The Enemy Is Stunned

"Gghhk!"

The bomb had exploded right in front of them, but the holy knights weren’t seriously hurt.

That didn’t matter.

Kim Tae-hyun hadn’t been trying to kill them with that bomb in the first place.

The holy knights were apparently layered in all kinds of buff magic, their bodies radiating lights of various colors.

Trying to take down high-level bastards with a single bomb would be way too cheap.

What he was aiming for was a tiny opening.

The stun status they couldn’t help but suffer the moment the bomb hit.

That brief, fleeting gap created by the stun!

Seizing that opening, Tae-hyun finished pummeling the holy knight he had already been beating down.

The knight, who had already taken a lot of punishment, finally collapsed under Tae-hyun’s relentless assault.

"You bastard!"

As their comrade fell, one of the holy knights charged in at once.

With powerful shockwaves bursting from his whole body as he came, it looked like a pretty dangerous skill.

"Kuhk!"

Tae-hyun was controlling this brawl completely.

He split the enemy apart, focused one down, and reduced their numbers. If it looked like interference was coming, he bought time by stunning them. And when that made an enraged enemy rush in recklessly, he answered immediately with a counter.

His judgment was so cold and precise it was hard to believe he was making these decisions in the middle of such utter chaos.

Clang!Clang-clang!

When the skill the holy knight had painstakingly launched came flying back through Circle of Counterattack, the man who had charged in was now getting brutally beaten down by Tae-hyun instead.

The longsword Meteor traced beautiful arcs through the room.

If not for the defensive power of a Sadiq Holy Knight, it would’ve been a ferocious assault capable of dropping him on the spot.

"You sacrifice yourself and hold him in place!"

"Yes, sir!"

What? Sacrifice?

Tae-hyun narrowly avoided a holy knight’s attack by snapping his head aside at the last second, then flinched at the conversation from behind him.

A skill that required sacrificing one of their own.

Just hearing that sounded ominous.

Need to stop that.

Clink-clink-

But as if they had read his mind, all the remaining holy knights rushed forward and formed a wall.

If they charged straight at Tae-hyun, they’d leave gaps he could punch through to the rear. So instead, they simply stopped in place and blocked him off entirely.

That made breaking through difficult.

Tch.

"...!"

At that moment, what burst out was Yong-yong.

Yong-yong sprang out of the bag, spread his wings, and shot up into the air.

"What the—?!"

"A pet? It's nothing! Ignore it!"

Bzzzt-

Yong-yong curled in on himself, then fired sharp arrows of lightning.

They weren’t even remotely comparable to the breath of a Gold Dragon at his prime, but they were still more than powerful enough.

"Kyaaagh!"

"Th-that’s no ordinary pet!"

The holy knights who had looked down on Yong-yong screamed as the lightning arrows struck them.

"Stop the one in the back preparing a spell!"

I understand!

Yong-yong suddenly swelled in size.

His small body tripled in an instant, and his claws grew sharp enough to look genuinely threatening.

Crunch!

"Aaaagh!"

The holy knight chanting in the rear screamed and tumbled away. Yong-yong’s claws had stabbed straight into his shoulder.

"You insignificant beast!"

"What did you say? Where do you insignificant humans get off talking!"

Yong-yong and the Sadiq Holy Knights clashed while shouting that the other side was insignificant.

Boom!Boom!Boom!

Only then did Tae-hyun realize Yong-yong wasn’t in normal condition.

It hadn’t even been that long since he had blown an island apart with a Gold Dragon’s breath and completely exhausted himself.

There hadn’t been nearly enough time for a full recovery.

Damn it. He forced out the power he had recovered?

Tae-hyun dove in between the holy knights.

If Yong-yong got hit and died, the loss would be anything but ordinary.

You don’t die before I get my money’s worth out of you!

Master, thank you!

Yong-yong quickly shrank back down and perched on Tae-hyun’s shoulder.

The holy knights, who had lost their heads for a moment, concentrated their attacks on Tae-hyun again.

"Curses work well on him! Hit him with unavoidable curses!"

The holy knights had realized physical attacks weren’t landing well on Tae-hyun.

So they changed tactics and began raining curses on him instead.

Low-damage, hard-to-dodge, high-accuracy curses fired one after another.

If enough of them landed, he’d go down eventually.

"...!"

For the first time, a message appeared saying he had failed to resist.

That meant the curses had stacked up that much.

Tae-hyun clicked his tongue and looked around.

Because of the curses, his vision had grown dim and his movements sluggish.

Thud!Thwack-thwack-thud!

And yet the attacks never stopped.

His fighting spirit was so tenacious that even the holy knights were staring at him like he was disgusting.

Even after taking that many curses, Tae-hyun’s combat power hadn’t fallen in the slightest.

His vision had gone dark? Then he’d just beat them by feel.

He was moving slowly? Then he’d read the enemy’s motions first and match his slower body to them.

If I retreat here, I lose!

Backing off just because he’d been stacked with curses was something only an idiot would do.

Even cornered deeper and deeper into danger, Tae-hyun never lost his composure.

The best move right now was not to fall back, but to keep attacking.

A fight to see who dropped first.

"Is this bastard a monster?!"

"He’s loaded with curses! Stab him!"

Yet even in that situation, Tae-hyun kept evading to the very end with his astonishing dodge rate.

In the middle of all that, two more holy knights fell.

Tae-hyun glared at the remaining ones with vicious eyes.

"So. How many are left?"

"...!"

Tap-tap-tap-tap-

"Protect His Majesty!"

"Don’t let the attackers live!"

"!!!"

The faces of the Sadiq Holy Knights changed instantly.

Royal guards were rushing over from the distance.

"Th-this...!"

"Impossible! We came this far! We had him!"

"Lord Antonio! What do we do?!"

Antonio, coughing behind them, shouted with a curse.

"Damn it! We’re pulling out! Protect me!"

"Yes, sir!"

Before leaving, Antonio pointed at Tae-hyun and shouted,

"I will never forget your face! You’d better watch yourself. In the name of Sadiq, I’ll come for your life!"

The grudges just kept piling up.

It was a chilling curse, but Tae-hyun didn’t care in the slightest.

He’d been hearing threats like that since Fantasy Online 1.

"Ah. Sure. If you can, go ahead. The exit is that window, by the way."

"We’ll ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see about that!"

Crash!

The holy knights smashed the window and leapt out as a group.

Only then could Tae-hyun finally let out a breath.

He hadn’t acted weak, but his HP had been shaved down to a genuinely dangerous level.

Below twenty percent... huh.

In Fantasy Online 2, his evasion rate was so high that he almost never lost that much health.

And Tae-hyun’s style was all about dodging while dealing damage.

That alone showed just how many curses the holy knights had piled on him.

...!

He tried to take a step, then immediately gave up on walking and sat down instead.

It felt like his body had become a deluxe all-in-one curse package.

High-level holy knights really are terrifying.

And the church of Sadiq seemed like a god order that loved destruction and loved fighting.

So naturally, a lot of the divine magic they used was attack-oriented.

And if these were the men sent to assassinate the king, then of course they’d be absurdly strong even among holy knights...

"Your Majesty!"

Bam!

The royal guards arrived too late. The moment they saw the situation, they shouted in shock.

The king’s bedchamber was utterly wrecked.

The guards saw Tae-hyun and cried out,

"You bastard! What have you done?!"

"No!"

Damiano II waved them off.

"Your Majesty! Are you unharmed?!"

"That adventurer protected me. This is no time for such rudeness when you should be thanking him!"

Damiano II truly had a shining character.

Tae-hyun felt it had been worth siding with him instead of killing him.

If the king had been some rotten-tempered bastard, he might’ve tried ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to pick a fight even now.

"Th-that... our apologies, Your Majesty."

"See to that adventurer’s recovery."

"Yes, sir."

The royal guards and priests approached Tae-hyun.

His HP refilled rapidly, and the curses were lifted.

Only after the curses were removed and his condition properly returned did the message windows start popping up.

Meanwhile, Damiano II approached and gripped Tae-hyun’s shoulders with both hands.

"Thank you, Adventurer! You saved my life today!"

"...."

It was one of those hard-to-tell-whether-he-should-be-happy-or-sad moments.

Winning the king’s favor was good, but seeing a blunt message that basically said you’re now mortal enemies with the Sadiq Church, so watch your neck left a weird taste in his mouth.

Still, he had to deal with the immediate problem first.

Putting on the face of a loyal retainer, Tae-hyun answered,

"You flatter me, Your Majesty. I merely did what had to be done."

"No! No one could have foreseen this, and yet you came here and protected me."

Damiano II said that, then turned his gaze on the royal guards.

"You useless fools!"

"...."

The guards hung their heads low.

They had no excuse, not even ten mouths’ worth.

Of course, Tae-hyun was starting to feel uneasy too.

If the king asked in detail why he had been in the royal bedchamber, answering would get awkward fast.

Haha. Well, actually, I came because there might’ve been something worth stealing, and somehow one thing led to another...

There was no way he could say that!

"But, Adventurer. How did you know the enemy would come here?"

"...."

"What?! It failed?!"

Burford asked in a panicked voice.

No, seriously—how did you fail in a situation like that?

But the holy knight didn’t explain a thing. He just started shouting orders.

"Run! We’re getting out of the palace!"

"Protect Lord Antonio!"

Frustrated, Burford grabbed another holy knight by the arm.

"At least tell me what happened! I’m streaming this!"

"You fool! Is now the time for chatter?!"

A high-ranking Sadiq priest snapped at him furiously.

Burford jerked and shut his mouth at once.

Things were already dangerous enough since he’d secretly stolen the ring. Drawing attention to himself wouldn’t help in the slightest.

True to the nature of the Sadiq Church, punishment within the order was harsh as well.