This is Chapter 341.
The arrow fell.
The moment the arrow touched the ground, it turned into an item block.
The Slayer leader picked up the arrow in a daze and stared at the spot where the hand had disappeared.
He sensed a person moving. But his eyes automatically followed the falling arrow, causing him to miss them.
"Is this telling me to try hitting you?"
"You said you had no arrows."
A reply came from afar.
Though it was a short sentence of two phrases, the source of the sound seemed to shift.
Presumably, the opponent was moving.
Quite leisurely?
"Ha."
The Slayer leader's head lowered.
The arrow placed in his left hand gleamed in his vision despite the dark surroundings.
"Hehehe."
Involuntary chuckles kept escaping his mouth.
"Hehehehe."
What does it mean to hand a weapon to your opponent?
Is it honorable?
Sportsmanship?
No.
This malice is simple.
"Hehehehehe."
Provocation.
It's an expression of mockery, saying you'll never be able to hit him.
Even to someone who doesn't know Seojun, it would come across that way. But to the leader of the Hunting team, who analyzed Seojun like crazy?
"So this is how it felt."
When watching as a third party through videos, it was simply refreshing and fun.
'I'd think, if you're going to do that, just dodge it.'
But experiencing it firsthand?
'It's more...'
The Slayer team leader licked his lips.
And suppressed the involuntary chuckles that kept threatening to burst out.
"What do you mean?"
The opponent had moved again in that short time. He was toying with him in all sorts of ways.
No, judging by the footsteps, he had been moving constantly.
"I won't shoot."
He is the leader.
He must keep his composure and not follow the path of those who fell for Seojun's tricks.
Otherwise, in the next fight, Seojun would tenaciously stretch that weakness.
*Pwooshung!*
He loaded the arrow into his crossbow, aimed high, and pulled the trigger.
The crossbow fired, and the arrow flew high over the items obstructing the players, falling far away.
If shot at the ceiling, it would come back down and be usable.
That was his will. A quick surrender.
"Now, let's kill..."
But.
*Swoosh.*
The sound of footsteps disappeared, and a hand popped out from the side again.
And the hand spread wide open.
As if showing him, right in front of his eyes.
This time, the hand was holding a single item.
The item dropped down and turned into a block—its identity was an arrow.
"Hehehehe. Hehehehehehe. Hehehe."
Was it nearby?
'This is driving me crazy.'
He calmed his mind again, and out of stubbornness, picked up the arrow and shot it to the same spot he had sent the previous one.
*Pewing!*
"Huh?"
"What's 'huh' supposed to mean?"
Just as he was about to retort with a forced smile, trying to scratch back...
This time, a hand popped out right in front of his face.
To see an opponent in the darkness, you must concentrate and not lose your composure.
But that had been shattered long ago.
The hand opened.
Another item fell.
And that person disappeared again.
"......"
"......"
He didn't pick up the item right away.
'This... seriously feels...'
Meanwhile, his teammates' voices came through. Very quietly, just in case, truly just in case it might disturb him.
This level of voice couldn't be heard by radio unless right next to them.
[What happened? Did he run away?]
[It's taking quite a while.]
[They might be fighting, so keep your voices lower.]
[As expected of the leader, is he different? We were taken out in an instant.]
[Don't say cheesy things. But it does seem the captain is indeed different.]
"That's right. He is different."
A hand suddenly popped out, and he felt his face flush.
Teammates praising him while he was being toyed with, and the enemy listening right next to him and mocking him.
And another arrow drops.
He is quite a gentle person.
So while his actions could be vicious, he usually didn't pick fights with opponents during games or hurt their feelings.
What he wanted was proof that he could win, that he could hunt anything.
But.
This, seriously.
"Wow, really. I can't take this."
"What can't you?"
Experiencing it firsthand, the feeling is really.
Really dirty.
And in that moment, as he lifted the arrow, loaded it instantly, and aimed at Seojun who was about to disappear into the darkness—
*Pewing!*
The enemy's crossbow fired.
"Huh?"
His health, which had been at half, dropped to near death.
"Why? Weren't they given so I could shoot?"
"Ah, I just heard my teammates have arrived."
"......You!"
That finally made him snap, and he pulled the trigger.
But.
*Grab.*
It was caught.
The arrow was caught.
'He's smiling?'
And Seojun, who was close by, inevitably slashed with his spear, ending his life just like that.
And he was reborn in the bunker they had made.
"In the end..."
"Sigh..."
In the naturally solemn atmosphere, he opened the bunker's chest with burning eyes and shouted.
"Let's get revenge. We must get revenge. No matter what."
The Slayer team leader, who usually never used any expression other than 'hunt,' had turned dark.
* * *
The users of Last didn't show an enthusiastic reaction even while Seojun was defeating the Slayers.
It was certainly an incredible strategy and movement.
[A play possible only when you grasp all the shadowed areas and know how and when the opponent is concealed.]
[Theoretically possible, but a play that can never come out unless you're an actual assassin.]
[But it came out, right?]
[He's outstanding, though. Insanely so. As expected.]
So attention was focused on him.
But up until then, they were still looking at Seojun with a cynical gaze.
No matter what anyone said, Seojun was the one who shattered their hopeful veteran team from the start.
But.
[Slayer's Biggest Humiliation Ever!]
When Seojun started his toxic behavior toward the Slayer team leader...
And when that absurdly began to make the Last users laugh...
[A story says that if you use up all your arrows, a mysterious hand returns the previously shot arrows. I really like this story.]
Seojun's likability began to skyrocket.
The leader of the team who had toyed with them by doing ungentle things gently was now being humiliated.
Extremely violently.
Yes.
[There's no violence, but if this isn't violent, then what can be called violent?]
[LOLOLOL They love this so much, these guys]
[Korea is a strong ally nation.]
How could they possibly hold back their cheers for Seojun?
Even if he's an enemy.
That's how Seojun became the hero of Last.
For a little while.
* * *
"Mr. Rich and Taewoo, pick up the bodies. Mr. Joam, please quickly search for any chests that might not have been looted."
The team members returned. Seojun finished searching the basement with Joam.
Then he went up to the surface with Rich and connected to Baek Doyul's party via radio.
"Are you done?"
[Yes. We are going home.]
"Good work. We're leaving now too. Let's meet up, check the resource status, and move on to the next tier farming zone."
A Tier 1 farming zone.
This place allows free entry and exit, but proper farming is impossible without one essential item.
A gas mask.
This item, craftable with a special cloth and filter found in the Tier 0 farming zone, is absolutely necessary to farm items in the Tier 1 farming zone.
And Seojun plans to follow the standard steps to reach the final tier.
There are only farming zones up to Tier 3.
Minerals are the same if categorized by acquisition difficulty.
Craftable weapons only go up to Tier 3.
Of course, you can get more special weapons through NPC faction raids.
But Seojun wanted Tier 4.
And he revealed this goal to Baek Doyul and his party after meeting them back at the bunker.
"You didn't say anything like that before we started!"
"No. But who can resist a frying pan?"
Seojun dodged Baek Doyul's extremely sharp gaze and encouraged his teammates' response.
His teammates, surely, wouldn't be able to resist.
"That's right!"
"As expected! We have to go for this!"
"Hohoho. Tell me the martial art using a frying pan! I shall use it too!"
There was a reason they reacted like this.
The crafting table starts at Tier 1 and can be upgraded as you gather resources.
To Tier 2.
Then to Tier 3.
The higher the tier, the higher the grade of materials needed and the higher the grade of craftable weapons.
However, the Tier 4 crafting table isn't just a smooth part of the team's natural growth process.
If anything, Tier 4 crafting table lies beyond the result itself.
The reason is simple.
Because it requires too many resources to upgrade the crafting table.
Too, way too many.
It's inefficient.
So, what are the Tier 4 items obtainable by doing that?
They're all frivolous things.
Items that don't particularly help in defending or attacking a base during raids, but are pointlessly over-technology.
For example, a telescope that tells you who built an enemy base when you look at it.
A frying pan is one of them.
But.
"It's worth it."
"It's not."
"It is, though?"
"Why!"
"It blocks bullets."
The fact that the ultimate melee weapon, the frying pan, blocks bullets is an obvious common sense among gamers.
Of course, in Last, the frying pan is eventually destroyed.
"No, it's just for cooking! Its melee damage is low too!"
Actually, due to the long-standing tradition in the gaming industry of making frying pans block bullets a few times upon being hit, it was made that way, but it was never meant for that purpose.
"But it blocks them, right?"
"Back then, there were no rifles! The fight was decided in a situation where no rifle had appeared, so he blocked it. But by the time we reach Tier 4..."
All possible weapons would have appeared.
Also, in order to go for Tier 4, they would inevitably have to save resources without using them beyond a certain amount, and this period is when they are most vulnerable.
The opposing team doesn't save resources specifically to go to Tier 4.
Rather, they will continuously use resources to maintain high specs and wage a war of attrition.
So in this game, there's no reason to go to Tier 4 while enduring a period of vulnerability.
And all that for just a frying pan.
"I knew you'd oppose it."
"It's too much of a loss, really."
"And our team members...?"
"Ah! Seriously!"
Baek Doyul blocked Seojun's skill 'Fanatic's Cheer Call' that he kept using.
To him, no meant no.
If Seojun had mentioned it earlier, they could have had long discussions and found a compromise.
He had seen it too. He knew a frying pan would be quite useful for Seojun.
But if they weaken themselves to get it, that's putting the cart before the horse.
"I'm telling you, I can handle everything if I just have a frying pan."
A villainous move to suddenly mention it now and push for it.
'Handle everything... what does he think he is, some superhuman...'
Well, he has done it, though?
Still!
"If you put a sword in the Guild Master's hand? He becomes invincible."
"Ah... Lord of the Sword..."
"What should we call the Frying Pan Martial Art! Tell me!"
Watching the worship burst forth despite his attempts to stop it, Seojun calmly watched Baek Doyul.
He was curious what choice he would make.
He could see him agonizing to find a justification to stop him.
Soon, Baek Doyul pulled out a crossbow from his item window and shouted.
"Ha! Fine. If you catch all the arrows I shoot with your bare hands! I will acknowledge the necessity of the frying pan. Come out!"
"......?"
"Why. If you fail even once, I absolutely won't accept it. It means the frying pan isn't worth that much sacrifice. Accept it, Seojun. This bet."
"Sure. Well, let's go out."
Seojun and Baek Doyul went outside the bunker for a moment.
One minute later.
Baek Doyul returned, muttering.
"Must not break... Must not break..."
And they departed for the Tier 1 farming zone.