Chapter 002- Greenskin Wildlands(2)

 

The Troll waved his club wildly as he ran towards Sungjin . Sungjin watched the club carefully and dodged

“Woosh”

Twice

“Whoosh”

He evaded the club and cut the back of the Troll’s knee like in the case of the Orc .

“Kurag!”

The Troll fell on his knees . Sungjin tried to cut off the Troll’s head as he did with the Orc, but

“Woosh”

The Troll swung his club towards Sungjin again . Sungjin was forced to stop as he dodged the club and backed away creating a distance between them . The Troll stood up right away, and charged towards Sungjin .

“Warrgh!”

The cut on his leg had regenerated by the time it finished screaming . If he had used ‘Salamander’s ash’, the fight would have already been over, but Sungjin wished to preserve every bit of Black Coin he could manage .

‘I guess the same trick won’t work on a Troll . ’

A Troll’s physical strength was massive, and with an extraordinary regenerative ability, it was impossible for a human to face off against it using purely physical attacks .

But the reason why humans could overcome the Trolls is that the Trolls lacked the ability to learn .

“Graaah!”

The Troll picked up his club and charged towards Sungjin once more . Sungjin dodged the club and

“Woosh”

Sungjin cut the Troll’s shin and spun around, striking and severing the wrist with which the Troll held the club .

“Kragh!”

While screaming in pain of losing his right hand, the Troll swung his fist towards Sungjin with his left hand .

Sungjin jumped back to avoid that strike . The tip of the Troll’s fingers sported nails as sharp as spears .

‘I can’t give him a chance to regenerate . ’

Once Sungjin landed on the ground, he dashed forward to re-engage the Troll . The Troll swiped his left hand once more towards Sungjin, but Sungjin swiftly dodged and closed in on the Troll .

And all he had to do was to draw out his katana and hold it in the trajectory of the slash . The Troll’s massive strike met the blade, and the momentum of the Troll’s own attack severed his wrist effortlessly .

“Wargh!”

Sungjin got to work cutting and slashing ruthlessly at the Troll without mercy . It was a gruesome task, but Sungjin could not let up the pressure since the Troll could regenerate all of it in a matter of moments .

With both hands gone, the Troll could not retaliate against Sungjin’s attacks and finally leaned forward to protect his body . The moment the Troll leaned over, Sungjin beheaded the Troll .

And without a pause, the Operator announced his victory .

[All Monsters Eliminated . Closing the Chapter . ]

“Haa…”

Finally, Sungjin let out a sigh .

“Fighting Troll without fire… how annoying . ”

The fallen Troll had already regrown his right arm, along with the spear-like nails . It was an unbelievable display of regenerative ability .

But despite it all, it was a success . He had saved 6 Black Coins . The Operator announced the reward .

Completion Reward: Stat Point 10
Kill Reward: Black Coin 10

The reward for the Troll was double that of the Orc, which made sense . Actually, considering the difference in the level of difficulty between the two monsters, the difference in the reward amount was perhaps not high enough; in real combat, the Troll was more than twice as difficult as compared to the Orc .

If the Orc was an opponent a grown man has a good chance of defeating, then the Troll was something only a combat veteran could overcome; assuming he used the Black Coins in both cases .

‘I think an unimaginable amount of people will be eliminated at this stage . ’

Sungjin’s guess was spot on as many had succumbed to their deaths on this phase and were sent to the purgatory . That may be, but there was no need to mourn the loss of those hunters . In this “hunt”, only the strong were allowed to survive .

In fact, the earlier the weak got eliminated, the better . Especially before the next round . The next round was not an individual round; it was a ‘Raid’ conducted as a team . The Operator announced this fact as well .

[Dear Hunter, you have completed this phase faster than the others . ]
[In the next phase, you will be put into teams with other hunters and carry out a “Raid” . ]
[Please stand by until other hunters complete their tutorials . ]

Since Sungjin suddenly had down time, he checked his Status for the first time since the restart .

“Operator, show me my Stats . ”

HP: 100 MP: 170
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 23
Endurance: 10
Magic: 14
Concentration (AKA Mind): 17

Unallocated Stat points: 10

Seeing the Status window made Sungjin pause .

‘The Stat is the same as last time . ’

From the start, Sungjin’s Stat was on the high side . Before he restarted from beginning, he had asked others for their starting States and found that most people had averaged just around 10 . Meaning Sungjin was originally much stronger than an average person .

His strength and dexterity were 2~3 points higher than average . And although it was unclear how it was decided, he also had higher than average starting Magic power and Mind Power (mana) . Only his endurance was at an average level .

Sungjin carefully thought about his Stat .

‘I began raising Dexterity which directly improved my speed, but…’

He lifted up his katana and asked the Operator a question .

“Operator, show me the specs of the sword . ”

Katana – Beginning the Hunt
Normal Katana – Strength C Dexterity D

Basic weapon issued by the Operator without any significant merits or demerits .

If wielded by a master, it can perform extraordinarily well .

‘Strength C Dexterity D…’

In this “hunt”, every weapon had a rating for how it affects Strength and Dexterity . Until the restart, Sungjin had used weapons rated at at least an A . He asked Operator another question .

“Operator, how do ranks affect bonus stats?”

[Rank affects stats as follows . ]
[Rank E – x0 . 1 | Rank D – x0 . 2 | Rank C – x0 . 5]
[Rank B – x1 . 0 | Rank A – x1 . 5 | Rank S – x2 . 0]
[Rank SS – x3 . 0 | Rank SSS – x4 . 0]

Generally speaking, blunts and axes are more influenced by Strength and less from Dexterity . Swords, like the katana wielded by Sungjin, were well balanced between Strength and Dexterity .

If he raises his strength, the damage will increase by a large amount (in this case, by an additional x0 . 5), and raising the dexterity will increase damage by a smaller (x0 . 2) amount . He would be trading damage for attack and dodging speed in combat .

Raising both stats had merits, but Sungjin decided to build on dexterity first . Increasing his speed improved his ability to dodge . Instead of investing in Endurance, he opted for combat stats .

Not raising his endurance at all was a dangerous gamble . No matter how fast he was, he could still die from one or two stray hits without investing points in endurance .

But he paid no heed to the danger and decided to all-in on his gamble .

“Add all points to Dexterity . ”

[Dexterity rose by 10 points . ]

Starting with the next phase, which was a raid, points were awarded based on his merit and participation .

‘If I don’t excel from the start, I will die in the latter half . ’

Sungjin’s immediate goal wasn’t merely survival, but to prepare for end game . So ignoring Endurance, for now, he invested solely in Dexterity . And he decided to save every Black Coin he could manage .

The average hunter would have difficulty surviving from chapter to chapter without items . But Sungjin decided that he was not going to waste any coins on consumables if at all possible .

[Synchronization will begin in 1 minute . ]

The Operator fell silent after that last message . It appeared that there was still some time before other hunters completed their phases . Sungjin crossed his arms and thought about the next raid .

‘Killing as many monsters as possible within the time limit is a no-brainer…’

It was the most basic rule, common to all raids .

‘And if at all possible, find the hidden boss and eliminate it . ’

Hidden boss refers to boss mobs concealed in every map . As chapters progressed, hunters realized that hidden boss mobs and items existed in every map . And those secret bosses dropped ‘special items . ’

‘Problem is, I do not know where it is located . ’

Sungjin knew the location of a few hidden bosses in later chapters, thanks to hunters sharing the secret locations via word of mouth .

But for the first raid, ‘Greenskin Wildlands’, nobody knew the secret location, because everyone was still new to the hunt .

‘In that case, I need to complete the raid as fast as possible and search the map . ’

Running through the plan in his head, Sungjin pursed his lips and nodded . Finally, the Operator announced the next stage .

[All hunts have been completed . ]
[Synchronizing Hunters]

The background blurred for a moment, and four people appeared in the vicinity . Including Sungjin, there were five hunters now .

“What?”

The other hunters were briefly shocked upon seeing each other, but

[Starting from phase 5, the hunt will be carried out as a ‘raid’ in cooperation between 5 hunters . ]

The moment the Operator’s voice was heard, the other hunters immediately stopped speaking . They had realized that listening to the Operator was essential to their survival .

Phase 5 – Greenskin Wildlands Raid
Target – Hunt the Orc Chief Kamul
Time limit: 20 minutes

[Complete your objective within the time limit . ]
[If you cannot, you will die . ]

The others listened carefully to the Operator’s announcement . Meanwhile, Sungjin took the chance to inspect his teammates .

They were all males . Black, White, Asian, Arabic, they were all from different races, and not one of them Sungjin recognized . The teammates were different than in his previous life .

‘I kind of predicted this back when I saw the Orc…’

Sungjin had briefly hoped that he would find the same members in his team from last time, but he knew better than to expect it . The Operator was explaining about the rewards of this raid .

[You will be given freedom to act as you please upon completion of the raid objective . ]
[Hunt as many enemies as you can within the time limit . ]
[The more you hunt, higher the reward will be . ]
[Loot will be distributed based on contribution . ]

Goblin – Contribution 1
HobGoblin – Contribution 3
Orc – Contribution 5
Troll – Contribution 10
Orc Chief ‘Cunning Kamul’ – Contribution 50

As expected, there was no information at all about the hidden boss . The Operator only went on to explain the importance of cooperation .

[In order to complete the raid objective, Cooperation between hunters is essential . ]
[Please discuss with your teammates, distribute your Stat points, and purchase items as you deem necessary . ]
[Raid begins in 1 minute . I wish you all best of luck . ]

With that last sentence, the Operator concluded her explanation . The only thing left now were the five hunters . Since this was the first meeting amongst them, it was a little awkward . But finally, someone broke the ice .

“Well, since we should cooperate with each other, let’s introduce ourselves . ”

First to speak out was the muscular Black man .

“As you saw from the previous round, we need fire to beat those Trolls . How many Black Coins do you all have remaining with you? I have 9 left . ”

The black man wore a vest with “Police” written on it, with a large badge . At his words, others began to speak out . This time, the tall white man .

“8…”

Then the short and skinny Asian .

“I have 6 . ”

And finally, the Arabic man wearing a turban .

“I also have 6 . ”

As expected, they all had spent some coins until now . Potions to heal from the damage taken from fighting and the Salamander’s ash which was needed to defeat the Troll .

But if they continued to burn through coins purchasing consumable items like this, they wouldn’t last until the end game . Everybody had announced their number of Black Coins .

Everybody except one . They looked towards Sungjin . Finally opening his mouth, he decided to speak .

“…Please listen carefully . ”