CHAPTER 61: CHAPTER 61: SLAYER STATUS EFFECT, GHOST AND STARFALL MOUNTING THE GHOST WOLF

[You have received the "Slayer I" status effect.]

Stark unsummoned the [Ghost Wolf] at that moment.

For what was about to come, he wanted no distractions.

Ding!

[Your "Lives loss rate" has been doubled as punishment.]

Stark let out a slow breath. So it had finally triggered.

This was another one of [Eternal Soul]’s mechanics, and unlike most, this one was heavy. Very heavy.

Every time you killed someone, it added to your [Kill] counter.

Didn’t matter if it was a player or an NPC.

The system tracked everything.

And once you crossed a certain threshold, it gave you a special status effect: [Slayer].

[Slayer I] for fifty kills. [Slayer II] for two hundred and fifty kills. [Slayer III] for one thousand kills. [Slayer IV] for two thousand five hundred kills.

And finally... [Slayer V] for ten thousand kills.

That last one was the end. Stark knew it well.

In his past life, he had only reached [Slayer II], and even then, he had avoided killing as much as possible afterward.

Not because he was worried about the punishment.

But because he knew what happened if you went too far.

[Slayer I] doubled your lives loss rate.

In other words, if you died in the outside world beyond the ruined city, instead of losing one hundred Lives, you’d lose two hundred.

[Slayer II] tripled it. [Slayer III] quadrupled it. [Slayer IV] quintupled it.

By that point, every death could cut tens of thousands of Lives from your total.

For most players, that was unthinkable.

But the truth? [Slayer] wasn’t entirely a curse.

If you could survive with it long enough... there were benefits.

Advantages hidden beneath the punishment. But those only appeared much later.

Right now, it was only pain.

Even so, Stark wasn’t too bothered. He had been through worse.

Still, one line burned in his mind.

"No one can afford to reach [Slayer V]."

Because that wasn’t just a number. That was a death sentence.

Not a single person who had ever reached [Slayer V] survived more than a few seconds.

And the reason was simple.

At ten thousand kills, the game itself decided you had gone too far.

And so It summoned something.

The strongest entity Stark had ever seen in his past life: [The Black Knight, Damerion.]1

That thing’s level was unknown, but its abilities were overwhelming.

It appeared the moment you reached [Slayer V], and the entire area around it became an [Instant Death] zone.

There was no escape. No chance to run. Damerion’s strength was absolute.

One swing. One strike. One second.

That was all it needed to annihilate anything in front of it.

Stark had seen it once.

In his past life, he had witnessed a player pushed into [Slayer V].

Damerion appeared instantly, black armor gleaming, sword dripping with shadows.

And then—

Slash!

It was over.

That player had been crushed before he could even raise a weapon.

There was no doubt. It wasn’t humanly possible to fight it back then.

That was the limit of [Slayer]. But Stark didn’t look away.

"I’m sure it’s possible to defeat it," he muttered under his breath.

His hand flexed against his staff. "Just... far too difficult for now."

Regardless, he had no intention of hitting [Slayer V]. Not anytime soon.

There was only one way to lower your [Kill] counter.

You had to kill another player with the [Slayer] status.

But since Stark was probably the only one right now, that option didn’t exist.

He opened his interface and sent a message.

[Oblivion: I dealt with them. You can come back.]

Almost instantly, a reply came.

[Starfall: Yay! (≧▽≦)]

A short one, as expected.

And just seconds later, Ghost appeared in the square after jumping from a building.

Her eyes burned with fury, her stance ready to unleash everything.

But as soon as she saw the corpses gone and the silence filling the square, her posture eased.

Oblivion had already handled it.

Grace peeked out from behind a crumbling building.

She had been hiding just as she said, but now she stepped into the open.

"You know, this was kind of— holy shit!"

She froze. Her eyes widened, and she stumbled back a step.

Because now that she was close enough, she could see it.

A faint crimson glow outlined Stark’s body. Subtle, but undeniable.

And above his head... a skull icon floated in plain sight.

It would appear before any player who got too close to him.

But as his [Slayer] status increased, the range of appearance would increase.

For now it was only a few meters.

"..." Ghost didn’t react.

Both of them received system panels.

Explanations appeared briefly before their eyes.

It only explained the very basics of the [Slayers] status though, basically the kill threshold to reach each, nothing more.

It didn’t tell them about the punishments, and even what happened at [Slayer V].

[Eternal Soul] obviously wouldn’t reveal something like that.

"I guess killing all those people triggered it," Ghost said quietly.

She crossed her arms, face as unreadable as ever.

"I... appreciate the help."

"No problem." Stark shrugged. "They were aiming for me next anyway. Better to get rid of them now."

They all knew the truth: the players would revive.

With more than twenty lives each, they weren’t gone for good.

But that didn’t matter. They’d remember.

Even SoulsGod himself had seen the numbers Stark could throw out.

Fear was often more powerful than death.

"We were ready to leave anyway," Ghost nodded. "So... we’ll be going."

"I can get you there faster."

Ghost and Starfall both paused at the barrier’s edge.

"And how exactly?" Ghost’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Even after everything, she was still skeptical.

And Stark didn’t blame her. She wasn’t the type to trust anyone easily.

But Grace’s face lit up with excitement.

"Oh? You’ve got something?"

Stark pulled the [Mount Bell (Ghost Wolf)] from his inventory.

With a flick, he rang it once.

FWOOOSH—

The [Ghost Wolf] materialized from thin air.

A towering, spectral beast with glowing golden eyes.

"...!" Ghost instantly stepped back into a defensive stance.

But the wolf didn’t react to her.

It only waited, silent, obedient, watching Stark.

’I guess it only recognizes monsters as threats,’ Stark thought. He raised a hand calmly. "It’s fine. It’s mine."

He gave them a quick rundown.

Ghost studied the wolf with a guarded look, but Starfall’s face was practically glowing.

"If you want," Stark mounted the wolf in one smooth motion, "we can ride it and reach the first city faster. If not, you can walk. Your choice."

Ghost hesitated. Starfall didn’t.

"I’m in!" She jumped up behind Stark and clutched the wolf’s fur. "Come on!"

Ghost let out a long sigh.

But after a moment, she climbed up as well, taking the last space.

That was good. Stark also did that because he had wanted to test the limit of how many people the ghost wolf could carry.

And yes, it seemed three riders was the maximum.

"Go."

He patted the wolf’s neck, and it sprinted forward.

Sprint! Fwish!

The [Ghost Wolf] tore across the wasteland, faster than any player.

The wind rushed past them.

Notifications appeared in front of Ghost and Starfall as they rode, warning them of the [Outside World...?]’s danger and the lives loss rate.

"One hundred Lives loss rate," Ghost muttered.

Her tone was flat, but her eyes flicked toward Stark.

"And it’ll only rise."

"Then we’ll just kill more monsters," Starfall said brightly. "Balance it out."

After half an hour, the tall gates of [Shell City] rose in the distance.

The wolf slowed. They reached it.

Ghost and Starfall dismounted first. Both gave Stark a small nod.

"See you later," Starfall waved with a grin.

"Goodbye, Oblivion." Ghost’s voice was quiet, but steady.

They entered the city together.

And with that, the number of players who had reached [Shell City] increased to four.

But Stark wasn’t coming inside.

The moment they disappeared past the gates, he turned the wolf back toward the wasteland.

His path was clear. He still needed to kill and to evolve.

Black souls fans get it lol.