Closed Beta That Only I Played

Chapter 198: A Touch of Hands

Of course, I fully understood their feelings.

They were totally different from the herding teams Daeyu dispatched for me.

In other words, unlike the Daeyu herding team, these guys were the elites who received the full support of the Mirae Guild.

Herding level 1200 monsters meant that they were capable enough to deal with such monsters. Given their level, they would be ranked at least within the top 5%, or even top 3% of the highest level players in Korea.

But I didn’t care about their hostile reaction at all because I only needed to care about my own gains.

In no time I headed straight into the Giant’s Grave, and the three herding teams dispersed in the direction of 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, and 9 o’clock respectively.

‘Hmm.’

Watching them dispersing, I momentarily thought about changing Ice Wave registered in the functional skill ring to Ice Storm.

But I shook my head because when I reached level 800, I would have the opportunity to learn new skills, which I then could register in the functional skill ring.

Soon I received a message from Team No. 1, so I moved to the site in the 12 o’clock direction.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The monsters there were four meters tall, and they were stout and heavy.

I now knew why they were called giant monsters. And there were more than 40 giant monsters grouped together.

Of course, the monsters weren’t the only ones present.

Team No. 1 herding team members were also waiting for me, wondering if I really could hunt these giant monsters.

“Hunt them quickly!”

“Damn it! You think it’s easy to herd them? They are not common monsters but giant ones!”

It was not easy for the herding team to herd together more than 40 giant monsters.

In fact, six men of the squad moved tirelessly to aggro and avoid the giant monsters, and the other members of the team used heals and buffs on cooldown.

But even taking all that into account, their reaction was quite harsh.

Director Sungyop Yu, who has been assisting me close by, frowned at their actions. He was about to step forward, but I stopped him. Sungyop looked at me curiously.

I said with a smile, “I’m fine. Who would enjoy herding monsters like this when they were forced to do so?”

Did I say that because I was considerate of them? No way.

I knew that showing them my skills was the fastest way to convince them.

Moreover, I wanted to make a good first impression because they would herd the giant monsters for me for one month.

“Blink!”

So I appeared in the middle of the 40 giant monsters using Blink.

“Ice Field! Multiple Thin Ice!”

Pasasasak!

These were my skills that signaled the start of the battle.

I heard the same thing when I ran crazy on my last day in Japan.

‘When the ice land unfolds, run away and don’t look back.’

In fact, even when their guild headquarters were being torn apart, lots of them were busy running away.

But these monsters immediately charged at me, ignoring the herding team on their outskirts. From a distance, these giant monsters appeared slow, but they were surprisingly quick when I was in their midst.

“Pouring Hail! Ice Rain!”

Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter!

Puck! Puck! Puck!

I immediately used my skills.

Of course, they were definitely level 1200 giant monsters.

Actually, this was my first time encountering monsters above level 1000, let alone level 1200 monsters. Moreover, they were notorious for having very high health.

They withstood Pouring Hail and Ice Rain boosted by Ice Field reinforced by Multiple Thin Ice, and charged at me.

At that moment, I dearly missed level 7 Ice Storm because it was more powerful than level 6 Pouring Hail or level 5 Ice Rain. However, I soon stopped thinking about it because if I reached level 800 and acquired a new level 7 skill, I planned to apply it to the functional skill ring.

“Ice Wave!”

Puck!

“Kuheeeeeeeek!”

“Kukkkkkkkkkkk!”

A sharp wave of ice hit the giant monsters in front of me. Ice Wave, which became level 8 thanks to the functional skill ring, did not disappoint. It defeated five giant monsters charging at me.

Puck! Puck! Puck!

‘Hmm. It really was a good decision to choose stamina as the stat that would grow 100% alongside intellect.’

I didn’t use Ice Shield or dodge or even use Blink because my stamina increased by 700 thanks to the 700 remaining stat points I invested in Intellect that I gained from the previous quest. So, my stamina now exceeded 22,000.

Of course, I lost more health while hunting these giant monsters compared to previous monsters but it wasn’t a big deal.

Puck! Puck!

Instead, I stabbed their thighs with the +4 Enhancement Ice Emperor’s guardian sword ruthlessly. Of course, with my other hand, I used Ice Spear and Multiple Ice Arrows.

Besides, I also used Ice Prison at those giant monsters a little further away from me and linked it with Ice Blast.

At that moment, I thought that this hunting was much more fun than I thought.

Until now, all the monsters I hunted fell to Pouring Hail and Ice Storm on Ice Field reinforced with Multiple Thin Ice, so I didn’t have to use other skills.

But this time I had to use every skill I had, which made it much more fun than I thought.

Anyway, I spent some time hunting the giant monsters.

Soon there wasn’t a single giant monster left in the place that had turned into an ice land.

With a satisfied smile, I looked at Director Sungyop Yu and opened my mouth.

“Let’s move to another herding team. I really felt excited when I hunt them.”

It really thrilled me to hit them with my various skills.

At that moment a message rang.

[You have leveled up.]

For the main part of the one week quest in Japan, aside from the final day, I mainly attacked the users in the hunting grounds so I took the opportunity to hunt monsters as well.

However, the monsters there did not give me any golden rings or miscellaneous items, not to mention EXP. They only gave me points.

So, the level-up message that I was hearing for the first time in a week really delighted me.

Bang! Thud! Bang! Thud!

Director Yu was not surprised by Asirante’s fantastic hunting because he already expected it.

However, the rest of the herding members who had been hunting comfortably with the full support of the Mirae Guild could not help but stare at me blankly because they never expected this performance.

Of course, they heard rumors about Asirante because of his fantastic achievements in the 4th anniversary event or his unprecedented clearing of 80 rounds in Path C of the arena quest. In particular, they repeatedly heard that Asirante led Korea to win 1st place in the 4th anniversary event by himself.

Nonetheless, Asirante’s fame did not feel real to them. Moreover, they didn’t have to think about the gains and losses of having Asirante on their side because they were not executives or leaders of the Mirae Guild. It was just like how politics did not have a profound effect on the lives of normal citizens, so they were not interested in it at all.

Anyway, Team No. 2 and Team No. 3 showed the same initial reaction as Team No.1, but after confirming my brilliant hunting, they started herding the monsters eagerly.

They confirmed that Asirante was in a completely different league, and they began to believe his astounding records seriously.

In the United States of America.

The Holdridge Group, the Shaipe Group, and the US Government were inevitably surprised and embarrassed by the appearance of an NPC during their expedition to the Hurd McDonald Island.

So, the three groups made many amendments to the plans they had established so far, and had one common factor, namely Asirante.

They have watched Asirante closely until now, but they haven’t yet approached him.

Of course, it wasn’t because they were not interested. They were very interested.

So much so that they were willing to pay a huge amount of money to hire him.

And they tried to collect every little piece of information about him, no matter how trifling it was.

But they could not find anything. In other words, Asirante completely hid his identity. So, they concluded that Asirante was not just an ordinary user, but one belonging to one of the Mirae, Myongjin, Daesung, Kusan or Daeyu Guilds. They believed that the top Korean guilds kept Asirante’s identity under wraps after gathering information about ‘Revival Legend.’

At the Holdridge Group’s headquarters in New York, USA.

“So which guild does he belong to?”

“Obviously, he is not a member of the Daeyu. Daeyu clearly lags behind the other top Korean business groups Mirae, Myongjin, Daesung, and Kusan. Daeyu is too small to have Asirante under their command,” said Austin, Holdridge’s intelligence chief.

“Hmm…”

Everybody in the conference room fell silent at his words.

Then, one of the top five executives of the Holdridge Group at the head of the table said, “Which group is the biggest in Korea right now?”

“Well, it’s the Daesung & Kusan alliance. The next biggest is Mirae, followed by Myongjin. If you measure their power in terms of 1 to 100, it’s safe to say that the Daesung & Kusan alliance is 50, Mirae is 30, Myongjin is 20.”

“What are the movements of the Shaipe Group and the US Government?”

“As far as I know, Shaipe has reached out to the Mirae Guild first. In fact, Mirae was the top leader before Daesung and Kusan joined hands together. And the US Government has allegedly offered to join hands with the Daesung & Kusan alliance under the assumption that they are most likely to have hired Asirante since they have the highest force in Korea.”

“Um.”

“Hmm.”