The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

‘Now and then, it’s always the same.’

Bae Dohyun frowned as he sensed multiple presences closing in on him. It wasn’t just one or two. At least a dozen figures were stealthily trailing him, trying to hide their presence.

「Raul, what do you plan to do?」

「I’m thinking of just letting them be for now.」

They weren’t a significant threat, and he was curious about their intentions, despite having a good idea already.

‘Anyway, the small fry will fall off on their own.’

Bae Dohyun began to pick up the pace.

The Elemental Jungle.

The name was not given lightly. Suddenly, he felt a warm gust of air brush across his face as he sprinted.

Swish.

He sidestepped swiftly, changing direction just in time.

Whoosh!

The space he had just occupied was engulfed in a blazing column of red fire. The pillar of fire shot up as high as the trees, exhaling a fierce heat before rapidly extinguishing itself.

‘Whew~.’

Bae Dohyun whistled unintentionally, feeling the familiar warmth. The flame disappeared as quickly as it had erupted. Astonishingly, everything in the area remained untouched.

The underbrush and trees, which should have been incinerated, were swaying peacefully in the wind. Even the hot air had cooled down; if one hadn’t seen it, they wouldn’t have known the flame pillar even existed.

The cleansing flames, preserving the jungle while burning away foreign objects, were merely a preliminary greeting from the Elemental Jungle. Sudden deluges of water bombarding like waterfalls.

Tornadoes capable of lifting heavily armored knights into the air. Unexpected sinkholes and earthquakes. Cannibalistic trees capturing and consuming living beings.

The Elemental Jungle was literally a minefield of traps, with natural elements manifesting in various forms to torment intruders.

‘Of course, there are always signs.’

As with the hot air beforehand, each phenomenon had its precursors. Bae Dohyun knew these signs better than anyone. Even if he didn’t, he was now at a superhuman level where such elemental traps posed no real threat.

And the same went for other players. It might have been different during the early stages of Forbidden Zone exploration. By now, the research would have largely been completed, and strategies for dealing with sudden elemental traps would be well known.

‘That’s one reason they’re recruiting mages and elementalists.’

Yet the Elemental Jungle was not a place to be underestimated. While the entrance had manageable simple phenomena, the deeper one ventured, the more likely they would encounter catastrophic natural occurrences.

And the most annoying part was, ‘You can’t properly rest.’

Bae Dohyun had been exploring the Elemental Jungle for about two hours. In that time, he had encountered over twenty anomalies. This meant he experienced strange phenomena at least once every five minutes.

Exploring under such unpredictable conditions was more challenging than it seemed. Especially when, in addition to the anomalies, monsters appeared as well.

Howl!

A translucent wolf figure charged at Bae Dohyun. There were five of them. The small whirlwinds surrounding them were also bothersome.

Wind Wolves.

These were troublesome elemental-type monsters, with half their bodies imbued with the power of the wind. They were nearly immune to physical attacks and absorbed much of the mana-based attacks.

This made them particularly troublesome for knights using pure mana, necessitating the presence of mages or elementalists.

But.

Whir!

Bae Dohyun didn’t even need to lift a finger. Around twenty daggers, controlled by his psychokinesis, instantly annihilated the wolves.

‘That’s only an issue for those of similar strength.’

Against overwhelming power, attributes and affinities didn’t matter. Bae Dohyun continued to advance through the Elemental Jungle undeterred, and the number of those trailing him dwindled to a handful.

‘Hmm. It should be around here….’

Bae Dohyun stopped walking and expanded his restrained senses. His perception, which initially covered about a 50-meter radius, gradually broadened.

100 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters….

When his senses finally reached 500 meters, he detected something subtle.

Swish.

Moving as if teleporting, Raul found himself facing a large tree.

‘Town Tree. Long time no see. About C-rank, I guess?’

It was a massive tree standing around 30 meters tall. Like the tree Cho Minchan of the New Star Guild had found, this one was hollow inside, and a wooden statue was placed in its upper part.

“Who goes there? This area is claimed by the Crown Guild. Leave now, or you will be executed for trespassing!”

Rumble.

Over a dozen players emerged from their hiding spots, brandishing their weapons.

“That’s a rough welcome. Just continue what you were doing.”

Bae Dohyun turned around without hesitation. This seemed to confuse the players even more.

“What? Is he really just leaving?”

“Didn’t they say he was a ranker?”

“This doesn’t feel right, does it?”

However much they muttered, Raul truly left the potential pioneering site.

‘No need to waste time on just a C-rank site.’

They were annoying, but not worth his time. After wandering around the Elemental Jungle for quite some time, Bae Dohyun scratched his head and sighed.

‘What’s going on here?’

「Weren’t there supposed to be many high-rank pioneering sites at the entrance of the Elemental Jungle?」

Rabel, also finding the situation odd, asked curiously.

「Indeed. Even if the pioneering sites in the Elemental Jungle are known to move, it’s unusual not to find any at all.」

He’d found over ten sites, but they were all C-rank except for one B-rank. The A-rank or higher sites Bae Dohyun sought were nowhere to be found. The pioneering sites in the Elemental Jungle differed slightly from those in the Monster Forest.

While the Monster Forest’s pioneering sites were remnants of towns or cities once pioneered by humanity, the Elemental Jungle’s sites were ‘Town Trees,’ subspecies of the World Tree.

The problem was that these Town Trees did not stay fixed in one place but moved around. If pioneering wasn’t completed, it was impossible to predict where they would appear next.

「Unless all the high-rank Town Trees have moved, this is very unusual…. Could those idiots be…?」

There were two reasons for a Town Tree to move:

If it wasn’t conquered within a certain period, or if the Guardian Statue quest was failed or abandoned. The latter seemed more likely in this situation.

「So, guilds are deliberately resetting the high-rank pioneering quests?」

Rabel asked, shocked.

「Yes, that’s the only explanation that makes sense.」

‘These foolish idiots….’

It sounded like a decent strategy at first glance. By manipulating the moving habit of Town Trees, they pushed high-rank pioneering sites deeper in and created manageable ones at the entrance.

However, for Bae Dohyun, who had lived through his past life, this strategy was anything but welcome.

‘If a Town Tree quest is reset too many times, a wave will trigger!’

In his past life, a similar strategy led to a devastating wave that obliterated the eastern territories of the Marcus Kingdom. For players, dying and respawning was the end of it, but for the kingdom, it was a disaster.

Not only would the numerous pioneering camps and infrastructure in front of the Forbidden Zone be destroyed, but it would also incur massive penalties in future linked scenarios.

The bigger problem was questioning whether this was truly a strategic, systemic approach to pioneering the Forbidden Zone.

‘That’s impossible.’

To develop such a grand pioneering strategy, a somewhat organized guild alliance or coordination from an association would be needed, but that wasn’t the current situation at all.

「So, they’re essentially thinking, ‘If I can’t have the pioneering site, no one else should either’?」

「Exactly. If any guild secures an A-rank or higher site successfully, the balance of power in the Forbidden Zone development will shift dramatically.」

「Could this be an attempt to target our Purple Guild? After all, the only ones capable of securing an A-rank or higher site right now are us.」

「It’s possible.」

Rabel’s suspicion seemed quite plausible. The Purple Guild was currently focused on pioneering the western Forbidden Zone, but who’s to say they wouldn’t turn their attention here later?

In fact, Raul, under the guise of Bae Dohyun, had already come to the Elemental Jungle.

‘Annoying pricks.’

Those who couldn’t even secure a mere C-rank site were just full of greed. So, Bae Dohyun had no reason to hold back. His primary reason for coming to the Elemental Jungle was to facilitate the players’ efforts in pioneering it.

He intended to secure at least an A-rank site and make it accessible to everyone. This would provide players with a forward base for rest and resupply, accelerating the pioneering process.

But given the current circumstances, he had no choice but to secure a site deeper within.

‘Let them find their way here on their own.’

Bae Dohyun started making his way deeper into the Elemental Jungle.

*

「He’s heading further in!」

「It seems he’s aware we’ve secured the entrance areas.」

「Judging by his direction, he’s likely heading for Pioneering Site A-07.」

The scouts trailing Bae Dohyun frantically relayed messages via their guild communication. At first, they thought he was just a solo player specializing in solo play.

But his pace through the Elemental Jungle was beyond their imagination.

‘He must at least be a top hundred, if not a top ten ranker.’

Exhausted scouts had already fallen behind, replaced by rankers trailing Bae Dohyun.

‘What’s his goal? Just surveying the sites?’

He didn’t take any specific action that would reveal his motive, only finding the sites and observing the players before moving on.

Some tried to pick a fight on purpose, but he would just chuckle and move so quickly that no one could catch up.

‘Is he just a goddamn attention seeker?’

The pursuers couldn’t fathom that Bae Dohyun was genuinely traversing the Forbidden Zone to conquer pioneering sites.

Even with dozens of players struggling to clear a C-rank quest, thanks to the Forbidden Zone’s difficulty adjustment, they couldn’t imagine a ranker attempting it solo.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the major guilds leading the eastern Forbidden Zone’s攻略 were just as frustrated.

“Where did he come from?”

“Which guild is he from?”

“Could he really be from the Purple Guild?”

It was impossible to identify him based solely on his attire. First Knight Order workshop items were now sought after by every ranker. A monochrome mask covered his face.

Moreover, his hunting speed was so fast that those trailing him couldn’t even catch a proper look at his combat style.

“Keep following him! How dare he try to take a piece of our pie? Whoever he is, we’ll make him regret it.”

“Gather the guild members. If necessary, we’ll use force!”

The guild masters quickly mobilized, causing tension to ripple through the entire Elemental Jungle. And finally, Bae Dohyun set foot in an A-rank Town Tree site.

“Stop! This site is being strategized(攻略) by 『Champion Overlord』 Guild! Withdraw, or we will attack!”

Champion Overlord Guild. One of China’s representative guilds and a key member of the grand guild alliance in Bae Dohyun’s past life.

They had also participated in the recently formed anti-First Knight Order alliance. Having received information about Bae Dohyun, Zhang Dong, the second team leader of Champion Overlord Guild, assumed he would retreat.

Just as he had at various other pioneering sites. But this time was different.

“Seriously? These punks think they can monopolize quests? If you don’t want to die, step aside!”

Clang.

Dozens of weapons floated into the air from behind Bae Dohyun.

(To be continued)