Chapter 117: Duo. Raid the District Office
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 117: Duo. Raid the District Office
“Damn it.”
Seo-un recalled the situation just before he was pulled in. Li Lingwei and Juriel had also shown signs of being dragged into the match.
Is it a coincidence? Or are they trying to cull the player base?
Seo-un dismissed the idea of a coincidence and assumed the latter. If they were reducing the number of Rankers—of which there were only 150—by a third, then players in other ranks were likely facing the same purge.
What on earth are the operators thinking?
As he tried to organize his troubling thoughts, he felt a familiar presence approaching.
“Sa-gwang.”
Seo-un tilted his head as he spotted Nam Sa-gwang. His nose and mouth were concealed by a mask and hood.
Seo-un followed him silently, using the Voice Transmission technique he had learned from watching Nam Sa-gwang. It was his first time actually using it.
Nam Sa-gwang led him into a forest on a typical Korean hill, filled with familiar pine trees, and scanned the surroundings. Worried they might run into someone, Seo-un channeled mana into the necklace he had commissioned from Gi-chan. Once a Silence barrier was established around them, Nam Sa-gwang finally spoke.
“Do you have any idea what kind of mess this is?”
“How would I know?”
“I suppose so...”
Seo-un watched him, noting how his eyes darted around restlessly.
“What’s wrong with you? This isn't like you.”
Seo-un had never seen Nam Sa-gwang this tense. Even in their previous game, he had been full of life, fighting to take down one last enemy even on the brink of death. This version of him was a stranger.
“The Heavenly Demon is here.”
“Ah... Well, he’s Rank 1, so of course he’d be here.”
Nam Sa-gwang sighed at Seo-un’s nonchalant response.
“The grudge between that man and me is deeper than you can imagine. And with our current strength, we can’t do anything to him yet. To kill him one day, we must survive this game at all costs.”
Seo-un met his serious gaze with a relaxed smile.
“Don’t you worry about that.”
Nam Sa-gwang looked at him with an odd expression, noting Seo-un’s total lack of tension. In response to the questioning look, Seo-un let out a long stretch.
“The real problem is what kind of changes are coming to trigger an event like this. Survival itself isn't that difficult.”
“There are 150 Crowns gathered here.”
“When I first started this game, I survived without any abilities at all. Even if every single Crown here is stronger than me, I’m confident I can make it through.”
Nam Sa-gwang’s eyes gleamed at Seo-un’s display of confidence.
“Is it because this map is Earth?”
“That’s part of it. But fundamentally, I prefer Solo games over Squad games. I only need to place in the top 100 out of 150. I don’t think the difficulty is that high.”
“...If you say so, then I’ll believe you.”
Since he had deep trust in Seo-un regarding the game, Nam Sa-gwang decided to take his word for it. Even if it was due to luck or coincidence, this was the man who had killed him twice.
“Look at the map.”
At Seo-un’s prompt, Nam Sa-gwang quickly opened his map.
“See the place labeled Namdong-gu Office?”
“...I see it.”
After scanning the map for a moment, he nodded in confirmation.
“Drop there. Since Team Voice is disabled, that’s our landing zone regardless of how many people go there. And if something unexpected happens and we get separated, head to the nearby Lotte Castle.”
Nam Sa-gwang nodded at Seo-un’s detailed orders.
“There are fewer martial artists than I expected. Since we need to focus on absolute survival this game, avoid combat at all costs until you meet up with me.”
Just as he finished speaking, the final notification for the waiting room rang out.
Simultaneously, his vision shifted, and a familiar sensation washed over him.
Seo-un checked the flight path of Argas’s Eye and felt a secret sense of relief. Fortunately, the distance was close enough to land at the Namdong-gu Office as planned. He had acted relaxed to ease Sa-gwang’s tension, but in this cutthroat survival game filled only with Crown-rank players, there was no room for true leisure.
Unlike previous games, this was a worst-case scenario where a single slip-up could mean game over.
Moreover, there is no Main Quest.
The absence of a Main Quest felt even more ominous. His eyes grew heavy with focus, realizing this was a stage designed purely to measure skill without any variables.
I have the geographical advantage of the map. I can make this work.
The moment they entered Namdong-gu, Seo-un descended.
He quickly flipped his body to check for other players and saw three others dropping alongside him.
Excluding Sa-gwang, that’s two enemies. Three people within a one-kilometer radius.
After identifying the enemies who weren't too far off, Seo-un increased his speed and slammed into the ground for a landing.
Ready for combat the moment he touched down, he observed an enemy who was just landing. Instinctively, he lunged toward a figure wearing a robe and holding a staff.
Clang!
Boom!
The mage blocked the Blood Bone Claw—infused with red Aura—with his staff. He grimaced and cast a spell to push Seo-un back. Seo-un’s expression soured as his body was repelled by a strange phenomenon that felt like the air itself was exploding.
He’s not easy.
Against an ordinary mage, the fight would have ended the moment he closed the distance. However, seeing the man block a Blood Bone Claw infused with Aura made the weight of this Ranked Game feel very real.
Screech!
The mage and Seo-un, who were glaring at each other, turned their heads toward a sudden noise.
Nam Sa-gwang and a knight had clashed once and were now backing away from each other. They all knew better than anyone that fighting this early in the game wouldn't benefit them.
Furthermore, since it wasn't a 1-on-1 situation, Seo-un took the lead as they all warily eyed one another.
“There’s no need to do someone else a favor on the first day, right?”
The knight and the mage nodded in agreement. Immediately, the two of them ran off in different directions and vanished.
“Let’s move.”
With those words, Seo-un dashed into the district office.
“Is there a specific reason we came here?” Sa-gwang asked as he followed.
“This place, Incheon, is a metropolitan city on this map,” Seo-un replied while searching the office. “Unlike maps in other worlds, there are endless buildings here. When I thought about where items would be dropped in this situation, I figured there’s no place better than a government building.”
Though there were many terms he didn't quite understand, Nam Sa-gwang grasped the general intent and nodded, scanning the area.
[Ding! You have acquired a Unique Kaiser's Ring. It significantly increases Agility.]
Seo-un tilted his head at the familiar name. He took off the ring he was wearing and put on the new one, his eyes widening.
“Sa-gwang!”
“Did you find something?”
Seo-un tossed the newly acquired ring to him. Sa-gwang caught it and checked the item, his face filling with surprise.
“I’ve never seen an item like this before.”
They had farmed countless times and were familiar with almost every named item. However, they had never seen an item with the 'Unique' grade attached to its name.
“So this is how it works.”
Increasing Agility by 50 wasn't particularly amazing, as a regular Kaiser’s Ring provided 40. However, the secondary function—similar to Toka’s Ring—which increased existing Agility by 1.5 times, made it a completely different story.
“You can’t wear duplicates, but this is quite an item.”
Tossing the ring back to Nam Sa-gwang, Seo-un began searching for items with renewed intensity. Nam Sa-gwang also seemed fired up for farming for the first time in a long while.
In truth, Nam Sa-gwang already had most of his accessory slots filled from previous games. He didn't even have a spare finger for another ring, yet he had never been this excited about farming items that weren't consumables.
“I should have brought the Compass of Absolute Treasure to a game like this...”
As Seo-un spoke with regret, Nam Sa-gwang nodded in agreement. Just then, a glittering object on a desk cluttered with documents caught Seo-un’s eye.
[Ding! You have acquired a Unique Dreaminger's Ring. It significantly increases Strength.]
“Nice!”
At Seo-un’s reaction, Nam Sa-gwang quickly looked up. He snatched the ring flying toward him, checked its stats, and tossed it back to Seo-un.
“If we collect all the Unique Named Rings, it’ll be incredible.”
“We have plenty of coins, so if we manage that, our stats will skyrocket.”
Finishing their conversation, the two of them moved like the wind toward the second floor. Seo-un wanted to create clones to speed up the farming, but he held back, knowing he couldn't afford to waste Immortal Qi on anything but combat.
“But what kind of monsters appear here?”
Seo-un shrugged at Nam Sa-gwang’s question. He had been curious about that himself since seeing the Boss Monster and Buff Monster regions on the map.
“I don’t know either.”
“Huh? You don’t know the monsters of your own world?”
“There are no such things as monsters in our world. I’ve been curious about that since I saw the map, too.”
Seo-un couldn't think of any monsters that would appear on Earth. The best he could come up with were urban legends like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.
Surely an alien or a UFO won't pop out as a boss.
With those thoughts, the two of them quickly finished farming the Namdong-gu Office.
“Two Unique rings and some consumables?”
“We got a Potion of Madness, too.”
“I can’t use that. The side effects last too long.”
As they talked, both of their faces stiffened. Nam Sa-gwang’s face hardened first at a powerful presence piercing through his senses, followed shortly by Seo-un.
“Two?”
“Two.”
Nam Sa-gwang answered Seo-un’s question with certainty. The two presences approaching from different directions also seemed to have sensed the two inside the office, as they stopped before entering.
“Are we fighting?”
“No. We don’t have time for that. Let’s break through one side.”
Just as they were about to move, an arrow shattered a window and flew straight for the space between Nam Sa-gwang’s eyebrows.
Snatch.
Seeing him catch the lightning-fast arrow with his bare hands, Seo-un shouted.
“Throw it away, now!”
K-Boom!
The two of them were caught in the blast of a Mana Explosion Arrow—something Seo-un made himself and had seen Jurokuana use many times. In an instant, they looked like tattered beggars.
“Interesting. I’m going to tear you to pieces.”
Nam Sa-gwang’s eyes gleamed with murderous intent. He looked down at his torn and blistered hands and curled his lips into a twisted grin.
“Don’t lose your cool.”
Looking around the room trashed by the explosion, Seo-un pulled out two scrolls and tossed one to Nam Sa-gwang. As soon as they tore the scrolls, two more arrows flew inside, and the two instinctively leaped out the window.
K-Boom!
The moment they threw themselves outside, the shockwave of the explosion and shards of glass grazed past them. As soon as they landed, they saw a single enemy aiming a bow. Seeing the two emerge together without being wary of each other, the man frowned and released his bowstring.
Nam Sa-gwang, enraged, charged toward the arrow that was flying even faster than Jurokuana’s.
“Sa-gwang!”
He tilted his head slightly to dodge the arrow aimed at his brow. But the moment he drew his Hand Aura, the arrow that had just passed him erupted with lightning.
Crackle!
As Nam Sa-gwang’s body momentarily stiffened from the shock, his Hand Aura grazed past the enemy’s nose, and the man’s figure was pulled backward as if being sucked away.
!!!
What is he, some kind of 3D Maneuver Gear user?
Seo-un quickly drew and released his bow, but several steel wires shot out from the man’s back and anchored into the surrounding buildings. The wires retracted irregularly, swinging the man’s body through the air.
As the man dodged all the Pyeonjeon and vanished between the buildings like Spider-Man, an incensed Nam Sa-gwang gathered his Internal Qi to give chase.
“Forget it. Farming is more important right now. You said you were going to get the Heavenly Demon.”
At Seo-un’s words, the ominous murderous intent flowing from his body vanished.
“Phew. I’ll see him again eventually.”
Seo-un knew that he hadn't let go of his bloodlust, but rather swallowed it down. However, at this moment, farming items was far more important than getting a single kill.
Sensing that the other presence had also vanished during the brief skirmish, the two of them disappeared as if sinking into the ground.