35. The Order
"Excuse me? What did you say? I didn't hear you properly?"
"Use Command Authority 10 times to destroy the relic."
'Destroy the relic...'
Hwang Yongmin doubted his ears upon hearing the order.
Why destroy the relic they were supposed to protect?
'Is he trying to forcibly end the round?'
If they fail to protect the relic, the round ends.
It would be understandable if it was to maintain his ranking.
But...
'The atmosphere is like it's almost over anyway? There's absolutely no reason to...'
In just a moment, the remaining ogres will be cleared and the 5th wave completed.
The round will naturally end even if left alone.
They can also receive additional rewards for protecting the relic.
'But why?'
The angel said there would be penalties if the relic breaks.
There was no reason to give up additional rewards and receive penalties.
'Moreover, Black Scythe is practically guaranteed 1st place ranking.'
Considering the mountain of monster corpses he piled up, he'll undoubtedly rank 1st this round too.
'There's nothing to lose, so why?'
As questions arose, dissatisfaction naturally followed.
Above all, he was dissatisfied with using all 10 Command Authority uses.
'If I use up all the Command Authority, I can't make Seo Arin my slave!'
That would eliminate the biggest reason he became Area Representative.
"C-can I ask why?"
Hwang Yongmin asked courageously, but Ryumin just glared with frosty eyes.
"Shut up and do as you're told."
"How about using 9 times instead of 10..."
"I won't say it twice. Decide now if you want to die."
"..."
He says he'll kill him if he doesn't listen.
Though there was no choice, Hwang Yongmin still had something to say.
"But Black Scythe sir... If I use up all the Command Authority, I'm as good as dead. If you could leave even one..."
"Why do you say you're as good as dead? I'll protect you."
"Ah..."
"The contract is still valid even if you use up Command Authority. Wasn't the condition to protect you from other players in the first place?"
"Th-that's true."
'Then why did I become representative?'
He couldn't hide his disgruntled feelings even as he answered.
If there's no Command Authority, there was no reason to backstab Jo Jung-sik.
"Are we done talking?"
"...Yes."
"Then do as you're told."
"O-okay. I'll do as you say..."
He had no choice but to follow orders to preserve his life.
"By the way, I'll designate who to use Command Authority on."
"Yes..."
Ryumin spoke looking at nearby players.
"...Use it on these ten: [Sim Seong-gyu], [Small Pepper], [Don't Touch], [Spring Summer Fall], and so on."
Hwang Yongmin was surprised hearing the nicknames.
All of his delinquent friends' nicknames were included.
'What's this? Surely not on purpose...?'
Hwang Yongmin's gaze turned to his friends.
His friends also seemed flustered, with their mouths half open.
"Guys, I'm sorry. It's Black Scythe's order so understand."
"What? You're not..."
Hwang Yongmin reluctantly used Command Authority.
He didn't want to use it on his friends, but he had no choice.
"Don't Touch, destroy the relic. Spring Summer Fall, please destroy the relic."
He gave orders one by one to ten players.
Those who received the orders ran to the village center without asking why.
It was a shame to waste Command Authority, but what could he do?
'I have no choice but to do as told to survive.'
When using the last Command Authority, he bit his lip hard as if regretful.
"I've... used them all."
"Good. You've used them for sure."
Ryumin could tell even without being told.
Hwang Yongmin's eyes turned purple each time he gave an order.
Above all, the players went to destroy the relic as soon as they heard the order.
'Since it's an order given by Command Authority, they can't refuse.'
The ten controlled by Command Authority will try to destroy the relic even if they die by other players.
'Ten should be enough to destroy it.'
A smile appeared on Ryumin's lips.
Hwang Yongmin is certainly easier to handle than Jo Jung-sik.
[Warning! The relic is under attack!]
[Warning! The relic is under attack!]
[Warning! The relic is under attack!]
Even without the stream of warning messages, people could tell.
The 10 controlled by Command Authority were openly attacking the relic in the village center.
"Hey! Why are you doing that? Stop right now!"
"What are you doing? Are you determined to receive penalties?"
Surrounding players tried to stop them, but it wouldn't reach their ears.
The Command Authority order was absolute.
Clang- Clang-! Clang-!
Though the relic was diamond-shaped, it wasn't as hard as it looked.
As ten players struck it with weapons in unison, cracks quickly started forming on the relic's surface.
"Oh, oh! It's going to break at this rate!"
"Someone stop those people!"
"Kill them! Just kill those bastards!"
Despite the shouts around them, the ten players focused on breaking the relic.
They didn't stop swinging even when stabbed by others.
Crack- Craaack-!
'It's over.'
Ryumin secretly smiled seeing the relic split.
He knew well what would happen next.
Crash-!
[The relic has been destroyed.]
[You have failed the main quest.]
[Shortly, the Agent of Divine Punishment will be summoned for 30 minutes as a failure penalty.]
[Survive from the Agent of Divine Punishment during the time limit.]
[The round will not end until the time limit expires.]
"What? Agent of Divine Punishment?"
"What's that?"
"Seems like a boss or something?"
All the players widened their eyes.
They didn't expect a boss to appear as a penalty.
[There is a hidden sub-quest!]
└Survive from the Agent of Divine Punishment for 30 minutes
└Success Reward ▶ 3,000 Gold
[Time Remaining: 00:29:59]
"There was a sub-quest?"
Players were surprised again at the suddenly appearing sub-quest.
Especially the reward seemed quite generous.
Many players hadn't even gathered 3,000 gold throughout all 5 waves.
"So we get 3,000 gold just for surviving?"
"Doesn't seem too difficult."
"It's like hide-and-seek, right?"
With 2,700 players remaining currently.
If there's only one chaser, they thought they could easily survive.
Of course, Ryumin's thoughts were completely different.
'It won't be easy to escape from the Agent of Divine Punishment.'
There's a reason for the generous reward.
Players who realized this fact hardened their expressions, but those who didn't showed confident smiles.
Ryumin?
He obviously belonged to the latter.
He wouldn't have deliberately broken the relic to reveal the sub-quest if he wasn't confident.
'If we had simply cleared the 5th wave and ended the round, we would have only received 2,000 gold as additional reward.'
The sub-quest reward from breaking the relic is greater than the gold received for protecting it.
This was why Ryumin revealed the sub-quest.
Then why didn't he break the relic himself?
The reason could be seen through the message that appeared shortly after.
[It has been confirmed that the relic was attacked by players.]
[Penalties will be given to the ten players who attacked the relic.]
[All stats will be permanently decreased by 50%.]
An enormous penalty of stat decrease was hidden.
"What? Stat decrease?"
"Damn it!"
The ten including the delinquents shouted as if wronged.
Even more so because it wasn't voluntary.
The delinquents all looked at Hwang Yongmin with resentful eyes.
"S-sorry. I didn't know there would be such a penalty..."
Hwang Yongmin apologized, but it wasn't time to worry about others.
[The Area Representative will also be penalized for failing to protect the relic.]
[All stats will be permanently decreased by 50%.]
"Ah..."
Hwang Yongmin lost his words and stared blankly into space with an expression like he lost his country.
"Damn it all!"
He never dreamed he would receive a penalty just for being representative.
Except for Ryumin.
'This is why I avoided becoming Area Representative.'
A permanent stat decrease is fatal enough to directly affect survival.
'It also destroys motivation for growth.'
It wasn't for nothing that he said not to become Area Representative.
Not directly breaking the relic was also to avoid the penalty.
Slash-!
"Grrrr!"
The last ogre just died by Ryumin's scythe.
Yet the round end message doesn't appear.
"We killed all the monsters, why isn't it ending?"
"Didn't you see the message? It won't end until the penalty is over."
"So we have to endure for 30 more minutes...?"
"It shouldn't be difficult if you think of it as hide-and-seek."
Ryumin inwardly clicked his tongue at the players' naive thoughts.
'Even after dozens of regressions, the reaction is always the same.'
Every time the relic was destroyed, people thought naively like this.
They didn't know how difficult the penalty would be.
'I died twice just from the Round 3 penalty, so that says it all.'
At first, even Ryumin didn't know a sub-quest would proceed if the relic was destroyed.
He just normally protected the relic and moved on to the next round.
'Then I found out by chance when the relic broke.'
That's when Ryumin experienced.
How difficult it is to survive from the Agent of Divine Punishment.
'I died twice. Even though I was skilled enough to endure until the 5th wave.'
Of course, he was weaker than now since not many regressions had passed, but he was still confident.
If it was just hiding for 30 minutes.
'But it wasn't as easy as I thought.'
Only about 500 out of 2,700 survived.
A survival rate of less than 20%.
The 1,225 achiever spots were more than enough.
It was truly an extreme difficulty.
'That is, if you don't know the strategy.'
Of course, Ryumin was confident now.
He had enough experience and cleared it dozens of times after learning the strategy.
'It may be a penalty for others, but...'
For Ryumin, it wasn't a penalty.
Rather, it was an opportunity for massive growth.
If he kills the Agent of Divine Punishment.
'Current gold: about 13,000. If I receive the sub-quest reward and kill the Agent, I'll easily surpass 20,000 gold.'
Ryumin had no intention of avoiding it.
Rather, he planned to obtain huge rewards by killing it.
'I have 4,000 gold more than calculated. This should be enough to buy two normal items.'
After calculating the spare gold, he immediately opened the shop window.
And purchased two 2,000 gold equipment.
[Assassin's Hood]
-Category: Helmet
-Grade: Normal
-Defense: 20
-Effect: Agility +3
-Durability: 250/250
-Usage Restriction: Regular grade or higher
-Description: A hood favored by an assassin. It has a faint smell of blood, as if unwashed.
[Agile Long Boots]
-Category: Shoes
-Grade: Normal
-Defense: 15
-Effect: Agility +2, Movement Speed +5%
-Durability: 250/250
-Usage Restriction: Regular grade or higher
-Description: Tight-fitting black long boots. They seem like they'd be stuffy, but are surprisingly comfortable to wear.
The options weren't much since they were normal grade.
But it's better than nothing.
'It's easier to catch if I increase stats even a little.'
Items bought from the shop can be resold anyway.
Though you only get back half the purchase price.
Woooo-
"Is-is it starting?"
"I'm feeling nervous for some reason?"
Players tensed at the sound signaling the start.
But Ryumin alone was relaxed.
'I'll catch it and reach level 30.'
Ryumin's current level is 27.
He can easily reach level 30 if he kills the Agent of Divine Punishment.
He can also gather 20,000 gold.
Then he can buy common skills as planned.
Not only that.
'I can also obtain the rune, title, and that item.'
An expectant smile appeared on Ryumin's lips.
He was fully confident he could kill the Agent of Divine Punishment.
After all, it was of the holy attribute.
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