The Auction (2)

“Right this way!”

“Please stay in line! We’ll evacuate you all to safety!”

“Do you know the Guardian Knight Ha Inho? He’s fending off the monsters, so you’re all safe!”

“Please stay in line! Stay in—I said stay in line!” The members of the Dokkaebi Guild tried to calm the panicking crowd, but it was useless.

Clang! Clang!

“Eek!”

“W-won’t it break?”

“Let me get out! Get out of the way!”

“Huh? Stop pushing! Do you know who I am?”

If you looked up just a little bit, you could see the skeleton soldiers fiercely attacking the shield. Consumed by terror, everyone ignored the orders to stay in line and continued to push those in front of them.

“Geez, Vice Team Leader. The people won’t listen to us, what should we do?”

“Should we bend their ears instead?”

“…Don’t be ridiculous.”

The Vice Team Leader Ha Inho clicked his tongue at his teammates’ words as he upheld the magic shield. He looked at the hundreds of people that were pushing each other at the entrance. They were holders of vice and honorary titles, or otherwise, extremely powerful.

They say that those who have power fear death the most…

In the past, the first Qin emperor had sought an elixir for eternal life and filled his tomb with terracotta warriors. Ha Inho couldn’t think of a solution and sighed.

Fwoooosh! 

As an intense heat spread out, a loud sound was heard from one side of the auction hall as a wall collapsed. The people regained their senses for a moment, turning toward the noise.

“It’s gonna take forever to get everyone through those small doors! Come through here!” Gong Juha shouted. She hadn’t hesitated as she broke through the wall of a building that costed tens of millions.

“Gongju-nim, you can’t just break it like that…”

“Why not? It was a good decision. Nice, Gongju-nim!”

“Alright everyone, see that over there? The exit is much wider and you can evacuate faster. Follow me!”

Unlike Ha Inho, who was embarrassed, the other team members gave the girl a thumbs-up. The audience started to flow out of the auction hall through the hole like an outgoing tide.

“They’re not even that strong…”

Clang! Clang, clang!

In a short span of time, the number of skeletons banging on Ha Inho’s shield had increased. More kept jumping down from the ceiling. As Ha Inho looked up at them, his eyes widened.

There’s at least 120 of them just by looking. Just who was their enemy that they could carry out an attack of this scale?

His eyes were still fixed above him, when he heard something suddenly pierced through the air toward him.

“…What?!” He twisted quickly, creating a shield around his body.

Ping!

A bullet from a sniper rifle pierced right through his shield with a splash of blood. And a second later, there was a sharp pain that overtook all his thoughts.

“Guh—Ack!” His concentration was broken, and the magic shield dissipated.

Clack, clack! 

The skeleton soldiers fell to the floor of the auction hall.

“Inho!” As she heard her precious subordinate cry out in pain, Gong Juha bit the corner of her lip. It was a habit of hers when she got really mad.

“I was gonna stall for time until I could trace the Skeleton Mage’s magic…”

It was too late. Dokkaebi’s Gongju valued her subordinates fiercely, and she was furious.

Fwoooosh!

As if to represent her fury, flames bloomed around her. With her black suit and ponytail, the flames suited her perfectly.

“Alright.” Gong Juha made a decision and waved her hand gently; the attack that it brought was anything but.

The soft lighting inside the building suddenly became as bright as day. The fire pierced through the ceilings and shot toward the sky.

Sizzle.

That was all. In an instant that didn’t seem to last even a second, the skeleton soldiers disintegrated into ashes.

The unconscious Ha Inho and the stage that held Heaven’s Breath didn’t have a scratch on them. Gong Juha wiped the beads of sweat on her forehead.

“…Man, it’s hot,” she muttered.

The roof of the Mirage Hotel, 4 kilometers away from the Grand Garden Arena. The delinquent woman looked up as the pillar of fire dyed the sky red. She spoke to herself in awe.

“…Insanity. Is that really the skill of a human? Is it CG? It doesn’t make sense.” She was far, far away, but cold sweat formed on her back.

I heard that Gong Juha’s skill was the strongest special attribute skill, Ruler of Flames (S), but… She’d never imagined that it was on that level. What would happen if she fought with a monster at a close distance?

The woman trembled. She didn’t want to think about it.

“Phew, it’s a good thing that I’m a sniper.” She let out a sigh of relief and adjusted her goggles. Her vision expanded like a telescope.

So that’s Heaven’s Breath. Next to it was Ha Inho, who she’d taken out. The one who’d been protecting it was gone, so there was no more reason to hesitate.

“Come here, cutie.” As she looked down at Heaven’s Breath, she activated her skill. Teleport. She felt something heavy in her hand.

“Wow, this is totally my style,” she remarked, admiring the beautiful core. A call came from her boss.

– “The item?”

“Who do you think I am? I have it.”

– “Good job. Come to Point B right away.”

“Okay~” She hung up and got ready to leave. She patted her rifle and made a wistful face. “…Tsk, I missed the Seo Jun-ho bastard.” She’d promised to shoot a bullet through his head if she saw him, but that guy was really lucky.

“But if he ever comes to the 2nd floor, someday I’ll… Huh?”

The delinquent woman saw something and adjusted her goggles again.

Whirrr. 

Her vision expanded, and she found the face she was looking for.

“Seo Jun-ho!” Her exclamation was mixed with anger and excitement as she raised her sniper rifle again. “I thought you were a lucky guy, but I take that back.”

He was running down the street. She didn’t know where he was headed, but he was running really fast.

Tsk, rude bastard. If you’re gonna run, you should run toward here. She looked through her scope and aimed at Seo Jun-ho’s forehead.

“I’ll make your head explode painlessly with one hit.” Her voice seethed with killing intent, and she pulled the trigger without a moment’s hesitation.

Boom!

An explosive sound rang out on the hotel’s roof. The bullet disappeared then reappeared in front of Seo Jun-ho’s nose.

“Ufufu, this isn’t a bullet that should be used for a rookie who only debuted two months ago.”

The reason why she acted as a sniper for the best corps, the Watchdogs. Her attacks were vicious, piercing through the victim’s body before they could even hear the bullet ripping through the air.

“Go to hell… Huh?” She checked for his corpse through the scope, and her eyes narrowed. She’d been expecting Seo Jun-ho’s corpse, but he was still running down the street. “What? Did I mess up?!”

She tilted her head, confused, and loaded her rifle one more time. That’s weird. I’ve never messed up in the past three years… Her sniping success rate was 100%. She’d never failed to defeat an opponent, and she wrote off her first mistake as a coincidence. That was her real mistake.

If she was a seasoned sniper, she would’ve left her spot the moment her bullet missed.

“I won’t miss this time.” She aimed carefully at Seo Jun-ho again. At some point, their distance had shrunk to a single kilometer.

Die! As she pulled the trigger, she used her Teleport skill once more. The bullet disappeared and once again reappeared right in front of Seo Jun-ho. I did it properly this time. He can’t dodge that. She watched him, reassuring herself.

Woosh! He lowered his head and dodged the bullet.

“Fuck! How is he doing that?!” She’d seen it with her own eyes. She yelled out. “He dodged? My bullet? Right in front of him? That easily?”

(TN: Right in front of my salad?)

It was impossible. Even Ha Inho, who was called the Guardian Knight on the 2nd floor, had fallen to her attack.

This is one of those attacks you can’t block… You’re telling me that newbie is better than Ha Inho? It made no logical sense. But she’d seen it with her own eyes, and it was hard to deny.

As she comprehended this, the delinquent woman realized that she’d been focused on the wrong thing. Wait, now that I think about it…?

From the very beginning, Seo Jun-ho had been running toward the building she was on.

“…Is he? Dammit!” She cursed and quickly put her rifle into her inventory and reached for the Heaven’s Breath on the ground.

Crack! 

A sneakered foot pressed hard into her hand, crushing the bones.

“……!” She couldn’t even think to scream. From her crushed hand, her veins started to freeze throughout her body.

“Huff, huff… Phew.” Seo Jun-ho’s shoulders heaved. He’d run so quickly that his body was radiating heat. “…I thought I’d miss you.”

He’d known about her Teleport skill from the skinny man’s memories, so he’d had no other choice but to chase her down before she could run away.

Mm, covering this much distance is hard. 

Shadow Step. It used magic to transport the body through darkness and shade, similar to a magician’s Blink skill. The only problem was that it consumed a ton of magic.

“It was a little hard, but the results were good.”

Shing. Seo Jun-ho unsheathed his sword. Tonight, he would erase the Watchdogs from this world.

* * *

“It’s hot… I said, it’s hot!”

Fwooooosh!

Gong Juha shouted hysterically as she melted another crowd of skeletons. It wasn’t hard to melt the endless amount of skeletons, but the sticky heat bothered her.

“Ughh, Ant… Antarctica will be cool, won’t it? Alright, when this is over, I’m going on vacation to the King Sejong Station*.” She looked like she was about to cry as more skeletons appeared. As she was thinking about how nice it would be to quickly go back to her room and take a cold shower, one of her subordinates dashed over.

(TN: Korean research base in Antarctica.)

“Gongju-nim!”

“What!”

“It’s an emergency!” The subordinate swallowed hard and looked toward the stage as they spoke. “W-we can’t find the Heaven’s Breath!”

“…What?” Gong Juha’s face fell as she confirmed this.

“Didn’t the people in charge take it?”

“No. I’m sure of it. It disappeared amidst the chaos.”

“But I haven’t let a single skeleton get to the stage…?” They stared at each other blankly. Then another subordinate screamed.

“Gah!”

“Wh-what’s with these guys! They’re strong!” Gong Juha’s forehead wrinkled as she turned her head.

“Hey! Stop exaggerating about the skele…” She trailed off. The Skeleton Mage had kept sending the same type of skeleton, but now he’d sent a new one.

“Black skeletons?” There were six skeletons whose bones were completely black. On top of that, they all had different individual weapons.

“Huh? That…” The subordinate seemed to recognize them.

“What? Do you know the skeleton?”

“No, not that… but I know some of the gear they’re wearing.”

“Are they famous?”

“…Do you remember the incident three years ago that sent the 2nd floor into a frenzy?” Gong Juha wracked her brain and responded without hesitation.

“The Player Disappearance Case?”

“Yes. Players that were over level 110 disappeared without a trace. It was really shocking.”

“Get to the point.” At her urgency, her subordinate quickly summed it up.

“Their gear matches the ones of the people who disappeared.”

“…What?” Her eyes went wide and she looked again at the black skeletons. Her teammates averaged at level 75, but they weren’t making a dent.

…No, the skeletons are actually winning. A chill went down her spine.

“You, do you know the missing players’ skills or fighting styles?” She asked her teammate.

“Yes. I know them very well since I was in charge of the investigation back then.”

“What do you think?” Her subordinate understood what she meant and swallowed hard. They bowed their head.

“Their skills and fighting styles are exactly the same as the ones who disappeared.”

“…Really?”

That meant only one thing:

The players had become undead.