The Unsung Hero of the Baran Kingdom
Baran Kingdom.
One might think of it as a single nation, but in truth the land was overwhelmingly vast.
Even after over a year since Horizon launched, users who had ventured beyond the borders of Baran Kingdom were extremely rare.
The kingdom was not only huge but also teemed with massive cities and abundant content.
Yet the entire realm had plunged into war against the orcs.
Naturally, countless battlefronts had spawned by difficulty level, allowing every user to enjoy the event without a second thought about their position.
There was one exception.
Despite having no player limit, no one at all was entering this particular front.
-Extreme Front (Hell) (0/Unlimited)
The entrance window always displayed zero players.
This had never been the case at the start.
Once the event began, every guild sent reconnaissance teams to every difficulty level front.
Each guild’s second company, elite high-rankers forming the reconnaissance units.
The result was grim.
-Minimum spawn monster level 180, multiple elite and boss monsters appearing, and the Four Heavenly Kings guaranteed to appear.
-Troll boss confirmed, orc knight corps using aura observed.
An army of orcs far beyond belief.
But the problem was not just the difficulty of the battlefield.
If that were all, they could have challenged it somehow.
-Death penalty: level 1 down. Normal death penalty applies. Additional one-day restriction: impossible to interfere with any orc empire event content.
One day of no play.
Players capable of challenging Hell mode were mostly top-tier experts hunting for high-rankers.
One day of no access for them?
It meant they were falling behind everyone else.
Right now was the event period.
To close that gap required enormous effort.
‘……This is the perfect moment for everyone to think that.’
Fafnir gazed at the vast plain ahead.
“Even though I only saw it on the bulletin board, it really is terrifying.”
From beyond the horizon, heavily armored orc knight corps approached.
Behind them stood troll bosses wielding iron clubs the size of a house.
Behind them came tens of thousands of elite orcs.
‘Even if they are less than ten thousand, that’s still too many.’
Standing alone, Fafnir felt his breath catch.
Why would users even try to face such monsters?
In the original novel it would have been different.
But now, even all the top guilds combined were powerless against this army.
Still, Fafnir remained calm.
“Everyone ready?”
“Yes!”
“Good. Glory to Baran Kingdom!”
“Ha!”
Du du du. Soldiers and knights in silver armor approached from behind Fafnir.
-Baran Royal Knights.
-Baran Royal Knights.
-Baran Royal Knights.
Armor and shields engraved with the golden lion emblem.
The kingdom’s elite knight corps, the Royal Knights.
Countless soldiers and mages followed behind.
“Hah. Hah.”
Even with the battlefield in sight, the breathing remained regular.
They were elite troops.
“For the kingdom!”
“Fire!”
Shushushung. The mages’ magic activated.
Explosions of fireballs and lightning struck above the orcs.
“Kyaek!”
“Kweuk!”
A natural disaster of epic scale.
Yet surprisingly many orcs survived.
“Attack!”
“Hold the line!”
Countless human NPCs fought the orcs.
The scene of tens of thousands against tens of thousands on the battlefield felt almost majestic.
“Just as expected.”
Fafnir smiled faintly.
“So it was true that NPCs would support if users were insufficient.”
Even if many users participated, empty fronts or times when players were absent would occur.
At those moments, it was the Baran Kingdom’s NPC army that came to aid.
‘Then I’ll hop on the NPC bus for a ride.’
Fafnir summoned his Skeleton Soldiers and Penelope.
That was when.
“Hey! You haven’t even checked your equipment.”
A supply officer had arrived.
“Here, put these on.”
[Kingdom Army Elite Soldier Armor Chestplate]
-Grade: Normal
-Level Restriction: 110
-Durability: 200/200
-Physical Defense: 205
-Magic Defense: 7
-Set Effect 5: Reduces remote physical attack damage by 12%
-Description: Elite armor of a Baran Kingdom soldier.
[Kingdom Army Elite Unit Spear]
-Grade: Normal
-Level Restriction: 110
-Durability: 140/140
-Physical Attack: 160~180
-Description: Spear used by the kingdom army’s elite unit.
Since the orcs on the Hell front were all elites, the kingdom army’s equipment was also different from normal fronts.
Skeleton Soldiers lined up wearing even tougher armor and wielding sharp spears and swords.
‘Good. This should be enough to not shatter from just one hit.’
Time is money.
Fafnir immediately began issuing orders.
“Penelope.”
“What is it?”
“I’m changing the strategy. Stop following me and go around the battlefield doing your own tasks.”
After all, there was no reason to stay grouped together anymore.
In a battle of tens of thousands, tens of skeleton soldiers were no more than grains of sand on the beach.
“Bell, you’re the same.”
“I will obey your orders.”
“Don’t overdo it. Just support the kingdom army and fight in that manner.”
After all, the role was to support the kingdom army’s NPC troops.
Fafnir added one more point.
“Above all, never give up the finishing blow. Target their backs.”
“Finishing blow?”
‘Why do I have to get the killing blow?’
Penelope tilted her head for a moment but accepted the orders without question.
“Understood. If that is your order… I will follow.”
Swish. Penelope drew her sword and headed for the battlefield.
Shortly after, Bell transformed into a bat and vanished.
Fafnir issued more orders.
“Two, lead ten skeleton soldiers to the rear and keep replenishing weapons and armor. The rest will scatter and help soldiers under threat from enemies.”
“Yes!”
“The same goes for the rest of you—target the finishing blows, okay?”
“Yes!”
“If you run out of weapons, head to the outpost to resupply.”
“Roger!”
The skeleton soldiers nodded their heads.
Orders given. Now it was time to fight.
Fafnir led his skeleton soldiers onto the battlefield.
‘I feel the tension I haven’t sensed in a long time.’
Pew pew, boom!
Rocks and magic from the catapults flew past and exploded nearby.
Tension that could never be felt in a VR game!
‘Then shall we go fight?’
Pat. Fafnir, who had been running, turned his head left and right.
While doing so, he spotted something and lit up.
‘There it is.’
He ran straight toward it and swung his sword.
“Kyeek!”
He pushed one NPC soldier aside and thrust at an orc, only for the blade to emerge from the orc’s chest.
“Are you all right?”
“Ah… yes. Thanks to you, I survived.”
“That’s good. Then I’ll be off.”
Fafnir left the soldier behind and ran to another spot.
After a while, he found another victim and headed there.
‘All those orcs are over level 140. With special species and trolls included, fighting them is impossible.’
Fafnir’s current level was 116.
A 20-level gap was too much.
He couldn’t even match one soldier against that.
So the right answer was to do only what Fafnir could do.
‘Find those who fight NPCs and steal their finishing blows!’
Users would split the experience, but if helping NPCs, the experience would all go to Fafnir.
It was practically the same as another farming season.
‘If you’re jealous, tell the NPCs to fight for the kills.’
Other guilds and rankers had no idea about this fact.
-Experience gained.
-Level up!
Apparently the skeleton soldiers had already started landing finishing blows.
‘This should keep me busy for a while.’
Smirking, Fafnir leapt into the battlefield with a triumphant smile.
***
Four days had passed since the second frontline began.
During that time, Fafnir repeated the same schedule: heading to the front at dawn and logging off late at night.
Except for meals, exercise, and necessities, every moment was spent on the frontline—a deadly schedule!
He could have taken it easier, but he could not dawdle when such gains were at stake.
The result was astonishing.
-Contribution points reached 100,000.
-Overwhelming contribution achieved. Can now command ordinary elite soldiers on the frontline.
-High-ranking commanders and nobles listen carefully to your words.
-New achievement ‘Field Commander – Elite’ obtained.
-New title ‘Veteran Commander’ acquired.
-Charisma +1.
-Ten consecutive days of MVP on the battlefield where you alone participated.
-New achievement ‘Lonely Battlefield’ achieved.
-New title ‘Adventurer of the Battlefield’ obtained.
-Strength +3.
-Vitality +1.
-Wisdom +1.
-Charisma +3.
Gathering various contributions and titles, Fafnir’s status had improved.
Thanks to that, his contribution points had surpassed 100,000 and his level had risen by 5 to 121.
“The killing blow strategy works surprisingly well.”
Because the orcs were so strong, simply gaining experience from stealing the killing blows was already a huge contribution.
Quests like commanding soldiers, rescuing knights, or defending outposts were bonuses!
Because of this, he had become the number one contributor on every server worldwide, including Korea.
-Fafnir surpasses 10k cc cc cc cc cc
-Holy cow!
The rare news that reached them amid bullying by large guilds and pressure from overseas users.
-The pride of South Korea!
-But seriously, how did he farm that much all by himself? Aren’t the guilds dying right now?
-Yeah. Recently I haven’t seen him on the easy difficulty front. Maybe on normal or hard?
-No, not seen.
Users sent sincere congratulations while wondering how Fafnir was achieving those scores.
“You bastards! Die!”
“Sorry!”
Meanwhile, the Yonghyeon Gate guild was in chaos.
“They said they’re searching relentlessly! But what kind of cheat is this guy using to farm contribution points! Is it a bug?”
“Sorry, I’ll look into external quests as well.”
“You didn’t even think of it before I mentioned it? No, don’t. Starting tomorrow, don’t log in either.”
Jin Yongwang, the guild master of Yonghyeon Gate.
Known for his prideful nature, when he heard about Fafnir he immediately sent a pursuit team while raging.
But then.
As the Yonghyeon Gate pursuit team suffered, Fafnir had already hit 100,000 points and become the world’s number one contributor.
“That guy! Just you wait. I don’t know where he’s farming contribution points, but I definitely——”
“Guild Master.”
At that moment, his subordinate Kim Geonma opened his mouth.
“Then is it possible it’s a bug?”
“Bug?”
“Yes. Horizon says there are no bugs, but there could still be cheats or viruses, right?”
“Hmph……”
“Of course you thought of that, Guild Master. But maybe we should report it to the operations team?”
It was not a bad idea. If it was a bug, the ops team would handle it. If not, it would narrow the possibilities.
“I was already thinking about that. Still, Geonma, you should take point on this.”
“Understood. I’ll send the inquiry right away.”
“Good. But will it work?”
“I have the screenshots the assassination squad gathered as evidence. It should be sufficient.”
“……Good! Move on it.”
“Yes.”
The people who had received invitation offers from Yonghyeon Gate were all famous players with limitless potential and possibilities.
Unless he crushed them now, before they grew too powerful for Yonghyeon Gate to catch up.
Meanwhile, Fafnir headed somewhere else.
This time, the destination was none other than the capital.
In the back alleys, Fafnir soon met a man.
“You’ve been doing well lately? Impressive.”
Kindorhan grinned while greeting him.
Fafnir nodded and replied.
“That’s exactly why I came. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”