Damned System

Chapter 81. Laying the Foundation (6)

Connecting the two servers and making hunting easier was certainly an advantage.

However, like all things, if there were advantages, there were bound to be disadvantages too.

A significant issue arose as hunting became easier: the Chaos level increased at a faster pace than before.

Players, with heightened aggressiveness and diminished patience, began to turn their weapons on each other.

Disputes within parties were somewhat better in comparison. They usually ended with just a few punches and minor injuries.

The real trouble emerged when conflicts arose with other parties.

Without any sense of camaraderie or fellow feeling, they willingly resorted to lethal force.

Kareem’s party could not escape this tragedy either.

Unfortunately, many players gathered in the Fran Forest where they had settled, and a trivial argument over hunting areas quickly escalated into a violent situation.

As a result, Kareem had to endure seven battles in one day yesterday alone.

Through this process, several players lost their party members. They realized this as they looked at their mana, which had more than doubled overnight.

“It’s more profitable to hunt players.”

Catching one player was better than catching dozens of monsters. The difficulty was not significantly different, yet one could gain several times the mana.

“Coming over to Bihar means you’ve passed the beginner’s phase.”

Catching players holding at least a thousand mana was, of course, more profitable than catching monsters with 30 to 50 mana.

Those who realized this formed a tacit compromise. Nine individuals gathered with the purpose of hunting players, not monsters. Kareem was also one of them, setting out for the hunt as soon as the sun rose.

The first target was a party composed of three members. Kareem monitored them from atop a tree.

“Looks like we’ve found a big catch.”

Roaming the corrupted area for a couple of hours using an Invisibility skill stone to search for prey, suddenly, a loud voice made Kareem approach stealthily.

He found a party consisting of a guy wearing armor obstinately standing his ground. There were only three of them.

While summoning his fellow party members who were hunting elsewhere, Kareem examined the equipment of the masked player meticulously.

“There’s not a single issued item.”

The longsword in his hand and the two daggers strapped to his waist were not the supply weapons given in the tutorial.

He needed to hunt this guy using whatever means necessary. Only then could he become stronger faster and take possession of what was left in the corrupted area.

Kareem licked his lips while looking at the masked player. Among his loot, Kareem especially coveted the armor.

‘I must take that.’

Armor was generally more expensive than weapons. Yet, catching that guy would mean getting that expensive armor for free.

Although he hesitated momentarily upon first witnessing the masked player hunting… the glistening items before his eyes were too tempting to resist.

– Vitamin C: We’ve formed a siege net. They definitely don’t have detection, right?

Kareem’s party consisted of nine members. Triple the number compared to the target. Even if the masked guy seemed unprepared, in the end, he was just one person.

He couldn’t possibly defeat nine of them.

Kareem relayed the target’s movements to his party members.

– Lion: They definitely don’t. I’ve been tailing them for over 30 minutes, and they haven’t reacted.
– Pasta: What are they doing now?
– Lion: Hunting.
– Pasta: Still? They were hunting when you discovered them, right?
– Lion: They must have a lot of mana.
– Fairy Tail: Considering they’re wandering corrupted areas in threes, they must be prepared. You said their equipment is different too?
– Lion: How many times do I have to say it? One of them is even wearing armor.
– Thor: Better be on guard.
– Clover: There’s only three of them anyway. Bind them and stab them from behind, simple as that. Why are we hesitating? Let’s hit them!
– Vitamin C: Even so, just in case, let’s wait until they run out of mana and start resting.

As most party members agreed with Vitamin C’s plan, clover grumbled, retracting slightly. Fortunately, before Clover’s patience wore thin, the target stopped hunting and took a break.

Kareem immediately called the party members who were on standby nearby.

– Lion: Hurry up, they’re drinking potions.

Urged by Kareem, Vitamin C and the eight party members quickened their pace. By the time the blond-haired kid sensed something was wrong and stood up, it was already too late.

Surrounded from all sides with their escape routes covered, the distance was closed in.

Then, when they got close enough to see each other with the naked eye.

“Wow, that masked bastard is really flashy.”

“I’ll take the daggers, right?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I’ll be taking them.”

The party members standing before their prey each voiced their intentions, licking their lips. Finally, Kareem released his Invisibility and joined them.

Past momentarily approached Kareem and asked.

“Hey, is there no spear?”

“I haven’t seen any.”

“That’s unfortunate. I wanted a new weapon.”

While Kareem exchanged words with Pasta, Vitamin C stepped forward.

“This line is kind of cliché, but… it would feel off if I didn’t say it, right?”

Though he wore a kind expression and spoke in a rather gentle voice, he nonetheless made a threat.

“If you want to live, give up everything you have.”

It was merely a formality; he didn’t actually intend to let them live.

‘I never planned on letting them live in the first place.’

The slaughter and the consequent rewards from last night were enough to numb any aversion to murder.

Even without that, Kareem had no hesitation about killing people. He had already killed many while working as a mercenary for a terrorist organization.

‘The mana is my objective anyway.’

Nonetheless, the reason for not killing them immediately was simple. If they stored their belongings in the inventory upon death, retrieving them was impossible.

Before killing, they needed to extract everything.

This game provided perfect conditions for human’s hidden violent tendencies to surface, unknowingly even to themselves.

Clover, who understood this better than anyone, urged the party members.

“Why bother with polite words? Let’s at least gather what they have on the outside.”

Thanks to consuming the purification pill after a killing spree and thereby lowering the Chaos level, clover still displayed particularly hasty and rough traits.

As he stepped forward, cracking his neck from side to side, others exchanged sly smiles and gripped their weapons tightly.

Despite their confidence in their skills, they couldn’t help but feel tense. After all, nine sharp blades were directed toward them.

But the reaction that ensued caught everyone present completely off guard.

“You sure act tough for mere robbers.”

Blunt derision, dismissal, and scoffing.

The masked player clicked his tongue while standing on one leg.

“Was that you guys causing a ruckus in the Fran Forest yesterday? The air is still reeking with the stench of blood.”

Pasta, who stood next to Kareem, reflexively lifted an arm to sniff himself.

“Hey, do I stink?”

Kareem turned to look at Pasta with an incredulous expression. As if displeased by Kareem’s gaze, Pasta frowned and questioned indignantly.

“Otherwise, how do they know what we did?”

“In this situation, not knowing would be strange. We came blatantly to rob. Plus, there’s a post up in the community, remember?”

After the servers connected, a new board was established aside from the global board: one for each outpost.

Several witness accounts had been posted on the Habon board already.

「Title: Beware of those in the Fran Forest – Author: Apollo」

「Title: Avoid the Fran Forest east of Habon 4th Outpost. Some folks don’t manage their Chaos (8) – Author: Hope」

「Title: Saw a PK in the Fran Forest and ran away (28) – Author: Boutonniere」

It was only the second day since the servers connected. There couldn’t be many who actively committed law-forbidden deeds on Earth.

Thus, associating the post with their organized actions targeting players wasn’t all that difficult.

“Ha, seems you’re not grasping the situation…”

“Damn, learning to shut up, aren’t you?”

A sarcastic tone laced with derision, the mocking voice continued.

“Your boasting is impressive, masked guy.”

Wanted—by Clover and others—as they rushed out. Yet, a blue flash appeared from behind the masked player, and party members screamed.

Startled by the unanticipated situation, those present turned their attention in that direction.

Two of the wasted party members behind the masked player fell to the ground, and a gap opened for the masked player’s group to escape.

They, too, likely communicated among each other via chat like Kareem’s party did. It was a perfect timing too perplexing otherwise.

“Of course, that is if you can actually manage that.”

The masked player, putting away their spear and kicking aside Clover and Pasta, turned to flee.

Their escape was accompanied by a black, pointed object thrown onto the heads of the collapsed party members on the ground.

Thunk, thunk.

An even, repetitive sound echoed, followed by Vitamin C’s urgent voice.

“Grab them!”

At last, the stiffened party members chased after the masked player. Kareem was no exception. However, he unknowingly slowed down as they ran.

To claim the items, one should lead the chase, but instead, he was falling back.

It was because of a faint odor he detected while passing the corpses of the party members who died in an instant.

Length roughly 15 cm, and about 3 to 4 cm thick, was it? A clear burnt smell emanated from the corpses, some mysterious sharp objects embedded in their foreheads.

That same smell, akin to burnt flesh, he had occasionally encountered on battlefields.

‘What was it?’

Kareem didn’t know the source of the blue light that sliced through his vision.

Focused on the masked player, he hadn’t clearly seen what that light from the side actually was.

‘Fire? Or a flashbang?’

That couldn’t be. Chemical weapons and electronic devices cannot be brought into Bihar. The system directly specified this in the revised manual.

So what was that blue light he saw earlier?

The more he pondered, rather than calming, his unease intensified.

In the meantime, the gap between them and the target narrowed considerably. This only exacerbated Kareem’s discomfort.

The masked player just ran without responding to those throwing daggers behind him. While it might be to avoid a clash given the inferior numbers…

‘Why isn’t he using that blue flame again?’

It was odd. An indescribable sense of oddness lingered.

“Hey!”

Yet, before Kareem could delve deeper into his thoughts, he snapped back to reality.

The leading guys suddenly halted, gazing up at the sky. Upon following their line of sight, Kareem found himself at a loss for words.

The individuals who had just engaged in a chase were ascending mid-air.

Trotting upwards, stepping on these red, translucent panels similar to stairs, they ascended higher.

Finally, they disappeared beyond the dense foliage.

“Is it a flight skill?”

“No, they’re stepping on something below them.”

“Is that possible? What is it?”

“Does anyone have a bow?”

“Forget the bow; just climb the tree!”

Their party members frowned, staring upwards. But they didn’t have the luxury to bother over it.

Creak, snap, threatening sounds began resonating.

As those sounds grew clearer, even the ground seemed to tremble.

Thud, thump-thump-thump.

A deep rumble reminiscent of something enormous moving filled the air.

A sense of calm tinged with extreme anxiety enveloped Kareem. He turned toward the sound’s origin.

‘It’s coming fast.’

Unfortunately, the only player with a detection-type magic within their party perished when the encirclement broke.

Thus, they had only physically sensed it after realization hit—a large entity approaching all along.

Though becoming a player heightened senses, the range wasn’t as vast as when using magic.

This had led to their current predicament.

They had only been aware of the sound and tremor seconds ago, and they could already visually pinpoint its source.

Tearing through the densely packed trees, barreling like a mad bull, a gigantic beast got closer by the moment.

-Help, save me!

Why did the voice of a player whose head was severed by his blade last night ring in his ears at this very moment?

“Run!”

Damned system