48. Massacre
The watching people doubted their eyes.
A person with their head cut off couldn't possibly come back to life.
But there was clear evidence before their eyes denying this.
Hwang Yongmin turning his head this way and that.
'Hwang Yongmin didn't die.'
Ryumin already knew.
That Hwang Yongmin would revive.
'This is the hidden rule of this round. You revive 10 minutes after dying.'
A dead person coming back to life?
It was impossible, but with resurrection skills existing, it wasn't that strange.
"Yaaawn. Huh?"
Hwang Yongmin, who yawned as if waking from sleep, flinched seeing his surroundings.
'What? Why are people staring at me?'
They weren't just looking.
They were staring as if looking at a zombie.
Hwang Yongmin couldn't help but be bewildered.
He didn't even realize he had died.
It was because his head was cut off so suddenly.
'But this is strange? I was definitely talking to Black Scythe, but this situation...'
He felt like he had blacked out after drinking.
Not knowing Black Scythe had killed him, Hwang Yongmin looked around.
Players flinched in surprise and made incomprehensible sounds.
"A-a person came back to life!"
"He resurrected like Jesus!"
"Ha-hallelujah! Hallelujah!"
"What hallelujah in this situation! Looks like the system resurrected him!"
"Don't tell me this round you revive even if killed?"
"Then does that mean we can kill freely...?"
The players looked at each other.
Murderous intent spread in their eyes.
"If you revive even when killed..."
"Maybe it doesn't matter if we kill anyone..."
Everyone drew their weapons.
The fact that you revive even if killed lessened the guilt of murder.
"Everyone calm down! It's rash to move when we're not even sure if you revive or not... Kyaak!"
A woman who was slashed on the back staggered.
Before she could come to her senses from someone's surprise attack.
Stab-!
A sword stabbed from behind pierced through her stomach.
"You die first, you bitch! Die!!!"
Stab- Stab- Stab-!
The man who had been arguing with the woman earlier stabbed her as if possessed.
"Haa, haa."
The pure white floor was suddenly dyed red.
The man's nickname also turned red.
"Hurry and come back to life! We need to fight again!"
Though he killed her thinking she would revive, the woman didn't move.
"What? Why isn't she reviving?"
The question was answered through another player's mouth.
"Looks like they don't revive right away."
"There must be a cooldown?"
"Come to think of it, it took 10 minutes for that person to revive!"
"Why don't we all wait and see if that woman revives?"
The players who tacitly agreed spent time in silence.
If it's confirmed you revive even when killed, they could kill without hesitation.
Time passed, and exactly 10 minutes went by.
Then people could see the revival process in detail.
As if time was rewinding, blood was absorbed and wounds repaired.
The collapsed woman stood up like a jiangshi and regained her original appearance.
"Huaaawn."
The woman who yawned like Hwang Yongmin suddenly came to her senses as she remembered.
"Damn it, which bastard was it! Who attacked me from behind?"
As she turned her head around, she saw a man grinning.
"It was me, you bitch."
Slash-!
This time the man killed her instantly by cutting her throat and laughed.
"Everyone! You saw, right? It's certain you revive after 10 minutes."
"That's right. Now we can kill without worrying!"
Though the revival ability was proven, people still hesitated to move.
It was true that they felt uncomfortable committing murder.
But.
'People tend to get swept up in the atmosphere.'
As some players started killing, others also began swinging swords at each other out of competitiveness.
Slash- Slash-!
"Kuaak!"
"Die!"
"Aaaak!"
There were no specifically chosen targets.
They just randomly attacked people they saw in indiscriminate stabbing.
"Hey, you bastard! That hurts!"
"I'm sorry! I have no ill feelings!"
"You try it too!"
"Aaak! Stop! Please stop resisting and just die! You'll revive anyway!"
"Then you die, damn it!"
Like paint being splashed on a canvas, the pure white space was instantly dyed with blood.
The number of fluorescent nicknames also gradually decreased.
The sight of about a thousand players entangled in fighting was reminiscent of war.
'Now it's time. Time to move.'
Ryumin moved slowly holding his scythe.
"Huh? Black Scythe i..."
Slash-!
He instantly ended the life of a passing player.
It was a consideration to make them not feel pain.
Slash- Slash- Slash-!
He began slaughtering mixed in among the players.
Sometimes four necks fell with one swing of the scythe.
It was such chaos that most didn't notice Ryumin's actions.
Not to mention the players killed by him.
That's not to say he wasn't noticeable.
Some players approached behind Ryumin like thieving cats.
Stealthily.
Players who approached behind Ryumin's back trying not to be noticed swung their swords.
'Now! Die...!'
There was a flash of light and the upper bodies of three players slid to the floor.
Thud- Thud- Thud-!
They all died with surprised eyes.
Their faces seemed to ask how he noticed.
'There's no way I can be ambushed with Presence Detection.'
Ryumin sneered.
Since he can read the presence around him even with his eyes closed, there's no worry of being ambushed.
After about 10 minutes, the dead players smoothly came back to life.
It was the same whether they died twice or three times.
There was no limit to the number of revivals.
Just a 10 minute cooldown.
"Hihihi! Die! Die!"
Among the players, there was one particularly noticeable slaughterer.
It was [Black Dragon on Right Hand].
'Come to think of it, that guy was here.'
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the Round 4 stage was made for Black Dragon.
'For someone with the [Rune of Absorption], the current situation is no different from a feast.'
Black Dragon on Right Hand was someone who had contact with Ryumin in reality too.
So he knew well how dangerous his rune was.
Ryumin narrowed his eyes looking at Black Dragon's nickname.
'Seeing how dark the color has become, he's killed about 10 people?'
It was a similar record to Ryumin.
The more you kill, the darker the nickname color becomes.
'I need to retire that guy a few times.'
Ryumin moved to eliminate his competitor.
* * *
"Hihihihi! Hahahaha!"
Black Dragon on Right Hand was intoxicated with killing.
Indeed, his [Rune of Absorption] encouraged killing.
'To think stacks increase even when killing players. This is totally sweet!'
The Rune of Absorption is a rune that increases a certain stack when killing opponents.
When the stacks are fully filled, 1 random stat is given.
'I knew it increased when killing monsters, but to think it increases for killing players too.'
Black Dragon swung his axe and chopped a random man's shoulder.
"Kuhuuuk...!"
"Die! Die! Please die!"
He chopped down several times like chopping firewood, turning the man into a lump of meat.
'Whew, was his level high? The stacks increased quite a bit.'
Not all players gave the same stacks.
Depending on the opponent's level, some gave a lot and some gave little.
'He must have been around my level to give this many stacks...'
Black Dragon imagined for a moment.
How many stacks he would get for killing Black Scythe, the highest level in the area.
'Wouldn't it instantly fill the stacks and give 1 stat?'
That was likely, but he shook his head to erase the thought.
The possibility of killing Black Scythe was low.
'Forget it. Why bring trouble by messing with a big shot. I should just kill small fry and grow.'
Thud-!
He chopped the back of some unknown player's head.
'I'm sorry. I have no grudge.'
Thud- Thud-!
He chopped down a few more times to finish them off for sure.
There was emotion in Black Dragon's axe swings.
'Hehe, this completely relieves stress.'
He had been under no small amount of stress recently.
Even in the last Round 3, he was controlled by Jo Jung-sik's Command Authority and just did useless guarding.
'I couldn't even hunt properly because of that gangster bastard.'
Black Dragon was skilled enough to rank 3rd in the area.
He still grits his teeth thinking about missing out on ranking rewards because of Jo Jung-sik.
'But it's fortunate. This round is for me.'
Others gain nothing from killing players, but not him.
He can become stronger while stacking stats.
'I should make up for the growth I fell behind on last round.'
Though he's level 10 and has the Warrior job, this isn't enough.
'You think I'll fall behind like this? I have the pride of being 3rd in area ranking.'
He felt bad about having to kill people, but so what?
It's not like they really die.
'They keep reviving anyway? It's easy if you think of it as a game.'
Black Dragon didn't think of this as murder.
'It's just a well-made virtual reality game and what's before me are just pieces of data.'
With that change in thinking, strangely the act of killing people didn't feel uncomfortable.
Even the unpleasant sensation from his first kill earlier seemed to be dulling.
'How many have I killed so far? I need to kill as many as possible to rank, right?'
Black Dragon grinned.
The prey keeps reviving.
What better environment could there be for him?
He looked around searching for the next hunt.
He saw players fighting frantically, splattering blood.
'Should I go over there next? Hehe.'
They were no different from trivial prey compared to his skills.
Black Dragon was about to move when he suddenly stopped.
He encountered a beast right in front of him.
A reaper holding a large scythe.
'Huh? Black Scythe?'
At that moment.
Woong-
His vision darkened.
"What? What's happening?"
"Why did it suddenly go dark?"
He heard confused voices around, but the most confused person was Black Dragon himself.
Because he faintly saw Black Scythe's large scythe for an instant.
'Wh-what? The scythe became semi-transparent?'
There was something even more bewildering.
The reaper explosively leapt towards him.
"Huk, wh-what!"
Is this how it feels when a lion suddenly charges in the savanna?
His whole body froze at the unimaginably fast speed.
He tried to respond with his axe, knowing he was being targeted, but.
'Huh?'
Suddenly the world was spinning.
He saw his own headless body.
'Ah, I died.'
Was it because the weapon became semi-transparent?
He couldn't even see when it was swung.
'I should have... avoided Black Scythe at least...'
With that final thought.
Thud-
Black Dragon's head fell to the floor.
* * *
"Die!"
"You die, you bastard!"
Amid the fierce battle with shouts and screams flying, Hwang Yongmin still couldn't shake off his dazed feeling.
'People really revived.'
Just earlier, he clearly witnessed a woman who was stabbed revive.
'Do you really revive after just 10 minutes?'
He might not have believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.
Though he still didn't realize he had died once himself.
'Hehe, this is great, great. A chance for revenge on those backstabbing bastards.'
Now that the stage was set for killing each other, Hwang Yongmin looked around pushing through people.
'Where are you, Kim Seung-han! Where are you!'
It was difficult to find his friend among a thousand people, but.
'There he is, keke.'
It wasn't an impossible task either.
Hwang Yongmin called out with a welcoming face.
"Seung-han!"
He even waved his hand, but the guy didn't notice, perhaps drowned out by the surrounding noise.
He was just busy warily watching his surroundings with anxious eyes.
'Hehe, what an idiot. Look at him cowering just because he got a stat penalty.'
Thinking to surprise him, he approached from behind.
"Hey! Kim Seung-han!"
Called from close by, the guy turned around with a start.
"Nice to see you, you son of a bitch!"
He immediately planted his fist in his face.
"Kuhuk!"
He threw consecutive straights at the guy who staggered spitting blood.
He finally mounted the fallen guy's body to subdue his movements.
"Kim Seung-han, you bastard. You said you'd kill me if you saw my face?"
Thud-!
"Kuuuk."
"Go ahead and try to kill me. Huh?"
He raised his fist like a hammer and focused on striking the guy's face.
Thud-! Thud-!
He struck until it became a bloody mess.
'Though I'm not Mike Tyson with a nuclear punch due to the penalty, I can easily kill trash like this.'
He only stopped punching after striking over twenty times.
His face was crushed and he had stopped moving, clearly dead.
"Haa, now I feel better."
Hwang Yongmin stood up and looked around.
'Where are the other bastards?'
There were still many friends he needed to kill.
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