The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

Chapter 116

Swoosh, thunk.

“Ah!”

A Japanese player stumbled, an arrow piercing their thigh.

“Where are you?”

Shoichiro quickly scanned the direction the arrow had come from, but there was no trace of the assailant.

“Inside the barracks?”

The three-story building barracks had small windows spaced evenly on each floor.

The arrow seemed to have been fired from one of those windows.

Shoichiro urgently signaled to a player on the roof of the barracks.

“Check inside.”

As the player receiving the instructions nodded and cautiously approached the 3rd-floor window connected to the roof, Shoichiro and Kenta on the neighboring buildings moved to secure the blind spots of the building by traversing the rooftops.

Meanwhile, the Japanese player hit by the arrow clenched his teeth, using his shirt to stem the bleeding from his thigh.

Swish, thud!

“Ah!”

Another arrow pierced his shoulder.

Despite having two arrows lodged in his body, he groaned and writhed on the floor.

“It’s on the 2nd floor!”

Shoichiro, now certain of the origin of the arrow, shouted out, and a Japanese player drew his sword and entered the barracks through the 3rd-floor window.

“Kenta! Provide cover from outside!”

With distinctive footwork, Shoichiro leaped down from the building towards the entrance where Bae Dohyun was suspected to be hiding.

“Oh, our plan has fallen apart.”

It was clear that their target had noticed their approach. So he must have taken cover inside the building.

Honestly, given the failure of their long-range interception strategy, he didn’t know if retreating to regroup and come up with another plan would be more prudent.

It had been their approach until now. But retreating ahead of his comrade being attacked? It wasn’t an easy decision.

“If only it weren’t live broadcast…”

Regrets now were meaningless. Anyway, now that things had come to this, finishing him off cleanly would be the end of it.

His three-shot crossbow would be more effective indoors. While his just-arrived comrade was adept with a sword, Shoichiro could deal with Bae Dohyun using the crossbow while he bought time.

With that in mind, Shoichiro swiftly entered the barracks and leaped up to the 2nd floor.

Thud.

“Damn it!”

Shoichiro, aiming his crossbow in the direction where the sound came from, looked disappointed as there was no one other than the Japanese player, who was on the same party, at the opposite end of the corridor.

“Who is it?”

“I couldn’t find him.”

“Damn it. Go back and check from the 3rd floor. I’ll search the 1st floor.”

As they divided their roles and turned around, a terrifying scream was heard from outside the window.

“Ah!”

Hastily looking out the window, Shoichiro saw Kenta grimacing in pain with arrows lodged in his hand and calf.

“X, what happened?”

Seeing Kenta with arrows in his body, Shoichiro realized the arrows came from behind him. When did he even get there?

Feeling completely played by the enemy, Shoichiro furrowed his brows and, along with his remaining team member, used the wall as a shield to peer outside.

However, the wooden door structure blocked their view of the outside.

“Where is he?”

Just as Shoichiro leaned his head slightly to look at the opposite building,

Swoosh, thunk!

An arrow grazed Shoichiro’s ear and left a mark on the wall before bouncing off.

“X.”

Cold sweat dripped down Shoichiro’s back.

Despite having more members on their side and conducting reconnaissance first, the current situation was completely unexpected. Their team found themselves trapped and struggling.

Moreover, the enemy’s vicious act of shooting Kenta and the others with arrows was truly cruel. While their lives weren’t in danger, their ability to continue fighting was compromised.

The enemy was openly asking if they would abandon their injured comrades and flee.

“Honestly, the lives of these bastards mean nothing to me, but…”

Once again, the live broadcast was a hindrance. If they abandoned their comrades and fled, they would not only face repercussions in the academy but also receive public condemnation in real life for their cowardly actions.

Given the circumstances, a change in strategy was necessary. Quickly thinking, Shoichiro shouted loudly.

“Bae Dohyun, you cowardly bastard! Stop hiding and shooting arrows like a coward, let’s fight face to face!”

Since they couldn’t pinpoint the enemy’s location, staying hidden would only make them look pathetic. A direct confrontation seemed more promising. However, what followed was not a response but another scream.

“Argh!”

Swish.

Shoichiro hurriedly aimed my crossbow towards where the sound was coming from, but he couldn’t see the guy anywhere. All that remained there was the sight of my comrade writhing in pain with an arrow stuck in his back.

“Sho, sir Shoichiro! Please help me.”

He was squirming in agony, reaching out to his unreachable back, but Shoichiro had no intention of approaching to help.

“It’s obviously a trap!”

Shoichiro couldn’t do this or that, could only stand helplessly, knowing that if he went to remove the arrow and treat his comrade, he would become an easy target.

“Sho, sir Shoichiro, please…”

The comrade in front of his eyes was pleading pitifully.

“Ack! Help me!”

*Cough.*

Outside the window, two other comrades were screaming in pain after being hit by arrows in different places.

“Goodness, what a mess.”

Unable to bear the unexpected and dire situation, Shoichiro turned away from his comrade’s gaze, gritted his teeth, and shouted, veins bulging on his neck.

“Hey, you X bastard! Stop playing dirty like this and come out now! Come out, you X bastard!!”

—

“This is ridiculous. Why me?”

Watching Shoichiro losing his cool from a distance, Bae Dohyun smirked.

It seemed wicked in a way, yet strangely satisfying. In his past life, Shoichiro was like a cockroach, constantly hindering Bae Dohyun’s every move.

As a key member of the powerful Japanese guild “Rakuen,” he had been engrossed in ninjas long before the emergence of Connect.

The problem was that this otaku guy was carrying right-wing influences on his shoulders and had quite a decent charisma rate. Surprisingly, he also managed to create a ninja-like unit within Connect.

As a part of the giant guild coalition, Shoichiro led the counterfeit ninja unit he had created to the frontline of solo ranker hunting. Not only did they employ dirty and deadly tactics, but they harassed unaffiliated rankers with no hesitation.

Ambushes, assassination attempts, and hunting interferences were their norms, and they even resorted to using NPCs for terrorizing rankers. Kidnapping quest-related NPCs to lure rankers into traps was their trademark.

Bae Dohyun had fallen victim to their scheme multiple times, leading to his quests being thwarted. What was crucial was that they never revealed themselves overtly.

Always manipulating someone or orchestrating events from behind, if a ranker fell into a trap, they would merely harass from a distance with gunfire or bombs, never directly confronting them.

Chasing after the stragglers would only result in catching a few, barely worth mentioning. They referred to themselves as ninjas, yet players often called them “cockroaches”.

“Let’s see you suffer this time. Feel the helplessness of not being able to do anything, of dying without even seeing your opponent’s face,” the words echoed in his mind. An eye for an eye. He was determined to retaliate in kind.

In this life, he hadn’t done anything wrong to him yet, but in their past lives, they had not attacked him for no reason either.

Hence, Bae Dohyun felt no hesitation in attacking Shoichiro. Rather, he felt a tinge of regret that the man didn’t remember their past lives.

“Shall we start wrapping this up?”

Today was not the end. As long as he kept logging into Connect, Bae Dohyun’s revenge would continue. On and on.

Bae Dohyun threw a dagger towards the second-floor window of the camp where Shoichiro was hiding.

Though the angle wasn’t visible, manipulating the direction of the light dagger with psychokinesis was not a difficult task.

“Ouch! You little f**ker! Where are you! Where?!”

The dagger brushed past Shoichiro’s cheek, causing a streak of blood to appear. As Shoichiro aimed a crossbow at the window in a fit, Bae Dohyun used his psychokinesis as a foothold to land in the empty space in front of the opposite window and shot an arrow. Thud.

“Aagh!”

This time, the arrow lodged into his thigh. Losing balance, Shoichiro fell to the ground, followed by another dart flying into his forearm.

“You dirty bastard. Next time we meet, I’ll chop off your h—,”

Shoichiro’s threats were cut off as a bolt from a crossbow flew fiercely down the hallway, piercing his skull completely.

Thud, thump.

Bae Dohyun, who had neatly finished off the remaining Japanese players still alive and groaning, finally opened his eyes and revealed himself in front of Shoichiro’s lifeless body.

“Let’s meet again, buddy.”

Retrieving the dagger, Bae Dohyun casually turned and left his spot. The smile on his face looked refreshingly invigorating. Bae Dohyun had now racked up 41 kills. The remaining survivors numbered 85.

“It’s about time for Zone 1 to open,” his gaze was fixed on the massive gates of the stronghold beyond the closed window.”

* * *

“”Don’t let them get away!”

“Keep running!”

Panting.

An arrow grazed past her ear.

“Pant, pant.”

Seohyun ignored her pounding heart and ran recklessly down the alley.

“Argh! Damn it, you piece of crap!”

“Be careful, they still have energy!”

Her summon, Eunbyeol, was buying time as much as possible by leaping around behind her, but getting caught was only a matter of time.

Given that there were over 10 Chinese players in the group chasing her, it was no surprise.

‘How did this happen?’

Just before the exam started, she had some confidence. With a rare trait of being a summoner that was hard to find and her experience in the archery club up until middle school, handling a bow was a big help.

It wasn’t unreasonable for her to hope for a good grade, even if passing the test was a stretch, with her summon, Eunbyeol. But in the end, she ended up being chased like this.

The teammates who were confidently pushing their opinions even considered the seriousness of the situation after the real-time rankings were announced.

They left the hideout in a hurry, disregarding Seohyun’s opinion that they needed to properly scout out the area even in a rush.

The fools chose to hurry down the alley, hiding somewhat as they moved right into the sight of two poorly equipped players.

Without hesitation, the teammates cast Charge and fell right into an ambush. However, the two players, who appeared to be weak, were actually skilled with solid defense skills.

Thanks to this, in the slight delay, a total of three parties, 12 Chinese players, surrounded them.

Fortunately, with Eunbyeol, an excellent scout pet, Seohyun noticed this ahead of time, managed to escape before being completely surrounded, and had been escaping using any means possible, leveraging the terrain.

But even that was reaching its limits now. Not only was her body tired, but the relentless pursuit by the Chinese players who had wiped out her teammates was forcing her in a certain direction.

‘The gate of Zone 1…’

Before she knew it, a large gate appeared in the distance. If she were to be pushed all the way there before it opened, she would have nowhere else to run.

Recalling the four golden eagle statues that Eunbyeol had handed her, she mustered the last of her strength.

“Now, all I have to trust is that man’s words.”

The words of Bae Dohyun, directing her to head to Zone 1 when the situation becomes dire or when she collects all four statues, echoed in her mind.

Even though Zone 1 hadn’t opened yet, she had no other choice.

“Please…!”

The gate was looming closer before her eyes.

(To be continued…)