Chapter 276 – The Merciless Ones (2)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Somewhere in the vast Zero Mountain Range.

What is unfolding is not a battle.

It is a one-sided massacre.

PVP (Player versus Player).

Both before and after the cataclysm.

The results of PVP did not depend on absolute levels.

What is prioritized the most in anti-personnel combat is experience.

The biggest difference.

That players are different from monsters.

Even if psychology exists, there are no patterns.

In order to occupy an advantage, one must read the opponent’s psychology.

The guild members of World Unification possessed considerable anti-personnel combat experience. From the moment they stepped foot in until now. Because surviving as a guild member of World Unification carried such a meaning.

However.

“Clumsy!”

That is entirely based on the standards of players in reality.

The opponents are the Shadow Mercenaries.

Even if they are players notorious for evil deeds or supernovas, compared to the infamy and anti-personnel combat experience of the Shadow Mercenaries, they don’t even reach the level of a grain of sand in a desert.

The 3rd Seat, Henderson, laughed heartily.

“When killing a person on the battlefield, you see. It needs to go beyond being certain and be thorough. If you clumsily stab the chest, does the tough life end? You have to completely turn the neck around like this!”

Whoosh!

As he swung his hammer.

Crack!

“Keugh!”

Along with a single scream, a head rotates.

The neck was broken and turned 180 degrees.

It was a difference in combat power capable of rendering headcounts of more than ten times meaningless.

‘……Dangerous.’

Instinctively, arms and legs tremble.

Even so, Yoo Ji-oh did not step back.

A thought echoing in her head.

‘If I step back……!’

The Lord falls into danger.

To such Yoo Ji-oh, the Vice Commander, Wolf, said.

“Fascinating. At this point, you’d come to your senses, you see.”

……What is he babbling suddenly?

Unlike Yoo Ji-oh who was sharply on edge, Wolf moved leisurely.

It’s a good thing I maintained the crossbow in advance.

Although I didn’t expect to have it stained with blood directly like this.

Muttering, he looked at Yoo Ji-oh again.

“Even for an adventurer, a Monarch is a Monarch, it seems.”

The level of requests of the Shadow Mercenaries transcends the imagination of ordinary people. Although sparse recently, in the past, assassination requests aimed at those who possessed the vessel of a Monarch were endless.

“I am quite the expert when it comes to those requests.”

Every time, Wolf voluntarily carried out the requests.

The reason was simple.

Because the physical abilities of a Monarch were not exceptional.

Shooting them from afar with a swish, they were the ones to fall.

However.

“Your Monarch is quite a tricky one.”

Liu Ouzhunchun, was it?

The one and only Monarch of the adventurers had something different.

Was it thanks to rolling in the backside of the Arcana Continent.

To Wolf, that reason seemed to appear clearly.

“That Monarch seems to have properly utilized the identity of an adventurer. Because to the adventurers prior to the cataclysm, they possessed the 『Blessing of Resurrection』 where they come back to life even if killed. Meaning there was no instance of being trampled from the very sprout as a Monarch.”

“……!”

Yoo Ji-oh glared her eyes.

She flared up momentarily, but it was not wrong.

Actually, during the times Arcana was merely a game, the Lord could not reveal prominence unlike other rankers. But that is merely the past.

Right now…….

“Of course, even after the cataclysm, he certainly makes good use of the advantage of an adventurer. To think he’d actively utilize the weapons of this world. Efficient, and cool-headed. Other adventurers should learn this, shouldn’t they?”

Saying so, Wolf looked at his own shoulder.

Gunshot wound, considerable bleeding occurred from his forearm.

Having expected the speed of a magic arrow at best.

It was due to the bullet being much faster than that.

At least I learned the lesson cheaply.

“It stings fucking much, man!”

Rakkid’s body was full of gunshot wounds.

Yoo Ji-oh could not suppress her astonishment.

To be perfectly alive even after becoming a bullet sponge like that……?

“But what’s more amazing than anything is that he’s thorough.”

“……?”

“To the point of deceiving even his own subordinates.”

Clench!

Yoo Ji-oh gripped her sword.

Provocations scratching her pride can be overlooked as much as needed.

However, slandering the Lord is something she can absolutely not tolerate.

Even if her own life were to be cut off…….

When her body twitched from anger, a voice continued.

“Is your current loyalty truly your own emotion?”

“What do you mean……!”

“Which one do you think you are?”

“……?”

“How many Five Stars do you think we’ve taken down?”

Pig and Wolf.

Isn’t it two out of five.

It was when Yoo Ji-oh was harboring such thoughts.

“Rabbit mask, excluding you, it’s ten.”

“……What?”

“I don’t know how many more there are, but it surpassed five a long time ago.”

Instantly, Yoo Ji-oh thought of the impersonators.

Things like total idiots.

To not be able to distinguish between fake and genuine……!

“Well. Who is genuine, and who is fake.”

“……?”

“No, do they even exist in the first place?”

Wolf shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, only your Lord would know that.”

Toss.

Instantly, masks thrown from Wolf’s hand.

Even at a glance, it’s far over five.

‘……Don’t tell me.’

Doubt sprouted in Yoo Ji-oh’s head.

She wanted to refute, but she couldn’t.

The information Yoo Ji-oh knew regarding the Five Stars was…….

That she herself is a Five Star.

Since that was all.

‘Everything that guy said……?’

Yoo Ji-oh reflected on the Lord’s actions.

Then the doubt grew even larger.

It was the moment a minute crack occurred in her loyalty.

Zap

An intense migraine swept through her brain.

[Resisting Status Abnormality ‘Brainwashing’.]

“……!”

Simultaneously as the inherent skill effect of the class [Monarch] disappeared.

Yoo Ji-oh’s Lord.

No, even her loyalty towards Liu Ouzhunchun disappeared like bubbles.

‘Since when?’

Yoo Ji-oh’s mind was in chaos.

Since when was my voluntary loyalty replaced by a status abnormality? No, did loyalty towards Liu Ouzhunchun even exist in me in the first place……?

Clack

The reloading sound of a crossbow heard anew at that moment.

Only now that the status abnormality disappeared.

The senses of her entire body warned intactly.

That at this rate, she will die.

Swish

Yoo Ji-oh threw away the damn rabbit mask and knelt down.

“P-Please spare me!”

Even if it’s incomparably servile, saving one’s life is the priority.

However, Yoo Ji-oh was making a huge mistake.

Of who the opponents were.

What returned to her desperate begging was.

A voice with a clear sign of gladness.

“Hahaha. Even that is a line I hear after a long while.”

Henderson, whose face was covered in blood, laughed joyously.

Rip tear─

Rakkid twisted his muscles, pulled out the bullets lodged in his body, and grumbled.

“Meaning, it’s a fucking cliché begging, damn it.”

“…….”

Not even a waver is seen in the dry tone of voice.

The secret mastermind of the Arcana Continent, the Shadow Mercenaries.

To be shaken by common begging for one’s life.

The battlefields of carnage they had experienced were far too dirty and incomparably ugly.

Wolf was not forgetting that point.

‘I don’t know what the Commander thought, but.’

What kind of thoughts did Kitch harbor?

Wolf did not know.

When carrying out requests and when not. Therefore, the gap between Kitch when holding a dagger and Kitch when drunkenly acting out at the Golden Calf Tavern was……. Even strictly for himself who had watched her for a long time, it felt unfamiliar.

However, what was certain was that Kitch did not want it.

Even if she dirtied her own hands.

She did not want to stain the members’ hands with blood.

‘So she must have committed such an act.’

Leaving behind nonsense.

That she would shoulder all the faults of the Shadow Mercenaries alone.

She had hidden her traces.

Of course, Wolf had no intention of following such Commander’s orders.

If insubordination was displeasing, she shouldn’t have handed over the Commander’s seat.

Nor the 『Brand of the Shadow God』.

Moreover.

‘I think we aren’t qualified to do that either, same as the Commander.’

Wolf smirked.

‘That is the reason I refused your help.’

The world of adventurers.

In a way, they were foreigners.

Nevertheless, they could see, hear, and feel it firsthand.

The influence of you, Lee Ho-yeol, in this world.

That is why in order to find Kitch.

He refused even while knowing that Ho-yeol’s help is desperate.

‘Since there would be nothing good for you by getting entangled with us.’

Come to think of it, it is a questionable matter.

Why did Ho-yeol embrace the Shadow Mercenaries?

Someone might ask.

Ho-yeol and the Shadow Mercenaries are merely an employment relationship.

If you weren’t just exchanging take and give.

Well, that is words of one who knows one thing but not the other.

‘Help towards you, indeed.’

Ho-yeol does not need others’ help.

It is the same when looking at him as a faction, not an individual.

Even leaving aside the Lionheart Knights of the Empire, he commands the Mage Tower from behind. Not to mention the absolute support of adventurers, and recently, the dragons of legend cried out Ho-yeol’s alias.

Wolf could be certain.

‘It was just consideration in your own way.’

Consideration.

It was a treatment he had forgotten for a while.

That is why Wolf resolved himself.

As much as the Shadow Mercenaries received grace from you.

From now on, even more thoroughly.

They would draw a line with you.

To Wolf who had resolved himself, Yoo Ji-oh shouted urgently.

“Tell me what you desire! Could it be you want internal information of World Unification? If so, use me! I am no longer a puppet of Liu Ouzhunchun or whatever……!”

“What’s this. Her mind returned? How annoying.”

“H-hiik!”

The direction the voice was heard from.

Turning her head back, there was the 9th Seat, Dechev, yawning continuously.

What was stuck between his fingers were iron needles (鐵針).

“Vice Commander, what should we do?”

The iron needles sparkle as if only waiting for commands.

“Well.”

The objective was a magical tool called 『Connector』 linking this world and the Arcana Continent. The reason they infiltrated World Unification was simply because the news spread out to the world that they had discovered the 3rd-generation connector.

“We won’t be able to figure it out killing just a few people.”

Probably unless they exterminate World Unification.

It would be hard to find the whereabouts of the connector.

“Because their Monarch is no ordinary guy.”

“Hmph, seeing how he backstabs his subordinates, he sure lacks blood and tears.”

“Rakkid, that’s the same for our Commander too?”

“Hah! If blood and tears remained in the Commander of the Shadow Mercenaries, that would be goosebump-inducing in its own way! Where in the world would there be a crazy bastard like that?”

“I definitely need to pass those words on to the Commander.”

“……Ahem, that was a slip of the tongue just now.”

At the conversation between Wolf and Rakkid, Yoo Ji-oh flinched.

‘……I might be able to live.’

Since it seemed a use developed for her.

Fucking hell, Liu Ouzhunchun.

It was thanks to that guy not being an ordinary guy.

In a split second, Yoo Ji-oh racked her brain rapidly.

‘Which side do I stick to?’

She realized seeing the status abnormality message.

Liu Ouzhunchun was an existence that could not be trusted till now and in the future either.

Yoo Ji-oh looked at the Shadow Mercenaries.

‘……Right now, cooperating is the correct move.’

Even if they were enemies who stabbed swords into her subordinates.

As of now, there was no other way.

As Yoo Ji-oh swallowed dry saliva, Wolf continued speaking.

“It can’t be helped. Let’s go with the plan.”

Simultaneously as the words dropped.

Thwack

Dechev’s iron needles pierced Yoo Ji-oh’s pressure points.

It is a method of Dechev exquisitely suitable for the plan.

Although it kills the target instantly, external wounds did not remain.

Eventually.

Trudge.

The 6th Seat, Isabelle Marl, who was observing the situation, moved.

As she emitted magic power, Yoo Ji-oh who had collapsed stood up again.

Srk─

Wolf only then took off the crow mask and said.

“Liu Ouzhunchun, hiding one’s inner thoughts in front of a Monarch of that level wouldn’t be an easy task. Before she could deliver internal information to us, there is plenty of possibility of being encroached by the Monarch’s authority again.”

However, inner thoughts do not exist in a corpse.

Necromancer.

The undead revived by Isabelle Marl’s ability will have much higher utilization value. However, if there was one problem……. It would be the empty focus that could be called the characteristic of an undead.

The 7th Seat, Alkali, laughed heh heh.

“However, as you can see, the Monarch-nim’s petty ulterior motives made the subordinates wear masks themselves! He couldn’t have even thought this masquerade would return as an arrow to himself!”

That was precisely the reason they evaluated him as a greenhorn Monarch.

Liu Ouzhunchun.

Because he was forgetting the most important fact as a Monarch.

“How does he not know that the eye of the storm is the safest?”

In contrast to that.

“It’s exactly the opposite of Sir Ho-yeol.”

Ho-yeol was going beyond the eye of the storm.

Driving himself to the absolute limit.

Does it mean he harbored even the qualities of a Monarch on top of that vast talent.

His moves were to the extent of making one think so.

Thanks to that, Ho-yeol was protecting not only his own safety.

But also the two worlds of reality and the Arcana Continent as well.

Alkali nodded her head gently.

“So the title Dragon Monarch would also definitely not be an exaggeration.”

*

Didn’t they say it’s always beyond imagination.

Truly amazing, Granfel.

How can you sing your own praises without even changing your face once……?

I stared at my press conference replaying on the screen.

-“The Dark Dragon. That too is merely a ‘part’ of me.”

Why, even merely listening to one’s own recorded voice sometimes.

It’s human nature to get goosebumps, and yet…….

Silver hair fluttering in the screen.

Jacket hung over the shoulders.

And even that incomparably shameless thick skin.

Watching that sight is nothing but agonizing.

‘……This is not the time for this.’

In order to forget this sense of shame.

I must move my body as quickly as possible.

Because physical exhaustion would be better than mental exhaustion.

I was about to directly manifest a portal heading to the Zero Mountain Range, but stopped.

Regardless of my will.

The gaze not falling away from the interview screen.

“No matter how urgent it is.”

Teacup being tilted leisurely.

“One must also not neglect the investigation into the bizarre.”

So.

You’re finally saying you’ll watch this terrible interview till the end?!

You truly have not a speck of mercy for me, Granfel……!