Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Catch Rank 1 (5)

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-Highlight Mission: Catch Rank 1!

-Mission Success Reward: 1.5x Game Reward.

-Mission Defense Reward: 2.0x Game Reward.

-Rank 1’s location will be revealed at 5-minute intervals.

Only a single red dot flashed clearly on the map.

Exactly this point. The place where Min-jun was standing.

His blood ran cold.

-Highlight Mission: Please create the highlight that will decorate the finale of Spirit Channel’s official first game!

-Everyone will witness your performance. We wish you success in your defense.

-If you eliminate all participants within the 30-minute time limit, 2x rewards will be paid to you as the mission defender.

“I’m fucked.”

Without even looking back, Min-jun ran into the forest.

‘Highlight, my ass!’

The mission success reward was obvious even without looking.

It meant they would give 1.5x rewards to whoever eliminated him.

‘I’m at a disadvantage!’

Needless to say, every participant would target him. He had no choice but to somehow get outside the safe zone.

‘In that case, I have to stay outside the safe zone until the very last moment.’

In any case, he had to enter the central area, the island, within roughly 35 minutes.

Considering that they had to cross the river to reach the central island, they could not just keep chasing him forever either.

‘At least half of them will give up on me and head for the central island. Maybe even more than that.’

Yes.

There was no doubt.

That was what he thought.

-Participants’ locations will be revealed.

“At a time like this!”

As if it had been planned, the timing was unbelievably perfect.

Min-jun quickly checked the map that appeared before his eyes.

‘What?’

After confirming the participants’ locations, Min-jun froze with a crack.

‘They’re all in one place?’

Min-jun’s pupils shook.

He doubted his eyes, but this was reality.

All nine of them were gathered in one place.

Their direction of movement also seemed to be the same.

It was not as if people who had been passing by separately had just happened to gather in a buzzing neighborhood meeting at a sweet spot.

‘Does that mean all nine remaining people are one party?’

It was reasonable to assume they were all allies.

Their subjugation counts had looked unusual one by one, so it seemed they were a pretty capable party.

‘For the last ones left to just happen to be…….’

No matter how high his level was, facing nine people alone in this situation would be difficult.

‘Huh?’

Then.

An unexpected sight entered his eyes.

The eight-person party was not approaching him. They were simply moving silently toward the central area.

They seemed to be paying no attention at all to the event or whatever it was, and were only looking at their original destination.

‘If things turn out like this, I have no choice but to choose the safe route too…….’

He did feel somewhat deflated inside, but what could he do?

There was no reason for him to attack them first, so he should stay quiet.

‘There’s no need to bite off something I can’t even swallow just because I’m hungry for a measly double reward.’

Min-jun looked at the roughly 30 minutes remaining and prepared to move to the island, the central area.

-Spirit Channel announces.

-All survivors’ locations will be revealed.

“Again?”

His blood ran cold.

Strange. Something was strange.

The same thing that had appeared just now was appearing again?

“Huh!”

Min-jun swallowed his breath. The contents displayed on the map were completely different from before.

He saw four dots surrounding him.

-Hehe, fooled you, didn’t we?

The moment he confirmed the message floating before his eyes, Min-jun immediately threw himself away.

BOOOOM—!

The ground rose as if an explosion had occurred.

A cloud of dirt billowed up, and nearby grass roots were ripped out whole and rolled away.

“We almost had him. Slippery bastard.”

“Mister, do a better job. Do you know how hard we worked to hear him?”

One woman and one man.

“Don’t worry. I won’t miss next time.”

The man was tall enough to easily exceed two meters in height.

Every time he opened and closed the huge steel gauntlets, the muscles in his arms wriggled as if alive.

“His level is high too. You’re not going to let your guard down and get robbed, are you, mister?”

The woman glared at him with strangely red eyes flashing.

-Blindfold: Blindfold

-Blindfold: Blindfold

-Blindfold: Blindfold

-Blindfold: Blindfold

“Ugh!”

Strange messages appeared before his eyes. They practically covered the screen, completely blocking his vision.

“I covered him, mister!”

“Good.”

Min-jun hurriedly stepped back and drew his sword.

‘What the hell are these bastards?’

He felt something enormous approaching.

When he threw himself aside to dodge, right beside him, whoosh! A terrifying ripping sound brushed past and struck the ground.

THOOOM—!

It was a roar like a bomb exploding.

His eardrums felt as if they were tearing, and his ears filled with a ringing wheee.

The ground shook, making it feel as if an earthquake had occurred.

‘Ugh!’

The memory of stepping on the landmine flashed through Min-jun’s mind, and his right leg flinched into a limp.

‘Crazy…… What kind of Trait gives him this much power……?’

Through the faint gap in his vision, he saw that the ground where the man’s fist had struck was hollowed out.

Within the thick cloud of dirt, he saw the man’s blazing eyes.

“Wow, you dodged that? Level really is king.”

To Min-jun, whose Trait was closer to a support ability than a combat Trait, that sight was a truly monstrous ability.

“No, mister! How did you miss that?”

“You talk too much. Next time, I’ll plant it in his face, so watch.”

“As if! You said the same thing earlier. All mouth, aren’t you?”

“Stop chirping like a sparrow and keep blocking that bastard’s eyes.”

The enormous man clenched the steel gauntlet worn on one hand.

Taking one step back, Min-jun forced a smile.

“Seeing how much strength you use, you seem to live up to your size. So why are you so petty that you block someone’s eyes?”

“You do whatever it takes to win. Even more so if you have a reason you need to win this game.”

Through his vision, where the words “Blindfold” were scattered everywhere, he saw the giant’s mouth set firmly in a straight line.

There was not a speck of humor in his fierce eyes.

“Isn’t that right? You raised your level by catching people in the end too, didn’t you? I just don’t like that. Because I should’ve done it first.”

“……Mister, now that I see it, you’re my type.”

“Right. There is some sorrow in being a latecomer, though.”

Min-jun smiled bitterly.

Even if there had not been an event telling them to catch Rank 1, these people would have targeted him anyway.

They were the kind of people who would catch every person they saw.

Just like him.

“Get him!”

Whoosh!

At the man’s sudden shout, sounds of wind being cut came from both sides.

‘Come to think of it, there were four of them.’

He bent his body back as if lying down on the ground.

A sharp harpoon passed before his eyes, and the other one sliced past while gouging into his side.

‘Ugh!’

It was not pain, but a sensation he could not tell was hot or cold wrapped around the wounded area. It was not exactly a pleasant feeling.

“That didn’t hit?”

“Where the hell were you throwing that?”

“No, I seriously threw it properly.”

The two men who had thrown the harpoons appeared and drew their swords.

“Hup!”

Min-jun sprang up and swung his sword.

CLANG—!

Sparks flew as he knocked away both of their swords at once.

“Ugh!”

“Grab him!”

“Hey, you! Are you guys seriously going to keep doing this?”

By the time the woman’s shout was heard, Min-jun had already thrown his body backward and taken out his bow.

Swaaash!

Fwing!

No sooner had he fixed his feet on the ground than two arrows shot out.

“Uh!”

One of them hit the woman’s ankle.

The curtain blocking his vision was lifted all at once.

‘Good!’

In the scenery where the obstruction had vanished, the first thing he saw was a fist.

A gauntlet flying right up to his nose.

‘Huh?’

BAAAM—!

A refreshing impact rang out.

The sky and earth flipped, and his vision half-rotated.

Everything before his eyes turned white. It was a momentary blackout.

“Ugh…….”

When Min-jun shook his head and came to his senses, he saw the sun.

The blow had been so powerful that even the process of collapsing had been skipped over.

“Home run!”

“I told you I wouldn’t miss this time.”

“Damn it, what about my ankle?”

“It doesn’t hurt anyway.”

“Still!”

At the voices coming from afar, Min-jun raised his head.

From the place where he had fallen to the enormous man.

For roughly twenty meters, the grass and soil had been flipped over, creating what looked like a passage.

‘What kind of monster is this bastard?’

That absurd monstrous strength and physical ability were clearly a Trait attached to his “Class.”

In contrast, he…….

‘This damned Trait is no help at all at a time like this.’

Min-jun focused his mind into his eyes.

His vision spread wide in an instant.

He quickly scanned the surroundings, looking for anything that might help him.

‘Is that……?’

Then.

He saw something far away.

A cold light flashed in Min-jun’s eyes.

“You survived after taking that?”

“I told you, level is king.”

The four men and women were approaching to finish Min-jun off.

They were sure of victory in this fight, chatting noisily and leisurely as they came, discussing who should eat that Rank 1’s level and how they should head to the central landmass within the remaining time.

That lasted until Min-jun raised his bow and shot an arrow in a completely wrong direction.

“What? Where is he shooting?”

“He must be out of it. Let’s hurry and finish him off. We don’t have time.”

One man urged them on, but the enormous man seemed to sense something strange and stopped with a flinch.

“Don’t you hear something?”

“Huh? Hear what?”

“No, hurry up and do something about my ankle first, mister.”

The enormous man looked at Min-jun.

Having lowered the bow, Min-jun was smirking.

“Even if I go, I’m not going alone.”

Bwoooooo!

A horn burst out. A sound that shook the earth followed right behind it.

All of it was coming from the direction where Min-jun had shot his arrow.

“You, don’t tell me!”

One of the men caught on and drew his sword.

The identity of the things approaching from afar was revealed.

Kieeeeeek!

Grrrrrr!

Dozens of kobolds.

No, those things riding wolves while shooting bows and swinging swords were a higher species of kobold.

The four-person party must have seen them before, because their expressions froze in an instant.

“Kobold Riders……!”

“Prepare yourselves!”

The things wandering around this area had just happened to enter Min-jun’s sight.

He had shot an arrow at them to draw their attention.

It was half a gamble, but their reaction was almost as fast as lightning.

“N-No, there are too many!”

“Dodge first!”

The Kobold Riders covered the four-person party in the blink of an eye.

The sounds of blade meeting blade and body crashing against body burst out nakedly.

“U-Ugh!”

“Damn it!”

The four, who had not known this would happen, had no choice but to be helplessly swept up in the flow.

Even when they swung their swords to block the wolves’ teeth, the kobolds’ axes, swords, and arrows flew down from above and lodged in their bodies, so there was nothing they could do.

“Aaak!”

“Save me…… Aaaak!”

“Get away, you fucker!”

“They can barely catch one, and you brought…… Kyaaaak!”

The Kobold Riders stomped around as if hunting prey and slaughtered the four.

The enormous man was holding his own against them, but there were too many to deal with all at once.

‘I’m going to get wiped out too!’

Min-jun was already running away without looking back.

He quickly moved his legs, which felt as though their strength might give out.

“G-Go with us, you bastard! Please, I’m sorry about earlier, so help us fight them!”

“Stay healthy, friends!”

“Hey, you fu……!”

One man screamed desperately, but Min-jun did not look back.

Min-jun was not in a safe situation either.

From afar, he could hear something like a wolf panting and snorting.

Grrrrk!

‘Damn it, one of them stuck to me.’

There was no answer if he only ran. If he kept running with his back shown, he would just become prey without being able to do anything.

‘I have to deal with it somehow.’

After running to a tree visible in the distance, Min-jun immediately turned his body around.

He saw a wolf’s maw flying right up to his face.

“Urgh!”

When he bent his waist to the side, sharp fangs grazed straight across his chest with a squelch.

A horrifying sensation.

“……Urgh!”

Min-jun clenched his molars hard.

He swung his sword with that rotation.

The blade, swung wide horizontally, crunched through the kobold’s shoulder.

Kieeeek!

The kobold spilled blood and crashed down. Min-jun grabbed the fur of the wolf that had lost its rider.

Grrrrng!

He desperately climbed onto the thing’s back.

The thing struggled ferociously as if trying to shake him off, but he endured while trembling.

“Just die peacefully!”

He raised his sword and drove it down with all his strength toward the wolf’s spine.