Chapter 137: Chapter 137

Ho-Yeong Guild.

Yeo Min-Ji, waiting for the second round, was warming up in the training grounds.

Usually, she would quietly wait before an important event, but now she couldn’t bear to stay still.

‘All I have to do is perform well.’

Jeong-Hoon and her mother would do well in the first round.

So all she had to do was get good results in the second round.

“Miss…!”

Just then, Park In-Tae entered the training grounds.

Yeo Min-Ji finished her warm-up, wiped her sweat with a towel, and came down.

“Yes? What’s the matter?”

“Well, why are you training here when you should be preparing for the second round?”

She smiled and said,

“I’m nervous, so I can’t just sit still.”

Park In-Tae sighed deeply at her words.

She had made an absurd bet, so of course, she would be nervous.

“Sigh… That’s why I said we should send Chan-Hwa and Seung-Ji for the first round. Why are you taking the difficult path?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Yeo Min-Ji asked back, momentarily confused.

“Aren’t you nervous because you might be demoted to a regular guild member?”

“Eh? That’s not it.”

“Then… why?”

“Because I need to do well in the second round.”

“…So you’re not worried about the first round?”

Park In-Tae couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

Her position as an executive was at stake, and yet she was worried about the second round, where she would be participating, instead of the first round.

“Oh, I’m actually looking forward to it.”

“…Looking forward to it?”

“Yes. I wonder how he’ll surprise us this time.”

“Well… he might surprise us with the amazing result of not getting first place and demoting you to a regular guild member.”

“Pfft, you’re right.”

Yeo Min-Ji burst into laughter.

For a moment, her worries seemed to disappear.

On the other hand, Park In-Tae smiled bitterly with a complicated expression.

“…The guild leader is a man of his word. You really might be demoted to a regular guild member. Are you really okay with that?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s a bit disappointing that my training time will be reduced, but if I’m demoted, Jeong-Hoon will teach me personally, so it’s actually a gain.”

Thanks to her position as an executive, she could spend all day in the training grounds, but if she were demoted to a regular guild member, she would have more work and less training time.

Honestly, that part was a bit frustrating, but since Jeong-Hoon would teach her personally, it was bearable.

‘Of course, that won’t happen.’

Yeo Min-Ji had no doubt that Jeong-Hoon would take first place.

That’s why she confidently declared first place when Yeo Soon-Woo held up five fingers.

If Jeong-Hoon was confident about first place, he would surely bring amazing results this time as well.

* * *

South Korea – F Zone.

Small buildings lined the streets, and in the middle stood twin 30-story skyscrapers.

And the ones who had claimed this building as their base were Luffyjjang and Hersoona from the Sylph Guild.

Sylph Guild, a semi-famous guild, not quite reaching the level of “named” guilds.

===

[Player Information]

– Nickname: Luffyjjang

– Level: 239

– Class: Saber (3rd Advancement)

===

[Player Information]

– Nickname: Hersoona

– Level: 244

– Class: Shadow Combat (3rd Advancement)

===

Even as a semi-famous guild, as representatives, they were both Epic-grade.

Moreover, within the Sylph Guild, there was a strong belief that both Luffyjjang and Hersoona would achieve Unique-grade in their upcoming 4th advancement.

They indeed possessed that level of potential.

“No one’s coming, right?”

“Nope. I think we can hold out here as long as possible.”

“Okay. Then I’ll scout around the village in stealth, and you keep an eye out for anyone coming into the building.”

Luffyjjang and Hersoona efficiently divided their roles and began their tasks.

Five teams had entered this F Zone since they settled in.

“Ack!”

“Argh!”

Hersoona followed them from behind, and Luffyjjang waited inside the building, ambushing them as soon as they entered.

Using this same method, they achieved victory every time.

[5 teams eliminated.]

“This is a complete cakewalk, isn’t it?”

“Hehe, at this rate, it seems like we can easily make it into the top 10.”

If they made it into the top 10, Sylph had promised them a huge reward.

A Unique weapon enhanced to +10 and a full set of Epic armor enhancements.

So they had to make it into the top 10 no matter what.

“Then I’ll continue searching the village.”

“Okay.”

Luffyjjang went back up to the 30th floor of the building.

As he looked down from the 30th floor, he saw two people in white clothes entering the building.

He hurriedly sent a whisper to Hersoona.

[Whisper/Luffyjjang -> Hersoona: Two more people have entered.]n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Hersoona immediately replied.

[Whisper/Hersoona -> Luffyjjang: Confirmed.]

“Alright. Shall we begin?”

Those guys would definitely enter this building.

That’s because all the surrounding buildings were only two stories high and half-destroyed, not suitable for establishing a base.

The only place suitable for a base in this area was the 30-story twin buildings where Luffyjjang was positioned.

In other words, if he waited here, he could ambush them.

Luffyjjang, who was about to slowly descend from the 30th floor, suddenly stopped.

“Wh-What…?”

Two more people were entering the village entrance.

Moreover, not long after those two entered, another two entered.

This continued, with two more people entering repeatedly until nearly 20 people had entered.

‘Damn it, why are there so many?’

Luffyjjang sent a whisper to Hersoona to inform her of the situation.

[Whisper/Luffyjjang -> Hersoona: Too many people are coming in!]

[Whisper/Hersoona -> Luffyjjang: I’m watching… They’re wearing similar clothes, so they must be from allied guilds.]

Alliances.

It meant they had formed alliances beforehand, thinking that two-person teams wouldn’t be enough.

[Whisper/Luffyjjang -> Hersoona: Fucking bullshit.]

New World clearly stated that alliances were prohibited, yet they were so blatantly forming alliances.

[Whisper/Hersoona -> Luffyjjang: They’ll get banned soon since it’s prohibited.]

New World’s handling of matters was decisive.

They quickly corrected any wrongdoings, so users didn’t worry too much even when bugs occurred.

But this time was a bit different.

Over 20 people were walking towards the twin buildings.

[Whisper/Luffyjjang -> Hersoona: Hey! Come back quickly! I can’t handle this alone!]

Luffyjjang hurriedly sent a whisper.

But there was no reply from Hersoona.

“What’s going on… Why isn’t she responding… Ack!”

Luffyjjang’s head jerked forward.

An arrow had pierced the back of his head.

Luffyjjang opened his eyes with difficulty and looked towards where the arrow had come from.

There, a man was aiming his bow at him once again.

“Farewell.”

With those words, the man released the bowstring, and the arrow flew towards him.

That was his last memory.

* * *

[8 teams eliminated.]

Before entering the village, he had eliminated one more team.

And after entering the village and taking care of the Saber and Shadow Combat who were stationed there, the total number of eliminated teams reached eight.

“Well done.”

Jeong-Hoon praised Michael.

Before entering the city, Michael had used the debuff [Enhance: Hallucination] added to the ring to deceive the Saber and Shadow Combat inside.

Thanks to that, he was able to quickly eliminate the Shadow Combat roaming around and enter the building without the Saber noticing.

To think he could do this despite the significant level difference.

That ring was truly amazing, just like when Sophia used it.

“Hehe, this is nothing.”

Michael scratched his head shyly.

[It’s disgusting to see him acting embarrassed.]

‘Isn’t that a bit too harsh…? I don’t think it’s that bad.’

[That’s because you’re even uglier.]

‘You’re talking like you’re about to be roasted by dragon breath. That’s not something a piece of cloth like you should say.’

[A piece of cloth? Huh, that’s ridiculous. Do you know how great I used to be?]

‘How pathetic must your present be if you can only boast about your past…’

[Damn it, are you done talking?]

‘Alright, everyone shut up.’

Jeong-Hoon quickly cut off their bickering.

“Mom, I think there’s a trap in this building.”

His mother said, looking up at the upper floors.

“Yes.”

Genesis Sniper.

The skill his mother, a sniper of the Hidden Class, possessed.

[Trap Detection]

It was a skill that could detect hidden traps.

This was the reason why Jeong-Hoon wanted to participate in the event with his mother.

‘I thought we could find the traps with Mom’s detection skill, and it seems I was right.’

The Unique-grade ‘Trap Detection’ was a skill that no one had possessed in his previous life.

In other words, currently, only his mother had this skill.

“Son, I’ll guide you. Let’s go up.”

“Yes.”

Jeong-Hoon followed his mother’s guidance and went up to the 11th floor.

There was nothing but a concrete floor.

It was a place where no one would ever suspect a trap to be hidden.

“Wait a moment.”

His mother stopped there and raised her sniper rifle, aiming at a corner.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out, and the mana bullet hit the concrete floor.

Ting-

Wooong-

A small black hole appeared on the floor and started to swirl slowly.

It was definitely a trap.

“I’ll go and close it.”

As he tried to approach the trap, his mother grabbed his wrist.

“…Son, wouldn’t it be dangerous to go alone? Should I go with you?”

Jeong-Hoon smiled and nodded.

“No, it’s okay. I can handle something like this on my own.”

“…Alright. If you feel like it’s dangerous, whisper to me immediately. Okay?”

“Yes. I’ll be back.”

“Okay.”

Only then did his mother release her grip on his wrist.

Jeong-Hoon ran towards the trap.

* * *

[Vortex Zone]

A place where whirlwinds raged.

The spot where Jeong-Hoon landed was the edge of a cliff.

And in front of him, a purple liquid monster with a scythe was approaching.

Purple particles floated around the monster, orbiting it.

[Lv.??? Dimensional Aggregate A]

A Dimensional Aggregate A with no level displayed.

[What’s that?] Mukho asked.

‘It’s similar to the ones we saw in the bug city before,’ Anima replied.

As Anima said, it certainly looked similar to the creatures they had seen in the bug city.

However, it was different from them.

Those were beings that shouldn’t exist, literally existing as bugs.

On the other hand, these creatures were devices that would bring disaster to Earth, monsters genuinely created by New World.

They were aggregates formed by gathering fragments of dimensions.

These aggregates would scatter after the event and cross over to Earth through the flow of dimensions, causing chaos.

In other words, these creatures were the very cause of the Second Chaos disaster.

Jeong-Hoon raised Anima.

‘Be careful. The vortex is approaching!’

This creature’s characteristic was a typhoon.

‘Alright.’

He had to eliminate this creature to prevent the typhoon from raging.

Jeong-Hoon pulled back the bowstring, aiming at the creature’s head.

And then he released the arrow.

Whoosh!

The arrow flew and pierced the Dimensional Aggregate’s head accurately.

But the creature remained unharmed even with the arrow embedded in it.

Fizzle.

The mana arrow turned into dust and was absorbed by the creature.

As if enraged, the creature moved the vortex closer to Jeong-Hoon.

Nevertheless, Jeong-Hoon didn’t stop shooting arrows.

He repeatedly drew and released the bowstring.

Whoosh!

Another arrow pierced the creature’s head.

[Uh oh?! We’re really going to die at this rate!] Mukho exclaimed.

‘Master! We’re about to get caught in the vortex!’ Anima warned.

The situation was critical, with the vortex almost upon them.

Yet, Jeong-Hoon didn’t move an inch from his spot and continued to shoot arrows.

And then,

“!@#!#@”

Suddenly, the creature screamed, and the vortex that was about to engulf Jeong-Hoon vanished instantly.

[W-We survived?] Mukho stuttered.

‘…How did this happen?’ Anima wondered.

“It’s because the creature collapsed. Even though it looked fine on the outside, it was continuously taking damage.”

[Dimensional Aggregate A has been defeated.]

[The trap is disappearing.]

The creature, formed from dimensional fragments, turned into dust and scattered once again.

[Wow… We were so close to dying, Master. You know that, right?]

‘Phew, that was a close call.’

Jeong-Hoon smirked.

“We survived, so it’s all good. Let’s get out of here.”

With this, there were seven traps left.

He had to hurry and eliminate the remaining traps.

———