Rise Of The Hoarder

“Rahhhhh!!!!”

“Hiyaaa!”

“Haaa!”

The Rankers combined their efforts and took down the enemies with their respective abilities.

No matter how tough the enemy was, no matter how much trouble they faced, after taking their time in battle… the Rankers always emerged victorious.

We were done with the 44th Floor and a Gate to the 45th Area was in sight. Looking at the tired Rankers, I couldn’t help but smile underneath my mask.

I caught a few staring at me with dissatisfied expressions, but those weren’t relevant.

‘You told me not to interfere, so I won’t…’

Despite the short while I stayed with the group, I was able to get a good read on their capabilities. There was only comment to be made about them.

—Weak.

They were all below my expectations.

At this rate, would they be able to make it past the 50th Floor?

Vivian—the leader of the Rankers—had tried to confirm my identity as the Hoarder, but I handled her well.

Since none of them told me their Rank and Leaderboard names, it was only fair that I hid mine too. Once Vivian saw that she couldn’t get the information she desired, the woman began to create some distance between us.

‘Not like I care…’

The most interesting individual other than Vivian—also the second strongest in the group—was a Ranker who possessed the Necromancer’s Scroll and Undead Summoning Ring.

His name was John Leinhart, and he was the one who reached the highest level in the Tower Of Death before I came by.

The most interesting thing about him was that he was a Solo Gifted.

His Level was also higher than everyone else—except Vivian.

‘Based on his Items… maybe he could stand a chance…’

He had the Ring and Scroll equipped, but hardly utilized them in battle. Since others weren’t going full throttle, he did the same.

‘Let’s see how much longer you can handle it…’

**************

[THE 50TH FLOOR]

“Guarrkkkk!!!”

Finally, the Rankers were met with despair…

“ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!”

… One of them fell in battle.

Usually, this would be a cause for celebration, but… it all happened so fast—and the enemy was too powerful.

Having three heads, a tough scale, and two pairs of wings—this creature was at the peak of Grade 3—something none of them could defeat.

They had thought they could manage, but after the tail of the creature loped off the head of a comrade, their optimism dwindled.

This instantly drove all the Rankers into a panic.

“M—my Items!” I heard bellows filling the air.

‘Oh? So it’s finally happening…’

“Why isn’t my Mana Restoring?”

“I’m meant to be healing!”

“I’m not being buffed?!”

“My force field won’t activate!

“R—Return Stone… WHY ISN’T IT WORKING?!”

The answer to their desperate inquisition was simple.

‘I took them all!’

All that was left for these retards were counterfeits.

They were flustered beyond belief that their Items—the backup plan they had devised was ineffective.

I simply watched from my corner as the Rankers were confused and conflicted on what to do. Amid the chaos, two more lost their lives—leaving only 38 of them.

Usually, they would be happy, right? More deaths meant more loot! This was exactly what they wanted. However, a simple problem prevented none of them from rejoicing….

… The fact that they were all equally trapped!

“M—masked one… it’s your turn! Help us!” Vivian sharply looked at me.

The moment she said this, everyone else who had forgotten about me looked in my direction.

Their eyes screamed of desperation.

I could see it—they wanted me to save them.

‘I could earn points for my Alignment if I do that, but…’

I had been saving people for so long, yet my Evil Alignment remained the same. It was time to switch tactics.

After all…

“NO.”

… The system never penalized anyone for not rescuing another!

This wasn’t my fault!

I was not obligated to help anyone.

Once I declared my refusal to come to their aid, the hopeful expressions of the Gifteds morphed into ugly anger and disgust.

“YOU BASTAARRRD!”

“WE HAD A DEAL!”

“SAVE US, GODDAMNIT!”

Who would have thought that the Rankers would be so pathetic?

Well, not all of them were entirely useless.

Folks like John Lienhart completely abandoned any semblance of dependency and fought in earnest.

He must have realized that no good would come out of arguing with me, so he took matters into his hands… and fought!

It was all in vain, though.

“GUARRRKKKK!!!”

“ARGHHHHH!!!”

“N—NOOOOO!!!”

“S—SAVE M—M—MEEEE!!!!”

They met tragic ends at the hands of the Floor 50 Demon.

Escape would have been possible if they had used Return Stones, but I took even those.

“They’re all dead now, yeah?” I said to myself with a smile.

Normally, I would be worried about the Drone that Pariah was using to spy on me. If he got implicating footage of me abandoning these people, it could come to bite me in the butt later.

Which was why I sent it to [Subspace]—at least in the meantime.

Pariah wouldn’t be able to get a visual of me if his precious drone was in my storage, but I could always make excuses for that.

“Now, then… let’s see what we have here…”

Dead men told no tales—the same applied in this world as well.

I plundered the Karma Points of these Corpses, stripped them naked of their gear, and confiscated anything I found to be useful.

Of course, Goliath handled the monster while I was busy with the loot. Once we were both done, I made a happy sigh—satisfied with how that all went down.

The world had lost its most powerful fighters, but no one needed to worry.

‘You don’t need more than one hero!’

The Masked Hero was to be the only relevant Ranker. Not only would that mean I would have less competition, but it also meant I could hoard the stronger Demons under the guise of protecting everyone.

‘This is perfect!’

I was truly happy that I got to meet these Rankers,

‘Now, then…’

There was one final thing I needed to do.

‘Let’s hope this works!’