The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 111

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Maxed-Out Player’s 100th Return – Episode 111
111. Dwarf Merchant Caravan
The Dwarf Merchant Caravan presented the lowest difficulty among the three options.
‘The monsters that appear are mostly orc hordes. Players at the current level of over 20 should handle them without difficulty.’
But only Ryu Min, a returnee, knew this fact.
The players who chose the Dwarf Merchant Caravan had no idea what the difficulty would be.
That’s why their faces betrayed obvious tension.
“Is this the Other World?”
“Wow, how fascinating.”
“You idiot. We’ve been in the Other World this whole time, not just here.”
“Oh, right. That’s true.”
The rocky mountains visible in the distance and stone towers jutting up here and there.
The players looked around nervously at an environment different from anything they’d seen before.
“Wait? But I can’t see anyone’s nicknames?”
“Really? I can’t see mine either?”
“No, they’re not showing.”
The nicknames that should have been floating above their heads had vanished.
But there were players who didn’t panic.
The Traitor Group, who had been tipped off by Angel.
‘Staying that calm is basically announcing you’re a traitor, isn’t it?’
Ryu Min remained calm inside as well, but still put on a surprised expression just in case.
Once suspected of being a traitor, suspicion would follow relentlessly.
‘I need to be careful not to draw suspicion. Of course, if the Traitor Group exposes my identity, I’ll be caught immediately.’
No traitor would fail to recognize the face of Black Scythe, a celebrity.
‘I need to deal with them before Black Scythe spreads the word about being a traitor.’
By “deal with,” I didn’t mean kill them.
I wasn’t a murderer obsessed with Quests, and there was neither profit nor loss in killing them.
‘I just need to read their thoughts and stop them beforehand.’
I already knew the faces of all twenty-eight members of the Traitor Group, so there was no need to worry.
It was simply a matter of controlling the situation well.
Ryu Min glanced around and roughly counted the heads.
‘About two hundred people chose the Dwarf Merchant Caravan.’
Of course, excluding the traitors, there would be roughly two hundred thirty people actually gathered.
As expected.
“Hey, look at this.”
A message appeared before the players’ eyes.
[Escort the Dwarf Merchant Caravan]
└Safely escort the Dwarf Merchant Caravan to their destination.
└Upon successful escort, all participants receive experience rewards.
└The one player who makes the highest contribution to eliminating traitors receives a sub-Quest reward.
└If you eliminate all traitors, everyone receives an additional reward.
The Quest you’re currently viewing doesn’t apply only to the Regular Group.
‘The Traitor Group can also receive experience rewards if they succeed in the escort mission.’
However, there wouldn’t be a single traitor willing to succeed without resistance.
If they fail this time, their success rate at the next merchant caravan will plummet catastrophically.
‘The Human Merchant Caravan especially goes without saying.’
The Traitor Group fails missions at the Dwarf Merchant Caravan and then the Elf Merchant Caravan?
They’d experience a 20% stat reduction twice, and then have to prevent the escort at the most difficult Human Merchant Caravan.
‘They’d probably think it’s impossible.’
But Ryu Min was confident.
It wasn’t just once or twice—I’d conquered this round multiple times—but more than anything, my current condition was optimal.
‘Even experiencing a stat reduction twice won’t cause problems in hunting. It’s a debuff that disappears once this round ends anyway.’
As Ryu Min nodded and checked the progress window, the players were in shock.
[Current Personnel Status]
└Participants: 230
└Traitors: 29
“What is this?”
“We can see the number of traitors?”
The personnel status was displayed in full detail, after all.
“There are 29 traitors among us?”
The players looked at each other.
Nicknames weren’t visible, so they couldn’t tell who was who, but one thing was certain.
‘There are traitors among us. Twenty-nine of them, no less.’
With 230 participants total, that meant roughly one in ten was a traitor.
It was only natural that they began eyeing each other with suspicion.
Well, to Ryu Min’s eyes—since I knew their faces—the traitors were plainly visible among the crowd.
“Huh? Black Scythe?”
At that moment, a voice addressed me as if they knew me, and I turned my head.
The voice belonged to none other than Min Ju-ri.
“Wow! I never expected to see you here! You chose the Dwarf Merchant Caravan? Did you perhaps follow me?”
“Well, your buffs are quite useful, after all.”
She seemed so delighted that I couldn’t bring myself to say otherwise.
But my answer seemed to carry a different meaning for Min Ju-ri.
Judging by how her face suddenly flushed and she looked flustered.
Min Ju-ri, embarrassed, hurriedly continued speaking.
“Oh, um. But Black Scythe, why can’t we see the players’ nicknames?”
“Who knows. I have no idea.”
As I turned my head away, pretending ignorance, my eyes met those of one of the traitors.
Smirk—
The figure flashed a meaningful smile before turning away.
Reading their thoughts, it seemed they wanted to act familiar based on the sense of camaraderie from being in the same group….
‘Insane. Do they want to make it obvious we’re in the same group?’
I couldn’t exactly get angry about it openly.
All I could do was let out an exasperated laugh.
“Two hundred thirty people for the Dwarf Merchant Caravan? That’s fewer than I expected.”
“Right.”
Out of 2,166 people, 230 was certainly a small number.
Selecting only 10% meant the remaining 90% had flocked to the other two caravans.
It was clear evidence of just how unpopular the Dwarf Merchant Caravan was.
‘The Human Merchant Group probably has the most. It was like that before too.’
Was it because there weren’t many people here?
Someone who recognized Black Scythe cautiously approached.
“Are you Black Scythe, sir?”
“Huh? Seo A-rin?”
Seo A-rin’s eyes widened in surprise, and she smiled warmly with her eyes.
“I never thought I’d meet you here, Black Scythe. I’m really glad….”
Seo A-rin’s gaze naturally drifted to Min Ju-ri standing beside me.
Her warm smile vanished like a lie.
“But Min Ju-ri is here too?”
“Actress Seo!? Hello. It’s nice to see you!”
“Yes.”
Unlike Min Ju-ri, Seo A-rin didn’t seem particularly pleased.
For some reason, Min Ju-ri, who was always sticking close to Black Scythe, bothered her.
‘I don’t even understand why I’m like this.’
It was natural to feel gratitude toward Black Scythe for saving her, but that was all it should be.
There shouldn’t be any deeper feelings, yet strangely, she felt jealous of Min Ju-ri.
“By the way, where’s that person who was always with you?”
“Ah… An Sang-chul? He went to the Human Merchant Group.”
“The Human Merchant Group?”
When Ryu Min asked with a puzzled tone, Seo A-rin also looked confused.
“For some reason, he really wanted to go there.”
“I see.”
I spoke calmly, but internally I was surprised.
‘Even though I told him it was the most difficult difficulty level, he went to the Human Merchant Group… that’s unexpected.’
Did he want to hunt stronger monsters and gain more experience?
I’d need to hear the reason, but for me, who had been underestimating An Sang-chul, it was an unexpected choice.
That’s when it happened.
At the sudden sound of commotion, I turned my head to see a caravan approaching.
Clop— clop— clop—
There were only ten carriages in total, which wasn’t very many.
Two hundred thirty people was more than enough to provide adequate protection.
The players felt reassured by the surprisingly small number of carriages.
Given the circumstances, they could be certain which carriages they needed to escort.
Soon the carriage came to a halt.
“Ohoho, so you’re here! Warriors from the Other World.”
A stout, bearded dwarf matching every preconceived image descended from the carriage with a hearty chuckle.
“Greetings. I am Hammer, a blacksmith of the Dwarf Merchant Caravan. It appears you are the warriors from the Other World who will be escorting us… is that correct?”
As the players nodded, Hammer slapped his stubby knee with a sharp crack.
“Just as I suspected! I could tell from the very look of you that you weren’t bandits—you’re genuine warriors from the Other World! Khahahaha!”
Hammer laughed heartily and gestured proudly toward the carriages.
“The cargo here consists of various iron ore and metal materials that must be transported beyond the Cargago Mountain Range to the Albitz Kingdom. However, since monsters are so prevalent along the route, we had no choice but to seek assistance from the temple.”
Though it was a language they had never heard before, the players understood the dwarf’s words perfectly.
The reason became clear only after reading the message that appeared.
[The Round trait ‘Interpretation’ has been activated.]
[You can now communicate with the races of the Other World.]
A kingdom, a temple.
Listening to the dwarf’s explanation, I found myself thinking how remarkably detailed it all was.
‘What’s this? Surely these aren’t real people?’
‘No way. They must be artificial constructs, like monsters.’
With Angel already existing, whether the inhabitants of the Other World were real or not hardly mattered anymore.
For the players, it was simply a matter of completing the Quest and moving on.
But Ryu Min knew it was far more complicated than that.
‘Round 8—the first encounter with the races of the Other World. Building reputation now is crucial if I want to receive preferential treatment when meeting these races later.’
Most would treat them as mere passing acquaintances and neglect their relationships with the inhabitants of the Other World…
‘But the races of the Other World don’t appear only in this round. They’ll show up repeatedly in the future, and the reputation I build now will carry forward.’
That was why the first impression mattered so much.
Once marked as unfavorable, repairing that reputation would be extraordinarily difficult.
The Traitor Group was particularly poor in this regard.
Killing the dwarves to prevent the caravan from arriving?
Without question, the Traitor Group’s reputation would plummet to its worst.
‘Then when I encounter dwarves later, unnecessary conflicts will arise, and I’ll be at a disadvantage in receiving various privileges.’
Dwarves sometimes provide Legendary-grade equipment and Divine-tier materials.
No player with any sense would throw away such benefits and make enemies of the dwarves.
‘But they don’t know that, which is why the traitors’ eyes look like that right now.’
From where I stood, I could see the traitors watching the dwarves with murderous intent.
They looked ready to stab them to death at the first opportunity.
But the traitors also understood one thing.
Killing the dwarves in front of the other players would be equivalent to announcing themselves as traitors.
That was why they couldn’t act rashly and could only watch and wait like this.
Calculating the best moment to kill the dwarves.
‘If possible, I’d prefer to assassinate them without anyone knowing.’
The Dwarf Merchant Caravan consisted of twenty dwarves in total.
Two of them occupied each carriage.
If they all perished, the Traitor Group would claim victory.
‘However, if even a single dwarf survived, they could reach their destination.’
In that case, the Traitor Group would have no choice but to target the next merchant caravan.
The Elf Merchant Caravan, specialized in spirit magic.
‘It’s far easier to target dwarves who lack combat ability than elves who employ spirits for perimeter surveillance.’
While entertaining such thoughts, a dwarf called out loudly.
“Warriors of the Other World! We humbly request your protection!”
[Time Until Destination Arrival: 04:59:59]
The remaining time appeared as if the Quest had begun.
Now I had to protect the merchant caravan for five hours until reaching the destination.
From the orc hordes.
‘Orcs are child’s play.’
The players unaware of this fact tensed, wondering what monsters might emerge and from where.
In contrast, Seo A-rin, Min Ju-ri, and Ryu Min wore expressions of ease.
Clop—clop—clop—
As the carriage moved, the players standing on either side began walking alongside it.
The players maintaining perimeter surveillance with weapons drawn encountered an orc horde before long.
“Squeal—squeal—!”
“What? Just orcs?”
“These bastards—we saw them back in Round 5. Nostalgic, aren’t they?”
The tension drained from the players’ faces.
In Round 5, orcs were among the stronger foes, but not anymore.
As most had reached the late twenties in level, they’d acquired the skill to dispatch orcs with ease.
This was proven immediately.
Slash—slash—!
“Squeeeak! Squeak!”
“Screech!”
The orcs shrieked and collapsed.
Even their stubborn musculature was readily severed by a level-30 blade.
“But there are quite a lot of orcs, aren’t there?”
“How many of these things keep coming?”
The orcs poured forth endlessly from all directions, enough to sicken the players.
After approximately five minutes of combat, the situation concluded.
Countless corpses piled like mountains.
Ryu Min knew exactly how many there were.
‘Four thousand six hundred must have appeared.’
Orcs manifested in proportion to the number of players.
With each wave, monsters appear in numbers that decrease by a factor of twenty.
‘In other words, each person has to face twenty creatures.’
This monster assault continues for thirty waves.
Essentially, creatures emerge every ten minutes.
One might think that’s quite a lot, but the players’ faces had darkened.
“The experience points from this…”
“…are pathetically small, aren’t they?”
The unexpectedly meager experience disappointed the players.
And for good reason—the orc’s experience was being distributed equally among two hundred thirty people.
Because they were in a party.
‘Strictly speaking, twenty-nine of them were excluded.’
The Traitor Group operated as individuals, not as a party.
Therefore, the experience and items from the monsters I defeated belonged entirely to me.
Such was the case for Ryu Min.
[Orc defeated!]
[3x Experience Buff is active.]
[Title effect increases experience by 1.5x.]
[Experience +0.18%]
[Gold +40]
[Current Kill Count: 463/100]
[Slaughter Rune effect: All stats increased by 100%.]
Ryu Min smiled faintly as he observed the messages appearing at the edge of his vision.
‘I’ve already slain four hundred sixty-three.’
Through overwhelming, solitary slaughter, I had personally claimed ten percent of the four thousand six hundred creatures.
And as a result.
I had already leveled up.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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