Chapter 210: The Price of Greed (2)

‘Actually…’

A brilliant idea flashed through Hyun’s mind, and his grin widened.

‘Maybe it’s better not to kill them.’

Users in Asrian were physically incapable of self-harm. It was a core system restriction designed to prevent players from abusing skills that triggered upon taking damage.

Flip that rule on its head, and it meant a player could sometimes find themselves in a situation where they wanted to die but physically couldn’t.

Should he teach them just how terrifying it was for a user to be denied the sweet release of death?

「U-Uh, Hyun? Did you just activate Dark Protection…?」

Ain’s shoulders flinched slightly. Even while distracted by the sudden shift in his aura, her mechanical control remained flawless as she smoothly dodged Parmu’s massive front leg.

「Ah, don’t worry about it.」

Oops. Realizing they were currently in a state of Assimilation, Hyun quickly reined in the dark emotions that had leaked through the link. Right now, focusing on coaching Ain was a far higher priority than whatever those vermin were plotting.

Site, the Guild Leader of Blood Raven.

Holding a personal rank of 3,573rd, Site wasn’t exactly high enough to be called a household ‘Ranker.’ However, when looking at the sheer volume of the active player base, he undeniably belonged to the absolute upper echelon of users.

‘The opportunity is still there.’

In this world, it was always the underhanded bastards who came out on top. And inside the labyrinth, one had to be even more shameless.

Having propelled his guild all the way to 167th through pure cunning, the trait he prided himself on most was his ‘situational awareness.’ True to form, Site’s mind raced at supersonic speeds before he arrived at the optimal conclusion.

「The absolute microsecond before their hunt ends, we ambush them.」

Site glared in the direction of the seven-man party while passing down orders to his crew. One of his members, failing to grasp the plan immediately, questioned him.

「The four of us are going to attack a party of seven?」

「Exactly.」

「But in a Mexican standoff like this, whoever makes the first move usually…」

With multiple factions hungrily eyeing a single prey, it was common knowledge that the first party to trigger a volatile confrontation would find themselves at an overwhelming disadvantage.

However, Site’s tactical vision bypassed conventional common sense, and it happened to be entirely correct.

「This is the labyrinth. It’s completely different from the surface. Even with just four of us, we can wipe out all seven of them in the blink of an eye.」

Site grasped the unique structural rules of the labyrinth better than anyone. In an environment where precise dismemberment occurred easily, the ‘right of first strike’ carried enough lethal value to completely render numerical superiority meaningless.

「The moment I give the signal, everyone throws a dagger simultaneously. While they’re throwing a panicked fit, we charge straight in and slit the throats of the survivors.」

「What if we don’t one-shot them?」

「Aim strictly for the head! The heart can sometimes be a tricky hitbox to land consistently!」

It was a strategy that would be impossible outside of the labyrinth. Conversely, it was an incredibly viable strategy precisely because they were inside it.

「Now, let’s keep our eyes glued to that duo party and watch exactly when that Named hunt wraps up.」

Up until this point, Site possessed absolute faith in the perfection of his blueprint. However, the moment the girl confidently strode toward the colossal spider entirely by herself, Site began picking up on glaring anomalies.

‘She said it was a two-man party, so where the hell is her teammate?’

His confusion deepened significantly when she unsheathed her weapon.

‘What? Is she seriously trying to initiate a Named hunt before her partner even arrives?’

Screeech! The very instant the Named locked onto the girl and let out a hideous screech, the full picture finally clicked in Site’s mind.

The claim of having a party was a complete bluff! The girl truly intended to solo the Named Monster.

The moment his eyes caught the ornately decorated blade clutched in her hand, Site sucked in a sharp, ragged breath. He had recognized the weapon and instantly cross-referenced its image profile in his mind.

「Storm of the Magic Swordsman! That’s a Level 180 requirement weapon! That woman… she’s a top 100 Ranker!」

「A Ranker?!」

「Who… who is she? If she’s in the top 100, we should recognize her ID.」

At the mention of a literal Ranker, the Blood Raven members immediately tensed up, their postures locking into rigid anxiety. Guild Leader Site quickly stepped in to rally his crew.

「There’s zero reason to freeze up just because she’s a Ranker. In the labyrinth, assassins hold a supreme advantage over every single class!」

However, a split second later, Site’s own eyes widened in pure shock. It happened the moment the Storm of the Magic Swordsman cleanly severed a portion of Parmu’s body.

‘She’s intentionally cutting off its legs…?’

Blood Raven had already tasted bitter failure against this exact mob. Once that spider lost a leg, it started chaining lightning magic, causing the difficulty of the raid to spike exponentially. Furthermore, because it grew progressively more feral and agile the closer it drew to death, one needed to approach every single offensive window with extreme caution.

Yet, this girl was effortlessly dancing through the electrical discharges, tracking the monster down with terrifying speed, and cleanly lopping off its legs in successive heartbeats!

「Wait a damn minute, her hunting speed is completely off the charts!」

Crackle! Spark!

Arcs of lightning violently erupted with every severed limb. In less than ten seconds since the initiation of the fight, the monstrous spider that had driven them to despair was completely stripped of its legs, flailing helplessly on the floor. It was a spectacle that defied belief.

「The hunt is ending! Move now!」

At Site’s commanding roar, they executed a ruthless rearguard ambush on the unsuspecting seven-man party.

“W-What the… Gahk!”

“You backstabbing bastards…! Urgh…!”

In a flash, multiple throats were cleanly pierced, and heads sent rolling across the stone floor. It was an absolute massacre born entirely from their targets being utterly blinded by the prospect of loot!

Their sound-suppressing active skills proved to be the ultimate decider. Until Blood Raven had physically closed the distance behind the seven-man party, not a single soul had detected so much as a stray footstep.

Just like reality—no, even more effortlessly than reality—the labyrinth was a domain where life could evaporate in a meaningless flash.

「Targets completely neutralized!」

「Wow, that was ridiculously easy. As expected of the Guild Leader!」

「Excellent!」

Three out of their four members were assassins. Site couldn’t help but feel incredibly grateful for their extreme class imbalance on a day like today. Refusing to let a minor success get to his head, he instantly pivoted to their primary objective.

「Lock your focus directly onto the prey! The item drop is coming any second!」

The other hidden four-man party chose that exact moment to emerge from the shadows as well. Exactly as anticipated, they too had been lurking in the wings, waiting to poach the final blow.

Blood Raven and the initial four-man party—a total of eight users—simultaneously lunged toward the center of the hall.

「Kill the Ranker first! We outmatch the remaining four anyway, so victory is guaranteed!」

That was Site’s internal calculation. However, it didn’t take long for a sickening realization to sink in that something had gone horribly wrong.

The exact moment the guild members converged near the girl…

Squ클, squelch.

The massive spider that had been flailing helplessly on the stone floor began rapidly regenerating every single one of its severed legs. It was happening at a speed that defied any logical definition of natural health regeneration.

「Wait… why hasn’t the hunt ended…?!」

Screeeeeeich!

The spider’s agonizing shriek rattled their eardrums. Accompanying the cry, a violent ripple of magical energy radiated outward, causing the goosebumps on everyone’s skin to stand on end.

「It completely regenerated!」

Crunch!

It was precisely at that moment that a pair of massive, glowing crimson claws erupted from the girl’s hands. It was the weapon specifically optimized for dismantling Parmu’s second phase.

‘That skill is…?!’

The moment their eyes locked onto Ifrit’s Claws, a bolt of realization struck the minds of multiple players. The users gathered here were high-tier players sitting at Level 150 at bare minimum. There wasn’t a single active user who was ignorant of the historic epic quest that had completely shattered the community forums.

「I’ve definitely seen this woman somewhere before! What the hell was her ID again…?」

「It’s Ain, you absolute moron!」

While the rest of the players were completely paralyzed by Ain’s identity, Site’s sharp eyes picked up on the hyper-intense sparks arcing violently off the spider’s carapace.

「Danger! Everyone fall back!」

Whirrrrr.

A microsecond later, a shimmering shroud of pitch-black energy completely enveloped Ain’s body. It was her self-buff skill, Dark Armor.

BZZZZZZT!

The very next heartbeat, a cataclysmic storm of lightning descended heavily upon the central hall. The moment Parmu transitioned into its secondary form, its immediate counter-skill, Electric Cage, was fully unleashed.

‘Tch… how did this happen? Wasn’t it right on the brink of death?’

Fortunately, the entire roster of Blood Raven had managed to dive out of the lightning strike zone just in time. Gasping for air, Site carefully rewound the sequence of events in his head.

The girl… no, Ain, had thrown something directly into the spider’s maw right before the shift. Something that bore a striking resemblance to a glowing blue gem.

That object was, without a doubt…

‘A Mana Stone?’

No way. Did she intentionally feed it a Mana Stone?

The current market value of a Mana Stone was astronomical.

‘Why on earth would she feed it a Mana Stone?’

There were still countless unmapped secrets and hidden variables buried within Asra’s legacy data. Hidden quests, undiscovered zones, and completely unrevealed methods of harvesting rare crafting materials!

‘There’s a secret mechanic here that we know absolutely nothing about!’

Feeding it a Mana Stone could only mean one thing: she was gunning for a reward whose latent value completely eclipsed the price of the stone itself. There was simply no other logical alternative.

In an instant, an untamed wave of greed flickered in Site’s eyes. He became completely consumed by curiosity regarding what kind of item a legendary legacy player like Ain would go to such extreme lengths to secure.

Conveniently, they were deep inside the lawless territory of the labyrinth. Surely, even a high-and-mighty god-tier Ranker could be cleanly assassinated if they played their cards right?

Site tracked the violently thrashing spider with his eyes as he spoke to his squad.

「Everyone, get your ultimate skills primed and ready.」

「Are we seriously fixing to throw down with Ain? No matter how valuable the drop is…」

「It’s not going to be a simple Mana Stone.」

Site dug deep into his memory logs. Every now and then, highly enigmatic, unidentified magical crafting ingredients would pop up on the global auction house for brief windows. Items whose origins and acquisition methods remained entirely shrouded in mystery.

While average users who were purely obsessed with grinding basic Mana Stones remained completely oblivious, Site had caught wind of exclusive rumors regarding legendary-tier materials changing hands for astronomical sums.

「Dismembering the limbs and feeding it a Mana Stone. Anyone with eyes can see this isn’t a standard raid progression loop, right?」

「Could it be… that’s the trigger to force a Rare-grade material drop…?」

「Exactly. That has to be it.」

Site cleanly laid out his deductions, mapping out Ain’s exact movements up to this point. With that singular explanation, the members of Blood Raven were completely swayed by his logic.

A supreme-tier magical crafting ingredient! Despite being nothing more than digital data inside a video game, its practical value easily cleared the price of a luxury real estate deed.

「Everyone, stay locked and loaded.」

「…!」

Staring directly at a golden opportunity that could fundamentally rewrite their real lives, the Blood Raven members aggressively suppressed their hammering hearts, keeping their eyes glued to the unfolding spectacle.

The clash between Ain and the Named Monster was more violently spectacular than any raid they had ever witnessed. The tempest of lightning and flames radiating from the epicenter of the hall forced everyone to continuously back away just to avoid being caught in the collateral splash.

Screeech! Every single time a brilliant burst of fire illuminated the cavernous space, another giant spider leg was cleanly blasted off. It took a mere matter of minutes for the creature to be systematically stripped of its limbs all over again.

「She severed all the legs a second time!」

「Do we strike now?」

「Wait, hold your positions!」

Site aggressively held his crew back. He had caught a faint glimpse of Ain tossing yet another small crystal toward the beast.

‘What is that one?’

Unlike the distinct blue glow of a standard Mana Stone, the completely translucent Divine Stone was incredibly difficult to track with the naked eye from a distance.

‘There’s a third phase to this mechanic?!’

Recalling how the creature had instantly unleashed a cataclysmic lightning storm the moment it swallowed the previous stone, Site hurriedly barked out a warning to the surrounding users.

「Back away, it’s dangerous! Another lightning storm is coming!」

However, completely subverting Site’s tactical predictions, no tempest of electricity materialized this time. Instead, a hyper-intense, blinding radiance began erupting from the core of the monster’s body.

Flashhhhh!

In an absolute instant, webs woven from pure holy light surged outward, aggressively colonizing every square inch of the surrounding architecture.

The absolute final evolution of Parmu.

Screeeeech! The sheer weight of the magical pressure radiating from the now sacred beast was more than enough to completely paralyze the souls of everyone present.

「Hey, Hyun.」

Facing down the transformed Parmu, which was practically overflowing with immense divine power, Ain called out internally.

「What are we doing about those guys in the back?」

Ain had long since clocked the vultures lingering at a distance, quietly sizing up their position.

「Are we not killing them?」

「There’s zero reason for you to waste your energy on them. Keep your focus strictly locked onto Parmu.」

Ain felt a sudden shiver run down her spine from the cold, absolute certainty radiating from Hyun. If his mind was this set, she didn’t need to overthink it.

As she settled her mind, Hyun’s guiding voice drifted over her ears once more.

「Make sure you don’t cut off more than four legs. You remember the rule, right?」

「Huh? O-Oh… yeah… obviously…」

Right as she was about to confidently fake her way through the answer, Ain realized her internal emotions were fluctuating wildly. It was the exact telltale tremor that manifested right before she attempted to tell a lie. A veteran like Hyun would easily read through it in a heartbeat.

「Obviously, I completely blanked on it!」

「Ha… ha.」

Hyun let out an amused chuckle, fully expecting the response, before patiently repeating his earlier breakdown.

「Parmu can only channel its Spatial Transfer once a highly specific set of environmental conditions are perfectly met. Our sole objective is to manufacture those exact conditions for it.」

「What were they again…?」

「First, you must sever exactly half of its legs. Its hidden skill tree only unlocks once precisely four limbs are lost.」

Every single time Parmu lost a leg, its base stats scaled upward and a new active ability unlocked. The critical danger lay in cutting off a fifth leg; if that happened, the creature would lose its structural balance and become incapable of walking properly. If it couldn’t walk, it wouldn’t be able to channel its boundary field, which completely disabled its ability to trigger Spatial Transfer.

「And the second crucial variable you need to keep track of is the timing.」

「The timing?」

「We have to actively wait for the boundary field to achieve 100% completion. Do not accidentally burst it down too quickly.」

Parmu’s Spatial Transfer wasn’t an instantaneous, raw cast. In other words, they had to intentionally stall and give Parmu enough breathing room to weave its boundary field using its remaining four legs. Only then could they ride the spell and skip the floors alongside it.