The Battle Ignites: Fafnir Unleashes Chaos on the Front Lines
“Everyone, regroup! Prepare for battle!”
“Orcs are charging!”
The battlefield was a chaotic mess of clashing orcs and human users, NPCs, and the occasional ally caught in the fray!
Fafnir summoned basic skeleton troops from the shadows.
“Go and fight like wild animals. Kill as many as you can—even if it means dying for one more.”
“Clink!”
The corpses littered the ground everywhere, so there was no need to grow any special attachment to each skeleton soldier. Since they wouldn’t be carried around forever and could be used like standard game units, it was perfect.
‘Next, it’s time for the elite forces.’
Summoning Louis, Bell, and Penelope, Fafnir gave his orders.
“The three of you will act independently, gathering soldiers wherever you go. But absolutely do not fight the orcs or traitor armies head-on.”
All three were strong enough to handle their share of the work. Scouring the battlefield would help immensely.
“Hah! Sizzle! Being a knight is pure romance on the battlefield! Hehehe! Yah!”
Louis, the skeleton knight, immediately charged forward on horseback.
“I worry for Master’s safety. The command is…”
“What about you, you black magic user?”
Fafnir laughed with a smirk at Penelope and Bell’s questions.
“It’s an obstacle for you right now.”
“Understood.”
“Are you really ordering independent action?”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
The two turned and headed off.
Watching them go, Fafnir thought to himself.
‘Penelope is human, but Bell feels like a robot or AI.’
It was almost like the supercomputer AI from some experimental base speaking.
‘Since it’s an artificial life form, it must be close to machine-like.’
‘In the mid-game, those homunculi seemed like they had a mind or self-awareness….’
Some of the homunculi from the novel acted almost like real people.
‘I’ll have to check that out later.’
Right now was the perfect time to test my growth limits!
“Come and see! These experience points!”
Fafnir’s sword danced wildly among the orcs.
Although he didn’t have a dedicated combat skill, his balanced stat allocation meant his damage and agility were more than enough.
What he needed was pure control, situational judgment, and the courage to leap at enemies all around!
“Most skill problems can be solved just by controlling them.”
Saying something that sounded like total nonsense, Fafnir darted through the orcs, swinging his blade.
“Tch, here he is.”
“Human scum! Arrogant brat!”
Orcs swarmed in from every direction, trying to encircle and overwhelm him at once.
Whirrrick.
Fafnir hurled bone shards in every direction. The orcs, who had already tensed for thrown weapons, widened their eyes in shock.
“Heh! The dummy!”
“Missed!”
The orcs laughed mockingly.
But right behind them, elite skeleton soldiers swung their blades.
Before the orcs could even react, they collapsed.
“It’s getting familiar after the hundredth try.”
Fafnir grinned.
The high-difficulty technique of throwing bones as mediums to summon, then releasing them on command!
There were only five right now, so they had to wait on cooldown, but as the numbers grew, he could keep using them endlessly.
“Good, let’s keep going!”
Fafnir’s sword kept dancing through the orcs.
Above his head, the Five Star Guild users and random players rained down magic and arrows like a storm.
He pushed forward while fighting until he could go no further, and far away, he spotted another army.
“Push them!”
“Kill the traitors!”
The northern legions were pushing the kingdom troops back while teaming up with the orcs.
“Damn it, why are you doing this! We’re all kingdom troops!”
Despite the kingdom NPC soldiers’ desperate pleas, the northern legions didn’t change expression and kept swinging their swords.
Fafnir’s eyes sharpened.
‘I want a taste of those guys too.’
Objectively, the northern legions were much harder to farm. Their average soldier levels were higher, and high-level named NPCs like archmages and senior knights were everywhere.
But seeing fellow humans defect to the orcs side made Fafnir feel oddly uneasy.
‘No matter how you look at it, it’s the turncoats and spies among our own side who make me angrier than the real enemies.’
‘Is there some way to twist this….’
Fafnir’s mind spun quickly.
‘Wait.’
The orcs weren’t attacking the duke’s army, but that was only a temporary alliance.
Because of the fundamental racial differences, they couldn’t coexist long-term.
One small spark would be enough to start a full-scale fight.
‘I can make that spark.’
Fafnir summoned a few skeleton soldiers and sent them toward the orcs.
Following his orders, the skeletons attacked the orcs.
“Heh!”
The orcs swung fists at the skeletons without thinking.
They had learned from fighting other necromancers’ skeletons that this much strength was enough.
But these skeletons were different.
Crack!
Smash!
They shattered while still stabbing, ultimately creating wounds.
-You have been poisoned by Karshk’s venom.
On top of the poison debuff.
“Heeik!”
“Heh!”
The orcs, wounded far deeper than usual, burned with rage and started looking for their controller.
“Yura cha cha.”
Fafnir summoned a skeleton right in front of them, then immediately dashed back.
“Heeiiiiik!”
Orcs swarmed toward him from behind.
Like a shepherd herding sheep, Fafnir led the orcs straight toward the northern legions.
“What are you doing! Protect me!”
“Huh? Uh?”
“I am the Grand Duke’s advisor! Stop those orc brats!”
Fafnir pushed his way into the soldiers with a vague excuse.
“Huh? W-wait!”
“Kaaaaar!”
A crimson wave slammed into the soldiers who tried to stop him.
These were the bloodthirsty elite black orcs and red orcs.
“Uwaa!”
“Ugh!”
The northern legion soldiers were thrown aside or trampled.
The surrounding soldiers looked at the scene with shock.
“These… these orc bastards!”
“Kill them! Crush them!”
The soldiers raised their spears to block.
The charging orcs shook their spears, but endless nets, arrow storms, and spears came flying from behind.
“Heh!”
The soldiers, furious at their comrades’ deaths, slaughtered the orcs.
The other orcs rushed over in response, and the soldiers and orcs clashed again.
-Experience gained.
-Contribution gained.
-Experience gained…
‘Done.’
Fafnir smiled with satisfaction.
Originally, it was hard to start a fire, but once it caught, it spread quickly.
Since the fighting had begun, at least a thousand casualties were inevitable on both sides.
‘Should I do something? Help clean up the battlefield.’
A northern legion deputy officer was trying to stabilize the front.
Fafnir approached from behind and swung his sword.
Burn End!
-Experience gained.
-Enemy eliminated.
The deputy officer, unable to even make a sound, collapsed powerless.
Fafnir took one more swing for good measure.
“The orcs killed the commander! They broke the treaty!”
“What?”
“Then it’s settled. Let’s wipe out the orcs too while we’re at it!”
Clashes between the northern legion soldiers and orcs began.
The battle had turned into total chaos.
***
“Kim, the secretary.”
“Yes.”
Headquarters of the Five Star Guild.
At Yi Siwoo’s question, Kim the secretary answered while keeping his poker face.
“Is Plan D ready?”
Plan D.
While Plans A, B, and C aimed for victory, Plan D was an escape operation focused on survival.
It also meant the Five Star Guild’s plan had collapsed.
“Yes.”
“What about the damage?”
“Unit 1 ready, Units 2 and 3 preparing, Unit 4 is fighting to the death as per the commander’s discretion since escape is impossible. Unit 5 has lost over half its officers and support staff, so it’s essentially destroyed.”
Wood creaked. A pebble between Yi Siwoo’s fingers shattered into dust.
“…”
“I’m a little angry.”
It wasn’t anger toward the guild alliance or NPCs.
Yi Siwoo muttered, “If we had completed the ultimate shield sooner, we could have handled this event perfectly and reversed it.”
The Five Star Guild hadn’t only focused on recruiting top talent.
Supers.
They had invested heavily to create users who stood at the peak of every field.
Barion, the ultimate sword, was the prime example.
No one among the current users could beat him in one-on-one control.
But the ultimate shield was different.
Unlike the ultimate sword, it required plenty of skills, hidden pieces, and time to complete.
Unfortunately, it still wasn’t finished.
“I have no choice. I’ll step back here and wait for the next move.”
“President, then…”
“I understand. Let’s go.”
Kim and Yi Siwoo soon left the barracks.
Yi Siwoo told the Five Star Guild executives lined up on both sides.
“First, I apologize to all of you. This was entirely my fault. The unexpected news that the northern legion’s reinforcement in the event log was with the orcs side…”
“No, President.”
“We fell short.”
The information department guild members bowed their heads.
If they had had even one piece of relevant information, they wouldn’t have been defeated so helplessly.
“We could continue the fight, but we can’t reverse the situation.”
A retreat order.
He had known, but hearing it spoken aloud felt even more bitter.
“But next time it won’t be like this. The Five Star Guild will use this defeat as a stepping stone and become even stronger.”
Yi Siwoo continued.
“Then everyone, please execute the retreat.”
“Yes.”
The executives under Yi Siwoo turned and moved.
Soon notifications appeared in the messenger of the Five Star guild members.
“Retreat!”
“Everyone, retreat!”
The Five Star members rushed out of the battlefield.
As the ones maintaining the line withdrew, the battlefield collapsed in an instant.
They escaped while the front was still intact, preserving experience and contribution.
Yi Siwoo’s fast retreat decision was clearly correct.
But it was also why they missed something very important.
“Kiaaaak!”
“Heh, heeiik!”
In the area where the northern legions and orcs clashed, new fights erupted.
Changes were visible everywhere on the battlefield.
And in the middle of it all, one person was completely losing it.
***
Yekel was what you’d call a fantasy maniac.
He wasn’t a real knight, but he loved the stories from games and comics.
That was why, the moment Horizon launched, he immediately maxed out his savings.
‘I didn’t need to do that much.’
Once he started playing, the world that opened up was nothing like what he expected.
The in-game content was perfect. NPCs moved like real people, and depending on actions, you could get hundreds of rewards and quests.
The problem was always the people.
-Hey, you’re in the control zone.
-Three silvers per hundred herbs! What? Why so expensive? Because I’m a scam artist, obviously!
Guilds controlling each zone, scammers forcing cheap goods on you—after dealing with every kind of nuisance, he ended up living life as it came.
He wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about anything; it was like playing the game with water mixed in.
Not running away when everyone else did was one of those reasons.
Of course, the results were cold.
“Heh!”
“Kuk!”
Yekel flew through the air and hit the ground after being punched by an orc.
HP and MP were at the bottom, and item durability had dropped below ten.
“Is this it….”
He didn’t particularly care about contribution or experience.
“Heh…”
The orc approached with a mocking laugh and raised its club to finish him off.
Yekel closed his eyes.
Just then, right as the orc was about to put force into its hand.
“You!”
“Heh!”
A distant spear came flying and knocked the orc down.
Huh?
The first thing Yekel saw when he opened his eyes was a stunningly beautiful woman with golden wings.
‘Angel…?’
He blinked again, and the sight in front of him became clear.
The wings he thought were actually golden hair, and the beauty was a knight.
“I am Penelope. Can you stand?”
“Kingdom knight?”
“That’s right.”
Penelope helped Yekel to his feet and turned.
“You probably won’t be able to fight much longer. Join the rear.”
“You…”
“I’m going forward. I’ll face the monsters.”
“……”
“We’ll meet again later.”
With a clang, the knight Penelope advanced with her spear.
Yekel stood there blankly as her figure faded into the distance.
“Wow…”
A long time later, Yekel’s mouth opened.
“That… that’s beautiful. This is Horizon…?”
His face was enough to make even world-renowned actresses in the real world jealous.
Something hot stirred in Yekel’s chest.
Similar situations were happening all over the place.
Reports of skeleton knights riding horses and laughing, or vampires turning into bat swarms and flying around—news of three people given free exp to farm had started spreading among the users.