Chapter 149

Chapter 149. Human Hunting (3)

“Oh, um… What to do?”

Sniper, who had been glancing back and forth between the direction we were originally supposed to go and where the explosion just occurred, muttered in confusion.

By that time, I was already on the rooftop of the building where I stood.

The target we aimed for had moved.

From the movement of the target on the map, it seemed they were headed to the site of the explosion for support.

With the original plan disrupted, I needed to respond quickly.

‘Most of the police involved in the evacuation operation don’t know about the game.’

In such a situation, what if a barrier was placed around the burning warehouse?

Many might witness the bizarre phenomenon of the flames suddenly disappearing.

‘Forget the barrier.’

In that case, the best course of action was to launch a quick raid and finish them off without giving the four targets time to fight back.

A dark shadow darted across the cement road, and before I knew it, I was completely hidden in the darkness.

‘Invisibility.’

I used Invisibility while hiding my mana within the core.

On Earth, there were no symbols that appeared, making it impossible to find me with the naked eye.

Furthermore, my body was that of a gold-ranked player.

Suppressing my presence and moving while concealing my mana wasn’t too difficult.

To detect me in this state, one’s senses needed to be as developed as a gold rank, or their Mana Detection level needed to be above 5.

And the target I was aiming at was not of that standard.

It was obvious since he managed to turn around just before the lance of Kerak reached his back.

Thrust!

With a simple sound, the player’s heart was pierced and ceased to function.

「Successfully eliminated the target.」

「Mana is absorbed. Some corrupted mana is mixed.」

Glancing at the map, I saw the remaining two were also converging towards the site of the explosion.

They were moving from the 4 o’clock and 7 o’clock directions.

“To the 4 o’clock direction, end it quickly with one strike.”

Even though my voice wasn’t loud, it was enough for a silver rank to hear.

Two presences that quickly followed me disappeared in the 4 o’clock direction.

Sniper had taken Lily with him.

After confirming their movement, I rushed towards the 7 o’clock direction.

Soon, as the faint scent of earth filled the air, I spotted another player rushing towards the explosion.

I planted my foot so firmly on the cement road that it caused a crack.

Crack.

Then, I threw the javelin with all my might, to the point where the muscles in my arms, shoulders, and waist were overstressed.

This was done considering the possibility that the opponent might use a barrier.

Whiz—!

The piercing sound that could tear one’s ears resounded due to the force.

The moment the ground was pounded behind the javelin that was shot at a speed impossible to track with the naked eye.

“What the!”

The player rushing from the opposite side used a barrier.

It was an impressively quick reaction.

But it was not enough to counter me.

Crack—!

The player’s barrier couldn’t withstand the strength of a full-powered throw from a gold rank, and the spear burst the player’s head open.

“If I had thrown it normally, it might have been blocked.”

It would have become a battle instead of a raid.

It felt rewarding to have thrown it with extra force.

“Two left.”

One of them was being handled by Sniper and Lily, leaving only the one near the explosion.

Bang—!

Just then, additional explosions rang out, and the flames shot upwards becoming more intense.

I changed direction even before the mana absorption was finished.

As I was almost reaching the explosion site, the target approaching from the 4 o’clock direction disappeared as well.

Sniper and Lily had successfully executed their raid.

“One left now.”

While raiding the other targets, the flames that erupted from the explosion became even fiercer.

Not only one building but an entire block was engulfed in flames.

I silently clicked my tongue and leaped towards the two players flamboyantly exchanging blows on a nearby rooftop.

One was a man, the other a woman.

The two were entangled, exchanging sword blows, making it hard to determine who the target was.

So, I inserted a spear between them.

“What’s this?!”

“Who!”

The two players without names reacted simultaneously.

However, they didn’t immediately counterattack.

Since I was still in an invisible state.

They both swung their swords in the direction they sensed I might be out of instinct.

Naturally, their accuracy was off, and that allowed me to easily kick each one in a different direction.

“Which one’s…”

“Urgh!”

As a result…

‘It’s the man.’

The target designated by the system on the map was the man who got kicked aside to the left.

‘I only caught a whiff of burnt smell before.’

It meant both of them had fire-based attributes.

I quickly threw a spear without hesitation.

Clang!

The sound of metal clashing barely echoed, and the player, who had regained his footing, deflected the spear with his sword.

However, he didn’t notice the dagger I had subtly sent flying along with the spear.

Consequently, he couldn’t avoid the dagger that suddenly appeared in front of him.

“Argh!”

No matter how awakened a player was, certain vital points like the eyes were still vulnerable.

Thanks to that, I managed to pierce through his eyes using Telekinesis magic.

Taking advantage of that moment, I attempted another spear throw.

The spear I threw with more force than before pierced through and deeply embedded itself into the cement ground.

A moment later, there was a thud sound.

The sound of the target collapsing with a hole punctured right in the middle of his chest.

It wasn’t an instantaneous death.

“Ugh, urk!”

Twitching.

The target convulsed and spewed blood for a few seconds, appearing desperate to escape death.

Of course, it was a futile struggle.

「Successfully eliminated the target.」

「Mana is absorbed. Some corrupted mana is mixed.」

After the message popped up, the target stopped moving and went limp.

It took barely five minutes to eliminate all four targets in San Diego.

Thanks to them converging into one location and being distracted by other things, the ambush was easy.

With the streets empty, there weren’t any other concerns.

Thus, the situation concluded swiftly.

I stood alone on the rooftop and surveyed my surroundings.

Red flames, black smoke, shattered glass, and broken building exteriors filled my vision.

The distant sound of sirens seemed to dramatize the tragedy further.

‘It’s a veritable sea of fire.’

If I was to summarize the apocalypse I’m bound to witness in the future, it might look just like this.

I gazed at the burning street with a complex mixture of feelings.

‘It’s been roughly nine months since the game began…’

It was around the time when there were increasing posts of players experiencing their second awakening as a silver rank.

‘To be honest, silver rank isn’t considered very high in this game.’

Yet, even at the not-so-high silver rank, a city block could be turned to ashes.

‘And it only took two people.’

Realizing that fact inevitably led to thinking about the worst-case scenario.

If the place where I stood had severe security measures, would something have been different?

‘No way.’

The answer came too easily, deepening the frown on my forehead.

‘I understand the need for players in preparation for a possible war.’

Human firearms are incredibly ineffective against high-ranking evolved species.

Even bullets can be somewhat covered by a rank 2 magic barrier.

Meanwhile, I possessed a body strong enough to penetrate such barriers.

Just that difference alone makes the necessity of players a given.

But the clearer picture of potential catastrophes caused by nurturing players for war just left a bitter taste.

Perhaps fostering players for war might lead to humanity’s downfall.

‘If that’s the case, it’s truly the worst tragedy.’

I chuckled bitterly, letting out a sigh laden with complex emotions.

I couldn’t dwell on these feelings indefinitely.

Just like in the arena, I left something inside me there.

And then, I turned to leave the place.

Oddly enough, the steps away from what was left behind weren’t that heavy.

Perhaps because of that, a sense of leisure surfaced, along with the thought that this incident could be exploited.

‘Since things have turned out this way, let’s make it more spectacular and wrap things up quickly.’

Unlike Korea, the US was more vulnerable to armed terrorist threats.

Given that the government was aware of the players, it wouldn’t be difficult to disguise the incident.

While I was devising future plans, I sensed two fast-approaching auras.

Judging by the direction they were approaching from, it was undoubtedly Sniper and Lily.

Even having realized that, I headed in the opposite direction from them.

To the place where the woman I had knocked away earlier was.

The woman without a name was on high alert with her sword raised, instead of making any sudden moves.

She seemed tense from not being able to pinpoint exactly where I was.

I alternately checked the map and the unnamed woman.

‘She’s not the target.’

There was no immediate need to kill her, but that didn’t mean she had to be spared either.

‘It’s not too late to interrogate her about why she was here and her relationship with those guys.’

Having made my decision, I canceled the Invisibility and spoke.

“What are you?”

Upon seeing me, the woman visibly flinched and trembled.

At a timely moment, Sniper and Lily returned.

“Do you know each other?”

“Not at all.”

Sniper’s question was quickly denied, and the woman exclaimed with wide eyes, pointing her finger.

“Oh, li—Lily Evans!”

No, let me correct that.

She wasn’t pointing at me, but at Lily, who had moved beside me.

“Do you know me?”

“Uh, I, saw you at the association’s inauguration… Oh!”

The woman seemed ready to answer candidly but suddenly seemed alarmed.

And to top it off, she looked around nervously, as if she had something to hide.

‘A skittish person.’

My first impression didn’t suggest she had a calm demeanor.

While I observed the woman, Lily asked in a peculiar tone.

“Are you a player residing in San Diego?”

Even before the question was finished, the woman’s shoulders visibly sank.

It was quite a revealing reaction. It was as if she was answering with her expressions and actions because she found it troublesome to speak.

‘She’s not a resident here, yet she’s a Latina clashing with drug traffickers…’

Given a few keywords and Lily’s attitude, the answer was obvious.

‘Illegal immigration.’

It appeared she had crossed the border without proper procedures.

That explained why she was excessively cautious in front of Lily, who was known to be with the CIA.

‘By the book, she should be arrested right away.’

I had no choice but to intervene before Lily imposed the law and rules.

“I believe my question comes first…”

Upon reflection, Lily had first intervened in my conversation with the woman.

In a hurry to get the answer I wanted, I might have to overlook Lily’s interference.

Why was she fighting the targets?

That peculiar tension seemed to warn me repeatedly that I should hear that story.

“I asked who you are. What’s your relationship with that dead guy over there?”

As I tilted my spear casually onto my shoulder and repeated the question, the woman hesitated, glancing between me and Lily.

“Do I have to ask again?”

Did my intervention and Lily’s lack of opposition establish the hierarchy present?

“I came to take down that drug-addicted bastard… also intended to burn some drugs…”

The woman’s tightly closed lips began to open.

“Uh, well… I was trying to stop the supply for now, as those bastards extracted the blood of monsters to make new drugs, you know? You all know about it, right, the black blood? Everyone knows, right? But it’s really, the effects are so dangerous, like the veins turn black and swell up, and the muscles bulge visibly, becoming almost inhuman. So I figured it had to be stopped before it was distributed…”

As a result, I discovered why the damn system placed bounties on so many players.

Damned System