Chapter 176


    An archer, huh?


    V nced at the ck Trolls corpse.


    Did you kill it on your own?


    I nodded.


    Long-ranged DPSers generally have very low durability, but you managed to kill a variant Troll alone. Heughed with amusement. That has to mean youre just that fast, yeah?


    ...


    Let me see for myself just how fast you are, then.


    That moment, I felt this fighting spirit exude from the future Fight King.


    Hesing from the left.


    V was fast. His nimbleness was iparable to the ck Troll.


    I can see it.


    But my eyes were faster than even those swift movements. The future-seeing eye, Future Sight,pletely decoded Vs approach.


    Hell swing his axe here.


    <em>Whumpf!</em>


    The axe grazed my hair.


    Then, hell withdraw his weapon.


    V stowed his axe in his Inventory, item switching with practiced and skillful ease.


    And after putting down his foot hard


    V stepped in with force.


    Hell thrust his spear with his weight behind the attack.


    From start to finish, I read V like a book. I simply stood in ce.


    But the thrust is just a feint.


    The second attack that came on the heels of the feint was the real attack. In other words, there was no bloodthirst in the first attack.


    A stab thats fast, but powerless.


    And because there was no strength in it


    Something like this should be possible.


    I grabbed the spear shaft, turning the feint to my advantage. V was taken aback for a moment.


    Huh?


    I used the spears momentum to yank V forward, simultaneously putting out my foot.


    V tripped artlessly. I instantly increased the distance between us and pulled my bowstring, aiming the bow burning with ck mes precisely on V.


    V got up with a bbergasted look.


    Didnt you say you were an archer?


    Its as you can see, I responded.


    The fighting spiriting from V went out entirely.


    How can there be someone so busted? the Italian man said, dusting his butt off. No need to keep going. I acknowledge my defeat.


    He cleanly admitted defeat. It was extremely fast, a little outside of my expectations.


    Id keep butting heads if we were a close match, but I cant even scorch a single tailfeather of yours at my current level. V smiled agreeably. Im so happy I met a human this strong.


    His own defeat seemed to be of zero concern to him. V stowed his weapon in his Inventory before putting out his hand.


    Allow me to introduce myself formally. My name is V Santo


    He was cut off by a grimacing Wilson, who had been tranting. V. Do I have to keep tranting? This seems like a pointless conversation.


    An Intermediate Administrator continuing to trante despite it being a pain wasnt a normal urrence, either. Senia stepped forward.


    If you find it troublesome to trante, I will do it.


    In the end, the trantion duty fell to Senia. There wasnt anything astonishing about our conversation. To sum it up, Vpletely submitted to my strength and vowed to defeat me one day.


    His You good at fighting? from earlier turned into Youre fookin good at fighting. There was a real sense of disparity hearing those wordsing from Senia.


    Is that all? I asked. You want to fight me in the future, and thats it?


    Did V really fly all the way from Italy toe fight me? Also, I hadnt heard any messages from Guardians even after the fight was over. The Night of Shooting Stars or the White Hunter should have responded in some way, at the very least.


    That means theres something more.


    V gave another agreeable smile. Youre quick on the uptake. Very much like Pedro.


    V probably meant that as apliment. I wasnt offended by the words. The future Fight King, V, began to speak of the real matter at hand.


    * * *


    * * *


    The Fight King told me something interesting.


    The Gran Seoul Dungeon in your server is supposed to have opened.


    A Ranker of a country far away knew about a dungeon on Korean soil? And one that hadnt yet opened, at that?


    The tranting Senia suddenly interrupted our conversation, bringing something out.


    [Trantion Marble]


    An artifact enchanted with trantion magic that applies to allnguages on each of the servers on the dimension Earth.


    This will enable uninhibitedmunication.


    The little tree Streamer named Wilson smacked his lips. Wow, you just pulled out something that expensive like it was nothing. Sis, are you rich?


    It was sponsored.


    Sp-Sponsored? You were sponsored something that expensive?


    One of the green leaves attached to Wilsons forehead fell off.


    Ah! No!


    Wilson carefully picked up the leaf on the ground and reattached it to his forehead, gently rubbing it into ce.


    Its one of my few remaining hairs, he exined. Still cautiously stroking the leaf, he continued. Theres someone willing to sponsor a trantion item at this time?


    Yes.


    Can I ask who it is? Is the Korean server always like this?


    Senia paused for a moment. Goodness, she had really grown. She was intentionally drawing it out right now.


    The Fight King V was based in the Italian server. Guardians who were primarily active in the Italian server were different from the ones primarily active in the Korean server. Currently, those Guardians from another region were all focusing on this situation, and Senia was pausing for dramatic effect.


    I was sponsored by the [Night of Shooting Stars].


    He was indeed a 2nd gen Guardian. The fact he gave the item via Senia rather than directly to me meant he really intended on savoring the attention, nouveau riche style. The Guardians attention would gather on him, no doubt.


    The little tree bent his inflexible bodyhe was a tree, after as much as he could before hopping up and down in excitement. His business acumen was far more outstanding than Senias.


    Please drop by the Italian server as well, sir! Its overflowing with enjoyable and exciting content. I will ensure that you are properly entertained.


    And then, he waved both hands, crying out Ting-a-ling! Yellow bells actually appeared on both sides of Wilsons head, tinkling and producing an actual bell sound.


    Goodness, sir. Thank you kindly for the 300 Coin sponsorship. Ting-a-ling!


    Wilson seemed to be quite an exaggerated Streamer. Actually, what he was doing wasnt all that special. Senia was just so very taciturn, but Intermediate Administrators more like Wilson were moremon.


    In any case, we got a trantion item and were able to carry on a natural conversation.


    How do you know about the Gran Seoul Dungeon? I asked.


    Its rted to the main scenario quest Im clearing.


    What was this, really?


    First the Great Explorer Jackson, and now the Fight King V.


    I didnt know whether V visited Korea in the past or not. V had never said anything about it to the public.


    But the Gran Seoul Dungeon hasnt opened, and a weird scenario like this was triggered. I have the feeling you know why.


    Its because the Gran Seoul Dungeons open condition hasnt been met.


    This happened because Ipletely stopped the Fire Giants rampage. It was a butterfly effect I created.


    If things had gone like they did in the past


    What if nothing had changed, and the Gran Seoul Dungeon opened at the proper time?


    The Fight King V would have gone into the Gran Seoul Dungeon.


    If things had gone the same as the past, there was a high chance he would have acquired something from inside of the Gran Seoul Dungeon.


    But the flow of events has been twisted because of me.


    That was why he was here with me right now. I would have to talk with him a little more to be able to match the puzzle pieces. We conversed a little longer.


    ...And thats what happened.


    Vs story was pretty interesting. After listening carefully to what he had to say, I said, To summarize, you know the method to open the Gran Seouls hidden field, but you need an assistant?


    Yeah.


    And the assistants ss must be a nonbat ss.


    Right.


    But its a ce where only you and that other person can enter?


    V nodded. His quest was limited to two people.


    But he thinks Im an archer, doesnt he?


    Did V mention the nonbat ss requirement in order to sound me out? No, I could be sure that wasnt the case. I felt really bad saying so, but V was kind of in the idiot camp. To be more precise, once he was set on something, he could only see that one thing. He was the kind of person who didnt see anything else.


    Does he want to believe Im a nonbat ss?


    But but still! Could it be that he really was that much of an idiot?


    It could be that hes an idiotic single-celled organism, but


    Even so, even if we assumed that V knew a little more about me than he let on, I had to take action. I didnt fully trust V yet.


    For now, the important thing is the Gran Seouls hidden field.


    There was a hidden field with such prerequisites in the Gran Seoul?


    Unpublicized info.


    I hadnt known anything about it. It could be that it was high-level intel only known by Rankers, info that wasnt told to the public.


    Howe youre telling me all this like its nothing?


    Im telling you I want you to be my assistant. Dont you think that would be perfect?


    And if I dont ept?


    V shrugged. Then one of us will die, I suppose. Though of course, that would probably be me.


    I couldnt tell whether he was being sincere or not. I could, however, tell that it was a quest that required secrecy.


    I unleashed my aura. The Fight King was definitely an impressive yer, but the current me didnt fall behind at all. No, I was actually ahead of him.[Using the special ability Mettle.]


    Dont forget that if one of us dies, it will be you.


    V nodded in good humor. I know. Im happy. Its a great thing to have a mountain I need to surmount. Ill take back what I said about one of us dying. I was just sounding you out.


    I also retracted my aura. It seemed that my Mettle was an extremely pleasant thing to V. Apparently, him adoring people stronger than him was true.


    V grasped my hand.


    How about it? Wanna give it a go together? Ill give you the first pick for all the rewards. In exchange, have another PVP with meter.


    I thought for a moment, my hands in Vs coarse ones.


    Explorer is a nonbat ss.


    The Great Explorer Jackson was in Korea at this time. What if the Gran Seoul Dungeon had opened at the nned time?


    V would have tried to clear the Gran Seoul Dungeon, and its highly likely he would have met Jackson there.


    Jackson had already gone into the Gwanghwamun Dungeon, which could be called Koreas main dungeon, like someone who had known it would open. In that case, he might even know about the Gran Seoul Dungeon.


    So its possible that a scenario where V cleared the Gran Seoul with Jackson happened in the past.


    That much was fine.


    If that really happened, then why did they not reveal that?


    The puzzle pieces of the past rattled in my mind.


    * * *


    For now, I epted Vs proposal.


    To think he would make such an offer to someone he saw for the first time today.


    He would concede first pick of all the rewards in exchange for frequent PVP. What was more astonishing was that he really meant it. He really was a battle-crazy guy.


    He simply goes and does things that could definitely be dangerous for him. Is he incapable of thinking, or does he just not care?


    The Fight King V was an iprehensible creature. He should have realized that I was stronger than him, but he proposed a temporary party with zero reserve. On what basis? In a dungeon, murder could ur without anyone knowing, yet V was willing to stride hand in hand with a stranger in such a ce. From my perspective, V was a difficult person to understand.


    I clearly read Vs summary.


    Summary:<ol data-mce-style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li data-mce-style=": 11pt;">


    Coarse Fighter who Knows No Lies</li><li data-mce-style=": 11pt;">


    Single-celled Organism who Detests Complicated Things</li></ol>


    The current V was simply happy. From the start, V was recognized as a yer who didnt like thinking about this and that. After meeting him in person, I could see that was very much true. He was the epitome of simplemindedness.


    Could it be that he really thinks Im a nonbat archer?


    Kind of like a transgender person, but with ss? For the time being, I gave up on understanding V with logic. That was easier on me.


    You saw someone on the 2nd floor, right? I asked.


    A bunch of yers were defending against Orc Warriors and Trolls. It was a bit frustrating to watch.


    Dont you think its weird?


    What is?


    From what I saw of the Wings earlier, they shouldve been more than strong enough to have perfectly cleared the 2nd floor. But this ce still wasnt cleared.


    There should have been plenty of time to generate the Clear Crystal.


    Now that you mention it youre right? He looked at me with an expression of What about it?


    We just have to find the Clear Crystal, he went on to say. No problem!


    From what I know, once all the 2nd floor monsters have been hunted, the Clear Crystal should automatically spawn.


    Ah, yeah. V scratched his nose, his attitude still wholly unconcerned.


    There should have been plenty of time to generate the Clear Crystal and clear this ce.


    But it hadnt been cleared, which meant something had happened on the 2nd floor.