Chapter 11. PKers (1)
Online games are a no man's land!!
There was no law. Players could freely utilize the in-game systems. This included PKs, monster steals, and item steals. Doing such things wouldn't make you end up with handcuffs on your hands.
Even so, it wasn't something people usually did.
It was considered ill-mannered. Most players tried to keep the most basic courtesy. The problem was the ones who did something when told not to.
The Black skulls guild!!
Three of the members of this guild were exactly like this. They loved to PK.
With a swordsman, an archer and a mage, their levels totaled to 51, each averaging to about 17. By their levels, one could guess that they were relatively new players.
They were friends in real life, and as they had a certain amount of money, they started the game purely to enjoy it. Everything was fine up to here.
The problem was that their way of purely enjoying Ark was to mercilessly PK players that looked easy to deal with.
Their provocation didn't just end at PKing their target. They first hindered their target's hunting or stole the monsters he was attacking.
Nothing in Ark was as infuriating as monster stealing. This was because it took a large amount of effort and concentration to kill each monster.
One could let it pass once, but there would not be a second time.
"Dammit!! I can't believe we aren't able to find a single prey to PK."
"It's because we have already PKed many people. I think rumors about us would have already spread."
"Yes, why don't we head to the Rakal castle in the east. I have heard that it's a good hunting spot."
It was not like there were no players to PK, many players were hunting in the field but they weren't idiots to try to attack every other player.
One of their rules was to never go against players that were above their levels.
They will choose their targets carefully and after evaluating that they can easily kill the target, they would attack.
People think that PK was an easy thing to do but it was not like that. One has to have a certain level of skill even while doing PK.
"The last time our luck was really bad."
"Yes, we tried to PK the members of the Silver wolfs."
"I was in quite a trouble because of that. My brother scolded me quite a bit for it."
Their next rule was to never touch parties suspected of being part of a guild. If they did, the guild would clash with the Black skulls guild.
It was a rule they didn't dare to break, especially because the leader of the group, the swordsman Grando was the brother of the Black skulls guild, guild leader.
His brother would roast him alive if he picked a fight with a guild without thinking.
The only reason Grando and his friends were able to level up faster and get their hands on rare items was because of Grando's big brother.
They won't dare to go against him.
"There are not many preys here and most of them are just newbies who have just come out of the Training Dungeon. They can't even kill the Blaze wolf there."
"Boss, we weren't able to kill the Blaze wolf too."
Grando shot a glare to the mage who has said that. Then, he turned towards the archer and asked.
"Can you see if there are any prey nearby with your hawk eyes? I am itching to kill someone."
Hawk's eyes was a skill that was exclusive to the archer class. It was a skill that gave the player the power to see faraway things and sometimes, it can even detect weak spots of the target.
The archer quickly followed the words of his leader and swiftly climbed to a tree.
The field was just a grassy land but If one gets too deep into it, one would find trees. The deeper one will venture into it, the more powerful the monsters will become.
That's why newbies will not venture deep, they will stay close to the gates, so that the city guards could help them in case of emergency.
"Boss, I found a party."
"Really? Tell me about them. Are they high level?"
"I can't tell but the party consists of three people. One archer, a cleric, and a swordsman. The archer looks like the leader of the party and from their movements, the swordsman and the cleric look like complete newbies."
There was greed visible in Grando's eyes when he heard that. He couldn't help but ask.
"What about the items on their body?"
"The archer seems to be wearing beginner clothing but the swordsman and the cleric seem to have an uncommon sword and staff. Moreover, both of them are cute girls."
"Cute girls!? Are they from a guild?"
"There's no guild crest on their bodies. So, I don't think that they are from a guild."
"That's good."
There are two types of PKers. One who will PK for just the items, they are the normal kind but the other one would be perverted PKers.
They will pick a fight with a party and after defeating the combat class members of the party, they will slowly torment the remaining people.
Especially if there are girls at a party, they will keep them for their meal.
These three were the same type of PKers.
"Let's chase them and wait for the right moment."
"Are you sure? The archer looks pretty skilled."
"Don't worry, we will finish him first if that's the case. I haven't done anything to a girl for days."
Grando laughed and gave a perverted smirk. The other two also smirked and laughed.
It was time to hunt their prey and this time, they will savor them thoroughly.
* * *
"Slash at the wolf's eye. That's his weak spot!!"
Ian shouted towards Clara as he kept firing the arrows towards the pack of wolfs.
He was not directly hitting their bodies as his job was to make some distance between them and Clara.
Growl!
Clara also did the same as Ian has instructed. She stabbed towards the eye and the wolf was blinded. He violently swung his claws around but Clara sliced at his neck.
He died a quick death.
From hunting rabbits, they were now hunting a pack of wolfs. The wolfs give more experience and it was easy to level up.
As their hunting progressed, Ian has automatically taken the position of the leader. There was no objection as both the girls could gauge that Ian was the most suitable person for this job.
He gave out commands to Clara and Ria and their hunting speed increased drastically because of that.
Swish!
"Grrr!!"
Ian shot an arrow towards another wolf and it precisely struck at his forehead. It was an instant kill due to it has been the weak spot for the wolf.
"Ria, cast heal on Clara."
"Yes."
Ria did as Ian instructed and a blue light started enveloping Clara. She felt the strength returning to her and used 'Slash' to finish off the remaining wolf.
The hunt ended after that and Ian gained 2 levels, making him level up to 13. It was a really quick leveling speed and it made him happy.
One would receive 5 bonus stats points every level which they can allocate to the stats. Ian has received 65 bonus stat points until now.
He has allocated them to equally in strength, agility, and stamina. With the additional 20 points from the Rising newbie title, he can already fight equally with users 4 levels above him.
"Wow!! I leveled up again."
Clara exclaimed in joy. She felt like her level was rising at an unprecedented speed. Ria also said looking at her stats.
"Yes, I leveled up again too. Our leveling speed is increasing."
"I know, right. It's all thanks to Ian."
Ian raised his head and stopped distributing stat points when he heard that. He looked at Clara and asked.
"Me?"
"Yes, who else if not for you. If not for your arrows, I won't be able to focus on attacking. You are even protecting Ria from time to time. We are nothing without you."
Ian felt slightly embarrassed when he heard that but he knows that it was true too.
If not for him, both of them would not be able to survive the attacks of the wolf, they will have a hard time against the rabbits too.
That's why he accepted the compliment.
"Thanks for the praise."
"No, it's just the truth. Ian, you, you are skilled."
Ria said as she lowered her head with a blush on her face. Clara smirked when she saw that.
Watched her like that, Ian didn't think that Ria liked her. He knows that her personality was shy from the start.
Ian was not an idiot to think that it was like or love. In the first place, he doesn't have any time for dating. Dating costs money and money was a thing he doesn't have.
"Let's head further and hunt for an hour more."
"Okay!!"
They started heading further but Ian started feeling something ominous from the back.
'What's going on…?'
It was one of his habits from the fantasy world. Whenever he will feel ominous, something bad will happen to him. He became vigilant because of that.
Ian looked at the area where they were in. There were trees around him and it would not be hard to hide among them.
"What's wrong? You are acting weird."
Clara asked him when she saw that Ian was glancing at the trees.
"No, it's just that…Lower your heads!!!"
Swish! Swish! Whoosh!
As he was talking, Ian suddenly saw someone firing arrows from the corner of his eyes. He quickly shouted for them to dodge and luckily, no one was hit by those arrows.
Those arrows missed them and struck at the trees.
"What? What is going on?"
"I, I am scared!!"
"Don't be scared. It's nothing to worry about. It's probably some pricks trying to pick a fight with us."
Ian calmed them down and quickly turned back. He knows what was going on.
It was probably those people who love to kill other people for items. The so-called PKers!!
Ian didn't like this type of person. They made him remember those bandits in the fantasy world. It was okay because Ark was a game but what if it was the real world?
He didn't even want to think about it.
"Come out!! You bastards!!"
Ian shouted but no one came out but he remained vigilant. He doesn't know when an attack will come out and he was right too.
Two ice shards were quickly shot from the side and Ian was barely able to dodge them by rolling around.
"An ice magician and an archer. Is there someone else?"
Ian quickly gauged their strength and started thinking about ways to pull out the mouse from their holes. At that moment, he felt a cold chill on his back.
Clash!
He quickly turned back and dodged that attack with his bow. Grando has seen a chance and attacked with his sword but Ian has blocked it.
But in the process, Ian's bow was damaged. A bow can't handle the hit from a sword.
'Shit!!'
Ian cursed in his mind and looked at the person in front of him. From his attire, he was a swordsman. That completes the party of the PKers.
"Ah, I thought you were skilled but never thought you will be able to block that."
Grando said as he laughed.
"You won't be able to do anything to us."
"We will see!!"
Ian prepared to fire some arrows on Grando but before he could do anything, Grando has taken the chance and attacked at Ria.
"Damn!!"
Ian saw that and quickly fired arrows on him but they missed the target. It was because of his damaged bow.
He thought that Ria will most definitely die now but Clara came to her rescue in time. She blocked Grando's attack with the help of her sword.
Clash!
"I won't let you hurt her."