“I heard those people saying someone used a Megaphone at the workshop earlier…….”
“Hey, are we really in a position to help someone else right now? Just eat. We might not even make it over the mountain behind the village, so stop talking nonsense.”
“What? Where are the wanted posters? Where did both of them go?! Stop ignoring me! Someone answer if you know anything!”
“Why the fuck did I have to be transported to Arche of all places…….”
“That fantasy beauty is incredible! Those curves are unbelievable!”
“All right, everyone! A toast to our Party’s victory!”
“Cheeeeeers─!”
Although the sun was gradually rising, Arche’s village hall was so crowded that it seemed ready to burst.
Amid the chaotic scene, Arche’s Village Chief stood hunched over the railing on the second floor, looking down at the central area of the first floor with displeasure.
He could see the backs of the residents carrying grain liquor, wine, grilled fish, stir-fried vegetables, and other dishes.
As though they never grew tired, they repeatedly moved between the kitchen and the tables occupied by groups of guests without taking even the briefest rest.
It was only natural that they had no time to rest when every seat was occupied, but their current behavior carried a sense of incongruity different from simple busyness.
They resembled gears turning in exact accordance with the force applied from outside.
Every movement appeared predetermined.
That was inevitable, as every person occupying the hall’s more than fifty seats was a Player.
In one corner sat a man whose entire body was wrapped in a black robe.
His entire body included his face. Since he had pulled the robe’s hood low over his head, the Village Chief could see nothing but his lips.
From that description alone, he might have seemed like nothing more than a taciturn Player.
SPLASH!
However, whenever a resident passed by him, the man poured liquor over them, ordered another drink, poured it over someone else, and ordered yet another.
Even when the Village Chief and Arche’s residents warned him in accordance with their Character Profiles, the black-robed man did not cease his bizarre behavior.
SCRAPE-
It was then that the man in black rose from his seat.
He placed several Silver coins on the table and slipped silently out of the village hall like a shadow. The Village Chief watched his retreating figure until the hall’s door closed, then looked away.
His Character Profile dictated that he monitor the other guests and warn anyone whose behavior went too far.
It said nothing about stopping a guest who had already left.
That was when it happened.
BOOOOM!
A powerful impact shook the village hall’s door.
The grain liquor and wine in the Players’ cups spilled over the rims and ran down their hands.
BOOOOM!
Another impact reverberated through the hall.
The dishes the Players had been eating slid across their plates.
BANG! BOOM! BANG!
Someone kept ramming into the door.
Before long, more than a hundred eyes within the village hall were all fixed upon the warped entrance.
Then silence descended all at once.
“What lunatic is begging us to kill him?”
“I thought my heart was going to stop! Damn!”
“Fuck! I spilled all my food! I’m seriously pissed off-!!”
Complaints erupted from every corner.
“Everyone! Let’s do this! Whoever lands the finishing blow gets everything!”
“What are you going to do if it’s just another Player?!”
“It’s obviously a Red Player. What is that idiot talking about?”
“Newcomers should know when to keep quiet~ Stop being so annoying~”
“It doesn’t matter even if they aren’t a Red Player. Once their Hostility Value gets high enough, killing them counts as self-defense anyway. Let’s go!”
The Players, who had previously been noisily absorbed in their own conversations, had united around the decision to kill the brazen bastard outside.
“Out of the way.”
“Anyone below Level 20, stay back.”
CLANK, THUD, BOOM-
The largest among them, most of whom belonged to Warrior-type classes, strode toward the door while carrying their vicious weapons.
The Mage-type Players looked physically frail but radiated an air of mystery. They gripped their staffs, rings, necklaces, and other accessories as they gathered mana.
The Archer and Rogue Players appeared similarly frail, yet possessed the chilling atmosphere of wild beasts or hunters. They hid behind cover and prepared to launch surprise attacks.
The Support-type Players dressed in priestly robes simply kept themselves out of the way. They had no reason to act until someone was injured.
“All right, I’m opening the door now.”
“Why are you explaining it so politely?”
A heavily built Player pulled the door open with a CLICK.
【Lv 17. Pitch-Black Fang】【Lv 17. Pitch-Black Fang】【Lv 17. Pitch-Black Fang】 【Lv 17. Pitch-Black Fang】【Lv 17. Pitch-Black Fang】【Lv 17. Pitch-Black Fang】【Lv 17. Pitch-Black Fang】【Lv 17. Pitch-Black Fang】【Lv 17. Pitch-Black Fang……
The entrance was swarming with feral-dog Monsters.
The massive Player spoke.
“……What the fuck is this-”
─CRUNCH!
Blood burst from the Player’s neck, and his massive body crashed face-first onto the floor.
GRRRRRGH!
With wet, guttural growls, five or six feral dogs pounced upon him and began tearing his entire body apart.
In less than ten seconds, his body had been divided into separate cuts like meat hanging in a butcher’s shop.
“Wh-What are you staring at?!”
“Fight! They’re Monsters!”
The moment someone screamed, the Players within the hall hurriedly regained their senses.
Dozens of feral dogs were forcing their way through the entrance and pouring into the village hall.
A chaotic melee erupted in an instant.
Droplets of blood sprayed in every direction. Plates and cups shattered in piles, while chairs and other furniture collapsed with deafening crashes. Screams, monstrous shrieks, and explosions erupted throughout the hall, swallowing the sharp and heavy sounds of destruction.
POUR, POUR, POUR. Liquor flowed.
POUR, POUR, POUR. Blood flowed.
The two viscous liquids met by chance upon the floor and swirled together, soon becoming liquor that reeked of blood.
Grilled fish, roasted potatoes, stir-fried vegetables, steamed vegetables, and other dishes fell to the floor, spattering oil.
Players’ fingers and limbs landed beside the heads and entrails of feral dogs like rotten fish being hurled aside.
They mixed together with uncanny precision to create a plate of grotesque cuisine.
Several Players and several feral dogs lay with their faces buried in the bloody liquor and horrific food, their tongues hanging limply from their mouths.
They did not lick or chew any of it.
Everything lying upon the floor was already dead.
“This is insane! Fuck! This is insane!”
“Ruuuuun!”
The confusion and anger within the village hall transformed into fear.
Many began to flee.
The Pitch-Black Fangs that appeared in the mountains behind Arche were Level 17 Monsters.
They were not weak, but neither were they exceptionally powerful.
Had the Players cooperated, slaughtering every one of them would not have been particularly difficult.
However—
“Why are you attacking me, you fucking lunatic?! What the hell are you?!”
“Idiot~ Did you think we were friends just because we exchanged a few words?”
“I’m a regular Player! I said I’m a regular Player! You’re the only one who’ll lose if you kill me! Fuck, I told you to stop!”
“I know you’re a regular Player~ I know perfectly well~”
Some Players used the confusion as an opportunity to attack their fellow Players.
Their betrayal twisted the battle into something grotesque.
Before long, every regular Player had either fled or died.
All the feral dogs had also been killed.
Only three Players remained alive.
They shared two things in common.
All three were Red Players, and all three were watching one another warily while collecting the Loot.
“Hmm…… Why don’t we each go our separate ways?”
Perhaps finding the silence uncomfortable, a man spoke while tucking a rod embedded with a vivid blue Magic Stone into his belt.
He was a Player who had wielded Ice Magic with considerable skill.
He was Level 29.
“I would prefer it if you disappeared first.”
A sharp-featured woman muttered as she placed a serpent-patterned arrow against her Longbow.
Identical arrows were lodged in the foreheads and hearts of six corpses scattered across the hall.
She was Level 31.
“Excuse me! Since fate brought us together like this, why don’t we form a Party?”
At that moment, a man in priestly robes spoke with a pleasant smile.
Even in the midst of this hell, his clothing remained immaculate.
The two Red Players stared silently at the priest before simultaneously aiming the Magic-Stone Rod and the bow at him.
“Mister, are you going to keep saying insane things?”
“Hmm? What part of that was insane?”
“Keep pretending you don’t understand. We’ll find out whether my arrow or you are faster.”
The most terrifying being in that hall was neither of the two Players, nor the Monsters that had launched the sudden attack.
It was the man dressed as a priest.
“Why are you acting like this? It isn’t unheard of for Red Players to form alliances…….”
“Those alliances usually end in ruin, don’t they? You’re planning to stab me in the heart with that the moment I let my guard down. Aren’t you?”
The Mage pointed at his chest.
A cross the size of a fist hung there, but it was not an object meant for prayer.
When the cross’s lid was opened, it revealed a vicious blade dripping with violet liquid.
Those stabbed by that blade moments earlier had died instantly without even managing to scream.
The Holy Water he had poured over others while claiming that he would heal their wounds had not been ordinary either.
Those who drank it or had it poured over their wounds collapsed one after another with peaceful smiles and never opened their eyes again.
“You aren’t a Support. You’re a Rogue, aren’t you?”
The priest’s primary weapon was not prayer offered to a god, but poison that silenced prayer.
His priestly robes were nothing more than a costume.
Most importantly, he was Level 35.
He naturally could not compare to a Ranker, but he was not weak enough to require anyone else’s charity.
From head to toe, he was composed entirely of deception.
However, that also meant the priest was perfectly faithful to the essence of a Red Player.
A Red Player could never allow anyone to discover their true identity.
“Hmm…… Rejected, I see.”
Every one of his actions had merely been intended to lower the others’ guard.
Now, however, he revealed his true nature.
WHOOOOSH-
Violet mana gathered around both of the priest’s legs.
The two Red Players held their breath and observed his every tiny movement.
“F-If you’re going to fight, take it outside-!”
At that moment, a terrified yet strangely artificial voice rang out from the second floor.
“Didn’t you hear me tell you to go outside?!”
It was Arche’s Village Chief.
Although he trembled violently, his mouth continued reciting the village’s rules.
“G-Get out! Please leave!”
“Stop making this place filthy! This is our hall!”
“Just get oooooout-!”
“Red Players, leave! Get out!”
“Leave our village, you blasphemous bastards!”
“Please leave!”
Once the Village Chief opened the assault, the residents standing on either side of him began speaking one after another.
Eventually, they started throwing objects at the three Players.
“……?”
The three Players simultaneously became confused by the NPCs’ unity.
Their shouting and resistance could simply be the result of following their Character Profiles.
There was nothing strange about that.
Being hated by NPCs was unavoidable when living as a Red Player, so there was no reason to take offense.
The problem lay elsewhere.
‘Why are all of them still alive?’
Every NPC was unharmed.
Not one of them had even suffered a common scratch.
Now that they thought about it…… something about the feral dogs’ movements earlier had been strange.
The creatures had never even approached the NPCs.
They had relentlessly attacked only the Players.
‘Monsters shouldn’t normally distinguish between Players and NPCs…….’
Why had they avoided them?
CREEEEAK-
At that moment, the first-floor door opened.
All three Players turned toward it simultaneously.
A Player wearing a black robe stood there.
He stared at the three of them while tossing a large glass bottle filled with crimson liquid into the air and catching it.
‘That man is…….’
‘The bastard who was sitting alone and acting mysterious earlier.’
‘Did he come back to search for something valuable? Why now, of all times?’
The gazes of the three Players and the black-robed man met in midair.
“What the fuck are you staring at?”
The robed man spoke in a belligerent voice and struck the floor with his Skull Staff.
THUD.
【Raise the Dead】
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-
The corpses of the feral dogs scattered across the floor began rising one after another.
At that moment, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
That bastard had orchestrated everything.
A common enemy had been identified.
However, before the three Players could attack—
BOOOOM!
The robed man slammed the door shut and disappeared.
In his place, the village hall was filled with the corpses of feral dogs.
They had been blatantly lured into a trap…… but it was not a particularly threatening one.
Resurrecting pathetic Monsters merely produced pathetic corpses.
The three Players calmly summoned their mana, intending to intercept the feral dogs first.
【Poison-Coated】
At that instant, crimson liquid surged from the feral dogs’ teeth and claws.
* * *
CREEEEAK-
The robed man entered the village hall once again.
After looking around, he found the priest embedded in a wall.
“There was still someone alive.”
“……I-I’m only…… barely cl-clinging to life.”
The priest forced his stiffening tongue and lips to move.
Crimson poison and blood streamed from the corner of his mouth.
“You must have had a good Antidote.”
“I had…… a good Antidote, but…… but COUGH, COUGH! E-Even that wasn’t enough?”
The priest wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“What kind of Level 65 p-poison are you using?”
Level 65 poison had flowed across the teeth and claws of the feral-dog corpses.
It was a deadly poison potent enough to bring down even a careless Ranker.
In other words, the battle had ended the instant an attack so much as grazed them.
Each of the three Red Players had been struck at least once.
That was why they had lost…… Once the priest organized the situation in his mind, he found it absurd.
“A-Are you a Ranker?”
A hollow laugh escaped the priest’s mouth.
“Or are you rich? If not…… is it your Crafting Level? Is that the only thing that’s high? Y-You can’t be Parakel, can you?”
“Are those enough for your last words?”
“N-No! I don’t want to die. Of course, I’m not asking you to spare me for nothing…… Yes. Good. I-I’ll give you information. I know a Guild that buys poison at a high price. I can introduce you to them. So COUGH, COUGH! I-I can make the connection. Please, could you spare me?”
“Shut up, you deranged lunatic.”
“So it really is impossible……?”
“What?”
“You called me a lunatic.”
The robed man scratched between his eyebrows.
“I wasn’t talking to you just now.”
“What?”
“Is it that difficult to understand that you should keep quiet if you’re only going to spout insanity?”
“?”
“What did you say? Why? Do you want to try that again? Do you think I’m going to cry and vomit like an idiot this time too?!”
“Excuse me…… I don’t know why you’re angry, but I truly have extensive connections. If you spare me, I can give you plenty of valuable information-”
SQUELCH!
The robed man drove the Skull Staff into the priest’s heart.
“Enough. You’ve done plenty.”
The priest’s head slowly lowered before hanging limply forward.
He was dead.
“And you…… We’ll talk separately later.”
The robed man pointed a finger into empty air and removed his hood.
He then looked at the NPCs trembling above the railing and spoke.
“Why are all of you standing there frozen?”
The robed man—Akkun—gestured around the hall with his staff.
“There aren’t any Players left now. You don’t have to act according to your Character Profiles.”