Episode 15. Hunting Defectors (6)
The defectors who had hastily revived at Gwollern Fortress, Needle Eyes and Fatty.
They were captured by user guards belonging to Caron Walker who had been waiting at the respawn point. They had fallen into a trap Ted had laid in advance.
“Nice to meet you.”
Those were the first words Ted spoke as he looked at them.
“Eek…!”
“…….”
The two immediately turned their heads away the moment their eyes met Ted’s. However, their gazes showed no fear or remorse. It was a bravado only possible because they were outsiders.
But most importantly, the Guild Master
Perhaps because his level was different, the death penalty duration was still in effect.
‘That Duffle bastard… He’ll probably hold out without logging in later, somehow playing it by ear. How do I catch that bastard? And how do I screw these guys over even harder?’
In a game they had come to enjoy, the restrictions a user could place on another user were few at best.
However, Ted merely wished for them to feel even a little despair. Ted, who had been frowning slightly, opened his mouth.
“Don’t be too discouraged. Where in the world is there a good person? There are just those who get caught and those who don’t. Right?”
At Ted’s words, Needle Eyes clicked his tongue and turned his head, but Fatty looked at Ted with eyes full of hope.
“Why… are you saying that…?”
“You’ll be locked up in prison now… You’ll probably have to play a boring game for about a month or two. What good would it do for me to torment you? We’re all playing to have fun together. Aren’t we?”
Needle Eyes reacted.
“If you’re going to talk nonsense, get lost—.”
Just then, Ted cut in.
“Ah, ah. But. Whether in game or reality, wrong is wrong no matter where you go. You just have to receive proper punishment for that wrong. Just like you’re trapped here right now. But even I feel sorry for you guys having to enjoy prison content for a month or two.”
“So what do you want us to do!”
Needle Eyes flared up at Ted’s provocation.
It was a valid point. Entering prison didn’t make gameplay impossible. But who would want to go to prison?
“Do your best to persuade your boss to log in immediately when his respawn ends. Then I’ll specially ask the guard captain to reduce your sentences by half.”
“What…?”
“It’d be a hassle if that bastard ran away or something.”
“…….”
Soon, Needle Eyes and Fatty glanced at each other, seeming to exchange some kind of signal.
“H-how can we believe that?”
“Ah. Right. Guard Captain!”
Ted called for the NPC guard captain of Caron Walker who was watching them from afar.
“Yes. Did you call for me?”
“When Duffle logs in, please reduce these two’s sentences by half.”
“Yes?”
“Please do it.”
Ted unmistakably possessed the title
At least within Caron, his words carried tremendous weight.
However, no matter what, Ted reducing sentences was a blatant illegality. Because of that, when the guard captain was hesitating, Ted winked at him with his back turned to the prison.
The guard captain saw that and nodded his head.
“Yes. Understood.”
Ted turned back around.
“Good enough?”
The guard captain’s assurance. That was real! Thought the members of Your Mother.
“Y-yeah. Thanks for showing us kindness in this situation.”
“We’re sorry for what we did…….”
Soon, sincere apologies came from the two.
Having received their apologies, Ted left. Then he headed toward his quarters. Soon, the NPC guard captain caught up to him from afar and asked Ted.
“Sir Ted. But did you truly request that their sentences be reduced? If so, it is a bit difficult…….”
“No. Please increase them as much as possible.”
“Ah, yes! Understood!”
Soon the guard captain left, and Ted smiled in satisfaction.
‘This should do it!’
The constraints a user could impose on another user were few.
But when it came to person versus person, there was almost nothing that couldn’t be done. He had used their desperate, straw-grasping state to feed them an even bigger load of shit. They would likely be as disappointed as they had been hopeful.
‘All those defector bastards deserve prison gruel!’
A few days later. It was the same when the numerous outsider defectors Ted had lured through the internet came to the secret clearing at the back gate of Gwollern Fortress.
“Huh? Hasn’t the cargo arrived yet?”
“W-what. They said there would be a wagon here…….”
While they were bewildered.
“These are the people.”
Five hundred guards prepared in advance with Cheon Si-woo ambushed them. And they were all able to be arrested.
“I will submit the report under Sir Ted’s name.”
“Thank you.”
Thanks to this, Ted put the finishing touch on the defector hunt he had invested a long time in.
Previously, Ted’s points were estimated to be around 20,000.
But now he had captured 580 defectors. He wouldn’t be able to monopolize the points from that, but roughly 80,000 or more points would have accumulated.
‘Is it finally over…….’
Ted sat down on the bare ground, stretching his tired body.
‘I think I’ve roughly finished everything I can do in this siege war.’
Reading the flow of the war situation, Ted felt it was time to leave.
The Pixie side had repeatedly been defeated and lost several territories. They were gathering all NPCs and rankers above level 600 to the frontline territories.
‘That would be hard for me to handle alone.’
The number of users and NPCs gathered there at level 600 or above was approximately 300.
With such forces, they could even take down a level 850 boss monster. If things went well, it might even be possible to cut off one of a dragon’s wings.
No matter how hard Ted tried, he couldn’t monopolize the situation alone.
‘Then rather than inviting danger needlessly, the most efficient thing would be to leave the nation war when the
Once he reached level 500, Ted would begin serious item farming. If he equipped himself with level 500 restricted Epic and Unique grade equipment, his combat power would rise by leaps and bounds.
But his level was still 447.
It was time he needed equipment to use until 500. Therefore, Ted wandered around Gwollern Fortress and covered his entire body with Magic grade level 400-something equipment.
And he sold the
The grade had gone from Rare to Magic, but the level restriction had risen by a whopping 200!
Once again, Ted’s overall level had risen a step.
Around then, a new status window popped up.
―Sub Quest Complete―
The Sun’s Liberator, Shamsion, wishes for you to walk the same path as him.
You have achieved the greatest merit in rescuing the
This is the first Liberation you have accomplished, and it shall be recorded in Shamsion’s memory.
Liberation Scale : A
Liberation Success Rate : S
Reward : Superpower
‘Oh!’
It was a jackpot.
The regrettable aspect of
But that short duration had been alleviated slightly. Even 3 minutes wasn’t a very long time, but compared to before, it was a whopping 18 times longer.
‘So it’s the first Liberation…… If I complete more Liberation-related quests, something additional might be attached to Connection accordingly.’
It felt like his hardships until now were being acknowledged!
Ted naturally felt pleased.
But the status window didn’t end there.
Active (EXP Cost : 5,000 / Cooldown : 1 hour)
―Accumulates force and explodes.
―Deals explosion damage equal to [Ilkkigi]’s attack power 100% over a wide area.
‘Ooh, what is this now?’
A new skill had been born for Ilkkigi, whose digestion had completely finished.
‘If it’s Latent Force Explosion, wasn’t it what those latent force beetles did when they gathered and exploded?’
With a curious heart, Ted went outside the castle to experiment.
“
Squeak! Squeeeeak…….
At Ted’s command, Ilkkigi clenched both fists and put strength into its entire body.
Squeeeeeeeak….
Soon its body gradually reddened, and eventually
Boooom―!!
It exploded emitting massive light and heat. But while it wasn’t as powerful as the original Latent Force Explosion, its range was considerable, dealing damage in a 10-meter radius including Ted.
Squeak?
Despite Ted’s inner worry that Ilkkigi itself might explode, Ilkkigi, covered in black soot, was blinking its golden eyes wide open.
‘Great. It’s an area attack! Though the fact that it uses EXP is a bit critical…….’
5,000 EXP meant hunting about 10 or so monsters at Ted’s level 400s.
The damage of Latent Force Explosion corresponding to 30% of Ted’s attack power was approximately 18,000! This was an attack that could blow away the entire HP of a level 400 normal monster. Therefore, it was by no means a loss for an area attack covering 10 meters.
‘A grenade……. Yes, Ilkkigi is a grenade from now on!’
Ted smiled imagining the various uses for Ilkkigi.
‘Before going to the
It was when Ted, having returned to the territory, was thinking of leaving the Caron Kingdom in earnest.
“Sir Ted! Urgent report, urgent report!”
A soldier’s urgent voice searching for Ted was heard.
“What is it?”
“It’s an urgent report sent by Count Sibori!”
The moment Ted read the letter the soldier held out, his expression contorted.
“Where is Count Sibori?”
“Currently Count Sibori is in the
Before the soldier could finish speaking, Ted dashed out.
‘Damn, no wonder things were resolving too easily…….’
The end.
Ted must not let his guard down until the very end.
The letter contained the message
“…….”
Ted hurriedly headed to the
* * *
“Lord Sibori!”
Ted arrived at the infirmary and looked at Count Sibori lying down.
“Count Sibori is currently in the
It was a healer user’s words.
“Unconscious…… who said that…?”
Just then, Sibori opened one eye slightly and looked at Ted.
“Lord Sibori! Are you alright? What in the world happened?”
“Ted. I’m sorry……. I went to protect Tisai, but I was the only one who made it back like this…….”
“What about Tisai? Where and by whom was he captured?”
“Tisai is… *cough*!”
Sibori coughed up a clump of blood. Soon the healer hurriedly wiped Sibori’s mouth.
“Hoo… hoo…… The ones who captured Tisai were, to my knowledge, Denno’s direct guard……. So he is probably in
Roxus. It was the territory where all of Pixie’s rankers were currently gathered.
Ted bit his lips.
A situation he had never imagined.
Complex emotions churning together with it.
Every single one of them was something that heated his heart.
But Ted thoroughly controlled all of it with his head. It wasn’t the first time misfortune had befallen someone around him instead of himself.
“Understood. Please rest.”
Soon Ted gathered various information.
It was information related to the
‘I have to get Tisai out of there.’
According to the information, in the most secret place of Roxus Guardian Domain, there was a prison. But that place was where Denno was, the current final headquarters of the Pixie Army.
Ted had to go there.
But no matter how he looked at it, going alone seemed impossible.
‘I don’t want to get more people involved, but I can think about that after saving Tisai.’
What he needed to rescue Tisai from the underground prison of the headquarters.
Was none other than a user who could cast Stealth of stage 4 or higher on another person.
“Hyung. It’s Gyeong-u.”
Cheon Gyeong-u called Cheon Si-woo.
He wasn’t certain.
Right now, among the list of domestic rankers in his memory, there was no user who could cast stage 4 or higher Stealth on another person.
—Hmm. There is one person. Hold on.
But fortunately, one woman came to Cheon Si-woo’s mind.
‘What was her title again… the Law Sage of the Arrogant Stars, was it?’