Chapter 33 :

Episode 8 : Faker (1)

The moment I closed my eyes, I felt the sensation of being moved upward as if I were on an elevator.

[You have entered Stage #8.]

When I heard the message, I opened my eyes to be greeted with the bright sunlight before the forest finally became visible.

The first thing I did was to see if my comrades were with me. And luckily, everyone was alright.

[Stage #8 : Hunt Monsters.]

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Stage Information: As time passes, monsters will arise from the darkness to devour humans as their meals. Thus, it is time for humans to be the hunter and hunt those monsters.

Stage Task: Kill monsters to level up.

Time Limit: 120 hours.

Reward: 500 coins, 5 medium HP potions and 5 medium MP potions.

Failure: ???

[Currently, there are 46 hours remaining.]

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I mused while reading the Stage's description. ‘As expected, it's still the same after all these years.’

Turquoise having done her work, she stared at me in the eyes and disappeared as angelic feathers were left behind.

My crimson red eyes switched back to the color black when the angel left. It was a sign that there aren't angels near me or spying on me.

‘They're finally gone.’ I thought while picking up the angelic feathers. ‘These will come in handy.’ I quickly stored them inside my inventory.

During when I was doing that, Raiden came toward me, standing beside me. Obviously, He seemed to be embarrassed about something, since I could tell by his reddish face.

I seemed to know why he was embarrassed though. "Don't be embarrassed over something so trivial."

Raiden stuttered before talking nervously. "I.. It just.. Sensei. The fact that you were my student before.."

"You didn't know. And it's already in the past." I answered thoughtfully. "And you don't have to call me Sensei. I didn't teach you anything."

Mirai walked to me, asking. "Captain.. Are you still JoonChul?"

"Maybe I am or maybe I'm not. I would rather not talk about my fake lives."

Raiden questioned as he handed me Behemoth. "Did ‘she’ appear again?"

"..."

"..‘She’ did, didn't ‘she’?! ‘She’ always does!" Behemoth scowled while I grabbed him.

I put Behemoth on my head which made Mirai jealous. "Now it isn't the time for that. And Mirai, I'll let you sleep on my head later. So don't be jealous."

Mirai, who was jealous and angry, seeing how Behemoth was on my head, got excited after knowing she would get to be on my head later. Then she responded back to me, being very exhilarated. "Hai! Captain! Hehe!"

I smiled, instructing them. "We will split up. Raiden and Mirai will go to the south side while Behemoth and I will go to the north."

"When it's night, come and find us." I informed Raiden and Mirai.

Raidan and Mirai responded quickly. "Yes, Captain!"

I turned around to walk to the north, speaking in a serious tone of voice. "And one more thing, show no mercy."

Riaden and Mirai obediently nodded before leaving to the south.

———

At the meantime, somewhere in the same forest..

‘HwanGi’ left behind trails of blood everywhere he walked in the forest.

Those trails of blood led some of the players to follow him constantly.

"Those bastards keep coming!" ‘HwanGi’ gritted his teeth, getting extremely irritated by those players.

"Just from that fucker's speech, everyone lost their marbles!" He slashed a tree with his daggers.

‘HwanGi’ heard a rustling from one of the bushes behind him. Due to this, he gripped his daggers to instantly turn around, readied himself.

I walked out of the bush casually, brushing the leaves off my shoulder. "It's been a long time, HwanGi-ssi."

Behemoth asked me while staring at the human. "Do you know this human, Master?"

"Well, not really. I met him in Stage #2."

"Did he do something rude toward you?"

"No, he helped me actuall-." My sentence got cut off by ‘HwanGi-ssi’.

"Oi!" He shouted. "Who the heck are you? A crazy person or something?"

"Strange. Did you forget about me already? We met in Stage #2, didn't we?"

"Don't try to lie. You are one of those bastards, aren't you? Your face proved it."

‘My face may look villainous but don't judge a person by their looks! Okay?!’ while I was thinking, ‘HwanGi’ rushed in toward me.

[Player ‘999’ has activated the skill, ‘Flurry Strike’ Lv. 1.]

"Huh? Player ‘999’?"

The attack was immediately blocked by Behemoth's tail when it was about to strike my vital point which was my heart.

‘HwanGi’ was surprised twice by the tail and me, saying ‘999’.

Without further delay, I grabbed his arm and activated my skill.

[You have activated the skill, ‘Player Analyzation’ Lv. 1.]

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Name: Katharina Alaine

Age: 19

Level: 13

Health: 734

[+200 HP from Dagger's enhancement.]

Mana: 185

Stamina: 678

Hidden Skills: ‘Bodyjack’ Lv. 1, ‘Morph’ Lv. 2, ‘Acting’ Lv. 1, ‘Clone’ Lv. 1.

Skills: Dagger Mastery Lv. 2, Flurry Strike Lv. 1

Stats:

Strength Lv. 8

Agility Lv. 13

[+2 AGI from Dagger's enhancement.]

Intelligence Lv. 5

Dexterity Lv. 6

Luck Lv. 4

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‘I see. She morphed herself to HwanGi-ssi, even her MP is depleting in every second.’ As I was checking, Katharina bellowed at me.

"How do you know I'm player ‘999’?!"

‘Because of my hidden skill, ‘Simulation’. Thanks to it, I could see what skills, player's numbers, etc in the form of system messages. Of course, I can't tell you that, can I?’ I mused, letting go of her arm.

"You're not really ‘999’, right? You were the girl who screamed when her brother was killed in the beginning of the stage. Am I correct?"

"..What are you talking about?! I'm Seong HwanGi..!" Katharina falsely exclaimed.

"You can't trick me using that skill."

There was a moment of silence before she sighed, shaking her head. "Fine, you're right. I'll change back."

"Don't do it now." I stopped her because I could sense people watching us.

"Why?" Katharina was a bit puzzled, but later, she noticed that she was being watched as well.

"Come out. You don't need to hide with your horrible stealth."

"Kekeke. Look like you found us." A gang of people poked out of their hiding spots, wielding their weapons.