CHAPTER 101: PEAK HATRED AND STUPIDITY

Being on the tavern’s second floor allowed Ethan to avoid the noise coming from below.

With a bottle of beer and a glass, he spent the night drinking while watching the village scenery.

As the night went on, their voices downstairs grew louder without stopping.

Ethan squinted his eyes. One by one, the players on the second floor started leaving the tavern to rest—unlike Ethan, who stayed.

A party of four women walked up the stairs. They were a female warrior, a mage, a priest, and an archer.

The four of them didn’t fit in on the first floor because too many male players kept flirting with them, making things uncomfortable and even unsafe.

The bartender suggested they move to the second floor, even though the seats were more expensive. Of course, they agreed. Buying peace was normal back on Earth.

But their steps stopped when they saw a man sitting alone at a table, drinking beer by himself.

He drank quietly while staring out the tavern window—there was nothing to see except the darkness of midnight.

"Player PK," whispered one of the women to her friend.

"I know. Don’t make him angry," said another, and the others nodded in agreement.

They sat down and chatted while waiting for their order. But the mage kept glancing ahead—at the man sitting alone with a beer bottle in his hand.

"Hey, aren’t you curious about him?" the mage asked.

"What?"

"He’s EthanArk."

"EthanArk? That means he’s—"

"Yes. He’s from the Sword Liberation Guild, the number two guild in the Thousand Stars Event," explained another woman.

The news about the Sword Liberation Guild and EthanArk had spread everywhere. Everyone was talking about it in guild chats or direct messages.

The four women were guild members too, though from different guilds. They’d heard plenty about EthanArk—especially the rumors that he had defeated the Big Three Guilds.

They kept talking about Ethan, unaware he wasn’t drunk at all thanks to his Toxic Resistance skill, which made him immune to poison.

Apparently, the system treated alcohol like beer as poison, meaning it couldn’t get Ethan drunk.

I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, he thought, but at least I can enjoy this beer.

"They say there’s a huge bounty on his head," said one of the women.

"What if we attack him? The four of us could take him down, right?" her friend asked.

The mage refused, but the priest agreed. The three of them decided to ambush Ethan when he left the tavern—they were sure they could defeat him since he was alone.

The mage kept trying to stop them, warning that if they fought Ethan, they would die quickly. But they didn’t care and even called her a coward.

Ethan smiled. He had heard everything they said because he wasn’t drunk at all. But to make them believe it, he decided to act drunk.

He stood up and staggered, drinking from the bottle in a messy way.

The three women immediately assumed he was completely wasted. Beating a drunk man would be as easy as taking candy from a baby.

The mage sighed. There was no way to stop them now. She just told them to run as fast as they could if they failed to kill Ethan. Of course, they agreed.

Ethan walked out of the tavern, followed by the three women. He glanced back, clearly seeing them tailing him. He smiled.

To fight them, Ethan had to leave the village for a while. He entered the forest alone, making the three women panic.

They still saw him walking ahead, but when they blinked—he was gone. Ethan had disappeared completely.

"Where is he?!" one of them shouted.

The three stood back-to-back, readying their weapons.

Ethan was already above them, crouched on a tree branch, his sharp eyes reading the names and levels shown in their status bars.

Their average level was 38, lower than he expected. They must’ve dared to attack him because his level wasn’t displayed—they could only guess.

"Hissy, Neryss, Lyodra. Take care of them," Ethan murmured.

Neryss and Lyodra appeared in front of him, their small chibi forms glowing—blue for Neryss, red for Lyodra.

[Aggressive Mode: Soul Servant]

[Neryss Abyssborn (Lv. 10) || SR rank || Passive → Aggressive || 1000 MP]

[Lyodra Vulkanis (Lv. 10) || SR rank || Passive → Aggressive || 1000 MP]

In a flash, both Neryss and Lyodra transformed into beautiful adult women.

Ethan’s eyes widened when he saw Lyodra’s massive chest barely covered by her fiery red gown.

What the hell is that size?

Neryss wielded a magic staff while Lyodra drew her flaming sword. Their bright light in the dark forest immediately caught the three women’s attention, their faces filled with panic.

They looked up and saw Ethan on the branch, with two goddess-like servants glaring down at them.

"You want to kill me? Did I hear that right?"

"P-Please... we’re sorry! We’ll leave right now!"

"Too late."

Neryss and Lyodra charged forward. The two Soul Servants easily overpowered them, while Hissy weakened their defense with poisonous spikes.

Ethan just watched quietly from above, carefully observing the fight. He didn’t need to get involved.

Thirty minutes later, the female mage was still waiting upstairs in the tavern. Her food was gone, but her friends’ plates were untouched.

Worry filled her stomach and chest. She feared her friends had failed to kill Ethan—and had been killed instead. She didn’t want to believe it.

Soon, the tavern’s front door burst open. Everyone turned to look at the man who had just entered.

The entire tavern froze in horror when they saw a figure in a black cloak and mask holding something in his hand.

Ethan walked in calmly, his right hand clutching the severed heads of the three women.

Unlike during events, player bodies didn’t turn into magic particles when they died here—they rotted like real corpses.

He climbed the stairs to the second floor and turned toward the fourth woman. The mage looked up, and her eyes widened in terror when she saw Ethan—and the dripping red blood from her friends’ heads.

She jumped back from her table, trembling all over.

"W-What did you—"

"Your friends tried to kill me. But it seems they failed."

Ethan set the three heads down on the dining table, mixing them with the soup, stew, and curry that were still warm. The sight made the mage nauseous—she vomited.

"I’ll leave them here. They should’ve eaten, not tried to kill me."

"Tell everyone in this place not to do anything stupid to me... unless they want to end up like them."

Ethan stepped closer and reached out, brushing her hair gently. She froze, too shocked to react.

"You understand me, right?" he asked quietly.

"Y-Yes," she stammered.

"Good. I’m leaving this village. Don’t come after me."

He walked down to the first floor. As he passed through the tavern, the other players stared in horror, remembering clearly how he’d entered holding the heads of three women.

To them, it was a terrifying sight.

Ethan stopped and glanced back. Everyone quickly returned to what they were doing, not wanting to become his next target.

Soon after, he left the tavern and walked south out of the village. It took him five hours to reach Mavelard City—but there was no helping it.

Couldn’t find a place to stay. Better to keep moving than stay in that cursed village.