Chapter 21

[Guild] [Father: First, everyone stop what you’re doing and catch Noquia.]

[Guild] [Theo: What’s Quia doing?]

[Guild] [Father: Don’t know.]

[Guild] [Theo: Isn’t she watching the guild chat?]

[Guild] [Holanghee: Hey!! Turn yourself in!!]

[Guild] [Father: I blind-blocked her, she can’t see our messages.]

[Guild] [Marco: She blocked whispers from me too.]

[Guild] [Bastard Kid: What the hell is going on…?]

[Guild] [Leather Flute Hip Song: But if she can even attack NPCs, doesn’t that mean she’s a really high tier?]

[Guild] [Father: Yeah, Tier 3.]

[Guild] [Theo: What???]

[Guild] [Holanghee: 3???????]

[Guild] [Marco: Is she insane???]

[Guild] [Yorkshire: Damn… so she ditched hunting and just went around killing players?]

[Guild] [If It’s Not You Then Me: How the hell do we catch a Tier 3;]

[Guild] [Bastard Kid: Going up against her is suicide…]

[Guild] [Father: Just scout her location and pass the info to the vigilantes. They’re setting up a temporary camp at Lucilvania’s entrance.]

[Guild] [Red Snapper: But if she’s running around in Murderer Mode, that means we also have to switch to Murderer Mode to track her; if she catches us, we’ll die instantly;]

[Guild] [Father: Exactly. Don’t go alone. Stick together in small groups. Just in case, I’ll send a help request to YesYesu too.]

[Guild] [If It’s You Then Me: I never thought I’d see something like this in my life…]

[Guild] [Blaine: Same here…]

[Guild] [Holanghee: Sorry, Blaine. You just joined the guild and now you’re seeing this mess.]

[Guild] [Blaine: It’s fine;]

[Guild] [Father: First, everyone gather at the camp near the entrance.]

The temporary camp at Lucilvania’s entrance was bigger than expected. Countless vigilantes moved around in a frenzy, while supplies and provisions flowed in without pause. Unlike inside the village, NPC trading was possible here.

When Theo arrived at the camp, he exchanged greetings with the gathered guild members and stocked up on potions through a deal with a general goods merchant. After swapping out his weapons and Actions, he was practically no different from a beginner now. It was a huge step down from when he’d been an archer wielding Tier 4 Actions.

At least he still had Veil and Stealth—trustworthy Actions—but with their cooldowns, they were practically one-use. There was no way he could survive ten minutes against Noquia.

“Hyung.”

While organizing his inventory, Theo heard someone call him. He turned to see Blaine. Even in the crowd of players and NPCs, his height made him stand out.

Blaine hurried over and stood at Theo’s side.

“Can I go with you?”

“It’d be safer if you stuck with Father or Anghee.”

Theo suggested the better option for Blaine’s safety, but Blaine shook his head with slightly flushed cheeks.

“I want to go with you, hyung.”

Theo hesitated for a moment. They didn’t need to actually fight Noquia—just assist with the search—so he didn’t need to factor in full combat strength. Slowly, Theo nodded.

“…Alright, then. Let’s party up.”

Just as he was about to send Blaine a party invite, someone slung an arm around his shoulder and cut in.

“Hey, me too.”

It was a familiar voice. With a grimace, Theo looked up and saw Aslan. He must have come as reinforcements at Father’s request. With no choice, he sent him a party invite, then turned his gaze—only to meet Blaine’s eyes.

Blaine’s expression had hardened so noticeably that anyone could see it. Just a moment ago his cheeks had been flushed red, but now his face was tense.

“What’s wrong?”

When Theo asked, Blaine quickly averted his eyes. He fumbled for a moment before slowly shaking his head.

“It’s nothing…”

Theo tilted his head and took a step closer to Blaine. He wanted to get a better look at his face, but Blaine kept his head low, making it impossible to see properly.

“You’re not feeling unwell, are you? If you are, just say so. I’ll ask Father to pull you out of the search.”

“N-no. I’m fine.”

Blaine finally lifted his head and waved his hands, but his expression looked somewhat subdued. His eyes flickered toward Aslan, watching him cautiously.

Theo couldn’t figure out why he was so conscious of him. The two of them hadn’t interacted since the Spiderweb Labyrinth, had they? As he mulled it over seriously, the answer hit him.

Ah… is it because he rejected his guild application?

Theo nodded to himself, as if accepting the thought. Yeah, that could definitely make things awkward.

“Hey, but you… you’ve gotten kinda… cold since last time?”

At that moment, Aslan tugged sharply on Theo’s arm. With a startled sound, Theo stumbled backward, dragged by him. Blaine’s fingers twitched faintly in surprise. Aslan, looking intrigued, scrutinized Theo’s appearance from head to toe. It was his first time seeing him wearing the Eternal Fog.

The Eternal Fog grew thickest in battle, thinned while idle, and vanished entirely inside villages. If Aslan had only met him in a town, he would never have witnessed it.

Theo, nearly losing his balance, steadied himself and irritably shook off his arm.

“Almost made me fall, dumbass.”

“Ah, sorry.”

Aslan raised both hands in a lighthearted apology, then promptly slung his arm over his shoulder again, peppering him with questions. To anyone watching, the two almost looked close. Blaine’s expression darkened further at the sight.

Amid the bustling chaos of NPCs and players mingling in the temporary camp, a few more players arrived. One of them scanned the crowd, spotted the person they were looking for, and called out.

“Father.”

Hearing the voice, Father turned and, recognizing the familiar faces, raised a hand in greeting.

“Oh my, such an unworthy guest in such a precious place.”

The man laughed as if used to the teasing.

“You call me out here and… this is what I get.”

The man, dressed like a holy knight, was Mr. Hana—the Guild Master of YesYesu. Father smiled, exchanged greetings with him and his guild members, then began explaining the situation in detail.

With preparations complete, the two guilds formed their teams and set out from camp. The moment they left the safe area and entered the combat zone, they all switched into Murderer Mode. With half anxiety and half thrill, they began the hunt for Noquia.

The last to leave camp were Bastard Kid and Yorkshire. As they walked slowly, trying to decide which direction to take while watching the other guild members scatter in different ways, a sudden and violent impact slammed into their bodies just as they were about to step past the entrance.

They didn’t even have the chance to fight back. They couldn’t even scream. Before they could register what had happened, their bodies were already down on the ground, incapacitated.

Normally in Murderer Mode, players first entered a state called Exhaustion before becoming incapacitated. In Exhaustion, you could use a resurrection item to revive on the spot. But if you were attacked while exhausted and fell into complete incapacitation, you could only respawn back at the nearest safe zone or residence.

Yet the two of them had skipped Exhaustion entirely—straight into incapacitation.

“?”

“?”

The two couldn’t understand what had just happened. They only exchanged bewildered looks when suddenly someone crouched down beside them. A shadow fell over their faces. Instinctively, they looked up—Noquia’s face came into view.

“Hi.”

Noquia smiled sweetly and offered a cheerful greeting, then stood up and vanished.

The two had just become her first victims, sounding the whistle that marked the beginning of a disastrous chase.

[Guild] [Bastard Kid: We’re dead;]

[Guild] [Holanghee: What?]

[Guild] [Father: ??]

[Guild] [Yorkshire: Quia noona killed us ㅠ]

[Guild] [Holanghee: But you just left camp, how??]

[Guild] [Theo: Did you even get a chance to fight back?]

[Guild] [Bastard Kid: Fight back? I don’t even know how I died;]

[Guild] [Theo: What?]

[Guild] [Yorkshire: We didn’t even go through Exhaustion, just straight to incapacitated…]

[Guild] [Theo: Is that even possible?]

[Guild] [Marco: Looks like it ㅠㅠ]

[Guild] [Father: Where are you?]

[Guild] [Yorkshire: Right at the entrance…]

[Guild] [Father: The entrance? Lucilvania’s entrance???]

[Guild] [Theo: Wow… right under our noses.]

[Guild] [Father: I’m losing my mind here… just head back to camp and report the location.]

Theo, moving toward Ratteon with Blaine and Aslan, stopped in his tracks. Since Noquia had been spotted at the entrance, they needed to head back that way.

Turning around, Theo spoke to Aslan.

“She was seen at Lucilvania’s entrance. Let’s go back first.”

“What? At the entrance? Was she lying in ambush?”

“Don’t know. Bastard Kid and Yorkshire got taken out.”

“Already?”

“They said they went down in one hit. We need to be careful too.”

Theo instinctively scanned his surroundings. If she’d been seen at the entrance, there was a good chance Noquia had already moved toward Ratteon.

The fact that Bastard Kid and Yorkshire were her first victims wasn’t random. She must have hidden near the entrance, watched all the guild members leave, and picked off the easiest targets. And right now, Theo was well aware he looked just as easy to her.

Meanwhile, Leather Flute Hip Song let out a quiet sigh of relief as they¹ watched the chat. Since Noquia had been spotted at Lucilvania’s entrance, it seemed unlikely she would come to Cottonflower Hills, where they were. Cottonflower Hills was on the opposite side. Most likely, Noquia had headed toward Ratteon instead.

“Ah, too bad. She should’ve come this way.”

“Yeah, I could’ve taken her out in one hit.”

The twins laughed to themselves, clearly relieved at the thought Noquia had gone elsewhere. But their laughter didn’t last long.

A sudden ambush from behind dropped If It’s You Then Me to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. He wasn’t incapacitated, though—just paralyzed from poison. Before anyone could even grasp what was happening, follow-up attacks struck Leather Flute Hip Song and If It’s Not You Then Me.

[Guild] [If It’s You Then Me: Damn, what the hell?!]

[Guild] [Leather Flute Hip Song: Cottonflower Hills!!!!]

[Guild] [If It’s Not You Then Me: Help, help!]

[Guild] [Leather Flute Hip Song: Run first!!]

[Guild] [If It’s You Then Me: What, am I the only one dying?! Quia unnie, kill them too!!]

[Guild] [Leather Flute Hip Song: Hey!!!! You trying to hire her for murder now!!]

[Guild] [If It’s Not You Then Me: She can’t hear us anyway, just run!!]

Even through the chat, the panic was clear. Blaine, reading the chaos on screen, turned to Theo.

“Looks like she went toward Cottonflower Hills, not Ratteon.”

“Yeah… judging by her path, she’ll probably head for the pass between the Polia Mountains.”

“Should we go that way?”

“Yeah, but let’s stop by the camp first and report her location.”

“Got it.”

The three of them hurried toward the mountain pass. But when they arrived, Noquia was nowhere to be found—only a crowd of guild members gathering. Apparently, they’d had the same thought as Theo.

Soon, vigilantes arrived as well, but Noquia’s trail was still missing. She wasn’t fleeing while being chased; instead, she ambushed search parties, killed them, then vanished without leaving a trace. Tracking her was nearly impossible.

Just in case, everyone scoured Cottonflower Hills and the pass between the Polia Mountains thoroughly, but still, no sign of her. Once again, the groups split apart and scattered.

The once-noisy guild chat had gone silent. After the repeated ambushes, the lighthearted mood had been completely doused, replaced with a heavy, serious tension.