86 I Refuse
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86. I Refuse
"Group? I refuse."
The other party made a dumbfounded expression, as if they didn't expect such an outright rejection.
"Haha... Black Scythe-nim. I don't know if you're aware, but the boss isn't an easy opponent. You see that bull-like creature over there?"
The group pointed to a Minotaur that looked strong at a glance, lumbering around.
"That's the boss we need to kill, and it's no pushover."
"How do you know that? Have you fought it?"
"That's right. Not us, but we saw another party try to challenge it alone and get wiped out. That's when we realized. That parties need to cooperate too."
"Do it yourselves. Don't involve us."
"But wouldn't it be good if we help each other? We'll specially let you have the last hit as preferential treatment, so please reconsider..."
Ryumin shot them a sharp look before answering.
"Don't make me say it three times."
"Ah, understood. W-we apologize..."
The group retreated, shuddering under his charisma.
They went to where the other parties were and grumbled to each other.
"We tried to bring in Black Scythe but it's not going to work."
"Did you tell him we'd let him get the last hit?"
"I told him but he still refused. Said to do it ourselves."
"Why? Black Scythe needs to kill the boss too, right?"
"I don't know. Maybe he's scared of the boss, tsk tsk."
"Hmm, looks like we have no choice but to challenge it ourselves?"
"We were going to do it ourselves even if Black Scythe refused anyway."
The nodding group soon prepared to hunt the Minotaur.
The massive creature that made thud- thud- thud- sounds with each step was 6m tall.
A bull walking like a human lumbered around wielding an axe as big as its head.
Five party teams approached the Minotaur.
Gulp-
They didn't realize when looking from afar, but it looked even bigger up close than expected.
"C-can we win?"
"O-of course. We have twenty people."
Despite their words, there was no confidence in their expressions.
"Gruh?"
Just then, the Minotaur sensed their presence and turned its head.
The players who were sneaking up froze as if caught by the seeker.
"Grooooar!"
The excited creature seeing humans charged thud thud thud.
"Fuck! Attack!"
"Waaaah-!"
Twenty players desperately rushed in.
Ryumin coldly watched the situation.
'I wonder how many minutes it will take them to kill it.'
He didn't think they would fail.
The Minotaur isn't as difficult a boss as it looks.
Though it wields a crudely large axe, its attacks aren't skillful or fast.
Its somewhat slow movements make it easy to predict and dodge.
'Even it can't do anything against twenty people rushing in.'
But the Minotaur's strength is its rock-solid durability.
From its perspective, humans are mere flies.
'Twenty flies rushing in isn't very scary, but...'
At least they can distract its gaze or occasionally land a skill on a weak point.
Wouldn't one hit out of dozens connect?
'Then even the Minotaur can't do much.'
Though it would turn into a long battle.
Indeed, as expected.
"Th-this bastard is too tough!"
"Focus on dodging as much as possible!"
"Hey, over there! Be careful!"
The battle had been going on for nearly 3 minutes, but there was still no sign of killing it.
Though time was precious, Ryumin decided to calmly watch anyway.
He needed to see the boss die to have justification to focus on hunting.
Finally, after over 7 minutes.
"Grooooar..."
The Minotaur let out a sorrowful cry and smashed its head on the ground.
Thud-!
"W-we killed it!"
"We finally killed it!"
The party members rejoiced, but there were casualties.
'Three out of twenty died.'
There were no injured. That's because even a graze meant death.
Still, killing the boss with minimal losses was an achievement to be proud of.
"Who got the last hit? Doesn't seem to be our team."
"Our team! Our team killed it! Hahaha!"
Amidst the victory cheers, a pillar of light shone down from the sky.
One team out of four that got the last hit was surrounded by a translucent pillar.
"Looks like our team survived!"
"The quest progress window says success!"
"Alright!"
"Damn, we just helped others succeed."
Those trapped in the pillar rejoiced while those who didn't kill the boss grumbled, but only briefly.
"But... Do we have to stay here like this until time runs out?"
"We have to be trapped here for over 5 hours?"
"Seems that way?"
"It's nice to rest early, but it feels like we're losing out somehow..."
Killing the boss first was good, but being trapped in the light pillar and having to idly spend the remaining time felt uncomfortable.
"Well, let's go find other parties. We'll need reinforcements."
"Let's do that."
The remaining parties looked at Black Scythe but soon shook their heads and left.
They knew he wouldn't cooperate even if they asked.
Regardless, Ryumin muttered his thoughts on the battle.
"Fortunate. If we killed the boss early, we would have wasted the remaining time helplessly."
"Y-you're right. It's just as Black Scythe-nim predicted."
"Hunting like now and killing it as late as possible was the correct answer."
Ryumin nodded without changing expression and spoke to his party.
"We've rested enough, let's depart now."
'Try to keep up.'
Once again, the party members' running began.
* * *
While Ryumin was hunting centaurs.
Other teams were focused on boss hunting, joining forces.
"Are we the 50th?"
"Can't tell since it doesn't show our ranking."
"Who cares! We killed the boss so we survived, right?"
"Let's just lie down and rest for the remaining time."
The players in the light pillar sprawled out.
Though trapped, they were safe from monsters inside.
Even a Minotaur couldn't touch them.
No, it seemed to not even recognize them, treating them like invisible people.
"Huh? Look at that, over there."
Just then, a player spotted Black Scythe moving with a scythe in hand.
And the four party members following behind without rest.
Slash- Thud! Slash- Thud!
Each time the scythe passed, a centaur's head fell.
"Isn't that Black Scythe?"
"He's killing those in one hit?"
"Wow, as expected of a level 40."
Though it was amazing to see centaurs die in one slash, they weren't envious.
They were already victors resting after killing the boss.
Rather, they didn't understand Black Scythe's actions.
"Why is he only killing centaurs instead of the boss?"
"Wouldn't it be better to quickly kill the boss and rest?"
"No. We're already below 50th place. Since we've missed the rankings, he's probably just hunting."
"Ah! I see?"
"That's unfortunate. I thought he might get 1st place again."
"Even Black Scythe can't get 1st place forever."
"Still, his judgment is good. Looks like he's at least trying to gain experience."
They thought they were superior to Black Scythe for already killing the boss, but they didn't know yet.
That their record of 11 minutes 30 seconds to kill the boss was the longest time and ranked last.
Whoosh- Slash-!
Whoosh- Slash-!
Ryumin who was focused on hunting regular monsters while running non-stop.
'Hm?'
He had to stop as if slamming on the brakes at a suddenly appearing message.
[Unable to find the location of target 'Centaur'.]
It was a welcome message saying no more could be found.
'Seems I've finally killed them all.'
Ryumin checked his kill count and remaining time limit.
[Current kill count: 1,920/100]
[Time remaining until round end: 00:20:43]
'I killed 1,920 in about 5 hours 40 minutes.'
There were 2,000 total, but other players seem to have killed the rest.
'This is much faster than expected.'
Just then, Ryumin turned his head at the panting sounds from behind.
"Haa, haah, Black Scythe-nim. Is it finally break time?"
"Yes. The hunt is over now."
"Huh? What do you mean the hunt is over..."
"When I used Tracking skill, there are no centaurs left in the field."
"Ah..."
Only then did the party members check the time limit.
"There's only 20 minutes left?"
The last time they checked was 3 hours ago, they didn't realize so much time had passed already.
They were too busy following to have a chance to check.
"Gasp? E-everyone check your levels."
"Why? Huh?"
At Ahn Sang-cheol's words, the party members opened their status windows and were shocked.
"M-my level..."
"It increased this much..."
Honestly, they were too tired from chasing to have the presence of mind to open their status windows.
Ryumin hunted with almost no break time after all.
Of course, they occasionally saw messages saying their level increased.
They just couldn't count them one by one.
Later they were so busy just trying to keep up that they couldn't even pay attention to messages, so it was natural to be surprised.
"How much did it increase?"
"I-I was 20 at first, now I'm 34."
"M-me too."
Ahn Sang-cheol and Seo A-rin went from 20 to 34.
"What about Democracy?"
"I went from 21 to 35."
"I-I was 23, now I'm 36..."
After Heo Tae-seok's answer, Ryumin nodded.
Everyone increased 13-14 levels.
'Well, it's understandable to be surprised when the tens digit changed from 2 to 3.'
Ryumin's tens digit changed too.
His level 40 had become 54.
Thanks to the 3x experience round buff and 1.5x experience title.
He obtained many items from killing over 1,900 monsters.
19 magic stones, 9 normal equipment items, various miscellaneous items, and...
'Even materials needed for God grade combinations.'
Ryumin checked the item information again.
[Glossy Horse Tail]
- Category: Possession
- Description: As the name suggests, a horse tail glistening with shine. A faint magical power can be felt.
'This is the key more than anything else.'
In the end, the God grade combination material was the key.
The corners of Ryumin's mouth automatically lifted, having obtained his target material.
It was worth the hard work after all.
'Now if I just find two more materials...'
Just then, exclamations flowed from the team members' mouths again.
"Everyone check! An enormous amount of gold has accumulated!"
"M-me too."
"115,000 gold..."
Most would probably be similar.
Since they were in a party, gold was distributed equally.
'Of course, there will be some differences depending on Luck stat.'
Unlike the other team members, Ryumin had 150,000 gold in hand.
With over 350 Luck stat, he had a high chance of obtaining additional gold.
"Wh-what should we do with this?"
"I'm flustered suddenly having a large sum? Haha..."
Seeing the team members saying they don't know what to use it for, Ryumin casually advised.
"If you have nowhere to use the money, buy common skills from the shop. Make sure to buy Presence Detection, Dynamic Vision Enhancement, and Basic Resistance. Save the remaining gold and buy what you need when you see it in the Today's Item section."
"Ah..."
"Following Black Scythe-nim's words would certainly be good?"
"Understood."
The party members nodded and accepted Ryumin's advice.
There was no reason not to listen to his words, given his high insight and experience.
While the team members were absorbed in untimely shopping, Ryumin opened the quest progress window.
[This Area C-ESKS007]
└Participants: 1,010
└Achievers: 455/505
Looking at the number of achievers, 50 people remained.
'That means 10 Minotaurs are left.'
He immediately searched for Minotaurs with Tracking.
[Target 'Minotaur's location found.]
[Currently 198m away.]
Seeing it was quite close, Ryumin took the lead.
"Follow me. We need to kill the last boss."
"Ah, yes!"
After running a few times, sure enough, a Minotaur came into view.
But three groups of teams were already waiting nearby.
"Oh, isn't that Black Scythe?"
"Black Scythe-nim! Please party with us!"
"Let's kill it together!"
Ryumin shook his head without hesitation.
"No. I have no intention of sharing contribution with you."
"Huh? Then..."
Ryumin said indifferently.
"I'll kill the boss alone."
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