Chapter 7

“…..”

“Hey, drop it and get out of here! You wanna die?!”

“…. Oppa.”

‘Damn…. What the hell should I do?’

No matter how much I thought about it, there was no way out. Fight? Against four of them? Fighting in this situation was nothing but suicide.

As I hesitated, Yoo Rim closed her eyes tightly and spoke up.

“…. Oppa. Leave me here. Instead… take care of Yoo Hyun.”

“Noona! What are you talking about…! Hyung, no way, right?!”

“…..”

‘Just… leave her behind. Then… I can survive safely. I can save Yoo Hyun too…’

We hadn’t known each other for long. I could just think of her as a pawn on a chessboard.

I could always find new allies to use later. Gambling in this unfavorable situation was obviously a stupid choice.

But before I knew it, words completely different from my thoughts spilled out of my mouth.

“…. Everyone, get ready to fight. Be extra careful of the guy shooting arrows. Yoo Hyun, you have a dagger, right? Hold out with your noona for now. If the situation gets better, help me out.”

When it looked like I was about to fight, the guy with the axe sneered.

“Ha… You’re gonna fight? Hey, drop that pathetic sense of justice. You’ll regret it later.”

Ignoring his words, I spat out my plan.

“I’ll charge at them first. Follow me closely. Dodge the arrows somehow!”

“Oppa!”

“Yoon Seong hyung!”

As soon as I finished speaking, I lunged at them. I could hear voices calling me from behind, but I ignored them. I had to focus on the fight right now.

‘The leader later, first the idiot with the axe in front.’

Having a job and not having one made a huge difference. I had to take out the ones without jobs first and save my magic for when I fought the leader.

“You bastard!”

The guy in front swung his axe at me. His movements were slow and clumsy, but the problem was that I wasn’t good at fighting either. I blocked the axe with my shield and aimed my bludgeon at his torso.

“You damn bastard!”

The guy barely rolled to the side to dodge. The other two went to deal with the kids, and the leader, who had a job, swung his sword at me from the side.

*Thud!*

“Ugh—!”

Maybe because his strength stat was higher than mine, even though I blocked with my shield, my body was pushed back a little.

“Damn it!”

I was too busy dealing with the two guys on either side.

While I was blocking or attacking a few times, I heard a scream from the direction where the kids were fighting.

“Ahhh! This bitch—!”

“Die! Die! You filthy bastards!”

It seemed like Yoo Rim had dodged the arrow guy’s attack and managed to stab one of the others with her dagger.

While I was distracted for a moment, a fierce attack came flying at my leg. I barely blocked it with my shield.

“Gasp… gasp… Damn it…!”

Seeing me panting heavily, the leader smirked and opened his mouth.

“Huh… I’ll admit it. You’re blocking and dodging well, but how long can you hold out? Are you really counting on those kids?”

‘Damn it…!’

*Slash—*

“Ahhh!”

While I was busy blocking the axe guy’s attack with my shield, the leader’s sword grazed my arm holding the bludgeon.

“Ughhh…..”

“You bastard! You’re dead!”

*Thud!*

In pain, I dropped the bludgeon, and the axe guy kicked me, knocking me down.

“Ugh…!”

“Pfft… You idiot. I’ll be back after dealing with them, so wait here, kid.”

“Ugh…”

I couldn’t let him go to the kids.

Slowly gathering mana in my hand, I muttered.

“Ta… Ol… Lala… Fire… Flame.”

I felt the mana draining from my body. The axe guy, who probably never expected me to use magic, was hit directly, his eyes wide open.

“Ahhhh! Ughhhhh—!”

He started dancing around like a bug on fire.

“You bastard…!”

“Ugh…!”

The leader climbed on top of me and started choking me. These guys didn’t seem to have much camaraderie, but they must’ve been pissed that I, who they thought was neutralized, was fighting back.

“I’ll make you die painfully….!”

“Ugh…. Ugh…!”

‘Breath… I can’t…’

While being choked, I slowly glanced toward the kids.

‘As expected… There’s no way we can win…’

“Ahhhh!”

“Noona!”

“Damn, this bitch is feisty. You bitch. Hey, what are you gonna do about the wound on my arm? Huh?”

“Don’t touch noona!”

“Not backing down? You little brat?!”

*Thud—*

“Ugh… Noona…”

“Sigh… Damn bitch.”

The guy who got stabbed by Yoo Rim grabbed her hair with one hand and lifted her head.

“Look forward to it. It’s gonna be fun. How dare you stab my arm?”

The situation was hopeless. There was no way out. I could feel my consciousness fading.

“Ahhhhh!”

Suddenly, a light started emanating from Yoo Hyun’s body. It was similar to the light when someone changes jobs, but the light from Yoo Hyun’s body was much more intense.

“Huh? What, what’s that?”

At the same time, Yoo Rim’s body started glowing white, and her wounds began to heal.

The guy seemed to sense something was wrong and shouted.

“Everyone, just kill these bastards!”

As they were about to rush at Yoo Hyun, a woman’s voice came from somewhere.

“Who’s killing who?”

******

In the end, no answer came from Jo Chan-ho’s mouth. Meeting Jo Chan-ho this early in the round was quite a stroke of luck. He was one of the guys I needed to kill as a priority.

He just screamed and cursed as his fingers and toes were cut off. Even in the first round, I could tell this guy was different from normal people. Just purely as a person, he was creepy.

“Stubborn bastard… He won’t answer till the end.”

I didn’t expect much of an answer from him anyway. But thinking about how long it would take to find Yoon Seong in this forest made me sigh.

‘I need to find him as soon as possible. Something bad might happen.’

The reason I started over was to make sure he didn’t die again because of me.

‘If I follow Jo Chan-ho’s footprints back, I’ll find something.’

Following Jo Chan-ho’s footprints, I found a corpse eaten by monsters and footprints of people who seemed to have fled in different directions.

It was unfortunate for the person eaten by the monster, but my concern wasn’t that corpse.

‘Excluding Jo Chan-ho and the victim’s traces, there are two directions. One person fled in one direction…’



In another direction, three people ran away. It’s probably the direction Yoon Seong ran off to, since in the last round, he mentioned traveling with two siblings during the tutorial. I quickly started following the trail. After some time, what I saw was a scene straight out of a trauma.

******

“Who’s killing who?” Suddenly, a voice from someone else made the guys stop in their tracks and turn their heads toward the sound. The owner of the voice was a woman holding a spear. “What the…?” The guy choking me panicked upon seeing her and let go, allowing me to breathe again. “Cough… Gasp… Choke… Gurgle…”

“….Who are you? Are you alone?” The guys tried to talk to her, but she remained silent after her initial statement. She just stared at the man on top of me with a fierce expression. “Hey, I’m asking you! Who are you?!” The woman opened her mouth with a cold expression. “…..Who am I? I’m the one here to kill you all.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she started moving toward me at an incredible speed. The leader, who had been choking me, was completely stunned by her speed. “Wha, what the?!” In a flash, the leader’s head was separated from his body and fell to the ground. Blood gushed from the headless body. The woman stood still for a moment, covered in blood.

“Kyaaah…! Wha, what the hell just happened?!” The other two guys were clearly terrified by how easily their leader had been killed. ‘What the hell… What just happened…?’ Even I started trembling from the situation. ‘Was that even human speed?’

The leader wasn’t as strong as Jo Chan-ho, but he was still one of the stronger people I’d met so far. I never imagined he’d die so easily. The woman knelt down on one knee and looked at me with a complicated expression. “Wait a moment…” After saying that, she slowly started moving toward the two remaining guys.

“Wai, wait! Stop!” One of the guys, holding a bludgeon, panicked as the woman stopped and started pleading. “Hey… We were just following orders. Fighting each other won’t do any good, right? We’ll just… leave. We’ll even leave the food. Okay? Let’s just go our separate ways…!”

The woman responded expressionlessly. “….Don’t overcomplicate it. You messed with the wrong person. And you didn’t spare anyone who begged for their life, did you?”

“Crazy! Don’t come any closer!” The guy grabbed Yoo Rim by the neck. “Kyaaah!” “You bitch! If you come any closer, I’ll snap her neck! Drop your weapon!” “Noona…! No! Don’t do it! Please don’t…!”

“….Now you’re taking hostages? Do you really think that’ll save you?” “Damn it, are you gonna kill me?! Huh? You bitch! Try it! See if you can kill me before I snap her neck! Huh?!” The woman sighed and wiped her face with her hand. “Sigh… Fine. I won’t drop my weapon for my own safety, but I’ll hold my spear up. How’s that?”

“Y, yeah! Just don’t come any closer!” The two men slowly backed away, keeping an eye on the woman. Then, in an instant, the woman swung her spear with all her might, and it flew straight into the guy’s face. *Thud!* The guy collapsed, and Yoo Rim fell to the ground.

“Wha, what the…?!” The archer, who had been backing away with his comrade, was stunned as his friend was impaled by the spear. The woman quickly closed the distance to the remaining guy. The archer tried to react, but it was too late. The woman kicked him in the stomach. “Gah!.. Ugh… Uwaaah!” “Shut up.” *Stab!* “Gurgle… Gah…!” The woman picked up her spear and stabbed it through the guy’s neck. He twitched like a fish on a hook before going still.

“Haah… Haaah… Huh…!” Yoo Rim, pale-faced, started gasping for air, realizing that if she hadn’t moved, the spear would have gone through her face. Yoo Hyun immediately ran to her and started sobbing. “Noona! Are you okay?!… Sob… Hic… Waaah…” “Y, yeah… Noona’s fine… Stop crying, you dummy…” “Hic… Waaah… It’s my fault noona…”

Leaving the siblings to hug each other, I limped over to the woman and thanked her. “Gasp… Thank you. If it weren’t for you, we’d all be dead. Really, thank you. How can we ever repay you…?” ‘I have to bow to this woman no matter what.’ Just from watching her fight, it was clear that I shouldn’t upset her. Even if one guy died from my magic, she killed the remaining three in an instant. ‘She’s on a whole different level.’

It felt like watching an irregular. Jo Chan-ho and that leader guy were strong, but this woman was in a league of her own. Even if Yoo Hyun, Yoo Rim, and I attacked her together, I couldn’t imagine us winning. “I don’t know how to thank you… If you want, we can give you all our food. Thank you again.” After all, if she wanted to, she could easily take our food—and our lives. The food was a small price to pay for our lives.

While thanking her, I checked her status window.