Black Online

Black Online, 17th floor, Martin Village.

It was a peaceful day. Sunny with a couple clouds in the sky. The birds were chirping, and a gentle breeze blew through the air.

A perfect day to have a picnic or just a relaxing day with loved ones.

Carriages wheeled down a dirt street. It rained last night, so there was a smell of fresh earth in the air.

Children ran and played in the streets, their laughter filling the air. The adults mingled with each other.

It looked like everything had returned to normal.

None of them had any idea that they were killed over a year ago by the hackers and were brought back by the developers.

None of them had any idea.

All their memories about the hackers were erased.

Crunch~!

Fang Raon was walking down the street, biting pieces off the red apple, and walking around the children, who were playing right in the middle of the street.

’I really need to make a video, but what kind?’

He scratched his chin in thought.

The camera followed right behind him. He was streaming. He was also planning to make a video while streaming.

[Viewers: 29]

The number of viewers had definitely risen since yesterday, and the chat pretty much showed only familiar names.

[Uruquay: I took a look at the Ranked leaderboard, and you’ve dropped to 97th!]

"I expected as much."

Fang Raon said.

There were simply way too many players playing all the time, and he definitely couldn’t maintain his rank now that he stopped playing the Ranked.

In his opinion, climbing the floor was much more important, as he really needed to catch up to Rose Records’ first line.

[LadyBelle: Are you planning to try to stay in the top 100 at least?]

"I’ll play a few games once I’ve cleared this floor, but I really need to find Tower Key from somebody first!"

Fang Raon said.

He did some research last night, and apparently, the Tower Key of the 17th floor wasn’t easy to obtain.

He could only get one once he had done one favor for the local.

’Maybe some local’s cat has gotten stuck in a tree. It’d be the easiest way to get through this floor.’

Fang Raon thought, but he had a feeling that he wasn’t that lucky.

In that moment, there was some commotion in the crowd ahead, and some villagers were shouting at something.

"What are you doing?!"

"Stop pushing!"

"Watch where you are going!"

A red-eyed village woman pushed through the crowd. She looked in bad shape. Eyes red like she had cried tons.

"You!"

In that moment, the village woman pointed straight at Fang Raon, and he also pointed at himself, thinking he had done something wrong.

[LadyBelle: ???]

[SkyF1: ???]

[Uruquay: ???]

The chat was equally baffled, and at that moment, the village woman jumped into Raon’s embrace.

Not in a way that was aggressive, but as if she was begging for help, and she grabbed his arms like her life depended on it.

She looked desperate.

"Please... You’re player... I need your help..."

The village woman pleaded with tears streaming down her face.

"..."

Fang Raon looked at her and tried using Read whether he was being tricked in some way, but he got immediately flooded with insane sadness.

It was so heavy that even he almost teared up!

’She is incredibly sad. As if she has lost something incredibly important. The reason for her life.’

"What is it?"

He asked.

"I need you to find my daughter... The butcher got her... I can’t lose her... I can’t... I can’t..."

She said through tears and pain.

The nearby villagers looked at her with pity and whispered the "Butcher" in their conversations as well.

’The butcher?’

Fang Raon frowned and looked around the villagers, and it looked like they all knew about the butcher.

’This is one of the favors. If I help her, I will get the Tower Key from her.’

Fang Raon thought, and then he asked,

"If I find your daughter for you, do you have Tower Key to spare?"

"Y-Yes, I can get one for you!"

The village woman said with a hopeful gaze, but at the same breath, one of the villagers couldn’t stand aside and had to say:

"Young man, I suggest reconsidering. We’ve sent many player warriors to confront the butcher, and none of them returned."

"Who is this butcher?"

"Devon the Butcher—a wicked man that does experiments on players and us alike. He’s built a fortress in the mountains, guarded by monsters and traps.

"He turns everyone that goes after him into grotesque monsters."

The villager said.

"My daughter is in the hands of that monster. She doesn’t have long left. You must go save her, please!"

The village woman pleaded.

"She went missing yesterday. It’s a long time to be in the presence of the butcher. Who knows what he’s doing to her right now."

The villager thought with goosebumps running down his flesh, and he could only imagine the horrors she may be enduring.

Hearing that, the village woman cried even more.

’This sounds bothersome. However, this could be good video material. The hunt for the butcher.’

Fang Raon thought.

In that moment, he came to his decision, and he put his reassuring hand on the village woman’s shoulder.

"I will find your daughter."

He said.

The village woman’s tears stopped momentarily, and then she grabbed his hand and thanked him repeatedly.

"Her name is Sarah. Thank you! Thank you!"

However.

Villagers shook their heads and whispered, "fool," as none of them believed that he would be coming back.

Some villagers have also lost their loved ones to the Butcher, and they would love nothing more than to have him dead.

...

In the dark room, a stripped naked man lay on top of a stone table. Stitches covered his body from head to toe.

It looked like he had been cut to pieces and then reassembled.

"..."

A green-hooded Devon sat on a stone chair. He looked at the ceiling. His mouth strangely hung open.

It was as if he was in a trance with his blank-looking green eyes and the seaweed-looking green hair that framed his pale face.

"Sob... sob... sob..."

Sounds of crying came from the cages. Few locals and players were sitting with horror gazes.

"Shit... shit... shit..."

A black-haired player smashed his finger against the Log Out button, but he couldn’t log out, as he was in a "Combat Zone."

"...What the hell is wrong with this guy? Is he on drugs? He has just been sitting there with his mouth open for three hours already!"

A player whispered with fear.

"Combat Zone only lasts twelve hours. In a couple of hours, we can log out of this shithole and escape!"

A player said with hope.

Then they looked at the two local girls, who weren’t as lucky as them, as they didn’t have magical escape options like them.

They were going to die here, and they knew it.

"It’s unbelievable that Black Online Company allows such a lunatic to keep playing. When I accepted the shitty quest, I had no idea that Devon was a player!

"If I had known that there was an insane player like him around, I would’ve never accepted the quest!"

In that moment.

Devon’s mouth closed, and he stood up.

All the whispers died. The caged players looked at him with fear in their eyes. It was like they had woken up an angry beast.

"Mom..."

A village girl hugged her legs and sobbed into her knees.

Then, Devon turned their eyes towards them and started walking over to the cage, and everyone retreated until their backs touched the cage’s bars.

The cage was small, just barely enough to fit the four of them inside the cage, and even still, they had to be sitting right next to each other.

Devon reached out his hand towards the cage, and a green magical circle appeared in front of his hand.

The lock of the cage clicked open and dropped to the ground with a loud clang.

"NOW!"

The two players shouted, and at that moment, they summoned their weapons and jumped out of the cage.

They had been waiting for this moment!

Devon turned the green magical circle over to the two players, and suddenly, their weapons started melting with green liquid!

It was like their weapons were melted with acid!

"What the hell?!"

"How did he do that?!"

In that moment, Devon chopped his hands into the napes of the two players, and they fell unconscious.

"Ah..."

The two local girls looked shocked.

"Go back inside, little kittens. Devon is not done with you two yet. Devon will have more fun with you guys later."

Devon said with a smile, and he tossed the two unconscious players back inside the cage, and then his gaze fell on one of the local girls.

"Let’s go play, pretty girl."

He grabbed the girl from her long hair, and she screamed, "Noooooo!"

Devon dragged her out of the cage, locked the cage door behind him, and kept dragging her away to another room.

"P-Please, let go of me! Where are you taking me?! What are you planning to do with me?!"

"We’re going to play."

Devon said with a smile and dragged her all the way to the other room and then shut down the door with a bang.

"Haa... haa... haa..."

Sarah, who was left in the cage, hugged her legs, looking horrified, and she was so scared that she lost control of her bladder.

"Mom... save me..."

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