“Oppa! Oppaaa!”
The female player, ‘Yes, I’m a Necromancer,’ grabbed her fallen boyfriend, ‘BONBIN,’ by the shoulders and shook him.
However, he merely convulsed as though possessed by an evil spirit, frothing at the mouth without answering.
Why did this happen?
In truth, the cause was obvious.
The liquor.
The infused liquor beside Golden.
BONBIN’s condition had rapidly deteriorated after he drank it.
‘What the hell was in it?’
Was it not just liquor?
Could liquor really do this to a person?
‘It’s a good thing I made him try it first.’
Of course, that did not mean she intended to stand by and do nothing. She began by shoving her own antidotes into BONBIN’s mouth.
They had no effect.
She immediately ran to the display cabinet inside the workshop.
Health Potions, Mana Potions, Awakening Potions, antidotes, and so on…… She swept up everything she could see.
Several glass bottles fell to the floor and shattered, but she had no time to care. She opened every bottle labeled as an antidote and poured it into BONBIN’s mouth.
However, he showed no signs of improvement.
The workshop merely filled with a foul, acrid odor.
She could not let him die like this…….
That was when it happened.
FSSSSSS-
Blue light gathered over the rocking chair.
“Mmmmm…….”
Golden appeared once again.
It was yet another Respawn, though she had already lost count of how many times it had happened.
“What is…….”
Golden looked around with vacant eyes before his expression twisted again.
“You bastards……!”
Golden reached into his clothes.
However, she was faster.
CRUNCH!
“This.”
CRUNCH!
“Isn’t.”
CRUNCH!
“The time to play with you!”
Golden’s body went limp.
The guide appeared.
【Brain matter and blood flow together from Golden’s split forehead.】
Then.
DING.
【You have obtained Lv 10. Health Potion(2), Lv 10. Mana Potion(1), and Lv 20. Golden’s Wedding Ring.】
“…….”
Her hand stopped.
The item that had stubbornly refused to drop had appeared now, of all times…….
GRRRGLE-
Just then, the sound of bubbling foam came from BONBIN’s mouth once again.
“Oppa!”
She came to her senses.
The ring dropping was good news, but BONBIN was more important right now.
His HP would soon reach 0, and he would die.
There would be no Respawn.
His Account would be deleted immediately.
He had committed that kind of ‘crime.’
She had to save him somehow.
However, there were no more antidotes inside the workshop. Instead, the place was filled with a foul odor and the stench of blood.
Leaving him there might cause him to die even faster. For now, she needed to at least get him some fresh air.
She grabbed BONBIN by one leg and dragged him out of the workshop.
After carelessly laying his body in the clearing, she took a Megaphone from her Inventory.
【Please sell me an antidote! Please-! Isn’t anyone there?!】
She shouted throughout Arche, but no one approached the workshop.
She tried offering an even greater reward just in case, but the result was the same.
No one came.
【You fucking bastards…….】
Overwhelmed by a sense of betrayal, she began hurling abuse.
【You filthy bastards! Who asked you to help for free?! I said I’d pay! I said I’d pay a lot! Stop wasting time screwing NPCs and help me! I’ll pay you! Help me! I’ll give you money! I’ll give you everything! Hurry! An antidote! I need an antidoooote!】
CRUNCH-
That was when she sensed movement in the bushes.
‘Someone came!’
She turned around with a smile, as though she had never been shouting curses.
SHNK-!
Blood erupted from her shoulder along with a searing pain.
GRRK! GRRK!
A pitch-black wild dog monster pinned her beneath its forepaw and tore into her bones and flesh.
CRUNCH, CRRUNCH-
A series of loud noises came from the bushes.
GRRRRRR─!
Around fifteen wild dogs emerged and began tearing into her arms, legs, neck, and chest…… Ah.
After understanding the situation, she released a deep sigh.
【Bone Armor】
GRRRRIND!
Pure white bones wrapped around her entire body like armor, gradually forcing back the heads of the monsters biting her.
After securing her safety, she struck the ground with her staff.
THUD!
Purple mana seeped into the earth.
【Raise the Dead】
CLACK- CLACK-CLACK-
Corpses burst from the ground and charged at the pack of wild dogs.
A chaotic melee began in an instant.
She was certain of her victory.
Corpses never became exhausted.
Monsters, on the other hand, did.
Furthermore, the corpses’ attacks were currently infused with Lv 23. Poisoning through 【Poison-Coated】.
That should have been the case.
“Hmm…….”
She frowned while pouring HP Potions all over her body.
“Why won’t they die?”
Rather than becoming exhausted, the pack of wild dogs seemed to be growing even more energetic.
‘Ah.’
They were immune to poison.
No, perhaps they were monsters that became stronger by consuming poison.
She immediately deactivated 【Poison-Coated】.
Only then did the wild dogs’ movements gradually become sluggish.
‘I was doing something incredibly stupid.’
Well, it was fine now that she knew.
She raised her staff to finish them.
【Corpse Explosion】
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!
The corpses entangled with the wild dogs exploded simultaneously.
Sharp bone fragments scattered in every direction like shrapnel from grenades, while the wild dogs’ howls thundered through the night sky.
The noise did not last long.
Their whimpering and convulsions stopped one after another.
A Kill Log appeared over her pupils.
【Massacre! You have simultaneously defeated 14 [Lv 17. Pitch-Black Fangs]!】
【The Red Player penalty(-80%) will be applied.】
【EXP and currency acquisition rates will be adjusted according to Combat Contribution.】
【You have obtained EXP +649.】
【You have obtained 4 Silver and 33 Bronze.】
Despite the triumphant announcement, she sighed.
What was the point of killing fourteen monsters at once when all she received was a pitiful amount of EXP and less than a single night’s lodging fee?
‘This is why living as a Red Player is so brutal…….’
She had chosen this path herself, but that did not make it any less brutal.
After all, she had to completely abandon the idea of making a living by hunting monsters.
She could survive by killing other players instead, but that was not easy either.
‘It’s difficult alone.’
They had to work together in an organized group.
In her case, she had solved the problem of finding a partner by getting a boyfriend.
Everything had been fine until now.
【The Party has been disbanded.】
The guide informed her that her boyfriend had just died.
She sighed once again.
‘……Did I push him too hard?’
The ring had dropped in the end.
The item that had refused to appear had finally dropped only after BONBIN ended up like that.
‘Hmm…… I do feel a little guilty.’
Feeling guilty was one thing, but she still had things to do.
She walked back toward the workshop to collect the items and came face-to-face with her ex-boyfriend’s corpse.
At that moment, her eyes gradually widened.
‘……What am I looking at?’
A man covered in blood and dirt stood in front of the workshop.
Even stranger than his bizarre appearance was the bizarre act he was committing.
CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH!
Holding a round stone in one hand and a dagger in the other, he was mercilessly beating her ex-boyfriend’s corpse.
Drops of blood and chunks of flesh converted into pixels and scattered violently in every direction.
“…….”
She scratched between her eyebrows before asking the man,
“Excuse me, sir. What are you doing?”
There was no answer.
“I asked what you’re doing.”
Still nothing.
“You fucking bastard. I’m asking what you’re doing.”
Silence.
“Oh~ Fine.”
SWISH-
She prepared to activate a Skill and pointed her staff at the man.
Only then did the man slowly raise his head and meet her gaze.
Hair as black as pitch.
It was just long enough to lightly cover his forehead.
Beneath it were vicious, filthy eyes like those of a wild beast. Red mana seeped from their edges like mist.
“……?”
She rubbed her eyes.
His face seemed vaguely familiar.
Perhaps because he was such a complete wreck, however, she could not immediately recognize him.
She thought that she should at least check his Nickname.
【A-K─K-N :: H▚I? :: ∨/n :: R▞K】
Even the System could not properly identify the man before her.
She tilted her head.
“……A bug?”
SPLAT!
A clump of mud suddenly struck her around the eyes.
“Eek!”
She collapsed onto the ground with a short scream.
“Fuck! What the hell-!”
She could not see for a moment, but it was only dirt. All she needed to do was wipe it away.
She vigorously rubbed around her eyes.
At that moment.
【My world has lost its light.】
【Status Ailment - Lv 51. Blindness】
【The mucous membranes and skin are melting away.】
【Status Ailment - Lv 51. Decay.】
【Poison spreads through the blood vessels.】
【Status Ailment - Lv 51. Poisoning.】
【Until removal──】
The moment she tried to wipe away the mud, darkness began spreading inward from the edges of her vision. The skin around her eyes began to feel as though it were rotting.
Her eyeballs were especially agonizing.
The pain and grotesque sensation were so intense that she wanted to tear them out immediately.
‘What is this…… What is this? What the hell is this?!’
She had been afflicted by several Lv 51. Status Ailments simultaneously…… Was this a joke?
Level 51? Who was he? Why was his Nickname corrupted? Was he really a bug? No, no!
This was not the time to think about that!
Reminding herself that she was about to be murdered, she struck the ground repeatedly with her skull-topped staff.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
CLACK- CLACKCLACK-
The grotesque sound of bones joining together came from all directions.
The corpses that had exploded were reconstructing their forms.
“Kill him, fuck!”
She immediately ordered her minions to punish the man.
However, she heard neither screams nor groans.
BANG! BAAANG! CRACK! CLACK, CLACK-CLACK!
Instead, violent impacts and the sound of collapsing bones battered her ears.
‘N-No way.’
She still could not see anything, but she understood what was happening.
【Corpse 1 has fallen!】
【Corpse 2 has fallen!】
【Corpse 3 has fallen!】
【Corpse 4 has fallen!】
【Corpse 5 has fall─】
The guide’s flat voice was informing her of the battle’s progress in real time.
Without saying a word, the man was smashing the corpses apart.
Without saying a single word.
‘…….’
A horrifying thought briefly crossed her mind, but it was too early to jump to conclusions.
There was no reason to be afraid.
She only needed to settle the fight before all the corpses were destroyed.
She closed her eyes to activate 【Corpse Explosion】.
Three seconds.
Activating that skill required three seconds of mental concentration.
It was normally such a brief period that she barely noticed the inconvenience, but now it felt like an eternity.
‘Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry! Activate already! Hurryyyy!’
No matter how desperately she urged it on in her mind, time did not move any faster.
Nor would her enemy wait for her.
CRUNCH! CRACK! SNAP! CRRUNCH!
A succession of vicious sounds rang out, the kind produced when hard objects collided.
【Corpse 12 has fallen!】
【Corpse 13 has fallen!】
【Corpse 14 has fallen!】
【Corpse 15 has fallen!】
【Corpse 16 has fallen!】
The corpses collapsed one after another.
Now only one remained.
As long as she had that one, she could still use the Skill.
THUD!
She drove her staff into the ground and summoned her mana.
【Corpse Explo—Gaaaaagh!”
CRUNCH-!
At the final moment, a fist buried itself in her abdomen, causing the Skill casting to fail.
Her HP plummeted toward the bottom in an instant.
“Ghk! Keheugh!”
Gasping for breath, she fell to her knees.
BLUURGH!
She vomited sticky bile across her smooth thighs.
She continued vomiting for a long time.
Until nothing but stomach acid came out.
But even that was not enough.
If possible, she wanted to vomit out everything tangled inside her head as well.
That was how badly she wanted to reject the truth before her.
‘S-Skills…… Skills…… Why weren’t his Skills……?’
Every Skill required an ‘Activation Command.’
The user had to speak the name of the Skill aloud to activate it.
That was a rule.
It was one of the laws of this game.
However, the man had not spoken once.
Not when the corpses collapsed one after another.
Not when they fell right in front of him.
Even when he had just driven his fist into her abdomen, he had not uttered a single word.
The man had not used a Skill even once.
Instead, he had wielded the resource called mana itself as a weapon.
Like some kind of Ranker…….
“…….”
‘…….’
“…….”
‘…….’
“……I-I’m sorry.”
She finished thinking.
She finished calculating.
Her opponent was a Ranker.
Or at least someone equivalent to one.
The situation had now become simple.
“I-I’m sorry. Keh! Keheugh! I-I’m so sorryyy…….”
She had to grovel.
Why?
Because this was not a fight she could win.
More importantly, the moment a Red Player died, their Account was permanently deleted.
And she was a Red Player.
The moment she died, everything would end.
This was not the time to protect her pride.
“P-Please spare me! Please spare me! Please! Please!”
She immediately pressed her head against the ground.
Unfortunately, it landed directly in her vomit.
It felt fucking disgusting, but it was better than dying. Rather than showing her displeasure, she desperately tried to convey her sincerity.
“S-Spare…… I-I’m sorry. Please spare me. I’ll give you money. I’ll give you all my items, everything. Is there a-anything else you n-need? W-Wait. Why aren’t you s-saying anything? A-Answer me- Aaaagh!”
BANG!
A kick struck her temple, rotating her body halfway around.
CRRUNCH!
A powerful impact spread through her eyes, followed by a similarly powerful impact through the back of her head.
The man was crushing both of her eyeballs beneath his foot.
“Mmph! Mmmmmph! Mmmmmmmph!”
She still possessed the will to live, so she desperately held back her screams.
Even as her face split open and blood flowed, even as the bones around her nose and eyes gradually caved inward and threatened to shatter completely, she bit down hard on her lips.
“……Hah. Haaah…….”
Then the man’s ragged breathing drew closer.
It seemed that he had bent down without removing his foot from her face.
“……I-I told you…….”
The instant she heard his voice, bubbling like molten lava, she understood.
He never intended to spare me from the beginning.
There was no longer any reason to restrain herself.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh───!”
She finally released the scream she had been holding back and began hurling abuse.
“What did you tell me, you crazy bastard?! What did you say, you fucking son of a bitch?! If you’re going to kill me, then do it! Hurry up and kill me! Fuck! Fuuuu───BOOM-!
Her head burst like a firework, spraying sticky matter in every direction.
Covered from head to toe in the crimson remains, Akkun finished what he had been saying.
“……that you’d pay for this…….”
The moment he spoke those words, all the strength left his body.
Akkun collapsed onto the ground.
His entire body was in ruins.
His left shoulder was especially mangled.
One of the corpses had sunk its teeth into Akkun’s shoulder.
Even after the female player died, the corpse had not relaxed its jaws.
“…….”
Akkun stared at the corpse dangling from his shoulder and carefully opened his mouth.
“Aunt Mari.”
He stroked the skull and spoke as though gently admonishing her.
“What are you doing here?”
Has the player’s control disappeared?
Or had his desperate voice reached her?
Mari’s white bones transformed into white pixels and scattered in every direction.