December 3/6
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–
Ch 119 Clear (Part 2)
Sylph consecutively pulled the trigger.
The speed with which she reloaded was so fast it didn't look like shooting but indiscriminate spraying.
The flying bullets pierced through the building. As expected, it was powerful.
Chul kuk chul kuk!
When all the bullets got used, the reload skill activated, and the empty magazine automatically refilled
And then, after another three bullets, Sylph stopped shooting.
The bodies of the enemy were behind the building so I couldn't see them, but through the scope, I saw Cha Ji-hye giving me the okay sign.
It means all the enemies have been killed.
'But wait, why isn't the exam door appearing?'
I eliminated four corrupt examinees so the exam was cleared and the door should appear.
"Board retrieval."
I checked it out myself.
-Name: Kim Hyun-ho
-Class: 21
-Karma: +14,400
-Mission: Eliminate at least one corrupt examinee. (Complete)
-Time limit: Unlimited
-You have cleared the mission. To finish the mission, say 'exam door.'
-You may receive your karma prize during the mission.
'Finished!'
Those four were corrupt examinees.
The deal for clearing the mission was to kill at least one corrupt examinee and the time was unlimited.
Thus, if I want, I can kill more corrupt examinees.
'So, if I call for the exam door, I can leave whenever I want. This is pretty nice.'
If it became dangerous, I could run through the exam door.
More than anything I was happy about the karma!
The karma I got from killing four examinees was over 10,000. It is a quantity only got from clearing three missions.
'I'll hunt some more.'
I got a tingly feeling as if I've won the lottery.
If I just do well, I can mass murder corrupt examinees and become incredibly strong.
'I have to help Marie and Odin anyway.'
I decide to stay in the Arena a while longer.
Regrettably, the pirates have started their retreat. It's because the number killed by Odin numbered over 100.
'I want to hunt a bit more though.'
I hoped for more corrupt examinees to be caught in the fray.
Then.
-Meow!
Sylph wrapped her tail around the barrel and moved it to the right.
"Found another?"
-Meow.
Sylph nodded her head.
Through the scope, I checked out what Sylph was aiming at and I really did see someone who looked like a corrupt examinee.
Their hair and eyebrows were dyed brown but their skin color was definitely Asian. There was even another Asian next to them.
'I'm sure of it.'
Another two, what a good opportunity.
I immediately pulled the trigger.
Shook-!
The bullet strongly ripped through the air.
But before the bullet reached the examinee's head, it hit something else. Some kind of transparent shield appeared to have broken.
'Is it magic?'
Probably defensive magic. The opponent seemed to have magic as their main skill.
The targeted corrupt examinee was taken by surprise and looked all around.
He doesn't seem to realize yet where the attacked came from and what kind of attack it even was. There was no gunshot that could be heard so there was no way to really know that you were being shot at.
'Another shot!'
I reloaded and pulled the trigger again.
The corrupt examinee looked like he was chanting something and once again the bullet was blocked by defense magic.
I reloaded and shot faster than the last time.
In a cold sweat, the corrupt examinee chanted again.
But this time I was faster.
The incredibly powerful 50BMG bullet that could pierce through buildings, completely shattered the entirety of the corrupt examinees skull.
The headless corpse collapsed to the floor.
The comrade standing next to him now realized he was sniped and hid behind a nearby large tree.
'Really, a tree?'
I had Sylph aim at the tree, then pulled the trigger.
Shook!
The bullet went through the tree and hit the hiding corrupt examinee in the neck.
But perhaps because the power was hindered while going through the tree trunk, the target's neck didn't completely fly off.
The corrupt examinee blocked the blood gushing from his neck and with a shaking hand, took out a healing potion from his pocket.
'No can do.
I shot again.
When he was about to pour the healing potion on his neck, the 50BMG bullet shattered their head entirely, without a trace.
The healing potion poured over a neck with no head.
'The 6th one!'
I feel delighted.
I summoned my board again and checked my karma.
-Name: Kim Hyun-ho
-Class: 21
-Karma: +17,900
-Mission: eliminate at least one corrupt examinee. (Complete)
-Time Limit: unlimited
-You have cleared the mission. To finish the mission, say 'exam door.'
-You may retrieve your karma prize during the mission.
"Hahaha!"
Laughter just erupted from me. I'm raking in karma.
As the pirates started running away on their ships, the fight was over.
'What a pity.'
In a mission where I needed to kill at least one, I killed 6. An excessive achievement! Karma that would take two months to accrue, I got in a day. What a huge success.
Even so, there was no end to human greed and I felt bummed.
Through the radio, I contacted Odin.
-The fight seems to be over, how did you do Kim Hyun-ho?
"I eliminated six."
-Six?
Odin was surprised.
"Yes, thanks to you."
-Well, miss Cha Ji-hye's plan was good. Anyway, congratulations, you must have gotten lots of karma?
"Yes, and I cleared the mission."
I added that I will not return home and will stay with everyone until everyone has cleared their missions.
-Well, now we know that the pirates and corrupt examinees conspiring together, what shall we do now? Shouldn't we track down the black magician John Omento?
I paused for a moment in thought.
"No. Let's stay here for a little bit."
-Why do you say that?
"Think about it. If the corrupt examinees and pirates are working with the black magicians. What do the black magicians want?"
-……corpses?
"Yes, and even though the pirates lost, there are a lot of corpses created from this."
-You mean to say that the black magicians will come to gather the corpses.
"Yes. You said in Arena, it is common that corpses are cremated?"
-Yes.
"So, then someone could say they did cremate a body but steal the body instead?"
-I suppose one could. But funerals for victims of disasters like this, they usually fall under supervision of the rulers of the respective district.
The Aman empire doesn't have a lord, rulers appointed by the sultan rule the district during their terms.
"Didn't you say the royalty watch the backs of the pirates?"
-Ah! Yes. Now that I look at it, this attack too was oddly absent of any military interference.
"If we stay here for a while, even if it's not John Omento, I think we'll be able to find a black magician."
-Sounds good. Then we shall stay here and watch and see how they take care of their victims' corpses.
"Sounds good."
I finished the call and I headed to the port to join the rest of the gang.
"Oh oh! That famous excellency, the count of Wolfenbrooke!"
An emaciated bald old man was all excited and was kissing Odin's ass.
With a small and thin frame and all manner of colorful clothes and shiny accessories hanging off him, he looked suspicious like a pseudo-religious sect leader.
"Due to the state of things, my introduction is late. I am the consul of this Deport harbor for five years, Sil Odsel."
"Why is your defense setup so weak? Not only that but where has the regular army gone that your port is helpless when they it is invaded by pirates?"
Odin asked interrogatingly.
Consul Odsel sighed purposefully with regret.
"Oh yes, yes, those treacherous people used the chance to attack while we were off dealing with a monster near our area."
"…… is that so? How unlucky."
"It was indeed."
Consul Odsel made a face of despair.
But we could assume he was in cahoots with the pirates. Because he couldn't act for shit.
"Now now, let's not talk about that, I will attend to you so shall we head together to the official residence?"
Odin shook his head.
"I will only be resting here momentarily, there will be no need for that."
"Aigoo, even if it's only for a little while, you are the savior who saved our port, how could we neglect to care for you?"
"It is fine, our two countries are not on good terms and you have a lot of work to do, I will leave you to it."
"Ah well, if that is what you insist I cannot go against it. Oh, but I feel so apologetic…."
Like that we parted ways with consul Odsel and headed to the inn we already had booked.
It hasn't even been half a day since the whole fiasco but the inn owner has already opened for business, the owner is incredibly courageous.
Thankfully, the food wasn't plundered and we were able to have a meal.
During the meal, Odin said,
"They are working with the pirates."
"Yes, even at a quick glance, it seems so. And it is suspicious that he said they couldn't protect the harbor because they were coincidentally off fighting some monster."
I agreed with them.
Outside, at the order of the late-arriving Consul Odsel, the corpses were being gathered.
The soldiers that arrived after it all when they should have been fighting pirates were now just gathering bodies, it was so pitiful to look at.
Currently, I was using Sylph to track where they were gathering and taking the bodies to.
Then Cha Ji-hye had an idea.
"Can't we use the same method we used before to differentiate the corrupt examinees from others?"
"How do you mean?"
"By looking for people who use the words 'undead' or 'zombie.' In this chaos, the only ones to use those words would only be black magicians."
I stared blankly at Cha Ji-hye.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, you're just really smart."
"Thank you."
Without being humble and just accepting the compliment was very Cha Ji-hye.
Just banging out good ideas like that, a very useful co-worker.
Going with her idea, I gave the task to Sylph.
Not even 10 minutes had passed when Sylph returned and pointed to the west.
"You found them already?"
-Meow.
Sylph nodded her head.
"Can you let me hear their conversation?"
-Meow.
Sylph used her power and a gentle breeze passed by my ear.
Then I could start to hear a conversation of young men as if they were sitting right next to me.
-Hurry and gather the soul fragments. If we don't gather enough on our return, the master will turn us into the undead too.
-Damn it, if the Brown Mountain job had succeeded we would have gathered plenty soul fragments.
'These bastards!'
I handed the smartphone and touch pen to Sylph.
"Can you take a picture of them?"
-Meow.
Sylph took the smartphone and touch pen and quickly flew away.
"If they're talking about the Brown Mountain, they are the black magicians for sure."
Marie, who had been listening in with me, clenched her hands into fists.
"Should I go kill them?"
Asked Marie, opening her large blue eyes at me. Saying such savage words with such a pretty face.
I shook my head.
"Based on how they're talking, these guys aren't the big shots."
Marie's mission was to 'eliminate a superior necromancer above the fifth circle.'
Listening to this conversation, it as easy to conclude that they were small fish.
'The master they are referring to must be the big boss.'
And the words 'soul fragments' were significant.
Listening to this, their goal was not corpses to turn into undead, but fragments of souls.