Chapter 65: As Expected (1)
“Log out.”
Until now, I always logged out after moving to the Safety Zone outside the hunting ground, even if it took me a little longer to go there.
I normally did so because I wanted to prevent the chance of being encircled by monsters in an unexpected battle which I had experienced during the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Closed Betas as well as other games.
During that time, I knew that If I died and suffered a 24-hour access ban, my grand plan to wholly devote myself to the game for two weeks would fall flat, so I tried to avoid it by all means.
Of course that’s now a thing of the past.
I don’t want to look conceited or arrogant when I say this, but even though I was level 200, I was now strong enough to not feel threatened no matter how many monsters are around me.
But I kept logging out in Safety Zones because it had become a habit. At least that was what I did until yesterday. Soon, a significantly lower ceiling than that of my room in my house appeared before my eyes . I got up from bed, moved to a desk in a corner of the room, and sat down on a chair, opening a notebook with a ballpoint pen in one hand.
“Did I hunt about 200 until now?”
To put it precisely, I got rid of ten hunting parties consisting of about 20 people each.
Of course, I wanted to hunt more if I had the opportunity. Although I initially got rid of seven hunting parties in an hour, I could only get rid of another three hunting parties over the next three hours despite thoroughly searching for them.
Moreover, I couldn’t find a single user after getting rid of the 10th hunting party.
Now, what I had to deal with was the enemy’s main force.
So, even though I was not really tired, I logged out in a remote place because I thought I needed a break before confronting the enemy’s main force.
“Well, it’s a pity that I could hunt only 200, but that’s enough.”
It seemed that I had achieved plenty with this surprise attack anyway.
Actually I was pretty much satisfied with the results of the surprise attack, but at the same time I had other feelings.
“Man, I didn’t realize how thrilling this game is! That’s why there were so many people using the arena.”
I never had the experience of fighting other users not only in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Closed Betas of ‘Forgotten Legend,’ the predecessor of this game, but also in other games.
And I had no intention of fighting them at all at the start, since all battles between users would have a winner and loser, causing fierce competition between them.
Games used to be a haven, a resting place, and a refuge for me.
I was gladly willing to make the necessary effort because games paid due rewards for my efforts.
But I didn’t want a fierce competition in my haven, resting place and shelter.
Therefore, I thought that I would not have to fight users for the rest of my life.
Of course, I had my first fight with the eleven Daesung Guild members in the Ant Cave.
But at that time I didn’t have any particular feelings because the fighting finished so quickly.
The fight ended before I even felt that I got involved in it.
It was the same case with my fight this time.
But fighting the ten hunting parties this time was enough to make me feel differently compared to when I fought back then. I understood what the thrill of fighting was.
“Huuuuh”
At that moment, I burst into laughter before I realized.
Not because it was funny. No, I laughed because I felt I was a bit underhanded. I wondered if I could really feel this way if I was at the same stage as I was during the 1st,2nd, and 3rd Closed Betas without the extra stats, three unbelievable attributes, and four fantastic titles that I possessed now.
And I could answer that question immediately. The answer was no. I would have never felt the same.
But I didn’t think about it for too long because I was an ordinary person with greed and desire, not a monk with a tranquil mind.
“Good. Let me eat something and take a rest to prepare for my activities tonight.”
The clock indicated that it was 6:30 PM, which was the perfect time for me to eat dinner.
And after having dinner, I was not going to go straight to the VR device and log in like I usually did. Instead, I was going to get some sleep in advance.
The previous fierce fighting took me five or six hours. During that time, the Gahwa Guild had to watch helplessly as almost 200 members of their guild died.
Of course, after 24 hours passes, they could connect again one-by-one, but at this moment, they are probably on edge because they have not yet caught me, the killer who was responsible for such fatal damages.
So, I intended to make them even more tense. I planned to log in around dawn, when they would be extremely tired because of accumulated fatigue.
It was going to be a battle between me, who would be strong and refreshed after a nice rest, and them who would be extremely exhausted with accumulated fatigue of about ten hours.
Despite such a big gap in strength, I’m going to do my best and make the situation as advantageous as possible just like how a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit.
Safety Zone of the Rocky Area.
“Damn it!”
Soktae Kang, the Gahwa Guild’s, spat out all kinds of swear words, kicking the ground as if he didn’t care what others thought of him.
He was mad because more than 200 guild members were killed, but he was more angry with the fact that the hunting of the stone squirrels was forcibly stopped.
“Damn it! How does it make any sense that you guys didn’t take a single video while that guy killed more than 200 guild members?”
It was natural that Soktae was curious about the killer’s identity.
Since so many were killed, there were lots of testimonies from their colleagues.
However, he wanted to see the actual scene of the massacre with his own eyes because he knew seeing was much better than hearsay.
At that moment, the officer with the ID Maxcal, who first reported to him about the intruder, replied in a low voice, “Well, that is because the Memory Bead is so expensive...”
“Damn it. You should have filmed it! What’s the point of withholding the Memory Bead in this situation?”
Maxcal lowered his head after being rebuked harshly.
Of course, Maxcal had a lot of grievances. It was unlikely that general guild members had such an expensive item like a Memory Bead, and even if they had it, it was unlikely that Soktae would offer them a reasonable compensation after using it.
But Maxcal didn’t say anything because he knew Soktae would be unpleasant if he pointed this out.
“By the way, haven’t you found him yet?”
“No, not yet. This Rocky Area is the largest and broadest hunting ground in this Pioneers’ City, so we are having a hard time finding him. However, if we split up our men to search for him, they might run into that guy, and as you know…”
“Oh blast! ”
Soktae spat out curses again before Maxcal could finish his words.
Soktae was aware that only 20 people would not be able to inflict any damage to the intruder based on several testimonies.
So, he gathered even the small number of personnel who guarded the entrance to Pioneers’ City and some hunting grounds because it was more damaging not being able to hunt stone squirrels for one hour here than not collecting meager toll fees for 24 hours in those places.
Even after doing so, he still did not like the situation.
In fact, Soktae intentionally did not recruit the strongest people as members of the Gahwa Guild.
Besides, he did not even hire or support those guild members who showed special talent.
What this meant was that he just regarded the Gahwa Guild as an expendable means and not as a strategic asset to expand and consolidate his power. His only purpose with the Gahwa Guild was to gather the undigested mineral ores from the stone squirrels.
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