1st Place In The Ranking Is A Villager

1st place in the ranking is the villager

- Volume 4 Episode 17

17. New Shadow (2)

'Dew of Truth' that grants immunity to all status ailments for 3 minutes.

Players using it were occasionally seen.

[Weakness Breaking!]

[Inflicts 'Stun' with the status abnormality on the opponent.]

[The other party resisted the status abnormal 'stun' with the power of truth.]

There were quite a few messages like this.

Still, not all players were using Dew of Truth, and there were more people who were stunned immediately when the effect of the skill occurred.

The reason was that the players couldn't even if they wanted to save the Dew of Truth.

Dew of Truth is an item that was initially priced high due to its excellent effect and difficult crafting method.

However, most of them were being sold right away, except for the exorbitant prices that came up on the auction house a few days before the black NPCs occurred.

Surely someone was hoarding things.

As it overlapped with this incident, it naturally led to a rise in market prices and a shortage of goods.

It was fortunate for Hoya.

"Whoa

"... now, I'm begging you."

"Yes."

As Hoya spoke, he came out of his shadow and wrapped the fallen players around him in a shadow.

"I'm sorry, I have to help too..."

“No, this alone is of great help.”

Ikyun, a boy from the Grim tribe, who is moving with Hoya to assist him, has excellent skills in casting shadows, but he has not been able to use it in battle.

So he was only helping the transport of the stunned player.

If he hadn't been here, Hoya would have had to go back and forth two or three times by himself.

Lee Kyeon, who put the players down in a safe place, went back into Hoya's shadow, and Hoya followed Lee Kyeon's words.

- There are two people in front of me.

-okay.

While in the shadows, the Grim people were able to communicate with the owner of the shadows without a voice.

'By the way, two people?'

The number of players was too small for a party of players acting in the dark forest.

'Are you discouraged?'

Whatever the reason, it seems that two people can quickly subdue it.

Hoya, who moved quickly following Lee Kyeon's words, was able to spot a human imprint and threw his fist straight at the imprint.

The opponent might have the Dew of Truth, so it was much easier to subdue it before using it.

But Hoya was soon forced to turn his fist.

Kudang Tang.

Hoya, who forced his fist in the direction of his fist, rolled the ground violently due to the recoil, and saw the players trying to straighten up their stance and launch a fist.

'Why must it be the two of you!'

It was a doban and a toddler.

Hoya pondered what to do with this situation.

No matter how much the quest was, he was reluctant to throw fists at those two, and he couldn't let it stand still.

'...because I had a fight with Jihan back in the day, wouldn't it be okay?'

Besides, the two didn't recognize themselves now.

It was clear from looking at the child's behavior and reaction now.

That was when Hoya was contemplating what to do with this situation.

[Dovan: What are you doing now?]

Doban's whisper came to Hoya.

As Hoya unconsciously looked at Doban at the whisper, he saw him staring at him.

Are you looking for it?

Hoya's thoughts were right.

[Doban: The skill cannot be used if the target is in the same space.]

A skill that allows you to instantly move to the side of a player on your friend list, that instilled confidence in Doban.

Hoya recognized that he was caught in the whisper.

[Hoya: ...I'm sorry, I can't speak.]

After confirming Hoya's whisper, Doban nodded his head slightly towards him.

The infant seemed not to recognize Hoya yet.

"Shadow Blade!"

As the infant wielded two daggers in both hands, ten blades flew straight toward Hoya from his shadow.

Seeing the shadow flying towards him like the shadow of a bird on the ground, Hoya fled to the left.

The infant's shadow blade deals damage when the attack hits the target's shadow.

You should always check the direction of your shadow so that the shadow does not pass by.

Hoya felt a little strange that YooA didn't really recognize her.

He usually hides his face, so it was normal for him not to recognize him.

To be honest, Doban's eyesight was good.

It is though....

'I attacked first, so I won't be dissatisfied if I find out later, right?'

Give back as much as you have suffered.

That's what the toddler himself said.

* * *

After the three days that he had promised with Poppies, Hoya headed straight to the general store of Poppies.

He bought hair dye to get his hair green again.

"Oh, Hoya-san! Welcome, I've been waiting for you."

When she opened the door to Poppy's general store, she greeted Hoya with a bright expression.

Her items were well made, as she could see her face full of her confidence.

"Is the item well completed?"

"Of course! I can proudly say it's the greatest masterpiece of my life!"

Hoya followed Papy's guidance and entered her workshop, which was set up in a small space inside her shop.

It's been quite some time since she started going to the general store, but it was the first time she entered her workshop.

As soon as she entered her workshop, the first thing that caught her eye was a marble the size of a baseball with a white line delicately drawn on a dark blue body placed on a workbench in the center of the studio.

Papis handed the marble to Hoya.

"It's the best I can make. If it doesn't hold up, I'm sorry, but I'll have to find another producer."

Seeing the description of the item, Hoya shook her head at Papis' words.

This seemed to be enough.

"No. I think that's enough. I did a good job leaving it to Papis."

"Nothing comes out of praising like that, hehe."

Now that Papis finished the item, it was Hoya's turn to hand over the money.

Hoya took the gold from his inventory and paid Papis the money.

After that, something caught his eye as he was about to leave the workshop to go to Evan.

It was a red teddy bear mask placed in the corner of her studio.

Rather than being a 'bear' doll, it was just a completeness that was closer to a bear.

“Huhu, did you make it well? Gigant Red Bear is the model.”

"It's really well made. But what kind of doll mask is it?"

"My neighbor's aunt Mary asked me to make it as a gift for her son, but it came back right away because it was so realistic. In the end, I made a new one."

There seemed to be a lot of traces of use to say that it came back right away.

"Still, aren't there too many traces of this? It doesn't look like it came back right away no matter how much you look at it."

"Ah, those are the marks I wrote. I used it once and fell a bit badly..., haha."

Poppies scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.

How the hell do you fall down like this?

The fact that the doll's mask fell so badly that it seemed like something he wanted to forget was something he didn't want to ask.

Hoya thanked Papis once again and left her general store and headed for the mato.

- Here, tell Conservo that you have received the item.

-.......

- This way?

-Yes? Ah. Yes! What did you say?

The Grim tribe can communicate with each other regardless of the distance through the shadows between the Grim tribes.

This was possible only with high proficiency in the technique of using shadows, but this skill was able to be used beyond the old days.

Just like when he first tried to ask Moan for a barrier, Lee Kyun hid in the shadow of Hoya in order to notify him immediately of any sudden change in work.

When Hoya speaks to Lee Kyeon, Lee Kyeon speaks to Toyun, and Toyun speaks to Consunu.

I called Lee Kyeon to let him know that the item was completed safely and that he only had to go through Evan's hand, but he was a bit slow to respond as if he was lost somewhere.

When Hoya repeated what he had said a while ago, Lee Kyun spoke to Toyun just then.

- What's wrong?

-Yes? Ahahaha....When Hoya, who was slightly worried about Lee Kyeon's reaction, expressed his doubts, Lee Kyeon laughed awkwardly.

-I'm sorry, that... Coming to the city reminded me of something from the past, so I must have been thinking about something else for a while.

Didn't the Grim people only live in the dark forest?

When Hoya came to the city, Lee Kyeon was puzzled by what happened in the past.

Interpreting Lee Kyeon's words, it seems that something happened in the city in the past, but Lee Kyeon was too young to recall what he experienced in his hometown before entering the Dark Forest.

Ikyun was probably born after the Grim tribe settled in the Dark Forest.

-Actually... About 10 years ago? I once ran away.

Hoya was slightly surprised by Lee Kyeon's sudden confession.

I couldn't have imagined that this Kyeon, who was as polite as Consonu, ran away from home.

-Hahaha, I'm still young, but when I was younger than this, I rotted the hearts of adults a lot. It's a case I've been used to growing up.

You usually say things like that...

- I don't usually do it. It is natural to want to hide the shame of the past.

-Uh..., did I just say that?

-Yes.

-......Sorry.

-it's okay.

There seemed to be laughter coming from this side.

-......When I ran away, I went to a city outside the forest.

When he was young, he could not control his curiosity about the city and people through the stories of adults.

So I left the village, found people, followed them secretly, and walked to a nearby city.

And there he met a girl ..., and her young heart could not bear her desires and ate her girl's shadow.

At that time, she still had not forgotten the last expression the girl had made.

-sorry. I've been thinking on my own. A story like this... isn't it a good story to hear?

At that time, my mouth did not fall from the fact that I had committed it in the end.

When the adults found out that they even ran away and ate people's shadows, they were afraid of the rebuke that would be directed at them.

So I didn't tell anyone.

But as the years passed and I grew up, I regretted that decision.

At that time, I should have confessed to the adults and asked for help to find the girl.

I should have restored the fingers of the girl who had started turning black like myself.

But by the time I realized it, too much time had already passed.

This was the first time Lee Kyun had told anyone about this.

-no, that's fine.

Lee Kyun may have relieved a little of the burden in his heart by just telling him what happened in the past.

Even when she confessed to Lee Ye-sook for the first time, she felt as if one of the heavy burdens on her chest had disappeared.

But that doesn't change that the burden is still there.

Only when the cause is addressed will the burden in the chest disappear completely.

Hoya himself was not much different from Lee Kyeon.

Although it was much lighter than before, the burden that remained in her chest was still firmly in place.

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