***
The pursuit began.
Those being chased were Tang O and the congratulatory guests, and those chasing were the water bandits of the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds and the demonic soldiers of Heavenly Demon Castle.
And one more person.
Dong Bong-su.
***
The Namgung Family's ships had already all sunk.
The Namgung Family servants who rowed the ships' oars and served as stepping stones for the escapees had all died completely. Among the congratulatory guests, those with relatively inferior skills were also annihilated.
Only about a hundred people survived.
However, those who had survived until now were all people who carried some weight on their shoulders within their own spheres of influence, so they weren't easily taken down. That said, their future was absolutely not bright.
That was because the Yangtze water bandits and Heavenly Demon Castle members were persistently pursuing them from behind. No matter how many they killed, they chased endlessly. Moreover, the masters mixed among them here and there were nothing short of calamity for the survivors.
If there was any fortune, it was the fact that there was one supreme master on their side.
Tang O broke through the encirclement spread along the shores of Chaohu Lake even while carrying Namgung Hye on his back. The problem was that the direction he broke through was toward the mountain, but even so, going up there was currently the only path to survival.
The survivors instinctively followed the path Tang O had opened. With this, the survivors at least didn't have to face difficulties because of enemies appearing from the front. Though the fact that they were being chased remained.
Water bandits were still steadily coming up from the Chaohu Lake direction, and from the north direction, demonic soldiers continuously appeared to obstruct their progress.
"Die!"
Water bandits whom they would never have encountered on land under normal circumstances. Their shouts chilled the survivors' livers and gallbladders.
Aaaahhh.
One person who had fallen to the very back due to injuries was sacrificed again.
And one person in front of him, and another in front of that person...
Despite fleeing with all their might, the number of survivors kept decreasing. The unfamiliar terrain was probably slowing their feet, and it was likely because their bodies were exhausted to the limit from the continuous pursuit.
In contrast, the water bandits and demonic soldiers were very vigorous.
The reason was that they were using numerical superiority and the advantage of being two groups to conduct relay warfare. Once the water bandits would strike and withdraw, then next the demonic soldiers would charge and fall back. Though it might seem like nothing much, this was creating a big difference.
Just running away consumed tremendous stamina, and their internal energy was being depleted as well, so if this state continued, before long all the survivors would be annihilated.
Clang, clang!
Aaaahh!
The pursuit became more intense as time passed.
Now the survivors' movement speed had noticeably slowed.
At some point, the water bandits and demonic soldiers were no longer taking the form of alternating attacks. They were now following right behind the survivors and attacking them simultaneously. As the advantage seemed to have shifted, they were trying to put an end to the pursuit.
In response, the survivors who were relatively more skilled masters, compared to those who had fallen behind, ultimately abandoned the other survivors who had fallen back and just went up the mountain.
For them, it was an unavoidable choice.
If they stayed here and tried to save the others who had fallen behind, they would all die anyway. In that case, at least those who could live should live. They thought that way and rationalized their actions in that manner.
Thus, they once again succeeded in preserving their own lives at the cost of others' lives.
And.
The weak were abandoned once more.
Those left behind naturally became good prey for the pursuers.
Grrrhhh, thud thud! Crunch!
The water bandits and demonic soldiers rushed at the survivors left behind like evil spirits. The congratulatory guests who had already become exhausted couldn't endure any longer and died one after another.
Among them, there was one water bandit moving peculiarly. He was someone whose face was completely smashed, and he attacked survivors while mixed in between water bandits and demonic soldiers.
An interesting fact was that when his attacks succeeded, he would leave without lingering to attack other survivors. And those attacks were never fatal. At most, they were only light scratches on the body.
Among the water bandits and demonic soldiers already caught in the madness of battle, no one noticed his such behavior. They merely thought someone was busily coming and going while fighting diligently.
The Broken-Faced Man was as always mixed in among others attacking a survivor.
.
.
.
A survivor had already become soaked in blood. Whether it was blood he shed or blood of the water bandits and demonic soldiers was unknown, but his entire body was covered in bright red. Perhaps because of that, the sharpness from the beginning had completely disappeared from his sword that had been full of strength. Even so, he still possessed enough sword energy that enemies couldn't easily approach.
Nevertheless, his fate was already as good as decided. That was because the water bandits and Heavenly Demon Castle members were occupying all directions from which he could escape.
"Raaaaahhh!"
Was it a final struggle?
He leaped toward where the water bandits were while letting out an incomprehensible scream.
Thud‑thud‑thud‑thud!
In an instant, over ten swords pierced Gi Dae-hyo's body. That guided his life to hell's threshold. If he just took one more step inside, he would never be able to return.
Among the swords piercing his body was the Broken-Faced Man's. The Broken-Faced Man's sword was again far from a finishing blow, merely grazing Gi Dae-hyo's forehead.
Drip.
Blood gradually oozed out through the wound on Gi Dae-hyo's torn forehead. Gi Dae-hyo raised his head while enduring the stinging pain.
"Guh..."
At that, Gi Dae-hyo and the Broken-Faced Man came to face each other.
In Gi Dae-hyo's eyes appeared the opponent's face that was completely mangled. Though he couldn't recognize the face at all, Gi Dae-hyo felt the Broken-Faced Man seemed familiar somehow. However, he couldn't clearly recall where he had seen him.
Because.
Crunch.
One whose neck is cut can no longer think anything.
The water bandits and Heavenly Demon Castle members who completely made Gi Dae-hyo into a rag soon departed toward the next target.
The Broken-Faced Man Dong Bong-su put away his extended sword and quietly spat out one word.
"Fifty."
Fifty.
This word of Dong Bong-su's meant the number of class change quest completions. Dong Bong-su had eliminated as many as fifty enemies Level 10 or above in the midst of the pursuit.
Among those he killed, there were some whose level was exactly 10, but most were above that, and some even exceeded 15. At that level, Dong Bong-su's level should have already risen long ago, so what was going on?
His face was still difficult to recognize due to the grotesque sword wounds, and naturally there was no occurrence of Holy light from leveling up either. In other words, his level was still 10. Unchanged. When he was Level 7, he killed a Level 16 enemy and rose as many as 3 levels...
What was going on?
The secret lay in group hunting.
Dong Bong-su had naturally joined other water bandits in attacking and killing congratulatory guests during the pursuit. Just like killing Gi Dae-hyo moments ago.
Originally, Dong Bong-su's plan was to follow along as if present yet absent, killing enemies to the extent his identity wasn't revealed.
But.
In the process of pursuing, he learned one more new characteristic of the New Murim Online system. He noticed that when multiple people killed one person, experience points came in only according to how much damage was dealt. And no matter how much that damage was, when the survivor died, the quest completion count went up by 1—this fact was a very important bonus.
Any kind of wound was fine. Whether throwing stones or making a fingernail-sized wound with a sword. As long as it wasn't 0 damage for the system to recognize. Anyone Level 10 or above whose 'blood was shaved' by Dong Bong-su became a target for quest completion.
From the moment he noticed this, Dong Bong-su roamed the battlefield trying to scratch as many survivors' bodies as possible. Through this, Dong Bong-su could steadily carry out the class change quest while receiving almost no experience points.
[First Class Change Quest: Wanderer]
Tester-exclusive class.
Quest completion condition: Achieve 100 Kills of enemies Level 10 or above.
Current quest completion (completed/total): 50 / 100
Without emitting Holy light—without revealing his identity—he had eliminated fifty people. Now fifty people until class change.
And.
The pursuit wasn't over yet.
Dong Bong-su crossed over Gi Dae-hyo's corpse whose neck and body were separated and resumed the pursuit.
***
The Chaohu Lake area below the mountain was working as busily as the mountainside where the frantic pursuit was taking place.
According to the original plan of the General Chief of the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds, the congratulatory guests should have been annihilated here. However, unexpectedly, quite many congratulatory guests succeeded in surviving and were currently fleeing.
Because of that, the Yangtze River Ships docked at the shores of Chaohu Lake differently from what was originally planned. Among them was one ship that looked twice the size of the other ships, and aboard that ship was the General Chief of the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds.
Standing upright at the bow of the ship receiving reports from the vice-chiefs of each stronghold was one bearded man, and he was precisely the General Chief Yangtze Dragon Hero Sa Sa-ho.
The reports were made in the order Sa Sa-ho designated, and when only one person's turn remained, Sa Sa-ho turned his body and headed toward the cabin for some reason.
"Follow me."
The last remaining vice-chief followed him onto the cabin without much reaction. The cabin rising high in the middle of the ship served the same role as a command tent on a battlefield.
Sa Sa-ho, who climbed there, spoke while looking down at Chaohu Lake with his back to the vice-chief.
"You're late."
"Did you notice? Water Shadow?"
The vice-chief, no, Transformed Shadow Do Heo-ok said.