Chapter 15
Whine!
Seong-Hwi massacred the Black Dogs with his Bowie knife. Every step he took was a complex groundwork that considered attack, defense, and evasion. Each attack was precise and a preparatory motion for his next action. His shift between attack, defense, advance, and retreat was fluid like water. How normal it seemed for him, rather made it seem abnormal—it was like a habit formed through endless repetition.
[3 Karma obtained.]
[3 Karma obtained.]
[4 Karma obtained.]
...
“Huuu. My mind is finally getting used to my body.”
Seong-Hwi had gotten several minor scratches against the Black Dogs four days ago, but he no longer allowed them to hurt him even once. Part of it was thanks to his higher Sense stat, but the decisive factor was that he had fully accustomed himself to his current physical parameters. He had a perfect understanding of how much strength he could exert, how quickly he could move, when he got tired, how quickly he recovered, and more.
Two people could have the same stats, but their effectiveness varied greatly. Stats were not just physical enhancements—they were weapons. There was a massive difference between one randomly swinging a weapon and one who had mastery over that weapon. To master a weapon, one required a perfect understanding of its capabilities.
Seong-Hwi shook off the black blood on his knife and mumbled, “I think I have about two hundred left.”
He had not been counting exactly, but had a general idea.
I’ll complete the trait quest tomorrow and immediately head to the second zone.
Since four days had passed, those who had diligently hunted from the first day had likely entered the second zone already.
I should invest the Karma I’ve accumulated into stats once I enter the second zone.
Seong-Hwi earned 2,312 Karma through hunting while holding off on adding a rule to his D Weapon. Since he already had 1,816 Karma, it added up to 4,128 Karma.
I doubt anyone would believe me if I said I earned this much by hunting Black Dogs during the mandatory quest.
People rarely hunted packs of Black Dogs by themselves. Even if they had the stats to do it, they could only obtain one Karma or none. No one would bother hunting if it gave them no Karma. No, there was one—Yuri Nazakov. He had hunted Black Dogs purely for revenge, and that peculiar behavior resulted in him discovering the trait quest.
Hmm, should I open an item cube next time? Seong-Hwi thought as he examined his knife.
He had taken this Bowie knife from Kang Hyun-Tae’s home. It was made through proper forging and heat treatment instead of grinding a hunk of iron into the shape of a knife. However, it was not an item and hence was slowly getting chipped from hunting Black Dogs, especially those that evolved into Bone Black Dogs.
It’d be great to get at least an Old Iron Sword from an item wood cube.
Seong-Hwi did not have any weapons he preferred or disliked. He had learned many weapon arts because he needed to use various symbols, and also learned from the techniques of the figures he borrowed the destinies of.
The issue was the F-rank item cube itself. Too much trash could come out of it, despite it costing three hundred Karma. He could open an E-rank item cube that cost three thousand Karma, but that would use up most of his Karma.
I hope it’ll last a little longer, Seong-Hwi thought as he sheathed the knife.
Just then, he detected a presence.
***
Seong-Hwi jumped from tree to tree to approach the presence he detected. Below him, ten people were preparing for combat against around thirty Black Dogs that had surrounded them.
“Sledgehammer to the front, Bow to the rear, Sword to the left, and I will take the right! Yarn, Puppy, and Yo-yo will support Sword, and Clutch Bag, Compact, and Smartphone will support Bow!”
A young man with a buzz cut laid commands to the others as he swung down a manhole cover on a Black Dog’s head.
“Chaaa!”
“Block that side!”
Shin Jun, was it? Seong-Hwi thought.
He did not know the names of anyone in District 8 except Jun because he had no interest in anyone else. The safe zone shrank over time, and those with good D Weapons, high base stats, or young people left the safe zone in groups. All that remained were the elderly, children, and a few young people who lacked the courage.
Such people would only die once the thirty days were up. In the first place, they wouldn’t even be able to obtain fruit, the only food source in the Dark Forest, if no one got it for them. If it weren’t for Jun, who comforted them and gathered members to hunt Black Dogs and procure the fruit, the safe zone would have already turned into a pandemonium of fighting and stealing.
Though it might have been better that way.
Some people only took action once they were pushed to their limit. However, they were not even thinking of leaving the safe zone because Jun was delivering food and water to them. In the Mirror World, it meant they were on the verge of being naturally selected out. What Jun was doing for their sake was killing them instead—it was truly ironic.
Seong-Hwi saw talent in Jun, but he lacked the qualities of an ideal leader. He might have taken an interest in Jun because they were similar in that aspect.
But he’s a decent commander.
Seong-Hwi looked down at the battle with great interest. The man in his fifties with the sledgehammer smashed the Black Dogs’ heads at the vanguard. He was so strong that even the os embedded in their chest shattered.
His Strength stat is at least over fifty.
A man in his thirties with a yellow recurve bow kept the Black Dogs at bay from the rear. He fired shabby arrows made by shaving tree branches directly into the Black Dogs’ os.
He must have raised mainly Sense.
“Hey! You should’ve stabbed it just now!”
“Mind your own business, tattoo pig!”
“What’d you say, bitch?!”
“Please focus, everyone!”
The three people supporting the bowman were equipped with weapons made of carved wood. A tall and robust man in a suit with a two-block hairstyle and tattoo sleeves on each arm swung his wooden club down on the Black Dog, blood splattering everywhere.
“Hit the orb in their chest! You’re not the sledgehammer ahjussi! You’re just getting blood splattered everywhere!”
The one shouting at the man was a beautiful woman with upturned eyes and hair dyed blonde. She tried to thrust her wooden spear into a Black Dog’s os, but it quickly bit the spear and broke it.
“Dammit!” she shouted.
“Unnie! Move!”
A girl who seemed like a high schooler stepped forward from the rear with a shield of branches intertwined with vines.
Woof! Woof!
“Urgh!” the girl grunted.
“Out of the way, Ye-Ji!” the bowman shouted.
The high school girl pushed away the Black Dog with her shield and jumped back using the rebound. A wooden arrow pierced the Black Dog’s os, and it melted.
The three of them must have gotten bad D Weapons. From their movements, they likely allotted their Karma to Strength.
Seong-Hwi commended their decision. If one’s D Weapon was not useful in the beginning, the Strength stat became crucial because they could exert great power by using anything in their surroundings as a weapon.
Seong-Hwi looked to the left. A handsome man in his twenties with thick eyebrows and a bridged nose was cutting down Black Dogs with a one-handed sword.
A sword for a D Weapon, huh? Interesting.
The young man’s sword was a cutlass, commonly used by sailors in the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries. He seemed quite lucky because one’s chance of survival increased drastically if they got a sword as a D Weapon. After all, swords had exceptional killing capabilities in the beginning.
“Yarn ajumma!” the young man shouted.
“Okay!” a middle-aged woman in her fifties replied.
She continued to throw rocks wrapped in yarn, which got tangled on the Black Dogs and obstructed their movement. The man took that chance to cut down the Black Dogs. The remaining two in the team were an elementary school boy and a middle school girl. The boy restlessly threw rocks from his pockets, and the girl waited for the right chance to provide support, a wooden shield in one hand and hugging a terrified Yorkshire Terrier with the other arm.
It’s a decently balanced party.
“Damn filthy mutts! I’m coming, Jun! Hold on!”
Two of them were blocking the Black Dogs with no support—Park Ho-Geun with the sledgehammer, and Shin Jun with the manhole cover. Ho-Geun was the strongest in the group, while Jun was the only one with a defensive D Weapon. Ho-Geun smashed the heads of all the Black Dogs at the front and immediately ran to Jun, struggling on the right. The battle was almost over.
Not bad at all. Hm? Seong-Hwi looked ahead when only three Black Dogs were remaining. Oh, they’re at the boundary between the first and second zones.
The sound of battle echoed. The last Black Dog turned into a pool of blood, and Jun and his team fell to the ground as they panted heavily.
“Huff, huff! Goddamn mutts!”
“Fuuu, what the hell was that? We’ve never seen thirty of them together.”
“Is anyone hurt? It’s not much for first aid, but I can wrap your wounds with my yarn to add pressure to them,” said the middle-aged woman with the yarn D Weapon.
Ho-Geun chuckled and replied, “Hehe. I’m fine, Madam Choi. I’m sturdy thanks to my high Health stat.”
The tough-looking man with the tattoo sleeves frowned and said, “Sledgehammer, I thought we were supposed to call each other by our Destiny Weapons when in battle. You were complaining when I called you by your name.”
“Are we in battle right now, Clutch Bag? That was only because Jun said it was more convenient and intuitive than calling each other by our given names, but how is your Destiny Weapon name harder to say than your name? It’s four syllables![1]”
“Haha! You tell him, Ho-Geun ahjussi! That tattoo pig Na Seong-Tae is completely in the wrong here,” said the blonde woman as she giggled.
“I have to agree. Smartphone is four syllables, too[2], and neither is it intuitive since a smartphone is useless in battle,” the high school girl examining her wooden shield agreed with Seong-Tae.
Seong-Hwi smiled as he listened to their conversation.
Calling people by their D Weapons, huh?
It happened often, even in the Mirror World. It was indeed easy to call and intuitive, but it was mainly because they didn’t want to get attached. They prevented themselves from becoming close to one another by calling them by the names of objects rather than their given names. The closer they got, the more destructive the farewell would be, lowering the survivor’s chance of survival.
“Yes! I collected a hundred Karma!”
“Rin, ask Jun for advice if you’re buying a stat cube.”
“Dammit! When am I gonna collect three hundred Karma to open an item cube? I want something like a sword or sledgehammer, too.”
“We agreed to raise our stats first since handmade weapons work against the Black Dogs. Have you already forgotten, tattoo pig?”
“Haaa. Bitch, you keep testing my patience when you’re just an arm’s length away.”
While everyone was chatting with their guards down, the bowman froze as he was collecting the wooden arrows.
He shouted, “Everyone, get up!”
“What?”
“What’s wrong, Min-Jae hyung?”
“Something’s coming!”
Their expressions changed, and they immediately stood up. The bowman’s name was Namgung Min-Jae, the one with the highest Sense stat in the team.
“Get into formation!” Jun shouted.
Everyone quickly gathered to cover one another. Soon after, they were faced with a Chaos monster different from Black Dogs.
Aaaaahhhh!
Hurghhh!
“W-what the fuck?!”
“Are those people?”
“How the hell are those people?!”
[Body of the race Chaos, discovered.]
The Akasha Message confirmed it for them. They were Chaos—more specifically, the Invasive Chaos Body, which commonly inhabited the second zone of the Dark Forest. Bodies were former humans corrupted by Chaos Mana. The Blood Bodies, made of black blood, approached the team as their pure black eyes gleamed.
“Dammit! There’s one with bones, too!” Ho-Geun shouted.
They occasionally faced Black Dogs with bones, which were several times stronger than regular Black Dogs. One of their teammates had been killed by one of them.
There were three Bodies—two were Blood Bodies and one was a Bone Body.
Aaaaahhhh!
Hurghhh!
The Bodies’ screeches had no substance but were enough to instill fear.
As the Bodies quickly approached them, Jun shouted, “Do not confront them until we figure out how strong they are! I will try to block them first!”
Aaaaahhhh!
One of the Blood Bodies charged at Jun and barraged his manhole cover with its fists.
“Urgh!” Jun grunted as the impact numbed his arms.
Not only were they far stronger than the Black Dogs, but they could also attack in various patterns because they had a human form.
Urrrrhhhh!
Gyaaaahhhh!
Jun shouted inwardly, Three of such monsters! One of them even has bones! At this rate...
Jun imagined what would happen. If they engaged these Bodies, two or three teammates would die for sure. Just then, a voice was heard from atop a tree, one filled with leisure and interest unbefitting the situation.
“Hey. Want some help?”
“Gasp! What the hell?!”
“Who’s there?!”
Gyeeehhh?
Jun and the other party members looked up. The Bodies also looked around for the source of the voice.
“Isn’t that... the murderer?”
“What’s he doing here?”
Seong-Hwi was referred to as the murderer by the people of District 8 because he had killed Kim Min-Su without hesitation as soon as they arrived at the Dark Forest. Min-Jae, who had not detected Seong-Hwi despite his high Sense stat, cautiously nocked an arrow on his bow.
“Hup! You’ll help us?” Jun asked as he pushed away the Body attacking his manhole cover.
Seong-Hwi shrugged and replied, “Not for free, of course.”
“What do you want?”
“My knife is full of chips, but it’ll get chipped even more if I kill those Bodies. Do you get what I’m saying?”
“Are you asking us to open an item cube for you? That costs three hundred Karma! Forget it! Step aside, Jun! I’ll kill them!” Ho-Geun shouted as he stepped forward with the sledgehammer.
Jun shouted, “No!”
“Why not? That murderer might have been strong in the beginning, but now so are we!”
“You might be fine, Ho-Geun ahjussi, but we won’t be able to avoid casualties if we fight these monsters!”
Ho-Geun was left with no retort. Jun’s judgments had never been wrong thus far.
Jun said to Seong-Hwi, “I will use my three hundred Karma to open an item cube for you! Please help—urgh!”
A Blood Body suddenly charged at Jun, and he accidentally lost his grip on the manhole cover from the impact.
Gyeeehhhh!
“Jun! No!” Ho-Geun shouted.
Just as the Blood Body’s fist was about to smash into Jun’s bare body, Seong-Hwi threw his knife at the Blood Body’s head, and it exploded. The rest of it turned into blood and melted away.
Seong-Hwi gracefully landed on the ground and said, “The Bodies’ os is in their head. The easiest way to know where the os are located is to look at where the ones that have evolved into Bone start forming bone. Take that Bone Body for example. Only its skull is fully formed.”
Os? Is he talking about the black orb? Jun thought.
He shook off his confusion and examined the Body with bones. It had a skull, some ribs, and a right arm bone. Only the skull was fully formed.
Aaaaahhh!
Seong-Hwi charged at the other Blood Body unarmed.
“Watch out!”
“That guy doesn’t even have a weapon!”
Seong-Hwi easily dodged the Blood Body’s punches and straightened his hand and fingers to thrust into its head like a spear. The Blood Body turned into a pool of blood with its os destroyed.
“How high is that guy’s Health stat? He did that with his bare hand?” Ho-Geun muttered.
He already knew that a high Health stat hardened one’s body, reduced fatigue, and hastened recovery. However, he had no idea how high it would need to be for one’s hands to be as hard as metal.
The technique Seong-Hwi showed was, in truth, infusing the ends of his fingers with mana. Since humans did not have experience using mana or magic, they needed to train to become adept with it. To make a comparison, it was like suddenly gaining wings and needing to learn how to fly. Of course, the process did not apply to Seong-Hwi because he used to soar through the skies.
Graaaahhh!
The remaining Bone Body trembled and madly charged at Seong-Hwi. He could tell from its feet digging into the ground with each step that its leg strength was unreal.
Gyeeeehhh! It screeched as it extended its right arm, containing bone, at Seong-Hwi. Gyaaahh?
The Bone Body had put everything it had into the punch, but Seong-Hwi also extended his right arm to grab its fist. He then ripped off the Bone Body’s arm.
Aaarrrggghhh!
“Shut the hell up. I have no idea what you’re saying. You’re a nuisance, even in death,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he stared at the Body.
A Body was a human’s deteriorated state. Humans who failed to pay the survival tax were reduced to that form. Seong-Hwi had seen it all too many times and killed just as many, feeling like shit each time.
“Hup!” Seong-Hwi shoved the Body’s right arm bone deep into its skull.
Nuuurgh.
The Bone Body melted away once its os was destroyed, and its skull, with its arm bone stuck in it, fell into the pool of blood.
[10 Karma obtained.]
[11 Karma obtained.]
[18 Karma obtained.]
...
It’s been a while since I got double-digit Karma, he thought.
Seong-Hwi examined the Akasha Messages and turned around.
“Gasp!”
“D-dammit!”
Jun’s teammates gripped their weapons tightly, wary of Seong-Hwi.
Crazy son of a bitch! How did he kill those things by himself?
His movements weren’t fast enough for me to not catch them, but... something was different about them!
I thought I had become strong enough, but... not even close, I guess.
Seong-Hwi smirked as he looked around the wary team. He wrung his hoodie, soaked with blood.
“You don’t have to be so wary of me. I won’t demand money for laundry, but as promised, you’ll open one F-rank item cube for me.”
1. Clutch bag is four syllables in Korean. ☜
2. Smartphone is also four syllables in Korean. ☜