Chapter 16

'It's been a while since I've seen someone use that.'

A one-time resurrection item, the Cross of Resurrection had a powerful effect, but using it in important matches was forbidden.

'The penalty is quite significant too.'

Even if you used the Cross of Resurrection, you would finish last regardless of how well you did. Not only that, but the experience reduction, GP loss, and other penalties would be tripled.

It was a useless item unless you could guarantee finishing 1st.

'And there's another fatal flaw…'

JiHan had waited after he saw Streamer Golden Light die because he'd spotted that 'flaw'.

'Seeing how surprised he was, it seems like the Cross of Resurrection's flaw wasn't known yet in 2020.'

JiHan looked around. There were only monsters around him and no signs of other players.

'Guys, why are you so far away?'

He hadn't realized that the players had fled to avoid conflict after they saw him fight Streamer Golden Light. JiHan felt disappointed when he saw the distant players.

He had to reach 10 kills, so that was troublesome.

"I guess I should at least get some tenth kills."

A tenth of a kill was how much a monster's life in the Colosseum was worth.

JiHan ran toward where the monsters were after he looked around, and a message window appeared before him.

[Eliminate the Goblin Champion.]

[The goblins are the weakest but most numerous monsters in the Colosseum. The Goblin Champion is trying to lead them to victory. Eliminate him before he can gather more goblins.]

[Reward: 500 achievement points]

A champion monster was a type of elite monster that sometimes appeared in games—their stats were three to five times higher than regular monsters, and they were hard to deal with due to their powerful equipment and special skills.

Players usually tried to avoid champion monsters, but they were just bonus quests for JiHan.

'It's only 500 achievement points, which is stingy… but they're in my way anyway.'

JiHan accelerated and charged toward the goblins; even though he wasn't using a skill like Streamer Golden Light, he shot forward like a cannonball.

"Wh-what's that?… Rocks, throw rocks at him!" The Goblin Champion, who was about two meters tall, hurriedly ordered his subordinates.

Paf! Paf!

But the heads of the goblins that were in front blew up simultaneously, and JiHan continued to charge as if he were a bulldozer.

The normal goblins, barely a meter tall, had no way to stop him.

"E-eek…!"

Slash!

The huge kitchen knife sliced through the goblins as if they were tofu, and green blood poured in every direction.

The Goblin Champion's eyes widened as the 40 subordinates he'd gathered were killed in the blink of an eye.

"ROOAARR!" As if the Goblin Champion had overcome his fear, he charged toward JiHan, but…

Paf!

The iron cudgel smashed his head, and the kitchen knife split open his chest.

[You've cleared the quest 'Eliminate the Goblin Champion'.]

[You've earned 500 achievement points.]

Along with a quest clear message…

[You've smashed the heretic's head and carved out the heart in the correct order.]

[You've learned the proper method.]

[The relic has increased your Divine Power.]

[Your Divine Power has increased by 1.]

He received an unexpected bonus.

'Smash the head and carve out the heart… So that was the correct order?' JiHan looked at the iron cudgel in disbelief.

He'd bought the two weapons cheaply on the Battle Net market.

[Other World's Relic - (D-rank)]

- A kitchen knife and an iron cudgel.

- This is a set that shows its true power only when both are equipped at the same time.

- This set was used to 'cook' heretics in a certain way on a certain planet.

Although the items were ranked D, the relics were cheap since the set consisted of an iron cudgel and a kitchen knife, which made them hard to utilize.

He'd carried them around in the hopes of gaining Divine Power while fighting with them eventually. He didn't expect to figure out the order while killing the Goblin Champion.

'I should suppress enemies by following this order.' JiHan read the item's description again.

Before gaining an extra Divine Power stat, it was ranked D, but it had been decreased to E.

It seemed like the rank dropped because he'd absorbed one stat of Divine Power.

'But it's still rank E, so I can get one more Divine Power.'

JiHan looked around.

Where was the next target that would allow him to reach 10 kills and gain one more Divine Power?

'There seem to be a lot of players over there.' He soon found a place where many players were fighting. 'Let's go.'

Streamer Golden Light was logged out of the game and sat inside the Battle Net connector while making a blank expression.

'I never thought I'd be completely defeated in Bronze…'

His Battle Tube channel was a mess because of the Sword King's fans.

- Didn't you say this person used to be in Gold?

- To think he'd be this useless!

- That's why he's in Bronze despite having reached Gold. Tsk, tsk.

Streamer Golden Light left a brief comment that said, 'Sorry for not living up to everyone's expectations,' and then he turned off the stream.

What he did next was…

"Sung… Ji… Han…"

Sitting inside the Battle Net connector, he entered the Battle Tube and searched for JiHan.

He could access Battle Tube from a computer or a smartphone, but watching it from inside a connector made it feel more real.

'3,123 people are watching him… More than I thought.'

Considering that he was a Bronze player and it was his third game, the number of viewers was quite high, probably because of the aftermath of the Sword King-related stream.

JiHan's channel surpassed eight thousand subscribers.

- JiHan, 7 kills.

- He killed the champion monster by smashing its head and tearing its chest open. He's doing the same thing against every player he meets.

- Eight, eight kills… He's quickly adding more.

- At this rate, he might really achieve 10!

JiHan's channel had two-way communication blocked.

He was focusing on the game and didn't read the chat, so the viewers were chatting among themselves, but among the people chatting on JiHan's channel, many seemed to be specialists.

- His abilities aren't those of a Bronze player.

- According to the scouting system, his Strength should be 35 and Agility 38. This surpasses the Bronze League's limit of 25.

- What's more surprising is that he seems to be holding back. He hasn't shown his full strength yet.

- I wonder what his Gift is…

- He's undoubtedly the most promising player in this Gangnam League.

'There seem to be many scouts already.'

The way they were analyzing JiHan and estimating his stats was a method that guild-affiliated scouts used.

- Once his Gift is revealed, he'll most likely receive recruitment offers from numerous guilds.

- He's related to the Sword King, so there's some risk… but his abilities are phenomenal.

- But the top 10 guilds are sensitive to public opinion, so they will hesitate a bit before making an offer.

- After all, he's still in Bronze.

If JiHan had shown his abilities without making it known that he was related to the Sword King and doing what he did in that stream, he would've received offers from the top 10 guilds already, but he was in a special position since he was the Sword King's brother-in-law.

The Sword King Fan Club had become hostile toward him. Guilds related to corporations were sensitive to public sentiment, so they couldn't hastily make him an offer.

'To think they'd hesitate to recruit him even with those abilities… It seems like public opinion is indeed complicated,' Streamer Golden Light thought while reading the chat window.

- That guy definitely stole something from the Sword King.

- That's right. Maybe that tracksuit is an SSS-rank item.

- I think that's a plausible deduction.

- Yes! Maybe the Sword King got tired of his brother-in-law stealing from him, so he's acting!

'They're really dumb…'

The members of the Sword King Fan Club were saying nonsense, but since their opinion had some weight, the guilds were hesitating.

Streamer Golden Light was reading the chat while thinking about that when…

"Woah…!"

He watched in awe as JiHan clashed with an enemy.

"How… How did he dodge that attack?"

"Ah… What a clean strike!"

Even from the perspective of a former Gold Leaguer, JiHan's attacks were admirable.

How could a Bronze be so good at fighting?

- Woah, he achieved nine kills…

- How can he smash heads so easily?

- He's going to reach 10 kills.

- He's doing it all alone.

'Ah… This kind of reaction should have come from my channel…' Golden Light started to feel uneasy at the thought of his Deep Sea Exploration Project getting messed up because of JiHan.

Paf!

Nevertheless, as JiHan smashed another head…

- 10 kills! To think he'd achieve 10 kills in a survival map!

He participated in the chat without realizing it.

- Why's Golden Light here?

- You contributed 20% to the 10 kills…

- Ah, he's the one who died twice?

- Yes.

'Ah… The ID.'

Streamer Golden Light… He shouldn't have chatted while using that ID. He regretted his actions for a brief moment, but…

- It's the first time someone has achieved this record in Korea since Sword King Yoon Sae-jin!

- Yes, but you died twice.

- Fufu. My death will appear first in player JiHan's biography…!

- Idiot…

- Didn't you say you were a reaper?

- Yes, I was a reaper, but that guy, JiHan, was my reaper…!

- I'll cancel my subscription to you.

He seemed to be excited as he typed.

* * *

[You've achieved 10 kills in the 'Colosseum' survival map.]

[You've cleared the hidden quest 'Achieve 10 Kills in the Colosseum'.]

[You've earned 5,000 achievement points.]

'5,000… Not bad.'

The Colosseum map ended when 50 out of the 100 people were left, so killing 10 people by yourself was a difficult task. It would be impossible to do without JiHan's Martial Power stat.

In fact, 5,000 achievement points might've been too low compared to the task's difficulty.

I received 5,600 achievement points, and my Divine Power increased by two…'

JiHan looked at the 'Heretic's Cooking Set'. The rank had decreased to F from E, and the name had changed to 'Something That Used to be an Other World's Relic' (F-rank).

He'd absorbed another Divine Power stat point after killing four more people and getting everything he could've gotten from the day's game.

'I will get the unique stat once I leave the game,' JiHan thought as he waited for the game to end.

[You've cleared a hidden quest.]

[You've unlocked an epic quest.]

'An epic quest…?' JiHan looked at the new quest window.

[Epic Quest]

- Find the Shadow Queen sitting in the audience of the Colosseum map and provoke her.

[Reward: 50,000 achievement points and interest from the 'Shadow Queen' constellation]

'A constellation's interest…!'

JiHan's eyes shook.