The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 176

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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 176
176. Those Who Hunt Black Scythe
After the 11th round began, Ma Gyeong-rok looked around at his surroundings.
His face bore more confusion than usual.
‘Damn it, everyone scattered in different directions?’
I thought we’d move together since it was a team event, but we dispersed like it was an individual competition.
It was an unexpected situation I’d never even heard The Seer mention, which made it all the more bewildering.
‘What’s going on? Did The Seer forget to mention it? Or could it be….’
Ma Gyeong-rok shook his head.
Surely The Seer wouldn’t have deliberately withheld such crucial information.
There’d be no benefit in doing so.
‘He probably just didn’t realize we’d scatter.’
Even The Seer, for all his apparent perfection, occasionally overlooked important details like this.
‘Tch, without knowing where they’d spread out, I have no way to find Christine.’
I had intended to protect my fiancée, Christine.
I needed to at least make a show of trying to rescue her, or I’d be blamed for negligence.
‘Honestly, I don’t love her. How could I develop such feelings for a foreigner I’ve only known for a few months?’
She was merely a fiancée in name only.
That said, I didn’t wish for anything bad to happen to her.
No businessman would want their business relationship to fall apart.
‘I wanted to protect her… but like this, I can’t even track her.’
I knew her nickname was Krishi, but since I’d never met her in the Other World, I didn’t know her face.
Without that condition, tracking was impossible.
I had no idea where to find Christine.
‘I guess I should focus on accumulating points while doing Quests?’
No matter how I thought about it, there was no way for me to help Christine.
The best I could do was work hard to accumulate points and keep the team alive.
‘There’s no need to worry. The Seer said it himself, didn’t he? That a lifesaving benefactor would appear to rescue Christine.’
If the prophecy came true, it meant she wouldn’t die, so there was no need for me to intervene.
Not that I could even if I wanted to.
‘Let me focus on accumulating points. Where should I go to find Quests?’
Right before me lay a well-maintained road that looked like carriages would travel it.
At the end of that road stood a large city surrounded by fortress walls.
‘A Kingdom? There should be plenty of Quests there.’
As I began walking, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘What if I run into other players while wandering around?’
If they were Korean players, I’d greet them with a smile, but foreign players?
‘According to the rules, there’s nothing to gain from cooperating with foreign players.’
We live in different countries and aren’t on the same team.
We can’t share points, and we don’t even speak the same language.
They were merely rivals who needed to be eliminated.
‘They said killing other players grants points, right? And plenty of them at that.’
From that perspective, foreign players were excellent prey to hunt.
One could practically call them walking points.
‘If I don’t kill them first, they’ll try to kill me. I’m not the only one thinking this way.’
After deliberating, Ma Gyeong-rok made his decision.
When encountering foreign players, he would assess the situation and eliminate them.
It was unavoidable for survival.
‘Wait. Wouldn’t hunting down foreign players and killing them be more efficient for accumulating points than doing Quests?’
If things went well, he might even rank first and become the District Representative.
‘No, that’s pointless. Becoming District Representative offers nothing. Black Scythe would kill me and take it immediately.’
Since high-level players couldn’t be controlled through dominion, Black Scythe couldn’t be stopped even if he became District Representative.
‘For now, ranking second is the best option. First place will inevitably be Black Scythe anyway.’
First, I should complete one Sub Quest and determine which method is more efficient for accumulating points.
Whether killing players would be faster or completing Quests.
‘Let me check if there are any people nearby first.’
I activated my detection skill to see if any red dots appeared.
‘Huh? Behind me… there’s one?’
Seeing a red dot approaching from behind, Ma Gyeong-rok drew his sword and spun around.
“What the hell… Manager An?”
“Director!”
The person rushing toward him with the enthusiasm of a dog greeting its owner was none other than An Sang-chul.
“What’s going on? Manager An. Did you follow me here?”
“Of course. The moment we fell into this strange place, I tracked you down immediately. Since we’re on the same team, wouldn’t it be better if we moved together?”
Ma Gyeong-rok nodded.
I had felt uneasy traveling alone anyway, and having my right-hand man beside me was reassuring.
“Should we go do some Quests together?”
“Yes, Director. But…”
“…?”
“Wouldn’t it be better if we moved with Buffer’s assistance?”
“Buffer? You mean Democracy?”
“Yes. After always receiving buffs from her side, not having them feels empty and like I’m losing out somehow.”
That made sense.
With a single buff increasing stats by 70%, the difference between receiving and not receiving was substantial.
Right now without it, I even felt like I was under a debuff.
“That’s true. With that Blessing buff, we could easily handle three hours.”
“Then I’ll track down Democracy.”
Ma Gyeong-rok stopped An Sang-chul, who was about to use his tracking skill.
“No, let’s go see Black Scythe instead.”
“Pardon? Black Scythe?”
“Democracy will definitely move alongside Black Scythe. If we approach Democracy without any prior connection, we’ll only plant unnecessary suspicion. But if we stick with Black Scythe, whom we already have some rapport with, we’ll naturally receive Democracy’s buffs and be able to observe how he accumulates points from right beside him.”
“That’s true—Black Scythe has maintained outstanding performance in every round. I think we should proceed as you suggest, Director.”
The two men smiled and changed direction.
Their target was none other than Black Scythe.
* * *
At the same moment.
In a different country, many others shared Ma Gyeong-rok’s thinking.
“Angel definitely said it, right? You gain points by killing other players.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
The Chinese player Xi Zikang wore a cruel smile.
An ordinary person would feel hesitation at the thought of murder, but he did not.
With exceptional talent, he had seized a position as an executive in the Triad while still in his late twenties—killing was second nature to him.
“Earning points is ridiculously easy. I just grab whoever I see and kill them, right?”
“That’s correct, boss. Just don’t kill any Chinese nationals.”
“Do you think I’m an idiot? Damn it!”
He made a motion as if to strike, and his subordinate immediately apologized.
“I spoke out of line. My apologies.”
Even in the Other World, he remained a lackey, but he harbored no resentment.
Xi Zikang was someone who knew how to kill—and he was respected for it.
“Listen to me if you don’t want to die today. We need to survive to the end so we can actually sit in those executive chairs. Got it?”
“My apologies!”
“We’ll follow only you, Xi Zikang!”
As his nine subordinates bowed their heads, Xi Zikang smiled with satisfaction.
“Good. Listen well, and I’ll make sure you all survive.”
A world centered on players was coming.
Ordinary people would become slaves, and only those players who survived to the end would reign as kings.
‘The Triad will be the same. If we just endure the rounds, we can eliminate all our competitors.’
Currently, players controlled the Triad.
The aging ordinary executives had long since been purged and replaced.
The players who now held real power were naturally in their twenties, and he himself, recognized for his abilities, had rapidly climbed to an executive position among them.
‘It’s not the strongest who devours the Triad. It’s whoever endures the rounds that ultimately reaches the top.’
Xi Zikang harbored ambitions of rising even higher.
For that dream, he could kill foreign players without hesitation.
Killing was his specialty as a Berserker-class player.
“From now on, we hunt players from other nations. Think of them as monsters. Kill them without mercy the moment you see them. That’s how we survive.”
“But Xi Zikang, sir. How do we distinguish which country they’re from? We can’t see nicknames, and their appearances could be customized anyway.”
“You idiot. You figure it out by talking to them. They won’t speak your language.”
“Ah, I see.”
“If you understand, let’s move. Activate your detection skills and find every bastard in sight—then kill them.”
“Hehehehe, understood.”
Xi Zikang grinned alongside his subordinate and immediately put the plan into action.
Two red dots appeared nearby, perfectly positioned.
“Let’s go!”
He charged forward with his blade drawn, and the distance closed in an instant.
By their appearance, they seemed to be Western players.
“What the—?”
The Westerner detected the approach through his senses, but it was already too late.
“Hey, you two. You’re not Chinese, are you?”
“What…?”
“Thought not. Damn foreigners.”
Xi Zikang activated his skill without hesitation.
‘Crimson Grip.’
A massive hand of crimson light materialized from thin air, seizing one of the Westerners.
In a heartbeat, the man was dragged before him, and a blade of red light descended upon his head.
Crunch—!
“Ho, holy shit!!!”
Panicked by his companion’s fate, the other Westerner bolted without looking back.
Or rather, he tried to.
Before Xi Zikang’s subordinates ran him through.
Thrust—thrust—thrust—!
“Guh… ugh…”
Watching the corpse skewered like a piece of meat, Xi Zikang asked his men.
“Who got the killing blow?”
“I believe I did, sir.”
“How many points did you earn?”
“290 points came through, sir.”
“That so? I got 350. Strange.”
Regardless of the difference, why did points vary from person to person?
Xi Zikang fell into contemplation, staring at the corpse.
Then a single conclusion emerged.
‘Could it be that points increase differently based on level?’
Did lower levels earn fewer points, while higher levels earned more?
‘If that’s the case, the higher the level, the more points awarded?’
A particular person suddenly came to mind.
The player with an unparalleled level—Black Scythe, ranked first across All Districts.
‘That bastard’s level was 90, wasn’t it?’
If he could only kill Black Scythe, he might monopolize an unimaginable amount of points.
‘Everyone knows that bastard is a Korean player. If I kill him, I could shoot straight to first place. Becoming a district representative would be a bonus.’
A smirk played at the corners of his mouth, but the problem remained: how to kill him?
Xi Zikang’s gaze drifted slowly toward his subordinates.
‘What if I use these subordinates as sacrifices? Besides, I can speak a bit of Korean.’
If I approach them as a Korean and use my men as shields to land a fatal blow, wouldn’t I have a chance at victory?
It might actually be possible.
‘I should keep this secret from my subordinates for now. There might be idiots who get scared just hearing the name Black Scythe.’
That was when it happened.
A subordinate dragged in an East Asian man.
“Xi Zikang! We caught this bastard trying to escape nearby. Kill him directly and rack up some points.”
“Why, why are you doing this! I wasn’t planning to fight. I was just passing through!”
“Wait.”
Xi Zikang’s eyes lit up as he listened to the man’s words.
“Are you Korean?”
“Huh? Oh, y-you speak Korean?”
“A little.”
“Ha, thank goodness. P-please tell these people to let me go. I’m begging you….”
“Before that, let me ask you one thing. Have you ever seen Black Scythe?”
“Black Scythe? Yes, I’ve seen him. We were in the same district.”
“Really?”
Xi Zikang grinned wickedly and pressed a blade against the Korean’s throat.
“Aaahhh!”
“Do you have a tracking skill or not?”
“Y-yes, I do!”
“Then guide me to Black Scythe right now. Unless you want to die.”

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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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