Leveling with the Gods

It had been 12 hours since the start of the 11th Floor test, exactly the midpoint of the test.

During that time, YuWon went over the forest with a fine comb. Every few monsters, one of them would have a flag, and whenever he ran into players of Team B, he took their flags.

YuWon was like an unstoppable tank. No matter how many people there were, they couldn’t stop him.

“I-I’ll hand mine over!”

“Me too! Here. I’ll leave it behind.”

“Please just spare me. Please…”

Players of Team B all got scared and handed over their flags when they met YuWon. 

Since they were willingly handing over their flags, there was no reason for YuWon to fight them. So he just simply collected the flags they left behind.

[You obtained 2 flags.]

[You obtained 20cp.]

[You obtained a flag.]

[You obtained…]

YuWon obtained seven flags this time around. 

‘That makes 100 flags.’ 

YuWon checked his CP, which was exactly 1,000 points. 

‘And if I hand this over to the king, that’ll be another 1,000 points.’

YuWon didn’t trust Halimun yet. To him, Halimun was basically a deadweight. If by some accident he died or had his flag stolen by an enemy player, the results of the test would end up set in stone.

YuWon would hand over the flag at the last moment, right before the 24-hour mark would be over. That was what Yuwon was waiting for.

‘But this is strange,’ YuWon thought, thinking back to the players he had just met. ‘How do they know my face?’

His name was pretty well-known. Tests had public records, and having set new records, it was inevitable for his name to become well-known. But just because his name was well-known, didn’t mean his face should have been well-known, and yet the players earlier handed over their flags right away as if they knew YuWon.

That meant only one thing.

“They must have exchanged information,” YuWon said.

“Huh? Information?” Halimun asked.

“They probably told each other that I’m with the ‘king.’ As teammates, they should have exchanged their kit numbers.” 

“So they know that you’re with me…”

“And so avoided me. Also…” YuWon trailed off.

Just now, no, since even earlier, the actions of the players on Team B were unified. 

“They probably promised to run away if they encountered me.” 

“By giving up their flags?”

“Yeah.”

“But how are they supposed to win the test then?”

No matter how large the difference in the power of the teams were, giving up their hard-earned flags at every corner couldn’t possibly be a winning strategy.

On top of that, YuWon was moving at a pace that was so fast that Halimun could barely keep up with him. 

‘There’s no way they don’t know that…’ Halimun wondered. 

“It’s so they can secure certain victory…” YuWon said.

There were now 12 hours left in the test. With half of the test now over, the dynamics of the test was shaping up. 

“… By getting you and me,” YuWon finished. 

 Halimun wanted to ask, “What do you mean by…” but he was interrupted by YuWon’s eyes turning red and his atmosphere changing. 

“… They’re coming.”

Rustle—

Whoosh—!

YuWon grabbed an arrow flying towards them midair. 

Snatch—!

“Agh!”

Flop—

Halimun fell backwards on his ass from how surprised he was. 

The target of the arrow wasn’t YuWon but Halimun. Their goal was to eliminate the ‘king’ first.

Yuwon turned his head towards the source of the arrow.

Players of Team B whispered to each other.

“He blocked it.”

“Why would you aim for the ‘king’ first?”

“There’s no way something like this would have worked on YuWon.”

“The ‘king’ has to be present, so he’s at a disadvantage while fighting since he had to protect the ‘king.’”

“That’s what you think. As long as we can get the ‘king,’ why does it matter if YuWon is alive or not?”

“That’s true. Without a ‘king,’ even the great YuWon won’t be able to do a thing…”

A few players… No, it was more than just a few players. 

YuWon looked around. Some were quite far away, but a large number of players were surrounding him.

‘It must be Heaven’s Net,’ YuWon thought. 

Meaning a net woven with the skies, the Heaven’s Net was a technique long-used in the Martial Realm to surround someone. 

Yuwon was surrounded by a large number of players from Team B. From a rough estimate, there were at least 50 players present, with none of them being easy pushovers. 

Even the arrow that was aimed at Halimun just now was very fast and accurate. 

A band of about 50 players. Among them were some players that YuWon had let go. 

“I guess I should have just killed all of them,” YuWon said.

Halimun, eyes filled with fear, looked over at YuWon. To be able to say something so brazen so casually while in this situation. YuWon appeared both way too laid back and reliable at the same time.

Halimun gulped. 

He asked Yuwon as calmly as he could, “What do we do now?”

“What do you think?”

Shing—

YuWon drew his sword and flicked it around. Within a single blink, a circle had been drawn around Halimun.

“Don’t leave this circle. The moment you leave, consider yourself dead,” YuWon warned Halimun.

“What? From here?” Halimun responded.

Halimun looked around his surroundings. They were inside a forest, but he was standing in a relatively open spot. 

The reason why the archer from Team B aimed at him in this situation was likely due to the terrain advantage. 

So Halimun couldn’t understand YuWon’s order to stand out in the open rather than hide deeper into the forest.

“A-Are you telling me to die right now?” he asked.

“Who told you to die? I’m just telling you to stand there and don’t leave.”

“But…!”

“I told you at the start as well. I told you not to die while wandering around, and you almost got yourself killed because you moved around.”

That comment from YuWon shut Halimun up. 

YuWon was right. He had warned him to stay still at the starting point, yet, unable to properly understand YuWon’s instructions, Halimun went off to search for flags with his companions.

And after almost dying, the one who saved him was YuWon.

“If you do that again, I can’t help you this time,” YuWon told him firmly.

“Ngh…” Halimun grunted while looking down at the floor.

It was a small circle, only about four meters in diameter. It was small enough to leave with just a few steps. 

“S-So I just have to stay in this circle?” Halimun asked.

“Yep.”

“And I’ll be able to live?”

“Yep.”

“You really, honestly promise to save me—”

“I said, ‘yes,’” YuWon cut off Halimun, and he started to get a move on.

Halimun was shocked. Despite telling him to stay still, why was YuWon moving?

“Where are you going?!” Halimun shouted. He was so shocked, he almost chased after YuWon like a child that was being abandoned.

YuWon turned his head around and said, “Circle.”

With that single word, Halimun stopped in his tracks. The line was right in front of his foot. 

“Don’t leave the circle,” YuWon warned him.

Tmp, tmp—

Unable to do anything, Halimun just blanked out while standing. He felt as if he had been thrown in the middle of a den of beasts. 

* * *

55 people. That was the number of players deployed to get YuWon and the ‘king,’ but they were all primarily here to defeat YuWon.

‘This is incredible,’ thought Varr. He was one of the players of Team B, and he was amazed by all the players that had come together for this task. ‘NamGung Hoon, Ro’el, Salamov, Spyros, Kaichel, Oroll…’ 

They were all players that he had only ever heard of. Especially Hoon and Ro’el. They were like stars to the players of the lower floors.

‘To be able to form a party with them…’ Varr thought. The fact that he was a part of this party boosted his confidence. 

Varr was also somewhat known in the lower floors for his strength. With a bit of recognition himself, he was certainly qualified to be a part of the party.

‘The achievement of defeating YuWon is definitely going to help my career. If I can leverage that properly, I might even be able to attract the attention of bigger guilds.’ 

It was a fact that many guilds were observing this test. This was plainly obvious to any player that knew even a little bit about how things went in the Tower.

A fight between 55 players and Kim YuWon. This fight would dictate which players would gain the most attention on the lower floors.

“He’s moving,” said one of the players who was observing YuWon and the ‘king’ with his recon skills.

This woke Varr from his happy daydream, making him focus back on the situation at hand. It was his teammates’ responsibility to observe YuWon’s movements, but it was now also time for him to start moving with his teammates.

“Is he running away?”

“No. He’s coming deeper into the forest.”

“He’s walking into the forest?”

“I think he’s intending to fight, but…” the player observing YuWon trailed off, his eyes widening.

Annoyed, Varr pressed him, “But what?”

“He’s leaving the ‘king’ behind and moving alone.”

“He’s moving alone?”

They had heard that YuWon and the ‘king’ were moving together, which was true, so it confused Varr why he suddenly changed tactics now. 

Varr quickly set that confusion aside, smirking.

“Move aside a sec,” Varr said, standing up from his spot and pushing two players aside.

Tmp, tmp—

Varr grabbed the spear he had set down on the ground.

The spear was over two meters long, thick, and made entirely of steel. 

Varr held up his weapon and got into position to throw his spear.

“Arrows are weak,” Varr stated.

Clench—

His grip tightened, and his arm muscles bulged. As if he was becoming a giant bow being drawn, his back bent far backwards.

‘One… Two…’

“Three…!” 

Boom—!

The spear shot out of Varr’s hand.

An excellent marksman can know if their shot will hit even before they fire their gun, and a spearman knows if their throw will hit the moment the spear leaves their hand. And in this moment, Varr was certain.

‘It’s going to hit!’

The spear that left his hand would perfectly penetrate Team A’s ‘king,’ and as expected, his spear flew in a perfect trajectory.

Varr smirked. He just became the one who led their team to victory. He had become the great spear thrower Varr…

“Huh?!” Varr exclaimed, while watching his accelerating spear. 

The spear suddenly stopped, floating in mid air.

Varr said, “What the—?” 

One of Varr’s teammates asked, “What’s going on…?”

Pshk—!

A chilling sound came from right beside Varr. 

He looked over, and the teammate that was standing right beside him was now missing half his head.

‘This is…’ Varr inspected the wound. It was a wound inflicted from a piercing spear. ‘Could it be?’

Varr quickly turned his head, seeing that the spear that was in midair had disappeared. 

Another teammate shouted, “Varr! Over here—kugh!” The teammate let out a choking sound.

Varr looked over, and he saw his teammate’s body floating in midair. 

Anyone that wasn’t braindead could tell that something was there.

“Who are you?”

“So this side was a dud.”

Fsss—

From thin air, the form of a person appeared holding Varr’s teammate by the neck, inflicting pain.

Crunch—

Bones broke from the powerful grip.

The two teammates accompanying him were dead.

The one who crushed his teammate by the neck turned to Varr and slowly walked over. 

Step, step—

“Now tell me,” YuWon asked, crimson eyes flashing, “where is NamGung Hoon?”