CHAPTER 24

The thrill of Survival is Lü Bu. (End)

He twisted his waist from side to side—sharp pain vanished completely.

"A bow from the cotton tree, huh…"

[A rare bow with powerful draw weight. Arrows fired from it carry a faint trace of lightning energy.]

"Lightning energy? I didn't feel anything like that."

He had taken a direct hit and still hadn't sensed it, so the explanation felt absurd.

"Isn't this just a defective piece of junk?"

Still, throwing it away never once crossed his mind.

After drawing the bowstring a few times, he strapped the quiver to his thigh and picked up the skill book.

[Skill Book: Rapid Fire. Learn a technique honed through relentless practice by Elf Zeke. Would you like to learn it?]

The skill book crumbled into dust like a secret manual, and as he gripped the bow and notched an arrow at the wall, he found he could shoot with uncanny ease.

—Shwish, shwish, shwish!

Three arrows flew in an instant, and a smirk tugged at his lips.

"A hundred times better than a crossbow."

Unlike the crossbow, which left him completely defenseless after one shot, this bow was on another level.

"The power's a little lacking, though."

His old crossbow could pierce straight through a wooden door, but the arrows he just fired merely lodged deep into it without fully penetrating.

Seowoon stored the bow in his subspace and resumed looting.

'Only one team left in this village now.'

He had seen six people land, so it was likely just one team or two solo players remaining.

'Just have to wipe out those two and I'm done.'

Now that he had a ranged weapon, his looting luck didn't seem half bad.

As he entered a row of houses along the main street, his steps suddenly halted.

He stood still for a moment, lost in thought, a crooked smile forming again.

Instead of looting during this golden window of time, he seemed to be surveying the area, searching for the ideal spot.

'No line of sight there. That side has poor visibility from the rear. Hmm… guess that spot's the best.'

The village wasn't large—about fifty houses scattered here and there.

At the center stood a three-story temple with a statue of the goddess.

Seowoon cautiously made his way toward it.

He remained vigilant, occasionally peeking into windows to assess how thoroughly the houses had been looted.

'The first team didn't loot a single house, and the second wasn't in great shape either.'

He himself hadn't looted that many houses yet.

Entering the temple carefully, his lips curled upward when he saw the items left inside.

'Still unlooted.'

He swept two healing scrolls and a leather pouch full of jerky into his subspace, then climbed to the bell tower on the third floor.

The massive bell hanging there was larger than he was, and with all four sides open, it offered a perfect vantage point to survey the entire village.

'Where are you…?'

Seowoon's eyes darted busily as he scanned in all directions.

Crouched behind a low wall with only his head peeking out, he spotted several houses with open doors.

It was as if he were tracing the path someone had taken, moving from house to house, each door left ajar in their wake.

His eyes focused on the one house with a still-closed door—clearly the next target.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the door swung open, and a figure darted out, scanning the area before running to the next house.

Clad in a robe—clearly a mage.

Then, from the house across the street, another figure emerged—a bulky knight in heavy armor, a massive axe strapped to his back, entering the next house.

'Why is it always the mage and the knight together?'

Seowoon didn't realize it, but this was a common pairing. In their world, the mage-knight duo was a classic team comp. If you were going to team up, it only made sense to go with that standard.

Right now, Seowoon's favorite targets were mages.

'Especially the ones not holding a staff—those are the easiest.'

Not that knights scared him.

But among the various types—mages, martial artists—knights were the hardest to gauge in terms of individual strength.

He still vividly remembered a knight named Gwanggoon. Externally, he looked no different from a regular knight in heavy armor, but his strength rivaled that of elite martial artists.

The way he used a thin rapier to punch massive holes through people's bodies still gave Seowoon chills when he thought about it.

'Now that I think about it, his armor did look different.'

That knight had a distinct aura, unlike the one clanking around now like a walking tin can with an axe on his back.

While Seowoon watched, the pair looted the clustered houses on one side of the village, then began cautiously circling around to the opposite side.

Where Seowoon had already eliminated two teams and the majority of the remaining houses were located.

The sight of the two people who had entered the first house emerging shortly after, glancing around with flushed faces and discussing something intensely, made Seowoon smile without realizing it.

'Looks like they've finished looting. Must be a tough decision. I know that feeling all too well.'

He recalled the time in the first game when he wasted too much time debating whether to enter a lit-up house alone.

But unlike him back then, the two stuck together, entering one house at a time, showing quick and efficient decision-making without wasting time.

After clearing out dozens of houses in just thirty minutes, the two approached the temple where Seowoon was hiding, causing the corners of his lips to twitch.

He had intentionally left behind memorization scrolls and useless arrows from the items near the temple entrance.

Their voices carried over as they examined each arrow and the scrolls tucked into leather pouches, chatting softly.

"We don't even have a bow. Is there a reason to keep these arrows?"

"You never know when a bow or crossbow might appear as an item."

"I see."

The knight nodded at the mage's words. While he had no intention of using those flimsy arrows himself, he figured that for a physically weak mage with a critical vulnerability in close combat, a bow wouldn't be a bad option.

Having finished searching the first floor, the two headed upstairs, and their voices grew a little louder.

"Do you think the enemies went another way?"

"Yes. There were definite signs of human presence, but since we didn't see anyone, they must've gone another way. Likely, a fight occurred, and they lost a teammate. Facing a 2-on-1 situation against another team, they probably tried to get out of the village as quickly as possible."

Again, the knight nodded.

As the two reached the top of the stairs, they were greeted by items laid out in the center.

Just as they smiled and quickened their pace toward the scrolls, longsword, and bow—

Swish! Clang! Thud!

The mage, ambushed from behind the stairwell by Seowoon's power technique and fist strike, had his shield shattered and spine broken before he could even scream, crumpling to the ground.

The knight, reacting too late, drew his axe and turned, swinging at Seowoon who now stood right before him.

Just as the knight's two-handed swing seemed to be about to split Seowoon's skull, his own body was hurled sideways into the wall.

The crash of his iron armor smashing into the wall rang out loudly, and the dented side of his armor attested to the sheer force of the blow.

'As expected, shock strike works better than crushing strike against guys in heavy armor.'

Fist techniques could be divided into four types.

Even using the same basic motion of throwing a punch, the user could imbue it with one of four types of force: return strike,crushing strike, shock strike, or piercing strike.

Shock strike was designed to spread the shock throughout the opponent's body and push them back.

For knights protected head to toe in armor,piercing strike, which penetrated deeply and delivered a sharp internal shock, was more effective—but it also left one vulnerable to counterattacks. That's why shock strike was better suited for gauging an opponent's skill level.

The knight, now slumped against the wall, found one of his shoulders immobile due to the dent in his side. He glared at Seowoon and spoke:

"Chest Off."

Click! Clank!

The moment that cold voice left his lips, the armor covering his body split in two and clattered to the floor.

Wielding his axe, he twirled his now-freed arm and twisted his lips into a grim smile.

"You use some interesting techniques. An illusionist, are you?"

"Who knows? What do you think?"

It was no wonder the knight was puzzled. He had clearly struck the man's head, yet now the enemy had appeared from a blind spot and hit his side with a precise blow.

Still, the knight showed no intention of backing down. Instead, he raised his momentum further and charged Seowoon.

"Rush!"

As expected, the knight quickly closed the short distance.

Having seen this "Rush" technique a few times before, Seowoon had concluded that while it linked well with powerful linear attacks, it was weak to lateral movement.

As the knight swung his axe the moment he reached striking range, Seowoon stepped to the side with ease.

The knight, seeing Seowoon dodge with a spin, clenched his teeth and shouted:

"Wheel!"

The moment the word left his mouth, Seowoon—who had just thrown a punch—stepped back and bent low.

Whoosh!

A fierce wind and sharp sound brushed past just over his head.

'What a brutish technique.'

Had he insisted on finishing his strike, he would've been cleaved in two by the knight, who spun his body on its axis and whipped his axe around in a full circle.

The knight's assault grew more intense as he saw Seowoon retreat.

Perhaps thinking he had the upper hand in terms of power, the knight relentlessly drove Seowoon back with wide, sweeping strikes.

Though the attacks were clearly visible, counterattacking was not easy.

The thought kept gnawing at Seowoon: if they traded blows, he'd be the one to suffer the fatal injury.

As he continued dodging, he eventually felt the wall behind his back.

The knight grinned, raised his axe high above his head, and swung down with a look that said: This ends now.

At that moment, Seowoon's form seemed to waver—then split again into two.

The knight, whose eyes were shaking with hesitation, swung his axe at the Seowoon on the left.

"Tch!"

Up until now, whenever he drew out the afterimage of Illusion Step, the real body had never been exposed. But this time, having lost the gamble, Seowoon stepped forward.

Behind him was a wall anyway.

There was no room left to retreat.

Counterstrike.

There is no defense in Fist technique. All defense is also an attack. The only technique that could be called a defensive move was the counterstrike.

He wasn't confident that he could deflect such a ridiculously large axe, but standing still and taking it on the crown of his head was out of the question.

As Seowoon stepped in at a precise distance, thrusting his fist forward, the knight, veins bulging on his forearm, added power to his swing and brought the axe down.

It was but an instant in terms of time, but to the two of them, it felt as if time slowed down, their movements entering each other's eyes in slow motion.

Just before the axe's blade struck his head, Seowoon's fist rotated and struck the axe handle. The axe veered about 20 centimeters to the side, narrowly grazing Seowoon's shoulder before crashing into the wall and floor.

-Thud!

In that moment, two punches landed squarely on the chest of the solid, well-built knight.

"Guh!"

At a glance, the punches seemed like light boxing jabs, but the knight, who had taken them directly, didn't feel that way at all.

It felt like his chest had been slammed by a hammer—his internal organs trembled, and the body he had so rigorously trained reeled from the shock, forcing him to step back repeatedly.

"So you're not an illusionist, but a martial artist."

As if regretting his earlier misjudgment, the knight raised his axe and held it properly in front of him, his demeanor now cautious.

It had only been two strikes, but his chest was already turning black and blue where Seowoon's fists had landed.

'He took two Crusher Strikes and is still standing?'

Seowoon, for his part, was equally shocked.

Up until now, most opponents had crumbled under just one of those Crusher Strikes.

It was a martial art that demanded recklessly putting one's bare hands into danger, but it had never disappointed him in terms of destructive power. And now, facing an opponent who had endured it bare-bodied, Seowoon also raised his arms and took a careful stance.

As if mutually acknowledging each other, the two stood exchanging gazes for a moment—then, at once, charged toward each other.

The knight, who had thus far attacked with vertical strikes, now swung his axe diagonally upward toward Seowoon's neck, from below.

His wary eyes clearly remembered the counterstrike from earlier.

Instead of trying to deflect it again, Seowoon ducked just low enough to avoid the axe and stepped into the knight's space—but the knight once again spun and swung his axe in a circular arc.

'This time, I won't back down!'

Seowoon stepped forward again, bringing the two so close they could feel each other's breath.

This time, it wasn't the blade, but the shaft of the axe that flew toward him with speed.

'Impact Strike!'

-Boom! Crack!

With a sound unimaginable from a collision between flesh and steel, the knight dropped his axe, and an ominous sound came from Seowoon's elbow.

At the same time, Seowoon extended his other arm while the knight staggered back.

But Seowoon's fist reached the knight's neck—who was a full head taller—faster.

"Guh!"

With a choking gasp, the knight grabbed at his throat, his face turning bright red.

Unlike his well-trained pectorals, his soft neck had taken a sudden blow. Realizing he was close to death, the knight stared at Seowoon with wide eyes, mouthing words.

Seowoon didn't know what he was trying to say, but he had no interest in watching someone suffer to death.

With the next strike, Seowoon crushed the knight's head.

The corpse vanished soon after, and a loot box and life essence appeared in its place.

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