Volume 2, Chapter 31 – The Sword in His Chest

The familiar System sound of a PVP duel invitation echoed in his ears.

Wracked with pain all over, the Vice Leader felt a terrible sense of foreboding the moment that sound rang out.

“Yunchou? What are you doing? Did you misclick or something? Hurry up and fix my pain settings!”

He shouted in confusion, but Yunchou didn’t respond.

Instead came the boy’s cold voice, as chilling as a whisper from the depths of winter.

“Vice Leader, I’d say you’re far too naive… or maybe you’re just stupid? If I really misclicked, then why would I accept the duel invitation?”

“Duel? Yunchou, you know I’m Legendary now. If you kill me like this, when I respawn, don’t expect me to help you get the Throne Template!”

Though he could faintly sense that something about Yunchou’s tone was wrong, the Vice Leader tried to reason that even if he died in the duel, he’d just respawn. After all, Yunchou should know full well how strong he was after resurrection. Maybe Yunchou really was just joking…

“Vice Leader, are you still thinking that I’m joking with you?”

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Yunchou’s voice came again, calm and cutting.

“Well, sometimes I do wonder how you ever became Vice Leader, but now, I finally understand why you are the Vice Leader.”

“What do you mean by that?”

The mocking tone in Yunchou’s voice made the Vice Leader furious, but the agony tearing through his body kept him from daring to move. All his rage could only be forced out as a weak, trembling question.

“What do I mean?”

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Yunchou crouched down, his eyes narrowing slightly.

The faint, easy smile that usually rested on his face vanished along with the movement of his eyes.

In those narrow eyes flashed the cunning of a fox and the ferocity of a lion.

“Of course, I mean I’m going to kill you, my dear Vice Leader.”

“Kill me? When I respawn, you can forget about me getting you the Throne Template!”

The Vice Leader, though confused about why Yunchou wanted to kill him, still tried to argue back with bravado.

“Vice Leader, did that little girl bash you so hard you’ve gone stupid?”

“Girl…?”

At those words, the Vice Leader suddenly recalled the silver-haired little girl who had reduced him to a cripple with a single strike earlier.

And then it came back to him, that silver-haired girl was the same NPC who had always followed behind that one girl player at the end of the formation. Yunchou had even warned him before to be careful of that silver-haired NPC.

“You… you knew her strength?”

That’s right. If Yunchou knew how strong that little girl was, he would have told him not to provoke her. But he had already instructed his men not to mess with that NPC…

Wait…

He suddenly remembered, he had told them not to provoke the silver-haired NPC, but he hadn’t said anything about not touching the girl player who was always with her…

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“You… you knew I wouldn’t care about that girl player following the NPC, didn’t you?”

As realization hit him, the Vice Leader finally understood that everything, right from the very beginning, had already been calculated by the boy before him.

“Of course, Vice Leader. I just didn’t want that little girl to act too early back in the valley, so I gave you that little warning. But as for not reminding you about the girl player… Well, that was all for this moment.”

Yunchou’s voice turned playful.

“You…”

It was already far too late for the Vice Leader to realize what was happening.

“Why are you doing this? Is it just to kill me once?”

“To kill you once? Vice Leader, you really underestimate yourself.”

Yunchou shook his head with a hint of pity.

“You still don’t understand, do you? Don’t you find it strange, Vice Leader, how you could suddenly feel unbearable pain in a game? Have you really not figured it out yet?”

His tone grew calm again, as if stating a simple truth.

“Vice Leader, you should know that right now, it’s not only your in-game body, but your real body also possesses the strength of the Legendary tier.”

“I know that already, but why are you suddenly—”

And then, like a bolt of lightning, realization struck him. Ignoring the pain that felt like his bones were splintering apart, the Vice Leader desperately crawled away in the opposite direction from Yunchou, clawing at the ground with both hands.

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“Madman! Madman! You’re insane! You’re a demon, a monster! Yunchou, you’ll die a horrible death for this!”

He screamed and cursed as he crawled, his tears and snot running freely down his face from the relentless agony.

“Oh, dear Vice Leader, where are you going? Our duel hasn’t even started yet~”

Yunchou’s voice slithered into his ears like a devil’s whisper from the Abyss.

“No, no! I won’t duel you! Let me go! Let me go! You want the Throne Template, I’ll get it for you, I promise!”

“Really now, if you keep crawling away like that, that’s going to be troublesome, Vice Leader~”

Watching him struggle forward, Yunchou leisurely walked ahead and stood in his path.

“Let me go… let me go… please, let me go…”

“Let you go?”

Yunchou smiled.

“But if I let you go today, would you ever let me go in the future?”

“I swear I won’t come after you, I swear I—”

A wet sound interrupted him.

An iron sword pierced straight through the Vice Leader’s chest.

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His HP began to plummet rapidly.

Yunchou clapped his hands, then looked down at the Vice Leader struggling weakly, trying to pull the sword out of his heart.

“As expected of a Legendary. Even with a sword through your heart, you don’t die instantly.”

“…”

The Vice Leader could only writhe soundlessly beneath him.

“…”

Watching him flop and twitch like a dying fish, Yunchou shook his head.

“All the guild members have already been wiped out by that little girl and sent back to respawn. Right now, it’s just you and me here. So stop hoping anyone will avenge you.”

“As for the secret about the game and the real world, aside from me, you were the only other person who knew it.”

“But as far as I’m concerned, the only ones who can keep secrets… are the dead. So I’m afraid you’ll have to bear that burden, Vice Leader.”

In the end…

The Vice Leader never managed to pull the sword from his chest.