The three of them had killed a total of 50 climbers. It was more than he had expected.
Val asked Elliott suddenly.
"Why did you let them get close?"
"So I could see their desperate faces," replied Elliott with a small smile as his eyes twinkled.
"Man, you are seriously crazy."
Val clicked her tongue slightly.
He was saying that from the beginning he had planned to lure them out to kill them all in the same place.
Of course, there were also other climbers in B-block who used a similar strategy to Elliott's. These climbers specifically pursued the climbers by disguising themselves. But even then, it was only possible when facing a small number. No one wanted to face more than 20 climbers moving together in an organized system. Even the high-ranking ones couldn't handle such an overwhelming number of enemies. But Elliott treated those climbers with a smile.
Was it because he trusted Val and Rachel? Of course not, Elliott was being heavily influenced by his bloodline and now that he was completely transformed his influence is stronger.
Meanwhile, Elliott had been looting tokens from dead climbers.
"¿81? Looks like they've been doing this for quite some time."
Elliott was dumbfounded by the number of tokens he had found on the climbers' corpses. He had only found five tokens as he searched around the forest with his strengthened senses. But they had nearly a hundred on them.
Even with that number, weak climbers carried only one or two, most of them found on what looked like hyena group leaders.
"It's been a while since new climbers entered Block B. That's probably what was left over after selling most of them. Over a thousand people had been in this place, looking for Tokens and fighting for them. 81 is a small number compared to that."
Rachel gave an explanation with a smile on her face.
"But that's only possible because they were hyenas. Most climbers probably have 10 Tokens or less."
"The rich get richer, the poor get poorer."
"That's right."
Elliott thought it made sense.
Block B had a unique winner-take-all type of system. The minority of strong climbers would take the chips from the majority of weak climbers. The weak had no choice but to give up their tokens to survive. Even if they made up the loss, they would eventually be robbed again.
They might even be enslaved and forced to surrender the Tokens they find.
Whatever they do, the strong can stand still and accumulate Tokens at a rapid pace. On the other hand, the weak would always be short of Tokens. That was the reason why there was a big gap between the high ranks and the other Climbers.
"Anyway, collect as many Tokens as you can. They will be used to earn points, as well as to buy items from the merchant. The top-ranked Climbers will usually not go straight to the final block even if they have the required 99 Tokens. They will try to accumulate as many as they can."
Elliott nodded.
'Come to think of it, where can I meet the merchant again?'
'Oh, by the way, you can have all the Tokens.'
"Hmm?"
Elliott looked at Rachel at the unexpected comment. Eighty-one tokens were quite a few to give away. He didn't understand why.
Rachel smiled seductively and said:
"We didn't pay you any money upfront when we made the deal, did we? Think of it as a down payment."
"What about your brother?"
"He's really simple, you know. He'll do what you ask, so don't worry."
"You two need stitches too."
"Ha ha! Are you worried about us? Surely we have enough for us, so really, it's fine."
"Well then, thank you kindly."
There was no reason to refuse her favor. Elliott put the chips inside his jacket. Elliott was really happy he had bought this suit.
'This is easier than expected.'
Elliott couldn't shake the idea that it was too easy.
If he tried a little harder, he could move on to block G. Of course, he wasn't really going to do that.
***
The next day.
Elliott's group was able to reach their destination, the desert where Haunt of the Forgotten Orc was located.
It was very difficult to move their feet in the sand, not as easy as it shows them in the sleeves. Their feet sank deep into the sand with every step they took, and it got deeper the further in they went. Meanwhile, they had several fights every time they encountered an Orc settlement.
Orcs are green-skinned monsters with great strength. These monsters have knowledge of wielding axes and possess almost no intelligence.
They attacked the intruders in small groups as much as possible to kill them when they ran out of stamina.
However, it did not work at all against Elliott's group. They showed no signs of fatigue even after a series of battles. They wiped out every Orc they saw. And Elliott sucked the blood out of him with his vampiric sword.
"...Why are you doing that?"
"...."
Elliott remained silent with the intention of not answering her question.
And they continued to walk in awkward silence until...
"Wait, is this...?"
"Yes. It looks like they already had some guests."
Rachel looked at Val with a worried look.
Val nodded gravely.
Elliott frowned as well.
There were bloodstains and other traces of battle along the path leading to the Haunt of the Forgotten Orc.
They were traces of other climbers.
"It hasn't been long since the battle took place."
Elliott bent down and touched the blood-stained ground with his hands. He also checked the footprints left in the sand and rocks. Anyone could tell he knew what he was doing.
"Five hours? No, it was about six hours ago."
"Six hours...," Val muttered under her breath.
Rachel asked Elliott with a worried look.
"These people, were they successful?"
Elliott stood up, examined the tracks further, and gave them a reassuring answer.
"I don't know. There are only traces leading inside, but no signs of people coming out. And apparently the people who came here with purpose".
"What? What do you mean?"
"Look here."
Elliott pointed toward a deep trench in the ground.
"It's a trail of something heavy being dragged along the ground. Those must be the bodies of the climbers. I think the orcs used some kind of bait and lured them here."
"And then?"
"No one knows."
"Mmm."
Val and Rachel couldn't help but frown. Although Elliott hadn't said anything, they could imagine what had happened to them.
Monsters weren't always the prey. There were times when the monsters themselves became the hunters and preyed on the climbers. For them, this place was home. They knew the local geography better than the climbers, so of course there would be traps out there. Elliott guessed this had something to do with those traps.
"Shit!"
Fortunately for Elliott, Val only let out a few curses and didn't seem to want to intervene in this matter.
"I thought she was someone who followed her feelings, but she can keep her cool when necessary."
Elliott nodded silently.
If Val had lost her mind over mere emotions, Elliott had planned to return the Tokens and simply walk away. But Val must have been acting calm to set an example as a big brother.
Next, Elliott noticed that Rachel, who usually had good control over her emotions, had a grim expression on her face.
Rachel noticed the look on Elliott's face and put on her usual slightly forced smile. She looked at Elliott and raised her eyebrows as if asking if something was wrong.
Elliott shook his head. He remained silent.
At that moment, "It's really irritating to let it go, but we can't afford to try too hard. So, Elliott."
Elliott turned his head at the sound of his name.
"Yes?"
"We haven't told you anything about this place yet, have we?"
Elliott nodded his head silently.
Val continued with a serious look.
"This place is called the Haunt of the Forgotten Orc."
"Lair?"
"Yes. You remember the Orcs we've been dealing with on our way here, right? The lone orc is a.... Leader? Chief among all chiefs? A king? Well, he's something like that. And this is where he is."
"Looks like he's strong."
"Yeah, definitely. The two of us together probably can't kill him either."
A raid with a boss monster that the top 3 and 9 couldn't kill.
Elliott then asked a question.
"Even with me?"
"That's... a different story, but it's still going to be difficult. There's also a female inside. That's the real deal."
As expected, Val and Rachel seemed to have accurate information about the Lair.
"There's one thing for sure. No matter how hard we try, the three of us can't kill the two bosses. We'll die in vain."
"So, what's our plan?"
"Robbery."
"Robbery?"
"Yes."
Val nodded with a serious look.
"We lure the male outside the den and the female inside. Meanwhile, you deal with the male, I distract the female. Then Rachel will remove the crown from his head."
"And then?"
"We run away!"
Val laughed as if Elliott was asking an obvious question.
"As you guys said, the female is ridiculously strong. You can't kill her on your own. So never fight her head-on, just get her aggressiveness."
"Understood."
Elliott nodded.
Val looked at Elliott in surprise.
"How are you taking this so calmly?"
"Mmm~...I don't know, but that's not what's important right now, is it?"
Val's face turned a little red and then became serious.
"Well, you know, I'm telling you to take the most difficult role in our plan. I thought you'd say you want to take the male."
"I know you're afraid I'll run away if things go wrong. Don't worry, I don't make promises I can't keep. But if we are planning to run away, I must ask you for something else in return for our deal."
Val smiled broadly.
"You bet we will! Man, I'm such a good judge of character. I knew you wouldn't abandon us and help us!"
Elliott still found him annoying and let out a snort with his arms crossed.
"Let's begin."
Kahn drew his sword from his waist.
*Schwing*
The sunlight reflecting off the blade produced an ominous glow.
....