Chapter 32: The Man with the Most Kills (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 32: The Man with the Most Kills (2)
The boy’s bruised arms trembled violently as he shielded his head. He peeked through the gaps between his fingers, cautiously gauging Seo-un’s reaction.
Seo-un’s brow furrowed. Up close, the boy looked even younger than he had first thought. A quick scan of his emaciated frame suggested he hadn't survived this long through mere luck or camping.
These aren't just ordinary wounds.
The bruises were one thing, but the marks visible through the tears in his clothes—on his thighs and across his back—were fresh burns. Seo-un knew those marks well; they were the telltale signs of using low-grade recovery scrolls on wounds that required far more potent healing.
The boy’s pupils shook, and his cracked, bleeding lips parted.
“R-run…”
Before the boy could finish, an enemy lunged from the nearby bushes, spear leveled.
It was meant to be a lethal surprise attack, but Seo-un had anticipated this the moment he saw the child’s injuries. He leaned back slightly, letting the spear whistle past his chest, and delivered a light palm strike to the man’s sternum. The impact sent the attacker stumbling back.
“I take it you’re this kid’s duo partner.”
The man rubbed his breastplate, which now bore a deep dent from the single blow, and glared at the boy.
“You little brat, again?! Just you wait, you piece of shit.”
After barking at the child, the man turned his gaze toward Seo-un and pulled a glowing orb from his subspace.
“You’ve got some interesting techniques. If I kill you, those skills will be mine, won't they?”
“You certainly have a vivid imagination.”
Instead of a verbal retort, the man gave a sickening smirk and hurled the orb. Five massive fireballs surged forward, threatening to incinerate both Seo-un and the child.
“Keke! I got this from some sympathetic mage. Now burn in hell!”
The child curled into a ball, trembling in terror as the flames roared toward them.
It was obvious now. This wasn't the man's first time doing this. He used the child as bait for an ambush, and if it failed, he triggered a spell or trap regardless of whether the child was caught in the crossfire. The boy’s wounds had clearly been inflicted by his own teammate to lower the guard of wary enemies.
I suppose he figures he can just resurrect the kid after the enemy is dead.
Seo-un clenched his fist and stepped forward to meet the inferno. He thrust his fist straight out.
—Whoosh!
With the sound of flames violently resisting, the fireballs split apart, veering harmlessly past Seo-un and the child.
“Tch! So you’ve got a trick or two—”
The man reached into his subspace to cast another spell, but his sentence was cut short.
—Crunch!
Seo-un’s fist crushed the man’s head, helmet and all.
Death in Cloyd Survival provided a unique, harrowing experience. As his skull was pulverized, the man experienced the strange sensation of an out-of-body experience, staring down at his own mangled corpse.
“No!!!”
The man screamed at the top of his lungs, experiencing the very horror he had forced the child to endure countless times. There was still so much he wanted to take from this world. He needed his rewards. The thought that he couldn't die like this consumed him.
His vision was filled with the image of Seo-un stepping onto his fallen body.
—Crack!
As Seo-un applied pressure with his foot, the man saw his own neck snap effortlessly. A notification that the game had ended appeared, and he opened his eyes back in reality.
The child instinctively crawled backward, staring at Seo-un. This man had killed his partner—someone the boy considered unimaginably strong—in a single blow.
“How old… are you?”
“N-nine years old…”
Seeing the terror in the child’s eyes, Seo-un couldn't bring himself to ask anything else. It was tragic, but there was nothing he could do for the boy. Once you entered this game, everyone was bound by the same impartial rules. In this utterly unfair game, the only thing forced upon you was the fair necessity of survival.
And if you survive, you are rewarded accordingly.
Whether you liked it or not didn't matter. That was just the way this world worked. That was why he couldn't ask the boy’s name or where he came from. If he grew even slightly attached, it would only be harder to turn away.
“This is my second time in this game. During my first round, I was as weak as you. I survived by desperately avoiding enemies and farming items. I’ll tell you one thing: make it into the top 20 survivors. If you do, your life in reality will be better than it is now.”
Finishing his piece, Seo-un tossed two leather pouches in front of the boy. One contained beef jerky, and the other held a 3rd Circle Stone. Since Seo-un had already used a 4th Circle Stone, it was useless to him.
“Whether you survive from here on out depends entirely on your own will and skill.”
With that, he turned around. He saw the boy’s chapped lips quiver as if he wanted to say something, so Seo-un quickly walked away. He didn't have the confidence to keep talking to that pitiful child. Just looking at the boy’s physical state, which made it easy to guess the abuse he’d suffered, stirred a sense of pity—but this was a world where even pity was a luxury.
Suddenly, he felt a surge of hatred for whoever had created this game and this world. Hoping the child would have at least a fraction of the luck he’d had, Seo-un walked on. Behind him, he heard the small child’s voice.
“Thank you…”
As if trying to shake off that weak voice, Seo-un activated his Cloud Soaring Step and dashed toward his next destination.
*
Stepping into the Boss Monster’s spawn area, Seo-un looked up at the sky. The sun had already passed its zenith. Because he had been carefully managing his internal power on the way here, it had taken longer than expected.
The area was a forest of blackened, emaciated trees that looked dead, yet somehow managed to grow out of the rocky earth. Just looking at it made him feel uneasy. The atmosphere created by the leafless, dark trees against the red earth was the perfect scenery for death.
A boss monster appearing in a place like this…
A chill ran down his spine.
But why… haven't I seen any enemies?
Come to think of it, he hadn't even bothered to predict enemy movements to avoid them like he usually did. He had simply taken the most convenient paths. Of course, he only did that because he was confident he could handle anyone he ran into.
[Survivors]
41/200
.
.
.
Jin Seo-un --> Cloyd-Wain (Eliminated: Crushing)
The only person removed from the list recently was the one he had finished off by stepping on.
It’s only the third day, and everyone is already camping?
It didn't make sense. By now, players should have adapted to the game and be frantically farming for items, yet there were no enemies in sight.
Is it because I’m not near the villages?
Even so, wouldn't the allure of boss monsters or buff monsters bring people out into the open? He pondered the discrepancy, but no clear answer came to mind.
Now the question is whether to attempt the boss…
While the locations of buff monsters were pinpointed exactly, the system only gave a general spawn area for boss monsters.
Based on that alone, I’ll probably pull aggro the moment I run into it…
It was just a hunch, but he doubted he was wrong. He had enough gaming experience to make that much of an educated guess. The real question was whether they had placed an unkillable monster there, like the buff monsters, or something that could actually be defeated.
As he stared into the forest of unsettling trees, a system notification rang out.
[Ding! The Boss Monster has been slain! Glory to the duo Kang Gi-chan and Dolif!]
“What?!”
His shock wasn't because the boss had been killed. There were certainly players in the waiting room who didn't look like beginners, and he couldn't be sure there weren't others who had completed more rounds than him.
The real reason for his surprise was the name: Kang Gi-chan.
It’s that kid.
Among the many people in the waiting room, he was the only one wearing familiar clothing—a student who looked to be in middle or high school. The moment he heard the name, the boy’s face flashed in his mind.
Seo-un charged into the forest, pushing through the eerie trees. Since they were enemies, they were bound to clash eventually. It would have been best if the kid had been eliminated by someone else, but now that he had slain the boss, he had become the most concerning threat.
Whatever he got, it’s best to deal with him before he gets used to it.
If it was an item with a cooldown, all the better. Even if it wasn't, it would be easier to handle him before he fully adapted to whatever new martial art, magic, weapon, or armor he’d acquired.
After navigating the unsettling forest for a while, Seo-un finally drew his chainsword. Carving through the trees that blocked his path made travel much easier.
I should have headed toward the boss area from the start.
If his timing had been better, he could have ambushed the duo while they were busy with the raid. He felt a pang of regret.
As he continued to tear through the surroundings, he spotted a massive, blackened tree lying on the ground.
An… Ent?
With roots that looked like legs, two indentations that resembled closed eyes, and a gaping hole filled with teeth that could only be a mouth—it was the classic image of an Ent often seen in games.
So the boss was an Ent.
Looking at the fallen Ent, which was easily ten meters long, Seo-un quickly scanned the area. The surrounding trees were smashed, and there were signs of a fierce battle. He searched for fresh tracks and soon spotted a flash of light accompanied by a powerful surge of mana.
—Swoooosh.
The sound reached him a moment later, but Seo-un was already sprinting toward the source.
It was a six-on-two situation.
Despite the duo setting, six people were surrounding two others, keeping a wary distance. Smoke rose from the ground between them, leaving clear traces of heavy magic.
Teaming?
Teaming was something Seo-un had seen often in Royal Ground—players of the same nationality forming unofficial alliances to hunt down others. Having been on the receiving end of it, he immediately felt a surge of negativity toward the six players.
But this wasn't a casual game like Log. Forming a temporary alliance to suppress a powerful enemy was a valid survival strategy. Of course, that didn't make it any more pleasant to witness.
Ganging up on people is always a dick move…
Still, he had zero intention of stepping in to help. Seo-un watched the players closely, looking for a way to let them exhaust each other so he could swoop in and take the spoils. Lying flat among the creepy trees, his eyes darted across the scene.
“Sorry, but this is the end for you. You’ve already taken the boss.”
A man in a robe stepped forward, leveling his staff. His thin, pale arm was exposed.
Is that him?
Of the two facing the six players, one was a massive man with a multi-spiked mace resting on his shoulder. He wore only a breastplate, and his muscular arms didn't match the student Seo-un had seen in the waiting room. That meant the robed figure with the staff had to be Kang Gi-chan.
“I thought we agreed not to fight within this boss zone.”
“That was before the boss was killed!”
The robed man let out a youthful, mocking laugh at the words of a man in leather armor with a stylish mustache and slicked-back hair.
“Keke. You guys are always preaching about honor, but you sure are quick to coordinate when it’s time for a backstab.”
At those words, three knights in armor flinched and took a half-step back.
—Thump!
The massive man standing next to the robed figure slammed his mace into the ground and spoke.
“That’s how those pathetic Imperial bastards are. Come at us. We warriors of the Sisul don't count heads before a fight.”
Then, a woman who appeared to be the only martial artist among the six stepped forward. Her attire looked more like a ceremonial court robe than typical martial arts gear, suggesting she came from a high-status background.
Looks like she’s from a wealthy family.
Regardless of what Seo-un thought, the woman with skin as white as jade spoke.
“I have no interest in your world’s conflicts. What matters is the profit here and now. So, do you intend to share the items you obtained?”
“There aren't enough items to split eight ways,” the man replied irritably.
The woman bent her knees and thrust her fist forward.
—Pop!
Even with the light movement, the air seemed to explode, and white mist began to flow around her hand.
Ice Technique?
As a fan of martial arts novels, Seo-un could guess her discipline just by the frost emanating from her fist. He watched the situation unfold with amusement. It was the perfect "popcorn moment."
Too bad I don't have any popcorn.
Just then, the robed man threw back his hood and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Why don't you just come out now?!”