Chapter Five: Superior
Clan Leader of Mad Castle — Full Armor Giant Barbaroy Bad Burn.
In Dendro, there were two ways for players to fight amongst themselves.
The first one was dueling.
Players would gather in an arena, agree on a set of conditions and rules, decide what items the victor would get and begin fighting. Since no one would die even if their HP hit 0 and all the damage done would be reverted the moment the battle ended, duels were much like a casual pastime.
The other means was player killing.
Players would attack other players outside of an arena and give them the death penalty. Players who died this way would drop money and items at random... just like monsters.
One of the differences between losing a duel and dying from player killing was that the former allowed you to choose what items you lost, while the latter randomized it. The other difference was in whether the defeated side died or not.
That was the reason why there were those who specialized in dueling...
...and those like us, who specialized in player killing.
I, leader of the clan ‘Mad Castle’ — Barbaroy Bad Burn — love player killing.
In fact, my clan and I are enjoying some wholesome player killing right at this very moment, I thought.
“Uaahhh! Waaahhh!” A newbie player who looked like — and probably was — an elementary schooler was crying as he attacked me with his starting gear. However, no matter how many times he tried, the damage he did was always 0.
“Khahah! Come on! Damage me for at least 1 HP and I’ll let ya go!” I laughed.
Not that that could ever happen. Mine was a high-rank job focused on endurance — Full Armor Giant.
Not only that, but I had Damage Decrease, which decreased all incoming damage by 20%, and Damage Reduction, which took away 500 damage from all attacks, so a newbie like him couldn’t damage me even if he landed a critical hit.
“Uohh! Uohhh!” Still crying, the newbie attacked me while making an attempt to run away. However, I quickly stood in his path before he could complete his escape.
Despite having a heavy, non-agile job, I was still much faster than a newbie, not to mention that I had my Embryo’s ability. I also made sure to prevent him from logging out.
To log out in this game, a player needed about thirty seconds of free time. No one could do it unless they were able to spend those thirty seconds without being touched or attacked by someone else. It was a fact of the game that was meant to prevent crime, but it could easily be used for crime.
Well, player killing wasn’t actually forbidden, so it wasn’t really a “crime” in any sense of the word.
Also, for one reason or another — likely as a means against harassment — players were able to commit suicide. Even if players were rendered unable to move even a single finger, they could give themselves the death penalty at will. However, by doing that, players dropped way more money and items than when killed by a player killer, so there weren’t many who used that function.
“All right, time’s up,” I said.
“Ah!” the newbie gasped. As he continued his fruitless struggle, I held my large shield in both hands and swung it down on him.
My shield — which was one meter in diameter — became a giant stamp and left a mark on the ground. The ink was the player. Of course, since he’d died, what was left of the newbie quickly disappeared.
Good thing I’d set my visuals to CG. The sight would’ve been pretty damn grotesque if I’d set it to realistic.
There’s something seriously wrong with those who pick realistic visuals, I thought. Battles with undead monsters get really grim from that perspective.
“Eheehee! You sure are a scumbag, boss! You even made me feel bad for the kid!” laughed one of my clan members.
“Khahah! Holy shit, I sure won’t be eating any tomatoes today,” another joined in.
“What do you say to cheeseburgers for dinner, then?” I grinned. “As you can see, I can get the mincemeat as if it’s no big deal.”
“I think I’ll pass, LOL.” The clan members working with me began their usual banter, and I joined in, making sure to sound as scummy as possible.
Roleplaying as a bad guy sure is fun, I thought. Probably has something to do with being able to show off a side of you that you can’t show anywhere else.
For example, in reality, Ban-blu — the one grinning at my side — was a public service worker with a husband and kids, but that couldn’t have mattered less here.
Mad Castle’s motto was thus: “Forget reality, get hyped up, and kill some players.”
It wasn’t the least bit enjoyable to the ones getting killed, mind you. However, in this game — where everyone was competing for more power — it was the weaklings’ own fault for being weak.
“I’ve heard of people who got so traumatized by player killers that they stopped playing,” said one of my people.
“Like I care,” I said. Seriously, I couldn’t have cared less if I’d tried. “Killing” and “getting killed” were both part of the game.
“So, boss, including this brat, how many have we killed by now?” asked a clan member.
“Well, I stopped counting the ones I’d killed when I hit fifty,” I replied.
My Mad Castle clan was occupying the Sauda Mountain Pass south of the capital, and had been killing any players who happened to pass by. We only went for those we were able to handle, but so far, everyone had been weak enough for me to do it solo.
There had been a group that had come here to stop us, but me and my clan had had no problem taking care of them, too.
“But man, this is a good deal we’ve got,” said one of my people. “All we do is kill some players, and the money comes a-flowing like a fountain.”
“Yeah, it’s great,” I replied.
Deal. That’s the word for it, I thought. We were player killing here because we had a deal going on. For every death penalty we gave, we received a flat 10,000 lir reward. And this deal would last for a whole month, game time.
We couldn’t ask for better conditions. And that was without mentioning that — being a newbie hunting ground — this place was full of scrubs we could crush like insects.
The first day we’d started had been so damn good that it’d gotten us more than 1,000,000 lir. It’d been hilarious.
What was just as funny was the fact that it had become big news.
Unlike the clan in the north, we didn’t hide our identities. That led people to find out who we were, but to us villain roleplayers, that was only a blessing.
“Though, man, we sure don’t get as many players now as we did at the start,” one of my people said. “Guess they’re all scared shitless now. Oh, yeah. Last night, at the tavern, I heard that the guys in the east don’t have much to do, either.”
The other three hunting grounds surrounding the capital were occupied by other player killers. Just like our clan, the ones in the east and west were full of delinquents who didn’t give a damn about what people thought and just wanted to kill some players.
“Though I’ve heard that Goblin Street — the guys in the west — are getting some serious extra cash,” another one added.
“Well, that’s because they go after NPCs, too,” I said.
“Ain’t that just scary?” he said.
“Maybe,” I said.
Player killing wasn’t a crime. Dendro’s laws ignored all conflicts between Masters. However, killing NPCs was a serious offense.
Ending an NPC’s life without a valid reason — such as self-defense, them being criminals, or taking part in a war event — would cause them to recognize the offending player as a criminal and put them on a wanted list.
Getting on a country’s wanted list made the player unable to use the country’s save points.
If that had been all there was to it, simply switching to another country’s save points would solve the problem, but overdoing it with the killing would get the player on the wanted list of every country. When on all the seven lists, the player would be simply done. They wouldn’t be able to use any countries’ save points.
Considering that getting the death penalty in such a situation would send you to that place, the risks were way too high.
The guys at Goblin Street probably had save points at Caldina or something, but we had no intention of going through those lengths just so we could kill NPCs.
In fact, killing NPCs didn’t make me feel good.
Once, I’d killed a criminal NPC, and it’d made me feel like crap — as if I’d broken an expensive vase. That was why we chose to not touch any NPCs trying to pass through this hunting ground.
Well, we’re too scared to try, anyway, I thought.
“Yeah, I’ll stick to player killing. It’s both comfortable and fun,” one of my clan members spoke up again.
“True,” another replied. “Something’s seriously wrong with the guys in the west. Even if we’re all player killers, I wouldn’t want to get involved with that lot.”
I simply listened to them. In all honesty, I’m more afraid of the one in the north than the ones in the west, I thought.
The person in Noz Forest was bad news.
Unlike in the other places, it wasn’t a clan there, but a single player killer. I didn’t know his name. All I knew about him was that he was a trickster good at hiding himself, and that what he was doing was his day job.
There was no better term for it — day job.
He’d been playing as a hit man for as long as he’d been known in Dendro.
Players who were killed by other players or received some sort of harassment would sometimes grow vengeful and develop grudges. Killing players based on the requests of such people was part of his daily life. I’d even heard that he’d once gotten a request to assassinate a Superior that was on wanted lists.
“Superiors” were players that had made their Embryos evolve to their seventh forms — the elite of the elite. No one in their right mind would even think of fighting someone like that. I was no exception.
However, though he’d received serious amounts of damage, that player had been able to give the Superior a death penalty and send him to that place. Due to that, he’d gotten the title of “Superior Killer.”
Though we were business partners right now, I didn’t really want to meet him.
I didn’t think I’d lose to him, but hit men like him — elusive as they were — just seemed far worse than both player and NPC killers. Not getting involved with them was the right idea.
“Boss, we’ve got another one,” one of my clan members called me.
He was contacting me by using an item that allowed communication between members of the same clan.
We had six parties consisting of six people each. Every member of every party had split up and formed groups of six with members of other parties before positioning themselves in different places all across the area.
With this setup, if one group got destroyed in some sort of surprise attack, the actual party members would be able to tell that something was wrong by looking at their party status. It was a large-scale battle tactic that we were all accustomed to using.
“Whoa, damn. This sucker has some good-looking gear on him,” he spoke through the long-distance contact item.
“Well then, if he’s not a newbie, he’s here to hunt us down, huh?” I asked.
“Seems like it,” he answered. “He’s alone, though.”
“Alone? Then there’s no problem,” I said. “Just attack, threaten him into taking his gear off, and kill him.”
“Hee hee hee, sounds good, boss,” he laughed. “Today, we’ll sell that gear and have a wild part—”
[Party Member “Jordan ?” Has Died]
[Resurrection Period Expired]
[Due to the Death Penalty, “Jordan ?” was Logged Out]
Huh? was all I could think. “H-Hey! Stop with the jokes! Shit like this freaks me out when it’s so sudde—”
[Party Member “Lowered Beltmars” Has Died]
[Resurrection Period Expired]
[Due to the Death Penalty, “Lowered Beltmars” was Logged Out]
Another party member I’d been in contact with had died.
The “resurrection period” was the time in which resurrection items and magic could have an effect. If someone successfully resurrected the player before the period ended, the player would avoid the death penalty. However, the time given was dependent on the state of the corpse.
The two deaths had been instant and had left basically no resurrection period. I could only assume that they’d been turned into mincemeat in but a single moment.
Upon looking at the clan members at my side, I noticed that they had all turned pale.
Once I asked what was up, they said their party members who’d been in the same places as Jordan ? and Lowered Beltmars were also dead.
Basically, the twelve clan members positioned at those two places had all met a nearly simultaneous and swift death.
Did they all get ganked by a group of players? I thought. There’s no way.
After all, each place had had a person with a great “Enemy Detect” skill. It should’ve been impossible for a group of players to prepare such an attack without getting noticed.
But if the one who did it was already spotted... and if it’s really just one, then...
“I-It’s a player! A player from Altar!” one of my party members from another position contacted me. “I saw a chain! It took Marlo and—”
[Party Member “Ma-mdoh” Has Died]
[Resurrection Period Expired]
[Due to the Death Penalty, “Ma-mdoh” was Logged Out]
The screams coming from the other side before getting cut out were a sign that the third group had been eliminated.
However, before dying, the party member had left me some valuable information. He’d mentioned that the player used a chain. There was little doubt that it was the same well-equipped “sucker” they’d seen before dying.
Well, now this “sucker” is massacring our members as if it’s nothing, I thought. This one clearly isn’t your average Joe.
The Kingdom of Altar happened to have a famous player who used chains. His name was...
“I-It’s Figarooooo!” shouted another party member. “Why is the Over Gladiator here?! He—”
[Party Member “Mohawk X” Has Died]
[Resurrection Period Expired]
[Due to the Death Penalty, “Mohawk X” was Logged Out]
...Over Gladiator Figaro.
“The Endless Chain,” “One of Altar’s Big Three,” “The King of Hanging Around the City of Duels,” et cetera... He had many names and was one of the strongest players in not just the Kingdom of Altar, but in the whole game itself.
He was a Superior, and there were even rumors that that weirdo raided created dungeons solo.
That lunatic was now with us, on this mountain...
...and he clearly had it in for us.
It wasn’t an unexpected scenario.
Since we were committing acts of terror against the kingdom’s players, it was only natural for the ones sitting at the top of the kingdom’s rankings to come take care of us.
However, the rumors had suggested that Figaro wasn’t the type to get involved in such events. I’d heard he spent most of his playing time either raiding the dungeon or dueling in the Colosseum.
After all, he hadn’t even participated in the war, and yet...
[Party Member “Goro Mushoku” Has Died]
[Resurrection Period Expired]
[Due to the Death Penalty, “Goro Mushoku” was Logged Out]
Suddenly, I heard some rattling. A frustrated grunt escaped my mouth. Right after I got the message that the members in the fifth position were eliminated — meaning that we were the last — my “Killing Intent Perception” skill went off and warned me about the attack coming my way.
I didn’t know the direction it was coming from. Still, I only needed to know it was coming to be able to do something about it.
A moment later, I saw a chain with a pyramid-like tip flying right at me.
“Astro Guard!” I activated a Full Armor Giant defensive skill. It rendered me unable to move in exchange for multiplying my defense by five.
With this, my total defense was now over 15,000 — the greatest I could reach.
The chain hit my shield with a dreadful amount of power behind it.
“...Whoa!” I exclaimed. My HP had gone down.
My defense was over 15,000, I had a skill that decreased all damage by 20% and another one that took away another 500, yet he had been able to break through all these walls and deal damage to me. It was only natural that the guys positioned at the other places had gotten slaughtered without even getting time to heal.
Thus, the chain that I deflected...
“Gyeeaahhh!”
...went towards and pulverized Ban-blu.
She wasn’t the only one, though — besides me, everyone positioned here was attacked by the chains and scattered into a thousand pieces.
“...Sorry,” I said. “I can’t move, so I couldn’t protect you.”
With that, the survivors around me disappeared, and I could no longer contact anyone.
Looks like they’re all dead and dealing with the death penalty now, I thought. Still immobile, I kept up my Astro Guard stance.
Besides the chains — which were making metallic sounds as they hit and slightly damaged me — the only thing moving was the Over Gladiator, Figaro. I saw him walking up the mountain road when I tried to trace where the chains were coming from.
He had a well-proportioned face, so if — unlike me — he hadn’t spent a significant amount of time on character creation and had just gone with the defaults, it was fair to assume that he was handsome in real life, as well.
His apparel was strange, but by using “Identification” — a skill that allowed me to see item names and values — I discovered that everything he was wearing was highly powerful and extremely rare. In fact, some of them were so rare that my Identification level wasn’t high enough to identify them.
“The bastard’s even wearing some UBM special rewards as if it’s no big deal...” I grumbled.
Special rewards for MVPs in UBM battles — Unique Boss Monster — were bound to the MVP and thus couldn’t be transferred or dropped. So, despite being damn strong, they were worthless to us.
Though Figaro’s face and apparel were deserving of a comment or two, there was something about him that just couldn’t be ignored. It was the red chains — several of them — wrapped around both of his arms.
This game had a limit to how many weapons you could wield. The standard amount was either one for both hands or one in one hand and another in the other — like me with my shield. Besides that, normal players could use throwing weapons or items like Gems, but that was the extent of the weapons they could utilize.
However, this Figaro guy was wielding six chains — three on each arm.
And yes, I was completely certain that there were six chains — not just two that seemed separate. They all had the same name — Crimson Dead Keeper — but they weren’t connected in any way.
Though Figaro didn’t seem to be moving them, all the chains automatically extended and went straight towards me.
Most would think this is a joke, but they’d be wrong, I thought.
According to the Identification results, Crimson Dead Keepers had the skills “Auto Enemy Detect” and “Range Extend.” You’d be hard pressed to find a more user-friendly weapon.
From the fact that Identification worked on them, it was obvious that they weren’t his Embryo. Which made it all the more obvious that he was actually wielding a total of six weapons.
It was way over the standard wield limit, but I had been aware that the Gladiator job grouping had a skill that allowed the player to wield more weapons. The ultimate maximum was supposed to be a mere three, but since Over Gladiator was a Superior job of that grouping, it wouldn’t have been strange for it to have a stronger version of that skill.
Basically, it meant that he’d eliminated all of my clan without using his Embryo and by relying only on his Over Gladiator skills and weapons in hand.
“I’m sure getting blocked a lot today.”
Figaro’s first words didn’t make even a bit of sense to me.
“You have some good defense, but I guess it’s normal for a Full Armor Giant,” he continued. “Still, it’s rare for anyone to be this tough. Is your Embryo focused on defense or something?”
I stayed silent. He was stating his impressions, but I had no reason to respond in any capacity. I could try bluffing, but if he had Truth Discernment — a skill that informed the user if another person was lying — he’d see right through me and I’d only end up giving him info...
...such as the fact that my Embryo’s power wasn’t defensive at all.
“...Hm. Looks like I’ve taken care of every player killer besides you,” he said.
Either by simply feeling it or by seeing that his chains’ Auto Enemy Detect weren’t picking up anyone but me, he’d concluded that I was the last. And with those words, it became obvious that he’d come here to kill us — the player killers near the capital.
“So, can I assume that you’re this PK group’s leader?” he asked.
“...What if I said ‘yes?’” I replied.
“My only goal here is to secure the means of travel between the duel city and the capital,” he explained. “If you promise to leave this mountain pass, I’ll gladly let you go.”
“...Is that something you say after killing every single one of my clan members?” I asked.
“If I hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t even be willing to negotiate.”
He’s not wrong, I thought.
Until he’d eliminated us, we’d all considered him to be just another sucker for easy pickings, so we would’ve attacked him even if he’d had something to say. After all, we’d had no idea that there was such a huge gap in power between us and a Superior.
However, that made me consider something.
Just how much stronger is he compared to me — a Master with an Embryo in its sixth form? If I can land a perfect hit with my Embryo’s ultimate skill... I might be able to kill him. Sure, with him having a Superior job, his level is probably far greater than mine. My level is 500 — the maximum I can reach with low-rank and high-rank jobs — and his can easily be two times higher than that. However, the results of PvP battles aren’t decided by level or stats. What matters is how well you can prevent your opponent from using their powers effectively while attacking them with your own. The Superior Killer got his name for a reason. It shouldn’t be impossible for me to do it, too.
“All right,” I said. “I’ll leave this place as soon as I can. We, Mad Castle, won’t be hunting any more newbies here.”
That wasn’t a lie. With players of this caliber now coming after us, our little PK feast in this area was all but done.
We’ll back away... right after I kill him, anyway.
“I have a Contract here. Wanna use it?” I reached into my item pouch and took out a piece of parchment.
It was a Contract — a type of item used in agreements between players. Anyone who went against the conditions would receive either a temporary loss of stats, some debuffs, or even the death penalty.
“Well...” Figaro said. “I don’t see why not. Let’s do it.”
Rangyu Restaurant, Kingdom of Altar — Paladin Ray Starling.
“...That was one brutal fight.” After watching the clip in Marie’s crystal ball, I was seriously taken aback. It was paused at the frame where the huge, armored guy — the PK leader — was getting split in half.
According to Marie, the armor guy was an infamous player who had had high defense and a counterattack-like ultimate skill that dealt serious damage.
Due to that description, I found him somewhat relatable and began to feel that his demise — that mangled corpse — was a glimpse of my future if I ever fought Figaro.
“And that’s how everyone in Mad Castle met with a sad end,” said Marie. “Even if they recover from this, they’ll never return to player killing in that area.”
Makes sense, considering that stopping the traffic there would make Figaro get involved again, I thought.
“If I ever find myself in the duel city, I’ll have to remember to thank Figaro for this,” I said.
“Indeed,” mumbled Nemesis.
“Hm?” I looked at her.
For some reason, she seemed a bit sulky. Instead of looking at the crystal ball, she was merely eating with Babi, who didn’t seem to care about any of this whatsoever.
The amount Nemesis consumed was as great as always, but it almost seemed like she was stress eating.
Why, though? I thought.
“Okay, now let me show you the next one.” This time, Marie’s crystal displayed a familiar place. It was the first hunting ground I’d ever leveled at — Easter Plains.
Sure enough, there was a group of player killers there. Though they were hiding from players and waiting for their next prey, they weren’t hidden from the camera.
A few moments later, another group — and quite a strange one, at that — came from the direction of the capital.
I couldn’t tell the exact number, but there were surely more than a hundred of them — all marching towards the player killers.
Each and every single one of the group had an outfit with a crescent moon and a closed eye on it. The design seemed familiar, but I couldn’t recall where I’d seen it.
In response to the group’s sudden appearance, the player killers became visibly perplexed and only continued hiding.
Soon enough, a single lady walked out of the strange group.
She had black hair that was reminiscent of nightly darkness and reached as far as the back of her knees, which were hidden by her ceremonial kimono. Her beauty made me feel as though I was looking at Princess Kaguya, straight out of the children’s tale.
Suddenly, the beauty raised her hand, making the world go through what seemed like a theatrical blackout.
Mere moments ago, it had been daytime and the sun had been shining, but she’d somehow brought forth a “night.” It was complete with a blue moon that was downright impossible in reality and perhaps even the game.
A moment later, the player killers who were bathed in the blue moonlight grabbed hold of their throats and began to writhe in pain, which rendered them unable to move properly.
As if they had been waiting for this, the strange group split up and began systematically killing the writhing player killers. With their victims unable to move in any capacity, it seemed less like a battle and more like a tedious job.
However, there was an exception.
A certain player killer — a Beastman type female player with wolf-like ears and tail — could still move even when exposed to the moonlight.
According to Marie, that was one of K&R’s two leaders.
Using her claws and fangs, she savagely clawed her way through the enemies surrounding her and closed in on Princess Kaguya.
However, it was all in vain.
The hundreds surrounding her were too much for her to handle, so she ended up dying at the edge of a spear.
The sight made the beauty reminiscent of Princess Kaguya cackle in a discomforting manner.
“That’s Tsukuyo Fuso of the Lunar World,” Marie explained. “She is the owner of the clan known as The Lunar Society... though I guess the term ‘founder’ or ‘spiritual leader’ is more appropriate.”
“Spiritual leader?” I raised an eyebrow. It was a strange title, but it reminded me that her job was “High Priestess.”
Nevertheless, I found it to be somewhat questionable...
“Um, is this Lunar Society related to the Japanese cult of the same name?” asked Rook.
“...Oh.” His words reminded me of where I’d heard that before. “The Lunar Society” was the name of a cult that existed in reality.
“Yes,” answered Marie. “The clan ‘The Lunar Society’ is a part — or, rather, the headquarters — of the cult of the same name.”
“...Why are they advancing their religion in a game, of all places?” I asked.
“The Lunar Society’s first teaching is ‘Escape the shackles of flesh and betake yourself to the true world of souls,’” she explained. “I guess they consider Dendro to be that world.”
...I’m fully aware of this world’s realism, I thought. Our five senses and the tians we interact with can’t be distinguished from the real thing. But... is that really enough reason to take it that far?
“If their goal is to ‘betake themselves to the true world of souls’ and they accomplished it by getting here... what are they doing now?” I inquired.
“Oh, yes. Their second teaching is the main one,” Marie said. “It goes something like, ‘Embrace this free world and celebrate your liberty to your soul’s content.’”
...Sounds like the dogma of some dark god, I thought.
“The Lunar Society is quite feared among the players,” she continued. “Not only are they more than a thousand strong, they also have roots in reality, so many players are afraid that getting on the cult’s bad side might get something done to them in real life.”
Well, that’s a scary thought, I thought. If there’s the possibility of them abducting me or something, I’d rather not get involved with them, either.
“By the way, as far as we know, their reason for going after the player killers was the fact that one of their followers was killed by them,” Marie added. “It’s scary that such a thing can get the entire clan to go after you, isn’t it?”
...Would I be wrong to assume that — right next to the war — the cult is another reason why people are leaving the kingdom? I thought.
Next, Marie displayed what had happened in the west.
What I saw first was Lei-Lei — the girl that had participated in the party we’d had on my first day. Just like that time, she was wearing a Chinese dress despite having a northern European face. From what my brother had told me, she was from there in real life, too.
Lei-Lei’s fighting style as I saw it in the crystal ball was simple. She didn’t bring them up to the sky just to have them fall on a chainsaw, nor did she make them writhe just to have a group come up and impale them.
She simply walked up to the hiding player killers and punched them. That was all. However, the results were downright ridiculous.
Figaro’s chains basically turned his opponents into mincemeat, but this was on another level.
The player killers were completely liquefied. They were bursting so easily, it almost made me think that they weren’t people, but people-shaped water balloons. The moment Lei-Lei touched them, their flesh simply collapsed, leaving only a blood and entrail-colored liquid and the skin that released it.
Speaking of skin, it was flying around everywhere, decorating just about every surrounding tree. Because they instantly died, it would quickly disappear, but the sight itself wouldn’t leave my mind as easily.
I think I can see why she’s called the Prodigal of Feasts, I thought. No proper feast is complete without meat and drink, and she provided both. ...What a grim thought, though.
Despite seeming like a really jovial character in the party, Lei-Lei had a seriously scary fighting style.
Marie didn’t know why Lei-Lei had decided to eliminate the player killers.
With what happened in the south, east, and west now being clear, all that was left was the north — Noz Forest.
It was the place I was the most curious about. After all, I had died there once.
“Now, about the north...” Marie seemed somewhat reluctant.
Just what is she about to show us? I thought.
“Well, I’ll just play it, then.” Marie controlled the crystal ball and made it show the forest.
It had been filmed during nighttime, when I’d still been raiding the Tomb Labyrinth. Apparently, this was the earliest of the four eliminations.
However, I couldn’t see the player killer anywhere.
Sure, the trees and the night’s darkness made it hard to see, but there was absolutely no sign of him.
As I continued intently looking at the crystal ball and searching for him, the screen suddenly turned red as the footage ended.
It quickly changed to a recording from another camera, but just like the last one, it quickly got cut off, as well.
The next recording wasn’t a clip of the inside of the forest, but an overhead view of the whole area. The camera was probably placed on the capital’s outer walls.
Anyway, it showed with great clarity what was happening in the forest.
The forest was being bombarded by artillery shells and set aflame by a rain of incendiary bombs.
Not showing a single person, the clip ended with just that — a flaming forest, making it feel like a scene cut from some war movie.
“Um... what is this?” Rook’s question made Marie smile awkwardly.
“Ahaha... This is, uh... the battle between King of Destruction the Unknown and the unidentified player killer widely known as the ‘Superior Killer’...” The tone of her explanation made it seem like she had no confidence about what she was saying.
I can see why, I thought. The clip shows neither the player killer nor the King of Destruction eliminating him. It’s nothing but a display of environmental destruction.
“...If it doesn’t show the King of Destruction, how can you be sure that he was the one who did it?” I asked Marie. “Hell, we don’t even see the player killer, so it might not be this ‘Superior Killer,’ either.”
“Good point,” she replied. “From what we know about him, it’s all but confirmed that the PK is the Superior Killer, but we don’t have any conclusive proof about the one who attacked him being the King of Destruction. This is only an assumption based on the extent of the destruction displayed here. But you see, the King of Destruction has always been an enigmatic figure that doesn’t let anyone know much about him...”
Oh yeah, I thought. His reason for not participating in the war was that he “didn’t want to stand out.” Though that’s not very convincing when coming from someone who just turned an entire forest to cinders.
“Oh, but there are rumors that the King’s Embryo is a battleship! Take a closer look here!” Marie pointed her finger at a certain spot on the crystal ball.
Beyond the burning forest, shrouded by the darkness of night, there was a large, black silhouette. Its outline was too acute to be the ridgeline of a mountain, and indeed, many would assume it to be a battleship.
“So battleship Embryos exist, huh?” I said, not particularly surprised. My brother’s was a tank, so this wasn’t outside the realm of expectation.
In fact, I’d been more startled by Tsukuyo Fuso’s Embryo. I had a feeling that it was the “night” itself.
“But wait, wouldn’t such a large-scale attack harm more than just the Superior Killer?” I asked. What if it actually killed some tians...?
“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” Marie answered. “With all the player killing, almost no one dared to go through there. In fact, I think the King of Destruction only took such a flashy approach because he was certain that no one else would get caught up in it.”
“I see.” I nodded. Or maybe he’d turned the whole forest to ash simply because he couldn’t find anyone. From what I had read on the Internet, no one besides me had even seen the Superior Killer.
Now that I think about it, how did DIN get ahold of information that led them to believe that the player killer was the Superior Killer? I wondered.
“Do you know the reason why the King of Destruction attacked the Superior Killer?” I asked.
“We have no clue whatsoever.” Marie raised her hands up in resignation. “Despite being a player that gets strongly involved in many events across all countries, his identity and most of the reasons for his involvement are completely unknown.”
“And that’s why he’s called ‘The Unknown,’ right?” I asked.
“Yes,” she nodded. “We are completely clueless as to what drove him to cause such large-scale destruction...”
...I wonder if something pissed him off, I thought.
“Wait, aren’t there too many holes in the information about the north? Isn’t this intel a bit too vague?” Rook asked.
I couldn’t help but agree with Rook. The price had been 600 lir per area, but the information for Noz Forest seemed worth a lot less than that.
“Oh...?! Now that you mention it...” Marie muttered. “Ah! But wait! There’s some extra info that comes with this!”
“Extra info?” I asked.
“Indeed! It’s this: the Superior Killer left these flames alive!”
In response to Marie’s words...
“Oh?”
...Nemesis — who, up until that point, had been eating with Babi while barely looking at the crystal ball — finally showed some interest.
I could somewhat understand why this was the only piece of info that had gotten a reaction out of her.
In fact, I’d finally realized why Nemesis was behaving the way she was. She was frustrated that the player killers had all been eliminated. She didn’t like having the one she’d promised to get revenge on be taken away by someone else. I could relate to that, as well.
However...
“That’s great news,” said Nemesis.
...he was still alive.
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