After four hours of navigating the rugged mountains of Adamantine Mountain, the pioneering frontier began to come into view from a distance. 

The fence was surrounded by dense forest and was barely enough to prevent wild animals, and it was a place with a large number of tents and only a few wooden buildings.

It was hard to even call this place a village, it had the atmosphere of a temporary space so it was more appropriate to call it a campsite.

Leeha sped up.

Now, if only he could find the NPC who knew the traces of the dark elves, he would be able to proceed with his quest.

“Perhaps……. Mana clairvoyance, Eagle’s Eye!”

There was only one route to the pioneering base.

While Leeha adjusted the magnification of the Eagle’s Eye, he looked closely from a distance. If by any chance there were assassins who have transformed into non-humans.

Perhaps, because they are leaving the vicinity of the Adamantine mountains, there were more trees and rocks around. Just like before, disguising as a tree could be enough. However, nothing particularly caught Leeha’s eye.

He just knew that there were more people than he expected on the frontier.

‘I’m glad… wait, Is that a monster?’

At the top of the trees surrounding the frontier, he could see a faint glow of mana lingering for a while before disappearing.

It was obscured by the branches and leaves, but from the distribution of mana, it was obviously close to a human form.

‘Is it the Midnight Circus……? It’s possible. This is a lawless area.’ 

There was no organization in charge of security. And if it was Midnight Circus, it’s an assassin group. As ‘chaotic users’ who are excluded from the city, it was rare to find a comfortable space for them. It would also be understandable as to why they roamed around the frontier.

Click-!

Leeha pulled the bolt, reloaded, and moved again. Not knowing what was going to happen now, Leeha folded the leather case and put it in his bag.

Leeha proceeded carefully and headed towards the entrance of Siande Frontier. The buzzing noises around him started to get louder and louder.

“Is there anyone who wants to practice dueling?! Looking for a summoning or taming users!”

“W……who wants to visit the unexplored C-A-7-? Please apply only if you have 130,000 HP!”

“Let’s loot around Minis! Is there anyone going to rob an NPC’s farmhouse? Let’s go together with the break the bandits quest”

“Selling random teleportation scrolls! If you’re lucky, you’ll get a lot of pioneering stats by getting dropped near unexplored areas~ Buy it quickly~”

It was a shout that was different from regular party hunting or business.

‘Is it because of the mood? It is strangely rough.’

There were no additional surprises until he entered the village. If this is the case, then it should be safe.

‘The Midnight Circus isn’t that persistent, are they? Compared to the Rising Sun or Tsar, it’s much better.’

Most importantly, Leeha knew that there was more than one target.

When Petyr died, the targets for assassination were Shin Nara, Biyemi, and Tale.

‘Maybe they sent assassins to the others too.’ That was a possibility. Moreover, if they were hiding on the road from Hell Anvil to Siand Frontier, it meant that they had investigated Leeha’s movements for more than one or two days.

He didn’t know where they came from, but their preparations were quite thorough.

Leeha opened the friends’ window and looked at the locations of the others.

It would be helpful if he let them know in advance that something happened. First, he went into one of the wooden buildings of the Siand Frontier to collect information from an NPC.

“’The One’ pub. I guess there wasn’t much competition in a place like this.”

Creaak-

After pushing the two swinging doors that opened at the height of his chest, Leeha already found people sitting around a table.

“Oh…”

And sighed.

People jumped out of their seats with the sound of kudang-dang-dang. Besides, there were more than just one.

“Marking obviously didn’t work…… right? Where did they see my information? No, if it’s like this, it might be because of the achievement.” Hmm, Leeha nodded his head, but couldn’t hide his embarrassment. What was the point of him being so vigilant on his way here? This was a pioneering ground, a place with no security.

Therefore, he expected that Midnight Circus would hide around the village. “Hmm…… Well, if I think about it, ‘no security organization’ doesn’t mean that. It meant that the whole town was a mess-”

But, that wasn’t it. Why couldn’t they be seen near the frontier?

It was because there was no reason to wait outside.

It meant that all of them could be inside the frontier, fuck!”

The Midnight Circus was already inside.

Leeha realized that the assassins would have instinctively realized that he had the ability to detect them.

In that case, the easiest place to hide was in ‘the gap between other people’. 

“Kuhihihi-! Target discovered. it’s show time!”

“Uwaaak!”

Baang-!

He fired at the closest assassin! The bullets pierced their chest and smashed through the roof of the wooden building.

“Hey! There’s a hole in my roof! Oh, oh! Stop running on the tables!”

In the meantime, the bearded NPC still talked about nonsense, but Leeha did not have the time for him.

“Shadow Step!”

The skill restricted the target’s movement by stepping on their shadow. It was a very troublesome skill for ranged damage dealers and magicians.

“Wow, no way!”

Leeha leaped over the table and fired the needlegun-pistol at the assassin trying to step on his shadow.

There were more than six clowns with the bizarre kihihihihi laugh, even when two of their colleagues were killed. When fighting in an open space like this pub, there was no chance for Leeha to win.

“Shut up, you bastards!!”

Leeha immediately retreated after firing, bang!

While the assassins stopped at Leeha’s gunshot, Leeha ran out of the pub.

“Ukikiki, You can’t leave your audience yet!”

“Cutting – Achilles’ Heel!”

A skill that attacks the ankles and slows down the target! As soon as Leeha felt the chill in his back, he jumped.

“Kuooat!”

However, he felt a tingling sensation on the heel of his foot and he grunted.

[Movement speed is reduced by 40% for 5 minutes.]

It was more painful than he thought, so Leeha frowned, but it was not the time to dwell on that little pain.

Movement speed was reduced by 40% for 5 minutes! Could it be said it’s a good thing it’s not ‘attack speed’ reduction? However, it was just one thing. It meant that in a situation where Leeha had a hard time dealing with the assassin’s fast and flashy movements, he would not be able to escape now like before.

“Damn, if it’s like this-”

Leeha quickly changed the magazine of the Black Bass, and simultaneously took out the Hummingbird-pistol. As soon as the assassins heard the news and saw Leeha’s silver pistol, they all performed acrobatics and spread out.

However, Leeha did not bring it out to shoot the assassins.

—-••••••

The white smoke spewing out of the gun spread toward the sky!

After giving off the effect of a signal to let everyone know that such a commotion was happening in the pub, Leeha raised his voice.

 “-Help! There are people doing PK in the village!”

There was no help from the NPCs. He knew that. But what about the users?! Would they just watch people killing other people indiscriminately like this in the village?

“Oh, is it Midnight Circus?”

“Haha, I thought they were here to perform- but they were actually here to catch someone!”

“Come on, audience! Isn’t hanging out with clowns a special experience? Uwahaha!”

“Those bastards didn’t even listen to me when I asked for a duel!”

Of course, they just watched.

“……Crazy.”

As he received the gaze of the people around him who did not have the heart to help, he could see for sure.

This place was the frontier for pioneering, the place farthest from the law and the closest to the fist.

Group PK or PVP was a common occurrence!

‘Fuck, I haven’t been able to save the location yet!’

The return scroll goes to the nearest town, so he wouldn’t end up here.

In other words, he had to use a random teleportation scroll to get out of here. Then he would have to walk another four hours from Hell Anvil.

Did it seem like Leeha had given up when he stood still?

The clowns, who had been running around without a break, slowly slowed their movements and began to surround Leeha. There were still six of them.

“Kuhihih, call Ringmaster-niim To secure an audience, we will show them a performance.”

“All right. Mr. Clown.” 

The cheekbones of the clowns rose as if they were ascending to the sky. And Leeha, didn’t want them to see. He didn’t want to reveal it in a place like this.

“Right, it’s a trial version. These bastards. Delicate Hand Movement, Snipe-” Both of Leeha’s hands quickly went into his bag. Biting the gunpowder bag, he started loading two pistols.

“That’s not gonna work!”

Leeha waited for the moment the clowns jumped toward him.

“-Soul Link.”

Paaaaat-!

“Kihut?”

“Why are you celebrating already? Kuhahaha!” Red light radiated so much that it blinded the clowns.

“You’re toast, you bastard.”

To the clown with blinded eyes, Bang—! Leeha pulled the trigger and shouted.

“Kill all the bastards with powder on their faces, Kuma-ya!”

Kuooong—!

A fireball was fired at the assassin.

“Whoa, what is it? What did he summon?”

“A bear?”

“Wasn’t he a long ranged dealer?”

The five surviving assassins, as well as the eyes of the people nearby.

[The skill Soul Link has been activated.]

[Soulmate is summoned for 30 minutes.]

[Soulmate’s current level is 66]

[1/2 of the users level is added.]

[Soulmate’s enhanced level is 145.]