Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Orc Warrior Falls
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"Nothing special."
"You bastard—!"
We clash again. His sword and axe collide, and the bicorn wolf carrying him bares its fangs, snapping at me.
But it's no use.
My superhuman strength that transcends human limits, my boosted agility, and accelerated attack speed aren't just stat increases to me.
It feels like my combat senses, which had always fallen short of my physical abilities until now, have finally caught up. It's like living my whole life with one arm and one leg, only to suddenly gain a complete body!
Crack!
The Sword of the Beginning slices through Hamrom's left arm. No critical hit. It's not a vital spot.
But how could losing an arm in battle not be critical? The fight is as good as over.
"Hu—man!"
"Yeah, come on—!"
Clang!
Crunch!
As our blades clash once more, the Sword of the Beginning, unable to withstand the brutal combat, shatters in half.
This high-grade sword, reinforced six times, was far superior to the axe in his hands, but unlike his axe protected by inner energy, mine relied solely on raw power—leading to this disaster.
Hamrom's eyes, sunken in despair at the sight, now gleam with ecstasy.
I hurl the halved Sword of the Beginning at him.
Clang!
He swings his axe to knock it away.
"Kahaha! Human! Can't even hold onto your—!"
Thud!
[Critical Hit!]
A bone longsword (common) from my inventory pierces his throat.
"Gurk... You... bastard!"
Even with the bone longsword through his throat, Hamrom thrashes desperately. He swings his axe and urges the bicorn wolf to attack me.
His murderous tenacity is impressive, but... attempts that failed when he was intact won't succeed now.
Thud!
Hamrom finally collapses, and I finish off the bicorn wolf he'd been riding. No level up.
Rare-grade monsters like orc warriors give experience far beyond regular orcs, but once your level crosses a certain threshold, the required experience skyrockets.
"Captain!"
"Human scum!"
With Hamrom down, the remaining orc warriors charge, but they fall even easier. High-grade monsters are no match for me anymore.
"We... won. Whew... I was just standing back, and it was this exhausting."
I approach the panting Steelstone and check on him.
"Seeing weird stuff in your vision, right?"
"Yes, my lord. There's a circular band around the edge of my field of view..."
Steelstone gestures as he describes what he sees.
'As expected, the interface is based on VR standards.'
Revenge is a cross-play game runnable on mobile, PC, or VR gear.
Unlike me—coming from mobile, so my view looks mobile-style, then PC—others seem fixed to the VR standard.
"Anyway, let's check the drops."
I move to collect the gear scattered around.
Orc Warrior's Sword (High-grade)
Orc Power Gauntlets (High-grade)
Weapon Enhancement Scroll
Armor Enhancement Scroll
Orc Axe (Common)
Orc Clan Seal (For Sale)
Iron
Healing Potion
"Oh, two high-grade items."
I grin as I stuff the items into my inventory. I'd never gotten high-grade drops from these damn orcs before, but scoring two in one spot? Lucky.
And finally, the item from the orc warrior.
Rune Stone Earrings (High-grade)
"Ah, no rare drops, huh."
The orc warrior's drop table includes many rare items, but inclusion doesn't guarantee a drop.
As I've said before, Revenge announces rare item drops with world messages.
"Whatever."
I pull out an [Accessory Enhancement Scroll] from my inventory—fodder I'd received.
[Rune Stone Earrings (High-grade) enhancement successful!]
[Rune Stone Earrings (High-grade) enhancement successful!]
[Rune Stone Earrings (High-grade) enhancement...]
In an instant, the Rune Stone Earrings become Rune Stone Earrings +6. I equip them.
Their effect boosts HP by 2 (+3) and mana by 2 (+3). Better tangible performance than the zero-stat bonus Starting Set.
"Oh, right. The Sword of the Beginning."
I pick up the broken sword rolling on the ground. Absurdly, the Starting Longsword (High-grade) +6 has 8/17 durability left.
"The blade's in half, and it still has this much durability?"
Seems like another glitch from the game applying to reality, but the real issue is elsewhere.
"Can't repair it."
In Revenge, you just hand it to a blacksmith NPC, but not here. Instant repair kits exist, but they're cash items.
In the end, I toss the shattered Sword of the Beginning into the air. Not discarding it, of course.
[Starting Longsword (High-grade) +6 registered in collection.]
Not just the half I threw—the other half on the ground vanishes too.
[Gear of the Starting Adventurer: Max carry weight +5kg]
[1/6 registered]
'Lost my main weapon.'
No problem, though.
[Orc Warrior's Sword (High-grade)]
Weapon Damage +12
Strength +1, Vitality +1, Critical Hit Chance +10%
Material: Iron
Weight: 2.7kg
I enhance the Orc Warrior's Sword to +6 with the [Weapon Enhancement Scroll]. Its weapon damage becomes +12 (+6), stat bonuses Strength +1 (+3), Vitality (+3).
I skip +7 onward—enhanced effects rise, but 50% shatter risk on high-grade gear.
[Weapon Enhancement Scrolls] and [Armor Enhancement Scrolls] are plentiful as fodder or gold buys (max 10 per character), but high-grade gear isn't.
"Ah! Success!"
Steelstone, who'd ditched his busted heater shield and sat on a rock, beams brightly.
"Allocated stats?"
"Yes, my lord. Wasn't as hard as I thought. Out of 30 free stat points, I put 10 in Strength and 20 in Vitality."
He hit level 23 from this fight.
'Passed him a ton... the blessing's huge.'
I sigh in regret, but it's inevitable. Without the goddess's blessing, no 700% EXP bonus—efficiency drops.
"By the way, what are all these? Jobs, stats, levels... You seem to know about them, my lord."
A natural question. Perfectly reasonable.
But explaining everything I know is tough.
'Hard to even convey the concept of a "game."'
Tricky, but I decide quickly. Reality's full of game-like stuff these days anyway.
Plus, my 34th Earth's god is a great and mighty game master.
Crafting an explanation in a game master's world? Easy for me.
"This is the compensation."
"...Pardon?"
I explain to the puzzled Steelstone.
"Our territory got a dungeon, and these orcs popped out. Not just us—likely every leyline nexus on the continent."
The orcs overwhelmed them, forcing retreat... but orcs aren't that strong.
Common, High, Rare, Hero, Legend, Myth.
High-grade orcs are mid-low monsters, frontier threats only. Revenge's site says monster grades rise toward the chessboard continent's center.
'Human forces grow stronger centrally too...'
But not enough for high-level monsters. Central powers are probably facing annihilation or shattering.
"Losing leylines, humanity's final bastion... Chaos begins. Maybe humanity's at the end times."
"Yes. But it's not all despair."
I spin a classic cliche tale.
Why so many stories like this? Gates open suddenly, monsters flood out, humanity teeters on extinction—then awakened ones with special powers appear.
Cliche to death, but cliches endure for a reason.
"I don't know exactly what this power is. Just found how to use it. Think of it as humanity's compensation for dungeons and monsters."
"Compensation..."
Steelstone gazes seriously at the fallen wolf beast corpses.
And then.
[Altein has acquired Heavy Way Axe (Rare) in Golgor Plains!]
"Golgor Plains... Holy Empire territory."
"Yeah. And Altein's a familiar name."
"Yes. Knight Commander of the Golden Lion Order."
"Imperial Knight."
"Right. That's my class too."
Ones like [Musketeer] or [Cannoneer] don't exist in Ardenia yet.
But historic ones do.
Imperial Knight is one.
'Lucky guy. Already snagging a rare?'
Without my goddess blessing, others' drop rates suck. Another case like me somewhere?
But thinking it over, not necessarily.
'Just kill more.'
You don't need levels or classes to kill dungeon monsters. I took down an orc warrior without a class.
Unlike frontiers struggling to grow populations away from leylines, central empires purged beasts, claiming all land.
Ming Empire's million-strong army.
Holy Empire's White Knights.
Crystal League rangers.
Ardenia's low-power fantasy, but humans build forces accordingly.
Don't underestimate—unlike my territory, they have armies waging [war] on monsters.
In massive battles with thousands dead, rare drops are probable.
"Grrrr—woof—woof!"
A monstrous roar jolts Steelstone mid-conversation to his feet.
"This sound...!"
"No way. Wolf King? Near the leyline?"
Unmistakable to Bronze Sword Territory folk. Ruler of Killians Mountains, master of the triangle peaks.
Wolf King, Akalan.
Takes an army to face one—a heavenly demonic beast.
"But... the howl's weird, right?"
As if answering, Akalan's cry echoes.
"Squeal!"
Every bizarre bark from beyond the hill has us exchanging glances before scrambling uphill.
And we see it.
"Halt!"
Crash!
He swings his sword, felling a dozen trees like sugarcane.
The Wolf King, caught in the arc, survives via tough hide, but can't escape unscathed.
"Yelp!"
Chunks of hide and fur tear free, scattering in the wind. Rolling from the impact, it struggles up and flees without looking back.
"You stubborn mutt! I said! Let's! Be friends!"
Chasing it.
A lone orc.
"No way. The Wolf King..."
Beside stunned Steelstone, I grit my teeth.
Vulcan Orc Great General (Hero)
Khan Slasher
"Son of a bitch."
"Sword Master?"
A completed inner energy user—rare even on Earth, colonel-start in the military—is right there.
"Huh? Sword Master? My lord, that's from legends."
I nod at Steelstone.
"Yeah. But Steelstone, adapt fast, no matter how hard."
I turn from the fleeing Wolf King and pursuing Sword Master.
"Legends and myths are our new reality."