CH 58

The brawl happening in front of Siegfried’s eyes could be considered the ultimate ‘character deletion fight’[1]. A character deletion fight where an item worth an entire building in Gangnam was on the line started.

However, the brawl didn’t last long.

Sukeok! Sukeok! Sukeok! 

An Adventurer appeared out of nowhere and started cutting down the others one by one, but the surprising part was that they died in a single attack. In fact, the Adventurer didn’t use any skills and the attack that cut the others down was just a basic attack.

The other Adventurers died without even being able to resist in the face of such an overwhelming power.

“Euk!”

“Keuk!”

“Ack!”

The only thing they could do was groan before dying.

Thud…! Thud…! Thud…! 

The items dropped by the Adventurers rolled on the ground.

Seuk…

The Adventurer extended his right hand toward the dead Adventurers. Then, the items they dropped slowly floated before being absorbed into the Adventurer’s Inventory—including the extremely expensive Soul Separation Device.

‘Who’s that?’ Siegfried wondered. He raised his left hand as quietly as possible and activated his Rune of Insight.

[BJ Raptor]

[Type: Adventurer]

[Level: 261]

[Class: Asura]

[Titles: Thousand Man Slaughterer, One Who Walks the Path of Blood, Diligent Slaughterer.]

The Adventurer who killed the group of Adventurers like taking candy from a baby was none other than the Korean gamer—Lee Gwang-Jin—also known by his ID, Raptor. He was a streamer specializing in BNW-related content, and he was ranked 99th in the rankings.

Of course, there were many variables taken into consideration when determining a player’s rank, so one’s position on the rankings was not an absolute statement of their strength. However, there was no need to mention how difficult it was to place in the top 100 of a game played by hundreds of millions of people.

Raptor was definitely strong. In fact, he could be the leading candidate to win the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament.

***

“Keuh…!” Raptor let out a satisfied groan after obtaining the Soul Separation Device.

“Who knew I’d pick this up here?” he muttered.

Meanwhile, his chat window went into a frenzy.

[★Brand★: Soul Separation Device… LOL]

[Yuljae: Awesome;;;;;;;;;;;]

[Pimei999: He got that item… WTH;;;]

[AwesomePark: Crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy!]

[Threesecondhangang: What’s with his crazy luck?]

We are bit.ly/3iBfjkV, find us on google.

[Loghead: Raptor is going to be a Dual Class now?;; It seems that he is going to enter the top ten rankings soon;;;]

It was just natural that his viewers were in an uproar. His live stream viewers already numbered over a million when he announced that he would join the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament, and there were even other streamers who opened their streams just to commentate on his progress.

In addition, the fact that he had just obtained the Mythic-rated item Soul Separation Device sent his viewers into a frenzy.

It was a frenzy he very much welcomed.

[Alert: You have received a 10,000-won donation!]

[Alert: You have received a 1,000-won donation!]

[Alert: You have received a 5,000,000-won donation!]

The more than a million subscribers started throwing donations at him, and his most loyal fans—enchanted by Raptor’s signature arrogance—started throwing more than ten million won at him in donations.

Thanks to his viewer’s enthusiasm, Raptor was able to amass an astonishing 1.1 billion won in donations within five minutes. Of course, those donations were chump change compared to the value of the Soul Separation Device.

“Thank you.”

That was all Raptor had to say to his viewers after receiving 1.1 billion won in donations. Yes, he was arrogant by nature, but such an amount was considered a spare change for BNW Rankers, and this was a privilege only the rankers in BNW possessed. Their privilege to earn astronomical sums of money made them consider such a sum to be nothing but spare change in their pockets.

“Guys…” Raptor said with his trademark sleazy smile that instantly gathered his viewers’ attention. Then, he continued once he was certain that all of his viewers were focused on him. “Recommend me a second class. What should I take? A magician-type? Or a tanker-type? Go ahead and make a suggestion if you know something. Ah, how will I afford all the equipment I will need? Hey guys, I think I’ll be broke afterward. What should I do?”

Another round of donations started pouring into his pocket.

Raptor confidently smiled. He was certain that he would emerge victorious in this tournament. That was why he was able to leisurely say such things without a hint of hesitation.

***

‘Ah… why the hell is a Ranker here…?’ Siegfried grumbled in disbelief.

A Ranker should have no business joining a tournament like this in the first place. In fact, most Rankers viewed the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament negatively since they had too much to lose and the risks were stacked against their favor.

They stood to lose their level, items, and influence. They were also unwilling to risk their character, which was basically a goose that laid golden eggs, by taking part in such an absurd tournament.

The existence of their characters alone basically earned them an absurd amount of money, similar to Gangnam building owners[2], so they had no reason to risk their character that could earn them billions after a single live stream or dungeon raid.

Those at the top had more to lose than what they stood to gain from the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament, and that was why the level of most of the participants in this tournament was between Level 10 to Level 150.

Most of the participants were low-level adventurers who stood to lose a little but stood to gain the whole world if they managed to win in this tournament.

However, Raptor was different…

‘I’m damned sure that those ranked higher than me won’t be joining, so… that can only mean that I’ll win this tournament by a landslide, right?’ 

He knew that those ranked higher than him would be averse to joining this tournament, so he decided to target a niche market for himself.

“Ah… I’d be in the top ten if I played this game just half a year earlier. Hmm… I wish I can meet someone ranked higher than me. I’d love to smash their head, take their items, and win this thing. Hehe, those scaredy cats can’t do anything without depending on their clans and items,” Raptor brazenly said with an air of arrogance to further incite his viewers.

He was just boasting. He only joined the tournament because he was sure that no other Ranker would join the tournament aside from himself, but this was only possible because he was a top 100 Ranker.

‘I have to play it safe. I can kiss my life goodbye from a tiny mistake…!’ Siegfried thought as he watched Raptor disappear with the Soul Separation Device.

‘I’m at the bottom of the food chain right now. Don’t you even think about picking up items and just focus on surviving this, you got that?’ Siegfried told himself as he resolved to be even more cautious from now on. After all, he had just confirmed with his own two eyes that a top ranker was a participant in this tournament.

***

Three hours later, the sun started to set as darkness slowly descended upon the island.

Seuk…

Siegfried carefully crawled out from beneath the boulder after vigilantly looking around for the past three hours.

Ding!

A message suddenly popped up in front of him.

[Rule #2]

- Any participant that wishes to rest may rest at the town nearest to them. However, the participant will die if the town is destroyed while they are resting in it.

- Participants will not be able to kill each other in town.

- All participants leaving a town will receive an ‘Immortal Aura’ buff for thirty minutes to ensure their safety.

- The safest way for the participants to rest is to take advantage of ‘Break Time.’ Break Time will last for three consecutive hours at a time.

The tournament was bound to be an arduous one. Break Time was provided so that all players could log out at the same time and get some rest, but this also meant that the guaranteed rest time every twenty-four hours was only a measly three hours.

‘They want us to play the game while only sleeping for three hours on top of this being a Hardcore Mode tournament? Are they insane?’ Siegfried complained and gnashed his teeth after reading the message.

Even a gaming addict would find it difficult to maintain high levels of concentration for the entire day while running on only three hours of sleep, not to mention ordinary players.

‘Let’s go to a nearby town for now,’ Siegfried thought. He had to prepare for Break Time, even though it was unknown when it would start.

However, he decided to leave the steel horse behind.

‘It’s going to give my location away.’

Riding the steel horse in the middle of the night was no different from announcing, “I’m here!” to everyone nearby.

Seuk… seuk… seuk…

Siegfried tread as carefully as he could while making his way to a nearby town.

While Siegfried was quietly moving through the bushes, he suddenly came face to face with another Adventurer coming from the other direction.

“Heok!” The Adventurer gasped in surprise.

“Eh?” Siegfried muttered in surprise as well.

They were weaving through the bushes as suspense and tension filled their hearts when they suddenly came face to face with each other.

Then, three… two… one…!

Siegfried was the first to react.

Bam!

He smashed his mace into the Adventurer’s head.

Thud…!

Fortunately, the Adventurer was only Level 27. He instantly died after Siegfried’s mace crushed his head.

Roll…

The Level 27 Adventurer left behind a junk item that no one would take, even if it were given for free.

‘Ah… I almost had a heart attack,’ Siegfried calmed his pounding heart down before he continued on his journey toward a nearby town.

However, things didn’t go as smoothly as he wanted.

“Catch him!”

“Over there! Get him!”

“He’s crouched over there! What are you doing?! Hurry up and kill him!”

Around ten Adventurers were running toward Siegfried…

‘Are they coming for me…?’ 

Siegfried was flabbergasted at the entire situation. He had never expected that people would cooperate together in this Hardcore Mode tournament.

Siegfried inspected the incoming Adventurers closely and discovered that they all had something in common—their levels were low, and they were wearing red bandanas.

It seemed that a bunch of low-level players had decided to party together and join the tournament. Although it was a party on borrowed time since they would have to kill each other sooner or later.

‘I have to fight…’ 

Siegfried gripped his mace and prepared to fight when the Adventurers surrounded him.

It was another stroke of fortune, as the Adventurers surrounding him were only around Level 20 to 40.

Bam!

Siegfried gathered his lightning attribute energy into his mace and used Lightning Smite on the enemy in front of him.

Bzzzt!

When Lightning Smite landed on his primary target, three other bolts of lightning shot out and electrocuted the other Adventurers surrounding the latter.

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: Your enemies have been electrocuted by your skill ‘Lightning Smite’! You may deal 10% extra damage for 10 seconds!]

The ‘electrocute’ status ailment from the lightning attribute amplified the damage dealt to the affected enemy.

Whoosh!

Siegfried used Flying Spur and threw his mace at the electrocuted enemies.

Pak! Pak! Pak! 

The mace struck the electrocuted Adventurers one by one.

[Triple Kill!]

When Siegfried killed three of them in a single shot, an announcement echoed throughout the entire island.

[Alert: The battlefield’s climate will periodically change from now on!]

— The climate will randomly change until the end of the tournament.

When the announcement ended, the entire island’s climate instantly changed.

[Alert: Area 1 Blizzard!]

[Alert: Area 2 Fog!]

[Alert: Area 3 Earthquake!]

[Alert: …]

[Alert: …]

[Alert: Area 9 Bombardment!]

The issue was that Area 9—the area where Siegfried was currently located—did not experience a change in the climate. Instead, it was suddenly being bombarded.

‘B-Bombardment?!’ Siegfried exclaimed inwardly at the absurd message.

Shwooooooong…!

Mortar shells started raining down from the sky.

KABOOOOOOM!

The first shell landed and exploded, but it was just an appetizer.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The entire area was quickly set ablaze by the explosions.

‘Damn it!’ Siegfried inwardly cursed as he immediately got down on the ground. It was an instinctive response that was embedded in his brain while serving in the military[3], and all military servicemen were taught that this was the best way to protect themselves during an artillery bombardment.

A mortar shell would explode the moment it made contact with the ground, and the shrapnel it would send out would go flying in a V-Shaped direction. As such, it was known that it was better to get as close to the ground as possible and pray that one would make it out alive rather than trying to make a run for it.

“Euk!”

“Ack!”

“Damn it!”

Sure enough, most of the Adventurers Siegfried was fighting against just a few moments ago died from the shrapnel rather than from the explosion. However, there were some who were unfortunate enough to receive a direct hit from a mortar shell. They had to go through excruciating pain before dying.

‘Please…!’ Siegfried desperately prayed, again and again, hoping that he wouldn’t end up as another casualty from the bombardment. He prayed to every single god he knew while desperately hoping that he would make it out alive.

‘Buddha, God, Allah, Mom, Master! Please! Spare me just this once…!’

However, it seemed that his desperate prayers had fallen on deaf ears.

Shwiiiiiing…

A mortar shell headed straight for Siegfried’s head.

Kaboooom!

The explosion devoured Siegfried.

[Siegfried]

[HP: ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜]

His HP was reduced to zero.

[Alert: You have been killed by a mortal shell!]

He prayed desperately, but it seemed that the merciless heavens had forsaken him.

[Alert: Death Penalty has been applied!]

[Alert: You have lost three levels! (Level 53 ▶ Level 50)]

[Alert: You will not be able to log in for the next 49 hours!]

[Alert: You will be forcefully logged out from the game!]

[Alert: Your connection will be terminated!]

A string of messages appeared before Siegfried’s eyes. Adventurer Siegfried was about to get kicked out from the Nürgburg Continent and sent back to his own world.

“Ah…” Tae-Sung groaned in despair in his VR capsule.

His ghastly pale face made it seem as if he had just seen a ghost.

1. ‘Character Deletion Fight’ is a term used in the highly toxic Korean online game community where the loser of a fight or duel has to delete their character or account. There are some games that provide an option to automatically delete the loser’s character in the event they lose the bet. If you ever wondered why Korean gamers are so hardcore then you have your answer. ☜

2. This means that owning a building in Gangnam is like owning a building in New York, and the rent you collect from it alone will rake you in an absurd sum of money without having to do anything. ☜

3. South Korea has a mandatory conscription system for all able-bodied men, so Tae-Sung was forced to serve in the military. He is not an ex-professional soldier. ☜