Chapter 31

Chapter 6: Cannibalizing Kin (6)

The moment Eden stopped running and fell backward, spraying blood, happened in an instant.

"Ah!"

"What the hell is going on!"

The players fell into a state of panic due to the sudden situation.

Kahn and Doyle, who had been talking to Brand, also quickly turned their attention to the scene.

However, regardless of that,

Yeonwoo was already dashing forward, gripping Karsuna's dagger.

His target was the players who had been close to the dead Eden.

"Damn!"

"How the hell...!"

They were surprised that their plan had been exposed and scattered in all directions to escape.

'So simple.'

Yeonwoo sneered at them.

Even a light tap had them all fleeing in terror.

In fact, Yeonwoo had noticed something was off not long ago.

He always kept his senses activated in a passive state, allowing him to detect the constantly changing environment around him.

When something suspicious arose, his instincts would kick in first.

This time was no different.

His activated sensory field had naturally detected the players who had been following them, along with their words and actions.

Then he noticed Eden.

The way he observed Kahn and Doyle, the way he scrutinized Yeonwoo, and the way he seemed to be giving instructions to the players.

He often talked to Brand, trying to avoid the attention of others.

They might have thought they were acting in secret, but their foolishness only aroused Yeonwoo's suspicion.

After that, Yeonwoo expanded his sensory field to prepare for any contingencies.

He eventually realized that a group of unknown individuals were lying in wait in a nearby clearing.

There was only one explanation for this.

'Scavengers.'

The ones he had thought were just prey for the Harugan were, in fact, even more vicious than the lizardmen.

So, the moment Eden showed any sign of movement, Yeonwoo immediately eliminated him.

He would strike first, before they could move.

The number of hidden enemies was significant enough to pose a danger.

It seemed they had gathered all the Scavengers in the vicinity.

How they signaled the others outside was unknown, but once the fight started, he had to quickly cut off their escape routes.

As a result, the players couldn't completely escape Yeonwoo's sensory field.

Yeonwoo reached for his waist while still running.

Swish!

He spun his body and swung his greatsword in all directions.

Thud!

The fleeing players were struck in the head or heart, falling to the ground with the greatsword deeply embedded in them.

Two of the more skilled players managed to deflect the greatsword and escape.

Just as Yeonwoo was about to chase after them,

"Hey! What the hell are you doing all of a sudden!"

Kahn, with a shocked expression, blocked Yeonwoo's path.

To him, it seemed Yeonwoo had suddenly attacked the players for no reason.

Yeonwoo replied in a cold voice,

"Are you stupid, or just slow?"

"What do you mean by that!"

"If you can't figure out the situation, just shut up and sit down."

Yeonwoo left those words and brushed past Kahn.

Swish!

Kahn, about to shout again, quickly looked around, realizing something.

Doyle, who had already noticed, was concentrating mana in his hand.

"Bro."

"I never thought something like this would happen. Damn it."

Kahn scowled and drew his sword from his waist.

The players had already surrounded them, brandishing knives and axes they seemed to have pulled out of nowhere.

They exuded a menacing aura.

Only Brand, unable to grasp the situation, stammered,

"W-What's going on? W-What are those weapons... Gah!"

A nearby player, annoyed by the question, scowled and split Brand's face with a hand axe.

"What do you mean, 'what'? You've been played for fools this whole time. Hah, pfft! Anyway, that's why prey like you is no good."

Many "normal" players had already fallen to sudden attacks from those they thought were their allies, unable to comprehend the sudden change in the situation.

Another player, or rather, a Scavenger, said,

"We were almost done. How did we get exposed?"

"Exposed? It was Eden, that idiot."

"Damn it."

"Still, everyone, stay focused. They're dangerous. We need to hold out until the reinforcements arrive."

"At least one of them will be taken care of over there, so that's a relief."

The Scavengers, seeing Yeonwoo and the others who had overturned Harugan's second phase, tensed up.

But they didn't seem to think they would lose.

Yeonwoo and the others were already fatigued from the major battle, and with the reinforcements, the Scavengers outnumbered them significantly.

Among them were some top players.

"What the hell are these guys?"

Kahn scowled and gathered mana.

* * *

'The original owners of the human farm.'

While chasing the Scavengers, Yeonwoo could deduce their identity to some extent.

Scavengers weren't just simple looters.

Some of them worked with monsters.

'They pretended to be injured to lure players into traps, kidnapped them, and while the monsters ate the human flesh, they took the emblems and artifacts for themselves.'

When I and Artya learned that the original owners of the human farm, who provided human flesh to the monsters, were actually humans, we were enraged.

And we vowed.

To completely erase these people from the tutorial and the tower!

'The Scavengers who provided human flesh in the tutorial were considered the scum of the Scavengers. But their organization was too solid, and they had a monster king backing them, making it difficult to eliminate them.'

They could hide anywhere in Sector E if they wanted to, and they could even bring in monsters to deal with players trying to capture them.

But even so, my brother and Artya continued to track them down.

They killed all the Scavengers and thoroughly destroyed their organization to prevent any resurgence.

Because of this achievement, they could have ranked second.

But it was a significant feat, not easily decided or accomplished.

Moreover, my brother would check the tutorial whenever he had a chance, just in case the Scavengers from the human farm had resurfaced.

Fortunately, they seemed to have been completely eradicated, as there were no sightings afterward.

So, Yeonwoo had only kept them in mind and hadn't paid much attention.

'Have they resurfaced?'

Are these the successors of the Scavengers my brother eliminated?

Or did they hide under Artya's influence and only resurface after she disappeared?

It was unclear which it was.

But one thing was certain: they had started to act again.

And they had tried to trap Yeonwoo.

'Most of the players originally trapped in the human farm... must have died.'

Yeonwoo's eyes turned cold.

Although he had made a cold judgment about the human farm, he was still human.

The act of selling fellow humans to monsters was incomprehensible.

'Especially since they even killed their ally, Harugan, to maximize their gains. They can't be taken lightly. We need to strike first and quickly overwhelm them before they realize the situation.'

And,

The Scavengers he was chasing were leading him to where the reinforcements were.

He hadn't captured them yet on purpose.

To accurately determine their ambush positions.

And the moment those positions were within his sensory field,

Swish!

"Ugh!"

"It... can't be!"

Yeonwoo threw his greatsword at the now-useless Scavengers, causing them to fall, and then charged into the dense undergrowth.

"Why aren't they coming... Gah!"

A Scavenger, crouched in the undergrowth facing the clearing, stopped muttering and suddenly lifted his head, feeling a burning sensation at the back of his neck.

But before he could scream, his head was severed and rolled on the ground.

Plop—

A pool of blood formed on the ground.

Splat!

Yeonwoo stepped over it and moved to the next location, carefully and silently.

Like a cat stalking its prey.

'Secretly and swiftly.'

Flash!

Two will-o'-the-wisps crossed over the undergrowth.

* * *

The Scavengers waiting for Eden's group only realized something was wrong after a long time.

-What's up? Why aren't these guys coming?

-Yeah, maybe they got caught and died?

-But Eden, even if he brings back small prey, has never failed before.

-Still, damn it. This is so boring.

They usually wore masks and were called by numbers like Ains (1), Zwei (2), Drei (3) when performing 'missions.'

This was to prevent them from revealing their allies' names or appearances if captured by the enemy.

It was a method they had adopted to go into hiding after being nearly wiped out by Artya long ago?

Even after Artya disappeared, this custom remained, and they continued to use this method.

Not that they didn't know each other like before.

But by hiding their faces and names, they could alleviate the guilt of doing 'bad things.'

However, it was strange that Drei (30), who should have brought back the prey by now, and Eden, had not made any contact.

They were eagerly waiting for the prey to appear.

-Haha, Blood Sword and Fox Tail. If we can really catch them, they'd be the biggest catch, right?

-Except for Pant and Edora, the crazy siblings, they're practically the best team. It would be thrilling just to take them down, and they must have a lot of stuff.

-I've been eyeing the Dragon Slayer that Blood Sword has.

-You, the crazy one? I saw it first, you bastard!

-What are you saying? The one who gets to it first owns it.

-Stop it, all of you! The boss will handle the distribution later, so shut up. Instead, let's think about how to use the rewards from the Lizard King.

The Scavengers, who had been bickering, suddenly lifted their heads.

-Damn it. They're really not coming. Something must be wrong. Zehn (17), try contacting Eden.

Zwei grumbled and ordered Zehn, who was hiding in the undergrowth.

The communication artifact provided to all Scavengers glowed.

But there was no response.

-Zehn? Zehn! Where did this guy go?

Zwei scowled and turned his head.

-Nine (9), Zehn is there, right? You try contacting him.

-...

-Nine? Nine!

Even Nine, who had been arguing with Zwei about the Dragon Slayer, didn't respond.

Zwei's back suddenly felt cold.

His comrades had disappeared without him noticing?

That meant...

'An ambush!'

Zwei jumped to his feet.

Zwei ranked 15th in the tutorial, and he was confident that his skills were in the top 10.

The fact that he hadn't detected the enemy's presence until his comrades were all killed meant that the enemy's stealth was beyond imagination.

Right then,

Swish!

"Where are you!"

Zwei quickly turned toward the sound.

But he only saw the undergrowth swaying in the wind. No one was there.

Sssss-

"Is it you?"

He turned again, hearing a sound from behind.

No one was there either.

Zwei scowled.

"Trying to break my will because you can't face me head-on? It won't be that easy."

His muttered words were more of a self-hypnosis than a threat.

The more sounds he heard, the stronger the wind blew.

The chill running down his spine grew stronger. Fear seemed to rise from his feet, squeezing his heart.

All he wanted was to kill the enemy and escape.

Swish!

Then, a presence was detected in a blind spot.

Zwei quickly threw his sword in that direction.

Thud!

'I got you!'

He felt something hit.

Zwei immediately lunged in that direction.

But instead of the enemy he expected, his comrade, Feuer (4), was lying there, a knife in his heart, gasping for breath.

Feuer's face was pale, showing only one emotion.

Fear.

"Help... me... please!"

As Feuer said those words and fell to the ground,

"..."

Zwei felt the fear that had been squeezing his heart rise to his throat.

At that moment,

Swish!

A white mask fell in front of Zwei.

Bringing death, despair, and fear.

Swish!

* * *

The situation with Kahn and Doyle remained tense.

"What the hell are those Arangdan guys doing?"

Kahn was seething.

The self-proclaimed vigilantes who aimed to make the tutorial fair didn't know about this.

On the other hand, he also thought,

Yeonwoo had gone to capture the others first. That meant he had known about their true identities from the beginning.

How did he know all this?

But his doubts didn't last long.

He sensed the movement of the one who introduced himself as Ains (1).

Other players also closed in. Just as Kahn and Doyle were discussing how to break through,

Whoosh!

"What is it?"

"Enemy? Ally?"

Suddenly, a strange presence was felt from the sky.

Kahn, Doyle, Ains, and all the players stopped and looked up.

Then,

Thud.

Something fell from the sky.

One of them rolled to Ains' feet.

"What is this?"

Ains scowled, checking what it was, and then his mouth dropped open in shock.

What had rolled to his feet was

the head of Zwei, stained with fear.