My Villains Chapter 1
- Hardcore PvP (1)
I turned on the computer as soon as I got home from work, dragging my tired body.
By the time I changed clothes and finished washing up quickly, the boot-up was complete.
As I stretched due to stiffness.
“Ugh…”
A groan escaped involuntarily.
I rotated my neck this way and that while double-clicking the icon in the center of the desktop.
‘Dark World.’
It wasn’t a game boasting flashy graphics, realistic sound, and hundreds of thousands of concurrent users…
Perhaps because it’s been twenty years since its release? They were starting to classify it as a classic game.
Still, it was so well-made that there were people who still enjoyed it, and I was one of them.
Actually, to call me just ‘one of them’ would be a bit of an understatement. I’m a rather unusual case. I first encountered this game about a week or two after its release and have been playing it ever since.
Of course, I haven’t been playing the game non-stop for twenty years, so I can’t claim to be ‘number one in playtime.’ I took breaks from gaming during my senior year of high school, my military service, and when I was deeply involved in a relationship.
“Now, today’s victim is…”
I quickly tapped the space bar to skip the painstakingly created pixel art opening.
A few low-level characters with shabby equipment were lined up, and my main character, emitting a red aura, was welcoming me.
My main character’s name was ‘Pique Application Note’, level 95, and the class was Blood Knight.
I was a veteran user of Dark World, but I only had one campaign character, just the Blood Knight.
This situation was due to my play style.
I’m a true hardcore user, you see.
Hardcore was a mode where if your character dies during play, you can’t revive, facing a penalty. Naturally, most light users don’t even bother with this mode.
But for me, hardcore was a grateful mode that allowed me to feel thrills even after enjoying the game for many years.
Anyway, even hardcore users usually develop the know-how to comfortably clear the campaign after a few years of play.
Of course, I surpassed that level long ago. So why do I only have one Camcle character?
It’s because I’m a pervert among hardcore users, a super-pervert, a hardcore PvP user.
Now you can guess what happened to all my Camcle characters, right? Yeah. I lost them all while doing PvP.
No matter how good you are at PvP, if you keep fighting until death, you eventually die.
There aren’t many tough guys who enjoy PvP in hardcore mode where you lose everything – levels, items – with just one death. Especially, users who do PvP with characters that have cleared the extremely difficult campaign are truly rare.
In my case… I probably have easily a thousand characters that have gone to America (permanently died).
Among them, there were three or four characters that reached the ‘max level’ of 100, and I can’t even count how many were over level 90. The ‘Graveyard’ tab, which collects permanently dead characters, seems endless no matter how much I scroll.
There probably aren’t many users as obsessed with hardcore PvP as I am among Dark World users worldwide.
As the short loading screen disappeared, the familiar town scenery and my Blood Knight appeared. I immediately checked my messages.
‘Oh.’
Unlike usual, there were two messages waiting. Of course, both are PvP requests.
After carefully reading the first message, I typed,
►To Surisurijusuri: I’ve checked your message. Are you available now?
>Surisurijusuri: Oh, you’re online
>Surisurijusuri: Ready
>Surisurijusuri: But are you really okay with 3:1?
“A newbie?”
I thought for a moment, but… Probably not. Newbies are rare in a 20-year-old game.
It’s likely users who usually play in normal mode, trying their hand at hardcore mode.
Then they get used to the thrill, and end up here looking for a place to bury their characters.
►To Surisurijusuri: You have an 80 Summoner Shaman, 76 Paladin, and 79 Tattooed Berserker, right?
>Surisurijusuri: Yes
>Surisurijusuri: Ah, the Paladin
►To Surisurijusuri: Then it doesn’t matter
►To Surisurijusuri: ??
>Surisurijusuri: I’m level 77 now
►To Surisurijusuri: I see
►To Surisurijusuri: Want to come to my room?
>Surisurijusuri: Okay
My Blood Knight, ‘Pique Application Note’, is a character that has reached the impressive level of 95, as mentioned earlier.
It’s also the strongest character in my Dark World playing history, having survived countless PvP battles for nearly a year.
Although not max level, it’s an incredibly strong character due to excellent equipment drops and a skill tree specialized for PvP.
That’s why after reaching level 90, it became almost impossible to find opponents of similar level. It’s nearly impossible for most people to throw away a high-level character they’ve raised for months just for a moment of thrill.
So the solution I found was multi-opponent PvP.
If they’re above level 80, two opponents; above level 70, three opponents; above level 60, five opponents… This is how I came to enjoy PvP against multiple opponents.
Even then, after ‘Pique Application Note’ surpassed 500 kills in its log, there were hardly any users requesting PvP.
It was because the character name had become known through various Dark World community sites.
I even earned a pretty cool nickname, ‘Blood Knight Master’, so that says it all.
Therefore, a day like today is truly a lucky day.
“Phew… Come on, you weaklings.”
While I was checking item and skill shortcuts and loosening up my stiff hands, consecutive alert sounds rang.
[A new hero has joined. Shake hands to become allies, or fight to kill them.]
Ignoring the alert sounds, I typed. After a few simple agreements were made, it was finally time for the duel.
While keeping distance from the opponents, I used some of my health to layer multiple buffs.
‘Iron Blood Armor’ that heals me every time I deal damage.
‘Blood Blade’ that grows stronger by sucking in surrounding blood.
‘Blood Thirst’ that enhances accuracy and attack power.
And ‘Incarnation’ that creates a blood clone.
As soon as I used the auxiliary skills, I consumed a health potion.
I wouldn’t be able to use potions for the next minute, but that’s fine. Those potions are rushing towards me with high spirits anyway.
While my Blood Knight was applying buffs, the opponents weren’t idle either.
The Shaman summoned all sorts of spirits, and the Paladin applied buffs to his teammates.
The Berserker charged in, ominously illuminating the bizarre tattoos all over his body.
Before that, translucent giant eagles and a pack of wolves lunged at incredible speed.
I calmly used the ‘Blood Wind’ skill to sweep away the summons and cast ‘Blood Swamp’ on the blood spread on the ground.
With a strange sound, the red blood darkened and bound the enemies’ feet.
At that moment, with a ‘Kuwaaaaak!’ battle cry, the Berserker leaped and swung his massive axe wildly.
I withstood the Berserker’s attack with Iron Blood Armor and cast a skill at the feet of the Paladin charging from the side.
It was ‘Blood Festival’, one of the Blood Knight’s ultimate skills.
Along with a somewhat flashy effect of blood bursting across the entire screen, the Paladin took considerable damage.
The Paladin fled while using potions. I ignored him and rushed straight towards the Shaman.
The Shaman hurriedly retreated, but my Blood Knight, with dramatically increased movement speed from activating shoe options, was able to catch up to him quickly.
The Berserker tried to stick close using Berserk, but was blocked by my persistent clone.
‘A Berserker with tank tattoos? It’ll take a good thirty seconds to beat him.’
As I was thinking this, the bear spirit next to the Shaman swelled up and swung its front paws.
As soon as the bear spirit’s paws tore through the Iron Blood Armor, a tiger spirit suddenly sprang up from the ground and launched a sneak attack.
Krung!
“Uh oh,”
Damn, look at that damage. Where did this damage come from? Is the Shaman really level 80?
It seemed a critical hit had occurred, as the health bar was chunked down.
If I take three or four more hits like that, ‘Pique Application Note’ will be permanently dead.
Ugh, cold sweat involuntarily flows.
My fingers tapping the keyboard and mouse naturally became more urgent.
I dealt with the tiger spirit by mixing the ‘Blood Thorn’ skill with normal attacks.
I cast ‘Red Ice’ skill on the Paladin who charged after recovering, slowing his feet, and rushed towards the Shaman again.
Then the Paladin shook off the interference with ‘Fanaticism’ skill and charged in with ‘Glorious Rush’ skill.
‘Glorious Rush’ is a terrifying skill that, at master level, stuns the opponent for a full 5 seconds.
Although my character’s stun resistance is quite high, it would still be stunned for at least 3 seconds.
In other words, that ‘Glorious Rush’ is a skill that would kill me if I get hit by it now.
‘One, two!’
Holding my breath, I used the ‘Bloody Grasp’ skill at the right timing.
Just before the Paladin’s shield made contact, my character suddenly stretched out his arm and grabbed the Paladin’s neck.
It was an advanced technique where success or failure is determined by a difference of one or two frames, but if successful, it could interrupt the opponent’s skill activation.
Every time my Blood Knight’s arm twitched, the blood on the Paladin’s body burst out consecutively.
“Ugh, ack, urk!”
[Kim Jeon-tae12: Crazy]
[Surisurijusuri: Light armor]
[Kim Jeon-tae12: This game is rigged]
“Urk! Urk! Ack.”
The Paladin let out consecutive screams in his characteristically deep voice.
I followed up with normal attacks to break the Paladin’s shield and dealt damage with the ‘Blood Thorn’ skill. Simultaneously, additional damage was triggered from the Bloody Grip effect.
[Kim Jeon-tae12: Wait]
[Surisurijusuri: Light armor is strong]
[Kim Jeon-tae12: Wait a sec]
[Kim Jeon-tae12: Mr.]
[Surisurijusuri: Use light armor]
[Kim Jeon-tae12: GG]
[Surisurijusuri: Stupid]
[Kim Jeon-tae: Mr.]
Text flowed up in the chat window, but I ignored it and finished off the Paladin with normal attacks.
“Ugh urk.”
‘You should use skills instead of chatting.’
While caught in ‘Bloody Grip’, movement becomes impossible, but it doesn’t cause stun. Therefore, if various skills were used even while caught, it was quite possible to survive, but…
Well, yeah. Given the nature of hardcore PvP, maintaining composure isn’t as easy as it sounds. Even I, a veteran, sometimes get shaky hands.
And so, the level 77 Paladin met his eternal death. A character that probably took a couple of months to build up disappeared so easily.
On the other hand, my character’s health was restored by the ‘Vampirism’ passive while beating the Paladin. Now, even if they were resurrected, the remaining two couldn’t defeat me.
Seems they realized this too, as just as I was about to launch a skill, a short chat message popped up.
[BigHardAxe: gg]
With that final chat, the Berserker and Shaman characters disappeared in turn.
[A hero has left.]
[A hero has left.]
“Ah damn. They pulled the plug.”
I muttered regretfully while massaging my slightly trembling hands.
“Phew.”
Looking at the result, it might have seemed like an easy victory, but it was quite a dangerous situation.
Both the ‘Battle Stance Paladin’ (a Paladin mainly using Battle Stance skills) and the ‘Tattoo Berserker’ (a Berserker with magical tattoos) are well-known PvP classes, and the ‘Summoning Shaman’ (a Shaman summoning various spirits) had spirits with ridiculous attack power, probably due to good items.
If the Paladin had used its skills a bit more calmly and endured, my Blood Knight might have melted under the attacks of the Berserker and Shaman.
> Kim Jeon-tae: Mr.
> Kim Jeon-tae: Mr.
> Kim Jeon-tae: I was just killed the Battle Stance Paladin
> Kim Jeon-tae: Just give me the items
> Kim Jeon-tae: Just the shield and ring
> Kim Jeon-tae: Please
> Kim Jeon-tae: Please
> Kim Jeon-tae: Mr.
“What’s this, so pathetic.”
I sneered, blocked the whispers, and collected items from the dead Paladin’s corpse.
Most items were sold to the shop, but the shield and ring looked quite good, so I mailed them to my alt character.
After briefly shaking with the sensation of victory, I gulped down some water and checked another message.
Seeing the sender’s name, I snickered and typed a chat.
“Geez. This old man, he’s persistent.”
►To Trickster: Heh heh, did you level up again?
>Trickster: Yeah.
>Trickster: Coming now.
►To Trickster: Heh heh heh
►To Trickster: Alright
As soon as the chat ended, a Monk character appeared in town.
Seeing the character’s level, I gaped in disbelief.
“Wow, level 93? When did he level this up?”
In Dark World, you couldn’t check others’ equipment, so you had to guess their gear based on their character’s appearance.
And the outfit the Monk was wearing now, emitting a white aura, was clearly the top-tier set item ‘Eastern Saint’s Legacy’.
[Pique Application Note: Wow, old man]
[Pique Application Note: Did you pay real money?]
[Trickster: Just bring it on.]
I suddenly recalled that it was only about ten days ago that I last had PvP with this old man.
[Pique Application Note: Your level is so high]
[Pique Application Note: Did you use a farming service?]
As far as I know, even with a farming service, reaching level 93 in ten days is impossible. Did he have a hidden character?
[Trickster: You talk too much.]
[Trickster: Just bring it on.]
The person using the ID ‘Trickster’ was a user who had been enjoying Dark World with me for quite a long time.
Judging by his chat style and increasingly dull control, he seemed to be quite old… But to me, he had long since become a loser who regularly donated items.
[Pique Application Note: Heh heh heh, you were leveling a Monk]
[Pique Application Note: That’s good]
I was about to provoke him a bit more, but the old man was ignoring the chat and moving out of town. I snickered and followed him.
The result of the ensuing duel was… Well, of course I won.
“Geez. What’s with this old man, is his condition getting worse by the day?”
He went through the trouble of leveling up a ‘Wind Monk’ (a Monk mainly using Hundred Step Divine Fist skill) but engaged in close-quarter brawling, so I couldn’t lose even if I wanted to.
“Wow, I need to maintain a Legacy set in hardcore mode.”
As I was rummaging through the Monk’s corpse with glee, a whisper came.
>Trickster: You bad kid!
I typed on the keyboard, chuckling.
►To Trickster: Heh heh heh heh
►To Trickster: Oh this is so funny
►To Trickster: My stomach hurts heh heh =D =D
>Trickster: Open the room.
►To Trickster: Heh heh heh heh heh heh don’t wanna
►To Trickster: Gonna go level up a Monk
>Trickster: You bad kid!
As I was chuckling for a while, suddenly a strange thing happened.
👀👀
😬