
Where her gaze lingered was the system notification window floating in the air.
"...Ha."
The hollow laugh leaking from her lips immediately turned into killing intent.
She slowly rose from her seat.
"He broke my record?"
A single word muttered low.
At that moment, the air in the room settled heavily.
—Rumble
It wasn't that she reached out her hand or cast a skill.
Just by her emotions becoming intense, one wall of the room began to crumple due to invisible immense pressure.
The wall finished with the finest marble crumpled like paper and caved inward.
—Boom!!
With a roar, the wall burst out, and thick dust covered the room.
Broken debris fell to the floor.
"......"
When the thick dust cleared and moonlight shone into the room again.
Only the shattered wall and crumpled space remained.
The blonde woman was already gone from that spot.