Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The First Trial
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[The first trial begins.]
The electronic billboard announced the start of the first trial.
Then, the content of the first trial appeared on his screen and in front of every player's eyes.
Content: Become a survivor to proceed to the second trial.
-Zone 33,333 participants: 10,000
"What the hell is this?"
"Become a survivor?"
"Are they telling us to kill each other?"
"Does that mean there are ten thousand people here right now?"
"But what's a zone?"
"Zone 33,333?"
The players chattered, voicing their doubts about the first trial displayed on the billboard.
In response, the billboard kindly addressed the players' questions.
['Zone' refers to the space dividing all players on the planet 'Earth' until the number of survivors falls below a certain threshold.]
[When the number of survivors decreases, some zones merge.]
After a brief explanation of zones, the billboard announced the start of the first trial.
[Kill each other until there are 5,000 survivors.]
The first trial.
It was to kill each other until only half—5,000 out of 10,000—survived.
At that, people glanced at one another warily.
They had no choice.
Most had never even thrown a punch in their lives, let alone committed murder.
There was no way they could suddenly stab the person next to them.
Unfortunately for the people here, a Regressor was among them.
'The massacre that was going to happen anyway. I'm just pulling it forward a bit.'
Hae-jin gripped the greatsword in both hands tightly.
There was someone he needed to kill faster than anyone else.
The Leader, Joo-hyuk.
Beyond that, to benefit from his Rune of Absorption, Hae-jin had to kill people here anyway.
'If you don't kill in the first trial, you'll all die in the next one anyway.'
Two regressions had already made Hae-jin strong.
Killing people.
It might be something no human could do.
But here, it had to be done.
'If I don't kill, I'll die.'
People called these trials a Survival Game.
Why?
Because you had to survive.
Only then could you reach the end.
So hesitation was not allowed.
Despite the first trial's goal of killing each other, people just stared, unsure what to do.
But amid those people, Hae-jin locked eyes with a man far away.
The man smiled faintly.
"Leader."
He was saying it with his eyes.
Come here quickly and kill me.
I'm about to shed this heavy burden.
Hae-jin approached the Leader slowly, then swiftly thrust the greatsword into his heart.
Stab—!
"Kuh!"
Right after being stabbed, he gasped, but the Leader chuckled.
Hae-jin, who had plunged the greatsword into the Leader's heart, smiled back.
Though they didn't speak, their eyes conveyed everything.
'Sorry for leaving you with such a heavy burden, Hae-jin.'
'I'll end this damn Survival Game with my own hands this time, just as you believed in me.'
Soon, the Leader's head drooped, and his breathing stopped.
"You did well, Joo-hyuk."
Leader Nam Joo-hyuk.
Hae-jin, who had always called him Leader, spoke his name one last time.
After Hae-jin killed Nam Joo-hyuk, his body dissolved into white particles of light and vanished.
Then a message appeared.
[You killed a player. 1 Kill!]
[Rune of Absorption activated!]
[Absorb the soul upon defeating an enemy.]
[Every 100 souls accumulated permanently increases all stats. (1/100)]
[Increased stats are permanent.]
The Rune of Absorption that Hae-jin had obtained.
It was a ridiculously overpowered rune that boosted stats based on the cumulative kills during trials.
But in this regression cycle, Hae-jin planned to use that power only in the first trial...
After regressing, he had decided to become the massacre who swept this place clean in the first trial.
Leader Joo-hyuk was the starting point.
"Kyaaack!"
"Uwaaah, crazy! He killed someone!"
"Murderer!"
"R... Run away!"
Seeing Hae-jin kill the man beside him without hesitation, the people around reacted in all sorts of ways.
Terrified by his murder.
Watching them, Hae-jin gripped his greatsword again and thought.
'Yeah, that's how everyone is at first.'
Even he had been like that when he first witnessed murder in the first trial.
But to survive, there was no choice.
Hae-jin knew it well.
'They'll have to adapt eventually to survive anyway.'
The laws, customs, and morals humanity had upheld were worthless before the trials.
There was no need to spell it out and teach them.
The trials were survival of the fittest.
Only the strong survived.
With that thought, Hae-jin murmured.
"Even without skills, the footwork should still be there, right?"
Footwork.
As players progressed through the Trials' Arena, they grew stronger by leveling up and allocating stats, or by luckily acquiring skills.
But beyond those two, there was another way to grow.
Through 'experience' and 'training'.
Even without level-ups or skill books, you could learn techniques from the otherworldly beings encountered in the trials.
The 'footwork' Hae-jin just mentioned was one such thing.
The most efficient and swift steps for offense and defense when wielding a weapon—footwork.
Hae-jin stepped into the footwork etched in his memory.
'Blood Wind Step.'
The footwork that summoned a wind of blood.
Using Blood Wind Step, which suited his Rune of Absorption and the job he had before regressing.
As he did, a red wind swirled around Hae-jin's body.
Whoooosh—.
The red wind enveloped him.
A few sharp-eyed people noticed and stopped to comment.
"What's that?"
"Why's there a red wind?"
Ignoring them, Hae-jin thought.
'Since I didn't build up aura separately, mana is draining. Minimize it with Blood Wind Step.'
Setting that goal, Hae-jin moved.
Flash!
Everyone who saw his movement gasped.
"Huh!"
"Wha... what?!"
"Tha... that speed...!"
Moving at a speed no ordinary human could chase.
He swung the greatsword wildly.
Each swing cleaved through countless people.
Then Hae-jin saw.
[You killed a player. 2 Kills!]
[Rune of Absorption activated!]
[Absorb the soul upon defeating an enemy.]
[Every 100 souls accumulated permanently increases all stats. (2/100)]
...
[You killed a player. 100 Kills!]
[Rune of Absorption activated!]
[Absorb the soul upon defeating an enemy.]
[Every 100 souls accumulated permanently increases all stats. (100/100)]
[All player stats permanently increase by 1.]
[You killed a player. 101 Kills!]
[Rune of Absorption activated!]
[Absorb the soul upon defeating an enemy.]
[Every 100 souls accumulated permanently increases all stats. (1/100)]
Every 100 kills, the Rune of Absorption boosted all his stats and reset the stack.
The effect of the Rune of Absorption was to grow faster and stronger with every kill.
With this, Hae-jin could start the Survival Game with faster growth than others.
Moreover, with his regression experience, he accelerated his growth without hesitation.
The sacrifice of Leader Nam Joo-hyuk, who gave him his final regression chance, and his comrades.
He wouldn't let it go to waste.
[You killed a player. 4,572 Kills!]
[Rune of Absorption activated!]
[Absorb the soul upon defeating an enemy.]
[Every 100 souls accumulated permanently increases all stats. (72/100)]
Hae-jin kept killing without rest.
Those watching were horrified; a mere glance from him made them recoil in terror.
He was inhuman.
How could one person slaughter thousands alone?
And he wasn't even tired.
But if they had any experience as players, they would know how natural this was.
Killing players grants experience.
Experience leads to levels.
Level-ups restore all conditions.
So Hae-jin couldn't tire even if he wanted to.
On top of that, the Rune of Absorption's insane effect had skyrocketed his stats.
It wasn't for nothing that the Leader chose Park Hae-jin as the final one to regress with him.
Only Hae-jin could achieve such monstrous early growth.
Before long, Hae-jin had single-handedly slaughtered 4,572 people in the zone.
He thought.
'Just 28 more, and all stats go up by 1 again.'
But Hae-jin could no longer continue the slaughter.
[First trial completed.]
[Level up.]
[Hidden trial achieved.]
[Level up.]
[Congratulations! You achieved Zone Ranking 1st!]
[Reward granted to inventory.]
The conditions had been met, ending the first trial early.
Unlike Hae-jin, who checked countless system windows, the surviving players only saw this.
[First trial completed.]
[Level up.]
Relieved that the first trial was finally over, the people sighed in relief.
Hae-jin, however, felt regret.
'Just 28 more, and all stats would have gone up by 1. Too bad.'
Still, he couldn't kill 28 more just for his stats.
During the slaughter, he had spared the useful ones from his memories.
Anyway, with the first trial over, the billboard displayed another message.
[First trial completed.]
[Settling first trial results.]
[Announcing first trial results.]
After settling the events of the first trial, the billboard showed the results.
1st: Park Hae-jin 4,572 Kills
2nd: Jung Nam-gil 43 Kills
3rd: Kang Hee-soon 38 Kills
"Crazy!"
"4,500?"
"Isn't he a real psychopath?"
"Second place barely hit over 40, and he did a hundred times that alone?!"
"Insane, insane..."
The people were stunned by the rankings.
Park Hae-jin's kill count was overwhelmingly dominant.
Everyone gaped in shock or looked at Hae-jin with fearful eyes.