Chapter 14

“Wh-what the hell are you doing?!”

The corpse turned to ash and vanished on the spot. Fortunately, he would not drop any items in the beginner area, but his remaining companion could only gape in shock.

“I distinctly remember asking you. You said we couldn't pass over your dead bodies, so I killed him.”

“You crazy...! You bastard... Who sent you? How dare you use our own methods against us?”

'Their own methods?'

Woojin frowned slightly at the surviving man's words.

WHOOSH!

Just then, something whistled through the air from the bushes.

“Look out.”

Kahira hastily yanked Woojin's arm. Her powerful pull sent him pitching toward the ground.

THUNK!

An arrow buried itself where Woojin had been standing.

“...?!”

He hurriedly looked back, but the attacker seemed to have already disappeared. Only the swaying blades of grass remained.

“Mercenaries.”

Kahira pulled the arrow out of the ground and inspected it. Brown feathers. A silver tip.

“An arrow made by Valkran...”

It was an arrow for advanced users, not something one would see in the beginner area.

“They've come over from the central continent.”

Arrows made at the Valkran workshop were weapons that required level 50 or higher to use.

“I wondered how they were going to drive everyone out of the citadel... So they used NPCs?”

In the beginner area, players could injure one another, but they could not kill each other. Since an injured player was effectively unable to hunt anyway, one might wonder why such a rule existed. But there was a major difference between injury and death.

Dead players could not use the administrator-call function.

[Evil Tale] placed great importance on realism and offered no [Recording] function for users. Yet videos of Labyrinth Tower raids still appeared on NerTube and other platforms. To make such [Recordings], players had to use a special item called [Vision].

When an administrator was called, they would secretly examine the dispute, observe whether any wrongdoing had occurred, and impose penalties based on their judgment. Unlike the lawless central continent, where PK was possible, disputes in the beginner area were actually quite rare.

'If you can't kill them, you have to worry that an administrator might be watching your misdeeds from somewhere.'

That did not mean players could never die in the beginner area, however.

The first exception was suicide. Taking one's own life, as Woojin had done, was permitted even in the beginner area. Sometimes, players who had been poisoned or suffered similar afflictions chose suicide to save money on potions.

The second was death at the hands of monsters. Dying while hunting was a natural occurrence, whether on the central continent or in the beginner area.

But there was actually one more exception: NPCs. They, too, were programs rather than users, and fell into the same system category as monsters.

'Naturally, NPCs can kill players.'

Yet this had never caused a single problem. There had simply been no reason for the beginner area's NPCs and players to come into conflict.

But now...

For the first time in [Evil Tale], a battle between NPCs and players was unfolding in the beginner area.

'Using the mercenary system like this... They really put some thought into it.'

Mercenary NPCs.

Some people needed to hunt in parties but were reluctant to get involved with strangers. Mercenaries were one of the systems designed for those players.

As long as they received adequate compensation, they followed a wide range of their leader's requests without objection. Hunting all day without saying a word, letting the leader collect all the items monsters dropped...

Mercenaries readily accepted things that would cause problems in an ordinary party. It was not a relationship of equals, but a strict hierarchy.

Some had argued that this amounted to treating mercenaries like slaves, but the payment required for such demands was no small sum, either. Players were paying a corresponding price for the convenience, so the brief uproar had naturally died down.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH, WHOOSH!

Each arrow that hurtled into the citadel's palisade shattered wooden posts with a heavy impact.

'Three types of arrows coming at us.'

The elements gathered at their tips were all different, but he recognized the skill they were using.

'[Elemental Arrow], from the archer's second-tier skill tree.'

The second-tier skill tree unlocked at level 50, so they certainly seemed to have come from the central continent.

'I know mercenaries do what they're paid for... but how much did they pour into this to commission murder?'

Woojin could not understand the [Genesis Corps'] actions. No matter how he looked at it, the costs did not add up. What could they possibly gain?

“Let's get inside first.”

Having smashed the other man blocking the road as well, Kahira beckoned to Woojin.

“There'll be more Genesis Corps members inside... Will we be all right? If they brought mercenaries from the central continent, their so-called officers must all be level 50 or higher, too.”

They had no idea how many enemies there were. By any reckoning, Woojin's side was at a disadvantage.

“Don't worry.”

Yet she remained as fearless as ever.

“Our god is with us.”

BOOM!

Murmuring a prayer, Kahira kicked the gate with all the strength in her short leg.

“Equal death for all!”

It was strange. They were clearly outnumbered, and yet...

“What! What the hell?!”

THUD!

“It's polite to introduce yourself before asking who someone else is.”

Her hammer slammed into the belly of a Genesis Corps member who had been hunting.

“Urk!”

The member doubled over.

“W-wait...! I'm...!”

Watching his companion vanish in an instant, the man behind him frantically waved his hands and shouted.

“Of course, I'm not curious about who you are, either.”

CRUNCH!

The waving member's head was driven straight into the ground.

* * *

“What the hell is going on?”

“Why did a high-level NPC suddenly show up?!”

“I-I... don't know, sir.”

Standing atop the ramparts, an officer of the [Genesis Corps] shouted in apparent dismay at the commotion below.

“That red robe... That's the Church of Mha, isn't it? What bastard talked a follower of Mha into this? Those people wouldn't budge no matter how much money we offered...”

The Church of Mha.

Unlike those who followed light or darkness, they revered nothingness and were one of the most belligerent groups even on the central continent. In fact, they were the very people the clan had most wanted to recruit for this operation...

GRIND.

The subordinates delivering their report flinched at the sound of the officer grinding his teeth.

One, two, three...

It was an outright massacre of the helpless. Every swing of her hammer killed another Genesis Corps member in an instant.

“What about our mercenaries? What are they doing?!”

“Well...”

The subordinate reporting to him looked uncomfortable.

“They're asking for more money.”

“... What?”

“Something about being cursed if they fight the Church of Mha... All three mercenaries we hired are refusing.”

“How much?”

“Well, they want fifty gold each.”

“Those fucking thieves...! They've already swallowed all that money, and now they want more?!”

“B-but they say they'll take care of the one who came with her instead. They were pursuing him outside the citadel... but apparently he suddenly disappeared.”

“Disappeared? Even if he's a thief, he's only a beginner... Why can't they find him?”

“We don't know either...”

The subordinates shrank back, watching the officer's reaction.

“We can't kill a fellow player anyway. We'll have to leave the one in hiding to the mercenaries...”

The officer addressed them.

“You handle that one.”

“... Sir?”

“Why? Are you more worried about some curse than me killing you right here?”

He jabbed a finger into his subordinates' foreheads as he questioned them.

“O-of course not!”

The subordinates hurriedly nodded and began making their way down from the ramparts.

“Damn it. If it weren't for that [Quest], we wouldn't have to do this...”

Clenching his fist, the officer muttered as though unable to contain his boiling anger.

“I'm already pissed off about coming to a place like this to work my ass off, and now this bullshit...”

“Aha. So you drove the people hunting here out of the citadel to do a quest?”

“...?!”

At that moment, the unexpected voice made the officer hastily turn around.

“You... What are you?”

'Someone in the beginner area... hid from my detection skill? What the hell is he?'

The officer hurriedly drew his sword and examined Woojin.

His equipment was nothing special. The only unusual features were the wounds on his legs and arms.

'Why is he injured?'

Unable to make sense of the sight, the officer watched Woojin warily.

“No need to be so surprised. I'm doing the same thing.”

“... What?”

“I'm here for a quest, too. I don't know what yours is, but if we both have business in the citadel... I don't think we need to keep wasting our energy on each other.”

Woojin stood before him.

“The way you drove everyone out... Well, I don't particularly like it, but it has made things quiet, so I have no complaints either. If you're willing to stick to your own business, we have no intention of spilling any more blood.”

“What kind of bullshit is that?! You think we'll let some bastard run wild on our turf and get away with it?!”

“Really? To be honest, I was just throwing it out there.”

THUD!

“... Urk!”

Woojin's fist slammed into the officer's side. A groan escaped him involuntarily as the pain knocked the breath out of him.

“You bastard...!”

He hastily drew his sword and swung it at Woojin.

[You are in the beginner area.]

[High-level players at level 50 or above cannot attack low-level players.]

“...?!”

Woojin's fist came flying in along with the warning.

“What kind of...”

The officer backed away, clutching his throbbing side in disbelief.

[Using Insight (Lv.2).]

[You can check the target's level.]

[Insight may fail if the target's level is higher than the user's.]

It was one of the sub-skills he had purchased at the Adventurers’ Guild when he moved to the central continent. One of his eyes flashed, and Woojin's information appeared before him.

“L-level... twenty?”

Instead of clearing things up, using the skill left him speechless. He really was low-level...

But then...

'What... is this strength...?'

The officer's gaze wavered.

“Whatever else I think of you, there's one thing I agree with.”

SHING.

Woojin drew his sword.

“It's better to have something to yourself than share it.”

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!

His sword flew at the officer in an instant. It was a speed he had only experienced fighting opponents of his own level.

“Ghh!”