Kill-stealing was common in online games—but wasn't this a bit too shameless?
Lillian saw the smug grin on Kibaou's face, as if it were saying: "So what if we steal it? Hit us and you'll turn orange!"
And he wasn't wrong.
"Kizmel!"
Lillian raised his sword and took over tanking the Spider Queen's attacks. At the same time, he said to her, "Could you help me stop those people? I have some unresolved issues with them—and I don't want them enjoying the fruits of our labor for free."
"No problem."
Among the elven races, relations with humans were never particularly good. For example, that male Forest Elf from earlier hadn't exactly been polite when he first met Lillian. Dark Elves were no different.
If Lillian hadn't happened to save Kizmel's life, she would likely have been equally cold toward him simply for being human. Different races, after all. Because of that life-saving debt, when she heard that these people had conflicts with Lillian, she stepped forward without hesitation, curved blade held horizontally to block their path.
"If you don't stop, you'll be punished."
"Damn it! Don't you know who he is—that PK bastard!" Kibaou shouted angrily at Kizmel. "You're with him? Then it won't help you either!"
"Is that so?"
After Kizmel issued her warning, one player still rushed forward. She acted decisively, just as she had said she would. Her curved blade flashed across the player's chest, followed by a powerful kick.
Bang!
The player was sent flying, crashing into the cave wall. His HP dropped by a full third.
"Are you crazy?!"
The others stared at her in disbelief. She had attacked another player—shouldn't that make her turn—
…What?
They looked up at the marker above Kizmel's head. There was no orange indicator, just as they had expected.
"Why?!"
Kibaou's eyes widened in shock. "Attacking other players should turn you orange!"
"Idiot…"
While continuing to fight the Spider Queen, Lillian sneered inwardly. Only players turn orange for attacking other players. NPCs don't turn orange at all.
And Lillian had said "stop them," not "kill them," so Kizmel's marker hadn't turned red either. If he had ordered her to kill—and if she had agreed—she would have turned hostile, making it instantly obvious that she was an NPC.
But things hadn't escalated that far yet.
As a result, the group was left confused for a moment—until one of them finally realized the truth.
"She's an NPC!!"
"An NPC?!"
It wasn't surprising they hadn't considered it. Nothing like this had happened on the first two floors. An NPC helping a player fight other players? That was unheard of.
Kibaou was furious. No wonder Lillian advanced so fast, upgraded his gear so quickly, and leveled up at an absurd pace. It was all because he had a powerful NPC backing him up!
Damn it!
This must be another advantage gained from being a beta tester—some special quest that rewarded him with a personal bodyguard!
Damn him!!
Jealousy burned so fiercely in his chest that it nearly drove him mad—but even so, he truly didn't dare attack again. If that NPC really killed them, Lillian wouldn't suffer any punishment at all. He wouldn't turn orange. Not even a little.
At the same time, Lillian successfully emptied the Spider Queen's final sliver of HP. As its body shattered and vanished, Kibaou felt like he was about to grind his teeth to dust.
"Just you wait!!"
He spat out those harsh words, then turned and led the others away. Lillian didn't spare them a single glance, focusing instead on the items that had dropped into his inventory.
[Spider Queen's Fang]
Note: Quest item
...
[Guild Certificate]
Note: Used to establish a guild
…
So that was what Kibaou's group had been after.
Sorry about that—I got to it first. You'll have to wait for the next respawn and fight it again.
That said, Lillian had no use for this thing. He wasn't planning to form a guild. Give it away? The image of Terusuke suddenly surfaced in his mind. They hadn't been in contact for quite a while… He decided to think about it later.
For now, he took out the Spider Queen's Fang and asked Kizmel, "Is this needed for anything?"
"This?" She examined it closely. "You see how the base has completely turned green? It's saturated with poison. It might be useful for researching antidotes to spider venom."
"I see."
"Oh, and about those humans just now…"
"It's nothing," Lillian said casually. "Just some personal conflicts. Anyway… thanks for stepping in to help. For certain reasons, I can't actively attack other players."
"I understand," Kizmel nodded. "You humans have a 'prohibition against harming your own kind,' don't you? I think I've heard of it."
So NPCs interpreted system restrictions as "spells." That actually made sense.
"Alright, let's go back," Kizmel said. She took out the runic stone, grasped Lillian's hand, and softly chanted a few lines of Elvish language he couldn't understand. Pale light bloomed from the stone, spreading out to envelop them both. Moments later, the light faded—and the two figures vanished.
---
"Damn it… I'm so pissed!"
As Kibaou's group made their way out of the cave, he angrily grabbed at his already thinning hair, yanking out strands one by one. "That bastard actually has such a powerful NPC helping him! That's completely unfair!"
"And that NPC was really pretty too…"
"That's all you care about?!" Kibaou snapped at the player behind him. Yet when he recalled the tall woman's appearance, he had to admit—she really was stunning. In a game where female players were as rare as pandas, she was practically a national treasure.
If he had such a beautiful NPC by his side, even with low combat power, grinding monsters would feel pleasant—just looking at her would be satisfying. But the problem was, her combat power was ridiculously high on top of that!
Aaaaargh!!
They were all consumed by jealousy, yet had no idea how Lillian had managed it. If they were friends, they could have asked. But now they were enemies—being able to part without fighting was already generous, let alone asking questions.
"Forget it! NPCs aren't important!" Kibaou ground his teeth. "What matters is the item to establish a guild! Since he stole it this time, we'll just have to wait for the next respawn!"
"Once we form a guild, we'll make him pay!"
"Yeah!"
The group left the cave and headed toward the ancient road. As they passed a massive tree, one of them suddenly stopped.
"Uh… ugh…"
At some point, a long blade had been plunged straight through his chest.
"Shota?!"
The others hadn't even had time to react when another axe struck the same player. Shota's HP plummeted straight into the red!
The attackers were two teenage-looking players, grinning as they stepped out from behind the tree.
"PK!!"
Seeing the orange markers above their heads, Diavel and the others roared in anger and swung their weapons at them!
But at that exact moment, a figure moving at incredible speed burst out from behind the tree, positioning himself directly in front of the two attackers. He appeared so suddenly that the others couldn't stop their strikes in time—every weapon slammed into his body.
In an instant, the newcomer lost more than half his HP. In exchange, everyone who had attacked—Kibaou included—turned orange.
"Why would you attack a green-name player like me?" the man asked with a smile.
The group froze, staring at him…
A straw hat. A greatsword.
It's him?!!
Their minds fell into chaos. He had been down below just moments ago—how could he have come out faster than them… and even ambushed them?!
He didn't give them time to think. The man drew the greatsword from his back.
"Since you're all orange now," he said lightly, "don't blame me for upholding justice."
What—?!
Slash!
The player launched his attack. His speed was terrifyingly fast. His attack power wasn't extraordinary, but his movements were far too agile. At the same time, his two companions finished off Shota. The latter didn't even have time to leave any last words before his body shattered with a sharp crack and vanished into the air.
"Shota!! Fight them!!"
The remaining players were completely enraged.
Kibaou, however, subconsciously took several steps back, fear creeping into his body.
The player wielding the greatsword caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. A faint smile curved his lips as he redirected his blade toward the other players. His two youthful companions also rushed in to support him. The three of them were incredibly strong—so strong that even the remaining six players together were no match. In no time at all, four of them were killed.
"Stop fighting!" Kibaou shouted in terror, grabbing the other surviving player and dragging him backward at full speed. "Run! We need to get out of here—now!"
"Guild leader! Shota, Takahashi, they—" The player beside him was in tears, staring at him blankly.
"I know!" Kibaou said through clenched teeth. "What we need to do is survive and expose his crimes to everyone! That's the only way we can get revenge!"
Even as he said this, something felt deeply wrong. His subordinates had never seen Lillian without the straw hat—but he had. The voice didn't sound the same either. And if he remembered correctly, Lillian had been wearing reddish-brown leather armor down in the cave. More importantly, that man had clearly been behind them—so how could he have exited the cave faster than they did, changed equipment, and set up an ambush? And where had those two young accomplices come from?
Too many questions—but there was no time to think.
The three ambushers only chased symbolically for a short distance before stopping. Watching the two survivors flee in disgrace, they burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha! What a bunch of trash!"
"Boss, why did you let two of them go?" one of the youths asked. "Wouldn't one survivor be enough?"
"One witness isn't as convincing as two," the man known as the boss replied. He removed the straw hat from his head, revealing striking tattoos on his face.
"Heh heh heh… so what will you do now? I told you—you'd come to my side eventually. Since you refused, I'll just give you a little push."