YM778.TV Chapter 7: The Necessary Choice
Chapter 7: The Necessary Choice
Just one shot.
That was the number of attacks it took to take down a kobold.
"Well, of course."
[Low-Level Archery (Lv. 4)]
Even though it was low-level, Lv. 4 exuded skill beyond that of most professionals.
Moreover, it was on the verge of advancing to the intermediate level.
Considering that intermediate level was beyond human reach, it was fair to say that low-level Lv. 4 was the pinnacle of human ability.
“Wow. Who taught you archery?”
I turned at the voice.
Mari, with her green hair, was looking at me sparklingly.
Watching me shoot the bow seemed to have left quite an impression on her.
Well, it would have been impressive.
To her eyes, I must have looked like a complete beginner who had never even held a bow.
At least until the ability I had borrowed from Mari activated.
I turned my attention to the only two employees who hadn’t fled and called out internally.
‘Status window.’
[Yon LV. 1/2 (Rank 9)]
[Skills]
- None
[Stats]
- Strength (6/19)
- Agility (5/19)
- Stamina (5/19)
- Durability (4/19)
- Mental Strength (14/19)
[All stats have decreased due to fear.]
First up, the middle-aged man.
His mental strength was significantly higher than that of other Rank 9 employees, but aside from that, he was average.
The fact that he hadn’t fallen into panic and stayed in place showed that he could grow into a valuable asset for the company if properly nurtured.
He looked a bit older, but that didn’t matter.
After all, stats improved regardless of age, whether you were old or young.
Next was Mari.
[Mari LV. 1/5 (Rank 8)]
[Skills]
- Low-Level Archery (Lv. 4)
[Stats]
- Strength (18/29)
- Agility (18/29)
- Stamina (12/29)
- Durability (7/29)
- Mental Strength (17/29)
Her strength and agility, crucial for an archer, were solid, and she also possessed a skill.
Furthermore, her mental strength stat, the most important in this game, was high.
A gem of a talent.
I was lost in thought for a moment before Mari asked,
“So, what do we do?”
I shrugged my shoulders and glanced at the kobolds.
One kobold charged directly toward us, while the other was heading toward the panicked employees.
“We fight. That\'s the protocol for containing these guys.”
Clang.
Yon picked up a weapon from the ground.
He approached me, trembling.
“If we kill all these things, will we be able to go back to where we were?”
“Of course.”
“In that case, we have no choice.”
Yon stood in front of me, holding a dull longsword.
It seemed he mistook me for an archer.
“I’ll cover you.”
Mari, who had somehow gathered a bow and arrows, stood beside me.
Yon blocked from the front, and Mari finished from a distance.
I hadn’t expected them to adapt so quickly, but it was a very good decision.
That is, if Mari didn’t have the skill and I wasn’t confident she could handle a kobold alone.
‘She’s trying to hide her cards.’
After three rounds and my actions thus far, Mari must have been convinced I had something up my sleeve.
‘Sizing me up, huh?’
But she had no chance.
She seemed to be pretty sharp, but unfortunately for her, I already knew she was quite skilled with a bow.
“Hold it.”
I grabbed Mari’s shoulder as she moved beside Yon to cover him.
Then, I pointed to the kobold running toward the panicked employees.
“Take care of that kobold. We’ll handle this one.”
There was quite a distance between us and the kobold.
She’d have to focus.
If Mari hid her skills now, those employees would be mercilessly slaughtered by the kobold.
Since I was blatantly forcing her to choose, she had no option but to give her all and shoot the bow.
“Uh… Wouldn’t it be better if you did it yourself?”
“No, you have to do it.”
If she gave it her all, killing a kobold from this distance would be no problem for her.
After all, the reason I, who had never learned archery, could handle a bow like a pro was because of her Low-Level Archery skill.
“Oh, it’s coming!”
At Yon’s urgent cry, I turned my back on Mari.
Then, I aimed at the kobold rushing toward Yon.
Thwack.
The arrow pierced the kobold’s foot with precision.
Screeeech!
The kobold screamed and rolled on the ground.
“Kill it. If you don’t, you’ll die.”
My voice came out cold and emotionless, surprising even me.
It might have sounded harsh, but I had no choice.
Yon’s physical stats were below average for a Rank 9, and he didn’t have any skills.
For him to achieve the best result with minimal damage, he had to strike now, while the kobold was down.
It was the first and last chance to land a critical blow.
I wouldn’t help him after this.
“Ugh… Arghhhh!”
Yon seemed to steel himself as he let out a yell and gripped the sword in reverse.
He raised it high.
Ssshhh.
The sword, with all his weight behind it, came down.
Thud.
The sword pierced the kobold’s head.
Screeeech!
The kobold let out a short death cry.
Then, it died.
[Rank 9 employee ‘Yon’ has fulfilled certain conditions and can be promoted.]
‘Good.’
I had successfully promoted another one to the 8th rank.
The requirement for becoming an 8th-rank employee was to directly kill at least one living creature equivalent to a creature.
It might seem like a simple promotion condition, but it was quite difficult to achieve.
No matter how much I helped, killing a living being requires a significant amount of determination.
Thud.
Yon collapsed to his knees.
“Ha, ha….”
[9th-rank employee Yon has fallen into a state of panic.]
It was a natural reaction, and not something I needed to worry about.
After all, once the stage ends, all wounds and abnormal conditions will be healed.
Yon\'s hands were trembling as he panicked.
I shifted my gaze to Mari.
At that very moment,
Swoosh.
Something flew from Mari’s hand.
Shortly after, a message appeared.
[Stage clear. (+13 points)]
Mari seemed to have succeeded in her long-range sniping.
‘At least they\'ll eat when they\'re spoon-fed.’
This was quite excellent.
No, it was beyond my expectations.
Most of the employees recruited early on in ranks 8 and 9 were practically useless—hard to control and with obvious growth limits.
Occasionally, raw talents would emerge from the lower ranks, but rather than relying on those odds, using paid recruitment to hire higher-rank employees would be more beneficial for running the company.
Now, this was the last of it.
All the employees had now experienced a creature and had seen death’s doorstep.
‘It’s time to throw down the gauntlet.’
A blue light enveloped us.
Immediately after, the familiar scenery of the waiting room came into view.
As I glanced around, the employees waiting in the room stared blankly at us as we returned.
They had witnessed life ending right before their eyes and had almost been killed themselves.
Naturally, no one dared to open their mouth.
They instinctively understood who had led them to that place.
I took a deep breath.
“Well, you should already know, having heard from the so-called goddess, who I am.”
How well I spoke from this point on would decide the company’s future.
[Your words carry an air of authority.]
For the company to run smoothly, two basic conditions must be met.
First, the employees must follow my orders absolutely.
“And you should have a rough idea of what you need to do.”
The employees’ expressions darkened.
Second, the employees must unite with one heart and mind.
“Isolating creatures? Offering up points? Those are secondary goals. What you really need is survival.”
That was the core of how this operation worked.
And to achieve that core...
“Stay alive. The company will keep running even without people like you.”
Someone had to be the common enemy.
“Understood? Take responsibility for your own life. If you fall behind, I will abandon you without hesitation.”
They were just like me.
Thrown into hell by these wretched bastards.
So there was only one thing I could do.
“If you don’t want to be abandoned, if you don’t want to die, follow my words.”
Using this damnable knowledge, I would make sure not a single one of them got left behind.
“I am your Administrator.”
I would take them all.
To do that, I would need to become a bit more ruthless.
‘Farming is farming. First, I’ll promote all the employees to the 8th rank.’
And if I could catch some unique creatures along the way, that would be even better.
* * *
What do you need to take revenge on those wretched bastards?
First, you need to survive.
And to survive?
You have to become stronger.
To become stronger, you need a strong body and mind.
That was not an easy thing.
It requires endurance and pain.
But ta-da!
There was an easy way in the company to gain a strong body and mind.
That was…
[Stage clear!]
“Hah, hah. Administrator, I can’t do this anymore.”
[8th-rank employee \'Khan\' has collapsed from exhaustion.]
Khan collapsed onto the waiting room floor.
“Just a few more laps to make it a full 100, hang in there.”
Khan crawled over to me on the floor.
Then he clung to me with a tearful expression.
“Administrator, this is my limit. Fighting for two days straight… Even though my body is fine, my mind is worn out.”
At his words, I looked around.
Employees were lying around the waiting room.
Of course, they weren’t lying around because they were hurt or exhausted.
The reason was the endless cycle of stage farming.
‘Has it already been two days?’
I tilted my head.
Endless stage farming wasn’t a bad thing.
Repetition made the employees quickly get used to combat.
As they continued to move, their stats would increase, and even if they got injured, it wouldn’t be a problem.
They would recover once they returned to the waiting room anyway.
On top of that, occasionally, abnormal creatures would drop items that helped employees grow.
It was perfect in every way.
There was no reason not to do it.
And judging by the results, it had been a successful farming session.
All the employees had been promoted to the 8th rank in just two days.
Of course, there were some minor side effects.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“The Kobolds. There are Kobolds over there, too.”
Most of the employees couldn’t handle the mental stress and had lost their grip a little.
‘Even though it was a three-shift rotation, was it really that tough?’
Thinking that I had made them work for two straight days made me feel guilty.
“Well, let’s just finish one last lap, then we’ll call it a day.”
But we had to make it to 100 laps.
There was an achievement at stake, and it wasn’t in my nature to leave things unfinished, so I decided to compromise at that point.
“Really?”
At the mention of ending it, Khan and the other employees’ eyes lit up.
“Yeah. Once this is done, I’ll give you the rest of the day for personal maintenance.”
Reluctantly, I granted them some rest time.
I needed a break anyway.
Plus, I might as well use the points I’ve accumulated so far.
I glanced at the points window.
[Points in Possession: 1,042]
I had gathered over 1,000 points before I knew it.
With this much, I could build training facilities and other buildings and still have leftover points.
I earned 5 to 15 points per lap.
This was as generous as it gets.
The only downside was that I hadn’t encountered any anomalous entities.
‘Tsk. I need to capture one if I want to get promoted to Level 7.’
It would be great if I could encounter one right away.
But it didn’t matter if it didn’t happen now.
It would just delay my promotion to Level 7 a little longer, that’s all.
Pushing aside my disappointment, I placed my hand on the stone tablet.
“I need to finish this quickly... Hmm. Alright, Khan, Mari. You two, come with me.”
At the sound of their names, Khan and Mari flinched, shuddering.
“Hyaa!”
Mari, in particular, was thrilled.
She was so overwhelmed that she closed her eyes and collapsed backward.
Someone shouted "Demon!" but I couldn’t hear the rest as we were engulfed in a blue flash.
Fwoosh.
[(Kobold Assault): Commencing extermination mission.]
“Since it’s started, stop whining and get up.”
As soon as my command fell—
“Hah, well, this is the last one, so let’s do our best.”
“Administrator, really, really... is this truly the last one?”
Khan and Mari stood up, gathering their weapons.
I guess they had adapted to some degree.
“Yeah. Let’s finish this quickly and go rest.”
A burning village.
Fleeing villagers.
Beyond the curtain, waves of kobolds stretched out.
And even a timer floating in midair.
[04:49... 8]
In a few moments, three kobolds would emerge onto the field.
Nothing would change.
As soon as the kobolds appeared, I would take out one of them with my bow...
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
It had been a long time since I’d heard that alarm.
Unknowingly, my lips trembled.
[A powerful enemy has appeared!]
With a chilling red message, something hurled the kobolds aside and forcibly entered the field.
A massive figure easily over 3 meters tall.
In its left hand was a club fitting its enormous size.
It was a giant kobold.
There was no other way to describe it.
And then—
Kiyaaah!
The howl it let out made my ears sting.
[Kobold Warlord LV. 5]
It was the anomalous entity I had been eagerly waiting for.