When they were faced with a dangerous situation, however, they showed their abilities, condescending as much as they could be. In other words, they were nothing more than crazy freaks vying for others' attention.

But the man dressed in rags in front of them was me alone. I didn't look like a pervert who wanted to get excessive attention from others. So, Sugil made a party member pick a fight with me, just in case. How trifling it was, sometimes such an act damaged the other party in question in the past. So, he was willing to scout me if I was competent enough. Sugil didn't even bother when his party member rode roughshod over me because they belonged to Daesung, and I probably would not decline their offer even if I was treated poorly.

What if I was far from competent? Sugil didn't care because killing one user was not a big deal. Actually it happened very often.

"Hey, Mister, do you think just saying sorry is enough?"

Now, the guy was acting arrogantly.

Finally, I opened my mouth, "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, you should compensate and apologize more politely."

"..."

Compensation and a more polite apology?

At that moment I laughed by myself, which seemed to provoke their anger.

"Damn it! This bastard is laughing at us when we demand he apologize for his mistake!"

"Are you crazy?"

But I recalled what my father told me at home yesterday, rather than their anger.

[Don't die. It hasn't been revealed yet, but the fact that there are a number of deaths on your status bar will likely result in a penalty in the future. On the other hand, kill others if you can. This may also result in your future compensation.]

'Kills ' and 'Deaths' didn't exist in the closed beta. My father mentioned directly that I could kill other users, but I should not be killed. I don't know why his warning suddenly came to my mind because I'd never attacked other users, let alone kill them, in my life.

'Check Status.'

I opened the status bar first because I had something to do. I wanted to invest the 10 remaining stat points I gained by leveling up a moment ago.

[Name: lumen

Level: 101

Kills: 0 Deaths: 0

Titles: 3, including The only closed beta max level achiever.

Health: 884,000(now) / 884,000(max)

Mana: 737,500(now) / 737,500(max)

Strength: 815 Agility: 811 Stamina: 3740

Willpower: 2275 Intellectual Power: 3750

Remaining Stat Points: 10

Remaining Skill Points: 0

Traits: Iceman, Mutual Growth, God of Enhancement.]

"Hey. I'm asking you a question. Are you crazy?" said the tank holding the shield. He came closer to me and pushed my shoulder as if he was about to attack me immediately.

But I ignored him and invested 10 points in Intellectual Power.

Then I turned off the status bar and spoke to him informally, staring at the man, "Well, it's my first time here."

"?"

"?"

"What the fuck is he talking about?"

Not only the tank, but the other ten members that stood some distance away all looked at me with puzzled expressions. But I kept speaking, not caring at all, "Well, I don't know what to do. You might not notice it, but my heart is pounding very fast now. In fact, I never thought I would experience this kind of thing in my life."

"?"

"?"

Clearly the eleven users, or my enemies, were very much embarrassed by what I said.

"Therefore, let me apologize to you first if I am mistaken. As this is my first time, I might not be able to control it. So, be careful. Ice Field!"

Generally speaking, the reason why I always went for the ice-type series, aside from the ice-type wizard, in all games was for just one reason. It's because the first attack guarantees victory, guaranteed victory with the first strong blow.

I could carry it out as a wizard, and at a long distance at that. Of course, I was now at a close distance, unfortunately. And, I was close to dealing with a total of eleven players. But to my surprise, I was fine with it this time because I could stop them from fleeing.

Crunch, crunch.

The land was covered with ice instantly.

"Ugh! Be careful!"

"Fire Shield."

"Flare up, flame that never goes out!"

"Summon the Spirit of Fire! Spirit of Fire! Spirit of Fire!"

"May the power of curses weaken the enemy! Weakness!"

Puk! Puk! Bang! Bang!

It was my first time using all available skills. But I knew that the party of eleven had enough experience. They were not confused about my surprise attack — they responded immediately.

They inflicted debuffs on me in the meantime.

[You have become weak.

-The other party's Intellectual Power does not show much difference from lumen's Willpower.

-The influence of Weakness has been greatly reduced.]

"Damn it! Who is that son of a bitch? How come the effect of Weakness is so low compared to his Willpower?"

The guy who inflicted debuffs on me started blurting out loud without hiding his embarrassment, but I didn't care. I still had a lot of other things to care about.

"Attack!"

"Attack!"

"Steel Shield."

"Slow Shot!"

"Spirit of Fire, attack!"

The tank at the forefront began to attack me by using the giant shield, followed by the torrent of arrows and the Spirit of Fire. Of course, they didn't just attack because my Ice Field was far from ordinary.

"Fuck! So much damage because of this Ice Field!"

"Blood is oozing out from me, man!"

"Heal!"

"Mega Heal!"

Watching them in confusion, I immediately used the next skill.

I ignored their barrage of attacks against me.

"Pouring Hailstones!"

Puk! Puk! Puk!

Soon, numerous hailstones rained down on their heads. Naturally, like Ice Field, this had the added bonus with the "Iceman" trait, so I had never been disappointed by its effects. And in the meantime, they resumed attacks against me with Slow Shots and the Spirit of Fire, let alone the pointed shields.

Puk! Puk! Puk!

"?"

My Physical Strength and Health points were too high to even complain of pain or feel threatened, so much so that I didn't need to use Ice Shield at all, let alone my Willpower.

[You have been hit by a Slow Shot.

-Lumen's Willpower is overwhelmingly higher than the other party's Intellectual Power.

-You are not bound by Slow Shots.]

"Hey, idiot! Weakness doesn't work. Just use Power Shots!"

"Okay, got it!"

The enemies also seemed confused. But the archer with the bow couldn't keep up with what he said because he collapsed right after he was hit by the hailstones on the head. He was the first to collapse.

"Fuck! What the hell is this damage?"

"Damn it! The Fire Shield has been broken!"

"Even the Spirit of Fire is being recalled!"

The enemies were in chaos. So, I cast more skills to make them even more confused, which I have enjoyed a lot these days.

"Ice Blast!"

As always, there was an immediate crack in the Ice Field.

Puk! Puk! Puk! At that moment, Ice Field was smashed to pieces, ice fragments flying everywhere.

"Damn it!"

"Fuck!"

The party of eleven, barely fighting with several Fire Shields, Mega Shields, and the Spirit of Fire, was slaughtered at once.

Of course, there was only one left, namely the tank who was close to me.

"Who are you?

"Me? Well, you should know this. I'm actually the operator of this game. Multiple Ice Arrow."

He asked me who I was, but I had no intention of revealing my identity. So, I just said something off the top of my head, firing my last bit of magic, Multiple Ice Arrows. And then the tank died.

And my first battle against users like me ended like that.

***

Since it was my first battle against other players, I thought I would be shocked or maybe I would experience a change of heart.

No matter how often this kind of killing and being killed among users happened in games, at least I had been absent from it until now. But when I experienced it directly, I was not shocked at all.