Chapter 133 – Kariharan Frostplains (12)

Sungjin walked up to Illich with his swords at the ready . But then Illich raised his hands and said

“Hey, listen to me for a moment . ”

Sungjin stayed his hands .

‘…The least I can do is listen to his last words . ’

“I don’t know where you came from or what is it that you do…but why are you trying to kill me?”

Sungjin gave a short reply .

“Because you are a troll . ”

“Wait, then why do you attack only me and leave the swordsman alone?”

Sungjin shut his mouth at his question . Chosen One and Chooser . He couldn’t reveal everything to him . He did not mean to tell him anything . But then Illich said,

“Is it because that swordsman is a ‘Chosen One’? Then are you the ‘Chooser’? The ‘Chosen One’ bonus stats are exactly 20% of yours . Am I wrong?”

‘…As intelligent as always . ’

He was able to deduce Sungjin’s relationship with just the stats . Seeing Sungjin remain quiet, Illich continued to speak .

“Hey, I think you’re misunderstanding something . I was attacking back because that other guy attacked me first . Didn’t you see the red aura around that guy? I was just protecting myself . ”

Sungjin couldn’t help but grin . He had never seen Illich show such pathetic side before .

‘Not even Illich can do anything in the face of absolute power . ’

“That man does not randomly attack others . If he attacked you, you must have done something to provoke him . ”

Illich then strongly asserted himself as he said

“That swordsman is too emotional . He was overcome with grief when the comrades died, and tried to blame me for their death . That’s when he attacked me . What was I to do? I am participating in the raid and just trying to survive, but he attacked me . It was all self-defense . Really . ”

Sungjin stared at him for a moment . He didn’t know exactly what method he had used, but it was very likely that he intentionally provoked Franz to initiate the fight . But

‘That swordsman is too emotional . ’

He was not wrong about this either . Franz had also attacked Sungjin before for going ahead alone . It was good that Franz had a strong sense of righteousness, but he was sometimes too narrow-minded .

‘Hmm, should I at least speak with him before I kill him?’

Sungjin thought, so he decided to ask

“If you were so justified, why did you run when you saw me?”

“What else can I do when someone stronger than me comes attacking me? I could only run . ”

“Then you ambushed me . ”

“You were faster than me . And tracking someone through the snowfield is very easy . So I thought it was the only way I could live . I was putting up one final desperate struggle for survival . And even then, I was planning on only making one or two strikes before running off again . ”

‘He still speaks very convincingly . ’

He was once an officer in the military . It would be difficult to ascertain the truth from just speaking with him . Sungjin thought to use the Eye of Jeremiah . No matter how much one trains, it would be impossible to circumvent the effects of this item completely . Sungjin touched the item as he asked,

“So are you saying you have never trolled before?”

“Of course . I’ve only done it once or twice . That Swordsman is too strong . I had no choice but to put my life on the line to defeat him . ”

Sungjin waited for his surface thoughts to reach him . But instead of his thoughts,

[Eye of Jeremiah . Cooldown 5 minutes and 7 seconds remaining . ]

The Operator had given him an announcement .

‘Oh…right . ’

He had used the Eye already when speaking with Baltren .

‘You passed . ’

He had traveled to another dimension since then, but not even 5 minutes had passed yet . Sungjin stared at Illich from above .

‘Should I give him 5 minutes?’

But that would take too long . This cunning man may attempt something meanwhile . Sungjin considered his options .

‘What should I do? Off with his head as usual? Or wait and listen to his inner thoughts?’

Meanwhile, Illich strongly continued to make a case for himself .

“Go ask that swordsman why he attacked me . I’m curious as well . ”

Sungjin glanced towards where Franz lay in the distance . If Sungjin were to bring him into the conversation, the truth could be revealed relatively easily . But perhaps due to injury, Franz had not gotten up from where he fell in the distance .

In other words, he might be bluffing knowing that Franz would be unable to make a case for himself . But while Sungjin was thinking things over, he came to a sudden realization .

‘The ‘Chosen One’ bonus stats are exactly 20% of yours . ’

‘That’s when he attacked me . What was I to do?’

Finally, Sungjin looked up at the man’s title . ‘Frozen Heart . ’ He had neglected to consider Illich’s title because he already knew who Illich was . The fact that Illich decided to equip this title over a combat title was the most definitive proof he needed .

“…Now that I think of it, not only were you able to see my stats, but you knew Franz’s stats as well . ”

“Ah…that is true . ”

“Me aside, how did you know his stats? If he suddenly attacked you, when did you have the time to check his numbers?”

“Ah, thats…a habit of mine . I always check to see the other hunter’s stats before we start . I need to know the particularities of my allies to come up with a battle plan . ”

This was where Sungjin noticed that something was wrong .

“But you could just ask them for that . ”

“Well it’s complicated, and I can’t ask them for every little thing…”

Sungjin decided to put a question here to bait him .

“So, how are you able to check other people’s stats?”

And to this, Illich finally hit rock bottom .

“My hidden title…’s active skill . It allows me to check the stat of the hunter I designate . ”

And he was smart enough to lie about which of the titles gave him that power, blaming a hidden title instead . If he had made an excuse about an item that allows him to see others’ stats, then Sungjin would have been able to ask him to open the status page to see . But unfortunately for him, Sungjin had just obtained a ‘Frozen Heart’ title in this raid .

‘No matter how smart someone is… they can only be as smart as the information they have access to allows them to be . ’

Sungjin brought his sword to Illich’s neck .

“So you checked your targets before committing trolling . ”

“Wha…what? I told you it wasn’t for the sake of trolling . I was just thinking about the team…”

Sungjin swung his sword without another word .

‘Clang!’

Illich barely raised his shield in time to block it . But Sungjin moved Artemio almost at the same time and cut off his hand .

“Ahh!”

The shield along with his arm fell to the ground . Sungjin addressed the man who was screaming in agony .

“Sorry, but I hate people who are different from how they are on the inside the most . ”

Once his hand was cut off, he finally became a bit more honest .

“You… I don’t know what you are… but that guy…! Pick me instead of that guy! I am really strong . You saw, right? I beat that guy who had an incredible amount of stat bonus . Just think about it . If you give me that bonus, I can be a huge asset for you . ”

Sungjin bit his lip for a moment . He knew better than anyone just how strong Illich was . That was why it was such a shame . If only he had been a good person, he would have made the most dependable ally .

But he was not that kind of man . Sungjin let his gaze drop as he sadly shook his head .

“Sorry…but no matter how strong you are, I cannot accept anyone who will bring harm to the team . ”

At that moment, Illich jumped up like a spring and came charging towards Sungjin, taking out a dagger he had hidden somewhere .

‘Stab’

The sound of a blade piercing the flesh reverberated throughout the Frostplains . Sungjin looked down . Before Illich’s dagger could pierce his heart, a two-handed sword had flown in from the left and had pierced through Illich’s side . The owner of the two-handed sword was none other than Franz .

‘Bzzzzt’

The electrical current coming out of the blade was burning Illich alive . Sungjin watched for a moment before swinging his Blood Vengeance .

‘Pa’

He beheaded Illich and then apologized to Franz .

“Sorry, I know you wanted revenge, but if I kill him, I can get two items . ”

The items emerged from Illich’s body and fell to the ground . Franz stepped back and lowered his head .

“No, I am very grateful to you for even coming to help . ”

“I’m happy to do so . ”

Sungjin checked the items laying in the snow . It was the shield and mantle he had used . It was likely very valuable if he had decided to use it .

‘Unexpected meeting, unexpected rewards . ’

Sungjin thought as he collected the items and placed them into the cube . Franz came up to him to apologize .

“I am very sorry . I should have won…I couldn’t beat a single troll…”

Sungjin wanted to say to him

‘It’s okay . He was no ordinary troll’

But instead, he just patted him twice on the shoulders . Sungjin noticed that Franz’s body was glowing red . He was in a Troll state . Sungjin said to him

“Hey Franz”

“Yes?”

“You are an important person, you know that don’t you?”

“Eh? What do you…”

Franz’s face became red as he blushed . Sungjin grinned and continued to say

“You are the one and only troll I will not kill in all of the raids . Be thankful . ”

“Ah… yes, thank you Kei . ”

“Don’t stay here, and go hunt some more before you go back . You have monopoly this round . Get as much as you can get . ”

“Understood, Mr Kei . ”

So Sungjin and Franz spent the remaining time roaming the Frostplains to hunt the monsters left . Because Sungjin was unable to receive any contribution from the other dimensions, everything they killed was attributed to Franz only .

[Raid 100% Complete]
[Congratulations! You have obtained a Legendary item…]

Franz received massive rewards befitting someone who was the sole recipient of everything there was to obtain in the chapter .

[Last but not the least, you will be awarded titles you’ve earned on this raid . ]
[Adjudicator – When killing Party members who entered the ‘Troll’ state, obtain two of their equipped items]

“Ooh…”

The item he had always wanted, the ‘Adjudicator’ was finally awarded here .

“Finally…”

Sungjin said to Franz who was looking very satisfied,

“Then let’s see each other tomorrow morning . Go to bed early, since the number of Chosen One increased by one . You will need to greet him . ”

“Ah… understood, Kei . ”

The Operator soon gave a countdown

[Returning to the Hunter’s Hall . 10, 9, 8, 7…1, 0]

Franz and Sungjin were teleported simultaneously . To the Hunter’s Hall .

*

In a building with infinite columns known as the Hunter’s Hall, the place that was filled with people as far as the eyes could see was now considerably thinned out . The hunters saw a familiar face of the Operator appear from between the pillars .

[Congratulations . The hunters gathered here have successfully cleared Eleven Chapters . ]
[Of the 7,310,067,613 participants of the Chapter 1 Raid]
[The current number of hunters is now 103,655 . ]
[Everyone here is now a part of the top 0 . 0014th percentile]
[And have proven your worth through your strength . ]

“What… so few left?”

“I think many people died during the Dragon Raid…”

“I think lots of people froze to death this round as well . ”

While watching the others gossip like this, Sungjin thought to himself

‘It won’t be long now… when this hall is filled with just the final 10 hunters . ’