SLAAASH!
The [Regenerated Requiem Sword] activated from my inventory wrapped itself into my left hand.
VWOOOM!
At the same time, the [Requiem Sword] held in my hand emitted a faint glow. The unique aura possessed by items of Legendary grade or higher.
The moment the aura flashed, the world seemed to slow down like slow motion.
In a moment of crisis, my concentration had reached its peak.
WHOOOSH─!
Yang Pinpin leaping in to swing her sword.
At the same time, an [Energy Bolt] flying in from another angle.
In the slowed world, I swung my swords toward both targets at once.
In one hand, the Supply Sword. In the other, the [Requiem Sword]. I had enough weapons to counter with.
‘The rest is timing.’
Yang Pinpin’s attack was fine. The gap in skill was obvious. I only had to counter it.
But the [Energy Bolt] was the problem.
Right now, when I had not learned any parry-related skills, in order to counter a mana bullet with my bare body and no related skill, I had to pass through the extremely narrow gate of a parry judgment.
Not the outer surface of the [Energy Bolt], but the part inside it that served as the skill’s central point. Only by cutting that part would it be judged as a proper “parry.”
That meant the moment my timing was even slightly off, the [Energy Bolt] would hit my body directly.
To a level 1 body, even a mere [Energy Bolt] could be fatal.
But.
‘I can see it......!’
At this moment, with my concentration at its peak.
‘I can see it, I can see it, I can see it......!’
My eyes did not miss the exact center judgment of the magic projectile flying at high speed.
‘Now!’
WHOOSH!
I rotated my body widely as I leaped through the air. Then I swung the swords in both hands in time with the rotation. It was similar to the movement Yang Pinpin had shown earlier.
But if there was a difference, it was that my weapons were stronger than Yang Pinpin’s, and my sense for judging the moment to attack was—
far sharper.
SLAAAASH!
“Aaak?!”
Yang Pinpin, who had charged in, failed to respond to my irregular movement and took the slash head-on. Gate one, cleared.
VWOOOM!
Next, the [Energy Bolt] flew toward my body.
I did not know whether it was intentional or coincidence, but it was almost simultaneous with Yang Pinpin’s charge. Normally, I would have been unable to dodge and would have had to take one of the two attacks, but.......
Right now, I had one hand left.
WHOOOSH!
Using the force of my rotation, I pierced the center of the [Energy Bolt] with my other hand.
PAANG!
Then the [Energy Bolt] blocked by the parry burst apart just like that.
A perfect success!
‘Let’s end this!’
The crisis had passed. Right after the midair exchange ended, the moment I touched the ground, I chased after Yang Pinpin as she was sent flying.
VWOOOM! VWOOOM!
Along the way, [Energy Bolts] or thrown weapons launched by other Yang Pinpin followers flew at me. However, unless the conditions overlapped as terribly as they had earlier, dodging was not that difficult.
I avoided the incoming attacks without so much as a graze and ran toward Yang Pinpin.
THUD!
And right after Yang Pinpin collapsed onto the ground.
“Done.”
As if pinning the fallen Yang Pinpin to the floor, I stabbed my sword down toward Yang Pinpin’s chest.
SLAAAASH!
Then the sword pierced Yang Pinpin’s chest as if slicing through tofu.
[Defeated Reincarnator ‘Yang Pinpin’!]
A message announcing my victory appeared before my eyes.
“W-what......?”
VWOOOM!
Yang Pinpin’s body, her eyes round with confusion, broke apart into particles.
Had she not formed a party separately? Unlike the players who had left corpses earlier, she disappeared the moment she was defeated and was warped to a revival area.
The reactions of the players who watched the fight firsthand split into two.
“What. What was that......?”
“Yang Pinpin lost?”
“In one blow?”
“To a level 1?”
“Insane.......”
“What was that movement in the air just now? His movement is no joke.”
“So it is hacks after all?”
“No, if it was hacks, wouldn’t there be no need to move that awkwardly?”
“But can that be done at level 1?”
“That movement was almost Rani-level.......”
“I really don’t know anymore.”
First, there were those who held doubts about my skill.
Some were purely impressed, while others still suspected hacks.
And.
“What is that weapon......?”
“It looks pretty good.”
“He isn’t a Dual Blader, but he has two swords...... Did he control them without skills?”
“Midair weapon swap? No, he even knows rotten old techniques like that?”
“Why is that person’s weapon glowing......?”
“That’s a Legendary weapon effect, isn’t it?”
“No, where the hell did he get that?”
“That movement, hidden items, and he’s level 1?”
“Just how many more hidden elements does he know......?”
“Is that person really an expert......?”
There were those reacting to items like the [Requiem Sword].
Everyone stared at me in confusion, unable to tell whether it was skill, hacks, or the work of an expert.
At this place, the main character everyone was watching was me.
“Well, some of you still may not believe it, but I did it all myself. It’s pure skill.”
I shouted toward the onlookers.
“Anyone who really finds it suspicious, report me. Then you’ll receive the results before long. That all of this isn’t some unauthorized program, but my pure skill.”
But suspecting someone of hacks just because they were good at the game had no beginning or end.
If I saw it as meaning, “You’re so absurdly good it doesn’t make sense,” then it could also be called a compliment, but.......
In any case, in matters like this, I could only hope that an official report result would come out.
There had also been bastards threatening me with reports, so someone must have truly reported me. Then the game company would respond on their own and send back an answer.
“If there are people who still can’t believe it, well.......”
Of course, there might be people who still would not accept it even then.
“You can keep picking fights with me.”
At that, puzzled voices came from around me.
“Each time, I’ll crush you with my skill. If you keep reporting me every time, and the answer comes back saying I’m innocent, you’ll learn that this is real skill, won’t you?”
Silencing all kinds of noisy rumors with skill. That was the best method I knew.
“Is he really that confident......?”
“No matter what, if he was really hacking, he couldn’t act like that, could he? Even if he pierced through security, program tampering would always get caught.”
“So it isn’t hacks, but skill......?”
“If all of that is skill.......”
“The consecutive parries, the quick swap, clearing the hidden route at level 1, all of it......?”
The onlookers’ shock continued.
Everyone still seemed confused. Since they had mentioned the community or whatever, it seemed strange rumors had spread too.......
‘So what?’
Even back when I played actively, I had carried all kinds of infamy and noise. In a way, this was quite a familiar development.
‘Well, time will solve it eventually.’
Just when I felt the situation had roughly settled.
Fwoosh!
I heard the distinctive sound effect of an arrow cutting through the air. I immediately swung my sword.
CLAAAANG!!
“Wow, that......!”
“He parried an arrow again!”
“He parries magic and arrows too.......”
“Is he seriously insane? How does he do that?”
The other players watching nearby purely exclaimed in admiration. However, not every player was like that.
Especially,
the certain people who had been firing arrows and Energy Bolts wildly since earlier.
PAANG! PAANG! PAANG!
Ranged attacks flew from among the players once again.
‘PK Mode is.......’
When I checked the UI, PK Mode was still active.
In this situation, even attacks from people who had not directly declared PK would deal damage. Because I was in “wanted criminal” status.
“Hm.”
I lightly knocked away or dodged the flying Energy Bolts and arrows with my dual swords. If I was not floating in the air, responding was easy.
“He blocked it again!”
“Wow.......”
A few onlookers exclaimed again, but this was not a situation where I could leave the onlookers alone.
‘It’s hard to log out before ending the PK.......’
If you logged out during PK, your player avatar remained displayed for about one minute.
If you did not want to become a sandbag or get killed as you were during that time, you had to properly end the PK before finishing the game.
The problem was why PK Mode was still active.
I had killed the bastards who first started the Karma Kill, all the way to the last archer, and I had properly ended the duel with Yang Pinpin too.
The remaining possibility was.......
‘Are the bastards who started the Karma Kill still inside the duel range?’
The place we were in was a residential area.
The distance between the revival point after death and the clearing in front of the smithy was not particularly far.
If the group that started PK with [Mark of Execution] had chosen revival after death and then returned inside the duel range, it made sense that PK Mode would not turn off.
‘So they’re hiding and interfering or poking at me, huh.’
And until I killed those bastards, PK Mode would not fully end. Unless I left the combat area entirely.
‘For now, just leaving the combat area and ending PK Mode is one method, but.......’
I felt like I would only feel satisfied after landing at least one hit on the bastards hiding and poking at me.
‘Is there a way to find and catch them?’
The problem was the method. Later on, there were several skills that searched for PK opponents, but right now, I was level 1.
PAANG! WHOOSH!
Just then, while I was lost in thought and knocking away irritating incoming Energy Bolts, arrows, and the like.
“What is this?”
“Looks like someone is hiding and shooting.......?”
Complaints broke out among the onlookers. Perhaps thinking they had seen everything worth seeing, some people simply left.
‘Oh-ho.’
I see. There was also the method of making them leave entirely. Thinking that, a good method came to mind.
PAANG!
After parrying another incoming Energy Bolt.
“Everyone!”
I shouted toward the remaining onlooking players.
“You can all see that since earlier, there are bastards hiding among you and attacking me, right?”
When I addressed them directly, the other players murmured somewhat.
But no one seemed unable to understand the situation.
This much was enough.
“Because of those bastards, PK Mode isn’t turning off, so I can’t log out right now. I need to kill those bastards for my PK Mode to turn off so I can end my session today. So with that said, I’m going to try something a little fun.”
I grinned and took out a potion from my inventory.
A High-Grade Potion obtained after earning the Gold Medal of Honor.
“What is that?”
“A potion......?”
Besides the puzzled onlookers, it seemed the attackers were also quietly waiting for me to speak. Did they think attacking now would expose them?
Well, in any case, if they were willing to listen quietly, that worked for me.
“This is a High-Grade Potion I received as a reward when I obtained the Gold Medal. Its recovery amount is 1,800.”
“1,800?”
“Here?”
“No, isn’t that useful even around mid-level?”
A recovery amount of 1,800 was no small thing.
No matter that this was a hidden route, it was not an item you should have in the tutorial zone.
“Judging by the shape, it does look like a fairly high-grade potion.”
“You definitely shouldn’t be able to get that right now.......”
“Is this really that hidden route?”
“He probably copied it with hacks after all.......”
Still an extension of the controversy. Everyone was uncertain whether the item I showed was a tampered item or a real hidden item.
As long as they understood exactly how dangerous that was, that was good.
“And this......!”
Around the time everyone had checked the potion.
I threw the High-Grade Potion with all my strength at one person in the crowd.
At the beginner Magician player who had been hiding and firing Energy Bolts at me earlier.
SHATTER!
The potion bottle smashed squarely into the Magician player’s face.
“What the fuck... What are you doing?!”
The Magician player, who had been hit in the face with a potion bottle out of nowhere, shouted.
“Now. If I really used a hack program, and if I really made strange items with hacks.”
I continued speaking.
“How will a person healed with such a tampered item be judged?”
“Uh......?”
“Huh......?”
Then the onlookers began to panic.
I had unpleasantly smashed it right into their face, but a potion was ultimately a recovery item. If you threw it and hit someone, even if the recovery amount dropped, it was definitely judged as recovery.
Use of a recovery item created through hacks.
They would be tied to that category too.
“If this potion was really created with hacks, then the person healed with it will also be penalized, won’t they?”
If using an illicit item was punishable, then the player who received healing would be tangled in it too.
“No, fuck, what kind of......!!”
“From now on, I’ll throw the potions I have at every player here. And I’ll counterattack anyone who attacks me.”
I was starting to get sick of people picking fights while bringing up hacks or whatever.
So.
“If you don’t want to get involved, log out. If you want to punish me, come at me.”
From now on, I would drag every player here into it.
“I’ll face all of you.”
Come at me, all of you.