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My name is Roomi. No, not in real life but in a game called YGGDRASIL.

"... *Sigh* What can I even do about this?"

Currently, I'm laying on the ground. Watching the same Player that killed all my colleagues and friends, walk towards my position.

I know that it's now my turn. I will be killed just like the others and lost some of the important items I painstakingly paid for and earned.

"... This f*cking sucks." I can only mutter some words, that's all I'm allowed to do.

I can't do anything about my current situation. I can't move due to an Abnormal Status, my Staff has been unusable for some reason, and my MP has been fully exhausted already. I can't even cast a single first-tier spell.

I just look miserable.

I f*cked up. No. That's not right. It's more like. We f*cked up.

"... We shouldn't have joined. Goddammit."

Well, we've all been enticed by the compensation so it's not like I have someone to blame, but still...

"... There's no use in doing that. You're just making yourself look pathetic." Said by the same Player that killed my friends and colleagues as he stops in front of me. He must have heard my ranting.

*Chusk!*

I was about to talk back, but it looks like he's not even interested in having a chat with me.

"... Kuk!" My neck, while I'm laying down, got suddenly pierced by a spear. Everything happened so fast that I got surprised.

[ You suffered Catastrophic Damage! ]

I was surprised. Not just by the attack but by how my HP bar reacted to the attack. Didn't know that it could reach zero that fast.

"... Haha. Sh*t" I could only laugh as my vision started going dark.

*Sigh* I just wondered. Where did the things had gone wrong?

[ You are now dead. ]

∆∆∆∆∆

( A few hours ago )

"... Alright, We're now starting this strategy meeting."

A Player that's standing on a stage, in front of us all, declared in a loud voice.

Which all of us agreed by nodding our heads.

Well, it's not like we can do anything about it.

This guy in front of us is the Leader of the Guild Omophoskos, the 2nd ranking guild in the whole YGGDRASIL.

That means, he's superior to any of us here, us who are only a member or leaders of some low ranking Clans.

Especially if I were the point of comparison.

I just started playing this game a Month ago.

Yeah, I'm still a Newbie. However, there's a reason why I'm in this meeting.

I'm probably a Chick, but I can proudly say that compare to other Newbies, I'm one of those that stood above the rest.

I'm quite of a prodigy.

I already spent a lot of money on this game so I'm quite ahead of the others. Yeah, I'm addicted to this game even though I've been playing for only a month.

I played a lot of similar DMMORPGs so this is not my first rodeo. That's probably the reason why I managed to handle YGGDRASIL faster than the others.

Obviously, I'm a member of a Clan. It's a Clan that consists of my real life and online friends. Yeah, the same guys that hooked me in this game.

The name of the clan is, Dark Horse Clan.

Our Clan is small and not known by many, we're above 1500 on the overall Clan ranking after all. But we might have no fame, we have at least a clear goals to achieve. That's the most important thing.

Our base of operations is usually within Alfheim or Asgard, cause the terrain there is pretty good. If we are hunting Heteromorphics, then Helheim is our go-to world cause the majority of places there are vast, making our hunt easier.

We plan to just lay low, proceed with our goals slowly but surely, cause we know that in this game, one wrong move is all it takes for us to lose everything.

But to how I and my clan got in our current situation, it happened a few days ago.

At that time, I'm with my friends, doing some monster hunting on the outskirts of Alfheim, when suddenly, our Clan leader messaged all of us about the invitation he just got.

He showed us the content of the Invitation and asked our opinion about it.

"... Holy sh*t. These compensations. Is this real?" We all reacted the same after looking at the invitation's info.

The invitation is from a Guild called Omophoskos, a Guild we already heard about. They're pretty famous for monopolizing some dungeons in a specific area of Midgard.

So basically, the contents are, that the Omophoskos are going to Hunt somebody, and they're gathering some small Clans that are willing to join them. All Clans that will join will be compensated handsomely.

At that moment, I thought... Who could be this unlucky Player that angered this Guild so much that they are arranging this kind of thing just to hunt him or her down?

But, we didn't care. All we need to do is just join, then once the hunt became successful, we'll get our reward, which includes the exact thing we currently needed. That's where our eyes are glued on.

We've been hunting and grinding for the past few weeks because we needed something so bad, but up until now, we're quite unlucky. But the compensation for this invitation, for some reason, has what we want exactly. It's like they know the exact thing to make our clan say yes so easily to them.

So our answer to them about whether we'll join or not is pretty obvious.

And that's how we got into our current situation.

We are brought in some kind of base, many Clans other than us are also here, while the Guild Leader of Omophoskos, the Demi-Human looking Player, is in front, discussing the plan were going to have for this hunt.

Earlier, I counted the exact number of Players that are currently here, and I managed to get a number of 74 Players, that's only from the other invited Clan including us. I exclude the Guild Members cause I don't know who's who.

"... We are going to hunt only one Player right? Then why do we need to have a plan? Even I could probably do this alone... The majority of you are probably thinking something like this right?" The Guild Leader said, completely reading my and my colleagues' thoughts. Base on the reactions, the others seemed to have the same line of thought as well.

No one can be blamed. I mean, we are going to hunt a single Player. Where could we go wrong with that? That's the reason why we joined this hunt, because it doesn't sound risky at all, that there's no way we'll fail this one.

We just thought that the reason why they need this many Players is to cover up the whole area where the hunt will happen so the Target wouldn't be able to escape or ask for any reinforcement. But base on the Guild Leader's remarks, it looks like that isn't the case.

"... You guys are here to help us, to increase the probability of success. We've been hunting this Player repeatedly for many times now, and we always failed. So trust me when I say this..." The Guild leader paused, then lean forward before speaking again.

"... Take the fight seriously right off the start."

After that, the Guild Leader gestured to someone, probably to his Guild member, then a big screen appeared behind him. On the screen, a bunch of text is displayed.

"... As I said, we've been hunting him repeatedly, so we already saw what he can do for so many times now, and the list you're seeing on the screen are the strategies we came up base on our experiences." The Guild Leader said as he points toward the first one on the list and begins the explanation.

We on the other hand are just looking at the contents of the screen, completely dumbfounded.

"... What are we even hunting? A Raid boss?" Some of the other Clan members reacted.

The strategies on the screen are probably similar to what you'll have whenever you're planning to fight a Raid Boss.

But I don't know about any of that since I am still new at this game, I only have the experience of raiding small dungeons, that's all.

But the Guild Leader had ignored their remarks and proceeded on explaining everything that was on the screen.

His explanations are pretty good and clear. It looks like all of us managed to understand everything, it's just a bit disturbing to think that everything about all of this is just for a single player, but no one voiced out something like that. At least not yet.

The explanation of our so-called strategy lasted for at least 30 minutes. And before ending our meeting, the Guild Leader asked all of us if we have any questions, and it seems like, a lot of us have.

"... You." The Guild Leader pointed out to one of us. It's a Player from another Clan.

That particular Player stands up and faces the Guild Leader.

"... I just want to make sure that this guy, the one that we are going to hunt, is a Player right?" That Player said in an incredulous tone.

"... Yes. Hundred percent that this is a Player." The Guild Leader said in a confident tone.

After that, another Player raised his hand to ask a follow-up question.

"... Sir, forgive my rudeness but can you tell us... Who exactly this Player is? Because all of this is just too unreasonable for a Single Player. If it's another Guild or Clan, then we can understand, but a single Player? Is your guild that weak to handle a single Player? Probably not. So at least, give us an acceptable answer. Cause if you can't, some of us might take this as nothing but a trap to just haul our items, or if not, you guys are just simply insulting us." That particular Player said in a serious tone. He might have said that he doesn't want to be rude, but his tone says otherwise.

After the Player said that, all the other ones seem to agree. But the gestures of the Guild Leader seem confident, like he's waiting for us to ask this exact question.

"... Fine. I'll tell you who it is. It's a guy that all of you must have heard of already. The one that we're hunting is..." The Guild Leader paused for a moment before speaking again.

"... He's pretty known in the community as Raizel. To those who never heard of him yet, he is the current Rank 1."

After the Guild Leader said this, murmurs had started going around the room we are in.

Of course, we or I know who that is. But in my case, I only know who that guy is because of the news about him that is currently circulating around. About how he's the perpetrator of the Niflheim issue. But other than that, I only know him as the rank 1. No more than that. I'm still new in this game after all.

But while I'm in the middle of my own thoughts, a certain Player raised his hand and then ask another follow-up question.

"... Then what is the reason? It's not like once we killed him, all is finished right? Surely, you have a bigger reason to do all this."

After hearing this question, the Guild Leader seems to ponder for a moment. He continued pondering for seconds before answering the question.

"... Well, I do have a motive, and it's pretty simple. That's, to kill him." The Guild Leader said in a casual tone.

"... Kill him?" Some Player voiced out. Their moods seem to say something like "That's all?"

"... Yeah, kill him. You can just think that, he's my target. Killing him means a lot... for me." The Guild Leader said mysteriously, especially about the last part. He really pressed his tone on that one. I wonder what is that about.

But his answer is not direct, surely not just me but all of us are starting to feel hesitant about this already.

But before deciding about anything, I have a question. I want to know something too. It's been bothering me for a while now ever since I entered this building.

"... Alright, I'll have my turn."

Seeing that no one is going to ask, I tried raising my hand.

*Tut*

But before I could even do it, a noise had caught my attention. No, it's just not me, but everyone seems to hear the same noise.

[ New Notification +1 ]

It's the noise that the game system makes when a new notification had arrived.

I looked down on my Panel and check what the notification is about... and what I saw had, confused me a lot.

[ A presence of a certain Player has been announced. ]

Who in the world would do something like this?

Just after reading this, a red arrow suddenly appeared on my Map. Probably indicating that it wants to show me something on the Map.

"... Everyone, the time has come. Get ready." The Guild Leader said with a tone like he knows exactly what was going on.

"... Umm, get ready for what?" A certain Player asked, completely confused about the situation.

"... The one that we've been planning to do. To hunt someone." The Guild Leader said as he control his Game Panel.

"... Wait what?"

"... What do you mean?"

"... Explain to us."

Some of the Players are even more confused as they all voiced out their frustrations.

"...Well, this is a very unexpected situation. Even I was surprised that our prey will make the first move." After saying this, he started walking down the stage he is in then speak again.

"... The process might be different but our goal is still the same. To kill him. His location is on your map. Follow what we planned once everything is positioned and once everything is done, you'll get what you joined for. That's all."

Just right after the Guild Leader said that, he fastened his pace and start walking towards the exit of the building we were in.

While he's walking, he speaks again in a commanding tone...

"... Start preparing for the incoming battle, once you're done, follow me outside."

All of us including myself want to ask for more clarification, but before we could even voice out what we had in mind, the Guild Leader stopped walking just right before the exit door and look back at us.

"... Let me tell y'all a secret. This is the original situation. He is my Target, but at the same time, I am also his Target. I will only go for him even if he has companions... so that means, he should only go for me too, right? In my case, that's how it is, but for him? No. He's a greedy b*tch. Once he's done with me, he'll surely come after everyone that's within this base, that means, including you guys. He already used an Item that sealed this area so no one won't be able to escape. I can, since I'm a World item holder too, but he knows that I won't do that. Also, note that If you log out, it will immediately count as you dying. So if you want a quick death and don't want to help me on this one, then be my guest." After that, he immediately goes outside. Leaving us no room to retort.

"... Wtf?"

"... He just leaves like that."

"... That f*cking guy."

Everyone is frustrated. They all complained but there's no one there to hear their complaints.

Watching this made me and all my colleagues question ourselves.

Where the hell did we get ourselves into?

But.

Unknown to us, the answer to our question will come in, right before our eyes.

"... Sh*t."

And it's an answer we'll regret asking for to come.

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