I'll Take His Place
“I’ll make sure there’s no revenge if I give you my name.”
“Who are you, exactly?”
“Pure Evil Guild. I’m Hyunon.”
“Pure Evil… Hyunon, huh?”
Hyunon.
The instant Fafnir heard the name, he remembered who the man was in an instant.
‘He’s the named user who appeared in the mid-to-late game thanks to pure luck.’
He had no special connection to the protagonist.
He was a named user with a reputation for being righteous.
And he was a character packed with moments where he reacted with surprise to the original protagonist Flush’s actions in the source novel.
In short, he was exactly the kind of “floating NPC” the readers loved.
‘Well, just the fact that he’s mentioned in the novel at all is impressive, but…’
Because of that, Fafnir hadn’t imagined for a second that this man would bow his head right away.
Of course, he’d take what he could take, but that was separate.
“Even if Hyunon-nim guarantees it, how can we know he won’t stab us in the back later?”
“That’s… well…”
“I want a proper guarantee.”
Fafnir cut straight to the point.
“Add me as a friend, and if anything goes down, you come running immediately.”
“Add… you as a friend?”
“Yes. If that man tries something else later, use the DM to contact me. I’ll do my best to help.”
“Hmm…”
Hyunon stayed silent for a long moment, clearly thinking.
‘Well, it’s not a bad deal.’
Honestly, the terms were a bit loose, but nothing too outrageous.
Horizon tightly controlled every single scrap of information, so even a single piece of info held real value.
And the friend list of a high-level user was something with genuine worth.
‘If I turn him down now, I’ll offer a reasonable alternative instead.’
In any negotiation you started with the highest possible terms and slowly lowered them until you found a compromise.
‘As long as I keep those wolves out of the Lykansloth raid, I’m golden.’
Hyunon finally answered after some hesitation.
“Understood. If Michelin tries to stir trouble, send me a DM and I’ll help however I can.”
‘Huh?’
Fafnir blinked at the sudden offer.
Hyunon handed him something.
“This is the collateral and compensation.”
You have acquired the Blue Serpent Knight Order Regular Knight Badge.
You have acquired 3 gold.
One gold was worth 100,000 won, so three gold was three hundred thousand won.
And he had also accepted Hyunon’s class-proving badge as collateral.
“Is this enough?”
“It’s more than enough, but there’s one thing.”
Fafnir raised a finger and pointed at Michelin.
“The three gold has to come from that man. Why should a third party pay? I don’t take money that isn’t from the actual parties involved.”
“……!”
At this point he could have just taken the money and walked away.
It would have been cleaner, and no one would have been able to accuse him of betrayal.
But then Michelin would leave with zero harm done, right?
‘I’m never going to see that guy again anyway, so I have to squeeze every last thing I can out of him.’
“Ah… I…”
Michelin suddenly looked uneasy and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again.
“Or I won’t stop, either.”
“Y-you crazy! That female user started it first…”
“Michelin-nim.”
Hyunon cut him off and gave a command.
“Pay the three gold.”
“……”
Michelin glanced around, but the situation was hopeless.
“Damn it!”
In the end Michelin pulled three gold coins from his inventory and threw them down.
“You two… watch out! I’ll definitely investigate this incident, so you better be ready!”
Michelin logged out without holding back.
Fafnir let out a long sigh.
“Then I’ll take my leave…”
Just as he was about to head back and clear the traps, Hyunon called out to him.
“Come to think of it, Fafnir-nim, I was going to suggest this right away, but the situation isn’t ideal yet… but…”
“Yes?”
“It seems like your skill is quite high. If you have no guild, how about joining Pure Evil Guild?”
A non-mainstream job like Necromancer, but the control Fafnir had just shown was too impressive to ignore.
Fafnir weighed the offer.
‘Joining Pure Evil would definitely help in many ways.’
Since Hyunon was a member, it was a fairly large guild in the original novel as well.
It would be useful for group raids, quest info gathering, and material trades.
But there was one problem.
‘The moment I join the guild, my actions become heavily restricted.’
Pure Evil was a business-type guild that focused heavily on expansion.
Large-scale wars or events would force conscription as a matter of course.
Guild fame or merits were often used to force individuals to abandon personal quests.
Right now, Fafnir needed to widen the gap with Flush as quickly as possible.
Putting himself in a guild conflict or external event would be the last thing he wanted.
‘Fundamentally, playing the game while obeying commands in a guild just isn’t fun.’
The game was meant to be enjoyed, not run like a job.
That had been Kim Ganghan’s personal creed since his real life.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m not trying to force you to join.”
Hyunon withdrew with both hands raised in a polite refusal.
“If you ever need a guild or feel like you want one later, just DM me on my friend list anytime. Then…!”
After Hyunon and Michelin vanished, the first thing Fafnir did was simple.
‘Magician and Rogue bones. I can’t miss this.’
He immediately crouched and harvested the user bones that could be used to create skeleton soldiers!
In a game where true safe PVP was rare, user bone materials were a huge harvest.
“Master.”
Bell approached Fafnir while he was collecting items.
“If anything feels off, please tell me.”
“No, I’m fine. Good job.”
It hadn’t been a direct order, so it could be seen as disobedience, but Fafnir’s life was the exception.
‘I have an insurance skill, but that’s only a last resort.’
If Homunculus spotted the opening first, Fafnir could focus on attacking with one less worry.
“Good. Let’s keep hunting. Finish preparing the traps.”
“Yes.”
Bell moved toward the elite skeleton soldiers and silently struck Number One’s head.
“……”
It was an oddly familiar sight.
‘Even though they’re summons, do they have a drill sergeant?’
After a while, Fafnir finished his preparations and resumed the hunt.
The moment he set out the meat, a pack of crimson wolves rushed in as if waiting for it!
Because there were no other players around, nearly two hundred wolves charged at once.
“Numbers 1, 2, and 3 block the passages. Bell, disturb the rear!”
“Understood.”
This time the quantity was too much for just skeleton soldiers and Bell.
To Fafnir, the sheer numbers looked like pure experience.
“Nice!”
Trying to steal that much experience for free was something a thief would do!
Fafnir moved too, fighting without a moment’s rest, poking at the traps from every angle.
He retreated into narrow spaces, then jumped to the narrow path between other pits and fought, fought, and fought again!
Critical hit!
Weak point attack!
Vampiric Aura activated. HP increased by 55.
Vampiric Aura activated. HP increased by 49.
With every attack landing a critical, the Vampiric Aura recovery kicked in.
Summon Skeleton!
In emergencies he summoned new skeleton soldiers to use as shields or armor.
They would shatter after a few hits, but by then Fafnir’s cooldown would be up or he would have moved to a new position.
KROOOAANG!
The crimson wolves used strategy too.
They avoided the skeleton soldiers and charged straight into Fafnir’s front.
A dozen of them surrounded him at once and attacked.
In a life-or-death moment.
A red explosion erupted directly in front of Fafnir.
Blood Explosion.
You have acquired experience.
You have acquired experience.
……
‘Explosions are most satisfying when they’re clustered together!’
The world seemed to slow down.
Fafnir enjoyed every second while leaping across the traps.
How much time had passed?
Level up!
Survived the battle at its limit.
New achievement ‘Surpassing One Hour’s Limit’ unlocked.
Strength +1.
Vitality +1.
Will +1.
New celebratory messages appeared as the last wolf fell.
Fafnir looked around the battlefield once the fight ended.
“Phew…”
‘It’s been a while since I had a thrilling fight.’
The crimson wolves had been formidable enemies.
At Fafnir’s current spec, even one or two hits would be fatal.
Whether they were high-level bosses or trash mobs, one-shot kills were the same in difficulty.
‘Still, I survived somehow… and I got a lot of rewards too.’
Fafnir’s level was now a whopping 45.
He had grown three levels in the blink of an eye just by killing all those crimson wolves.
His skill levels had risen as well.
It had been worth several hours of pure fighting.
‘Not only me… but my summons!’
[Number One]
Level: 48
[Number Two]
Level: 47
[Number Three]
Level: 46
[Bell]
Level: 51
Fafnir smiled as he checked his summons.
‘Skeleton soldiers and Homunculus have gained plenty of experience too.’
Fafnir stood up.
‘Now… shall I go hunt the boss monster, the Wolf King?’
***
Wolf King.
The creature stood just over two meters tall, its body shaped like a wolf’s head attached to a human torso.
Its skin, fur, limbs, and head were all wolf-like, but its two legs in armor made it look almost human.
Because it had already wiped out the wolves, the title “King of Wolves” had no effect.
‘Though it wasn’t completely alone.’
Fafnir scanned the area and narrowed his eyes.
‘The real problem is the ones surrounding it.’
Green-skinned giants.
[Sturdy Green Wind Tribe Orc Warriors]
[Bloodied Green Skull Tribe Orc Shamans]
[Orc Chieftains of the Green Rock Tribe, each having killed over a hundred humans]
All elite orcs with special suffixes, not ordinary orcs.
The two monsters that should have been fighting each other were instead standing guard together.
‘Confirmed.’
You have detected that the Lycansloth ‘Wolf King’ is receiving protection from the orcs.
You have uncovered a hidden alliance between two hostile monsters.
You can gain additional rewards by reporting this to the guards.
You can treat this as a completed quest and receive 70% of the existing reward.
Ding!
Fafnir closed the message and thought.
‘Returning would complete the quest… but I won’t do that.’
Normal players would obviously log out.
But Fafnir instead began observing the Wolf King.
That was only natural.
To reach the top, you had to be willing to shoulder high-risk situations like this.
‘First, I need to analyze the Wolf King’s movements.’
The Wolf King wasn’t a monster mentioned in the novel.
Because of that, Fafnir recalled similar cases to plan his strategy.
‘The Gray Wolves mountain raid, right?’
In the original novel.
Flush had helped the halflings and destroyed the Lycansloth fortress while under pressure.
The part where he fought the Lycansloth had a memorable scene.
‘He used bare-handed combat with his front paws, occasionally using roar and rage skills.’
In online games, monsters with completely different patterns from humans were extremely rare.
Same species moved almost identically.
That was only logical.
It was stranger for monsters in the same category to have completely different body structures.
‘According to the guard captain’s info, this guy is a bit stronger than the crimson wolves, so I doubt he’s over level 70.’
Fafnir nodded after organizing the information.
‘This should be enough to hunt.’
But there was one condition.
‘First, I have to remove those orcs.’
If the Wolf King was the boss of one stage, those orcs were like totems that applied various buffs to it.
‘So what now…?’
Removing the orcs was easy.
The real problem was the Wolf King, who would immediately join the fight the moment he sensed battle.
‘Disguises would be noticed instantly, and setting fires or poisoning would be the same.’
And fighting the Wolf King alone was out of the question.
The pattern hadn’t been analyzed yet.
At that moment, a single thought suddenly crossed Fafnir’s mind.
‘Wait a second.’
Wolves respawn no matter how many you kill, but the Wolf King was different.
Because it was tied to a quest monster, killing it once meant it wouldn’t appear again.
Then…
‘I wonder what would happen to those orcs… I should test it.’
The method was simple.
‘Shall we begin right now?’
Fafnir stood up.
This was the start of the Wolf King hunt.