An arrow was fired, but at that moment he felt an intense heat rushing in from the side.

He turned his head.

Fireball...!

Moo-hyeok quickly pulled out his shield.

BOOM!

He took damage from the explosion, but it wasn't severe.

With so many users, this is troublesome...

In the rising dust, Moo-hyeok organized his thoughts.

He'll use Bone Archer 1 to pin down the priest and the guy with the shield. Bone Archer 2 will bind the mage, and Bone Archer 3 will keep the archer in check. The six Bone Warriors can target the man in front...

Finally, Moo-hyeok himself.

He intended to move freely and break apart the hostile party.

Just then, the dust settled.

He rose and gave his commands.

The situation unfolded exactly as planned.

The one struggling the most was the man who had first picked a fight with Moo-hyeok.

He was clearly confused by the coordinated attack of six Bone Warriors.

"Y-you're crazy!"

He must have been dismissing the skeletons before.

But now that their damage was far from negligible, his surprise was understandable.

"Damn it! Why isn't anyone coming! And Minseo! I need a heal!"

Watching this, Moo-hyeok smiled.

Nine skeletons.

Having gained Moo-hyeok's incredible 30% stat boost, they were far from weak.

In Bone Warrior 1's case, he hadn't invested much in strength or agility.

He focused entirely on vitality to increase HP. Even so, both strength and agility exceeded 15.

HP easily surpassed 700, and base damage alone approached 50.

With the newly purchased sword today, the damage had reached 100.

Though Bone Warriors 3, 4, 5, and 6 were weaker, they still maintained damage above 85.

With six of these creatures attacking from all directions, even a level 40 user couldn't possibly ignore them.

Even accounting for defense, each attack was draining at least 60 HP.

And that's not all.

Swish.

If they allowed Moo-hyeok's carefully timed attack as well.

[A Critical Hit occurs.]

[Deals 256 damage.]

Over 250 HP vanished in an instant.

"Heal, heal!"

The man shouted urgently.

Bone Archers 1, 2, 3. Rapid fire.

Moo-hyeok issued commands while watching the priest.

The three Bone Archers unleashed a barrage of arrows at the priest.

One man was blocking with his shield in front, but he couldn't stop all the countless arrows.

Eventually, bone arrows pierced the priest's body, causing the healing spell to be canceled.

"I said heal me, damn it!"

Moo-hyeok smiled as he positioned himself behind the cursing man.

He thrust out his skull staff.

Thunk.

As the blade struck, another critical hit triggered.

"Y-you crazy..."

That was the end.

The man turned gray and vanished.

Where he had disappeared.

Swish.

Moo-hyeok picked up the dropped item with a faint smile.

An item, huh.

He got lucky.

When someone who initiates PK dies, there's a 50 percent chance they'll drop one item from their inventory or equipped items.

Usually worthless items drop, but this man had dropped what appeared to be quite a valuable necklace at first glance.

He'd check it later.

After putting it in his inventory, he turned around.

Whoosh.

In that brief moment, the mage had finished casting, and a fire arrow was flying in.

Oh no...

There was no time to dodge.

BOOM!

He took a direct hit from the fire arrow.

[HP decreased by 120.]

Thanks to it being weaker than a Fireball, it wasn't too concerning.

Since the Bone Archers kept pressuring him, the mage probably had no choice but to switch to a spell with a shorter casting time. The power would be correspondingly lower.

This level of damage wasn't a major threat. Though it wasn't something he could completely ignore either.

Thanks to killing one of them, the Bone Warriors had some breathing room. He decided to split them up.

Bone Archer 1, rapid fire.

Bone Warriors 1 and 2, forward.

Bone Warriors 3 and 4, to the right.

Bone Warriors 5 and 6, to the left.

Bone Archer 1 and Bone Warriors 1 and 2 focused on the archer, Bone Archer 2 and Bone Warriors 3 and 4 took on the mage, while Bone Archer 3 and Bone Warriors 5 and 6 concentrated on the priest.

Moo-hyeok also weaved between them, dealing significant damage.

As a result, the hostile party's situation grew worse as time passed, and eventually they lost their lives one by one, unable to hold out.

"Ugh, damn it...!"

"Next time..."

Ignoring their final words, Moo-hyeok collected the dropped items.

He obtained 3 items in total.

He checked their information right there.

[Swift Necklace]

Movement Speed +2%

Attack Speed +2%

Requirement: Agility 15

Durability 70/85

[Bracelet of Flow]

Magic Attack Power 15

Casting Speed +1%

Requirement: Knowledge 15

Durability 62/75

[Heavy Boots]

Never loses balance in any situation

Defense 2

Agility +1

Requirement: Agility 15

Durability 73/75

Moo-hyeok's eyes widened.

"Hmm..."

Each item was extraordinary.

I should equip these myself.

Of course, the Bracelet of Flow was useless.

He planned to sell just that one.

The Swift Necklace wasn't a problem, but...

He couldn't equip the boots yet. This was because Moo-hyeok's current Agility was 14.

[Basic Information]

Name: Moo-hyeok

Level: 31

Class: Gangster Necromancer

Fame: 1,150

[Titles]

1. Beginning of Adventure

All Stats +1

2. Disciple of the Gangster Necromancer

HP, MP increased by (200)

Recovery Rate increased by (5)

3. Untainted by Darkness

Additional Damage to Dark Monsters (+5%)

Additional Defense against Dark Monsters (+5%)

[Basic Stats]

Strength: 34 Agility: 14 Vitality: 20

Intelligence: 19 Wisdom: 26

[Special Stats]

Endurance: 4 Concentration: 4 Flexibility: 4

Luck: 4 Dexterity: 38

Bonus Points: 0

[Detailed Information]

HP: 1,480

Recovery Rate per minute: 60

MP: 1,880

Recovery Rate per minute: 87

Physical Attack Power: 102 + 65

Magic Attack Power: 95 + 75

Defense: 20 + 11

Magic Defense: 38

Attack Speed: 134%

Movement Speed: 117%

Reaction Speed: 101.4+0.5%

These were his current stats.

I'm short one point in Agility.

Moo-hyeok looked over his equipped items.

Excluding the boots...

The boots had +1 Strength, so it wasn't related to Agility.

Since there weren't any slots available to equip something, he decided to look for an accessory with Agility.

Auction house system.

Fortunately, he was able to find an anklet with Agility.

After equipping it, his Agility became 15, and Moo-hyeok could now use the two newly acquired items.

Thanks to this, his movement speed and attack speed increased significantly.

He was quite satisfied.

Time to hunt again.

He listed the Bracelet of Flow for 72 hours with a starting price of 30 gold.

Since the killed users would need 24 hours before they could log back in, he decided to focus on hunting without worry during that time.

-

A video appeared on Illusion.

[PK Video from Ogre Hunting Ground!]

PK always sparks curiosity wherever it happens.

More users than expected watched that video. It showed a confrontation between one helmeted user and five other users.

└That's unfair. 5 versus 1.

└Who's telling the truth here?

└Who knows.

└Let's just watch the video.

Comments were flowing in real-time.

The viewers' engagement kept increasing.

└Wow, amazing. I thought he'd back down, but my heart skipped when the helmeted user cursed at them!

└LOL get lost, idiot.

└You get lost.

└They're just copying what the user above said. What a fool.

Things escalated as the battle unfolded.

└Whoa, nine Skeletons?

└That's incredible. That must be quite something, right?

└I know someone who's the #1 Necromancer, and they control 15 summons. They're over level 50.

└But why all Skeletons?

└Yeah, aren't Skeletons weak?

└Should have some Enhanced Zombies or Mud Golems at least.

└Skeletons look like they'd break easily.

But things didn't go as expected.

└Holy...

└Are those really Skeletons?

└How are they so strong?

The Skeletons completely dominated the users.

└Don't you need to be level 40 for the Ogre Hunting Ground?

└That's right. And the Skeletons beat users of that level.

└Wow...

└This is insane, absolutely insane.

Because of that video, "Necromancer" rose to #7 in trending searches.

Of course, as new videos quickly rose up, this one got buried in just a few hours. It disappeared from the trending searches too.

However, the video had already been viewed by hundreds of thousands of users, and the number was still steadily increasing.

The unique Necromancer who only summoned Skeletons was firmly imprinted in their minds.

-

He woke up early and headed to the gym.

After 30 minutes on the treadmill, he started strength training.

As he exerted himself, his well-defined muscles began to show, drawing the attention of the women working out nearby.

His appearance was decent enough.

With his moderate height, reasonable muscle definition, and deep gaze, he had a peculiar charm about him.

Anyone could see he wasn't unattractive.

But Moo-hyeok felt uncomfortable.

"Hmm..."

He wasn't used to such attention yet. It was natural, considering he'd spent over seven years in the hospital.

Not that he disliked it.

It was just awkward.

"Ahem..."

He tried to ignore it and focus on his workout.

Bzzt bzzt.

Just then, his phone, placed next to the equipment, started vibrating. His eyes widened as he checked the screen.

"Minwoo?"

The one person he could call a friend.

It was Seong Minwoo.

He pressed the answer button.

"Hello...?"

Come to think of it, since starting his new life, he hadn't met any friends. Hadn't even had a phone call.

Though Minwoo was naturally aloof and rarely kept in touch, he himself had forgotten about it all and had nothing to say.

(What are you doing?)

That direct way of getting to the point.

It brought an unconscious smile to his face.

"Working out."

(Huh? Why working out?)

"I'm playing Illusion these days. Don't want my body to waste away."

(Oh! You play Illusion too?)

Minwoo's previously listless voice became energetic. His eyes must have lit up at the mention of Illusion.

That reaction alone told him everything he needed to know.

"You play too?"

(Of course! Since we're on the topic, we should meet up! All the other guys are playing Illusion too. It'll be super fun if we meet!)

Kang Moo-hyeok's expression stiffened for a moment.

Those who he once considered friends.

He remembered when they came to visit him in the hospital during his full-body paralysis, led there by Minwoo.

After that first visit, they never came back or even contacted him once.

Only Minwoo would occasionally visit, asking if he was okay with a worried expression and tone.

"Well..."

That's why he wasn't keen on it.

(Why? We can talk about Illusion too.)

"Umm..."

(We should meet up! No excuses, I'll contact the guys and set it up. I'll text you the time and place. Bye!)

And the call ended.

Kang Moo-hyeok let out a deep sigh.

"Haah."

While he wanted to see Minwoo, he didn't feel the same about the others.

But it seemed silly to avoid something that hadn't even happened yet.

Though it would be difficult to resolve his feelings about them, talking about Illusion with Minwoo would surely be enjoyable.

Finally deciding to go, he returned to his workout.

Shortly after, he received a text, and upon realizing he was short on time, he headed to the gym's locker room.