Emperor of Solo Play Chapter 30:
Chapter 30 . Lizard Swamp (2)
It wasn’t uncommon to run into other players when hunting in an area that isn’t an instance dungeon .
It was the same in Warlord . Because Warlord’s land was huge and because its hunting grounds were usually mountains or other wide spaces, it was slightly harder to run into other players . Even so, one could expect to run into others at least three, four times even in the most unpopular hunting grounds .
When players met each other in the field, most felt joy before wariness . After tense, exhausting situations caused by continuous battles, players felt a sense of kinship when they met . Depending on the situation, some even chose to join parties and work together .
“E-Excuse me!”
In a hunting ground known to be unpopular, Hyrkan now ran into a group of players .
To be exact, he was the one that was approached .
“Hello . ”
Hyrkan had recently killed a Lizardman and was currently waiting for it to melt down . Hearing the voice, Hyrkan turned to greet a female player, who he was sure he had never met before . The female player was quite a beauty . The long, straight black hair beauty was the type to easily make men turn their eyes . Hyrkan glanced at her from top to bottom .
She wore a shiny, silver armor on top of a dress . Along with her straight black hair and well-designed longsword, it was easy to tell she set her items for design rather than defense . Her fashion was designed to attract other players’ attentions rather than monsters’ .
Hyrkan moved his gaze behind her .
Behind the beautiful swordswoman was a short and cute priestess, and a tall, short-haired magician with foxlike eyes . He could tell that these two also focused their items on fashion . On top of this, it seemed that they went through quite a lot of trouble, as the dirtiness of their clothes caught Hyrkan’s attention .
Finishing his observation, Hyrkan came to a conclusion .
‘The **** is this?’
As Hyrkan slowly moved his sight back…
“Have you been hunting here alone?”
The female player carefully threw a question .
In any case, three beauties had approached Hyrkan with interest . It was a rare occurrence . No, the current situation went past the level of rare as such a thing had never happened to him in real life . Of course, there was a time when a girl was interested in him . Except, it wasn’t the good kind of interest .
‘I am suddenly remembering Choi Sulyeon that **** . ’
It was the first time a girl had been interested in him, and that interest had screwed over his life . Because of this, to Hyrkan, the interest of a beauty was… something he’d rather decline .
And so…
‘What does she want?’
Doubt was the first thing on his mind .
First of all, something like the girl blushing and asking for his number was impossible . If she were interested in him as a man, that would be even more dangerous . It wasn’t just because of his appearance . Although he wasn’t handsome, his appearance had nothing to do with it . After all, he was currently wearing his hahoe mask . The problem was his fashion . If she were interested even after seeing his grotesque, avant-garde fashion, it would be best if he never got involved with her .
As such, Hyrkan didn’t answer . He only stared at the woman through his hahoe mask . Their eyes met, and when it did, the woman’s mouth bloomed into a flowery smile .
“I watched you kill that Lizardman . It was amazing . ”
Hyrkan still did not answer, as the woman continued her praise .
“Even a Ranker would be jealous of your skills . I almost fell for you…”
“What do you want?”
Hyrkan spoke for the first time with a question that couldn’t be more indifferent .
“Ah, my name is Ilya . ”
At the question, the woman first introduced herself .
“And?”
At her response, Hyrkan cut his answer short . It was a form of intimidation . He would talk less and less if she dragged on . Of course, it wasn’t possible to talk any less than he currently did . Thus, if Ilya kept talking, Hyrkan would ignore her .
“Sorry to ask you on our first meeting…”
In the end, she cut straight to her point .
“But please help us complete our quest . ”
“Please!”
The moment Ilya finished her sentence, the short priestess behind her opened her mouth as if to put in a chorus . Also, they showed puppy eyes and sorrowful expression that would easily make men do their bidding .
As a man, Hyrkan’s heart also throbbed . However, it wasn’t the throb of interest against the opposite **** .
‘Are these **** for real? They’re just asking me if they can leech off me . ’
It was something one would run into at least one time in online games . The kind that asked for free rides just because they were pretty girls . To Hyrkan, the whole thing was simply absurd . If one wanted to play with girls in the VR world, it was much better to play dating sims or other adult content .
‘Is this what the saying, ‘all good things come to an end,’ means? What is this **** trying to get on my nerves?’
In any case, Hyrkan didn’t have an inkling of mind to listen to their request . On top of it being an absurd request, he wasn’t in a good mood .
Starting from when he ran into that Ranker-class player at Bangtz Castle to being unable to upload his current hunting videos to YouTube, he was annoyed by many things . When he finally got around to hunting some monsters on a good day, the current situation threw a bucket of cold water on him .
Thus, Hyrkan replied from the bottom of his heart .
“Fuck off . ”
Hyrkan had no interest in romance, and he was certainly not a gentleman .
At Hyrkan’s response, Ilya joined her hands as if to pray and lightly bowed .
“Please, just help us out for this quest . We will reward you for sure . ”
Hyrkan simply turned away . He could tell she was the kind in which words didn’t work . In a case like this, it was best just to ignore . He had never heard of someone like this changing .
“Wait!”
Ilya grabbed onto Hyrkan’s shoulder . At that moment, Hyrkan stopped his feet and turned around . Watching Hyrkan with a face full of misery…
“Just 10… I beg you . We’ll compensate you for sure . Please help us . ”
Ilya once again beseeched him .
If it was possible to cry in-game, bead-like tear drops must have fallen on her cheeks .
Staring at her silently for just a moment, Hyrkan opened his tightly shut mouth .
“… I just have to help you kill ten?”
Hearing this, Ilya finally made a full smile .
“Yes!”
“Then I’ll kill exactly ten . ”
★★★
Hyrkan vowed to himself .
That in this lifetime, he would never trust anyone ever again, and that he would never be with anyone ever again .
This vow wasn’t just a bluff to ease his bitter heart . With the knowledge he had, if he sold his pride just a little and decided to enjoy his new life, wealth and honor would have been his . Throwing such a life away, he had made the vow, prepared to walk a path of hardship .
‘These bitches…’
Would he throw away such a vow for a few beauties? It wasn’t impossible, but at the very least, now wasn’t the time .
Then why did Hyrkan accept their request?
‘They’re swans on the outside, but hyenas on the inside . ’
He changed his mind the moment his shoulder was grabbed . When Ilya grabbed his shoulder, Hyrkan felt he couldn’t shake off her hand .
It meant her strength was higher than Hyrkan’s .
Of course, it was expected for Hyrkan’s strength to be lower than a swordsman of his level . Given, the swordsman of the same level wasn’t a tank-type, but a type that went all into strength .
In other words, Ilya wasn’t a tank . There was no way Hyrkan didn’t catch what this implied .
In a 3-man party, the role of a tank was vital . But a party came to a high-difficulty hunting ground like the Lizard Swamp without a tank?
Their biggest mistake was asking for help on a quest important enough to give compensation . If the quest were that important, they would simply ask for help online, and skilled players would come to their aid . That, of course, was given they had the money… no, considering they appealed their beauty, money might have no meaning . There were plenty of people that would jump to help a group of beauties .
Even so, they asked Hyrkan for help? It was a clear lie that they needed his help to complete a quest .
‘Are they aiming for my left?’
They were clearly aiming for Hyrkan . Otherwise, there was no reason to act in such a way .
That said, they wouldn’t actively try to PK him . If that was their plan, there was no need to approach him the way they did . They would have simply attacked him when he was off guard .
Considering the way they approached him, it was likely that they would intentionally create a dangerous situation and make monsters kill him .
‘These **** are even worse than those **** from before…’
It was a common trick . One just had to use the fact that players felt happy to meet others in the field . If a problem occurred during battle, it would be an accident, not a PK . It was a truly dirty method . After all, one would have to go through an immense amount of effort to **** over a single person .
In any case, Hyrkan wasn’t the type to let off a bunch of schemers .
He wasn’t in the mood .
‘If you get caught lying, your hand’s got to go . ’
He planned to rob them clean .
“Let’s go over the situation . Do you have any experience fighting a Lizardman?”
“We’ve killed some before . ”
“How many?”
“Um… two . After that, we fell into the swamp . We ended up this way while running away . ”
“You have a priestess and a magician . What was the problem?”
“The thing is… I can’t act as a tank, so there was never a good window to use magic and the priestess’s magic power just kept going down . In the end, we couldn’t do anything . ”
‘Yeah, that’s because you set your items to hunt people, not monsters . You’re here because it’s the easiest place for this scenario of yours, and once you came here, there weren’t any idiots to take your bait . That’s probably when I caught your attention . There’s not a single truth coming out of your mouth . ’
Hyrkan barely managed to keep his raging heart in check .
“Then do you know how to lure Lizardmen?”
“Yes! We can at least do that . ”
“Alright then, lure them to designated points one by one, and I’ll get them . Don’t needlessly interfere when I fight . The magician should only provide back up when I call for it . By the way, if the priestess buffs my skeletons, this party’s finished . Got it?”
Ilya nodded her head as she said added some words .
“Thank you for accepting our selfish request… thank you so much . ”
“Thank you, Oppa*!”
[T/N: younger girl to an older male, like onii-san . It’s also considered a sign of affection . I’m sure you guys know it from Gangnam Style . ]
One of the other two quickly voiced her thanks, attempting to win Hyrkan over by calling him ‘oppa . ’ The remaining one also slightly lowered her head . Being thanked by three beauties, any guy would grin .
Hyrkan grinned as well .
Except, he did it on purpose .
‘I see these **** grew accustomed to this . Well, I guess it can be addicting . They’ll end up having to pay for it in the end, though . ’
As Hyrkan had ideas about their real intention, he could only feel a chill at their acting skills . Once one got the taste of something like this, it was hard to stop . It was like gambling . Even though they knew it was bad, it was fun and stimulating . Because they were in a VR game, they wouldn’t be punished under the law either .
‘With their looks, don’t they have anything better to do? Why do something like this in Warlord…’
At that point, Hyrkan stopped his thinking .
‘Come to think of it; there’s only a handful of sane beauties in Warlord . ’
Thinking back, of the beauties he had met in Warlord, only a handful was normal . Choi Sulyeon who Hyrkan considered to be the greatest beauty he ever met was even more so…
‘Fuck . ’
Having remembered Choi Sulyeon, Hyrkan’s mood took a dive . He remembered an unpleasant face . Because of just how beautiful she was, he couldn’t easily erase her from his mind either . She was truly what he would call an enemy of a lifetime .
“Then we’ll lure one over here . Hold on just one moment . ”
Hyrkan didn’t bother to listen to what Ilya was saying . He simply waved his hand back and forth .
Like so, the girls headed to the swamp area .
Thus started their secret plan .
★★★
“Unni, are you just going to leech or rob him clean?”
At her little sister*’s question, Ilya immediately answered .
[T/N: not an actual little sister . ]
“Of course, we’re robbing him clean . ”
“I don’t think he has much . Wouldn’t it be better just to let him kill 10 lizards? If we coax him a little more, we could probably hunt all day for free . ”
At this moment, the magician added her thoughts .
“Necromancer isn’t a class you can do without money . You saw his fight just now, right? For his Skeleton Warriors to be so strong, he must have at least three or four Unique items . ”
At this, Ilya added her own explanation .
“You saw his necklace right? Have you seen one with a jewel that big?”
The short priestess began to ponder . Although she had seen a countless number of necklaces with jewels, she rarely saw them in Warlord .
“Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen one with a jewel like that . ”
“Just look at his fashion . His items must be on a different level . Our profit from robbing him won’t be small . ”
“Any potential backlash? If he’s so rich, there must be someone behind him . ”
“If that were the case, he wouldn’t be here alone . Plus, it’s not like we’re openly PKing him . ”
Ilya smiled deeply .
“It’s just going to be a little accident . The kind that comes from accidentally luring too many monsters . ”
Watching her smile, the other two smiled as well .
“I always think this, but Unni must be Warlord’s prettiest **** . ”
Ilya laughed .
“And you?”
“I’m third . ”
“You’re not bad yourself, you know?”
At that moment, the three burst out into laughter . The laughter was short . A Lizardman had found them first and was slowly walking towards them .