Part 5. The Unknown Man X (4)
Woooooooah——— Woaaah———
At that moment, specters began to rise from the empty air. Then, adorning the sky, they flitted swiftly here and there.
“Huh? What’s that?”
Other users looked on with questions.
Bang—!
Soon, the source of a specter that had been shot fell from the air with a thud.
“What, it’s a Transparent Demon Bird?”
“That teddy bear head user must’ve done something?”
“Ah, that person who’s been solo-killing since earlier? Seemed high-level….”
The user with the teddy bear head naturally gathered everyone’s attention.
He was none other than Ted.
“Ugh, ignore him. What good is being high-level? He’s probably an attention seeker who came wearing a teddy bear head to steal mobs and stack stats.”
“Yeah. If you pay attention to him for no reason, he’ll love it and act out even more.”
Ted fired his musket from afar. Yet the users paid him no mind.
This was because in Zone 3, users like Ted appeared from time to time.
High-level users enjoying their superiority in a beginner hunting ground! Seeing Ted one-shotting enemies, they misunderstood him as one of those types and didn’t bother him.
‘Nice. This is it.’
Regardless of what they said, Ted didn’t care in the slightest.
The largely meaningless item,
He had been indifferent even when it had first dropped.
It was merely a useless poison that made specters go woaaah———. Even if sold, it didn’t fetch much money, and its combat efficiency was low.
But utilized in this way, it was incredibly useful.
‘There should be about ten more left now. Remaining uses: nine. So it’s practically the same as having dozens of stats and nine coins!’
Ten minutes later, Ted recovered his vitality using a mosquito and dashed back into the battlefield.
And he began madly shooting and killing monsters like Warrior Orcs and Synthetic Ghouls.
When ten minutes passed and the cooldown for the Mosquito Round came back, Ted would immediately pull back to the rear.
Then he would launch a Mosquito Round coated with Specter Poison into the air.
As the mosquito disappeared and specters began to rise in the sky—
Bang—!
He would shoot the Transparent Demon Bird with precise marksmanship.
At the very moment the mosquito disappeared, he hunted the Transparent Demon Bird poisoned by Specter Poison!
Ted repeated that hunting pattern.
Battling on the front lines; hunting Transparent Demon Birds when he had the chance.
By the time a day had passed, Ted had burned through all ten uses of the Specter Poison.
In other words, he had caught ten Transparent Demon Birds.
‘Alright. I’ve recovered all my stats.’
“Status window!”
< Ted > Level : 119 (1st Rebirth)
Class : Musketeer / Race : Human
Title : Six Desires Constellation
Achievement : Reckless Sniper
Ability : 1. Indomitable
— HP : 928 / MP : 200 —
Strength : 56 / Agility : 228
Vitality : 98 / Intelligence : 30
Sight : 253
Ted had recovered all 99 stolen stats and additionally gained 44 stats!
‘It’s practically the same as leveling up nine times.’
Having risen 13 levels in a single day, Ted invested all his additional stat points into Agility.
As his Agility value rose, Ted’s combat style began to return to its former form.
Against close-range enemies, he would let attacks slip past by a hair’s breadth.
And a technique where he would check the scope and select his target precisely in 0.2 seconds before firing.
The technique he had made popular worldwide via YouTube during his previous playthrough, the “In-Zoom Instant Zoom,” was exactly that.
‘And though they’re still creepy, I’ve got reserve coins too.’
It wasn’t just stats. In a corner of his inventory, 11 reserve coins lay neatly stacked.
If he reached level 200 and went back soon, he would obtain something good. With that thought, Ted hunted diligently.
By the second day, he had gained some know-how.
‘Ugh, that disgusting mortar bastard’s out again.’
When ranged monsters like Undead Mortars or Orc Shamans appeared, Ted grew annoyed.
Because the other monsters fought carefully while tanking to protect the ranged attackers.
In such cases, ranged attacks kept flying in, and he had to avoid direct hits. Meaning the time efficiency of hunting dropped.
‘Wait? That thing fires shells, right?’
When Ted fired a bullet into the narrow barrel of an Undead Mortar 100 meters away on a hunch.
Boom—!
An unexpected flood of experience crashed over him.
‘So this works!’
The bomb loaded inside the Undead Mortar had exploded on the spot from Ted’s gunshot.
A Musketeer is the worst opponent for an enemy with explosives.
Because of its melted-looking purple body, he had completely forgotten, but he remembered now.
‘That’s it.’
From then on, whenever an Undead Mortar appeared, Ted would shoot it first. Then all nearby monsters would be swept up in the explosion and killed or heavily wounded, and the battle proceeded far more efficiently and quickly.
When the third day came, there was another gain.
‘Huh?’
Over the past three days, Ted had used the mosquito without rest.
Since there were ranged attacks, no matter how good his movements were, his vitality continuously drained as time passed. So whenever he had the chance, he recovered vitality with the mosquito.
‘So this was possible.’
Even for Ted, it was the first time seeing this.
“
Ted called the Mosquito Round.
Wiiiing….
A frail, feeble thing popped out.
Vitality : 100
Attack Power : 1,081
A simple status window popped up.
The fellow, having received the living creature judgment, now possessed vitality.
In fact, up until now, if he sent the Mosquito Round ten times, two or three times it would die futilely.
It would get caught in ranged attacks, or be swatted before it could even bite properly.
But if its vitality was 100, such worries lessened. It was enough vitality that it wouldn’t die from mere hand swipes unless users deliberately swung their swords at it.
Ted glimpsed new possibilities from the status window saying communication was possible.
“Stop.”
Wing.
“Go forward.”
Wiiiiing———
The Mosquito Round had begun to understand simple words.
‘This could be quite useful.’
Ted immediately linked this to combat.
He would summon the Mosquito Round at an appropriate distance beforehand and have it circle around him.
Then when his vitality dropped, he would urgently command it to attack something.
When this happened, there was one benefit.
If he summoned the mosquito beforehand and fought, even if the fellow died after recovering his HP ten minutes later, the cooldown would be over by then, so he could summon another mosquito.
‘Good. Could something like this work too?’
While pondering a few more uses, Ted commanded:
“Fetch items! Protect me in moments of crisis! When ten minutes pass, join the hunt on your own and attack the one with the most experience!”
Wiiing?
But with only 25% proficiency, it seemed only movement control was possible; the mosquito couldn’t understand difficult commands at all.
‘Tsk, well, it might improve as skill proficiency rises.’
Ted threw himself into hunting for the remaining two days like that.
And when his level exactly hit 150, his frantic hunt came to a halt.
‘Hoo…’
Ted, having checked his status window, slumped into a corner of Zone 3.
Ted’s level was 150. The connection rate of the Six Desires Constellation had reached 15%. In that state, the attack power after passing through Musket Mastery was a whopping 13,118. At this level, he could solo the Haeryong Samsin and chop off its head in 15 hours.
‘Even I think this character is really crazy this time.’
It was level 150 achieved in a whopping 13 days.
This was officially unprecedented in the continent’s history.
Leveling up grew harder the more you did it.
The required experience increased exponentially.
Yet the reason Ted’s leveling maintained a consistent speed, or rather one that grew slightly faster, was because after coming to Zone 3 and raising his Agility, Ted’s hunting speed gradually increased.
‘I can make much more use of angles now.’
Ted fighting at close range, skewering enemies with his gun like a kebab.
As Agility increased, he could shoot more delicately, and the number of enemies felled with a single bullet grew.
‘Now it’s time to enter Zone 4.’
By then, Ted, Cheon Gyeong-u, was completely exhausted.
It was understandable. Because in his previous playthrough, it had taken him a year and a half to hunt these mobs, but now he had done it in two weeks.
Even grinding has its limits.
‘But. It can’t be helped. I’ve now met the conditions to possess the power of a large guild all by myself. The more so at times like this, the more I must whip myself.’
The power to kill Alibaba and CGTV all by himself.
If that was the future Ted foresaw, it was possible.
Because that one-in-a-thousand fortune that had approached him carried sufficient strength.
There was a great difference between previous effort and current effort.
Previously, no matter how hard he tried, becoming stronger than a few other users was the best he could do. But now, he had the potential to overwhelm hundreds or thousands.
‘Right. Let’s not whine. Let’s not rest. Let’s go crazy! Quickly smash through Zone 4, hit level 200! Observe that whatever-it-is cloud and go back!’
As Ted steeled his resolve, he entered Zone 4.
Unlike the other plains zones, Zone 4 was not a plain but a forest where black trees grew in abundance.
‘There won’t be many people here.’
Although monsters in the late-100s levels appeared here, the monsters were only stronger compared to other places while dropping few items.
Therefore, users nearing their level 200 second advancement sought other hunting grounds rather than this place.
‘Being 1.2 times stronger is no problem at all.’
Ted had invested all 150 stat points from level 30 into Agility.
Agility stat applied 0.1% acceleration to nerves and body per point.
Having reached 378, he could now move approximately 40% faster.
This was quite a large difference. If you were an athlete who ran 100m in 10 seconds, this was the level where you could run it in 7.25 seconds.
‘The moonlight is pretty. It must be around 1 AM in reality by now. Should I log out for today?’
As Ted mused, he momentarily froze.
Because he felt as though the moon had briefly split.
Having entered the middle of the forest, Ted tensed.
Something felt ominous. What people commonly called intuition was standing on end. Ted’s intuition was quite sensitive.
‘…Something feels off…. I should log out quickly… Hup!’
But just as Ted was about to log out, he felt a whoosh and turned his body as far left as possible.
Because a faint red pattern had emerged from the grass at his feet.
Boom—!!!
Soon, several massive pillars of fire shot up from where Ted stood and intertwined with each other.
‘Trap! No, this skill… isn’t it
Its power was tremendous. Even though Ted had dodged instantly, nearly 10% of his HP was shaved away.
Boom————
The moment Ted dodged, a gunshot rang out.
Swoosh—!
The fired shot cleanly pierced through the knot of the Volcanic Fire Branches that Ted had dodged.
It was a designed surprise attack.
‘Heh… Stay calm. This is the work of a user, not a monster. First, let’s summon the Mosquito Round.’
“
Following the combat method he had practiced in Zone 3, Ted summoned the Mosquito Round in advance. Then he surveyed his surroundings.
‘If they’re someone who prepared and launched a surprise attack on me…’
If there was a place he had recently made enemies, it was only the Pateuk Guild.
‘Yeah. I knew they’d come.’
Ted had been waiting for someone to find him. That was why he had acted even more nimbly the moment he entered Zone 4. To destroy them and gain experience.
‘Their levels won’t be that high. They should only know me as the one who killed Balrog, so they’ll probably see me as a level 400 user. Or mid-to-late 400s. But my attack power has already surpassed five digits, so even if the enemy is mid-to-late 400s, I have nothing to fear. If I’m careful, I win.’
Ted surveyed his surroundings nervously.
But then, moonlight began to shine down powerfully on the forest from the sky.
Soon, the moon in the sky split apart, tearing into two and opening its eyes.
The moment he saw the moon, Ted pressed his body flat against a tree. Before long, light spewed from the moon’s eyes and moved as if alive, combing through the forest.
‘
Ted’s eyes, which had estimated the opponent to be around mid-to-late 400s, nearly popped out.
He had thought the Paprika Commandos would send a fairly strong fellow, but he hadn’t expected them to send someone on the level of a mid-sized guild master.
‘At minimum level 500. A guy who achieved third advancement as both Musketeer and Moon Dharma Master.’
He didn’t know who it was. He didn’t remember every single person in the 500s.
However, he could tell. The guy had a character very similar to his previous playthrough’s, and he would be tricky to deal with.
Ted moved while avoiding the groping moonlight.
And gripping Black and White with both hands to steady his mind, he caught his breath.
‘It’s been a while since I had a duel with a Musketeer.’
In the two weeks of raising his new self, how much had he grown?
‘Let’s find out.’
Ted moved.