Title: Why are you trying so hard to kill the same player?
Author: ㅇㅇ
– Isn’t it because there’s a definite advantage to be gained?
n There is definitely an advantage. A player’s level automatically goes up by 2 with their first kill.
n After that, it’s just like hunting regular monsters; the experience gained varies with your level. etc.
n Pioneer: Mostly, people just kill to steal the items the other player possesses or because they’ve gone insane.
n Just living a normal life, then suddenly finding yourself in this bizarre tower where laws and such are meaningless makes for many who find pleasure in killing.
n Archmage: There are quite a few.
Han Yuseong recalled the discussions from the gallery before being summoned to the exchange meeting.
“Definitely level up by 2.”
That alone was certainly enough motivation to induce an inexperienced player into committing such a mad act.
Baek Jin-young continued to point her sword at Han Yuseong.
“Drop the item you obtained from your first place in the exchange meeting, and raise your hands.”
Han Yuseong faced Baek Jin-young and spoke.
“When did the two of you team up?”
Baek Jin-young, with a smirk, readily provided the answer.
“We met during the last exchange meeting and became friends. Hence, we were summoned together this time.”
Baek Jin-young continued.
“When neither of us was in first place, we agreed to kill the player who was and take their items. By the way, if you’re thinking of delaying things to return to the tower you were at, you should give up the idea. If you get attacked while the circular white light manifests, your return is canceled.”
Baek Jin-young explained facts that Han Yuseong already knew from the Transcendent Gallery seniors. When Han Yuseong remained silent after listening, Baek Jin-young tilted her head curiously.
“Are you unable to react out of fear? Or is it that you can’t let go of the item so easily?”
Baek Jin-young turned her head toward Sun Haoran.
“Then we’ll take it from your drops after killing you. Sun Haoran, kill.”
Sun Haoran smirked.
“Alright.”
Han Yuseong understood why they so underestimated him.
It was obvious.
<3>.
The number floating above his head.
That single number.
It must be the source of their unwavering confidence to approach him without hesitation.
“Hitting the last blow was something I was aiming for. Why did you throw the spear and claim the last hit? The Kobold didn’t even dodge and got hit directly. It’s because other players and I had already weakened it.”
Baek Jin-young continued with a sigh.
“Why on earth does Laura, that woman considered high difficulty, not live up to her rank? I didn’t even know she was from the Hard difficulty tower because she was groveling around. Hmph.”
Baek Jin-young didn’t realize that Han Yuseong had come to a decision based on her words.
Han Yuseong nonchalantly asked.
“You’re from Hard. What about your friend?”
Baek Jin-young smirked.
“My friend is from Normal. But still, someone like you can’t defeat them.”
Whoosh!
Sun Haoran brandished his spear in front of Han Yuseong.
“Consider yourself unlucky, third floor.”
After saying this, Sun Haoran stepped forward. The spear rushed toward Han Yuseong in a flash.
Tsheeung-!
The shaft of the spear flew into the air.
“…What?”
Sun Haoran’s voice, disbelieving, echoed.
The scene flickered once more with a flash of light.
This time, there was no sound.
Blood was gushing out from his neck.
“Guuh…kack!”
Sun Haoran dropped the spear and grabbed his neck with both hands.
“Kuhhhh!”
But the blood wouldn’t stop even with his hands there.
Sun Haoran’s body collapsed to the ground, twitching like a bug, before finally ceasing all movement.
His windpipe had been severed.
“……”
Seeing the pool of blood spreading from Sun Haoran’s neck, Baek Jin-young swallowed hard.
She felt completely dumbfounded.
As if her thoughts had ceased.
A third-floor resident.
A player who had just cleared the second floor killed a seventh-floor resident, Sun Haoran.
An incomprehensible event occurred by common standards.
Baek Jin-young’s mind was filled with confusion.
She looked at Han Yuseong.
In his hand, he now held a sword.
[Counter Sword Carnivalt].
The sword he had received as a prize for first place in the exchange meeting.
Han Yuseong spoke.
“It was good luck.”
While looking at the number ‘8’ floating above Baek Jin-young’s head.
“…”
“What?”
“Good luck that I managed to kill Sun Haoran.”
With those words, Han Yuseong stepped forward.
In front of him stood Baek Jin-young.
Something strange was going on.
The way he killed Sun Haoran instantly.
But still, it was just the third floor.
The floor number floating above Han Yuseong’s head and the Hard-Difficulty Tower’s reputation moved Baek Jin-young’s body.
‘I need to kill him.’
Mana flowed out from Baek Jin-young’s Mana Heart.
[Mana Body Enhancement Lv.2 – Skill Activated.]
Baek Jin-young swung her scimitar in a diagonal slash.
A white trajectory rushed toward Han Yuseong’s upper body.
‘Got him!’
Baek Jin-young’s belief was quickly twisted.
Ultimately, the scimitar swung through the air.
Bang!
“Ugh!”
Baek Jin-young looked down at her abdomen.
Han Yuseong’s sword, Carnivalt’s hilt, had struck her abdomen.
Pfft!
This time, her head was jerked back violently.
Han Yuseong’s punch had connected with her jaw.
Struggling to hold on to her fading consciousness, Baek Jin-young quickly swung her re-collected sword horizontally.
Han Yuseong’s eyes gleamed as he followed the trajectory.
He recovered his posture immediately after receiving the attack.
A striking attack followed swiftly. Baek Jin-young’s attack was threatening enough.
Tiiing!
“Your fighting sense isn’t bad.”
Baek Jin-young’s scimitar soared into the air.
Her right arm was raised high.
“Not enough strength.”
Grinding teeth!
With the low-sweeping kick extended from Han Yuseong, Baek Jin-young’s leg sank deep into the ground.
“Kkkkkkkk!”
As her left leg grasped the ground rolling, Han Yuseong approached her, twisting her right arm’s elbow upward.
Crack! Crack!
He dislocated her shoulder.
“Kiiiiaaaaaaa!”
Her right arm, grotesquely bent, hung limply.
Her shoulder had been completely dislocated.
Han Yuseong bent down and stared into Baek Jin-young’s eyes, who was gripping her right arm and trembling uncontrollably.
“Can you see this?”
Baek Jin-young, seeing Han Yuseong’s hand moving through the air, shook her head.
Is the Transcendent Gallery visible to other climbers?
This was the question he asked to confirm.
Han Yuseong then spoke again.
“Answer in words. Don’t respond with actions.”
Baek Jin-young had no intention of resisting Han Yuseong’s command.
“It…just looks like you moving your hand through the air.”
In a short time, profound fear had settled deeply.
“Your level?”
Curious, Han Yuseong decided to ask her one thing at a time.
Baek Jin-young tremulously responded.
“Si…sixteen…”
Being from 21st century Earth maybe, her level was quite high, as Han Yuseong had expected.
“Strength, Agility, Stamina, Magic. In that order.”
Baek Jin-young’s lips quivered.
“If I tell you… will you let me live?”
“It depends on you.”
Baek Jin-young bit her lips for a moment before spilling out more information.
“Status Window… Strength 38, Agility 36, Stamina 49, Mana 21.”
All except for Stamina were about half of Han Yuseong’s stats. Taking into account the two levels he gained killing Sun Haoran recently, the gap between them was even wider.
“Did you also clear the floors with at least a party of five to six?”
“…Why are you asking what is obvious?”
Han Yuseong cataloged all the information Baek Jin-young had provided into his mind.
While lying on the ground, Baek Jin-young’s thoughts raced.
‘This guy doesn’t intend to let me live.’
The same guy who had shown no hesitation in killing Sun Haoran and is now letting his guard down, staring at the void above.
‘I have to kill him.’
The decision moved into action in a flash.
Hooawk!
Lying like a bug on the ground moments ago, Baek Jin-young rapidly rose to an upright position. In her left hand was the scimitar she had dropped earlier.
Thack!
She lunged forward.
To surely kill this “third-floor” newbie.
But this belief also proved false.
A ghost-like dodge from the third-floored revealed a previously unseen dagger in his right hand.
Thud.
That dagger was heading towards her neck.
Baek Jin-young’s body collapsed again to the floor.
Blood spilled out.
She was dying.
As her life ebbed away, Baek Jin-young pondered deeply.
Who exactly was this kid?
She knew her failure clearly by now.
<3>.
She had been too fixated on that number.
A third-floor resident who had just cleared the second floor, albeit an exceptionally strong one.
Ironically, as she should have been reflecting on her life while on the brink of death, what came to Baek Jin-young’s mind was a scoreboard.
[2nd Floor – Points Ranking]
1st Place – Anonymous: 1,532 points
The 2nd floor’s ranking she had seen just before entering the exchange, which made her smirk in disbelief earlier.
“…1532?”
Baek Jin-young’s faintly muttered words barely reached Han Yuseong’s ears.
“Too late. Right now, it doesn’t matter.”
With that, Baek Jin-young attempted to speak further but couldn’t manage to say another word. Her breath cut off and her body went limp.
Tsk.
Han Yuseong clicked his tongue.
Title: If a player wants to kill me, what should I do? Maybe I should just kill them first?
Author: ㅇㅇ
n Heaven’s Devil) Why are you asking something obvious?
n Light Sword) Kill.
n Archmage) Gather some intelligence based on your standards before killing.
n Sorceress) Killing is life (殺)!
n Ice Queen) Freeze! No loose ends! Everything must be thorough!
n Demon Dragon King) Veltui – Opinion consensus, I like it. Let’s kill!
n Pioneer) Well… better kill them, right?
n Absolute Monarch) That’s the tower. That’s the world. Forget about staying pure.
n Locked Room Theorist) Bro, high ideals, right? – This world is made of locked rooms…
n That’s a worthless worry, really.
n Players are more suspicious than NPCs. Some NPCs still have some sense of purity, but…
n Look at all these comments saying kill everyone without exception. Haha…
