## Chapter 203 – The Rats of Luzgaard
『The Mystical Grapevine grants its owner immunity to the abilities of other players.』
The effect popped up right before my eyes.
[You have completely resisted the opponent’s 〈Hypnosis〉.]
‘Completely resisted the ability?’
My eyes widened. This was the first time I’d seen this notification from someone other than myself, aside from when I tested it.
‘That’s not what’s important right now.’
I immediately reached out towards Scarlet.
A being with abilities other than us. I was planning to capture her and torture her, limb from limb, to extract information.
My hand tightly gripped Scarlet’s neck. But just before I caught her, Scarlet’s figure twisted.
“…….”
Scarlet faded away like smoke and began to disappear before my eyes. An item being torn to shreds in her hand caught my eye.
‘A space teleportation scroll?’
[The item the opponent used just now is indeed a 〈Space Teleportation Scroll〉.]
With that, Scarlet vanished before my eyes.
I immediately began to assess the situation. To understand what the hell was going on.
-The family head is holding on well for now, but he won’t last long. He’ll soon become a useless old man in the back room.
It was no coincidence that KJ Honorary Chairman’s words came to mind at this moment.
-Recently, there are insidious rats that have sneaked in there, gnawing at the homeowner and building their nests.
I thought those rats referred to William and other internal members of Luzgaard.
But with a little more thought, I could find something strange.
‘Rats gnawing at the homeowner and building their nests.’
The description was somewhat inappropriate to refer to William and the others.
The reason Luzgaard was able to become so powerful was its solidarity.
They compete with each other, but they think of themselves as one family.
They consider themselves blood relatives living under one roof.
In other words, the rat was referring to Scarlet, an outsider from the start.
‘First, I need to check the opponent’s information.’
Since she’s become an enemy, knowing the enemy is essential to winning the fight.
Fortunately, I had a way to find out.
〈Status Window〉
Name: Scarlet
Strength: 13
Agility: 14
Stamina: 17
Physical Resistance: 9%
That’s right, the [Encyclopedia].
Of course, if the opponent also has the [Encyclopedia] ability, they’ll investigate me too, but….
‘As expected, there’s no way she’d have it.’
I looked through the opponent’s [Status Window] thoroughly, but she hadn’t unlocked the Encyclopedia.
‘To unlock the Encyclopedia, you need to secure a source of points.’
The only place to acquire points is the main quest.
To extract as much efficiency as I do, you need [Daily Quests] and [Shop Window].
But the probability of meeting all those requirements was extremely low.
‘In short, the opponent can’t figure me out.’
That means I’m ahead in terms of information.
Then I only need to worry about one thing.
That’s hypnosis.
[Hypnosis]
Rank: Legendary
Description: Hypnotizes the opponent by making eye contact. The hypnotized target will do whatever the caster tells them to do. The number of people that can be hypnotized at once is 17.
-〉 +7 Increase in number limit
-〉 +5 Increase in casting speed
‘Not something to worry about?’
It’s far below the level of the hypnosis app I use.
In particular, the limit on the number of people was fatal.
‘Was the problem that the rank was Legendary?’
I don’t know. It seems like she had difficulty acquiring points, so she couldn’t even enhance it properly.
‘Nevertheless, the reason she was able to buy the [Space Teleportation Scroll] must be because of the [Event Shop].’
The mileage in the [Event Shop] is collected differently from points.
You can collect it by steadily grinding.
Players only need to farm items on the island and sell them during the 10 minutes the event shop is open.
The accumulated mileage is maintained even after the shop closes and is not reset, and the island even periodically resets the farmed items.
So anyone can collect mileage and buy items as long as they put in the time and effort.
‘Of course, that’s theoretically possible.’
The selling price of the [Space Teleportation Scroll] is 50 million mileage.
To buy just one, you have to sell 70 billion won worth of goods.
To collect that much money, it would take decades… maybe even over a hundred years.
It’s realistically impossible.
But how did Scarlet have it?
As I looked through her information, I stopped abruptly.
Standing before one clue that combined all the variables I’d seen so far.
Age: 1,458 years old
Other: [Fountain of Youth], [Root of the World Tree]….
***
“Damn it, what the hell was that bastard?”
Scarlet cursed and rubbed her neck.
Even though his hand didn’t touch her, she felt goosebumps at the situation where she almost got caught.
‘It wasn’t a speed that a human could produce.’
The moment she failed to hypnotize him, she felt something was wrong and used the [Space Teleportation Scroll].
But she almost got caught anyway.
If she hadn’t practiced running away tens of thousands of times to check the damned ‘Sumerian bitch’, she would have been caught for sure.
‘Especially his eyes… it was like he’d been rolling around on the battlefield for years.’
You can often see them when you wander around the battlefield.
Monsters whose emotional parts are overloaded and finally break down, mechanically killing people like wooden puppets with a screw loose.
His eyes were exactly like that.
‘This has become troublesome. To think he was the type who couldn’t be hypnotized.’
The plan failed.
Unfortunately, Luzgaard is a no-go.
As long as that guy is next to the new family head, Luzgaard can’t be eaten.
But it didn’t matter.
Joy filled Scarlet’s eyes.
‘Maybe I’ve found prey that’s even more attractive than Luzgaard.’
The problem is how to bring the opponent over to my side.
Especially against a monster that can’t even be hypnotized.
Scarlet smirked.
‘There’s no tool as attractive as a hostage when it comes to winning people over.’
***
“Woojin? What’s going on?”
Isabelle, hearing the commotion, ran out from inside the room.
“I’ll explain in detail later. You wait quietly in the room.”
After reassuring Isabelle and sending her back inside the room, I stared at the hologram window in front of me.
‘1,458 years old?’
It was an immense age. So much so that I wondered if that could even be called a human age.
Honestly, I don’t know how long she was on that island.
Maybe she was there for a very long time.
To buy the [Fountain of Youth] to avoid being consumed by time, and to buy the [Root of the World Tree] to survive the island’s harsh environment….
Having rolled around like that, she cleared the main quest and barely returned to Earth.
Even if I don’t know exactly when that was, it was clear that it was a long time ago.
Maybe it wasn’t even a time when people shouted ‘Status Window’ and awakened like me.
I suddenly came to my senses and shook my head vigorously.
‘Now is not the time to be thinking about that.’
I came out of the room, leaving Isabelle inside, and quickly came to a conclusion based on the information I had obtained.
‘Scarlet’s only strength is hypnosis. And its limitations are clear. It’s not a direct threat to me right now.’
She knows that too, and that’s why she ran away. Even using the [Space Teleportation Scroll] that she must have bought for a large sum.
But even if I’m safe, others aren’t.
As expected, my smartphone suddenly vibrated.
I had received a text message.
???: I’m sorry about what happened earlier. Honestly, I didn’t know you were the same type as me.
Looking at the content, it seemed to be Scarlet.
Scarlet: Anyway, I want to reconcile with you and make a suggestion.
Me: A suggestion?
Scarlet: Just to work together.
Me: Sorry, not interested ㅅㄱ
Scarlet: Is that so? You should be interested. Otherwise, I’ll detonate the nuclear bomb I left at the Luzgaard main residence.
“…….”
Scarlet: Then you, and that blonde little girl you cherish, will say bye-bye forever.
Me: Interesting
Scarlet: Are you willing to listen to the suggestion now?
Me: Tell me
For a very brief moment, the time it took to reply seemed to increase, and then Scarlet sent a reply.
Scarlet: I want you to kill a woman named ‘Etana’. Then I won’t threaten you and your people anymore.
Me: Etana?
Scarlet sent a photo.
It was a strangely 생긴 woman.
She looked like an Iranian model, and she was quite beautiful, but her eyes were so sunken that she seemed to have almost no emotion.
If I had to express it, she was a person with boredom etched on her face.
Me: Who is this woman?
Scarlet: Well. Should I say she’s the enemy of all of us returnees?
Me: So what kind of person is this woman?
Scarlet: I don’t know the details either. The important thing is that she will come to you someday too. To confiscate everything you have.
She’s telling an enigmatic story, but I knew one thing for sure.
That she’s a very dangerous being, and that Scarlet is being chased by this woman right now.
So I sent a text message.
Me: You want me to kill that woman that much? Then come in front of me, do a dogeza, and beg.
Scarlet: What?
Me: Please make this Scarlet your exclusive bitch. Beg me.
Scarlet: …….
Me: I’ll think about it if you act like a bitch under me, whine, and give birth to about ten of my children. I’ll consider it if you lick my ass like a whore for 10 years.
Then there was no reply for a while. After waiting for a long time, a word finally came back.
Scarlet: ㅗ Die.
And at that moment, I used [Clone].
If Scarlet is talking so confidently, there must really be a nuke installed somewhere here.
‘And she’s going to try to activate it with hypnotized puppets.’
I’ll quickly scan and dispose of the explosives first.
And if there are any remnants, I’ll take care of them together.
I copied and used Park Jimin’s [Time Stop].
I also created 1,000 clones.
Then I sent my clones all over the Luzgaard main residence.
Is it because there are so many of them?
Or is it because the clones are all using [Time Stop]?
My stamina was dropping at a rapid rate.
Even with a stamina stat of 7,489, it couldn’t handle it, and my stamina was plummeting.
‘The time I can maintain with my current stamina is about 40 minutes?’
But there was no need to worry.
I leaned against the wall in the stopped time and leisurely watched my stamina drop.
Then, when my stamina dropped to nearly 1/3, I took out a [Rune of Complete Recovery] from the [Shop Window] and used it.
Then the dropping stamina was instantly fully charged.
‘It’s going to cost a lot of money, but well, I have so much money now that it’s rotting.’
When I used the [Rune of Complete Recovery] for the second time, a presence approached.
‘Here they come.’
Clones arriving one after another with people on their shoulders.
They were hypnotized puppets. Mostly men. I narrowed my brows.
Clearly, they were the core power holders of Luzgaard.
The husbands of the women I played with and impregnated.
Those with more power than their wives. But I couldn’t understand.
‘Why did she hypnotize these people? If she’s just going to take Luzgaard, wouldn’t it be enough to hypnotize the family head?’
Could it be that the family head is already hypnotized?
Just as I was starting to suspect that, one of the clones slipped into me. It was the guy who had gone to find the family head and returned after completing the scan.
The family head was not hypnotized.
Then why?
‘Well, it’s good if he’s not. I’ll find out why she moved like this later. What’s important now isn’t that.’
Rooting out the rats comes first. Those arrogant rats who have interfered with the feast I’ve prepared to eat.
Swish, swish, swish.
Some of the clones were canceled and returned to me, sharing what they had experienced.
‘All the explosives have been removed.’
I disposed of all the nuclear bombs in less than an hour.
The method was simple.
Just sell them to the [Shop Window].
‘Then is the safety secured?’
I was thinking that as I watched the clones return to me one after another.
‘Hmm?’
Belatedly, one of the clones brought a person to me.
Another player besides Scarlet.
