This is a coincidence. Just a man with a similar laugh. This world is so huge that there must be another person with a similar habit.

These thoughts did not even cross my mind. As soon as I had a sense of déjà vu, I accepted reality.

Clown.

A member of the Round Table Observers and the most knowledgeable and seems to be the most skillful of them. Such was the true personality of this man.

I guessed he was from Noark, but I never thought we'd meet like this...

I stood face to face with the Clown, who was interesting to me, but was not at all happy to meet him.

.

What should I do? He looks damn strong. If I say that I am a Leo, will he let us go?

Of course not.

I threw away the faint thoughts that were beginning to blossom. Not only was it tantamount to revealing that I was an evil spirit, but the person the Clown respected was the Lion, not this barbaric sucker. Once my identity is revealed, Clown will lose interest in me and get angry.

So I shouted:

"Get ready for battle!"

Overcoming fear has always been the best solution at any time, in any place.

"Now you're behaving like a barbarian!"

The clown watched my movements with a cheerful look.

It seemed to bring her to her senses. Raven immediately cast a spell.

— [Derva Timunes].

The magic of a commanding voice. Since our opponent was a human and not a monster, I guessed that she had decided to cast this spell as soon as she heard my scream.

"Click, how boring.

Now that he had lost his amusement, Clown looked displeased. I didn't care, though.

"Everyone stand behind me!"

At the same time as the quick order, I used [Gigantization] to block the passage.

This was the advantage of the Crystal Cave. Although each passage was different, they were mostly narrow enough to be blocked by a single giant barbarian.

*Kling*

'Behellaaa

As if shaking off my fear, I shouted the name of the ancestor goddess. Holding the shield low enough not to obscure my view, I focused all my attention on the guy's movements.

*Tudum!*

My warrior heart beat at the right speed. The heated blood circulated rapidly, awakening my body. I was sure that at least I wouldn't die too easily.

"Mr. Yandel, if you do, we won't be able to attack!"

The magician's fears were resolutely dismissed.

"And you don't have to.

"What?"

"We don't know who he is. You need to know his abilities first. Until then, not a step forward.

The most important thing in PvP battles was information.

Out of 50,000 special abilities and items, how did the enemy combine them and in which class did they raise their character? Without knowing this, it was difficult to answer properly.

"This...!" This monster killed the knight. And are you going to deal with it yourself?

What else can we do?

"This is the most effective way.

I was a tank. I could even withstand a surprise attack, but these guys can't. The moment they are caught off guard, their game is likely to be over.

"Since I can't hear what you're talking about, it's not interesting.

Without giving us time to discuss strategy further, Clown spoke in a cold voice and held out his hand. Suddenly, a weapon appeared there.

Mithril.

It was an awl that emitted a silvery-blue light.

"Just die," a low voice rang out, and at the same moment, the figure of the Clown disappeared before my eyes.

The time I lost it was short. In any case, he attacked in a straight line.

Do you think you can use the game of vision?

Lowering my shield slightly, I saw that Clown had taken up a position at a hidden angle of view. Hardened by numerous combat clashes, I quickly determined the point of attack.

Hip...

In battle, everything came down to information. The time of thoughtless brandishing of weapons had passed, and every action had to have a reason and a purpose. If so, why was he aiming for the thigh?

Is he an assassin?

In terms of compatibility, he must have thought that it would be problematic to break through my shield. This was the first thing I upgraded with the money I saved after paying off the debt.

If he had brains, he should have figured it out as soon as he saw it.

A large shield made of Class 4 metal, lunar ore, had the durability to withstand even a few blows from an arch sword.

*Blow!*

It was impossible to break through it with a 5th class mithril.

*Clang!*

Instead of just blocking him with my shield, I applied force to my arm.

— …!

Clown's body was thrown back without much resistance. I wrote down one more piece of information in my head.

His Muscle Strength is lower than mine.

Well, in general, it was obvious.

I began to think that it was worth trying. I was no longer the same as six months ago.

Starting with gear, I've made significant improvements in many areas.

Obviously, he didn't reach the level of a Dragon Slayer.

Well, I'm sure he hasn't shown me everything he's got yet.

Keeping my guard down, I watched the Clown as he stepped back. I managed to block the first attack, but if I miss at least one, it will most likely be dangerous. Still, he confidently told me to die. Such a phrase is not pronounced, aiming at the thigh.

Then is it poison?

It is likely that the weapon was poisoned. It is also possible that his special ability is related to poison. So far, nothing has been confirmed, so even when making such assumptions, I left all possibilities open.

I think it's time...

All we have done so far has been to exchange techniques using simple physical force. And now that the attack has been blocked, it's time to use the skills.

"Phew!" I wanted to save as much MP as possible!

I couldn't help laughing. Apart from his characteristic exaggerated tone, to say "MP"?

—... Mr. Yandel! This man is an evil spirit!

This madman doesn't even try to hide the fact that he's a player.

Are all the people from Noark like that?

Well, since they opposed the royal family, there was no need to hide it.

"No, wait a minute. If he's an evil spirit...

At these words I shuddered.

I guessed what Raven was thinking: someone from Noark with the ability to single-handedly kill a knight, one of the most famous players in town.

"Corpse Collector...?" Raven muttered the name, dumbfounded.

"Kyaa."

I hurriedly turned to look behind me.

[Abed Necrapeto used [Puppet]].

The bodies of the knight and soldiers scattered behind me stood up and pounced on Raven.

Damn it, she was right.

There was no point in denying further, because the concept of the character of the Corpse Collector was known. It was a good class of characters, which I also played a few times. A class specializing in curses and summons, which emphasized the Agility stat to counter its weakness of melee combat.

A nimble necromancer with poison was the class I was about to fight.

***

Due to the fact that he aimed at my vital point with an awl-like weapon, I mistook him for an assassin, but it was an obvious mistake.

Necromancer...

He just underestimated me and tried to make a normal attack. In fact, he specialized in something else.

It was not by chance that he was in this area, he came here for us.

Now, knowing his personality, I began to look at the surroundings differently. Most likely, this guy left the corpses there on purpose. The reason was simple. If he left them like that, pretending to be dead, he could use them as security cameras. It didn't matter now.

There is no longer any need for a reconnaissance battle.

I decided to focus on the positives. While gathering information about Orcules after the battle with the Dragon Slayer, I also learned quite a bit about the Corpse Gatherer.

6 of its essences are known.

Of course, there are definitely 3 unidentified essences, and given this guy's notoriety, that would be a disaster for us. But at least the definition of the class was complete.

"Don't fight and retreat!" I hurriedly ordered.

If this were a battle with a regular summoner, the standard would be to kill the summoned creatures first, but...

"Don't fight?"

"First create a distance!"

For such a necromancer, each summoned creature was a self-destructing weapon.

Increasing the distance was the basis of the strategy.

"Aruru, come here!"

"Good!"

The moment Einar grabbed Raven and prepared to retreat, a gray light broke through the eye holes in the Clown's mask.

*Flash!*

[Abed Necrapeto cast [Curse of Petrification]].

My nerves began to go numb from head to toe. I knew what kind of skill it was as soon as it hit me: the essence of a rank 4 monster, Medusa.

*Jerk*

As if he wanted to kill me first, he picked up his awl again and rushed at me. It was definitely a cheating skill.

Perhaps it was because of this skill that there was no trace of a battle here.

Even a knight would find it difficult to resist a rank 4 essence, after all, the average knight was rank 5. It would be difficult for them to gain Magic Resistance.

But not me.

Over the past six months, I've poured all 200 points of Manticore's passive skill [Heredity] into Magic Resistance. Usually, other stats increase along with it, but Magic Resistance was more appropriate.

'Behella

As a result, my battlecry became similar to the skill [Indomitable].

[Your Magic Resistance is greater than 400.]

I had +20 from the 2nd stage of Imprint of Immortality, +80 from Ogre Essence, and +200 from [Heredity].

The Magic Resistance increased by [Gigantization] and [Wild Splash] was around 40, and if you add to that another 20% obtained with the Blessing of the Earth Dragon...

[Immunity to Suppression is applied].

[Anomalous state [Curse of Petrification] lifted].

My Magic Resistance temporarily exceeded 400, and I became immune to suppression skills!

As soon as the numbness in my legs disappeared, I grabbed my shield and rushed forward. The enemy looked very puzzled. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that he was dumbfounded.

"Ha!" Immunity to suppression? How much have you invested in the Magic Resistance?!

Thank you for the praise.

I paid a lot of money for the essence of Manticore primarily for the sake of Magic Resistance.

Regardless of whether I erased the essence or not, +200 Magic Resistance was enough for the second half of the maze.

Either way, he's as fast as hell.

Although I rushed forward like a tank, this guy easily increased the distance. That's why those bastards were cunning. In general, the summoner's body itself was supposed to be his weak point, but catching them was a whole ordeal. Still, I was glad he wasn't an assassin.

"Raven!" Freeze the corpses!

"What?" Ok!

"Abman, when I give the signal, send a powerful blow!" To make room for escape!

"Escape?" Is this possible?

Well, the odds were 50/50, but we had to try. The chances of this were higher than winning the fight.

- Probably, we need to pour everything into one blow. Ok!

Fortunately, Mr. Bear obediently obeyed the order. As soon as he heard the name of the Corpse Gatherer, he must have felt that the chances of winning the battle were slim, and even that would inevitably come at a high price.

Why the Corpse Collector?

This man was one of the highest ranks, even in Orcules. Naturally, he was even taller than a Dragon Slayer.

But now I have a chance.

Due to the nature of their class, necromancers were not very good at chasing. In addition, this guy was saving his resources.

Since he'll have to fight until the maze closes, I'm sure he wants to cut at least a small amount of expenses.

With this in mind, I began to retreat quickly.

*Shaaaa!*

Cold air blew from behind. It seems that Raven used cold magic to freeze the corpses.

"They're frozen!"

So, it was confirmed.

"Abman!"

"Oh, just tell me!" Mr. Bear seemed to be ready too.

After telling him what the signal would be for a surprise attack, I turned to Raven.

"Raven, turn off the magic of [Voice Control]."

"What?"

"Hurry up.

"It's off."

As soon as the magic of the command voice was turned off, I spoke to Clown.

"Hello."

"Huh?"

He looked at me with curious eyes.

Nevertheless, I continued.

"Do you know about two ways to make a person angry?"

"What?" I've never heard of it.

Oh, foreigner. I knew he hadn't heard.

"The first is to stop talking in the middle of a sentence.

- I see. And the second? The clown nodded understandingly.

"This...

I deactivated [Gigantization].

And at this moment...

[Abman Urikfrid applied [Enhancement]].

[Abman Urikfrid used [Hazardous Materials]].

An arrow containing all of Mr. Bear's skills shot into the opening passage.

*BAAAAAH!*

The cave trembled as if in an earthquake.

*Woouuh!*

Looking at the passage, which was obscured by the flames that had flared up in an instant, I shouted even more passionately than before:

"Why did you get up?!" Run!