Chapter 8

As soon as he resurrected, the wizard, Kim Gyuhyuk, who was once again thrown out of the tower by Seong Jihan, activated a protective shield spell without hesitation.

“Shield!”

This Support seems strong, but at the end of the day, he’s just a Support!’ Kim Gyuhyuk believed in his magic. He was level 15, after all.

However, the reason he was summoned for this game was entirely due to his continuous mischief and causing losing games, resulting in a lower matching level.

“This bastard! I’ll definitely kill him!”

With his shield still active, he began to cast a fireball.

“Fire…”

But just as he attempted to turn Seong Jihan into a roasted skewer, Seong Jihan’s hand brushed against the semi-transparent shield, instantly shattering the protective barrier like an eggshell.

“huh…?!”

“If you die again, you’ll be left with only one life.”

Seong Jihan smirked, grabbing Kim Gyuhyuk’s collar as he stared in astonishment.

“Hold on…”

“Off you go.”

Whoosh.

Once again, the Mage’s body soared through the air and plummeted down beneath the tower.

“Aaargh!”

The zombies, eager to get a meal once more, cheered in gratitude as they leaped toward the plummeting mage.

Crunch! Crunch!

The unpleasant sounds echoed again.

And as those sounds subsided…

Flash.

For the final resurrection, Kim Gyuhyuk shouted as if in a fit.

“Wait, wait! Just a moment!”

Dying like this would solidify his last place standing.

Kim Gyuhyuk shivered.

“The last place penalty… It’s too harsh!”

He had thought that if he caused trouble, someone on the other side would give in or someone would intervene to end the match.

He never expected to be thrown by this guy like this.

“If my level drops again here…”

The Battle Net system lowered levels for poor performance in-game. If his level dropped due to defeat, the attributes gained during level-up would vanish.

Of course, losing some stats wasn’t a big deal; he could regain them by leveling up again. But the issue was with his skills.

“My Skills will disappear!”

The problem was that skills disappeared. Learning skills was more challenging than gaining stats through level-ups, making the deletion penalty more lenient than for attributes.

As a result, a skill would only disappear if the level drop was at least 5 levels below the minimum required level for acquiring that skill.

But the problem for Kim Gyuhyuk was this:

“If I die again now… It’s a guaranteed deletion.”

If he died one more time, his resurrection opportunities would vanish. Being declared the first casualty in this defense game meant he would experience a level-down.

So, his level would become 14, and the skill he had spent a considerable amount to learn from the Battle Net market at level 20 would also be lost.

“This bastard. I’ll get back to him later.”

While internally vowing that, Kim Gyuhyuk seemed to be willing to surrender…

“Alright. I understand that you are strong! You don’t even need to apologize to me! I’ll participate in the game faithfully from now on.”

“…”

“I’m at level 15. Moreover, I’m the fire mage, which is most useful for this map. I’ll carry you properly.”

“Oh! You’ve thought well!”

The archer, who had been anxiously observing their dispute, became flustered. Kim Gyuhyuk, famous for being one of the top three trolls in Gangnam, had actually given in first. Things were going smoother than expected.

“…The person who participated in the Silver Promotion Match is at level 15?”

Lim Gayeong was also surprised by Kim Gyuhyuk revealing his level, but seeing that the troublemaker had conceded first, she believed the game would now proceed as intended.

“Is that all?”

Until Seong Jihan extended his hand again after quietly listening.

“…Huh?”

With a swift motion, Seong Jihan once again grabbed Kim Gyuhyuk’s collar.

“Hey, you said ‘you don’t even need to apologize.’ Anyone would think I started the argument.”

“Just wait a moment…!”

“Next time, have some manners.”

Swish!

Along with Kim Gyuhyuk’s cries, he plummeted beneath the tower.

“Ah…”

The archer reached out into the air with a helpless expression, but by that point, it was far too late to catch him.

Squelch!

[Mage class ‘Kim Gyuhyuk’ has fallen.]

[Kim Gyuhyuk has been eliminated from the game.]

In a defense map that was supposed to be played by a 4-member party…

The mage had vanished.

* * *

A chilly silence hung in the air.

“The trash has been cleared.”

However, Seong Jihan paid no attention to it. He stared at the quest achievement window that had appeared after entering the ’10 Towers’ defense map.

[Limited Quest]

– Achieve 1st place in ’10 Towers.’

[Reward: 1,000 Achievement Points]

It was a quest to achieve 1st place just like during the tutorial, and the reward was the same as back then.

“I was kind of expecting this.”

Seong Jihan gazed at another quest window that glimmered with a golden light beneath the limited quest.

The content was something that wasn’t there during the tutorial.

[Linked Quest – Origin of Zombies (1)]

– Single-handedly defeat 1,000 zombies.

[Reward: 3,000 Achievement Points]

-When cleared, the quest continues with Origin of Zombies (2).

“Defeat 1,000 zombies alone?”

Seong Jihan furrowed his brow. This was… an impossible mission. While zombies weren’t a threat to him.

“The game could end before I finish killing them all.”

The 10 Towers. If 5 out of the 10 towers collapsed, the game would immediately end. This essentially meant that other players in different towers needed to hold out until Seong Jihan managed to eliminate all the zombies.

The tense silence in the room was palpable as Seong Jihan continued to…

‘I should focus on the limited quest for now.’

Seong Jihan thought. He walked towards the end of the tower and peered down below.

Arrrggg!

A horde of countless zombies was gathering and crawling up towards the tower. The steep slope of the tower caused them to slide continually, but they were creating an angle by trampling over their comrades’ bodies, gradually making their way up.

Watching this scene beside Seong Jihan, the archer let out a deep sigh.

“Sigh… This is why we need a mage.”

If he could just cast a Fireball into that zombie mass, it would easily ignite the self-made zombie hill they were creating.

With a resentful look, the archer gazed at Seong Jihan.

“If that troll had just cooperated a bit more… But what are we going to do now? Without the mage, they’ll keep coming up like crazy.”

“So there will be more zombies than usual?”

“Yeah. Have you played games before? To become a pro player, you have to endure these kinds of trolls and keep playing…”

Tsk, tsk.

While the archer grumbled, Seong Jihan’s ears seemed to block out his words.

“A thousand zombies, huh? Is it possible?”

He was contemplating whether he could clear the linked quest or not.

“Hey! Are you even listening to me? Ugh. Creating this mess and ignoring what I’m saying… If you’re so confident, then fight on your own!”

Just as the archer couldn’t stand it any longer and yelled.

Seong Jihan responded willingly.

“Oh, really?”

* * *

“Player Seong Jihan. Lacks social skills. Not suitable for Battle Net pro level.”

Since Seong Jihan had ejected the mage from the party, Lim Gayeong had been giving him low scores.

Regardless of right or wrong, the proper approach for a Battle Net player, as Lim Gayeong knew it, was to overlook things when the opponent made a move and showed some restraint.

“He acts recklessly without considering the consequences.”

However, The bigger issue is…

“He chose the support class?”

Someone who suited the warrior class more than anyone else had inexplicably chosen the support class.

Why would someone make such a choice?

“Is he a troublemaker?”

Since she couldn’t understand it at all, she could only think that he must be crazy.

And her thoughts led to a single conclusion.

“No value in recruiting him to the Rational Guild.”

If the young lady sees this video, she’ll probably lose interest as well.

With these thoughts in mind, Lim Gayeong approached Seong Jihan with determined steps.

“I will take the lead. Support, please stay behind.”

Anyway, she was the Warrior of the party, so it was her duty to take the lead.

Even if she didn’t like his behavior, the task at hand still had to be completed.

Meanwhile, Seong Jihan simply raised his hand in a nonchalant gesture.

“It’s alright. Zombies might leak through, so just protect the archer.”

“…?”

Lim Gayeong looked at Seong Jihan with a bewildered expression. Was he really going to fight alone in this situation?

But soon…

“…Alright then.”

With a sentiment of ‘let’s see how you handle it,’ she hurried over to the archer’s side.

As Lim Gayeong approached, the archer let out a string of complaints like a machine gun.

“Sigh… Meeting two trolls in a single day… We’re really unlucky.”

Lim Gayeong simply nodded in response to his words.

“Being at the bottom is a given. Leveling down… It can’t be helped.”

After all the effort to level up during the tutorial, he had dropped a level right after the next game. The only silver lining was that the troublemaking mage was the first to die.

Although they would end up at the bottom of the team rankings, at least within their team, they avoided being the last.

“Yeah. Let’s die quickly and start a new game.”

With that, Lim Gayeong looked at Seong Jihan.

*Thunk* *Thunk*!

Seong Jihan was swinging a bar like he was doing warm-up exercises, and his form seemed quite practiced.

“It seems quite heavy.”

But he wouldn’t last long with it. No matter how skilled one was in martial arts, surviving against such overwhelming waves of zombies was impossible. Especially in such shabby attire?

“Not even a minute.”

Eventually…

“Grrrr…”

An uninterrupted zombie finally began climbing to the top of the tower.

While other towers were still halfway up due to the mage and archer’s efforts, this tower had no resistance and the top was already reached.

Meanwhile…

“They’ve finally arrived.”

Observing the horde of climbing zombies, Seong Jihan chuckled.

*Swish* *Swish*!

The bar swung through the air and descended upon the zombies.

*Thud* *Thud*!

Zombie heads exploded instantaneously.

Lim Gayeong’s eyes widened.

The speed was incredible.

Even someone like her, who had been through countless battles, couldn’t keep up with the movement of the bar.

The archer’s reaction wasn’t much different from Lim Gayeong’s. He just stood there with his mouth agape, overwhelmed by praise.

“…Is this real?”

“…”

“Ms. Warrior, is he really a support?”

“…I don’t know anymore.”

* * *

The rhythmic dance of Seong Jihan’s bar was akin to a circus performance. Moreover, he targeted only the zombies’ weak spot – their heads.

The Archer finally understood why Jihan was so confident.

The tower was small, and the zombies could only come from the north, so Jihan could really cover it by himself.

“B-but that metal pole alone shouldn’t be enough for a blood zombie…”

“You’re right.”

Lim Gayeong nodded at Archer’s words.

A blood zombie was an especially strong specimen among zombies. Its head was covered by a bloody liquid that made it resistant to physical attacks, and you needed special strength to suppress one.

Of course, in the Bronze League, that strength was magic.

“Ah, if only he had kept the mage alive, we could have been in first place…!”

Seeing Seong Jihan fight unexpectedly well, the archer felt even more resentful.

“Just look at us for a moment! Did he really have to kill him and turn the first-place team into the last-place one? Ugh…”

And amid the horde of zombies, red smoke began to emanate from some of their bodies. The archer shouted in frustration, his expression filled with regret.

“B-Blood Zombies…!”

*Whoosh*!

Among the climbing zombies, five of them jumped high and charged forward.

They possessed noticeably superior physical abilities compared to regular zombies. With red skin and faces made of blood, the Blood Zombies rushed toward Seong Jihan in an instant.

This is the end.

The archer thought in despair.

“Wha…?”

*Boom* *Boom*!

The end of the bar briefly wavered, and then the heads of the five Blood Zombies exploded simultaneously. At the same time, from the spots where the heads had exploded, white flames emerged.

A soft crackling…

In an instant, the entire bodies of the Blood Zombies were engulfed in flames.

“This can’t be real.”

Seeing the flickering light at the end of Seong Jihan’s bar, Lim Gayeong couldn’t believe her eyes.

The aura of that pure white light…

“Divine power?!”