God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 25: Episode 5 _ One Dagger, One Life (3)

5.

“Hold it! Stop right there!”

‘What is this atmosphere? Why are you all blocking my way when no one called for you?’ Jeong Seolah’s brow furrowed. ‘This is taking a weird turn. He’s like one of those liability characters who shows up at the worst possible moment and gets the protagonist into trouble!’

“Who are you?!” one of the players demanded.

“Me?” Simin asked back.

His appearance alone had shifted the situation into a new phase. The players, who had been wary of each other just moments ago, now stood as one, as if by prior agreement, blocking the path between Han Simin and the Specialists. It was hard to believe that only seconds before, the air had been thick with the intent to draw swords.

“Unni, what do we do?” Kang Yeseul asked.

Thanks to him, the Specialists, who had planned on just sitting back and reaping the rewards, were now forced to take center stage. This was a very bad development.

“What’s going on?” Han Simin asked, oblivious. “You said you were doing the main quest. Why are you fighting other players?”

No one could answer his carefree question.

How could she possibly say, ‘It’s because of you!’? Sighing wouldn’t change a thing. It wasn’t Han Simin’s fault, either; the timing was just terrible. Ultimately, it was just bad luck.

“We have no choice,” Jeong Seolah said.

She had been the one to propose this confrontation in the first place. It was too late to try and resolve this with words; they wouldn’t listen now.

“So you were on the same side after all!”

“He doesn’t have a ring, so he must not be part of the quest.”

“A mercenary?! You cowards!”

“Their plan was to instigate a fight between us from the start, then call in a mercenary to wipe us all out!”

What was the point of talking when they were making such ridiculous accusations? Even if the Specialists cleanly gave up their turn for the raid, the others would still attack them out of suspicion.

“Let’s take those guys out first! For a fair and just raid!”

“Agreed!”

“Let’s do it!”

Only Han Simin, who had been watching the events unfold, couldn’t hide his bewilderment. The players, now united by his appearance, whispered amongst themselves before some turned toward him and the rest toward the Specialists.

“Let’s clean this up quickly, then we can talk amongst ourselves.”

“If they were willing to hire a mercenary, they probably would have backstabbed us anyway, even if we had decided on an order.”

“Hey, hold on, if you’d just listen to me...” Han Simin tried to interject.

“Shut up!”

The terrifying thing about a mob is how easily it disregards the opinions of a few. For this newly united group, Han Simin’s reason for being there was completely irrelevant. All they needed was a pretext—a pretext to decide who would be the first to fall behind in the race.

Five of the twenty players charged at Han Simin. Just in case, they intended to kill him before he could say anything that might become a point of contention in the videos they were recording.

“Dammit. What is this?”

Even if it was just a game, wasn’t this going too far?

“Seolah! Help me!”

‘These guys are over level twenty, and I’m only level nine!’ he shouted across the human wall, but no answer came. Even if she wanted to help, three times that number were charging at her from the other side.

“Crazy bastards.”

What kind of rotten luck was this? He had come here to make money, spotted a crowd from a distance, and ran over, thinking they were potential customers. But for some reason, they were now trying to kill him without listening to a single word.

He was at a crossroads. The moment he arrived, he was forcibly given two choices: run or fight.

Fortunately, his stats were high enough. Even if one of them had poured all their points into Agility, he could still escape. And if he fought, thanks to his +13 armor set, he might even be able to take one or two of them down with him. He would die if he got swarmed, of course, but since there was no death penalty yet, he was actually considering it.

“You villains! Trying to murder an innocent citizen just passing by? I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget!”

In truth, it was a problem that required no thought at all. This was a game, and Han Simin was a beginner. As long as those two conditions existed, there was no need to run, even from a dragon.

‘It’s fine if I die. I’m low on enhancement stones anyway.’

And would he be the only one to die? The Specialists, surrounded by more than fifteen players, would also die and resurrect in Haran Castle. If that happened, he would have to wait forty-eight hours to do their enhancements, but it wasn’t like their gold coins had legs, so it didn’t matter. Therefore, it was more profitable for him to at least pretend to help the guild solve its problems, even though he was the one who had complicated the situation.

“Hey guys, I’m level nine, so please go easy on me.”

“Bullshit!”

“Save your crap for when you’re logged out in your room!”

Simin took a few steps back, pleading for mercy from the five charging players. He trusted his dagger and his armor, but five opponents were a lot to handle. No matter how good the item options were, his level was too low to display overwhelming power. So, he raised his dagger to defend. He didn’t have the kind of control needed to dodge every attack like Jeong Seolah, so he had no choice but to block. He decided against taking hits, as he couldn’t gauge the enemy’s attack power.

Clang.

He blocked the first player’s attack, and it was easier than he had thought. A look of surprise flashed across the opposing player’s face. It was understandable. Not only were his stats high, but the dagger’s own attack power was formidable.

“W-what?! Why is my health going down?!”

On top of that, the aura’s effect reflected a portion of the damage dealt right back at the attacker. And that wasn’t all.

[You have been exposed to the ‘Burning Wound’ effect! 1 stack!]

It was the truly game-breaking effect of the +15 aura. Nevertheless, the player quickly regained his composure. If it had been a one-on-one fight, he might have lost the will to attack, but there were four more damage dealers behind him, and behind them, a few healers and mages to provide support.

“Mwahaha. Die!” a player shouted.

His mission was simply to pin down the man with the crimson dagger. That was enough. As if on cue, the four players behind him closed in, surrounded Han Simin, and thrust their weapons at him.

“Aargh!”

Startled, Simin quickly threw himself backward, but unfortunately, he didn’t possess the control to dodge attacks coming from all sides.

‘If it were Seolah... She would have dodged. This damn body! It doesn’t even listen to me!’

There would be no pain, but he tensed up at the thought of his health dropping and readjusted his grip on the dagger. Still, it was a +13 armor set. He wouldn’t die in one hit! At least, he wanted to believe that. If the players before him had been goblins, he wouldn’t have been this nervous, but these were people who played the game at the same level as Jeong Seolah. The items they wore were worth thousands of dollars; even at a glance, it was obvious. Naturally, they would have plenty of additional stats.

‘I’ll heal up with the aura and use a healing spell if I have to... Endure, then strike!’

That was the alternative Han Simin chose.

Swish-swish-swish.

One attack missed, but a sword, a spear, and an axe struck Han Simin’s body. More than he had expected.

‘Dammit.’

His brow furrowed.

‘My health must have dropped a lot, right?’ he wondered, swinging his dagger. ‘Good, I’m not dead. I’ll take at least one of them down with me!’

“Huh?” Simin was confused.

But he couldn’t carry out his intention. The flow of battle had been cut short.

“What the.”

The players exchanged confused glances.

The players fighting Han Simin also paused, their gazes locked on one spot. Though they were all playing from different places in different capsules, what they were feeling right now was the same.

“Try stabbing me again.”

In the silence, the man in question spoke up to make sense of the situation. His crimson dagger was pointed calmly at the ground, his arms spread wide and defenseless.

“My health didn’t go down...”

The players were silent.

Seeing his health bar barely move despite being hit by a damage dealer’s skill, he realized something.

‘These guys are no better than goblins.’

In that moment, the value of his previously underestimated +13 armor was completely reassessed.

* * *

The remaining players, aside from the five who went for Han Simin, headed for the Specialists. They faced fifteen opponents, three times as many as Han Simin.

“I don’t know what to do with all this attention,” Kang Yeseul said, the corners of her lips curling up.

What more needed to be said? Actions speak louder than words. In a game, the strong call the shots. Even if they pleaded their innocence through the recording, third parties would just laugh at the weak and mock them, telling them to go earn money instead of playing games. That’s why they had to win.

“Unni, you can do it!”

“What about me?” Jeong Hyeonsu asked.

“Just get hit a lot.”

The difference between five and fifteen was substantial. For those fighting, the pressure felt three times greater, if not more. But the team was calm. Like most of the players here, they were veterans who had experienced countless games. This was their first time in virtual reality, but the memory of always having won, no matter the number of enemies, allowed them to remain composed. Moreover, their trust in each other boosted their confidence even further.

That confidence led Jeong Seolah to charge toward the approaching players. It wasn’t recklessness, but strategy. Advancing was better than retreating when it came to securing a desired position and utilizing a wider space. Watching the players close in, she quickly calculated.

‘Ten.’

That was the number she had to face directly. Five were healers and mages who had fallen back. It would be best to strike them first, but the ten charging players would never allow it. Protecting healers and mages was a top priority not just in PvP, but in raids and hunts as well. So, she excluded them from her calculations.

‘I’ll break through!’

Once she broke through the ten players, the support classes would be left defenseless anyway.

“Hah!”

With a fierce battle cry that contrasted with her beautiful appearance, her sword swung toward the nearest player. Jeong Hyeonsu was already by her side, guarding her with his giant shield. Even as the encirclement formed, she calmly focused all her power on the player before her.

CLANG!

With the sound of sword meeting sword, she sized him up.

‘Parry and thrust.’

Her combat sense was beyond imagination, far beyond the level of an ordinary person. It was a talent that even the most exceptional martial arts instructors had admired. To that talent were added the numerous techniques she had learned from a young age. There was no way that people whose entire life experience with physical movement was limited to soccer, basketball, or taekwondo at best could handle her.

“Ugh!”

The moment their swords clashed, she naturally deflected his blade and thrust her own into the player’s neck, making him gasp.

‘When? How? Why?’

Before he could even understand, his health plummeted. Unfortunately for that player, he didn’t have amazing armor that could deflect a sword like Han Simin’s.

[You have suffered a critical wound!]

[You are afflicted with a status effect (Stun).]

His comrades were nearby, but the sword in his neck was closer. Jeong Seolah’s blade gave him no time to replenish his remaining health. One player logged out.

“You crazy—!”

Of course, the other players hadn’t just been standing around watching. An encirclement had formed around her and Jeong Hyeonsu. There were nine damage dealers. Even if Jeong Hyeonsu blocked and Jeong Seolah attacked, it was too much to overcome with control alone. Furthermore... 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

“Mages, focus on the healer!”

With Kang Yeseul isolated, they couldn’t even expect a heal from her. Jeong Seolah unknowingly bit her plump, cherry-red lips. This was tough unless something changes...

‘If I could just do something about the mages and healers...’

She had a trump card, but if their healer died, even that wouldn’t be enough to turn the situation around. At that moment, Jeong Seolah’s gaze went past the players surrounding her. She knew she shouldn’t. She, more than anyone, rationally understood that such a thing wouldn’t happen, but still...

‘If it were Mr. Simin...’

Maybe...

Maybe he could cause a change, a chance, by defying a probability smaller than a speck of dust.

Her eyes widened.

The heavens always grant the earnest wishes of a beautiful woman. In Jeong Seolah’s line of sight, Han Simin appeared, cautiously approaching the mages and healers with a wicked smile.

While giving a wink, he mercilessly plunged his dagger into a healer’s neck and shouted.

“One stab from my dagger and you won’t be able to move! You bastards! You’re all dead!”

The beginner’s rampage had begun.

* * *