Due to the interference from the watermelon-patterned bean, Almond was pushed back and continually obstructed by other beans.

Ding! Ding!

— Damn that watermelon!

— You should go full chikicha now, right?

— Once you get pushed, it never ends.

Although stepping on the biggest mushrooms would launch him the farthest, Almond eventually gave up on the biggest mushrooms.

"It's not working. Let's go this way."

He switched his strategy to stepping on smaller mushrooms with perfect timing instead of competing for the bigger ones.

Thump!

— The way of a true man?

— Let's go that way

— The competition is too fierce.

Theoretically, moving from the smaller mushrooms could be just as effective as the bigger ones if timed well. He would land on them at their most compressed state and leap as they expanded.

Ding!

— Ohhh!

— Damn, he flew far!

— Small mushrooms are underrated! Ah...

"It seems alright?"

Almond judged that this strategy wasn't bad.

"This time too..."

His next target was also a small mushroom that was about to compress significantly and he didn’t have many competitors for them.

Whoosh.

Ding!

He almost simultaneously landed and flew off the mushroom.

[12/40]

Almond quickly advanced to twelfth place. After a few more repetitions, he naturally rose to ninth place.

[9/40]

— Wow

— What a timing!

— Wow, so fast!

Almond's rapid ascent was part of it, but...

"Arghhh...!"

"Damn!"

"Seriously!"

Frequent accidents on the bigger mushrooms, crowded with competitors, also played a part. They were eliminating themselves. In any case, a comeback was a comeback.

The commentators focused on Almond as he surged forward like a storm.

“Wait? A brown bean is suddenly speeding up from behind!”

“Wow! His timing when stepping on the mushrooms is incredible! He's practically flying like he's cloud-stepping!”

The mushroom section was almost coming to an end.

"Let’s go with that one for the last one."

He was about to step on the final mushroom.

"Uh...?"

On the small mushroom right next to him was that watermelon-patterned bean.

"!"

The bean looked at Almond and felt startled. Meanwhile—

With a smirk, Almond's lips curled up wickedly. Since the mushroom Almond was on was higher and compressed earlier, he advanced before the watermelon.

Ding!

Almond leaped first.

Ding!

The watermelon bean leaped a moment later and seemed to sense what would happen with a bewildered sound.

"Uh...? What?"

Almond appeared above with the watermelon-patterned bean below. This positioning was not favorable for the watermelon bean.

"Hey, hey, hey, we need to survive together!?"

Almond saw that the watermelon-patterned bean was adjusting his angle in mid-air and aimed to step on him deliberately even if it meant being a bit late.

The bean pleaded as Almond’s shadow grew larger over him, "No, no! If you do that, you’ll—"

"Chikicha!"

— I’m laughing my ass off!

— God Chikicha!

— Wow

— Feels refreshing~!

Thump!

Almond's foot accurately stepped on the bean's head.

"Go ahead!"

Almond returned the phrase the watermelon had said earlier, "I'm going ahead~."

— ??? Goodbye, everyone~

— Go ahead, to hell!

— Written in the Chikicha Notebook, he has to go to hell~

The watermelon would have passed the checkpoint with this leap. However, he completely lost his way because of Almond's push.

"Aaaaahhhhh...!"

He plummeted for a while and ultimately had to start over from the beginning of the checkpoint.

Meanwhile, Almond landed safely after using the watermelon as a stepping stone.

Thud.

[Checkpoint Cleared!]

[8/40]

Almond was currently in eighth place at the current checkpoint. He resumed racing ahead and could see seventh place a few meters ahead. Even first place was at the edge of his vision. It was a close race. He definitely had a shot at first place.

“Now, the players will encounter the item boxes for the first time!”

“This could introduce some variables!”

True to the commentators' words, a major variable appeared. The random item boxes were a key feature in this mode.

[?]

Almond spotted about ten boxes marked with question marks. From watching the first place contestant, it seemed that simply passing by automatically collected the items. The boxes would quickly regenerate after being collected, allowing nearly everyone a chance to grab one.

Almond also rushed toward them without much concern.

Ding!

[!]

He immediately collected a box, but the item didn't appear right away.

[????????]

Drrrrrrrring!

The question marks multiplied wildly, spinning around before the item finally appeared.

[Staff]

"?"

A staff? This long staff literally looked like the Monkey King’s without the extending feature.

"What? Is this good?"

Almond felt flustered because he expected an item like a missile launcher or water balloons like those in

KartRider

.

"The item was a weapon?"

That meant they were supposed to fight each other with these weapons.

Meanwhile, someone behind him exclaimed that they had obtained a bow.

"Huh?! A bow?! What's this!?"

That player did not know that would be his last remark in

RunGuys

.

"No. I thought we would get ink traps and guided missiles. That sort of thing—"

Thwack!

A long staff struck the back of his head.

"Kugh!"

Spitting as he fell, he rolled down but managed to hold onto the bow.

"Ah."

Almond approached, thinking it was a bow as expected.

"What, what are you?"

Meanwhile, the baffled opponent suddenly struck with a staff in a running game looked stunned.

"Give it here."

"What? You're going to beat me because of that?!"

"That's how it's done here."

Almond surveyed the chaotic scene around him. Participants fought fiercely with spears and swords against one another.

“Argh!”

“Ugh!”

“Crazy, what kind of

RunGuys

is this!? More like

KillGuys

!?”

Beans were knocked out by shields and impaled by spears… It was a hellish scene for beans.

– Laughing my ass off, KillGuys!

— Run = Kill, didn't you know?

— Running is murder!

— Now they ask for life, lol

— Let's see you die!

“Damn, it was like this. Oh, don't come!”

The bean with the bow tried to draw it at Almond.

“That's not how you shoot it.”

Whizz!

The arrow flew wide. Almond didn't even need to dodge and knew it would miss. He pressed forward and pressed his staff against the shooter's forehead once more.

Thud!

“Kugh?!”

The bean's eyes rolled back as he flew far away. The bow and arrows fell to the ground.

“Ah, too late.”

[21/40]

Having pursued that one bean for a weapon, Almond had fallen significantly behind.

“Is that Almond? He was chasing one bean and fell behind!”

“He was quite impressive with his speed earlier, but it’ll be hard for him to rejoin the upper ranks now!”

“Well, you never know, right? He's got a bow now and this mode is totally chaotic! There are lots of variables!”

After securing the bow, Almond started running again.

[Second Checkpoint: Slippery Hike!]

The next checkpoint appeared. It was a steep hill that participants had to climb with liquid pouring down it. Stepping on this liquid sent one sliding back about ten meters. The only way up was to grasp the occasional protruding rocks.

“Oh dear, a checkpoint that requires both hands!? It looks difficult to use weapons like bows here!”

Indeed, it would be hard to shoot the bow once he started climbing.

‘Then, I'll shoot in advance.’

Before starting the hike, Almond prepared an arrow on the bowstring.

Whizz!

An arrow pierced the buttocks of a bean vigorously climbing the hill.

Thunk!

“Ouch?!”

Confused, the bean stiffened momentarily and tumbled down the hill.

“Aaaahhhh…!”

— Laughing so hard I can't breathe!

— Oh, that's hilarious!

— Damn, that's pitiful.

Almond aimed the bow at the next target and started shooting again.

Whizz!

Fweeeng!

With each shot, another bean fell.

“You, you crazy! Aren't you supposed to climb too?”

“Aaaahhhhh!”

“Oh my, incredible! The beans climbing the hill are starting to fall off!”

“He's just knocking them off and moved up ten places!”

“How many arrows does he have left?”

“He had twenty and now he's got ten left!”

For every shot, Almond knocked down another bean.

— Wow, one shot, one kill

— The problem is the ones way ahead…

Realizing he had shot everyone within range, Almond started to climb the hill.

“He passed the liquid without stepping on it even once!”

After climbing the hill, he saw another set of item boxes. The ten beans ahead of him had each taken an item already.

“Now, onto the level two items!”

The items would be level two this time, meaning they were potentially better than the first ones.

The players ahead started switching their weapons. The level one weapons were simple items like spears, swords, and bows. The level two items were more complex.

[Wobbly Wobbly Mallet]

Almond saw a mallet that was even taller than him.

Boing!

When the player slammed the mallet onto the ground—

“Eeeek!”

“Huh?!”

Boom!

The ground began to tremble violently.

“Oh! Is that a mallet that causes earthquakes!?”

“It doesn't look easy to get past!”

Indeed, the level two weapons possessed special abilities.

[Dance Dance Rocket Launcher]

Past the trembling ground, the next player also acquired a level two weapon. It was the Dance Dance Rocket Launcher. Without hesitation, he turned around and launched it at those following him.

Fwoosh~

“Huh…?”

Bang!

Almond was quite far away from the beans that got hit by the rocket launcher. Pink smoke enveloped them.

“Ah! The beans are dancing!”

“It’s a running competition, but it turned into a dance battle!”

The players began to breakdance involuntarily.

— Lololol

— This is hilarious!

— This is RunGuys!

— This is absurdly funny!

Since there was no concept of dying in

RunGuys

, forcing them to dance was a much more devastating waste of time.

Thanks to this, Almond had already passed several more players by merely running.

[5/40]

Now, he was in fifth place and also approaching a level two random box. Of course, those in third and fourth places already reached the random boxes first.

“So first place has a mallet and second place has a rocket launcher! What will third place take!?]

An arrow answered them.

Thunk!

“A headshot!?”

“Third place just got shot by an arrow!”

“Gah!”

The third place runner joyously sprinting toward the random box suddenly took an arrow to the back of the head and fell.

Thud!

He hit the ground and rolled back down the hill.

“Is that a stun effect when the hit lands correctly!?”

“That’s why they all fell off the cliff earlier!”

The path was slightly uphill and the fourth place player looked back in shock at the third place player rolling down.

“Oh no! Don’t look back!”

Thunk!

An arrow precisely struck the center of his face as he turned.

“Gah!”

He slumped and rolled down the hill too.

“Can he really shoot that accurately while running!?]

“Of course! It’s Almond! The greatest archer in Korea!”

— Lol

— Wow, world class!

— The greatest archer in Korea!

— So satisfying!

“What weapon will Almond get now!?”

“Well! Whatever comes out, can it be as effective for him as... oh!?”

Tap!

Almond leaped high, vaulting over the wall and skipping the random box entirely.

“He chose to skip over the level two weapons!!”

He decided not to take any new item because the bow was already better for him than any level two weapon.

“Wooooow!”

The crowd roared in excitement. It was an unexpected way to play.

“Now, he’s moved up to third place!”

“It’s a three person race!”

Realistically, there were three contenders for the win: first place with the mallet, second place with the rocket launcher, and third place with the bow.

“Just looking at their weapons, third place seems the most disadvantaged!”

“But with Almond and his bow, you never know!?”

“Yes! He can still make a comeback! Will we see it at the last checkpoint!? Let's see!”

In

RunGuys

, comebacks often occurred at checkpoints. Now, the final checkpoint was nearing.

“Watch for a comeback here.”

— His eyes are fiery, watch him run lol

— Running for ten million lol

— That nut is ruthless, really going all out for that ten million lol

— Lol, his expression is so serious!