Let’s hear him out.
I waited quietly for the man to continue.
“Um… you know about the notification that appeared yesterday morning, don’t you?”
“Which one…?”
“The one announcing that the First Sequence for Entry into the Main Quest had begun. The Minotaur Lord descended because of it and destroyed every Special Supply Station.”
There was no reason a notification meant for Players would appear for an NPC like me, so I had known nothing about it. Even so, I kept my expression neutral and casually pretended otherwise.
“Oh, that.”
I did not know what a First Sequence was, but I had personally watched the Minotaur Lord destroy the Special Supply Station.
“The fact that it was explicitly called the First means there will probably be more descents in multiple stages. We may even see another large-scale massacre like the Cleanups.”
As an NPC, I would probably be safer than anyone even if such a massacre occurred, but I kept that to myself and listened with a suitably serious expression.
“If that happens, a small group like ours will be wiped out in an instant. Compared to larger factions, we’re severely lacking not only in combat power but in information. We wouldn’t even know how to prepare.”
The man lowered his gaze, as though briefly imagining their future, then suddenly slammed both hands down on the bed.
Despite his lean build, he was so strong that my body bounced slightly on the mattress.
He bent forward until our eyes were level, grim resolve filling his gaze.
“That’s why we intend to join Eclipse, which is currently assembling an alliance of raid parties.”
The extremely familiar name made my eyes widen.
Eclipse?
A normal Player’s status window listed their basic stats, skills, and Title. Occasionally, there would be one additional line: Affiliation. As far as I could tell, it appeared when the group they belonged to had an official name.
Of all the affiliations I had seen, Eclipse was by far the most common.
And naturally…
That’s Jeong Uijin’s team.
Jeong Uijin’s was the status window I had inspected most often, so of course his team’s name was familiar to me.
Judging by my reaction, the man seemed to conclude that I at least knew about Eclipse.
“Unlike before, Eclipse is currently trying to conduct the raid through a formal alliance. As long as we can join, the raid rewards—coins, experience, everything—will be enormous.”
His expression turned slightly awkward.
“But Eclipse is only accepting people by team at the moment. They aren’t recruiting permanent members, but apparently, to join the raid party, you have to prove that your team has a minimum level of combat strength or at least one useful skill.”
“I see what you’re getting at.”
There was no need to hear any more.
I understood his intentions perfectly.
“I can’t join alone, so I get a team and enter Eclipse with you. In return, you use my ‘skill’ to make up for your lack of fighters. Is that right?”
“…Yes. Exactly.”
He had probably gone on at length because he wanted to make becoming a team sound appealing, but the point itself was simple.
He wanted us to join forces for our mutual survival and future security.
Had I been an ordinary Player, it would have been an offer worth welcoming for the sake of staying alive.
Anyone with the title of monster tamer would be welcomed by almost any group, which explained why the man had been so deferential toward me.
I was tempted for an entirely different reason.
The most important thing for me right now was finding a way out of District 2 and into District 1.
If Eclipse and countless other teams are gathering in one place, there might be a Player with a skill that can move someone into another District.
I had already established the cover story of being a low-Level monster tamer, and I even had a witness standing right in front of me to support it.
With so many Players gathered together, most people would refrain from doing something as senseless as stealing my belongings out of concern for appearances and reputation. That meant there would be little chance of my identity being exposed.
The only potential problem was Jeong Uijin, my longtime regular…
For now, I decided not to worry about that.
He doesn’t even know what I look like anyway.
As far as I knew, Jeong Uijin was one of Eclipse’s officers. With the faction trying to organize such a large alliance, no one would be busier than its officers. The chances of us actually running into each other were probably low.
I can leave the handkerchief there without him noticing while I’m at it.
Thinking of the Healing Handkerchief stored in the spatial-storage bag, I nodded to the man.
“All right. When are you planning to join Eclipse?”
His face brightened instantly at my agreement.
“If the discussion with everyone goes well, we should be able to leave this afternoon.”
The sooner I found a Player with a District-transfer skill, the better.
Without giving it any further thought, I gathered my belongings and left the building with the man.
***
But of course, things involving people rarely went smoothly.
“What happened?”
Kim Seokju looked around in confusion after bringing me to the hideout.
“Where is everyone?!”
There were clear signs that people had been living there until very recently, yet the place looked as though a gang of thieves had broken in and stripped it bare.
They ran.
There were no signs of an attack whatsoever. Only obvious evidence that everyone had voluntarily packed in a hurry and fled.
Just then, a woman and an uneasy-looking young man emerged from inside.
“Iseul! Jaekyung!”
They must have been the two Kim Seokju had mentioned—the ones trapped on the street yesterday. I had heard that after sunrise, once the werewolves scattered into nearby buildings, Kim Seokju had sent them back to the hideout ahead of us.
When I checked their status windows, Jeong Iseul was Level 38, three Levels higher than Kim Seokju. Her stats were also allocated extremely well, making it immediately obvious that she was the strongest member of the team.
And that man has much better stats than he looks.
I studied Woo Jaekyung’s status window. He looked as though he could not kill a bug, but although he was exactly Level 30, he possessed a skill that was extremely useful for a Player.
So he had not become a fighter for nothing.
While I analyzed their abilities, Kim Seokju’s expression quickly hardened despite his relief at seeing them.
“Where did everyone go?! Tell me what happened!”
“Well…”
“Were you attacked? But if it was monsters, then yesterday…”
Kim Seokju’s gaze shifted toward me.
Since the nearby streets had been packed with werewolves because of me, he apparently thought they could not have attacked this place.
Jeong Iseul, who had been staring at me as though I were some fascinating animal, turned away with a dark expression.
A tall man standing like a shadow in the dim interior spoke in her place.
“Everyone else left.”
“Seo Wonil!”
Kim Seokju had apparently believed no one remained besides Jeong Iseul and Woo Jaekyung, and his relief was genuine.
Seo Wonil was pale-skinned and dressed in clothes as dark as Kim Seokju’s. There was something unusual about the air surrounding him.
As I looked him over, my eyes lit upon the oddly shaped longsword hanging at his waist.
There was a trigger on the hilt, and a revolver cylinder sat prominently where the hilt joined the blade. The upper part of the blade, hidden beneath its sheath, also bulged as though a round gun barrel had been attached to it.
I felt as though I knew what it was without even checking the item name.
Swords shaped like that appeared from time to time in games. In fact, the rare weapon I had last equipped on my character in the game I played before the world fell apart had been exactly the same kind.
This is my first time seeing a gunblade in real life.
A gunblade was not simply a weapon combining a sword and a firearm.
It could, of course, fire at range, but its primary method of use was to drive the blade deep into a target and then pull the trigger, detonating the charge inside.
That made it extremely powerful, but because the wielder had to calculate the timing of the thrust and the shot at once, it was a very difficult weapon to handle until one became accustomed to it.
It was difficult enough in a game. It must be even harder in reality.
In that sense, a man who used a gunblade as his primary weapon looked strong at a glance.
Curious, I checked Seo Wonil’s status window.
Huh? Wasn’t Jeong Iseul supposed to be the highest-Level member of this group?
Jeong Iseul was Level 38.
But this man was Level 47.
That’s almost a ten-Level difference.
Had he lied about his Level?
Why?
Wait. Why does his status window have something like this…?
I tilted my head at the strange entry—and accidentally met Seo Wonil’s eyes.
The man’s black gaze was difficult to read as it slowly swept over me in return.