SSG 263
by CristaeJust as Yuseong and Messiah secretly discussed, most of what Yuseong told Willy and Mad Hammer was a lie.
After all, why would Yuseong need to “guess” anything when he could get direct information from Messiah?
But since the two had no idea about Messiah’s existence, they had no choice but to believe him.
“Yeah. We’re working on the demonification quest.”
“I know.”
Yuseong’s casual attitude, as if there was no need to even check, irritated the two a little.
“Seriously, this guy…”
Pushing aside Mad Hammer’s grumbling, Willy spoke again.
“So, why are you here?”
“I was experimenting to see if I could reach a nearby city without teleport help.”
“…Based on Ark’s level design, isn’t that a bit premature?”
Mad Hammer eyed him suspiciously.
“In open-world games like Ark, sometimes you can do things the developers didn’t intend.”
“Ark is famous for not allowing that kind of thing.”
“There are always exceptions.”
Then Yuseong nonchalantly fired off a question.
“But this environment is pretty odd, isn’t it?”
“Hmph, fishing for info, are you?”
Mad Hammer snorted. Willy narrowed his eyes.
‘They catch on quick.’
[Still, they are highly ranked players, always in the top 2 or 3 in Ark.]
There was no use denying anything now.
“Well, yes. I’d like information on this place.”
“I don’t see why we should give it to you.”
“If you want something from us, cough something up too.”
Maybe it felt good for Willy and Mad Hammer to finally have even a slight advantage over Yuseong, who’d always given them a hard time. Now they pressed him cooperatively.
But Yuseong wasn’t fazed.
“How about I keep my mouth shut about you being here? You know, a lot of people out there still want your heads.”
Python, Apollon, survivors from guilds that lost their cities and were destroyed.
“…How could those guys get here?”
Willy fell silent, and Mad Hammer forced himself to answer.
“There’s probably a city nearby anyway. All I have to do is share the coordinates.”
“You think we’d stay still for that?”
“I doubt you could stop me. Even if you did, it doesn’t matter. If I found the way once, I can do it again next time.”
“You son of a bitch…”
Mad Hammer growled but had no other response—Yuseong’s threat sounded all too plausible.
“No need to get so worked up. If you give me info, I’ll help with your quest.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“Isn’t your quest based in this city, anyway?”
“…Yes, for now.”
Tempted by the offer, Willy answered cautiously.
“I got curious about the city. You don’t see places like this in Ark.”
“That’s true.”
“So I’ll help with your quest while investigating the city.”
The two hesitated.
Honestly, if you asked whether they trusted Yuseong, the answer was “no.” They’d always been fighting—not trading blows, but getting beaten unilaterally. It’s easy to bear a grudge when you’re always on the losing side.
Neither of them thought of themselves as petty, but after getting beaten down so much, anyone would bear a grudge against Yuseong.
But that’s exactly why they knew so well—
How capable Yuseong was.
Willy and Mad Hammer put their heads together briefly.
“If we take this deal, you won’t talk about us being here?”
“Of course.”
He’d already gained plenty of notoriety using these two, so he wasn’t going to get much out of mentioning them again.
“Good. Let’s cooperate—for now.”
“That’s a wise decision. Let’s try not to dwell on old gripes.”
“It’s not forgotten. Just set aside for now.”
And so, an unexpected alliance formed in an unexpected place.
“This city is pure ruin,” Willy started to share what he knew.
“The environment out here is bad, but it gets even worse as you go further into the city. I’ve been to a lot of places in Ark, but I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“What about inside the city?”
“How to put it… It’s bizarre. Sure, fantasy games have weird themes, but this place feels… off, even by fantasy standards.”
“It just gives me the creeps, honestly.”
For even Mad Hammer to shudder like that, the place must really be something.
Thud!
While they talked, monsters suddenly appeared before them.
No one was fazed. They just stared, analyzing the monsters.
“Have you seen these monsters here?”
“I’ve taken out a few. But do you know what those are?”
“They’re orcs.”
‘Just as I thought.’
If you thought orc, it did fit.
But they were definitely not normal orcs, with their melting flesh exposing bones and innards, making for a gruesome sight.
“I assumed they were some kind of undead.”
“Anyone would. But they are—or used to be—definitely orcs.”
“And why is that?”
“Because this is an orc city. More precisely, after the demons took over, this became the city of a tribe called the Black Flame Orcs.”
It matched the information Messiah gave him.
“All the monsters here are Black Flame Orcs. So those must also be orcs… probably.”
But even Willy sounded unsure.
“They look like that, but if you kill them, they drop proper items. Looks like Utopia paid attention to the concept for this place. I’d like to meet whoever designed this city—what happened in their life that made them come up with this?”
Even Mad Hammer looked unsettled by these not-quite-orc orcs.
“Well, let’s hunt.”
“Agreed.”
“One each, then.”
There were three monsters, so as Mad Hammer said, they could each take one.
Willy and Mad Hammer rushed ahead.
“Hup!”
Wily swung his sword. Though the skin was half melted and drooping, the monster’s defense was still strong—so were the exposed bones and viscera. It hadn’t stopped being a high-level monster.
But Willy’s blade still pierced its defenses and wounded the foe.
“Ryaaah!”
Mad Hammer brought his maul down hard. Unlike Willy’s clean cuts, Mad Hammer’s blows crushed flesh, bone, and everything else—a wildly powerful attack.
‘Not bad.’
After evaluating the other two’s fighting styles, Yuseong raised his gun.
Bang! Bang!
Yuseong’s bullets struck the orc right in the forehead.
The three monsters were down in an instant.
“You really are something.”
As Yuseong reloaded, Mad Hammer murmured. It was quiet, but Willy, standing next to him, heard it.
Instead of being surprised that Mad Hammer offered praise, Willy quietly agreed.
‘If he couldn’t do at least that, we’d never have taken such a beating.’
No doubt, Yuseong was Ark’s best player. They didn’t show it, but both fully acknowledged it.
When Yuseong said he wanted to see the city, Willy and Mad Hammer readily agreed.
“With the power of us three, it makes sense to head in.”
“Let the others handle the monsters on the outskirts.”
Though they hadn’t run into them, it seemed their fellow rebels were here as well.
“What’s the quest objective?”
“These orcs are starting a rebellion, so we have to suppress them.”
Perhaps because they’d become allies, Mad Hammer answered for once.
“We have to kill a certain number and take the city center.”
“Think of it as similar to the Mordin quest you had.”
As Willy and Mad Hammer had experienced, the deeper they got, the more ruined the surroundings became—just like Yuseong’s own world.
“What’s wrong? You don’t look happy.”
“Just…don’t like the view.”
“Didn’t know you were so sensitive.”
Mad Hammer teased.
“Well, I can’t blame you. I don’t like it either.”
“Same here. I’ve seen plenty of harsh scenes in movies or VR games, but nowhere leaves me as unsettled as here. It’s like the place just shakes you to your core.”
Apparently, they felt the wrongness of the scenery on a gut level, too.
But they only regarded it as a unique bit of game design—there was no real sense of danger.
Only Yuseong was truly tense.
‘This has to be Hades’ hacking, right?’
[Most likely.]
The city soon came into view. Yuseong’s mood sank further—he couldn’t help thinking of the ruined cities from his world.
“It’s still just as weird as ever,” Mad Hammer said, unable to hide his discomfort.
“No enemies out here, but they’re inside the buildings.”
“They’ll pop out once we move in.”
“…Right.”
That, too, was just like his own world.
Suddenly Yuseong recalled the monsters he’d met upon entering the city’s boundary.
He hadn’t thought much about monster eye color in Ark, since they were always all kinds of colors, but these had all shared just one.
‘Red.’
The color of beasts.
“Another one’s coming!”
Mad Hammer smashed down a monster and yelled.
“I’ll get it!”
Willy swung at a monster bursting from a house, but with two already on him, he was in real danger.
Bang! Bang!
It was Yuseong’s bullets, fired from behind, that saved him.
With heavy damage from headshots, the two monsters—evidently already low on HP—went down instantly.
But there was no time to relax.
“Four more coming from the third house on the right, one block over!”
Yuseong shouted and fired.
“Dammit, there’s a ton of them!”
“Mad Hammer, left side!”
“I got it!”
Surrounded by monsters pouring in from all directions, the three kept swinging their weapons. It looked dangerous, but—
Surprisingly, they were solidly holding their ground.
Of course, it helped that Yuseong, Willy, and Mad Hammer were all highly skilled players. But maybe because they’d spent so long rivaling each other and analyzing each other (well, Yuseong hadn’t), they actually worked together pretty well.
‘So this is what it’s like to fight with Yuseong covering the rear?’
It was easy—almost too easy. Every shot was accurately supporting their weak spots; whenever it seemed monsters were getting too numerous, Yuseong would fire in bursts to thin their numbers.
With Yuseong’s amazing melee ability, too, there was almost zero pressure about defending the rear.
‘Damn, no wonder the bastard’s crew was always so strong.’
Bashing in another monster, Mad Hammer fought with wild glee.