Chapter 1: 1

 Hardcore PvP (1) 

 

  I dragged my tired body and turned on my PC the second I got off work.

 

  The booting finished by the time I changed out of my clothes and cleaned up a bit.

 

  As I stretched the sore parts of my body,

 

  “Ugh…….”

 

  That’s one heck of a groan.

 

  I spun as I stretched my neck around and clicked the icon on the center of my desktop screen.

 

 ‘Darkworld.’

 

  Fantastic graphics, realistic sounds, and tens of thousands of real-time players…… it wasn’t that kind of game.

 

  Maybe because it had been twenty years since it came out? People were slowly beginning to label it as a legacy game.

 

  But besides that, there were still people playing it because it was a really well-designed game, and I was one of them.

 

  Actually, I’m a bit too special a case to simply be called ‘one of them’. ‘Cause I’ve been continuously playing the game ever since I got it around one-two weeks after it launched.

 

   Of course, it wasn’t like I only played the game all twenty years, so I couldn’t claim the title ‘number 1 playtime’. I did stop playing in my last year of high school, during the military service years, and when I was dating.

 

  “Now, today’s victim is…….”

 

  I quickly tapped the spacebar and skipped the elaborately pixelated opening.

 

  Between several shabbily-equipped low-level characters, my main character awaited me with a crimson aura.

 

  My main character was ‘PvPdmPlease’, lvl 95, Bloodknight class.

 

  I was Darkworld’s legacy player, but my CC(Campaign Clear) character was just one: the Bloodknight.

 

  This circumstance was due to my playstyle.

 

  I’m a real-deal hardcore player.

 

  Hardcore was a mode where your character didn’t resurrect if killed. So obviously, it was a mode most normal users don’t even glance at.

 

  But to me, hardcore was a mode that allowed me to feel the thrill even while playing the game for numerous years.

 

  Anyways, even hardcore players can easily learn the know-hows of clearing the Campaign after playing for a few years.

 

  Obviously I went past that point years ago. So why do I only have one CC character?

 

  Because I’m the freakiest among the freak hardcore players, a hardcore PvP player.

 

  Now you understand what happened to all my CC characters? Yeah. I lost them all while doing PvP.

 

  It was kind of inevitable that they all died regardless of how well I did PvP when I continued to fight to the death.

 

  There weren’t many stone-cold players who enjoyed PvP(player versus player) in the hardcore mode, where levels, items, and everything disappeared after a single death. Even more so, players who did PvP with characters that had cleared the devilishly difficult Campaign were only a handful.

 

  In my case…… probably a thousand or so characters had crossed the rainbow bridge(permanently dead).

 

  Among them were about four to five characters that had achieved the max level of lvl 100, and an uncountable number of characters above lvl 90. The scroll on the ‘grave’ tab of the permanently dead characters simply refuses to bottom out.

 

  There probably weren’t many players as obsessed with hardcore PvP as me among the Darkworld players across the world.

 

  A short loading screen turned off and my Bloodknight appeared alongside a familiar village scenery. I immediately checked my dm.

 

  ‘Oh?’

 

  Unlike the usual, there were two dms. Naturally they were both PvP requests.

 

  I carefully read the first dm and tapped the keyboard.

 

 

To SuriSuriJusuri : I received the dm. Are you available now?

 

From SuriSuriJusuri : Oh you’re on

 

From SuriSuriJusuri : now’s fine

 

From SuriSuriJusuri : but is 3:1 really okay?

 

 

  “Is he a newbie?”

 

  I wondered a bit…… but probably not. 

 

  There aren’t many newbies in a twenty year old game. They’re probably some regular-difficulty players who tried out hardcore mode for the first time.

 

  Then they got used to the thrill, and now are coming to cremate their characters.

 

 

To SuriSuriJusuri : It’s 80summonshaman, 76buffknight, 79tattooberserk right?

 

From SuriSuriJusuri : Yyep

 

From SuriSuriJusuri : ah the buffknight

 

To SuriSuriJusuri : Thenitsfine

 

To SuriSuriJusuri : ??

 

From SuriSuriJusuri : he’s lvl77 now

 

To SuriSuriJusuri : np

 

To SuriSuriJusuri : Do you want to meet in my room?

 

From SuriSuriJusuri : Yyep

 

 

  My Bloodknight ‘PvPdmPlease’, as I said before, was a whopping lvl 95 character.

 

  It was also a character that had survived countless PvP battles for the past year, and my strongest in all of my Darkworld play history.

 

  It might not be max level, but it was a really “fucking strong” character with really good items and a PvP-focused skill tree.

 

  So because of that, it became near impossible to find a good match ever since passing the lvl 90 mark. As throwing away a months-old high level character for a single moment of thrill wasn’t something possible for people with an ordinary nerve.

 

  So my solution was a multi-vs-one PvP.

 

  Two people if lvl 80 and up, three people if lvl 70 and up, five people if lvl 60 and up…… like that, I began to enjoy PvP against multiple people.

 

  But then almost no one requested PvP after PvPdmPlease’s kill log went over 500 kills.

 

  I’ve become infamous enough in multiple Darkworld related communities to be known by name.

 

  I even got a pretty nickname like “Bloodknight Guru”, so that was that.

 

  So a day like this was a real lucky day.

 

  “Huu…… come, newbs.”

 

  As I checked my items and keybinds and flexed my fingers, notifications rang one after another.

 

 

｢A new champion has joined. Shake hands to become an ally or fight to kill.｣

 

 

  I ignored the notification and tapped my keys. A few agreements later, it was finally time for fight.

 

  Taking distance from my opponents, I spent a bit of health to stack multiple buffs.

 

  ‘Ironblood Armor’ that heals me whenever I deal damage.

 

  ‘Blood Knife’ that sucks in nearby blood to strengthen me.

 

  ‘Bloodthirst’ that increases my aim and attack power.

 

  And ‘Birth’ which creates a blood clone to finish off. 

 

 

   I immediately consumed a health potion after using the buffs.

 

  I can’t use the potion for one minute now, but it doesn’t matter. Because potions are running up to me over there.

 

  My opponents didn’t stay still while my Bloodknight stacked buffs either.

 

  A Shaman summoned various spirits, and a Holy Knight buffed its allies.

 

  A Berserker ominously lit up the grotesque tattoos across its body and dashed forward. In addition, a giant translucent eagle and a wolf pack charged with an incredible speed in front of him.

 

  I calmly sprayed ‘Bloodstorm’ skill to sweep the summons and activated ‘Blood Swamp’ skill at the blood on the floor.

 

  Glump.

 

  With a peculiar sound, the ruby blood turned black and bogged down my opponent’s feet.

 

  At that moment, the Berserker, with a ‘Guaagh!’ roar, jumped and wildly swung its giant ax.

 

  I blocked the Berserker’s attack with my Ironblood armor and activated a skill at the Holy Knight’s feet.

 

  It was ‘Blood Festival’, one of Bloodknight’s ultimate skills.

 

  With a surprisingly brilliant effect of the entire screen exploding with blood, the Holy Knight took critical damage.

 

  The Holy Knight ran back as it drank a potion.

 

  Ignoring him, I immediately dashed towards the Shaman.

 

  The Shaman quickly sprinted away, but my Bloodknight could instantly catch up with the activation of its boots’ option, enormously increasing its travel speed.

 

  The Berserker used rage to try and catch me, but was stopped by my clone tenaciously locking him down.

 

  ‘Tank-tattooed Berserker, right? You’ll have to beat it for at least thirty seconds.’

 

  The second I thought that, a bear spirit next to the summon reared itself and swung its paw.

 

  The instant the bear’s paw ripped my Ironblood armor, a tiger spirit jumped and dealt a sneak attack.

 

  Kkraang!

 

  “Woah,”

 

  Shit, that fucking damage. Where the hell did that come from? Is that Shaman really lvl 80?

 

  As if a crit had struck, a chunk was ripped off the health bar.

 

  A few more hits like that and ‘PvPdmPlease’ would be permanently dead.

 

  Ugh, I broke into a cold sweat.

 

  My fingers drumming the keyboard and the mouse instinctively turned frenzied.

 

  I alternated from ‘Blood Thorn’ and regular hits and dispatched the tiger spirit.

 

  To the Holy Knight rushing up after finishing its heal, I casted ‘Crimson Ice’ to slow it down and dashed towards the Shaman.

 

  Then, the Holy Knight casted off the debuff with the ‘Fanaticism’ skill and rushed forward with the ‘Glorious Charge’ skill.

 

  ‘Glorious charge’ was a horrifying skill that could stun enemies for five seconds at master level.

 

  Despite my character’s ‘Stun Resist’ being quite high, it would at least be stunned for three seconds.

 

  In other words, that ‘Glorious Charge’ skill was a lethal skill at this moment.

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  ‘One, two!’

 

  Holding my breath, I counted the timing and activated ‘Blood Grasp’ skill.

 

  That instant, right before the Holy Knight’s shield touched, my character abruptly thrusted out its hand and clasped the Holy Knight’s neck.

 

  It was a high level technique that, despite success or failure hanging on a single frame, could cancel an opponent’s skill.

 

  Every time my Bloodknight’s arm twitched, the blood on the Holy Knight’s body exploded in series.

 

  “Uagh, uhuck, uck!”

 

 

｢JuniorKnightKimJinTae : the fuck｣

 

｢SuriSuriJusuri : lightarmor｣

 

｢JuniorKnightKimJinTae : fuckingbuggame｣

 

  “Ugh! Uck! Uhugh.”

 

  The Holy Knight let out a series of screams with its unique low voice.

 

  One after another, I struck a succession of hits to break the Holy Knight’s armor and dealt damage with ‘Blood Thorn’ skill. Simultaneously an additional damage popped from the blood grasp skill. 

 

 

｢JuniorKnightKimJinTae : wait｣

 

｢SuriSuriJusuri : use lightarmor｣

 

｢JuniorKnightKimJinTae : waait｣

 

｢JuniorKnightKimJinTae : dude｣

 

｢SuriSuriJusuri : use the lightarmor｣

 

｢JuniorKnightKimJinTae : gg｣

 

｢SuriSuriJusuri : moron｣

 

｢JuniorKnightKimJinTae : dude｣

 

 

  Some texts rolled up in the chat box, but I ignored them and finished the Holy Knight with a regular attack.

 

  “Uhugh.”

 

  ‘Should have used a skill instead of typing in chat.’

 

  Travel was impossible when caught in ‘Blood Grasp’, but it wasn’t a stun. Because of that, the Holy Knight could have easily survived if it used various skills while being caught. But……

 

  Well, yeah. Given the nature of hardcore PvP, it isn’t that easy to remain calm. Even my, a real legacy player’s hands, sometimes tremble. 

 

  Like that, the lvl 77 Holy Knight entered permanent death. A character that would have taken nearly two months to build had unspectacularly disappeared.

 

  On the other hand, my character was fully healed from the ‘absorption’ passive effect while hammering the Holy Knight. Now there was absolutely no way in hell the two left could beat me. [TL Note: the author attributed this healing effect to “Ironblood” skill earlier in the chapter, but for some reason decided to write “absorption passive(흡혈 패시브)” here instead. Interpret it as you see fit.]

 

  With the others seemingly having realized this fact, a short chat message popped up the moment I was about to use a skill.

 

 

｢BigHardAxe : rr｣

 

 

  With that final chat, the Berserker and the Shaman character disappeared one after another.

 

 

｢A champion has left.｣

 

｢A champion has left.｣

 

 

  “Shit. LAN pull(severing the game connection).”

 

  I muttered in disappointed as I massaged my sharply trembling hands.

 

  “Ahuu.”

 

  The result might have looked like an easy win, but it was a rather dangerous fight.

 

  ‘Buffknight(holy knight that mainly uses buff skills)’ and ‘TattooBerserk(berserker with shamanistic tattoos)’ were both well-recognized PvP classes, and the ‘SummonShaman(shaman that summons various spirits)’, perhaps because it had good items, had insane damage.

 

  If the Holy Knight had calmly used its skills and struggled a bit more, my Bloodknight probably would have melted at the Berserker and the Shaman’s attacks.

 

From KimJinTae12 : dude

 

From KimJinTae12 : dude

 

From KimJinTae12 : I’m the buffknight from just before

 

From KimJinTae12 : please give me at least my item

 

From KimJinTae12 : just the shield and the ring

 

From KimJinTae12 : pleease

 

From KimJinTae12 : please

 

From KimJinTae12 : dude

 

 

  “Hah, pathetic.”

 

  I sneered as I blocked his ‘dm’ and collected the items from the Holy Knight’s corpse.

 

  Most of the items I sold at the shop, but the shield and the ring seemed rather nice, so I mailed them to my sub character.

 

  I shuddered for a moment at the win, and then opened a bottle of water and checked the other dm.

 

  Having checked the sender’s name, I snorted and typed a chat.

 

  “Hah. This old man, he never changes.”

 

 

To Trickster29 : lmao you made a new one again?

 

From Trickster29 : Yeah.

 

From Trickster29 : going now.

 

To Trickster29 : lmaoo sure

 

 

  The instant the chat ended, a martial artist character appeared.

 

  Looking at its level, my jaw dropped in awe.

 

  “Woah, lvl 93? Just when did he make this guy?”

 

  In Darkworld, you couldn’t see your opponent’s equipment, so you had to guess based on its outfit.

 

  And the outfit the martial artist was wearing right now, the one that was letting out a white aura, was definitely the highest-tier equipment set called ‘eastern monk philosophy’. 

 

 

｢PvPdmPlease : Woah old man｣

 

｢PvPdmPlease : you’ve spent $?｣

 

｢Trickster29 : fuckingbuggame｣

 

 

  I suddenly remembered that the last PvP with the old man was merely ten days ago.

 

 

｢PvPdmPlease : it’s lvl is fucking high too｣

 

｢PvPdmPlease : did you get a boost1?｣

 

 

 

 

  From what I know, lvl 93 is impossible in just ten days even with a boost. Is it his secret character?

 

 

｢Trickster29 : Too much talking.｣

 

｢Trickster29 : Shut up and come at me.｣

 

  The guy with the ‘Trickster29’ ID was a user that had played Darkworld with me for a quite long time.

 

  He seemed to have several years behind him based on how he chatted and his gradually degrading mechanics with each passing day, but…… he had long since become a loser who regularly donated items to me.

 

 

｢PvPdmPlease : lol I got a monk I’ve been raising｣

 

｢PvPdmPlease : lucky｣

 

 

  I tried to provoke him a bit more, but the old man wasn’t even looking at the chat and was moving towards the village outskirts. I snorted and followed him out.

 

  And the fight that followed…… well I obviously won.

 

  “Hah, this old man, what’s up with his rotting mechanics every day?”

 

  With him trying to fight a close-quarters battle even after having gone out of his way to make an ‘airmonk(martial artist that mainly uses the hundred-meter fist skill)’, I simply couldn’t lose even if I wanted to.

 

  “Woah, I actually got the philosophy set in hardcore.”

 

  I was laughing and looting the martial artist’s corpse when a whisper came in.

 

 

From Trickster29 : You fucker!

 

 

  I snickered and tapped my keyboard.

 

 

To Trickster29 : looool

 

To Trickster29 : my stomach hurts loooool

 

From Trickster29 : open up your room.

 

To Trickster29 : looooool don’t wanna

 

To Trickster29 : gonna go play a monk

 

From Trickster29 : You fucker!

 

  I snickered for a while when suddenly something strange happened.

 

 

Translator’s notes:

 

1. The narration for this novel, or at least this chapter, is really weird. Instead of sticking to a single tense, the narration jumps between past tense and present tense. Specifically, the base tense is 1st person past tense, but the author seems to employ present tense whenever there is an exposition or the narrator’s internal thought.

 

The bit about the narrator’s internal thought is especially weird. Usually the 1st person narrator is considered a single entity with the main character and shares their thoughts. However, the author appears to have separated the two: the main character’s internal thoughts closed off with apostrophe(as is usual), and the narrator’s internal thoughts distinguished by present tense. I’ve marked a few notable cases of the author’s tense jumping. The noted lines are the said cases, and I’ve attached the original Korean lines as reference for the editor.

 

2. At least based on what’s presented, the author seems to have made a few errors. Specifically, it looks like he confused the ‘ironblood armor’ effect with a new ‘absorption’ passive. Also, he wrote ‘whisper’ for the messaging system that was initially named ‘dm’(originally ‘note’, localized to ‘dm’). Either that or he’s describing at least three different chat systems.

 

 

Footnotes:

1

TL Note: An act where a player (The booster) logs into another player’s account (The Boosted) to play a ranked game, grind, etc in the boosted’s place

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