"Did I just hear something ridiculous?"
I muttered that as I dug into my ear. No matter how I thought about it, my ears had to be malfunctioning. Otherwise, there was no way a UR-ranked player would call me a pack mule.
While I was vigorously cleaning my ear, our UR-ranked teammate simply stared at me. Even when I turned my head or pretended to be distracted, she didn't take her eyes off me.
In the end, I had no choice but to ask seriously.
"You're really going to make me the pack mule?"
"You heard correctly."
Ponia just smiled brightly at my question. Seeing that smile, I couldn't say anything. When someone looks at you like that and smiles that way, there's only one possible conclusion.
I looked at the other teammates beside me with a desperate expression. But they avoided my pitiful gaze, apparently having no objections.
As a last resort, I turned to the coach who had picked me. Unlike the others, he responded to my look. Unfortunately, it wasn't the answer I wanted.
"If you were picked for 1,005 points, you have to prove it."
Judging by the brightness of his expression, it seemed like he had already agreed on this with the others from the start.
In the end, I decided to accept the strategy, but I added one condition.
"We try it in the first round, and if it doesn't work, we change the strategy immediately. That's the minimum."
"That was the plan from the beginning."
It felt like I was being dragged into this, but fine. I hadn't wanted to carry because I'd get blamed if things went wrong, but since I'd agreed to it, I would do my best.
This would be the chance for everyone to see just how exaggerated Margus' words had been.
With that thought in mind, I waited, and finally the first scrim began.
The first map was Jungle. Just remembering my previous struggles there made it clear this wouldn't be easy.
I chose the spear, the weapon I was most familiar with. The others picked a sword, dagger, staff, and shield.
"Let's head straight to the temple."
Everyone else nodded at Ponia's words, but I couldn't. There wasn't just one temple in Jungle. There were plenty. I had no idea which one she meant.
While I was thinking that, Ponia spoke to me.
"Pilgong, just follow behind us."
The game started, and after spawning, we immediately began running in a certain direction. There were items along the way that could've been looted, but neither my teammates nor Ponia even glanced at them.
If I tried to pick something up, I'd be left behind, so I ignored them too. After running for a while, we arrived at a truly massive temple.
'I didn't see this when I searched the map info on the official site.'
When I had looked up basic information about Jungle, I hadn't seen this place. Then I looked up at the sky and realized why it hadn't appeared on the map.
Dense trees completely covered the entire temple.
Staring around in surprise, I asked my chat, "Did you guys know there was a place like this?"
-Yeah, we knew.
-Yeah.
-We knew, but we don't know how to find it.
-It's not even marked on the map. How are you supposed to find it?
-Ponia probably memorized all the map patterns.
-The guy above is talking nonsense lol.
Hearing that most of the viewers already knew about it made the back of my head sting.
Thinking back, I vaguely remembered someone in chat mentioning going to a temple before. At the time, not knowing such a place existed, I had dismissed it as nonsense.
'They must've known about this.'
Even if I had believed them, I wouldn't have known how to find it and probably would've ignored it anyway.
While I was thinking that, my teammates had already reached the temple entrance.
"Let's start looting!"
At Ponia's words, the others scattered, and I hurried inside to start looting as well.
'Let's just search everything in sight.'
I assumed there wouldn't be many items left since others had gone in before me, but I was wrong.
"Why are there so many items lying around?"
-Of course.
-About 50 percent of the Jungle map items are here.
-Did you seriously not know about the temple?
-Finding the temple is insane.
-If you loot the temple well, first place is practically guaranteed.
"Pilgong!"
"Huh? Yes!"
Ponia called me. I quickly went over to her, and there was a brilliantly glowing level core.
She spoke as if it were nothing.
"Take it."
"Really?"
She had found it, yet I was the one taking it. It felt strange. But since the strategy was pack mule from the start, I accepted it and picked up the level core.
You have acquired a level core.
Please select a skill to activate.
-Rannachal
-Throw
-Acceleration
After a brief moment of thought, I chose Rannachal.
Throw wasn't suitable for a one-man show, and Acceleration would just increase my speed and the chances of me fighting alone and dying. Rannachal was the most fundamental option.
Rannachal was a passive skill that enhanced all spear-based attacks. More than anything else, that was what I needed right now.
I was about to return to looting when another teammate called me.
"Take this."
"Oh. Okay."
Another level core. I picked it up immediately.
You have acquired a level core.
Please select a skill to activate.
-Slash (2nd Stage)
-Throw
-Acceleration
This time, along with the two options I hadn't chosen earlier, a new second-stage option appeared. It was tempting, but I selected Acceleration for now.
'It's better to have at least one survival skill.'
Just as I was about to return to looting again, yet another teammate called out to me.
"Take it and make sure you carry properly."
"Seriously?"
"Of course."
The rising expectations made me uneasy, but refusing wasn't an option from the beginning.
You have acquired a level core.
Please select a skill to activate.
-Slash (2nd Stage)
-Throw
-Flash Step (2nd Stage)
After a short deliberation, I chose Flash Step.
I had already tried Throw and knew it wasn't for me. Slash and Flash Step were both skills I hadn't used before. It was a tough choice, but I prioritized survivability and picked Flash Step.
"I've eaten three level cores. There can't be any more, right?"
-What is he even saying?
-There are at least five in the temple.
-He really knows nothing about the temple.
-For real lol.
-You'll be called at least two more times.
After reading chat, I could only sigh.
If they funneled this much into me and I still failed, I'd feel terrible. I still considered myself at the lower end of my current tier, which made it worse.
During downtime, I continued looting other items, and whenever a teammate called me, I ran over to take another level core.
By the time we finished at the temple, I had consumed seven level cores. The abilities I gained were as follows.
-Rannachal, Slash (2nd Stage), Pierce (3rd Stage), Flow (4th Stage)
-Acceleration, Flash Step, Blink
The Rannachal line enhanced slicing, thrusting, and deflecting attacks. The Acceleration line consisted entirely of movement skills. Among them, Blink allowed short-distance leaps and was extremely powerful.
Even so, there were cooldowns and restrictions. Without maximizing offensive skills and the Rannachal passive, it could easily become awkward.
Beyond skills, there were various healing and enhancement items, all of which my teammates piled onto me. On paper, my stats now looked like I could wipe out an entire party alone.
"We made this, but the stats really are monstrous."
The teammates who had built me up like this were smiling proudly. Maybe because the teams weren't finalized yet, everyone seemed to be enjoying this outrageous strategy.
"Haha. Don't get your hopes up. We could still lose."
"I don't think that'll happen."
They laughed, insisting there was no way we'd lose. Just then, a system message appeared.
The arena is shrinking.
The temple we were in was now outside the safe zone. It was time to move toward the center.
"All right, everyone, let's go! Time to test the performance of the pack mule we created!"
"Oh!"
It felt like they had forgotten this was preparation for a tournament. The team leader and members were just laughing. The coach who approved such an absurd plan couldn't have been in his right mind either.
I had come into this competition determined to be serious, but the situation wasn't allowing me to stay that way.
"Looting is done!"
"Then we'll move to the center."
After finishing their looting, the team leader Pilip led his teammates toward the center. Given the nature of the Jungle map, even a satisfactory loot run wasn't particularly impressive.
'It would've been nice if we'd found the temple….'
Pilip wasn't someone whose main game was this one from the start. He had excellent physical skill, strong game sense, and high overall understanding, which was how he became UR-ranked.
But he hadn't memorized the map to the extent of knowing where the temple was in Jungle.
In the end, he had no choice but to leave looting to luck.
As they moved toward the center, a rustling sound came from the grass beside them.
"Everyone, prepare for combat!"
His teammates were running behind him, so there was no reason for grass to rustle beside them. Pilip quickly gave the order.
But the opponent reacted faster than he did.
Thud.
A stabbing sound echoed, and the kill log appeared.
Pilgong_ has killed Ramen.
Survivors: 19
"Huh?"
The man who had suddenly appeared and killed Ramen let out that dumbfounded sound as he locked eyes with Pilip. An unpleasant silence hung between them.
Pilip was the first to snap out of it.
"Attack him now!"
Having entered the middle of the enemy formation like this, strategy was already meaningless. There was only one choice left.
A chaotic brawl. Forget strategy - overwhelm him with numbers.
Pilip shouted and charged first.
All four remaining members rushed at the same time, but the opponent vanished again in an instant.
"Wow… controlling speed is harder than I thought."
He muttered that before disappearing once more. At the same time, multiple kill logs appeared.
Pilgong_ has killed Yuge.
Survivors: 18
Pilgong_ has killed Pongpong.
Survivors: 17
Pilgong_ has killed Tizel.
Survivors: 16
Three kill logs appeared in an instant. Finally, a spear pierced through Pilip's abdomen, and the last kill log went up.
Pilgong_ has killed PILIP.
Survivors: 15
As he died, one final thought crossed Pilip's mind.
'What on earth did he do to become this strong…?'
And just like that, Pilip's team was wiped out.