God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 68: Episode 13 _ Tokemon (5)

6.

Finding the Kenji Guild’s location wasn’t difficult.

Simin stated, “Damn. If you pour money into a game like this, of course your level is going to skyrocket.”

They were proudly advertising it right there in the broadcast list. Whether it was for fame, guild promotion, or just his own satisfaction, the man had the guts to openly show off his leveling method.

“Well, it’s not like just anyone can copy it.”

The entire guild existed as his personal level-up service. Hundreds of players equipped themselves purely for his sake, hunted, and funneled all EXP points to him. It was something you could only attempt if you had the ability to pay for all the gear, time, and effort that went into it.

“He should have just hired me instead. Tsk tsk.”

With that kind of money, Simin could have achieved a far more efficient leveling speed. Right now, he was under contract with the Specialists, so there was nothing he could do, but if he ever got the chance later, he planned to approach Kenji at least once. A merchant who knew how to embrace even his enemies was the kind of merchant truly qualified to become rich.

“Let’s see... over there...”

But that was a thought for another time. Right now, revenge came first—revenge on the people who had dared to cut off his income for a full forty-eight hours and declared they would kill him every time he logged in. He still had a lot of enhancing left to do, so he could live with a forty-eight-hour loss of income, but if this kept up, he might not only miss his target profit, but he could also end up a beggar.

He set the liquor he had brought in a prominent spot, then lay down in the capsule.

* * *

His excitement was through the roof, but he still had to keep a cool head. If he got ahead of himself and went in half-prepared, and even a few of his rabbits died, that would be a devastating loss. For Han Simin, whose own pinky nail mattered more than someone else losing ten fingers, this was something he always had to watch out for.

So, he waited a few more days until the enhancement was finished.

In the meantime, even when he heard that the Specialists had resurrected but couldn’t leave the city because Kenji’s guild members were spread out like a net outside the walls, he held back.

Two days passed.

Losing $1,500 a day made his stomach churn, but if it was a process he would have to go through sooner or later, it was better to take the hit now. Besides, there was someone he could hold responsible for all of this.

Of course, that didn’t mean he moved slowly just because he wasn’t panicking. To speed up the enhancement process, he didn’t hesitate to rent carriages, took his breaks while riding in them, and slaughtered any monster he saw without mercy.

And now, the completed squad of rabbits was standing ready before him.

“Wow. So this is how other players see me.”

Solemn? Majestic? What word could he possibly use to describe this feeling? Just yesterday, the rabbits lined up in neat ranks had seemed nothing but cute, but now they actually felt like a real army.

“Phew. I poured every last ounce of energy into this.”

Three thousand enhancement stones. The money alone was one thing, but from scraping together the gold to securing that many stones, it was something that would have been absolutely impossible if not for the reputation and connections Han Simin had built up over his years playing 『Fantastic World』. If either players or NPCs heard that instead of hoarding that volume to corner the market and profit off price swings, he had used it to enhance armor and weapons for a bunch of rabbits, they would probably have a fit.

That was how massive the quantity was, and even for someone who wasn’t the Legendary Enhancement Master of Legends, it would have been a brutal ordeal.

Which meant it was time to move. Time to show them.

“Let’s go.”

“Squeal!” the rabbits cheered.

Their mouths, which had been clamped shut, opened wide, and their crimson-gold teeth caught the sunlight, shining brilliantly.

“They’re all dead.”

He had imagined doing something like this at least once in his life, and now, if not in reality, he could at least unleash it in a game. Thinking of the reparations he was owed, he marched forward with confidence.

* * *

7.

The Kenji Guild had shaken off its brief spell of gloom and returned to its old, lively self.

“Congratulations on taking back rank one, Guild Master.”

“Thank you. It’s all thanks to you.” Kenji said to his planner.

“No, I should have come up with a more fundamental countermeasure. I am sorry.”

If they had lost their rank-one position and failed to reclaim it, this conversation would not have been so pleasant. They still hadn’t managed to seize the EXP artifact they were sure the Specialists possessed, but Kenji wasn’t the kind of man to get hung up on that. He understood that if you gained something, you often lost something else; one couldn’t have everything in the world.

The rich always faced reality head-on. He wanted it badly, but this wasn’t something he could get just by whining.

“What happened to them?” Kenji asked.

“They haven’t left the city.” 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

“Hmm. They must be racking their brains for a solution. Have you prepared a countermeasure?”

“Time is on our side anyway. As long as they don’t quit the game, they’ll have to come out somehow. Even if they delete their accounts and start over, the EXP artifact will disappear, so there’s no downside for us. Of course, the best outcome would be to kill them when they come out and take it,” the planner explained.

“Keep people on them.”

“Yes, understood.”

Strictly speaking, there was no need to go this far. The rankings had already been reversed, and if things continued like this for just a month, Kenji would comfortably be the first to reach level 50. But now that he was convinced they had an EXP artifact, it was different. He wanted it badly enough to spend money just to keep them under surveillance. For Kenji, it wasn’t a large sum, so it was worth the investment.

“In any case, the gap has widened enough that the other players won’t be able to catch up, so you can go back to taking care of your health and leveling up on a regular schedule.”

“Yes, I’ll be counting on you.”

The meeting ended on a warm, positive note.

And then the guild moved out. Today, they were changing hunting grounds. A good item had finally appeared on the auction house after a long wait, and he had bought it. With his level about to hit 42, he could comfortably hunt in a higher-level area.

“Today’s hunting ground is populated by snake-type monsters in the high 50s. They usually drop down from above to coil around you and drain your HP, or attack with venomous fangs. You just need to watch out for those two things.”

As soon as they arrived, the briefing began, and the guild members began their meticulous preparations. Their cohesion clearly showed this wasn’t their first rodeo.

However, Kenji’s expression, which should have been reassuring, was grim. This was not what the planner wanted to see when he was hoping for praise.

’What is it? Did something go wrong?’

Nervously, he followed Kenji’s gaze. Kenji wouldn’t make that face for no reason. It was the expression he wore only when things weren’t going the way he wanted, or when something completely unexpected was happening.

“Huh?”

Following that line of sight, the planner found himself just as bewildered.

“W-what the...?”

He instantly understood why Kenji was making that face. He himself couldn’t help but be flustered the moment he saw it.

The monsters that should have been there were gone. And in their place was a familiar creature.

“Why is there a rabbit here?”

It was a good question. That was exactly what the planner wanted to ask. This was definitely a hunting ground where monsters in the high 50s dwelled. They had scouted it several times, and this was the right path. More than anything, this was not an environment where rabbits could live.

“That rabbit looks... off.”

“...I’ve never seen that monster before. I don’t think we can treat it as just a rabbit.”

They had no idea what it was, so how could they possibly have a plan? He glanced around to see if there were any snakes nearby, but there wasn’t even the shadow of a shed snakeskin.

They had two choices here.

Run or try.

Since it was a game, they could just do whatever they felt like, but for someone who played games more systematically than he lived his real life, this was something he had to think through more carefully than anything else. If they turned back, they would be wasting that much time. If they tried, they might have to accept death.

“Let’s try it.”

“Yes, Guild Master.”

Kenji, however, had a large number of guild members who could die in his place. In other words, he had no personal risk.

As they stared at the rabbit wreathed in a red aura, the players drew their weapons.

“It’s a new monster. We’re going to try it.”

“Yes, sir!”

The players, too, had no aversion to the idea that they might die; instead, their fighting spirit flared. If they died, they might even get paid. On top of that, they would have an excuse to rest for forty-eight hours. This wasn’t real life; there was no reason to hesitate.

“There are only three of them, so don’t get too tense. Let’s go.”

There were only three monsters. Meanwhile, the Kenji Guild had over a hundred members. Who would be afraid of some never-before-seen monster that looked like an upgraded rabbit?

With that thought, they charged in without hesitation.

Even so, the rabbits simply watched them quietly.

The distance closed.

And then, they gasped in shock.

The moment they saw other rabbits poking their heads out from all directions, as if the creatures had been waiting for them, a chill ran down the members’ spines. Nothing had happened yet, but it was that instinct, that gut feeling you developed after playing games for a long time.

’This is bad.’

’We shouldn’t be here.’

Especially in Fantastic World, where your entire fortune rose and fell on a single death, that instinct went berserk.

But it was already too late to pull back.

“Bite them!”

At the sound of a man’s voice from somewhere, the rabbits that had been standing still all at once bared their teeth and lunged.

* * *

“Gaaaah!”

“What the hell! What is this!”

“How the hell does a rabbit have this much defense!”

“I’m getting status effects when they bite!”

It was chaos. That was the only word for it.

The players had hesitated for a moment when dozens of rabbits appeared from all sides, but they were still confident. After all, they were people whom Kenji paid to play, had some talent for games, and were fully equipped with top-notch equipment thanks to his generous funding. Their teamwork was decent, too. There was no way they could lose to monsters that looked like upgraded rabbits at best.

That was what they had thought—until the moment they charged in, got bitten, and the incoming damage shattered that belief.

Based on feel alone, the rabbits had to be at least level 80. That was what most of them were thinking, and that quickly led to a drop in morale. The reason the Kenji Guild was strong was their numbers and the advantage of their gear, but if they were up against monsters against which those advantages were useless, they would have no choice but to kneel before the monsters’ strength like any other players.

“Three dead in Team 1!”

“Two down in Team 2!”

“Team 3 has...”

The casualty reports flew through guild chat in an instant. At the same time, Kenji’s expression hardened. The damage was worse than he had expected. It was naive to think they just had to avoid dying. Without those people, their hunting speed would slow down.

“Retreat! Fall back!”

The order to retreat came immediately. The few survivors scrambled to pull back. As time passed, the terror of the crimson-glowing rabbits became more and more apparent.

“Argh! Shit! The monsters are looting our drops!”

“These psycho rabbits!”

Who had ever heard of monsters that picked up items dropped by players? Normally, when you died, you would resurrect and go back to pick up your belongings, or another player would come by later and grab them for you. But in this situation, unless they killed those rabbits, it meant they would never see their dropped items again. If it was just trash loot, maybe, but if they dropped a weapon they had paid good money for...

“Run! Hurry!”

“What the hell is this place?”

“Damn it, of all the hunting grounds we could have picked...”

Grumbling against the planner came from all sides. Kenji didn’t say anything, but his gaze was not exactly friendly either. It was unfair, since the planner still had no idea why those rabbits were here, but it was a burden he had to bear. In the end, all the decisions had been his.

’Let’s just get out alive—’

They needed to quickly find another hunting ground. If they cried over what was already lost, they might end up losing even more.

“Phew.”

After running for quite a while, the Kenji Guild finally made it out of the hunting ground and stopped to catch their breath. It never even crossed their minds that the rabbits might chase them this far. No matter how realistic the game was, they hadn’t initiated the attack, and embarrassingly enough, they hadn’t even managed to kill a single rabbit, so they hadn’t drawn that much aggro. Besides, the rabbits were busy prioritizing the loot from the players they had killed, so the distance between them had only grown.

At this point, everyone assumed the rabbits had probably gone back to their own territory.

“What’s the damage?”

“Four down in Team 1.”

“In Team 2...”

They reorganized in a heavy, gloomy mood. But even that gloom was a luxury they couldn’t afford.

“Go, Tokachu!”

“Kyu!”

At the sound of a voice from the dense jungle, the zombie-like rabbits surged toward them once more.

* * *

Episode 69