The Player Who Must Kill the Regressor to Survive.

Chapter 2

—–CROW—– 

“[The First Trial will now commence.]”

The electronic billboard announcing the start of the first trial appeared.

Then, the details of the first trial were displayed on each player’s screen and before their eyes.

[First Trial]

Objective: Become a survivor who advances to the Second Trial.

– Participants in Sector 33,333: 10,000 people

“What is this?”

“Become a survivor?”

“Does this mean we have to kill each other?”

“Are there really ten thousand people here right now?”

“But what’s a sector?”

“Sector 33,333?”

The players voiced their questions after seeing the contents of the first trial displayed on the electronic billboard.

The electronic billboard then kindly answered the players’ questions.

“[‘Sectors’ are spaces into which all players on Planet ‘Earth’ are divided until the number of survivors falls below a certain threshold.]”

“[When the number of survivors decreases, some of the sectors will be merged.]”

Having briefly explained about the sectors, the electronic billboard announced the start of the first trial.

“[Kill each other from now until the number of survivors reaches 5,000.]”

The first trial.

It was to kill each other so that only 5,000, half of the 10,000, would survive.

The people then cautiously observed each other.

It was inevitable.

The majority had never even been in a fistfight, let alone killed anyone.

Suddenly stabbing and killing the person next to them was impossible.

Unfortunately for the people here, however, there was a Regressor among them.

‘A massacre will happen anyway. I’m just speeding things up.’

Hae-jin gripped the greatsword tightly in both hands.

There was someone he had to kill faster than anyone else.

It was Joo-hyuk hyung, the leader.

But aside from that, Hae-jin had to benefit from his ‘Rune of Absorption,’ so he had to kill people here anyway.

‘If I can’t kill people in the first trial, they’re all going to die in the next trial anyway.’

The two previous regressions had already hardened Hae-jin.

Killing people.

It might be something a human being shouldn’t do.

But here, he had to.

‘If I don’t kill, I die.’

People called the trials a survival game.

Why?

Because they had to survive.

So they could proceed towards the end.

Therefore, they couldn’t afford to hesitate about killing.

Despite the first trial’s objective of killing each other, people just stared at each other, unsure of what to do.

But among those people, Hae-jin made eye contact with a man in the distance.

The other person smiled faintly.

“Leader.”

He was speaking with his eyes.

Come here quickly and kill me.

I’m finally going to cast off this heavy burden.

Responding to this, Hae-jin slowly approached the leader and swiftly thrust his greatsword into his heart.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Although he gasped right after being stabbed, the leader smirked.

Hae-jin, who had thrust the greatsword into the leader’s heart, also smiled back.

Although they didn’t speak verbally, they could understand what each other was saying through their eyes.

‘I’m sorry for leaving you with such a heavy burden, Hae-jin-ah.’

‘As much as you trusted me, this time, I’ll end this damned survival game with my own hands.’

Finally, as the leader’s head drooped and his breath stopped…

“You’ve worked hard, Joo-hyuk hyung.”

Hae-jin, who had always called him “Leader,” called him by his name for the last time.

As Hae-jin killed Nam Joo-hyuk, his body turned into shimmering white particles and disappeared.

Then, a message appeared.

[Player killed. 1 Kill!]

[Rune of Absorption, activated!]

[Absorbs the soul upon killing an enemy.]

[All stats permanently increase every time 100 souls are accumulated. (1/100)]

[Increased stats are permanently maintained.]

The Rune of Absorption that Hae-jin had obtained.

It was a rune with truly cheat-like specifications, increasing stats based on the cumulative number of enemies killed during the trials.

However, Hae-jin in this round planned to use that ability only in the first trial, so…

Hae-jin had decided to become a slaughterer who would sweep through this place in the first trial after regressing.

Joo-hyuk hyung, the leader, was the beginning.

“Kyaaaah!”

“Uwaah, crazy! He killed someone!”

“Murderer!”

“Ru… Run!”

Seeing Hae-jin kill the man beside him without hesitation, the surrounding people reacted in various ways.

People terrified by Hae-jin’s murder.

Seeing that, Hae-jin gripped his greatsword again and thought.

‘Yes, everyone must be like that now.’

He had been the same when he first witnessed murder in the first trial.

But it couldn’t be helped if he wanted to survive.

Hae-jin knew well.

‘Eventually, they’ll have to adapt to survive too.’

The laws, customs, and morals that humanity had upheld until now were worthless in the face of the trials.

There was no need to verbally explain and teach this.

The trials were survival of the fittest.

Only the strong survive.

Thinking so, Hae-jin murmured.

“Even if I don’t have skills, my footwork should still be the same, right?”

Footwork.

As players progressed through the Trial Grounds, they could become stronger by leveling up and allocating stat points, but there was also a way to become stronger by luckily obtaining separate skills.

However, besides these two, there was one more way to become stronger as one progressed through the Trial Grounds.

That was ‘experience’ and ‘training.’

Even without leveling up or skill books, it was possible to learn techniques from the otherworldly beings encountered in the ongoing Trial Grounds.

The ‘footwork’ Hae-jin had just mentioned was one such example.

Footwork that allowed for the most efficient and swift offensive and defensive movements when handling a weapon.

Hae-jin stepped, following the footwork that remained in his memory.

‘Blood Wind Footwork.’

Footwork that summoned a bloody wind.

Hae-jin used the ‘Blood Wind Footwork,’ a footwork that suited the class he had obtained before regressing and the Rune of Absorption.

As he used the footwork, a red wind rose around Hae-jin’s body.

Fwhoosh-.

The red wind enveloped Hae-jin’s body.

A few with keen eyes seemed to recognize it, stopping and saying,

“What is that?”

“What’s with that red wind?”

Regardless, Hae-jin thought.

‘Since I haven’t accumulated Aura separately, Mana is being drained. Let’s catch as many as possible with Blood Wind Footwork.’

Having set his goal, Hae-jin moved.

Whoosh!

Everyone gasped upon seeing Hae-jin’s movement.

“Gasp!”

“Wh… What?!”

“Tha… That’s…!”

Hae-jin moved at a speed that an ordinary human could never match.

He swung his greatsword indiscriminately.

Each time he did, countless people were cut down and collapsed.

Then, Hae-jin could see.

[Player killed. 2 Kills!]

[Rune of Absorption, activated!]

[Absorbs the soul upon killing an enemy.]

[All stats permanently increase every time 100 souls are accumulated. (2/100)]

…

[Player killed. 100 Kills!]

[Rune of Absorption, activated!]

[Absorbs the soul upon killing an enemy.]

[All stats permanently increase every time 100 souls are accumulated. (100/100)]

[All of the Player’s stats permanently increase by 1.]

[Player killed. 101 Kills!]

[Rune of Absorption, activated!]

[Absorbs the soul upon killing an enemy.]

[All stats permanently increase every time 100 souls are accumulated. (1/100)]

Hae-jin, whose stats increased and stacks reset every time he killed a hundred people due to the Rune of Absorption’s effect.

The effect of the ‘Rune of Absorption’ was literally to become faster and stronger the more he killed.

With this, Hae-jin could start the survival game with faster growth than others.

Moreover, since he had the experience of regression, he spurred his growth without any further hesitation.

The sacrifice of Joo-hyuk hyung, the leader, who had given him the last chance to regress, and his comrades.

So that it wouldn’t be in vain.

*

[Player killed. 4,572 Kills!]

[Rune of Absorption, activated!]

[Absorbs the soul upon killing an enemy.]

[All stats permanently increase every time 100 souls are accumulated. (72/100)]

Hae-jin, who had been relentlessly killing people.

The people watching were horrified, flinching and recoiling even at the mere glance of his eyes.

He was an unbelievable human being.

How could a single person slaughter thousands?

He wasn’t even tired.

However, if they had even a little experience as players, they would have understood how natural this was.

Killing players grants experience points.

Accumulated experience points lead to level ups.

And when a player levels up, all conditions are restored.

So Hae-jin couldn’t get tired even if he tried.

Furthermore, Hae-jin had been madly increasing his stats with the cheat-like effect of the Rune of Absorption.

It wasn’t for nothing that the leader had chosen Park Hae-jin as the last person to regress with him.

Only Hae-jin was capable of such monstrous growth in the early stages.

Hae-jin, who had single-handedly slaughtered a whopping 4,572 people in the sector by now.

He thought.

‘If I kill 28 more, all my stats will increase by 1 again.’

But Hae-jin could no longer continue the slaughter.

[The First Trial has been completed.]

[Level Up!]

[Hidden Trial achieved.]

[Level Up!]

[Congratulations! You have achieved 1st place in the Sector Ranking!]

[Rewards have been sent to your inventory.]

Because the first trial had already ended due to meeting the conditions.

Unlike Hae-jin, who had seen countless system windows, the surviving players could only see this message.

[The First Trial has been completed.]

[Level Up!]

The people were relieved that the first trial had finally ended.

On the other hand, Hae-jin was disappointed.

‘If I had killed 28 more, all my stats would have increased by 1, what a shame.’

However, he couldn’t kill 28 more people just for his stats.

After all, it was the result of sparing the useful people he remembered amidst the carnage.

Anyway, as the first trial ended, the electronic billboard displayed a message again.

[First Trial Complete.]

[Calculating First Trial results.]

[Announcing the results of the First Trial.]

After calculating the progress of the first trial, the electronic billboard displayed the results.

[First Trial Sector Ranking TOP 3]

1st Place: Park Hae-jin 4,572 Kills

2nd Place: Jung Nam-gil 43 Kills

3rd Place: Kang Hee-soon 38 Kills

“Crazy!”

“4,500 people?”

“Isn’t he a real psychopath?”

“Second place barely surpassed 40 kills, but he killed a hundred times that number alone?!”

“He’s insane, absolutely insane…”

People were dumbfounded after seeing the ranking results.

It was because Park Hae-jin’s kill count was overwhelmingly high.

Everyone was either stunned by the overwhelming number or looked at Hae-jin with fearful eyes.

—–CROW—– 

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