Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Seongho clenched his fist as joy filled his heart. Afterall, it was certain that he had hit a jackpot. The place which was designated as the battlefield for the Battle Royale event in this designated area was located near his shelter.

According to Da-jeong, the place she set her feet on was a meadow, and she saw a lake and a mountain right in front of him. She must have been to where he had gone before to take the emperor’s honey.

“I am lucky.”

On the other hand, for Da-jeong, she was gobsmacked, No, even that was an understatement. It was her first and maybe last great opportunity in a very long time to visit Seongho’s shelter!

She won’t be able to be there for a long time, but she would at least know what it looks like. Every time she hears Seongho talking about the cave or his shelter, her imagination always runs wild, but the golden opportunity to see the place with her own eyes just got blown away.

She crossed her arms and began to grind her high heels on the ground.

“Are you happy?”

“Of course I am. I can use my gun in this event.”

“Gun? You are too much! People of the world, look at this bastard! He’s about to use his cheat!”

Of course, no one heard her, as there’s no one around.

Seongho patted her shoulder with both hands.

“I’m sorry, but stay here until I get out. I want to reduce the number of competitors as much as possible on my own.”

“Even if you didn’t tell me to do that, I will still do that.”

“Why?”

Why am I suddenly feeling anxious?

“I have to stop you from escaping. The entrance and exit of the Battle Royale arena is the same one, right? So, don’t even think about running away.”

“What should I run away from?”

Da-jeong stroked the portal.

“From fighting in another place like this one… I’m talking about the Great Labyrinth.”

“Great Labyrinth?”

Seongho’s expression suddenly turned sour. Great Labyrinth, just like its name implies, was an enormous dungeon. There were a lot of monsters inside, and it was one of the final contents of Survival Life. It also boasted significant difficulty to the point many veteran users died in the labyrinth. The four stagnant waters were not an exception–They too had died a lot inside.

At that moment, Seongho grabbed Da-jeong by the neck.

“I suddenly remembered… You and Rapwi went wild and we all died everyday…”

“E-eung? Did we?”

Da-jeong turned her head to the side and pretended not to know, while Seong-ho gave strength to his hand, which was holding her neck. Afterall, each time the two crazy duo called him for reinforcement, he packed up his belongings and entered the labyrinth. He had to break through the labyrinth alone while fighting many vicious monsters that are rarely seen outside.

However, after meeting them, he was often caught up in their madness and died. Rapwi attacked the monsters by standing on his hands, while Da-jeong held someone’s ankle and used him to attack the monsters. Of course, that someone is Seongho himself.

“You used me as a hammer then swung me at those monsters, killing me in the process.”

“Tehee pero.”

“Tehee pero my ass”

Seongho let go of her neck, took off his item, and put it in the shelter. After putting the items stored in the dimension slot at the shelter, Da-jeong stuck out her tongue.

“What kind of walking arsenal are you?”

“Well, it will be a waste if I can’t use it inside.”

“If someone hears that, I bet they will be really upset. By the way, is there anything dangerous inside?”

“It’s not dangerous at all, but I can scout their location with a drone.”

At Seongho’s answer, Da-jeong was at a loss for words. She knew that he had a drone inside from the story he told her. But he was going to use it in the Battle Royale?

That was clearly a very cowardly act, one which makes the words ‘cheating’ become an understatement.

Of course, Seongho knew it was cowardly, and he was ready to do even more cowardly actions in the future.

“You’re really spiteful… Do you even need to do that? Just use the gun and you’re done.”

Seongho shrugged his shoulders. “The game is more fun when your winning chance is absolutely 100%.”

In other words, he had to prepare more thoroughly to enjoy the event to the fullest.

Anyway, he said he would come back soon and went inside the portal.

Da-jeong left 10 ghouls waiting outside the portal and went into a nearby house. Inside, two zombies, who were eating something when she entered, exposed their teeth towards her as they saw her. When she snapped her finger, her ghoul rushed in, smashing the zombies and throwing them out of the window.

Kyaaa-

“Hmmmm…”

Da-jeong crossed her arms and looked out the window. Several survivors were seen trying to access the portal and were being chased away by the ghouls.

Of course, the portal which Seongho entered was not the only entrance, so other people will be able to enter as well. Among them, Koreans are probably rare…

She recalled her work in Incheon, which was not far from this place.

‘Geom-in should still not know about our location yet…’

After coming out of the government shelter, he shouldn’t know where they are because she hasn’t told them. If it’s Geom-in, he would play cunningly and fight the Battle Royale event against the Chinese, as they knew nothing about the event.

‘Anyway, they’re more similar than I thought.’

From what she saw, Seongho and Geom-in were the same. The only difference was that the former succeeded every time thanks to a thorough preparation, and the latter failed repeatedly because he was clumsy. However, the power of Seongho’s unique skill is incomparably stronger than Geom-in’s.

Therefore…

“Geom-in, I hope you don’t come. You’ll die.”

The event does not end until the last player wins. If Geom-in entered the same battlefield as Seongho, his death would be guaranteed. Or maybe not. Da-jeong hated him, but Seongho didn’t want him to die.

He is not guilty as of now.

Not yet.

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It felt like my strength was draining as I set foot on the familiar meadow. At the same time, it feels like sounds from all directions were cut off. It was proof that my Strength and Perception stats were being reduced.

When I called the status window, the number displayed on it really put me down.

「Level:- Points:-

Vitality:10 Strength:10 Agility:10 Dexterity:10 Perception:10

Unique Skill: Dedicated Dimensional Door

skill:-

Active Buff(s): Shackles of Battle」

“AH SERIOUSLY!” The stats were all limited to 10, and all the skills I had accumulated after fighting a lot of bloody battles were all gone. All of it was due to Shackles of Battle debuff. Though, it only applies to people who entered the battlefield, and will disappear when people leave the battlefield.

I wanted to experiment, but now I can’t. I hid in a nearby tree and looked around.

“Open portal.”

Damn it. The portal, which normally was almost transparent, appeared in vivid blue just like when I first got it. It means that it will be visible to others, and all other additional effects are gone too.

“I can’t use the slot and dimensional wall.”

What is this misfortune…

But since everyone was in the same situation, it can be said that it was fair. Though, if other people knew about my situation, they might be squealing about whether it was fair or not.

“Wwell, the world is always unfair in the first place.”

Let’s go to the shelter first. I went to the shelter through the portal and launched the drone. The battlefield was already opened, but there’s still time before the event begins.

About 2 hours…

Now what I need to do is to wait for people to enter. Before the event starts, I have to finish the reconnaissance with the drone and decide the farming route and survival strategy.

“Looks like I’ll be going to go with the ‘Lubu meta’ again this time.”

‘Lubu meta’ means an aggressive style of play. People who use it will actively look for enemies, steal their items and kill them. Of course, there’s only one person who used it back in the game, which is me.

Other than that, there are ‘stealth meta’ and ‘farming meta’, but honestly, it doesn’t mean much. Because I literally have guns in my hand right now, which was a god-tier weapon in this situation.

“It will take care of everything.” Imagine that everyone starts with a club and knife, then upgrades it to a long knife, bow, etc.. However, there’s this one guy who carried a gun from the start. In that case, there’s no way the others can upset the balance.

“But I don’t feel bad at all.” I put the Togarev and live ammunition in my backpack.

The guns I had were MP335, Togarev, K2, and revolver, and they all used different types of bullets, so it was not interchangeable. And the MP335, which had a silencer, only has 10 bullets.

“I will use it with a crossbow, and if the situation calls for it…”

Should I use the revolver?

I’ve been wanting to shoot long-range with the K2 rifle, but in this situation, it was not even an option. If I carry it in this battlefield without the dimension slots, I will be treated as a golden goblin.

“So where are the people…”

Watching the video sent by the drone, I woke up from my thoughts. No matter what I think about it, killing the person who attacked me first and killing the person I met at the event are different stories. There are people in this place who came in without even knowing that this was a Battle Royale battlefield.

But…

“Here, the first move is important.”

Perception stats have been drastically reduced, so avoiding arrows was not an option. So the best thing to do was to discover my enemies first and attack.

Fortunately, I have a good foundation. It was a solid concrete foundation.

“Everyone is here.”

The drone showed me the people who just entered the battlefield.

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There are two kinds of Battle Royale events in Survival Life. The first was an event which was held in another dimension, while the other one would happen on Earth.

The difficulty of the latter second was much higher, and it was unavoidable. Since it was a definite way to die for users who were not strong enough, if the event is not identified in advance, their character will be deleted.

Fortunately, the second Battle roy6ale only comes out after the midway through the end of the game, so there is no need to think about it now.

I carefully moved the drone to observe the people below.

“Did these guys come in without knowing anything, or…”

There are quite a few people walking around. Some of them were in groups of two or three and there’s also people who were alone. Since the battlefield is a meadow, there were not many places that could be used to hide. At best, they could only take cover in trees, rocks, mountains and lakes.

“The event will end around the lake.”

The battlefield boasts a very large area at first, but it will narrow itself over time. And just like the zombie wall in a deathmatch, the monsters will act as some kind of wall. Of course, it is not as dense as a zombie wall, but it was much more difficult to pass through it because there were very powerful monsters in the midst. Afterall, with this kind of stats, once we meet a werewolf or an owlbear, we will die without any question.

“Those bas**rds are moving.”

According to the video sent by the drone, all the monsters in the forest I was in were moving.

“Were there that many in the first place…?”

I’ve hunted quite a lot of monsters since I settled in the forest, but compared to the guys coming out now, the one I had killed feels like a drop in the ocean. I saw goblins, kobolds, as well as hobgoblins, orcs, and even lizardmen on the horde.

“That’s swamp-dweller.”

I know that there was a swamp in the north and had wondered if I could get more poison frogs there. Let’s go there later…

I marked the people’s whereabouts and their locations on the map. I’ll be updating their location from time to time in-between fighting.

So far this is the standard Battle Royale strategy.

“Wait. I have a gun, why am I doing this?”

I can just shoot them every time I meet them. Though, since live ammunition was scarce, it would be better to use a crossbow, if possible.

As I moved to the northern part of the snowy mountain, I saw someone hiding in the forest. Unlike the other survivors, who were at a loss for what to do, he was calm.

“I think he’s Korean…”

When I lowered the altitude of the drone, that man turned out to be someone I know.

It was Bae Geom-in.

To think he entered the same battlefield as me…

“You idiot.”

Why didn’t you go to the Seoul battlefield?

No, wait. It could be that he didn’t go there on purpose. He might not have information as detailed as mine, but Geom-in was surely aware that Battle Royale is happening at this time.

“Did you plan to participate in a place with a lot of Chinese?”

It’s a good decision, I give him that. But the unfortunate thing about his plan was that he had thought of the same plan as me.

You don’t seem to know where I am?

When a valley deer passed by the meadow, Geom-in moved. Seconds later, the deer was engulfed in the light and was unable to move.

“I’ve seen that before.”

Was it restraint? I have vivid memories of my experience in Busan. As far as I know, that ability doesn’t work if there’s an obstacle between the user and their target. And since this place was a meadow, there were almost no obstacles here, so it would be a good thing for Geom-in.

He clenched his fists and took an archery stance. After looking at what he had done, it was better for me to think that he had two unique skills.

I put down his location on the map. It wouldn’t be bad to kill him here, but….

“The president will be annoying.”

According to Da-jeong, Jang Won-taek and Bae Geom-in were cooperative, but not really colleagues. And it seems unlikely to happen even in the future. It was because Geom-in was greedy.

“There are a lot of people who need to be checked, including Joo Seung-cheol.”

What I’m looking for is a gap in the government shelters. I will use that opportunity to secure firearms and other equipment, so removing Geom-in here was not a good idea.

“You are a troll.”

The presence of trolls creates infighting and cracks appear. I decided to leave the Geom-in’s life to fate. If I can use a bug to get him out of the battlefield, I’ll do it, and if not, I’ll kill him. The chance is 50-50.

“I need to move soon.”

After I retrieved the drone, I gathered weapons and supplies and called Dingo and Ding-soon.

“Ding-soon, you run around the shelter, and when someone comes, chase them away. got it? You can bite them.”

When I said so, she looked at me blankly. Meanwhile, Dingo’s eyes were asking what he needed to do.

“I’ll borrow him for a while.”

Kung-!

“I’ll only borrow him for one day, I’ll give him back to you later.”

Kung-!!

Ding-soon didn’t seem to like that I only took Dingo. Well, she’s already taking care of the groom. But on the other hand, Dingo was happy to walk through the forest without monsters, and his steps were light.

We crossed the valley in an instant and broke through the monsters. And we settled on the border between the forest and grassland. Dingo growled as he looked at the monsters behind him.

“Shh. It’s fine.”

This is the beginning of a full-fledged Battle Royale. Every hour, the monster wall will get narrower and narrower, and people here have to survive while avoiding it. There is no set time limit, but this Battle Royale usually ends in one day.

I hid behind the trees and quietly gazed at the meadow. When the battlefield was formed like this, everyone would be hiding in the forest. Items also had a high probability of being regenerated in the forest.

“In the beginning, only garbage would come out…” Therefore, I wouldn’t go looting those things. What I’m going to do is hunt people who are wandering around looking for items.

I took Dingo and approached the wall of the monster carefully. Monsters, such as goblins, could not even find me and just stood drooling.

“They have become complete idiots.”

The symptoms were similar to those mindless monsters at the speedrun event. Maybe they were enchanted by something.

I crawled around the forest. I wonder if I should laugh or not when I see Dingo creeping next to me too.

Then two people showed up. The two looked surprised to see a club and a knife regenerated on the rock.

“Why did this appear? We didn’t even catch a monster?”

“Is it part of the event? The bread from last time is like that too. This reality is fused with the game”

That’s right, but your mouth was a bit loud. Without hesitation, I fired the crossbow. A bolt pierced the back of one of them, and he let out a shriek and plopped to the rock.

「You have earned 50 points」

“What, what?”

You wonder what this is? It’s a crossbow that I looted from those thugs in the D-day of the apocalypse.

The longbow is nice, but it’s too big to carry around. A crossbow was the best weapon unless you could use a dimension slot. Of course, that is without counting guns on the list.

I put my crossbow head on the ground, loaded another bolt, and took aim. However, the guy had disappeared.

“Dingo, find him.”

The silver wolf lowered its posture and ran into the forest.

The hunt begins.