Kill the boss alone?
What kind of crazy, out-of-this-world nonsense was that?
'He's not even saying his team will take it—he's saying he'll solo it?'
No matter how high Black Scythe's level was, the opponent was still a boss.
A boss that needed twenty people piling on just to barely win.
'If Black Scythe really does kill the boss…?'
That would mean his strength was equivalent to twenty players.
For guys who prided themselves on their skills, their pride simply couldn't accept that.
"Hah, now I see you're full of yourself, Black Scythe-nim."
"Full of myself?"
Ryu Min's eyes went cold.
"You're underestimating me. If you can kill it, why do you think I can't?"
"B-but we've got numbers on our side, don't we?"
"Doesn't matter how many flies you have. They're still flies."
"W-what? That's going a bit far…"
Ignoring them, Ryu Min walked forward.
His own teammates were also startled—he hadn't told them he was going to solo the boss.
"Black Scythe-nim?"
"Wait here. I'll finish this quickly and be back."
As he walked forward holding Death's Side, the crowd split before him like the Red Sea.
There was something unusual about that distinctive aura around him.
"Back up farther. If anyone interferes, I'll kill them."
"Y-yes, sir!"
Watching the players hastily retreat, Ryu Min looked around.
Judging by the pillars of light scattered here and there, it seemed the Minotaurs in the vicinity had been killed in a rush.
'Hmm, counting the teams inside the pillars, about fifty people are watching?'
If possible, it was best to keep his trump cards hidden…
'But this might be a perfect chance to really show how strong I am.'
Most people couldn't truly grasp how strong Black Scythe was.
They just assumed he was powerful because his level was overwhelmingly high.
'They might feel that I'm strong if they watch me fight, but it still won't feel real.'
But if he showed them himself quickly dispatching a Minotaur they'd personally struggled against?
Then no fly would dare look down on Black Scythe again.
'I'll end it as fast as I can.'
As Ryu Min stepped forward, most of the onlookers wore dumbfounded expressions.
"Is he seriously going to solo it?"
"Whoa, Black Scythe's really going in by himself?"
"I was getting bored anyway. This should be fun."
Some folded their arms and watched from inside the pillars, eager to be entertained.
All eyes were on him.
Ryu Min stopped at a certain distance and faced the Minotaur.
The gigantic bull monster sensed a presence and turned.
"Grrrr…"
Its blood-red eyes glared down at him so fiercely anyone else's knees would have buckled, but Ryu Min's momentum didn't falter in the slightest.
He simply gripped his scythe with both hands and extended it back behind him.
"What's he doing?"
"I think he's about to use some kind of skill?"
"You can use a skill with a stance like that?"
Despite the murmurs around him, Ryu Min stared at the Minotaur without the slightest break in focus.
'The system starts timing the record once we're close enough for an attack to land.'
In other words, right now was considered just a preparation motion. The clock wouldn't start yet.
'The moment it steps into range, I'll go for the neck.'
His eyes measured the distance between them.
He shifted the scythe ever so slightly, adjusting the angle.
He ran a simple simulation in his head.
'I have to time it for the instant it panics.'
"Gwoooaar!"
The Minotaur roared in rage at this prey that dared stand its ground instead of running.
Thud-thud-thud—!
Ryu Min counted the strides as it barreled toward him, calculating how long until it entered his attack range.
'Three seconds.'
Thud— thud—
'Two.'
Thud— thud—
Vrrrrrmm—
Moonlight energy gathered along Ryu Min's scythe.
'One.'
Thud— thud—
The instant the bull stepped into range—
'Night of Death.'
Boom—!
A curtain of darkness dropped over the world.
As the front of its vision went black, the Minotaur was momentarily thrown into confusion.
'Now. Moonlight Slash.'
Ryu Min's scythe drew a half-moon arc.
A single streak of light cut through the suffocating darkness and lit up the Minotaur's face.
Slice—!
A clean sound of something being severed—
Thud—!
Followed by the sound of something heavy falling.
What had happened became clear the moment the veil of darkness lifted.
"Gasp!"
"L-look at that!"
"That's the Minotaur's head!"
The beast's thick neck—hard to cut through even with twenty blades hacking at it—had been severed in a single stroke.
The players stared blankly, looking back and forth between the boss and Ryu Min.
"H-he killed it in one hit…?"
"Th-that's impossible…"
'Impossible? Not with stats like mine.'
Right now his Strength was 403 and his Intelligence 627.
Those were stats multiplied by Min Juri's buffs, the Rune of Slaughter, and the Rune of Balance.
'With numbers like that, a one-shot kill isn't strange at all.'
On top of that, he'd triggered Night of Death at the crucial moment, amplifying Moonlight Slash's damage by 1.5 times.
'Even the High Orc went down in one second. This thing is nothing.'
The Minotaur might be a Round 6 boss, but "boss" was just a title; in terms of actual strength, it was weaker than a High Orc.
'Last Round's side quest difficulty was what was insane.'
Which was why the Rune of Balance, the reward for it, was so good.
[You have slain a Minotaur!]
[EXP 3x buff is in effect.]
[Title effect increases EXP by 1.5x.]
[EXP +11.68%]
[Gold +1,200]
[You have obtained 'Bull Hide'.]
[You have obtained 'Blueprint: Minotaur Armor'.]
Since he was in a party, his allies would be seeing the same messages.
That was why the EXP and gold gains looked low.
'But the items are all mine.'
He grinned as he checked the item list.
Among the many possible drops from a Minotaur, one of the best had appeared.
[Bull Hide]
Category: Miscellaneous
Description: High-grade cowhide. Tough and ideal for making armor.
It was a material used to craft Minotaur Armor.
And on top of that, he'd gotten the blueprint for making the armor as well.
[Blueprint: Minotaur Armor]
Category: Consumable
Description: An item listing six different crafting recipes for the Unique item "Minotaur Armor." Be ready to take notes before you use it.
If he opened the blueprint, Bull Hide would certainly be listed among the materials.
He knew without looking.
'Because I've already checked it before.'
Blueprints were basically consumable items.
'Once I use it, I'll learn the crafting recipe for that item, but…'
Because it disappeared after a while, you had to either memorize it or write it down somewhere.
'Not that I need to. It's all stored in my head.'
That didn't mean he intended to actually craft Minotaur Armor.
'It's a good item, but it's basically for tanks only.'
He already had another armor set in mind, so he didn't need this one—but he decided to keep it for now.
A blueprint that could make a Unique item would fetch a high price.
'Overall, I got nothing but good items.'
Satisfied, he returned to his party to find them all in a daze.
"Everyone alright?"
"Huh? Ah… y-yes."
Their expressions said they'd never imagined he'd kill it in one blow.
Heo Tae-seok's expression in particular was something else.
'What's with this guy's face?'
The hazy way he was staring at him looked exactly like someone in love.
He really did seem to have lost his mind.
'He's going to become one of my followers anyway, but… I should keep some distance.'
He had no desire to invite weird misunderstandings.
Meanwhile, An Sang-cheol was silently marveling at Ryu Min.
'What was that just now? It was so fast I couldn't even see it properly.'
A flash had burst forth in the darkness, and then the Minotaur's head had dropped.
'Was that a skill? Or… a normal attack?'
Either way, the clear fact was that he'd killed the boss in a single instant.
'To one-shot a boss…'
No matter how he thought about it, it defied common sense.
After that, a pillar of light descended over the entire party, enveloping them.
Since they'd defeated the boss, they'd cleared the Round.
They had no way of knowing their exact ranking, though.
Ryu Min looked toward the remaining bosses.
'Only nine tickets left now. Time's almost up—we'd better hurry.'
There was no time to stand around spacing out.
Realizing this a bit late, the other parties rushed the Minotaurs scattered around the area.
The game ended.
[So you've killed all 101 bosses?]
As the time limit ran out and every boss was dealt with, an angel appeared.
[The teams that failed to kill a boss will be erased without further ado.]
"N-no, wait!"
"L-lady Angel, just a moment—!"
Fwshhhh—
Leaving the drifting dust behind her, Priscilla spoke calmly.
[Shall we check the rankings then?]
★ Round 6 Results Tally ★
[All Zones]
└ 1st. Black Scythe and 4 others 00:00:01
└ 2nd. Cheonma and 4 others 00:03:21
└ 3rd. Dumbasses and 4 others 00:04:09
[Current Zone C-ESKS007]
└ 1st. Black Scythe and 4 others 00:00:01
└ 2nd. Kim Suhanmu and 4 others 00:05:31
└ 3rd. Parasites and 4 others 00:05:58
[For reference, the nicknames displayed on the results screen belong to the humans with the highest contribution.]
The players who saw the rankings were shocked.
"What the hell? Why aren't we first? We definitely killed it first!"
"Black Scythe's team is first? Even though they killed it so late?"
Hearing the muttering, Priscilla smirked.
[Who ever said rankings are based on kill order? As you can see, the ranking method is the time taken to kill the boss.]
"Time?"
"Ah… so that's why we're dead last…"
[The longest time was 11 minutes 30 seconds. I don't know how you can take over eleven minutes to kill a single cow. Humans really are inferior creatures. Tsk.]
After mocking them, Priscilla checked the records again.
[On the other hand, the shortest time is one minute. That's Black Scythe's team. A fairly decent—]
"Lady Angel! The time is wrong!"
[What are you talking about?]
"The time! The time!"
"It's not one minute!"
Sensing something was off, Priscilla blinked and looked again.
[Not one minute… one second?]
The time Black Scythe had taken to kill the boss was one second.
Realizing that fact only now, Priscilla's face went blank.
[One second? One second?]
She was so dumbfounded that she muttered out loud, forgetting humans were listening.
Only after the fact did the angel realize her slip, a bead of sweat trickling down.
[Ahem, so records of one second are possible too, I see. In any case, that just shows how weak the boss must have been…]
Her words didn't exactly match the earlier speech where she'd been hyping up how strong the boss was.
[A-anyway, we'll be giving rewards up to third place. Keep in mind that only the person with the highest contribution will receive the reward.]
A welcome series of messages appeared before Ryu Min's eyes.
[Congratulations! You have cleared the quest as 1st place in this Zone!]
[Congratulations! You have cleared the quest as 1st place across All Zones!]
[Current rank of 'Black Scythe'-nim: 1st in All Zones, 1st in Current Zone.]
[As 1st place in the Zone rankings, you receive a 'High-grade Epic Helm Selection Ticket'!]
[As 1st place in All Zones, you receive a 'Special Reward Selection Box'!]
'A High-grade Epic helm?'
Ryu Min smiled.
It just so happened he'd been thinking it was time to replace his helmet.
[You may choose one of the following Epic helms.]
[Touch the desired reward.]
└ 1. Angel's Ring
└ 2. Minotaur Bull Mask
└ 3. Hermes' Feathered Helm
'The one I need here is the Feathered Helm. The options on it are really tempting.'
When he selected number three, the item info popped up.
[Hermes' Feathered Helm]
Category: Helm
Grade: Epic
Defense: 180
Effect: Agility +10, allows use of [Invisibility]
Durability: 1,500/1,500
Usage Requirement: Expert rank or higher
Description: A helmet modeled after Hermes' Feathered Helm. It's not the genuine article. Allows the user to invoke Invisibility when needed.