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#21 화 Party Play (2)

Thump!

“Your stance is a bit awkward. Overall, your center of balance is too far back. Don’t be afraid; just go for it.”

Thump!

“Using just your arms won’t give you enough power. Try hitting with the sensation of rotating your body—waist, shoulders, arms in that order. Oh, that was better.”

Thump!

“Hitting the torso or shoulders doesn’t do much. You should aim for the head. The bridge of the nose or the chin works too. This is more effective against humanoid NPCs than animal-type monsters, so keep that in mind.”

Thump!

“Beyond Elysion is unnecessarily, yes, really unnecessarily realistic. While it may not replicate everything that can be done in reality, it comes pretty close. And while guns without bullets are worthless in games, in reality, they make excellent blunt instruments. Now, let’s put some anger into it and try again!”

As Nadia smashed the heads of the 42nd rabbit like a walnut, she thought,
‘What on earth did I do so wrong?’

Is being a small YouTuber such a grave sin?
Is ignoring a 500,000 won Super Chat such a grave sin?
Is it such a grave sin to spend my army-bound brother’s holiday visiting him just to get the high school girl look right… uh, well.

‘…Thinking about it, maybe it is a sin. No, wait. But I bought chicken for my squad to share later!’

At the time, Nadia was short on cash and just loaded up on the cheapest fried chicken with bones, but still, she did buy it, so that should count for something!

Even if there are residual sins, it’s not like they warrant being dragged into a death game to smack rabbit heads with a rifle butt!

“Well, you’re getting the hang of it now. It would be nice if you could practice on moving rabbits as well, but we can tackle that later. Good job.”

“Yes, okay.”

But Nadia couldn’t voice her dissatisfaction.
For practical reasons, it wouldn’t be wise to ruffle the feelings of the lifeline that might help her survive in this hellish death game, but more terrifying was watching Erin calmly hold the blue rabbit by the scruff, unfazed by its screams or struggles, saying, “Here, go ahead and hit it.”

Nevertheless, aside from that psychological torment, the hunting itself was going remarkably well.

“Why do rabbits that take three bullets to kill die in four hits with a buttstock?”

“Probably because they set the basic power of bullets low, taking into account the skills that increase firing speed and firepower. Oh, by the way, how do stats increase when you level up? Are there specific stats that tend to rise significantly?”

“Um… Agility seems to increase the most. Strength, vitality, magic, and spirit all rise evenly. It’s best to invest in vitality and magic, right?”

“Vitality isn’t bad considering surprise attacks or stepping forward when necessary, but magic isn’t really needed. You should focus on strength instead.”

“Well, using the gun like a blunt weapon would definitely help in situations like this, but the actual power of the gun depends on skills, bullets, and the gun type, not stats, so it might be a waste.”

After unintentionally speaking her thoughts, Nadia flinched. What if Erin got offended for disregarding her opinion?

But Erin spoke calmly, seemingly unfazed.
“You said you’ve played Hungry Shadows, right?”

“Yes? Yes.”

“The gun you’re holding looks quite familiar; didn’t it originate from that game?”

“Um.”

Nadia looked at the gun in her hands.
Until now, she hadn’t thought much of it, but having heard Erin’s comment, it definitely did seem like it.

“I understand the guns in Hungry Shadows have different recoil depending on the type, right?”

“Y-yeah. Usually, the higher the power or firing speed, the heavier the recoil, making it tricky to control.”

“So what happens if you try to shoot one of those high-recoil guns with low strength?”

“…….”

“Well, it’s not certain. However, Beyond Elysion has many unnecessarily realistic elements compared to Hungry Shadows. In Hungry Shadows, character stats don’t exist, so it doesn’t matter, but here, there’s no guarantee it won’t apply. So, even if you don’t invest heavily, I recommend leaving some stats for strength.”

Nadia nodded blankly.
It wasn’t like Erin was demanding that she raise her stats a particular way; it was just advice to prepare in advance. What could she say to that?

*

Returning from the hunting ground to the city once more,
Nadia smiled as she churned out a bunch of bullets through the ammunition-making device.
It felt a bit crazy to take joy in a pile of bullets rather than food, but what could she do when she genuinely felt happy?

‘But this took longer than I expected.’

Thanks to Erin handing over her share of junk items, Nadia was able to make more bullets than expected, but that meant she had kept Erin waiting for over an hour.

Relieved that Erin’s name still hadn’t vanished from the poor party list lacking player location tracking or party messaging features, Nadia headed to the meeting spot.

Fortunately, Erin seemed to be perched on a chair railing, passing time, but the problem was that there were quite a few people around her.
And most of them were men.

‘Is it because of her looks…?’
Could there truly be a player casually hunting in a life-or-death game? Yet, there were all sorts of strange people in the world.

Moreover, Beyond Elysion allowed players a lot of freedom with body shape and appearance, assuming they could handle any awkwardness, but gender selection was strictly limited to their original sex.
This was because there had been an incident in the previous game by the same company, “The Dragon’s Sword Dance,” where someone disguised as a woman to gather real-world information.

It wouldn’t be odd for a female player to have male players approach her.
Above all, Erin exuded a strange charm not just from her appearance but from her demeanor, making it all the more dangerous.

Nadia hurried over to Erin with quickening steps.

“Erin! I’m here!”

At that moment, with many players surrounding her, Erin turned her head to look at Nadia.
Her expression was so relaxed that Nadia felt relieved, thinking it wasn’t a big issue after all.

That relief came a bit too early.
“Welcome, Nadia. Have you made the bullets as I asked?”

“Yes, I used all the materials you gave me and made them all.”

“Then could you please give me the same amount of bullets as the materials?”

“Huh?”

Nadia was puzzled; she knew other than hunters, those who had bullets wouldn’t be able to use them. But soon, she trusted Erin and handed over half of the bullets she made.
That was until Erin started distributing those bullets to the players around her.

“Uh, wait a minute. Why?”

Nadia panicked and tried to stop Erin, but Erin raised her hand as if to say it’s fine.
The players, still a little bewildered, accepted the bullets, and soon one of them bowed to Erin.

“Thank you. I was struggling due to a shortage of bullets, and this really helps me out.”

“No, we help each other out in tough times. If you need more, come find me again. I can’t help every time, but I can provide some advice.”

After a warm scene of gratitude and farewells,
Nadia opened her mouth, looking a bit awkward.
“They were all hunter players. They were struggling like me, not being able to form parties or have bullets.”

“Yes. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you in advance.”

“No, there’s no need to apologize. Since I made them using the materials you gave me, I’m somewhat in a similar situation as them.”

Nadia had just recently escaped a crisis thanks to Erin’s help; how could she criticize Erin’s actions?
That would be against her basic human conscience, she thought.

However, she couldn’t shake off her worries.
‘But if she continues helping people like this, eventually there will be a limit.’

Nadia had already learned that Erin was a capable player.
However, the help she could provide was clearly limited.
What would happen if those hunter players who left now came back looking for assistance when they got into trouble?

Erin had drawn the line by saying, “I can’t help every time,” but she didn’t seem the type to be so cold-hearted when it came to helping unfamiliar faces without any gain for herself.
And if Erin began being taken advantage of by numerous people, Nadia, as part of the same party, would suffer too.

‘Should I intervene? But I just received help from Erin, so what right do I have to tell her not to help others?’
Just as Nadia was trapped in such a dilemma,

“It feels like the signal should be coming soon. It’s slower than I thought. Or am I miscalculating?”

“Yes?”

At Erin’s sudden comment, Nadia tilted her head in confusion, but it was not Erin who answered that question.

[You have contributed to defeating the Blue Rabbit. You have gained a small amount of experience.]

[You have contributed to defeating the Blue Rabbit. You have gained a small amount of experience.]

[You have contributed to defeating the Blue Rabbit. You have gained a small amount of experience.]

[You have contributed to defeating the Blue Rabbit—]

“—Huh?”

Suddenly, a flurry of message notifications and experience points flooding in took Nadia by surprise.

“What, what is this? Erin, my experience is skyrocketing all of a sudden!”

At Nadia’s reaction, Erin grinned.
“There’s a skill in Beyond Elysion for mages called potion making. If you use it during combat, the contribution is recognized for the creator too.”

“While shooting in the battlefield may require real combat skills, making bullets, uniforms, and processing food for supply also counts as ‘contributing to the fight.'”

“The players who took the bullets earlier are probably using them right now to take down monsters. As of now, your contribution is being recognized, and that’s why you’re gaining experience.”

“Of course, the amount of experience you can gain this way isn’t that significant. It would probably be far more beneficial in terms of experience to shoot and kill with the bullets you made, relative to the time it took to create them.”

“But in the hunter skill tree, there are many related to bullet making, right? What if someone keeps leveling those skills while continuously making bullets? If they can create higher quality bullets faster, with fewer materials?”

“Generally, they can’t. If they keep investing in just bullet skills, their combat skills would fall short, resulting in a miserable combat power.”

“So, you essentially split the roles. Fighting hunters focus solely on combat skills, while artisan-oriented hunters focus only on crafting skills.”

“Does that mean hunters will still be a weak class?”

Erin laughed, saying firearms are meant to be used as part of a team, not solo.
Only then did Nadia realize her misunderstanding.
It wasn’t a blind kindness or meddling.
The woman in front of her knew enough, calculated well, and acted accordingly!

“Ah, I’d like to ask you to act as a sharpshooter if possible, Nadia. You’re good at hitting targets, and your level must be higher than most other hunters at this point.”

Gulp.
Nadia swallowed unconsciously, then cautiously asked,
“W-well, how many do you plan to draw into this role division?”

To that question, Erin casually replied,
“The more the merrier. Ideally, I want to gather hunters from the entire city.”