…
“Ugh…”
Dohyuk opened his eyes, feeling the soreness throughout his body. However, that was the only kind of soreness that one would have after getting a good muscle workout from the previous day. He rose and looked around. The area was a mess.
‘I ate too much.’
He opened the door and went out to the restaurant. The clock on the wall indicated that it was almost noon. He had spent an entire afternoon yesterday in pain, and also spent the night and morning in his sleep.
‘…I can’t keep doing this.’
Dohyuk rubbed his face. He now learned what would happen if he overworked himself. It was too much of a pain to bear.
‘I bet a lot of things happened after that.’
About 12 hours had passed from his room with Jimin to this restaurant in his aching body. There was no telling what might have happened during those 24 hours he spent passed out in this place.
“Status…” Dohyuk mumbled.
<<Ability>>
-Strength: 29 (+2) (E)
-Stamina: 30 (+2)(E)
-Agility: 24 (+2)(E)
-Magic: 2 (F)
-Endurance: 23 (E)
-Charisma: 21 (E)
Too many stats had changed. If he remembered correctly, his stats should have been this:
<<Ability>>
-Strength: 17 (+2)(E)
-Stamina: 24 (+2)(E)
-Agility: 15 (+2)(E)
-Magic: 2 (F)
-Endurance: 17 (E)
-Charisma: 14 (E)
If only his lower digits changed, he would have accepted it, but this was too big of a difference. Dohyuk then mumbled with a shaky voice, “W-wallet.”
If he remembered correctly, he hadn’t used his coins to increase his stats yet. But if he did it without knowing…
<<Wallet>>
-Current coins: 757
The number of coins was as he remembered it.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
The number of coins he acquired from killing about 30 Goblets was about 640 coins. The increased stats would’ve required at least thousands of coin,s so it didn’t make sense.
“…”
He scratched his head in confusion.
“…That message.”
Dohyuk came to an answer. Before he fell asleep, he remembered the message he saw.
<<Satisfied the Condition to Activate Nature>>
-[Over the Horizon]
Over the Horizon.
The Nature that wasn’t owned by Dohyuk originally.
“If I faint… my stats go up after resting?”
He guessed on the skill’s effects. If he continued to overwork himself like yesterday, would his stats go up without using coins?
“That’s…”
He almost said it was lucky, but shook his head. His stats did increase, but he ended up losing 24 hours. He wasn’t sure what value that lost time would hold.
“…?”
Then, he heard a sound. It came from outside the restaurant, within the building. There was voice screaming in agony echoing through the building.
Dohyuk then walked out to the corridor and realized it was a man’s scream coming up from the first floor. He silently walked down the emergency stairway towards the 1st floor. As he came down, he peeked out to the corridor, and there he was.
“Hee eek!”
Dohyuk couldn’t see his bottom, but his upper body was covered in blood. He was trying to get into the building, but he couldn’t as he was severely injured.
“This… this is too different… Why is there the elite mob from se-second…”
He couldn’t continue as something appeared from the back, crushing the man’s head. Dohyuk gasped. It was a large hook, connected to a chain. It penetrated the man’s head, killing him instantly. The chain was pulled by some unknown entity from the outside and man’s body was dragged along with it.
Dohyuk didn’t hesitate, but he tried to walk up the stairs again. But-
-You were here.
“What!”
There was a giant man waiting behind him. It was the angel, one of the one-winged angels that he met yesterday was looking down at him from behind. Dohyuk quickly swung his extinguisher.
-Ooh, don’t do that.
The angel easily blocked with his single hand.
-Don’t be afraid, poor thing. I’m not here to hurt you.
And he used his other hand to turn Dohyuk in his direction.
-I guess you were separated, so you don’t know what happened to this region today.
“…What happened?”
-Hmmm? You’re shaking?
The angel spoke as if it was a weird thing.
-Yes, this is a normal reaction I suppose. But your people don’t fear us, you know. Actually, I would say your people are really rude.
The angel gently pushed Dohyuk to make him walk toward the entrance and continued talking.
-Actually, what we were trying to give you yesterday wasn’t anything special. Do you remember those small things you fought during your first night?
“..Goblets.”
-Yes! We were going to bring out more civilized, weaponized goblets next! You were supposed to face them on the second day.
But…
-But your people were too rude! We were going to give you guys some tips on fighting the Goblets and the status windows, you know. And guess what was the reaction?
“…”
Dohyuk licked his lips. It seemed like this angel enjoyed using Dohyuk’s fear against him. Then…
“They… ignored you. They didn’t fear you, thinking they knew everything.”
-EXACTLY!
The angel raised his voice.
-They acted like they knew everything and they just want to end it quickly… Oh! How rude it was! So I added a bonus for such arrogance.
The angel and Dohyuk then came to the corner where the man was taken by the chain. Dohyuk was now able to see outside of the building.
-Since you guys know everything, shouldn’t there be a greater challenge?
There were people. And above them were the angels who were blocking them from getting closer to the center of the region. The ‘hook’ was at the center.
-That, my friend, is the challenge.
As Dohyuk watched, a word popped up on top.
<< Elite: Chicheck the Butcher>>
-Strength: 30(E)
-Stamina: 21(E)
-Agility: 30(E)
Magic: 11(E)
Endurance: 11(E)
Charisma: 6(F)
-Skill: Agony of Seven Hooks (Lv.7)
-Talent: Slaughter(Lv.3), Sadism(Lv.2), Masochism(Lv.6), Flesh eater(Lv.4)
-Equipment: Hook of Torment – D x 7
It was about as tall as Dohyuk, but he couldn’t see its face or body. It just looked very skinny, and it was covered in ragged leather. There were chains that were connected to the seven hooks that wrapped his body. With the hook, he was playing with the ‘meat’ he had just acquired: the man who was trying to flee into the building. The man was now nothing but a piece of meat.
“What is this bullsh*t, you bastards!”
A man among the group of people shouted angrily. One of the angels then came down to the sky and faced the man directly.
-You’re rude. Watch your language.
“…! It- it’s true! That’s the elite mob! It has 30 strength and agility with D-rank equipment and a skill! How can we kill it on one on one!”
-Wow, you sure know a lot.
The angel answered sarcastically. He then raised his voice to speak to everyone else.
-If you know all that, then you must know that this is a ‘bonus’. If ANY of you manage to kill it, the game will go on as planned. No harm done.
“No harm, you said…?”
-AND, we didn’t force you to fight it. Only volunteers need to fight it, and if it wins, then we will give out VERY VERY good rewards and it will be done.
Then, all of the angels burst out in unison.
-O’ HOW WONDERFUL IS THE GRACE OF CASITAS!
However, their expressions showed that they were all smug. Both the angels and people all knew that the harm had already been done. They just wasted day and a half against Chicheck that no one could defeat. The other regions should already be on their third day. They were currently confined into their region at the moment, but it would change later on. If this went on, this entire region would be left behind. Everyone was scared of this.
“I will challenge!”
One of them walked out after learning of Chicheck’s pattern through multiple battles and from the fear of being left behind. Yet the result was atrocious. He managed to avoid a few attacks in the beginning, but he soon was out of breath and was done for.
Without enough stats, it was impossible to fight against those hooks.
-Well, if you lack in status, buy some with coins. You all must know that, right?
“You don’t release Goblets after the first day… how can we…”
Someone tried to object, and stopped. Silence fell in the crowd. They now knew what these angels were really up to. If these people didn’t want to be left behind, they needed to gain coins. And to gain more coins, the only option left was to kill each other.
“…”
Human hunting was not being done because it wasn’t ‘efficient’ enough in this stage. But with realization came the next step. Everyone was now eyeing another person, and they started distancing themselves.
Like other angels, Angel Basil was intrigued.
‘Look at those fools.’
The ghastly expression and despair fit those pieces of trash. He turned to the man behind him. He was the one that Basil brought out from the building. The one that feared him, unlike the other humans. But it was weird. Even after he had learned everything, he seemed to think differently.
“…”
The human turned toward Chicheck. He chewed on his nails as he felt fear and will to overcome it. Soon, when the human stopped chewing on his nails, the only thing that can be found on his face was one thing.
“…Hey.”
Determination. Dohyuk called out to the angel.