“I’ll tell you in advance, the Command Armor is made of my bones, so you better not resist.”
Simply put, an attack would be a breach of contract. No wonder he pushed the contract.
“What if I run away? They can’t stop me, can they?”
Yoon-seok asked him out of pure curiosity; he wore a fishy smile.
“Try it if you want. It’s useless.”
“Useless, huh…?”
Looking at that confident way of speaking, he was prepared for this. Couldn’t they just tell him? It was so bothersome.
‘I have no choice but to find out for myself.’
Yoon-seok kicked off the ground and leaped up. Was it the Treaty Zone? The barrier spread by the woman named Erian was still working, but it wasn’t a big problem.
Bang-!
It shattered with one punch. Yoon-seok briefly looked down and observed their reactions.
‘This doesn’t seem to be the countermeasure…’
Even though he broke the barrier and escaped, they showed no embarrassment. No, rather, that man was smiling as if he had expected this. Therefore, Yoon-seok didn’t understand.
“What is this?”
Although the distance was expanding rapidly, there were still no tracking signs. They were just looking his way from the ground. What the hell was their countermeasure?
‘This makes me want to find out more.’
The reason why Yoon-seok chose to run away was simple. He wanted to find out what the countermeasures were. No, to be precise, he was curious about the man’s abilities. What kind of cards would that wizard Ranker have? Originally, he planned to hunt monsters together and find out step by step, but now that wasn’t possible.
[The Contractor is calling you.]
Yoon-seok, who was about to cross the hole in the ceiling and go outside, suddenly hardened. A message came up, and a light flashed in front of him…
“Didn’t I tell you? It’s useless.”
He was back in front of them.
‘A forced call, huh…?’
Was this the countermeasure? Yoon-seok thought it worthy of showing confidence, but it was hard to agree that it was useless. At least he got this information.
“It seems that writing a contract is the condition.”
“Hmm, who knows?”
“It’s must be your unique skill or ability, and that thing can only be used for those who have written a contract with you. So what else do you have?”
The man also changed his attitude.
“You’ll find out for yourself. Well, you won’t have time for that.”
Maybe it was because he’s one of the few wizard Rankers? He kept a tight lid on information about his abilities. But for now, he passed the screening. It was time for the interview.
“So, what are your next plans?”
The moment Yoon-seok took a step forward and asked, the colleagues surrounded by bone armor flew in, reciting their respective commands.
‘Is it just the three of them coming at me?’
If so, that was a little disappointing. Even if the bone armor perfectly protected them, how could they catch a ranker with just the three of them? He wondered if their targets thus far were low rankers who had survived until now due to luck. Weren’t they overestimating each other too much?
Whoosh! Whooosh! Boom! Tap-tap-tap!
Yoon-seok’s body moved quickly like an acrobat and avoided their techniques without injury. This was nothing. Even the top 150 Rankers would be able to avoid them all day long.
‘It’s annoying to evade, though.’
When Yoon-seok stopped moving, numerous techniques poured down. However, the Dimensional Muscle couldn’t be scratched.
“He just endured it like that…?”
“Damn, he is so relaxed. Is he a high ranker?”
Didn’t they expect this? The colleagues attacking him lost their motivation and spat out curses.
Yoon-seok smiled and looked at the wizard.
“…”
This time, it was a crisis response ability test. How would the man act in such an unexpected situation?
“Soul Weapon.”
This time, a translucent light formed over his colleagues’ weapons. At this, Yoon-seok’s eyes also started to light up.
“I don’t know about armor, but if this happens, there must be a problem with the contract?”
It was a weapon enhancement buff. Even if it weren’t a direct attack, it would be sufficiently included in the intentionality specified in the contract.
“Originally, I was going to wait until you were a little more worn out, but there is nothing I can do about it.”
The man didn’t finish the buff but directly started injecting mana into his staff.
“The Wraith Monarch.”
A magic circle formed over the ground, and a black mist swirled around him. An ominous presence emanated from beyond that fog that even Yoon-seok couldn’t see through.
‘Was he a necromancer, not a wizard?’
The carcasses of the monsters beyond the barrier floated in the air and stood up one by one while reassembling themselves.
“Eternal Immortality.”
Seeing the mana in the summoned beast’s body, it seemed to be a buff…
‘What is he going to do?’
Yoon-seok watched the preparation process silently. Was he going to attack using the summoned beasts? It was such a clear breach of contract that it was meaningless to consider intentionality.
‘Does that guy have insurance like me?’
It was reasonable doubt. There was a possibility that the opponent may have cheated, just like him, who was relying on the non-loss muscle effect to counteract his body vanishing.
Yoon-seok pretended to be frustrated and asked.
“Can you ignore the contract…?”
“As expected, you’re a smart person.”
“How?”
He admitted it to some extent, but the man didn’t even tell him. It must be his personality to avoid unnecessary words.
Snap.
As the man snapped his fingers, the summoned beasts and the black mist at the center rushed toward Yoon-seok. The wizard’s colleagues didn’t stand by and watch.
“Let’s see if you can stay still like before!”
Perhaps they gained confidence after receiving a buff. Their movements were much more aggressive than before. Chattier, too.
“Hahaha! It’s too late to regret it now! You should have written the contract better!”
This time, Yoon-seok also agreed. That was right.
Clank-!
The contract should be well written. Otherwise, it would be big trouble.
* * *
[Your body will be destroyed as a penalty for breach of contract.]
Yoon-seok, who smashed the abdomen of the bone armor of the swordsman closest to him, smirked. Was it because he hit a defenseless opponent that didn’t even expect him to counterattack? It felt different.
“Koff…! H-how come…!”
“That’s why you should have written the contract better.”
Yoon-seok, who returned the words he had received, looked around. Everyone, including the man, stopped acting and seemed embarrassed.
“T-there shouldn’t have been any gaps in the contract, right…?”
Yoon-seok shrugged. It wasn’t necessary to give unnecessary information since they were enemies.
Yoon-seok warmed up by turning his shoulders lightly.
‘Shall we start soon?’
He roughly checked what the other party had prepared… this was where the pressure interview began. Some people say they can’t show their abilities in a crisis, but most of them show abilities beyond their limits when their lives are threatened.
‘Then what about this guy?’
The screening criteria were very simple. If they showed an irreplaceable and valuable ability, they passed. Otherwise, they were eliminated.
‘Let’s start with the stinky corpse bastards.’
Yoon-seok drew his sword and cut through the air. The Heavenly Sword’s 2nd Technique, Traverse. It wasn’t a style of swordsmanship that suited Yoon-seok well, but there was nothing better when dealing with only the target he wanted to without destroying the environment.
Slash-slash-slash-!
The hundreds of resurrected monsters were split in half with no time for the wizard or colleagues to take action. Was it because of the non-resurrection effect attached to {Slaughter}? They originally started from corpses, but none moved after being cut.
‘Now, let’s check that as well.’
Without hesitation, Yoon-seok flew into the black mist. A bizarre-looking skeleton was emitting a red glow at the center.
—Human, how did you enter the Realm of Death?
“I just stepped in.”
—…You won’t come back alive.
“I like your short introduction.”
After a brief conversation, Yoon-seok laughed and smashed the skull’s head with his fist. However, since he heard it was the Wraith Monarch, he wondered if it had any other abilities.
‘What, is this the end?’
Craaash-!
The red-eye glow went out, and a gust of wind began to blow. The black mist vanished without a hitch. As his vision cleared, Yoon-seok saw three people as hard as ice and the swordsman wriggling on the ground.
Yoon-seok smirked.
“M-monster…”
Why couldn’t everyone say something besides that? Yoon-seok moved and grabbed one of their necks.
“Kyaaaaaa!”
Was her name Erian? It seemed like she was also a wizard, but he hadn’t spoken with her. Well, it didn’t mean much.
“Eltas! S-save me…”
She didn’t even think to run away but instead relied on her colleagues? There was nothing more to see; she failed.
Bam-!
Yoon-seok picked up her delicate body and threw her to the ground. But could there be something more to them than being colleagues?
“E-Erian!”
This time, the man who didn’t raise an eyebrow when the swordsman was hit screamed and ran toward the fainted woman.
‘He lost control of his personal feelings. Discrimination against colleagues.’
It wasn’t to the point of elimination, but it was a big deduction. After a short evaluation, Yoon-seok left them alone for a while and looked elsewhere. He wondered if they couldn’t keep up with this situation as it developed quickly. A sloppy man, presumably the party’s tanker, stood blankly and clutched at his shield.
If he were going to be like that, it’d be easier to just lie down.
Bang-!
Yoon-seok, who laid the tank down himself, glanced around for the last time. The chaotic situation was calmed down. Now it was time to move on to the main dish.
“Eltas, you have to run away…”
“Erian! Hurry up and drink the potion…!”
How will the man named Eltas pull through this desperate situation?
Yoon-seok waited with interest. Wasn’t this the beauty of a pressure interview? He had never done it himself, though.
Tap.
As Yoon-seok took a step closer, Eltas turned to Yoon-seok. And he bowed his head.
“W-we’re sorry…”
“…”
“I’m not going to just ask you to let me go. But please forgive Erian. Uh, you won’t get the reward if you kill her anyway…”
Yoon-seok, who tilted his head thinking that he had heard him wrong, sighed.
[You will get a special reward when you kill a ranker.]
He would have crushed their head without wasting time earlier if he had only coveted this reward.
‘They all failed…’
He felt that Eltas’s evaluation was over, but Yoon-seok asked.
“How did you lie when you introduced yourself earlier?”
He spat out a fake name, even though the Executor’s Eyes were activated. How was it possible?
“I-I don’t know what you mean… if you are angry, please, you can just…”
Eltas looked confused, so Yoon-seok briefly explained about the Executor’s Eye.
An unexpected answer returned.
“I-I don’t look people in the eyes when I speak.”
“You don’t?”
“Yeah, that’s right. It’s been a habit since I was little. I always look a little higher.”
What habit was that? Wasn’t this a scammer?
Anyway, Yoon-seok was curious how he avoided it, but it must’ve been a coincidence. It was kind of disappointing, but thanks to him, he found out there was such away.
‘Oh right. I should ask that too.’
Yoon-seok also asked about his contract-related abilities to forcibly summon him from a distance. Was it because the situation changed? Unlike before, Eltas offered a very kind reply.
“It thanks to the unique skill b Dishonor}. I-I can give you the details if you want.”
Before he could nod, Eltas recited his skill history, starting with F Rank. He was able to create a mutual contract once per day and earn LP when killing the subject under contract. In addition to the forced call, there were various abilities related to contracts.
‘…All of a sudden, I feel bad just killing him.’
Should he say he was greedy? Yoon-seok signed a contract with Sharon and the Overlord of Bow. It was also likely to increase further in filling the remaining vacancies. It was clear that {Dishonor} would greatly help control them even in an unexpected situation. But the problem…
[All cooldowns, including skills, powers, and items, are increased five times.]
Because of this rule, he’d have to wait more than 100 days to use b Predation}.
‘Should I put it on hold because I can always visit him later if I use {Death God}?’
Putting that aside, Yoon-seok brought up the question he asked earlier.
“Oh, right. How did you ignore the contract earlier?”
There was no ability to allow the contract to be disregarded in {Dishonor}. Well, he could have lied looking higher than Yoon-seok’s eyes again this time, but…
“T-that’s an ability.”
Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case. When asked in detail what kind of ability it was, Eltas cautiously responded.
“The ability to add up to two special abilities to an item for a week…”
It was an enchantment-type power, and the abilities given to each item were different. In the case of a Mutual Agreement, only the contractee received a penalty in case of non-fulfillment of the contract, and the added text wasn’t visible through Appraisal.
‘It’s an amazing ability.’
Touching item information was very difficult even with the universal cheat key, the Lady’s Commandment. But what about the power that made it possible? He wanted it even more. Yoon-seok could steal this power with {Predation} although it was random.
“Then what ability can be given here?”
Yoon-seok opened his bag and took out the Old Pocket Watch. Did he see the hope that he and his lover might be able to survive? Eltas, holding the watch with trembling hands, looked up. Seeing his pupils moving, it seemed like he was reading system text…
“There are a total of four enchantable abilities.”
When Yoon-seok nodded, Eltas began to read them aloud.
“The first is to allow you to go back to the day before. Instead, the cooldown increases by ten times.”
It wasn’t a bad ability. Even if he solved the cooldown with Sharon, he must die 288 times to return one day. It significantly reduced their effort.
“The second is?”
“All stats increase by +1 until the cooldown returns.”
“That isn’t that good. What’s the third one?
“You can go back to any time you want for up to three months. However, the item will be destroyed after use.”
The third one was a bit extreme, but it was an ability that could be of great help depending on the situation. Yoon-seok gave Eltas time to take a breath and asked again.
“Then what about the fourth?”
“Lastly, you can return when you want.”
“…When I want?”
Yoon-seok paused.
“Does that mean I don’t have to die if I want to?”
Was it because of his excited voice? Or was it because of his polite way of speaking? Regardless…
“That’s right…”
Eltas answered with a tremble, and after that, everything became clear.
Yoon-seok opened his mouth, overwhelmed with emotion.
“Pass.”
The eighth teammate came from a completely unexpected place.
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