Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Stealth Marketing
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“Hiyah~.”
Fingers shaped into a gun, aimed at the orc.
A sand bullet sliced through the air.
The orc instinctively sensed the threat and raised its steel shield.
“No way.”
Kwachik-!
The steel shield tore apart like paper.
The bullet didn’t lose momentum and pierced straight through the orc’s skull.
With the sound of its cranium exploding, the orc’s massive body collapsed limply.
I could definitely feel myself getting stronger.
Compared to before acquiring the Open Eyes skill, it was incomparable.
“Wooooaaargh-!”
At that moment, an orc’s cry echoed from the opposite side of the plain.
A battle cry filled with rage.
It must have witnessed its kin fall just now.
But that orc couldn’t charge toward me.
“All day long….”
“…if I have to.”
Two sand totems identical to me were clinging desperately to the orc’s body from both sides, holding it back.
A fact I’d realized after several battles.
It was impossible to win head-on against an orc with a sand clone.
Me, whose only martial arts experience was elementary school taekwondo.
No matter how I controlled it, the clone would just end up as a punching bag.
So I revised my strategy.
Just grab on and hang.
The sight of sand dolls in my likeness grunting as they grappled the orc was pretty ridiculous.
After acquiring the Platinum skill, a lot had changed.
It wasn’t just the magic’s power that had grown stronger.
My mana pool itself had expanded to an incomparable degree.
Thanks to that, I could now stably maintain up to four sand totems, which used to be a struggle.
Of course, there were downsides.
Using multiple skills at once meant sand consumption was intense.
The sand from the initial Sand Mire spell had already exposed the ground. Less than 10% remained.
Even now, sand was running out before mana.
I could only summon two totems.
I snapped my fingers.
The two sand totems holding the orc swelled up at my command, then detonated with powerful force.
Kwaaaang-!
“Gwoooaaargh!”
The orc, hit by the explosion at point-blank range, crumpled to the ground like a ragged rag.
Soon, the familiar alert appeared.
[Tower Floor 9 (EXTREME) cleared. Congratulations!]
[First Clear bonus applied!]
[Ranking 1st bonus applied!]
After getting the new skill, I’d bulldozed from Floor 7 to 9 without a hitch.
Everything felt too easy.
“Alright. Tomorrow’s Floor 10.”
Before I knew it, I faced the boss battle again.
The boss mob itself didn’t scare me much.
I hadn’t even gone all-out yet, and I’d cleared up to 9 without issue.
However, a slight unease lingered.
The nightmare of the Floor 5 boss fight came to mind.
If I ran into that crazy mage again this time….
Just imagining it was horrifying.
“Maybe I should skip the hidden piece this time…?”
Of course, the rewards had been good.
Invincible smokescreen VPN.
Plus a gold skillbook as a minor bonus.
But scary was scary.
I really thought I was going to die back then.
“Nah, it might not even appear…. No way to know if there’s a hidden piece anyway.”
I shook my head to dispel the ominous thoughts.
First, let’s check the gallery.
As soon as I got home, I habitually booted up the computer and logged into the gallery.
What a coincidence.
The Hunter Gallery was buzzing with bait posts about me.
[Title: Who’s the guy sweeping the rankings from Floor 1 to 9 lately?]
1st to 9th are all ‘ㅇㅇ’ nickname, and the score gaps are insane.
3x the 2nd place baseline, is this for real?
“Oh, that’s me.”
Dopamine surged at the fact my story was heating up the gallery.
I scrolled down with a satisfied smile.
But the reactions were a bit weird.
ㄴ Demigod rage-typing on SNS again today lol
ㄴ But who is it really? A hunter the government’s secretly grooming?
ㄴ No way it’s Korean.
ㄴ Fr. What does Korea have to pull off what even the US couldn’t lol
ㄴ But it’s ㅇㅇ tho. Who else but a Korean uses that?
ㄴ Nah, that’s o or 0. They call it Double-O abroad.
“Double-O? Me?”
That wasn’t the end.
[✪ Title: NIS official) Ranking 1st is China’s secret weapon.]
Not brainfart ㅇㅇ.
Anyone in the know knows the CCP’s been acting suspicious lately ㅇㅇ.
The Great Wall Project, where they gather teen geniuses nationwide, shove ’em in the Tower, and churn out S-ranks.
That ‘00’ who just wrecked the rankings is super likely a product of that project.
ㄴ Not brainfart guy) Baseless brainfart
ㄴ China already did Team China and got wrecked by Demigod, what bs
ㄴㄴ That’s why they made this one secretly out of pride
ㄴ So 00 is an experiment number?
ㄴㄴ Past 99 so it’s the 00th lol
ㄴㄴ You think China’s a joke? It’s 999999 not 99
“What? China? Why China out of nowhere?”
I swallowed a hollow laugh and kept scrolling.
[✪ Title: Isn’t Pantheon Guild hiding something right now?]
Everyone’s barking up the wrong tree with China this and that, but the real deal’s elsewhere.
World #1 guild, Pantheon, you know?
Guild master Croft’s grooming his daughter as successor, everyone knows that.
But she vanished from public appearances a few months ago….
So isn’t it obvious the ranking 1st is Croft’s daughter?
Guild backing with full support, trained up, and out she comes.
Bet the second she hits Floor 20, headlines like ‘Pantheon Princess Debuts as S-Rank in Glory!’ pop up.
My left arm sword ㅇㅇ.
ㄴ This is pretty plausible.
ㄴ Pantheon’s Demigod’s guild, right? Teamkill from same guild?
ㄴㄴ Technically Demigod’s gov-affiliated, Pantheon’s just partners.
ㄴㄴ Thinking Croft vs Demigod, Pantheon screwing Demigod over makes sense.
“No, what do you mean it makes sense. Are you kidding?”
China’s secret weapon, World #1 guild’s princess.
Beyond that, tons of self-proclaimed insiders pointing to random people from unrelated places I’ve got nothing to do with.
The person you’re looking for is right here!
I screamed internally.
Such a contradictory feeling.
I didn’t want my identity exposed, but at the same time, this intense desire for them to recognize me as the hero of all this glory.
‘Should I leak a little info?’
I slyly placed my hands on the keyboard to post anonymously.
[Title: What if the guy’s actually here among us?]
Author: ㅇㅇ(1A1.11E)
Dunno if you remember, but there was that Extreme difficulty cert here before. Isn’t it that guy?
“Ah, fuck! IP!”
You goddamn devs! Should’ve added an on/off toggle!
I deleted the post at light speed.
Luckily, no comments yet.
No one saw, right?
I bolted to the Mage Gallery.
And desperately requested help.
[Title: Urgent) Need someone to post on Hunter Gal for me]
Author: ㅇㅇ(99L.99C)
Content like this.
‘The ranking 1st guy lately, isn’t it that kid who certified Extreme before?’
Just post something like that.
Plz.
The gallery went quiet for a moment.
Then reactions poured in, full of pity.
ㄴ Fridge: (Con looking pitifully)
ㄴ Magic is Firepower: Uh, this one’s…. Kinda tough….
ㄴ Dung Beetle: …How about just holding out till Floor 20? That’s safer.
“Was this too retarded even for this…?”
Self-loathing hit late, and I went to delete the post.
But then, a comment appeared.
It was from p깟쮸.
ㄴ p깟쮸: Lmao sounds fun. Actually manipulating gallery opinion for real?! I’ll post it!
A tiny, really tiny bit of guilt and self-loathing crept in.
But those feelings vanished before the surging anticipation.
Yeah, shame’s fleeting, glory’s forever.
“Living long enough to actually request gallery manipulation from another gal.”
Soon after, p깟쮸’s post really went up on Hunter Gallery.
Smartly posted as anon, not fixed nick.
[Title: Ranking 1st guy, maybe that Extreme cert kid from before?]
Author: ㅇㅇ(211.47)
Y’know, that guy who certified a few days ago then dipped.
Was def #1 in rankings then.
Even had a few recommend votes.
ㄴ Was there a guy like that?
ㄴ Oh yeah, kinda rings a bell. Kinda fuzzy tho.
ㄴ Tried looking, but all posts deleted? Wtf?
ㄴ Was that a shill post or what?
“No, do these guys have brain damage?”
I pounded my chest in frustration.
Just a few days ago, and they forget like this?
Even gallery shitposts fade in 10 seconds, but this is extreme, no?
Related recommends went up back then too?
The reactions were way too lukewarm.
Felt downright off.
Like they’d all been hit with a group spell….
The bait I tossed got a few comments then buried under others.
“It’s cuz the firepower’s weak. Backdoor promo’s punch is too soft….”
I tore at my hair in front of the monitor.
“Argh, driving me insane….”
Need ’em to bite the bait moderately so I can swoop in cool like ‘Yeah, that was me.’
Why’s no one deducing it?
Me! It’s me!
No dopamine where it should be, withdrawal symptoms kicked in.
Body itching all over, mind going blank.
Judgment failing.
Like a junkie, with trembling hands I typed.
[Title: 1st place, that’s actually me…]
“Gasp! What am I doing?!”
I frantically hit backspace.
Endure. Gotta endure.
Deep breaths to calm down.
“Suuuup…. Haaa….”
Yeah, I can certify after Floor 20.
Wait. Till someone pieces the puzzle first….
“Please, someone figure it out first….”
I prayed fervently.