"Hey, Suzuki, there's a job. You taking it or not?"
"What kind?"
"Hmm… hard to describe. It should count as PK, I guess. But it's not arena combat." On the other end of the window, the studio leader sounded a little troubled.
"Not arena?" Satoru lowered his head and lit a cigarette, letting nicotine-laced smoke drift across the screen. He looked up and kept typing. "Guild raid warfare? Hiring extra muscle? That's pointless. In that kind of crowd, individual skill gets completely diluted. What matters is experienced commanders."
"Yeah, that's why it's hard to explain. Basically… they want you to kill a five-man party."
"For something like that, just put out a bounty in-game with a high reward."
Satoru frowned, puzzled by the sudden request.
"If it were that simple, they wouldn't be offering this much." The leader sounded helpless, then sent over the starting price.
Satoru's eyes widened slightly, his expression turning odd.
"Fifty thousand yen?! Are they all top-ranked whales or former top-eight arena players?"
"Neither… according to the info, they're just normal players. Not even max level."
"Then what's the point?"
"Uh… I'll try to explain. He wants us to plant an assassin in their team. Then stage a betrayal. The key point is to make them realize how cruel the world is. And how dangerous people can be…"
Satoru bit down on his cigarette and scratched his messy, oil-slicked hair. After sorting it out, he typed two words.
"Edgy?"
"Don't say that. He's a long-time client. Our bread and butter." The leader replied righteously.
"So what's the plan?"
"Forget it, I can't explain properly. I'll have customer service transfer him to you."
"I didn't even say I'd take it."
"Come on. With that kind of money, you won't?"
…Fair enough.
Satoru took another drag and didn't argue.
...
"A five-person party. Four males, one female. Their real genders, that is."
"Sugihara Aisa, Chiba Hideki, Iwasaki Makoto, Kinoshita Jun, Ando Naoya. All first-year high school students at Eizan High School, members of the game club."
Satoru stared at the chat window as lines of text slowly appeared from the client, a faint sense of confusion rising.
Do I know them?
"Sugihara Aisa likes walking and vanilla ice cream. Chiba Hideki is well-liked because he's kind, and he's also the one Sugihara Aisa has a crush on. Meanwhile, Iwasaki Makoto has feelings for Sugihara, so he and Chiba are rivals. Kinoshita Jun and Ando Naoya are childhood friends."
"If you can trigger conflict between Sugihara, Chiba, and Iwasaki, that would be a great starting point."
The messages came at an unhurried pace. One could almost picture fingers lightly tapping across the keyboard.
"Recently, their fixed five-man party hasn't been able to clear level 50 dungeons. If an experienced 'kind player' joins them, their trusting nature will lead them to accept him warmly."
"But this 'kind player' cannot be max level or top-tier equipped. Otherwise, it becomes admiration, not friendship. The gap would be too large. They wouldn't develop the illusion that he'll truly become one of them."
There was almost a faint chuckle behind those words.
"So, please use an account dedicated solely to this job. Once you've gotten close to them, act whenever you see fit. Betray them during conflicts with other parties, or even scam their equipment. Anything is fine. No. If you go further, I'd be even more pleased."
"Of course, with a low-level account and no gear advantage, killing all five alone and forcing them into a state where they can't revive, only lying there for five minutes, is quite demanding."
"But… for you, it shouldn't be a problem. I've heard about you. Your skill is exceptional. The current holder of the Sword Saint title."
"..."
What exactly is he getting at?
Through the haze of smoke, Satoru stared at the cold black text in the white chat window.
"I'll take it. But it won't be quick," he typed after a pause. "And I can't guarantee all your conditions. This is my first time taking a job like this."
"That's fine. The longer it takes, the better. Because… betrayal from a deeply trusted friend is far more perfect. And I'm looking forward to your performance."
The client showed no concern.
Satoru fell silent for a moment.
"Then it's settled. Pay through the site via customer service."
He waited a few seconds. No reply.
Just as he was about to close the window and switch to a farming account, another message appeared.
"So, Sword Saint. What do you think of my plan?"
"What plan?"
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Midnight crept closer. For power levelers like him, this was just another ordinary work hour.
Satoru stared at the final line, his brows tightening.
"The murder plan."
...
The battle continued across the silent grassland beneath the night sky.
The strength of a two-handed axe lies in its heavy strikes causing extended stun. When striking one-handed swords or curved blades from the side, it inflicts even greater damage. Just moments ago, Morte had displayed top-tier rapier skill. Now, he wielded an axe with the proficiency of Agil.
The pale-gray axe was clearly a high-level, well-upgraded weapon. His technique suggested deliberate training.
Satoru was completely suppressed by the weapon advantage. Every clash between the Forged Blade and the two-handed axe made the straight sword cry out in strain.
But it wasn't that the axe inherently countered straight swords.
The real reason for the disadvantage was that before switching to axe skills, Morte had already baited out abilities like Cold Strike that could counter heavy attacks. Just like Satoru, he had cleared away every obstacle.
Skill power and priority always surpass normal attacks.
From start to finish.
Search. Analyze. Plan. Execute.
What a steady approach. What a replicable technique.
Morte laughed with satisfaction, pressing forward as he swung the axe again and again, chaining heavy attacks seamlessly. Just as he said, this technique was no secret among beta players.
Clang!
Clang!!
Each heavy impact forced Satoru backward, locking him into uncontrollable stiffness.
"Hahahaha! Amazing, truly amazing! So this is what it feels like to foresee everything and hold the entire battle in your hands?!"
Morte's voice rang out loudly, in stark contrast to Satoru's silent, expressionless face. Sparks burst brilliantly in the night with every clash.
So easy. So effortless.
Like a complex maze of dead ends and survival paths, yet every step landed perfectly on the correct path.
This was the feeling he had tasted countless times in victory.
...No.
It wasn't simple at all.
Anyone could gather information, analyze it, and act on it. But to keep track of every second of every skill, to have the opponent's habits, their next move, even the move after that etched clearly into your mind. That was a talent beyond ordinary people.
…Right.
This time, I was only able to look back at him because I stood far ahead.
But before this… how many times had it happened?
Too many to count.
Pierced by those eyes that seemed to see through time. No matter how desperately you resisted, struggling step by step to escape his invisible control, you would fall into despair. Every place your foot landed had already been stepped on by him.
Not a fraction off.
No one understood the strength of the man before him better than he did. No one understood the cold, silent flame burning in the ashes of his heart.
So—
"Yurnero! Admit your defeat honestly! Come to me and accept my friendship!" Morte called out again.
His two-handed axe continued to swing without slowing, steadily carving away at Satoru's HP, as if shaving pieces off his very soul.
"You can feel it too, can't you?! What I'm using right now is your ability!"
"This means I trust you!"
"Equipping two weapon types, abandoning all the countless other branches in this game, cutting away those possibilities. The reason I could do that without hesitation is because I trust you. Because… if this is your decision, then it must be the path to the strongest!"
"Why are you still struggling so ugly?! Why are you still bowing to so-called reality?!"
"Don't you understand yet… here, you have the one chance to surpass reality. You can finally cut those nightmares that haunt you into pieces!"
A madman.
Satoru didn't respond to that inexplicable passion. He remained as cold as ever.
The strongest?
No. This was just the best option available to the incapable.
"You do seem to understand me quite well. But I'm still going to kill you."
"What a shame…" Morte's voice forced its way through clenched teeth. "You've resolved yourself to kill, yet you still compromise with this in-between life. Even now, you cling to that inferiority of yours."
"Inferiority…? Maybe. But that's also just self-awareness."
"One last time. Otherwise, I will kill you," Morte said in a low voice. "Using your trump card to kill you."
Their HP bars were now in stark contrast. Satoru had already fallen deep into the yellow zone, nearing the dangerous red. Once those last slivers disappeared, everything about him would vanish without a trace. His gray life. His silent heart.
"Well? In a situation like this, why not compromise with your shallow life? Facing life and death, after all, leaves no choice. You've compromised so many times before. This wouldn't go against how you live, would it?" Morte sneered.
Crack.
A crisp sound rang out.
With a shattering noise, the Forged Blade finally broke apart, dissolving into scattered motes of light. Satoru looked at the weapon that had accompanied him for so long, yet felt no attachment at all.
"You understand me, and yet you know nothing about me."
He quietly watched Morte as he charged up a heavy attack.
Then, slowly, he smiled.
"Do you know what a ko fight is in Go?"
Morte frowned in confusion.
"When White captures Black, then Black captures White. But because the rules forbid repeating the same board state, it can't loop forever. This fight you've deliberately aligned with me is the same. From deception to counter-deception. But a battle can't loop endlessly."
"In the end, the one who gets completely deceived first loses."
Satoru raised his right hand to his chest. His empty hand looked as if it were gripping a sword hilt, while his left had already opened a virtual window.
White light gathered in his empty hand.
In the next instant, a brilliant blue line pierced straight through Morte.
"What…?!"
His eyes widened.
The two-handed axe's heavy attack was interrupted.
"No need to be surprised. You were the one who said speed was everything."
"A linear thrust…?" Morte muttered, turning to look at Satoru, who had already passed him with the thrusting skill. More precisely, he looked at the weapon in his hand.
A rapier.
Cold dread crept over him.
Three weapon types…?
Why? Why go this far?
How many other skill paths had been discarded? How many chances of survival had been erased?
Think about it. Two weapon types were already enough for most battles. Against monsters, mastering a single weapon to the limit was more than sufficient.
The look in Morte's eyes grew increasingly clouded.
"Heh… hahaha… HAHAHA—!!"
He burst into laughter.
"What is this supposed to be?! Didn't you choose this path from the very beginning?!"
Endless surprises. Endless shock. Endless dread.
From the very moment you entered this game.
You had already decided to become a red player who hunts others.
"Hahahahaha! Wonderful! This is wonderful, Yurnero!!"
Morte roared and lunged back at Satoru.
Three flashes of light erupted instantly. The rapier's low-level skill. Parallel Sting.
The clumsy two-handed axe couldn't keep up with the rapier's speed. After taking the hit, the follow-up attacks rapidly shredded the HP bar that had once held the advantage.
Sword skill chaining. Rapier chaining.
Just moments ago, when he held the rapier, he had used the same sequence.
Lost.
Lost.
Lost.
Just like before. Watching the character he had painstakingly built collapse to the ground. The screen turning gray. And on the other side, the character named Yurnero standing tall, looking down at the corpse.
...
"That was executed perfectly."
"Can I ask something?"
"?"
"Isn't it a bit wrong to treat your classmates like that?"
"Hah… so that's what you think. Unfortunately, you're wrong. They're not my classmates. I didn't even know them before playing this game. Only later did I find out they were from the neighboring school."
"Then why do it?"
"Don't you think… it's interesting?"