Chapter 156: Solo. 100 vs. 1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 156: Solo. 100 vs. 1
The players gathered inside the castle stood frozen, staring blankly at the sudden anomaly unfolding before them.
It wasn't until the two knights flanking the first decapitated player had their own heads crushed—unable to even mount a proper defense—that a guild executive finally snapped out of his daze and roared a command.
"Knights, engage! Mages, fall back! Surround him! Don't let him penetrate the inner circle!"
His shout was infused with power, a forceful wave that cleared the mind and compelled swift obedience.
Is that a leadership skill?
With that thought, Seo-un focused his Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils on the knight shouting from the distance.
Slash! Rip!
Even as he carved through the iron-clad knights charging at him, the clarity provided by his Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils allowed him to dissect the extent of the commanding knight's abilities.
Clang!
Seo-un’s lips curled into a smirk. He had been pushing forward with pure, overwhelming strength, assuming he was only dealing with low-ranked fodder. But a sharp attack had just whistled toward his back as he lunged forward.
A player wielding a Crow in one hand and a long, thin dagger—resembling a sashimi knife—in the other was already retreating into the crowd the moment his sneak attack failed.
An assassin.
And a far more skilled one than any he had faced before.
Leaving him alive would be a nuisance, but chasing him through the throng would mean walking straight into their encirclement just as he was gaining momentum.
There were three reasons why Seo-un had intentionally dropped into the dead center of the crowd to start this fight. First, to catch them off guard. Second, to neutralize the mages' long-range advantage.
And finally, to sow pure terror.
By diving into the heart of a packed group and forcing a chaotic melee, it became incredibly difficult for mages to use offensive spells. Area-of-effect magic was out of the question, and even targeted spells carried the risk of hitting allies. The mages were effectively neutered.
No matter how high his magic resistance or his immunity to fire magic was, the damage would eventually accumulate if he took direct hits from dozens of mages simultaneously. He wasn't about to give them that chance.
Crunch! Crack!
Seo-un used raw strength to shatter the Stone Hands that suddenly erupted from the ground to seize his ankles, never breaking his forward charge.
"Mages! What are you doing?! Bind his legs!"
Seeing them finally focus on status-effect magic, Seo-un’s feet began to trace the intricate patterns of the Muryeong Phantom Step.
His form began to multiply—one, then two—until suddenly there were twelve of him. Misdirected status-effect spells began to strike the guild members instead of their target.
"You idiot! Where are you aiming?! Hurry up and dispel—"
Thud.
An agitated martial artist, trapped in a swamp spell that had snared his own legs, began to roar in anger only to have his head roll from his shoulders.
"It's Aura! The one using Aura is the real one! Watch closely and aim straight!"
At the enemy commander's shout, Seo-un’s lips curved into a cold arc.
Then I'll just stop using it.
Continuing to multiply his form with the Muryeong Phantom Step, he began slaughtering his enemies using nothing but the pure Blood Bone Claw.
Even without visible Aura, his breakthrough power didn't diminish. The moment he struck an enemy, he generated a brief, invisible burst of Aura at his fingertips to deliver the killing blow. From a distance, there was simply no way to tell the difference between the real body and the phantoms.
"What are you doing?! Ignore the illusions and target the real body! Mages!!!"
Despite the commander's frustrated screams, the mages couldn't pin Seo-un down. Every time he finished an attack and took a step, two or three more forms appeared. He was a ghost in the machine.
"Don't get so close! I can't use my magic!"
Through his experiences in Cloyd, Seo-un already knew exactly how to dismantle mages. You either get in their face or you stick to their allies like a shadow.
Demonstrating that textbook strategy, Seo-un carried out the 100-to-1 slaughter.
Boom!
"Aaargh!"
"Ugh! Re-retreat!"
Seo-un’s momentum, which had been an irresistible force, came to a halt for the first time since the battle began. A knight who had sent his own allies flying as he dropped in front of Seo-un glared at him, lifting a mace that had just slammed into the ground.
The heavy hitters are finally stepping up.
As several noticeably skilled individuals blocked his path, Seo-un licked his lips in disappointment. He had wanted to penetrate the mages' line before the guild members could adapt, but the enemy's response was faster than expected.
A knight, whose skill suggested he could hold his own even in the Crown rank, began to charge toward Seo-un.
Clang!
Seo-un’s body was pushed back slightly as he blocked the knight's heavy dash. Unlike the others who relied solely on brute strength, this one knew how to put his weight into his attacks, and his agility was deceptively high.
Seo-un, who had been focusing his Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils on the enemy commander, furrowed his brow.
Can I... focus it on more of them?
At that thought, Seo-un concentrated the Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils into a five-meter radius, increasing its density. The movements of the knight right in front of him became crystal clear.
A little more... just a little more...
As he avoided the knight's subsequent attacks with fluid grace, his Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils suddenly glowed with an intense, blood-red light. In that instant, Seo-un could perceive the movements of everyone within a fifty-meter radius as if they were standing on the palm of his hand.
He began to see every single action of the multitude. He could feel the spells being prepared in his blind spots and the status-effect magic flowing through the ground toward his feet.
Seo-un began to lose himself in that ecstatic, unique sensation.
Thwack!
The knight, who had gained confidence seeing Seo-un only dodging, swung a stun skill—only to suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood.
It was a devastating blow to his morale. He had been preparing a trump card skill that would have momentarily frozen all enemies within a ten-meter radius if he had only managed to slam his weapon into the ground. But before the mace could touch the earth, Seo-un had blocked it with the top of his foot, spun backward, and driven his elbow into the knight's heart in one fluid motion.
His heart pierced, the knight fell to his knees and slumped forward.
Several high-ranked players blocked Seo-un’s path as he moved past the fallen knight, but they couldn't even graze a single hair on his head. As if he were reading their very thoughts, his attacks pierced their openings so naturally that they had no idea how to counter him.
"Aaargh!"
"W-what! This isn't an illusion—"
At that moment, screams erupted from the mages in the back line. While keeping the enemies' attention fixed on himself, Seo-un had mixed actual clones into the illusions created by the Muryeong Phantom Step and sent them to the rear.
Sweeping through his enemies while immersed in the strange sensation granted by the Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils, Seo-un was completely consumed by the rhythm of the slaughter.
Crunch!
Slash!
Thud!
Killing the charging players in single blows as he advanced, he gradually forgot his surroundings and surrendered himself to the sensation enveloping his entire body.
Rumble!
Finally, the mages cast a combined spell of powerful wind and fire magic to stop him, even at the cost of their own allies. A massive Flame Burst exploded, swallowing Seo-un whole.
However, he emerged from the flames like a streak of light, continuing his attack completely unscathed. It was their misfortune that they had chosen to focus on fire magic.
"Impossible! Just how high is his magic resistance?!"
The screaming mage's head was severed, and eventually, every player in the area had fallen. Only one remained.
The executive, who had been with the guild since its early days, stared at the approaching Seo-un with eyes full of disbelief. As someone nearing the Crown rank, he knew the names of the players to watch out for. Naturally, the name Jin Seo-un was high on that list.
However, he had believed that Jin Seo-un was different from the Heavenly Demon, whom one must avoid at all costs. He had judged that if a three-digit number of guild members banded together, they would have a fair chance.
— The terrifying thing about him is his growth rate. —
The words the Guild Leader had used to evaluate Jin Seo-un suddenly flashed through his mind.
"Dammit!!!"
His reason was gone as he drew his sword and charged. He should have ordered a retreat the moment more than half the guild members were dead and the back line was breached. Even now, the correct decision would have been to flee and avoid being dropped from the game.
But he couldn't do it.
Slash!
The commander's body was sliced at the waist while his sword was still raised. The light of life faded from his eyes as his corpse hit the ground, spilling his entrails.
With no more enemies to kill, the sensation that had possessed Seo-un began to fade.
"Ugh!"
A searing pain, as if his left eye were burning, hit him. It was accompanied by a headache that felt like his brain was being squeezed in a vice. Pressing his hand against his eye, Seo-un knelt on one knee and remained slumped there for a while.
Surrounded by over a hundred loot boxes filling the area, Seo-un eventually stood up as the pain subsided, looking around with a look of regret.
Just a little... just a little more.
The regret that he might have realized something profound if that sensation had lasted just a bit longer wouldn't leave his mind. After standing still for a moment to savor the lingering feeling, he began to farm the items.
* * *
"T-this is..."
"Damn! It's Jin Seo-un from Crown!"
"Over a h-hundred people were taken out."
"Where? Where do you think it was?"
"There were only two guilds with nearly a hundred members. One of them was..."
The player looking at the castle towering at the edge of the city trailed off and swallowed hard.
"Does anyone here know what Jin Seo-un looks like?"
The player's brow furrowed as he looked at his twenty or so guild members. They knew his name well, but unless they had met him in person, it was difficult to identify him.
"I've heard descriptions. He looks like an ordinary young man, with relatively short hair. His height is around 180cm, maybe a bit less..."
"..."
It was nearly impossible to identify him based on that alone. With one-fifth of the players dead less than two hours after the game started, all the participants began to grow restless. The fear that he might be near them was inevitable.
* * *
"Survivors."
Remaining Survivors: 397/500
.
.
.
Jin Seo-un—...
Jin Seo-un—...
Jin Seo-un—...
Checking the phenomenal kill list, a silver-haired player smiled and looked at the guild members around him.
"Whew. Impressive, isn't it?"
"My Lord. They were just low-ranked players anyway. It's nothing particularly special."
"Is that so? I met him once on Earth... and I felt a considerable aura from him. How should I put it... it felt like looking at my older brother?"
"My Lord, you have already surpassed the Madman of the Battlefield."
"Don't say such dangerous things. The throne still belongs to my brother."
The man, emphasizing the word "still," scanned the list one by one with an amused expression.
* * *
Having finished farming the boxes, Seo-un let out a sigh and looked around the massive castle.
"Farming this is going to take a long time."
Spouting words that would make any other player sick with envy, Seo-un walked into the castle.
Anyway, that's one penalty cleared.
All that remained was hunting the object monsters and finishing the game in the TOP 10. As he moved and checked the map, Seo-un frowned.
It's far.
The Epic Monster hadn't appeared yet, and the buff mobs and boss mobs were too far away. After farming the castle and obtaining a significant number of scrolls and two Unique Named Rings, Seo-un stepped outside.
He had farmed many other good items, but the only ones he could use himself were the Unique Named Rings. If he could exchange five more rings for Unique ones, he would be able to wear a Unique Ring on all nine fingers.
I can just give the remaining rings away.
Since the price of a Named Ring itself was considerable, he had thought about selling them, but money no longer had any meaning to him.
Stepping outside the castle, Seo-un briefly looked in the directions of the boss monster and buff monster before heading toward the boss. This game wasn't in real-time; uniquely, it was a 30-to-1 ratio influenced by Earth's time. Since thirty hours here equaled one hour on Earth, he had no desire to drag the game out.
As he ran along the main road, fully visible, the sun began to set and darkness fell. Even so, Seo-un did not take out his Cloak of Stealth. Normally, it would be natural to hide at night, but in this game, he remained out in the open, hoping to encounter even one more enemy.
* * *
"I-is heading to the castle really the right thing to do?"
"This game is already messed up with a monster like an Epic in the mix. At this rate, if we just take our time farming, we'll get dropped if we're unlucky. It's better to at least grab the main reward."
"But if that guy is there..."
"It's fine. I've gathered enough Eyes of Distortion. I even have a Teleportation Scroll to use if things get hairy."
The martial artist said this as he held up a scroll and a ring.
"This is an opportunity. Farming these items early on is a stroke of luck that might only happen once in Cloyd. If we just release the Demon King said to be in the castle basement, we'll hit the jackpot. It's not like we're releasing it in the real world anyway!"
With those words, the knight pulled on a black cloak and headed toward the royal palace with his guild members.