BJ Archmage-Chapter 21 - Civilian Slayer (2)

4.

Beginner’s village, where the player starts after finishing the tutorial.

Looking at the big picture, the village is an extension of the tutorial stage.

The stage was for helping the players get used to the game easily.

That was why the village had a few different features from other normal places.

The main feature was that the players must pass the graduation test to leave the village and they couldn’t come back to the Beginner’s village after passing the test.

The setting itself was common so that someone who often played games could nod his head and think ‘Ok, I understand.’

Most of the players got used to this common setting.

Players who were confident with their talent passed the test and left the village as soon as their level became 2 and the slowest passed the test when their level became 7 to 8.

Most of them left the village before level 12 because they couldn’t get experience by hunting in the Beginner’s village.

The point was that most of them did that, not everyone.

“Fuck, do you think you are going to be ok after this? If I tell my guild, you are…”

“If you bring them here or not, it doesn’t matter since it’s only my side character. Also, you can’t even bring your main character here, can you?”

Some people didn’t graduate and remained in the Beginner’s village even after level 12.

The reason was simple.

“Do you have fun while killing beginners?”

“Yea, it’s fucking fun.”

“Bastards, I’m going to take revenge!”

“Yea, bring some good items when you come back. In that case, we will feel productive when we kill you.”

They released their stress by killing the beginners and making them game over.

“You fucking civilian slayers!”

“Huh? What did you say? I can’t hear you because you are such a noobie loser who isn’t even a civilian.”

“Son of a bitch!”

They were commonly called beginner butcher or civilian slayer.

‘Civilian Slayer.”

The scene in front of Midas was exactly what they did to release their stress.

‘Yea, it should be fun.’

In Midas’s opinion, the scene wasn’t that strange.

There were too many PKs at the beginning of the God Wars.

Because of the setting that players who had already graduated couldn’t come back, it was worse especially in Beginner’s village’s case since it was a stage where level 12 players could dominate.

That was why when the Explorer’s guild tried to control the Beginner’s village, many players agreed and allowed the Explorer’s guild to manage NPCs and make a boundary.

‘They have to earn money while normally being treated worse than dogs. It is weird if players who have to act subserviently don’t have fun hunting beginners with their second characters in the Beginner’s village.’

The fact didn’t change and got even worse since then.

‘Even the Explorer’s guild lets it happen.’

In the end, the Explorer’s guild didn’t interfere over the line they drew.

They didn’t have any reason for that.

The worse the violence is, the higher price their public peace service sells for.

‘Well, they are going to be in big trouble, if they make a mistake.’

Sometimes, the civilian slayers hunted the Explorer’s guild’s VIP customers by mistake and got torn to pieces.

However, it didn’t happen often.

Even if they came under the observation of the Explorer’s guild, their characters were not their main but side character.

They could just quit their side characters when things didn’t go well since they made the characters for the purpose of releasing their stress.

In other words, they had nothing to lose.

‘If I get involved, it’s going to get annoying.’

There was nothing good in getting involved with them.

There was no benefit to doing that.

Midas, of course, didn’t want to make any interaction with those civilian slayers.

Midas had the skills to avoid danger.

Also, the magician class was not an advantageous job for PKing.

If there is a possibility of losing, then why should he try to fight?

He was definitely thinking that way.

“Hm.”

A minute ago.

Midas looked at Lucky who lied down flat around his feet.

Whine……

Lucky looked pitiful while closing his mouth and whining due to his owner’s orders.

However, Midas knew that this tiny friend could become a monster that could even bite off a goblin champion if he told him to.

Then, are the civilian slayers really stronger than the goblin champion?

‘…Shall I just look at the items they have?’

Midas looked around to examine the items that the civilian slayers equipped.

‘Huh?’

The expression in his eyes suddenly changed.

‘Goblin champion’s leather armor and leather pants?’

5.

“One case solved!”

A player hit straight at another player’s head with his sword while smiling brightly.

Crush!

The sword smashed into the player’s head.

There was no scene where blood splashed and his brain was smashed.

It was only showing an empty spot like hitting a dummy’s head. His body changed into something hard and dry like magic, as soon as his head was broken.

Of course, the setting itself was very creepy.

This was how it was for a 20-year-old in God wars.

“Couldn’t they make it gorier since this is an adult game anyway? Huh? There’s no fun in crushing heads.”

However, the player who just carried out the violence didn’t like how the game wasn’t gory enough.

In other words, it meant he had gotten used to it.

“Don’t you remember how you threw up when you broke someone’s head for the first time?”

“Dude, that’s three years ago. Three years!”

The player who answered shook his head.

“Oh, sh*t. If I started this game just a little earlier, I wouldn’t live like this.”

At his words, the others also nodded their heads, and the player, Sylar, who said the words, continued.

“Jesus, I release my stress this way.”

Sylar, Raw, and Chang.

The party of three knew how to play God wars. Their main characters’ levels were around 180.

They were the kind of players who could make money with the game as pro players.

“Those pro players who started playing a little earlier than us, are having fun with TV stars at bars to release their stress. And look at us.”

It didn’t mean they were popular.

That was why they hung out in the Beginner’s village with their side characters and PKed beginners while not graduating.

“Well, this is quite fun too, isn’t it?”

The archer, Chang, who just finished looting from the player he hunted, answered the swordsman, Sylar’s complaint.

“What have you found?”

“Goblin’s leather armor.”

“Damn, so poor.”

The healer, Raw, answered Sylar who was clicking his tongue.

“Because he was dirt poor and also didn’t have any common sense, he went outside the Explorer’s guild’s boundary. Honestly, he would have taken the graduation test once he became level 2 then go outside to get the VIP service from the Explorer’s guild if he had a lot of money and common sense.”

That was why the village became the stage to release their stress.

As Raw said, it was quite rare for players who were talented or rich with good items to have stayed in the Beginner’s village.

“Also, players who have already graduated can’t come back here.”

A level 100 player couldn’t pretend to be a beginner and suddenly change his item in front of civilian slayers like them.

In other words, the prey they faced in the village were already proven to be weak.

“Let’s just hunt a few more. I’m sure there are more parties. I saw plenty of dead goblins that were already looted.”

“Come to think of it, there were a lot of them. It’s been a while since I saw so many dead bodies in the Explorer’s guild’s boundary.”

“I guess the beginners have lost fear since people like us don’t show up often these days.”

So, they didn’t hesitate to explore their next target.

And, the exploration didn’t take that long.

“There, preys are passing by.”

“They are making too much noise while being hunted.”

No matter the case, they were experienced players with 3 years under their belt and level 180 characters.

Their understanding of the game was on a different level from people who just started.

“Now, let’s get moving.”

They became silent and started creeping closer toward the party of three who became their prey.

Only silence remained after they left.

And after a little while.

Whine……

In the place where only silence remained, a furry puppy showed up while holding his breath.

After that, Midas showed himself.

He looked at the traces that Sylar’s party left and the dead player’s body that now resembled a dummy.

‘They are skilled but only enough to feed themselves.”

He was sure that it was not impractical to hunt Sylar’s team.

There was only one issue left.

‘The problem was cleaning up.’

How is he going to clean up after hunting them?

Midas didn’t think about it for too long.

‘Well, it’s not going to be difficult.’

His 5 years of experience in the game was not useless.

He finished calculating and petted Lucky’s head who was still holding his breath next to him.

“Lucky, let’s hunt the treasure goblin (Note: Diablo 3 reference).”

Woof!

6.

The history of God Wars was the same as the history of PKing.

A world where no one could know of the other’s identity.

They could disguise themselves if necessary, and also when one of the options, anonymous appearance, was on, their face looked different from their photograph. The lawlessness of the world not only allowed but forced people to do aggressive things.

As so, there was a system for PKing.

It was like a golden rule.

Aim when a foe is busy fighting a monster!

Sylar’s team followed that rule.

Kiee!

“Hey, hold! Hold it!”

“I will block the way!”

The moment the party of three, who looked like beginners, began fighting, they moved.

‘Let’s move.’

‘Ok, I will support you.’

As soon as Sylar saw his comrades’ answer after his signal, he threw himself.

“Huh?”

Sylar’s appearance was obviously too sudden to the players who were hunting the monster.

It was so sudden that they couldn’t react very well.

“What!”

When the player found out Sylar’s existence, it was already after Sylar hit his arm like an ax.

Crush!

“Erk!”

A surprised sound came out from the player’s mouth after the attack.

At the same time, he tried to counterattack soon.

He tried to swing his arm to attack.

‘Wait?’

However, his attacked arm couldn’t execute his command.

It moved like a broken doll and Sylar kicked his stomach after avoiding the poorly executed swing.

Bam!

The player fell to the ground right away.

It showed that the difference in strength stat between the two was not trivial.

“Fuck!”

“Wooji!”

The remaining two comrades turned their heads and were shocked.

Kii!

Kiee!

Goblins threw themselves toward them quickly.

“Oh!”

“Goblin! Goblin!”

At the moment, the two gathered their senses at the goblin’s attack and turned their heads.

Thwish!

An arrow flew towards them and hit one of their backs.

“Argh!”

The one struck by an arrow attack was surprised and couldn’t turn his head.

Kiee!

Because the goblin in front of him felt more dangerous to him.

Sylar saw this and smiled.

‘Ha, they are showing so much that they are amateurs.’

If the players had experience with PKs, they would have left the fight and ran away first. 𝑓𝒓𝚎e𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯𝘰𝐯𝒆𝑙.c𝚘m

Then the monster’s target would reset and the fight would be between the monsters and the PK players.

Most importantly, it was very hard for them to catch the players who ran away.

‘I can’t stop doing this because it’s so fun.’

In Sylar’s position, he was thankful.

He swung his sword one more time with his grateful mind.

While swinging it, he waited for a sincere F word to come out from the one who was cornered.

“Wait, fuuuuuuck!”

A very sincere f word came out as Sylar expected.

‘What?’

The difference from his expectations was that the sound came from the back, not from the front.

While Sylar was surprised, another sound came out.

“Attack! We’re being attacked!”

The voice was none other than the archer, Chang, who was Sylar’s comrade.

“We are being attacked!”

A warning was ringing in his head by the repeated alarms from Chang.

“Fuck, what the hell is this!”

Following that, the healer, Raw, suddenly screamed this time.

“What? A damn dog! What the fuck is he! Why is he so strong!”

Raw kept yelling and alerting the others about his situation.

It was a request for help in plain language.

He couldn’t expect fighting skills from himself since he was a healer.

At that moment, Sylar didn’t hesitate.

He didn’t even think about what the priority was at that moment. 𝒇r𝙚𝙚𝓌𝙚𝑏𝗻𝑜𝘷𝗲𝘭.c૦𝑚

‘Help them first.’

Even though they were experienced players, the level limit in the Beginner’s village was only 12.

Unless the opponent equipped legendary items like the millionaire, Azmo, the possibility of having an ability difference was nil.

Then, it was better for him to gather with his comrades and figure out the situation.

‘I should gain time.’

The only position that could gain time in the situation was Sylar.

Of course, there was another way.

‘If I run away, they are going to be angry.’

If he left his comrades behind, the cost wouldn’t be small.

Sylar turned his body and moved towards his comrade, the healer, Raw.

‘Hm?’

At that moment, a cloth that was wet with oil suddenly flew like a lively butterfly in front of his eyes and covered his face.

“What is this?”

As soon as Sylar spoke with a surprised expression, a fireball flew towards his head.

Bang!

An explosion sound covered Sylar’s ears.

“Fuck!”

Now, the situation was that Sylar couldn’t help himself speaking out the f word.

Midas who was watching at a suitable distance made a mean smile.

‘He does know the basic stuff.’

Sylar’s choice was right.

In a stage where the opponent’s level wouldn’t be higher than 12, he didn’t have to get scared and run away.

Preferably, it was more reasonable to gather together and plan what to do.

‘However, I can’t let you gather.’

In Midas’ situation, he had to slow down Sylar from gathering with the others.

To do that, Midas was willing to speak out.

“Hi, I’m BJ Archmage.”

Midas meant for Sylar to listen.

“Now, I’m going to start live streaming that I hunt these fucking civilian slayers, Sylar, and his comrades, who slaughter innocent players.”

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