Chapter 53

Level Up IlDanSimPanGwan – Chapter 53 (53/227)

Chapter 53: Silence and Together (9)

KWAHAAAA!

A flash of lightning-like strike from Ail’s sword.

On its own, it was already a powerful blow, but when combined with the white flames of Sacred Flame, it swept forward with an incredible blaze.

Combined with the damage increase against heresy and the debuff applied by his daggers, it truly displayed unmatched power.

The skill ‘One Slash’ showed off its hero-tier might.

“……”

The man who had taken the brunt of the skill was thrown back, but managed to shakily get up.

He seemed to have narrowly avoided death, but deep sword wounds and intense burn marks covered his body.

In the heated atmosphere, both parties took a moment to catch their breath and cool their heads.

Though they had stepped back slightly, neither gave the other a chance to recover stamina. No potions were pulled out as they knew better than to give each other openings.

‘Damn, mana consumption really is insane…’

Ail checked his remaining mana while wiping sweat.

Excluding ‘Sacred Flame,’ which only consumed a small amount of mana to maintain, he had used two skills – yet his mana was almost depleted.

Even with his increased mana due to the Madness stat that boosts all combat-related stats, most of it disappeared in one use of One Slash.

If One Slash wasn’t an exclusive skill for IlDanSimPanGwans but rather a common skill like Reverse Drama, it wouldn’t have received Faith stat adjustments to improve efficiency, making it nearly impossible to even use once due to mana costs.

‘Well… what’s your plan now?’

Ail stared at the opponent who was heavily panting.

The guy looked like he’d been through a meat grinder – from the devastating attack just now, over 90% of his HP was gone. Even a shallow hit from a longsword would finish him off.

‘But I can’t let my guard down completely…’

The reason Ail didn’t rush in after pressuring his opponent was because Warode battles are all about playing your cards right.

Some classes aren’t restricted by weapon choices, and with Warode’s wide variety of skill setups, predicting someone’s moves based solely on their class is nearly impossible. Even if you figure out their class, you still can’t predict exactly which skills they have.

Because of this, high-level PVP often comes down to hiding skills and outsmarting each other through constant mind games.

While Ail had poured all his items and skills into the fight and achieved great results, he had also revealed all his tricks in the process.

Meanwhile, the opponent had only used two active skills so far and clearly still had more tricks up his sleeve.

Since avoiding death is crucial in Warode, proceeding cautiously was only natural.

‘But the cautious one here should be him.’

Even though Ail had seemingly used all his cards, there was no way the opponent could know that for sure.

Especially not with his HP down to single digits – he wouldn’t risk anything reckless.

Swoosh.

As expected, the hooded figure stepped back and lowered his dagger, seemingly unsure if victory was guaranteed.

Ail didn’t bother stopping him, and the man silently disappeared without a word.

If he was a dirty player, there was a chance he’d recover and try to rematch despite knowing Ail had let him go. But even if that happened, Ail figured he could just crush him again.

Most importantly, Ail was confident that the player he had just fought wasn’t that kind of person.

Their short battle had given him plenty of insights.

“Phew, that was close…”

With the dark-hooded figure completely gone, Ail let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness!”

Peren and Piko, who had been watching the fight anxiously, suddenly rushed over and hugged Ail’s legs.

“Waaaah… Ail, you’re bleeding!”

“No, don’t worry. This doesn’t hurt at all. Really?”

Seeing the teary-eyed children looking up at him, Ail quickly knelt down and reassured them while drenched in cold sweat.

However, while comforting them, an unknown message briefly passed through his mind.

[‘■■■’ watches you from the depths.]

* * *

“All purification complete!”

“Fortunately, the ancient spirit shows no abnormalities!”

Peren and Piko came running from both sides.

Ail had been keeping watch in case the mysterious user who left the cave returned, but as he expected, there was no sign of them.

The purification seemed successful, and the sleeping ancient spirit hadn’t awakened.

Considering he had succeeded, the opposing player’s quest must have failed by now.

‘Still, where did such a skilled guy come from all of a sudden? Who was that dude anyway?’

Ail fell deep into thought, recalling the thrilling fight he’d just had.

It had been ages since he’d engaged in such a nail-biting duel with another player, and the excitement lingered long after the fight ended.

This feeling was something he hadn’t experienced in a very long time… or maybe it was his first time ever.

The adrenaline and exhilaration possible only in virtual reality gaming.

Even Alisa, who accompanied him, was an incredible talent, but as a dedicated healer class, she never directly fought him, so he couldn’t experience this kind of sensation with her.

‘Could he have been a late-joining Ranker from another game?’

Though he successfully completed the quest without dying, not getting a proper look at the guy’s face was disappointing.

‘For some reason, I don’t think this is the end of our connection…’

* * *

Inside a dimly lit room, two men sat facing each other.

The one sitting near the entrance was Beken of the White Fang Guild – the player who was killed by Ail in Ingol Forest.

Having spent two days staring at a clock, his 48-hour penalty was finally over, and upon logging back in, he immediately arranged this meeting.

“So, what’s the name of the user you want dealt with?”

“I don’t know either. The guy keeps his info private, probably because he usually acts like trash.”

Beken clenched and unclenched his fists irritably.

Just thinking about it made him grind his teeth in frustration.

Despite Beken’s inability to calm down right in front of him, Ganey sitting across remained expressionless, as if used to such scenes.

“If that’s the case, what else do you know?”

Ganey asked in his usual tone.

Since their guild mainly handled revenge jobs for clients who got into random disputes, not knowing the target’s name wasn’t uncommon.

For experts in this field like their guild, it simply meant a bit of extra cost – nothing major.

“That bastard stole my quest item. He’ll probably head to the White Forest. If you wait there, you’ll definitely catch him.”

Beken revealed what he had prepared regarding the feather of emergency.

He was confident that with this clue alone, they’d surely catch the guy. However, Ganey shook his head as he listened.

“No good. The White Forest is problematic. Not only is entering tricky, but showing any suspicious signs around the entrance will get you skewered by arrows. Considering it’s been two days since he obtained that quest item, there’s no guarantee he’ll return there. Is there anything else distinctive about the guy?”

At Ganey’s words, Beken closed his mouth and began pondering seriously – something he rarely did.

Driven solely by the desire to kill Ail, he squeezed every bit of information out of his brain.

After a while, Beken began spilling everything he knew to Ganey.

Starting with being a level 20s player, wielding a longsword, memorable outfit details, and most importantly, being an IlDanSimPanGwan affiliated with the Light Church.

The skill that attached white flames to weapons wasn’t something commonly seen, and being a first-time witness, it stuck vividly in his memory.

During his ban from the game, he had investigated and learned that it was an exclusive skill for IlDanSimPanGwans.

Thinking back, if he had known about the recent Ingol Forest incident or the Quinnze Blonde matter, he would have mentioned those too.

Unfortunately, Beken wasn’t particularly well-informed about current Warode issues and knew nothing about either.

Still, after hearing everything from Beken, Ganey nodded approvingly.

“Alright, that much info is enough to track him down easily. So, how do you want the rest of the options handled?”

They weren’t just offering a one-time kill service.

From deciding how many times to kill the target, special item thefts, detailed revenge methods, to specific messages to deliver – they offered numerous customization options.

Without hesitation, Beken responded to Ganey’s question.

“There’s no set number. The only condition is to hunt him down until he gives up the game entirely.”

“That much will cost…”

“Money’s no issue. As long as the job gets done properly, I’ll pay whatever.”

Beken said with fiery determination.

Smirking at his response, Ganey replied confidently.

“Alright, we’ll handle it that way. You can trust us fully.”

‘These guys seem pretty reliable…’

Impressed by their confidence and poise, Beken glanced around.

A flag hung on the wall with a purple flower emblem.

The insignia of ‘Amaranth,’ the top contract guild in Warode.

With branches spread across the entire continent, Amaranth was not only the most famous contract guild but also known for their solid capabilities and reliability.

That’s why Beken waited two whole days before personally coming here.

“By the way, if I wanted proof photos after killing the guy…”

“Of course! We need that!”

“Alright… noted.”

Beken shot up from his chair, shouting excitedly as he imagined Ail’s corpse soon to come.

Slumping back into his seat, he smirked to himself.

“You little punk… you picked the wrong person to mess with.”