Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Level 2 Player

Seeds of Grudge

“Using that black cat would make it easy to find out-of-spec monsters.”

“You’re right. We got lucky.”

“Hey, first tell us the places you haven’t been to yet.”

The player party speaking Chinese naturally seemed to think that Jin-su and Shin Su-a should follow their instructions.

Was that why? They gave orders far too naturally, as if they were Jin-su and Shin Su-a’s superiors.

Jin-su’s face crumpled.

‘These aren’t normal guys.’

In a situation like this, the common sense was to ignore each other and pass by. If help was needed, one should ask about the affiliated guild, offer compensation, and then make a proposal. But these guys were completely arrogant.

“Why aren’t you saying anything!”

“If you want to live, it would be best to obediently do as we say.”

The players using Chinese drew their weapons and aimed them at Jin-su and Shin Su-a.

“They’re still ignoring us.”

“Shall we start by cutting off one arm? That way they’ll understand what we’re saying, right?”

In response to the threats from the Chinese-speaking players, Jin-su calmly opened his mouth.

“Which guild are you affiliated with?”

“Oh! Korean!”

“So they’re Koreans.”

“If they’re Koreans, are they affiliated with the Daehan Guild?”

“They might be, or they might not.”

“But why are you asking about our affiliated guild?”

“It seems like they’re trying to pressure us by borrowing the name of their affiliated guild.”

“Idiots. Do you think we’ll get scared just because of that?”

“Wherever you go, there are always guys who act cocky just because they trust in their guild’s power.”

“Do you think your affiliated guild can help you in this situation? Even if you shatter a rescue stone, it’s useless. We’ll just cut off your arms and legs first and then go somewhere else.”

The Chinese-speaking players mocked and ridiculed Jin-su and Shin Su-a.

‘Trash.’

Seeing how these guys who hadn’t even covered their faces were acting so recklessly, it was clear they thought they could use them moderately and then kill them.

‘Kill them.’

At the same time as Jin-su gave the command to his shadow summons, he used curse skills and assassin skills while swinging the Blood-Sucking Sword and the Shining Longsword.

Slash!

The neck of the player who had been mocking Jin-su from the closest distance flew off in an instant.

Thud!

“Cough!”

The shadow assassin also stabbed a dagger into the heart of one of the players.

Shushushuk!

Hwareureuk!

Arrows from the shadow archer flew in, and the shadow mage’s attack magic activated. Following that, the shadow knight’s shield bash and the shadow warrior’s greatsword flew in, and finally the shadow healer’s curse covered the enemies’ bodies.

Pukpukpuk!

Kwaaaang!

“You son of a bitch!”

“Kill them!”

The Chinese-speaking players swung their weapons in a rage.

‘They’re strong.’

He had cast curse skills and ambushed them while they were off guard. Yet only two had died. The shadow archer’s arrows had not hit vital points, and the shadow mage’s attacks had not inflicted fatal wounds either.

‘Is it because they’re at a similar level to Kim Young-cheol’s party?’

Thinking that way, killing two through the ambush was quite well done.

After all, Jin-su had eliminated one warrior, and the shadow assassin had eliminated one mage.

‘Worsening! Corruption!’

Pwaak!

Jin-su simultaneously used the option of the Ring of Worsening and the skill of a dark-type healer to widen existing wounds.

“Recovery! Purification!”

However, the opposing healer did not stay still either.

“Kill that bastard right now!”

Clang!

Kwaaaang!

A fierce close combat unfolded. The numbers were the same.

The enemies, who had totaled 10, had been reduced by two to 8, while on this side there were Jin-su and Shin Su-a plus five shadow summons and the Stone Golem.

‘Touch of Black Darkness, Shackles of Restraint, Crown of Thorns, Flame Storm, Flame Explosion.’

Jin-su used curse skills and magic attack skills every time the cooldown returned while swinging his two swords.

“Ugh! It’s a curse! Dispel! Dispel it for me!”

Boom!

“Hurry and cast recovery skills and protection skills!”

Dispel skills and recovery skills flew toward the players hit by Jin-su’s curse skills and magic attack skills.

“If we just kill that guy, it’s over!”

“Shackles of Binding! Touch of Restraint!”

Curse skills flew in succession.

The enemies had good party balance.

‘They don’t just have a holy-type healer, they also have a dark-type healer.’

However, there were holy-type and dark-type healers on this side as well.

Shin Su-a and the shadow healer.

If Jin-su, who had obtained dark-type healer skills through synthesis skills, was included as well?

The number of healers increased to three.

Jin-su successively used warrior skills, mage skills, assassin skills, and healer skills as he pushed the enemies back.

Slash!

“Kraaak!”

Boom!

“Aak!”

As a result, he was able to deal with two more enemies. But it was not without problems.

‘The mana consumption speed is too fast.’

Using skills from multiple classes at the same time made the mana consumption speed unimaginably fast.

‘If it weren’t for the blood-sucking skill and the mana-absorption skill, my mana would have bottomed out long ago.’

The problem was that the efficiency of the mana-absorption skill had dropped more than expected, whether because the enemies possessed skills or items that increased magic skill resistance.

‘At least it’s fortunate that I caught two of them.’

Thanks to the blood-sucking skill, some of his health and mana had recovered.

‘Let’s save status window switching as much as possible.’

Through the ambush he had eliminated two, and by pouring out as much mana as possible he had cleaned up two more.

‘Six enemies left.’

It seemed he could sufficiently catch them without needing to switch status windows.

‘Touch of Black Darkness, Shackles of Restraint.’

Jin-su cast curse skills once more on the enemies who had finished being dispelled while calmly continuing his attacks.

Shin Su-a also continued the battle by using the Stone Golem and shadow knight as shields and casting blessing, protection, recovery, dispel, and purification skills at the right timings.

Swoosh!

Thud!

“Aak!”

An arrow from the shadow archer pierced the head of the enemy holy-type healer who had been skillfully hiding and dodging here and there.

“You son of a bitch!”

“Jucheonu is dead!”

Once the holy-type healer died, the battle situation thereafter tilted sharply. Curses stacked and injuries accumulated.

Thud!

“Keok!”

In that situation, the shadow assassin stabbed a dagger into the nape of the neck of the only remaining dark-type healer and cut off his life.

With both the holy-type and dark-type healers taken down, it became completely impossible to cast recovery skills.

“You bastard! Do you know who we are! We’re affiliated with the Hwangryong Guild! If we die, the Hwangryong Guild will never leave you alone!”

Once the enemies reached a situation where defeat was certain, they revealed the name of the affiliated guild they had tightly hidden until now and made a threat that wouldn’t work.

“Can the Hwangryong Guild help you in this situation right now? We’ll just kill you and go somewhere else before reinforcements arrive.”

Jin-su threw back the words the enemies had mocked him with earlier in reverse.

“Scatter and run!”

Thinking there was no room for compromise at Jin-su’s words, the enemies scattered and fled.

‘Idiots.’

If about half of them had risked their lives to hold Jin-su and the summons back, there was a very slim probability that maybe one of them might have succeeded in escaping. But scattering in a situation where no one remained to hold them down was the same as asking to be killed even faster.

Shushushuk!

Hwareureuk!

First, arrows from the shadow archer flew in, and following that, magic attack skills from Jin-su and the shadow mage flew.

Thud!

An arrow from the shadow archer pierced the back of the head of an enemy player who was running away.

Booooom!

The magic attack skills launched by Jin-su and the shadow mage each caught one player as well.

Whoosh!

Thud!

A dagger thrown by the shadow assassin cut off the life of the last remaining enemy.

“Huu!”

Jin-su let out a long sigh. It seemed like an easy win, but that was not the case. The enemies they had just faced were, in some ways, more troublesome opponents than the Chabel Guild.

‘We were able to catch them easily because they didn’t have even the slightest thought that they would be attacked.’

They were a party that ranked among the strongest even on Floor 100, active in the last city. That was why they thought of Jin-su and Shin Su-a, who were hunting in the starting city, as nothing more than prey they had already caught.

If they had seen Jin-su and the summons hunting monsters, they would not have let their guard down, but that was their mistake.

‘Those who develop the habit of letting their guard down don’t last long in the end.’

The Tower is a space where you never know when, where, or what kind of variable will pop out. Even if your level is high, you have good items and skills, and the enemy’s level is low, if you let your guard down you can lose your life in an instant.

‘Well, from my perspective it’s a good thing.’

If enemies with malicious intent had also made thorough preparations, he could not have won this easily.

‘Let’s see.’

Jin-su collected the items the enemies had been wearing and the class change certificates and skill books that appeared when they died.

‘As expected, they were high-level guys.’

Each of the equipped items was considerably expensive. Also, the class change certificates and skill books were types that were hard to obtain even at the Floor 100 level.

‘They had reason to be arrogant.’

They must have thought that an ambush from a starting city-level player could be lightly blocked.

‘No matter how outstanding they were, they thought it was all within the palm of their hands.’

If the opponent had not been Jin-su, their arrogance would have been packaged as confidence, and they would not have lost their lives.

‘Well killed.’

They were guys who, if left alive, would certainly have used those weaker than themselves like slaves and then killed them.

‘More importantly, they’re affiliated with the Hwangryong Guild.’

Jin-su frowned. Unlike the Chabel Guild, the Hwangryong Guild was a guild that remained in Jin-su’s memory.

‘It was a guild created with Chinese people as the core.’

It was a super-large guild that continued to maintain its power not only on Floor 100 but also on higher floors.

‘Their numbers were enormous.’

Their skill itself was also not to be taken lightly.

‘Their inclination is close to that of a PK guild.’

Even though they had such an inclination, their power was so strong that one could not carelessly attack them.

‘I remember they were guys with strong vindictiveness.’

Guilds created by Chinese people generally showed that kind of inclination. They stick tightly together among themselves and reject outsiders. They repay kindness twofold and grudges tenfold.

‘But when they face a real crisis, they quickly reveal their true colors and become busy looking for their own way to survive.’

Conversely, that meant that in a moderate crisis they displayed tremendous unity.

‘Will pursuers attach themselves?’

That was unknown. What mattered was the standing of the dead guys within the Hwangryong Guild.

‘Since they’re in the middle of a factional fight, if it was a party belonging to the non-mainstream, they’ll just go through the motions and ignore it.’

Conversely, if it was a party belonging to the mainstream, there was a possibility that pursuers would attach themselves.

‘Let’s think about that when the time comes.’

Worrying in advance and fretting would not change anything.

Jin-su finished the cleanup with Shin Su-a and moved according to their original purpose of obtaining titles and clearing the hidden dungeon.

***

Jin-su and Shin Su-a returned to their lodging.

‘I’ve acquired everything that can be obtained in the starting city.’

He had obtained all the titles he had aimed for and cleared the hidden dungeon as well.

‘The rewards were decent too.’

It wasn’t that a Mana Spirit Pill had come out, but high-value elixirs including Muscle-Strengthening Pills had come out in abundance.

‘Let’s leave right away tomorrow morning.’

Once they left the starting city, he planned to go straight to the undead hidden dungeon.

‘Is there anything useful?’

After registering items for sale, Jin-su scanned through the auction house. Aiming for a jackpot like the Shining Longsword, he checked the auction house list every single day without missing a day. But jackpots did not easily catch his eye, as if to say that jackpots were jackpots for a reason.

“Huh?”

Then an item with a familiar name entered Jin-su’s eyes.

‘Ouroboros’s Ring.’

An item that Gwangma, a player from another dimension who had been famous as a player killer before regression, had used just once in his final bloody battle right before dying.

‘So it hasn’t entered Gwangma’s hands yet.’

It had been uploaded to the auction house just two hours ago. The level of Ouroboros’s Ring was a whopping 1,251, and the immediate purchase price was 100 million points.

‘Compared to the level, the price is extremely cheap.’

However, there was a reason for that.

‘Because the only skill it has is like that.’

The only skill that Ouroboros’s Ring had as an option was Ouroboros’s Greed.

‘Activating the skill increases all stats by 125% for 12 hours. The cooldown is 100 days, but the skill itself is really good. Really good.’

The problem was the condition for activating Ouroboros’s Greed.

‘After 12 hours, all remaining stats are permanently reduced by half.’

It was a skill that absolutely could not be used unless one was in a life-or-death crisis.

‘Even if you survive, it’s a problem.’

If the remaining stats are permanently reduced by half, even if you save your life, survival afterward becomes difficult.

‘That’s why it was called a cursed item. Not only Gwangma but all the previous owners died as well.’

The person who had currently uploaded Ouroboros’s Ring for sale on the auction house was probably not the original owner.

‘The original owner must have died.’

Probably a party member or someone who happened to pick it up had uploaded it at a cheap price because they felt uneasy about using it themselves and wanted to dispose of it as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, there was no way a level 1,251 item would appear on the auction house for the dirt-cheap price of 100 million points.

‘Should I buy it, or not?’

The reason Jin-su was deliberating was because of the existence of the Blessing.

‘Can the Blessing offset the drawbacks of the Ouroboros’s Greed skill?’

The Blessing that forcibly fixed all stats at 922, ignoring stat increases from titles, level-ups, and elixirs.

Ouroboros’s Greed, which granted tremendous power for 12 hours but then permanently reduced half of the remaining stats.

If these two clashed, even Jin-su had no idea what kind of result would come out.