Chapter 32

“What is it?”

Feeling Woojin staring at her, she brushed a hand over her cheek as she asked.

“Oh, no. Nothing.”

'With Ruen here, I can get Uldin elf blood, too.'

That meant he had secured both of the materials with the highest acquisition difficulty.

'Now I just need the other materials... '

Woojin examined the quest window.

'Fortunately, the rest are easier to obtain. Some might even be listed on the marketplace.'

“Ugh... Now I want to head straight to town.”

But there was something he had to do first: clear the Bloodstained Cave.

'The time attack is one thing, but I also need to settle things with those Genesis Corps bastards before heading to the central continent.'

“And...”

He should be able to obtain Black Spider Legs there, too—one of the hatching materials.

“Let's go.”

Woojin set off.

* * *

“You're sure about this?”

“O-of course. You'll find him at the entrance to the Bloodstained Cave.”

Hato of the Blan Clan kept nodding, his face taut with tension.

'Damn it... Did he come?'

Looking at the cave entrance in the distance, he felt like praying.

'He came... right?'

All sorts of thoughts ran through his head.

'Damn it... Why would he? I wouldn't come either. It's obviously a trap... '

He glanced at the man standing beside him.

'But I can't tell him I failed the mission now... This is driving me crazy. Of all people, Colson had to be in the Genesis Corps.'

Colson Pawen.

He was a ranker in the continent's top two hundred. But his high ranking was not the only reason Hato feared him.

'They sent a terrifying monster. Didn't they say he became a ranker just two years after he started?'

That was precisely what made him famous: his abnormal rate of growth.

It was something that could never have been achieved through dungeon clears and monster hunting alone.

CLACK.

The gauntlets on Colson's hands caught his eye. Bloodstains still marked them.

He could have cleaned them off if he wanted, but he deliberately left the blood on his weapons. Those stains were proof of his growth.

'The Human Butcher.'

Several things changed when players left the beginner area of the Dark Forest for the central continent. One was experience gained from PK.

Ironically, players yielded far more experience than monsters. As a result, some people leveled up through PK rather than tackling the Labyrinth Tower.

'With that monster here, the Bloodstained Cave will quiet down, too.'

The Bloodstained Cave was the only place in the Dark Forest where players could gain experience through PK, just as on the central continent—and, conversely, lose experience when they died.

No matter how skilled the veterans holed up in the cave were, none of them would be able to beat Colson.

“What?”

“Ah...! Nothing, sir.”

Meeting Colson's eyes, Hito hastily lowered his head.

'Whew... I thought my heart was going to burst.'

That gaze alone was enough to make his knees tremble.

'Please be there. Once that monster gets his hands on you, you'll be dead before anything else matters.'

Hato had no doubt about that.

* * *

“I never knew there was a path here...”

Ruen looked from the small passage between the rocks to Woojin in surprise.

“Let's go in.”

As he stepped into the gap, messages appeared.

[You have discovered a hidden path.]

[Congratulations.]

[You can register your discovery with the guild to add it to the continental map.]

[You have gained discovery experience.]

[You have leveled up.]

▶ 29 → 30

“... Huh?”

Something felt off to Woojin.

'I leveled up?'

He had definitely been level 25 when he killed Sig Elric. Yet now he was level 30.

'Runes worked in that world, but hunting monsters didn't give me experience... '

If it had, he should have leveled up after killing the gray wolf.

'What's going on?'

Had he acquired something related to experience?

'Could it be... that?'

At that moment, Woojin recalled his battle with Ratan—specifically, when he had bitten into the jewel embedded in Ratan's heart.

There had been that strange, alien sensation when he broke it.

'Ruen said that jewel was like Ratan's heart.'

And he had eaten it.

Power was memory.

Just as Raoul's essence had contained his memories... perhaps the memories within Ratan's heart had been converted into experience in the game.

Name: Khan

Class: Warrior

Level: 30

Total Points: 395

Remaining Points: 0

Traits: Adventurer, Solitude, Dragon Slaying, Indomitable, Swiftness, Presence, Five Elements, Tenacious Life

Titles: [Hunter of Swiftness], [Ruler of Elements]

Specialization: Soul Imprinting (1/1)

Imprint: Incomplete Essence of Sarbandin

'As I thought... mana isn't among my attributes.'

Was it a limitation of the game?

The game had its advantages, such as revealing quest requirements he could not learn in the other world. Conversely, some things he had been able to do in that world were impossible here.

As he allocated his newly acquired points, Woojin noticed something else strange. He had a Trait he had never seen before.

'What's this?'

Trait: Tenacious Life

▶ Acquired by consuming an object imbued with dark magic and surviving.

▶ Dark Magic Resistance +10%

▶ When Health falls below 3%, consumes mental energy to instantly restore 10% Health.

“... Leveling up is nice, but I'd better stop putting my life on the line.”

He was glad to have gained a Trait, but reading the description made him shudder at the thought that he really could have died.

“Shh.”

As they continued through the underground passage, Woojin spotted an old marker and gestured to Ruen behind him.

“This leads straight into the boss room.”

Ruen nodded, her expression tense.

“The problem is the players at the boss room entrance. As you know, this is the only place in the Dark Forest where killing is possible.”

Woojin heard her swallow nervously.

“The people in there live for the thrill of killing. There could be ten of them, twenty... or over a hundred. Nobody knows.”

Ruen knew perfectly well why he was telling her this.

“You have to protect yourself. If you're softhearted like last time, you'll never survive.”

“... Understood.”

She tightened her grip on her bow once more.

CLICK.

Woojin opened the concealed exit of the passage.

[You have entered the Bloodstained Cave.]

A notification sounded as he entered the dungeon.

[Trait: Adventurer has activated.]

A faint light shone over Woojin's body, then vanished.

[Dungeon Board has activated.]

At the same time, a small board appeared in the upper-right corner of his vision.

[1st: Kerga's Party (4 members) 25 min 50 sec]

[2nd: Denian's Party (4 members) 41 min 37 sec]

[3rd: Tramel's Party (4 members) 45 min 05 sec]

Clearing this dungeon certainly took far longer than the others. Hunting the monsters inside was not the only concern; PK was possible, too.

'There must have been plenty of people deliberately attacking parties attempting a time attack.'

Defeating the boss through that interference would be no easy task.

'Under thirty minutes... Considering the other two took over forty, he really is a monster.'

The more Woojin looked at the Dungeon Board, the more interested he became in Kerga.

He would be the greatest mountain to overcome on the central continent.

“But before that...”

“Who the hell are you?!”

“Where did you come from?”

Woojin muttered under his breath toward the people gathered in front of the boss room.

WHOOSH!

At the same time, a dagger came flying at him.

CLANG!

Woojin deflected the dagger.

“I'll have to clear these bastards out first.”

* * *

Hyenas.

That was what people called those who preyed on adventurers in the Bloodstained Cave.

They all covered their faces. The reason was simple: to avoid being identified as the perpetrators, while cleverly disguising the traces they left to prevent retaliation.

After all, to take revenge on an opponent whose face you did not know, you had no choice but to follow the traces of their fighting.

'Most of them use the same weapons and skills to make their tracks indistinguishable.'

Using a unique skill like his Dragon Heaven would expose their identity at once.

'All they use are basic skills and the common weapons sold in Parta.'

Viewed from a step back, they were just people struggling to get by, unable to escape the beginner zone.

Nothing special.

BOOOOM!

Woojin's sword spewed pure-white lightning and sliced the head clean off the man in front of him.

“...!!!”

Even without seeing their faces, he could tell that the eyes watching him from behind the masks were filling with bewilderment.

BAM!

He roughly kicked away the body still standing there without its head.

[You have earned an achievement.]

[Achievement: First Murder]

[You can now gain experience through killing.]

[Achievement effects have activated.]

▶ Experience gained from killing is doubled for one day.

▶ For one day, you can gain attribute points equal to 0.5 times the number of people you kill.

The achievement's effects were interesting, but in practice they did not mean much. Players generally earned it after reaching the central continent, where PK restrictions were lifted.

'Mass slaughter is practically impossible on the central continent, after all.'

There was an exception, of course.

One player had held back until he had gained a huge number of levels, then gone on an indiscriminate killing spree once he was strong.

That was Jangryeong, nicknamed the Killing Demon.

'Was it fifty people Jangryeong killed during his first killing spree on the central continent?'

As the notifications sounded, Woojin planted his foot on the fallen corpse and slowly straightened.

“One, two, three, four...”

He surveyed the hyenas surrounding him.

“That record's going to be broken in the beginner area today.”

“What?”

“Never mind. It just means you're all going to fucking die.”

Woojin looked at the board.

[Red Centipede Respawn Time - 10:30]

Unlike the other, instanced dungeons, the Bloodstained Cave allowed multiple groups to enter at once, and displayed a separate timer for the boss's respawn.

The time between entering the dungeon and the completion of the first respawn did not count toward the time attack.

'Ten minutes and thirty seconds left.'

“Ruen, we're finishing this in ten minutes.”

He intended to claim not only their lives, but the time attack reward as well.

WHOOSH!

At that moment, a sharp arrow shot past him.

“Gah!”

With a choked scream, the man at the front was lifted off his feet by the impact and slammed into the ground.

GRRRRK!

The arrow punched straight through him and embedded itself in the wall.

Enchanted with wind, it kept spinning like a drill even after lodging in the stone.

“... Kill these fuckers!”