The Sky's Great Hunt
Ryu Da-young spoke coldly. Ryu Tae-su might think that way because he was a massive fan of Kim Tae-hyun, but there was no way Lee Se-yeon would. As someone who deeply respected Lee Se-yeon, Da-young could not tolerate such nonsense.
“I was just joking,” Tae-su muttered, looking away.
“Don't make jokes like that.”
“Alright, alright. My bad.”
Tae-su nodded in agreement. He realized that such a joke could indeed sound disrespectful to their highly respected captain, Lee Se-yeon.
As Tae-su sincerely reflected on his words, Se-yeon felt a slight pang of guilt. Of course, it wasn't that Se-yeon wasn't taking the game seriously. The party quests she did with Tae-hyun actually yielded far more experience points than she had anticipated. But that was purely a side benefit. The real reason she had teamed up with him was indeed because of her close relationship with Kim Tae-hyun.
...To pay back the debt she owed him!
Since playing together had turned out to be quite beneficial for both leveling up and raising her reputation, she had kept at it. But hearing them talk like this made her conscience prickle more than she expected.
“Anyway, I don't mind us playing together, but what we're doing right now is...” Se-yeon hesitated. Should I even ask them to join? All they were doing was endlessly repeating boring, low-level general quests...
“Actually, no. You guys came at the perfect time,” Tae-hyun interjected.
“By 'perfect time,' you don't mean you're going to use us as manual labor, right?” Se-yeon asked, her voice laced with concern. No matter how she looked at it, making national team members do menial chores was just wrong!
“No, the fortress is pretty much complete now. It'll run itself even without my buffs. I actually just had a quest pop up, so I need to move.”
“What quest?”
The Garuda Kingdom!
It was a kingdom of the vast, open skies that had appeared alongside the newly discovered Sky Islands. Though called a kingdom, it was a savage place, barely any different from the Salz Kingdom or the Orc tribes of Uruk.
"Welcome to the Garuda Kingdom, warrior! What is your level?"
"Uh... my level is 89..."
"Pathetic! Get lost! Our Garuda Kingdom does not admit weaklings like you!"
"Wait, we're in the sky, if we get lost, where do we—aaaaargh!"
The warriors of the Garuda Kingdom were notorious for flying outside the Sky Islands and plundering airships.
While they were a terror to casual players who just wanted to sightsee, high-level players held the Garuda Kingdom in high regard.
Usually, players split on whether a region was "good" or "bad," but the Garuda Kingdom always had a curse word attached even in praise. What kind of place was it?!
And Tae-hyun was the man who had passed the Garuda Kingdom's trial and proudly borrowed their warriors.
"The fierce, cunning, and filthy Pope of the Archisus Church needs no such trial! We shall grant you Garuda warriors, so go forth and prove your worth!"
The fierce, cunning, and filthy warriors of the Garuda Kingdom were always looking for a chance to prove themselves against stronger foes.
Tae-hyun's initial thought when borrowing them had been simple.
The Idergo Cult has appeared, the Ice Duke Furneus is on the continent, and what? A mysterious monster from the Demon Realm has appeared off the coast of my territory? There'll be plenty of fights. I can bring them along.
Tae-hyun had summoned everyone from the Ancient Empire Deserters to the Garuda Warriors. They were highly unstable, but they were a massive boost to his combat power. But then...
Avatar of Archisus
🎯 Objective: Raise Song, Cooking, and Magic skills to Master rank!
The Idergo Cult lost their momentum after fighting Furneus, Furneus fled to the mountains, and Leviathan went back to the Demon Realm after doing its job...
During the Hungry Chaos raid, he didn't need to call them because he just worked with the forces Se-yeon brought. Afterward, he was so focused on his peaceful class quest that he had no chance to use the Garuda warriors and the Ancient Empire deserters. He had hoarded them so much that the game was almost over!
So, the Garuda warriors came to find him.
"Graaaah! Why are you ignoring us, Archisus!"
The Garuda warriors' dissatisfaction is exploding!
“No, there was a reason for all of this.”
"You're ignoring us just because we couldn't kill the Leviathan! This is too much!"
The Garuda warriors burst into tears!
“……”
[......]
Tae-hyun and Carbanog were flustered by their intense reaction. It was completely unexpected!
Your reputation is extremely high!
Your fame is legendary!
You fought the warriors of the Hungry Chaos without the Garuda warriors!
You fought the black mages of the Hungry Chaos without the Garuda warriors!
If he had just slacked off, they would have attacked him in anger. But Tae-hyun didn't slack off; he kept racking up achievements without them! Combined with his high reputation, the Garuda warriors came to a different conclusion.
“Ah, the Pope doesn't trust us, so he didn't bring us along!”
And the Ancient Empire deserters nearby added fuel to the fire.
"Hmm. That makes perfect sense."
"Indeed. Unlike us, who hail from the prestigious and noble bloodlines of the Ancient Empire, these Garuda savages are trivial creatures."
"Y-You... you bastards...!"
"Look at them shielding each other just because they're from the Ancient Empire! This is why human tribes can't be trusted!"
"We want to go hunt too! We will show you our power!"
As a result, the Garuda warriors huffed and puffed in front of Tae-hyun.
The Great Hunt of the Sky
📍 Objective: Conduct a great hunt to satisfy the warriors of the Garuda Kingdom. If you succeed, they will be highly satisfied!
🎁 Reward: ?, ??, Garuda Kingdom Contribution Points, Information regarding Archisus in the Garuda Kingdom.
‘What situation?’
[Carbanog guesses they might cry even louder.]
‘I don't think that's it.’
If you complete the quest, your fame will spread in the Garuda Kingdom. You will receive information regarding Archisus passed down in the Garuda Kingdom!
“!!!”
Come to think of it, there was information that a descendant of the Archisus Church's Holy Knight Commander was somewhere on the Sky Island. That was why he got involved with the Garuda Kingdom in the first place...
‘Ah, right. That was a thing.’
[Carbanog suspects you completely forgot.]
Actually, he did. Tae-hyun prioritized his own Avatar class quest over the church quests. What good is finding a descendant? Only the players who joined the church would be happy! His class quest was way more important.
‘Even if we find the descendant of the Archisus Holy Knight Commander, the chances of them being sane are pretty low.’
[Carbanog avoids answering.]
“We finally finished it...!”
“*Sniff*! It's beautiful!”
The administrators shed tears as they gazed at the arena before them. The so-called Grand Colosseum. It was a massive arena newly constructed specifically for the upcoming World Cup tournament.
How much they had suffered to bring this to life! They had constantly bombarded the Pan-On AI with requests, pleading that it wouldn't affect the game's balance, and then dozens of staff members had to dive in to manually fine-tune and manage it...
But their efforts had paid off. It was dozens of times more thrilling and suspenseful than any arena that had come before!
“I'd like to run a test. Do we have anyone with a high-level character?”
“Assistant Manager Yoon's level is pretty high.”
“Wait, why me...”
Yoon Ju-hwan feigned reluctance while secretly rejoicing. Inside, he was practically screaming with excitement.
I get to be the very first person to step into the World Cup Colosseum!
“Well, if I must, I'll give it a try.”
“Oh, if you really don't want to, you don't have to.”
“No, I'll go! Thank you!”
You have entered the Grand Colosseum!
The map is being decided.
The Black Gravestone Mountain Range is generated.
A random variable is applied.
‘The map name sounds brutal.’
— Kroooooooar!
Hearing a terrifying sound from the map, Yoon Ju-hwan was puzzled.
“Why is there a monster sound here?”
“Ah, they added monsters too.”
“Oh, really?”
Some arenas had monsters. Defeating them gave buffs or extra items—a dynamic arena! It was a fresh concept.
Well, creating variables like this will make everyone love it.
Yoon Ju-hwan walked inside, curious about what kind of monster it was.
Ruler of the Black Gravestone Mountain Range
Your movement is halted due to the roar!
“!!!!!!!”
Yoon Ju-hwan was shocked. As soon as he went down the hill and turned, he saw a very familiar Black Dragon at the bottom of the cliff.
“What the hell is this?!”
“It should be a much weaker version, so try fighting it.”
“Ah, I see... Aaaaaaargh!”
The monsters appearing in the Grand Colosseum weren't ordinary. They were famous named monsters that had appeared in Pan-On so far! They spawned randomly.
Though they were virtual entities heavily scaled down to match the arena's difficulty, they were absolutely not something a player like Yoon Ju-hwan could solo.
You are resurrecting...
“If that kind of monster was going to appear, you should have warned me beforehand!!”
“You're not a contestant, so why are you getting mad? Anyway, isn't it exciting?”
“Yes. It's incredibly, bloody exciting!”
Once the qualifiers opened, many people would be shocked. A completely different match style! Paying attention to the monsters in the map, not just the enemies, would become part of the strategy.
“A 1v1 in Pan-On seems too difficult after all. If we make the rules too unfavorable, Kim Tae-hyun won't even show up.”
“Then wouldn't a team match be the exact same story?”
Su Ning was currently racking his brains alongside several executives. Their goal was to invite Tae-hyun to the tournament hosted by the Guild Alliance!
But this was no easy task. If the rules were unfavorable, Kim Tae-hyun wouldn't come. If they were favorable, Kim Tae-hyun would just win...
“Can't we just let Kim Tae-hyun win?”
“That's not the point, you idiot! If we host a tournament and he walks away with the championship, I'm the one who's going to get dragged through the mud!”
“Then... why don't we invite him as a judge?”
“...?!”
Su Ning's eyes widened at the unexpected suggestion. A... judge?