The Ogre's Fortress Falls
The orcs inside the fortress reacted as expected, their fury boiling over.
“Kyeu!”
“Those human bastards!”
“Kye! We should charge out and tear them apart!”
Steam rose from the enraged bodies of the orcs, even under the pouring rain.
That was when a shout erupted from among the orcs.
“Hold on, you useless idiots!”
“You idiots, don’t you see? This is a human trap!”
Thud. Thud. A large orc stepped forward and roared.
【Kuntsubal】
On the head of the black orc covered in red tattoos, the title of commander floated.
“Kye. I’m sure there are plenty of human soldiers hiding in that forest.”
“Kye… then should we just leave them?”
“No. Kye. Instead, mock those human bastards!”
Kuntsubal offered a solution.
“Kye! I just want to go out and kill them!”
Several orcs protested.
The moment Kuntsubal’s fist turned one of the protesting orcs into a pulp.
“Next.”
“……Kye…….”
The orcs instantly fell silent and lined up along the fortress walls as ordered by Kuntsubal.
Behind the users raising their voices,
Ludius, who had been hyping the atmosphere by calling out “Bupjezela,” opened the whisper window.
-Ludius: Master Fafnir, just as you said.
-Fafnir: Yeah.
-Ludius: The orcs are all gathered along the fortress main gate wall, shouting at us.
-Ludius: What should we do?
-Fafnir: Keep pulling aggro.
Fafnir sent the message and looked around.
“Are you all ready?”
“Thud. Ready, Master.”
Louis, the skeleton knight, spoke in place of the skeleton soldiers.
“As you instructed, we’ve planted the skeleton troops at every point, and the rubble is piled up plenty as well.”
“Excellent work.”
Fafnir nodded.
“Penelope, you’re ready too.”
“Understood.”
Penelope nodded, sensing the battle was imminent.
“Alright, then……”
Fafnir gathered dark mana and cast the skill.
After a moment, the ground erupted in places, and blood-red thorny vines shot up.
【Pandemonium Nepenthes!】
‘It worked properly.’
By binding Pandemonium Nepenthes to normal skeleton soldiers and burying them at each point to detonate them,
it was similar to demolishing a building, but instead of TNT, it was a demon plant from the underworld.
Furthermore, the weather had been chosen to match the heavy rain.
Rumble!
The weakened ground collapsed, turning the rubble into waves heading straight for the orcs’ fortress.
“They’re coming……”
Fafnir immediately sent a message to Ludius.
Ludius checked the content and shouted.
“Everyone! Hurry and retreat back!”
“Oh, here they come!”
“Run~!”
The users who heard the order quickly retreated.
“Kye?”
“They’re retreating!”
“But what’s going on?”
The orcs tilted their heads.
That instant, enormous rubble began descending toward the fortress.
“K-Kye!”
“A landslide!”
The ground weakened by the heavy rain.
Plus, since they had cut down all the surrounding trees to build this fortress, the conditions were perfect for a landslide.
“Kyeiiiiik!”
“Kye!”
Before the orcs could even do anything, the fortress was instantly buried under dirt and crumbled away.
Various buildings swept away before nature’s power, and orcs who had not even shown their faces.
However, Fafnir’s expression remained unchanged.
‘A little off target.’
If it had been a direct hit, they would have been wiped out, but there wasn’t enough prep time and the luck wasn’t great either.
Creak. The remaining orcs rose from the rubble.
Although many had been swept away, over five hundred remained.
“Kye! Kill those humans!”
“Kyeiiii!”
The orcs’ eyes flashed with rage upon Kuntsubal’s roar.
All elite orcs, it was hard for normal users to fight them.
‘I have no choice but to take them out myself.’
Fafnir mounted the ghost horse and rode down without delay.
At the same time, from beneath the rubble, bone hands appeared.
“Kye!”
“Kwack!”
The skeleton soldiers appeared beneath the panicked orcs, swinging their spears and swords.
The ruthlessness of turning former comrades into enemies.
One of the reasons necromancers were truly terrifying.
“Kye! Don’t panic!”
“Kye! Charge!”
Kuntsubal shouted among the wavering orcs.
That moment, Ludius appeared leading the users.
“Now! Everyone, throw!”
“Waaa!”
Whoosh. Whirrr.
Lumps of mud poured down on the orcs’ bodies.
“Kye, what is this……”
“Kwe! It’s mud! The humans are throwing mud!”
“Kyaaak!”
Mountain mud soaked in water, heavy and sticky.
Luckily, because it had been pouring rain, nearby dirt was plentiful.
“Kye! Kill them!”
Fafnir blocked the orcs charging straight at him.
“Where do you think you’re going.”
We went through all this trouble, and they’re retreating?
If this were a boast, it would only earn laughter, but this was a battlefield.
“1 to 5! Form barricades on my sides and surround them!”
Thud. Thud. The elite skeleton soldiers blocked the gaps and fought.
Fafnir, swinging his sword, thought.
‘This won’t last long.’
The rain continued, and Fafnir’s stamina had dropped far more than expected.
Even if he had HP, without stamina he couldn’t use skills or suffer multiple stat drops.
‘If I don’t finish quickly, it’ll be dangerous.’
Fafnir shouted behind him.
“Master Ludius, don’t worry about me and shoot magic here!”
“Huh? But won’t you get hit too!”
“It’s fine!”
Ludius’s pupils shook violently.
“Hurry! It’s breaking through!”
“Damn…… Everyone! Dump all your skills here!”
“Huh? Yes!”
“Now!”
“Thunder Bolt!”
The bewildered users shot their skills around Fafnir.
-Thunder Bolt hit.
-You are wet.
-Additional damage is applied from lightning attributes.
-Dark attribute.
-You take additional damage from lightning attributes.
-HP decreased by 731.
“G-Guguk!”
-Poisoned by Poisoned Javelin.
-You have been poisoned by a professional hunter’s venom.
-HP decreases continuously.
-Stamina consumption rate increased by 2%.
“Kyaaat!”
Although it was low-level users’ attacks, Fafnir wasn’t a tank, so each hit made his bones ache.
Still, Fafnir gritted his teeth and fought the orcs.
The chat window scrolled explosively.
Even if it meant risking death, they were still going to take down the orcs.
It was a scene like something from a movie, moving the hearts of the users.
“Kyaaaaak!”
Fafnir gritted his teeth and beat the orcs to death.
A black orc appeared before him.
“Human…… are you Fafnir?”
The fortress commander, Kuntsubal.
“I’ve heard that name. It was you, wasn’t it, Eldaltar-nim?”
“Eldaltar? Ah. That lizardman.”
We couldn’t hunt him when we met, but he’s on the hunt target list.
Fafnir smirked.
“You’re now my prey.”
“I won’t let you reach him!”
Kuntsubal gnashed his teeth and swung his axe.
Fafnir blocked the strike head-on.
The next moment.
Creak!
Countless bone fingers shot up from beneath Kuntsubal’s feet.
“Kyuu!”
“Now!”
Kuntsubal’s movements were briefly sealed.
Elite skeleton soldiers gathered around him.
“K-Kye! You traitor!”
Thwack. Stab. The spears of 2 and 3 pierced his legs.
“Kyeiiiik! Kyuek!”
His back and arms were slashed by the greaves and swords of 4 and 5 respectively.
Then the sword of 1 rose over the remaining orc’s belly.
“Kye……”
“It’s over.”
Fafnir swung his bloodblade one last time.
Kuntsubal’s head flew into the sky.
-You have single-handedly wiped out the orcs of the mountain fortress.
-Quest ‘Request for Rescue Troops (Magic)’ has automatically cleared.
-Quest ‘Mountain Fortress Extermination Battle’ has automatically cleared.
-You can receive a reward from Baron Pendragon.
-You have achieved an unbelievable feat with excellent wisdom and ability.
-Reputation increased by +550.
-Contribution increased by +300.
-You have obtained the orcs’ general’s crescent blade.
-Level Up!
Messages appeared simultaneously!
By successfully completing the mountain fortress extermination,
he had marked the historic achievement of completely driving out the orcs around Byron City.
***
“Black Magician! Are you okay?”
“Master.”
After the remnants of the orcs were exterminated,
Penelope and Bell, who had quickly returned, wrapped Fafnir in their arms.
“Thanks to you.”
Fafnir, who had been lying down, was helped up with support.
“The remnants?”
“All have been dealt with, Master.”
“I couldn’t run away because of the mud stuck to me…… A good strategy, black magician.”
Penelope praised him honestly.
-Penelope’s favorability increased by +2.
-Penelope has learned the new skill ‘Holy Shield of Sanctity (Unique)’.
‘Favorability rising opens skills too.’
Unexpected income!
‘It changes not only minions’ levels and growth, but also favorability.’
It wasn’t just to be used as tools, but needed to be treated as true allies.
‘I’ve never played a game like that…… but somehow it’ll work.’
Fafnir sighed and called Ludius.
“Master Ludius.”
“Yes! We’ve wiped out all the orcs too! Look, see? It was swept away by a real landslide! Not a skill or stats! Without regular troops, just users…… Huh? Ah, yes. Master Fafnir, you called?”
“Yeah, I’m logging out and resting now, but could you handle post-processing by escorting the users instead?”
“A job? Of course!”
This battle was actually over 70% handled by Fafnir.
Post-battle cleanup could be done by Ludius anyway.
“Thank you, then……”
Fafnir whispered his instructions to Ludius and logged out.
Flash!
Kim Ganghan, back in reality, stretched and stood up.
“It was definitely a magic-level quest, but getting support from one castle to finish it took this much effort. The other two must be even tougher.”
Thinking about it, it was only natural.
Originally, he should have received support from NPC soldiers in nearby castles, but Fafnir had cleared it with just a few users’ assistance, so the difficulty would be higher.
‘But since I cleared it, that’s good.’
Before bed, Fafnir turned on the website.
Searching Google for Ludius TV, he found the channel right away.
-Unlucky Bad Ludius
-1,131,333 subscribers
“Huh, no way. Over a million?!”
When Fafnir was Kim Ganghan, he couldn’t even exceed 30,000 subscribers.
“……”
Upon checking the content, it was definitely Ludius.
‘From before the game even started, he was known for being unlucky…… so that’s why he kept stepping on traps and things went wrong.’
Visuals and features must be impressive.
Ludius’s broadcast started big and has grown into a solo enterprise.
‘From now on, I should build an image with Ludius publicly.’
Using such a huge broadcast well could yield enormous efficiency in visibility and image-making.
‘It could also help by spreading the truth or exposing irregularities of other large guilds.’
In Horizon, power is everything, but that doesn’t mean you can completely ignore public sentiment.
‘It would also help publicize the name Fafnir.’
Besides Flush’s moves, to avoid or counter existing named players, Fafnir needed to build a brand.
‘More like the image of a dark paladin fighting skeletons in the front line. It would be easier to work in the open that way.’
Then what job should he do……
Several ideas flashed through Fafnir’s mind.
‘A dark gladiator won’t do. He’ll get harassed from start to finish against lucky opponents. Void Apostle…… that has too high a cost to invest. Dark Warrior…… I’d rather just play as a warrior.’
In addition to jobs in the novel, Horizon had countless jobs.
The number of possible jobs was limitless depending on the user’s thoughts!
Just as there are thousands of real-world jobs, Horizon had an enormous number of jobs.
‘Which one would be good……’
As Fafnir was pondering, a light suddenly flashed in his mind.
‘Yeah. Death Knight. I should transform into a dark knight who can fight in close combat.’
A Death Knight leading the skeleton soldiers and fighting in front!
A powerful combination that could create variables with skeleton soldiers while enhancing physical abilities.
‘Also, it’s not easy to change to a Death Knight right now.’
Just then, he remembered a good hidden piece from the novel.
‘Good, should I prepare the second class tomorrow?’
A smug smile spread on Fafnir’s lips.