Unrealistic Carry
Cha Yerin, Yu Inseok, and Gang Dagyeong.
The three of them had no idea what had just happened.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
It was only natural.
To their eyes, it looked as if the heads of nearly two hundred zombies had been ripped off simultaneously.
What on earth just happened?
Gang Dagyeong, the veteran who was the first to snap out of it, scanned their surroundings.
Aside from the few zombies crushed by Cha Yerin's hammer at the start, and those knocked off the bridge by Gang Dagyeong's whip, every single one of them was dead, their heads severed.
It was as if a giant, invisible blade had swept through and decapitated the entire horde in a single stroke.
"Ugh, bleeegh!"
Unable to stomach the gruesome sight, Yu Inseok collapsed to his knees and began to retch.
Fortunately, Cha Yerin remained calm.
Like Gang Dagyeong, she was scanning the area, assessing the situation.
She wondered if some unexpected variable had occurred—like the appearance of another monster, or a change in the map.
But nothing had changed.
And that only made her more anxious.
If there was any silver lining, it was that the death of the horde seemed to signal the end of the first wave.
Which meant the next wave would begin in fifteen minutes.
They had to identify the anomaly before then...
"Whew!"
Just then, a light sigh came from beside them.
It was Lee Taepyeong, looking perfectly clean without a single drop of sweat on him.
True to his name, he looked completely at ease.
"That ended faster than I thought," he said.
What?
"But this is actually pretty fun. Defense mode!"
Cha Yerin, Gang Dagyeong, and even Yu Inseok, who was still dry-heaving, all stared at Lee Taepyeong in utter disbelief.
Fun?
With a hundred zombies rushing them, he was looking for 'fun'?
"Mr. Taepyeong, by any chance..." Cha Yerin managed to find her voice, barely keeping her composure. "Did you do all of this by yourself?"
"Yes, somehow it just turned out that way..."
"..."
"Oh, wait. Is this considered bad manners?" Lee Taepyeong suddenly looked anxious as he stared at Cha Yerin.
Bad manners? Hardly.
"It's not so much bad manners..."
"It's unrealistic! Completely unrealistic!" Yu Inseok shouted, having finally pushed himself up.
"How does it make any sense to stop a whole zombie horde by yourself?!"
He wasn't angry. He was just so bewildered by the unbelievable situation that he couldn't help but yell.
"R-Right, that must be it! Did the Association hook you up with some crazy item?" Yu Inseok asked.
"An item? Does the Association usually give those out?" Lee Taepyeong asked, looking genuinely clueless.
Cha Yerin looked closely at the weapon Lee Taepyeong was holding.
It was an Orc's cleaver, chipped in three or four places, looking like a worn-out kitchen knife.
It wasn't a special item. It was just an Orc's cleaver. Nothing more, nothing less.
"It's just a regular Orc's cleaver. I can tell," Cha Yerin said.
At her words, Yu Inseok's face contorted in shock.
"I-I heard the rumors, but... Mr. Taepyeong, are you really a monster?"
"Huh? A monster?" Lee Taepyeong looked baffled once again.
To be precise, the Association had introduced Lee Taepyeong as a 'rookie hunter with monster-like skills.'
It was just that nobody expected him to be *this* much of a monster.
"How did you take out all those zombies alone...?"
"Ah, well..." Lee Taepyeong scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "It's thanks to a skill. I got lucky."
Lucky?
Just how lucky did someone have to be to solo the first wave of a defense map?
This was something only top-tier hunters could pull off.
And yet, a mere level 10 rookie on his third tower entry had done it...
"Well, I believe you, Taepyeong. I had a feeling you were special," Gang Dagyeong said.
"Ah, hahaha..."
"Besides, isn't this great for us? Taepyeong is totally carrying us!" Gang Dagyeong added, her voice filled with excitement.
She seemed thrilled that they might clear this defense map much easier than expected.
Cha Yerin and Yu Inseok nodded, sharing the same sentiment.
"Exactly. We were just surprised," Cha Yerin agreed.
"The Association said you were amazing, but I didn't think you'd be this incredible..." Yu Inseok shook his head in awe.
A bright smile soon returned to his face.
After all, Lee Taepyeong being strong meant they could easily clear this tedious defense map.
"More importantly," Gang Dagyeong said, turning to look at the bridge piled high with over a hundred headless corpses, "we need to prepare for the second wave."
She was right.
Once a wave ended, there was a fifteen-minute grace period before the next one began.
Normally, each wave was designed to last about an hour. However, thanks to Lee Taepyeong, the first wave had ended far quicker than anticipated.
Since about five minutes had already passed while they were standing around in shock, they only had ten minutes left.
The second wave would start soon.
"...Alright, in that case."
Cha Yerin was pragmatic.
Pride as a hunter? That was useless here.
Experience, and even level, meant nothing in the face of overwhelming talent and skill.
She was rational enough to set aside her own level and career.
I had it completely wrong.
Thinking this party was formed to help a 'rookie hunter' was a massive misunderstanding.
This was a party being carried by the rookie!
"From the next wave onward, let's have Mr. Taepyeong take the lead," Cha Yerin proposed.
"Huh?" Lee Taepyeong looked flustered.
But this was the right call.
If they weren't careful, the rest of the party might end up hindering him instead of helping.
"Just tell us what to do. We'll support you however you need," Cha Yerin said.
Lee Taepyeong swallowed hard, looking at the three of them with a tense expression.
The man who hadn't batted an eye in front of a zombie horde was now looking nervous.
"Um, then..."
"Yes?"
Everyone listened intently to what he was about to say.
And the words that came out of his mouth were:
"Would it be okay if I just kill them all by myself?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
It was far beyond anything they had imagined.
The second wave.
A horde of about two hundred zombies rushed forward.
"Graaaagh!"
"Kieeeek!"
And just like before...
Slash!
Thud!
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The zombies' heads flew off in an instant.
Lee Taepyeong's movements were so fast that the three of them could barely track him with their eyes.
Swish-swish-swish!
Only blurry afterimages remained in his wake.
Even with the help of skills, could someone really move like that?
It was unbelievable.
Yet, they had no choice but to believe it.
Hundreds of rotting heads rolled across the ground.
The zombies must have been utterly bewildered. It was a literal bolt from the blue for them.
The first wave was cleared in ten minutes.
The second wave was cleared in twenty.
The fifteen-minute break between waves wasn't preparation time anymore.
It was just a sweet period of rest.
"Aren't you tired?" Cha Yerin asked.
Lee Taepyeong replied with a grin.
"Not really."
"Ah..."
"It's all thanks to my achievements and items."
"I see..."
Of course, Cha Yerin didn't buy it.
It made no sense to attribute this level of performance to mere achievements and items.
Lee Taepyeong was telling the truth, but the three of them simply assumed he was being incredibly humble.
"The third wave might be tough, though. There will be three hundred zombies," Cha Yerin noted.
"Come on, Yerin. Don't you see Taepyeong hasn't even broken a sweat? What do you mean 'tough'?" Yu Inseok chimed in.
"I'm just saying, just in case, you idiot," she snapped back.
"Who do you think Taepyeong is?!" Yu Inseok boasted, sounding like a proud son bragging about his dad.
When Gang Dagyeong raised a fist at him, Yu Inseok quickly shut his mouth.
"Still, Taepyeong, don't forget that we've got your back," Gang Dagyeong said.
"Yes, ma'am! I won't forget!" Lee Taepyeong replied energetically.
The atmosphere was remarkably relaxed.
As if they were out on a picnic, the four of them munched on energy bars and sipped sports drinks.
"Wow, is it really okay for us to clear it this easily?" Yu Inseok muttered with a grin, acting as if they had already completed the quest.
Though they didn't say it out loud, Cha Yerin and Gang Dagyeong were thinking the exact same thing.
Then came the third wave.
The number of zombies increased to three hundred.
It wasn't just the numbers; because they poured in all at once, they were becoming increasingly difficult to manage.
But for Lee Taepyeong, it was no trouble at all.
Tap...
Slash!
Flick...
Thud-thud-thud!
The third wave was cleared in thirty minutes.
And after another sweet fifteen-minute break, the fourth wave began.
"Graaaaaagh!"
Once again, the zombie horde rushed forward like madmen.
Of course, Lee Taepyeong sliced through them just as madly.
Over four hundred zombies were slaughtered, leaving a mountain of corpses piled high on the bridge.
"Phew..."
Just as Lee Taepyeong was starting to find it a bit tedious, a system message popped up.
He had unlocked the achievement for slaughtering a thousand zombies.
A 50% increase in critical hit rate against the undead.
Since he could already decapitate these zombies in a single strike, the achievement didn't feel particularly useful right now.
Still, I should be grateful.
Considering how infested the higher floors of the tower were with undead, this achievement would undoubtedly come in handy later.
I wish they'd given me a weapon instead, though...
Unaware that he was the first person in the entire world to unlock the Undead Slayer achievement, Lee Taepyeong simply smacked his lips in disappointment.
"Tsk."
But his disappointment was short-lived.
Growl...
The fifth wave began.
Tap...
Slash!
Flick...
Slice!
At this point, he was practically a machine.
It felt as if his body was moving on autopilot.
It was as easy as popping bubble wrap out of sheer boredom.
But...
Something's off.
Although there was still far more he didn't know about the tower than he did, he could at least tell when something was wrong.
The zombies were acting strange.
The first wave had a hundred zombies.
The second had two hundred.
The third had three hundred.
The fourth had four hundred.
That was how he had unlocked the thousand-kill achievement.
So naturally, the fifth wave should have had five hundred, right?
"Kieeeek!"
But...
"Graaaagh!"
There were far more than five hundred.
Six hundred.
Seven hundred.
Eight hundred.
They just kept pouring in.
With this many monsters rushing them, a problem was bound to arise.
For him? No.
"Hah... hah..."
"Whew!"
For his party members.
There were simply too many zombies.
He had expected the trial to end once they cleared the fifth wave of five hundred, but this was different.
At this rate, do we just have to hold out until the time limit runs out?
However, there was still a long way to go before the trial ended.
Ten minutes for the first wave, twenty for the second, thirty for the third, and forty for the fourth.
A total of one hour and forty minutes had passed.
Since the fifteen-minute break periods didn't count toward the trial time, they still had three hours and twenty minutes left.
Holding out like this is going to be impossible.
Of course, he didn't mean for himself.
He meant for his teammates.
Lee Taepyeong temporarily deactivated Killing Time and turned to Gang Dagyeong.
"Does it usually not end like this?"
Gang Dagyeong looked at him, bewildered.
"I've never seen anything like this either..."
To be fair, most parties couldn't kill every single monster in a wave.
Usually, they had to spend their fifteen-minute break fighting off the stragglers, meaning they had to face the remaining monsters and the new wave simultaneously.
That was why defense maps were considered so difficult.
"So..." Lee Taepyeong gripped the hilt of his cleaver, which was starting to feel loose. "What you're saying is, from here on out, nobody knows what's going to happen."