Chapter 31: Reaping the Benefits
The moment I stepped through the Gate, I immediately threw Shadow Dagger at the [High-Rank NCO] tag in front of me.
Fwish!
Let's see.
My target had already been decided.
But then...
Ding!
[High-Rank NCO]
It had definitely said that when I threw the dagger.
Flash!
The instant Shadow Dagger struck its target, my vision distorted and my body teleported to that spot.
Slice!
[Third-Class Officer defeated.]
[Contribution Points x10,000 acquired.]
Huh?
Something about that message was strange.
I'm sure he was a High-Rank NCO.
But it said Third-Class Officer?
Did I see it wrong?
No way.
Did he get promoted to Third-Class Officer right before I killed him?
That was the only possibility I could think of.
I briefly looked around.
The terrain was gouged out everywhere, and blood was splattered all over the place.
There had clearly been a fierce battle here.
He really must've just been promoted.
Which meant...
Japan has A-rank Hunters already on the verge of becoming Third-Class Officers?
I had specifically asked the Gate to avoid S-rank Hunters.
My Gate ability had never betrayed me before.
That meant the Third-Class Officer I had just killed must have been an A-rank Hunter.
An A-rank nobody was already a Third-Class Officer.
I was shocked.
Then rage started boiling inside me.
This is absolutely unforgivable...!
I made a firm decision.
I'll demote every A-rank Hunter in Japan to High-Rank Soldier.
I was completely serious.
"Open Gates near A-rank Hunters who are Third-Class Officer or lower. Start with the most efficient targets."
[Search complete.]
I'm becoming a First-Class Officer in Japan.
Somewhere in Japan.
"..."
[Contribution Points x10,000 lost.]
[Demoted to High-Rank NCO.]
Japan's S-rank Hunter, Asura, silently stared at the message log.
"DAMN IIIIIIIIT!"
Crash!
Asura grabbed an expensive bottle of liquor in his house and hurled it across the room.
There was only one reason he was this furious.
That bastard Yaksha must've become a Third-Class Officer by now...!
Yaksha had lost 7,200 Contribution Points after dying to Asura.
But with Yaksha's strength, earning back 7,200 points wouldn't be difficult.
And once that happened...
I'll lose the bet.
They had wagered far too much.
The loser would disband his Guild and join the winner's Guild.
I was confident.
And in reality, Asura had become a Third-Class Officer first.
I won.
Technically, that was true.
Their wager had been about who became a Third-Class Officer first.
Should I just declare my victory right now?
He could simply say that he had won.
Yaksha, disband your Guild and come under me.
But then...
...With this rank?
His status window caught his eye.
[Current Rank: High-Rank NCO]
A chill ran down his spine.
If I insist that I won while I'm like this...
He could already imagine what Yaksha and his Guild members would say.
"You say you won, so why are you still a High-Rank NCO?"
"Aren't you lying?"
There was no way to prove it.
If he claimed, "I defeated Yaksha and became a Third-Class Officer," in his current state...
I'll make a complete fool of myself.
If he loudly declared victory only for everyone to see his current rank, he would become a laughingstock instead.
Should I announce it before Yaksha does? Or should I just bury this?
His thoughts became complicated.
Asura paced around for a long time, caught between pride and practicality.
Eventually, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
I'll deal with that later.
Suppressing his emotions actually cooled his head.
The real problem wasn't their petty pride contest.
Come to think of it...
Asura's gaze instantly turned cold.
Who the hell was the guy who killed me?
He had already confirmed the surroundings after defeating Yaksha.
Hunters from the Asura and Yaksha Guilds had been fighting everywhere, but by the time he finished Yaksha, nobody was left nearby.
I checked with my own eyes.
He replayed that brief moment in his mind.
The attack had come from behind without warning or presence.
There hadn't even been enough time to react, let alone dodge.
Then...
Bzzzt.
Asura's smartphone vibrated.
It was one of his Guild members.
"What is it?"
-Um... Guild Master. The Tower's in chaos right now.
"Why? What happened? Did that bastard Yaksha become a Third-Class Officer?"
Asura bit his lower lip after asking.
So I really lost after all...
But the answer was completely unexpected.
-No. Our Guild members can't even set foot in the Tower right now!
"...What?"
-The guys working on Floor 60 are dying the moment they enter!
"How? Is this Yaksha's doing?"
Had a full-scale war broken out with the Yaksha Guild?
-Yes. The Yaksha Guild must have prepared thoroughly this time. They even hired Assassins.
"Assassins?"
-Yes. And not just one or two. There must be dozens of them.
"Those bastards...!"
-You need to come personally, Guild Master. We're losing badly.
"How much damage?"
-Just the equipment our Guild members have lost is already estimated at more than 800 million yen.
"Hold out a little longer. I'm coming right now."
-Yes.
Assassins?
Asura ground his teeth.
His subordinate's words reminded him of something.
The bastard who stabbed me in the back... So that really was Yaksha's doing.
Sure enough.
Asura came to one conclusion.
He and Yaksha could no longer live under the same sky.
Fine. Yaksha Guild.
As of today, this is war.
From this moment onward, no Yaksha Guild member would ever be allowed to enter the Tower.
Asura swore it.
Tower of Fate - Japan, Floor 60.
BOOM! CRASH!
The Asura Guild and Yaksha Guild were once again locked in a desperate battle.
But this was different from when Asura and Yaksha had personally clashed.
Hundreds of Hunters from both Guilds had gathered in groups.
It was practically an all-out war with the very survival of their Guilds at stake.
"Push forward! Don't fear death! Fight for the Guild! If we lose this war, the Asura Guild will spend the rest of its existence bowing to Yaksha!"
"But getting cut hurts like hell! I feel like I'm dying!"
"If you feel like you're dying, then go forward and die! Don't retreat! This is a battle for our Guild's pride!"
A minor dispute between the Asura and Yaksha Guilds had grown into a war for their pride and future.
And through the center of that battlefield...
A strange shadow moved silently.
Fwish! Slice!
"Aaagh!"
Fwish! Slice!
"Ugh...!"
It appeared without any presence, took a life, and vanished again.
For some reason, Hunters from the Asura Guild were falling far more frequently.
Naturally, the Asura Guild members assumed the Yaksha Guild had secretly hired a group of Assassins.
But the truth was far simpler.
This side happens to be closer.
When Hyunwoo asked for the most efficient Gate, the Asura Guild happened to be nearby.
And the Asura Guild happened to be the side advancing in his direction.
Hyunwoo had no idea which side was the Asura Guild or the Yaksha Guild.
He didn't particularly care either.
But he had realized one thing.
Looks like two Guilds are at war.
I'll quietly pick up the scraps.
A battlefield so chaotic that nobody could even distinguish enemy from ally was the perfect stage for an Assassin.
Hyunwoo had no intention of wasting this opportunity.
If someone appears in front of me, I cut them.
That was all.
Meanwhile, one A-rank Hunter from the Asura Guild died without even knowing what killed him.
When he woke up, he checked the message log in front of him.
Ding!
[Demoted to High-Rank Soldier.]
He had lost track of how many times he'd already been demoted.
What? Demoted to High-Rank Soldier? I should still be a Low-Rank NCO.
Immediately before dying, his total Contribution Points had been around 104,000.
A Low-Rank NCO normally lost 1,800 points upon death.
The threshold for Low-Rank NCO was 100,000.
He should have remained a Low-Rank NCO.
Confused, he checked the message log again.
His eyes widened.
[You have died.]
[A penalty has been applied due to consecutive deaths.]
[Contribution Points x5,400 lost.]
"F-Five thousand four hundred points?! That's ridiculous!"
A loss of 5,400 points was greater than what a High-Rank NCO normally lost upon death.
There's a consecutive-death penalty?
It was the first time he had encountered such a thing.
He didn't even know the system existed.
And while that Asura Guild A-rank Hunter was shocked by the consecutive-death penalty...
Hyunwoo was equally surprised for the exact opposite reason.
[Low-Rank NCO defeated.]
[Consecutive Kill Bonus acquired.]
[Contribution Points x3,600 acquired.]
Consecutive Kill Bonus? There was something like this?
He couldn't even remember how many people he had killed so far, yet this was the first time he had seen it.
Did the Tower secretly update the system?
Or perhaps there was a specific condition.
Do I have to kill the same person repeatedly?
That possibility seemed the most likely.
The two Guilds were in an all-out war, so anyone who died immediately rushed straight back here.
Well, a bonus is a bonus.
There was no reason for him to complain.
He simply had to work even harder at collecting Contribution Points.
Slice.
"Brother, were we always this strong?"
One Yaksha Guild Hunter suddenly asked his superior.
The Asura Guild, which had been pushing them back so aggressively moments ago, had suddenly been reduced to half its original force.
"Maybe? Or maybe they're weaker than we thought."
"Ah, that could be it. Hehehe."
"What? The Asura Guild was nothing special after all. We were scared for no reason! Hahaha!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Then one sharp-eyed Hunter raised a question.
"But doesn't it seem like we have quite a few Assassins around? Asura Guild members keep dropping dead from behind."
"Maybe they're on our side?"
"Oh. Did Lord Yaksha hire Assassins?"
"That makes sense. How else would you explain this?"
The Yaksha Guild members exchanged glances, then grinned.
"Well, whatever works."
"Exactly. Looks like Lord Yaksha really came prepared this time."
There was no reason to investigate further.
Nobody truly understood what was happening anyway.
And if the situation benefited their side, that was enough.
The Yaksha Guild's morale soared.
Then...
"Move! Get the hell out of my way!"
"That voice?"
"L-Lord Asura!"
The moment Asura personally arrived, the atmosphere of the battlefield changed.
Shing! Slice! Splash!
Everywhere his sword passed, Yaksha Guild members were sent flying.
"Guild Master is here!"
"Now we'll turn this around!"
Just as Asura's arrival was reversing the flow of battle...
"What exactly do you think you're doing, Asura?"
Another deep voice echoed across the battlefield.
It was Yaksha.
He had also rushed over after hearing the news.
Yaksha's eyes swept over Asura.
He spent a little longer looking above Asura's head.
[High-Rank NCO]
High-Rank NCO? Hmm.
A faint smile appeared on Yaksha's lips.
I thought he'd at least be right behind me.
Yaksha had assumed Asura had become a [Third-Class Officer] after killing him previously.
But he was still a High-Rank NCO.
That meant...
His Contribution Points were lower than I expected.
He had lost once before, but apparently there was no reason to be overly cautious.
Asura saw the smile on Yaksha's face and immediately understood what he was thinking.
Damn it. I really was a Third-Class Officer.
Asura tightened his grip on his sword.
"Let's settle this properly today."
Yaksha had no reason to refuse.
"Exactly what I wanted."
Shing!
Both of them unleashed their power almost simultaneously.
