The Opening They Never Meant to Leave
“Did they seriously just leave it like this, figuring no one would notice?”
No matter how hard they’d tried to hide it, this was just ridiculous…
Click—
“...?”
At that moment, the door opened.
The one who stepped inside was...
King Damiano II.
“!!!!!”
Tae-hyun and Ed-an froze in horror at the same time.
Even for Tae-hyun, who had nerves of steel, there was no way not to be startled in a situation like this.
And Damiano II was just as shocked.
Drenched in sweat and panting hard, he stumbled into the room—only to find people already inside.
“Adventurer! Why are you here?!”
“......”
Of course, Tae-hyun couldn’t exactly answer that question.
He hesitated.
In that brief pause, Ed-an leaned in and whispered,
“Lord Tae-hyun, Lord Tae-hyun. I have an excellent idea.”
“...?”
“Dead men tell no tales.”
“......!”
Since there were no witnesses, they should kill the king and run.
For a split second, Tae-hyun was tempted.
Then he came to his senses.
Killing the king was absolutely out of the question.
“Shut the hell up.”
“No one will ever know! Won’t it just look like those attackers did it?”
“And if this goes wrong, my whole life gets screwed, you idiot.”
NPCs weren’t stupid.
Unlike the Orcs, this was the royal palace. If something happened here, they’d investigate every detail down to the last grain of dust.
And if things went sideways?
Tae-hyun would end up hunted by the entire Atali Kingdom.
And naturally, the McCraney Merchant Group, which had ties to him, would be wiped out too.
“Then what will you do?”
“Hmm...”
To be honest, Tae-hyun didn’t have any brilliant idea either.
While they were still scrambling for one, Damiano II’s gaze grew steadily more suspicious.
“Don’t tell me...”
KRAAAASH!
“?!”
This time the door didn’t open.
It exploded inward.
And a new group of intruders appeared.
Knights clad in black armor.
“Kuhahaha! Damiano II, you thought you’d escaped well, didn’t you? But do you know who I am? I know exactly how you think! You’re in the palm of my hand! Running to your bedchamber to strike at my weak point—why, you dug your own grave! Your royal guards are all dea—Guhk!”
One of the knights had been grandstanding at length when he suddenly screamed.
Tae-hyun had rushed him and attacked first.
“What the hell?!”
“There are still people here?!”
“There shouldn’t be anyone left in here!”
The Sadiq Church Holy Knights, who had assumed the king’s bedchamber would be empty, shouted in alarm.
Damiano II also stared at Tae-hyun in astonishment.
Tae-hyun felt it instinctively.
This was his opening.
He raised his longsword, Meteor, and pointed it at the Holy Knights.
Then he declared,
“Fools! I saw through your plans from the very beginning!”
“?!”
Beside him, Ed-an looked utterly baffled.
What the hell is he talking about now?
“I already knew you’d come here to take His Majesty’s life! I was waiting here to stop you!”
“?!”
Ed-an’s jaw dropped.
Then he whispered,
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
“Shut up.”
Ed-an looked dumbfounded, but everyone else in the room bought it completely.
Damiano II looked impressed, while the Sadiq Church Holy Knights looked thunderstruck.
“No! That can’t be!”
“Are you saying he read us from the start?!”
“Impossible!”
The whole atmosphere flipped in an instant.
Tae-hyun looked at the Holy Knights and burst into loud laughter.
“Hahaha! You were dancing in the palm of my hand!”
The God of Flame and Destruction, Sadiq, and his church had always been condemned by the people of the continent.
Their habit of burning and destroying everything in their path had earned them countless enemies.
And yet, the fact that their order still endured despite having made so many foes was proof of just how powerful they were.
You have thwarted their attempt to assassinate Damiano II and declared war on them.
The Sadiq Church will never let this pass.
Now only one outcome remains: either the Sadiq Church will perish, or you will.
Defeat the Sadiq Church!
Reward: ?
Huh?
The quest description was a little overblown.
Fight until either the Sadiq Church or Tae-hyun was dead?
This feels like I tried to shake off a burden and somehow picked up a bigger one instead...
While Tae-hyun was thinking that, one of the Holy Knights he’d ambushed spoke up.
“Do not panic. There are only two of them. Kill them.”
Damiano II recognized the speaker’s voice and said,
“Antonio! How could you do this?”
“Of course I can. You stupid nephew! The throne suits me far better!”
Out of nowhere, the whole thing turned into a full-blown soap opera.
Tae-hyun leaned toward Ed-an and muttered,
“So this is a family feud over the crown?”
“Looks that way.”
Cheesy drama or not, their opponents were no joke.
The attack Tae-hyun had just used was stacked with Lucky Strike and additional skills.
And Antonio had taken it like it was nothing.
He’s definitely not some average-level NPC. Can I even beat him right now?
Tae-hyun tightened his grip on his longsword.
Still, the situation favored him.
If he could just stall for time, the kingdom’s troops would come.
Clang! Clang!
“You insignificant wretch!”
Antonio wasn’t going to be caught off guard twice.
Some kind of barrier sprang up around him and blocked Tae-hyun’s attack.
Damn it. Paladins really are a pain in the ass.
A hybrid class somewhere between a warrior and a mage—that was what a Holy Knight was.
High combat power, plus magic.
But Tae-hyun had his own answer.
Clink—
He swiftly put Meteor away and drew out the Ancient Hammer.
Its blazing aura flooded the room with dazzling light.
“Ed-an, protect Damiano II! If things go bad, grab him and run!”
“Lord Tae-hyun! How could I ever leave you behind?!”
“Don’t say things you don’t mean!”
“Understood!”
The Sadiq Church Holy Knights stared at them like they’d lost their minds.
What kind of conversation is that?
Antonio stretched out a hand to cast a spell on Tae-hyun.
But Tae-hyun moved first.
Whooom—
With a heavy sound, the Ancient Hammer swung down in a brutal arc.
Antonio sneered at him.
“Idiot. How dare trash like you think you can break the Great Sadiq’s shield—Gkhhhhkkk!”
Antonio coughed up blood and staggered.
The barrier had shattered.
Crack!
Tae-hyun held the Ancient Hammer at the ready and cast a sharp look around the room.
He’d gotten lucky.
Looks like it’s one of those powerful shields where the user takes damage when it breaks.
There was no such thing as a perfect skill.
If something seemed absurdly good, it always had a drawback somewhere.
Antonio’s barrier was sturdy, but it seemed the user suffered backlash damage if it was broken.
That was why Antonio was reeling now.
This reaction was completely different from the one after Tae-hyun’s earlier attack.
“Th-that bastard...”
“Protect Lord Antonio!”
The Sadiq Holy Knights instantly closed around him.
Then they glared warily at Tae-hyun.
More precisely, they stared warily at the hammer in his hand.
In truth, the hammer couldn’t deal damage to living Holy Knights at all.
But they didn’t know that.
A terrifying weapon that had just smashed through Antonio’s barrier in a single blow.
Of course they’d be cautious.
And Tae-hyun noticed their reaction too.
“So who wants to be next to taste this hammer, huh?”
Intimidate
The enemies’ morale drops.
You have successfully intimidated powerful opponents.
Eloquence has increased.
I barely even practice Eloquence, so why does it keep leveling like crazy?
Natural talent.
Born disposition.
In this area, Tae-hyun was frighteningly gifted.
Meanwhile, the Holy Knights hesitated, unable to charge first.
Tae-hyun didn’t attack either.
He didn’t know exactly how strong they were, but they definitely weren’t easy prey.
If he rushed in carelessly and it turned into a chaotic dogfight—only for the king to die in the middle of it...
Better to wait for the enemy to commit first.
Then, from somewhere in the distance, they heard footsteps.
“Th-this is bad!”
“We attack now!”
The Holy Knights’ attitude changed at once.
The royal guards were approaching.
If they kept waiting, assassinating the king would become impossible.
Shing, shing!
Tch.
As the Holy Knights lunged, Tae-hyun clicked his tongue inwardly.
Thought I might be able to bluff my way through that.
Now that they were charging him, he couldn’t keep fighting with the hammer.
He immediately switched back to Meteor.
Lucky Strike, Lucky Strike, Lucky Strike, Lucky Strike.
The duration on the previous buff had ended, so he recast it.
Four consecutive stacks of Lucky Strike.
That was a pretty decent setup.
Evasion successful.
Evasion successful.
“?!”
The Sadiq Church Holy Knights, facing Tae-hyun for the first time, stared at him in confusion.
Their attacks had clearly been on target.
Yet they’d missed anyway.
Unless the level gap was absurdly huge, that simply shouldn’t happen.
“You bastard! What did you do?!”
One of the Holy Knights shouted, then began chanting.
Fwoosh!
The two-handed sword in his grip immediately burst into flame.
Whoosh!
Evasion successful.
You have been struck by Sadiq’s Blazing Flame. Evasion is impossible.
You take burn damage.
You take holy damage.
You resist with Divine Authority.
“......!”
Tae-hyun was busy handling the other Holy Knights when the attack came in from behind, and it made his eyes widen.
They really weren’t pushovers.
They’d realized his evasion was abnormally high and responded with a skill that couldn’t be dodged.
Wrath
Tae-hyun activated the skill on his longsword.
There was no point turning defensive here. That would only put him at a greater disadvantage.
The best defense was, as always, offense.
My HP’s fine. Physical attacks are missing, and the worst I’m taking is the damage from Blazing Flame. If I reduce the holy damage with Divine Authority, I can tank it.
He could endure the damage.
After making the calculation, Tae-hyun moved fast.
Bam! Crash! KWAKWAKWAANG!
A chain of skills flowed together—Strong Strike, Multi-hit, and a vital-point attack.
Tae-hyun moved with rhythmic precision as he unleashed a relentless assault.
Focus one target and beat him down.
In a melee against multiple opponents, reducing the enemy’s numbers was the top priority.
Tae-hyun decided that even if he had to take a few hits, he would cut their numbers down first.
He didn’t have a wide variety of attack skills, so he hadn’t shown it much before—but fighting like this, chaining skills together with ruthless efficiency, was one of Tae-hyun’s specialties.
A technical style of combat that required understanding the exact effect and performance of every skill, then using them coolly even in the middle of utter chaos.
Circle of Attack
“H-help me! Get this bastard off me!”
“My sword won’t land properly on him!”
Critical hit!
Critical hit!
Consecutive critical hits achieved. Additional damage bonus applied.
The enemy has entered a bleeding state.
A vital point has been struck. The enemy is unable to move for a short time.
Papapapapapapak—
The longsword flashed so quickly it left afterimages as it battered the Holy Knight.
Unable to land hits properly on Tae-hyun, one of the Holy Knights suddenly charged straight at him.
He intended to slam into him with his body and force him away from his comrade.
“Not happening!”
But Tae-hyun had already read the move.
Even while beating one knight into the ground, he had kept complete track of the attack coming from behind.
His reaction speed was monstrous.
Flick—
Tae-hyun pulled something from inside his clothes and threw it.
KWAKWAKWA-KABOOM!