Ch. 209

I just noticed that I published 208 twice. Sorry about that.

Chapter 209: The Price of Greed (1)

‘Tch, a four-man party?’

A new group of players had appeared right in front of Blood Raven. The moment their eyes locked onto the Named Monster, they completely filled with greed.

Sizing up the situation, the newcomers flashed sly, knowing grins.

“Go on, carry on with your hunt. Don’t mind us.”

“Why don’t you guys carry on and keep moving down the path instead?” Blood Raven’s Guild Leader countered, his voice dripping with disgust.

But the response from the other side was entirely predictable.

“Huh? Are you saying we aren’t even allowed to sit down and take a breather?”

“There’s no reason to rest in a spot like this when you literally just passed a safe zone.”

“Hmm, you make a fair point. We’ll be on our way then. Have a good hunt.”

The four-man party rose with strange smiles. Though they quickly vanished from sight, Blood Raven still couldn’t bring themselves to resume hunting the Named Monster. They knew damn well those bastards hadn’t actually left; they were just lingering nearby, waiting to test the waters.

‘Those miserable leeches…!’

To take down a spider that spammed lightning, at least two or three of them had to be prepared to expose themselves completely. But the vultures hiding in the shadows would definitely ambush them the absolute second they lowered their guard, aiming to snatch their hard-earned spoils.

What would happen if a fight broke out?

A ragged group that had barely scraped through a grueling Named hunt versus a fresh team waiting in ambush, sharpening their blades with full preparations. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who would come out on top.

「Guild Leader-nim, what do we do now?」

At the anxious question from a guild member, the Guild Leader of Blood Raven agonized over the decision before finally making a call.

「We’re moving out too.」

「Huh? Are we giving up on a Named Monster?!」

「Are you an idiot? Who said anything about giving up? I’m saying we’re going to wait it out on the opposite side!」

A bizarre psychological war of attrition began. Both hidden factions held their breath and bided their time, each plotting to either slaughter the weakened survivors or finish off the battered boss themselves. Because the party that made the first move would be at an overwhelming disadvantage, twenty minutes ticked away in completely meaningless silence.

A heavy, suffocating stillness settled over the cavern, leaving the Named Monster at a distance.

‘Stalling like this isn’t going to favor us.’

However, as time dragged on, the Blood Raven Guild Leader’s expression grew increasingly frantic. There was no telling when a new competitor might drop in. They couldn’t afford to hesitate indefinitely. To make matters worse, there was also a distinct possibility that the boss would fully regenerate its severed leg and wander off somewhere else.

‘Tch, isn’t there any other way?’

Ultimately, the Guild Leader reached a conclusion. The only viable option left was to strike a compromise and propose a joint hunt.

But right at that moment…

Tap, tap.

The echoing sound of approaching footsteps shattered the silence, instantly snapping everyone to high alert.

‘Damn it, someone else is coming!’

‘I should have made the call sooner!’

Against the backdrop of the magical lanterns illuminating the labyrinth corridors, a single, elongated shadow stretched across the stone floor. It was a silhouette that appeared to belong to a female, drawing closer by the second.

The hidden players held their breath, tracking the advancing shadow.

‘Just a solo player? Thank goodness.’

Taking in the situation, the Guild Leader breathed a small sigh of relief. If it was just a lone wolf, they were confident they could take down even a high-ranking user. After all, Blood Raven was a guild that specialized strictly in PvP. If the price of Mana Stones hadn’t sky-rocketed to Pluto, they wouldn’t even be wasting their time playing labyrinth explorers like this in the first place.

「It’ll be cleaner to just kill her off quickly.」

「We’re executing her?」

「Yeah. We can’t afford to let word of this spot spread any further.」

This was a labyrinth teeming with lethal hazards. It wasn’t a place so forgiving that even high-rankers could confidently stroll through entirely alone. Even if she looked solo on the surface, nine times out of ten, her teammates were lagging just a bit behind. Nothing good would come from letting the existence of a Named Monster leak out.

「She’s not a warrior class. Judging by the silhouette, she isn’t wearing any heavy armor.」

「A mage or a priest, maybe? Heh, if that’s the case, I can assassinate her in a heartbeat.」

The Blood Raven members waited for the absolute perfect moment. They intended to strike the instant she rounded the corridor’s corner.

However, a fraction of a second before she did, the shadow abruptly halted. Then, a female voice drifted over.

“Hey, what are seven people doing huddled up over there?”

‘Seven people…?’

In that split second, the Blood Raven Guild Leader’s heart sank. A moment later, entirely new voices echoed from the very wall they were using for cover.

“Oh, you know, just sitting down for a quick break after wandering the labyrinth for a bit.”

“You’re taking a break here ?”

“Haha, descending all the way to the 3rd floor without a single rest was just too exhausting.”

One by one, more voices joined the fray until it escalated into a noisy chatter.

‘What the hell, there was a whole separate party here?!’

Realizing the actual layout of the room, a cold shiver ran down the Guild Leader’s spine. Aside from the four-man party staking out the opposite end, a seven-man party had been crouching right behind the wall, hungrily biding their time.

Now that the scales had completely tipped, any thoughts of a clean assassination instantly vanished from everyone’s minds.

“Hmm, this really isn’t a great spot to rest, though. It’s not a safe zone.”

Tap, tap.

The murmuring shadow finally rounded the corner, bringing the girl face-to-face with the hidden members of Blood Raven. She was a girl much smaller than they had anticipated. Because her hood was pulled down low in the dim lighting of the labyrinth, her face remained obscured.

“Oh, look at that, there are even more people over here.”

Hyun stared down at the users crouching in incredibly awkward, half-bent postures. At the same time, he caught sight of the Named Monster, ‘Parmu,’ standing dead center in the distant hall, and tilted his head in confusion.

“Huh? Why is that guy out all the way over here? Did its habitat patch change?”

“Tch…!”

The Guild Leader of Blood Raven let out a suppressed groan. Yet another player had clocked the Named Monster! The moment she whispered her coordinates to her teammates, they would be forced to duke it out with three separate parties just to claim the boss.

‘We had it completely in the bag, and it devolved into this absolute circus! Which goddamn bastard cut off that leg at the end…!’

At this stage, negotiations were entirely off the table. The only play left was to watch for an opening and hijack the Mana Stone at the final microsecond! Fortunately, item drops inside the labyrinth remained completely unassigned for the first full minute. Since three out of Blood Raven’s four remaining members belonged to assassin-type classes, they could still pivot to a theft angle.

It was during these hectic calculations that the girl’s voice drifted over again.

“Are you guys resting here too?”

“…Yeah.”

“Strictly in this exact spot?”

“What’s it to you where we choose to sit?”

At the blunt, prickly response from the man, Hyun found himself drowning in even deeper skepticism.

「This is so bizarre.」

「What is?」

Hyun cleanly laid out the glaring contradictions he had picked up on.

「Since when are users who are totally obsessed with Named Monsters this incredibly chill while staring right at their prey?」

「Hmm… maybe they don’t realize it’s a Named?」

「No, that makes zero sense either. Large-scale monsters in the labyrinth have a pretty high drop rate for Mana Stones. It doesn’t even matter if it’s a Named or not.」

「If nobody’s going to claim it, we might as well just take it ourselves!」

Ain offered a beautifully simple and direct solution.

「Should we?」

Just to be absolutely safe, Hyun decided to double-check with the resting crowd. Every now and then, you’d run into toxic parties who would start a massive blood feud over a “stolen” hunt even when they weren’t actively hitting the mob.

By now, the seven-man party that had been nested behind the corridor had also slid closer. Hyun pointed squarely at the massive spider in the distance, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear.

“In that case, I’m going to take that down, okay?”

In an instant, several faces hardened visibly, and one of them quickly cut in.

“How many people are in your party?”

‘What’s with this guy? Why is he glaring like he wants to murder me?’

Feeling the sudden, sharp gaze pinned directly on him, Hyun scanned the guy from head to toe and offered a brief reply.

“Just two of us.”

“Two? Right. If the two of you want to throw your lives away trying to catch it, go right ahead. We don’t mind.”

“Heh, we’ll just stick around and enjoy the show. Oh, don’t mind us, we were just resting here from the very start, remember?”

Hearing their bone-chilling chuckles, Ain muttered internally.

「Ugh… Hyun, what is up with the way these guys are talking!」

「Tell me about it.」

Hyun wasn’t an idiot; he could easily read the overly dramatic, theatrical tones and forced laughter. In reality, this entire room was a stage overflowing with deceitful actors, meaning her gut instinct was completely spot on.

「The vibe felt incredibly off, but I finally get the full picture now.」

He had completely parsed the hidden intentions of the surrounding users. This wasn’t a peaceful resting area filled with polite turn-taking; it was a silent, cutthroat war zone.

Right before initiating the hunt, Hyun delivered one final, clear warning.

“Before we start, you guys might seriously want to clear out and back away as far as possible.”

“Oh? And why exactly should we back away?”

At that moment, the surrounding players cracked sinister, knowing smirks.

“Pfft. Why on earth should we move?”

“Well… because you might literally die?”

“Oh, wow, thanks for the touching concern. But we can take care of our own bodies perfectly fine, so mind your own business.”

「Predictable.」

Confirming that his deduction was entirely accurate, Hyun let out a dry, amused chuckle.

「Man, they are giving off an incredibly foul stench.」

「A stench… do I smell bad?!」

To Ain, who had suddenly locked up in self-conscious panic, Hyun clarified instantly.

「Not you. Those guys over there.」

「Oh, really?」

「You’ll see exactly what I mean soon enough.」

Under the hyper-focused glares of every single player in the room, Hyun slowly advanced toward the massive hall where the giant spider lay coiled.

Parmu , a Named Monster roughly two meters in size. Even though it was technically a Named, compared to the Nine-Tailed Fox, Sherat , it was a complete pushover. If they actually wanted to, they could easily burst it down in under two minutes.

‘I can’t end the fight too quickly, though.’

Despite that, Hyun fully intended to drag the encounter out into a prolonged battle. Why force a simple task into something intentionally complicated? It was because a Named like Parmu possessed a highly specific utility that extended far beyond its raw crafting drops.

‘If I keep it alive for roughly ten minutes, that specific magic should trigger, right?’

A Parmu evolved through a Divine Stone utilized a very special form of magic: Spatial Transfer . It was an active skill that allowed it to instantaneously traverse multiple layers of the labyrinth. While it was widely accepted as common knowledge that teleportation-type magic completely failed to function within the labyrinth, Parmu’s skill was the absolute sole exception to the rule. It was highly likely the creature had specifically evolved to bypass the labyrinth’s dimensional locks.

‘If we ride that skill properly, we can bypass the grind and skip straight down to the 16th floor.’

To begin with, the 20th floor was simply too deep. Traveling down on foot would consume several days at bare minimum, and could easily stretch into weeks if they hit a wrong turn. The mere fact that it required that much time—even when it wasn’t a linear, single-path dungeon like the Seed of Malice —was a testament to just how colossally massive this labyrinth truly was.

‘Since it’s not going to be that difficult…’

「Ain, do you want to take the reins for this one?」 Hyun asked out of nowhere.

「Me?」

「Yeah. I don’t know what it is, but your hands have been practically itching to fight since earlier.」

He could vividly feel it through their Assimilation . Ever since they took down Sherat , Ain’s emotional core had been completely buzzing with restlessness. It was incredibly rare for Ain to burn with this much raw motivation outside of a strict PvP setting.

「You’re dying to hunt something right now, aren’t you?」

「Just a little bit?」

「What do you mean ‘a little bit’? You’re practically begging to try.」

Hehehe. Ain didn’t even attempt to deny it.

「But what if I mess up?」

「You’ll be fine. The damage calculation formula for this one is incredibly basic. I’ll coach you through it from the sidelines.」

Hyun explicitly laid out the absolute core mechanic of the hunt: how to intentionally cause precise bodily dismemberment while utilizing the absolute bare minimum amount of damage output.

「For the first phase, use the Rare-grade longsword. For the second phase, unequip your gloves and use Ifrit’s Claws . And when dealing with the final form…」

「I switch to the Dark Sword ?」

「No, Ifrit’s Claws will still be more than enough for that part too. You just need to equip your main weapon instead, and make sure to cycle through every single one of your buffing sub-skills except for Invisibility .」

「Hmm…」

Ain nodded along, acting as though she had easily absorbed the explanation. However, her lie was immediately flagged through the neural feedback of their Assimilation .

「…You didn’t understand a single word, did you!」

「W-Well, obviously!」

「Just memorize the opening sequence perfectly for now. I’ll explain the parts you blank on as we fight.」

Slide.

Listening to his guidance, Ain drew a completely different blade from her inventory than before. Meanwhile, Hyun cast a sidelong glance back toward the vultures lurking in the rear, re-assessing their presence.

‘They really have zero intention of backing off, huh.’

When another party is actively hunting, basic etiquette dictates that you clear out of the immediate zone to avoid any accidental friction. Watching them stand there this blatantly close meant he could be 100% certain they were harboring malicious thoughts.

‘Well, we’re deep inside a labyrinth. This actually works out perfectly.’

Hyun knew exactly how volatile and lethal player greed could be. Even back during his days in Asra , there was never a shortage of parasites looking to score a quick, effortless payout by piggybacking off someone else’s labor.

‘Since we’re deep in the wilderness here, our Infamy rating shouldn’t go up, right?’

Ever since making the transition to Asrian , the number of times he had actually killed another user could be counted on one hand. Crucially, he had never once engaged in an emotionally driven, petty feud that wasn’t tied directly to a specific quest objective. There was simply no tangible profit to be made from throwing down over nothing.

But if someone actively stepped up to rob him of what was his…

Back in the day, Hyun had a strict policy of never letting those vermin walk away in one piece.