“Even if I die, it doesn’t matter. Even just a few minutes is fine!”
Sudden frustration surged within me. And along with it, an exhilarating thrill at the thought that no one else would be there. The blend of those two feelings set me on fire.
The moment I accepted the offer, a party invitation popped up. I smashed the Enter key like a madman.
Mage, Ku.
Mages have weak health and defense, but boast high attack power. Most of their skills are area attacks. So among all classes, their hunting speed is the fastest.
“If I stick close and follow along, I might level up properly for once.”
Excited once more, I quickly exited the crumbling temple. After some quick preparations, I stood waiting in front of the portal to the ‘Desert of No Return.’
The main portal is right in the middle of town, so it was crawling with characters.
Of course, it was late on a weekday night, so everyone was AFK and the chat window was dead quiet. As I wandered absentmindedly between the characters frozen like statues, Ku appeared.
---
[Party] Ku: Are you ready? Shall we go?
[Party] Mir: Yep, yep
---
As soon as I touched the portal, a selection window popped up. I chose ‘Desert of No Return.’ The loading screen flashed by, and the screen changed.
The map’s concept was a barren desert, winds whipping sand everywhere.
Here and there stood dead trees, sand pits cascading down like waterfalls, rocks shaped like mushrooms. On the monotonous ground, tiny scorpions and spiders scurried about, giving off a pathetic sense of liveliness.
This desert map is a PK zone. It’s also vast, with plenty of monster respawns, making it the most popular area for early users—and so, PK battles are always happening here.
“There really are monsters crawling all over.”
Right from the entrance, monsters in the shapes of lizards or birds clustered together. The moment Ku arrived, he unleashed a barrage of ‘Blazing Flames’ skills.
---
[Party] Mir: Seeing how there aren’t even any dropped items at the entrance, I guess there really is nobody here?
[Party] Ku: I think everyone’s avoiding it because they think those guys are hereㅎ
[Party] Mir: Honestly, I would tooㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] Ku: Most of them are probably done leveling up and moved to the next map. I bet after this weekend, everyone else will move on too.
[Party] Mir: Oh
[Party] Mir: Then starting this weekend, we can level up here safely?
[Party] Ku: ㅎㅎ But that’s when it gets crowded, so we have to enjoy it while we can
[Party] Mir: Ahㅋㅋㅋ True
---
After a bit of small talk, we dove right in. Ku, our damage dealer, led the way, spamming ‘Blazing Flames’ again.
Monsters rushed in, only to get scorched and collapse en masse. A rain of junk loot dropped beneath them. And my EXP bar rose even faster than it had in the temple.
I trailed behind, repeatedly exclaiming in awe, unable to think of anything else.
After I got used to Ku’s chosen route, I snapped out of my daze and began moving ahead, gathering up monsters where Ku could see me.
Then I used ‘Ominous Step’ to slow down the mobs swarming toward us.
---
[Party] Mir: Is it alright if I just keep slowing them?
[Party] Ku: Yeah, one hit is all it takes anywayㅎㅎ
---
Still, just following along felt a bit shameless, so I hustled even more than Ku, gathering monsters together.
Thanks to my movements, our field of view widened, making mob gathering much more efficient. I slowed regular monsters, and debuffed named mobs with defense down, letting Ku’s pace remain unstoppable.
---
[Party] Ku: Fast, right?
---
It really was fast.
Freshly graduated from level 100, with no one else on the map, and Ku picking the routes with the most monsters—it all added up. Either way, the constant level-up effects made my mouth stretch in a grin that reached my ears.
---
[Party] Mir: Thxthxthxthx! If it weren’t for you, Ku, I’d still be stuck suffering in the templeㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] Ku: Oh, it’s nothing~
[Party] Mir: But really, nobody’s comingㅋㅋ
[Party] Ku: That’s why we have to grind hardㅎ
---
With giggles, we ran three more laps.
It was so quiet at dawn that I was sure nobody would show up, and I was inwardly snickering. But unfortunately, on the next route, we found traces of someone else.
---
[Party] Mir: Huh? That gold down there isn’t ours, is it?
---
Items don’t auto-loot here, and unfortunately, they just drop to the ground. Luckily, whoever killed the monster keeps ownership.
If an item belongs to me or a party member, its grade color shows as text. If not, it appears in red.
That’s how I knew—the gold on the ground wasn’t ours. The smile plastered on my face vanished in an instant.
---
[Party] Ku: Someone’s here. Get ready.
---
Get ready for PK—my eyes darted around, scanning up, down, left, right. You never know where or when they might pop up.
Halfway through our route, we finally ran into the intruder.
---
[Victor]
---
Above the character’s head, next to their ID, was a tacky rose mark.
Coincidentally, the class was Mage. And the guild was ‘Hana.’
It’s a notorious guild packed with rotten players from the main server, currently bullying people and acting like big shots on the Another server.
“Wow. Must have seen someone was here and dashed over.”
A swarm of monsters trailed behind Victor. The moment he spotted us, he stopped and started firing off area skills. He was clearing the surroundings, probably to deal with us.
Watching the monsters melt, I tensed up at the fact he was a Mage too. On top of that, he kept spamming his longest-range skill, and the aftershocks even reached us.
“Ah, seriously!”
Even in a PK zone, if your PK mode is off, other players’ attacks can’t hit you. But Victor’s attacks were landing squarely on us.
---
[Victor has used ‘Rending Earth.’]
---
With each crack forming underfoot, Ku’s and my HP dropped sharply. I’d been hoping he might just pass by, but with his preemptive attack, I glared at the screen.
“If I’m going down, I’m taking him with me.”
No way I’d die without even resisting. I hit F12.
---
[PK Mode Activated]
---
I charged in.
My character barreled through the open corridor, using ‘Ominous Step’ and ‘Shattering Skin’ on Victor. His movement speed slowed and his defense dropped.
Then, I was startled.
I’d expected to get blown away before even using my skills, but even as spells rained down, my character kept standing, chugging potions.
Even though I was the one controlling it, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“Huh? Wait, that’s not even hurting that much?”
Was it because I’d dumped all my remaining stat points into health before coming to the desert?
Or was Victor just weaker than I’d thought?
I was fascinated to see Victor, unable to finish me in one blow, sticking close to me instead. That surprise didn’t last long—I quickly used ‘Song of Misfortune’ on Victor.
It’s one of a debuffer’s main skills; if it lands, the target can move but can’t use skills. The success rate depends on the stats of both players, so it took quite a while to actually land on Victor.
“Got him!”
Finally, Victor’s character turned completely ashen.
As I cheered, Ku, who’d been biding his time, suddenly rushed out from behind. Victor seemed startled by the sudden charge of a damage dealer.
Maybe it was because of the debuff, but Victor sluggishly turned and started retreating.
During that time, Ku’s relentless attacks drove Victor’s HP back and forth wildly.
The potion hotkey is the left number keys. Most people put health potions on 1. I couldn’t help but laugh at the image of Victor, pale and frantic, mashing the 1 key.
While I was laughing at the monitor, Ku went berserk, spamming skills. But perhaps because there was a level gap, Victor just wouldn’t die.
“Aww, can’t get him.”
A bit disappointing, but still—how often do you get to toy with a PKer from that notorious guild like this?
It’s something you almost never get to experience.
I stayed beside Ku, keeping my debuffs going so Victor couldn’t recover. Victor stubbornly held on, managing to run all the way back near the entrance.
By now, we’d chased him enough, so I figured we could just let him go. I was about to type that in chat when—
“What the? We got him...!”
Right in front of the exit, Victor collapsed. Ku had unleashed a rapid-fire combo of AoEs and single-target skills, taking Victor down.
On the main server, the stat difference is huge, and you can carry an absurd number of potions, so it’s hard to believe Victor died because he ran out.
And it wasn’t likely Victor just gave up and took his hands off the keyboard with the exit right there. Ku had relentlessly chased and skillfully controlled his attacks, making it possible.
---
[Party] Ku: Whew, that was toughㅎㅎ;
[Party] Mir: Awesome
---
Victor seemed stunned.
He lay there, a corpse on the ground, silent. Usually, people immediately respawn in town after dying, but seeing Victor’s unmoving corpse, Ku and I wandered around nearby, keeping watch.
About a minute later, Victor quietly respawned. Left behind were his random junk items.
Unlike the main server, in Another, you don’t drop equipped gear on death—only random inventory items.
That was nice, but this time, I found it a bit disappointing.
---
[Party] Mir: Wow, seriously, that was amazingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] Ku: ㅋㅋ Thought we couldn’t get him, but we did
[Party] Mir: But what if he brings his guildmates?
[Party] Ku: Then we just run
---
A perfectly reasonable answer.
---
[Party] Mir: Ackkkkkkkkkkkkk
[Party] Ku: ㅋㅋ Let’s do another lap
---
Wanting to get at least one more level, we followed the route again.
But then, the pride-hurt Victor showed up once more.
---
[Party] Ku: He’s back, be careful
---
Maybe the loss got to him—Victor seemed set on taking out me, the debuffer, first.
“Huh? What the? Why is he so fast now?”
I got close to debuff him like before, but Victor’s attacks were different this time.
“Feels like he’s hitting harder, too?”
Did he change his setup, or maybe poured all his stat points into spirit?
My HP kept dropping dangerously, and my hands started shaking. My left hand spammed 1 for red potions, while my right frantically clicked the mouse left and right to dodge.
---
[Victor has used Blazing Inferno.]
[Victor has used Rending Earth.]
[Victor has used Blazing Inferno.]
---
If I got too close, Victor used AoEs; if I moved away, he fired single-target spells. Single-target spells are harder to aim at moving characters but deal more damage than AoEs.
“Ugh! Why do these last so long?!”
Each time the long flames seared my character, I couldn’t help but scream. As my HP got lower, I ran in circles around the area.
“What do I do? Should I just run away?”
Ku probably couldn’t get close either—maybe it’d be better to just make a clean escape rather than keep getting hit like this?
Just as I thought that, Ku, who’d been hanging back, suddenly dashed in.
Amazingly, Ku managed to endure Victor’s attacks. Barely, but it gave me courage.
“Now’s my chance!”
Victor hesitated at Ku’s sudden charge. His attacks on me weakened, and his movements slowed.
I saw my opportunity and quickly aimed the mouse. Luckily, Song of Misfortune landed instantly.
Once again, Victor had no choice but to run.
Everything after that was the same. Victor retreated all the way back to the entrance, and along the way, got knocked down by Ku’s dazzling control.
Unlike last time, Victor quickly respawned as if running away, and we laughed ourselves silly.
---
[Party] Mir: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ This is killing me
[Party] Mir: You think he’ll come back again?
[Party] Ku: Maybe he’ll actually bring reinforcements this timeㅎ
---
After losing to us twice, he must have been pissed.
So we carefully kept grinding, expecting a gang to show up, but for some reason, Victor never appeared again.
“What? They said there’s a war on the main server, so maybe no one could come help? Or maybe he was too embarrassed to ask?”
Whatever it was, it was a blessing for us.
And so, we monopolized the Desert of No Return until five in the morning.
It wasn’t until much later that I found out ‘Victor,’ who lost to us twice, was an incredibly petty and shameless person.
Chapter 3: The Weakest Link’s Revenge
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