[Remaining participants: 82/100]

  Shiv looked at the simple message that had popped up after Joel’s death.

  It’s not even been half a day, and already more than fifteen people are either dead or out of the running...

  Just then, Gibzi came stomping up from behind Grigold, his cheeks all puffed up.

  “Boss, you’s lied teh me!”

  “Lied? How so?”

  “You’s dinn’t says’ nuthin’ bout’ nobodies bein’ up here!”

  “You never asked, Gibzi. I thought you already knew.” Shiv said, feeling a headache coming on from listening to Gibzi’s heavy accent, which apparently got worse when he was angry. “I felt it was obvious.”

  “Well, tha’s...Ah’mean...” Gibzi thought for a long moment before coming to a conclusion. ”Guess tha’s true innit? Silly Gibzi, never think’n ahead.”

  To Shiv’s surprise, Gibzi accepted the logic, just like that.

  What a trusting little fellow. He thought to himself. As for whether trusting was really the right word for it or not, Shiv was undecided.

  “A simple fellow, aren’t you dear Gibzi?” Grigold said, almost mirroring Shiv’s thoughts, to his horror, with a snide grin on his face.

  “Aww, thank’s lil’ bro! Tha’s real swell o’ ya teh say!”

  “lil-...” Stumped for what to say, Grigold’s grin grew slack, as for once he found himself lost for a retort in the face of Gibzi’s pure, good-hearted innocence. Or ignorance. It was hard to be sure.

  Feeling out of his depth for once, he decided to turn his attention in a more comfortable direction as he cleared his throat.

  “Ahem. Boy- Oh, pardon me, I meant master.” Grigold began, taking extra caution to be as condescending as possible. “Surely you didn’t summon me out here just to act as your personal scarecrow, hmm? Perhaps you fee-”

  “Grigold.” Shiv said, interrupting the summon mid-sentence.

  “Hrg?” Grigold grunted. He did not like being interrupted, especially by those he didn’t respect, which was everyone.

  “It’s not over yet.”

  “What?”

  Radar had upgraded into the hunter skill, going from a C to an SR rarity. While he hadn’t yet checked the specific functions of his new skill, the difference was already staggering, having increased from a 30 meter radius to 100.

  That was why he had been able to pick up on the figures slowly making their way towards them.

  Six. No, seven. And that’s just the ones in range.

  Shiv felt he understood why so many people were already dead.

  A temporary alliance. Hunt off and kill everyone until only they are left and then duke it out amongst themselves.

  Shiv scoffed inwardly. On paper, it seemed like a good plan. But even Shiv, child that he was, knew that such alliances never ended well.

  They likely used him to test the waters. Threatened...no, tricked him, most likely. Convinced him it would be easy and that it was to help him grow, some bullshit like that. Shiv thought to himself, looking back at pitiable Joel.

  He knew he shouldn’t feel so sad whenever he looked at him. Joel wouldn’t have thought twice about killing him, before or after the fact. But that’s just how emotions go.

  “Now then...”

  Regardless of how reliable alliances were in the long run, they certainly weren’t good for him in the now. He had maybe five minutes before they made their way to him, which meant he had to put his plan of action together quickly. Moving the group to a more hidden location, Shiv quickly tried to maximize his odds.

  “First things first, shop menu.”

  [ACC#2211814914701315208 | Gold: 39 / Ember: 1]

  [Equip roll 13G]

  [Skill roll 13G]

  [Summon roll 25G]

  Thanks to greed, they’re a bit cheaper now.

  Shiv would have preferred to save up his gold and do a ten role for another 10% discount. But regardless of the immediate circumstances, that was just too unrealistic. Although maybe not impossible, thanks to the greed skill.

  While the skill and equip roll’s were an option, he felt the best answer was obvious.

  “Summon roll for twenty-five gold.”

  [25G has been consumed]

  [Dun~ Du-Dun~! Here~ we go! What will be pulled? What will you pull!?]

  “Oh yea...” I had forgotten about this...

  [DING! DING! DING!~ H~ere you go!]

  [You have pulled Miya (R)!]

  [Summon: Miya | Class: Onmyōji | Rarity: R | Title: Miya of The Vow | Alignment: Neutral Good | Stats: STR ~ E / CON ~ E / DEX ~ E / PER ~ B | INT ~ C+ / WIS ~ C / CHR ~ E / LUK ~ E]

  A rare, huh?

  It wasn’t that Shiv had gotten complacent now that he had an SSR summon and an SR skill, however, he would be lying if he said he hadn’t hoped for more with the haggle skill in play.

  Putting aside rarity though, this one obviously has more practical use than that hunk of lard. And also...

  [Title: Miya of The Vow]

  [Title explanation: A vow of sincerity to bind lost souls together]

  [Title effect: Fate itself intercedes to see a vow to fruition - Vow breakers become cursed]

  It wasn’t guaranteed for a R summon to have a title, so this fact alone made them somewhat special. In addition, based on the effect of the title, he felt he might could actually make proper use of it, unlike another summon in his possession. Although the vague consequences felt rather disturbing.

  I don’t know if this Miya is strong or not, but they’re certainly unique. Shiv thought hopefully. He didn’t have time to ponder the details, however, as the intruders were only getting closer.

  “No time to waste, summon Miya.”

  [Summoning failed. CHR too low. Increase CHR to increase max summons]

  ”...Huh?”

  Wait so...no, this makes sense. Of course, it wouldn’t be so easy. But what about Gibzi and Grigold here? Wait, no, I see, Gibzi is summoned because of a skill so they don’t conflict. So if I just unsummon Grigold, I should still be able to keep Gibzi and Miya summoned...ah! But then I wouldn’t get the increased gold and drops from beating them! Wait, does the drop rate of the haggle effect drops from players too? Agh! Why does everything always have to have all these strings attached!? I don’t have time for all of this!

  A flurry of thoughts rushed through Shiv’s head as he ruffled his messy, shoulder length hair in frustration. Then, suddenly, he clapped his hands together and took a deep breath.

  “Hoo~hoh~...ok, let’s calm down. Getting frustrated will get me killed.”

  As much as I want to put this new summon to use, it’ll have to wait.

  Shiv thought about putting his remaining 14G into either a skill or equipment, but considering how outnumbered he was, he felt instead that it was a better use of his gold to make the most of the goon skill. And to do that, he had to keep Grigold summoned, or he would only be able to summon one of them at a time.

  If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have rolled for both a skill and equip and used the rest on the goons. No point dwelling on it now, though.

  As always, Shiv was left feeling like he was the unluckiest, luckiest person in the world.

  “Summon goon, uh, max?”

  [Summon goon has been used to max capacity]

  [8G has been spent]

  [Goons (C) x4 have been summoned!]

  [Summon: Kiichi | Class: Archer | Title: None | Stats: STR ~ E | CON ~ E | DEX ~ D+ | PER ~ D | INT ~ E | WIS ~ E | CHR ~ E | LUK ~ E]

  [Summon: Gabby | Class: Bard | Title: None | Stats: STR ~ E | CON ~ E | DEX ~ D | PER ~ D | INT ~ E | WIS ~ E | CHR ~ E | LUK ~ D]

  [Summon: Gobzo | Class: Brawler | Title: Muscle-head | Stats: STR ~ C | CON ~ D | DEX ~ E | PER ~ E | INT ~ F- | WIS ~ E- | CHR ~ E | LUK ~ E]

  [Summon: Gilly | Class: Coward | Title: None | Stats: STR ~ E | CON ~ E | DEX ~ E | PER ~ E | INT ~ E | WIS ~ E | CHR ~ F | LUK ~ F]

  Wow, there’s a lot to comment on here. Shiv thought, after a cursory glance over the four summons stats and class. wait, I didn't know even these guys could have titles!

  Even in the same rarity there are clearly some that stand out more than others. Still, I’ve never seen an F stat before and now I have three pop up at the same time. How is this Gilly guy’s class literally coward? At least Gobzo has... Shiv’s line of thought trailed off when he took a look at the four goblins, or, more precisely, at one of them in particular.

  I think I know who Gobzo is...

  Three of the four goblins looked almost identical to Gibzi in terms of build and height, but the fourth one was a complete anomaly. Standing at almost two meters tall, and ripped with muscles, Gobzo looked closer to an ogre than a goblin as he towered over shiv. He was nowhere near as big as Grigold, sure, but he was certainly more than what shiv would expect out of a C rank goon.

  "Gabby!" Gibzi hollered, as he ran up to one of the goons. "I's hasn't seen you since you's got married! How's the teeny goblass? And the gobkin's?"

  "Eey, Gibzi! S'all swell, all 'round! You got'sa come by sometime, Goblita'll be more'n happy to make yah some supper!"

  They didn’t have time for chit chat, however, as the invaders could be heard just around the corner.

  I’ve taken too long! Shiv thought to himself regretfully as he quickly readied himself for a bloody fight.

  ...

  ...

  ...Hm?

  However, the intruders kept their distance, staying out of sight. He could sense them just past a couple of walls, but they made no effort to come closer.

  Ahh...so that’s it. Shiv thought to himself as the reason dawned on him.

  Shiv had already figured that the intruders had a way to hunt down other players. But if he was right, one of them likely had a skill similar to his earlier radar. How would they feel when the seven to three advantage they held suddenly dissappeared? Obviously, having four more unknown enemies pop up out of nowhere would cause them to put their guard up. Hell, they may even be on the verge of retreating. After all, why take the risk?

  Of course, that was only until you took the summons into account.

  Best case scenario, half of the invaders were summons. There were seven in total, which would mean that only one more enemy would pop up in that case.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Worst case scenario, none of them were summons, and Shiv was looking at two to one odds. Much less than that, really, considering his side was a crew of haphazard goblins whose reliability was dubious at best.

  Even if the seven are all they have, a frontal assault would be too dangerous.

  Closing his eyes, Shiv wracked his brain to find the best course of action.

  You know, now that I think about it, I don’t have to wait until after I’m out of this situation to use the shop. I just need more money. The amount of money you get increases based on how much the player you killed has, so...

  Joel likely only had ten gold on him when he died, yet gave him a whopping twenty five thanks to greed. Just how much do the others have?

  All I need is one kill. One kill and I can do a skill and equip roll both. Then one more, and another and so on. I might be starting off with a disadvantage, but this is just as much of an oppurtunity as it is a predicament. Is it really that hard?

  It was, of course, and Shiv knew that. Still, there were only so many options.

  Shiv sighed, glancing at pitiful Joel in the corner.

  “Artificial God willing, you won’t be the last blood I spill today, Joel. Not by a long shot if I can help it.”

  ***

  “What should we do, Kass? This ain’t what we signed up for!” Whispered a thin man with a long shaggy beard, his buggy eyes seeming to be perpetually on the verge of flying out of their sockets.

  “Calm down, Rollo, I’m thinking.” Kass replied, agitation slipping into her tone in spite of herself. “You’re sure about what your radar is telling you?”

  “Ey! All of a sudden they just went up and more’n doubled! An’ there’s more of em’ I bet, too! They were waitin’ fer us, to be sure! Lurin’ us in to kill us all and take all we ave’! W-we’re gonna die, Kass, die! It’s all over! It’s-”

  “I said calm the hell down! And lower your voice!” Kass shouted as she smacked Rollo on the head, completely contradicting her own words. “Only one of us has their summon out. We still outnumber them in the end, so calm down or I’ll gut you myself.”

  “Ey, a-apolergies.” Rollo said simply, the calmness of Kass’s last words wringing out what little sobriety he had in him.

  Kass glanced towards Jay and Bright Eye, who had combined their skills earlier to get a read on the enemy. Jay had a skill that enabled her to share her sight with other people, or spy through others’ eyes without them knowing. While Bright Eye had a skill that let him see someone’s stats as well as whether they were a player or not, although he couldn’t see their skills. Jay had spied on Joel’s sight and transferred it over to Bright Eye, who wrote down the stats and appearance of everyone he saw. That was why they were so willing to throw away one of their members, regardless of how weak he was.

  Having such compatible skills join the group so early on is why they had already gotten such a massive head start on the competition.

  The kid might have managed to get an SSR summon, but with the stats Bright Eye wrote down, he should be garbage in a fight. However, SSR’s are so unheard of that there are too many unknowns. The increase in opponents probably has to do with a skill it has as well. Lastly...

  Kass thought back to how the two had described Joel’s death, or more specifically, what the kid seemed to do to him before he killed him.

  What was that? Some sort of mind attack?

  Still, that didn’t change the fact that they held a massive advantage. After all, only Blacktooth had his summon out. The only question was...

  Is it worth it?

  The only reason their group ventured into enemy territory like this was because they knew that there was only one player here, thanks to one of the skills of someone who stayed outside. But now there were seven enemies and they were in an unfamiliar territory, while the opponent probably knew the layout much better than they did. They could almost certainly win by bringing out their summons, but could they do so without suffering needless losses they weren’t ready for?

  The game had only just begun, after all.

  “Fuck it, it’s not worth it. Let’s retreat.” Kass decided.

  “What!? After we’ve come all this way? But I’m hungry~!” Whined Blacktooth.

  Of course you would be the first to reject, you cannibalistic bastard.

  “Then feel free to stay and duke it out on your own. I’m leaving.”

  “Urgh...one of these days, I’ll...” Blacktooth muttered something that sounded far too much like a threat to Kass’s taste.

  “You’ll what, Blacktooth?” Kass said, snatching Blacktooth by the collar and staring him in the eyes. “Please, enlighten me.”

  “I-I was just ventin’ Kass, nothin’ personal.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Kass said as she roughly pushed him away.

  Kass had learned a lot of things in life, one such lesson that had been beaten into her was that you didn’t lead a group of vicious bandits like these by being soft.

  I learned that the hard way. She thought to herself, as painful memories bubbled up to punch her in the gut.

  “Alright people! Pack it up, let’s-”

  However, just before she could finish speaking, Rollo started hollering over her.

  “K-Kass! They’re moving!” He shouted as his head shot around in every direction. “T-they’re in the walls, Kass! They’re movin’ in the walls!”

  Make yourself an even bigger target why don’t you, you loony old coon.

  Thump

  Just as Kass was thinking that, an arrow lodged itself in Rollo’s chest.

  “I-igyaa~ad!!!” Rollo hollered, his bloodshot eyes fixed on where the arrow was lodged in-between his ribs.

  “Aw, shit!” Kass cursed, summoning a four armed wooden doll the size of a man. “Fuck it! Here I was, about to leave well enough alone, and you just had to go and make the first move! Well fine, you wanna fight? You asked for it, you little brat! Jay, can you see him!?”

  “No, Kass, He’s out of my range!”

  “Hahahaha! Now this is more like it!” Shouted Blacktooth, an ecstatic grin plastered all over his face. “Time for some dinner!”

  “Blacktooth, shut up! Everyone, get those summons out!”

  Just as particles of light began appearing next to her crew, Kass felt like something bit her from behind.

  She swung her knife into her blind spot on instinct, but the small figure dodged and darted away before she could even get a good look at it.

  She pressed her hand to her side, sticky red blood coming back with it.

  At the same time, another arrow came down, this time landing directly in Stevens’ gut.

  Fuck, this is actually looking pretty bad.

  “Rollo! You still alive!?”

  “A-aye...” Rollo was gasping for air and bleeding out, but he wasn’t dead.

  Must’ve hit a lung. Good, maybe he’ll shut the hell up for a bit.

  “Where are they right now? Not the ones moving about, but those staying still.”

  “Uhh..” Rollo wheezed painfully. ”O-over thataway’s, I think. B-but more importantly-”

  “Blacktooth, Jay, Bright Eye! Come with me!” Kass shouted, cutting off Rollo mid sentence.

  “W-wait! What about us!?” Steven yelled, Rollo nodding his head profusely beside him. “I-I need help here!”

  “Then you shouldn’t have got shot! Have your summons guard you and try not to die!”

  While the two looked at her as though they had just been abandoned on the doorsteps of an orphanage, another arrow flew past Kass’s head, but went too far right to hit her. She wanted so badly to kill the little bastard, but he just moved from one place to the next too quickly to get a bead on him.

  The archer may not be skilled, but it’s enough to do serious damage, regardless. I need to hurry.

  Kass found herself regretting her earlier caution. Had she just had everyone bring out their summons from the get go and stormed them, then this never would have happened. She should have known better than to assume that the enemy would hesitate to strike first, just because they were so disadvantaged.

  Just then, she heard the sound of a discordant song echoing about the old cracked walls, the strumming of an out of tune instrument acting as an accompaniment.

  “Caught up in the fight~ What a bloody sight~ Don’t you see that this is a reckoning~! Struggle as you might~ Shackled by the fright~ Soon your head will be a-rolling~!”

  Something about the tune made it hard for her to think straight, and not just because of how bad it was. It was like she was losing a grip on her own self control.

  A skill?

  On its own, this was nothing. A slight annoyance that made it hard to form thoughts properly. When combined with the guerrilla tactics they were dealing with, however, it became a much bigger issue.

  Kass, growing paler by the minute, was pressing in the direction that Rollo had pointed out for her the best she knew. But the turning paths and sheer verticality of the architecture was proving harder to deal with than she had expected.

  It didn’t help that the group was still being randomly sniped at and having to watch their backs to make sure they didn’t get their tendons cut by the sneaky little cockroach. And at some point another one had joined in, throwing rocks and dropping random debris on them. Not as lethal as the other two, but by god was it aggravating. And that singing, that fucking singing!

  Damn it, I should have brought Rollo with me, even if I had to cut off his limbs and carry him!

  Still, aside from the initial surprise attack, they hadn’t received too much damage. With a whole crew of eight walking together, it was easy to smack down any arrows and keep the little backstabber at bay, and a few rocks certainly weren’t going to take them down. She only wished they had more than a bunch of common summons, maybe then they could actually catch these little shits before she bled out on the floor.

  But where are the other three? And more importantly, where is that fucking brat!?

  In the back of her head, she knew the smartest thing to do would be to just get out of here and regroup. But at this point, she was just too plain mad to back out anymore. This wasn’t an issue of gains and losses to her, this was a matter of pride. Really, what more could be expected of a petty bandit, regardless of how ruthless they were?

  However, in her frustration, she started to make a critical mistake. After passing by so many doors and hallways, waiting for Jay to finally pick up on where the boy was, she became ever so slack on checking every door she passed, which left her open for a brief moment.

  Not that it mattered though, as Gobzo was too stupid to take advantage of such small opportunities, instead simply punching straight through the wall she was walking by and caving in the side of her chest with his massive, yellowish brown arm.

  [Congratulations! You have slain the Player Kass!]

  [You have earned 48G!]

  [Your CHR stat has increased!]

  [You have gained 1 ember!]

  “Took long enough.” Shiv muttered to himself, looking down at the brigands far below through a large window atop the aquarium roof.