Chapter 33: The Man with the Most Kills (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 33: The Man with the Most Kills (3)
The people surrounding the duo were the first to react to Kang Gi-chan’s shout.
Watching them widen the distance while warily checking their surroundings, Kang Gi-chan shouted once more.
“Jin Seo-un! I know you’re hiding there, so come out!”
This time, he called the name out directly.
The moment that name left his lips, even the woman who had been glaring at the two without moving a muscle leaped backward. The weight the name ‘Jin Seo-un’ carried was immense. He was a player who had been on the kill list since the first day and had slaughtered a staggering number of players only yesterday.
Tense, the woman stared intently at Kang Gi-chan’s face. She scrutinized him, trying to gauge if his words were true, but Kang Gi-chan’s expression was dead serious. Seeing his face grow increasingly annoyed—as if wondering why the man wasn’t showing himself—the woman assumed the worst-case scenario and decided not to move recklessly.
Seo-un, for his part, was in a bind.
Does he really know? I didn’t feel him using any detection magic. Even if he did, how does he know my name? Don’t tell me that bastard…
Just then, Kang Gi-chan spoke again.
“Are you really going to be like this? You agreed to help us in exchange for the Ent’s Heart!”
At the mention of the Ent’s Heart, a flash of intense greed crossed the faces of the three mages. However, no one dared to move first.
Seo-un remained still as well.
That cheeky brat is certainly good at playing tricks. Using my name as a shield, are we?
It was impressive quick-wittedness. In a desperate six-on-two situation, he had managed to force six people back just by flapping his gums. It was undoubtedly a brilliant move.
The problem was that it pissed Seo-un off.
Still, he had no intention of stepping out. Free-for-alls had more variables than one might think. In the previous game, he had been in a position where he should have died, but because one madman had a change of heart, he ended up finishing in 2nd place instead of 4th. Back then, the variable had worked in his favor, but there was no guarantee it would always be that way.
Above all, looking at the reactions of those six, he was clearly a major target of wariness. If he stepped out now, he would likely be ganged up on immediately.
“Fine! If that’s how you’re going to play it, I’ll leave the Ent’s Heart I promised you right here. I’ve kept my end of the bargain! Whether those people take it or you take it, do whatever you want!”
Finishing his sentence, the man pulled a leather pouch from his subspace and set it on the ground. Then, keeping a wary eye on the other players, he and his teammate began to back away.
The remaining players hesitated, unable to decide whether to pursue them or grab the leather pouch.
“The Ent’s Heart comes first!”
“If we touch that, we might become targets for Jin Seo-un.”
“We can’t just let them escape, can we? Let’s chase them first.”
“Then the heart…”
This was the nature of makeshift alliances. When a single goal was set, it was easy to move in unison, but as soon as a variable appeared, they were just as easily divided.
Watching the two openly turn their backs and flee after gaining some distance, the woman bit her crimson lips.
“We’re going after them.”
Without even waiting for her teammates’ agreement, she dashed forward. The mage beside her sighed and pulled a rectangular board from his subspace. It was pitch-black and covered in magical patterns, looking much like a snowboard. He threw it on the ground and stepped onto it. Surprisingly, the board hovered slightly and began to glide forward at high speed.
Four people remained. They kept an eye on each other while slowly inching toward the leather pouch.
Seo-un, who had already been following the audacious Kang Gi-chan from a distance, shook his head as he watched the two pursuers catch up.
He managed to shake off four of them, after all. I have to hand it to him; he’s got brains. If I ever fight him, I’ll have to watch out for that mouth of his.
After running for about twenty minutes, Kang Gi-chan’s duo suddenly pulled a reversal and lunged at the woman’s duo following them.
I knew it from the moment they started slowing down.
Seo-un lay flat on the ground some distance away and watched the four of them fight. Anticipating this, he had kept himself hidden by moving through the dense forest.
The guys left behind are probably beating the hell out of each other by now, too.
He pulled a leather pouch of beef jerky from his subspace and settled in, popping a piece into his mouth.
—Boom!
Ho, now that’s impressive.
A man leaped a good ten meters into the air and slammed a mace into the ground. A powerful wave of mana erupted, creating a massive shockwave within an eight-meter radius. Seo-un’s eyes sparkled as he observed a skill different from those of ordinary knights.
Caught in the range of the shockwave, the woman’s martial arts uniform was torn in several places as she was blown backward. Simultaneously, Kang Gi-chan’s magic poured out. A Lightning Strike erupted from his staff, streaking toward the woman. As soon as it hit her, it chained to the mage nearby.
Lightning magic? He’s like a Pikachu or something.
“Ha!”
With a sharp shout, the woman stomped her foot, instantly severing the electricity shocking her. Though her clothes were tattered and parts of her hair were singed, her eyes didn’t waver in the slightest. The moment frost began to pour from her hands again, she lunged at the man with the mace, her body low and fluid.
—Bang!
She’s pretty tough.
It took a lot of guts to meet a spiked mace head-on with nothing but a fist. Yet, this woman was doing it effortlessly. Seo-un figured she had to be incredibly confident in her martial arts to even attempt it. Sure enough, even though her fist collided with the sharp spikes of the mace, not a single scratch appeared on her skin.
The force behind her punch was significant enough to knock the man back half a step, and her assault continued relentlessly. The man’s expression crumpled as he struggled to block her attacks with his mace.
Meanwhile, Kang Gi-chan and the other mage were busy trading spells to keep each other in check. The mage raised a Stone Wall to block Kang Gi-chan’s lightning and fired back with wind magic, which Kang Gi-chan countered with fire magic.
Magic has its own elemental affinities, I see.
Chewing on his jerky, Seo-un felt the fight was nearing its end. The man facing the woman was fighting well, but it looked like he couldn’t hold out much longer. At some point, his mace had become covered in white frost, and it was now emitting a chilling mist. Still, the man’s spirit was commendable as he refused to let go of the weapon.
—Clang!
With a sound like metal striking metal, the man finally lost his grip on the mace. The moment the man’s ring finger flew into the air along with the weapon, Kang Gi-chan fired a bolt of lightning and rushed toward the woman. The man, in turn, dodged the woman and charged toward the mage.
Oh, a switch?
The woman took the lightning magic head-on, her lips curling into a smirk as if it dealt no damage. With a look that suggested a mere mage was nothing to her, she thrust her fist forward. Fist Qi, manifesting as white frost in the air, surged toward Kang Gi-chan.
Kang Gi-chan swung a sword he had pulled from his subspace directly at the Fist Qi.
—Zing!
With an unpleasant vibration, the woman’s Fist Qi was split in half and dissipated. For the first time, her expression faltered.
“You know martial arts!”
Kang Gi-chan answered her shout with his swordplay, which looked remarkably fluid. A powerful, aggressive energy emanated from his smoothly swinging blade—a stark contrast to its graceful movement.
The woman, unable to meet the weapon with her bare hands as she had with the mace, was forced to retreat repeatedly. Once she lost her momentum, her expression soured as she continued to be pushed back. She had just received a notification that her teammate had been defeated.
Now it was two-on-one. She could feel the man, who had pulled out a new mace, rushing at her from behind. A gale whipped up around her, tinting the surroundings with frost, but Kang Gi-chan threw off his freezing robe and pressed his attack without flinching.
—Slash.
The moment Kang Gi-chan’s sword finally carved into her side, the mace came crashing down toward her head. She blocked the mace with one hand and pressed the other against her wounded side. The gash froze over instantly, stopping the bleeding.
The woman kept backing away, avoiding the two of them. She was following the basic rule of multi-on-one combat: never let an enemy get behind you. Just as she hurriedly ducked her head in surprise, an arrow narrowly grazed the back of her skull. By chance, it flew straight toward the man charging with the mace.
He barely managed to raise his arm to block it, but he grimaced as the arrow’s power drove it clean through his limb.
—Thud, thud!
Two more arrows followed in quick succession, piercing the woman’s legs and forcing her to her knees.
—Thwack!
Then, an arrow drove through the side of her neck, and the light of life faded from her eyes.
Watching Seo-un walk toward them, hood pulled low and bow in hand, the man’s face hardened as he snapped off the shaft of the arrow embedded in his arm. Kang Gi-chan tightened his grip on his sword and spoke.
“I don’t know who you are, but is there really a need for a two-on-one fight?”
Even as he spoke, his eyes were busy scanning the area. He was clearly on guard for a potential teammate of the newcomer.
“What do you mean you don’t know who I am? You’re the one who called me.”
For a moment, Kang Gi-chan looked confused, but then he clamped his mouth shut.
“Now you know?”
“Is there really a need for us Koreans to fight each other already? We could always face off later.”
As expected, his silver tongue was something else. That impressive mouth continued to pour out words.
“You even stole the kill. It would be mutually beneficial if we just backed off here.”
“Hand over the Ent’s Heart.”
Kang Gi-chan’s face twisted.
“Why? You’re the one who called me, saying you’d give it to me. If you hand it over… there’s no need to fight.”
“That item is already—”
Before he could finish, Seo-un fired a volley of arrows.
—Clang, clang!
He dodged one arrow and swung his sword to deflect two more. The sheer force behind the arrows brought a look of genuine tension to his face.
“Do I look like an idiot to you?”
Seo-un didn’t believe for a second that this snake-like bastard had actually left the Ent’s Heart behind. After a moment of conflicted thought, the man pulled a leather pouch from his subspace.
“Fine. Fine.”
He even sheathed his sword and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. He placed the pouch on the ground and began to back away.
“It won’t go like this next time.”
As the two turned to run, a shower of arrows rained down on them. Unable to safely show their backs, they hurriedly turned around.
“Who are you calling a sucker?”
With those words, Seo-un charged toward them while continuing to fire. The balance of his Cloud Soaring Step was nearly perfect, allowing him to maintain a high-speed Lightness Skill with almost no swaying in his upper body as he shot.
Kang Gi-chan, who had drawn his sword and staff again, gritted his teeth and thrust his staff forward.
—Crackle!
A bolt of lightning struck Seo-un’s body. Mimicking what the woman had done, Seo-un protected his body with internal power and channeled the electricity through his feet into a Stomp. The electrical energy dissipated harmlessly into the ground.
Kang Gi-chan gnashed his teeth as he saw his opponent hadn’t lost a single hair. Seo-un fired a Wind Blade and an Ice Lance at the man rushing with the mace, causing him to falter and stop his advance.
In that opening, Seo-un closed the distance to Kang Gi-chan and swung his fist. Kang Gi-chan swung his sword in return, intent on severing Seo-un’s hand.
Spinning Strike.
In an instant, the rotational force of his arm centered on his elbow, striking the flat of the blade. The sensation of one’s sword being forced open against one’s will, exposing every weakness in the body, was a truly alien experience. That fear was doubled when the enemy was right in front of one’s nose.
—Thud, thud, thud.
Three punches slammed into Kang Gi-chan’s chest, sending him flying backward to roll across the ground.
“Damn it.”
Seo-un felt the impact and knew he hadn’t delivered a killing blow, but he couldn’t follow up to finish him off. The man with the mace had leaped into the air and was bringing his weapon down toward the crown of Seo-un’s head.
Seo-un stepped back twice and surged his internal power.
—Boom!
The ground overturned as a massive shockwave swept toward him. However, Seo-un held his ground as if his legs were rooted in the earth, resisting the wave with a sharp shout.
“Hah!”
The moment the shockwave, which tried to push everything away, brushed past him, Seo-un’s fist struck the chest of the man who was swinging his mace again.
—Cr-crack!
Fine cracks spread across the entire breastplate as the man was blown backward, but his teeth remained clenched and his eyes showed no sign of intimidation.
He’s certainly as sturdy as they come.