The D-Rank Guild Master of the No. 1 Guild

While Shemarin was still stunned by her newly unlocked unique ability, I gently placed my hand on the vine tightly wrapped around my body. I tried to ignite it with a small flame.

…It doesn’t burn?

No wonder it’s an A+ grade unique ability.

I casually shook my hand as if nothing had happened.

Even with my body still bound by the vines, I remained completely unperturbed, looking at Shemarin with a slightly smug expression, as if to say, “See? It worked.”

Then, after a brief pause, I spoke.

“By the way, the things I said earlier were meant to provoke you and weren’t my true feelings. I don’t actually care how you live your life.”

Still looking surprised, Shemarin moved the vines with her eyes wide. With a graceful flick of her fingers, the vines swiftly retracted into the ground.

“It’s unlocked…”

She murmured almost inaudibly.

Behind her, the man who was both her confidant and under her protection couldn’t hide his astonishment either.

Shemarin’s gaze toward me had softened.

“What’s the exact condition for unlocking Soul abilities? If you can say it out loud, I’ll believe you.”

If I tell her, Shemarin will go back and unlock all the Soul abilities of the men she has. That would significantly strengthen her faction.

However, if I could earn Shemarin’s trust, it wouldn’t be a problematic factor.

Every time she unlocks her subordinates’ abilities, she will remember it was thanks to me.

“Declaring a statement that contains your conviction in front of others.”

Shemarin nodded slowly, as if she understood.

With this, Shemarin’s stance toward me became more favorable. At the same time, I was confident that I had gained a good ally.

“You’re smart.”

Shemarin seemed to share similar thoughts with me.

“Do you want to join my harem too?”

Or not. My expression turned blank.

“I’ll take good care of you and make sure you live comfortably.”

“No thanks… I already have my own group.”

“Bring them all with you.”

“No, it’s fine. Besides, that would include Unahar too.”

Despite my refusal, Shemarin wasn’t discouraged.

She played with the vines at her fingertips, even lightly tying the wrist of the man standing behind her, looking amused.

“This will be fun to play with my guys.”

At those words, the man blushed slightly.

I momentarily struggled to keep a straight face.

Aren’t your words a bit too suggestive? Did you get away with it because it was too metaphorical?

“I’ll be going now. Goodbye, Rudel. Goodbye, Unahar.”

After Shemarin left, I returned to the cave.

***

After the tallying on the seventh night, the forest grew darker.

A smooth, long leg swung up and crossed over the other.

The woman sitting on a rock in the forest was so beautiful that anyone who met her would want to give her their soul.

From day one, she was a top 1% character with basic stats of A.

Shemarin attracted attention without doing anything and was granted an unfair amount of resources.

While some struggled and planned constantly, Shemarin effortlessly grasped everything in her hand.

Today, Shemarin was captivated by one particular individual and spent the entire day talking about this person.

And it wasn’t a man, but a woman.

“Shemarin, I find it hard to believe that this woman, Rudel, is truly worth enough for you to let Unahar go…”

Zaet, who was now alone and speaking with Shemarin, found the situation unfamiliar.

He was the smartest among Shemarin’s men, often discussing future plans with her.

“If you had ordered, we could have easily defeated Rudel, entered the cave, and taken Unahar. The cave was only a few meters long. Rudel’s followers were nothing compared to our ten men. We had superior leaders, numbers, and combat strength.”

Zaet, being astute, had accurately assessed both sides’ strengths just from accompanying Shemarin to meet Rudel.

However, his sharpness was different from Shemarin’s.

“No, even if I put in all my effort, I can’t beat Rudel.”

His eyes widened.

“My judgment of people isn’t wrong.”

Her irises, darker than the usual black, gleamed intensely.

Facing Shemarin’s gaze, he inadvertently took a shallow breath.

Shemarin’s sharpness was based on animal instinct, unlike his logic and calculations.

Currently, Shemarin had the highest base stats among the survivors and was ranked as the number one female character in appearance by real-world viewers.

Lilith was second, but not because one was prettier or less so. The viewers’ preferences divided them by a small margin.

Thus, the two characters were nearly tied for first place, unlike the clear results for male characters.

Given how much real-world users adored her appearance, many male characters in the game must have admired her as well.

Shemarin had the eye to pick out those who were truly loyal and would never betray her from among the many male characters captivated by her.

Why, then, did Shemarin hold Rudel in such high regard?

Zaet questioned again.

“I didn’t find anything particularly special about that woman.”

“Because there’s nothing special on the surface, she’s all the more special.”

Shemarin said with a seductive smile that could almost be described as malicious.

“She’s different from the ordinary folks. She never approaches survival with a complacent attitude. Despite being on edge every moment, there’s an undercurrent of confidence that she won’t fail.”

Such unabashed praise for an individual was rare.

Zaet listened with his mouth slightly agape, in a daze.

“If we had attacked Rudel to kill Unahar, who dared to mock me—”

Shemarin continued.

“The outcome would have been that Rudel would reveal one or two of her hidden trump cards.”

Even though she had no way of knowing what those trump cards were, Shemarin was certain.

“And we would have all been defeated by Rudel.”

Zaet was shocked.

Never before had Shemarin ever spoken of their defeat as a possibility.

He couldn’t help but retort.

“Is Rudel really that formidable? Besides her rare Pure Nature ability and being the first to unlock a unique ability, what else makes Rudel special?”

Zaet’s question was direct.

“Rudel’s weapon is her mind. We’ve learned from her, haven’t we? How even a few words of information can save or kill someone.”

She opened Shemarin’s unique ability with a few words, and rescued Unahar with a few more.

“I don’t believe that the ‘first unique ability unlock’ was just a coincidence, as Rudel claims. It’s just a feeling.”

While Zaet pondered the meaning behind Shemarin’s words, she muttered to herself.

“Judging from rumors, Rudel’s unique ability’s performance is probably B+, maybe A at best…”

Except for the first day her ability was revealed, sightings of Rudel using her power were extremely rare. So this was mere speculation.

“But I believe Rudel is hiding even greater power. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was of a higher grade.”

Shemarin blinked as she looked at Zaet’s face.

Perhaps she had said too much.

I shouldn’t demoralize my team. I am the only one who can remain composed even in the face of a formidable opponent.

Seeing his expression, Shemarin closed her lips and gave a slightly lenient smile.

“Shall we stop talking about this? Let’s discuss what we originally intended—”

They had planned to discuss the tasks for the following day. They had digressed far.

“Despite us killing diligently, there are still too many survivors…”

Since the second day, the death toll had sharply decreased, and there were still over 300 survivors.

Shemarin was displeased with this.

By the end of today, the seventh day, she had expected far fewer survivors.

“Our informant found out that the reason fewer people have died since the second day is because of Rudel—”

On the second day, Rudel had spread a rumor.

“The condition for unlocking unique abilities is to be killed by someone else.”

At a time when information about the three categories of unique abilities was still unclear, that rumor had spread throughout the field.

“Rudel is very clever. It’s a brilliant idea to manipulate people with a plausible rumor.”

Subsequently, another rumor spread from somewhere about an item that could awaken unique abilities.

However, it soon became known that the item was actually just a random event potion from a loot box.

For Shemarin, who had only used the item as bait to lure other survivors, this revelation had little impact.

“I’ve been inspired too. Seeing Rudel, I’ve decided to try something similar.”

Shemarin rested her chin on her exposed white knee.

“Let’s put on a play.”

Her tone was as innocent as ever.

“The plot of the play is this: there are rumors that monsters will appear from the eighth day onwards, right? We will create a rumor to coincide with that.”

But the content was far from innocent.

“Should we start tomorrow?”

“No, not immediately. I’ll give the signal when the time is right.”

Shemarin smirked and thought deeply.

“Since I want the number of survivors to decrease significantly, how about this rumor—”

Then she said emphatically,

“If you kill someone with a unique ability, you can steal that ability.”

* * *

In the real world, the conversation between Shemarin and her confidant about a particular character was quickly captured on the game screen.

The recorded footage was swiftly edited and uploaded by the game’s company editor.

As a result, not only Shemarin’s fans but even casual users who had previously only admired her appearance began to take notice of a character named “Rudel.”