The Encroaching Kingdom Army
The kingdom army, the troops of the other religious orders, and the players were all drawing closer by the minute.
The Sadiq Church was beginning to feel the danger too.
That was why they had tried to summon the Fire Demonic Beast...
But ever since the Fire Demonic Beast awoke, they had lost contact with the forces inside.
"What the hell happened?"
The Sadiq Holy Knights muttered among themselves in growing agitation. They couldn’t understand why the Fire Demonic Beast, which had roared so loudly just a little while ago, had suddenly gone silent.
"Don’t tell me something went wrong..."
"Tae-hyun! Tae-hyun!"
"What?"
"You know that Fire Demonic Beast from earlier. Is it dead?"
"If it were dead, experience would've popped up, wouldn't it? So it's probably not dead."
Kim Tae-hyun answered while beating the last remaining Sadiq Holy Knight with his longsword.
"Urk! Ugh! Gahhh!"
The Sadiq Holy Knight collapsed after the beating. Tae-hyun gestured at the blacksmiths.
"Grab the trash loot!"
By now, it was a familiar order.
The blacksmiths quickly scooped up the items and stuffed them into their bags.
"But if it's not dead, doesn't that make it dangerous?"
"Eh, it should be fine for now. And we've put a decent amount of distance between us... It's huge, so if it comes out from inside, we'll probably see it first. It might not even be able to get out in the first place."
The cave interior had been completely wrecked, but the Fire Demonic Beast was enormous.
It might not even be able to squeeze its way out of the collapsed cavern.
Wait. If that's the case, won't some other bastards kill it later? I can't let them steal my contribution points.
Tae-hyun was suddenly very curious about how many contribution points the other players had accumulated.
They were all streaming, but they kept their contribution totals hidden.
Otherwise, people might start targeting them out of jealousy.
Everyone was trying their hardest to squeeze out as many contribution points as possible.
"Keep moving! Let's get out of here first. We need other people around so we can use them as shields—... no, so we can fight together!"
...
Tae-hyun's inner thoughts slipped out.
If the Fire Demonic Beast showed up, he fully intended to use the other players as shields!
The blacksmiths moved with expressions that said, Yep, that sounds about right.
And then...
Crk... crack...
A faint sound began to come from inside the collapsed cave.
"Who are those people?"
"Are they coming out from inside the valley?"
Archer-type classes had far better eyesight than other classes.
That meant they could see much farther.
And it was those archers who first spotted a group coming out of the valley.
They looked a little ragged on the outside, but the aura around them was savage.
It was, of course, Tae-hyun's party.
"How are they coming out of the valley?"
"What the...? Are they the guys who went into the Sadiq Church?"
Just as the players muttered in shock, the Sadiq Church was equally stunned.
"What is this?! Who are they?!"
"What happened to the Holy Knights who went inside the valley?!"
If a party was coming out of the valley, where the other Sadiq Holy Knights should have been, then obviously something had happened.
Several Sadiq Holy Knights immediately spotted Tae-hyun's party and started rushing toward them.
If things went wrong, they could be surrounded.
And at a time like this, what was needed?
A sturdy ally.
"All right! Head for the kingdom army!"
The place Tae-hyun had borrowed knights from was the Atali royal court. The force that had marched out to attack the Sadiq Church was also the Atali royal court. And the place where Tae-hyun had built up the most contribution points was, again, the Atali royal court.
Naturally, there was no better place to ask for help than the Atali Kingdom army.
As he ran, Tae-hyun said to the knights,
"Shout. Tell them to help us."
"Pardon? S-saying something so embarrassing..."
"What? What was that?"
Intermediate Speech
Bonus received when controlling subordinates.
"I'll say it right now!"
"Good. Then hurry up and shout."
At Tae-hyun's command, the knights swallowed their embarrassment and began yelling at the top of their lungs.
"Over here! Over here!"
"Come help us!"
"The Atali knights are here!"
It worked.
Hearing them, a unit of the Atali Kingdom army changed direction and started charging toward them.
"Lucky Strike, Lucky Strike, Lucky Strike!"
Tae-hyun rapidly cast his buff spells and sprinted forward.
The inside of the valley was in utter chaos, but outside it, fresh Sadiq Church troops were swarming everywhere.
There was no advantage in staying here too long.
They had to take down the Sadiq Holy Knights as quickly as possible and merge with the kingdom army.
He needed sturdy meat sh—... no, sturdy comrades.
Swordsmanship skill increased.
└─ Level Up:Level 3 → Level 4 ★
Critical Explosion
Critical Stack
Huh? That's a Rogue skill, though?
Tae-hyun knew it from Fantasy Online 1 too.
It was a passive skill that built one critical stack every time you landed a critical hit.
Critical Explosion was the skill that consumed those stored stacks to unleash an explosive burst of damage.
It was one of the Rogue class's strongest skills—perfect for a class that landed frequent crits, moved dazzlingly fast, and dumped massive burst damage into its target.
And yet it had appeared for Tae-hyun.
It's definitely good... but why? Did I get it just because I've been landing way too many crits?
Tae-hyun's guess was exactly right, but he had no way to confirm it.
In any case, for Tae-hyun, who was still hunting down all kinds of different skills, this was rain in a drought.
Consecutive critical hits landed.
Critical stack accumulated.
"Critical Explosion!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOM!
The moment Tae-hyun's thrust landed, the Sadiq Holy Knight was launched backward as if he'd been kicked by a charging horse.
The power was monstrous.
"Wrath, Multi-hit, Strong Strike!"
A lively sequence of blows rang out one after another.
Tae-hyun moved rhythmically, chaining attacks into the Sadiq Holy Knights without pause.
Every time the flashing blade of his sword swept through the air, another Sadiq Holy Knight screamed and fell.
Consecutive critical hits landed.
Critical stack accumulated.
He dodged most attacks a split second before they landed, and on the rare occasions something did connect, his absurd evasion let him slip away anyway.
And while moving that fast, there wasn’t a hint of hesitation in his skill chaining.
It was the kind of power that would have impressed even rankers.
That was how strong Tae-hyun had become.
He was no longer the Kim Tae-hyun who simply charged in relying on a handful of ridiculous Luck skills and class skills.
Now he had a balanced kind of strength, built on proper stats and a wide range of skills.
"Trample him!"
ROOOOAR!
The moment Tae-hyun started rampaging, they immediately tried to suppress him.
One of the Sadiq priests appeared, dragging a demonic beast with him.
The beast looked like a gigantic boar on four legs. Breathing fire from its mouth, it charged straight at Tae-hyun.
Tae-hyun didn’t dodge.
Instead, he charged at it.
Thud, thud, thud, thud—
The beast's footsteps shook the ground.
Ordinary people would've felt their hearts pounding, even knowing it was a game.
Fantasy Online 2 was, in the truest sense, a virtual reality game. Even if you knew intellectually that it was all fake, it was impossible not to tense up when a giant monster came barreling at you.
But Tae-hyun remained calm.
Without the slightest change in expression, he watched the monster's movements. The foot it planted, the next foot it was about to bring down, even the direction of its eyes and where it was aiming.
Now!
As the boar demonic beast lunged to gore him with its tusks, Tae-hyun swung his sword with all his strength and activated a skill.
"Circle of Counterattack!"
Circle of Counterattack
Perfect timing achieved. Attack reflected.
Additional damage bonus received.
Swordsmanship skill increased.
Target inflicted with Stun.
GRAAAAGH!
A heavy impact traveled up through the tip of his longsword.
Tae-hyun planted a foot on the stunned beast's head and leaped high.
Thud! Thud!
The next attacks followed immediately.
The boar beast staggered as its head was struck again and again.
It still hadn’t recovered from the stun.
Tae-hyun prepared to finish it.
"Critical Explosion, Strong Strike!"
At the same moment he consumed all his stacked critical hits, he activated the attack skill.
Tae-hyun's longsword shone as if it had burst into flame.
SKREEEEEEE!
The boar demonic beast could resist no longer. It collapsed forward.
Tae-hyun lightly jumped down from it.
Not bad. I've gotten better.
The kind of strength Tae-hyun wanted for his character—this was one part of it.
Not just simple skill combos, but the kind of chaining that made people say, Wait, you can use those skills together like that?
When he linked skills together in ways no one expected, it created a kind of strength that refused to fit into any mold.
If I raised a character the standard way just because it was supposedly the easiest route, it'd be boring—and I'd just end up getting hard-countered anyway.
The sight of Tae-hyun single-handedly mowing through the Sadiq Holy Knights and then killing a demonic beast left a powerful impression on the other players.
That kind of play wasn't something just anyone could pull off.
Breaking through alone and taking down a demonic beast without any help—that took not just level, but raw skill.
No amount of levels would save a player without talent.
"Is that Kim Tae-san?"
"Looks like it."
"He looks like a ranker, doesn't he?"
"He has to be. If he can break through alone and take a beast's head like that, he's definitely a ranker."
"What level do you think he is? A hundred? Surely he isn't over 110."
"He might be over 110... There are just so many people in Fantasy Online 2. Weird hidden masters keep popping up from all over the place."
Of course, Tae-hyun still hadn't even hit level 50.
But Tae-hyun wasn't the only kind of hidden expert who appeared out of nowhere like this.
There were Fantasy Online 2 players all over the world, and the map was absurdly huge. People often vanished into some unseen corner, got a special class, quietly trained it, and then suddenly reappeared later.
Burford, who had suddenly emerged during this Sadiq Church quest, was one of those players.
Players who hadn’t been visible at all before the quest started!
If you were a ranker, people tended to assume you were automatically famous, streaming, and widely known—but there were plenty of unknown monsters like Tae-hyun too.
Watching Tae-hyun run toward the kingdom army with the knights in tow, the guild players gathered in the valley grumbled among themselves.
"Damn it. We're leveling this slowly even while hunting together with guildmates. How the hell did that guy grow that strong without even having a guild? Is he eating something special or what?"
"Why don't you go ask him yourself?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Just look at him. He's totally got that don't mess with me, I'm a lone wolf vibe. Even wearing a mask too. Bet he's handsome under there."
"How do you know he's handsome? He might not be..."
"It's the vibe, okay?! Guys like that always wear masks so they can act cool. Just wait. My instincts are never wrong."
If Tae-hyun had heard that, he would've exploded in rage and gone straight for a PK attempt.
Who's handsome, you bastard?!
He wore the mask to stay under the radar. If he heard someone saying, That guy knows he's handsome, that's why he's wearing a mask and acting cool, Tae-hyun's fury would have doubled instantly.
Because...
Even by his own standards, Kim Tae-hyun was nowhere near handsome.
"Ohhh! Truly incredible! I never would've imagined it! To think you'd charge alone into that valley and attack the enemy!"
"Yeah, yeah. That's enough, so leave me alone for a second, will you?"
Tae-hyun tried to shove away the impressed centurion of the kingdom army.
What he wanted most right now was to learn the Authority of Archisus!
There were still plenty of Sadiq Church forces left, and the quest was not over.
If he wanted to secure enough contribution points to end the quest successfully, then he had to learn the Authority of Archisus right now.
The first Authority was ridiculously strong, so... the second one should be pretty useful too!
Summon Divine Beast.
Of course, right now Yong-yong was badly weakened from the side effects and was resting inside, but normally, he was a monster that could wipe an entire island off the map.