“Ninety-five… 96…”
She shut her ears and closed her eyes. She turned her back and curled her head. She wanted to open her eyes, but Lucelle didn’t. The sight of Ajin whispering towards her was so frightening that she couldn’t open her eyes. He said he would kill her if she opened her eyes. With that honest and simple threat, all a little girl could feel and do was fear and obey.
“Ninety-seven… 98…”
“What would have happened to Carl?” Lucelle recalled carls, who was beaten by the fist wielded by Ajin and vomited blood. Carls and Lucell were childhood friends. Carls’ father was a knight called Lord Rutrio. Although he retired because his right leg was broken, many junior knights used to visit him because he was very talented in the past. That’s why Carls and Lucelle became close. Because his father, Rutrio, broke his leg and retired. Lord Rutrio was a former knight, but he wasn’t such a man, so prim and proud. Although he was a noble man, he neither distinguished the common people from the nobility nor enjoyed luxury.
“Ninety nine… One hundred…”
Lucelle was a commoner. Her parents were also commoners. Her parents had a small bakery, and Lucelle grew up mediocre, and became a disciple of a wizard that was from the Callias school who happened to drop by their shop once.
“I’m… I’m done counting.”
All kinds of thoughts occurred to her at that moment. What would have happened to Carl, as well as her. Would anything change if Sir Rutrio, Carls’ father, or Gesed, Lucelle’s mentor, if they had been there? Lucelle thought of Sir Rutrio, a good natured man. A former knight with a benevolent smile. At the same time, she recalled her teacher, Gesed. A wizard with white beard and wearing a red robe. But what came to mind after that was Ajin’s face smiling at her. It was meaningless. There was neither Sir Rutrio nor Gesed here.
“Good job.”
Before she knew it, Ajin, who approached her, removed Lucelle’s hand from her ears. Lucelle was startled by his whispers. Her wet legs trembled. She wanted to look back but she couldn’t. With Ajin’s hand on her face, there was a strong smell of blood in his body.
“Don’t you wonder what happened to your friend?”
“This man is a devil.” Hearing a whisper in her ears, Lucelle trembled. She was worried, with what he did. But she didn’t want to see it. She didn’t want to see… But Ajin was tempting her to see. He himself turned Lucelle’s head and let her look behind her. Lucelle’s mouth opened and was about to burst a scream, but Ajin blocked her mouth with his hands.
The way he looks, Is he… Should she call that Carls? Lucelle shook and denied the idea. The Carls she knew wasn’t as deflated as that. Carls’ eyes were lifeless, his skin was so minimal and it only clinged to the bone, revealing the skeleton structure. Lucelle felt like she was going crazy and peed again.
“You’ve listened, so I won’t kill you for now. It’s not a great idea, but I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
Ajin said, crouching in front of the quivering Lucelle. Lucelle thought over and over again, looking at Ajin’s eyes, which subsided peacefully.
“This guy’s crazy. How can you kill a man and not show any remorse after doing that?”
“If you heard me, answer me.”
“Yes, sir!”
Lucelle shouted, nodding her head like a madman. At the horse, Ajin twisted her thin lips and smiled. He reached out and stroked Lucelle’s head, asking in a friendly voice.
“You’re a good listener. Very good. Well, let’s start with the question. You said this is a forest of silence, right? How far are you from the wild forest?”
To Ajin’s question, Lucelle gulped and explained. There are what they call the Wild Forest, the Forest of Silence, the Forest of Pain, and Forest of Oblivion. All those four forests together were called the ‘Forest of Despair’, and after passing through the Forest of Silence, one reaches the Wild Forest. After that, Ajin continued to ask questions. The city after the forest is the only port city on the island, and recently they haven’t sent ships to the continent due to the turbulent sea.
As he listened to the story, Ajin vaguely understood that world. It was a beta tester, and so he can’t get out of the island during beta testing. Well, if there are only 1,000 players on a large continent, they won’t be able to bump into each other. Of course, in that case, it is possible to monopolize the hunting ground and is also easy to level up, but it was no different from one on one games.
‘The basic hunting ground is the Forest of Despair. Other than that…’
A blue volcano, a cliff in the furnace, a singing sea. Ajin nodded as he examined the place, where Lucelle told him one story after another story. That’s where monsters often appear.
“You’re a good kid.”
Ajin smiled faintly as she looked at Lucelle. Lucelle answered all Ajin’s questions. However, the most important place still remains.
“What do I have to do to get out of this forest?”
“Um, you can get out of here if you follow this road.”
Lucelle spoke with a shiver. That’s it. No more, he had no reason to hold onto that NPC. Ajin smiled and put his hand on Lucelle’s head. He was not trying to pet her again. Ajin activated his energy drain, while holding Lucelle’s head strongly.
“He-euk!”
Lucelle’s face turned white. She trembled as her energy got pulled from the top of her head, the sense of helplessness overcame her. Ajin reached out and blocked Lucelle’s mouth. She was a wizard, as she said. Even though she was only an apprentice, she must have some kind of mana. So he thought that there might be a lot more energy he could suck from Lucelle. Ajin dimly guessed it would be the case. The amount of energy sucked from Carls was insignificant and that was the only way to make up to it.
‘First of all, after killing that bitch, I’m going to the city’s harbor. There’s a…’
His thoughts stopped. Swish! An arrow shot through Ajin’s shoulder. Ajin stopped his energy drain due to the throbbing pain and just jumped. Attack! Ajin’s expression hardened and looked around.
Throw! Such an eye could see an arrow coming through the air. Ajin fled in a hurry. Stick! The arrow that was fired just hit the ground where Ajin was. Lucelle screamed.
It’s on the tree!
Ajin hurriedly lifted his head up. At that moment, his eyes met with a woman falling from a tree. The woman had eyes full of contempt, landed on the ground, and had fluttering blue hair.
“Player?”
When she asked, Ajin didn’t answer. She was a player! Ajin had a distorted expression and broke the arrow that was on his shoulder. If he pulled it out, he would only bleed more. Ajin quickly turned his inner ear and pulled up his blood throbbing. The woman, who accepted Ajin’s silence as affirmation, pointed her crossbow at Ajin and spat out an arrow.
“You beast-like son of a bitch! You did this against children who are not fully grown…”
“It’s not even a rape. What do you mean?”
At the woman’s contempt, Ajin replied with a smile. The question made the woman’s face angry. In the gap Ajin dashed the ground against the woman. She was the first player he met since he started that game. It wouldn’t be bad to talk about this and that, and bloom the social flower, but he can’t help it because she attacked and failed to give a good first impression.
‘My level is 9. I have level 5 power and Level 9 energy drain.’
The energy drain, which used to be LV 8, moved up a notch by turning the carls into a dead body. He was confident that his skill level was quite high, but what about the other player level? Acacia said to Ajin that his level was the lowest among 1,000 beta players. Then probably, that woman would be at a higher level than Ajin.
Ajin thought it was a good idea. While watching Ajin rushing in, the woman twisted her lips instead of pointing with the crossbow.
“Dirty bastard, you’re kicking!”
The woman quickly draped the crossbow behind her back and pulled the sword from her side. Is it a combination of archery and swordsmanship, what is it? He was not fully aware of that. He couldn’t figure out how to do that. Furthermore, even though he had looked through all the weapons in the library, he didn’t remember them all.
‘I don’t think he chose the trial. Then the total amount of internal energy may not be that different.’
The sword method was more diverse and powerful, but the specs that can only be built with the sword method were less than that of crossbow. Ajin’s pyrolysis method was perfect, and the internal mana built through the energy drain was also quite high.
‘Let’s try this first!’
Thud! The woman chewed her lips again and stretched out the sword she was holding. Her sword shot like a flash and flew towards Ajin. The woman added up to the length of the sword. In the end, it was Ajin who might lose because of the difference in terms of level and skill. Of course it’s a possibility. As soon as the woman’s sword was fired, Ajin twisted his waist and pulled himself. Smash! The sword that the woman stretched brushed Ajin’s cheek. Ajin stretched his feet wide, feeling the pain in his cheek.
Clash! Ajin’s fist was directed to the woman. She leaned back harshly, and made a stiff expression. Ajin’s fists, which contained chi, flew fast towards the woman, but her movements were faster than his. She quickly widened their distance, she retrieved the stretched sword and tried to stab him. Swish! Ajin saw the sword shot at him in an instant as he splintered, and vaguely realized what that sword was.
‘Hitachi’s Sword Art’
It was a secret swordsmanship of fortune tellers. That sword boasts strength and speed. As the woman carried out the technique in perfection, Ajin was unable to keep up with the speed. Ajin moved hurriedly, furrowing his eyebrows. Squish! He felt pain on his side that grazed the blade. But he wasn’t immobile.
‘If he drove her into close combat…!’
As Ajin turned his body to the side and bended, he avoided the sword flying towards his chest. Then he clung to the woman. Her weapon was a crossbow and sword. The odds were on her side if he approached her without giving her a distance to wield the sword.
‘My body is so weak. This is the only way to avoid being hit!’
The problem was the body. His physical strength was declining rapidly due to the wounds he had, and the sword never dulled. But he can’t help it. He has to kill her to avoid the risk of bearing more damage. He had an injury. He can recover if he uses the energy drain. Ajin prepared for the explosion by raising it to the extreme.
“Don’t attack and kneel down, you motherfucker!”
The woman continued to stretch her sword as she shouted. The sparkle of light struck Ajin again. But Ajin didn’t stop. He was rather persistent as he pushed his left shoulder in. Blow! The sword pierced Ajin’s shoulder. Swish! But Ajin ran without stopping. The penetrating sword was grinding down to his bone, but Ajin moved his arm. That body was just an avatar anyway.
“As long as I don’t have zero stamina, I won’t die.” Ajin stretched out his left arm and grabbed the woman by the wrist.
“Wha-…? “
Lion Likeness Origin!
Ajin opened his eyes wide and clenched her right fist loosely. The skill he used in the Breeze of Murim was vaguely remembered in Ajin’s head. Although he hadn’t mastered the corresponding procedure and can’t move his inner energy, he remembered the movements roughly. Ajin whipped his loosely clenched fist like a whip as he pulled the woman’s wrist.
“Ke-eup!”
The woman staggered as she spat out a stifling sound in the attack directed at her adam’s apple. But it didn’t stop there. Ajin pushed air power into his fist and threw her down quickly. Puke! Stretching fists, fingernails exposed while clasping loosely the woman’s shoulders and tore them off. And then he continued to clench his fists. A fast-expanding and folding fist ripped the woman’s flesh out.
“This is so.”
I got the chance to win. He thought so, but another voice came. There was a voice he heard from afar. The moment he felt it, Ajin collided into something. Clash! Ajin’s body rose into the air as the cannon exploded. Ajin couldn’t even scream at the sense of his body getting crushed to the bones.
“What the fuck?!”
“I was wondering what you were doing, and you’re here getting a terrible beating. Are you all right?”
“Luke!”
The woman shouted the man’s name as she hid the blood flowing from the place where Ajin had attacked. Clash! Ajin, who floated into the air and fell, looked at the back of the big man with a blurred vision.
“Are you all right, Asella?”
And saw a little woman running out of the bushes. It was a wizard with a big hat and a cane. She used healing magic on Asella’s wounds.
“I’ll kill you.. you bastard!”
Asella rushed in, pushing Luke to calm down. Asella punched Ajin in the face as she tried to stand up staggeringly. Ajin threw up blood and rolled back to the ground.
“Is he a player?”
Step and step! Luke asked as he approached Asella, who weighed on Ajin and wielded her fists. Asella, who kept putting her fist on Ajin’s face, exhaled a breath.
“Yes. This bastard, he was trying to kill an NPC. And then he came to me!”
“This is amazing. Were there any other users in the beta that went all the way to the Forest of Silence besides us?”
“No, wait a minute. Luke, he’s… wearing a beginner’s outfit.”
“Huh?”
Luke looked surprised at the woman’s murmur. Asella’s fists also stopped. Asella murmured as she lowered Ajin’s bloody clothes.
“…that’s true. This bastard… is a beginner?”
“Hey, that’s ridiculous. How can a beginner be in the Forest of Silence? You have to go through a Raging Forest first to get here.”
Luke shook his head. Asella, who was looking down at Ajin with her eyes wide open, took out an arrow and pointed it at Ajin.
“…Does it really matter? Maybe there was a bug. I can just kill him. What–!”
Asella, saying so, struck the arrow on Ajin’s head.
Watching the arrow approaching his face, Ajin thought. Luke, Asella… The two names he heard right now, he surely remembered them both. He remembered that incident he had two years ago. They were the ones who gave him the first death in another game.
“…See you later.”
Just before being hit by an arrow, Ajin bit his lip and spat out some blood. Asella’s eyes grew at a moment’s notice, but she didn’t stop and put the arrow into Ajin’s face. Squash! Asella murmured as she thrusted the arrow into his brain through the forehead at once.
“…what did you just say?”
[This player is dead.]
[Death penalty limits access for 4 hours.]