Chapter 9 - Hidden Named Hunting Preparation (3)

"Do you think that you'll be able to evade my attacks?"

Leopard, who was moving his wand, suddenly opened the palms of his hands.

Whack- An air-cutting sound could be heard.

At the same time, one of the users that was walking backwards twitched and convulsed.

[You've lost more than 33% of your HP, so your body stopped working properly!]

[You've lost both of your legs, so you won't be able to move!]

[You're not going to recover your legs unless you get treated at a shrine or die!]

Another person was hit.

That time, it was his legs.

He could avoid being killed since the attack didn't hit a vital point, but it was hard to feel relieved.

The user who had lost both legs rolled around on the ground while screaming in pain.

"Hahaha! You became a roly-poly toy!"

He couldn't hear Leopard's laughter.

The user that had just been attacked was screaming because of the damage received.

The truth was that the pain inflicted by virtual reality didn't hurt that much.

If you could feel real pain inside a game, no one would dare to play it.

Even if your legs and arms were cut off, the pain you felt hurt as if you'd hit yourself with a doorknob.

But the placebo effect was scarier than most people thought.

In a game that looked just like real life, your emotions were controlled via your brain waves.

While in the middle of a dangerous situation, you just don’t have time to consider if the intensity of the pain you're feeling is real or not.

Most people had never experienced the pain of having their extremities cut off, so that made the confusion worse.

"Ouch...! Log out! Log out!"

[If you log out in the middle of a battle, you won't be able to log in for 48 hours!]

[Do you really want to log out?]

He subconsciously decided to escape to real life.

He was only able to calm down after the brainwave protection system of the capsule kicked in.

But the rest of the group had to keep fighting with Leopard.

'What should I do...?'

Guy was starting to feel the pressure.

Three people had died, but they still couldn't understand the nature of the opponent's attack.

If things went on like that, everyone would die. Not only that, but because of the named monster's special effect, they were having a hard time breathing and couldn't think properly.

"So you're the leader, huh?"

At that moment, Leopard began targeting Guy.

He had discovered that Guy was the one leading the party, so he wanted to get rid of him first.

Whoosh-

In front of Leopard's wand, a magic circle appeared.

The spell that had killed Arneng and Hell Dust was targeting Guy.

Bang-

The moment Guy heard the vibrations of the wind, his eyes opened wide.

With all the strength he had left, he tried to move his shoulders.

With a little bit of pain, he could feel his arm being detached from his body.

[You've lost more than 33% of your vitality, so your body stopped working properly!]

[You've lost your left arm!]

[You're not going to recover your arm unless you get treated at a shrine or die!]

He heard a rock behind him break.

Guy turned around.

That's when he finally learned what the magic that couldn't be seen was.

"Ice...?"

A very sharp piece of ice was stuck in the middle of a rock.

The ice was so smooth and transparent that it looked like a diamond.

The ice could pierce through everything because Leopard had applied a magic that made the ice rotate faster, thus increasing the damage output.

"You're lucky my «Ice Top» missed you. It should've pierced your heart, but you won't get lucky twice."

Leopard, the Magician, moved arrogantly and once again pointed at Guy with his wand.

The magic circle in front of his wand began spinning.

Up until then, he had used only one type of magic.

«Ice Top».

That was the identity of the spell that was so fast that it was impossible to see.

Every time someone was hit with the ice, you could hear screams.

Arneng, Hell Dust, and another guild member couldn't avoid death.

The leader, Guy, had managed to live, but he had lost his left arm, so he wasn't able to engage in battle.

Guy was starting to feel frustrated.

They were all being killed with a single shot; they would all be wiped out if things went on like that.

'There's no way this named monster is level 30...! He's probably level 60! There's also a chance he's over level 70!'

Guy tried to guess as much information about the named monster as possible.

Even if he was in a low-level area, his level was really high.

Did he say that the name was quick...? It definitely suits it.

That magic wasn't something you could see and evade—it was too fast for that.

Smash, Smash! You could hear something breaking, followed by the scream of someone.

That time, two guild members standing in the attack's trajectory died with just one hit.

Whoosh-

Was there no end to Leopard's mana pool?

After forcing many players to log out, he kept waving his wand and rotating the magic circle.

There was no way out of it.

"Everyone, attack! Even if you die, do it while attacking!"

As soon as Guy gave an order, everyone launched an attack directed toward Leopard.

The Magicians attacked him with flames, and those who didn't know how to use magic used their bow and arrows.

Flames and arrows poured over Leopard.

The Warriors raised their swords and charged towards him.

Leopard laughed at the attacks that were coming his way.

"What a bunch of losers."

«Snow Shield».

Stomp-! Leopard's wand hit the floor, and thus his second magic activated.

Thousands of ice pellets began rotating with him at the center—it was truly a shield made of snow.

Thuck-

The arrows disintegrated when they hit the ice pallets and scattered away.

All the Warriors froze. After a few seconds, they were covered in a light, and then they faded away.

Wh... What kind of magic...?"

Guy was shocked after seeing Leopard's new skill.

The guild's firepower became useless instantly as the four Warriors faded away.

His mouth was agape in awe. The difference between them was too big.

"You will all die."

Whoosh-.

Leopard extended his wand, and the magic circle in front of it started to spin.

Bang! There was the sound of air being torn away.

The «Ice Top» pierced him while making a loud noise that reminded him of a bullet.

"Ugh-!"

A short scream came out of Guy's mouth; the sound hit the ice walls and echoed through the space.

Only after seeing the massive influx of messages did he become conscious of what was about to happen to him.

[You've lost more than 33% of your HP, so your body stopped working properly!]

[The attack has pierced your head, so you died instantly!]

[You'll be able to log in again in 48 hours.]

Even Guy became light and faded away.

"Even the leader was defeated..."

"This plan was a complete failure... He's just too strong, to begin with...! How are we even supposed to defeat him?!"

"I don't think we'll be able to kill him until we reach level 100."

What that person said was very close to reality. After all, Leopard's level was 95!

Considering that hidden named bosses were stronger than the average monster, they were most likely to fail even if 20 level 100 players attacked Leopard.

From the beginning, he wasn't someone that level 20~30 newbies could fight and win.

Once Guy, the leader, was defeated, it didn't take long for the rest of them to be annihilated.

Leopard breathed a chill cold enough to freeze the eyebrows and completely destroyed the remaining users.

«Ice Top».

…An ice bullet so fast that it was almost impossible to see it.

Every time Leopard pointed to someone, a hole appeared on the target's body.

Sometimes, Leopard, who was covered with a blizzard, jumped right into the middle of the party.

The moment people even touched it, thousands of rotating ice shards would pierce them.

In the middle of the storm, light rays went up into the sky.

And finally…

Leopard's ice blue temple returned to normal.

After a while, all the corpses of the guild members disappeared.

If it wasn't for the trace of the fight, it seemed like nothing had happened there.

'What should I do?'

It wasn't like everyone from the team sent there had died.

The youngest member of the guild, TarrTarr, was still alive. He was hiding behind the rock, holding his breath.

He covered his mouth with his hands to avoid breath from leaking out.

'Has everyone else died?'

It was his first time experiencing something like that.

The moment the named boss started leaking a very strong killing intent, he became scared and escaped alone.

It wasn't that he did it on purpose.

If a third party saw what he did, they'd call him a coward.

After all, everyone but himself had died.

As time went on, TarrTarr began worrying.

What if there was someone that saw him escaping?

If he returned alive alone, there might be some people who would point their fingers at him and call him an egoist.

If he got put on a blacklist, no other guild would accept him as a member. Maybe he should have died together with the rest of the members.

TarrTarr made up his mind.

The boss was still there, so dying shouldn't be hard.

If he also died there, he would be able to say that he also had been killed while fighting.

TarrTarr had decided to die at the hands of the named boss.

Right at that moment…

'Who's that...?'

TarrTarr had gotten up to commit suicide when he saw two people.

He hid again.

He saw two people wearing black robes entering the 'Blue Temple.'

‘Are they human?’

Since they were wearing hooded robes, he couldn't see their faces.

The only thing he could see was their body type.

One was just as small as he was; the other person was a little big bigger than him.

'Did they get here by mistake? No, that can't be. In the first place, to come here, they should be skillful. After all, the monsters around here are strong.'

But they weren't carrying any weapons. Not only that, the only protective gear they were wearing was the black robe.

The first impression he had of them was that they looked like people that were wandering around.

You’d get flustered when walking around the Dark Forest and entering the Blue Temple. The temperature difference is very notable.

But those people not only were not flustered, but they also seemed very calm. It was as if they knew everything they needed to know about the place.

'That can't be, right?'

For a moment, TarrTarr thought about something ridiculous.

Once again, he tried to think rationally.

Those people were probably hunting in an area near there, and they'd just discovered by pure luck the place where the named boss was.

‘No, they're going to die soon. So they're unlucky.’

After all, it was the home of the hidden named monster, Leopard.

TarrTarr, who had seen Leopard fighting, was sure about something. At the moment, there wasn't a player with a level high enough to beat Leopard.

Those two are not going to be the exception.

'I'll need to push back the suicide mission for a little while.'

TarrTarr decided to remain hidden. After all, it probably wouldn't take a lot of time.

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