Chapter 5
The center of the island.
Ju-ho, who had occupied it early with his followers, kicked the ground angrily and shouted.
“Damn it! What the hell is going on!”
Rage born from disbelief at what was happening.
Of course, it hadn’t been like this from the start.
—
-The hyenas will take him down soon enough.
When the game first began, Ju-ho had thought Shin-hyuk would die quickly.
But that assumption began to go wrong from the moment Shin-hyuk’s name started filling the kill log.
And as time passed and Shin-hyuk’s name showed no signs of disappearing from the kill log, Ju-ho eventually stopped farming and fighting and headed to the center.
After that, he set traps throughout the center and selected players to team up with.
“Damn! Damn! Damn!”
Despite this, Ju-ho’s heart wouldn’t settle.
Because even while he was preparing, Shin-hyuk’s kill log continued to rise.
It was because of the bounty Ju-ho himself had placed, but not knowing that, Ju-ho could only kick the innocent ground in anger.
“How many players are on our side right now, including me and you?”
“21.”
“Keuk, can we catch him with this?”
“Someone like the Incompetent Trash Picker should be enough—”
“Idiot. This is a guy who got 30 kills by himself. That’s not the same person we knew.”
The player acting as Ju-ho’s adjutant frowned at Ju-ho’s relentless criticism, but unable to defy him, he bowed his head.
As Ju-ho glared at the back of that player’s head, huffing, the remaining survivor count caught his eye.
—
[Survivors: 36]
—
“…It’s dropped below half.”
“Did Shin-hyuk kill a third of them by himself?”
“Can we really win against this?”
A player who had single-handedly taken down a third of 100 people.
At the thought of facing such a person, the players Ju-ho had gathered through teaming became greatly unsettled.
“Everyone, quiet. It’s just one guy anyway. We only need to kill him! I’ll give 100 million to each person who fights with me right now. Separate from the bounty!”
“Th-true. There are over 20 of us.”
“We’ve farmed well too.”
“Let’s kill him and claim the bounty!”
But when Ju-ho said he’d give 100 million per person to the gathered players, their agitation quickly turned into burning enthusiasm.
Watching the players, Ju-ho sighed with relief while also cursing.
“Damn it, everyone else is probably watching this too. How embarrassing.”
The Dimension Arena could be viewed on TV, computers, phones—all electronic devices.
Moreover, since the placement exam only happened once a year, all citizens of each country focused on their own nation’s placement exam.
In other words, everything Ju-ho was doing right now was being broadcast in detail.
Of course, since this was also part of Ju-ho’s ability, there was no issue, but since he couldn’t avoid criticism and ridicule, his irritation was great.
“He’s coming!”
“There’s Shin-hyuk!”
“…Fine, let’s catch that bastard first and think later.”
At the scout player’s shout, Ju-ho stood up.
He then climbed onto the wall they had built like a fortress and faced Shin-hyuk.
“Choi Shin-hyuk.”
“Lee Ju-ho. You look like a mole with its head buried in a hole.”
“…Keuk, you must have had some kind of fortuitous encounter, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re the Incompetent Trash Picker.”
“Really? Then why don’t you come out and fight me?”
“…No need to dirty my hands. Kill him!”
“Yeah!”
“He’s mine!”
At Ju-ho’s shout, his teeth gritted toward Shin-hyuk, who was provocatively flicking his fingers, the players kicked off the ground and charged.
Thump-thump-thump!
The sight of everyone except those with ranged skills or traits—like mages or archers—charging at Shin-hyuk was beyond magnificent.
Like a scene from a movie, Shin-hyuk lazily flicked his fingers.
“Charge.”
– Clatter!
At the same time, Shin-hyuk’s skeletons, which had been hiding in the shadows of buildings, revealed themselves.
“Wh-what are those?”
“Necromancy!”
At the sudden appearance of Shin-hyuk’s allies, the players who had been charging with such momentum came to an abrupt halt.
“But does that make sense? There’s no way F-rank Necromancy could control that many skeletons!”
“Could he have actually acquired the skill directly?”
There were two ways to acquire skills in the Dimension Arena.
One was through skill books obtained as rewards.
The other was to gain the Dimension Arena’s recognition through one’s own abilities and acquire a skill.
And while the former was always F-rank, the latter could receive a higher rank.
While the players, who never dreamed that Shin-hyuk had directly acquired Necromancy, were in disarray—
Ping— Thwack!
—
[Choi Shin-hyuk -> Lee Do-geon]
—
“…He shoots a bow too?”
Shin-hyuk had drawn his bow and pulled the string.
After instantly killing one player, Shin-hyuk, protected by his skeletons, began firing arrows like mad.
Ping-ping-ping-ping!
“Crazy! Why are there so many arrows!”
“He must have killed others and farmed them!”
“Damn it, Necromancy and archery too. He must have prepared well!”
“For an Incompetent Trash Picker…”
Unlike the initial attack, the accuracy was quite poor, and since the players had taken cover, there were no deaths.
Tap, tap—
“The skeletons are coming!”
“Break through somehow!”
But the problem was that while their feet were pinned down, dozens of skeletons were slowly surrounding them.
In the end, torn between Shin-hyuk’s arrows and the approaching skeletons, the players quickly made their decision.
“Run!”
“Let’s retreat to the base for now!”
Some fled to their base.
“Kill him!”
“Anyway, if we kill the summoner, the Necromancy ends!”
“Are you scared of one guy, you bastards!”
Others charged at Shin-hyuk.
Crack! Thwack! Crack! Thwack!
Unable to withstand their assault, the skeletons began to collapse rapidly.
Ping— Thwack-thwack!
—
[Choi Shin-hyuk -> Kwon Se-hee]
[Choi Shin-hyuk -> Min Hye-ri]
[Choi Shin-hyuk -> Jeon Ju-wan]
—
Of course, in return, the number of players steadily decreased as well.
And—
“Arise.”
Creak-creak!
Needless to say, the skeletons were replenished just as much as the number of players that had decreased.
As the players grew tired of the seemingly endless wave of skeletons—
“I broke through!”
“Me too!”
“Kill him quickly!”
Players began to emerge who had broken through the skeleton protection and reached Shin-hyuk.
They ran toward Shin-hyuk in jubilation.
Swish-swish!
—
[Choi Shin-hyuk -> Hong Dae-in]
[Choi Shin-hyuk -> Lee Seong-sun]
[Choi Shin-hyuk -> Pyo Jin-tae]
—
Their necks flew away at the sword Shin-hyuk swung.
—
[Skill: Swordsmanship [B] acquired.]
—
“As expected, they rate swordsmanship highly.”
Before regression, Shin-hyuk’s main weapon was the sword.
As such, his highest-ranked skill had also been swordsmanship.
Reflecting that, Shin-hyuk was satisfied with the B-rank Swordsmanship he acquired from the start, and picked up the weapons scattered on the ground.
“Axe, spear, and gauntlets.”
Looking at the weapons dropped by the three, Shin-hyuk equipped them.
As Shin-hyuk put on the gauntlets and held an axe in one hand and a spear in the other, the players mocked him.
“We get that Necromancy, archery, and swordsmanship are impressive, but don’t you know that axe techniques, spear techniques, and fist techniques are completely different?”
“He’s an idiot. That’s good for us.”
“Kill him!”
As the number of skeletons gradually decreased, more and more players were breaking through the skeleton protection.
The players who mocked Shin-hyuk and charged at him all—
Crack— Thrust— Boom!
—
[Skill: Axemanship [D] acquired.]
[Skill: Spearmanship [D] acquired.]
[Skill: Fist Arts [E] acquired.]
—
Had their heads split by an axe.
Had their chests pierced by a spear.
Had their heads crushed by a fist.
“Crazy…”
“He can handle all of those too?”
“They said he was a trash picker! That he couldn’t do anything above average! But what is this!”
While the players were in disarray over this—
Ping-ping-ping-ping-ping! KABOOM!
The archers and mages remaining at the base supported them.
They looked at it as if it were a ray of salvation, but unfortunately, it was not.
“Guh-huk!”
“Why, even us…”
The archers and mages’ arrows and magic had no eyes.
Unable to distinguish teammates, they swept away everyone—Shin-hyuk and the other players alike.
“Did we get him?”
“Did you just say that?”
As someone covered the mouth of the player who had let slip something he shouldn’t have—
“Phew.”
Shin-hyuk, positioned inside a translucent barrier, brushed back his hair and exhaled.
—
[Skill: Shield acquired.]
[Skill: A sub-skill of Basic Magic.]
—
“…It’s a Shield.”
“He can use magic too?”
Shield.
One of the basic magic spells, the most fundamental defensive magic.
But having already displayed an overflowing array of abilities, showcasing yet another skill only deepened the players’ sense of futility.
The players who had approached Shin-hyuk had all met their end at the hands of their own allies.
But that wasn’t the end.
“He’s holding a saber…!”
“And a staff too?!”
“Don’t tell me he can handle those as well?”
A staff and a saber.
At yet another set of new weapons, the players were at a loss for words.
They had even lost the will to fight—as Shin-hyuk aimed his weapons at them and flicked his fingers.
“Come on in.”
“…!!”
Though about ten players still remained, they were overwhelmed by Shin-hyuk alone.
All the weapons scattered around felt like they belonged to Shin-hyuk.
Ultimately, when no one moved, Ju-ho stepped forward.
“Damn it! Move! Move, you bastards!”
“Uhm…”
“Uh…”
At Ju-ho’s display of stomping his feet and urging them to fight Shin-hyuk quickly, the players didn’t know what to do and shuffled their feet restlessly.
Just then—
“Ah. Or how about this?”
“…?”
“I’ll give 10 billion to whoever brings Lee Ju-ho to me.”
“…!”
Shin-hyuk chuckled and made them an offer.
An offer to bring Lee Ju-ho before him.
At Shin-hyuk’s sudden proposal, the players who had teamed up with Ju-ho were bewildered, but—
“You’re really giving it?”
“Do you think Shinhwa Group’s name is beneath Ohsung Group’s?”
“…That’s not it.”
“You bastard!”
At the question from the player who had been acting as Ju-ho’s adjutant, Ju-ho exploded with rage and grabbed the player by the collar.
But that judgment became the catalyst.
“Honestly, I didn’t like him.”
“He’s been ordering us around without moving himself since earlier.”
“In the end, he’ll rank high. Using our corpses as stepping stones.”
The resentment toward Ju-ho, who had been bossing them around from the beginning, began to stir.
As the players slowly began to surround him, Ju-ho desperately reached out.
“2 billion! No, I’ll give 3 billion! So hurry up and go catch that bastard!”
“Ha, still giving orders to the end.”
“And honestly, after betraying us once, I don’t think you’d actually pay.”
“Seize him.”
“Mmph! Mmph! Mmmmph!!”
You can’t stop ten hands with one.
In the end, Ju-ho was captured by the players who had been his team and dragged before Shin-hyuk like a dog.
