Pursuing the Obsidian Golem
The hammer swung wildly. Sihyun staggered backward on instinct, her feet slipping on the cracked ground.
"How many of these things are there…?"
"Can't you count? Three at least!"
The weapons in midair coordinated their assault with perfect timing, slamming in unison.
"And those… they’re using skills too."
"…"
Even the weapons were casting warrior techniques like Bash and Power Strike on their own.
"These are really something else."
Sihyun spat out blood-mixed saliva.
They had no weak points to begin with. She had no idea how the damage was landing.
"If only they were transparent humans holding the weapons, it’d be easier!"
Clink! Clang! Clatter!
-Boom!
The holy-attribute weapons struck first, followed by occasional lightning and fire ones that battered the skeleton soldiers.
‘How are sixteen weapons fighting on their own? That’s not a weapon, that’s a monster.’
Multiple hidden classes existed, but nothing like this.
Penelope and Bell fought desperately, yet the coordinates were all off.
‘Impossible to win.’
They were production classes, not fighters.
At the highest rank levels, they were light-years apart from Kim Chul, the combat-specialized top-tier ranker.
‘If it’s Fafnir-nim…’
Sihyun glanced at him and shook her head.
‘Even if it’s anyone, no way. The hidden-class gap is too massive.’
Beyond the level difference, the compatibility gap was enormous.
As the silver weapons formed a wave, Fafnir rolled his body to the limit.
‘That guy… is strong.’
When the mana pool ran dry from reviving skeletons, Fafnir had no choice but to end it.
"My hammer!"
"Use the best weapon you can!"
Sihyun received the final blow, gripping the broken hammer.
Clang!
Penelope blocked it.
With artistic movement she dispersed the impact, yet the overwhelming force shoved her several meters back.
"Hahaha, steel-folk, you really know how to fight?"
Kim Chul spun his two weapons in circles.
The floating weapons followed his motion.
‘Tactics are invisible.’
Fafnir admitted it.
The unexpected man before him was the strongest player he had faced in the game, worse than any boss monster.
‘Rankers who brag about items without skill. Skillful players who don’t care about gear. Neither.’
High-level players recognize other high-level players.
Fafnir, who once ranked first in the Dragon Hunter rankings.
‘Items at least unique-grade and above, plus superb control. Manipulating multiple weapons at once? I don’t know the mechanics, but I can’t do it.’
Fafnir rubbed his hands. Mana was nearly gone.
‘I have to settle this. One strike.’
Skeletons and Penelope were useless. At best, Homunculus was opposing, but it wasn’t enough.
"Ha ha! You’re a summoned beast? You fight well."
"You’re just relying on weapons, huh."
"Weapons? That’s high praise!"
Before Kim Chul finished speaking, he swung his fist.
-HP decreased.
-Damaged by Louis’s holy power.
-Recovery rate -20%.
-Darkness burned in holy power.
-HP decreasing by 120 per second.
"Even without a weapon, it’s this bad?"
A pro gamer who broke legends still managed this much.
‘Of course not.’
If he hadn’t spoken, nothing would have happened.
Sudden inexplicable rage rose.
‘Even talking back about weapons? …’
Go fight in real mud somewhere!
Fafnir pressed his sword against the flail’s chain section.
He couldn’t use a sword, but this technique locked his enemy’s hand so he couldn’t swing the hammer.
"Puhaha!"
Kim Chul laughed mockingly and tried to control the other weapons.
That was the moment.
Fafnir tensed his neck and thrust his head forward.
-Kadak!
"Ka-daak?"
Kim Chul tilted his head.
It sounded like a headbutt, but what did that mean?
"…What…?"
Glancing away, Kim Chul startled.
Fafnir had bitten the hammer’s spiked part with his teeth.
"Madman!"
Surprise turned to mockery.
"You’re some kind of wrestling manga character?"
A caveman beating a dinosaur.
A wrestler snapping that caveman’s spine.
A character straight out of a wrestling manga set in Andromeda!
"Then say this: next week’s episode is on hiatus!"
Whip! Kim Chul yanked the iron bar. Fafnir’s upper body was pulled along with it.
‘Now!’
Fafnir used every ounce of strength to bite it.
-Unique-grade refined silver consumed.
-Unique-grade special steel from red-beard dwarves consumed.
-Unique-grade salamander ether consumed.
-Rejection reaction against silver.
-HP decreased by 2,400.
-MP decreased by 500.
-Status abnormality ‘burn’ transformed into ‘fatal burn’.
-HP decreasing by 400 per second.
-Status abnormality ‘silver poisoning’ applied.
-Attack power decreased by 50.
-Status abnormality ‘extreme confusion’ applied for 10 seconds.
-Consumed metal stronger than skill level.
‘Damn it.’
Of all things, silver weapons?
HP wasn’t recovering; it was bleeding fast.
Worse, every stat plummeted.
‘Son of a bitch! Is he really dying like this?’
Even so, this felt too absurd.
Fafnir’s body was swallowed by Kim Chul’s long shadow.
"You… what… did you…?"
"…?"
Something felt off.
"W-what did you do?! My… my Elizabeth!"
…Elizabeth?
Kim Chul’s massive frame surged forward in an instant.
A rough hand reached out.
Just as Fafnir barely rose.
Kim Chul hugged the broken silver weapon to his chest.
"Uwaaa… Elizabeth. You bastard! What the hell! No, not now. Damn dwarves, show them quick!"
Weapons swarmed Kim Chul as he panicked.
He instantly turned and ran the opposite direction.
"…"
"…"
"What the hell is that?"
Sihyun stared in disbelief.
"…But he just said he was a dwarf, right?"
Siyeon spoke cautiously, her voice shaken.
"Yes. He said dwarf."
Sihyun echoed her.
Fafnir rubbed his chin.
His whole body throbbed with pain.
He said,
"Let’s follow!"
***
"What?! Follow? Are you crazy?"
"No, think carefully."
Fafnir wiggled his fingers.
The first skeleton, dazed, turned its head.
‘Ugh, so annoying.’
Boing!
-Ding!
Fafnir yanked out the first skeleton’s ribcage and drew a circle on the ground.
"Look closely. This field contains the obsidian golem. And the place we need to go is the dwarf village. But the Crossfire Guild has completely blocked this area like this, right?"
"Oh, right."
Siyeon clapped.
"Huh? You know?"
"Older sister, you don’t know?"
"Um… um… Ah! Of course I know. Do I look stupid?"
Fafnir glared at Sihyun.
"You do know, right?"
"I know."
"Explain it then."
"Um…"
Sihyun blinked, then suddenly spoke.
"Oh right. I need to wash clothes. I’ll log out for a second."
"Sis, you washed them this morning."
"Um, then I need to eat!"
"You already did…"
"Give Kim Bo food!"
"No, I already…"
Cornered, Sihyun scratched her head and shouted.
"Alright! I don’t know! I don’t know! So explain it, you who supposedly know!"
"You should have explained earlier."
Fafnir smirked and continued.
"The guy went that way? Inside the wasteland."
Thud. The ribcage pointed to the opposite side of the circle.
"Yet Kim Chul said he was going to the dwarf. So how can we follow?"
"Huh! Right?"
"Exactly."
The surface was fully guarded by the Crossfire Guild’s surveillance.
But the sky or deep underground had nothing like that.
"There’s a secret passage in the wasteland that leads to the dwarf village, and that guy knows about it."
"Ah! As expected, Fafnir-nim explains so well."
"…"
Lots to say, but he wouldn’t.
Fafnir nodded.
"Sis, from now on I’ll do better."
"No… you already knew!"
"Anyway, the important part is that following Kim Chul opens a high-pass road to the dwarf village."
The difference between an ordinary alley road and a highway high-pass.
The allowed speed was completely different.
You could floor the accelerator.
No worry about toll gates or other cars blocking.
"So we have to follow, right?"
"I thought we should from the beginning."
Sihyun grinned, then suddenly remembered something.
"But how do we catch up? He’s super fast."
Fafnir smiled wickedly and looked at the skeleton soldiers.
"There are ways."
He wiggled his fingers. Skeleton Knight Louis approached.
"Master! How is Her Highness…?"
"Yeah. I’m fine. Go open that mouth of yours."
"Um… uh… that is…"
Louis fidgeted.
"Master, whenever you call Rosinante, I don’t feel like a proper master…."
"No, who said they stole me away?"
Fafnir frowned.
"I'll use you just a little and give you back! You and the skeleton horse were both summoned with my mana anyway."
"Yes, yes. Of course. But at least a little for me…"
"Ah! Hurry!"
"…S-sorry."
Fafnir turned away from retreating Louis and mounted the horse.
"Ready to run?"
Fafnir kicked the skeleton horse’s shins.
"Let’s go!"
-Kihiiing!
Clack-clack-clack. The horse immediately accelerated.
Fafnir scanned the area where Kim Chul had gone.
‘No need to watch carefully.’
Clear footprints on the ground.
Following them, the shape of a giant running soon appeared.
"Hey! Manbyeongjiwang!"
"What?! Time's up… ugh!"
Kim Chul looked like he saw a grim reaper.
"Get out of here! I’m busy right now!"
"I know."
He cleared his throat.
"Manbyeongjiwang, Kim Chul!"
"What?!"
"Do some work! I’ll pay you handsomely!"
"Go to hell!"
Since Fafnir broke the weapon, no good words were expected.
"If you don’t do the work, I’ll stick to you until the end!"
"No…!"
"If I ride a horse and nag you, how much trouble will it be?"
"You damn bastard! What’s the reward?!"
Fafnir chuckled.
"From the obsidian golems, pick ten high-quality materials as a product. How about it?"
The raw material strength of the obsidian golem was something Fafnir himself acknowledged.
"With that I could make a weapon and get my teeth knocked out trying."
"You really did fight that guy."
Kim Chul looked thoughtful.
‘If I say one more thing, he might give in…!’
Fafnir pondered what to say.
Then he remembered a fact and spoke quickly.
"And full course!"
"…Full… what?"
"Alcohol and beautiful women! A full VIP course for the best back-alley in Aluense!"
"Full… course?"
Kim Chul hesitated.
‘He gave in?’
Swallow. The tension broke.
"I’m stuck there!"
Fafnir answered boldly.
"I’ll personally open a way through it!"
Flick! Kim Chul spun 180 degrees and stopped.
"Then what is the request? Please tell me."
Manbyeongjiwang.
The moment Kim Chul joined the ally faction.