episode_0009

“Our god never mentioned that the ones we should be catching would be these kinds of monsters…”

The contractor, upon seeing the two bodies lying on the ground, swallowed a curse.

Damn it. That damn god, couldn’t he have explained properly?

This is screwed.

Thinking they were about to kill a novice contractor participating in the arena for the first time, instead, a creature with brittle bones stood before them.

Even though it’s an arena where one doesn’t die easily, the atmosphere of killing and being killed as if it were natural was something far from ordinary for regular humans.

The thick smell of blood flowed with the forest wind.

Unlike themselves, who hadn’t even properly farmed, that crazy guy was rummaging through the equipment of the two dead men.

“Oh, what’s this, a pauper? You don’t even have anything.”

The opponent didn’t seem to have much on him… But the three contractors, embracing uncertainty, were not foolish enough to let their guard down to the extent of being caught off guard by a rock.

One of the three immediately shouldered a rifle, raised both hands, and stepped forward.

“…We might not see a good outcome if we fight. How about we just go our separate ways?”

While subtly hinting that things could get unpleasant if provoked, such a feeble attempt wouldn’t work on Yoo Dahee.

When it came to coercion and persuasion, she had already been through it countless times in that outer universe.

And right now, in this situation, the one in control was herself.

“Just go our separate ways? Saying that makes me feel disappointed again.”

Yoo Dahee, wiping the blood-soaked dagger against the corpse, tapped the tip of the blade back and forth.

“Either hand over everything you’ve got and leave, or fight me right here. Those are your only choices.”

“You’re willing to see this through…?”

A statement leaving no room for negotiation.

Damn it.

He thought he was making a stand for nothing.

As the two beside him began to inch away, Yoo Dahee also prepared herself, crouching down and bending her legs.

“Ending it isn’t up to me, it’s up to you guys. Ah, but don’t think I’ll give up just because I’m outnumbered. I’ll at least chase one of you to the bitter end and kill you. In that sense… Leader, your gear looks somewhat decent, at least.”

Eyes locked on their prey, ready to dart away at any moment.

This was genuine determination. A 100% sincere gaze.

It would have been nice if the end were different, but the fact that they were solely focused on themselves left the leader with no choice but to raise a hand.

Their own god had advised them to attempt only when the odds were 3:1, so it was right to retreat rather than needlessly risk their lives. Exhaling deeply, the leader retrieved a small staff from their bosom and laid it on the ground.

As they displayed a posture of defiance rather than aggression, Yoo Dahee’s stance relaxed slightly.

“…Make sure to step back each time you put down a piece of equipment. It would be troublesome if we were ambushed after disarming.”

“Alright, I’ll allow that much.”

If they meddled unnecessarily and ended up worse off, the leader felt a sense of unease about what to say to their own god once this match concluded. To charge in with a 3:1 advantage and then back down…? Pathetic.

Carefully stepping back with each piece of gear placed, Yoo Dahee also relaxed her stance and began inspecting the items scattered on the ground, keeping true to her promise.

“Oh, this one looks quite expensive.”

A gauntlet emitting sparkling dust, surrounded by magic.

“…Can’t we return it later?”

“If you’re bothered, come at us.”

After placing the staff down for the last time, the three vanished into the thicket.

Though they half-expected another assault, the sound growing fainter indicated that wasn’t their intention. Once again, the forest was filled with the chirping of insects.

They say human farming is the best farming method in Battle Royale, and Yoo Dahee, now fully dressed from head to toe, was a living example of that. Due to being evenly stripped by five opponents, the colors had turned oddly mismatched, resembling the taste of a rainbow, but so what.

Gear, whether male or female, was only about the taste, and as long as the equipment did its job, that was enough. It would be troublesome to retrieve the remaining gear, so Yoo Dahee carefully dismantled the connection points by hand.

[Damn bastard…]

It seemed like such a delusion, but whatever.

If you’re provoked, you fight back.

Despite being burdened with the gear, Yoo Dahee felt her body lightened due to the abilities of the worn equipment and leapt into the air.

The number of remaining participants floating in the sky. Just a moment ago, excluding the three she had killed, it was [97/100], but now, due to battles breaking out everywhere, it had decreased to [80/100].

Only 30 people remained until the top 50.

At the rate they were decreasing, it seemed like she could easily secure a spot even if she withdrew and hid somewhere, but… considering the current mode, that would be a foolish move.

As time passed, the participants grew exponentially stronger. Thinking about the pods they had been given in the waiting room, it wouldn’t be strange if meteors came crashing down from the sky, obliterating the arena itself.

It was better to eliminate those who were complacent when there was even a little room to spare.

While making plans and moving to find the next target—

Jing—

Along with the high-frequency sound passing by her ears, the dice rolled automatically.

[Detection magic passes by Yoo Dahee.]

[Due to the forest being full of various obstacles, there is difficulty in specific targeting. -2 adjustment applies.]

[The opponent intends to pinpoint only the heat source among the obstacles. +3 adjustment applies.]

[Rolling the dice….]

[Tumble… 1D20 rolls.]

[1…!]

[Minimum evasion threshold for detection magic is 10…]

[This is not a spell directly affecting the target, so it is not affected by spell resistance.]

[The dice seems to smile smugly.]

No, seriously, what the hell, motherf***er, s***.

Why does every rolling die end up as a fumble?

F***, I got the most crappy ability from outer space, and it doesn’t even work the way I want it to. Being so unpredictable is no different from those damn foreign bastards.

[Detection magic has accurately pinpointed you…!]

[The target is the object of a grudge…! It screams out.]

“….”

Are those annoying jerks the culprits?

“…It’s not like I can just let this go, damn it.”

[With the great success of detection magic, additional effects are added.]

[Your location will be shared with everyone in the arena for 10 minutes.]

As those words echoed in my head, a magnificent golden pillar rose above me.

“Ah-”

There was no mention of it shining this brightly.

At this rate, I won’t be able to hide, and instead of causing chaos using the terrain of the forest, every single move I make will be exposed. But if I’m going to give up this easily, then Yoo Dahee would have kicked the bucket a long time ago in that outer space.

“…I’m screwed, seriously.”

Yoo Dahee grimaced deeply and began retracing her steps.

*****

“Heeeeek!”

As quickly as Dike’s face brightened, it turned pale just as fast.

This kind of magic is fatal while sniping.

If only I had any related magic or grace to evade spells, I should have given at least one, but due to my dwindling power, I couldn’t offer anything.

Truly disqualified as a participant in the arena.

As the golden pillar rose, the gazes of the participants turned towards it.

Realizing what it meant, they stopped what they were doing and each began to run towards it.

“20 points! The location with 20 points has been shared!”

“Hey, you damn contract holder! Stop dawdling and run! You’ll lose it to others!!!”

The participants of the arena were also in an excited state, shouting to their contractors to run towards the 20-point location.

In the usual case, conversations among the participants in the waiting room of the arena would not reach, but if special equipment related to contacting the existing contractors had been prepared, then a substantial amount of divine power could be paid to the Munsinjeon Management Office, allowing messages to be transmitted unilaterally.

In an instant, vapors of divine power were burning up from all over.

An opportunity that made even those uninterested in sniping dive in was unfolding.

The situation where winning was becoming secondary.

Just moments ago, the contractors who had been fighting were leaving their opponents in front of them and running like crazy. It was an incredibly ridiculous situation, but Dike couldn’t laugh.

“Uh, Uju Chang-gwan…! Unicorn & Byco is approaching…! The debt… the debt is increasing!”

If things continued like this, such a dreadful future would come crashing down. Through the screen allocated to the contracted goddess, Yoo Da-hee looked at it.

Yoo Da-hee was behaving in a way that Dike couldn’t understand.

Instead, she was turning back.

Why?

Questions arose above Dike’s head.

But soon, that question turned into astonishment.

“W-What is this crazy bastard trying to do!”

Because there, Yoo Da-hee was surrounding herself with the bodies of the contractors she had killed.

Even if the detection magic lasted for 10 minutes, it would be touch-and-go to throw everything away and run away, yet she was carrying that burden, clearly an act of suicide.

“D-Dikeee!”

Dike burst into tears.

*****

Yoo Da-hee returned to the starting point, the open field.

She was greeted by the body of a defense-colored assassin with his head split open.

As she set down the two bodies she had been carrying on her shoulders, they fell with a thud, making an unpleasant sound as they overlapped each other.

Ten minutes is truly a long time.

According to the guidebook, the size of the competition venue is a square area of 10km by 10km.

It wasn’t uniform terrain; each section had different landscapes such as deserts, wetlands, forests like this one, or volcanoes.

If the contractors come running from all those places, it’ll be a piece of cake in 10 minutes.

Yoo Da-hee prayed that as many people as possible would gather now that things had turned out this way.

The meticulously planned approach had already fallen apart. Responding the same way as before would only result in a valiant but ultimately futile effort ending in defeat.

If that were to happen, the future held nothing but being treated as a slave alongside the damned goddess, Dike, watching from outside. How am I supposed to earn 500 billion won and pay it back? Even with a fixed interest rate of 2% per year, it amounts to 100 billion. What was this insane goddess thinking when she borrowed at 20%?

She was a goddess whose financial sense had been completely sucked into a black hole. Therefore, this was an unavoidable situation. Penalty.

A constraint: one can only use what they consider their main skill once. The axe, Parashu, which has been wielded until now, is not included.

“Dice, just roll.”

[Dice rolling…]

[Rolling 1D20.]

[1…!]

The dice, too, was the same. Damn it, another fumble. Unlucky.

…Should I go out and catch a dragon or something? Various thoughts flooded Yoo Da-hee’s mind.

The fact that the dice rolled again meant that neither the dice’s ability nor the use of Parashu was considered Yoo Da-hee’s main skill. Then what could be the one thing Da-hee could use only once?

The answer was clear. Translation.

The book that had pushed him into a terrible alien world, one that couldn’t be described…

Necronomicon.

Reading, rereading, and correcting its errors, cross-verifying during all those hours spent translating it, even if he didn’t look at it, naturally memorized it to the point where it came to mind…

That memory was truly Da-hee’s true main skill. A translator and recorder, the only one in this world who understood the true nature of Necronomicon, a book that, if mistranslated, would convey the wrong meaning and drive one mad just by looking at it.

“Yoo Da-hee, the living Necronomicon.”

Whether it would be a resolute victory or merely a suicidal explosion with everyone was truly a gamble…

But isn’t it better than dying without trying and falling into a pile of debt?

The necronomicon’s vast and utterly repulsive record unfolds in my mind.

I didn’t go to the trouble of preparing three bodies just for show.

A necromancy ritual based on three people.

Yuda-hee smiled mysteriously as he looked at the crowd gathering.