"Whoo... Huff..."
Fang Raon, with each breath, released frost clouds into the icy air, his cheek losing heat because of the dropping temperatures.
He stood before a dark cave.
’These kinds of caves usually have bears hiding, but... I can’t keep walking in the forest till I turn into ice.’
With hesitation in his steps, Fang Raon entered the cave and quickly realized that it wasn’t all that big.
The end wall was already in sight—it was like ten meters long and five meters wide—it was also empty of any foreign entities such as bears.
"Huff..."
Fang Raon sat down, his back against the wall, and he rubbed his arms to stay warm.
He didn’t have any way to make fire, so he just had to endure the cold night, and cold it was.
"...I am hungry... I need to piss... I am miserable..."
He whispered in annoyance.
Rumble~ Rumble~ Rumble~
It was his real body screaming in agony, but he couldn’t leave the game as he wasn’t in the safe zone!
"...Since I don’t have anything else to do but freeze... What were the other things I received from the chest?"
Fang Raon opened his inventory and first brought out the Refined Sword.
It was a shiny blade with a perfectly molded hilt and balance that felt just right in his hand.
"Weapon status..."
***
[Name: Refined Sword]
[Tier: III]
[Type: Sword]
[Durability: 100/100]
[Attack: 20]
[Critical: 9]
[Weight: 5]
[Special Effect: None]
***
"Tier III... Surprisingly good weapon."
Fang Raon was happy about it, as it was a huge upgrade from his previous shitty wooden broadsword.
He didn’t know how rare Tier III swords were, but he doubted that there were many players with such weapons in newbie floors.
"...I must be careful to whom I show this weapon. It might make players very jealous."
He then checked the Steel Shield, and it was Tier II with 15 defense, which was thrice as much as the wooden shield had.
It was the same shield that Junior had.
"Right, the skills."
Fang Raon opened the two skill scrolls and learned them immediately.
"Skill status!"
***
[Name: Sword Stab]
[Tier: II]
[Level: 1]
[Type: Warrior]
[Attack: 8]
[Speed: 10]
[Cooldown: 10 seconds]
[Mastery: 0%]
***
[Name: Hard Slash]
[Tier: II]
[Level: 1]
[Type: Warrior]
[Attack: 15]
[Speed: 3]
[Cooldown: 30 seconds]
[Mastery: 0%]
***
"As I expected... Good skills both, but Sword Stab is much faster to use, as I assumed. When Alexis used that, it was a very quick attack.
"Hard Slash is as quick as Basic Slash, but the attack is enormous. I am sure it could kill a Level 1 player in one hit if it hits well..."
Fang Raon took out a bag of coins from his inventory, opened it, and every coin inside got sucked inside his interface.
[+500 Square Coins]
"Nice... Once I am out of this predicament, I might be able to purchase some armory. I need to get out of here first."
He then pulled out the last item—the Enchanted Compass—and he opened it, and its needle pointed towards East.
[Safe Zone]
It was showing where the Safe Zone of the floor was.
’It is really good equipment. I don’t have to worry about mindless wandering around the forest now, but I don’t think I can survive the walk there.’
Fang Raon thought with a frown.
’I also don’t think Junior and them have forgotten me. I am sure they headed to the safe zone because they knew it was turning night and they would put themselves in danger if they stayed outside.
’They will come back here in the morning to find me and the treasure chest. I can’t keep avoiding them, so since they most likely expect me to have died, I have the upper hand.’
Fang Raon moved his knees close to his chest, wrapped his arms tightly around them, and closed his eyes to try to get some sleep.
’Alone once again...’
He fell asleep.
...
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
"The snow has covered his tracks, but I am pretty sure that he went this way!"
Rich shouted.
"...I don’t think he could’ve gotten too far."
Alexis said.
Junior looked around with a tight-lipped expression, and he looked around the pure white wonderland around him.
It was early in the morning so the sky was bright blue with a few fluffy clouds scattered about.
The birds were chirping and the trees were swaying gently in the light breeze.
It was a nice morning, except they couldn’t enjoy it, as they were in the middle of a hunt—hunting for a young man named Fang Raon.
Stumbling past a few trees through thick snow, Rich noticed something at the bottom of the hill and curiously approached it.
In that moment, he recognized it as a treasure chest, and it was currently closed.
’The treasure chest! Could it be that he died somewhere close, and the treasure chest dropped here?’
Rich looked behind him, and saw that his friends were looking elsewhere.
’Maybe... I could snatch a couple of the items for myself.’
With a greedy smile, he opened the chest and saw that it was empty. His eyes widened in shock.
"Hey, gu—"
Stab!
A sword suddenly went through his head, making him turn limp like a rag doll, and his vision turned dark immediately.
[You killed Player Rich]
Fang Raon pulled the Refined Sword out of Rich’s head, then picked up the items he dropped and walked up the hill.
Alexis was ahead of him, his back turned to him, looking around at the wood absentmindedly.
Fang Raon slowly approached him, the sword still dripping with blood, and his boots left behind footprints in the snow.
"Alexis, watch out!"
A shout came from Junior out of nowhere.
"Huh?"
Before Alexis could react, a sword went through his heart, and he let out a cry of pain before dropping to the ground.
[You killed Player Alexis]
"You bastard..."
Junior walked over with a dark look in his eyes.
He noticed Fang Raon creeping behind Alexis just a little bit too late and couldn’t warn Alexis in time.
"Are you starting to regret your decision yet?"
Fang Raon asked and pulled out the steel shield from his inventory.
"..."
Junior didn’t speak a word, but yes, he was regretting quite a bit now that all of his friends were dead.
"I shouldn’t have betrayed them," was what he was thinking about most likely, but it was too late for regrets.
Junior picked up his steel sword and shield—he couldn’t rely on anyone or run away—he had to face him all alone.
Only the stronger one would survive this encounter. There was no turning back now.