The Unlucky Debuff
The unlucky debuff. [UNLUCKY DEBUFF]
It was the debuff that hung on users with low luck or those cursed with misfortune-related effects.
And like any good debuff, it had nothing but bad effects.
- The probability of encountering monsters increases.
- During combat, the probability of other monsters joining in or the monster going berserk increases.
- The probability of encountering named monsters, elite monsters, or field bosses increases dramatically.
- When facing named monsters, the probability of them going berserk or awakening increases.
- The probability of traps appearing increases.
In short, the chance of running into monsters skyrocketed.
But it was more than that. The probability of named monsters or variables occurring shot up as well.
The non-combat side was just as bad.
You had to manually open more menus and sudden situations popped up constantly.
In essence, it was basically self-hardcore mode.
A buff that most jobs avoided.
But for necromancers, there was one silver lining.
- You are under a dark-attribute debuff.
- For thirty minutes, all stats increase by two.
Black mages and necromancers could turn dark-attribute curses into power.
Plus, there was another advantage.
The perfect opportunity to farm strong monsters!
The crowd was chasing PVP these days.
Killing players gave more XP than dying to monsters.
This patch had been in place since the kingdom fell.
Players were leveling up fast in the early story.
Right now my forces were still growing, so I was at a disadvantage against big guilds.
Farming monsters was also inefficient…
But what if I hunted even more monsters?
My levels would rise even higher. Far more than PVP.
When I received the misfortune curse at the Temple of Luck,
Fafnir had already calculated it all and grabbed the loot.
It was indeed generous.
But the message appeared right after.
“Hah! That guy is making so much noise!”
“Kill him first!”
- Ludius’s song has been registered as noise by the orcs.
- Orc attack power increased by 5%.
“Aaaah! Get lost!”
Ludius, barely escaping, tripped over a box on the ground.
- Ludius has unlocked the ‘Monster Containment Box’.
- The ‘Large Green Orc Warriors’ inside the box have been released.
The extra orcs arrived at the worst possible moment.
“Kroaa!”
A roar exploded among the charging orcs.
They froze for a split second under Pandemonium Nepende’s attack.
Fafnir stepped in front of Ludius.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Stay right here from now on. Don’t touch anything and keep refreshing your buffs.”
“Yes, yes!”
“I’ll take care of those guys.”
Fafnir dashed forward.
❄️ Wisdom: +2
Chat: Whoa… pretty sturdy.
Chat: If she were a woman I’d seriously fall for her.
Ludius was refreshing his buff skill with a happy ping and half-healed orcs.
Powered by the buff, Fafnir leaped into the air and chopped through the orcs.
“Hah! Crush them like wolves!”
The wolf cavalry were far stronger than regular orcs.
They could have torn Fafnir apart with his weak defense.
Woof woof!
Wolf cavalry targeting Fafnir.
“Now! Panne!”
Fafnir waited for the cavalry to gather, then summoned Pandemonium Nepende.
Kwa kwa kwa boom!
The wolf cavalry were thrown into the air and slammed down.
Explosion damage plus the fall finished them instantly.
‘As expected, the drain effect is overwhelmingly strong in multi-target fights.’
Pandemonium Nepende was a demonic beast servant.
With the drain aura active, one good hit could deal massive damage and restore HP at once.
After endless fighting, his level rose one more to 147.
- Orc support has arrived.
- Luck is insufficient.
- Five additional Goblin Archers have joined the ten Orc Warriors already queued for support.
New orcs kept coming, but they could no longer keep up with Fafnir’s speed.
“Hah… scary!”
“Hah!”
Even fearless warriors had limits.
The orcs, terrified by the slaughter, finally began to turn and flee.
That was when a blade emerged from the back of one orc.
“Hah, filthy trash.”
“Turning their backs…?”
Orcs with an aura started approaching.
Named orcs.
“Hah! That’s enough showing off!”
“Hah!”
A blood-stained blade flew at the taunting named orc.
- Critical hit!
- Vital point attack!
- Experience gained.
Fafnir bisected the named orc in one clean stroke.
Before the orcs even realized what happened, another named orc fell.
“Krooo!”
The orcs rushed in too late, but Fafnir slipped through cleverly and cut down the regular ones.
He lined up the useless regular skeleton soldiers and attacked directly, gradually reducing the named ones one by one.
“Whoa…”
Ludius’s eyes widened as he watched.
Normally he would have thrown in cheers, but right now he just stared in awe.
- Experience gained.
- Level up!
While still in the middle of the fight, Fafnir snapped out of it and surveyed the surroundings.
‘The named ones are almost all cleared…’
The regular orcs were now completely terrified and either fled through the gate or scattered.
Victory seemed close, yet Fafnir remained cautious.
‘The boss Kruch is still missing.’
He couldn’t complete the quest until Kruch was eliminated.
‘Other orcs are cautious.’
Veteran orcs moved carefully. They had learned that surviving long and sacrificing enough to win was the key.
‘He wouldn’t have run with named orcs. So where is he right now?’
“Fafnir-nim, behind you!”
“…”
“Kroaa!”
A black shadow struck Fafnir’s back with Ludius’s scream.
Fafnir, who had already expected it, calmly countered with his sword.
Swish. Clack!
Kruch’s axe bounced off Fafnir’s bloodied blade.
Kruch quickly grabbed the blade with both hands and held on.
If things stayed like this, the fight would drag on.
‘More reinforcements would only complicate things.’
Fafnir tried to step back.
Then,
Kruch has been debuffed.
Kruch’s power decreased.
Kruch has been debuffed.
Heat is rising on Kruch’s body.
‘I didn’t even need to do that.’
The damage from the blade graze.
Thanks to that, so many debuffs rained down on Kruch.
Sizzle.
Kruch, now a lump of debuffs, staggered.
Fafnir didn’t miss his chance and poured strength into his arm.
- You have defeated Kruch, the Orc Lord who occupied the Nevermore Gate.
- Experience gained.
- Level up!
- Overwhelming dominance displayed.
- Strength stat increased by 1.
- Charisma stat increased by 1.
- Fame increased by 10.
- New quest ‘Order of the Nevermore Gate (Rare)’ has been created.
- Completed the new quest ‘Order of the Nevermore Gate (Rare)’.
- Experience gained.
- Obtained 2 gold 50 silver, half the bounty.
- Fame increased by 135.
Fafnir stared at his hand in surprise.
‘Equipment luck, sure… but I never thought it would end this easily.’
Normally I would have impersonated the black mage of the orc force.
But charging in like this and doing everything solo wasn’t Kim Ganghan’s style.
Yet the power of that epic item was ridiculous.
Even low-level epic items were on another level from regular rare or unique ones.
‘I’ll have to pay more attention to gear from now on.’
With gear alone, I could fight without expending full power using just elite skeleton soldiers.
And another realization hit him.
Fafnir muttered inwardly.
‘The rewards and gold are definitely higher than before.’
Not long ago, even defeating a named orc wouldn’t have gotten him a level up.
‘So this is season 2.’
Season 1 ended, the kingdom fell, and the game turned into hell for newbies and ordinary players.
But for capable players or those riding the right lines, the doors to opportunity had opened.
Rankers ready for PVP, large guilds, or users who took hidden high-level quests.
Because it was high-risk high-reward,
If you adapted, you could surge ahead instantly.
‘It’s been about five months and ten days since Flush started playing…’
For now I had to stack as much contribution and raise my spec as possible.
The key was influence.
Not just being a solo player but having the power to move a massive force and affect surrounding NPCs or content.
‘So I need to raise my fame.’
But looking at it this way, it was a dilemma.
Two conditions: raise fame but stay under the radar with existing named monsters.
It was impossible to satisfy both from the start.
‘Even if I became the underworld emperor like Kindorhan, big guilds would eventually notice.’
No matter how he thought, no answer came.
‘I can’t just create a fake identity…’
If the skills were similar, the real identity would be spotted quickly.
‘I need something fresh… something no one would suspect was the same person.’
Fafnir’s eyes sparkled.
Then,
“Fafnir-nim!”
Ludius approached with a thankful expression.
“Whoa, that was amazing. You wiped them all out…”
“There are still regular orcs, so don’t get too comfortable yet.”
“Most of the regular orcs already ran off. Oh my god, orcs running away is the first time I’ve seen that.”
A bright smile spread across Ludius’s face as he looked at the broadcast screen.
“Thanks to you the chat is in chaos right now. Every mission succeeded. You really appeared in the game, not just the chat.”
Fafnir had already become well-known in Horizon.
Maintaining the top contribution and later vanishing after the unified front explained it.
‘Meeting the real person! It’s a shame to let him go like this…’
If he stayed in a straight line, the journey would end in five days.
Sending him off like that felt like wasting a lifetime’s chance.
‘…There’s no other way.’
Ludius, having made up his mind, said,
“Fafnir-nim, maybe we could do a quest together later?”
“A quest?”
“Yes, I’d probably struggle alone… I’d be sure to repay you if you help.”
“Hmm… I don’t know.”
Fafnir thought to himself.
‘Ludius isn’t a major named character in the novel.’
If he were, Fafnir would have remembered.
Plus, Ludius was a pain to bring along.
‘Not really appealing.’
The many monster boxes and trap magic circles that opened during fights!
Seventy percent of them could be considered Ludius’s cut.
‘I skipped this time, but who knows what would happen if the same thing happened with other monsters.’
Fafnir enjoyed danger, but only to a level he could handle.
An unexpected level of risk was different.
‘I’ll have to refuse.’
Fafnir, having made up his mind, opened his mouth.
“I’d love to help…”
Then,
Pat.
Before he could finish, a whisper from Ludius appeared in front of him.
- Ludius: Actually… this is a legendary-level quest.
Legendary!
Fafnir showed his first surprised expression since meeting Ludius.