Chapter 18

Chapter 18 . A Nail in a Pocket (2)

One goal of Warlord players is getting a nickname . In Warlord, a nickname was a definite proof of one’s popularity . At the same time, players wanted good, cool nicknames . At the very least, no one would start out wanting an eerie nickname like Hero Slaughterer .

Of course, Hyrkan’s Hero Slaughterer nickname did not originate with good intent .

Cruelty!

Hyrkan’s fights were ruthless .

In a way, all fights in Warlord were ruthless . With bloody fights being the norm, it would be strange if fights weren’t called ruthless . At the same time, fights between players had a bit of beauty in them . This beauty originated from the clash of different magic and skills rather than simple hand-to-hand combats .

But Hyrkan’s fights was more of a one-sided massacre than a banquet of magic and skills . This meant that his fights were efficient and overwhelming, but at the same time, it meant he would be hopelessly beaten whenever he was on the losing end . A fight between evenly skilled players could be called a sport, but when the difference in their skill was big, it would just be a one-sided massacre .

But this was Hyrkan’s charm . It was why a latecomer like Hyrkan could make a name for himself . At the same time, it was something Hyrkan had to do to survive as a latecomer . As he couldn’t match up in terms of items, levels, stats, skills, or titles, he had to pursue extreme efficiency in all his fights . It was fine if it looked good on its own, but he had no room to stage a cool fight .

It was when Hyrkan was betrayed by his Hahoe Mask guild and declared war on the Stormhunter Guild that his fighting style became more cruel and desperate . To fight against the world by himself, Hyrkan had no choice but to become the most ferocious animal .

After he had lost everything, Hyrkan was left with nothing but bitterness . It was truly unlucky for the Ralph Family to become the first scapegoat of such for Hyrkan .

And this truly unlucky day was currently in progress .

Stab… stab…!

Hyrkan’s stabbing did not stop . He would only do so after his opponent ceased breathing . In the end, about a minute had passed since Hyrkan had captured Haybola before the stabbing finally stopped .

Haybola was now in the game over state . Haybola in the real world would have noticed this as well . If he wasn’t so perverted as to enjoy being killed while he couldn’t move, see, or struggle, he should have force logged out a long time ago . He wouldn’t be playing Warlord with the money that it requires just to enjoy something like it .

And in this situation where their comrade was being killed, the Ralph Family’s two remaining members couldn’t carelessly move .

‘What do we do?’

The priest couldn’t do anything as his class wasn’t for fighting . In the end, it was up to the swordsman, Jaiyu .

Currently, however, Jaiyu couldn’t move easily because of the Skeleton Warrior blocking his path . He had already attacked a few times, but the Skeleton Warrior easily dodged all of his attacks . With the Skeleton Warrior showing completely different movements than the monsters he had faced so far, Jaiyu couldn’t choose to forcefully attack . If he had the courage, he would already have done so .

Of course, the biggest reason was Hyrkan’s ruthlessness . What seemed like a tasty fish at first turned out to be a great white shark . Plus, Jaiyu was currently in the ocean, being stared at by that very shark . As the Ralph Family would never have had the chance to face fear like this, it was only obvious that their legs would go stiff .

Hyrkan could clearly tell what state they were in .

‘I’m still weaker in terms of pure power . ’

Hyrkan purposefully instilled fear into them . It was the only way to make their minds’ calculators called logic malfunction .

‘Power on power would be hard . ’

In truth, Hyrkan was vastly inferior in power . The combination of a priest and a swordsman was too good . Furthermore, their difference was huge . Hyrkan was still level 11, equipped with the Subjugation Association’s default items . The Ralph Family, on the other hand, were level 20 players… with possibly rare items .

‘Stamina’s really the problem . ’

The critical problem was Hyrkan’s stamina . There was no way he wouldn’t know the weakness of an all-strength necromancer .

Even with just one hit, he would yell UGH! He didn’t have a priest nor potions to heal him .

But he didn’t feel right letting the two go because of it . In fact, it was against his principle to let these fools worth several tens of monsters go . Such an opportunity wasn’t easy to come by .

Then what he needed now…

‘Strike while the iron is hot’

Was a scheme .

Hyrkan averted his eyes, and his eyes met Jaiyu who was confronting the Skeleton Warrior .

“This is purely self-defense . I was not the one to start this fight . ”

His voice flowed out without a hint of stuttering .

“Fuck off!”

Of course, for the one listening, it was pure bullshit . Jaiyu immediately let out a heated response . In truth, he had no right to do such a thing . It was them who first schemed and did an ill-mannered act . If what happened were to become public, Warlord players would applaud Hyrkan and spit on the Ralph Family . A few victims of the Ralph Family might even send Hyrkan money for a dinner or two .

In any case, once Jaiyu heard Hyrkan’s words, his mind shook once again .

‘This fucker…’

He was scared, angry, irritated, and also worried .

All sorts of thoughts filled his mind, causing a headache . He wanted to run, but at the same time, he didn’t . Jaiyu glanced at his friend, Dral .

Dral’s expression wasn’t all that different . With his vicious hobby of toying with players, he had expected something like this to happen one day, but he didn’t think it would happen like this . Most importantly, as a priest, Dral couldn’t lead the fight in any way . In the end, he was only the support . The order had to come from Jaiyu .

As a result, Jaiyu and Dral kept pushing off the lead role, giving tacit hints to each other .

Watching the two panic, Hyrkan smiled inwardly .

‘Retards . ’

It wasn’t his first time against players like this .

Players that acted like they were the kings, but turned into 5 year old kids the moment they were driven into a corner .

‘If you’re going to run, then run . If you’re going to fight, then fight . ’

If Hyrkan was in their situation, he would not have hesitated to make his decision . Fight or run . These were really the only two choices in Warlord . It was best to never think that talking solved problems .

Thus .

“I no longer want to fight with you . ”

Talking now would be his scheme .

“If you call it quits here, I will stop . ”

With that, Hyrkan raised both his hands above his head . To Jaiyu and Dral, it was the most appealing Hyrkan had ever looked . Hyrkan also sounded sincere .

“I’ll say it now . I have no interest in your items . If you agree to end it here, let us . ”

Jaiyu and Dral had no choice but to be smitten .

Jaiyu relaxed slightly . Then, he stared at Dral, and their eyes met for the first time in a while . They had both reached the same conclusion .

‘Let’s end it here . ’

It wasn’t likely that the situation would turn for the better because they remained stubborn . Since their opponent was the one asking for truce, there was no reason for them to not agree . The moment Jaiyu relaxed, the shoulder of his arm holding the sword drooped . Noticing this, Hrykan…

Snap snap!

Immediately snapped his fingers twice .

Attack Mode!

With its master’s command, the Skeleton Warrior charged towards Jaiyu without a shadow of doubt .

Click click!

With the sound of bones hitting each other, the Skeleton Warrior closed the gap between it and Jaiyu in a blink of an eye .

“What!”

Startled, Jaiyu swung his sword as strong as he could with his slightly relaxed body .

His sword moved horizontally like a baseball player’s swing . With only a whoosh, there was no hint of sharpness in the blade . There was no way the Skeleton Warrior would be taken out by a sword filled with nothing but brute strength .

The Skeleton Warrior easily dodged the attack by lowering his waist, and at the same time, launched himself towards Jaiyu’s ankle like a spring . Then, it bit down on his ankle with a snap .

His legs were guarded by armor, but the armor around his ankle were just leather boots and socks . With the Skeleton Warrior’s fangs being able to easily bite off monsters’ skins, it could easily deal effective damage to Jaiyu .

Plus, most people, after getting their ankle bitten, couldn’t respond properly . Their eyesight narrowed and confusion blurred their vision . Even so, Jaiyu responded decently . He stabbed his sword down toward the Skeleton Warrior biting his ankle .

Thwack!

The sword went through the Skeleton Warrior’s boney ribs and pierced the ground .

At the same time .

Stab!

Before anyone noticed, Hyrkan’s sword closed its distance with Jaiyu and destroyed his two eyes .

“Uwak”

Dejavu .

Immediately moving behind Jaiyu, Hyrkan began to cut his neck . The bone-chilling stabbing sound once again flowed out and Hyrkan grinned . With his scheme working out so flawlessly, there was no way he wouldn’t feel happy .

This wasn’t standard in any way . When dealing with multiple players, dealing with the priest first was key . If the priest remained alive, it was easy enough for corpses to come back to life . As long as a high-level priest remained alive and didn’t run out of magic power, swordsmen and magicians never died .

But the current situation was different . A level 20 priest could do no more than curing small wounds and filling up lost stamina . It was far from real priests’ capabilities .

Most importantly, he was too lacking . Even a kid could support a bunch of swordsmen happily fighting up front . But Dral’s response while Haybola was getting killed? Completely useless . It meant he had no experience with a similar situation . In such cases, it was better to deal with the swordsman . Of course, it wasn’t that Hyrkan carefully theorized and judged the situation .

The calculation in his head was simple .

‘This priest is a chicken . No need to pay him any mind . He’ll probably just run anyways . ’

The priest was too insignificant to care about!

And as Hyrkan expected .

“Uwaaaaaah!”

The remaining player, Dral, ran off the moment Jaiyu was killed .

Hyrkan sneered . It was a victory ceremony .

★★★

“10 watches . ”

The fight was over .

Hyrkan also took care of Jaiyu cleanly . He didn’t chase after Dral . It wasn’t impossible to catch up if he tried, but it wouldn’t be easy . It would take at least ten minutes, and there was a high chance of a problem occurring by the time he returned to this place .

Hyrkan concentrated on collecting his spoils .

It was nothing to scoff at . What stood out was 10 watches . Haybola and Jaiyu were each carrying 4 watches . They were, of course, from the players they hunted . With two of their own, it totaled to 10 .

‘If only everything in the item slot came out . ’

With this, he had secured himself at least 10 items . Considering the level of players that were Ralph Family’s targets, at least 5 of the 10 would be a miss, likely to be Subjugation Association’s default items . Even so, the Ralph Family’s items would be quite useful .

‘Useful items between level 15 and 20 should go for about 300,000 won . ’

Furthermore, useful level 15 to 20 items, especially weapons, easily went over 100,000 won . For players that spent over 2 million won on gaming, they wouldn’t be stingy on weapons they would be using for two weeks to a month .

Another source of profit were the crafting coins . Haybola and Jaiyu’s pockets were filled with crafting coins and jewels that monsters dropped . In a way, there was a higher chance of this being worth more money .

Hyrkan examined the coins one by one using the app installed on his watch . After confirming them, he smiled .

‘Decent . ’

PK players prioritize watches first and foremost . Then, they take expensive crafting coins or jewels . It was annoying and inconvenient to carry everything .

“Oh?”

As expected, a fairly good jewel was mixed in .

“Isn’t this Black Goblin’s Eyeball?”

Black Goblin’s Eyeball .

Hyrkan knew what it was . It was an jewelry crafting item that was used for making rare-rank items . Furthermore, it was used to craft armor for magicians .

It was an item crafting material that raised magic power and intelligence .

It was, of course, expensive .

‘This should go for a bit if I remember correctly . ’

Hyrkan had obtained and sold it before . Before returning to the past, he had found it when he was around level 20 . At that time, it cost around 300,000 won .

‘The others are decent too . They should all sell for quite a decent amount . ’

With just 10 minutes of effort, he had earned more than he imagined . A big smile spread out across his face .

There was one more big profit .

‘What should I do with the video? Do I send it to a professional to edit? It turned out quite well, I think . ’

PK videos always had decent views .

Hyrkan’s fights were cruel, thus different . In Warlord, where everyone sought after the strangest concepts to stand out, being different wasn’t a bad thing in the slightest . It was the same before Hyrkan returned to the past . It was his unique style that allowed him to stand out and succeed .

‘About 200,000 was it, to make a video?’

In this sense, this fight would become a good profile video to show off Hyrkan’s existence, skill, and potential .

The smile on Hyrkan slightly twisted .