The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 115

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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 115
115. The Elf Merchant Caravan
[Escorting the Dwarf Merchant Caravan has ended.]
[Current Personnel Status]
└Participants: 190
└Traitors: 5
The escort of the Dwarf Merchant Caravan concluded with a modest 40 casualties.
Of those, 24 were members of the Traitor Group who fell not to monsters, but to the hands of their fellow humans.
‘I survived.’
Ryu Min and four others managed to remain undetected and alive until the very end.
Of course, survival came with far greater trials still awaiting us.
【Traitor Group Quest Failed】
[Since you failed to obstruct the caravan before reaching its destination, all stats will decrease by 20% until the round ends.]
[You will be transported to the Traitor Group waiting area shortly.]
Not being caught in the exposure operation was cause for relief, but the group mission failure cast a grim shadow.
At least for the other traitors, not for Ryu Min.
‘Reaching level 70 with the Dwarf Merchant Caravan. The experience gains were surprisingly generous.’
I wondered if I might even surpass level 80 before this round ended.
“It’s over now, Black Scythe.”
“Thank you for your efforts.”
Min Ju-ri and Seo A-rin approached to bid farewell.
Their expressions seemed reluctant to part ways.
“You did well. See you next round.”
With those words from Ryu Min, the surroundings shifted.
When I regained my senses, I was already standing in the Gray Space.
[Kyahahaha, welcome back, traitors? Wait?]
Angel Ariel’s delicate brow furrowed.
[Only five remain? Sigh. Far fewer survivors than anticipated.]
“Anticipated? Did you foresee them all dying, Angel?”
[Of course. With so few personnel in the Dwarf Merchant Caravan, I expected the exposure operation would quickly filter you out. Surely you didn’t assume the difficulty was low and let your guard down?]
“….”
The traitor who had spoken fell silent, struck by the truth.
[Kyahahaha, how naive. Or perhaps foolish? Isn’t it obvious that with fewer people, it’s harder to hide your identity?]
In truth, the Dwarf Merchant Caravan represented the greatest difficulty for the Traitor Group.
The claim that it was easy applied solely to the Regular Group’s perspective.
[But there is good news—hope still remains for you. You have two more chances.]
If you can prevent either the Elf Merchant Caravan or the Human Merchant Caravan from reaching their destination, the Traitor Group can survive.
If you can prevent it, that is.
[Cheer up. The Elf Merchant Caravan coming next won’t be as difficult as this one. They have 700 members.]
The traitors, excluding Ryu Min, were startled by the more than threefold increase in numbers.
Certainly, beautiful elves tend to be more popular than ugly dwarves.
[This time, the five of you should work together and clear it properly. Of course, you’ll have to bear the stat penalty. Kehehehe.]
The five traitors exchanged glances with one another.
In a situation like this, none of them felt like shaking hands.
They merely observed each other’s faces to remember who their allies were.
“Since only five of us remain, let’s do our best this time.”
“Yes. If we want to survive, we need to stick together.”
“Should we come up with some strategy? Black Scythe?”
Four pairs of eyes turned toward Ryu Min.
Asking for permission naturally elevated him to the position of leader.
“Do as you see fit.”
Ryu Min had no intention of fitting in with them.
Even with a shared objective, a solo player remains solo.
I couldn’t trust people who weren’t party members.
“Black Scythe, do you have no intention of clearing this?”
“That’s right. I didn’t even see you step forward when we attacked the dwarves earlier….”
One of the traitors trailed off and closed his lips.
Ryu Min’s cold, murderous gaze naturally silenced him.
“What reason do I have to trust you? We’re not even party members.”
“But we’re part of the same group….”
“We share only the objective. Beyond that, we’re individuals. That’s why experience comes in separately.”
Ryu Min turned his back coldly, rejecting them outright.
“Stop wasting time with pointless thoughts and just hunt.”
The moment I declared solo play, the traitors’ expressions darkened as if they’d been betrayed themselves.
It seemed they lacked confidence to raid the merchant caravan without Black Scythe.
Watching their reaction, Ariel let out a soft chuckle.
[Well, well, it seems opinions within the group don’t align either. But that’s none of my concern, so do as you please. My job is simply to transport you to the Elf Merchant Caravan.]
“But Angel, if we go to the Elf Merchant Caravan, does that mean the players there have been waiting five hours because of us?”
[Oh, didn’t I mention? While the Traitor Group progresses through the mission, time is frozen for the humans in the other merchant caravans. The same applies to those who just finished clearing the Dwarf Merchant Caravan.]
Time flowed only for the merchant caravan that the Traitor Group participated in, while the rest remained frozen.
[If I didn’t do this, the other caravans would have to endure boring time while you experience three of them. They might even develop unnecessary suspicions. So don’t worry about the other humans. Right now, what matters most is yourselves, doesn’t it? Kyahahaha.]
The traitors waited to be transported, listening to that irritating voice.
[Then shall we head to the Elf Merchant Caravan? I do hope you succeed this time.]
* * *
Changing locations can help lift one’s spirits.
The Traitor Group was the first to truly understand this.
‘This place….’
‘The Elf Merchant Caravan Quest location?’
Unlike the dreary rocky terrain where the Dwarf Merchant Caravan had been, this place was filled with lush green trees and fragrant air.
But the most striking difference was, without question, the players themselves.
“Oh, so we’re starting the escort here?”
“Since I chose the Elf Merchant Caravan, it looks like we’re starting in a place like the Elf Village?”
“But why are there so many people?”
“Everyone just picked this because they wanted to see elves, that’s all.”
Just as Angel had mentioned, roughly 700 people filled the Forest to capacity.
‘If there are this many people, certainly…’
‘It won’t be easy to identify them by stabbing like last time.’
On the other hand, the Traitor Group felt relieved that there was no risk of being discovered beforehand.
But then.
[All stats decrease by 20% as a penalty for the Traitor Group’s failure.]
The message that appeared only filled them with despair.
Ryu Min didn’t pay the message any mind, though.
‘It’ll unfold the same way this time. They’ll be shocked by the nicknames being absent, shocked by the number of traitors.’
Just as Ryu Min predicted, the players were first shocked to discover they had no nicknames, then shocked again by the message that appeared.
[Escort the Elf Merchant Caravan]
└Safely escort the Elf Merchant Caravan to its Destination.
└Upon successful escort, all participants receive experience rewards.
└One individual who makes a significant contribution to eliminating the traitors receives a sub-quest reward.
└If all traitors are eliminated without exception, all participants receive additional rewards.
[Current Personnel Status]
└Participants: 740
└Traitors: 5
“Look at this. There are five traitors among us!”
“How do we find these bastards?”
“What if we try attacking each other?”
The players who had been pondering decided to start stabbing one another to identify the traitors.
But it didn’t take long before they realized it was impossible to stab 700 people individually, and they gave up.
“Damn it, we need to catch those traitor bastards.”
“How are we supposed to find those five?”
“It’s so unsettling, like having a bug in your mouth.”
As the people sighed in frustration and the Traitor Group sighed in relief.
Clop-clop, clop-clop—
Right on cue, a procession of carriages appeared.
It was a procession so long that its end was invisible.
“Ooh, elves, elves.”
“Really. They look just like the elves from the game.”
“Seriously, they’re identical to the female elf character I used to play.”
The pointed-eared elves, regardless of gender, were characterized by pristine white skin and beautiful features.
Completely different from the dwarves who all looked like middle-aged men or grandfathers.
Most striking of all were the wheelless carriages being levitated by magic.
Setting aside the elves’ aristocratic bearing, there was something else on my mind.
“Greetings, warriors of the Other World. As promised, I see you’ve been waiting here for us.”
A tall, handsome elf stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
“I am Yugrito, operator of the magical merchant caravan under Elsorium. I cannot express how reassuring it is to have the Temple’s warriors come to greet us.”
His smile was dazzling enough to captivate the female players.
Though to the men, it came across as excessively smooth.
‘As expected, they’re calling us warriors of the Other World again.’
The inhabitants of the Other World always referred to players that way.
It was familiar to me, but players meeting inhabitants of the Other World for the first time were already amazed just by the fact that I could interpret.
“Wow, elves actually exist?”
“Or are they artificially created beings?”
“Just ask him. Are you really an elf?”
“Pardon? What do you mean by that?”
Yugrito tilted his head in confusion.
I wondered if there was some hidden meaning, but from my perspective, it was a foolish question.
It was equivalent to asking a human, “Are you really human?”
‘What matters isn’t whether elves actually exist. It’s how much profit I can extract from them.’
Just as I had raised my reputation with the dwarves and obtained the Rune of Endurance, there was something to gain from the elves.
‘The elixir that elves supposedly only bestow upon truly distinguished guests. That’s what I need to obtain from this escort mission.’
So how could I earn such treatment?
The answer was simple.
‘Just like with the dwarves last time—save their lives.’
But for that to happen, the traitors would need to make a move, and they didn’t seem to have the resolve for it.
‘Even if they did attack, the elf knights disguised as merchants and the earth and wind spirits surrounding the carriages would protect them, so it would all come to nothing anyway.’
That left only one option: wait for monsters to attack and rescue them from the crisis.
But even if I saved the elf merchants, I’d only receive their gratitude.
‘As I said, they’re elf knights of Elsorium disguised as merchants.’
Why the knights were disguised as merchants was obvious without reading their minds.
‘Because there’s something precious they need to protect.’
If I managed to protect that precious thing?
They would surely treat me not just as a distinguished guest, but as a lifelong benefactor.
‘That precious thing is located in…’
My gaze swept across the procession of carriages.
Among the thirty carriages in total, only the fifteenth one in the middle had distinctly different designs and emblems.
‘There. That’s where the elf princess is hidden.’
Yupinelsia, the princess of the elves.
If I protected her from monster attacks, I could obtain whatever I desired from the elves.
At that moment, someone approached me as if they knew me.
“Huh? Black Scythe?”
It was none other than Heo Tae-sik.
“No Poe-in No-ge-i. So you were here.”
“Black Scythe… how did you know to come here…?”
“How? Well, I chose the Elf Merchant Caravan, so naturally I came here.”
After speaking, I read his thoughts and realized Heo Tae-sik’s question meant something different.
He was asking how I knew where he was and chose to come here.
‘This fool thinks I followed him.’
It was an absurd misunderstanding, but there was no need to correct it.
Heo Tae-sik himself shook his head and corrected his own thoughts.
-There’s no way Black Scythe could know I chose the Elf Merchant Caravan. Then… is this fate? A fateful encounter meant to have me party with Black Scythe once more?
Heo Tae-sik was determined to connect himself to Black Scythe by any means.
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Hehe…”
Heo Tae-sik, who had been staring intently at Ryu Min, suddenly grew embarrassed as if he’d been caught and turned away.
‘Knowing his intentions, his gaze is genuinely burdensome.’
Though Ryu Min inwardly clicked his tongue, there was another person making him feel uncomfortable.
“Black Scythe?”
“Hmm? You are…?”
An unexpected person approached Ryu Min.

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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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