Emperor of Solo Play Chapter 28:
Chapter 28 . Ahimbree (3)
“Nest, nest, nest . ”
Looking up information on his tablet PC, An Jaehyun sipped on his coffee . Thanks to the caffeine, An Jaehyun’s slow head began to roll .
‘So there’s 3 potential areas . ’
Bring an egg from a nest!
Although it sounded like an absurd quest, An Jaehyun had his ways from his long time experience with Warlord .
First, he narrowed down the potential areas . Ahimbree was currently staying in Bangtz Castle . Then, it was likely that the quest area was located near Bangtz Castle .
From here, the words ‘egg’ and ‘nest’ were extremely helpful hints . The target monster was likely to be birds, reptiles, or insects .
“Cave Snake Cliff, Lizard Swamp, Sawtooth Ant Tunnel . ”
Amongst numerous hunting grounds near Bangtz Castle, only three fit the requirements . Of course, these were only the known hunting grounds, and it is possible for there to be hidden hunting grounds . In the first place, players did not disclose the best hunting grounds to the public . Whether it be guilds or players, they used whatever means necessary to monopolize good hunting grounds .
Luckily, An Jaehyun already knew where to go .
‘Cave Snakes are over level 50, and you have to be around level 40 to hunt Sawtooth Ants . ’
The Cave Snake Cliff was a level 50 hunting ground, and the Sawtooth Ant Tunnel was a level 40 hunting ground . Even if one of them was Ahimbree’s testing place, An Jaehyun couldn’t do anything about it now .
Then, there was only one choice left .
‘It has to be the Lizard Swamp . ’
Lizard Swamp .
That would be his next destination . It was a place a level 30 monster called Green Lizards appeared .
The hunting ground itself wasn’t bad . Given An Jaehyun’s abilities, although Lizard Warriors may be difficult, Green Lizards weren’t a problem . Plus, lizards weren’t monsters players preferred . They were rather difficult to kill for average players . This was because they fought like human beings, just like werewolves . Not only that, but they also carried weapons and wore armors .
It was possible to kill them if need be, but no players went out of their way to make it more difficult for themselves .
On the other hand, they were good targets if one knew the hunting method and had the skills to back it up . Even if it weren’t for a test, it would have been a fine hunting ground for An Jaehyun .
As such, it could be said that he was killing two birds with one stone . He would be leveling up and investigating the quest .
The problem lied with filming .
‘If it was Ahimbree’s quest area…’
Any videos from the Lizard Swamp hunting ground was likely to be investigated .
Also, Hyrkan had already revealed receiving the Rising Star title through his video . Someone confirmed to have the Rising Star title appearing at what’s expected to be Ahimbree’s testing ground? It was a good scenario to be suspected .
Even back then, An Jaehyun only slid by because he was wearing the Subjugation Association’s default clothes . If he were wearing his hahoe mask, he would have been suspected whether he accepted the left handshake or not .
“Damn . ”
‘Those **** are making this harder than it has to be . ’
In truth, An Jaehyun had not expected to be worrying about such things . He was fine with hyenas . In fact, it would have been stranger for there to be no hyenas considering the scale of the quest he was doing .
However, what was on his tail weren’t hyenas . What was worse was that An Jaehyun didn’t know whether they were lions or tigers .
‘Who are they?’
One thing was for sure; they were predators .
‘White Mamba set… there’s no way he’s just a high-leveled player . He has to be a Ranker . ’
But he didn’t know what species they were . It wasn’t just because An Jaehyun couldn’t remember them .
Looking at just the options, it would be hard to say that the White Mamba set was an incomparably amazing set . However, 3 guilds had collaborated to kill the White Mamba, and a famous designer had been hired to make the set . Same bags would have different pricing if one had a brand name logo on it .
Usually, items like these weren’t sold at a known price . Guilds would give out these items as presents to their sponsors or friends, or they would keep it as a symbolic uniform .
In other words, it was easy to trace back .
However, that man couldn’t be traced back . Someone wearing such a pompous set didn’t leave any trace of himself online . If he came from a famous guild, An Jaehyun could relax and act accordingly, but it wasn’t the case now .
That was why An Jaehyun was so excessively cautious .
His intuition was telling him so .
‘There’s no way someone who tests people like that has a clean background . ’
If he were part of the Top 30 Guilds or forces that rivaled them, he wouldn’t have acted as he had .
He would have revealed his guild and offered up a trade . Even that should have been done by a messenger, not a Ranker . High-level players invested most of their playtime in hunting . It was a waste of time to talk and negotiate with suspicious players .
‘There’s no way he’s from the Top 30 Guilds . I’ve never seen any of the Top 30 Guilds act like that . ’
From An Jaehyun’s standards, he wasn’t from the Top 30 Guilds .
‘He’s part of some organization, though…’
But he was sure that he was part of an organization . The other player who had been hiding while Hyrkan was talking was proof .
With those unfit to be part of Warlord’s world going after him, An Jaehyun’s headaches were only justified .
Irritated, An Jaehyun scratched his head .
“Damn it . ”
‘Why do I have to worry about this? I have enough on my hands with just the game alone . I’m going to go crazy because of **** like that Choi Sulyeon . Where did these weird **** come from?’
Nothing is easy in this world .
An Jaehyun once again remembered the quote .
★★★
Lizard Swamp .
This hunting ground that most players avoided was located north of Bangtz Castle . Based on travel speed of most players, it was situated about 5 hours away . It wasn’t a short distance . No one was interested in doing a cross country run without actual gaming .
It was the same for Hyrkan . It wasn’t likely to run into a pleasant surprise just because he rushed to the Lizard Swamp . It was better to take care of things on the way there .
“Let’s see . ”
Hyrkan’s current action of fiddling with a Skeleton Warrior’s head was also part of ‘taking care of things on the way there . ’
‘So I just have to draw it here?’
After messing around with the head for a little bit, Hyrkan used magic . He drew a cross-shaped seal on the back of a Skeleton Warrior’s head, and the cross made its appearance with a scarlet glow .
The seal?
‘Next, I have to activate the magic . ’
It was, of course, the Unique magic skill, Madness Helm .
After drawing the seal, Hyrkan slapped the Skeleton Warrior on the back of its head . The Skeleton Warrior then stepped forward, scratching its head as it stared at Hyrkan .
At that moment,
Whoosh!
Hyrkan’s left fist flew like an arrow towards the Skeleton Warrior’s head . It was a perfect jab . Delivered with absolute conciseness, it looked as if his fist went out separately from its out .
Hyrkan didn’t just throw a jab . He stepped forward and closed their distance as he did .
Even so, the Skeleton Warrior tilted its head and dodged the jab . As it did, the Skeleton Warrior immediately distanced itself from Hyrkan . Watching this happen, Hyrkan let out a light smile .
‘I know I’m the one who taught it, but it grew well . ’
In the past, it would simply get hit . Even if it did dodge, it only dodged the jab .
Now, however, it even distanced itself and prepared for the next to come .
Not to mention, Hyrkan’s blows were much faster than when he was level 10 . Being able to react to such a fast attack showed how far it had come . It was the result of Hyrkan training them for over 30 minutes every day .
Next problem .
‘Will it maintain its evasion even with the Madness Helm buff?’
One could tell from just its name that Madness Helm was far from the word ‘calm . ’ Once a Skeleton Warrior received this buff, even a complete newbie would guess that it would turn aggressive .
For most summons, excessive aggression was a merit . However, it was different for Hyrkan’s summons . It was fine to turn aggressive, but it had to maintain Hyrkan’s teachings . If it were only aggressive, it would have gone back to square one .
“Helm On . ”
Hyrkan chanted .
Immediately afterward, the scarlet seal on the back of the Skeleton Warrior’s head glowed .
Crack!
Along with a strange sound, two horns the size of adult male’s fists sprouted out from the Skeleton Warrior’s head . The blue flames in its eyes also turned red as they grew . The flames blazed, seemingly about to burst out of its eyes at any moment .
Finally, the Skeleton Warrior opened its mouth . It looked like it couldn’t control its blood boiling, though such a thing should be impossible .
Watching the Skeleton Warrior, Hyrkan smiled . Then, he pulled out his sword from the scabbard on his waist .
Ching!
With the sound of a sword being pulled out, Hyrkan charged towards the Skeleton Warrior with all his power . He closed the distance in one breath and swung his sword with the intent of severing the Skeleton Warrior’s head .
Swish!
The sword made a crescent trace as it swung through the air .
The Skeleton Warrior dodged the swing by lightly tilting its head back . Hyrkan didn’t watch the scene . The moment the Skeleton Warrior tilted its head back, Hyrkan used the swing’s centrifugal force to spin his body . Using his left foot as a pivot, his right leg drew a circle . Hyrkan’s right foot approached the Skeleton Warrior’s body with a heavy sound .
Whish!
The Skeleton Warrior dodged the spinning back round kick by bending its body backward . After tilting its head and bending its body backward, the Skeleton Warrior straightened the bow-bent body once again .
Watching this, Hyrkan stopped his movements .
‘Oh?’
What entered Hyrkan’s eyes was the appearance of a Skeleton Warrior that did not falter back and stood its ground .
‘It won’t back off?’
Knowing no retreat on a battlefield* . [TN: Korean idiom]
Although it would evade attacks, the Skeleton Warrior was determined never to retreat .
Watching this, a big smile appeared on Hyrkan’s face .
‘This could be useful…’
★★★
As the popularity of Warlord increased, its guilds, including the Top 30 Guilds, struggled to recruit more people . With this shortage of manpower, it went without saying that guilds raced to recruit promising players . [TN: ‘promising player’ here and in other places is the same word used for the ‘Rising Star’ in the Rising Star title . ]
Lately, the competition to recruit these ‘promising players’ was fiercer than ever . What caused this were the words ‘1 year anniversary . ’
In Warlord, it was difficult for latecomers to catch up to the front-runners . In such situation, the words ‘1 year anniversary’ served as a mental cutline . It is impossible for anyone starting after the 1 year anniversary to catch up to the Rankers! Such was what all Rankers believed .
In other words, promising players recruited before this 1 year anniversary were the last rookies who could challenge the Rankers .
Such was the background story behind why Choi Sulyeon was currently looking through a list of players with potential . She looked over the selected players’ battle videos and history . Most were players who were known to be skilled in other games and had now gotten used to VR games .
Their talent and potential couldn’t be called bad .
However .
“There’s over 10 million people in the VR game world now . How come there isn’t a single useful one?’
Choi Sulyeon was unsatisfied with the list of promising players . She didn’t look satisfied either .
In truth, it wasn’t her job to go over promising players one by one . Although she watched YouTube videos from time to time, it was more for a change of pace than for recruiting promising players . With that being the case, she couldn’t be happy with the current situation .
No one entered her eyes . Looking for a gem in a pile of stones was only worthwhile if a gem was found . With nothing but stones, it was hard to find the motivation .
In response to Choi Sulyeon’s thorny complaint, her secretary, Park Suji, quickly worked her brain .
‘Young miss is more annoyed than usual . She must have a standard in mind . ’
As a secretary of 5 years, Park Suji quickly figured out Choi Sulyeon’s mind .
“Is there someone you have in mind?”
At her question, Choi Sulyeon knit her brows .
Did she have someone in mind? She did .
Except, the skilled players in her mind belonged to other guilds .
Desiring them was no different than desiring bread within a painting . The money wasn’t the problem . Amongst the Top 30 Guilds was a gentleman’s agreement . At the core of this agreement was player transfer . It was fine if it was something both sides wanted, but a one-sided theft meant war .
But other than these skilled players, there was no one she had in mind .
No…
‘What was it?’
She remembered a face . No, it was hard to say ‘face . ’ After all, she had never seen his face .
There was only one thing she knew .
“Hahoe mask . ”
“Excuse me?”
Park Suji tilted her head, while Choi Sulyeon finally understood the cause of her irritation .
“There’s a guy wearing a hahoe mask who uploads videos to YouTube . Look him up . Get rid of the data for these other guys . ”
Hahoe mask .
With just one clue, Park Suji nodded her head .
“Yes, miss . ”
“By the way, did the Helpers respond yet?”
“No, not yet . ”
“What an amazing bunch . The audacity on those guys… oh well, we’ll contact them first . Ask them exactly when and who they’ll dispatch . We’ve got a raid soon, so get an answer as soon as possible . If they’re late, you can threaten them with my name . ”
“Yes, miss . ”
“Also, I’m going to work out in 30 minutes so tell the trainer to get ready . I’ll eat afterward, what’s the menu?”
“It’s Korean beef steak salad . The coffee is the Jamaica Blue Mountain you wanted . ”
“Anything else?”
“That’s all . ”
That’s all .
With that, Choi Sulyeon’s complexion changed . She made serious, grave expression .
“The President?”
“He hasn’t said anything . ”
Hasn’t said anything . Hearing that, a slight smile came out of her stiff expression .
“Looks like father and mother aren’t saying anything since Warlord’s getting so popular . Feels like just yesterday they tried to force me into marriage just because I was spending some money on a game . ”
After reminiscing for a bit, Choi Sulyeon got up from her seat . As she was wearing her thin pajamas, her glamorous, model-like figure showed . Seeing her figure and look, her secretary, Park Suji, felt envy from the bottom of her heart .
‘Life sure is unfair . I don’t know who it’s going to be, but whoever marries the miss in the future must have saved a country in his past life . ’