‘Being on a team with those guys is an unchangeable reality. I need to find something I can do here.’
Choi Hyun-seok accepted the situation.
He had to play the game with a goat, an eagle, and a centipede.
This was already a done deal.
What he needed to do now was figure out how to lead these demons to victory.
He used his combat power meter to examine his teammates.
[ Combat Power: 43502 ]
[ Combat Power: 39396 ]
[ Combat Power: 63201 ]
These were the combat powers of the goat Holgoth, the eagle Ikigli, and the centipede Pedissen, in that order.
‘Higher than I thought.’
Except for Choi Hyun-seok, everyone had above-average combat power.
Especially the centipede Pedissen’s combat power was overwhelmingly high.
Choi Hyun-seok narrowed his eyes and looked at Pedissen.
‘No matter how I look at it, he seems more like a magical beast than a demon…’
Pedissen looked like a giant centipede through and through.
It was about 4 meters long.
It had over 50 pairs of legs.
In terms of appearance alone, it looked closer to a magical beast than a demon.
‘Well, as long as they can communicate, they’re considered demons… so there shouldn’t be any problem.’
The criteria for distinguishing between demons and magical beasts.
There are many, but one of the most important factors is the ability to use language.
Pedissen participated in this game as a demon, so he should be able to communicate.
‘If we can communicate, I can somehow come up with a strategy to fight.’
One way or another, this game is a team battle.
Especially Choi Hyun-seok, who lacks personal combat power, needs to utilize his team effectively.
‘First, I need to know each of their specialties or strengths. I need to accurately assess my teammates’ strengths to devise a strategy.’
Choi Hyun-seok approached his teammates.
He clapped his hands to get their attention.
“Alright, everyone! Focus for a moment.”
The three demons turned to look at Choi Hyun-seok.
“From now on, we’ll have a strategy meeting…”
“We don’t need your opinion!”
Holgoth retorted abruptly.
The way he stroked his beard and glared at him made Choi Hyun-seok genuinely want to beat him up.
‘This goat bastard…’
Blood rushed to the back of his neck and surged upwards.
Choi Hyun-seok took a deep breath and desperately smiled.
“Goat, calm down…”
“I, Holgoth, will be the leader! Do the others agree?”
Holgoth shouted.
“…”
Ikigli crossed his arms and remained silent.
A silent affirmation.
Pedissen also quietly looked at Holgoth before nodding his head.
Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes widened at the sight.
‘Why the hell!?’
Ikigli, with his relatively low combat power, was one thing, but even the strongest Pedissen acknowledged Holgoth as the leader.
Choi Hyun-seok sighed.
‘Hoo, let’s think positively. The goat bastard may be an ass, but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders…’
He tried to interpret the situation as positively as possible.
Holgoth was extremely annoying, but it was true that he was relatively smart for a demon.
It was better to have a cunning guy like Holgoth as the leader than a mindless idiot who just charged in.
Holgoth stroked his beard and stepped forward.
“Hehe. Good! Then I will explain the strategy I have in mind.”
“Alright.”
“First, we throw that lowly human as bait! And then we, who are hiding, will ambush the ones who bite the bait!”
Choi Hyun-seok waited for the next words.
Choi Hyun-seok and Holgoth stared at each other silently.
“…”
“…”
No matter how long he waited, there was nothing more.
Choi Hyun-seok was the first to speak.
“That’s it?”
“What else is needed?”
“Ah, okay.”
Choi Hyun-seok replied in a dry voice.
He quietly closed his eyes.
‘I’m an idiot for trusting a demon bastard…’
Why does only he have to face such trials?
He felt like grabbing God by the collar and asking.
***
Just before the game started.
Holgoth handed Choi Hyun-seok the flag assigned to the team.
It was to ensure that Choi Hyun-seok played the role of bait.
“You will hold this flag and wander around.”
“By myself?”
“Yes. If you do that, the other demons will drool and rush at you. Then, at the appropriate moment, we will ambush them from behind.”
“How can I trust those words?”
Choi Hyun-seok frowned.
This plan had many flaws.
The enemies might not be stupid enough to take the bait.
And even if they did take the bait as planned, if Holgoth betrayed him, Choi Hyun-seok could end up dying in vain.
“I also need to collect flags to win. I have no intention of throwing away the best bait, so don’t worry.”
“Hmm, still, I don’t think such a flimsy plan will work…”
Choi Hyun-seok was reluctant, but he had no choice but to accept it.
After all, this game was a team battle, and all the other teammates had decided to follow Holgoth’s words.
Finally, the game started.
As planned, Choi Hyun-seok walked alone through the forest.
All the other teammates hid underground using the centipede demon Pedissen’s ability.
Choi Hyun-seok nervously waved the flag.
“I’m walking around saying, ‘I’m obviously bait~’ Who the hell would be stupid enough to take it?”
Choi Hyun-seok pouted and grumbled.
“Unless they’re goldfish, no idiot would fall for this kind of plan…”
“Hey, isn’t that a human!?”
“Kuh! How lucky! A human.”
Real idiots, dumber than goldfish, appeared.
Choi Hyun-seok stared blankly at the four demons who appeared.
‘What? Who are these stupid pig-like guys…’
They seemed to be a type of orc, but they all looked strangely stupid.
The guys surrounded Choi Hyun-seok and started talking among themselves.
“I’m hungry! I want to eat human stew!”
“No. Killing is disqualification unless it’s accidental.”
“Then we’ll just kill him accidentally!”
“Hmm, not a bad idea.”
The demons surrounding Choi Hyun-seok didn’t take any precautions.
The magic power felt from Choi Hyun-seok was too insignificant.
From their perspective, with an average combat power of 40,000, Choi Hyun-seok, walking alone, was just easy prey.
‘Aren’t they being too stupid…?’
He didn’t know how these guys passed the running race.
Just as he was thinking that.
Finally, a demon who seemed capable of thought appeared.
“Be careful. There might be other teammates nearby.”
Choi Hyun-seok nodded vigorously at his explanation.
‘Yeah, yeah! This is a team battle! Think about it logically. Does it make sense for someone to be walking around alone like this as soon as the game starts? It’s super suspicious!’
Choi Hyun-seok cheered for the relatively smart demon.
But in the end, he was also a demon.
It wasn’t enough to block the aura of stupidity emanating from the other teammates.
“Jarak. Are you perhaps scared?”
“Kuhelhel! Jarak is a coward! A coward!”
“W-Who are you calling a coward! A human like that is nothing!”
Choi Hyun-seok put his hand to his forehead.
In the end, even the normal demon had fallen into stupidity.
Choi Hyun-seok didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
‘Either way, they definitely took the bait.’
The idiot squad was completely off guard.
Now, all Choi Hyun-seok had to do was make sure they were completely focused on him.
That way, the effect would be even greater when his teammates ambushed them.
‘I need to pray that the goat comes out at the right moment.’
He desperately hoped that Holgoth was smarter than the idiots in front of him.
Choi Hyun-seok took a stance and prepared for battle.
“Kuhelhel! The human is fighting. He’s a stupid human.”
“Coward Jarak. Why don’t you take care of him?”
“I’m not a coward!”
The enemies approached without taking the slightest precaution.
Choi Hyun-seok lightly stepped forward and punched one of them in the face.
Thwack!
“Cough, cough…”
The guy’s head tilted back sharply.
Blood streamed down his face from his nose.
The other demons grabbed their stomachs and started giggling.
“Kuhelhel! Coward Jarak got hit!”
“Jarak is weaker than I thought. Was he a coward and a weakling?”
“Kuaaa! This is because I was careless… Cough!”
Choi Hyun-seok punched the guy called Jarak in the face again.
‘I need to give the other guys a punch each, fairly.’
Choi Hyun-seok’s movements quickened.
In the past, he was bound by the limits of humans and used limited power, but not anymore.
Now he knows how great the power of magic and mana is.
‘Don’t define limits in your head.’
You can do anything if you want.
As his handling of magic and mana became more proficient, he was able to realize his imagination as it was.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Choi Hyun-seok showed mysterious movements and quickly threw punches.
“Kuaaak! This weakling!”
“Nosebleed! I have a nosebleed! I’ll kill you!”
The demons’ faces were all messed up.
The guys who were giggling and off guard had no choice but to give up their nose bones as a price.
‘Should I start being careful now?’
The enemies’ eyes began to glow red.
Even though they looked like that, their average combat power was 40,000.
If they started attacking seriously, Choi Hyun-seok would have a hard time even holding out for a moment.
“Human! I’ll kill you!”
“Stew! Let’s eat stew!”
The four demons rushed at him.
Choi Hyun-seok took a breath and raised his fist.
‘Concentrate their attention.’
He needed to capture their eyes in an instant.
To do that, he needed a flashy, wide-range technique.
Raid Runner Style Combat
7th Form – Crushing Ripple Blast
Choi Hyun-seok’s fist struck the ground.
Kwang-!
With an explosion, dirt and rocks flew in all directions.
“What, what is it!?”
“It’s magic! Be careful!”
The shockwave caused the enemies to retreat.
And the rising dust made it impossible to see anything.
At that moment, as the guys were panicking and looking around.
Suddenly!
The centipede Pedissen and his teammates poked their heads out of the ground.
“Kuaaaa!”
The enemies couldn’t react to the surprise attack from the teammates who had sprung from the ground.
‘The centipede is definitely strong.’
A combat power of 60,000 wasn’t just for show.
Pedissen subdued two of them in an instant.
“Did we already win?”
After a while.
Choi Hyun-seok’s team was able to take one flag without any damage.
It was a victory as easy as it was anticlimactic.
***
That evening.
Choi Hyun-seok was staring blankly at the red sunset.
“Why…? Why the hell…?”
Choi Hyun-seok was looking at his hands.
He was holding as many as seven flags in his hands.
“How is this stupid plan working!?”
The flag he had at the start of the game was one.
The remaining six were all acquired from other teams.
Holgoth’s plan had really worked out beautifully.
“Eummehehehe! Did you see that, human!”
Holgoth burst into a bizarre laugh.
He really didn’t want to admit it, but he had to.
‘At first, I thought it was just luck…’
It wasn’t luck.
The demons were more stupid than he thought.
And as Holgoth said, Choi Hyun-seok was really the best bait.
‘Let’s think positively, positively. Anyway, the goal is to advance to the next game.’
The situation was very smooth.
Choi Hyun-seok once again organized the situation.
‘We’ve caught a total of four teams so far. Considering that only half a day has passed since the game started, it’s a decent pace.’
There were quite a few flags gathered because some teams had multiple flags.
Choi Hyun-seok raised his head and looked at the sky.
The magic-made situation board was showing the flag status of each team in real-time.
1st Place – Team 5 [14 flags]
2nd Place – Team 8 [12 flags]
3rd Place – Team 24 [10 flags]
…
10th Place – Team 9 [7 flags]
Choi Hyun-seok is Team 9, currently in 10th place.
It could be said that the situation was quite smooth.
Anyway, if they were only in the top 10, they could advance to the next game.
At this rate, if they just picked up the tempo a little, they could definitely enter the safe zone.
At that moment, the numbers on the situation board changed.
1st Place – Team 8 [12 flags]
2nd Place – Team 24 [10 flags]
…
9th Place – Team 9 [7 flags]
Team 5, which was in 1st place, disappeared, and all the teams moved up one rank.
Naturally, Team 9, to which Choi Hyun-seok belonged, also moved up from 10th to 9th place.
Choi Hyun-seok noticed something strange.
‘Where did the flags that the original 1st place team had go?’
The flags of Team 5, which had been running in 1st place until just before, had disappeared.
Originally, another team that had taken those flags should have risen to 1st place.
But looking at the situation board now, it was as if the flags that the 1st place team had had disappeared.
At that moment.
Once again, the numbers on the situation board changed.
1st Place – Team 24 [10 flags]
Following Team 5, Team 8 disappeared.
Naturally, Team 24, which was in 3rd place, became 1st place by default.
Choi Hyun-seok’s Team 9 also settled in 8th place.
It was definitely a good thing, but he couldn’t just be happy.
‘The number of flags of the other teams still hasn’t changed.’
The situation was flowing strangely.
Where did the flags that the original 1st and 2nd place teams had disappear to?
Unless they had all gone crazy and thrown away their flags, someone must have taken those flags.
‘Did they perhaps hide the flags? Dug a hole and buried them or something…’
Choi Hyun-seok set up various hypotheses.
‘Maybe an outsider who isn’t a game participant took the flags.’
Or an uncontrollable, powerful magical beast appeared.
Maybe there was a human attack.
If so, the reason why the flags were disappearing could be sufficiently explained.
‘Anyway, I need to be careful. There’s no point in talking to the goat bastard, he won’t listen. I need to be careful, at least.’
Choi Hyun-seok is the only human.
Since he’s the only one who can use his head, he has no choice but to play the role of staff officer.
Just as he was thinking that.
A strange noise came to Choi Hyun-seok’s ear.
Clang-! Clang-!
The sound of metal clashing against metal.
When he turned his head, he saw something bizarre wandering in the distance.
“Armor…?”
Armor painted entirely in black was approaching.