59. Start of Round 5
'H-how? I-I definitely killed him?'
Does Black Scythe have some resurrection ability?
Or is a ghost really talking to him?
With those questions in mind, Black Dragon's eyes turned towards the corpse with the split head.
"Huh?"
But somehow the corpse was nowhere to be seen.
Even the bloodstains had cleanly disappeared.
As if it had all been a dream.
"What you killed was my doppelganger."
"D-doppelganger?"
"Creating a completely identical, indistinguishable doppelganger is the ability of the Rune of Doppelganger. Though it doesn't have combat ability."
"..."
"Seeing how perfectly you were fooled, it seems quite useful even without combat ability. It was a good test."
"Y-you tricked me...!"
Ryumin made an incredulous expression at Black Dragon's attitude of gritting his teeth as if feeling wronged.
"What's with the sudden victim cosplay? I'm the real victim here. I almost had my head split open, you know?"
"You're the victim? Who threatened and extorted first..."
"Ah, enough."
Ryumin swung his scythe as if annoyed.
At the same time, Black Dragon's vision tilted diagonally.
'Huh? What's this? Suddenly my body won't listen...'
Black Dragon's head rolled on the floor.
Until the very end, he didn't even realize he had died.
"Listening to trash talk any more would be a waste of time."
Ryumin who had cleanly cut off his head put away his weapon.
There were no more living players around besides himself now.
'As expected, it's quite useful, this Rune of Doppelganger.'
It wasn't for nothing that it was on the list of essential runes to obtain.
Without the Rune of Doppelganger, he would have been hit in the back of the head.
'Of course, I deliberately led him to make it easy to ambush for the test.'
Ryumin checked the information on the newly acquired rune once more.
[Rune of Doppelganger]
-Effect: By chanting the activation word 'Create Doppelganger', create an identical doppelganger of yourself.
At this time, the caster becomes ghostly for 10 seconds, giving time to hide.
The created doppelganger is mentally connected to the caster and can be controlled as desired.
However, it can only perform actions excluding attacks, and cannot use abilities like skills or inventory.
Only one doppelganger can be created at a time with a 10 minute cooldown.
Though it has no combat ability, it can perfectly deceive enemies and has a short cooldown.
It was certainly a rune with strong cheating potential.
'It's an optimal rune for deceiving enemies.'
After smiling with satisfaction, he used the Erase Traces skill on the surroundings.
Not only the three corpses, but even all the bloodstains disappeared completely.
Anyone would have a hard time thinking this was a murder scene.
'Except for one person.'
Ryumin moved.
Towards the woman with the black bag over her head, who was the victim and only witness.
"Excuse me?"
"..."
"Why don't you get up now?"
"..."
"Stop pretending to be unconscious and lying there."
Though she was lying there as if dead, she actually wasn't.
As if to prove this, the woman slowly raised her upper body.
Though he couldn't see her face because of the bag, she must have an embarrassed expression.
"H-how did you know? That I was pretending to be unconscious..."
'Well, I could hear your thoughts.'
Since he couldn't say that honestly, Ryumin made up an excuse.
"Don't think you can fool a player."
"I-I'm sorry."
The female owner bowed her head in the wrong direction.
For her, she could only hear sounds because of the black bag Ryumin had put on her.
"Th-this is uncomfortable, can I take it off?"
As she tried to take off the bag, he raised his hand to stop her.
Though he was wearing a mask just in case, she might notice from his clothes.
"No. Keep wearing it until I leave."
"Okay..."
"You know what almost happened to you, right?"
The female owner nodded.
"Yes... It was so scary. I was afraid to even open my eyes..."
"Since when were you awake?"
"Um... from when they were talking about yielding and such..."
It seems she came to her senses when the manager and Black Scythe were trying to rape her here.
"You may know this, but those guys are all dead now. So you can rest easy."
"Ah... Did you perhaps..."
"Yes. You can guess to some extent from the sounds you heard, right?"
Since he killed them without giving them time to scream, she probably didn't hear their voices, but she would have guessed.
Crack, slash, thud, roll, etc.
She must have heard cruel sounds that stimulated the imagination.
'Plus she would have overheard my conversation with Black Dragon.'
Reading her inner thoughts, indeed.
Ryumin's guess was correct.
"I'll ask you a few questions and then I'll leave. Can you cooperate?"
"Yes, yes."
"First, I'll briefly explain the situation. You were kidnapped here and almost raped. Do you know who kidnapped you?"
"No, not at all..."
"Anyone you suspect?"
"Hmm..."
The female owner was recalling the customers who came today.
"One of the customers who came to the store was suspicious. He asked me to valet park his car, and after that my memory..."
"Do you know how many customers there were? Their faces? Can you remember each one?"
"There were four, and one was in his mid-40s. I remember him clearly since we talked, but the others..."
Based on the female owner's testimony, he probed her inner thoughts.
It was the truth.
'She definitely doesn't remember the faces of the other people.'
This was the part Ryumin wanted to confirm.
Whether she remembered his face or not.
'I acted inconspicuously in advance as a precaution, but it's better to be sure.'
Fortunately, like in previous regressions, she doesn't remember his face.
"I see. That's all for the questions."
"Um... Am I safe now? It's all over, right...?"
At her tearful voice, Ryumin spoke in a gentle voice as if to reassure her.
"Yes. You can go home with peace of mind now. Though it'll be hard, forget everything that happened today."
"Ah... Thank you. Thank you so much for helping me."
"Ah, and don't make unnecessary trouble by reporting to the police. There's a risk of retaliation."
"Yes, I understand."
"You can take off the bag after counting to 60 in your head. Understand? Don't take it off before then."
"Yes, I will."
"..."
"Hello?"
There was no answer.
Even focusing on her hearing, not a single footstep could be heard.
'What's going on? Should I start counting 60 seconds from now?'
The woman counted to 60 anyway.
The only sound she heard during that time was the rustling of the bag in the wind.
"Puha-!"
As soon as she counted to 60, she took off the bag.
She looked around with a tense face, but all she could see was a shabby warehouse.
'Wh-what's going on?'
There were no corpses, no bloodstains, and no mysterious man who had saved her.
The woman had a blank expression at the scene different from her expectations.
'Could it be... it wasn't a dream?'
If it was a dream, it was a terribly realistic nightmare.
* * *
Time passed and inevitably that day approached.
April 30th.
The time just before Round 5.
Ryumin checked his status window while equipping his gear like a general going to battle.
-Name: Ryu Min
-Nickname: Black Scythe
-Grade: Regular
-Titles: Last Time Reverser (Hidden), First Angel Slayer (Hidden), One Who Defies Divine Punishment (Hidden)
-Level: 30
-Job: Grim Reaper
-Strength: 35, Intelligence: 39
-Agility: 39, Luck: 34
-Common Skills: Tracking, Presence Detection, Erase Traces
-Exclusive Skills: Death's Seal, Night of Death
-Runes: Rune of Slaughter, Reaper's Rune, Rune of Radiance, Rune of Inner Thoughts, Rune of Doppelganger
-Gold: 2,150
-Remaining Stat Points: 0
[Shop: Can purchase items.]
[Combine: Can combine items.]
[???: Unlocked at Lv40]
[???: Unlocked at Lv60]
[???: Unlocked at Lv99]
Ryumin separated the orange and yellow magic stones he had embedded before and combined them with the magic stones obtained from Black Dragon.
After upgrading them to low grade magic stones and embedding them in his equipment, his Strength and Luck increased by 4 each.
As a result, beautiful stats were created.
'The stats average over 30 across the board.'
This was quite superior specs compared to his level.
He wouldn't fall behind at all even against opponents of the same level.
'Though there's no one of the same level.'
There's no need to say more since the 2nd ranked player across all areas was only level 13.
'It's good to be strong compared to my level, but...'
Above all, it was gratifying that these were stats optimized for the conditions of the Rune of Balance.
'I'll obtain the Rune of Balance in this Round 5. And make a unique item too.'
Moreover, Ryumin's goal was to reach level 40.
'It's possible if I do well. Especially with Min Juri's buff.'
In the previous regression he didn't have Min Juri's buff, but this time is different.
'I'll set an unprecedented record.'
After steeling his resolve, he was just waiting for the time to cross over to the other world when.
Ding-
A text message came unexpectedly.
[Min Juri: Min! It's almost midnight? ㅠ..ㅠ Sob... It'll go well this time too. Don't worry and let's do our best together. Aja aja, fighting!!! ٩( ᐛ )و Let's meet alive!]
Ryumin unconsciously smiled at the long message of encouragement.
'She must be quite nervous. Sending such a long message.'
Well, he had scared her saying Round 5 is different from before, so of course she'd be nervous.
'Don't worry. I'll protect you from now on.'
From Round 5, areas will be merged and he'll meet Min Juri.
He needs to stick with Min Juri to receive her buff anyway, so there's no problem protecting her.
'I told her to find Black Scythe too, so there's no need to worry.'
Though she probably can't imagine that Black Scythe is Ryumin.
'Hm? It's time already. Then shall we go?'
Tick- As soon as the minute hand of the wall clock reached midnight.
Swoosh- Ryumin's eyes closed.
His consciousness flew to the other world in the blink of an eye.
* * *
The scenery he saw as soon as he opened his eyes was nothing special.
A vast prairie like in Round 1.
Avatars appearing one by one there.
It was a familiar scene in a familiar situation, but not to others' eyes.
Because there were dozens of times fewer people than usual.
"I-is this all?"
"No way, they probably haven't all arrived yet."
"What do you mean not arrived? There were about 500 survivors from last round."
"Counting, it seems about right..."
"It feels empty somehow..."
The remaining survivors numbered about 500.
It was a meager number compared to Round 1 which approached 10,000.
Of course, this is just the number within the area.
'Once merged, this emptiness they're feeling will disappear.'
Smiling wryly, he looked at the message that appeared in the corner of his vision.
[The 50% stat increase buff limited to Round 5 is in effect.]
[It will be automatically removed at the end of Round 5.]
His stats increased by 50% from the reward he chose last time.
'If it increases 100% from the Rune of Slaughter and 50% from Min Juri's Bless on top of this?'
It increases 4.5 times in total.
Stats that were 30 would jump to over 130.
'With this much strength, I should be able to set a record.'
If he gets 1st place this round, he can obtain a title.
Plus if he sets a record, he'll receive a handful of gold as additional reward.
That's why he chose the stat buff instead of 5,000 gold as the special reward.
The additional gold from setting a record was a much better deal.
Seeing the players no longer increasing, he felt it was about time when the angel appeared.
[Nice to see you, humans. Congratulations on surviving to Round 5. Kihihi!]
Of course, no one smiled at the angel's congratulations.
They thought the angel was the cause of all this calamity.
[Huh? Why do you all look like that? Smile a little. The last round was really fun, wasn't it? You were all so enthusiastically massacring your own kind. Keke.]
"..."
[Okay, okay. I'll stop teasing. Geez, it's no fun when there's no reaction...]
The angel spoke in a businesslike tone, removing emotion.
[The number of survivors summoned now is 442. It was originally 521, but decreased by nearly 80. Looks like you fought each other in reality again?]
"...It decreased again?"
"It decreases every time?"
[Well, fine. It's none of my business whether you fight in reality or not. But we can't have a proper game with just over 400 people, can we? So I've prepared something.]
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