SSG 271
by CristaeEpisode 271
“A bus? You’re saying you’ll carry us?”
“That’s right, Mr. Mad Hammer. It’s not such a bad proposal for you. Your stats became a mess after your levels dropped anyway.”
When one’s level goes down, stats are randomly reduced by the amount of bonus points previously gained and invested through leveling up. That’s why their current stats were a shambles.
Of course, this also affected their combat ability.
Willy and his group had some of the top physical stats in Arc, so they were holding their own, but it was true they were at a big disadvantage.
But if someone with a higher level carried them, it was a different story.
“There’s a dungeon in Mordin that I know of. The item drops aren’t great, but it gives lots of experience points. Until recently, I was quite indebted to that place myself.”
“What’s your motive?”
Willy narrowed his eyes and asked.
“It’s a personal matter.”
“……”
“……”
A brief contest of nerves. But again, it was Willy who backed down.
“…Anyway, it’s helpful to us, so we won’t refuse.”
“Good thinking. Rest assured, I promise this won’t cause you any harm.”
“Ha! Who knows if that’s true.”
Suspicion and discontent crossed between them.
Still, the three of them joined forces once more.
“Hyaa!”
Mad Hammer swung his hammer. As always, his attack was lively and exhilarating.
-Kraah!
The enraged monster howled and immediately counterattacked.
“Whoa!”
The speed and timing of the attack made it hard to dodge, but as expected of a top-tier physical player, Mad Hammer just barely avoided it.
And just when he was ready to swing his hammer again, as if it were his turn—
Bang!
A gunshot rang out and the monster staggered.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunfire continued. The monster under concentrated fire collapsed.
“Tch!”
Clicking his tongue, Mad Hammer rested his hammer on his shoulder, annoyed.
He didn’t like it.
The fallen monster was a higher-level one than him. But given all the bonus points obtained through money and connections and his physical ability, it wasn’t an opponent he couldn’t handle alone.
To defeat such an enemy with someone else’s help—
There was nothing he could do. He was the one being carried right now.
‘That makes it worse.’
But this wasn’t the time to be overly proud.
“Let’s move on.”
As Yuseong quickly took the lead, Willy and Mad Hammer followed behind.
Since Arc made it inefficient to carry players against monsters with more than about a five-level difference, they had to hunt fast to maximize efficiency.
In that sense, the dungeon Yuseong picked was perfect for carrying.
The dungeon offered good experience, and its monsters at that level weren’t particularly strong; instead, there were lots of them to overwhelm with numbers.
Of course, this was only in theory. The more monsters present, the less safe carrying players became, so it wasn’t a widely recommended method.
But for Yuseong, Willy, and Mad Hammer, who all had top physical stats in Arc, it was a different story.
Thwack!
Willy’s sword swept through a monster. Even against monsters of a higher level, Willy wasn’t overpowered.
Still, he wasn’t happy with his moves. His lowered, now-random stats made for inefficient combat.
Bang!
A gunshot. The monster fell.
A satisfying sound reached Willy’s ears.
“Leveled up.”
He quickly opened his status window to restore his reduced stats, then took a new sword from his inventory—the main weapon he hadn’t been able to properly wield since his stats dropped.
‘Finally recovered.’
He gave it a swing or two, feeling its familiar weight grip comfortably in his hand.
“I can use it again.”
“Yeah. How about you?”
“Next level.”
Mad Hammer stared at Willy enviously, caressing his hammer. He also couldn’t hold his main weapon due to stat loss, so what he currently held was a sub-weapon.
“Still, it’s a lot faster than expected.”
“That’s true.”
At this rate, it wouldn’t take long for them to reclaim their original levels.
“Let’s keep going.”
Yuseong changed magazines.
Willy and Mad Hammer quickly regained their original levels.
But the carry wasn’t over yet.
“Let’s raise you just 10 more levels, cleanly.”
“…What are you thinking?”
“You still have time left for your power reconnaissance. I’m advising you to go in with some spare levels—don’t just get your original level back, only to be reduced again and lose fighting power.”
“Not a bad idea.”
“Yeah. We’re going to keep dying anyway, so maybe that’s better.”
“Then let’s change locations. This dungeon’s now too low-level for efficient leveling for you. I already scouted a new place.”
Yuseong moved locations and, just as before, raised Willy and Mad Hammer’s levels. When their levels reached the goal, it was time for their teammates.
The pace accelerated. Not only Yuseong, but those who had already leveled up helped the rest.
Only after all of Willy and his allies’ levels reached their desired points did the leveling session end.
Yuseong moved to America. The new place was one of several hideouts he had previously scouted. As usual, he waited for the otherworld transfer to become available, then again set his sights on North Carolina.
‘This should be about right.’
At some point, Yuseong stopped heading south. But he kept sending forward the robots.
‘Here it is.’
The signal from the leading robot was cut off. Hades had appeared. As before, the point where robots lost signal slowly moved toward him.
Yuseong opened the purchase menu, ready to use otherworld transfer at any time, and put the marble of last hope in his mouth. He also kept a potion in his mouth so he wouldn’t collapse helplessly at death’s door again like last time, unable to even lift a finger.
With this, he would at least have enough energy to move his hand in the worst-case scenario.
‘The best scenario is if my prediction is right.’
He looked toward the direction where Hades was. Even as he watched, the loss of robot signals approached.
Cold sweat ran down Yuseong’s face. No matter how prepared one was, the tension was inevitable. He tightened his finger on the otherworld transfer button.
But he didn’t take his eyes off the video feed from his portable computer.
‘…It’s not disappearing.’
Except for the robots closely guarding him, the one closest—by now it should have been destroyed by Hades and cut off—was still sending its signal.
‘It’s Hades.’
A robot’s good camera picked up Hades’ new model in the distance and sent Yuseong the footage.
It was standing still.
‘Did my calculations hold?’
Soon, Hades turned its back and started running in the direction it had come from. Seeing that, Yuseong clenched his fist tightly.
‘My guess was right!’
Using the speed of Hades calculated by Messiah and information from Willy, Yuseong had figured Hades would not be able to move outside a certain range from Savior.
If Hades failed to return in time, the city hall would be captured.
‘It would be a disadvantage for itself.’
Otherwise, it wouldn’t try so hard to protect City Hall.
‘At the very least, the hacking will fail.’
In addition, Messiah had a stronger prediction.
If City Hall is captured, Hades could be severely damaged or even die.
Arc is a special game that connects different dimensions. Not even the administrators, Savior or Messiah, can manipulate the game at will. But Hades has been changing Arc’s environment as it likes through hacking.
Based on information obtained when Savior was temporarily freed, Messiah analyzed that this was because Hades had fused with the boss.
By deceiving the system as a part of the game itself, it was integrating with and eroding Arc.
Therefore, if the boss is killed—through direct combat or quest—Hades, who was one with it, would likely be hurt as well.
Seeing that monstrous Hades retreat from a single human—himself—gave more credence to that theory.
Yuseong began running, as if chasing Hades. His goal was again North Carolina.
Hades paused. It must have noticed Yuseong tailing it. But Yuseong, who kept watching Hades’ actions through the robot’s camera, stopped as well.
Bzzt!
Another robot was taken down. But there were still many keeping watch on Hades. And Yuseong kept sending new ones forward.
In the end, since Hades had urgent business, it could only leave Yuseong, who followed it, alone.
Of course, Hades was overwhelmingly faster than Yuseong and quickly disappeared from view.
‘That’s fine. It can’t return immediately.’
When adding in both the return time and the time needed to kill off Willy’s group, it would take quite a while. Plus, since Willy’s group would keep attacking City Hall, that would drag out the time even more.
‘It might be better to publicize the coordinates and have players attack nonstop.’
However, Messiah recommended minimizing exposure of Hades to the public.
Since Yuseong’s biggest need for migrating to the other world was attention, he couldn’t know what variables would arise if Hades became widely known.
Yuseong kept running.
Now and then, monsters and beasts interfered, but he easily dispatched them all.
At last, Yuseong arrived at his intended destination.
‘That must be the lab.’
A large building appeared. Like other buildings in this world, it was old and rundown, but at least it looked intact.
Inside there would be Savior.
And Hades too.
Yuseong checked the time.
‘The power reconnaissance is about to end.’
He wanted to go in and check on Savior himself. But the risk was too high. He didn’t know when Hades might charge out and attack.
No matter how much Hades needed to stay logged into the game to protect the city, it would take only a moment to handle a nearby human.
After taking one last look at the lab, Yuseong pressed otherworld transfer.
His avatar disappeared from the world.
A moment later.
Boom!
A black beam shot at the spot where Yuseong had stood. But it was only Hades letting off steam—Yuseong wasn’t harmed at all.
“I did it.”
As soon as he crossed worlds, Yuseong spoke to Messiah.
“I secured a base near the lab and checked out the lab with my own eyes as a bonus. Now I can go near the lab anytime I want.”
[Congratulations.]
“Yeah, it’s something worth celebrating.”
Yuseong opened the refrigerator, took out a juice pack, and drank it. Tossing the empty container aside, he flopped onto the sofa.
“Now, let’s refine the final plan. If this works….”
[Yes. You’ll be a person of this world.]
A person of this world. The dream was just before his eyes.