Ark didn’t have much knowledge about the Giran region yet. Even when he spread out the map and looked at it, it was almost completely covered in black fog. He had first come to Giran through the Grey Ridge shortcut, and after that he had lived holed up in the blind auction house. Then, the event quest had started right afterwards, so he had no time to hunt. That’s why he stopped by a General Store before leaving Giran to buy some maps. In the case of large cities like Giran, if you bought a map with the geography and information about nearby hunting grounds, new info would be added automatically.

Based on that information, there was a diversity in hunting grounds around Giran. There were forest, plains, swamp, and mountain regions, and depending on the region, the monsters that appeared varied vastly and ranged from level 50-100 as well. This was a perfect place for low leveled players to level up after leaving Jackson Territory.

‘Let’s see. The Old Forest where the Silver Arrow thief gang is…’

When he checked the map, it was marked as a level 60-80 area.

‘It’s a reasonable level.’

Ark was currently level 78. He felt it was a bit easy, since he had hunted monsters stronger than him until now, but since his goals were information collection and bounty hunting anyway, the easier it was, the better.

Ark moved to his destination along the road. When he travelled on a paved road, an additional effect of +20% movement speed was added. Therefore, he could minimize travel time. Thanks to that, Ark reached his destination in just 30 minutes.

Trees of enormous width were packed closely in the Old Forest, where the Silver Arrow thief gang was hiding.

“It’s meat…! Fresh… human meat!”

When he entered the forest, three Trolls appeared as if they had been waiting,. Ark’s eyes flashed.

‘This is good. I wanted to try out the Deadly Poison skill before I encounter the thief gang.’

“Grrrrrr, DIE!”

Claaang!

Shrieking, a Troll swung its club. But, being in the early level 70s, the Troll was already no match for Ark.

“Dedric, Skull. Buy me some time.”

“Huhuhu, playing with such a slow fellow is no problem.”

Clack clack clack!

Dedric and Skull replied confidently as they attacked the Troll. With that opening, Ark dodged the club with light footwork and fell back. Then he fed Snake the ingredients he had confirmed as poisonous, having gathered them since entering the forest. A short while afterwards, light blue fluid flowed out of Snake’s fangs. It was venom made with the Deadly Poison Production skill.

Swish, ka-chink!

When he spread the venom on the blade, the blade’s surface turned blue with an eerie sound effect.

You have applied Neurotoxin (Beginner) to Lancel’s Sword.

If the enemy is hit with an attack, the nerves of the struck region will be paralyzed for 5 seconds (5 uses).

“Dedric, Skull. Distract the other guys now!”

Having applied the poison, Ark flexed his muscles before flying out like an arrow.

The Troll swung its club with a roar. However, Ark had faced the irregular attacks of Shadows at Jackson not long ago. He could dodge the incomparably slow Troll’s attack with his eyes closed. Ark twisted his head to dodge the club as he stabbed horizontally with his sword. A Counter Attack burst out in that instant as the Troll swayed to one side.

– The Troll’s left leg has been paralyzed by Neurotoxin!

Paralyzed in one leg, the Troll retreated while limping very pitifully. But Ark wasn’t one to spare a monster because it was pitiful. He immediately rammed his sword into the Troll’s other leg. Then, when he let loose a sidekick as he dodged the club, the Troll with both legs paralyzed flailed both its arms before falling over. It was in a perfectly defenseless state!

Double Critical Chance activated.

“Dark Blade!”

After taking immense damage with a brilliant flash of light, the Troll disappeared.

It was the same for the two remaining Trolls. The Troll’s arm would droop limply if he struck it with his sword. Occasionally, the spinal nerves were paralyzed when he dealt a critical hit to the body.

Of course, the activation rate wasn’t 100%. Perhaps because it was Beginner Deadly Poison, the success rate was roughly 20%. The rate was slightly higher than succeeding a kick with high difficulty.

But there was a point that Ark hadn’t thought of. In the case of kicks, large monsters like Trolls almost never got status hexes. But the poison activated at a pretty high rate even when facing large monsters. In addition, it wasn’t random like a kick; a specific status condition could be dealt by choice.

This had a considerable effect. Ark took down three Trolls in just 2 minutes.

“Isn’t this surprisingly useful?”

In battle, even a single second couldn’t be ignored. Especially when in a crisis, the few seconds it took to drink a potion could decide victory or defeat. So if the enemy could be paralyzed for 5 seconds at a 20% chance, there was nothing more to say. Moreover, an enemy could be paralyzed for a maximum of 15 seconds since it could be used five times.

‘I’ve always got the ingredients on hand, especially since I don’t use poisonous ingredients that often. In other words, I can use this whenever I need it!’

Having thought that far, Ark completely forgot the likes of the frost attribute sword. Unlike a sword that he would simply sell off after using it when he got a better item, he could make use of a skill for a long time once he learned it. If it was a useful skill, then it could be better than a Rare item and wasn’t bad at all.

‘This skill might even be more useful than the Rare sword!’

Humming, Ark scraped up all the poisonous ingredients around and tested them one by one. However, because it was still a Beginner skill, he could only make venom from ingredients with weak poison. Most of the effects were just so-so, but there a few useful ones.

Hesitation Poison, which reduced the enemy’s movements by 30% for 5 seconds, Acid Poison, which dealt 30 damage every 10 seconds for one minute, and Vulnerability Poison, which reduced the enemy’s defense by 20% for 10 seconds. It was hard to expect absolute effects, but it was more or less fine to use them as support.

However, it wasn’t a skill he should recklessly overuse, because the effect didn’t apply the same way to every monster. For example, it had a low activation rate on large monsters and the duration was slightly shorter as well. But the Thorny Plant Poison that caused Bleeding actually raised activation rate and lengthened duration. Whereas, if he used Acid Poison on a monster with the acid attribute, it would heal rather than damage.

‘In other words, it means I have to determine the monster’s attribute well before using it!’

He would study the monster and attack it with a more effective poison. The skill suited Ark’s fighting style.

If there was one drawback, it was that it had poor cost to product ratio. There was a limit to ingredients, and there were times when poisonous herbs were needed to use Survival Cooking. He couldn’t just make them all into poison. In addition, poison had a usage limit, unlike kicks. Once the poison was applied, the usage count would decrease whether it was blocked or wasted.

‘But that too is up to me. There isn’t a skill that matches me 100%. To expect something like that is just being greedy.’

No technique is perfect. For balance, of course they all had their own weaknesses. Using that properly was the player’s skill!

“Okay, Snake. I like it. You did well.”

Hiss hiss!

As Ark grinned for a change, the color returned to Snake’s face. Then Dedric grumbled with a very displeased expression. “Tsk, tsk, tsk!”

“What? Do you have a complaint?”

“No, I don’t! What complaint would I have towards the distinguished Snake when all I have is a talent for flying? I’ll just quietly do some recon, jeez.” Dedric sharply turned his head as he flapped away.

At that sight, Ark held back a wry smile. Dedric pretended not to be, but he really was very jealous.

As Ark’s party meandered through the forest while quarreling, at some point the monster spawns suddenly became sparse. Ark knew what such a change meant from experience. He had entered a boundary where the monster domain had changed. But this time, it wasn’t just a simple monster. It was probably the Silver Arrow thief gang’s turf.

‘Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ll be facing a human.’

Not humanoid monsters, but real humans. Since this was a realistic virtual reality, the feeling shouldn’t be different, though once he thought of it like that, he started to feel pretty uncomfortable. Actually, there was really no reason for him to be uneasy since he had already killed Leo and Andel before.

‘A thief gang isn’t much different from monsters anyways.’

Ark was thinking like that and moving forward when he thought he heard a sharp whistle. A crimson light burst out before his eyes. Looking down, he saw a thick arrow quivering in his shoulder.

– You have been ambushed. 200 damage. Your shoulder has been wounded, so attack speed will be decreased by 10%.

“Hehehe, we’ve got good luck today. A guest has crawled in with his own legs.”

“It’s been tough ’cause we haven’t had profit for a while, we’re grateful for this guest.”

“Then we should entertain him.”

“Kekeke, though of course, it’s our way of entertaining.”

‘Dang… is this the Silver Arrow thief gang?’ Ark glanced around himself with shocked eyes.

The tree branches were so dense that he couldn’t see the sky. He heard the voices of the thieves from somewhere up there. And not just from one place, but all around… they were already in place.

He’d gotten so caught up in testing the Deadly Poison skill that he became careless.

‘Even so, to think they would go as far as to lie in ambush…’

No, it was natural if he thought about it with common sense. His opponents were a thief gang in name, so there was no way they wouldn’t guard the area around their hideout. But Ark hadn’t thought that far since he had only thought of them as monsters. In any case, Ark wasn’t particularly worried even though the situation wasn’t that good.

‘The Silver Arrow thief gang’s difficulty was F. Their average level is probably only in the 70s. If it’s only that level, there’s no need to worry much.’

“Dedric, second tree on the right!”

“Okay!”

As Ark pointed to one tree, Dedric answered excitedly as he flew off. Then, with a “bam” sound, one of the thieves screamed as he tumbled off the tree.

“Aack, wh-what the hell? This bat is–?”

“Shut up, I am a noble of the Netherworld, Dedric-nim!”

“Plan A! Skull, let’s go!”

Ark ran at the thief with Skull. But just as he was about to swing his sword, four arrows shot at him from all directions. Ark hastily turned his sword, but even with reflexes trained through Taekwondo, it was impossible to parry four arrows in an instant.

“Argh!”

An arrow lodged into his abdomen and leg yet again.

Hexed with ‘Bleeding’ and then ‘Reduced Movement Speed,’ while Ark was staggering, the thief that had fallen off hurriedly scrambled up the tree.

“That bastard, isn’t he commanding monsters?”

“Don’t be caught off guard. Seeing as he’s holding on even after being hit by arrows, he’s not an easy one.”

“Let’s get rid of that bat first!”

“Concentrate attack on the bat!”

“Dedric, dodge! Plan D!”

“Ah, alright! Ack, what the hell is this?”

At Ark’s voice, Dedric hurriedly soared into the sky. But before he could fly even a few meters, he got caught in something and flapped. He had been caught by the crude trap of the entangled, dense branches above Ark’s head.

“Kikikik, idiot. How embarrassing.”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The thieves laughed as they launched their arrows. Caught in the tree branches and rendered unable to move, Dedric was hit by three or four arrows in an instant and fell into critical condition. Flying creatures were vulnerable to ranged attacks like arrows, so he took 30% additional damage.

“Dammit, unsummon Dedric!”

Ark barely prevented Dedric from being force recalled by unsummoning him. But then the situation became even more difficult. All the attacks that had headed towards Dedric were concentrated on Ark. Lacking a ranged attack skill, there was nothing Ark could do since they were shooting arrows from atop the trees. Ark rolled on the ground as he blocked and dodged the arrows flying at him crazily from all over the place.

However, it was impossible to avoid all the arrows. He took one hit from every three to four shots, and his situation only worsened because he was hexed with Slow or Bleeding whenever he got hit.

The thieves even acted cunningly.

“I’m next!”

Hearing sound from behind him, he quickly turned around, and an arrow lodged into his back.

“The idiot looked back. Kikik.”

“What kind of dickhead would point out where each and every arrow would fly from?”

“Hey, this time I’ll attack. Try and block this!”

“Shut up!”

‘Do you think I’d fall for that one a second time?’… was what he thought, but when he didn’t even turn his head, this time an arrow really did come flying in. After taking a few attacks like that, red-hot anger surged in him.

Who would have even thought of it? That he would take attacks while being teased by thief NPCs.

‘Argh, th-these bastards…’

Ark ground his teeth. But no amount of grinding his teeth would improve the situation.

Ark struck a tree with Dark Blade in rage. He was trying to shake a thief loose from the tree. But being a few meters in diameter, the tree didn’t even budge.

‘Damn it, the hell am I supposed to do?’

He also tried to climb up a tree, but even that wasn’t easy because of the thieves’ arrow attacks. He only ended up getting hit stupidly by a few arrows before retreating.

Of course, Skull was no help at all. There was no way Skull, who rolled along the ground, could crawl up a tree that even Ark couldn’t climb. It also couldn’t take the arrows cutting through the air in Ark’s stead. In the end, there was no difference whether Skull was there or not. Maybe for that reason, the thieves paid no attention to Skull. While Ark and Skull ran around in confusion like that, his Health was cut down bit by bit and he fell into critical condition.

‘No, I can’t die against these guys!’

Urgency filled Ark’s face.

His opponents weren’t ordinary monsters. If he died at the hands of the thief NPCs, there was a 60% chance that he would drop an equipment item.

‘I’m angry, but surviving is the first priority!’

“Unsummon Skull!”

Ark returned Skull back to the Netherworld and began to flee.

“You think we’d lose a fish that’s already caught?”

The thieves were really not to be taken lightly. They used the vines hanging everywhere in the forest to move from branch to branch like Tarzan as they shot arrows.

Ark slipped between the trees while dodging the arrows, but in the end he took yet another arrow to his knee and collapsed.

“Got him!”

“Finish it!”

‘Arghh, dammit… Am I really going to die from level 70 thieves?’

Ark was grinding his teeth while watching the bandits approach when he suddenly spotted a familiar object on the branch the thieves were moving towards. It was a brown object that looked like a rugby ball hanging upside down on the tree branch. Ark knew what that object was.

They were honeybees that inhabited the forests of New World, a Red Bee beehive.

In his beginner days of struggling in the Argus Mountains, there was a time when he almost died after finding out that a top-level ingredient, honey, could be acquired from the Red Bee beehive and recklessly rushed in.

‘Good, with this it’s all or nothing!’

“Summon Skull! In the end, I can only depend on you!”

Ark grabbed Skull and threw him with all his strength. Skull flew out in a straight line and hit the beehive. Afterwards, the beehive shook greatly and then Red Bees began to pour out in droves. Buzzing with aggressive cries, when the Red Bees poured out, the thieves’ faces blanched.

“Shit, Red Bees!”

“R-run away! It’s the end if you get caught!”

“Aaaaah!”

As the Red Bees rushed in, the thieves screamed as they fled in all directions. One of them was attacked by the Red Bees and fell to the ground. Then the Red Bees swarmed in like clouds and lowered his Health to the bottom in an instant.

In the meantime, Ark sent Skull back to the Netherworld and ran into the forest. Belatedly discovering Ark, the Red Bees swarmed towards him.

Ark had fallen into critical condition, so the Indomitable skill series and Adrenaline effects were activated. Thanks to that, his movement speed had increased dramatically, but he couldn’t lose the Red Bees completely. The buzzing sound closed in on him until it was right behind him.

‘It was somewhere around here, wasn’t it…?’

Ark tore through the forest like crazy. After a few minutes had passed like that, the forest suddenly disappeared and an expansive lake appeared. It was a lake he had discovered not long after entering the Old Forest.

‘Alright, found it!’

Ark immediately jumped into the lake.

“Whew …!”

The Red Bees milled around above the surface for 10 minutes before leaving. If there hadn’t been a lake nearby and if he hadn’t had the Mermaid Scale, he would have died without a squeak.

Firstly, Ark recovered his Health while making and eating food.

“Dammit! That hurt, IT FRICKIN HURT! Those bastards! I won’t forgive them!” Resummoned, Dedric flew about in rage.

Ark felt the same way.

Thinking about the battle just now, he suddenly recalled an unpleasant memory from when he was young. It was right when he’d entered elementary school. Ark had been a very withdrawn child. And at that age, there was always a brat who bullied such kids. There were punks like that in Ark’s class, too.

The brats harassed Ark whenever they could. Most of it was just hiding his shoes or eating his lunch, but there was one joke that made him mad even when he thought of it now.

It was a joke where 3-4 kids would steal his bag and pass it around, taunting him to take it back. If he ran towards one kid it would be passed to another kid, and if he ran to get it once more it would again be passed… Someone who hadn’t experienced it wouldn’t know the feeling.

He had felt exactly that way when he was getting toyed with by the thief NPCs. A truly incomparably dirty feeling!

‘Those bastards… I’ll annihilate them no matter what it takes!’

Ark ground his teeth tightly with terrifying eyes. At that sight, Dedric and Skull got scared and shrank away.

“Hiik, w-what’s wrong? I did what you told me to do, Master!”

Cla-clack, clack clack clack!

“I know, don’t throw a fit and be quiet!”

When Ark yelled at them, Dedric and Skull slinked away carefully and flattened themselves in a corner.

He raised his temper at the Familiars, but Ark knew it wasn’t their fault. He wasn’t generous enough to defend someone else’s mistake, but he also wasn’t as narrow-minded as to blame others for his mistakes. He only had himself to blame for the insufferable humiliation from this battle.

‘I’ve got no excuse.’