CHAPTER 30

Hunter in the Darkness

– Thud.

As the rope tied between their bodies grew taut—prepared just in case—the knight whispered in a hushed tone, as if murmuring:

"Be careful."

"It's so damn dark… I can barely see anything."

The knight bristled at the mage's disgruntled words but forced himself to suppress his irritation.

He was the one struggling, blindly feeling his way down the barely visible cliffside in the wind, while the mage descended comfortably and still had the nerve to complain. It was maddening.

"We're almost there, just hang on a bit longer. I saw the bastard's position from afar a little while ago—once we get to the bottom, we'll be good."

As they descended into the ravine, a red pillar of light had clearly shot up from a distance—no doubt the enemy thought they'd given up and moved on.

After enduring the descent for quite some time, the knight finally felt solid ground underfoot. He quickly began pulling armor out of his subspace storage and spoke up.

"Good work."

Just as he reached for the breastplate laid on the ground, a hot, sticky liquid splashed onto his face instead of a reply.

"Huh?"

He raised a hand to wipe his face, startled by the sudden warmth—and only then did the metallic stench of blood hit his nose.

At that moment, a sharp pain stabbed into his side.

He twisted away instinctively to avoid a fatal wound and stumbled back, still trying to make sense of what had just happened. The knight quickly pulled a glass orb the size of a fist from his subspace and threw it into the air.

– Fwoosh!

The orb lit up in midair, casting radiant light in all directions.

As the darkness retreated, the knight saw the mage's corpse—his throat slashed, blood pouring from his mouth.

Next to the body stood the enemy, staring regretfully at the bloodied dagger in their hand.

"I was hoping to finish this quietly, but you're tougher than you look."

Clutching his side, the knight gritted his teeth as he finally understood what was going on. He drew his chainsword.

He bitterly regretted the armor lying just out of reach near the enemy.

As Seowoon—now revealed as the traitor—moved, the knight's chainsword responded a beat faster.

– Whoosh! Bang!

The enemy barely dodged the strike, a flicker of unease flashing across their face, but the knight was far from satisfied.

He had to end it with that first blow.

Meanwhile, Seowoon regained his composure and sized up his opponent.

'A sword that extends?'

He was wary of the knight's weapon, which lashed out like a whip and delivered sharp, powerful strikes.

But that was as far as it went.

The sword was impressive, but not so fast that it was impossible to dodge.

As the knight kept swinging in an attempt to keep Seowoon at bay, the movements were clearly visible—easy enough to read and avoid.

– Thwack!

Closing the distance little by little, Seowoon finally landed two punches to the knight's chest. The knight staggered back, coughing up blood.

Realizing his defeat, he spat out a mouthful of blood and asked:

"How… did you know?"

The question lacked a subject, but the meaning was clear.

"You were leaking mana waves like a beacon. It would've been weirder not to notice."

"You bastard! You were practicing magic too?!"

"What kind of dumb question is that? Of course I was. Look at the world we're living in."

With that, Seowoon drove a crushing blow into the knight's neck. The knight couldn't react in time and crumpled to the ground.

[Ding! You have acquired Dakan's Chainsword.]

[Ding! You have acquired a Plasma Orb.]

[Ding! You have acquired a Mana Explosion Scroll.]

[Ding! You have acquired a Troll Leather Vest.]

[Ding! You have acquired a Flame Orb.]

[Ding! You have acquired the Bird Flame Grimoire.]

Compared to the knight, who only had a single useful weapon—the chainsword—the mage had a far more colorful and valuable set of items.

Curiosity filled his eyes as he examined each item one by one.

[Dakan's Chainsword. A magic weapon meticulously crafted by the dwarf artisan Dakan. The blade can extend up to 15 meters in length. It can be used like a whip depending on the user's will.]

"Doesn't seem all that useful for something that's supposed to act like a whip."

That was his thought, but just in case, he stored the chainsword in his subspace.

[Plasma Orb. When thrown into the air, it emits light for 30 minutes thanks to an enchantment cast on it.]

"So that's what that knight guy was using."

[Magic Explosion Scroll. A stationary magic trap scroll. It explodes when a living creature enters the set area.]

"This one's pretty useful too."

[Troll Leather Vest. A vest made from tough troll hide. It's lightweight and has decent defense. If you get injured while wearing it, it accelerates your healing. Even if damaged, the vest will gradually restore itself over time.]

It wasn't as impressive as the Orichalcum breastplate he'd obtained in the previous round, but considering he was practically unarmored now, he was grateful even for this much.

After putting on the vest, he moved around a bit to test how it felt.

"Not bad."

[Flame Orb. Launches a sealed fire spell in the direction it is thrown.]

"Seems similar to the Plasma Orb."

It was unfortunate that it was a single-use spell, but it still seemed like it would come in handy in the right situation.

[Bird Flame Spellbook. A 5th-circle fire magic spellbook. Fires a flaming phoenix that grows in size and intensity as it flies toward the enemy.]

"Ah!"

It was a spell he'd experienced firsthand before.

The heat it gave off was intense—getting hit directly would no doubt cause serious damage.

"If it's a 5th-circle spell, that mage must've been pretty high-level."

Considering that such a powerful mage died in a single strike without even casting a shield, he reaffirmed just how physically vulnerable mages truly were.

Having sorted through the items, Seowoon belatedly felt regret about the Philosopher's Stone.

"If I had that 4th-circle stone, I could've learned Bird Flame too…"

Pushing his regret aside, he pulled up the hood of his cloak and stepped back into the shadows.

Avoiding the light of the plasma orb, his figure melted into the darkness and moved swiftly.

He could already sense another potential prey approaching from above.

As long as he wore the Cloak of Stealth, he was the hunter in this valley.

The number of enemies didn't matter.

With the Cloak of Stealth and the pitch-black darkness covering the valley, he was confident no one could beat him.

[Your last known location has been revealed.]

Whooosh—

A familiar system chime rang out, and a pillar of light shot up into the sky above his head.

"Haah… Haah…"

Seowoon collapsed onto the ground.

Twelve wooden crates were scattered chaotically around him.

When he threw the plasma orb overhead, bloodstains became clearly visible around the crates.

As the light exposed pools of blood and the scattered crimson trails, the scene turned gruesome.

Covered in minor wounds and drenched in blood, Seowoon took off his now ragged upper garment.

He put on the leather vest, layered a robe over it, and finally draped the Cloak of Stealth over everything.

"Whew. That was a lot of cleanup."

The kind of slang he used when killing enemies back when he played as a rogue naturally slipped out.

He had racked up 14 kills just in this valley.

The Cloak of Stealth had certainly been working at 120% capacity, but most of his enemies were just fools blinded by loot.

Considering it was only the second day of the game, he was pretty sure he held the record for most kills among current players.

"Survivors."

99 / 200

***

Jin Seowoon → Gwaine (killed with fist techniques)

Jin Seowoon → Byte (killed with martial arts)

Jin Seowoon → Kerebel (killed with arrow)

As expected, the recent kill list was entirely filled with his name.

At this rate, no more enemies would likely crawl into this valley.

"The handicap of having my location revealed is over too."

If it hadn't been for this valley, things might have gone very differently.

Only because this place was cloaked in 24-hour darkness had he been able to defeat all the incoming enemies. Anywhere else, it would've been much harder.

"Still, I got results."

Considering it was only Day 2, the looted items weren't amazing, but a few of his enemies had carried gear worth calling real loot.

Looking at the new ring on his finger, Seowoon twisted his lips into a satisfied smirk.

"As expected, this one's the best."

After obtaining another of Toka's rings, he checked his magic resistance again.

Magic Resistance: 90

With this level of resistance, he could ignore the spells of mediocre mages and take the hits with his body.

Furthermore, his vitality had accumulated quite a bit, and his inner energy had increased as well.

Special Stat – Inner Energy: 210

After briefly checking his physical condition, he looked up at the sky.

The sky was turning red, signaling the sun was setting.

"I'll stand guard for about 30 more minutes. If no more enemies show up, I'll start preparing to leave."

Anyone with half a brain who had been following Seowoon and observing the situation wouldn't dare crawl into this place.

Even so, just to be safe, he waited around 30 minutes, then moved to a corner at the edge of the valley and pulled an item from his subspace.

It was a red elixir. The lacquered wooden case containing the potion he had obtained from the supply drop looked stunningly beautiful.

As he opened the case, a cool and refreshing scent spread gently into the air.

The moment he placed the potion in his mouth, it melted softly and slid smoothly down his throat—unlike the ones he had taken before.

"As expected! The good stuff really is different."

A tingling sensation ran down his throat and into his stomach, followed by a cool rush. He began circulating his energy.

Following the technique of White Flame Flow, the enormous energy that rose within his stomach surged violently through Seowoon's body like a rampaging current.

The energy of the red elixir expanded his previously blocked energy channels and narrow meridians, cleansing them repeatedly like clearing a dirty tunnel.

After more than three hours of this energy flowing through his entire body and settling in his lower abdomen, he felt his energy core grow noticeably denser.

"My stats."

Special Stat – Inner Energy: 310

His inner energy had increased by exactly 100 points.

Saying "100" might sound simple, but at the beginning of the second run-through, after he wiped out his first team and absorbed their vitality, his inner energy was only 90. Compared to that, this was a dramatic improvement.

"And that was just yesterday."

Of course, once the game ended, the 100 points of inner energy he had accumulated would disappear, but he didn't care. He just needed to find a way to bring this red elixir back to the real world.

After filling his energy core, he took out the Circle Stone.

He hesitated, recalling the agony from the last time he used the stone, but now that he had a decent spellbook, it would be foolish not to use it.

"Hoo…"

With a long exhale to steady himself, he activated the Circle Stone.

"Urgh!"

As expected, the crushing pressure on his heart forced a groan through his tightly clenched mouth.

After the chest pressure subsided, the dizziness and nausea hit next, nearly driving him mad.

"Three… three hours…"

He cursed the Circle Stone's three-hour cooldown.

The first time had caught him off guard, but the second time was worse because he knew what was coming.

By the time the agony finally ended, sweat poured from him like rain, and he was completely drained.

"Haa… haa…"

Panting heavily, he still reached into his subspace to pull out the magic tomes.

[Do you want to learn the Wind Blade spellbook?]

[Do you want to learn the Ice Lance spellbook?]

The two spellbooks turned to ash and scattered the moment he learned them, and immediately, wind began to gather in his palm.

Starting like a Wind Ball, it transformed into a sharp blade. When he swung it, it sliced the rock wall cleanly with impressive power.

Next, the icy spear shot into the rock wall, instantly freezing the surroundings and releasing a chilling aura.

"Four-Circle magic… yeah, this is actually usable."

Now fully prepared to leave the valley, he looked up.

Between the cliffs, the narrow strip of sky was now filled with darkness and countless stars shining brightly.

Night was the perfect environment for Seowoon, like wings had been given to him.

With his Cloak of Stealth pulled over his head, he began scaling the rocky wall.

Thanks to his increased inner energy, his movement technique had improved significantly.

He could finally see why this was considered a high-grade movement skill from a supply drop.

Lightly pushing off the stone wall, sometimes grabbing onto rocks for balance, he quickly made his way up. Before long, his figure shot up above the valley like a springing arrow.

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